The history of English poetry: from the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the eighteenth century. To which are prefixed, two dissertations. ... By Thomas Warton, ... [pt.1]

SECT. VI.

ALTHOUGH much poetry began to be written about the reign of Edward the second, yet I have found only one English poet of that reign whose name has de|scended to posterity a 1.1. This is Adam Davy or Davie. He may be placed about the year 1312. I can collect no cir|cumstances of his life, but that he was marshall of Strat|ford-le-bow near London b 1.2. He has left several poems never printed, which are almost as forgotten as his name. Only one manuscript of these pieces now remains, which seems to be coeval with it's author c 1.3. They are VISIONS, THE BAT|TELL OF JERUSALEM, THE LEGEND OF SAINT ALEXIUS, SCRIPTURE HISTORIES, OF FIFTEEN TOKNES BEFORE THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT, LAMENTATIONS OF SOULS, and THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER d 1.4.

In the VISIONS, which are of the religious kind, Adam Davie draws this picture of Edward the second standing be|fore the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster abbey at his coronation. The lines have a stre••gth arising from simplicity.

To our Lorde Jeshu Crist in heven Iche to day shawe myne sweven e 1.5,

That iche mottef 1.6 in one nycht, Of a knycht of mychel mycht: His name isg 1.7 yhote syr Edward the kyng, Prince of Wales Engelonde the fair thynge; Me mott that he was armid wele, Bothe with yrne and with stele, And on his helme that was of stel, A coroune of gold bicom him wel. Bifore the shryne of Seint Edward he stood, Myd glad chere and myld of mood h 1.8.

Most of these Visions are compliments to the king. Our poet then proceeds thus:

Another suevene me mette on a twef••it i 1.9 Bifore the fest of Alhalewen of that ilke knigt, His name is nempnedk 1.10 hure bifore, Blissed be the time that he was bore, &c. Of Syr Edward oure derworthl 1.11 kyng Iche mette of him anothere faire metyng, &c. Me thought he wod upon an asse, And that ich take God to witnesse; A wondur he was in a mantell gray, Toward Rome he nomm 1.12 his way, Upon his hevede sate a gray hure, It semed him wel a mesure; He wood withouten hose and sho, His wonen was not so to do; His shankes semeden al bloodrede, Myne herte wopn 1.13 for grete drede; As a pylgrym he rood to Rome, And thider he com wel swithe sone.

The thrid suevene me mette a nigt Rigt of that derworth knight: On wednysday a nigt it was Next the dai of seint Lucie bifore Christenmasse, &c. Me thougth that ich was at Rome, And thider iche come swithe sone, The pope and syr Edward our kyng Botheo 1.14 hy hadde a new dublyng, &c. Thus Crist ful of grace Graunte our kyng in every place Maistrie of his witherwines And of al wicked Sarasynes. Me met a suevene one worthigp 1.15 a nigth Of that ilche derworthi knigth, God iche it shewe and to witnesse take And so shilde me fro, &c. Into a chapel I cum of vre lefdy q 1.16, Jhe Crist her lever 1.17 son stod by, On rods 1.18 he was an loveliche mon, Al thilke that on rode was don He unneledt 1.19 his honden two, &c. Adam the marchal of Strattford atte Bowe Wel swithe wide his name is iknowe He himself mette this metyng, To witnesse he taketh Jhu hevene kynge, On wedenyssdayw 1.20 in clene leinte u 1.21 A voyce me bede I schulde nougt feinte, Of the suevenes that her ben write I shulde swithe donx 1.22 my lord kyng to wite. The thursday next the beryngy 1.23 of our lefdy Me thougth an aungel com syr Edward by, &c.

Iche tell you forsoth withoutten les z 1.24, Als God of hevene maide Marie to moder ches a 1.25, The aungell com to me Adam Davie and seide Bot••thou Adam shewe this thee worthe wel yvel mede, &c. Whoso wil speke myd me Adam the marchal In Stretforde bowe he is yknown and over al, Iche ne schewe nougt this for to have mede Bot for God almigtties drede.

There is a very old prose romance, both in French and Italian, on the subject of the Destruction of Jerusalem b 1.26. It is translated from a Latin work, in five books, very popular in the middle ages, entitled, HEGESIPPI de Bello Judaico et Excidio Urbis Hierosolymitanae Libri quinque. This is a licen|tious paraphrase of a part of Josephus's Jewish history, made about the fourth century: and the name Hegesippus is most probably corrupted from Josephus, perhaps also called Josippus. The paraphrast is supposed to be Ambrose of Milan, who flourished in the reign of Theodosius c 1.27. On the subject of Vespasian's siege of Jerusalem, as related in this book, our poet Adam Davie has left a poem entitled the BATTELL OF JERUSALEM d 1.28. It begin thus.

Listeneth all that beth alyve, Both cristen men and wyve: I wol you telle of a wondur cas, How Jhesu Crist bihated was, Of the Jewes felle and kene, That was on him sithe ysene, Gospelles I drawe to witnesse Of this matter more or lesse,e 1.29 &c.

In the course of the story, Pilate challenges our Lord to single combat. This subject will occur again.

Davie's LEGEND OF SAINT ALEXIUS THE CONFESSOR, SON OF EUPHEMIUS, is translated from Latin, and begins thus:

All that willen here in ryme, Howe gode men in olde tyme, Loveden God almigth; That weren riche, of grete valoure, Kynges sones and emperoure Of bodies strong and ligth; Ʒee habbeth yherde ofte in geste, Of holi men maken feste Both day and nigth, For to have the joye in hevene (With aungells song, and merry stevene,) The which is brode and brigth: To you all heige and lowe The rigth sothe to biknowe Ʒour soules for to save, &c f 1.30.

Our author's SCRIPTURE HISTORIES want the beginning. Here they begin with Joseph, and end with Daniel.

Ffor thritti pensg 1.31 thei sold that childe The seller higth Judas, h 1.32 Itho Ruben com him and myssed him Ffor ynow he was i 1.33.

His FIFTEEN TOKNESk 1.34 BEFORE THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, are taken from the prophet Jeremiah.

The first signe thar ageins, as our lord hymselfe sede, Hungere schal on erthe be, trecherie, and falshede, Batteles, and littell love, sekenesse and haterede, And the erthe schal quaken that vche man schal ydrede: The mone schal turne to blood, the sunne to derkhede l 1.35, &c.

Another of Davie's poems may be called the LAMENTA|TION OF SOULS. But the subject is properly a congratulation of Christ's advent, and the lamentation, of the souls of the fathers remaining in limbo, for his delay.

Off joye and blisse is my song care to bileve m 1.36, And to here hym among that altour soroug shal reve, Ycome he is that swete dewe, that swete hony drope, The kyng of alle kynges to whom is our hope: Becom he is our brother, whar was he so long? He it is and no other, that bougth us so strong: Our brother we mowen 1.37 hym clepe wel o 1.38, so seith hymself ilome p 1.39.

My readers will be perhaps surprised to find our language improve so slowly, and will probably think, that Adam Davie writes in a less intelligible phrase than many more antient bards already cited. His obscurity however arises in great

measure from obsolete spelling, a mark of antiquity which I have here observed in exact conformity to a manuscript of the age of Edward the second; and which in the poetry of his predecessors, especially the minstrell-pieces, has been often effaced by multiplication of copies, and other causes. In the mean time it should be remarked, that the capricious peculiarities and even ignorance of transcribers, often oc|casion an obscurity, which is not to be imputed either to the author or his age q 1.40.

But Davie's capital poem is the LIFE OF ALEXANDER, which deserves to be published entire on many accounts. It seems to be founded chiefly on Simeon Seth's romance above|mentioned; but many passages are also copied from the French ROMAN D' ALEXANDRE, a poem in our author's age perhaps equally popular both in England and France. It is a work of considerable length r 1.41. I will first give some ex|tracts from the Prologue.

Divers in this myddel erde To lewed men ands 1.42 lered, &c. Natheles wel fele and fulle Bethe ifound in hart and skulle, That hadden lever a rybaudye, Then here of god either seint Marye; Either to drynke a copful ale, Than to heren any gode tale: Swiche ich wolde weren out bishet For certeynlich it were nett For hy ne habbeth wilbe ich woot wel Bot in the got and the barrel, &c. t 1.43

Adam Davie thus describes a splendid procession made by Olympias.

