Their neighbors, despite the dream, always recognized Jesus as Joseph's son (Matt. xii, 55; Luke iv, 22; John ii, 45; vi, 42; Nicodemus i, 2). The orthodox explain this on the supposition that Joseph and Mary kept all these things in their hearts, and did not tell the actual facts of the case, which seems unlikely. Joseph would want to explain the early birth of Jesus, and Mary would be desirous of saving her reputation, and both would naturally boast of the honor conferred by the Holy Ghost, had they known of it, for in such case Joseph's relation to his god was the same as that of the peasant to his seigneur in the days of the jus primæ noctis. The liaison was an honor, and would have been related to save Jesus from the disagreeable allusions made by his neighbors regarding his birth (John viii, 41). Conforming to the narrations of the miraculous conception in Luke, Mary, and the Protevangelion, is an old miracle play called "Joseph's Jealousy," in which we find a very natural picture of the good old husband discovering a condition in his wife for which he is not responsible and accusing her in plain old English of adorning his brow with antlers. The following is the dialogue as given in Hone's "Ancient Mysteries Described": Jos. Say me, Mary, this childys fadyr who is? I pry the telle me, and that anon? Mry. The Fadyr of hevyn, & se, it is, Other fadyr hath he non. To which Joseph very naturally replies in a burst of anger: Jos. Goddys childe! thou lyist, in fay! God dede nevyr rape so with may. But yit I say, Mary whoos childe is this? Mry. Goddys and your, I sey, I wys. Then in wrath at her obstinacy he breaks forth: Jos. Ya, ya! all olde men, to me take tent, & weddyth no wyff, in no kynnys wyse. Alas! Alas! my name is shent; All men may me now dyspyse, & seyn olde cokwold. Mary tries to explain and says that her child is from God alone and that she was so informed by an angel. The suspicious Joseph will not be deceived, and gives way to some words that have since been accepted as a true explanation of the miraculous conception: Jos. An A'gel! alas, alas! fy for schame! Ye syn now, in that ye to say; To puttyn an A'ngel in so gret blame. Alas, alas! let be do way; It was s'n boy began this game, That closhyd was clene and gay, & ye geve hym now an A'ngel name.