Raise the country on every side, All that may ever go or ride; So shall this boy lose his pride For all his greatest boast. Now he can do no more, and he sinks back, exhausted, into a chair:-- This boast doth me so great annoy That I wax dull and clean dry. Have done!--and fill the wine in high, I die but I have drink. Fill fast and let the cups fly And go we hither hastily; For I must ordain curiously Against these Kings coming. Such is the play of _The Three Kings_, and there can be no doubt whatever of its fine dramatic effect. We cannot wonder that this character of Herod is mentioned by old writers more than other characters of the plays. Imperious and proud, firmly believing in his own kingly right, but, like most ignorant people, profoundly impressed by prophecies and vaticinations which he did not understand, Herod is now impelled forward by swaggering pride and now dragged back by craven fear and subtle influences. The part gives the actor every opportunity to show forth his art, and the calm, clear tones of the doctor quietly reading the scriptures give the required dramatic contrast. The speeches show the traces of late literary labour, and that we had got within measurable distance of blank verse when the play received its last polish, though the original play was probably founded on an early Latin one called _Herodes, sive magorum adoratio_.[45] “Postea Herodes interroget Scribas, dicens: O vos scribae Interrogati dicite Si quid de hoc puero Scriptum videritis in libro. Tunc Scribae diu revolvant librum, et tandem inventa quasi prophetica dicant.... Vidimus, Domine, in prophetarum Lineis, nasci Christum In Bethleem Iudae civitate David propheta sic vaticinante. Tunc Herodes, visa prophetica, furore accensus, _projiciat librum_,” &c. [45] See Wright’s _Early Mysteries_, p. 26. This play, together with the play of _The Salutation and the Nativity_ and _The Shepherds’ Play_, was acted at Chester in 1906 by Mr. Nugent Monck and his “English Drama Company” under the auspices of the Chester and North Wales Archæological Society, and with success, but the expense was too great to admit of the whole cycle being performed. The same plays have also been performed in London by Mr. Monck’s company, and by Mr. Benson’s company at Stratford-on-Avon during the Shakespeare Commemoration week. In conclusion, I would point out that the motto of the city of Chester is curious and indeed unique:-- “Antiqui colant Antiquum Dierum.” “_Let the ancient people worship the Ancient of Days._” I cannot help thinking that this contains an occult reference to the Chester Mystery Plays. THE SIEGE OF CHESTER By the Archdeacon of Chester[46] [46] The writer has got most of the information in this paper from _The History of the Siege of Chester_, published by Broster in 1790.