In thei tyme faire and jalyf u 1.44. Olympias that fayre wyfe, Wolden make a riche fest Of knightes and lefdyesw 1.45 honest, Of burges and of jugelors And of men of vch mesters x 1.46, For mon seth by north and south y 1.47 Wymen ..... Mychalz 1.48 she desireth to shewe hire body, Her fayre hare, her face rody a 1.49, To have leesb 1.50 and al praising, And al is folye by heven king. She has marshales and knyttes ..... to ride and ryttes, And levadyes and demosile Which ham .... thousands fele, In fayre attyre in dyvers ... c 1.51. Many thar roodd 1.52 in rich wise. So dude the dame Olympias Forto shawe hire gentyll face. A mule also, whyte soe 1.53 mylke, With sadel of gold, sambuc of sylke, Was ybrought to the quene And mony bell of sylver shene, Yfastened on orfreysf 1.54 of mounde That hangen nere downe to grounde:

Fourth she ferdg 1.55 myd her route, A thousand lefydes of rych soute h 1.56. A sperweki 1.57 that was honest k 1.58•• So sat on the lefdye's ••yst: Ffoure trompes tofornel 1.59 hire blewe; Many men that day hire knewe. A hundred thousand, and eke moo, Alle alontonm 1.60 hire untoo. All the towne bihongedn 1.61 was Agenso 1.62 the lefdy Olympias p 1.63: Orgues, chymbes, vche maner glee q 1.64, Was drynan ayen that levady fre, Wythoutin the tounis murey r 1.65 Was mered vche maner pley s 1.66, Thar was knyttes tornaying, Thar was maydens karoling, Thar was champions skirmynge t 1.67, ..... also wrestlynge. Of lyons chace, and bare bayting, A bay of bore u 1.68, of bole slayting w 1.69. Al the city was byhonge With ryche samytesx 1.70 and pellesy 1.71 longe. Dame Olympias, myd this prees z 1.72, Sangle rooda 1.73 al mantelless.—

Hire yalewe harb 1.74 was fayre attired Mid riche strenge of golde wyred, It helydc 1.75 hire abouten al To hire gentil myddle smal. Bryght and shine was hir face d 1.76 Everie fairehedee 1.77 in hir was f 1.78.

Much in the same strain the marriage of Cleopatras is described.

There was many a blithe grome: Of olive and of rugeg 1.79 floures Weren ystrewed halle and boures: Wyth samytes and baudekyns Weren curtayned the gardyns. All the innes of the ton Hadden litel foyson h 1.80, That day that comin Cleopatras, So michel people with hir was. She rode on a mule white so mylke, Her harneys were gold-beaten sylke:

The prince hir lad of Sandas, And of Sydoyne Sir Jonachas. Ten thousand barons hir come myde, And to chirche with hir ryde. Yspoused she is and sett on deys: Nowe gynneth gestes of grete nobleys: At the fest was harpyng And pipyng and tabouryng i 1.81.

We have frequent opportunities of observing, how the poets of these times engraft the manners of chivalry on an|tient classical history. In the following lines Alexander's edu|cation is like that of Sir Tristram. He is taught tilting, hunting, and hawking.

Now can Alexander of skirmyng, And of stedes derayning, Upon stedes of justyng, And witte swordes turneying, Of assayling and defendyng: In green wood and of huntyng: And of ryver of haukyng k 1.82: Of battaile and of alle thyng.

In another place Alexander is mounted on a steed of Nar|bone; and amid the solemnities of a great feast, rides through the hall to the high table. This was no uncommon practice in the ages of chivalry l 1.83.

On a stede of Narabone, He dassheth forth upon thi londe, The ryche coroune on hys honde, Of Nicholas that he wan: Beside hym rydeth mony a gentil man, To the paleys he comethe ryde, And fyndeth this feste and all this pryde; Fforth good Alisaundre sauns stable Righth unto the hith table m 1.84.

His horse Bucephalus, who even in classical fiction is a horse of romance, is thus described.

An horne in the forehead armyd ward That wolde perce a shelde hard.

To which these lines may be added.

Alisaunder arisen is, And in his deys sitteth ywys: His dukes and barons sauns doute Stondeth and sitteth him aboute, &c n 1.85.

The two following extracts are in a softer strain, and not inelegant for the rude simplicity of the times.

Mery is the blast of the stynoure o 1.86, Mery is the touchyng of the harpoure p 1.87:

Sweete is the smellynge of the flower, Sweete it is in maydens bower: Appel sweete beneth faire col••ure q 1.88.

Again,

In tyme of May the nightingale In wood maketh mery gale, So don the foules grete and smale, Sum in hylles and sum in dale r 1.89.

Much the same vernal delights, cloathed in a similar style, with the addition of knights turneying and maidens dancing, invite king Philip on a progress; who is entertained on the road with hearing tales of antient heroes.

Mery tyme yt is in May The foules syngeth her lay, The knightes loveth to tournay; Maydens do dauncen and they play, The kyng ferth rydeth his journay, Now hereth gests of grete noblay s 1.90.

Our author thus describes a battle t 1.91.

Alisaundre tofore is ryde, And many gentill a knigth hym myde; As for to gader his meigne free, He abideth under a tree: Ffourty thousande of chyvalerie He taketh in his compaignye, He dassheth hym than fast forthward, And the other cometh afterward. He seeth his knigttes in meschief, He taketh it gretlich a greef,

He takes Bultyphalu 1.92 by thi side, So as a swalewe he gynneth forth glide, A duke of Perce sone he mett And with his launce he hym grett. He perceth his breny, cleveth his sheldè, The herte tokeneth the yrnè The duke fel downe to the grounde, And starf quickly in that stounde: Alisaunder aloud than seide, Other tol never ich ne paiede, Ʒut ʒee schullen of myne paie, Or ich gon mor assaie. Another launce in honde he hent Again the prince of Tyre he went He .... hym thorow the brest and thare w 1.93 And out of sadel and crouthe hym bare, And I sigge for soothe thyng He braak his neck in the fallyng. ...... with mychell wonder, Antiochus hadde hym under, And with swerd wolde his heved From his body habbe yreved: He seig Alisaundre the gode gome, Towardes hym swithe come, He lete his pray, and flew on hors, Ffor to save his owen cors: Antiochus on stede lep, Of none woundes ne tok he kep, And eke he had foure forde All ymade with speres ord x 1.94. Tholomeus and alle his felawen y 1.95 Of this socour so weren welfawen,

Alysaunder made a cry hardy "Ore tost aby aby." Then the knigttes of Achaye Justed with them of Arabye, Thooz 1.96 of Rome with hem of Mede Many londe ..... Egipte justed with hem of Tyre, Simple knigtts with riche syre: Ther nas foregift ne forberyng Bitwene vavasourea 1.97 ne kyng; To fore men migtten and by hynde Cuntecke seke and cunteckeb 1.98 fynde. With Perciens fougtten the Gregeys* 1.99, Ther wos cry and gret honteys d 1.100. They kiddene 1.101 that they weren mice They broken speres alto slice. Ther migth knigth fynde his pere, Ther lesf 1.102 many his destrere g 1.103: Ther was quyk in litell thrawe h 1.104, Many gentill knigth yslawe: Many arme, many heved i 1.105 Some from the body reved: Many gentill lavedy k 1.106 Ther les quyk her amy l 1.107. Ther was many maym yled m 1.108, Many fair pensel bibled n 1.109: Ther was swerdes liklakyng o 1.110, There was speres bathing p 1.111 Both kynges ther saunz doute Beeth in dassht with al her route.

..... speke The other his harmes for to wreke. Many londes neir and ferre Lesen her lord in that werre. ..... quaked of her rydyng, The wedarq 1.112 thicked of her cryeyng: The blode of hem that weren yslawe Ran by floods to the lowe, &c.

I have already mentioned Alexander's miraculous horn.

He blewe in horne quyk sans doute, His folk hym swither 1.113 aboute: And hem he said with voice clere Iche bidde frendes that ge ine here Alisaunder is comen in this londe With strong knittes with migty honde, &c.

Alexander's adventures in the deserts among the Gymno|sophists, and in Inde, are not omitted. The authors whom he quotes for his vouchers, shew the reading and ideas of the times s 1.114.

Tho Alisaunder went thoroug desert, Many wonders he seig apert t 1.115, Whiche he dude wel descryve, By gode clerkes in her lyve; By Aristotle his maistr that was, Beeter clerk sithen non nas; He was with him, and sew and wroot, All thise wondre god it woot: Salomon that al the world thoroug yede In soothe witnesse held hym myde.

Ysidreu 1.116 also that was so wys In his boke telleth this: Maister Eustroge bereth hym witnesse, Of the wondres more and lesse. Seynt Jerome gu schullen ywyte Them hath also in book ywryte: And Magestene, the gode clerk, Hath made therof mychel werk, ... that was of gode memorie It sheweth al in his boke of storie: And also Pompie w 1.117, of Rome lorde, .... writen everie worde. Bie heldeth me thareof no fynder x 1.118•• Her bokes ben my shewer: And the Lyf of Alysaunder Of whom fleig so riche sklaunder. Gif gee willeth give listnyng, Nowe gee shullen here gode thyng. In somers tyde the daye is long, Foules syngeth and maketh song: Kyng Alysaunder ywent is, With dukes, erles, and folk of pris, With many knigths, and douty men, Toward the city of Fa .... aen; After kyng Porus, that floweny 1.119 was Into the citee of Bandas, He woulde wende thorough desert This wonders to sene apert, Gromyes he nomez 1.120 of the londe, Ffyve thousand, I understonde,

That hem shulden lede ryth a 1.121 Thoroug deserts, by day and nyth. The Sy .. res loveden the kyng nougth, And wolden have him bicaugth. Thii ledden hym therefore, als I fynde, In the straungest peril of Ynde: As so iche fynd in thi book Thii weren asshreynt in her crook. Now rideth Alysaunder with his oost, With mychel pryde and mychel boost; As ar hii comen to a castel .. ton. I schullen speken another lesson. Lordynges, also I fynde At Mede so bigynneth Ynde, Fforsothe ich woot it stretcheth ferrest Of all the londes in the Est And oth theb 1.122 southhalf sikerlyk To the see of Affryk, And the north half to a mountayne That is ycleped Caucasayne c 1.123: Fforsothe ʒee shullen undirstonde, Twyes is somer in that londe, And nevermore wynter, ne chele d 1.124, That lond is ful of all wele. Twyes hii gaderen fruyt there And wyne and corne in one yere. In the londe also I fynd of Ynde Bene cites fyve-thousynd, Withouten ydles, and castelis, And borugh tounnes swithe feles e 1.125. In the londe of Ynde thou migth lere Vyve thousand folk of selcouthf 1.126 manere

That ther non is other ylyche Bie holde thou it nougth ferlyche, And bi that thou understa••de the gestes, Both of men and of bestes, &c.

