Act IV, Scene 2 — Page 653

Act IV, Scene 2 — Page 653

OTH. Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!

Again, in Measure for measure,

"To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world."

THE CLOWN.

He appears but twice in the play, and was certainly intended to be an allowed or domestic fool in the service of Othello and Desdemona.

ADDITIONS TO THE NOTES.

Page 37. The tune of the old ballad of Green sleeves may be seen in Sir John Hawkins's Hist. of musick, vol. v. Append., and is still used in The beggar's opera, in the song of "Since laws were made for every degree."

Page 53. Cupid's golden shaft is again mentioned in the Midsummer night's dream, Act I. Scene 1:

"HERM. by his best arrow with the golden head."

Page 96. To the list of imitations, &c. of the story of Measure for measure, add the novel of Waldburgh and Belanca, in Reynolds's God's revenge against adultery. This is the substance of it: In the reign of Gustavus Adolphus king of Sweden, Moruffi, a Danish general, in attacking the castle of Colmar, was taken prisoner by the governor count Waldbourg. Belanca, the wife of Moruffi, obtained a promise from the count to liberate her husband on the terms of her submitting to his unlawful desires. The unfortunate woman was afterwards inhumanly presented with the head of her husband. When Gustavus heard of the fact, he compelled the count to marry the injured lady, and then condemned him to death. Reynolds pretended that all his stories in this and his other once celebrated work, God's revenge against murder, were originals, and that he had collected the materials for them in the course of his travels.

Page 119. The recipe here given for making men seem like horses or asses, from Scot's Discoverie of witchcraft, where Shakspeare might have seen it, is the real property of Baptista Porta, in the serious refutation of whom the Jesuit Kircher has wasted too much time. See his treatise De luce et umbra.

In the Prodromo apologetico alii studi Chircheriani of Petrucci, there are similar receipts, and especially one in which an oil is directed to be made from the semen of a horse, which being used in a lamp, the company present will appear to have horses' heads. It is accompanied with a curious engraving of a Houyhnhnm party engaged in conversation, among whom there is the figure of an equus togatus, that will not fail to make a due impression on such readers as are acquainted with the trick put by Mr. Spence, the author of Polymetis; on Dr. Cooke, the provost of King's College Cambridge, a sour pedant who had offended him. See the tail-piece to the 17th dialogue in the first edition of the above work.

Page 123. The blessing of the bridal bed had doubtless, during the dark ages that preceded the promulgation of the gospel in many parts of Europe, been deemed the immediate office of fairies and other supernatural beings. The object of it was to make the issue of the marriage happy, and to avert deformity. In this, as in numerous other instances, the priests felt themselves obliged, in their attempt to do away a Pagan superstition, which, as we see, continued notwithstanding to maintain its influence, to substitute some congenial ceremony that should console the deluded people; but their particular enmity to fairies on the present occasion seems manifest in the passage cited from the Salisbury manual, in the words "ab omnibus fantasmaticis demonum illusionibus;" unless they should be thought rather to allude to the subject which is particularly noticed in the subsequent remarks on the night-spells.

The above ceremony is thus mentioned by Chaucer in his description of the marriage of January and May:

"The bride is brought a-bed as stil as ston; And whan the bed was with the preest yblessed, Out of the chambre hath every wight him dressed."

Marchantes tale, v. 9692.

On the evidence relating to the consummation of the marriage between prince Arthur and the Lady Catharine, Robert Viscount Fitzwater deposed that "the prince was then about fifteen, and queen Katherine elder, and that the next day after being in bed together (which he remembred after they entered to have been solemnly bless'd), he waited at breakfast on prince Arthur, &c."--Lord Herbert's Life of Henry the Eighth, p. 243. It is said that some vestiges of this custom still remain among the Presbyterians in Scotland.

Page 169. There is a story of two caskets, &c., in Morlini novellæ, nov. 5.

Quære if the general construction of all these stories have not been borrowed from the trick related to have been put by Prometheus on Jupiter with the two bull-skins filled with flesh and bones?

Page 178 (note). Dr. Taylor, in his treatise De inope debitore in partes dissecando, has offered some strong arguments against the supposed mutilation of the debtor's body, and endeavoured to show that the law in question demanded nothing more than that the produce of his servitude should be divided among the creditors. Yet Aulus Gellius was of a different opinion. At a very early period, among the Jews, the creditor had a right to make a slave of the debtor. See 2 Kings, chap. iv. ver. 1.

Page 185. To the explanation of sans, add that in the early editions of the dictionaries of Coles and Littelton the word is printed sance.

Page 214. Morgan the herald must be acquitted of having conveyed to us the original information that "Jesus Christ was a gentleman and bore arms." He was indebted for it to Dame Julian Berners, who, in her treatise on coat armour, speaks of "the gentyl Jesus," and states that "Cryst [was] a gentylman of his mother's behalf and bare cote armure." She also tells us that "Cain became a churl from the curse of God, and Seth a gentleman through his father and mother's blessing." So that we find J. C. was not the first gentleman.

Page 317. In further confirmation of the opinion here expressed, the curious reader is referred to Wlson de Colombiere's Vray theatre d'honneur, vol. ii. p. 313, for the account of a duel on appeal for murder which was fought at Valenciennes in the year 1454, where the dead body of the vanquished party was adjudged to be hanged on a gallows as a convicted murderer.

The frequent use which has been made in the course of these remarks of a work cited under the title of Bartholomæus de proprietatibus rerum, may require that a more particular description of it should be given. It is a general history of nature, composed in Latin by Bartholomew Glanvile, an English Minorite or Franciscan, of the family of the earls of Suffolk. He flourished about the year 1360, and appears to have been the Pliny of his time. It was several times printed abroad in the infancy of the typographic art, and translated into the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish languages. The English version was made by John Trevisa, a Cornish man, and vicar of Barkley in Gloucestershire, at the request of his patron Thomas Lord Barkley, in the year 1398, and originally printed by Wynkyn de Worde; for there is no evidence that it came from Caxton's press in English, though it has been so asserted. Neither is the date of Wynkyn de Worde's edition, if it ever had any, been ascertained. The next edition was printed in 1535, by Thomas Berthelette, in folio. The last was published under the title of Batman uppon Bartholome, his Booke de proprietatibus rerum, &c. Printed by Thomas East, 1582, in folio. Stephen Batman appears to have been a worthy and pious character, and was chaplain to Lord Hunsdon. His additions were compiled from Gesner and other writers of his own time. In a manuscript diary of expenses in the reign of Elizabeth, the price of this book is stated to have been eight shillings.

ON

THE ANACHRONISMS

AND

SOME OTHER INCONGRUITIES

OF

SHAKSPEARE.

The transgressions against the rules of chronology committed by those who, in recording the events of preceding ages, introduce matters which have originated in subsequent periods, seem almost exclusively to belong to authors whose works, in point of date, are to be separated from those admirable compositions which are usually styled the Classics. In the latter, such instances seldom, if ever, occur; whilst in the writers, as well as the artists, of the middle ages, they are innumerable. Nor do these absurdities diminish as we approach periods more enlightened as to general science. From the time of Chaucer to that of Shakspeare, there is scarcely an author to be found who is not implicated in this accusation; and about the age of Elizabeth, the dramatists in particular seem to have been remarkably inattentive to the unities of time and place. It has been observed that Ben Jonson is almost the only writer against whom the charge of uniting dissimilar manners and discordant periods is not to be laid; and though the poets of the ensuing century are not wholly free from the imputation in question, it is certain that from about the reign of king James the First more care was taken to preserve a due attention to the manners and customs of particular ages, or at least to avoid any very palpable anachronisms, than had already been done. But whilst the compositions of dramatic writers remained pretty free from these blemishes, the directors of the theatres continued to practise their, perhaps innocent, impostures on the public; and every absurdity that could be devised, or distortion of reality in costume, still continued to disgrace the stage. We were not indeed more absurd in this respect than other European nations, nor was it until a short time before the late revolution that the French theatre had reformed itself in this respect. Many persons now recollect the state of the English stage in Garrick's time, when that excellent performer used to exhibit his Hamlet in a common French suit of black velvet and a cocked hat, and his Macbeth in a scarlet coat with broad gold lace like the uniform of a modern general. Quin is said to have played Othello in a flowing powdered periwig. How Shakspeare's characters were habited on the stage in his time, would be difficult or even impossible to ascertain with accuracy at present, except in a few instances; but we have no reason to suppose that much propriety was manifested on the occasion. Unluckily for us it was not then the practice to decorate the printed plays with frontispieces; and the theatrical prints and pictures even of succeeding times are not very commonly to be met with. It is on this account that the cuts to Mr. Rowe's edition of Shakspeare, and those to the first octavo edition of the works of Beaumont and Fletcher, are at present extremely valuable, as they serve to record many pleasant absurdities that will not fail to excite a smile in the beholder.

It was reserved for the great actor who to the scenic talents of a Garrick unites that managerial skill and judgment in the costume of nations which the other wanted, to reform these follies; and, by exhibiting to us times as they were, to render the stage what it should be, a true and perfect mirror of history and manners.

The above very slight notice of the subject before us may perhaps be sufficient for the purpose of introducing the mention of those anachronisms that are ascribable to Shakspeare: and this has not been done with any view to exhibit him as more culpable in this respect than most of his contemporaries, but solely for the purpose of collecting them together as an object of amusement: nothing however could have been less judicious than the conduct of Mr. Pope when he placed them to the account of the publishers. Nor is the catalogue offered as a complete one; the diligent and critical reader will discover some that are here unnoticed.

But the negligence of writers in the due observance of costume is but trifling, when compared with what is to be laid to the charge of painters and other artists. Volumes have been professedly filled, and the number might still be augmented, with the errors of even the best of the old painters. Nor are the modern by any means to be acquitted on this score. We too frequently see works of the greatest intrinsic worth, both in composition and execution, depreciated by the most absurd violations of historical accuracy and a want of adherence to the manners of the times they refer to. In this case they are not what they profess to be; and whilst they delight the eye, they delude the understanding. It is extremely pleasing to observe the zeal which manifests itself among the leading artists of the present day to obtain correct notions of the manners of former times whenever they have occasion to depict them. The works of many of our best painters will not only excite the admiration but the gratitude of posterity for the faithful delineation of their subjects, and the labours of future antiquaries will be reduced in proportion as pictures of this kind shall increase.[44]

To return to Shakspeare. In the dramatis personæ of many of his plays we find a medley of ancient and modern names that is often extremely ridiculous. At Ephesus we meet with Pinch, a schoolmaster; at Mitylene with Boult, a clown; and at Athens with Snug, Bottom, Snout, Quince, &c. In his later stories English names are given to foreigners. Thus at Vienna we have Froth and Elbow; in Navarre, Dull, Costard, and Moth; and in Illyria, Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. But these, strictly speaking, are not anachronisms, but, on the whole, justifiable licences; for it would have been impossible to transmit the humour of such characters as the above to an English audience under the disguise of foreign names, though it must be admitted that mere English characters as well as names are sometimes introduced. Nor is Shakspeare always responsible for such whimsicalities, for they are occasionally to be traced in the materials whereof his plays were constructed; and others belong to those authors whom he had only assisted in dramas the whole composition of which had been improperly ascribed to him.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

The incidents in this play are supposed to belong to the reign of Henry the Fourth, and consequently the introduction of the shillings of Edward the Sixth, and the mention of Machiavel, are improper; as well as the then newly-introduced terms of the fencing-school ridiculed by Shallow. Perhaps Ancient Pistol and Corporal Nym are objectionable titles. The allusions to Guiana and the West Indies by Falstaff are obvious anachronisms.

TWELFTH NIGHT.

The introduction of the bed of Ware may be justified, because it is referred to as in England; but the same defence cannot be made for the bells of Saint Bennet, as they are specifically alluded to.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

We have here an English jury in a German court of justice.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

The scene of this play lies at Athens, in the time of Theseus, but we find the mention of guns; of French-crowns and French-crown-coloured beards; of church-yards and coats in heraldry; of clean linen, new ribbons to pumps, and masks; of Jack and Gill, the nine-mens morris, and blessing the bridal bed. Carols, inasmuch as they are applicable to songs in general, and, in an antiquated sense, to dances, may be doubtful, though the allusion was in all probability to Christmas carols. Hermia is made to speak of the fire which burned the Carthage queen.

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

English juries are introduced into the Venetian republic.

WINTER'S TALE.

The transactions of this play arise in Sicily and Bohemia; and though the characters are imaginary, they are supposed to exist in Pagan times. Notwithstanding this we have Whitson pastorals, Christian burial, a hobby-horse, an emperor of Russia, and an Italian printer of the fifteenth century.

COMEDY OF ERRORS.

In the ancient city of Ephesus we have ducats, marks, and guilders, and the abbess of a nunnery. Mention is also made of several modern European kingdoms, and of America; of Henry the Fourth of France, of Turkish tapestry, a rapier, and a striking clock; of Lapland sorcerers, Satan, and even of Adam and Noah. In one place Antipholis calls himself a Christian. As we are unacquainted with the immediate source whence this play was derived, it is impossible to ascertain whether Shakspeare is responsible for these anachronisms.

MACBETH.

The errors here are confined to the introduction of cannon and of dollars.

KING JOHN.

In this play we also find cannon, with angels, half-fac'd groats, and three-farthing pieces. Cards too are introduced, and Basilisco, a character of the time of Shakspeare.

KING HENRY THE FOURTH.

The anachronisms are very numerous in the plays on this reign. We have pistols and silk stockings; gilt two-pences, and ten-shilling-pieces; a ballad with a picture on it, evidently alluding to the wood-cuts on those compositions; the game of shove-groat or slide shrift, which was not invented before the reign of Henry the Eighth. Mention is also made of John Scogan jester to Edward the Fourth, and of Arthur's show, though not introduced till a long time afterwards.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

The Turks are put into possession of Constantinople, which did not fall into their hands till upwards of thirty years after Henry's death.

KING HENRY THE SIXTH.

Machiavel, who was not born till 1469, is twice introduced in these plays. Printing is also prematurely mentioned.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

An old woman is made to talk of bow'd three-pences; but these pieces were not known in England till the reign of Edward the Sixth, though some are said to have been coined in Ireland during that of Edward the Fourth.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

Hector quotes Aristotle; Ulysses speaks of the bull-bearing Milo, and Pandarus of a man born in April. Friday and Sunday, and even minced-pies with dates in them are introduced.

TIMON OF ATHENS.

Paper is mentioned in this play. In a Roman drama it might have passed; but we have no evidence that the Greeks used the papyrus plant at this early period.

CORIOLANUS.

Alexander, Cato, and Galen, are improperly alluded to, all being posterior to the time of Coriolanus. Other anachronisms are--the mention of graves in a holy church-yard; groats, mummers, lockram, and a kitchen malkin. Coriolanus describes the populace by the names of Hob and Dick.

JULIUS CÆSAR.

Cassius speaks of a masker and reveller, and of the clock striking three.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

Antony talks of packing cards, and deals out his knaves, queens, hearts, and trumps, as if he were a whist-player. His bestowing the epithet of gipsy on Cleopatra is whimsical, but may perhaps admit of defence.

CYMBELINE.

The British tribute being estimated at three thousand pounds, strikes on the ear as a modern computation. Imogen calls her supposed master, a valiant ancient Briton, by the name of Richard Du Champ. We find mention of the recreation of bowling; of paper; of rushes strewed in apartments; of a striking clock; of cherubims, and a chapel as a burial place. Cymbeline is made to knight Bellario and his sons on the field of battle by dubbing them according to the fashion of the middle ages.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

The period in which the incidents in this play are supposed to have happened (for they are all fictitious) is difficult to ascertain. There was an usurper called Saturninus during the reigns of Gallien and Aurelian, but he was not the son of any Roman emperor, as stated in the dramatis personæ. From the introduction of the Goths, the author perhaps adverted to the time of the above sovereigns. In all events the play has many absurdities to answer for. A child is sent to Aaron the Moor to be christened by him. He accuses Lucius of twenty Popish tricks; talks of an idiot's bauble; and says he can blush "like a black dog, as the saying is." A clown invokes "God and Saint Stephen." Aaron calls for clubs, as if addressing the London 'prentices; and Demetrius speaks of a dancing rapier. Cards and a monastery are also introduced.

PERICLES.

The story, though altogether fabulous, belongs to a period a little antecedent to the Christian æra; and therefore it is a manifest inconsistency to introduce crowns of the sun; sequins; a pistol; cambrick; a Spanish ruff; signs of inns; Monsieur Veroles a French knight; a Spanish name and motto, and the lues Venerea. Amidst numerous invocations to Heathen Gods, there is an immediate allusion to the unity of the Deity.

KING LEAR.

We have here a plentiful crop of blunders. Kent talks, like a good Protestant, of eating no fish; and Gloster, of not standing in need of spectacles. We have Turks, Bedlam beggars, child Roland, Saint Withold, a Marshal of France, steeples, dollars, paper, holy water, and the French disease. There is an allusion to the old theatrical moralities; and Nero, who did not live till several hundred years after Lear, is mentioned by Edgar as an angler in the lake of darkness.

HAMLET.

The Danish history has placed Hamlet in fabulous times, long before the introduction of Christianity into the North of Europe; and therefore there is great impropriety in the frequent allusion to Christian customs. Hamlet swears by Saint Patrick; and converses with Guildenstern on the children of the chapel of Saint Paul's. In several places cannon are introduced, and a good deal of the theatrical manners of Shakspeare's own time. We have a Danish seal royal long before seals were used; a university at Wittemberg; Swiss guards; serjeants or bailiffs; bells; ducats; crown-pieces; modern heraldry; rapiers, and terms of modern fencing.

FOOTNOTES:

[44] Mr. Stothard, the most unassuming of men, but with every claim to superior talent, has recently finished a painting of the procession of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims, which may be classed among the choicest morsels of its kind. The attention to accuracy of costume which it displays has never been exceeded, and but very seldom so well directed.

DISSERTATION I.

ON THE CLOWNS AND FOOLS OF SHAKSPEARE.

The ensuing dissertation originated from the opinion of a late eminent critic and antiquary that the subject was deserving of particular consideration. How imperfectly it must be executed will best be felt by those who are already accustomed to obscure inquiries; and little more can here be offered, or reasonably expected, than some attempt to arrange a few materials that have occurred during a course of reading immediately connected with the history of ancient manners. The critic above alluded to had remarked, that Shakspeare has most judiciously varied and discriminated his fools.[45] Without doubting that great writer's capacity to have done so, it certainly remains to be proved that he has; or it might even be maintained that on some occasions he has left his sketches so imperfect as to render it by no means an easy matter to comprehend them. It has already been thought better to make the attempt in a separate note to the plays in which a clown or fool is introduced, and to direct what is now offered to a more general view of the subject.

It is so exceedingly clear that the terms clown and fool were used, however improperly, as synonymous by our old writers, that it would be an unnecessary occupation of the reader's time to adduce examples. Their confused introduction in the dramatis personæ might indeed render this position doubtful to any one who had not well considered the matter; but although the fool of our old plays denoted either a mere idiot or natural, or else a witty hireling or artificial fool, both retained for the purpose of making sport for their employers, the clown was certainly a character of much greater variety. He occasionally represented one of the above personages; sometimes he was a mere rustic, and very often no more than a shrewd and witty domestic. There are some instances in which any low character in a play served to amuse the audience with his sallies of coarse buffoonery, and thus became the clown of the piece. In short, the theatrical clown or fool seems to have been a kind of heterogeneous character, drawn in part from real life, but very considerably heightened in order to produce stage effect; an opinion that derives considerable support from what Shakspeare has put into the mouth of Hamlet, when he makes him admonish those who play the clowns to speak no more than is set down for them. Indeed, the great dramatist himself cannot be absolved from the imputation of having given too high a colouring to the characters in question, unless we suppose, what is extremely probable, that his plays have been very much interpolated with the extemporaneous nonsense of the players. To this licentious practice the author of an excellent and well written satire, entitled Pasquil's mad-cappe, throwne at the corruptions of these times, 1626, 4to, alludes in the following lines:

"Tell country players, that old paltry jests Pronounced in a painted motley coate, Filles all the world so full of cuckoes nests, That nightingales can scarcely sing a note: Oh bid them turne their minds to better meanings; Fields are ill sowne that give no better gleanings."

Among other grave writers of the age, Sir Philip Sidney has reprobated the practice of introducing fools on the theatre. He remarks that the plays of his time were neither right tragedies nor right comedies, but that the authors mingled kings and clowns, "not," says he, "because the matter so carieth it, but thrust in the clowne by head and shoulders to play a part in majestical matters, with neither decencie nor discretion: so as neither the admiration and commiseration, nor the right sportfulnesse is by their mongrell tragi-comedie obtained."[46] William Rankin, a puritan, and contemporary with Shakspeare, has left us a most virulent attack on plays, and players, whom he calls monsters: "And whie monsters," says he, "Bicause under colour of humanitie they present nothing but prodigious vanitie. These are wels without water, dead branches fit for fuell, cockle amongst corne, unwholesome weedes amongst sweete hearbes, and finallie, feends that are crept into the worlde by stealth, and holde possession by subtill invasion." In another place, describing the performers at a fictitious banquet in Terralbon, [England] he says, "Some transformed themselves to roges, other to ruffians, some other to clownes, a fourth to fooles ... the roges were ready, the ruffians were rude, theyr clownes cladde as well with country condition, as in ruffe russet; theyr fooles as fonde as might be," &c.[47] The latter passage is interesting, because the clown is properly distinguished from the fool, as he always should have been.

It may be the means of affording a clearer view of the present subject, if something like a classification of the different sorts of fools and clowns be given. The following is therefore offered as a substitute for a better.

I. The general domestic fool, often, but as it should seem improperly, termed a clown. He was, 1. a mere natural, or idiot. 2. Silly by nature, yet cunning and sarcastical. 3. Artificial. Puttenham, speaking of the latter, says, "A buffoune or counterfet foole, to here him speake wisely which is like himselfe, it is no sport at all; but for such a counterfait to talke and looke foolishly it maketh us laugh, because it is no part of his naturall."[48] All these officiated occasionally as menial servants.

II. The clown, who was, 1. a mere country booby. 2. A witty rustic. 3. Any servant of a shrewd and witty disposition, and who, like a similar character in our modern plays, was made to treat his master with great familiarity in order to produce stage effect.

III. The female fool, who was generally an idiot.

IV. The city or corporation fool, whose office was to assist at public entertainments and in pageants. To this class belong perhaps the Lord Mayor's state fool, and those employed by the companies of trades, &c.

V. Tavern fools. These seem to have been retained to amuse the customers. We learn from one of Ben Jonson's plays that they exhibited with a Jew's harp, mounted on a joint-stool,[49] and in another of them he has preserved the name of such a character:[50] they were sometimes qualified to sing after the Italian manner.[51] Fools were also employed in the common brothels.[52]

VI. The fool of the ancient theatrical mysteries and moralities. He was, more properly speaking, the Vice, a singular character, that would afford sufficient matter for much better dissertations than those of Warburton or Upton. Being generally dressed in a fool's habit, he appears to have been gradually and undistinguishably blended with the domestic fool; yet he was certainly a buffoon of a different sort. He was always a bitter enemy to the Devil, and a part of his employment consisted in teazing and tormenting the poor fiend on every occasion. He ceased to be in fashion at the end of the sixteenth century.[53]

VII. The fool in the old dumb shows exhibited at fairs and perhaps at inns, in which he was generally engaged in a struggle with Death; a fact that seems alluded to more than once in Shakspeare's plays. It is possible that some casual vestiges of this species of entertainment might have suggested the modern English pantomimes.

VIII. The fool in the Whitsun ales and Morris dance.

IX. The mountebank's fool, or merry Andrew.

There may be others introduced into our old dramas of an indefinite and irregular kind, and not reducible to any of the above classes; but to exemplify these or many of the above by a specific reference to authorities is not within the scope of the present essay. It is hoped that what has been just stated may contribute to assist the readers of old plays in forming some judgment of their own whenever the necessity shall arise.

A general investigation of that most singular and eccentric character, the real domestic fool, would occupy more space than could here have been spared. It would indeed extend to a length that few will conceive; but should the same laudable spirit of curiosity respecting the manners of former times which at present constitutes much of the amusement of an enlightened public continue to maintain its influence, encouragement would not be wanting to resume the subject more at large. In the mean time it may be sufficient to remark that the practice of retaining fools can be traced in very remote times throughout almost all civilized and even among some barbarous nations. It prevailed from the palace to the brothel. The pope had his fool, and the bawd her's; and ladies entertained them of both sexes. With respect to the antiquity of this custom in our own country, there is reason to suppose that it existed even during the period of our Saxon history; but we are quite certain of the fact in the reign of William the Conqueror. An almost contemporary historian, Maitre Wace, has left us a curious account of the preservation of William's life when he was only duke of Normandy by his fool Goles.[54] Mention is made in Domesday of Berdic joculator regis; and although this term was unquestionably applied in numerous instances to denote a minstrel, much evidence might be adduced to show that on this occasion it signified a buffoon. Latin terms were used by the middle-age writers so licentiously and with such extreme carelessness, that in many cases it is difficult to obtain a precise idea of their meaning. Thus the jesters and minstrels were indefinitely expressed by the words joculator, scurra, mimus, ministrallus, &c., a practice that may admit of justification when we consider that in early times the minstrel and buffoon characters were sometimes united in one person. It must be allowed, however, that in an etymological point of view the term joculator is much better adapted to the jester than the minstrel.

The accounts of the household expenses of our sovereigns contain many payments and rewards to fools both foreign and domestic, the motives for which do not appear, but might perhaps have been some witty speech or comic action that had pleased the donors. Some of these payments are annual gifts at Christmas. Dr. Fuller, speaking of the court jester, whom he says some count a necessary evil, remarks, in his usual quaint manner, that it is an office which none but he that hath wit can perform, and none but he that wants it will perform.[55] A great many names of these buffoons have been preserved; and sufficient materials remain to furnish a separate biography of them, which might afford even more amusement than can be found in the lives of many of their betters. They continued an appurtenance to the English court to a late period. Muckle John, the fool of Charles the First, and the successor of Archee Armstrong, is perhaps the last regular personage of the kind.[56] The national troubles that produced the downfall of regal power, and the puritanical manners that ensued, at once determined the existence of an office that had so long maintained its ground at court: and when Charles the Second resumed the throne, it was probably deemed a matter of no moment to restore it. The common stories that relate to Killigrew as jester to Charles, rest on no sufficient authority; and although he might have contributed to amuse the witty monarch with his jokes, it is certain that he had no regular appointment to such an office. Mr. Granger has justly observed that the wit of the buffoons became the highest recommendation of a courtier in the time of Charles the Second.[57]

The discontinuance of the court fool had a considerable influence on the manners of private life; and we learn from one of Shadwell's plays, that it was then "out of fashion for great men to keep fools."[58] But the practice was by no means abolished; it maintained its ground in this country so late as the beginning of the last century; and we have an epitaph, written by Dean Swift, on Dicky Pearce the Earl of Suffolk's fool, who was buried in Berkley church-yard, June 18, 1728.[59] This person was an idiot. Lord Chancellor Talbot kept a Welsh jester named Rees Pengelding. He was a very shrewd fellow, and rented a farm of his master. Being distrained on for his rent by an oppressive steward, who had been a tailor and bore him a grudge, the surly fellow said to him on this occasion, "I'll fit you, sirrah."

"Then," replied Rees, "it will be the first time in your life that you ever fitted any one." Another Welshman called Will the taborer was retained in a similar capacity, about the beginning of the last century, by Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's castle, in Glamorganshire. He is said to have been a very witty fellow, and man of strong intellects. Lord Bussy Mansel, of Margam, had likewise in his service one Robin Rush, an idiot by nature, but who often said very witty things. There are people now alive in Wales, or lately were, who well remembered him.

The sort of entertainment that fools were expected to afford, may be collected in great variety from our old plays, and particularly from those of Shakspeare; but perhaps no better idea can be formed of their general mode of conduct than from the following passage in a singular tract by Lodge, entitled Wit's miserie, 1599, 4to: "Immoderate and disordinate joy became incorporate in the bodie of a jeaster; this fellow in person is comely, in apparell courtly, but in behaviour a very ape, and no man; his studie is to coine bitter jeasts, or to shew antique motions, or to sing baudie sonnets and ballads: give him a little wine in his head, he is continually flearing and making of mouthes: he laughs intemperately at every little occasion, and dances about the house, leaps over tables, out-skips mens heads, trips up his companions heeles, burns sack with a candle, and hath all the feats of a lord of misrule in the countrie: feed him in his humor, you shall have his heart, in meere kindness he will hug you in his armes, kisse you on the cheeke, and rapping out an horrible oth, crie God's soule Tum, I love you, you know my poore heart, come to my chamber for a pipe of tabacco, there lives not a man in this world that I more honor. In these ceremonies you shall know his courting, and it is a speciall mark of him at the table, he sits and makes faces: keep not this fellow company, for in jugling with him, your wardropes shall be wasted, your credits crackt, your crownes consumed, and time (the most precious riches of the world) utterly lost." This is the picture of a real hireling or artificial fool.

