but the one
common characteristic. In other words, he is a type. The step which
brings us to the Interludes is the conversion of the type into an
individual with special marks about him peculiar to himself. It is an
ingenious suggestion, that the idea first found expression in an attempt
to excite interest by adding to a character one or two of the
peculiarities of a local celebrity (miser, prodigal, or beggar) known
for the quality typified. If this was so, it was an interesting
reversion to the methods of Aristophanes. But it is only a guess. What
is certain is that in the Interludes we find the 'type' gradually
assuming a greater complexity, a larger measure of those minor features
which make the ordinary man interesting. Significantly enough, the last
thing to be acquired was a name such as ordinary men bear. A few
characters attained to that certificate of individuality, but even
Heywood, the master of the Interlude, preferred class names, such as
Palmer, Pardoner, or Pedlar. This should warn us not to expect too much
from the change. To the very end some features of the earliest
Moralities are discernible: we shall meet Good Angel and Bad Angel in
one of Marlowe's plays. After all, the interval of time is not so very
great. _The Castell of Perseverance_ was written probably about the
middle of the fifteenth century; _Everyman_ may be assigned to the close
of that century or the beginning of the next; one of the earliest
surviving Interludes, _Hick Scorner_, has been dated 'about 1520-25';
and Marlowe's _Doctor Faustus_ belongs probably to the year 1588.

Let us turn to _Hick Scorner_ and see the new principle of
characterization at work. How much of the old is blended with it may be
seen in the opening speech, which is delivered by as colourless an
abstraction as ever advocated a virtuous life in the Moralities. A good
old man, Pity, sits alone, describing himself to his hearers. To him
comes Contemplation, and shortly afterwards Perseverance, both younger
men but just as undeniably 'Virtues'. Each explains his nature to the
audience before discovering the presence of Pity, but they quickly fall
into a highly edifying conversation. Fortunately for us Contemplation
and Perseverance have other engagements, which draw them away. Pity
relapses into a corner and silence. Thereupon two men of a very
different type take the boards. The first comer is Freewill, a careless,
graceless youth by his own account; Imagination,