Edward the second is said to have carried with him to the siege of Stirling castle, in Scotland, a poet named Robert Baston. He was a Carmelite friar of Scarborough; and the king intended that Baston, being an eye-witness of the ex|pedition, should celebrate his conquest of Scotland in verse. Hollingshead, an historian not often remarkable for pene|tration, mentions this circumstance as a singular proof of Edward's presumption and confidence in his undertaking against Scotland: but a poet seems to have been a stated officer in the royal retinue when the king went to war g 1.127. Baston, however, appears to have been chiefly a Latin poet, and therefore does not properly fall into our series. At least his poem on the siege of Striveling castle is written in monkish Latin hexameters h 1.128: and our royal bard being taken prisoner in the expedition, was compelled by the Scotch to write a panegyric, for his ransom, on Robert Brus, which is composed in the same style and language i 1.129. Bale men|tions his Poemata, et Rhythmi, Tragaediae et Comoediae vul|gares k 1.130. Some of these indeed appear to have been written in English: but no English pieces of t••is author now re|main. In the mean time, the bare existence of dramatic compositions in England at this period, even if written in

the Latin tongue, deserve notice in investigating the progress of our poetry. For the same reason I must not pass over a Latin piece, called a comedy, written in this reign, perhaps by Peter Babyon; who by Bale is styled an admirable rheto|rician and poet, and flourished about the year 1317. This comedy is thus entitled in the Bodleian manuscript, De Ba|bione et Croceo domino Babionis et Viola filias••ra Babionis quam Croceus duxit invito Babione, et Pecula uxore Babionis et Fodio suo, &c l 1.131. It is written in long and short Latin verses, without any appearance of dialogue. In what manner, if ever, this piece was represented theatrically, cannot easily be discovered or ascertained. Unless we suppose it to have been recited by one or more of the characters concerned, at some public entertainment. The story is in Gower's CON|FESSIO AMANTIS. Whether Gower had it from this per|formance I will not enquire. It appears at least that he took it from some previous book.

I find writte of Babio, Which had a love at his menage, Ther was no fairer of hir age, And hight Viola by name, &c. And had affaited to his hande His servant, the which Spodius Was hote, &c. A fresh a free and friendly man, &c. Which Croceus by name hight, &c m 1.132.

In the mean time it seems most probable, that this piece has been attributed to Peter Babyon, on account of the likeness of the name BABIO, especially as he is a ridiculous character. On the whole, there is nothing dramatic in the structure of this nominal comedy; and it has certainly no claim to that title, only as it contains a familiar and comic story carried

on with much scurrilous satire intended to raise mirth. But it was not uncommon to call any short poem, not serious or tragic, a comedy. In the Bodleian manuscript, which com|prehends Babyon's poem just mentioned, there follows CO|MEDIA DE GETA: this is in Latin long and short verses n 1.133, and has no marks of dialogue o 1.134. In the library of Corpus Christi college at Cambridge, is a piece entitled, COMEDIA ad monasterium de Hulme ordinis S. Benedicti Dioces. Norwic. directa ad Reformationem sequentem, cujus data est primo die Sep|tembris sub anno Christi 1477, et a morte Joannis Fastolfe militis eorum benefactorisp 1.135 precipui 17, in cujus monasterii ecclesia huma|tur q 1.136. This is nothing more than a satyrical ballad in Latin; yet some allegorical personages are introduced, which how|ever are in no respect accommodated to scenical representa|tion. About the reign of Edward the fourth, one Edward Watson, a scholar in grammar at Oxford, is permitted to proceed to a degree in that faculty, on condition that within two years he would write one hundred verses in praise of the university, and also compose a COMEDY r 1.137. The nature and subject of Dante's COMEDIES, as they are styled, is well known. The comedies ascribed to Chaucer are probably his Canterbury tales. We learn from Chaucer's own words, that tragic tales were called TRAGEDIES. In the Prologue to the MONKES TALE.

TRAGEDY is to tell a certaine story, As old bokis makin ofte memory,

Of hem that stode in grete prosperite, And be fallen out of her high degree, &c s 1.138.

Some of these, the Monke adds, were written in prose, others in metre. Afterwards follow many tragical narratives: of which he says,

TRAGIDIES ••irst wol I tell Of which I have an hundred in my cell.

Lidgate further confirms what is here said with regard to comedy as well as tragedy.

My maister Chaucer with fresh COMEDIES, Is dead, alas! chief poet of Britaine: That whilom made ful piteous TRAGEDIES t 1.139.

The stories in the MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES are called TRAGEDIES, so late as the sixteenth century u 1.140. Bale calls his play, or MYSTERY, of GOD'S PROMISES, a TRAGEDY, which appeared about the year 1538.

I must however observe here, that dramatic entertain|ments, representing the lives of saints and the most emi|nent scriptural stories, were known in England for more than two centuries before the reign of Edward the second. These spectacles they commonly styled MIRACLES. I have

already mentioned the play of saint Catharine, acted at Dun|stable about the year 1110 x 1.141. William Fitz-Stephen, a wri|ter of the twelfth century, in his DESCRIPTION of LONDON, relates that,

"London, for its theatrical exhibitions, has holy plays, or the representation of miracles wrought by confessors, and of the sufferings of martyrs y 1.142."

These pieces must have been in high vogue at our present period; for Matthew Paris, who wrote about the year 1240, says that they were such as

"MIRACULA VULGARITER APPELLA|MUS z 1.143."

And we learn from Chaucer, that in his time PLAYS OF MIRACLES were the common resort of idle gossips in Lent.

Therefore made I my visitations, To prechings eke and to pilgrimagis, To PLAYS of MIRACLES, and mariagis, &c a 1.144.

This is the genial WIFE OF BATH, who amuses herself with these fashionable diversions, while her husband is ab|sent in London, during the holy season of Lent. And in PIERCE PLOWMAN'S CREDE, a piece perhaps prior to Chau|cer, a friar Minorite mentions these MIRACLES as not less frequented than markets or taverns.

We haunten no tavernes, ne hobelen abouten, Att markets and MIRACLES we medeley us never b 1.145.

Among the plays usually represented by the guild of Cor|pus Christi at Cambridge, on that festival, LUDUS FILIORUM

ISRAELIS was acted in the year 1355 c 1.146. Our drama seems hitherto to have been almost entirely confined to religious subjects, and these plays were nothing more than an ap|pendage to the specious and mechanical devotion of the times. I do not find expressly, that any play on a profane subject, either tragic or comic, had as yet been exhibited in England. Our very early ancestors scarce knew any other history than that of their religion. Even on such an occa|sion as the triumphant entry of a king or queen into the city of London, or other places, the pageants were almost entirely scriptural d 1.147. Yet I must observe, that an article in one of the pipe-rolls, perhaps of the reign of king John, and con|sequently about the year 1200, seems to place the rudiments of histrionic exhibition, I mean of general subjects, at a much higher period among us than is commonly imagined. It is in these words.

"Nicola uxor Gerardi de Canvill, reddit computum de centum marcis pro maritanda Matildi filia sua cuicunque voluerit, exceptis MIMICIS regis e 1.148." — "Ni|cola, wife of Gerard of Canville, accounts to the king for one hundred marks for the privilege of marrying his

daughter Maud to whatever person she pleases, the king's MIMICS excepted."