As the profession of these hirelings required a considerable degree of skill and dexterity to amuse their employers, so it would in some instances fail of success, and the want of the above talents would excite considerable disgust and dissatisfaction. Cardinal Perron being one day in company with the duke of Mantua, the latter, speaking of his fool, said that he was un magro buffone & non haver spirito. The cardinal remarked that nevertheless he had wit. "Why so?" demanded the duke. "Because," replied the other, "he lives by a trade which he does not understand."[60] The liberties allowed them were necessarily very great; but this was not always a protection to them. Every one knows the disgracefully severe conduct of archbishop Laud to poor Archee. The duke d'Espernon, though a man of great haughtiness of spirit, conducted himself on a similar occasion with much more discretion. His Gascon accent was a constant subject of raillery on the part of Maret, the fool of Louis XIII., whose great talent lay in mimicry. Cardinal Richelieu, who took upon him to give the duke some pointed admonitions, ordered him among other things to endeavour to get rid of his provincial tones, at the same time counterfeiting his speech, and sarcastically intreating him not to take his advice in bad part. "But why should I," replied the duke, "when I bear as much every day from the king's fool, who mocks me in your presence?"[61] Selden has remarked, on a similar occasion, that a gallant man is above ill words, and has left us a story of the forbearance of the old lord Salisbury, whom he calls a great wise man, towards Stone, a celebrated fool in the reign of James the First.[62] Fools, however, did not always escape with impunity; they were liable to, and often experienced, very severe domestic castigation. Whipping was the punishment generally inflicted.[63] On the other hand they appear to have been sometimes used with great tenderness. This is very feelingly exemplified in the conduct of Lear. Stafford in his Guide of honour, 1634, 18mo, tells us, that he "had knowne a great and competently wise man who would much respect any man that was good to his foole." An opportunity here presents itself of explaining the old proverb of "five pounds; you've bled a fool," which, adverting to the usual privilege or allowance belonging to this character, seems to demand a forfeit from whoever had infringed it by inflicting an improper and unlawful chastisement. This exposition derives support from a passage in Ben Jonson's Fox, and also contributes to its illustration. In the second Act there is a song describing a fool, in which it is said that he "speaks truth free from slaughter." This has been with some ingenuity supposed to mean "free from hurting any one." The other construction may perhaps be thought as plausible.

With respect to his office on the stage, we may suppose it would be nearly the same as in reality; the difference might be that his wit was more highly seasoned. Mr. Malone has already cited a very curious passage on this subject from the play of The careless shepherdess, 1656.[64] In Middleton's Mayor of Quinborough, a company of actors with a clown make their appearance, and the following dialogue ensues:

FIRST CHEATER.

This is our clown, sir.

SIMON.

Fye, fye, your company Must fall upon him and beat him; he's too fair, i' faith To make the people laugh.

FIRST CHEATER.

Not as he may be dress'd sir.

SIMON.

'Faith, dress him how you will, I'll give him That gift, he will never look half scurvily enough. Oh, the clowns that I have seen in my time. The very peeping out of one of them would have Made a young heir laugh, though his father lay a dying; A man undone in law the day before (The saddest case that can be) might for his second Have burst himself with laughing, and ended all His miseries. Here was a merry world, my masters! Some talk of things of state, of puling stuff; There's nothing in a play like to a clown, If he have the grace to hit on it, that's the thing indeed.

SIMON.

Away then, shift; clown to thy motley crupper.

Whoever is desirous of obtaining general and accurate information concerning the great variety of dresses that belong to some of the characters in question at different periods, must study ancient prints and paintings, and especially the miniatures that embellish manuscripts. These will afford sufficient specimens; but the difficulty of ascertaining how the theatrical fools and clowns of Shakspeare's time were always habited, is insuperable. In some instances the plays themselves assist by peculiar references that leave but little doubt; but this is not the case in general. It is to be lamented that our artists did not appropriate more of their labours to the representation of theatrical subjects, and the fortunate discovery of a single ancient painting of this kind would be of more importance than a volume of conjectural dissertations. As it may be presumed that former theatrical managers exhibited with fidelity on the stage, the manners of their own times, a reference to the materials which remain to illustrate the dress of the real fools, may supply the defect before alluded to.

It may be collected both from the plays themselves, and from various other authorities, that the costume of the domestic fool in Shakspeare's time was of two sorts. In the first of these the coat was motley or parti-coloured, and attached to the body by a girdle, with bells at the skirts and elbows, though not always. The breeches and hose close, and sometimes each leg of a different colour. A hood resembling a monk's cowl, which, at a very early period, it was certainly designed to imitate, covered the head entirely, and fell down over part of the breast and shoulders. It was sometimes decorated with asses ears, or else terminated in the neck and head of a cock,[65] a fashion as old as the fourteenth century. It often had the comb or crest only of the animal,[66] whence the term cockscomb or coxcomb was afterwards used to denote any silly upstart. This fool usually carried in his hand an official scepter or bauble, which was a short stick ornamented at the end with the figure of a fool's head, or sometimes with that of a doll or puppet.[67] To this instrument there was frequently annexed an inflated skin or bladder, with which the fool belaboured those who offended him, or with whom he was inclined to make sport; this was often used by itself, in lieu, as it should seem, of a bauble.[68] The form of it varied, and in some instances was obscene in the highest degree. It was not always filled with air, but occasionally with sand, or peas. Sometimes a strong bat or club was substituted for the bauble.[69] In the second tale of the priests of Peblis, a man who counterfeits a fool is described "with club and bel and partie cote with eiris;" but it afterwards appears that he had both a club and a bauble. In an inventory of the goods of the ancient company of Saint George at Norwich, mention is made of "two habits, one for the club-bearer, another for his man, who are now called fools;"[70] and the author of Tarlton's newes out of purgatory, 1630, 4to, describes a dream in which he saw "one attired in russet with a button'd cap on his head, a great bag by his side, and a strong bat in his hand, so artificially attired for a clowne, as I began to call Tarlton's woonted shape to remembrance."

In some old prints the fool is represented with a sort of flapper or rattle ornamented with bells. It seems to have been constructed of two round and flat pieces of wood or pasteboard, and is no doubt a vestige of the crotalum used by the Roman mimes or dancers.[71] This implement was used for the same purpose as the bladder, and occasionally for correcting the fool himself whenever he behaved with too much licentiousness. Such a castigation is actually exhibited in one ancient German edition of the Ship of fools, by Sebastian Brandt; but the usual punishment on this occasion was a simple whipping. In some old plays the fool's dagger is mentioned, perhaps the same instrument as was carried by the Vice or buffoon of the Moralities; and it may be as well to observe in this place that the domestic fool is sometimes, though it is presumed improperly, called the Vice.[72] The dagger of the latter was made of a thin piece of lath; and the use he generally made of it was to belabour the Devil. It appears that in Queen Elizabeth's time the archbishop of Canterbury's fool had a wooden dagger and coxcomb.[73] In Greene's play of Fryer Bacon, the fool speaks of his dagger. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Noble gentleman, a person being compared to a fool, it is added that he should wear a guarded coat and a great wooden dagger. In Chapman's Widows tears, an upstart governor is termed "a wooden dagger gilded o'er;" and Rabelais has made Panurge give Triboulet the fool a wooden sword. In an old German print a fool is represented with a sword like a saw.[74]

The other dress, and which seems to have been more common in the time of Shakspeare, was the long petticoat.[75] This originally appertained to the idiot or natural fool, and was obviously adopted for the purposes of cleanliness and concealment. Why it came to be used for the allowed fool is not so apparent. It was, like the first, of various colours, the materials often costly, as of velvet, and guarded or fringed with yellow.[76] In one instance we have a yellow leather doublet.[77] In Bancroft's Epigrams, 1639, quarto, there is one addressed "to a giglot with her greene sicknesse," in which are these lines,

"Thy sicknesse mocks thy pride, that's seldom seene But in foole's yellow, and the lover's greene."

And a manuscript note in the time of the commonwealth states yellow to have been the fool's colour. This petticoat dress continued to a late period, and has been seen not many years since in some of the interludes exhibited in Wales.

But the above were by no means the only modes in which the domestic fools were habited. Many variations can be traced. The hood was not always surmounted with the cocks comb, in lieu of which a single bell and occasionally more appeared.[78] Sometimes a feather was added to the comb.[79] In the old morality of The longer thou livest the more foole thou art, Moros the fool says,

"By my trouth the thing that I desire most Is in my cappe to have a goodly feather."

The head was frequently shaved in imitation or perhaps ridicule of a monk's crown. This practice is very ancient, and can be traced to the twelfth century. In one instance the hair exhibits a sort of triple or Papal crown.[80] The tails of foxes or squirrels were often suspended to the garment. Godfrey Gobilive, the fool in Hawes's Pastime of pleasure, 1517, 4to, is described as so habited. In The pope's funerall, 1605, 4to, the author says, "I shall prove him such a noddy before I leave him that all the world will deeme him worthy to weare in his forehead a coxcombe for his foolishness, and on his back, a fox tayle for his badge." It was likewise the dress of the fool in the plough pageant and morris dance.[81] One might almost conclude that this custom was designed to ridicule a fashion that prevailed among the ladies in the reign of Edward the Third, and which is mentioned by the author of the old chronicle of England, erroneously ascribed to Caxton the printer, in the following terms: "And the women more nysely yet passed the men in aray and coriouslaker, for they were so streyt clothed that they let hange fox tailles sowed bineth within hir clothes for to hele and hide thir a--, the which disguysinges and pride paradventure afterward brouzt forth and encaused many myshappes and meschief in the reame of Englond." The idiot or natural was often clothed in a calf or sheep's skin.[82]

A large purse or wallet at the girdle is a very ancient part of the fool's dress. Tarlton, who personated the clowns in Shakspeare's time, appears to have worn it.[83] The budget given by Panurge to Triboulet the fool is described as made of a tortoise shell.[84]

We may suppose that the same variety of dress was observed on the stage which we know to have actually prevailed in common life. The fools, however, did not always appear in a discriminative habit, and some of their portraits still remaining confirm this observation. A very fine painting by Holbein, in Kensington palace, represents Will Somers the fool of Henry the Eighth, in a common dress.[85] In a wardrobe account of that sovereign, we find these articles: "For making a dubblette of wursteede lyned with canvas and cotton, for William Som'ar oure foole. Item for making of a coote and a cappe of grene clothe fringed with red crule and lyned with fryse, for our saide foole. Item for making of a dublette of fustian, lyned with cotton and canvas for oure same foole." Yet he sometimes wore the usual hood instead of a cap; for in the same account is an article "For making of a coote of grene clothe with a hoode to the same, fringed with white crule lyned with fryse and bokerham, for oure foole aforesaid;"[86] and there is a print of him after a picture by Holbein, in which he is represented in a long tunic with a chain and horn in his hand.[87] In the celebrated picture of Sir Thomas More's family by Holbein, Patenson the fool is not distinguished by any peculiarity of dress, and, in one instance at least, the same remark applies to Archy, the fool of James I.[88] In those families where the fool acted as a menial servant, it is possible that he might have reserved his official habit for particular occasions. The paucity of materials that illustrate the theatrical character in question, must necessarily leave this part of the subject still more imperfect than the rest; but the plays of Shakspeare have furnished more information than those of any other writer. It is surprising, on the whole, that the character of the domestic fool is so seldom found in the old dramas that remain; because it was not only capable of affording considerable mirth to the unrefined part of the audience, but of giving the authors an opportunity of displaying a great deal of ingenuity so far as regarded extemporary wit. It is certain that the fools in Shakspeare's plays were pre-eminent above all others. For this we have the authority of Shadwell, who makes one of his characters say that they had more wit than any of the wits and critics of his time.[89] Beaumont and Fletcher have but rarely introduced them; Ben Jonson and Massinger never. Indeed, the originals had rapidly declined at the period in which most of their plays were written, and another character of a mixed nature been substituted in their room. This was the witty servant or clown (Class II. No. 3.), and of course his dress was not distinguished by any peculiarity.

The practice of introducing the fools and clowns between the acts and scenes, and after the play was finished, to amuse the audience with extemporaneous wit and buffoonery, has been so well illustrated by the able historian of the English stage, that very little can remain to be said on the subject.[90] It has been traced from the Greek and Roman theatres; and, as their usages were undoubtedly preserved in those of the middle ages that belonged to the countries where Roman influence had been spread, it would not of course be peculiar to the early stage in England. Indeed, the records of the French theatre amply demonstrate the truth of this position, and furnish several examples of the practice in question. In the mystery of Saint Barbara we find this stage direction, "Pausa. Vadant, et Stultus loquitur;" and he is several times introduced in like manner between the scenes, in order that the amusement of the spectators might not be suspended whilst something was in agitation for the further prosecution of the piece.[91] Perhaps the most singular pause in any dramatic composition whatsoever is one which occurs in the very rare morality of La condamnation des banquetz in the following words: "Pause pour pisser le fol. Il prent ung coffinet en lieu de orinal & pisse dedans, et tout coule par bas," sign. M iiij. Nor was the English stage in Shakspeare's time allowed to remain empty. Lupton has related a story of the clown at the Red Bull theatre, who was suddenly called for between the acts, and forgot his fool's cap.[92] Puttenham, speaking of verses that rhime in the middle and end, observes that "they were more commodiously uttered by the buffoons or vices in plays than by any other person."[93] It was likewise part of the stage fool's office to introduce at his own discretion a great many old songs, or at least the fragments of them.[94]

The first symptoms of the decline of the domestic fools, and the causes of it, have been already touched on; and the same reasons may partly be assigned for their exile from the stage. In the præludium to Goffe's Careless shepherdess, 1656, 4to, there is a panegyric on them,[95] and some concern is manifested for the fool's absence in the play itself. It is likewise expressly stated that "the motly coat was banish'd with trunk-hose." Yet during the reign of Charles the Second occasional efforts were made to restore the character. In the tragedy of Thorney abbey, or the London maid, 1662, 12mo, the prologue is spoken by a fool who uses these words, "the poet's a fool who made the tragedy to tell a story of a king and a court and leave a fool out on't, when in Pacy's and Sommer's and Patche's and Archee's times, my venerable predecessours, a fool was alwaies the principal verb." Shadwell's play of The woman captain, 1680, is perhaps the last in which a regular fool is introduced, and even there his master is made to say that the character was then exploded on the stage.

The following is some additional and necessary explanation of the cuts belonging to this dissertation.

Plate II. fig. 1, is from Catzii emblemata. Fig. 2 is the duke of Suffolk's fool in the time of Henry VIII., copied from a print in Mr. Brydges's Memoirs of the peers of England. Figs. 3 and 4 are from paintings in the author's possession. The centre fig. is from a print by Breughel.

Plate III. All these instruments, excepting fig. 3, before described, are taken from various Dutch and German prints.

Plate IV. fig. 1, is from an old German print by an unknown master.

Figs. 1 and 3 below are from A booke of Christian prayers, &c., 1590, 4to, being figures belonging to a dance of Death. Fig. 2 is from the frontispiece to Heywood's comedy of The fair maid of the exchange. Similar figures of the costume of fools in the time of James I., or Charles I., may be seen in The life of Will Summers, compiled long after his time. Figs. 4 and 5 are from La grant danse Macabre, printed at Troyes without date, but about the year 1500, in folio, a book of uncommon rarity and curiosity. Fig. 6 is from the Stultarum virginum scaphæ, seu naviculæ of Badius Ascensius, another work of much rarity, and far exceeding that of the ship of fools by Sebastian Brandt. In all the editions of the latter, a great variety of the fools of the fifteenth century will be found. Fig. 7 is from a French translation of St. Augustine on the city of God, printed at Abbeville 1486. It exemplifies the use of the tabor and pipe by fools; a practice that seems to have been revived by Tarlton in the time of Elizabeth. Figures 3, 4, and 6, have been introduced to show the costume of female fools. Among others of this kind that might deserve notice is a very interesting one in the picture, by Holbein, of Henry the Eighth's family already mentioned.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] See a note by Mr. Ritson in Twelfth night, Act II. Scene 3, edit. Steevens, vol. iv. p. 53.

[46] Defence of poesie, near the end.

[47] Mirrour of monsters, 1587, 4to, fo. 7.

[48] Arte of English poesie, 1589, 4to, fo. 243.

[49] The devil is an ass, Sc. 1.

[50] The fox, Act II. Sc. 1.

[51] Marston's Malcontent, Sc. 7.

[52] See p. 94.

[53] The devil is an ass, Sc. 1.

[54] Roman des ducs de Normandie, MS. Reg. 4, C. xi.

[55] Holy state, p. 182.

[56] This person was probably the subject of the following lines in Bancroft's Epigrams, 1639, 4to:

"How plumpe's the libertine! how rich and trimme! He jests with others, fortune jests with him."

Mr. Garrard, in a letter to lord Strafford, says, "There is a new fool in his [Archee's] place, Muckle John, but he will ne'er be so rich, for he cannot abide money."--Strafford papers, ii. 154.

[57] Biogr. hist. of England, i. 116.

[58] The woman captain, 1680, Sc. i.

[59] Bigland's Collect. for Gloucest.

[60] Perroniana, inter Scaligerana, &c. i. 115.

[61] Vigneul de Marville, Mêlanges, ii. 50.

[62] Table talk, Art. Evil-speaking.

[63] This appears from many of our old plays. Lear threatens his fool with the whip, Act I. Scene 4; and see As you like it, Act I. Scene 2. In Dr. Turner's New booke of spirituall physik, 1555, 12mo, fo. 8, there is a very curious story of John of Low, the king of Scotland's fool, which throws light on the subject in question. Yet the chastising of the poor fools seems to have been a very unfair practice, when it is considered that they were a privileged class with respect to their wit and satire. Olivia, in Twelfth night, says, that "there is no slander in an allowed fool though he do nothing but rail;" and Jaques, in As you like it, alludes to the above privilege. See likewise other instances in Reed's Old plays, iii. 253, and xi. 417. Yet in cases where the free discourse of fools gave just offence to the ears of modest females they seem to have been treated without mercy, and to have forfeited their usual privilege. This we learn from Brantôme, who, at the end of his Dames galantes, relates a story of a fool belonging to Elizabeth of France, who got a whipping in the kitchen for a licentious speech to his mistress. A representation of the manner in which the flagellation of fools was performed may be seen in a German edition of Petrarch De remediis utriusque fortunæ, published more than once at Frankfort, in the sixteenth century, part ii. chap. 100.

[64] See his note in All's well that ends well, Act I. Scene 3.

[65] Plate II. fig. 1; also figs. 2 and 3, p. 516; and fig. 4, p. 517.

[66] Plate II. fig. 3.

[67] Plate III. figs. 7, 8, 9; also the centre fig. in Plate II. Hence the French call a bauble marotte, from Marionnette, or little Mary; but if the learned reader should prefer to derive the word from the Greek μορος, or the Latin morio, he is at full liberty to do so; and indeed such preference would be supported by the comparatively modern figure of the child's head, which the term marotte might have suggested. The bauble originally used in King Lear is said to have been extant so late as the time of Garrick, and the figure of it would certainly have been worth preserving. To supply its place a representation is given of the head of a real bauble very finely carved in ivory. See Plate IV. figs. 3, 4. A bauble is very often improperly put into the hands of Momus.

[68] Plate III. figs. 2, 6, 7, 9; also figs. 1 and 3, p. 516.

[69] Plate III. fig. 4; and see Strutt's Dress and habits of the people of England, Plate LXXI.

[70] Blomefield's History of Norfolk, ii. 737.

[71] Plate III. fig. 1. In the Imperial library at Vienna, there is a manuscript calendar, said to have been written in the time of Constantius the son of Constantine the great, with drawings of the twelve months. April is represented as a man dancing with a crotalum in each hand. This instrument was probably constructed of brass, in order to make a rattling noise. See it represented in Plate III. fig. 3, which is copied from a print in Lambecii Bill. Cæsar. Vindobon. tom. iv. p. 291. These months are also given in Montfaucon's antiquities.

[72] See Ben Jonson's Devil is an ass, Scene 1.

[73] Penry's O read over John Bridges, fo. 48.

[74] Plate III. fig. 5. copied from Schopperi ΠΑΝΟΠΛΙΑ, omnium illiberalium artium genera continens, &c. Francof. 1568, 12mo, sign. O. 8.

[75] Figs. 1 and 2, p. 516.

[76] Prologue to King Henry the Eighth. Marston's Malcontent, Act I. Scene 7, and Act III. Scene 1.

[77] Malone's Shakspeare, vol. i. part ii. p. 301.

[78] Plate II. fig. 4. Plate IV. fig. 1.

[79] Plate IV. fig. 1.

[80] Plate II. fig. 2.

[81] Coryat's Crudities, p. 9. edit. 1611, 4to. Brand's Observ. on popular antiquities, p. 176.

[82] See the notes on a passage in King John. Steevens's Shakspeare, viii. p. 79, edit. 1793. "The scribe claims the manor of Noverinte, by providing sheep-skins and calves skins to wrappe his highness wards and idiotts in."--Gesta Grayorum, 1688, 4to.

[83] See the quotation from Tarlton's Newes out of purgatory given in a preceding page (509). The portrait of Tarlton in Hardinge's Biographical mirror, and a print in the title of Greene's Tu quoque, or the cittie gallant, show the costume of the purse and feather. See likewise Plate IV. fig. 2; and the centre fig. in Plate II.

[84] Rabelais, book iii. ch 45.

[85] This picture is very well engraven in Caulfield's Portraits of remarkable persons, vol. ii. There is a beautifully illuminated psalter preserved among the royal manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 A xvi, written by John Mallard the chaplain and secretary of Henry the Eighth, with several marginal notes in the king's own hand-writing, some of which are in pencil. Prefixed to psalm 52, "Dixit insipiens," according to a very ancient custom, are the figures of king David and a fool, in this instance evidently the portraits of Henry and his favourite Will Somers. That of the latter person is here copied in Plate IV. fig. 2, but rather enlarged. The countenance bears a strong resemblance to that of the figure in Holbein's picture of Henry the Eighth and his family, already noticed in p. 336.

[86] Archæologia, ix. p. 249.

[87] In Tatham's play of The Scot's figgaries, 1652, 4to, the king's fool is described as habited in a long coat with a gold rope or chain about his neck.

[88] See the print of Archy engraved by Cecill and prefixed to his Jests, in which, unless Mr. Granger could have been certain with respect to what he has called "a parti-coloured tunic," there is nothing discriminative of the fool's dress. This portrait has been copied in Caulfield's above-cited work.

[89] The woman captain, Scene I.

[90] See Mr. Malone's Historical account of the English Stage.

[91] Parfait, Histoire du theatre François, II. pp. 27, 46, 62.

[92] See Mr. Steevens's note at the end of the second act of The taming of the shrew.

[93] Arte of English poesie, 69.

[94] See Mr. Steevens's note in King Lear, Act III. Scene 6.

[95] See Mr. Malone's note in All's well that ends well, Act I. Scene 3.

DISSERTATION II.

ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM.

Enquiries like the present, however unimportant to the generality of readers, will not fail of being duly appreciated by those who take an interest in tracing the origin and progress of literary genius, which has perhaps been never more successfully, and even laudably, employed, than in the composition of such works as combine amusement with instruction. Of these the simple and engaging apologues of many ancient writers form a considerable portion, and have always been justly and generally esteemed. This mode of conveying instruction became so attractive in the middle ages, that the ecclesiastics themselves were under the necessity of introducing narrations both historical and imaginary into their discourses, in order to acquire that degree of popularity and attention which might otherwise have been wanting, and also for the purpose of enforcing their morality by such examples as should touch the feelings of the hearers, and operate, with respect at least to ruder minds, more efficaciously than precept. The work before us was designed to answer these purposes; and it not only proceeded on this ground in common with others of a similar nature, but has even furnished the materials to some of the best writers, and more especially poets, of ancient and modern times.

It will perhaps be expected that some reason should be assigned why the present essay has been attempted, after the labours of Mr. Warton on the same subject, which some may think has been amply and satisfactorily treated, if not exhausted; and if the judgment and accuracy of that pleasing and elegant writer had been commensurate with his taste and industry, the expectation had been exceedingly well founded. This however is, unfortunately, not the case. He has, in this and many other instances, left much to be done and undone; but we ought to feel very grateful to him for having founded a school that has already produced some accomplished pupils, and will, no doubt, contribute to form many a future one. Thus much seems due to an amiable man and excellent character, who has been most undeservedly insulted for errors of small moment, and censured for opinions of the most innocuous kind. Even his antiquarian dullness and perseverance have been arraigned, as if in a work like the history of English poetry, genius should have occupied the place of industry, and have created those facts which honest men are content to discover; a method not uncommon with some writers who have derived too much of their importance from the indolence and superficiality of their readers, and who are unwilling to submit to those laws of providence which justly impose on man the duty of penetrating to the mine before he be permitted to enjoy the precious metal. Such was not Warton. His taste and research will remain the admiration of future ages, when the flimsy compositions of some of his opponents shall be totally forgotten. He has effected, however imperfectly, more for the illustration of English poetry than any or all of his predecessors, or than has hitherto been, accomplished for the poetry of other nations, by any writer whatever.

Mr. Warton's dissertation would, no doubt, have been rendered more perfect, had he been aware of a fact which had not only escaped his own attention, but even that of Mr. Tyrwhitt. Neither of these gentlemen, in consulting the manuscripts of the Gesta Romanorum, had perceived that there were two works so entitled, totally distinct from each other, except as to imitation, and certainly compiled by different persons. Of that treated of by Mr. Warton, it is presumed no manuscript has been yet described; of the other several manuscripts remain, but it has never been printed, except in some translated extracts. It will be better to postpone for the present any further mention of the latter, and to proceed to submit some additional remarks on the other. And first of its use and design.

A particular mode of instruction from the pulpit has been already hinted at, and will admit of some enlargement. Mr. Warton has mentioned one of the earliest instances of introducing Æsop's fables, as recorded by Vincent of Beauvais in the thirteenth century.[96] Supplies of another kind were furnished to those who might be more scrupulous as to the use of profane examples, not only in that great repertory of pious fictions, The golden legend, but in multitudes of similar stories, denominated in France contes devots, and composed for the purpose of counteracting the great influence which the witty and licentious stories of the minstrels had obtained, of which they were palpable imitations both in construction and versification. Most of these were founded on miracles supposed to have been operated by the Virgin Mary. The earliest known specimens of them were composed in the twelfth century by Hugues Farsi, a monk of St. John de Vignes at Soissons, who was soon followed by many imitators both in prose and verse.[97] His own work was turned into French verse by Gautier de Coinsi, another monk of Soissons, about 1230. A similar collection is the Lives of the holy fathers, chiefly from Saint Jerome, and anonymously composed in French verse by some person whose name deserved to have been recorded on account of the great merit of the work, which would be deemed an ornament to any period, for the excellence of the poetry.

The promptuary of examples for the use of preachers, at the end of Herolt's Sermones discipuli, composed in 1418, has been already mentioned by Mr. Warton, who has given a curious and correct account of that work; but he has omitted to notice, that, among a multitude of pious authors cited in it, the name of Ovid appears. This practice of indiscriminate quotation became afterwards very common. It was, indeed, sanctioned by a preceding custom, among religious writers, of moralizing works of all denominations. Thus, to mention only a few, Thomas Walleys, a Welsh Dominican friar, had published his moralizations of Ovid's metamorphoses, in the fourteenth century.[98] The Bestiarium, a treatise on animals, is, as well as the Gesta Romanorum, perhaps an earlier instance. Afterwards the celebrated, but licentious, Romance of the rose was moralized by Jean Molinet. Even the game of chess was moralized; for the reader who may take up Caxton's translation of Jacobus de Cæsolis, will be grievously disappointed should he expect to find any didactic or even historical information. We are not to wonder, therefore, if on the restoration of letters, a system of morality was extracted from Æsop and other fabulists; and, accordingly, some of the early printed editions of Æsop were published under the title of Æsopus moralizatus, and this, no doubt, led the way to the moral applications to his fables which afterwards appeared in other languages.

