[631] Boccaccio’s Ameto bears the sub-title Comedia delle Ninfe fiorentine.
[632] Chaucer, Monk’s Prologue, (C. T. 13,999):
Cf. the gloss in his Boethius, ii. pr. 2, 78, to the passage already quoted on p. 20; and the description of Troilus in T. C. v. 1786.
[633] Lydgate, Fall of Princes, prol.:
[634] W. F. Trench, A Mirror for Magistrates; its Origin and Influence (1898), 18, 76, 82, 120, 125.
[635] Cf. vol. i. p. 177.
[636] Bale, i. 370.
[637] Ibid. ii. 68.
[638] Cloetta, ii. 4, 11, 91, 147; Creizenach, i. 487, 529, 572; Bahlmann, Ern. 9, 13, 15, 30, 40.
[639] Cloetta, ii. 69, 221; Creizenach, i. 490, 510, 580.
[640] The earliest printed text (†1473) of Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpinae is from a version arranged as two pseudo-dramas (Cloetta, i. 135).
[641] Cloetta, i, passim; Creizenach, i. 20; Peiper, Die profane Komödie des Mittelalters, in Archiv f. Litteraturgeschichte, v. 497. Some of the texts are in Müllenbach, Comoediae Elegiacae (1885), and T. Wright, Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems (1844). Cloetta gives references for the rest.
[642] Creizenach, i. 533, 548, 563, 581; Bahlmann, Ern. 13, 36, 38, 44, 48.
[643] Creizenach, i. 569; ii. 23, 43, 59; Bahlmann, L. D. 31; Julleville, Les Com. 298; J. Bolte, in Vahlen-Festschrift (1900), 589.
[644] Creizenach, ii. 1, 71, 88, 370, 374; Heiland, Dramatische Aufführungen, in K. A. Schmid, Enc. d. gesammten Erziehungs- und Unterrichtswesens (2nd ed. 1876-87).
[646] A. Wood, Athenae (ed. Bliss), i. 35, s.v. Lilly, says that Ritwise ‘made the Tragedy of Dido out of Virgil; and acted the same with the scholars of his school before cardinal Wolsey with great applause.’ The date of this performance is given in the D. N. B., through a confusion with the anti-Lutheran play at court (cf. p. 196), as 1527. It is often identified with the Dido played before Elizabeth at Cambridge in 1564. But there is no reason to doubt the statement of Hatcher’s sixteenth-century MS. account of King’s College (transcript in Bodl. 11,614) that the author of this was Edward Halliwell, who, like Ritwise, was a fellow of the college.
[648] For the translation of the Philoktetes of Sophocles by Roger Ascham, cf. p. 195. Bale, Scriptores (1557), i. 720, mentions a translation from Greek into Latin of tragoedias quasdam Euripidis by Thomas Keye or Caius (†1550).
[649] Creizenach, ii. 74; Herford, 84; Ward, i. 120; Bahlmann, L. D. 39, 53, 66, 82. Many plays of this school are in Comoediae et Tragoediae aliquot ex Novo et Vetere Testamento desumptae (Brylinger, Basle, 1540) and Dramata Sacra (Oporinus, Basle, 1547).
[650] Creizenach, ii. 76; Herford, 119; Bahlmann, L. D. 71. The play is in Brylinger, 314. A recent edition is that by Bolte and Schmidt (1891).
[651] Cf. p. 195. Both Thomas Artour, of Cambridge (ob. 1532), who wrote a Microcosmum, tragoediam, and a Mundum plumbeum, tragoediam (Bale, i. 709), and John Hooker (ob. †1543), of Magdalen College, Oxford, who wrote a comoediam, scilicet Piscatorem ... alio titulo Fraus illusa vocatur (Bale, i. 712), seem to have been Protestants, but nothing is known of the character of their plays, which may have been either English or Latin.
[653] Bale, Scriptores, i. 674. It was written in his eleventh year (1547-8): cf. his Remains, i. xvi.
[654] Hall, 641.
[655] Hall, 719; Collier, i. 103.
[656] Hall, 735; Collier, i. 104; Brewer, iv. 1603; Brown, Venetian Papers, iv. 208; Cavendish, Life of Wolsey, i. 136. The characters further included ‘an oratur,’ a Poet, Religion, Ecclesia, Veritas, Heresy, False Interpretation, ‘Corrupcio Scriptoris,’ St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, a Cardinal, two Serjeants, the Dauphin and his brother, a Messenger, three ‘Almayns,’ ‘Lady Pees,’ ‘Lady Quyetnes,’ ‘Dame Tranquylyte.’ Brandl, lvi suggests that the play might have been related to the Ludus ludentem Luderum ludens of Johannes Hasenberg (1530), and the analysis of this piece given by Bahlmann, L. D. 48, shows that the two had several characters in common. Another anti-Luther play, the Monachopornomachia (1538) of Simon Lemnius (Bahlmann, L. D. 70), appears to be distinct.