Whether or no MIMICI REGIS are here a sort of players kept in the king's houshold for diverting the court at stated seasons, at least with performances of mimicry and masquerade, or whether they may not strictly imply MINSTRELLS, I cannot indeed determine. Yet we may remark, that MIMICUS is never used for MIMUS, that cer|tain theatrical entertainments called mascarades, as we shall see below, were very antient among the French, and that these MIMICI appear, by the context of this article, to have been persons of no very respectable character f 1.149. I likewise find in the wardrobe-rolls of Edward the third, in the year 1348, an account of the dresses, ad faciendum LUDOS domini regis ad ffestum Natalis domini celebratos apud Guldeford, for fur|nishing the plays or sports of the king, held in the castle of Guildford at the feast of Christmas g 1.150. In these LUDI, says my record, were expended eighty tunics of buckram of various colours, forty-two visours of various similitudes, that is, fourteen of the faces of women, fourteen of the faces of men with beards, fourteen of heads of angels, made with silver; twenty-eight crests h 1.151, fourteen mantles embroidered with heads of dragons: fourteen white tunics wrought with heads and wings of peacocks, fourteen heads of swans with wings, fourteen tunics painted with eyes of peacocks, four|teen tunics of English linen painted, and as many tunics embroidered with stars of gold and silver i 1.152. In the rolls of

the wardrobe of king Richard the second, in the year 1391, there is also an entry which seems to point out a sport of much the same nature.

"Pro xxi coifs de tela linea pro hominibus de lege contrafactis pro LUDO r••gis tempore na|talis domini anno xii k 1.153."

That is,

"for twenty-one linen coifs for counterfeiting men of the law in the king's play at Christmas."

It will be sufficient to add here on the last record, that the serjeants at law at their creation, antiently wore a cap of linen, lawn, or silk, tied under the chin: this was to distinguish them from the clergy who had the tonsure. Whether in both these instances we are to understand a dumb shew, or a dramatic interlude with speeches, I leave to the examination of those who are professedly making enquiries into the ••history of our stage from its rudest origin. But that plays on general subjects were no uncommon mode of entertainment in the royal palaces of England, at least at the commencement of the fifteenth century, may be collected from an old memoir of shews and ceremonies exhibited at Christmas, in the reign of Henry the seventh, in the palace of Westminster. It is in the year 1489.

"This cristmas I saw no disguysings, and but right few PLAYS. But ther was an abbot of Misrule, that made much sport, and did right well his office."

And again,

"At nyght the kynge, the qweene, and my ladye the kynges moder, cam into the Whitehall, and ther hard a PLAY l 1.154."

As to the religious dramas, it was customary to perform this species of play on holy festivals in or about the churches. In the register of William of Wykeham, bishop of Win|chester, under the year 1384, an episcopal injunction is re|cited, against the exhibition of SPECTACULA in the ce|metery of his cathedral m 1.155. Whether or no these were dra|matic SPECTACLES, I do not pretend to decide. In several of our old scriptural plays, we see some of the scenes di|rected to be represented cum cantu et organis, a common rubric in the missal. That is, because they were performed in a church where the choir assisted. There is a curious passage in Lambarde's Topographical Dictionary written about the year 1570, much to our purpose, which I am therefore tempted to transcribe n 1.156.

"In the dayes of ceremonial reli|gion, they used at Wytney (in Oxfordshire) to set fourthe yearly in maner of a shew, or interlude, the resurrection of our Lord, &c. For the which purposes, and the more lyvely heareby to exhibite to the eye the hole action of the resurrection, the priestes garnished out certain smalle puppettes, representing the persons of Christe, the watch|men, Marie, and others; amongest the which, one bare the parte of a wakinge watchman, who espiinge Christe to arise, made a continual noyce, like to the sound that is caused by the metynge of two styckes, and was thereof commonly called Jack Snacker of Wytney. The like toye I myself, beinge then a childe, once sawe in Poule's churche

at London, at a feast of Whitsuntyde; wheare the comynge downe of the Holy Gost was set forthe by a white pigion, that was let to fly out of a hole that yet is to be sene in the mydst of the roofe of the greate ile, and by a longe censer which descendinge out of the same place almost to the verie grounde, was swinged up and downe at suche a lengthe, that it reached with thone swepe almost to the west-gate of the churche, and with the other to the quyre staires of the same; breathinge out over the whole churche and companie a most pleasant per|fume of such swete thinges as burned therein. With the like doome shewes also, they used everie where to furnish sondrye parts of their church service, as by their specta|cles of the nativitie, passion, and ascension, &c."

This practice of acting plays in churches, was at last grown to such an enormity, and attended with such inconve|nient consequences, that in the reign of Henry the ••ighth, Bonner, bishop of London, issued a proclamation to the clergy of his diocese, dated 1542, prohibiting

"all maner of common plays, games, or interludes to be played, set forth, or declared, within their churches, chapels, &c o 1.157."

This fashion seems to have remained even after the Re|formation, and when perhaps profane stories had taken place of religious p 1.158. Archbishop Grindal, in the year 1563, re|monstrated against the danger of interludes: complaining that players

"did especially on holy days, set up bills in|viting to their play q 1.159."

From this ecclesiastical source of the modern drama, plays continued to be acted on sundays so late as the reign of Elizabeth, and even till that of Charles

the first, by the choristers or singing-boys of Saint Paul's cathedral in London, and of the royal chapel.

It is certain, that these MIRACLE-PLAYS were the first of our dramatic exhibitions. But as these pieces frequently re|quired the introduction of allegorical characters, such as Charity, Sin, Death, Hope, Faith, or the like, and as the common poetry of the times, especially among the French, began to deal much in allegory, at length plays were formed entirely consisting of such personifications. These were called MORALITIES. The miracle-plays, or MYSTERIES, were to|tally destitute of invention or plan: they tamely represented stories according to the letter of scripture, or the respective legend. But the MORALITIES indicate dawnings of the dra|matic art: they contain some rudiments of a plot, and even attempt to delineate characters, and to paint manners. From hence the gradual transition to real historical person|ages was natural and obvious. It may be also observed, that many licentious pleasantries were sometimes introduced in these religious representations. This might imperceptibly lead the way to subjects entirely profane, and to comedy, and perhaps earlier than is imagined. In ar 1.160 Mystery of the MASSACRE OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, part of the subject of a sacred drama given by the English fathers at the famous council of Constance, in the year 1417 s 1.161, a low buffoon of Herod's court is introduced, desiring of his lord to be dubbed a knight, that he might be properly qualified to go on the adventure of killing the mothers of the children of Bethle|hem. This tragical business is treated with the most ridi|culous levity. The good women of Bethlehem attack our ••night-errant with their spinning-wheels, break his head with their distaffs, abuse him as a coward and a disgrace to chivalry, and send him home to Herod as a recreant cham|pion with much ignominy. It is in an enlightened age only

that subjects of scripture history would be supported with proper dignity. But then an enlightened age would not have chosen such subjects for theatrical exhibition. It is certain that our ancestors intended no sort of impiety by these monstrous and unnatural mixtures. Neither the writers nor the spectators saw the impropriety, nor paid a separate attention to the comic and the srious part of these motley scenes; at least they were persuaded that the solemnity of the subject covered or excused all incongruities. They had no just idea of decorum, consequently but little sense of the ri|diculous: what appears to us to be the highest burlesque, on them would have made no sort of impression. We must not wonder at this, in an age when courage, devotion, and ignorance, composed the character of European manners; when the knight going to a tournament, first invoked his God, then his mistress, and afterwards proceeded with a safe conscience and great resolution to engage his antagonist. In these Mysteries I have sometimes seen gross and open ob|scenities. In a play of the Old and New Testament t 1.162, Adam and Eve are both exhibited on the stage naked, and conversing about

their nakedness: this very pertinently introduces the next scene, in which they have coverings of fig-leaves. This extraor|dinary spectacle was beheld by a numerous assembly of both sexes with great composure: they had the authority of scrip|ture for such a representation, and they gave matters just as they found them in the third chapter of Genesis. It would have been absolute heresy to have departed from the sacred text in personating the primitive appearance of our first parents, whom the spectators so nearly resembled in sim|plicity: and if this had not been the case, the dramatists were ignorant what to reject and what to retain.

In the mean time, profane dramas seem to have been known in France at a much earlier period u 1.163. Du Cange gives the following picture of the king of France dining in pub|lic, before the year 1300. During this ceremony, a sort of farces or drolls seems to have been exhibited. All the great officers of the crown and the houshold, says he, were present. The company was entertained with the instrumental music of the minstrells, who played on the kettle-drum, the flagel|let w 1.164, the cornet, the Latin cittern, the Bohemian flute,

the trumpet, the Moorish cittern, and the fiddle. Besides there were

"des FARCEURS, des jongleurs, et des plaisantins, qui divertisseoient les compagnies par leur faceties et par leur COMEDIES, pour l'entretien."

He adds, that many noble families in France were entirely ruined by the prodi|gious expences lavished on those performers x 1.165. The annals of France very early mention buffoons among the minstrells at these solemnities; and more particularly that Louis le Debonnaire, who reigned about the year 830, never laughed aloud, not even when at the most magnificent festivals, players, buffoons, minstrels, singers, and harpers, attended his table y 1.166. In some constitutions given to a cathedral church in France, in the year 1280, the following clause occurs.

"Nullus SPECTACULIS aliquibus quae aut in Nup|tiis aut in Scenis exhibentur, intersit z 1.167."