Among the preachers who interspersed their sermons with narrations of various kinds, a Carthusian monk of the fifteenth century deserves particular mention. With as much quaintness as humility, he styles himself Guillelmus Hilacensis quondam simplex cordatus pauperculus discalciatus ac contemptibilis denudatus, sapientissimorum rudissimus, electorum infimus, et minorum minimus. He has left a volume of sermons on the Lord's prayer, with stories in every page.[99] In the British Museum there is a very curious collection of Latin sermons, compiled about the reign of Henry the Sixth, by a person who calls himself a vicar of Magdalen college, Oxford. They abound with stories from Æsop, Cicero, Seneca, Valerius Maximus, Saint Austin, venerable Bede, &c.[100] Stephen Baron, an English Minorite in the reign of Henry the Eighth, has left a similar volume of sermons preached before the university of Cambridge.[101]

Among the most remarkable persons of this description who soon followed, were fathers Menot, Maillard, Barelete, Raulin, Vincent Ferrier, Pierre de Boves, &c., whose discourses are filled with quotations from Virgil, Valerius Maximus, Apuleius, Dante, Petrarch, and the Gesta Romanorum. Erasmus, ridiculing the absurdities of some of the theologians, mentions their practice of quoting the Speculum historiale and Gesta Romanorum.[102] Schelhorn speaks of a copy of the latter in his possession, dated 1499, in which some former possessor had marked against many of the stories the year in which he had used them in his sermons.[103] Even in the eighteenth century the Italians had not left off this custom. Grosley states, that he heard a buffoon preacher at Rome, who stuffed his discourse with a thousand tales, among which was that of father Philip's geese, from Boccaccio.[104]

There is a remarkable work to which the preachers of the middle ages appear to have been indebted, and which deserves mention here not only on that account, but also from its having hitherto remained in unmerited obscurity. This may be partly owing to its having never been printed. It is a collection of tales and fables that has been ascribed to Odo de Ceriton, Shirton, or Cirington, for all these names are mentioned, a Cistercian monk of the twelfth century. In one manuscript they are called proverbs, and given to Hugo de Sancto Victore, of the monastery of Saint Victoire at Paris, and who lived much about the last-named period.[105] There is perhaps no task more difficult than that of ascertaining the real authors of many works of the middle ages, especially where, as in the present instance, there occurs any thing satirical against religious abuses. The evidence with respect to authorship is in favour of the Englishman, because in some of the stories English sentences are found. Nor do the sarcasms against the clergy militate in the least against ecclesiastical manufacture. Numerous instances could be brought to show the satirical spirit of the clergy, frequently towards each other, and generally against the church of Rome.

The work in question is an extraordinary mixture of Æsopian fables with pious and profane histories in great variety. One or two specimens have been already given,[106] but the reader may not regret the trouble of perusing the following in addition. "There is a kind of wren, named after Saint Martin, with very long and slender legs. This bird sitting one day in a tree, in the fullness of his pride suddenly exclaimed; 'It matters not to me though the heavens fall; for with the aid of my strong legs I shall be able to support them.' Presently a leaf fell upon the foolish boaster, who immediately flew away in great terror, exclaiming, 'O Saint Martin, Saint Martin, help your poor bird!'" The moral compares Saint Peter denying Christ to this wren, which it also assimilates to certain pot-valiant soldiers, who boast, in their cups, that each of them can beat three of the stoutest Frenchmen. Again: "Isengrin the wolf, to expiate his sins, became a monk. His brethren endeavoured to teach him his letters, that he might say Pater noster; but all that they were able to get from him was, 'lamb, lamb.' They told him to look up to the cross, but could never make him turn his eyes from the sheep. In like manner do the monks cry out for good wine, and fix their eyes on dainty viands and full trenchers; whence the English proverb, Yf alle that the wolf unto the prest worthe and be sette on to boke salmes to ler, ȝit is ever hys onne eye to the wodeward."[107] To conclude with one more, "The wolf being dead, the lion assembled the rest of the beasts to celebrate his obsequies. The hare carried the holy water, and the hedge-hogs the wax tapers. The goats tolled the bells; the badger dug the grave; the fox carried the coffin; Berengarius the bear celebrated mass; the ox read the gospels, and the ass the epistles. Mass being finished, and Isengrin duly buried, the beasts partook of a splendid feast, the expense of which was defrayed out of the deceased's property. The parties wished for nothing better than a similar ceremony. So, says the moral, on the death of any rich usurer, the abbots assemble all the beasts of the monastery; for in general, the black and white monks are really brutes, that is, lions in pride; foxes in cunning; hogs in gluttony; goats in luxury; asses in sloth; and hares in cowardice."

Besides the storehouses of this sort of knowledge that have been already described, there were doubtless many others that are now lost; but there is one that ought not to be passed over without some notice. It is the Summa prædicantium of John Bromyard, an English preacher, and a violent opponent of Wicliffe. It is an immense repertory of matter for the use of the clergy, every page containing stories and examples in all possible variety.[108] It is divided into classes of such subjects as were adapted to the pulpit, and must have been a work of immense labour, and the result of much reading. In the article rapina he has a story resembling chap. viii. of the Gesta Romanorum, which he probably cites under the title of Antiqua gesta.

Although most of these works were undoubtedly composed for the immediate purpose of assisting the preachers, it by no means follows that they were exclusively so, or that other uses might not be made of some of them. Not that they could be accessible to the laity in any great degree, inasmuch as they were wrapped up in a learned language. But the private readings of the monks would not be always of a serious and ascetic nature. They might be disposed occasionally to recreate their minds with subjects of a lighter and more amusing nature; and what could be more innocent or delightful than the stories of the Gesta Romanorum? They might even have indulged in this kind of recreation during their continuance in the refectory after meals. For this purpose one of the fraternity, more eminently qualified than the rest, might entertain them with the recital of matters that would admit of some moral application to be made by the reader, or which was already attached to the subject. The word carissimi, so frequently to be found in the moralizations, seems as much adapted to this purpose, as to the addressing of an auditory from the pulpit. Perhaps the same idea had occurred to him who chose to apply the term liber monasticus to the Gesta Romanorum.[109]

The excellent analytical account that has been given of this work would admit of no other improvement than some augmentation of the sources of the stories, and of their several imitations; but with respect to the author of it, some further inquiry may be necessary. Mr. Warton has attempted to show, with considerable ingenuity as well as plausibility, that the Gesta Romanorum was composed by Peter Bercheur, a native of Poitou, and prior of the convent of Saint Eloy at Paris, where he died in 1362.[110] He has founded this opinion on a passage in the Philologia sacra of Salomon Glassius, who, in his chapter de allegoriis fabularum, after censuring those writers who not only employed themselves in allegorizing the scriptures, but affected to discover in profane stories and poetical fictions certain matters that seemed to illustrate the mysteries of the Christian faith, makes the following observation: "Hoc in studio excelluit quidam Petrus Berchorius Pictaviensis, ordinis Divi Benedicti: qui peculiari libro, Gesta Romanorum, necnon legendas patrum, aliasque aniles fabulas, allegoricè ac mysticè exposuit." On this single testimony, or rather assertion, which is unaccompanied by any proof or reference to authority, Mr. Warton proceeds to assign his reasons for concluding that Bercheur was the author of the Gesta, and they are principally these: 1. A general coincidence between the manner and execution of the works of Bercheur and the Gesta. 2. A resemblance in their titles. 3. The introduction of some of the stories of the Gesta into the Repertorium morale of Bercheur.[111] 4. His having allegorized the Metamorphoses of Ovid. And 5. His writings being full of allusions to the Roman history. To these might have been added the quotations common to both the Gesta and the Repertorium from Pliny, Seneca, Solinus, and Gervase of Tilbury, and the time in which Berchorius lived, which certainly corresponds with that of the composition of the Gesta Romanorum, as far as can be collected from internal evidence. It may be remarked in this place, that Mr. Tyrwhitt, in supposing it to have been written at the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, has fixed on too early a date.[112] It could not have been written before 1256, because the chronicle of Albertus, which is cited in one of the chapters, terminates with that year.

It might be supposed that very little could be urged in opposition to the foregoing reasons, nor is it here intended to deny absolutely that Bercheur was the author of the Gesta: but certain doubts having arisen on the subject, they shall be submitted to the reader, that he may then be enabled to use his own judgment and discretion in deciding the question. With respect to the similitude between the works of Berchorius and the Gesta Romanorum, no one would think of maintaining, on this ground alone, that any two compositions, the one anonymous, were written by the same author. It shows, generally speaking, nothing more than coincidence, or, what is more likely, simple imitation; and it is as probable that the author of one of the works should have imitated the other, as that one person should have written both. Perhaps the other reasons might be disposed of in the same way, but it will be better to state specific objections to them; and here Mr. Warton's own evidence might be turned against himself. He had stated on a former occasion,[113] his having seen a manuscript of the Gesta in almost Saxon characters; but it is certain that this manuscript had doubly deceived him, and that his eye had caught one or two of the Saxon letters which continued to be used in writing long after Saxon times.

In the preface to the Repertorium morale Bercheur tells us that he was by birth a Frenchman, a Benedictine monk, and the familiar servant of Cardinal de Pratis, or Des Prez, to whom he was indebted for books and other necessaries towards the completion of his works. Now throughout the ponderous tomes that have been consulted for this purpose, there are no Gallicisms to be traced, nor any other symptom of French authorship. On the other hand, there are strong marks that the Gesta Romanorum was composed by a German. In the moralization to chapter 144, there is, in most of the early editions, a German proverb; and, in chapter 142, several German names of Dogs. Many of the stories are extracted from German authors, as Cesarius, Albert of Stade, and Gervase of Tilbury, who wrote his book De otiis imperialibus, in Germany. In this country likewise the earliest editions of the Gesta were printed.

Mr. Warton, anticipating an objection that might be taken from the omission of any mention of the Gesta by the biographers of Bercheur, has remarked, that it might have been among his smaller pieces, or proscribed by graver writers, or even discarded by its author as a juvenile performance, unsuitable to his character and abounding in fantastic and unedifying narration. But this description does not accord with the general use that we know to have been made of it in the pulpit; nor can it come under the denomination of a work that is not altogether grave, serious, and moral, nor likely to have been the effusion of a glowing or youthful mind. Besides, the biographers of Bercheur are not alone silent as to the Gesta; the editors of his printed works were entirely unacquainted with it as his composition, and they were more likely to have been better informed on the subject than Glassius, whose opinion, like Mr. Warton's, seems to have been mere inference, and unsupported by any evidence. But what is more to the point, Bercheur has himself, in the prologue to his Repertorium, and in the preface to a French translation of Livy, given a very particular account of his works, among which his moralizations of the Fabulæ poetarum, never printed, are mentioned; yet this is certainly not the Gesta Romanorum, any more than the Chronicon mentioned by Mr. Warton.[114] Again; most of the known works of Bercheur are still existing in manuscript, but not a single manuscript that can be pronounced to be the Gesta Romanorum in question has occurred after the most diligent research. Such indeed might be supplied from the libraries in Germany, and possibly throw new light on this difficult and mysterious inquiry. Some stress has been laid on the circumstance of four of the stories in the Gesta being related in the Repertorium morale,[115] but they are not told in the same words, and the moralizations are entirely different. This has very much the appearance of different authorship. The title of Reductorium to some of the editions of the Gesta, together with many other matters, might have been borrowed from the writings of Bercheur by some German Monk, whose name has been irretrievably consigned to oblivion. It is scarcely worth while to mention the blunder that Foppens has committed in ascribing the composition instead of the printing of the Gesta, to Gerard De Leeu, of Gouda in Holland.[116]

It remains to offer some account of the various forms in which this once popular and celebrated work has appeared; and the rather, because what has been said on this subject is widely scattered, unconnected, and frequently erroneous.

MANUSCRIPTS.--It is a fact as remarkable as the obscurity which exists concerning the author of the Gesta, that no manuscript of this work, that can with certainty be pronounced as such, has been hitherto described. If the vast stores of manuscripts that are contained in the monastic and other libraries of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain, were examined, there is scarcely a doubt that some original of a work so often printed would be discovered. Father Montfaucon has indeed mentioned a manuscript Gesta Romanorum in the Vatican;[117] but it may be either a transcript from the printed copy, or a different work under the same title, that will presently be noticed.

PRINTED EDITIONS.--The titles of these are different, and are as follows:

No. 1. "Incipiunt hystorie collecte ex gestis romanorum et quibusdam aliis libris cum applicationibus eorundem."

The colophon. "Et sic est finis."

No. 2. "Incipiunt historie notabiles atque magis principales collecte ex gestis romanorum et quibusdam aliis notabilibus gestis cum moralizationibus eorundem."

The colophon. "Et sic est finis."

No. 3. "Ex gestis romanorum hystorie notabiles de viciis virtutibusque tractantes cum applicacionibus moralisatis et misticis incipiunt feliciter."

The colophon. "Gesta romanorum cum quibus aliis historiis eisdem annexis ad moralitates dilucide reducta hic finem habent. Que diligenter correctis aliorum viciis impressit Johannes de Westphalia &c."

No. 4. "Recollectorium ex gestis romanorum cum pluribus applicatis historiis."

No. 5. "Ex gestis romanorum hystorie notabiles collecte de viciis virtutibusque tractantes cum applicacionibus moralisatis et mysticis incipiunt fideliter." (sometimes feliciter.)

The colophon. "Ex gestis Romanorum cum pluribus applicatis hystoriis de virtutibus et viciis mystice ad intellectum transumptis recollectorii finis."

It is impossible to speak with certainty as to the first edition, on account of the omission of dates, places, and printers' names in some of the early copies. There are two editions so circumstanced, with the titles No. 1 and 2, in folio, and containing 152 chapters only. There is a third printed without date by Nicolas Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt at Utrecht, in folio, with 152 chapters, to which Lambinet has inaccurately assigned the date of 1473.[118] One of these three is probably the first edition. They are all excessively rare, and a copy containing 152 chapters only would not easily be found in this country.

Of the editions without date, place, or printer, that contain 181 chapters, there are three, and perhaps more. One of these, in folio, is in the British Museum, but imperfect. It was certainly printed with the types used by Ulric Zell, about 1475. Two others, the one in folio, the other in quarto, were printed without date at Louvain, by John of Westphalia. He is said to have printed one edition with the date 1473; but this is probably a mistake copied from one book into another, as Lambinet assures us that the copy in the royal library at Paris has the above date, but in manuscript only.[119] The following editions with dates can be spoken of with more confidence.

1. 1480, no place, nor printer. In folio. 2. 1480, at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu. In folio. 3. 1481, at Hasselt, no printer. In folio. 4. 1482, no place, nor printer. In quarto. This is doubtful, being taken from a bookseller's catalogue. 5. 1488, no place, nor printer. In folio. 6. 1489, no place, nor printer. In folio. 7. 1489, at Strasburg, no printer. In folio. 8. 1490, at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu. In folio. 9. 1493, no place, nor printer. In folio. 10. 1494, no place, nor printer. In quarto. 11. 1494, at Louvain, no printer.... 12. 1497, no place, nor printer. In quarto. 13. 1497, at Strasburg, by John Knoblouch. In quarto. 14. 1498, no place, nor printer. In folio. 15. 1499, no place, nor printer. In folio. 16. 1499, at Paris, no printer. In quarto. 17. 1506, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo. 18. 1508, at Hagenau, by Henry Gran. In folio. 19. 1509, at Paris, by Francois Regnault. In 12mo. 20. 1512, at Venice, no printer. In 12mo. 21. 1515, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo. 22. 1516, at Venice, by George de Rusconibus. In 8vo. 23. 1517, at Paris, no printer. In 12mo. 24. 1517, at Hagenau, by Henry Gran. In folio. 25. 1520, at Venice, by A. de Bindonis. In 8vo. 26. 1521, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo. 27. 1521, at Rouen.... 28. 1555, at Lyons, no printer. In 12mo.

GERMAN TRANSLATION.--Of this only one edition has occurred, printed at Augsburg, by John Schopser, 1489, in folio.

DUTCH TRANSLATION.--Two editions are mentioned, the one printed at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu, 1481, and the other at Zwollis, by Peter Van Os, 1484; both in folio.

FRENCH TRANSLATION.--It does not appear who was the author of the translation into this language, which is entitled Le violier[120] des hystoires Rommaines: moralisez sur les nobles gestes faitz vertueulx et anciennes chroniques de toutes nations de gens, fort recreatif et moral. It contains only one hundred and forty-nine stories. About the year 1516, Pierre Gringore, herald to the duke of Lorraine, and the author of several moralities and other works, published a book called Les fantasies de mere sote, which is only a translation in prose, intermixed with verse, of some twenty or thirty stories in the Gesta Romanorum, with their moralizations. He has suppressed all mention of his original, and insinuated in the privilege that he was himself the inventor. This work seems to have preceded the anonymous translation above mentioned, of which it is possible that Gringore might have likewise been the author. There is another French Gestes Romaines by Gaguin the historian, which has been mistaken for a translation of the Gesta; but it is nothing more than an extract from the history of the Roman republic. The editions of the Violier are, 1. without date, printed at Paris, by Philip Le Noir, in quarto; 2. 1521, printed at Paris, by Jean de la Garde, in folio; and 3. 1529, printed also at Paris, for Denis Janot, in quarto.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION.--In 1703 was published a little volume entitled Gesta Romanorum: or Forty-five histories originally (as 't is said) collected from the Roman records, with applications or morals for the suppressing vice, and encouraging virtue and the love of God. Vol. I. newly and with care translated from the Latin edition, printed, A.D. M.D.XIV. This seems to be the first English translation, and the translator B. P. has remarked in his preface that most of the matters contained in his book had, as he understood, appeared already in the English tongue; and therefore he desires the reader, if he should discover a great difference in names, sense, and expression, to compare each work with the Latin copy, by which comparison he conceives it will be found that his translation is faithful. He was not aware that the preceding translation to which he alludes had been made from a different work. The stories are here extracted without attention to the original arrangement, but with a reference in each to the Latin copy. The editor, whoever he was, designed an extension of his labours to other volumes. Next followed an edition of the same work, without date, 18mo, but printed about 1720. It wants the references to the Latin copy, and the former preface is abridged. It contains fourteen additional stories that do not belong to the original Gesta. Of this another edition, with the language much altered, was printed in 1722, 18mo, with the same number of stories. The editor signs himself A. B., perhaps Bettesworth the printer.

It is now time to proceed to the description of another Gesta Romanorum, and which has indeed been the principal cause of the present dissertation. This work was undoubtedly composed in England in imitation of the other; and therefore it will be necessary for the future to distinguish the two works by the respective appellations of the original and the English Gesta.

It is remarkable that neither Mr. Tyrwhitt nor Mr. Warton, both of whom had frequent occasion to inspect the work in question, and to notice certain variations between what they have too loosely termed the printed copies and the manuscripts, should not have perceived that the latter were in reality a different performance. Mr. Tyrwhitt indeed, for want of this perception, has made use of certain English features in the manuscripts as an argument to prove that the original Gesta was composed in England.[121]

From the great celebrity of the original Gesta, it could not fail of being known to the English clergy, and accordingly we find that it was used by them in the pulpit as in other countries. If the numerous volumes of the sermons of the middle ages that still remain in our college and cathedral libraries were examined, a task by no means here recommended, it would, no doubt, be found, that they had been indebted to it among other similar authorities for many of their examples; and to show that this is not a mere conjecture, there is a collection of ancient sermons in the British Museum that affords a solitary instance of the introduction of a story from the original Gesta.[122] It is the thirty-ninth story, of two brothers at enmity with each other. Though anonymous, there is no doubt that these sermons were composed by some Englishman, who has cited a multitude of authors, and among other matters the well-known story of the Jew who refused to be delivered from a jakes into which he had fallen on the sabbath day.

It is natural to suppose that a work like the original Gesta would stimulate some person to the compilation of one that should emulate if not altogether supersede it; and accordingly this design was accomplished at a very early period by some Englishman, in all probability a monk. There is a considerable difficulty even in forming a conjecture as to the precise time in which this was done. One of the earliest manuscripts appears to have been written about the reign of Richard the Second, nor is there any internal evidence in this work that places its composition below that period. That its purpose was similar to that of the other is manifest from its being quoted no less than five times in a collection of sermons by a preacher at Magdalen college already mentioned, who has likewise introduced the moralizations generally in the very words of his original. If additional proofs were wanting of the English origin of the work before us, it might be stated, 1. That no manuscript of it appears to exist in any of the catalogues of continental libraries; whereas there are many in those of this country.[123] 2. That in one of the chapters there are some English verses,[124] and in another some English proper names.[125] 3. That it has a few English terms and modes of speech, as parliament, livery of seizin, &c.

The construction resembles that of the original Gesta, from which a great many stories have been retained; but these are always newly written, and sometimes materially altered. The moralizations are uniformly different, and the proper names generally changed. The best manuscripts contain one hundred and two stories, out of which there are upwards of forty that are not in the original work, none of which have been ever printed in the Latin of this Gesta, and but few of them in an English translation. The sources from which many of them were taken cannot easily be traced, whilst others are extracted from works that will hereafter be mentioned.

In the following analysis of the additional stories to this Gesta, the plan of Mr. Warton has been adopted. Though it should fail in exciting much pleasurable sensation in the reader, it may at least serve to throw a ray or two of light on the manners of the middle ages. The arrangement of the chapters is from MS. Harl. 2270, but the copy used is one of equal value in the author's possession. The variety in these is very inconsiderable.

CHAP. I.--The emperor Anselmus bore a silver shield with five red roses. He had three sons equally beloved by him. His continual wars with the king of Egypt had reduced him so low, that of all his temporal goods only a single tree remained. Being mortally wounded in one of his battles, he called his sons before him, and bequeathed to the eldest all that was under the earth and above the earth belonging to the tree; to the second, all that was great and small in it; and to the youngest, all that was wet and dry in it. On the king's death a dispute arose between his sons concerning the possession of the tree, which by mutual consent was referred for decision to the king of Reason. He caused all the young men to be bled, and ordered that a bone, taken from the breast of their dead father, should be dipped in the blood and afterwards washed. The blood of the two elder sons was easily discharged, but that of the youngest remained. The king declared that he was of the true blood and nature of the bone, and the others bastards; to him therefore the tree was adjudged.

CHAP. II.--The emperor Diocletian, desirous to know what bird had the greatest affection for its young, goes into a wood and returns to his palace with an ostrich's nest, which he places under a glass vessel. The dam follows him, and finding it impossible to get at her offspring, proceeds to a desert, where she remains thirty-four days, and then comes home with a worm called Thurnar; this she kills on the vessel, which being broken by the blood of the animal, her young ones are set at liberty. At this conduct of the bird Diocletian expresses much pleasure.

CHAP. IV.--The emperor Gauterus, reflecting on the vanities of the world, resolves to find a situation where there is nothing but happiness. He leaves his kingdom, and meets a beautiful woman who had lost her husband. She offers him marriage, and abundance of wealth; but on inspecting the nuptial chamber, the emperor is startled and disgusted at the appearance of several serpents and a lion that threaten him with destruction. The lady informs him that he may possibly survive a night or two, but that the animals will afterwards devour him, as they had her husband. The emperor declines the honour of this marriage, and proceeds to another country, where the nobles are desirous to elect him king in the room of their deceased monarch; but finding a bedchamber like the former, he instantly departs, and arrives at a third place, where he is offered the kingdom on similar terms. At length he meets an old man, sitting near a ladder with three steps raised against a wall. He is interrogated as to his wishes, and answers that he sought three things, viz. joy without sorrow, abundance without want, and light without darkness. He is desired to ascend the ladder, when he finds what he had wished for, and continues on the spot during the rest of his life. This is, in substance, the 101st story in the other Gesta, but here related with much variety.

CHAP. XVIII.--A knight falls in love with Aglae, the daughter of the emperor Polentius, and being obliged to be absent in the Holy Land for seven years, the lady agrees not to marry till his return. In the mean time the emperor promises his daughter to the king of Hungary, who being deeply in love with her, consents, at her request, to postpone the marriage. On the day before the appointed time, the king of Hungary, riding to the emperor's court in great pomp to celebrate his nuptials, is met by the knight, with whom he enters into conversation, and a violent rain coming on, the king's fine clothes are presently spoiled. The knight remarks that he should have brought his house with him. The king is struck with the singularity of the admonition. They arrive at a deep water, and the king plunging in with his horse, is nearly drowned. The knight tells him that he should have brought his bridge with him. Shortly after the king inquires what time of day it is; his companion replies that it is time to eat, and offers a cake, which is accepted. He then observes to the king that he had acted unwisely in omitting to bring his father and mother with him. As they approach the emperor's palace, the knight requests leave of the king to take another road, meaning to get to the court by a nearer way that was known to him, and carry off the lady before the king should arrive. On being asked what road he intended to take, he declares he will speak the truth. He says, that on that day seven years he had spread a net in a certain place to which he was then going; that if he should find it broken he shall leave it, but if whole, that he shall take it with him. The king arrives at the palace, and is kindly entertained. The emperor interrogates him concerning the particulars of his journey, and on hearing the strange observations that the knight had made, commends him as a wise man, and informs the king that by the house he had meant nothing more than a cloak; that the bridge he talked of, signified the attendants who should have been sent before to ascertain the depth of the water; and that by the king's father and mother, he intimated the bread and wine that he should have brought with him. But when the emperor came to reflect on the meaning of the net which had been spread seven years since, he perceived that his daughter was in danger, and on commanding her chamber to be examined, found his suspicions verified. The king being deceived by the knight and the damsel, returned in disgrace to his own country.

CHAP. XXI.--This is the story of king Lear under the name of Theodosius, emperor of Rome. It has been already given from the old English translation in manuscript. See page 420.

CHAP. XXIV.--Antonius made a law at Rome, that whenever a fire happened in the city a sentinel should cry out to the people to ring all the bells, and secure the gates. A certain warrior was desirous of becoming master of the city, and, apprised of this law, consulted with his companions how it should be evaded. One advised that they should enter the city peaceably, and proclaim a general feast, at which a certain liquor should be used that would set all the guests asleep. The stratagem is adopted, the city fired, the inhabitants carried off, and not one person left to comply with the emperor's edict.

CHAP. XXV.--A certain knight is unjustly accused before an emperor, who, when he finds that the accusation cannot be maintained, endeavours to perplex him with intricate questions, which he is obliged to answer on pain of death. Among these are, the distance of a sigh from the heart? the number of flaggons of salt water in the sea? the depth of it? which are the most honourable and poorest professions? &c. These are all answered satisfactorily, and the knight dismissed with commendation.

CHAP. XXVI.--A sick emperor sends into a foreign country for the physician Averrhoes, who cures him of his disease. This excites the envy of three other physicians, and they resolve to effect his ruin. For this purpose they deceive him into a belief that he is become leprous, and he returns with great sorrow to the emperor, to acquaint him with his misfortune. Being offered all the consolation that the emperor can afford him, he requests that he may have the use of a bath made of goat's blood. By this remedy he is restored to health; and the emperor, wondering at the suddenness with which he had been attacked, is informed by Averrhoes that three leprous persons of his own profession had terrified him, and thereby communicated their disease. They are immediately punished with death.

CHAP. XXVII.--Antony, emperor of Rome, is fond of chess. Playing once at this game, he observed that when the men were replaced as usual in the bag, the king was indiscriminately confounded with the rest of the pieces. This suggests to him his mortal state, and that he himself shall be eventually blended with others in the grave. He divides his kingdom into three parts; one he gives to the king of Jerusalem, another to his nobles, and the third to the poor. He then retires to the Holy Land to end his days in peace.

CHAP. XXX.--The emperor Averrhoes proclaims a tournament, and that the conquerer shall marry his daughter after his decease. Decius, a knight who excelled in arms, had two infant sons. Hearing of the proclamation, he goes one morning into a forest where a nightingale was singing very sweetly. He expresses a wish to know the meaning of the song, and an old man, suddenly appearing to him, explains it. The bird had directed him to go to the tournament, but in his way thither he is to meet with some heavy misfortune, which he is recommended to support with constancy and patience, because, eventually, his sorrow is to be turned to joy. The old man then disappears, and the nightingale flies away. Decius returns home and acquaints his wife with the adventure. She advises him to go to the tournament with herself and children; and he had no sooner finished the preparations for his journey, than his house and all his goods are consumed by fire. Not discouraged, he embarks on board a vessel, and on his arrival in the country to which he was going, the captain of the ship demands the price of his passage. The knight confesses his present inability to comply with the requisition, but promises on his return from the tournament to satisfy him fully. The captain, who had in the meantime conceived an improper passion for the lady, demands her as an hostage, refusing an offer of the children. The poor knight, finding no remedy, affectionately takes leave of his wife, and departs in great sorrow with his children. The mariner in vain attempts the accomplishment of his purpose with the lady, and after having accompanied her to some strange country, dies. She is reduced to great misery, and obliged to beg her bread from door to door. The story then returns to the knight, who, proceeding in his journey to the emperor's palace, meets with a deep piece of water, which it was necessary to cross. Not being able to carry over both the children together, he leaves one of them on the ground. On his return for his child, a lion springs from a wood, seizes the infant before he could arrive at the spot, and carries it away. He endeavours in vain to pursue the ravisher, and at length goes back to his other child. But here again his ill fortune attends him; a bear had seized it, and was in the act of carrying it to a neighbouring forest. He now gives way to his grief, and exclaims bitterly against the nightingale and her song, but resolves to proceed to the tournament. Here he has better luck, and repeatedly carries away the prize. The emperor takes him into great favour, and places him at the head of his armies. Walking one day through a certain city, he finds a precious stone of three colours. On carrying it to a lapidary, he is informed that he possesses a great treasure; that the stone has the power of making the owner completely happy, of enabling him to find what he might have lost, and of converting his poverty into wealth, and his sorrows into joy. Soon afterwards he has occasion to raise troops for the emperor's service, and in the course of the war two young soldiers eminently distinguish themselves by their valour. As they are sitting one night at supper, they make inquiries of each other respecting their parents; and from certain matters that are detailed, they are recognized by their mother, who happens to be present. This discovery soon leads to that of their father, who is known by his wife, from a particular mark in his forehead. All the parties return to their own country, and end their days happily.

