ost sight of. Also there is the invention which provides for
these two plays different plots, as well as some diversity of
characters. The superiority of the shorter play--_Everyman_ contains
just over nine hundred lines--to the older one is less readily detected
in a comparison of bare plots, though it becomes obvious as soon as one
reads the plays. It lies in a more detailed characterization, in a
deliberate attempt to humanize the abstractions, in the substitution of
something like real conversation for the orderly succession of debating
society speeches. The following extracts will illustrate this
difference.

(1) From _The Castell of Perseverance_.

[GOOD ANGEL _and_ BAD ANGEL, _in rivalry, are trying to secure the
adherence of the juvenile_ HUMANKIND: GOOD ANGEL _has already
spoken._]

_Bad Angel._ Pes aungel, thi wordes are not wyse,
Thou counselyst hym not a-ryth[35].
He schal hym drawyn to the werdes[36] servyse,
To dwelle with caysere, kynge and knyth,
That in londe be hym non lyche.
Cum on with me, stylle as ston:
Thou and I to the werd schul goon,
And thanne thou schalt sen a-non
Whow sone thou schalt be ryche.

_Good Angel._ A! pes aungel, thou spekyst folye!
Why schuld he coveyt werldes goode,
Syn Criste in erthe and hys meynye[37]
All in povert here thei stode?
Werldes wele[38], be strete and stye,
Faylyth and fadyth as fysch in flode,
But hevene ryche is good and trye,
Ther Criste syttyth, bryth as blode,
Withoutyn any dystresse.
To the world wolde he not flyt,
But forsok it every whytt;
Example I fynde in holy wryt,
He wyl bere me wytnesse.

[BAD ANGEL _replies, and then_ HUMANKIND _speaks._]

_Humankind._ Whom to folwe wetyn[39] I ne may,
I stonde in stodye and gynne to rave:
I wolde be ryche in gret aray,
And fayn I wolde my sowle save.
As wynde in watyr I wave.
Thou woldyst to the werld I me toke,
And he wolde that I it forsoke,
Now so God me helpe, and the holy boke,
I not[40] wyche I may have.

(2) From _Everyman_.

[EVERYMAN _has just met_ FELLOWSHIP.]

_Felawshyp._ My true frende, shewe to me your mynde,
I wyll not forsake the to thy lyves e