Where, by the way, the word Scenis seems to imply somewhat of a pro|fessed stage, although the establishment of the first French theatre is dated not before the year 1398. The play of ROBIN and MARIAN is said to have been performed by the school-boys of Angiers, according to annual custom, in the year 1392 a 1.168. A royal carousal given by Charles the fifth of France to the emperor Charles the fourth, in the year 1378, was closed with the theatrical representation of the Conquest of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bulloign, which was

exhibited in the hall of the royal palace b 1.169. This indeed was a subject of a religious tendency; but not long afterwards, in the year 1395, perhaps before, the interesting story of PATIENT GRISILDE appears to have been acted at Paris. This piece still remains, and is entitled, Le MYSTERE de Gri|sildis marquise de Saluce c 1.170. For all dramatic pieces were indiscri|minately called MYSTERIES, whether a martyr or a heathen god, whether saint Catharine or Hercules was the subject.

In France the religious MYSTERIES, often called PITEAUX, or PITOUX, were certainly very fashionable, and of high antiquity: yet from any written evidence, I do not find them more antient than those of the English. In the year 1384, the inhabitants of the village of Aunay, on the sun|day after the feast of saint John, played the MIRACLE of Theophilus,

"ou quel Jeu avoit un personnage de un qui devoit getter d'un canon d 1.171."

In the year 1398, some citi|zens of Paris met at saint Maur to play the PASSION of CHRIST. The magistrates of Paris, alarmed at this novelty, published an ordonnance, prohibiting them to represent,

"aucuns jeux de personages soit de vie de saints ou autre|ment,"

without the royal licence, which was soon after|wards obtained e 1.172. In the year 1486, at Anjou, ten pounds were paid towards supporting the charges of acting the PASSION of CHRIST, which was represented by masks, and, as I suppose, by persons hired for the purpose f 1.173. The chap|lains of Abbeville, in the year 1455, gave four pounds and

ten shillings to the PLAYERS of the PASSION g 1.174. But the French MYSTERIES were chiefly performed by the religious communities, and some of their FETES almost entirely con|sisted of a dramatic or personated shew. At the FLAST of ASSES, instituted in honour of Baalam's Ass, the clergy walked on Christmas day in procession, habited to represent the prophets and others. Moses appeared in an alb and cope, with a long beard and rod. David had a green vestment. Baalam with an immense pair of spurs, rode on a wooden ass, which inclosed a speaker. There were also six Jews and six Gentiles. Among other characters the poet Virgil was introduced as a gentile prophet and a translator of the Sibylline oracles. They thus moved in procession, chanting versi|cles, and conversing in character on the nativity and king|dom of Christ, through the body of the church, till they came into the choir. Virgil speaks some Latin hexameters, during the ceremony, not out of his fourth eclogue, but wretched monkish lines in rhyme. This feast was, I believe, early suppressed h 1.175. In the year 1445, Charles the seventh of France ordered the masters in Theology at Paris to forbid the ministers of the collegiatei 1.176 churches to celebrate at Christ|mas the FEAST of FOOLS in their churches, where the ••lergy danced in masques and antic dresses, and exhibited plusieurs

mocqueries spectacles publics, de leur corps deguisements, farces, rigmeries, with various enormities shocking to decency. In France as well as England it was customary to celebrate the feast of the boy-bishop. In all the collegiate churches of both nations, about the feast of Saint Nicholas, or the Holy Innocents, one of the children of the choir completely ap|parelled in the episcopal vestments, with a mitre and crosier, bore the title and state of a bishop, and exacted ceremonial obedience from his fellows, who were dressed like priests. They took possession of the church, and performed all the ceremonies and offices i 1.177, the mass excepted, which might have been celebrated by the bishop and his prebendaries k 1.178. In the statutes of the archiepiscopal cathedral of Tulles, given in the year 1497, it is said, that during the celebra|tion of the festival of the boy-bishop,

"MORALITIES were presented, and shews of MIRACLES, with farces and other sports, but compatible with decorum.—After dinner they exhibited, without their masks, but in proper dresses, such farces as they were masters of, in different parts of the city l 1.179."

It is probable that the same entertainments at|tended the solemnisation of this ridiculous festival in Eng|land m 1.180: and from this supposition some critics may be inclined

to deduce the practice of our plays being acted by the choir-boys of St. Paul's church, and the chapel royal, which continued, as I before observed, till Cromwell's usurpa|tion. The English and French stages mutually throw light on each other's history. But perhaps it will be thought, that in some of these instances I have exemplified in nothing more than farcical and gesticulatory representations. Yet even these traces should be attended to. In the mean time we may observe upon the whole, that the modern drama had its foundation in our religion, and that it was raised and supported by the clergy. The truth is, the members of the ecclesiastical societies were almost the only persons who could read, and their numbers easily furnished per|formers: they abounded in leisure, and their very relaxa|tions were religious.

I did not mean to touch upon the Italian stage. But as so able a judge as Riccoboni seems to allow, that Italy derived her theatre from those of France and England, by way of an additional illustration of the antiquity of the two last, I will here produce one or two MIRACLE-PLAYS, acted much earlier in Italy than any piece mentioned by that in|genious writer, or by Crescimbeni. In the year 1298, on

"the feast of Pentecost, and the two following holidays, the representation of the PLAY OF CHRIST, that is of his passion, resurrection, ascension, judgment, and the mis|sion of the holy ghost, was performed by the clergy of

Civita Vecchia, in ••uria domini patriarchae Austriae civitatis honorifice et laudabiliter n 1.181."

And again,

"In 1304, the chapter of Civita Vecchia exhibited a Play of the creation of our first parents, the annunciation of the virgin Mary, the birth of Christ, and other passages of sacred scripture o 1.182."

In the mean time, those critics who contend for the high antiquity of the Italian stage, may adopt these instances as new proofs in defence of that hypothesis.

In this transient view of the origin and progress of our drama, which was incidentally suggested by the mention of Baston's supposed Comedies, I have trespassed upon future periods. But I have chiefly done this for the sake of con|nection, and to prepare the mind of the reader for other anecdotes of the history of our stage, which will occur in the course of our researches, and are reserved for their res|pective places. I could have enlarged what is here loosely thrown together, with many other remarks and illustrations: but I was unwilling to transcribe from the colle••••ions of those who have already treated this subject with great com|prehension and penetration, and especially from the author of the Supplement to the Translator's Preface of Jarvis's Don Quixote p 1.183. I claim no other merit from this digression, than that of having collected some new anecdotes relating to the early state of the English and French stages, the original of both which is intimately connected, from books and manu|scripts not easily found, nor often examined. These hints may perhaps prove of some service to those who have leisure and inclination to examine the subject with more precision.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Robert de Brunne, above mentioned, lived, and perhaps wrote some of his pieces, in this reign; but he more properly belongs to the last.
• b 1.2

  This will appear from citations which follow.
• c 1.3

  MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud I. 74. fol. membran. It has been much damaged, and on that account is often illegible.
• d 1.4

  In the manuscript there is also a piece in prose, intitled, The Pylgrymages of the holi land. f. 65.—66. It begins.

  "Qwerr soever a cros standyth ther is a forgivenes of payne."

  I think it is a description of the holy places, and it appears at least to be of the hand-writing of the rest.
• e 1.5

  Dream.
• f 1.6

  Thought, dreamed. In the first sense, we have me m••tte in Chaucer, Non. Pr. T. v. 1013. Urr. And below.
• g 1.7

  Named.
• h 1.8

  ••ol. 27.
• i 1.9

  Twel••th-night.
• k 1.10

  Named.
• l 1.11

  Dear-worthy.
• m 1.12

  Took.
• n 1.13

  Wept.
• o 1.14

  They.
• p 1.15

  Worþig. Orig.
• q 1.16

  Lady.
• r 1.17

  Dear.
• s 1.18

  Cross.
• t 1.19

  Unnailed.
• w 1.20

  Wodenis day. Woden's day. Wed|nesday.
• u 1.21

  Lent.
• x 1.22

  Make haste.
• y 1.23

  Christmass-day.
• z 1.24

  Lies.
• a 1.25

  "As sure as God chose the Virgin Mary to be Christ's Mother."
• b 1.26

  In an antient inventory of books, all French romances, made in England in the reign of Edward the third, I find the ro|mance of TITUS and VESPASIAN. Madox, Formul. Anglican. p. 12. See also Scipio Maffei's Traduttori Italiani, p. 48. Cre|scimbeni (Volg. Poes. vol. i. l. 5. p. 317.) does not seem to have known of this ro|mance in Italian. Du Cange mentions Le Roman de 'a Prise de Jerusalem par Titus, in verse. Gloss. Lat. i. IND. AUCT. p. cxciv. A metrical romance on this sub|ject is in the royal manuscripts. 16 E viii. 2. Brit. Mus. There is an old French play on this subject, acted in 1437. It was printed in 1491. fol. M. Beauchamps, Rech. Fr. Theat. p. 134.
• c 1.27

  He mentions Constantinople and New Rome: an•• the provinces of Scotia and Saxonia. From this work the Maccabe••s seem to have got into romance. It was first printed at Paris. fol. 1511. Among the Bodleian manuscripts there is a most beautiful copy of this book, believed to be written in the Saxon times.
• d 1.28

  The latter part of this poem appears detached, in a former part of our manu|script, with the title THE VENGEAUNCE OF GODDES DEATH, viz. f. 22. b. Thi•• latter part begins with these lines.

