A  more  distinct  satiric  aim  is  traceable  in  some  parts  of
the  Coventry  Plays — for  instance,  in  the  monologue  of
the  '  Great  Duke  of  Hell,' who  comes  upon  the  stage  in
the  fashionable  costume  of  a  Court  gallant,  and  reads  a
homily  upon  the  modern  modes  of  sinning  ;^  also  in  the
curious  interpolated  pageant  of  the  Assumption,  which
abounds  in  allusions  to  reformers  and  heretics,  and  is
written  in  a  harsh,  coarse,  controversial  style,  combined
with  much  vulgarity  of  abuse.  The  introduction  to
the  14th  Pageant  of  the  Coventry  series  is  a  satire,
the  point  of  which  has,  I  think,  been  missed  by  both
Halliwell  in  his  edition  of  these  plays  and  Collier  in  his
commentary  on  them.  The  Bishop's  Court  is  about
to  be  opened  for  the  trial  of  Mary  accused  of  incon-
tinence.    An  usher  enters,  and  makes  proclamation  :

Avoid,  sirs,  and  let  my  lord  the  Bishop  come,

And  sit  in  the  court  the  laws  for  to  do  ;
And  I  shall  go  in  this  place  them  for  to  summon  ;

Those  that  be  in  my  book,  the  court  ye  must  come  to.
He  then  reads  out  a  list  of  names,  obviously  meant
to  indicate  parishioners  over  whom  the  Bishop's  Court
had  jurisdiction  for  sins  of  the  flesh.  They  run  in
pairs  mostly,  men  and  women,  as  thus  :

Cook  Crane  and  Davy  Drydust,
Lucy  Liar  and  Lettice  Littletrust,
Miles  the  Miller  and  Colle  Crakecrust,
Both  Bett  the  Baker  and  Robin  Reed.
Lastly,  having  summoned  these  evil  livers,  he  bids
them  put  money  in  their  purse,  lest  their  cause  fare  ill

'  Pageant  25.
