Chapter M: MERRY. God grant her, as she doth, the Gospel to protect,

Learning and virtue to advance, and vice to correct.

R. ROISTER. God grant her loving subjects both the mind and grace
Her most godly proceedings worthily to embrace.

HARPAX. Her highness most worthy councillors God prosper,
With honour and love all men to minister.

OMNES. God grant the nobility her to serve and love,
With all the common'ty, as doth them behove!

AMEN.[176]

Certain Songs[177] to be sung by those which shall use this Comedy
or Interlude.

_The Second Song._

_Who so to marry a minion wife,[178]
Hath had good chance and hap,_

_Must love her and cherish her all his life,
And dandle her in his lap,_

_If she will fare well, if she will go gay,
A good husband ever still,
Whatever she lust to do or to say,
Must let her have her own will,_

_About what affairs soever he go,
He must show her all his mind,
None of his counsels she may be kept fro,
Else is he a man unkind._

_The Fourth Song._

_I mun be married a Sunday;
I mun be married a Sunday;
Whosoever shall come that way,
I mun be married a Sunday._

_Roister Doister is my name;
Roister Doister is my name;
A lusty brute I am the same;
I mun be married a Sunday._

_Christian Custance have I found;
Christian Custance have I found;
A widow worth a thousand pound:
I mun be married a Sunday._

_Custance is as sweet as honey;
Custance is as sweet as honey;
I her lamb, and she my coney;
I mun be married a Sunday._
_When we shall make our wedding feast,
When we shall make our wedding feast,
There shall be cheer for man and beast;
I mun be married a Sunday.
I mun be married a Sunday, &c._

_The Psalmody._

_Placebo dilexi.
Master Roister Doister will straight go home and die,
Our Lord Jesus Christ his soul have mercy upon:
Thus you see, to-day a man, to-morrow John.[179]
Yet, saving for a woman's extreme cruelty,
He might have lived yet a month, or two, or three;
But in spite of Custance, which hath him wearied,
His maship shall be worshipfully buried.
And while some piece of his soul is yet him within,
Some part of his funeral let us here begin.
Dirige. He will go darkling[180] to his grave;
Neque lux, neque crux, nisi solum clink;
Never genman so went toward heaven, I think.
Yet, sirs, as ye will the bliss of heaven win,
When he cometh to the grave, lay him softly in;
And all men take heed by this one gentleman,
How you set your love upon an unkind woman;
For these women be all such mad peevish elves,
They will not be won, except it please themselves.
But, in faith, Custance, if ever ye come in hell,
Master Roister Doister shall serve you as well._

_Good night, Roger, old knave; farewell, Roger, old knave;
Good night, Roger, old knave; knave, knap.
Ne quando. Audivi vocem. Requiem æternam._

_The Peal of bells rung by the parish Clerk and Roister Doister's four men._

_The first Bell, a Triple._ When died he? When died he?

_The second._ We have him! We have him!

_The third._ Roister Doister! Roister Doister!

_The fourth Bell._ He cometh! He cometh!

_The great Bell._ Our own! Our own!

FINIS

FOOTNOTES:

[168] [Peculiar place or function.]

[169] _i.e._, I approve of your conduct. See "Second Part of Henry
IV.," act iv., sc. 2; "King Lear," act ii., sc. 4; and Romans, c.
xiv., v. 22.--_Cooper._

[170] Adulteress, from the old French _advoultrer_. In Cartwright's
"Ordinary," act iv., sc. 5, the _Constable_ says, "I'll look there
shall be no _advoutry_ in my ward."--_Cooper._

[171] _i.e._, Bear me no ill-will.

[172] With these words R. Roister evidently retires.--_Cooper._

[173] Encourage him. So in the epistle to Gabriel Harvey, prefixed to
Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar": "The Right Worshipfull Maister Philip
Sidney is a speciall favourer and _maintainer_ of all kinde of
learning."--_Cooper._

[174] The exit and re-entry are not marked.--_Cooper._

[175] [It seems probable that this prayer at the end was intended for
Queen Elizabeth, not for her predecessor. The original prayer, if
there was one, on the first presentation of the comedy, may have been
suppressed in favour of one to suit the new circumstances.]

[176] Ancient interludes frequently ended with a prayer, which it was
the custom of the players to deliver kneeling.--_Cooper._

[177] These are the songs referred to in the body of the Comedy.

[178] A _pet_ or _darling_ wife.--_Cooper._

[179] [Query, _Sir John_, _i.e._, the priest, to say the requiem. See
Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 414.]

[180] ["So out went the candle, and we were left darkling," "King
Lear," i. 4; Dyce's 2d edit. vii. 269.]

GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.

_A Ryght Pithy, Pleasaunt, and merie Comedie: Intytuled Gammer gurtons Needle: Played on Stage not longe ago in Christes Colledge in Cambridge. Made by Mr S. Mr. of Art. Imprynted at London, in Fleetestreat beneth the Conduit at the signe of S. John Euangelist, by Thomas Colwell._ 1575. 4º. Black letter.

There was a second edition, 4to, 1661, which is of no value.

* * * * *

[I found this introduction to "Gammer Gurton's Needle" among some collections made by my father about twenty years ago for a similar purpose, and as it was much fuller than that previously printed, it has been substituted. I have, however, introduced a few additions from the Memoirs of Still in the "Athenæ Cantabrigienses," ii., 467, and the "Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archæology," iii., 130, the latter kindly communicated to me by Mr Joseph Bryant, of Cheshunt.--W. C. H.