The Mase field Mystery Play

1UR. MASEFIELD has the courage of the Ages of -kVA- Faith. His poetry is still ringing in the ears of the modern Canterbury Pilgrims who watched his play from the nave of the Cathedral. The early Liturgical " Mysteries " were topical as well as scriptural, and cast more than a glimmer of light upon the life of the times. If the student of the future had no guide to the spiritual outlook of the present hour but what is afforded by Mr. Masefield's The Coming of Christ, he would yet know something about it. He would at least see how little joy his almost immeasurable gains and discoveries have brought to the God-hungry 'man of the first half of the twentieth century. The Shepherds of this latest mystery play are labouring men of to-day. His Magi are the rulers of this age, men of war, science and wealth. The scene opens in heaven, where a celestial company try to dissuade the " Anima Christi " from His purpose of coming to earth. Man, they declare, is an eternal disappointment. All signs of his betterment fail. " Man will not change for one voice crying Truth " : he is a creature " whose apathy is 'as evil as his energy " : his only lasting thoughts are of covetousness and fighting. But Christ casts aside their accusations. There have always been those who sought a way to God, and more will seek it " if I make it plain with my heart's blood." The eternal purpose is accomplished. Christ is born of a Virgin :— " So to the mindless

World's night of blindness There comes this kindness."

In the " Waiting East " appear the three Kings, among whom the wise man, Melchior, plays the most arresting part. Many eloquent lines are put into the mouths of the War-Lord and the King of Money. Mel- chior has given his life_ ". to find what IS beyond what seems." He has taken all philosophy and all science for his province, he has mastered the wisdom of the East and known." the madness of the West," but " the quietude and the unrest" have alike left his heart desolate :— " Then, in the dark in bitter pain. Wisdom that is not of the brain Will whisper and be dumb again."

He cries out in his distress :— 0 Marvellous Master, let me find Some link that will forever bind Our minds to an eternal Mind."

The Man of Blood, on the other hand, is a little too braggart. We find it difficult to believe in his remorse and his longings. He boasts of :— " My slaves, who buckle on my steel, And face to front and come to heel."

The Man of Great Possessions appeals to us more directly. To him death is indeed a fearful thing :-- " All the glory of bringing to market the things of my dreards, All the roar of my mills on the streams " will be over when the brain which created and achieved so much rots in the mould. He has heard of a Divine King who has come to earth " to heal this despair."

One of the finest things in the play is the chorus of the Magi :—

" The World is ours—with discontent. We have all things save hope ; we stare Into earth's secrets ; we invent New swiftnesses, lest we despair. Yet we have joy, because we may Still light upon that simple thing Under the eyes of every day, - Which is the secret of the King "

The audience sustains a slight intellectual shock in face of the Shepherds. The tradition of their innocence and simplicity is universal. Mr. Masefield conceives of them, of two of them at any rate, as. sophisticated work- ing men embittered by the War and confused by a half- digested education. They assert their atheism roundly. The believer among them is a naturally pious, but rather hardLbitten, sergeant, who would prove his faith by reciting his hairbreadth escapes. Yet even the most earthy of these men dreams of some kind of Utopia. Their very discontent makes them eager listeners for better news, and since they also follow the Star we suppose them not deaf to the refrain of the celestial choir " The Comfort of God which sings and swells

• In the human heart like a peal of bells."

Wise men and workmen meet in the Manger round a litter upon which appear the Holy Mother and Child, and with profound insight the poet puts little praise into the mouths of the Shepherds. They have no frankin- cense, their first sacrifice is humane. One will make a cradle for the Holy Child, another says :— " We have a room, down home at croft

Where you'd lie snugger, King, than here."

They take up the litter of the Mother and Child and bear it away, singing " The Song of the Coming of Christ." This is taken up jy full choir and organ and gathers together the scattered thoughts of the play with wonderful effect :—

In mire he trudges, In grime he drudges, In blindness judges, In darkness gropes. His bitter measure Yields little pleasure ; For only treasure He has his hopes. The hope that sailing When winds are failing Above the railing A Coast may rise : The thought that Glory Is not a Story But Heaven o'er ye And watching eyes." " By weary stages The old World ages ; By blood, by rages, By pain-sown seeds."

The bard way of the working-man is not for an instant slurred :—

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The emotional effect of the poem reaches its height in the first three lines of the penultimate verse :- " Our God is wearing Man's flesh and bearing

Man's cares through caring."

Finally, when actors and processions have grouped them- selves and gone, two trumpeters blow a blast and the audience streams out-of the Cathedral silent, spellbound. What are they thinking of the performance they have seen ? It would be a bold man who could trust his critical judgment at such a moment.

The impressions made by the vast Cathedral filled with music, just before dark, " in the green fever of the Spring," overwhelms the impressions created by the very beautiful scenes, enacted on the great steps leading to the quire. They appear in the memory as a vision of a stained glass window illuminated by a low sun. How much of our delight is due to the poet, how much to the musician, how much to the place ? On the spur of the moment it is impossible to say.

C. To WNSEND.