SERIES THE FIRST

BOOK II

I. BALLADS THAT ILLUSTRATE SHAKSPEARE

Our great dramatic poet having occasionally quoted many ancient ballads, and even taken the plot of one, if not more, of his plays from among them, it was judged proper to preserve as many of these as could be recovered, and, that they might be the more easily found, to exhibit them in one collective view. This Second Book is therefore set apart for the reception of such ballads as are quoted by Shakspeare, or contribute in any degree to illustrate his writings: this being the principal point in view, the candid reader will pardon the admission of some pieces that have no other kind of merit.

The design of this book being of a dramatic tendency, it may not be improperly introduced with a few observations on the origin of the English Stage, and on the conduct of our first dramatic poets: a subject which, though not unsuccessfully handled by several good writers already,' will yet perhaps admit of some further illustration.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH
STAGE, &c.

It is well known that dramatic poetry in this and most other nations of Europe owes its origin, or at least its revival, to those religious shows, which in the dark ages were usually exhibited on the more solemn festivals. At those times they were wont to represent in the churches the lives and miracles of the saints, or some of the more important stories of Scripture. And as the most mysterious subjects were frequently chosen, such as the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ, &c. these exhibitions acquired the general name of Mysteries. At first they were probably a kind of dumb shows, intermingled, it may be, with a few short speeches; at length they grew into a regular series of connected dialogues, formally divided into acts and scenes. Specimens of these in their most improved state (being at best but poor artless compositions) may be seen among Dodsley's Old Plays and in Osborne's Harleyan Miscel. How they were exhibited in their most simple form, we may learn from an

1 Bp. Warburton's Shakesp. vol. v. p. 338.-Pref. to Dodsley's Old Plays.Riccoboni's Acct. of Theat. of Europe, &c. &c. These were all the Author had seen when he first drew up this Essay.

VOL. I.

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ancient novel, often quoted by our old dramatic poets,1 entitled a merye Jest of a man that was called Howleglas 2 &c. being a translation from the Dutch language, in which he is named Ulenspiegle. Howleglass, whose waggish tricks are the subject of this book, after many adventures comes to live with a priest, who makes him his parishclerk. This priest is described as keeping a leman or concubine, who had but one eye, to whom Howleglas owed a grudge for revealing his rogueries to his master. The story thus proceeds, .. "And than in the meane season, while Howleglas was parysh clarke, at Easter they should play the Resurrection of our Lorde: and for because than the men wer not learned, nor could not read, the priest toke his leman, and put her in the grave for an Aungell; and this seing Howleglas, toke to hym iij of the symplest persons that were in the towne, that played the iij Maries; and the Person [i. e. Parson or Rector] played Christe, with a baner in his hand. Than saide Howleglas to the symple persons, Whan the Aungel asketh you, whome you seke, you may saye, The parsons leman with one iye. Than it fortuned that the tyme was come that they must playe, and the Aungel asked them whom they sought, and than sayd they, as Howleglas had shewed and lerned them afore, and than answered they, We seke the priests leman with one iye. And than the prieste might heare that he was mocked. And whan the priestes leman heard that, she arose out of the grave, and would have smyten with her fist Howleglas upon the cheke, but she missed him and smote one of the simple persons that played one of the thre Maries; and he gave her another; and than toke she him by the heare [hair]; and that seing his wyfe, came running hastely to smite the priestes leaman; and than the priest seeing this, caste down hys baner and went to helpe his woman, so that the one gave the other sore strokes, and made great noyse in the churche. And than Howleglas seyng them lyinge together by the eares in the bodi of the churche, went his way out of the village, and came no more there."3

As the old Mysteries frequently required the representation of some allegorical personage, such as Death, Sin, Charity, Faith, and the like, by degrees the rude poets of those unlettered ages began to form_complete dramatic pieces consisting entirely of such personifications. These they entitled Moral Plays, or Moralities. The Mysteries were very inartificial, representing the Scripture stories simply according to the letter. But the Moralities are not devoid of invention; they exhibit outlines of the dramatic art: they contain something of a fable or plot, and even attempt to delineate characters and manners. I have now before me two that were printed early in the reign of Henry VIII.; in which I think one may plainly discover the seeds of Tragedy and Comedy; for which reason I shall give a short analysis of them both.

One of them is entitled Ebery Man.* 4 The subject of this piece is the summoning of man out of the world by death; and its moral, that nothing will then avail him but a well-spent life and the comforts of

1 See Ben Jonson's Poetaster, act iii. sc. 4, and his Masque of The Fortunate Isles. Whalley's Edit. vol. ii. p. 49, vol. vi. p. 190.

