ii. 267, and others ascribe the play in error to John Watson, bishop of

Winchester, and speak of a manuscript at Penshurst, which, however, is not mentioned in the account of the Penshurst MSS. in _Hist. MSS._ iii. app. 227. Probably the play is identical with the _Absolon_ preserved in _Brit. Mus. Stowe MS._ 957, described by G. B. Churchill and W. Keller, _Die lat. Universitäts-Dramen Englands in der Zeit der Königin Elisabeth_ (_Shakespeare-Jahrbuch_, xxxiv (1898), 229). An eighteenth-century ascription on the first leaf to John Bale is of no authority. The play is of a Senecan type, with acts and scenes and a chorus. The first line was originally ‘Adhuc animus vexatur excusso metu,’ but in the MS., which has many corrections, ‘Animus adhuc’ has been substituted.

24. †1540. _Nicholas Grimald._ _Christus Redivivus._

25. †1547. _Nicholas Grimald._ _Archipropheta._

See s.v. Grimald.

26. †1550. _John Foxe._ _Christus Triumphans._

1551. Christus triumphans, Comoedia apocalyptica. Autore Ioanne Foxo Anglo. London 1551. 8ᵒ.

1556. Oporinus, Basle.

1590. Nuremberg, Gerlach.

In 1672 and 1677 the Latin text was edited by Thomas Comber for school use. A French translation by Jacques Bienvenu appeared in 1562. There is also

1579. John and Richard Day. Christ Jesus Triumphant, A fruitefull Treatise, wherein is described the most glorious Triumph, and Conquest of Christ Iesus our Saviour.... Made to be read for spiritual comfort by Iohn Foxe, and from Latin translated intoo English by the Printer....

There are later editions of 1581 and 1607. This is generally regarded as a translation of the _Christus Triumphans_, but Greg, _Masques_, cxxiii, doubts this, and notes that ‘a modern reprint [1828] in the B. M. is not dramatic.’ The reprint is in fact a translation of the _De Christo Triumphante, Eiusdem Autoris Panegyricon_ appended to the Basle edition of the play. But possibly it does not represent the whole of Day’s work. The 1551 edition is given by Bahlmann, _Lat. Dr._ 107. According to S. L. Lee, in _D. N. B._, it only rests on the authority of Tanner. In 1551 Foxe was tutor to the children of Lord Surrey, who had been executed some years before. In 1555 he entered the printing office of Oporinus at Basle, and in 1564 that of John Day in London. The MS. of the play is _Lansd. MS._ 1073. It is an ‘Antichrist’ play, written under the influence of the _Pammachius_ (1538) of Thomas Kirchmaier or Naogeorgus (Bahlmann, _op. cit._ 71). A full analysis is given by Herford, 138.

Translation from Latin Neo-Moral.

27. †1530-40. _J. Palsgrave._ _Acolastus._

1540. Thomas Berthelet. Ioannis Palsgravi Londoniensis, ecphrasis Anglica in comoediam Acolasti. ¶ The Comedye of Acolastus translated into oure englysshe tongue, ... Interpreted by John Palsgraue.

This is a translation of the _Acolastus_ (1530) of Wilhelm de Volder, known in learning as Gnaphaeus or Fullonius, of the Hague (Bahlmann, _Lat. Dr._ 39). It is arranged for school use, with marginal notes on grammar, &c. The original play is the most important of the group dealing with the Prodigal Son motive: cf. Herford, 152.

Drama of Catholic Controversy.

28. 1553. _Respublica._

Printed by Collier, _Illustrations of Old English Literature_ (1866), vol. i, and Brandl, 281, from sixteenth-century MS. of Mr. Hudson Gurney of Keswick Hall, Norfolk, with the heading ‘A merye enterlude entitled Respublica, made in the yeare of our Lorde, 1553.’

The play is divided into Acts and Scenes, and is a ‘Christmas devise’ (prol. 6) by ‘boyes’ (prol. 39). The place-names are of London. The controversial tone is Catholic, and political, rather than theological. Brandl, lviii, finds the model in Lyndsay’s _Satyre_. Except for the Prologue (the Poet) all the characters are abstractions. Avarice, _alias_ Policy, is ‘the vice of the plaie.’

Dramas of Protestant Controversy.

29. 1538. _John Bale._ _God’s Promises._

30. 1538. _John Bale._ _John Baptist._

31. 1538. _John Bale._ _The Temptation._

32. 1538. _John Bale._ _The Three Laws._

33. ?1539, 1561. _John Bale._ _King John._

See s.v. Bale.

34. †1547-53. _R. Wever._ _Lusty Juventus._

[1549-69.] W. Copland. An Enterlude called lusty Iuuentus. Lyuely describing the frailtie of youth: of natur prone to vyce: by grace and good counsayll, traynable to vertue.—At end of play, ‘Finis, quod R. Wever.’

[1548-86.] A. Vele.

Copyright was entered on the Stationers’ Register by John King in 1560-1. There are modern reprints in Hawkins, vol. i, and Hazlitt-Dodsley, vol.