The burning of the knight's house, and the manner in which he was deprived of his children, have been borrowed from the romance of Sir Isumbras.[126]

CHAP. XXXI.--A law was made at Rome that the sentinels of the city should each night examine what was passing in all the houses, so that no private murders might be committed, nor any thing done whereby the city should be endangered. It happened that an old knight named Josias had married a young and beautiful woman, who, by the sweetness of her singing, attracted many persons to his house, several of whom came for the purpose of making love to her. Among these were three young men who were high in the emperor's favour. They respectively agreed with the woman for a private assignation for which she was to receive twenty marks. She discloses the matter to her husband, but not choosing to give up the money, prevails on him to consent to the murder of the gallants, and the robbing of their persons. This is accomplished, and the bodies deposited in a cellar. The woman, mindful of the new law that had been made, sends for one of the sentinels, who was her brother, pretends that her husband had killed a man in a quarrel, and prevails on him, for a reward, to dispose of the dead body. She then delivers to him the first of the young men, whom he puts into a sack and throws into the sea. On his return to the sister, she pretends to go into the cellar to draw wine, and cries out for help. When the sentinel comes to her, she tells him that the dead man is returned. At this he of course expresses much surprise, but putting the second body into his sack ties a stone round its neck and plunges it into the sea. Returning once more, the woman, with additional arts, plays the same part again. Again he is deceived, and taking away the third body, carries it into a forest, makes a fire, and consumes it. During this operation he has occasion to retire, and in the meantime a knight on horseback, who was going to a tournament, passes by, and alights to warm himself at the fire. On the other's return the knight is mistaken for the dead man, and with many bitter words thrown into the fire, horse and all. The sentinel goes back to his sister, and receives the stipulated reward. A hue and cry had now been made after the young men who were missing. The husband and wife engage in a quarrel, and the murder is of course discovered.

This story has been immediately taken from The seven wise masters, where it forms the example of the sixth master. The ground-work is, no doubt, oriental, and may be found, perhaps in its most ancient form, in The little hunchbacked taylor of The Arabian nights. It was imported into Europe very early, and fell into the hands of the lively and entertaining French minstrels, who have treated it in various ways, as may be seen in Le Grand, Fabliaux et contes, tom. iv., where it is related five times. The several imitations of it from The seven wise masters may be found in all the editions of Prince Erastus, an Italian modification of the Wise masters. It forms the substance of a well constructed and entertaining story of two friars, John and Richard, who are said to have resided at Norwich in the reign of Henry the Fifth. This is related in Heywood's History of women under the title of The faire ladie of Norwich,[127] and has crept into Blomefield's History of Norfolk in a very extraordinary manner, unaccompanied with any comment, but with the addition of the murderer's name, who is unaccountably stated to be Sir Thomas Erpingham, a well-known character.[128] In the Bodleian library there is an old English poem entitled A merry jest of Dane Hew munk of Leicestre, and how he was foure times slain and once hanged. Printed at London by J. Allde, in 4to, without date. This is probably the same story, which has certainly been borrowed from one of those related by the Norman minstrels.[129]

CHAP. XXXII.--Folliculus, a knight, was fond of hunting and tournaments. He had an only son, for whom three nurses were provided. Next to this child he loved his falcon and his greyhound. It happened one day that he was called to a tournament, whither his wife and domestics went also, leaving the child in a cradle, the greyhound lying by him, and the falcon on his perch. A serpent that inhabited a hole near the castle, taking advantage of the profound silence that reigned, crept from his habitation, and advanced towards the cradle to devour the child. The falcon, perceiving the danger, fluttered with his wings till he awoke the dog, who instantly attacked the invader, and after a fierce conflict, in which he was sorely wounded, killed him. He then lay down on the ground to lick and heal his wounds. When the nurses returned they found the cradle overturned, the child thrown out, and the ground covered with blood as well as the dog, who they immediately concluded had killed the child. Terrified at the idea of meeting the anger of the parents, they determined to escape, but in their flight fell in with their mistress, to whom they were compelled to relate the supposed murder of the child by the greyhound. The knight soon arrived to hear the sad story, and, maddened with fury, rushed forward to the spot. The poor wounded and faithful animal made an effort to rise, and welcome his master with his accustomed fondness; but the enraged knight received him on the point of his sword, and he fell lifeless to the ground. On examination of the cradle the infant was found alive and unhurt, and the dead serpent lying by him. The knight now perceived what had happened, lamented bitterly over his faithful dog, and blamed himself for having depended too hastily on the words of his wife. Abandoning the profession of arms he broke his lance into three pieces, and vowed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he spent the rest of his days in peace.

This tale is likewise borrowed by the compiler of the Gesta, from the Seven wise masters, and of oriental construction. It is originally in Pilpay's fables, being that of The Santon and the broken pitcher.[130]

There is a very extraordinary tradition in North Wales, of an incident resembling that in our story having happened to prince Llewellyn about the year 1205. He is said to have erected a tomb over his faithful dog, still known in Carnarvonshire by the name of Cilhart's grave.[131] This tradition is the subject of an elegant ballad by the honourable Mr. Spencer, privately printed in a single sheet, under the title of Beth Gêlert, or The grave of the greyhound. At Abergavenny priory church there is said to be the figure of an armed knight with a dog at his feet; and with this person, whoever he was, the story of Cilhart has also been connected. But the dog, as well as other animals, is frequently found at the feet of figures on old monuments. On the whole, the subject appears not undeserving of the consideration of Welsh antiquaries. It would be proper however, on any such occasion, to bear in mind the numerous applications of circumstances altogether fabulous to real persons; one example of which has occurred in the story from the Gesta that immediately precedes the present.

It may be thought worth adding that Virgil's Original Gnat resembled in its outline, as given by Donatus, the story in the Gesta. A shepherd there falls asleep in a marshy spot of ground; a serpent approaches, and is about to kill him. At this moment a gnat settles on the shepherd's face, stings, and awakens him. He instinctively applies his hand to the wounded part, and crushes the gnat. He soon perceives that he had destroyed his benefactor, and, as the only recompense in his power, erects a tomb to his memory.

CHAP. XXXVI.--A king having educated his three sons under a celebrated philosopher, interrogates each of them as to what kind of a God he should prefer; for it was the custom of the country that every man should make his own choice on this occasion. The eldest chooses Jupiter for his power, the second Jupiter also for his wisdom, the third Mercury for his piety and mercy. The king recommends a Deity who should unite all these properties, and who is compared to Jesus Christ, &c.

CHAP. XLVI.--The emperor Alexander made a law that no man should turn a flat-fish on his plate, so as to eat the other side, under pain of death; it being nevertheless permitted him to ask three things before his execution. The son of an offender against this law saves his father's life by his ingenuity, and contrives to marry the emperor's daughter.

CHAP. XLVII.--A law was made that if any child should die, or even be hurt by the negligence of the person to whose care it were committed, such person should suffer death. A knight requested as a reward for some services, that he might have the care of the king's son. This was accordingly granted, and the child delivered over to nurses. In their absence at a fair, a wolf entered the house and carried off the infant towards a wood. A shepherd gathering fruit in an orchard saw the affair and gave the alarm. The child was recovered, but not till it had received a bite that left a mark in its forehead. When the king had received back his son, he discovered the wound, and menaced the knight with the punishment of the law. The knight asserted that he was not a God, nor able to control the effect of nature. The king maintained that the mark was not natural, but produced by accident; and the knight at length confessed the fact, and threw himself on the king's mercy. He was only enjoined to do exclusive homage to the king, and taken into favour.

In the moral, God is the maker of the law. He delivers man's soul to him pure and unspotted, to be nourished in deeds of virtue. The ecclesiastics are the nurses, who instead of attending to their duty, frequent the worldly fairs of wickedness and vanity. The wolf is the devil, who seizes the soul and endeavours to precipitate it into hell; but the good preacher sitting in the arbour of the holy scriptures, gives the alarm, and delivers it from the clutches of the devil, &c.

CHAP. XLVIII.--This story has been given from the old English translation in manuscript, at the end of the notes to the Merchant of Venice. See p. 173.

CHAP. XLIX.--An emperor made a law that whoever violated a Virgin should lose both his eyes. His own son is found guilty of the crime, and the emperor, notwithstanding the entreaties of his nobles, enforces punishment, but consents to divide the loss of sight with the aggressor.

CHAP. L.--This story is in the other Gesta, but differently related. A king on some domestic difference with his wife, had been told by her that one only of her three sons was legitimate; but which of them was so she refused to discover. This gave him much uneasiness; and his death soon afterwards approaching, he called his children together, and declared in the presence of witnesses, that he left a ring which had very singular properties to him that should be found to be his lawful son. On his death a dispute arose between the youths, and it was at length agreed to refer its decision to the king of Jerusalem. He immediately ordered that the dead body of the father should be taken up and tied to a tree: that each of the sons should shoot an arrow at it, and that he who penetrated the deepest should have the ring. The eldest shot first, and the arrow went far into the body; the second shot also, and deeper than the other. The youngest son stood at a distance, and wept bitterly; but the king said to him, "Young man, take your arrow and shoot as your brothers have done." He answered, "Far be it from me to commit so great a crime. I would not for the whole world disfigure the body of my father." The king said, "Without doubt you are his son, and the others only bastards; to you therefore I adjudge the ring."

This story has been entitled The judgment of Solomon, and is probably of oriental origin.[132] It is often represented in that illumination which in the ancient manuscripts of the French translation of the Bible by Guiars des Moulins is prefixed to the proverbs of Solomon, although the story itself does not occur in that bible, nor in the original commentary by Petrus Comestor. It appears to have been a great favourite in the middle ages, and was often related from the pulpit.[133] The original judgment of Solomon in the first book of Kings had probably reached the continent of India at some very early period, as it is imitated in the following story which occurs in one of the books belonging to the kingdom of Pegu. Two women went out together to bathe, each accompanied by her child. Whilst they were in the water, the children being left on the bank of the river, an alligator seized one of them and carried it away. A dispute arose between the women for the possession of the remaining infant, and they at length agreed to go before the judge. To determine the controversy, the judge ordered one of the women to lay hold of the child's head, and the other of its heels, and thus to pull for it. In the course of the struggle, the child was hurt, and cried out; one of the women instantly quitted her hold, and the other carried off the prize. The judge ordered her to be brought back, and told her that as she had manifested so little compassion for the sufferings of the child, she could not possibly be its mother. The infant was restored to the other woman.[134] There is another ingenious adjudication by the emperor Claudius, scarcely inferior to Solomon's. A woman had refused to acknowledge her son: and, the arguments on each side being doubtful, Claudius ordered that the parties should be married. The mother was compelled to a confession. See Sueton. in Claud. cap. 15.

CHAP. LI.--Archillaus, a Roman emperor of an elegant person and lofty stature, was desirous to have a shirt made by the hands of a pure and spotless virgin, in such a skilful and subtile manner as to prolong the duration of his life. After the strictest search no such virgin could be found; or at least, says the story, no female whose talents were competent to the task. Some time afterwards the emperor walking in his orchard, and meditating on the above matter, was accosted by a certain person who told him that he believed there was one young woman remaining in the country who was in all respects capable of performing what he desired. A messenger was immediately despatched by the emperor on this pleasing mission, with instructions to salute the lady most honourably on his part, and to present her with a particular piece of cloth three inches only in length and breadth, and to request that she would convert it into the shirt required; with a promise that if she succeeded, she should become his wife. The messenger faithfully executed his instructions; but when the damsel saw the cloth, she told him that it was impossible with such a quantity to make a shirt that would fit the emperor in the manner required, but undertook notwithstanding to make one according to the best of her ability. When the emperor heard the answer he sent a pure and handsome vessel to the lady, in which she manufactured a shirt that gave him satisfaction. He performed his promise and married her. This very silly and obscure story is allegorized into the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary.

CHAP. LIV.--Is also in the other Gesta, but here related with much greater variety of circumstance, and in all respects improved. The story has been very properly termed by Mr. Warton, a beautiful one; but he has not been equally accurate in his statement that "Occleve has literally followed the book before us (i. e. the original Gesta,) and has even translated into English prose the moralisation annexed." Occleve's immediate model was our English Gesta; nor is it improbable that he might even be the translator of it; the moralisation also is entirely different.[135] Mr. Warton has omitted to notice that this story corresponds with that of Fortunatus; which, unless itself of oriental origin, might have been taken from it.[136]

CHAP. LVI.--An emperor who had only a daughter, hunting one day in a forest, lost his way, and was obliged to seek shelter in the cottage of a forester. He was kindly and hospitably received, and after taking some refreshment, retired to rest without disclosing to the man who he was. As he lay in bed he thought he heard a voice that said to him, "take, take, take;" presently after, another that cried, "give, give, give;" and then a third that still more emphatically pronounced these words, "fly, fly, fly; for this night a child is born who shall succeed to your empire." When he arose in the morning, he inquired of the forester if any child had been born during the night, who informed him that his wife had just been delivered of a son. The emperor then discovered himself, examined a mark on the child's forehead, and told the man that he should send for it the next day, as he designed to have it bred up at his court. On his return home he directed some confidential servants to take away the child from the forester's cottage, to put it to death, and to bring back its heart, that he might be satisfied that his orders were obeyed. A contention arose among the domestics about destroying the infant,[137] and one more humane than the rest, proposed the killing of a pig in its stead, and delivering the heart to the king. This was at length acceded to by the others. The child was wrapped up in some linen, and placed in a hollow tree for present shelter. When the emperor received the supposed heart of the child he cast it into the fire, and mocked the idle dreams that had tormented him. Shortly after, as an earl was hunting in the above forest, the dogs discovered the child, which was taken home and committed to the care of the earl's wife, whom he prevailed on to acknowledge it as their own, and to give out that she had just been delivered of it. When thirteen years had elapsed from this time, the emperor proclaimed a great feast, to which, among others, the earl was invited, who carried the boy with him as a squire to attend his person. When the youth came into the presence of the emperor, the latter instantly perceived the mark on his forehead, and in great anger interrogated the earl so strictly that he confessed the manner in which he had discovered the child. But the emperor's indignation was still more excited against the servants whom he had employed. He sent for them and commanded them on their oaths to speak the truth. The emperor, now satisfied of the identity of the youth, informed the earl that he should retain him at his court, and that he himself was at liberty to return home. It happened that at this time the empress was in a foreign kingdom with her daughter. The emperor therefore sent the youth to her with a letter in which he commanded her to cause him to be put to death in the most cruel and ignominious manner. In the prosecution of his journey, the poor young man came to the castle of a knight whom he humbly entreated to afford him lodging; and being hospitably received, laid himself down to sleep, placing near him a box in which he had deposited the letter. The knight accidentally seeing the box, became anxious to know its contents; and having opened it immediately perceived the emperor's signet. This he very carefully put aside, and, reading the letter, was moved with compassion for the youth. He immediately resolved to save his life, and substituted another letter, in which the king was made to direct the empress to marry her daughter to the young man with great solemnity, and to detain him with her until he should himself arrive. This letter was delivered to the empress, and the supposed directions of the emperor complied with. The youth by his deportment engaged the affections of all. Some time afterwards the emperor resolved to visit the empress, and on his arrival she went out to meet him accompanied by her children. As soon as the emperor saw the young man, he again recognized him; and, beholding his wife with looks of fury and indignation, he demanded of her why she had omitted to obey his commands. She maintained that they had been obeyed by the marriage of the youth to their daughter, who then stood before him, and, as she perceived, with child. The anger of the emperor was now mitigated, and he exclaimed, "The will of the Lord be done, for I see it is in vain to oppose it." He saluted his children with great affection, and they succeeded happily to his throne.

CHAP. LXII.--Cornelius seduces an emperor's daughter, murders her infant, and abandons her. The emperor expostulates to no purpose. He then proclaims a tournament in which the wicked knight is overcome. The princess is brought back to her father.

CHAP. LXVIII.--An emperor in his old age foolishly married a young wife, who carried on an intrigue with a certain knight. He resolved to make a journey to the Holy Land, and, setting out immediately, left his kingdom in the custody of the empress and his nobles. The captain of the ship in which he embarked, having received a large bribe for the purpose, threw the unfortunate emperor into the sea, and returned home with the news of his death, to the great joy of the wicked empress. The old monarch, who had been a good swimmer from his youth, fortunately reached an island which he found inhabited only by wild beasts. The third day after his arrival, he saw in a wood a young lion fighting with a strong and full-grown leopard; and compassionating the lion, who was nearly overpowered by his adversary, he drew his sword and killed the leopard. The grateful lion remained with him, and every day brought him as food some animal that he had hunted, which the emperor dressed by means of a fire that he contrived to make. After some time had elapsed, as he was one day walking on the shore, he perceived a ship, and making signals of distress, was taken on board. The faithful lion plunged after him into the sea, and swam by the side of the vessel, till some of the sailors, perceiving that he was exhausted with fatigue and about to sink, lifted him into the ship. On the emperor's arrival in his own kingdom he handsomely rewarded the captain, and proceeded to his palace accompanied by the lion. When he arrived there, he heard the sound of musical instruments, and perceived other demonstrations of joy. On inquiry he learned that the empress had been just married, and that his subjects believed he had perished in his voyage to the Holy Land. He then applied to one of the domestics of the palace to report him to the new emperor as a minstrel newly arrived, and to request that he might be permitted to entertain him with the tricks of his lion. He was ordered to appear before the new sovereign; whom the lion no sooner beheld than he instantly tore him in pieces, and immediately afterwards the empress. The nobles, astonished at what they saw, were now preparing to make their escape, when the emperor discovered himself, and desired them to lay aside their fear, as the vengeance of God had been accomplished. After relating his adventures, he reassumed his government.

CHAP. LXX.--Josias, a warlike king, was married to the king of Apulia's daughter, who had vowed she would unite herself to that man only who had obtained the victory in all his battles. Walking one day in his garden he saw it written in a star, that he should undertake as many wars for the love of Christ as he had for that of his lady, to whom he communicated the vision. She was extremely afflicted at the news, and threatened to destroy herself and the infant in her womb, but was comforted by her husband with a promise of returning as soon as he had conquered all the enemies of Christ. He then departed in company with Tirius, a valiant knight to whom he was attached, and they shortly arrived in Ethiopia. The king desired his friend to remain there, and subdue the country, whilst he should accomplish other conquests. Tirius requested of the king that he would send him occasional tidings of himself, and directions how to act in his absence. This was promised; and the knight received at the same time a ring from his master, as a pledge whereby to remember him. The king took his departure, and went to the Holy Land. In his absence a certain tyrant named Acharon, made war against Tirius; and finding it impossible to subdue him, accused him of treason to the king of Ethiopia, who deprived him of all his possessions, so that he became very poor and was obliged to beg his bread. Josias soon afterwards returned from the Holy Land to Ethiopia, in the character of a pilgrim, and by chance met Tirius, whom he immediately recognized, but remained himself unknown. He put many questions to his friend, who related to him his misfortunes, and added, that he was in daily expectation of the speedy return of his own sovereign, whose token he still preserved, and whom he described as the better half of his soul. Josias told him that he had travelled far on account of the love he also bore to the same person; that he was exceedingly fatigued, and requested of him to sit down that he might repose his head on his bosom. Tirius answered, that he would do this and much more for him. Whilst Josias was asleep, a white weasel issued from his mouth, and proceeding towards a mountain, walked round it. It then returned, and again entered the mouth of the king. Tirius wondered much at this, and when the king awoke was interrogated as to what he had seen. Josias, on being informed, said, "Let us go to the mountain, perhaps we may behold more wonders." On their coming to a hollow place in the mountain, they found a dragon lying dead, with a large quantity of gold in his belly, and a sharp sword, on which was inscribed, "By my power, and with the king's assistance, the knight Tirius shall once more possess his lands." Josias then discovered himself to his friend, who fell on the ground and kissed his feet. The king gave all the gold to Tirius, but reserved the sword for himself, and commanded the knight not to disclose who he was until they should have accomplished their purpose. Josias then proceeded in his pilgrim's habit to the king's palace, where he found the tyrant Acharon, and sat himself down before the largest table. The king inquired of him whence he came and what tidings he brought. The pilgrim answered, "I come from the Holy Land, where many persons recommend your soul to Christ for having despoiled a worthy knight of his lands on the lying accusation of a tyrant." Acharon then exclaimed, "Why hast thou uttered these things? I would thou wert able to defend thyself, that I might fight with thee." The pilgrim requested leave to accept the challenge, which the king granted, and promised that if he obtained the victory he should not only receive all the lost lands of the knight, but be made the second man in his kingdom. The day of battle was appointed, and the combatants respectively maintained the contest with considerable valour. At length Acharon, exhausted with fatigue, was about to yield, when he said to the pilgrim, "You are doubtless a generous adversary, I die with thirst; suffer me to go once to the river and drink." The pilgrim acquiesced on the like conditions for himself. When Acharon had quenched his thirst, his strength returned; he renewed the combat with vigour, and Josias, in his turn, sorely pressed, requested permission to drink. His treacherous enemy not only refused him, but compelled him to fight his way to the water, into which he plunged and assuaged his thirst. Having recovered his strength, the battle was continued till the evening; and when Acharon was once more about to yield the victory, the king parted the combatants, and appointed the next day to renew the battle. At night the king sent for the pilgrim, commended his valour, and desired his daughter to take him under her care, and provide him with all necessaries, that he might be able to maintain the combat on the following day. The damsel then led him to a chamber, bathed him,[138] prepared his supper, and afterwards placed him in a bed with four feet, so that it could be easily moved from place to place. In the mean time Acharon called together his four sons, all of them robust young men; told them of the danger his life would be in if he should renew the contest with the pilgrim on the ensuing day, and prevailed with them to seize him in his chamber whilst he slept, and throw him into the sea. It happened that a fisherman from his vessel perceived by the light of the moon the floating bed, and to his great astonishment a man lying upon it. Josias also awoke, and wondered much at seeing the stars over his head. The fisherman cried out to the king, and the king to him for assistance, telling him he was the person who had the day before been engaged in combat with the tyrant. The fisherman took him on board his vessel, and afterwards to his dwelling, where he was again put to bed. On the morrow Acharon armed himself and went to the palace, exclaiming aloud, "Bring forth the traitor pilgrim, that I may this day present his head to our lord the king." When the princess was ordered by her father to awake the pilgrim, she was astonished to find him gone, together with the bed; and when the king heard the strange news he was much grieved, for he loved the pilgrim, and detested the tyrant. The fisherman at length appeared and related what had happened. Josias returned to the palace, armed himself, once more attacked his adversary, who was by this time quite dejected, and cutting off his head, presented it to the king. He was then desired to name the reward that he wished for, when he requested that the lands which Tirius had acquired by his valour might be again restored to him. Josias afterwards took leave of his friend, returned to his own kingdom, and ended his days in peace.[139]

CHAP. LXXI.--An emperor committed the education of his only son to one of his knights, who had obtained a victory at a tournament. The child was placed in a chamber, round which the seven liberal sciences were depicted, so that when he lay awake in bed he could be gathering all kinds of knowledge. Near the bed was a fountain, in which the child could bathe, and beyond the fountain a window to admit the sun. It happened that a bear, finding the door open, entered the chamber and washed himself in the fountain, so that the water was much infected with his filth. The knight and his wife soon afterwards drank of the fountain, and became leprous. An eagle also flew in at the window, and carried off the king's son. At length a skilful physician was consulted, who cured the parties of their leprosy, and instructed them how to recover the child.

CHAP. LXXII.--A king hears the song of a nightingale. He is desirous of knowing what it means; and, applying to a wise knight, is informed that it directs him to seek three things, viz. joy without sorrow, abundance without want, and light without darkness. The king sets out in pursuit of them, and arrives in a kingdom where the sovereign was just dead, leaving his throne to his sister. She becomes enamoured of the royal traveller and offers him marriage. Here the story is discontinued, but the narrator refers to chap. iv. as containing the same matter.

CHAP. LXXVII.--In the castle of an emperor was a fountain, the water of which had the property of curing drunkenness. To this vice, which the emperor particularly detested, one of his knights, named Ydronicus, was much addicted; but whenever he perceived the consequences of his intemperance, he repaired to the fountain, and drinking a hearty draught, recovered himself in such a manner that the emperor, who was extremely attached to him, had never yet discovered his failing. It happened that the emperor had found a bird in his forest which sang so sweetly, that, being fond of melody, he repaired daily to the spot to hear it. The particular attention which the emperor bestowed on these two favourites had excited the envy of his courtiers, among whom one wiser than the rest at length undertook their ruin. He first sealed up the fountain, so that when Ydronicus next became intoxicated he was deprived of his usual remedy; and the emperor, perceiving his condition, was filled with indignation, and instantly decreed his banishment. The insidious courtier then repaired to the forest; and watching attentively the motions of the bird, perceived that her mate often came to visit her, but that in his absence she committed infidelities with strange birds, and then bathing herself in an adjacent well, deceived her mate on his return. He therefore closed up the well, and the unfaithful bird being soon detected by her mate, he tore her to pieces. The latter part of this story seems borrowed from the last chapter of the original Gesta.

CHAP. LXXVIII.--A law was made at Rome, that no man should marry for beauty, but for riches only; and that no woman should be united to a poor man, unless he should by some means acquire wealth equal to her own. A certain poor knight solicited the hand of a rich lady, but she reminded him of the law, and desired him to use the best means of complying with it, in order to effect their union. He departed in great sorrow, and after much inquiry, was informed of a rich duke who had been blind from the day of his birth. Him he resolved to murder, and obtain his wealth; but found that he was protected in the day-time by several armed domestics, and at night by the vigilance of a faithful dog. He contrived however to kill the dog with an arrow, and immediately afterwards the master, with whose money he returned to the lady. He informed her that he had accomplished his purpose; and being interrogated how this had been done in so short a space of time, he related all that had happened. The lady desired, before the marriage should take place, that he would go to the spot where the duke was buried, lay himself on his tomb, listen to what he might hear, and then report it to her. The knight armed himself, and went accordingly. In the middle of the night he heard a voice saying, "O duke, that liest here, what asketh thou that I can do for thee?" The answer was, "O Jesus, thou upright judge, all that I require is vengeance for my blood unjustly spilt." The voice rejoined, "Thirty years from this time thy wish shall be fulfilled." The knight, extremely terrified, returned with the news to the lady. She reflected that thirty years were a long period, and resolved on the marriage. During the whole of the above time the parties remained in perfect happiness.

When the thirty years were nearly elapsed, the knight built a very strong castle, and over one of the gates, in a conspicuous place, caused the following verses to be written:

"In my distress, religion's aid I sought; But my distress reliev'd, I held it nought. The wolf was sick, a lamb he seem'd to be; But health restor'd, the wolf again we see."

Interrogated as to the meaning of these enigmatical lines, the knight at once explained them by relating his own story, and added that in eight days time the thirty years would expire. He invited all his friends to a feast at that period; and when the day was arrived, the guests placed at table, and the minstrels attuning their instruments of music, a beautiful bird flew in at the window and began to sing with uncommon sweetness. The knight listened attentively, and said, "I fear this bird prognosticates misfortune." He then took his bow, and shot an arrow into it in the presence of all the company. Instantly the castle divided in two parts, and, with the knight, his wife, and all who were in it, was precipitated to the lowest depth of the infernal regions. The story adds, that on the spot where the castle stood, there is now a spacious lake, on which no substance whatever floats, but is immediately plunged to the bottom.

CHAP. LXXIX.--The emperor Miremius had an only son, on whose birth the wise men being consulted as to his future destiny, declared that he would not live except he were brought up for seven years under ground, where the light of the sun could never come. This was accordingly done; and at the expiration of the time the young prince was taken out of his subterraneous confinement, and became the admiration of all men for his virtues and good disposition. In due time he was married to a daughter of the king of Hungary. At each corner of the nuptial bed was placed a little dog to watch, and near it a burning lamp, which by the emperor's special command was to be lighted only by the hands of a pure virgin. The prince coming one night into the chamber found the lamp extinguished, and made a solemn vow that he would never more enter the bed until the lamp were rekindled; but after many inquiries no virgin could be found for the purpose. The prince determined to make search himself, and taking affectionate leave of his wife, proceeded on his expedition. He presently overtook a lion, whose foot had been wounded by a thorn, which he extracted, and the animal followed him. Arriving at the castle of a king who had a virgin daughter, the prince fell in love with and demanded her in marriage. The king consented, on condition that he would destroy a horrible dragon, who had nearly devoured all the sheep and oxen in the country, and for whose future supply it would soon be necessary to draw lots in the king's own family. The prince agreed to the proposal, and waited till the period arrived when the lot had fallen on the king's daughter. He then became exceedingly terrified, but ventured to attack the dragon, who was on the point of destroying him, when the lion came to his assistance, and speedily killed his adversary. The virgin was delivered to the prince, who took her home to his wife. The lamp was rekindled, to the great joy of the parties, and the virgin treated with all possible kindness and attention. The dog and the lamp in this story are introduced in chap. i. of the other Gesta, but the tales have nothing else in common.

