"...the primary concern of the medieval playwright was to instruct his audience through dramatic entertainment on the stage." Preface, p. x.

"...we can no longer be superior or patronizing in our attitude to the medieval playwright. We can now honestly admire his blending of sacred and secular themes and his handling of the stage conventions by which he conveys these themes to the eyes and ears of his audience and still more to their imagination." Ibid, p.xi.

"The coalescence of religious and secular, Christian and pagan, traditions produced in the fifteenth century a vernacular religious drama with a strong infusion of humorous and popular elements." Introduction, p. xv.

"The morality [play] does not dramatize biblical persons and episodes, but personifies the good and bad qualities of Everyman and usually shows them in conflict. The pageant is a part of the whole cycle: it presents a phase in...