[657] Brown, Venetian Papers, iv. 229.
[658] Herbert of Cherbury, Life of Henry VIII (Kennet, Hist. of England, ii. 173).
[659] Collier, i. 119, quoting Foxe, Martyrologie (1576), 1339.
[660] Herford, 129; Mullinger, Hist. of Cambridge, ii. 74; Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, i. 422; J. Peile, Christ’s College, 48. The correspondence about the play between Gardiner and Parker is printed in full in J. Lamb, Collection of Documents from C. C. C. C. (1838), 49.
[661] Brewer, xii. 1. 557, 585.
[662] Bale, Scriptores, i. 702. Cf. also S. R. Maitland, Essays on the Reformation, 182.
[663] Brewer, xii. 1. 244; Collier, i. 128. ‘The Lorde make you the instrument of my helpe, Lorde Cromwell, that I may have fre lyberty to preche the trewthe.
I dedycat and offer to your Lordeshype A Reverent Receyving of the Sacrament, as a Lenton matter, declaryd by vj chyldren, representyng Chryst, the worde of God, Paule, Austyn, a Chylde, a Nonne callyd Ignorancy; as a secret thyng that shall have hys ende ons rehersyd afore your eye by the sayd chyldren.
The most part of the prystes of Suff. wyll not reseyve me ynto ther chyrchys to preche, but have dysdaynyd me ever synns I made a play agaynst the popys Conselerrs, Error, Colle Clogger of Conscyens, and Incredulyte. That, and the Act of Parlyament had not folowyd after, I had be countyd a gret lyar.
I have made a playe caulyd A Rude Commynawlte. I am a makyng of a nother caulyd The Woman on the Rokke, yn the fyer of faythe a fynyng, and a purgyng in the trewe purgatory; never to be seen but of your Lordshyp’s eye.
Ayde me for Chrystys sake that I may preche chryst.
[664] Brewer, xiv. 1. 22; Collier, i. 124.
[665] Foxe, Acts and Monuments (ed. Cattley), v. 443, 446.
[666] Brewer, xvii. 79; Wilkins, iii. 860. About the same date a Discourse (Cotton MSS. Faustina, C. ii. 5) addressed by Sir Richard Morison to Henry VIII is described by Brewer xvii. 707 as proposing ‘a yearly memorial of the destruction of the bishop of Rome out of the realm, as the victory of Agincourt is annually celebrated at Calais, and the destruction of the Danes at Hoptide (sic: cf. vol. i. p. 154). It would be better that the plays of Robin Hood and Maid Marian should be forbidden, and others devised to set forth and declare lively before the people’s eyes the abomination and wickedness of the bishop of Rome, the monks, friars, nuns and such like, and to declare the obedience due to the King.’ In 1543 the Lord Mayor complained to the Privy Council of the ‘licentious manner of players.’ Certain joiners, who were the Lord Warden’s players, were imprisoned and reprimanded for playing on Sunday (P. C. Acts, i. 103, 109, 110, 122).
[667] 34, 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1; Hazlitt, E. D. S. 3; Collier, i. 127. A proclamation of May 26, 1545 (Hazlitt, E. D. S. 6), states an intention to employ in the fleet ‘all such ruffyns, Vagabonds, Masterles men, Comon players and euill disposed persons’ as haunt ‘the Banke, and such like naughtie places,’ and forbids the retaining of servants, other than household servants or others allowed by law or royal licence. I have already (p. 185) called attention to the ambiguity of the term ‘comon player,’ and on the whole, in view of a reference in the proclamation to ‘theft and falsehood in play’ I think that gamblers are here in question. In any case the protected players were not suppressed.
[668] 1 Edw. VI, c. 12.
[669] S. P. Dom. Edw. VI, i. 5; Collier, i. 135.
[670] Kempe, 64, 74, with a list of personages for precisely such a play. W. Baldwin, on whom cf. pp. 194, 200, and Modern Quarterly, i. 259, was probably a dramatist of this temper.
[671] Brown, Venetian Papers, v. 347; cf. the letters between Gardiner and Somerset, quoted by Maitland, Essays on the Reformation, 228, from Foxe, vi. 31, 57.
[672] Hazlitt, E. D. S. 8; Collier, i. 142; Fuller, Ch. Hist. (1655), 391.
[673] 2, 3 Edw. VI, c. 1.
[674] Hazlitt, E. D. S. 9; Collier, i. 144. In 1550 ‘il plaiers’ were sought for in Sussex (Remains of Edward VI, ii. 280). In 1551 the council gave Lord Dorset a licence for his players to play in his presence only (P. C. Acts, iii. 307). In 1552 Ogle sent to Cecil a forged licence taken from some players (S. P. Dom. Edw. VI, xv. 33).