CHAP. LXXX.--There was a law at Rome, that every woman at her purification should write some words on the church door, for the edification of the people, and then return home with due solemnity. The empress on this occasion writes, "I am a king governing the age; all the world is mine." Some time afterwards a noble lady attended by several musicians comes to be purified. She inscribes on the door, "I am an infant at the breast whose milk is wine," and returns home to prepare a feast. The empress is much offended, and sends for her. She procures two serpents, and compels the lady to suckle them, &c. The substance of this story is incorporated with the old ballad of "A warning piece to England, or the fall of queen Eleanor."[140]

CHAP. LXXXI.--A city is infested with dragons and other venomous animals that destroy the inhabitants. A philosopher advises the emperor to hang a live lion on a cross, and thus terrify the other creatures from molesting the city.

CHAP. LXXXII.--A law was made, that if any one could escape from prison and fly to the king's palace he should receive protection. An imprisoned knight is visited by a bird, who leaves a precious stone, by the touch of which his fetters are loosed and he escapes, &c.

CHAP. LXXXIV.--A dispute arose between the three sons of an emperor respecting the succession. The nobles decided that they should run a race on horseback, and that he whose horse neighed should inherit the throne. A cunning servant of one of the princes contrived that his master should win, by placing in the horse's way a mare that he remembered. This is the well-known story of Darius.

CHAP. XC.--Of a law that whoever violated a virgin without making atonement to her father within a certain time should suffer death.

CHAP. XCII.--Of a madman who tore his flesh every day, and was poisoned by his father.

CHAP. XCIII.--An empress falls in love with a young knight; and becoming extremely sick, the physicians inform her husband that there is no mode of cure, but the bathing her with the knight's blood.

CHAP. XCIV.--A poor man is promoted by an emperor to great honours, but soon becomes proud, and rebels against his sovereign. He is banished with his accomplices. These invite their successors to a poisoned banquet. The emperor is recommended by his son to apply to a damsel who possesses a well with miraculous powers. By means of its water the dead men are restored to life. The prince is rewarded with a crown of gold.

CHAP. XCVII.--Jonathas, having contrived to keep fire and water in his house, at a time when his fellow citizens had been plundered of them by a tyrant named Eulopius, is rewarded by having the education of the emperor of Rome's son committed to him. He builds a chamber for the young prince, and causes various images and inscriptions to be placed in it, which keep him attentive to his charge. He is finally promoted to great honour.

CHAP. XCVIII.--The emperor Martin had brought up his nephew Fulgentius as his page and cup-bearer; but his steward soon became envious of the young man, and resolved to effect his ruin. For this purpose he prevailed on the emperor to believe that Fulgentius had ungratefully circulated many ill reports of him, and particularly that he was leprous to such a degree that it was unsafe to approach his person or administer his drink to him. He then went to the young man, related to him that the emperor had made great complaint of the foulness of his breath, and advised him, when he performed the duties of his office, to take special care to turn his head aside. The innocent Fulgentius pursued this insidious counsel, and, the emperor's anger being excited, he struck his nephew violently on the breast, and drove him from his presence. He then consulted with the steward how he should deprive the youth of life; and it was settled that some men who lived near at hand, and kept a furnace to burn stones for cement, should immediately be directed to throw into their fire, without the least ceremony, that person who should come early on the morrow, and desire them to fulfil the emperor's commands. Measures were then taken that Fulgentius should be the victim; but in his progress to the lime-kiln he was induced by the sound of a church bell to deviate from his road, and attend the celebration of the mass. During the service he fell asleep, and when it was finished no efforts of the priest could for a very considerable time awake him. In the meanwhile the steward, solicitous to hear of the young man's death, repaired to the spot, and inquiring if the emperor's commands had been executed, was seized by the workmen, who, in spite of all his entreaties and remonstrances, threw him into the furnace. Fulgentius himself soon afterwards arrived, delivered his message, and was surprised to hear of the steward's death, and the miraculous manner in which he himself had escaped. He then returned thanks to God for his preservation, and went back to the palace. The emperor in great anger demanded why he had not executed his commands. Fulgentius related what had happened, and this leading to a mutual explanation, he was restored to his uncle's favour, and ended his days honourably. This story may have come from the East.[141] It is likewise extremely well related in the Contes devots or Miracles of the Virgin,[142] and in other places.[143]

CHAP. XCIX.--A marriage was proposed between the son of Anselmus, emperor of Rome, and the daughter of the king of Apulia. The young lady in her voyage was shipwrecked and swallowed by a whale. In this situation she contrived to make a fire and to wound the animal with a knife, so that he was driven towards the shore, and slain by an earl named Pirius, who delivered the princess and took her under his protection. On relating her story she was conveyed to the emperor. In order to prove whether she was worthy to receive the hand of his son, he placed before her three vessels. The first was of gold, and filled with dead men's bones; on it was this inscription; who chuses me shall find what he deserves. The second was of silver filled with earth, and thus inscribed; who chuses me shall find what nature covets. The third vessel was of lead, but filled with precious stones. It had this inscription; who chuses me shall find what God hath placed. The emperor then commanded her to chuse one of the vessels, informing her that if she made choice of that which should profit herself and others, she would obtain his son; if of what should profit neither herself nor others, she would lose him. The princess after praying to God for assistance, preferred the leaden vessel. The emperor informed her that she had chosen as he wished, and immediately united her with his son. This is obviously the story which had supplied the caskets in the Merchant of Venice. See the note at the end of that play, p. 169.

CHAP. C.--A king hunting in a forest loses his attendants, and is left alone. He meets a lame lion, who stretches out his foot to him, as if soliciting assistance. The king, perceiving a thorn, extracts it, and binds up the wound with certain herbs. Finding no way out of the wood, he is obliged to take shelter in the lion's den, where he is supplied with food by the grateful animal. After remaining here some time a bear comes to the den. The rest of the story will not admit of being told. What has been stated is evidently grafted on the well-known tale of Androcles.

CHAP. CI.--A certain emperor made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, leaving the care of the kingdom in his absence to his wife, a wise and beautiful woman. The emperor's brother not only oppressed and persecuted many of his subjects, but had even the temerity to make unlawful love to the empress. On consulting with her counsellors, they advised her to cast him into prison, which was accordingly done. Here he lay until rumours were spread of the emperor's intended return; and fearing that if his unworthy conduct were reported to his brother he should be sentenced to die, he entreated mercy of the empress, and made such solemn promises of future good behaviour that she consented to release him. On the emperor's arrival, his wife and brother went out to meet him; but in passing through a forest, a stag springing up, diverted the attention of the domestics who accompanied them, and they were left entirely by themselves. The wicked brother now renewed his solicitations to the empress; but receiving from her the most positive refusal of compliance, and menaced with the vengeance of her husband, he inhumanly tied her by the hair to a tree, leaving her palfrey by the side of her. He then rejoined the attendants, and pretended that a multitude of armed men had attacked him and carried off the empress. Shortly afterwards the unfortunate lady was discovered by an earl who was hunting in the forest, taken home to his castle, and by her own consent appointed to superintend the care of his infant daughter. Here a certain seneschal fell in love with her, but his addresses being rejected, he determined on speedy revenge. For this purpose he contrived to get into the castle at night, and proceeding to the earl's chamber, found the empress in bed and asleep with the child. After murdering the infant, he placed the bloody knife in the empress's hand. During the night the earl's wife awoke, and perceiving by the light of the lamp what had happened, accused the empress of the murder in the most bitter terms, and entreated her husband to inflict immediate punishment. The earl, however, thought fit to spare the empress's life, and contented himself with dismissing her from his castle. The poor lady mounted her palfrey, and had not proceeded far, when she met a robber going to execution. Her compassion led her to ransom the man by means of a sum of money; and, depending on his gratitude, she sent him before her to the next city to provide lodging and other necessaries. All the inhabitants of the place admired her beauty, and many persons in vain solicited her love. It happened that a ship arrived in the harbour of this city laden with merchandize, and the empress despatched her servant to the captain, requesting him to attend her for the purpose of negociating for the articles she might want. The captain came, received her orders, and promised to send the goods; but he was also captivated with the beauty of the empress, and desired her servant to follow him. He then offered the man a large reward to assist him in getting his mistress on board the vessel, that he might thus have her in his power, and carry her away. The fellow consented; and, telling his lady that the captain would only permit his merchandize to be examined on board the ship, prevailed on her to accompany him thither, and she immediately became a prisoner. The vessel sailed, the commander earnestly pressed his unlawful solicitations, and threatened death in case of refusal. The empress requested a short respite, and addressed her prayers to heaven for assistance. A tempest instantly arose, the ship sunk to the bottom, and all perished except the empress and the captain. Each of them had clung to a piece of timber, but they were cast on different shores; and the empress, without her knowledge, on that of her own country. Here she soon found shelter in a convent, and applying herself to the study of healing the sick, soon became so skilful that her fame spread throughout the land. About this time the emperor's wicked brother had become a loathsome leper; the earl whose daughter had been killed was blind and paralytic; the treacherous servant became lame and gouty, and otherwise diseased; and the master of the ship had lost his reason. When the emperor heard of the lady's skill in curing diseases, he accompanied his brother to the convent, where the others had also come to be healed. The empress, preserving her disguise, informed them that she had no power of relieving them unless they previously, and in the presence of each other, made a fall and solemn confession of their sins, and repented of them sincerely. This was accordingly done; and when the innocence of the empress was clearly manifested, to the great and mutual surprise of all the parties, she first performed her promise to the sick, and then discovered herself to the emperor. He conducted her to the palace with much joy, and they finished their days happily.

Occleve has related this story in verse from the present work,[144] and it is also to be found in the Patrañas of Timoneda.[145] The outline has been borrowed from one of the Contes devots, or miracles of the Virgin Mary.[146] The incident of the bloody knife occurs likewise in Chaucer's Man of law's tale, and in a story related by Gower.[147]

The author of this Gesta has been nowhere recorded; but it may be necessary on this occasion to lay before the reader part of a note prefixed to the Merchant of Venice, in which Dr. Farmer has corrected one mistake, but inadvertently fallen into another. He says, "In a MS. of Lidgate, I find a tale of two marchants of Egipt and of Baldad, ex Gestis Romanorum. Leland therefore could not be the original author as Bishop Tanner suspected. He lived a century after Lidgate." The inference is perfectly just; but the suspicion was not Bishop Tanner's, who has only retailed that of another writer, Richard Robinson, and he in reality seems to have regarded Leland merely as a translator, as will presently appear.[148] Dr. Farmer had been deceived by the mode of printing Robinson's words, which have much the appearance of belonging to the bishop. There would have been more probability in a conjecture that either Walleis or Bromyard might have been the fabricator of the English Gesta. The moralizations to Ovid's metamorphoses, which the former of these persons composed, adapt him extremely well to the purpose; but though the date of his existence is, on the whole, uncertain, he seems to have lived about half a century too early, viz. towards the beginning of the fourteenth century.[149] From what has already been said of Bromyard, it will appear that he was no less qualified than the other for the authorship of the work in question.

TRANSLATION.--As this work was not circulated in foreign countries, no translation of it appears to have been made in any other language than the English; and in that, not of the whole. There is a very fine manuscript in the Harleian collection, written in the reign of Henry the Sixth, containing seventy stories only.[150] In this manuscript are several pieces by Lydgate, and some tales from Gower's Confessio amantis. As the English Gesta appears to have been extremely well known to both these writers, and also to Occleve, it is by no means improbable that the above translation was made by one or the other of them. Whether it has ever been printed is another question. Mr. Warton has twice mentioned an addition without date by Wynkyn de Worde;[151] and Dr. Farmer has also, in a note prefixed to the Merchant of Venice, referred to the same edition. It had escaped the researches of the industrious Herbert, who has only mentioned it after Mr. Warton,[152] and has in vain been sought for on the present occasion. The fortunate possessor of it may have the means of ascertaining whether it be the same as the above manuscript, by referring to the stories that have been given in the present volume at the end of the remarks on the plays of King Lear, and the Merchant of Venice.

Among the manuscripts in the Royal Library, now in the British Museum, there is one entitled "Eupolemia; Archippus and Panoplia; that ys to say. His good warrfare agenst Satan and his malignant spirites; his good soldyer agenst the flesh, the lustes and concupiscences therof: And his complet harness agenst the worlde and the wickednes and wretchednes therof. Conteyning a true catalogue of all his pore paynefull laboures, translated, collected, allso printed and published and præsented in English, by authority. Shewyng allso what good Benifactors hee hathe had, for meyntenance of his sayde pore study and peine, and what hynderances hee hathe had othirwyse from the yeare of oure Savyour Christe 1576, untill this yeare 1602, for 26 yeares. Newly written oute to the glory of God, honour of the Queenes most excellent Majesty, comfort of the faythfull and convertion or subvertion of their enemyes. By R. Robinson, London." This strange work has a great number of scriptural quotations in Latin and English, in the several margins. The dedication is here given for its singularity. "Sacrosanctæ beatæque Trinitati, simulque serenissimæ ac pientiss. regis majestati sacrum. Pro relevio professionis Christianæ ac remedio oppressionis inhumanæ. Cum impressione presentis codicilli." Then follows a dedication to Queen Elizabeth, made up of scraps from the sacred writings, and from Tibullus, Ovid and Juvenal; next, another to King James, entirely scriptural and in Latin verse. Afterwards we have a list of the author's works, which he divides into three columns, the first containing their titles, the second the allowance and printing, and the third patrons and benevolences. Among these is the following: "1577. A record of ancyent historyes intituled in Latin Gesta Romanorum, translated (auctore ut supponitur Johane Leylando antiquario) by mee perused corrected and bettered. Perused further by the wardens of the stationers and printed first and last by Thomas Easte in Aldersgate streete 6 tymes to this yeare 1601,[153] cont. 21 shetes. Dedicated for 5 impressions to the R. honorable Lady Margaret Countess of Lyneux, who gave me for her booke 13_s._ 4_d._ besydes sale of 25 boks. Dedicated last to the wardens of the Lether sellers,[154] who with others have given mee xx_s._ Dedicated last of all anno 1602 to D. Watson B. of Chichester and B. Almoner to the Queenes Majesty who, (not so thankfull to mee as I deserved) gave me but ijs. for my booke dedicatory."[155] If Leland made any translation of the Gesta, it must have been that printed by Wynkyn de Worde, which Robinson perhaps alludes to, when he says that he had perused bettered and corrected the work; for it is very clear that the older translation in the Harleian manuscript was not known to him.

MANUSCRIPTS.--Of these many are still remaining. They are, in general, written during the reigns of the Fifth and Sixth Henries, though one or two appear to be as old as that of Richard the Second. As the work was a great favourite, many of the stories are found in some of those miscellaneous volumes, which, in all probability, constituted the private libraries of the monks. If these were carefully examined, there is no doubt that many might be added to the following, necessarily imperfect, list:--

IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

1. Harl. 206. 37. 47. contains 26 stories. 2. 219. 15 stories. 3. 406. 37 stories. 4. 2270. 102 stories. 5. 3132. 81 stories. 6. 5259. 101 stories. 7. 5369. 43 stories. 8. Sloane, 4029. 95 stories. 9. Bibl. Reg. 8 F. vi.

AT OXFORD.

10. Bodl. 1986. or B. 3. 10. 11. 2760. or MS. sup. O. i. Art. 17. 12. 3826. but query? 13. Coll. Lincoln. lib. theolog. 60. 14. Magdal. 13. 15. 60. 16. Joh. Bapt. C. 31. 17. G. 48.

MISCELLANEOUS.

18. Worcester Cathedral. 80. 19. Hereford Cathedral. 74. 20. MSS. Rob. Burscough, 82, in Catal. MSS. Angliæ. 21. MSS. Symonds D'Ewes, 150. Catal. MSS. Angliæ. 22. Trin. Coll. Dublin, G. 326. 23. In the author's possession. 101 stories. 24. Ibid. 50 stories. 25. Ibid. 34 stories.

PRINTED EDITIONS.--It has been already stated that the Latin copy of this work has never been printed. The following are all translations into English, No. 1 may be that ascribed to Leland; the rest are by Robinson.

1. No date, printed by Wynkyn de Worde.... 2. 1577. T. East. From Robinson's Eupolemia, as above. 3. 1595. T. East. 12mo. In the author's possession. Contains 43 stories. 4. No date. R. Bishop. 12mo. 5. No date. Stansby. 12mo. 6. 1648. R. Bishop. 12mo. 44 stories. 7. 1663. J. B. for A. Crook. 12mo. 8. 1668. A. J. for A. Crook. 12mo. 44 stories. 9. 1672. E. Crowch, for A. Crook. 12mo. 10. 1689. for T. Bassett, &c. 12mo. 44 stories. 11. 1703. for R. Chiswell. 12mo. The same as that of 1668.

FOOTNOTES:

[96] p. j. For the benefit of those who may have an opportunity of consulting the original, a mistake in Mr. Warton's reference to the Speculum historiale is corrected, which should be lib. IV. c. viii.

[97] A fine collection of them, in verse, was in the library of the Duke de la Valliere. One volume is in MS., Harl. 4401, two others in the author's possession, as well as a third in prose, beautifully painted in camaieu gris. Some of those in prose have been printed. See a memoir by Racine in the Acad. des inscript. tom. xviii. p. 360. Specimens of them may be seen in the fifth volume of that very entertaining work, the Fabliaux et contes of M. Le Grand.

[98] There is a great deal of confusion respecting this man, some making him an English Jacobin of the fourteenth century. He has been mistaken for other persons of the same name, and his works are by no means well ascertained, being often confounded with those of Nicolas Trivet and others. In his Ovid he has been indebted to a preceding work by Alexander Neckam. Another allegorical work on Ovid's metamorphoses was written about 1370, by Giovanni Buonsignore di Castello, and a tropological explanation of them was published by Pierre Lavigne, about 1500. There is also a manuscript in the Royal library at Paris, entitled Ovidii metamorphosis moralisata, per Johannem Bourgauldum. See Labbe nova bibl. MSS., p. 321.

[99] It was printed at Paris, 1494, in 12mo, by Geringard Rembolt.

[100] MS. Harl. 5396. This manuscript contains another similar collection; and these are the more worthy of being noticed, as we have very few of the kind printed in England.

[101] These were printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and at Paris, without date.

[102] "Hic mihi stultam aliquam et indoctam fabulam, ex Speculo opinor historiali, aut Gestis Romanorum, in medium adferunt, et eandem interpretantur allegoricè, tropologicè, et anagogicè."--Stultitiæ laus. Basil. 1780, 8vo, p. 261.

[103] Amœnit. eccles., i. 807.

[104] Observ. on Italy, ii. 108.

[105] This MS. is in the author's possession, as well as another of the same work with considerable variations. A third is in the library of the Royal Society, No. 292, and there ascribed to Odo de Ceriton. Concerning this person, who was tutor in theology to the celebrated John of Salisbury, see Bale, Script. Brytann. catal. pars i. p. 221, edit. 1559. Tanner, Bibl. Britannico-Hibernic. p. 560. A great deal of confusion, and yet not more than is often found on similar occasions, has been made concerning this work and its author. It has been confounded with a moral treatise on natural history called Bestiarium, from which it is totally different. If the reader be desirous of perplexing himself with further inquiries concerning this subject, he may consult Fabricius, Bibl. med. ætat., i. 93, & v. 466, edit. 1734. Cave, Script. eccles. p. 572. Pitts, p. 245. There is another similar but anonymous work among the Harl. MSS., No. 219, that has some fables not in the others, and wants many in both.

[106] See pp. 157, 334.

[107] That is, "Though the wolf come to the priest, and be set to his book to learn psalms, yet is one of his eyes ever turned towards the wood." A similar fable is among those composed by Marie de France in the twelfth century. A curate having tamed a wolf, undertook to teach him to read. "Now," says he to the scholar, "repeat after me, A." The wolf articulated A. "Good," says the curate; "now say B." The wolf cried "bee, bee;" but thinking he heard the bleating of the sheep, away he ran to the fold. This apologue is probably from the East. See the story of Bohetzad and his ten vizirs in the continuation of the Arabian nights' entertainments. The other seems to have been borrowed from the celebrated and interesting romance of Reynard the Fox, evidently composed long before the twelfth century.

[108] Printed at Nuremberg, 1485. Paris, 1500. Basil, sine anno, in folio.

[109] Michael Neander, apud Schelhorn. Amœnit. ecclesiast. i. 798.

[110] Diss. on the Gesta Romanorum, p. lxxxvi.

[111] The Repertorium or Reductorium morale is an extraordinary performance for the time in which it was composed. It contains a system of natural history that may be consulted with advantage, even by modern students; but it is obscured by unlimited credulity and the grossest absurdities, which may nevertheless have their use in exhibiting the folly of learning when unaccompanied by judgment. The good monk is even occasionally witty, but without design. In speaking of the noise which frogs make, he compares them to the lawyers, "Tales sunt causidici et advocati quod vero isti sunt clamosi, quia clamando litigant ad invicem."

[112] Canterbury tales, iv. 331.

[113] Vol. ii. p. 14.

[114] Diss. on the Gesta Romanorum, p. xc.

[115] Ubi supr. p. lxxxviii.

[116] Biblioth. Belgic. i. 353.

[117] Biblioth. MSS. tom. i. p. 17. No. 172.

[118] Recherches sur l'origine de l'imprimerie. Bruxelles, an vii. 8vo, p. 246.

[119] Recherches, &c. p. 205.

[120] An obsolete word that signifies a flower-pot.

[121] Cant. tales, IV. 331.

[122] MS. Harl. 5396.

[123] There may perhaps be one exception in the Vatican MS. mentioned before in p. 531.

[124] MS. Harl. 2270, chap. 53.

[125] MS. Harl. 5259, chap. 28; but in most of the MSS. they are omitted.

[126] See Mr. Ellis's Metrical romances, vol. iii. pp. 155, 157.

[127] P. 253, folio edit.

[128] Vol. iii. p. 647. Mr. Gough speaks of it as separately printed. Brit. Topogr. ii. 27. It is also copied in Burton's Unparallelled varieties, p. 159, edit. 1699, 12mo, and The gentleman's magazine, vol. 1. p. 310. It has been twice versified: 1. anonymously, under the title of A hue and cry after the priest, or the convent, a tale, 1749, 8vo; and 2. by Mr. Jodrell under that of The knight and friars, 1785, 4to.

[129] The curious reader may also consult the following authorities, where he will find the above story in some shape or other. Fauchet, Anciens poetes Francois, chap. lxxxix. Barbasan, Fabliaux et contes, ii. 125. The first novel of Masuccio. Straparole, Piacevole notte, N. v. fab. 3. Patrañas di Timoneda, patr. 3. Comptes du monde adventureux, 1595, 18mo, compte xxiii. Guellette Contes Tartares, in the story of Les 3 bossus de Damas. Histoire des larrons, tom. i. pp. 2, 239. Biblioth. amus. et instructive, tom. ii. p. 14. Bibl. de Du Verdier et La croix du Maine, par Juvigny, tom. iv. p. 376. Pasquil's Jests, or Mother Bunch's merriments, p. 51; and Marlow's Jew of Malta, in Reed's Old plays, vol. viii. p. 366.

[130] This fable is only to be found in Mons. de Cardonne's translation, book V.; Galland's and the English edition having no more than the first 4 books. It occurs also in that exceedingly rare and curious work, the Directorium vitæ humanæ, printed in Germany, without date, place, or name of printer, at the end of the fifteenth century; and in its imitation, the Moral. philosophia of Doni, part ii. p. 68, in the English translation of which, printed by Denham, 1570, 4to, it has been omitted. It is also in Starkij Specimen sapientiæ Indorum, 1697, 12mo, p. 339. The two last works are in fact the fables of Pilpay under different forms, or rather the Heetopades of Veeshnu Sarma, the Hindoo fabulist, who appears to be the parent of all.

The same story occurs likewise in the following works. Le Grand, Fabliaux et contes, tom. iii. p. 168. Sansovino, Cento novelle, giorn. 9, nov. 1. Les facetieuses journées, p. 287. Lestrange's Æsop, vol. i. fab. 464, 8vo edition. Asiatic miscellany, 12mo, 1787, p. 73, from the Ayar Danish of Abulfazel, which seems to have been extracted from, or at least much resembles, the oriental work that forms the seventh chapter in the Directorium humanæ vitæ.

[131] Jones's Relics of the Welsh bards, p. 75, where there is an old Welsh song, or Englyn on the subject.

[132] See Le Grand, Fabliaux et contes, ii. 426, who quotes the Tartarian tales for a similar story.

[133] See the exempla at the end of the Sermones discipuli, ex. ix. de. B. The Sermones fratris Gulielmi Cartusiensis, 1494, 12mo, sig. V. 7 b. An ancient collection of Latin sermons in the Harl. coll. No. 5396. See likewise A christen exhortation unto customable swearers, at the end of The christen state of matrimonye, 1543, 12mo, p. 28, the author of which cites the Preceptorium Johannis Beets, a German preacher about 1450; and Burton's Unparellelled varieties, p. 21.

[134] From Memorandums in India by John Marshall, beginning Sep. 11th, 1678, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, No. 4523. The above person appears to have been a very curious and intelligent traveller, and many of his observations on the manners of the Indians would be exceedingly well worth publishing. Marshall was educated at Cambridge, had a great desire to travel, and by the interest of Lord Craven, went out 1667, in the India ship the Unicorn, in the Company's service.

[135] The whole of Occleve's poem may be seen in MS. Reg. 17 D. vi. with the moralisation, omitted by Browne, who has otherwise mutilated the poem.

[136] One reason for suspecting it might have originated in the East is that it forms the subject of one of the old French fabliaux, many of which came in with the Crusades. See Sinner, Catal. des MSS. de Berne, iii. 389. It has been likewise imitated by La Harpe in his Pied de nez. Some traces of resemblance may be found in the stories of Ahmed, and the enchanted horse in the Arabian nights entertainments.

[137] This incident has been introduced into the popular old ballad of The children in the wood.

[138] This was a common practice in the times of chivalry, and many examples of it may be found in ancient romances. The ladies not only assisted in bathing the knights, after the fatigues of battle, but administered proper medicines to heal their wounds. Similar instances occur in the writings of Homer. In the Odyssey, Polycaste, one of the daughters of Nestor, bathes Telemachus; and it appears that Helen herself had performed the like office for Ulysses.

[139] The incident of the weasel in this story is manifestly borrowed from a similar relation in the chronicle of Helinandus, a monk of the twelfth century, from which it is inserted in Wierus De præstigiis dæmonum, lib. i. cap. 14, as in allusion of the devil.

[140] Coll. of old ballads, vol. i. No. xiii.

[141] See Scott's Tales from the Arabic and Persian, p. 53, where there is an excellent story of similar construction.

[142] Le Grand, Fabliaux, v. 74.

[143] Cento novelle antiche. nov. 68. Patrañas de Timoneda, pat. 17. Dialogus creaturarum moralizatus, cap. 120. Minsheu's address to the reader, before his Spanish grammar, 1623, folio.

[144] MS. Reg. 17 D. vi.

[145] Patr. 21.

[146] See Vincent de Beauvais, Specul. historiale, lib. viii. cap. 90, 91. Herolt, Sermones discipuli, par. iii. exempl. i. de mirac. b. Virginis, and Le Grand, Fabliaux, v. 164.

[147] Confessio Amantis, fo. 32.

[148] Biblioth. Britannico-Hibern. p. 476.

[149] Dufresnoy, in his catalogue of Roman historians, has this strange article, "Thomas Walheis gesta Romanorum, cum applicationibus moralisatis ac mysticis. Paris, 1499, in 4." Methode pour etudier l'histoire, xi. 78, edit. 1772, 12mo. It remains to account for this most extraordinary assertion. It is certain that the book itself, which is the original Gesta, affords no evidence in support of it.

[150] No. 7333. Out of the seventy stories there are twenty-four of the additional. The whole deserve to be printed, partly as a curious monument of the English language.

[151] Vol. ii. p. 18, and vol. iii. p. lxxxiii.

[152] Typogr. antiq. p. 233.

[153] This seems a mistake for 1602.

[154] He had already stated himself a member of their company. Of this man little more is known than that he lived by his pen. He appears to have assisted in a translation from Meteranus of an account of the civil wars in the Netherlands, published in 1602, by Thomas Churchyard, who in the dedication says that he was "a man more debased by many then he merits of any, so good parts are there in the man."

[155] MS. Reg. 18, A. lxvi. In 1576, Robinson appears to have had a licence to print, xpmas recreacons of histories and moralizacons aplied for our solace and consolacons. See Herbert's typogr. antiq. p. 1023. This might have been his then intended title for the translation of Gesta Romanorum.

DISSERTATION III.

ON THE ANCIENT ENGLISH MORRIS DANCE.

It is the observation of an elegant writer, that disquisitions concerning the manners and conduct of our species in early times, or indeed at any time, are always curious at least, and amusing. An investigation of the subject before us, if completely and successfully performed, would serve to fill up a chasm in the history of our popular antiquities: but this must not be expected. The culpable indifference of historical writers to private manners, and more especially to the recreations and amusements of the common people, has occasioned the difficulties that always attend inquiries of this nature, many of which are involved in impenetrable darkness; whilst others can only receive illustration from detached and scattered facts, accompanied by judicious inferences and opinions.

