Both the children grew silent as they jogged towards home along the white road, upon which fell their shadows and the shadows of the horses and of overhanging trees. It was very quiet and peaceful in the country, and they were both sleepy. All the curious and novel things they had seen during the day began to appear like a dream, in which the three kings passed and re-passed; and Herod, with his flashing sword, stamped and raved; and beautiful angels, with golden wings, hovered above a stable in Bethlehem; and the serpent talked to Adam and Eve. But more frequently than any of the other figures in the plays Margery saw the little white-robed Isaac begging for his life; and, when the cottage was reached at last, and she was in bed and really asleep, it was of him she dreamt. X Everyman As some of you may have noticed, the miracle plays to which long ago Colin and Margery listened were for the most part badly written, in such rough, uncouth verse, that a great deal of each play may be described as mere doggerel. Very few of them have any claim to be called _literature_. They are just rhyming stories, often very badly rhymed, to be acted before uncritical people, thousands of whom were poor and simple folk who, if the stories were sufficiently exciting and the actors well enough dressed, neither knew nor cared that the words were poor. Every now and then, indeed, in these old plays a fragment of verse is charming. For instance, in the Nativity scene, which used to be acted at Coventry, there are some delightful words. Here are a few lines from the prophets’ speeches about the new-born King. Second prophet: “Yet do I marvel In what pile or castle These herdsmen did Him see” And the first prophet replies: “Neither in halls not yet in bowers, Born would He not be, Neither in castles nor in towers That seemly were to see; But at His Father’s will, The prophecy to fulfil, Betwixt an ox and an ass Jesu this King born He was.” The lullaby to the babies in the same play is pretty too, and so is the shepherds’ song when the angels have announced to them the birth of Christ. Here are the words: “As I out rode this enderes’ night, Of three jolly shepherds I saw a sight, And all about their fold a star shone bright; They sang, Terli, ter low; So merrily the shepherds their pipes can blow.” But the best of all the plays is one that does not appear in either of the four sets known as the York, the Coventry, the Chester, and the Wakefield series. It was probably first written in Dutch, and afterwards translated into English. For we must remember that not only in England were these miracle plays acted; they were just as popular in France, in Germany, and in Holland, as in our own country. This particular play is called _Everyman_, and it is in many ways different from any of the pageants we have so far talked about.