The whole performance may be divided, for convenience of analysis, into three parts, the Presentation, the Drama, the _Quête_. In the first somebody speaks a prologue, claiming a welcome from the spectators[745], and then the leading characters are in turn introduced. The second consists of a fight followed by the intervention of a doctor to revive the slain. In the third some supernumerary characters enter, and there is a collection. It is the dramatic nucleus that first requires consideration. The leading fighter is generally St. George, who alone appears in all the versions. Instead of ‘St. George,’ he is sometimes called ‘Sir George,’ and more often ‘Prince George’ or ‘King George,’ modifications which one may reasonably suppose to be no older than the present Hanoverian dynasty. At Whitehaven and at Falkirk he is ‘Prince George of Ville.’ George’s chief opponent is usually one of two personages, who are not absolutely distinct from each other[746]. One is the ‘Turkish Knight,’ of whom a variant appears to be the ‘Prince of Paradine’ (Manchester), or ‘Paradise’ (Newport, Eccleshall), perhaps originally ‘Palestine.’ He is sometimes represented with a blackened face[747]. The other is variously called ‘Slasher,’ ‘Captain Slasher,’ ‘Bold Slasher,’ or, by an obvious corruption, ‘Beau Slasher.’ Rarer names for him are ‘Bold Slaughterer’ (Bampton), ‘Captain Bluster’ (Dorset [A]), and ‘Swiff, Swash, and Swagger’ (Chiswick). His names fairly express his vaunting disposition, which, however, is largely shared by the other characters in the play. In the place of, or as minor fighters by the side of George, the Turkish Knight and Bold Slasher, there appear, in one version or another, a bewildering variety of personages, of whom only a rough classification can be attempted. Some belong to the heroic cycles. Such are ‘Alexander’ (Newcastle, Whitehaven), ‘Hector’ (Manchester), ‘St. Guy’ (Newport), ‘St. Giles’ (Eccleshall)[748], ‘St. Patrick’ (Dorset [A], Wexford), ‘King Alfred’ and ‘King Cole’ (Brill), ‘Giant Blunderbore’ (Brill), ‘Giant Turpin’ (Cornwall). Others again are moderns who have caught the popular imagination: ‘Bold Bonaparte’ (Leigh)[749], and ‘King of Prussia’ (Bampton, Oxford)[750], ‘King William’ (Brill), the ‘Duke of Cumberland’ (Oxford) and the ‘Duke of Northumberland’ (Islip), ‘Lord Nelson’ (Stoke Gabriel, Devon)[751], ‘Wolfe’ and ‘Wellington’ (Cornwall)[752], even the ‘Prince Imperial’ (Wilts)[753], all have been pressed into the service. In some cases characters have lost their personal names, if they ever had any, and figure merely as ‘Knight,’ ‘Soldier,’ ‘Valiant Soldier,’ ‘Noble Captain,’ ‘Bold Prince,’ ‘Gracious King.’ Others bear names which defy explanation, ‘Alonso’ (Chiswick), ‘Hy Gwyer’ (Hollington), ‘Marshalee’ and ‘Cutting Star’ (Dorset [B]). The significance of ‘General Valentine’ and ‘Colonel Spring’ (Dorset [A]) will be considered presently; and ‘Room’ (Dorset [B]), ‘Little Jack,’ the ‘Bride’ and