It will be necessary, in the first place, to attempt some definition of what the Morris dance originally was: this may be best accomplished by the aid of etymology, which will generally be found a faithful guide, when managed with discretion. It seems, however, on the present occasion to have been too slightly treated in a work of considerable labour and ingenuity, the author of which has expressed an opinion that the Morris dance originated from that part of the ancient ceremony of the feast of fools, in which certain persons habited like buffoons, with bells, &c., joined in a dance. He then proceeds as follows: "The word Morris applied to the dance is usually derived from Morisco, which in the Spanish language signifies a Moor, as if the dance had been taken from the Moors: but I cannot help considering this as a mistake; for it appears to me that the Morisco or Moor dance is exceedingly different from the morris-dance formerly practised in this country; it being performed with the castanets or rattles, at the ends of the fingers, and not with bells attached to various parts of the dress.[156] I shall not pretend to investigate the derivation of the word Morris; though probably it might be found at home: it seems, however, to have been applied to the dance in modern times, and, I trust, long after the festival to which it originally belonged was done away and had nearly sunk into oblivion."[157]

Now if the term in question had been exclusively used in England, there would have been some weight in these observations; but when we find it adopted by most of the European nations to express a dance, the origin of which both English and foreign glossaries uniformly ascribe to the Moors, we must pause at least before we consent to abandon the only clue that presents itself to assist us. The genuine Moorish or Morisco dance was, no doubt, very different from the European morris; but there is scarcely an instance in which a fashion or amusement that has been borrowed from a distant region has not in its progress through other countries undergone such alterations as have much obscured its origin. This remark may be exemplified in chess and cards, which, beyond all doubt, were invented in India or China, and spread, by means of the Arabians, progressively throughout Spain, Italy, France, England, and the north of Europe. But the above writer has cited a passage from the play of Variety, 1649, in which the Spanish Morisco is mentioned; and this not only shows the legitimacy of the term morris, but that the real and uncorrupted Moorish dance was to be found in Spain, where it still continues to delight both natives and strangers under the name of the fandango. It may be likewise remarked, that the exquisitely pretty music to this lively dance is undoubtedly Moorish.[158] The Spanish morris was also danced at puppet-shows by a person habited like a Moor, with castagnets; and Junius [Du Jon] has informed us that the morris dancers usually blackened their faces with soot, that they might the better pass for Moors.[159]

Some have sought the origin of the morris in the Pyrrhica saltatio of the ancients, a military dance which seems to have been invented by the Greeks, and was afterwards adopted by the Salii or priests of Mars. This continued to be practised for many ages, till it became corrupted by figures and gesticulations foreign to its original purpose. Such a dance was that well known in France and Italy by the name of the dance of fools or Matachins, who were habited in short jackets with gilt-paper helmets, long streamers tied to their shoulders, and bells to their legs. They carried in their hands a sword and buckler, with which they made a clashing noise, and performed various quick and sprightly evolutions.[160] A species of this sword dance by some means or other got introduced into England, where it has generally and unaccountably been exhibited by women, whose dexterous feats of tumbling and dancing with swords at fairs, and in the minor theatres, are still remembered by many persons.[161] A very learned writer, speaking of the Pyrrhica saltatio, informs us, that "The common people in many parts of England still practise what they call a Morisco dance, in a wild manner, and as it were in armour, at proper intervals striking upon each others staves, &c."[162] This might be found on inquiry to differ from the common morris, and to be a mixture of the old Pyrrhic and Moorish dances. Such a one may be alluded to in The second part of King Henry the Sixth, Act III. Scene 1,

"... I have seen him Caper upright like a wild Morisco, Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells."

Before we proceed to an examination of the more immediate object of this essay, the English morris, it may be as well to lay before the reader a short description of the uncorrupted morris dance, as practised in France about the beginning of the sixteenth century. It has been preserved by Tabourot, the oldest and by far the most curious writer of any other on the art of dancing.[163] He relates, that in his youthful days it was the custom in good societies for a boy to come into the hall, when supper was finished, with his face blackened, his forehead bound with white or yellow taffeta, and bells tied to his legs. He then proceeded to dance the Morisco, the whole length of the hall, backwards and forwards to the great amusement of the company.[164] He hints that the bells might have been borrowed from the crotali of the ancients in the Pyrrhic dance. He then describes the more modern morris dance, which was performed by striking the ground with the forepart of the feet; but, as this was found to be too fatiguing, the motion was afterwards confined to the heel, the toes being kept firm, by which means the dancer contrived to rattle his bells with more effect. He adds that this mode of dancing fell into disuse, as it was found to bring on gouty complaints. This is the air to which the last-mentioned morris was performed.

[Music]

It has been supposed that the morris dance was first brought into England in the time of Edward the Third, when John of Gaunt returned from Spain;[165] but it is much more probable that we had it from our Gallic neighbours, or even from the Flemings. Few if any vestiges of it can be traced beyond the reign of Henry the Seventh; about which time, and particularly in that of Henry the Eighth, the churchwardens' accounts in several parishes afford materials that throw much light on the subject, and show that the morris dance made a very considerable figure in the parochial festivals. A late valuable writer has remarked that in some places the May-games of Robin Hood were nothing more than a morris dance, in which Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck, were the principal personages, the others being a clown or fool, the hobby-horse, the taborer, and the dancers, who were more or less numerous;[166] but this seems to be a mistake. The May-games of Robin Hood appear to have been principally instituted for the encouragement of archery, and were generally accompanied by morris dancers, who, nevertheless, formed but a subordinate part of the ceremony. It is by no means clear that at any time Robin Hood and his companions were constituent characters in the morris. There were, besides, May-games of a more simple nature, being merely dances round a May-pole, by the lads and lasses of the village, and the undoubted remains of the Roman Floralia.[167] We find also that other festivals and ceremonies had their morris, as Holy-Thursday; the Whitsun-ales; the bride-ales, or weddings,[168] and a sort of play or pageant called the lord of misrule. Sheriffs too had their morris dance.[169] The reader may be amused with the following account of the lord of misrule, as it contains a description of an attendant morris. It has been fortunately handed down to us by a puritanical writer of the reign of Elizabeth, whose loud ravings against the fashionable excesses of his countrymen have contributed to furnish posterity with the completest information respecting a considerable portion of the manners and customs of the above period that is any where to be found. These are his words: "First, all the wilde heads of the parish, flocking togither, chuse them a graund captaine (of mischiefe) whome they innoble with the title of my Lord of misrule, and him they crowne with great solemnitie, and adopt for their king. This king annoynted, chooseth foorth twenty, fourtie, threescore or a hundred lustie guttes like to himselfe to waite upon his lordly majesty, and to guarde his noble person. Then every one of these his men, he investeth with his liveries of greene, yellow, or some other light wanton color. And as though that were not (bawdy) gawdy enough, I should say, they bedecke themselves with scarffes, ribbons and laces hanged all over with golde ringes, precious stones, and other jewels: this done, they tie about either legge twentie or fortie belles, with rich handkerchiefe in their handes, and sometimes laide a crosse over their shoulders and neckes, borrowed for the most part of their pretie Mopsies and loving Bessies, for bussing them in the darke. Thus all things set in order, then have they their hobby-horses, their dragons and other antiques, together with their baudie pipers, and thundering drummers, to strike up the Devils Daunce withall: then martch this heathen company towards the church and churchyarde, their pypers pypyng, their drummers thundering, their stumpes dancing, their bells iyngling, their handkercheefes fluttering about their heades like madde men, their hobbie horses, and other monsters skirmishing amongst the throng: and in this sorte they go to the church (though the minister be at prayer or preaching) dauncing and swinging their handkerchiefes over their heads in the church like Devils incarnate, with such a confused noise, that no man can heare his owne voyce. Then the foolish people they looke, they stare, they laugh, they fleere, and mount upon formes and pewes, to see these goodly pageants solemnized in this sort. Then after this about the church they goe againe and againe, and so foorth into the church yard, where they have commonly their sommer haules, their bowers, arbours, and banquetting houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and daunce all that day, and (peradventure) all that night too. And thus these terrestrial furies spend the Sabboth day. Another sort of fantasticall fooles bring to these helhoundes (the Lord of misrule and his complices) some bread, some good ale, some new cheese, some olde cheese, some custardes, some cracknels, some cakes, some flaunes, some tartes, some creame, some meat, some one thing, some another; but if they knewe that as often as they bringe anye to the maintenance of these execrable pastimes, they offer sacrifice to the Devill and Sathanas, they would repent and withdrawe their handes, which God graunt they may."[170] Another declaimer of the like kind, speaking of May games and morris dances, thus holds forth: "The abuses which are committed in your may-games are infinite. The first whereof is this, that you doe use to attyre in womans apparrell whom yon doe most commenly call maymarrions, whereby you infringe that straight commaundement whiche is given in Deut. xxii. 5, that men must not put on womens apparrell for feare of enormities. Nay I myself have seene in a may game a troupe, the greater part wherof hath been men, and yet have they been attyred so like unto women, that theyr faces being hidde (as they were indeede) a man coulde not discerne them from women. The second abuse, which of all other is the greatest, is this, that it hath been toulde that your morice dauncers have daunced naked in nettes: what greater entisement unto naughtines could have been devised? The third abuse is, that you (because you will loose no tyme) doe use commonly to runne into woodes in the night time, amongst maidens, to fet bowes, in so muche as I have hearde of tenne maidens which went to fet May, and nine of them came home with childe."[171] He seems likewise to allude to a character of the Devil in the May games, of which no mention is elsewhere made.

In the course of time these several recreations were blended together so as to become almost indistinguishable. It is, however, very certain that the May games of Robin Hood, accompanied with the morris, were at first a distinct ceremony from the simple morris, which when Warner lived was celebrated about the season of Easter, and before the May games: he thus speaks of them:

"At Paske begun our Morrise, and ere Penticost our May."[172]

It is probable that when the practice of archery declined, the May games of Robin Hood were discontinued, and that the morris dance was transferred to the celebration of Whitsuntide, either as connected with the Whitsun ales, or as a separate amusement. In the latter instance it appears to have retained one or two of the characters in the May pageants; but no uniformity was or possibly could be observed, as the arrangement would vary in different places according to the humour or convenience of the parties.

The painted glass window belonging to George Tollett, Esq., at Betley, in Staffordshire, exhibits, in all probability, the most curious as well as the oldest representation of an English May game and morris dance, that is any where to be found.[173] The learned possessor of this curiosity, to whom the readers of Shakspeare are much indebted not only for this, but for many other valuable communications, has supposed that the window might have been painted in the youthful days of Henry the Eighth, when he delighted in May games; but it must be observed that the dresses and costume of some of the figures are certainly of an older period, and may, without much hazard, be pronounced to belong to the reign of Edward the Fourth. Among other proofs that could be adduced, it will be sufficient to compare it with the annexed print of another morris dance. This is a copy from an exceedingly scarce engraving on copper by Israel Von Mecheln, or Meckenen, so named from the place of his nativity, a German village on the confines of Flanders, in which latter country this artist appears chiefly to have resided; and therefore in most of his prints we may observe the Flemish costume of his time. From the pointed shoes that we see in one of the figures it must have been executed between the year 1460, and 1470; about which latter period the broadtoed shoes came into fashion in France and Flanders. It seems to have been intended as a pattern for goldsmiths' work, probably a cup or tankard.

The artist, in a fancy representation of foliage, has introduced several figures belonging to a Flemish May game morris, consisting of the lady of the May, the fool, the piper, two morris dancers with bells and streamers, and four other dancing characters, for which appropriate names will not easily be found. The similitude between some of the figures in this print and others in Mr. Tollett's window, is very striking, and shows that the period of execution, as to both, was nearly the same. One objection to this opinion will, no doubt, present itself to the skilful spectator, and that is the shape of the letters which form the inscription A MERY MAY on the pane of glass No. 8. These are comparatively modern, and cannot be carried further back than the time of Elizabeth; but this will be accounted for hereafter.

The above curious painting has furnished the means of ascertaining some of the personages of which the May games and morris consisted at the time of its execution. To trace their original forms and numbers, or the progressive changes they underwent, with any degree of accuracy, would be perhaps impossible; because not only the materials for such an attempt are extremely few, but a variety of circumstances contributed to constitute their differences even during the same period. Wherever we turn, nothing but irregularity presents itself. Sometimes we have a lady of the May, simply, with a friar Tuck; and in later times a Maid Marian remained without even a Robin Hood or a friar. But consistency is not to be looked for on these occasions, when we find, as has been remarked, that the May games, those of Robin Hood, the ales, and the morris dances, were blended together as convenience or caprice happened to dictate.[174]

The several characters that seem in more ancient times to have composed the May game and morris were the following: Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian the queen or lady of the May, the fool, the piper, and several morris dancers habited, as it appears, in various modes. Afterwards a hobby horse and a dragon were added. To avoid the confusion that might otherwise ensue, it will be best to speak of each character by itself.

I. ROBIN HOOD. The history of this celebrated outlaw has been so ably and ingeniously treated by Mr. Ritson, and every fact that relates to him so minutely developed, that it will be long before any novelty shall be discovered of sufficient importance to deserve attention. It appears that in the May game he sometimes carried a painted standard.[175]

II. LITTLE JOHN. The faithful companion of Robin Hood, but of whom little that is not fabulous has been handed down to us. He is first mentioned, together with Robin Hood, by Fordun the Scotish historian, who wrote in the fourteenth century, and who speaks of the celebration of the story of these persons in the theatrical performances of his time, and of the minstrels' songs relating to them, which he says the common people preferred to all other romances.[176]

III. FRIAR TUCK. There is no very ancient mention of this person, whose history is very uncertain. Drayton has thus recorded him, among other companions of Robin Hood:

"Of Tuck the merry friar which many a sermon made In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws and their trade."[177]

He is known to have formed one of the characters in the May games during the reign of Henry the Eighth, and had been probably introduced into them at a much earlier period. From the occurrence of this name on other occasions, there is good reason for supposing that it was a sort of generic appellation for any friar, and that it originated from the dress of the order, which was tucked or folded at the waist by means of a cord or girdle. Thus Chaucer, in his prologue to the Canterbury tales, says of the Reve;

"Tucked he was, as is a frere aboute:"

And he describes one of the friars in the Sompnour's tale:

"With scrippe and tipped staff, ytucked hie."

This friar maintained his situation in the morris under the reign of Elizabeth, being thus mentioned in Warner's Albion's England:

"Tho Robin Hood, liell John, frier Tucke and Marian deftly play:"

but is not heard of afterwards. In Ben Jonson's Masque of gipsies, the clown takes notice of his omission in the dance.[178]

IV. MAID MARIAN. None of the materials that constitute the more authentic history of Robin Hood, prove the existence of such a character in the shape of his mistress. There is a pretty French pastoral drama of the eleventh or twelfth century, entitled Le jeu du berger et de la bergere, in which the principal characters are Robin and Marion, a shepherd and shepherdess. Mr. Warton thought that our English Marian might be illustrated from this composition; but Mr. Ritson is unwilling to assent to this opinion, on the ground that the French Robin and Marion "are not the Robin and Marian of Sherwood." Yet Mr. Warton probably meant no more than that the name of Marian had been suggested from the above drama, which was a great favourite among the common people in France, and performed much about the season at which the May games were celebrated in England. The great intercourse between the countries might have been the means of importing this name amidst an infinite variety of other matters; and there is indeed no other mode of accounting for the introduction of a name which never occurs in the page of English history.[179] We have seen that the story of Robin Hood was, at a very early period, of a dramatic cast; and it was perfectly natural that a principal character should be transferred from one drama to another. It might be thought likewise that the English Robin deserved his Marian as well as the other. The circumstance of the French Marian being acted by a boy contributes to support the above opinion; the part of the English character having been personated, though not always, in like manner. Little, if any, stress can be laid on the authority of an old play cited by Mr. Steevens to prove that "Maid Marian was originally a name assumed by Matilda, the daughter of Robert Lord Fitzwater, while Robin Hood remained in a state of outlawry."[180] This is rather to be considered as a dramatic fiction, designed to explain a character the origin of which had been long forgotten.

Maid Marian not only officiated as the paramour of Robin Hood in the May games, but as the queen or lady of the May, who seems to have been introduced long before the games of Robin Hood. In the isle of Man they not only elected a queen of May, but likewise a queen of winter.[181] Gatherings for the May lady, as anciently for Robin Hood, were lately kept up at Cambridge, but in a corrupted form, the real occasion of this ceremony being, in all probability, quite unknown to the gatherers. There can be no doubt that the queen of the May is the legitimate representative of the Goddess Flora in the Roman festival.

The introduction of Robin Hood into the celebration of May probably suggested the addition of a king or lord of the May. In the year 1306 Robert Bruce caused himself to be crowned at Scone, and a second time by the hands of his mistress, the adulterous wife of the earl of Bowhan, who changed his name to David. It is reported that he said to his own wife on this occasion, "Yesterday we were but earl and countess, to day we are king and queen;" to which she replied, "True, you are now a summer king, but you may not chance to be a winter one." Matthew of Westminster has recorded this fact, and Holinshed, who copies him, makes the lady say, that "she feared they should prove but as a summer king and queen, such as in country townes the yong folks chose for sport to dance about may-poles." In 1557 there was a May game in Fenchurch-street, with a Lord and Lady of the May, and a morris dance.[182] Both these characters are introduced in a morris in Fletcher's play of The two noble kinsmen, Act. III.; and, in the Knight of the burning pestle, a grocer's apprentice personates a lord of the May dressed out in "scarves, feathers, and rings." He is made to deliver a speech from the conduit to the populace, of which this is a part:

"London, to thee I do present the merry month of May, Let each true subject be content to hear me what I say: For from the top of conduit-head, as plainly may appear, I will both tell my name to you, and wherefore I came here. My name is Rafe, by due descent, though not ignoble I, Yet far inferiour to the flock of gracious grocery. And by the common counsel of my fellows in the Strand, With gilded staff, and crossed skarfe, the May lord here I stand."

A lord and lady are still preserved in some places where the Whitsun-ales continue to be celebrated, and perhaps in other morrises during the season of May.

To return to Maid Marian.--She was usually dressed according to the fashion of the time, as we may collect from the figures of her in Mr. Tollett's window, and Israel's engraving. In both the kirtle and petticoat are alike; and the pendent veil is supported by the hand. The English figure holds a flower, and has a fancy coronet as queen of the May. The other has apparently an apple in her hand, and her steeple head-dress is what was actually worn in the middle of the fifteenth century by queens and ladies of high rank. Barnaby Rich, who wrote in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., inveighing against the foppery of men's apparel, exclaims, "And from whence commeth this wearing, and this embroidering of long locks, this curiosity that is used amongst men, in frizeling and curling of their haire, this gentlewoman-like starcht bands, so be-edged and belaced, fitter for Maid Marion in a Moris dance, then for him that hath either that spirit or courage that shold be in a gentleman?"[183]

It appears that the Lady of the May was sometimes carried in procession on men's shoulders; for Stephen Batman, speaking of the Pope and his ceremonies, states that he is carried on the backs of four deacons, "after the maner of carying whytepot queenes in Western May games."[184] Her usual gait was nice and affected.[185] Thus in the description of the family visit to the royal guest, in the old ballad of The miller of Mansfield:

"And so they jetted down towards the king's hall: The merry old miller, with his hands on his side; His wife, like Maid Marian did mince at that tide."

But although the May-lady was originally a character of some delicacy and importance, she appears to have afterwards declined in both respects. In the time of Elizabeth she was visually represented by some smooth-faced and effeminate youth.[186] Falstaff tells the hostess, that "for womanhood Maid Marian may be the Deputy's wife of the ward to her;" meaning perhaps that she was as masculine in her appearance as the country clown who personated Maid Marian: and in Fletcher's Monsieur Thomas, Dorothea desires her brother to conduct himself with more gentleness towards his mistress, unless he would choose to marry Malkyn the May Lady; another allusion to the degraded state of Maid Marian, who is here assimilated to a vulgar drudge or scullion both in name and condition. But during the whole of her existence mirth and gaiety were her constant companions. The translator of The hospitall of incurable fooles, 1600, 4to, speaking of Acco, the old woman who became mad on beholding her ugliness in a mirror, says that "one while shee could be as merrie as Maid Marrian." Nor was this character, even in later times, uniformly vulgar. Every one will call to mind Nicholas Breton's pretty sonnet of Phyllida and Corydon, where the shepherdess,

"... with garlands gay Was made the Lady of the Maye."

V. THE FOOL. This character in the morris was the same, in point of dress, as the domestic buffoon of his time. In Mr. Tollett's window he has additional bells tied to his arms and ancles as a morris dancer, but is, in other respects, the English fool of the fifteenth century. Yet the habit of this eccentric person was not the same in all countries, nor even uniform in the same country. Accordingly, he is very differently accoutred in the Flemish print. He has a cap or hood with asses' ears, and a row of bells for the crest; in his left hand he carries a bauble, and over his right arm hangs a cloth or napkin. He wears behind what seems intended for a purse or wallet, with which the fool in the old German prints is generally exhibited. It is certain that there was only one fool in the morris; and therefore Mr. Steevens and Mr. Tollett have erred in supposing the figure No. 1, in the window, to be the Bavian fool with the bib. The former gentleman had apparently misconceived the following passage in Fletcher's Two noble kinsmen,

"... and next the fool, The Bavian, with long tail and eke long tool."

Here are not two fools described. The construction is, "next comes the fool, i. e. the Bavian fool," &c. This might have been the idiot fool, and so denominated from his wearing a bib, in French bavon,[187] because he drivelled. Thus in Bonduca, Act V., Decius talks of a "dull slavering fool." The tricks of the Bavian, his tumbling and barking like a dog, suggested perhaps by the conduct of Robert the Devil when disguised as a fool in his well known and once popular romance, were peculiar to the morris dance described in The two noble kinsmen, which has some other characters that seem to have been introduced for stage effect, and not to have belonged to the genuine morris. The tail was the fox tail that was sometimes worn by the morris fool; and the long tool will be best understood by referring to the cut of the idiot in the genuine copy of the dance of death usually, though improperly, ascribed to Holbein, and by reflecting on some peculiar properties and qualifications of the idiot character.

What Mr. Tollett has termed a bib was in fact no uncommon part of the male dress in the fifteenth century. Some of the contemporary figures of the Beverley minstrels are so habited, as well as others in the representation of the Whitsun ale at Cirencester.[188] Whatever character the supposed Bavian of the window was, he is also found in the print by Israel on the left hand of the fool, not only in the same habit, but with his hands and feet precisely in similar attitudes. There is no doubt that the morris dance was in some respects a sort of chironomy; and Higgins, the English editor of Junius's Nomenclator, has actually translated the word chironomia by "the morrise dance."[189] In the absence of some of the other characters of the morris dance, the exertions of the fool appear to have been increased, as we learn from Ben Jonson's Entertainment at Althrope:

"But see the hobby-horse is forgot. Foole, it must be your lot, To supply his want with faces And some other buffon graces. You know how."--

Coryat relates that near Montreuil he saw "a Whitsuntide foole disguised like a foole, wearing a long coate, wherein there were many severall peeces of cloth of divers colours, at the corners whereof there hanged the tailes of squirrels: he bestowed a little peece of plate, wherein was expressed the effigies of the Virgin Mary, upon every one that gave him money: for he begged money of all travellers for the benefite of the parish church."[190] The romance of The spiritual Quixote has a morris fool with a fox's tail depending from his cap, and a sheep bell attached to his hinder parts. In the modern morris dance the fool is continued, but his real character and dress appear to have been long since forgotten. In some places he is called the Squire.

VI. THE PIPER. Sometimes called Tom Piper, an obvious and necessary attendant on a morris, and who requires very little illustration. Mr. Steevens has already referred to Drayton for the mention of him; and Spenser, in his third eclogue, speaking of the rimes of bad poets, observes that

"Tom Piper makes as little melodie;"

whence we are to infer that his music was not usually of the very best kind. The resemblance, as to attitude and dress, between the figures of this character in Mr. Tollett's painting and the Flemish print, is remarkable. In both we have the sword and feather. What Mr. Tollett has termed his silver shield seems a mistake for the lower part or flap of his stomacher.

VII. THE HOBBY-HORSE; of which the earliest vestige now remaining is in the painted window at Betley. It has been already observed that he was often omitted in the morris. During the reign of Elizabeth the Puritans made considerable havoc among the May-games, by their preachings and invectives. Poor Maid Marian was assimilated to the whore of Babylon; friar Tuck was deemed a remnant of Popery, and the Hobby-horse an impious and Pagan superstition; and they were at length most completely put to the rout as the bitterest enemies of religion. King James's book of sports restored the lady and the hobby-horse: but during the commonwealth they were again attacked by a new set of fanatics; and, together with the whole of the May festivities, the Whitsun-ales, &c., in many parts of England degraded. At the restoration they were once more revived.[191] The allusions to the omission of the Hobby-horse are frequent in the old plays, and the line

"For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot,"

is termed by Hamlet an epitaph, which Mr. Theobald supposed, with great probability, to have been satirical. The following extract from a scene in Beaumont and Fletcher's Women pleased, Act IV., will best show the sentiments of the puritans on this occasion, and which the author has deservedly ridiculed:

HOB.

Surely I will dance no more, 'tis most ridiculous, I find my wife's instructions now mere verities, My learned wife's, she often hath pronounc'd to me My safety; Bomby, defie these sports, thou art damn'd else. This beast of Babylon I will never back again, His pace is sure prophane, and his lewd wi-hees, The sons of Hymyn and Gymyn, in the wilderness.

FAR.

Fie neighbour Bomby, in your fits again? Your zeal sweats, this is not careful, neighbour, The Hobby-horse is a seemly Hobby-horse.

HOB.

The beast is an unseemly, and a lewd beast, And got at Rome by the Pope's coach-horses, His mother was the mare of ignorance.

SOTO.

Cobler thou ly'st, and thou wert a thousand coblers His mother was an honest mare, and a mare of good credit, Scorn'd any coach-horse the Pope had; thou art foolish, And thy blind zeal makes thee abuse the beast.

HOB.

I do defie thee and thy foot-cloth too, And tell thee to thy face, this prophane riding I feel it in my conscience, and I dare speak it, This unedified ambling hath brought a scourge upon us.

FAR.

Will you dance no more, neighbour?

HOB.

Surely no, Carry the beast to his crib: I have renounc'd him And all his works.

SOTO.

Shall the Hobby-horse be forgot then? The hopeful Hobby-horse, shall he lye founder'd?

HOB.

I cry out on't, 'Twas the forerunning sin brought in those tilt-staves, They brandish 'gainst the church, the Devil calls May poles.

SOTO.

Take up your horse again, and girth him to ye, And girth him handsomely, good neighbour Bomby.

HOB.

I spit at him.

SOTO.

Spit in the horse-face, cobler? Thou out-of-tune psalm-singing slave; spit in his visnomy?

HOB.

I spit again, and thus I rise against him: Against this beast, that signify'd destruction, Foreshew'd i'th' falls of monarchies.

SOTO.

I'th' face of him? Spit such another spit, by this hand cobler, I'll make ye set a new piece o' your nose there; Take't up I say, and dance without more bidding, And dance as you were wont; you have been excellent, And are still but for this new nicety, And your wife's learned lectures; take up the Hobby-horse, Come, 'tis a thing thou hast lov'd with all thy heart, Bomby, And wouldst do still, but for the round-breech'd brothers. You were not thus in the morning; take't up I say, Do not delay, but do it: you know I am officer, And I know 'tis unfit all these good fellows Should wait the cooling of your zealous porridge; Chuse whether you will dance, or have me execute; I'll clap your neck i'th' stocks, and there I'll make ye Dance a whole day, and dance with these at night too. You mend old shoes well, mend your old manners better, And suddenly see you leave off this sincereness, This new hot batch, borrowed from some brown baker, Some learned brother, or I'll so bait ye for 't, Take it quickly up.

HOB.

I take my persecution, And thus I am forc'd a by-word to my brethren.

The Hobby-horse was represented by a man equipped with as much pasteboard as was sufficient to form the head and hinder parts of a horse, the quadrupedal defects being concealed by a long mantle or foot-cloth that nearly touched the ground. The performer on this occasion exerted all his skill in burlesque horsemanship. In Sampson's play of The vow-breaker, 1636, a miller personates the hobby-horse; and being angry that the mayor of the city is put in competition with him, exclaims, "Let the major play the hobby-horse among his brethren, and he will, I hope our towne-lads cannot want a hobby-horse. Have I practic'd my reines, my careeres, my pranckers, my ambles, my false trotts, my smooth ambles and Canterbury paces, and shall master major put me besides the hobby-horse? Have I borrowed the forehorse bells, his plumes and braveries, nay had his mane new shorne and frizl'd, and shall the major put me besides the hobby-horse?"