  And at the fourty dayes ende, Whider I wolde he bade me we••de, Upon the mount of olyvete, &c.
• e 1.29

  MS. ut supr. f. 72. b.
• f 1.30

  MS. ut s••pr. f. 22.—72. b.
• g 1.31

  Thirty pence
• h 1.32

  Iþo. Orig.
• i 1.33

  MS. ut supr. f. 66.—72. b.
• k 1.34

  Tokens.
• l 1.35

  MS. ut supr. f. 71. b.
• m 1.36

  Leave.
• n 1.37

  May.
• o 1.38

  Sometimes.
• p 1.39

  MS. ut supr. f. 72.
• q 1.40

  Chaucer in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA mentions

  "the grete diversite in English, and in writing of our tongue."

  He therefore prays God, that no person would miswrite, or misse-metre his poem. lib. ult. v. 1792. seq.
• r 1.41

  MS. ut supr. f. 28.—65.
• s 1.42

  Leg. lerd. Learned.
• t 1.43

  The work begins thus. f. 28.

  Whilom clarkes wel ylerede On thre digten this myddel erde, And cleped him in her maistrie, Europe, Affryk, and Asie: At Asie also mychel ys As Ethiope, and Affryke, I wis, &c.

  And ends with this distich. f. 65.

  Thus ended Alisander the kyng: God graunte us his blissyng. Amen.
• u 1.44

  Jolly.
• w 1.45

  Ladies.
• x 1.46

  Of each, or every, profession, trade, sort.
• y 1.47

  "All mankind are agreed."
• z 1.48

  Much.
• a 1.49

  Ruddy.
• b 1.50

  Praise.
• c 1.51

  F. Guise.
• d 1.52

  Rode.
• e 1.53

  As.
• f 1.54

  Embroidered work, cloth of gold. Au|ri••rigrium, Lat.
• g 1.55

  Fared. Went.
• h 1.56

  Sort.
• i 1.57

  Sparrow-hawk. A hawk.
• k 1.58

  Well-bred.
• l 1.59

  Before.
• m 1.60

  Went. Aller, Fr.
• n 1.61

  "Hung with tapestry."

  We find this ceremony practised at the entrance of lady Elisabeth, queen of Henry the seventh, into the city of London.—

  "Al the strets ther whiche she shulde passe by wer clen|ly dressed and besene with cloth, of tappestrye and arras, and some streetes as Chepe, hanged with riche clothes of golde, velvettes and silkes."

  This was in the year 1481. Leland. Coll. iv. Opus|cul. p. 220. edit. 1770.
• o 1.62

  "Against her coming."
• p 1.63

  See the description of the tournament in Chaucer, Knight's Tale, where the city is hanged with cloth of gold. v. 2570. Urr.
• q 1.64

  "Organs, chimes, all manner of music."
• r 1.65

  The town-wall.
• s 1.66

  "All sorts of sports."
• t 1.67

  Skirmishing.
• u 1.68

  "Baying, or bayting of the boar."
• w 1.69

  Slaying bulls, bull-feasts. Chaucer says that the chamber of Venus was painted with

  "white bolis grete."

  Compl. of Mars and Ven. v. 86.
• x 1.70

  Sattin.
• y 1.71

  Skins.
• z 1.72

  Croud. Company.
• a 1.73

  Rode single.
• b 1.74

  Yellow hair.
• c 1.75

  "Covered her all over."
• d 1.76

  fol. 55. a.
• e 1.77

  Beauty.
• f 1.78

  John Gower, who lived an hundred years after our author, has described the same procession. Confess. Amant. lib. vi. fol. 137. a. b. edit. Berthel. 1554.

  But in that citee then was The quene, whiche Olimpias Was hote, and with solempnitee The feste of hir nativitee, As it befell, was than hold: And for hir lust to be behold, And preised of the people about, She shop hir for to ridenout, Al aftir meet al opinly. Anon al men were redie; And that was in the month of Maie: This lusty quene in gode araie Was sette upon a mule white To sene it was a grete delite The joye that the citie made. With fresh thinges and with glade The noble towne was al behonged; And everie wight was son alonged To see this lustie ladie ryde. There was great mirth on al syde, When as she passed by the streate There was ful many a tymbre beate, And many a maide carolende. And thus throughout the town plaiende This quene unto the plaiene rode Whar that she hoved and abode To se divers games plaie, The lustie folke just and tornaye. And so couth every other man Which play with, his play began, To please with this noble queen.

  Gower continues this story, from a romance mentioned above, to fol. 140.
• g 1.79

  Red.
• h 1.80

  Provision.
• i 1.81

  fol. 63. a.
• k 1.82

  Chaucer, R. of Sir Thop. v. 3245. Urry's edit. p. 145.

  He couth hunt al the wild dere, And ride an hawkyng by the rivere.

  And in the Squyr of low degree, s••pr. citat. p. 179.

  —Shall ye ryde On hawkyng by the river syde.

  Chaucer, Frankleins Tale, v. 1752. p. 111. Urr. edit.

  These fauconers upon a faire rivere That with the hawkis han the heron s••aine.
• l 1.83

  See Observations on the Fairy Queen, i. §. v. p. 146.
• m 1.84

  fol. 64.
• n 1.85

  MS. ut supr. f. 46. b.
• o 1.86

  I cannot explain this word. It is a wind-instrument.
• p 1.87

  This poem has likewise, in the same vein, the following well-known old rhyme, which paints the manners, and is perhaps the true reading. fol. 64.

  Merry swithe it is in halle When the ••erdes waveth alle.

  And in another place we have,

  Merry it is in halle to here the harpe; The minstrelles synge, the jogelours carpe.

  fol. sine num. ad ••in. Here, by the way, it appears, that the minstrels and juglers were distinct charac|ters. So Robert de Brunne, in describing the coronation of king Arthur, apud Anstis, Ord. Gart. i. p. 304.

  Jogeleurs wer ther inouh That wer queitise for the drouh, Mynstrels many with dyvers glew, &c.

  And Chaucer mentions

  "minstrels and eke joglours."

  Rom. R. v. 764. But they are often confounded or made the same.
• q 1.88

  fol. 40.
• r 1.89

  Ibid.
• s 1.90

  fol. sine num.
• t 1.91

  MS. ut supr. f. 45. b.
• u 1.92

  Bucephalus.
• w 1.93

  Sic.
• x 1.94

  Point.
• y 1.95

  Fellows.
• z 1.96

  They.
• a 1.97

  Servant. Subject.
• b 1.98

  Strife.
• * 1.99

  ^c Greeks.
• d 1.100

  Shame.
• e 1.101

  Thought.
• f 1.102

  Lost.
• g 1.103

  Horse. Lat. Dextrarius.
• h 1.104

  Short time.
• i 1.105

  Head.
• k 1.106

  Lady.
• l 1.107

  Paramour.
• m 1.108

  "Led along, maimed, wounded."
• n 1.109

  "Many a rich banner, or flag, sprinkled with blood."
• o 1.110

  Clashing.
• p 1.111

  MS. baþing. I do not understand the word.
• q 1.112

  Weather. Sky.
• r 1.113

  Came, followed.
• s 1.114

  MS. ut supr. f. 50.
• t 1.115

  Saw openly.
• u 1.116

  ••sidor••. He means, I suppose, Isi|dorus Hispalensis, a Latin writer of the seventh century.
• w 1.117

  He means Justin's Trogus Pompeius the historian, whom he confounds with Pompey the Great.
• x 1.118

  "Don't look on me as the inventor."
• y 1.119

  Fled.
• z 1.120

  Took.
• a 1.121

  Strait.
• b 1.122

  MS. oþþe.
• c 1.123

  Caucasus.
• d 1.124

  Chill. Cold.
• e 1.125

  Very many.
• f 1.126

  Uncommon.
• g 1.127

  Leland. Script. Brit. p. 338. Hol|lingsh. Hist. ii. p. 217. 220. Tanner men|tions, as a poet of England, one Guliel|mus Peregrinus, who accompanied Richard the first into the holy land, and sung his at|chievements there in a Latin poem, entitled ODOEPORICON RICARDI REGIS, lib. i. It is dedicated to Herbert archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Turnham, a cap|tain in the expedition. He flourished about A. D. 1200. Tann. Bibl. p. 591. See Voss. Hist. Lat. p. 441. He is called

  "poeta per eam aetatem excellens."

