omething more of art and invention than the
Mysteries; in them virtues, vices and qualities were personified, and
something like a plot was frequently to be discovered. They were termed
Moralities because each had its moral, which was spoken at the end of the
piece by a person called the Doctor. {7} Much that has been said about
the moralities holds good with respect to the interludes. Indeed, for
some time dramatic pieces were called moralities and interludes
indifferently. In both there is a mixture of allegory and reality. The
latter interludes, however, display more of every-day life than was ever
observable in the moralities; and more closely approximate to modern
plays. Several writers of genius have written interludes, amongst whom
are the English Skelton and the Scottish Lindsay, the latter of whom
wrote eight pieces of that kind, the most celebrated of which is called
"The Puir Man and the Pardoner." Both of these writers flourished about
the same period, and made use of the interlude as a means of satirizing
the vices of the popish clergy. In the time of Charles the First the
interlude went much out of fashion in England; in fact, the play or
regular drama had superseded it. In Wales, however, it continued to the
beginning of the present century, when it yielded to the influence of
Methodism. Of all Welsh interlude composers Twm O'r Nant or Tom of the
Dingle was the most famous. Here follows the promised analysis of his
"Riches and Poverty."

The entire title of the interlude is to this effect. The two prime
opponents Riches and Poverty. A brief exposition of their contrary
effects on the world; with short and appropriate explanations of their
quality and substance according to the rule of the four elements, Water,
Fire, Earth, and Air.

First of all enter Fool, Sir Jemant Wamal, who in rather a foolish speech
tells the audience that they are about to hear a piece composed by Tom
the poet. Then appears Captain Riches, who makes a long speech about his
influence in the world and the general contempt in which Poverty is held;
he is, however, presently checked by the Fool, who tells him some home
truths, and asks him, among other questions, whether Solomon did not say
that it is not meet to despise a poor man, who conducts himself
rationally. Then appears Howel Tightbelly, the miser, who in capital
verse, with very considerable glee and exultation, gives an account of
his manifold rascalities. Th