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MIRACLE CYCLES. 289 The part played by the c Legenda Aurea ' in the formation of the miracle writers' ideas of biblical his- tory has, I am sure, been underrated. The same may be said of Petrus Comestor's 'Historia Scholastica.' And here, lastly, not as a direct source, but as a factor in the formation of the tradition a factor the importance of which it is very hard for us to gauge, but at any rate an important factor comes in the liturgical drama itself. From these general considerations'! return to the York and Wakefield cycles, their mutual relation and their respective history. The former collection it is usual to regard as the outcome of three chief periods of literary activity, which have left, as it were, three superimposed layers of composition. The critical study of these plays was founded by Davidson, 1 and his divisions have been accepted in a general way by later writers. On the whole, his distinction between early and late work is, I think, sound, though it is based on metrical theories with which I entirely disagree. 2 I would rely on ii. 198. On the importance of the writings of the Ham pole school, including therein the < Privity ' and the ' Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost ' (Horstmann, i. 337), see H. Thien, 'Uber die englischen Marienklagen,' 1906, p. 48, and Miss Hope Traver, 'The Four Daughters of God,' 1907, p. 126. 1 C. Davidson, 'Studies in the English Mystery Plays,' 1892, particularly chap. xxi. The work was a doctorate thesis 'at Yale University. 2 Put crudely his view is that the Middle English alliterative line arose through decay of the octosyllabic ; or perhaps it would be fairer to say that he failed to recognize alliterative lines when grouped into riming stanzas. Other critics have fallen into the same error, notably F. Holthausen. It was exposed in a very able article by K. Luick in * Anglia,' 1899, xxii. 384.