  See Bal. iii. 45. Pits. 266.
• h 1.128

  It is extant in Fordun's Scoti-chron. c. xxiii. l. 12.
• i 1.129

  Leland. ut supr. And MSS. Harl. 1819. Brit. Mus. See also Wood, Hist. Ant. Univ. Oxon. i. p. 101.
• k 1.130

  Apud Tanner, p. 79.
• l 1.131

  Arch. B. 52.
• m 1.132

  Lib. v. f. 109. b. Edit. Berth. 1554.
• n 1.133

  Carmina composuit, voluitque placere poeta.
• o 1.134

  f. 121.
• p 1.135

  In the episcopal palace at Norwich is a curious piece of old wainscot brought from the monastery of Hulme at the time of its dissolution. Among other antique or|naments are the arms of Sir John Falstaff, their principal benefactor. This magnifi|cent knight was also a benefactor to Mag|dalene College in Oxford. He bequeath|ed estates to that society, part of which were appropriated to buy liveries for some of the senior scholars. But this benefaction, in time, yielding no more than a penny a week to the scholars who received the liveries, they were called, by way of con|tempt, Falstaff's buckram-men.
• q 1.136

  Miscell. M. p. 274.
• r 1.137

  Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. 4. col. 2.
• s 1.138

  v. 85. See also, ibid. v. 103. 786. 875.
• t 1.139

  Prol. F. Pr. v. i. See also Chaucer's Troil. and Cr. v. 1785. 1787.
• u 1.140

  The elegant Fontenelle mentions one Parasols a Limosin, who wrote Cinque belles TRAGEDIES des gestes de Jeanne reine de Naples, about the year 1383. Here he thinks he has discovered, so early as the fourteenth century,

  "une Poete tragique."

  I have never seen these five Tragedies, nor perhaps had Fontenelle. But I will venture to pronounce, that they are nothing more than five tragical narra|tives: Queen Jane murthered her four hus|bands, and was afterwards put herself to death. See Fontenelle's Hist. de Theatr. Fr. Oevr. tom. trois. p. 20. edit. Paris, 1742. 12^mo. Nor can I believe that the Tragedies and Comedi••s, as they are called, of Anselm Fayditt, and other early troubadours, had any thing dramatic. It is worthy of notice, that pope Clement the seventh rewarded Parasols for his five tragedies with two ca|nonries. Compare Recherches sur les Theatr. de France, par M. de Beauchamps, Paris, 1735. 4^to. p. 65.
• x 1.141

  DISSERTATION ii.
• y 1.142

  "Lundonia pro spectaculis theatrali|bus, pro ludis scenicis, ludos habet sanc|tiores, representationes miraculorum quae sancti confessores operati sunt, seu re|presentationes passionum quibus claruit constantia martyrum."

  Ad calc. STOWE'S SURVEY OF LONDON, p. 480. edit. 1599. The reader will observe, that I have construed sanctiores in a positive sense. Fitz-Stephen mentions at the end of his tract,

  "Imperatricem Matildem, Henricum re|gem tertium, et beatum Thomam. &c."

  p. 483. Henry the third did not accede till the year 1216. Perhaps he implied futurum regem tertium.
• z 1.143

  Vit. Abbat. ad calc. Hist. p. 56. edit. 1639.
• a 1.144

  Prol. Wif. B. v. 555. p. 80. Urr.
• b 1.145

  Signat. A. iii. b. edit. 1561.
• c 1.146

  Masters's Hist. C. C. C. C. p. 5. vol. i. What w••s the antiquity of the Guary-Miracle, or Miracle-Play in Cornwall, has not been determined. In the Bodleian li|brary ar•• three Cornish interludes, written on parchment. B. 40. Art. In the same library there is also another, written on paper in the year 1611. Arch. B. 31. Of this last there is a translation in the British Museum. MSS. Harl. 1867. 2. It is enti|tled the CREATION OF THE WORLD. It is called a Cornish play or opera, and said to be written by Mr. William Jordan. The translation into English was made by John Keigwin of Moushole in Cornwall, at the request of Trelawney, bishop of Exeter, 1691. Of this William Jordan I can give no account. In the British Museum there is an antient Cornish poem on the death and resurrection of Christ. It is on vellum, and has some rude pictures. The beginning and end are lost. The writing is supposed to be of the fifteenth century. MSS. Harl. 1782 4^to. See the learned Lwhyd's Ar|chaeol. Brit. p. 265. And Borlase's Corn|wall, Nat. Hist. p. 295. edit. 1758.
• d 1.147

  When our Henry the sixth ent••red Paris in 1431, in the quality of king of France, he was met at the gate of Saint Denis by a Dumb Shew, representing the birth of the Virgin Mary and her mar|riage, the adoration of the three kings, and the parable of the sower. This pageant indeed was given by the French: but the readers of Hollingshead will recollect many instances immediately to our purpose. See Monstrelet. apud Fonten. Hist. Theatr. ut supr. p. 37.
• e 1.148

  Rot. incert. ut videtur Reg. Johann. Apud. MSS. James, Bibl. Bodl. vii. p. 104.
• f 1.149

  John of Salisbury, who wrote about 1160, says,

  "Histriones et mimi non pos|sunt recipere sacram communionem."

  POLICRAT. i. 8.
• g 1.150

  Comp. J. Cooke, Provisoris Magnae Garderob. ab ann. 21. Edw. i. ad ann. 23. Membr. ix.
• h 1.151

  I do not perfectly understand the Latin original in the place. viz.

  "xiiij Crestes cum tibiis reversatis et calceatis, xiiij Crestes cum montibus et cuniculis."

  Among the stuffs are

  "viii pelles de Roan."

  In the same wardrobe rolls, a little above, I find this entry, which relates to the same festival.

  "Et ad faciendum vi pennecellos pro tubis et clarionibus contra ffestum natalis domini, de syndone, vapulatos de armis regis quartellatis."

  Membr. ix.
• i 1.152

  Some perhaps may think, that these were dresses for a MASQUE at court. If so, Hollingshead is mistaken in saying, that in the year 1512,

  "on the daie of Epiphanie at night, the king with eleven others were disguised after the manner of Italie called a ma••ke, a thing not seen before in England. They were apparelled in gar|ments long and broad wrought all with gold, with visors and caps of gold, &c."

  Hist. vol. iii. p. 812. ••. 40. Besides, these maskings most probably came to the Eng|lish, if from Italy, through the medium of France. Hollingshead also contradicts him|••elf: for in another place he seems to allow their existence under our Henry the fourth, A. D. 1400.

  "The conspi••ators ment upon the sudden to have to have set upon the king in the castell of Windsor, under colour of a maske or mummerie, &c."

  ibid. p. 515. b. 50. Strype says there were PAGEAUNTS exhibited in London when queen Eleanor rode through the city to her coronation, in 1236. And for the victory over the Scots by Edward the first in 1298. Anecdot. Brit. Topograph. p. 725. Lond. edit. 1768.
• k 1.153

  Comp. Magn. Gard••rob. an. 14. Ric. ii. f. 193. b.
• l 1.154

  Leland. Coll. iii. Append. p. 256. edit. 1770.
• m 1.155

  Registr. lib. iii. f. 88.

  "Canere Can|tilenas, ludibriorum spectacula facere, saltationes et alios ludos inhonestos fre|quentare, choreas, &c."

  So in Statut. Eccles. Nannett. A. D. 1405. No

  "mimi vel joculatores, ad monstra larvarum in ecclesia et cemeterio,"

  are permitted. Marten. Thesaur. Anecd. iv. p. 993. And again,

  "Joculatores, histriones, saltatrices, in ecclesia, cemeterio, vel porticu.—nec aliquae choreae."

  Statut. Synod. Eccles. Leod. A. D. 1287. apud Marten. ut supr. p. 846. Fontenelle says, that antiently among the French, comedies were acted after divine service, in the church-yard.

  "Au sortir du sermon ces bonnes gens al|loient a la Comedie, c'est a dire, qu'ils changeoint de Sermon."

  Hist. Theatr. ut supr. p. 24. But these were scriptural comedies, and they were constantly preceded by a BENEDICITE, by way of prologue. The French stage will occur again below.
• n 1.156

  Pag. 459. edit. 1730. 4^to.
• o 1.157

  Burnet, Hist. Ref. i. Coll. Rec. pag. 225.
• p 1.158

  From a puritanical pamphlet entitled THE THIRD BLAST OF RETRAIT FROM PLAIES, &c. 1580. 12^mo. p. 77. Where the author says, the players are

  "permit|ted to publish their mamettrie in everie temple of God, and that, throughout England, &c."