[675] Holinshed (1808), iv. 61.
[676] Hazlitt, E. D. S. 15; Collier, i. 155; P. C. Acts, iv. 426.
[677] S. P. Dom. Mary, viii. 50; P. C. Acts, v. 234, 237; vi. 102, 110, 118, 148, 168, 169. In Feb. 1556 the council sent Lord Rich to inquire into a stage-play to be given at Shrovetide at Hatfield Bradock, Essex, and directed him to stop such assemblies. An order against strolling players who spread sedition and heresy came in May. In June, 1557, performers of ‘naughty’ and ‘lewd’ plays were arrested in London and Canterbury. An order forbade plays throughout the country during the summer. In August a ‘lewd’ play called a ‘Sackfull of News’ was suppressed at the Boar’s Head, Aldgate; and in September plays were forbidden in the city except, after licence by the ordinary, between All Saints and Shrovetide.
[678] The proclamation of 16 May 1559 is printed in Hazlitt, E. D. S. 19; Collier, i. 166; N. S. S. Trans. 1880-5, 17†. I do not think the proclamation loosely referred to by Holinshed (1587), iii. 1184, as at ‘the same time’ as another proclamation of 7 April is distinct from this. By 1 Eliz. c. 2 (the Act of Uniformity) the provision of 2, 3 Edw. VI, c. 1, against ‘derogation, depraving or despising’ the Book of Common Prayer in interludes was re-enacted with a penalty of 100 marks.
[679] Cf. vol. i. p. 54.
[680] Guy, xxvii.
[681] B. Bernhard, Rech. sur l’Hist. de la Corp. des Ménétriers ou Joueurs d’Instruments de la Ville de Paris (Bibl. de l’École des Chartes, iii. 377; iv. 525; v. 254, 339).
[682] Julleville, Les Com. 238.
[683] Morris, 12, 346; Rymer, xi. 642; Ribton-Turner, 109, 129, 133, 148, 182, 201; Ormerod, Hist. of Cheshire, i. 36; Memorials of the Duttons (1901), 9, 209.
[684] Carta le Roy de Ministralx, in Dugdale, Monasticon (1822), iii. 397, from Tutbury Register in Coll. of Arms; Plot, Hist. of Staffs. (1686), ch. x. § 69.
[685] Rymer (1710), xi. 642, (1741) v. 2. 169.
[686] Percy, 372.
[687] Analytical Index to Remembrancia of the City of London, 92.
[688] Grove, Dict. of Music, s.v. Musicians; W. C. Hazlitt, Livery Companies of London.
[689] Civis, No. xxi.
[690] Poulson, Beverlac, i. 302 (probably from Lansd. MS. 896, f. 180).
[691] Leach, Beverley MSS. 179.
[692] Crowest, 244.
[693] York Plays, xxxviii. 125; M. Sellers in Eng. Hist. Review, ix. 284.
[694] So placed in the old MS.
[695] Boor—so spelt to accord with the vulgar pronunciation of the word bower.
[696] Porte—so spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating a piece of music on the bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is of Scandinavian origin, the sword-dance may have been originally composed.
[697] Stour—great.
[698] Muckle tinte—much loss or harm; so in MS.
[699] Something is evidently amiss, or omitted here. David probably exhibited some feat of archery.
[700] Lout—to bend or bow down, pronounced loot, as doubt is doot in Scotland.
[701] Figuir—so spelt in MS.
[702] Agast—so spelt in MS.
[703] var. lect. anulas, agniculam, anniculam.
[704] var. lect. ulerioticos. Ducange explains jotticos as ‘ludi, Gall. jeux.’
[705] Ermuli. Ducange, s.v., would read hinnuli. He says that Archbishop Ussher thought that the passage referred to the Saxon god Irminsul.
[706] maida G. explains as Backtrog, i.e. ‘kneading-trough’ (Gk. μάκτρα); cf. Diez, Etym. Wörterbuch, s.v. madia; Körting, Lat.-Rom. Wörterbuch, No. 4980.
[707] MS. fectum.
[708] Cod. Madrid, Friga holdam; var. lect. unholdam.
[709] 709-709 Omitted by Frere, probably because it was inconvenient to facsimile part only of a page.
[710] Christum.
[711] et.
[712] Simili.
[713] Omitted.
[714] dicat hoc modo.
[715] contingit.
[716] Omitted.
[717] Deinde.
[718] Omitted.
[719] Ungentes.
[720] Dilecti.
[721] 721-721 Omitted: but a later hand has written on a margin of the manuscript, Condimentis aromatum vnguentes corpus sanctissimum quo preciosa.
[722] 722-722 Omitted.
[723] reuoluit.
[724] appariat.