2 Howleglass is said in the Preface to have died in M,CCCC, L. At the end of the book, in M, CCC, L.

3. Imprynted.. .by Myllyam Copland: without date, in 4to. bl. let. among Mr. Garrick's Old Plays, K. vol. X.

4 This play has been reprinted by Mr. Hawkins in his 3 vols. of Old Plays, entitled, The Origin of the English Drama, 12mo. Oxford, 1773. See vol. i. p. 27.

religion. This subject and moral are opened in a monologue spoken by the Messenger (for that was the name generally given by our ancestors to the Prologue on their rude stage); then God is represented; who, after some general complaints on the degeneracy of mankind, calls for Deth, and orders him to bring before his tribunal Everyman, for so is called the personage who represents the human race. Every-man appears, and receives the summons with all the marks of confusion and terror. When Death is withdrawn, Every-man applies for relief in this distress to Fellowship, Kindred, Goods, or Riches, but they successively renounce and forsake him. In this disconsolate state he betakes himself to Good-dedes, who, after upbraiding him with his long neglect of her, introduces him to her sister Knowledge, and she leads him to the "holy man Confession," who appoints him penance : this he inflicts upon himself on the stage, and then withdraws to receive the sacraments of the priest. On his return he begins to wax faint, and after Strength, Beauty, Discretion, and Five Wits have all taken their final leave of him, gradually expires on the stage; Good-dedes still accompanying to the last. Then an Aungell descends to sing his Requiem; and the Epilogue is spoken by a person called Doctour, who recapitulates the whole, and delivers the moral:

T. This memoriall men may have in mynde,

Ye herers, take it of worth old and yonge,

And forsake Pryde, for he disceyveth you in thende,

And remembre Beautè, Five Witts, Strength and Discretion,

They all at last do Every-man forsake;

Save his Good Dedes there dothe he take;

But beware, for and they be small,

Before God he hath no helpe at all, &c.

From this short analysis it may be observed, that Eberg Man is a grave solemn piece, not without some rude attempts to excite terror and pity, and therefore may not improperly be referred to the class of Tragedy. It is remarkable that in this old simple drama the fable is conducted upon the strictest model of the Greek Tragedy. The action is simply one, the time of action is that of the performance, the scene is never changed, nor the stage ever empty. Every-man, the hero of the piece, after his first appearance never withdraws, except when he goes out to receive the sacraments, which could not well be exhibited in public; and during his absence Knowledge descants on the excellence and power of the priesthood, somewhat after the manner of the Greek chorus. And indeed, except in the circumstance of Every-man's expiring on the stage, the Sampson Agonistes of Milton is hardly formed on a severer plan.

The other play is entitled Hick-Scorner, and bears no distant resemblance to Comedy: its chief aim seems to be to exhibit characters and manners, its plot being much less regular than the foregoing. The Prologue is spoken by Pity represented under the character of an aged

1 The second person of the Trinity seems to be meant.

2 The before-mentioned are male characters.

3 .. The Five Senses. These are frequently exhibited as five distinct personages upon the Spanish stage; (see Riccoboni, p. 98.) but our moralist has represented them all by one character.

4 See more of Every-man, in Series II. Pref. to B. ii. Note.

5 Imprynted by me Wynkyn de Worde, no date; in 4to. bl. let. This play has also been reprinted by Mr. Hawkins in his "Origin of the English Drama vol. i. p. 69.

pilgrim; he is joined by Contemplacyon and Perseverance, two holy men, who, after lamenting the degeneracy of the age, declare their resolution of stemming the torrent. Pity then is left upon the stage, and presently found by Frewyll, representing a lewd debauchee, who, with his dissolute companion Imaginacion, relate their manner of life, and not without humour describe the stews and other places of base resort. They are presently joined by Hick-Scorner, who is drawn as a libertine returned from travel, and, agreeably to his name, scoffs at religion. These three are described as extremely vicious, who glory in every act of wickedness: at length two of them quarrel, and Pity endeavours to part the fray; on this they fall upon him, put him in the stocks, and there leave him. Pity, thus imprisoned, descants in a kind of lyric measure on the profligacy of the age, and in this situation is found by Perseverance and Contemplacion, who set him at liberty, and advise him to go in search of the delinquents. As soon as he is gone, Frewill appears again; and, after relating in a very comic manner some of his rogueries and escapes from justice, is rebuked by the two holy men, who, after a long altercation, at length convert him and his libertine companion Imaginacioun from their vicious course of life: and then the play ends with a few verses from Perseverance by way of Epilogue. This and every Morality I have seen conclude with a solemn prayer. They are all of them in rhyme; in a kind of loose stanza, intermixed with distichs.

It would be needless to point out the absurdities in the plan and conduct of the foregoing play: they are evidently great. It is sufficient to observe, that, bating the moral and religious reflection of Pity, &c. the piece is of a comic cast, and contains a humorous display of some of the vices of the age. Indeed the author has generally been so little attentive to the allegory, that we need only substitute other names to his personages, and we have real characters and living manners.