  This abuse of acting plays in churches is mentioned in the canon of James the first, which forbids also the profanation of churches by court-leets, &c. The canons were given in the year 1603.
• q 1.159

  Strype's Grindall, p. 82.
• r 1.160

  MSS. Digb. 134. Bibl. Bodl.
• s 1.161

  L'Ensant. ii. 440.
• t 1.162

  MSS. Harl. 2013, &c. Exhibited at Chester in the year 1327, at the expence of the different trading companies of that city. The Fall of Lucifer by the Tanners. The Creation by the Drapers. The Deluge by the Dyers. Abraham, Melchis••dech, and Lot by the Barbers. Moses, Balak, and Balaam by the Cappers. The Salutation and Nativity by the Wrightes. The Shepherds feeding their flocks by night by the Painters and Glaziers. The three Kings by the Vintners. The Oblation of the three Kings by the Mercers. The Killing of the Inno|cents by the Goldsmiths. The Purification by the Blacksmiths. The Temptation by the Butchers. The last Supper by the Bakers. The Blindmen and Lazarus by the Glovers. Jesus and the Lepers by the Cor|vesarys. Christ's Passion by the Bowyers, Fletchers, and Ironmongers. Descent into Hell by the Cooks and Innkeepers. The Resurrection by the Skinners. The Ascen|sion by the Taylors. The election of S. Mat|thias, Sending of the holy ghost, &c. by the Fishmongers. Antechrist by the Clothiers. Day of Judgment by the Websters. The reader will perhaps smile at some of these COMBINATIONS. This is the substance and order of the former part of the play. God enters creating the world: he breathes life into Adam, leads him into Paradise, and opens his side while sleeping. Adam and Eve appear naked and not ashamed, and the old serpent enters lamenting his fall. He converses with Eve. She eats of the for|bidden fruit and gives part to Adam. They propose, according to the stage-direction, to make themselves subligacula a foliis qui|bus tegamus Pudenda. Cover their naked|ness with leaves, and converse with God. God's curse. The serpent exit hissing. They are driven from Paradise by four angels and the cherubim with a flaming sword. Adam appears digging the ground, and Eve spinning. Their children Cain and Abel enter: The former kills his brother. Adam's lamentation. Cain is banished, &c.
• u 1.163

  John of Salisbury, a writer of the ele|venth century, speaking of the common di|versions of his time, says,

  "Nostra aetas prolapsa ad fabulas et quaevis inania, non modo aures et cor prostituit vanitati, &c."

  POLICRAT. i. 8. An ingenious French writer, Mons. Duclos, thinks that PLAYS are here implied. By the word Fabula, says he, som••thing more is signi|fied than dances, gesticulation, and simple dialogue. Fable properly means composi|tion, and an arrangement of things which constitute an action. Mem. Acad. Inscr. xvii. p. 224. 4^to. But perhaps fabula has too vague and general a sense, especially in its present combination with quaevis inania, to bear so precise and critical an interpreta|tion. I will add, that if this reasoning be true, the words will be equally applicable to the English stage.—At Constantinople it seems that the stage flourished much under Justinian and Theodora, about the year 540. For in the Basilical codes we have the oath of an actress 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Tom. vii. p. 682. edit. Fabrot. Graeco-Lat. The antient Greek fathers, particularly saint Chrysostom, are full of declamation against the drama: and com|plain, that the people heard a comedian with much more pleasure than a preacher of the gospel.
• w 1.164

  I believe, a sort of pipe. This is the French word, viz. Demy-canon. See Car|pent. Du Cange, Gl. Lat. i. p. 760.
• x 1.165

  Dissertat. Joinv. p. 161.
• y 1.166

  Ibid.
• z 1.167

  Montfauc. Catal. Manuscript. p. 1158. See also Marten. Thesaur. Anecd. tom. iv. p. 506. Statut. Synod. A. D. 1468.

  "Lar|varia ad Nuptias, &c."

  Stowe, in his SURVEY OF LONDON, mentions the prac|tice of acting plays at weddings.
• a 1.168

  The boys were deguisiez, says the old French record: and they had among them un Fillette desguiseè. Carpent. ubi supr. V. ROBINET. PENTECOSTE. Our old cha|racter of MAYD MARIAN may be hence illustrated. It seems to have been an early fashion in France for school-boys to present these shews or plays. In an antient manu|script, under the year 1477, there is men|tioned

  "Certaine MORALITE, ou FARCE, que les escolliers de Pontoise avoit fait, ainsi qu'il est de coustume."

  Carpent. ubi supr. V. MORALITAS. The MYSTERY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT is said to have been represented in 1424, by the boys of Paris placed like statues against a wall, without speech or motion, at the entry of the duke of Bedford, regent of France. See J. de Paris, p. 101. And Sau|val, Ant. de Paris. ii. 101.
• b 1.169

  Felib. tom. ii. p. 681.
• c 1.170

  It has been printed, more than once, in the black letter. Beauchamps, p. 110.
• d 1.171

  Carpentier, Suppl. Du Cange Lat. Gl. V. LUDUS.
• e 1.172

  Beauchamps, ut supr. p. 90. This was the first theatre of the French: the actors were incorporated by the king, under the title of the Fraternity of the passion of our Saviour. Beauch. ibid. See above, Sect. ii. p. 91. n. The Jeu de personages was a very common play of the young boys in the larger towns, &c. Carpentier, ut supr. V. PERSONAGIUM. And LUDUS PERSONAG. At Cambray mention is made of the shew of a boy larvatus cum maza in collo with drums, &c. Carpent. ib. V. KALENDAE JANUAR.
• f 1.173

  "Decem libr. ex parte nationis, ad onera supportanda hujus Mi••terii."

  Car|pent. ut supr. V. PERSONAGIUM.
• g 1.174

  Carpent. ut supr. V. LUDUS. Who adds, from an antient Computus, that three shillings were paid by the ministers of a church in the year 1537, for parchment, for writing LUDUS RESURRECTIONIS DOMINI.
• h 1.175

  See p. 210.
• i 1.176

  Marten. Anecd. tom. i. col. 1804. See also B••let. de Divin. offi••. cap. 72. And Gussanvill. post. Not. ad Petr. Bl••sens. Feilbien confounds La Fete de Fous et la Fete de Sotise. The latter was an entertain|ment of dancing called Les Sa••ltes, and thence corrupted into Soties or Sotise. See Mem. Acad. Inscript. xvii. 225. 226. See also Probat. Hist. Antissiodor. p. 310. Again, the Feast of Fools seems to be pointed at in Statut. S••nonens. A. D. 1445. Instr. tom. xii. Gall. Christian. Coll. 96.

  "Tempore divini servitii larvatos et mon|struosos vultus def••re••do, cum vestibus mulierum, aut lenonum, aut histrio|num, choreas in ecclesia ••t choro ejus du|cendo, &c."

  With the most immod••st spectacles. The nuns of some French con|vents are said to have had Ludibr••a on saint Mary Magdal••ne's and other f••stivals, when they wore the habits of seculars, and dan••ed with them. Carpent. ubi supr. V. KA|LENDAE. There was the office of Rex Stul|torum in Beverley church, prohibited 1391. Dugd. Mon. iii. Append. 7.
• i 1.177

  In the statutes of Eton-college, given 1441, the EPISCOPUS PUERORUM is or|dered to perform divine service on saint Ni|cholas's day. Rubr. xxxi. In the statutes of Winchester-college, given 1380, PUERI, that is, the boy-bishop and his fellows, are permitted on Innocent's-day to execute all the sacred offices in the chapel, according to the use of the church of Sarum. Rubr. xxix. This strange piece of religious mockery flourished greatly in Salisbury cathedral. In the old statutes of that church there is a chapter DE EPISCOPO CHORISTARUM: and their Processionale gives a long and minute account of the whole ceremony. edit. Rothom. 1555.
• k 1.178

  This ceremony was abolished by a pro|clamation, no later than 33 Hen. viii. Brit. Mus. MSS. Cott. TIT. B. 1. f. 208. In the inventory of the treasury of York cathedral, taken in 1530, we have

  "Item una mitra parva cum petris pro episcopo puerorum, &c."

  Dudgd. Monast. iii. 169. 170. See also 313. 314. 177. 279. See also Dugd. Hist. S. Paul's, p. 205. 206. Where he is called EPISCOPUS PARVULO|RUM. See also Anstis Ord. Gart. ii. 309. Where, instead of Nihilensis, read Nico|lensis, or NICOLATENSIS.
• l 1.179

  Statut. Eccles. Tullens. apud Carpent. Suppl. Lat. Gl. Du Cang. V. KALENDAE.
• m 1.180

  It appears that in England, the boy|bishop with his companions went about to different parts of the town; at least visited the other religious houses. As in Rot. Comp. Coll. Winton. A. D. 1461.

  "In Dat. episcopo Nicolatensi."

  This I suppose, was one of the children of the choir of the neighbouring cathedral. In the statutes of the collegiate church of S. Mary Ottery, founded by bishop Gran|dison in 1337, there is this passage.

  "Item statuimus, quod nullus canonicus, vica|rius, vel secundarius, pueros choristas in festo sanctorum Innocentium extra Pa|rochiam de Otery trahant, aut eis licen|tiam vagandi concedant."

  cap. 50. MS. Registr. Priorat. S. Swithin. Winton. quat. 9. In the wardrobe-rolls of Edward iii. an. 12. we have this entry, which shews that our mock-bishop and his chapter sometimes exceeded their adopted clerical commission, and exercised the arts of secular entertain|ment.

  "EPISCOPO PUERORUM ecclesiae de Andeworp cantanti coram domino rege in camera sua in festo sanctorum In|nocentium, de dono ipsius dom. regis. xiii s. vi d."
• n 1.181

  Chron. Forojul. in Append. ad Mo|num. Eccl. Aquilej. pag. 30. col. 1.
• o 1.182

  Ibid. pag. 30. col. 1. It is extraor|dinary, that the Miracle-plays, even in the churches, should not cease in Italy till the year 1660.
• p 1.183

  See also Doctor Percy's very ingenious ESSAY ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ENG|LISH STAGE, &c.