[725] Omitted.
[726] dicat sic.
[727] Omitted.
[728] gaudendo.
[729] dicant simul.
[730] eas dicens.
[731] dicentes simul.
[732] deferens.
[733] 733-733 Omitted. Lines 3-5 of the sequence are preceded by Secunda Maria, and lines 6-9 by Tercia Maria dicat.
[734] Manly suggests mortuus.
[735] respondeat quasi.
[736] Tercia.
[737] et interim.
[738] Omitted.
[739] dicentes hoc modo.
[740] audito.
[741] dicant.
[742] 742-742 Omitted.
[743] Only a stage-direction, Hic ludit [? cadit] Lucifer de celo.
[744] Imperfect.
[745] Jordan closes with an invitation to a Redemptio on the morrow.
[746] Narrated.
[747] Duplicates.
[748] Misplaced.
[749] Imperfect.
[750] Late addition.
[751] Imperfect?
[752] And later fragment.
[753] Imperfect.
[754] J. Stuart, Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen, vol. i. 1398-1570 (Spalding Club, 1844).
[755] Dunbar, Works (ed. J. Small, for Scottish Text Soc.), ii. 251.
[756] Hearne, Liber Niger Scaccarii (ed. 2), ii. 598.
[757] B. H. Wortham, Churchwardens’ Accounts of Bassingbourne (Antiquary, vii. 25); Lysons, Magna Britannia, Cambridgeshire, 89; Dyer, 343, from Antiquarian Repertory (1808), iii. 320.
[758] C. B. Pearson, Accounts of St. Michael’s, Bath (R. Hist. Soc. Trans. vii. 309).
[759] Cant. Tales, 6140 (W. of B.’s Prol. 558).
[760] L. T. Smith, York Plays, lxv.
[761] Acta Sanctorum, Maii, ii. 189; Historians of the Church, of York, i. 328 (Rolls Series, lxxi); Rock, ii. 430; A. F. Leach in Furnivall Miscellany, 206.
[762] A. F. Leach, Beverley Town Documents (Selden Soc. xiv), l. lix. 33, 45, 75, 99, 109, 117; and in Furnivall Miscellany, 208; Poulson, Beverlac, i. 268 sqq., 302; Lansdowne MS. 896, f. 133 (Warburton’s eighteenth-century collections for a history of Yorkshire).
[763] A. F. Leach, in Furnivall Miscellany, 220.
[764] Corrie, Boxford Parish Accounts (Cambridge Antiq. Soc. Trans. i. 266).
[765] Pearson, ii. 413; Morant, History of Essex (1768), ii. 399.
[766] L. Toulmin Smith, Ricart’s Kalendar (Camden Soc.), 80.
[767] L. G. Bolingbroke, in Norfolk Archaeology, xi. 336; Eastern Counties Collectanea, 272.
[768] Hist. MSS. xiv. 8, 133; Arnold, Memorials of St. Edmund’s Abbey (R. S.), iii. 361.
[769] Masters, Hist. of C.C.C. Cambridge (ed. 1753), i. 5.
[770] Hazlitt-Warton, iii. 302. The only reference given is ‘MSS. Rawlins. Bibl. Bodl. Oxon.’ Mr. F. Madan kindly informs me that the document cannot now be identified amongst the Rawlinson MSS.
[771] Arch. Cantiana, xvii. 147.
[772] Ibid. xvii. 80.
[773] Hist. MSS. Comm. ix. 1, 147.
[774] Pearson, ii. 414; Freemasons’ Magazine and Magic Mirror, Sept. 1861.
[775] Morris, 575.
[776] Morris, 317. Canon Morris does not say where he found the document. He dates it in ‘24 Hen. VIII, 1531.’ [The regnal year. 24 Hen. VIII, by the way, is 1532-3.] But the monastery is called ‘dissolved,’ which it was not until 1541. The list of Mayors (Morris, 582) gives William Snead (1516-7), William Sneyde (1531-2), William Sneyde, jun. (1543-4). Obviously two generations are concerned. The second mayoralty of the younger man was 1543-4. And the appointment of Newhall as clerk of the Pentice was in 1543 (Morris, 204). Oddly, Canon Morris’s error was anticipated in a copy of the proclamation made on the fly-leaf of Harl. MS. 2013 of the plays (Deimling, 1), which states that it was ‘made by Wᵐ newall, Clarke of the pentice [in R]udio 24, H. 8 [1532-3].’
[777] I reproduce Canon Morris’s text literatim. But he does not explain the square brackets, and I do not understand them.
[778] The ‘proclamation’ in the White Book is clearly a revision of the 1544 version. On the other hand, the Corpus Christi procession was suppressed in 1547. The ‘Banns,’ which include a pageant ‘of our lady thassumpcon’ not in the list of plays, are perhaps rather earlier.