into a far district as soon as the ceremony is over, nor does he permit
him to return to Mary's side until long after the Annunciation.

'The Adoration of the Magi' (_Scene 17_) introduces us to a very notable
person, no other than Herod, the model of each 'robustious periwig-pated
fellow' who on the stage would 'tear a passion to tatters, to very
rags', and so out-herod Herod. He is of old standing, a veteran of the
Church Epiphany plays, and has already learnt 'to split the ears of the
groundlings' with the stentorian sound of his pompous rhetoric. Hear him
declaim:

As a lord in ryalté in non regyon so ryche,
And rulere of alle remys[11], I ryde in ryal aray;
Ther is no lord of lond in lordchep to me lyche,
Non lofflyere, non lofsumere[12],--evyr lestyng is my lay:
Of bewté and of boldnes I bere evermore the belle;
Of mayn and of myght I master every man;
I dynge with my dowtynes the devyl down to helle,
ffor bothe of hevyn and of herthe I am kynge sertayn.

In _Scene 19_ we hear him issuing his cruel order for the killing of the
children. But when the foul deed is done there await the murderer two
kings whom he cannot slay, Death and the Devil. A banquet is in full
swing, Herod's officers are about him, the customary rant and bombast is
on his lips when those two steal in. 'While the trumpets are sounding,
Death slays Herod and his two soldiers suddenly, and the Devil receives
them'--so runs the terse Latin stage-direction.

Of the Devil we have more than enough in _Scene 22_, for it opens with
an infernal council, Sathanas, Belyalle, and Belsabub debating the best