Whoever happens to recollect the manner in which Mr. Bayes's troops in the Rehearsal are exhibited on the stage, will have a tolerably correct notion of a morris hobby-horse. Additional remains of the Pyrrhic or sword dance are preserved in the daggers stuck in the man's cheeks, which constituted one of the hocus-pocus or legerdemain tricks practised by this character, among which were the threading of a needle, and the transferring of an egg from one hand to the other, called by Ben Jonson the travels of the egg.[192] To the horse's mouth was suspended a ladle for the purpose of gathering money from the spectators. In later times the fool appears to have performed this office, as may be collected from Nashe's play of Summer's last will and testament, where this stage direction occurs, "Ver goes in and fetcheth out the Hobby-horse and the morris daunce who daunce about." Ver then says, "About, about, lively, put your horse to it, reyne him harder, jerke him with your wand, sit fast, sit fast, man; foole, holde up your ladle there." Will Summers is made to say, "You friend with the hobby-horse, goe not too fast, for feare of wearing out my lord's tyle-stones with your hob-nayles." Afterwards there enter three clowns and three maids, who dance the morris, and at the same time sing the following song:

"Trip and goe, heave and hoe, Up and downe, to and fro, From the towne, to the grove, Two and two, let us rove, A maying, a playing; Love hath no gainsaying: So merrily trip and goe."

Lord Orford in his catalogue of English engravers, under the article of Peter Stent, has described two paintings at Lord Fitzwilliam's on Richmond green which came out of the old neighbouring palace. They were executed by Vinckenboom, about the end of the reign of James I., and exhibit views of the above palace; in one of these pictures a morris dance is introduced, consisting of seven figures, viz. a fool, a hobby-horse, a piper, a Maid Marian, and three other dancers, the rest of the figures being spectators. Of these the first four and one of the dancers are reduced in the annexed plate from a tracing made by the late Captain Grose. The fool has an inflated bladder or eel-skin with a ladle at the end of it, and with this he is collecting money. The piper is pretty much in his original state; but the hobby-horse wants the legerdemain apparatus, and Maid Marian is not remarkable for the elegance of her person.

Dr. Plott, in his History of Staffordshire, p. 434, mentions that within memory, at Abbot's or Paget's Bromley, they had a sort of sport which they celebrated at Christmas, or on new year and twelfth days, called the Hobby-horse dance, from a person who carried the image of a horse between his legs made of thin boards, and in his hand a bow and arrow. The latter passing through a hole in the bow, and stopping on a shoulder, made a snapping noise when drawn to and fro, keeping time with the music. With this man danced six others, carrying on their shoulders as many rein-deer heads, with the arms of the chief families to whom the revenues of the town belonged. They danced the heys and other country dances. To the above hobby-horse dance there belonged a pot, which was kept by turns by the reeves of the town, who provided cakes and ale to put into this pot; all people who had any kindness for the good intent of the institution of the sport giving pence apiece for themselves and families. Foreigners also that came to see it contributed; and the money, after defraying the expense of the cakes and ale, went to repair the church and support the poor; which charges, adds the doctor, are not now perhaps so cheerfully borne.

A short time before the revolution in France, the May games and morris dance were celebrated in many parts of that country, accompanied by a fool and a hobby-horse. The latter was termed un chevalet; and, if the authority of Minsheu be not questionable, the Spaniards had the same character under the name of tarasca.[193]

VIII. THE DRAGON. The earliest mention of him as a part of the morris dance we have already seen in the extract from Stubbes's Anatomie of abuses; and he is likewise introduced in a morris, in Sampson's play of the Vowbreaker, or fayre maid of Clifton, 1633, where a fellow says, "I'll be a fiery dragon:" on which, another, who had undertaken the hobby-horse, observes that he will be "a thund'ring Saint George as ever rode on horseback." This seems to afford a clue to the use of this dragon, who was probably attacked in some ludicrous manner by the hobby-horse saint, and may perhaps be the Devil alluded to in the extract already given from Fetherstone's Dialogue against dancing.

IX. THE MORRIS DANCERS. By these are meant the common dancers in the late morrises, and who were not distinguished by any particular appellation, though in earlier times it is probable that each individual had his separate title. If there were any reason for a contrary opinion, it might depend on the costume of numbers 10 and 11 in Mr. Tollett's window, which may perhaps belong to the present class. There are likewise two similar figures in the Flemish print; and the coincidence in their attitudes is no less remarkable than it is in those of some of the other characters. The circumstance too of one only wearing a feather in his hat is deserving of notice, as it is the same in both the representations. The streamers which proceed from their sleeves and flutter in the wind, though continued in very modern times, were anciently not peculiar to morris dancers, examples of them occurring in many old prints.[194] In the reign of Henry the Eighth the morris dancers were dressed in gilt leather and silver paper, and sometimes in coats of white spangled fustian. They had purses at their girdles, and garters to which bells were attached.[195] The latter have been always a part of the furniture of the more active characters in the morris, and the use of them is of great antiquity. The tinkling ornaments of the feet among the Jewish women are reprobated in Isaiah iii, 16, 18. Gratius Faliscus, who wrote his poem on hunting in the time of Augustus, has alluded to the practice of dancing with bells on the feet among the Egyptian priests of Canopus, in the following lines:

"Vix operata suo sacra ad Bubastia lino Velatur sonipes æstivi turba Canopi."

Cynegeticon, lib. i. 42.

There is good reason for believing that the morris bells were borrowed from the genuine Moorish dance; a circumstance that tends to corroborate the opinion that has been already offered with respect to the etymology of the morris. Among the beautiful habits of various nations, published by Hans Weigel at Nuremberg, in 1577, there is the figure of an African lady of the kingdom of Fez in the act of dancing, with bells at her feet. A copy of it is here exhibited:

The number of bells round each leg of the morris dancers amounted from twenty to forty.[196] They had various appellations, as the fore-bell, the second bell, the treble, the tenor, the base, and the double bell. Sometimes they used trebles only; but these refinements were of later times.[197] The bells were occasionally jingled by the hands, or placed on the arms or wrists of the parties. Scarves, ribbands, and laces hung all over with gold rings, and even precious stones, are also mentioned in the time of Elizabeth.[198] The miller, in the play of the Vowbreaker, says he is come to borrow "a few ribbandes, bracelets, eare-rings, wyertyers, and silke girdles and handkerchers for a morice and a show before the queene." The handkerchiefs, or napkins[199] as they are sometimes called, were held in the hand, or tied to the shoulders.[200] In Shirley's Lady of pleasure, 1637, Act I., Aretina thus inveighs against the amusements of the country:

"... to observe with what solemnity They keep their wakes, and throw for pewter candlestickes, How they become the morris, with whose bells They ring all into Whitson ales, and sweate Through twenty scarffes and napkins, till the Hobby horse Tire, and the maide Marrian dissolv'd to a gelly, Be kept for spoone meate."

The early use of the feather in the hat appears both in Mr. Tollett's window and the Flemish print; a fashion that was continued a long time afterwards.[201] Sometimes the hat was decorated with a nosegay,[202] or with the herb thrift, formerly called our lady's cushion.[203]

Enough has been said to show that the collective number of the morris dancers has continually varied according to circumstances, in the same manner as did their habits. In Israel's print they are nine: in Mr. Tollett's window, eleven. Mr. Strutt has observed that on his sixteenth plate there are only five, exclusive of the two musicians: but it is conceived that what he refers to is not a morris, but a dance of fools. There is a pamphlet entitled Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd Marian and Hereford town for a morris dance, or 12 morris dancers in Herefordshire of 1200 years old, 1609, 4to.[204] In the painting by Vinckenboom, at Richmond, there are seven figures. In Blount's Glossographia, 1656, the Morisco is defined, "a dance wherein there were usually five men and a boy dressed in a girles habit, whom they call Maid Marrian." The morris in Fletcher's Two noble kinsmen contains some characters, which, as they are nowhere else to be found, might have been the poet's own invention, and designed for stage effect:

"The chambermaid, and serving man by night That seek out silent hanging: Then mine host And his fat spouse, that welcomes to their cost The gauled traveller, and with a beckning Informs the tapster to inflame the reck'ning. Then the beast-eating clown, and next the fool, The Bavian, with long tail and eke long tool, Cum multis aliis, that make a dance."

Mr. Ritson has taken notice of an old wooden cut "preserved on the title of a penny-history, (Adam Bell, &c.) printed at Newcastle in 1772," and which represents, in his opinion, a morris dance consisting of the following personages: 1. A bishop. 2. Robin Hood. 3. The potter or beggar. 4. Little John. 5. Friar Tuck. 6. Maid Marian. He remarks that the execution of the whole is too rude to merit a copy, a position that is not meant to be controverted; but it is necessary to introduce the cut in this place for the purpose of correcting an error into which the above ingenious writer has inadvertently fallen. It is proper to mention that it originally appeared on the title page to the first known edition of Robin Hood's garland, printed in 1670, 18mo.

Now this cut is certainly not the representation of a morris dance, but merely of the principal characters belonging to the garland. These are, Robin Hood, Little John, queen Catherine, the bishop, the curtal frier, (not Tuck,) and the beggar. Even though it were admitted that Maid Marian and Friar Tuck were intended to be given, it could not be maintained that either the bishop or the beggar made part of a morris.

There still remains some characters in Mr. Tollett's window, of which no description can be here attempted, viz. Nos. 1, 4, 6, and 7. As these are also found in the Flemish print,[205] they cannot possibly belong to Robin Hood's company; and therefore their learned proprietor would, doubtless, have seen the necessity of re-considering his explanations.[206] The resemblance between the two ancient representations is sufficiently remarkable to warrant a conjecture that the window has been originally executed by some foreign artist; and that the panes with the English friar, the hobby-horse, and the may-pole have been since added.

Mr. Waldron has informed us that he saw in the summer of 1783, at Richmond in Surrey, a troop of morris dancers from Abingdon, accompanied by a fool in a motley jacket, who carried in his hand a staff about two feet long, with a blown bladder at the end of it, with which he either buffeted the crowd to keep them at a proper distance from the dancers, or played tricks for the diversion of the spectators. The dancers and the fool were Berkshire husbandmen taking an annual circuit to collect money.[207] Mr. Ritson too has noticed that morris dancers are yet annually seen in Norfolk, and make their constant appearance in Lancashire. He has also preserved a newspaper article respecting some morris dancers of Pendleton, who paid their annual visit to Salford, in 1792;[208] and a very few years since, another company of this kind was seen at Usk in Monmouthshire, which was attended by a boy Maid Marian, a hobby-horse, and a fool. They professed to have kept up the ceremony at that place for the last three hundred years. It has been thought worth while to record these modern instances, because it is extremely probable that from the present rage for refinement and innovation, there will remain, in the course of a short time, but few vestiges of our popular customs and antiquities.

FOOTNOTES:

[156] This will hereafter appear to be a mistake.

[157] Strutt's Sports and pastimes of the people of England, p. 171.

[158] Hist. of Musick, vol. iv. 388, by Sir John Hawkins, who was clearly of opinion that the morris dance was derived from the Moors.

[159] Etymologicum Anglicanum. In further corroboration of this deduction of the morris dance, the following words may be adduced; MORESQUE a kind of grotesque painting, sometimes called Arabesque, and used in embroidery and damasking. MORISCLE, and MOURICLE, a gold coin used in Spain by the Moors, and called in the barbarous Latin of the fourteenth century morikinus. See Carpentier, Suppl. ad glossar. Ducangian. v. Morikinus. MORRIS WAX, called likewise mores wax, in the Garbelling of spices, 1594, 4to. To these the morris-pike may perhaps be added. It is probable that the English terms morris and morice have been corrupted from mores, the older and more genuine orthography.

[160] Tabourot Orchesographie, 1589, 4to, p. 97, where the several postures of this dance are described and represented. The Pyrrhic dance appears to have travelled from Greece into the north. See Olaus Magnus, De gentibus septentrionalibus, lib. xv. c. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.

[161] It is remarkable that the same practice should be found in the island of Ceylon. Knox tells us that "A woman takes two naked swords, under each arm one, and another she holds in her mouth, then fetcheth a run and turns clean over, and never touches the ground till she lights on her feet again holding all her swords fast."--Hist. of Ceylon, p. 99.

[162] Wise's Enquiries concerning the first inhabitants, language, &c. of Europe, p. 51.

[163] Jean Tabourot, canon and official of the cathedral of Lengres, published his Orchesographie et traicté en forme de dialogue par lequel toutes personnes peuvent facilement apprendre et practiquer l'honneste exercice des dances, 1589, 4to, under the anagrammatized name of Thoinot Arbeau. He died in 1595, at the age of 66. His work is equally curious and uncommon.

[164] But the French morris can be traced to a much earlier period. Among other instances of the prodigality of Messire Gilles de Raiz, in 1440, morris dancers are specified. Lobineau, Hist. de Bretagne, ii. 1069. In the accounts of Olivier le Roux, treasurer to Arthur III. duke of Bretagne in 1457, is this article: "à certains compaignons qui avoient fait plusieurs esbatemens de morisques et autres jeux devant le due à Tours, vi. escus."--Id. 1205. At a splendid feast given by Gaston de Foix at Vendôme in 1458, "foure yong laddes and a damosell attired like savages daunced (by good direction) an excellent Morisco, before the assembly."--Favines Theater of honour, p. 345; and see Carpentier, Suppl. ad glossar. Ducangian. v. Morikinus. Coquillart, a French poet, who wrote about 1470, says that the Swiss danced the Morisco to the beat of the drum. Œuvres, p. 127.

[165] Peck's Memoirs of Milton, 135. What this writer has added on the subject of the morris dance is not very interesting; but he is certainly mistaken in his explanation of five, seven, or nine men's morris.

[166] Ritson's Robin Hood, I. cii.

[167] See particularly Stubbes's Anatomie of abuses, p. 109, edit. 1595, 4to.

[168] In Laneham's Letter from Kenilworth or Killingworth castle, a bride-ale is described, in which mention is made of "a lively Moris dauns, according too the auncient manner: six dauncerz, Mawdmarion, and the fool."

[169] See Stowe's Survay of London, 1618, 4to, p. 161.

[170] Stubbes's Anatomie of abuses, p. 107.

[171] Fetherston's Dialogue agaynst light, lewde, and lascivious dauncing, 1582, 12mo, sign. D. 7. See a passage to the same purpose in Northbrooke's Treatise against dicing, dancing, &c. 1597, 4to, fo. 68 b.

[172] Albion's England, 1612, p. 121.

[173] Steevens's Shakspeare, at the end of the play of King Henry IV. part I.

[174] There is a remarkable instance of the corruption that has been gradually introduced into popular ceremonies, in the celebration of the gunpowder-plot; in which, formerly, Guy Faux was ignominiously carted, in company with the Pope and the Devil, all of whom were afterwards consigned to the flames: whereas at present we have only the image of a fellow, or sometimes a real boy bedizened with gilded rags, ruffles, and powdered periwig, under the appellation of Poor Guy, for whom the attendants seem to crave charity. The Pope had been long dismissed by proclamation or act of parliament; and the Devil is probably forgotten by some, or become an object of too much terror with others to be sported with.

[175] Churchwardens' accounts at Kingston, in Lysons's Environs of London, vol. i. p. 227. The learned author of this interesting work has remarked that he had found no entries at Kingston relating to the May games, after the 29 Hen. VIII.; but they certainly continued, as parochial ceremonies, in other places to a much later period. In the churchwardens' accounts of Great Marlow it appears that dresses for the morris dance were lent to neighbouring parishes so late as 1629. See Langley's Antiquities of Desborough, 4to, 1797.

[176] Fordun's Scotichronicon, 1759, folio, tom. ii. p. 104.

[177] Polyolbion, song xxvi.

[178] Ben Jonson's Works, 1756, vol. vi. p. 93.

[179] Marian, or as it is more frequently written Marion, is not formed, as some French writers have supposed, from Mary and Ann, but more probably from Mariamne the wife of Herod, whose name seems borrowed from that of Miriam מרים the prophetess, the sister of Aaron. Miriam is said to come from a Syrian word signifying mistress, or from מרר marar, bitterness. The name of Mary, evidently contracted from Miriam or Mariamne, does not occur till the time of the daughter of Joachim and Anne, the mother of Christ, at which period we find other Maries in the New Testament. It is remarkable that Maria, from Marius, should not occur among the Roman names of women, in like manner as we have Julia, Cornelia, Fulvia, Proba, Valeria, &c., from Julius, Cornelius, Fulvius, Probus, and Valerius. The facetious and eccentric Edmund Gayton, in the dedication to his Festivous notes on Don Quixote, speaks of Mayd Myriam. He perhaps imagined that the morris dance had been suggested by the prophetess and her dancing women with their timbrels.

[180] Steevens's Shaksp. viii. 530.

[181] Waldron's History of the Isle of Man, 12mo, p. 95, where he has described the mock battle between the queens.

[182] Strype's Eccl. memorials, iii. 376.

[183] The honestie of this age, 1615, 4to, p. 35.

[184] What these ladies exactly were is not easy to comprehend. Whitepot in old cookery was a kind of custard, made in a crust or dish with cream, eggs, pulse of apples, sugar, spices, and sippets of white or manchet bread. It is possible therefore that Maid Marian, being occasionally personated by a kitchen malkin or cook wench, obtained the title of a white-pot queen.

[185] Golden books of the leaden Goddes, 1577, 4to, fo. 30.

[186] Greene's Quip for an upstart courtier, sig. D. 3.

[187] Bavon or bavette, is from bave, spittle. Hence the middle age Latin term for a fool, bavosus. See Ducange Gloss. This is a very plausible etymology, and might stand well enough by itself; but it must not be concealed that in some of the Northern languages Bavian signifies a monkey or baboon. Whether Fletcher, who seems the only writer that has made use of this word, applied it to the fool in question on account of the monkey tricks that he played, remains to be ascertained. If we could discover the names of the characters in a French, Dutch, or German morris of this time, some light might be thrown on the subject.

[188] See Carter's Specimens of ancient sculpture and painting, vol. ii. pl. xiii. Nos. 5 and 13, and pl. xxxvi.

[189] Edit. 1585, 12mo, p. 299. See likewise the article chironomus in p. 521.

[190] Coryat's Crudities, 1611, 4to, p. 9.

[191] Yet, in the reign of Charles the Second, Thomas Hall, another puritanical writer, published his Funebria Floræ, the Downfall of May-games, 1661, 4to, in which, amidst a great deal of silly declamation against these innocent amusements, he maintains that "Papists are forward to give the people May-poles, and the Pope's holiness with might and main keeps up his superstitious festivals as a prime prop of his tottering kingdome." That "by these sensual sports and carnal-flesh-pleasing wayes of wine, women, dancing, revelling, &c., he hath gained more souls, than by all the tortures and cruel persecutions that he could invent." He adds, "What a sad account will these libertines have to make, when the Lord shall demand of them, where wast thou such a night? why, my Lord, I was with the prophane rabble, stealing May-poles; and where wast thou such a day? why, my Lord, I was drinking, dancing, dallying, ranting, whoring, carousing, &c."

[192] Every man out of his humour, Act II. Scene 1.

[193] Spanish dictionary.

[194] See the plate of ancient cards, xxxi. in Strutt's Sports and pastimes, where a knave or attendant is dressed in this manner.

[195] Churchwardens' accounts at Kingston, in Lysons's Environs of London, i. p. 227, 228.

[196] Stubbes's Anatomie of abuses, ubi supra.

[197] See Rowley's Witch of Edmonton, 1658, Act I. Scene 2.

[198] Stubbes, ubi supra. Knight of the burning pestle, Act IV.

[199] Stubbes, ubi supra. Jonson's Masque of gipsies. Holme's Academy of armory, book iii. p. 169, whence the following cut has been borrowed, which, rude as it is, may serve to convey some idea of the manner in which the handkerchiefs were used.

[200] Knight of the burning pestle, Act IV.

[201] Vox graculi, 1623, p. 49.

[202] Fletcher's Women pleased, Act IV.

[203] Greene's Quip for an upstart courtier, sign. B. 2.

[204] This tract is mentioned by Sir William Temple, in his Essay on health and long life, from the communication of Lord Leicester. Howel, in his Parly of beasts, 1660, has recorded that "of late years ther were call'd out within three miles compasse ten men that were a thousand years between them, one supplying what the other wanted of a hundred years apiece, and they danc'd the morris divers hours together in the market place with a taborer before them 103 years old, and a maid Mariam 105."--p. 122. This seems to allude to the same event.

[205] Compare No. 1, with the left hand figure at bottom in the print; No. 4, with the left hand figure at top; No. 6, with the right hand figure at bottom; and No. 7, with the right hand figure at top. This last character in the Flemish print has a flower in his hat as well as No. 4. Query if that ornament have been accidentally omitted by the English engraver?

[206] This gentleman's death is recorded to have happened Oct. 22nd, 1779. Gough's Brit. topogr. ii. 239.

[207] See his continuation to Ben Jonson's sad shepherd, 1782, 8vo, p. 255, a work of very considerable merit, and which will materially diminish the regret of all readers of taste that the original was left unfinished.

[208] Robin Hood, I. cviii.

INDEX.

"Commoditas homines studiosos invitavit librorum Indices comparare, quibus minimo labore ad id quod quisque quæreret, tanquam manu duceretur."--CICERO AD ATTICUM.

A. PAGE

Æsop's Fables, a ludicrous cut in some editions of them, 12

Æsopian fables, account of a collection of them made during the middle ages, 361

----, moralized, 523

Affiancing, some account of this ancient ceremony, 67, 248

Ages of man, prints of them, 185

Alexander the great, his good savour, 150

----, his arms as one of the nine worthies, 150

Althea's firebrand, inaccurately alluded to by Shakspeare, 278

Alligator, a conjecture on the derivation of this word, 436

Alliterative and anapæstic lines, in Love's labour's lost, not Shakspeare's, 133

Amaimon, the name of a Devil, 264

Ambrose, Saint, a hymn by him against nocturnal illusions, 128

Amulets against fascination, 303, 305

----, phallic, 304

Anachronisms, those of Shakspeare pointed out, 488

Angels, cracked, 460

Anglo-Norman song, 447

Apemantus, his character whence borrowed, 356

Apollonius Tyaneus, account of this romance, 398

April and May, to smell, 45

Appeal for treason, the ceremony observed in the combats on that occasion, 317, 487

Arbeau Thoinot, his Orchesographie, a curious treatise on dancing, 135, 301

Archee or Archy Armstrong, the fool of James I. and Charles I., 502, 505, 513

Armin, Robert, an imitator of Shakspeare in his play of The Valiant Welshman, 476

Arthur's show, some account of it, 283

Artillery, names given to it formerly, 261

Ars moriendi, account of a print copied from it, 325

Arvals, description of them, 439

Asmodeus, the demon of nocturnal illusions, 129

Ass, receipt to make a man resemble one, 119

Autolycus, not a minstrel, 216

----, whence his character taken, 217

B.

Bacon, Lord, story from his apophthegms, 276

Badge, account of this ancient mark of servitude, 205

----, representation of it, 209

Bagpipe woollen, the true reading, 162

Banks, some account of him and his horse, 131

Banshee, an Irish fairy, 237

Bardolph, his face, the subject of Falstaff's wit, 267

Bartholomæus de proprietatibus rerum, account of this book, 487

Basilisco oaths, 247

Basilisk, its fabulous property, 321

Batman upon Bartholome, its original price, 6

Battles, the absurd way of representing them on the ancient stage, 296

Bauble, the fool's, description of various sorts of it, 386, 509

Bavian fool, 593

Beadles, their ancient dress, 293

Bear-licking, popular notions respecting it, 330

Beaufort, Cardinal, strictures on a celebrated painting of his death, 325

Beaumont and Fletcher, one edition of their plays curious for the prints, 489

Bed, blessing of the bridal, 485

Bellona's bridegroom, this expression defended, 228

Bell-savage, sign of the, explained, 61

Belly and the members, origin of this apologue investigated, 361

Benzoria, a sort of witch or fairy, 236

Bercheur or Berchorius, his Repertorium morale, 528

----, whether the author of the Gesta Romanorum, ib.

Bermuda, island of, 3

Betrothing, some account of this ancient ceremony, 67, 248

Bestiarium, an old work on natural history, 522, 524

Bills, the setting up of, 101

Bird-bolts, explained, 102

Blessing of beds, an ancient ceremony, 126

---- of chambers, ib.

Blue coats, 205

Boccaccio's novels, a very ancient English translation of them pointed out, 103

----, account of the English translation of his Decameron, 382

Bond story in the Merchant of Venice, remarks on it, 171

Boot, torture of the, explained, 21

Bow, the awkward use of it by crowkeepers, 417

Bows, materials of which they were made in England, 244

Bras, the ancient pronunciation of this French word ascertained, 310

Brawl, account of this ancient dance, 134

Brazen tombs, meaning of this expression, 130

Breaking the little finger, a token of amorous dalliance, 262

Breeches bible, particulars relating to it, 233

Bridal-bed, ceremony of blessing it, 123

Bromyard, John, an old English preacher, his Summa prædicantium described, 526

Brothels, signs anciently belonging to them described, 397

----, jesters employed in them, 358, 378

Budha, a deity of Ceylon, story of him and a hare, 10

Bunyan, John, supposed to have been indebted to an old romance for the materials of his Pilgrim's progress, 256

Burial service, particulars of it before the reformation, 222

C.

Cakes and ale, old custom relating to them, 55

Canary dance, description of, 136

Candlesticks, remarks on ancient ones, 308

Cardanus's comforte, a book used by Shakspeare, 461

Carol, an ancient one, 217

Carpet-knights, account of, 66

Casket story in the Merchant of Venice, remarks on it, 169, 486

Cat, why the favourite of witches, 243

Catullus, a remarkable coincidence between a passage in this author and one in Shakspeare, 461

Cavendish's life of Wolsey, account of, 159

Cavendish, some remarks on his life of Wolsey, 344

Caxton's chronicle, some account of it, 260

----, his chess book not didactic, 522

----, not the author of a chronicle ascribed to him, 422, 512

Ceremonies, popular, modern corruptions in them noticed, 586

Chastellain, George, his account of the manner in which the duke of Gloucester was put to death, 322

China dishes, when first brought into England, 78

Chopine, description of it, 457

Chrisome explained, 299

Cilhart, the favourite hound of Prince Llewellyn, a story relating to him, 547

Clarence, duke of, the manner of his death, 323

Cleopatra, her trick upon Marc Antony, 369

Clerk of Chatham, in King Henry the Sixth, an unreal character, 327

Clown, various remarks on this character, 32, 74, 94, 151, 167, 191, 200, 224

Clowns in old plays, classification of them, 499

----, various remarks on, 374, 387, 398, 483, 497

----. See Fool.

Clocks, their antiquity in England, 138

Coin with cracked edges, hoarded by usurers, 459

Colevile of the dale, 289

Combats, single, in cases of treason, ceremonies observed in them, 317, 487

Comet, a medal stricken to commemorate that which appeared on the death of Julius Cæsar, 364

Concert improperly used for consort, 314

Conde Lucanor, a Spanish collection of novels, 212

Conscience, its dispute with the flesh, the subject of an old Monkish fable, 157

Contest devots, account of them, 521

Copley, Antony, account of a work written by him, 210

Cornelius's tub, uncertainty of the origin of this expression, 357

Coroners, their conduct satirized by Shakspeare, 476

Corporal of the field, his office explained, 138

Coryat, a curious quotation from him, 330

Cotgrave, the first edition of his valuable dictionary, 140

Coventry pageants, remarks on, 217

---- plays, an extract from one of them, 463

Covercle, whence derived, 282

Cressets, some account of them, 264

Cressida, how punished for her falsehood to Troilus, 299

Critic on Shakspeare, a female one censured, 379

Cross-gartering, fashion of explained, 57

Crotalum, account of this ancient instrument, 509

Crowns of the sun, the coins so called described, 396

Crying clubs, illustration of that custom, 344

Cude Yeddy, an idiot so called, 416

Cupid, his golden shaft, 53, 484

----, his blindness, 137

----, why called a hangman, 107, 146

Curry favour, origin of this phrase, 291

Curtain formerly placed before pictures, 53

Cymbeline, remarks on the story of this play, 381

D.

Dagonet, the fool of King Arthur in the romances of the round table, some account of him, 283, 286

Daiphantus, a work by Scoloker, in which Hamlet is alluded to, 465, 478

Dame Habunde or Abunde, a fairy, 237

Dance of death, account of a remarkable one, 81

Dancing rapier, 193

Danes, formerly remarkable for hard drinking, 449

Death and the fool, a subject borrowed from the Dance of death, 80

---- and the lady, old representations of, 478

Dedications, prices of in the time of Elizabeth, 573

Deer, killed by ladies in ancient times, 139

Despenser, Hugh le, his arraignment in the original form, 274

Devices, whence those of the knights in Pericles were borrowed, 392

Devil, his roaring, 258

----'s ruff-shop, print of it, 220

----s invoked by witches, account of them, 315

Diana, a name for Hecate in modern times, 235

----, patroness of witches, 236

Dictionary, the first French and English, by Hollyband, afterwards amplified by Cotgrave, 140

Dieu et mon droit, when this motto was originally used, 248

Dragon on Chinese porcelain, 18

----, a character in the morris dance, 600

Drinking horns, formerly carried by lunatics, &c., 415

Drinking pots with hoops, explained, 327

Duke, its ancient meaning, 111

Dun is in the mire, an old proverbial phrase, 425

E.