We see then that the writers of these Moralities were upon the very threshold of real Tragedy and Comedy; and therefore we are not to wonder that Tragedies and Comedies in form soon after took place, especially as the revival of learning about this time brought them acquainted with the Roman and Grecian models.

II. At what period of time the Moralities had their rise here, it is difficult to discover. But Plays of Miracles appear to have been exhibited in England soon after the Conquest. Matthew Paris tells us that Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans, a Norman, who had been sent for over by Abbot Richard to take upon him the direction of the school of that monastery, coming too late, went to Dunstable, and taught in the abbey there; where he caused to be acted (probably by his scholars) a miracle play of St. Catharine, composed by himself.1 This was long before the year 1119, and probably within the 11th century. The above play of St. Catharine was, for aught that appears, the first spectacle of this sort that was exhibited in these kingdoms: and an eminent French writer thinks it was even the first attempt towards the

1 Apud Dunestapliam quendam ludum de sancta Katerina (quem MIRACULA vulgariter appellamus) fecit. Ad quæ decoranda, petiit a sacrista sancti Albani, ut sibi Capa Chorales accommodarentur, et obtinuit. Eta fuit ludus ille de sancta Katerina. Vitæ Abbat. ad fin. Hist. Mat. Paris, fol. 1639, We see here that Plays of Miracles were become common enough in the time of Mat. Paris, who flourished about 1240. But that indeed appears from the more early writings of Fitz-Stephens: quoted below.

p. 56.

revival of dramatic entertainments in all Europe: being long before the representations of Mysteries in France; for these did not begin till the year 1398.1

But whether they derived their origin from the above exhibition or not, it is certain that Holy Plays, representing the miracles and sufferings of the Saints, were become common in the reign of Henry II.; and a lighter sort of interludes appear not to have been then unknown. In the subsequent age of Chaucer, "Plays of Miracles" in Lent were the common resort of idle gossips.3

They do not appear to have been so prevalent on the continent, for the learned historian of the Council of Constance ascribes to the English the introduction of Plays into Germany. He tells us that the Emperor, having been absent from the council for some time, was at his return received with great rejoicings, and that the English Fathers in particular did, upon that occasion, cause a sacred Comedy to be acted before him on Sunday Jan. 31, 1417; the subjects of which were: The Nativity of our Saviour; the Arrival of the Eastern Magi; and the Massacre by Herod. Thence it appears, says this writer, that the Germans are obliged to the English for the invention of this sort of spectacles, unknown to them before that period.

The fondness of our ancestors for dramatic exhibitions of this kind, and some curious particulars relating to this subject, will appear from the Houshold Book of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, A.D. 1512:5 whence I shall select a few extracts, which show that the exhibiting Scripture dramas on the great festivals entered into the regular establishment, and formed part of the domestic regulations of our ancient nobility; and, what is more remarkable, that it was as much the business of the Chaplain in those days to compose Plays for the family, as it is now for him to make Sermons.

"My lordes Chapleyns in Households vj. viz. The Almonar, and if he be a maker of Interludys, than he to have a servaunt to the intent for writynge of the Parts; and ells to have non. The maister of gramer," &c. Sect. V. p. 44.

"Item, my lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely if is lordship kepe a chapell and be at home, them of his lordschipes chapell, if they doo play the Play of the nativite uppon cristynmes day in the mornnynge in my lords chapell befor his lordship-xxs.' Sect. XLIV. p. 343. 66 Item, to them of his lordship chappell and other his

"

1 Vid. Abregé Chron. de l'Hist. de France, par M. Henault. à l'ann, 1179. 2 See Fitz-Stephens's Description of London, preserved by Stow, (and reprinted with notes, &c. by the Rev. Mr. Pegge, in 1774, 4to.) Londonia pro spectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis scenicis, ludos habet sanctiores, representationes miraculorum, &c. He is thought to have written in the reign of Hen. II. and to have died in that of Rich. I. It is true, at the end of this book we find mentioned Henricum regem tertium; but this is doubtless Henry the Second's son, who was crowned during the life of his father, in 1170, and is generally distinguished as Rex juvenis, Rex filius, and sometimes they were jointly named Reges Anglia. From a passage in his Chap. De Religione, it should seem that the body of St. Thomas Becket was just then a new acquisition to the Church of Canterbury.

8 See Prologue to Wife of Bath's Tale, v. 6137. Tyrwhitt's Ed.

4 M. L'Enfant. Vid. Hist. du Conc. de Constance, vol. ii. p. 440.

5"The Regulations and Establishments of the Houshold of Hen. Alg. Percy, 5th Earl of Northumb. Lond. 1770." 8vo. Whereof a small impression was printed by order of the late Duke and Duchess of Northumberland to bestow in presents to their friends. Although begun in 1512, some of the Regulations were composed so late as 1525.