Chapter CXLIV: Act IV: SCENE 2. Page 601 (4)

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]

_Published by T. Tegg Sept.ʳ 1839._]

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,