Edward shovel-boards, 33

Ego et rex meus, remarks on this expression, 341

Elbow, rubbing the, a popular superstition, 273

Elf-knots, 426

Elf-locks, ib.

Elf-stones, ib.

Elizabeth, Queen, a compliment to her, 341

Eloisa, some compositions by her noticed, 472

Ephesiacs of Xenophon, a romance which is supposed to have furnished a material incident in the story of Romeo and Juliet, 436

Essex, Earl of, a supposed allusion to his death, 250

Euriphile, whence the name borrowed by Shakspeare, 378

Evil spirits, how the Greeks expelled them from dying persons, 326

Eyes, green, 30

----, grey, ib.

F.

Fair lady of Norwich, origin of a curious story so entitled, 545

Fairies, delight in cleanliness, 122

----, miscellaneous remarks on them, 238

----, their blessing, 127

----, their immortality defended, 114

----, their rings, 111, 114

----, their song, 51

Falling of the axe, this expression examined, 187

Falstaff, the severity of his punishment censured, 294

Farmer, Doctor, a mistake in a note by him pointed out, 571

Fascination against the influence of evil eyes, remarks on it, 303

Fashions in dress, the English always remarkable for their variation of them, 105

Fate, used by Shakspeare for fortune, and not death according to Warburton, 146

Father friar, this expression explained, 84

Favel, the ancient name of a horse, 291

Fica, 303

Ficus, remarks on the disease so called, 304

Fig, making the, explained, 302

Fig of Spain, 307

Finis coronat opus, remarks on this phrase, 199

Florio's First fruits, some account of that book, 140

Fool, death's, 80

----, fortune's, 146

----, time's, 273

----, various remarks on this character, 18, 55, 74, 94, 198, 200

----, Charles the First's, 502

----, city and corporation, 500

----, court, 502

----, domestic, 499, 501

----, Duke of Mantua's, story of him, 505

----, Earl of Suffolk's, 503

----, female, 500

----, fortune's, 431

----, in brothels, 358, 500

----, in dumb shows at fairs, 501

----, in the mysteries and moralities, 500

----, Lord Mansel's, 504

----, Louis the Thirteenth's, 505

----, morris, 501, 592

----, mountebank's, 501

----, Pope's, ib.

----, proverb relating to him explained, 506

----, Sir Thomas More's, 513

----, stage, his office, 507, 514

----, story of a Welsh one, 503

----, strumpet's, 358, 500

----, tavern, 500

----, various remarks on this character, 358, 412, 419, 483, 497

----, Whitson ale, 501

----, William the Conqueror's, ib.

Fool's bauble, 509

---- cockscomb, 508

---- combat with death, 394

---- dress, 507, 510

---- general mode of behaviour, 504

---- punishment, 505

Fools, begged, 148

----, pre-eminence of those in Shakspeare's plays, 514

----, their decline, 503, 515

----. See Clowns.

Fortunatus, origin of the story of this romance, 553

Fox-tails, how worn by ladies in the reign of Edward I., 512

French crown, 76

---- songs and ballads, 446, 472, 474

Friar and the boy, a popular story used by Shakspeare, 14

Frier John and frier Richard, a curious story so entitled, 392, 545

---- Tuck, origin of his name, 587

Funeral feasts, borrowed from the ancients, 439

G.

Gascoine, justice, an anachronism concerning him, 293

Gentlemen, what they formerly were, 214, 223

----, who were so formerly, 429, 476, 486

Gesta Romanorum, 400, 401, 402, 403, 420

---- ----, some account of it, 167, 170

---- ----, a curious story from an ancient English MS. of it, 172

---- ----, analysis of a work under this name composed in England, 537

---- ----, inquiries concerning its authors, 527, 571

---- ----, manuscripts of it, 531, 536, 574

---- ----, printed editions of it, 532, 571, 575

---- ----, question examined whether composed in England, 535

---- ----, stories from it used in the pulpit, or otherwise to entertain the monks, 527

---- ----, translations of it, 533, 571

---- ----, two works under this name, 520

Ghosts retire at the approach of day, 120

----, damned, 466

----, reasons for their appearing, 450

----, why exclusively addressed by scholars, 438

----, why said to fast, 451

----, why they disappeared at the dawn of day, 452

Gilliflower, applied by Perdita to a painted woman, 219

Gilt two-pences, 290

Ginger, in great use formerly as a stomachic, 88

Girdle, turning of the, explained, 109

Gis, a corruption of Jesus, 475

Gloucester, duke of, discordant accounts of his death, 322

Giving hands, an old expression for bestowing applause, 129

Glow-worm's fire, 118

Goblin, what it signified in former times, 242

Golden legend, a story from that work, 239

Gowrie conspiracy, 213

Gower, supposed to have translated the Gesta Romanorum into English, 572

Grace, when this title was first used, 320

Grammatical errors in Shakspeare, 181

Gray, Mr., borrowed from Shakspeare, 343

Green sleeves, an old ballad, 37

---- eyes, less uncommon formerly than at present, 433

---- sleeves, some account of an old time so called, 484

Guido's painting of Bacchus and Ariadne, remarks on, 29

Guido of Colonna, his Troy book not an original work as usually supposed, but borrowed from Benoit de Saint More a Norman French poet, 353

Guillelmus Hilacensis, singular title bestowed on himself, 523

Guy Faux, how treated by the modern populace, 586

H.

Halfpence, tearing pieces into, explained, 107

Halifax gibbet, 188

Hamlet, alluded to in Scoloker's Daiphantus, 478

----, enigmatical speech by him explained, 469

Hamlet, his madness, 456

Harlequin, the successor to the old vice of our theatres, 288

Harry ten shillings, when first coined, 283

Hay, an ancient dance, a sort of brawl, 146

Heaping coals of fire on a person's head, explanation of this phrase, 423

Heart, the seat of courage among the ancients, 365

Hearts and hands, 482

Hecate, how accented by Shakspeare, 122

----, her team, 121

----, miscellaneous remarks on, 235

Helmet, some observations on this part of ancient armour, 269

Henbane, 452

----, Shakspeare's insane root, 229

Heraldry ridiculed by Shakspeare, 476

Herb John, a proverbial expression relating to it, 481

Hermit of Prague, 66

Herne's oak, 51

Herod, account of his character in the old mysteries, 463

----, his character in the old mysteries illustrated, 85

Herodias, 236, 237

Higa, mistake concerning its etymology, 306

Hobby-horse, a character in the morris dance, 595

Holinshed, an error in his chronicle, 297

Hollyband, his real name Sainliens, 139

Horn, romance of King, 2

Horned head-dresses of the ladies, 125

Horse, the dancing, account of, 131

Horses, ancient names of, 291

Hugo de Sancto Victore, some tales and fables ascribed to him, 524

Hume, Mr., a singular remark by him, 323

Hundred merry tales, discussion relating to them, 102

Hyena, 189

I.

Idiots, begging of them, 148

Imagines Mortis, a series of prints supposed to have been known to Shakspeare, 252

Infamis digitus, 302

Israel Von Mecheln, account of a curious print engraven by him representing a morris dance, 585

Jachimo, remarks on this name, 375

Jack of the clock-house, 337

Janus, his double head difficult to explain, 154

Jesus, corruption of his name into Gis, 475

----, name of, inscribed on swords, 455

Jews, their usury, 155

Joculator, ancient meaning of this word, 502

Jourdain, Margery, some account of her, 316

Judas, an allusion to him,. 215

K.

Kaukie, a sort of fairies, 239

Killigrew, not a regular jester, 503

King Henry the Sixth, account of prayers composed by him, 337

---- ---- ---- ----, reasons why the whole of the plays on his reign were not written by Shakspeare, 332

King Lear, an unpublished story of him and his daughters, 420

Kirke, Colonel, his conduct misrepresented by Mr. Hume, 95

Kirtle, some observations on it, 282, 294

Kissing, part of the ancient ceremony of betrothing, 248

Knight, remarks on this title, 378

Knights topers, ceremony of dubbing them, 293

L.

Labyrinthus, the author of this Latin comedy indebted to Shakspeare, 427

Lady of the May, 589

Lancaster, Duke of, an error relating to him corrected, 277

Lark, parallel passages relating to his singing extracted from old poets, 375

Lavolta, an ancient dance described, 300

Law of the twelve tables, permitting a creditor to mangle the debtor's body, 178

Lawyers compared to frogs by an old monkish writer, 528

Leland probably translated the Gesta Romanorum, 571, 573

Lenox, Mrs., the injustice of some of her criticisms on Shakspeare, 97, 110

Lion, generosity of this animal, 189

Liver, the seat of love, 38

Liveries of servants, 206

Lord of the May, 590

Love, blindness of, noticed by Chaucer, 138

Love's labour's lost, this play supposed to have been taken from a French novel, 152

Lowth, Bishop, mistaken in his opinion concerning wastel bread, 444

Lucifer the morning star, Aurora's harbinger, 120

Lullaby songs, remarks on them, 383

---- ----, specimens of, 385

Lydgate, his poem against horned head-dresses, 125

Lydgate, monk of Bury, supposed to have been concerned in an English translation of the Gesta Romanorum, 572

Lying at Ladies' feet, an ancient custom, 466

M.

Machiavellus, an unpublished Latin play, 163

Maiden, an instrument for beheading criminals, some account of it, 188

Maid Marian, her character in the morris dance described, 588

Maillard, Father, his sermons resemble those of the Methodists, 88

Majesty, when first used as a title by sovereigns, 319

Making the fig, explained, 302

Man, how expressed in the Chinese language, 415

Man in the moon, remarks on him, 9

Manuscript, account of a beautiful one, 471

Manus lasciva, 303

Maret, fool of Louis XIII., story of him, 505

Marian, derivation of this name, 588

Marie de France, a fable written by her, 525

Marigold, 219

Markham, Jervis, author of "a health to the gentlemanly profession of serving men", 207

Marshall, John, some account of him, 551

Mary, when this name first used, 589

Masks, 28

Masques, representations of ancient, 425

Matachins, dance of, 578

May-dew on fairy rings, superstition relating to it, 112

May games, 581, 584

---- ---- censured by the Puritans, 595

May lady, 589

Measure for measure, remarks on the story of it, 94

---- ---- ----, a story resembling its plot, 484

Medlars, some remarks on them, 186

Merchant of Venice, remarks on the story of it, 167

Merchant, particular application of this word in the time of Shakspeare, 429

Mill-sixpences, 33

Milton imitates Shakspeare, 113, 117, 130

Minstrels, some remarks on them, 216

Misletoe, ancient prejudice against the berries of it, 386

Moidor, its etymology, 309

Monarch of the North, a Devil invoked by witches, 315

Monkies, the ancient manner of retaining them, 335

Montfaucon, a mistake by him pointed out, 455

Moon, eclipse of, ideas of various nations concerning it, 18

Moon, how represented by the Chinese, 10, 243

---- ---- ---- by the Egyptians, 243

----, its moisture, 116

----, use of it among witches, 16

Mooncalf, 9

Morality, singular incident in one, 515

Moralizations, the practice of adding them to various works in former times, 522

Morris dance, characters of which it was composed, 586

---- ----, different sorts of it described, 581

---- ----, etymology of, 572

---- ----, French, 579

---- ----, music to a French one, 580

---- ----, origin of, 577

---- ----, representations of it described, 584

---- ----, when first introduced into England, 580

Morris dancers described, 601

Morton, Earl of, the manner of his execution, 188

Mother Bombie, 64

Mother Cole, some resemblance between her character and that of Falstaff, 276

Muffler, description of this article of female dress, 47

Muckle John, fool of Charles I., 502

Music, defence of it, against Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Steevens, 165

N.

Naked man with shears, this emblem of the versatility of fashion not peculiar to the English, 106

Nashe, a story from his Lenten stuffe, 368

Needle-work, ancient, some account of it, 59

Neptune, converted into a mischievous fairy, 240

Nicholas, Saint, why the patron of scholars, 26

Nicholas's clerks, a name for highwaymen, 27

Nicneven, 237

Night-mare, charm against it, 126

Night spells, 127

Nine men's morris, an account of this game and of the origin of the term, 114

Norman drinking song, 447

North, monarch of the, a Devil so called, 315

Northbrooke, John, a puritanical writer in the manner of Stubbes, 135

O.

Oberon, king of the fairies, 113

Occleve, indebted to the Gesta Romanorum for two of his stories, 552, 570

Occleve, supposed to have translated the Gesta Romanorum into English, 572

Odo de Ceriton, his tales and fables, 524

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----, specimens of them, 525

Orleans, duke of, account of his poems, 471

Ovid, his Metamorphoses moralized, 522

P.

Pageant of the nine worthies, 149

---- of the sea, 154

Painters, their errors in costume, 490

Pandarus, an allusion to him, 311

Paradin's heroical devises, a book probably used by the author of Pericles, 392

Parke's Curtaine drawer of the world, a book of great merit, 116

----, William, quotations from his Curtaine drawer of the world, 360, 418

Partizan, a different weapon from the pike, 370

Passameasure, music to an old dance so called, 281

Patch, not the real name of a fool as commonly supposed, 158

Patenson, the fool of Sir Thomas More, 513

Paul's, St., cathedral, bills formerly stuck up there as now at the Royal Exchange, 101

Pavan, an ancient dance, 72

Peacock pie, 448

Pengelden, Rees, a Welsh fool, story of him, 503

Penmanship in the time of Elizabeth remarkably beautiful, 87

Pentapolis, account of, 388

Pericles, the story of this play examined, 398

Perseus and Andromeda, errors of artists in representing the story of it, 348

Perseus's horse, a critique on it, 347

Perspective glasses, 73

Pheasant pie, 448

Phrases, particular ones in the mouths of theatrical characters, 37

Physicians formerly attended by servants to carry their swords, ib.

Picture of old Adam new apparelled, 226

Pillory, remarks on this mode of punishment, 90

----, several specimens of it represented, 91

Platting of horses' manes, a superstitious notion explained, 425

Players censured for their stage interpolations, 498

Poking-sticks, 220

Poor Tom, hints for dressing this character on the stage, 415

Preachers, account of ancient, 523

----, their custom of introducing stories into their sermons, 521

Proverbs, old ones explained, 506, 525

Provincial roses, account of, 467

Provost, the story of one, 87

Punch, Dr. Johnson mistaken in his opinion concerning the origin of this theatrical character, 469

Purgatory, allusions to it in Measure for measure, 82

Puritans burlesqued the music of the Papists, 218

Putscet, a deity of the Samogitæ, 239

Q.

Quail-fighting, remarks on, 367

Queen of Sheba, an ancient sign, explained, 61

R.

Raoul le Fevre, account of his history of Troy, 354

Rapier, account of this weapon, 39

----, engraving of an old one, 279

Receipt to make men seem like horses, 484

Red, an emblem of courage, 156

Reels danced by witches, 370

Retainers, a sort of servants, 206

Reynard the fox, when this romance was composed, 526

Richard III., his deformity, 335

Riddles, their occasional introduction into ancient romances, 389

Riding the wild mare, a childish sport, 282

Rings interchanged on betrothing, 68

Ritson, Mr., a mistake by him corrected, 605

Rivets in armour, when closed up, 308

Robin Rush, the idiot fool of Lord Bussy Mansel, 504

Robinson, Richard, account of a work by him, 285

---- ----, prices of his dedications, 574

---- ----, some curious works by him specified, 573

Rome, pronunciation of this word in Shakspeare's time, 364

Romeo and Juliet, the original story of this play borrowed in part from a Greek romance, 436

Rosemary, a token of remembrance, 218

----, its use at funerals, 434

Roses of Provins, 467

Rowe, his edition of Shakspeare curious for the prints, 489

Ruffs, satirized in old prints, 220

Rushes, custom of strewing them in halls, &c., 294

Rush ring marriages, explained, 194

S.

Sack, remarks on it, 256

Sackvile's Complaynt of the duke of Bvckingham, a poem ridiculed by Shakspeare, 281

Saint Helen's fire, a meteor, 3

Satyr's dance, 222

Scoloker, Antony, his Daiphantu, 465, 478

Seldom comes the better, explanation of this phrase, 333

Seven wise masters, the Gesta Romanorum indebted to it, 544, 547

Setebos, 7

Senile odium, of Stubbes, quoted, 129

Sexten, a fool belonging to Wolsey, 158

Shakspeare, his grammatical errors, 181

----, his correct knowledge of the ceremonies belonging to the Romish Church, 325

----, his metaphors often careless and confused, 338

----, ridiculed by Fletcher, 451, 452

----, the quarto editions of his plays full of typographical errors, 463

Sheriff's fool, 198

Shields in heraldry, conjectures on their origin, 477

Ship of fools, by Brandt, cited, 510

---- ---- ----, English prose translation of it by Watson, 462

Shove-groat, an ancient game, 279

Shovel-board, an ancient game, ib.

Shylock, what his stage dress should be, 155

Sidney, Sir Philip, reprobated the custom of introducing fools on the stage, 498

Sights, remarkable love for strange ones among the English, 9

Sir Isumbras, an incident in one of the stories in the Gesta Romanorum, borrowed from that romance, 543

Sleep, death's counterfeit, 232

Slide-groat, an ancient game, 279

Solomon's judgment, stories in imitation of it, 550

Somers, Will, portraits of him described, 336, 512

Somner, Mr., his erroneous opinion on wastel bread, 446

Songs, ancient, 385, 414, 433, 447, 474

Southern wind, destructive, 6

Spirits belonging to magicians, 5

Staff tipped with horn, explained, 109

Stag, his secretion of tears, 183

Stalking-horses, bulls, &c., 106

Stanihurst's Virgil, passages from it, 249

Stars on ancient medals, expressive of immortality, 397

Stone, a celebrated fool, 505

Stones, superstitions relating to them, 426, 453

Stothard, Mr., his painting of Chaucer's pilgrims, 490

Stowe, an error in his Annals pointed out, 290

----, engraving of an initial letter in his Survey of London, 81

Straparola, his novels quoted, 212

Strappado, a military torture explained, 263

Stumble at the threshold, explanation of this phrase, 331

Suicides how buried formerly, 476

Swan, the death-song of this bird mentioned in various authors, 161

Swan's Speculum mundi, cited for some lines in Shakspeare with variations, 428

Sword and buckler, remarks on their use, 259

Sword, used as a bridge by heroes of ancient chivalry, ib.

----, swearing by it, 455

Swords, mottoes on them, 279

Symposii ænigmata, some account of the work so called, 399

T.

Table books, description of those used in Shakspeare's time, 454

Tabor, an instrument used by fools, 61

Tabourot, the earliest writer on dancing, 579

Taming of the shrew, stories resembling that of the induction to this play, 211

---- ---- ---- ----, outline of the play itself in a Spanish work, 212

Tempest, whence the construction of this play was suggested, 4

Theobald defended against Warburton, 218

Thor's hammers, stones so called that were supposed to control the manes of the dead, 453

Thunderbolt, superstitions relating to it, 369

Time's fool, 273

Timon of Athens, his epitaph, 358

Toad, remarks on the supposed stone or jewel in its head, 181

Tollett, Mr., remarks on his curious painting on glass of a morris dance, 584

Tom Piper, a character in the morris dance, 595

Torch bearers at masques, account of, 424

Touchstone, his real character, 181

Trencher-scraping, 11

Tristan de Leonnois, a riddle from that romance, 389

Trinculo, how he should be dressed on the stage, 12, 18

Troilus and Cressida, the origin of their story examined, 352

Troth-plighting, 24

Troy, the names of its gates borrowed by Shakspeare from Caxton's Recuyles or destruction of Troy, and not from Lydgate, 346

----, the siege of it a frequent subject on old tapestry, 346

Trump, an ancient game at cards explained, 374

Tyrants in the old mysteries, great swearers, 85

Tyrian tapestry, explained, 204

U.

Ucalegon, Dr. Bentley mistaken in his conception of that character, 277

Unities, neglected by the ancient theatrical writers, 296

Urchins' dance, 7

Urinals, the portraits of physicians anciently represented with them, 45

Usurers, some of their practices described, 459

Valentine, a palace so called at Turin, 472

Valentine and Orson, some editions of this romance specified, 462

Valentines, custom of choosing examined, 470

Vice of the old moralities, etymologically considered, 287

----, an ancient theatrical character, 500, 510

Virgil's gnat, some account of it, 548

Vow of the peacock, 290

W.

Wandering knight, the name of a spiritual romance, 255

Warton, Mr., character of his History of English poetry, 519

Warburton, his hyper-criticisms, 217, 294

Wassel, the origin and meaning of this word, 441

Wastel bread, explained, 444

Watson, translated Valentine and Orson, and The ship of fools, 462

Watts, Mr., his erroneous account of wastel bread, 445

Wax tablets, some account of, 455

We three, picture of, 54

Whale to virginity, meaning of this phrase, 199

Whitney's emblems, probably used by the author of Pericles, 393

Wicliffe's bible, an invaluable monument of the English language, 251

Will the taborer, a Welsh fool, 504

Williames, a fool belonging to Wolsey, 158

Willow-garlands, the custom of wearing them explained, 104, 164

Wind, an image relating to it, 482

Wine, formerly made in England, 449

Winter's tale, character of it, 224

Wise woman, 60, 63

Wits, fittes and fancies, account of a book so called, 210

---- ---- ---- ----, a story from that work, 468

Wolsey, Cardinal, account of his fools, 158

---- ----, articles against him, 341

---- ----, improperly censured for placing a cardinal's hat on his coins, 343

---- ----, Shakspeare's allusion to a strumpet kept by him, 341

X.

Xenophon of Ephesus, a romance written by him supposed to have been used by the author of the story of Romeo and Juliet, 436

----, Two of the incidents in his Ephesiacs occur in Cymbeline, 437

Y.

Yellow, an epithet applied to jealousy, 105

Yew, bows made of it, 245

----, connected with witchcraft, 244

----, why planted in church-yards, ib.

Younger brothers, their servile degradation in former times, 208

Z.

Zimimar, monarch of the North, a Devil invoked by witches, 315

GLOSSARIAL INDEX.

A. PAGE

Abstract, 372

Addrest, 121

Ajaxes, 151

Anon, 263

Apron, 316

Aqua-vitæ, 42

Argosies, 152

Aroint, 228

Aspect, 225

Assinego, 349

Aunt, 113

B.

Barnacles, 14

Bases, 391

Basilisk, 261

Bate, 269

Beadsman, 20

Beaver, 269

Become, 28

Bewray, 329

Blue-bottle, 293

Boggy-bo, 202

Boil, 411

Bombast, 151

Bo-peep, 404

Boots, 21

Bout, 143

Brake, 118

Brands, 377

Bras, 310

Breech'd, 232

Brown-paper commodities, 87

Bugs, 202

Bully-rook, 36

Burn'd, 412

Buss, 248

But, 205

Buz, 456

C.

Canary, 45

Candle-holder, 424

Canon, 439

Cantle, 266

Careires, 34

Carouse, 441

Carry coals, 423

Cast, 187

Cat-a-mountain, 41

Caviare, 460

Chace, 298

Charming, 383

Chopine, 457

Cheer, 119

Child of fancy, 130

Christom, 299

City-ward, 44

Clamour, 221

Cleft, 31

Cock and Pye, 290

Cockney, 407

Codpiece, 412

Complete, 450

Concent, 313

Conclusion, 389

Consented, 313

Constant, 162

Corinthian, 262

Corporal, 141

Corrosive, 324

Coted, 141

Countercheck, 248

Counterfeit, 162

Crack'd within the ring, 459

Cruzado, 481

Cry'd game, 105

Culverin, 261

Curry, 291

Curst and brief, 62

Curtail, 38

Curtal, 197

Cypress, 56

D.

Dark-room, 64, 67

Damn'd, 466

Daughters of the game, 351

Day-woman, 133

Dictynna, 140

Diet, 357

Discreet, 282

Dissembling, 333

Dog-apes, 184

Domineer, 205

Draw Dun from the mire, 425

Drawn fox, 267

Driveling, 429

Ducdamé, 184

Duff, 232

Dusty, 246

E.

Eager, 454

E'er, 1, 250

Eleven and twenty, 209

Elves, 15

Embowel'd, 274

Endenes, 217

Enemy, 62, 80

Erinnys, 254

Estridge, 373

Estridges, 268

Extravagant, 439

Eyas-musket, 46

F.

Fall, 77

Fast, 452

Fear, 202

Figo, 302

Filed, 143

Fine's a crown, 202

Flap-dragons, 281

Flaw, 411

Flourish, 86

Forfeits, 93

Forked, 415

Free, 56

Fret, 468

Fulsome, 155

G.

Gadding, 434

Gaze, 165

Geck, 74

Gentle, 214

Gib-cat, 256

Gilded tombs, 160

Gird, 315

Gis, 475

Gleek, 118, 435

Good b'ye, 385

God-dig-you-den, 139

Gongarian, 36

Good-den, 247

Grace, 319

Green-sour, 16

Griping, 435

Guerdon, 137

H.

Hallidom, 28

Handy-dandy, 417

Ha no nonny, 414

Have at you, 340

Hebenon, 453

Henchman, 116

Hiren, 278

Hoodman, 198

Horned, 121

Horse's health, 415

Hunt's up, 432

I.

Jack, 336

Idle, 480

Imbrocato, 144

Imp, 131

Impertinency, 418

Impeticos, 55

Inhibit, 234

Inhoop'd, 367

Intergatory, 166

Insculp, 159

John Drum's entertainment, 198

K.

Keeps, 76

Kirtle, 282

L.

Lavatch, 200

Lavolta, 300

Lead apes in hell, 203

Leman, 49

Lender's books, 413

Libya, 223

Light o'love, 108

Likes, 27

Lion-gait, 299

Lover, 77

Lozel, 215

Lubber the world, 66

Lullaby, 383

Lush, 8, 117

Lustyhood, 108

Lusty young men, 424

M.

Macduff, 232

Majesty, 319

Master of fence, 35

Mate, 201

Meiny, 407

Merely, 1

Milch, 461

Mince, 50

Mind of love, 160

Model, 252

Mome, 225

Momentany, 111

Monarcho, 140

Month's mind, 24

Morisco, 321

Mumbudget, 50

Mysteries, 339

N.

Naples, 363

Nice, 372

Night-rule, 119

Nott-pated, 263

Novum, 149

O.

'Od's pitikins, 381

Ostent, 372

Ourselves, 234

P.

Paddock, 227

Pandar, 350

Parlous, 334

Passes, 49

Passy-measure, 72

Patch, 158

Pavin, 72

Paucas palabris, 201

Peacock, 467

Perspective, 73

Picked, 477

Pick-thanks, 266

Pillicock, 413

Pipe-wine, 45

Pittie-ward, 44

Point-device, 57

Pompæ, 392

Possess'd, 86

Prattlings, 462

Preserved, 79

Prince of the world, 200

Prone, 76

'Proof, 210

Prouder, 251

Provincial roses, 467

Pur, 200

Purveyor, 230

Pygmalion's images, 85

Q.

Quail, 183

Quaint, 5

Quarrel, 112, 227

Quarry, 227, 245

Quart d'ecu, 199

Quests, 86

Quillets, 142

Quinquenove, 149

R.

Ragozine, 89, 153

Ranged, 367

Recorder, 31, 467

Red-lattice, 42

Reels, 370

Resolved, 85

Rest, 250

Roister, 441

Ropery, 429

Rope-tricks, 430

Rouse, 441

Rowel-head, 277

Ruddock, 380

Rule, 119

Runaway's eyes, 431

S.

Sadness, 330

Sack and sugar, 256

Saint George to borrow, 337

Saint George to thrive, 338

Sallet, 328

Sans, 185, 486

Scape, 249

Sere, 456

Silver-sweet, 428

Sirrah, 258

Skains-mates, 430

Sop o' the moonshine, 405

Sorts, 297

Square, 112

Stale, 201

Statue, 30

Sticking-place, 231

Stoccado, 144

Straight, 475

Strain, 37

Stronds, 254

Sufficiency, 75

Swelling heavens, 266

T.

Take the head, 253

Tawny Spain, 130

Tester, 23

Though, 437

Three-hoop'd, 327

Three-men songs, 218

Three-pil'd, 147

Throstle, 154

Tib, 397

Tib and Tom, 196

Timely-parted, 321

Tirra-lirra, 217

To borrow, 338

To boot, 337

Tongue, 266

Triumviry, 141

Troll, 12

Twangling Jack, 204

Turlygood, 406

U.

Unhack'd, 65

Unpitied, 87

Urchins, 6, 9

Usance, 156

Usher, 371

Vailing, 147

Venew, 143

Very, 27

Vice, 469

Vile, 51

Visor, 270

W.

Waxen, 297

Whiffler, 311

Wimpled, 137

Winchester goose, 352

Winter-ground, 380

Wooden pricks, 405

Woe-begone, 277

Wrest, 350

Y.

Yorick, 477

THE END.

PRINTED BY RICHARD KINDER, GREEN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILEY.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Added anchor for footnote on p. 511.

Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

Enclosed distinctive font in ~tildes~.

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