Chapter XV: Appendix (1)

=A. The Metre of Roister Doister.=--Udall's verse is a long line of 9, 10, 11, 12 (and rarely more) syllables; a verse which represents the Middle English Long Line (or the Middle English _Septenarius_, as it has been called for lack of a better name), as we find it, for instance, in _Robert of Gloucester_, some Legends, and _Robert of Brunne_.

This Middle English long line, of either six or seven stresses or accents, is found in Skelton's _Magnyfycence_, and other early Plays.

In Roister Doister, on the whole, the lines of six accents seem to prevail, lines corresponding to the Middle English Alexandrine, or in Udall's case perhaps rather to the classical _senarius_, to the _trimeter_ of the Roman comedy as understood by Udall. But a great number of _septenarii_ occur at the side of these _senarii_, distributed all over the play, and in the speeches of different persons.

In many cases it seems even doubtful whether a verse should be regarded as a _senarius_ or a _septenarius_.

_Specimens of the Senarius_:--

Truepen| ie get | thee in||thou shalt|among |them knowe
I will | speake out| aloude ||I care |not who|heare it.

_Specimens of the Septenarius_ (the syllable before the cæsura or the end of the line with a slighter, secondary accent, produces this _septenarius_ in most cases):--

I go' |now Tri'st|ram Tru'st|y`||I tha'nk |you' |right mu'ch|
And see'|that in' |case I' ||should neede'|to come'|to arm'
|ing.`
_Senarii or Septenarii_:--

Yet a fi'tter wi'fe for you'r || ma'ship mi'ght be fou'nde.
or: Ye't a fi'tter wi'fe for you'r || ma'ship mi'ght be fou'nde.

Such a good'ly ma'n as you' || mi'ght get on'e with la'nde.
or: Such' a good'ly ma'n as you' || mi'ght get on'e with la nde.

=B. The Figure of the Miles Gloriosus in English Literature.=--The limits of this edition forbid any detailed account of the pedigree of the type of the _Miles Gloriosus_ in English Literature, but for the benefit of the student, I wish to give the following references:--

On the _Miles Gloriosus_ of the Ancients, cf. the classical account in Otto Ribbeck's _Alazon, Ein Beitrag zur Antiken Ethologie und zur Kenntniss der Griechisch-Römischen Tragödie_, Leipzig, 1882. Cf. further the masterly sketches in the _History of Roman Literature_ (Leipzig, 1887; 1, 66; 83) by the same author; the shorter account, "_Über die Figuren des Miles Glorioius und seines Parasiten bei älteren und neueren Dichtern_," by A. O. F. Lorenz (as an appendix to the same scholar's edition of Plautus, _Mil. Glor._, Berlin, 1886; pp. 230 _seq._). The fullest collection of material for a general history of this classical type in modern literature is contained in Karl von Reinhardstoettner, _Plautus, Spätere Bearbeitungen Plautinischer Lustspiele_, Leipzig, 1886 (pp. 130 _seq._, 595-680).

On the _Mil. Glor._ in English Literature, cf. the excellent dissertation by Herman Graf, _Der Mil. Glor. im Englischen Drama bis zur Zeit des Bürgerkrieges Rostock, s. a._ [1891; cf. Koch's note in _Englische Studien_, 18, 134].

On the Shakespearian "quadrifoil," Falstaff, Parolles, Armado, Pistol, cf. the charming _causerie_ by Julius Thümmel: _Der Mil. Glor. bei Shakespeare_ [published first in the _Shakespeare Jahrbuch_ of 1878, and, later, in the same author's _Shakespeare Charaktere_, Halle, 1887, Vol. I. pp. 257-276].

=C. Titiville (I. i, 21).=--'Tuteville' was originally the name of a devil in the French Mystery Plays (cf. Mone, _Schauspiele des Mittelalters_, 2, 27);[630] from the French Mystery play the name was introduced into the Mysteries of Germany, England,[631] and Holland. His diabolical occupation is thus defined in the _Myroure of oure Ladye_ (1 ch. 20; cf. Blunt's note, 342; as well as Skeat's to _Pierce Plowm._, C. xiv, 123): "I am a poure dyuel and my name is Tytyuyllus ... I muste eche day ... brynge my master a thousande pokes [bags] full of faylynges, & of neglygences in syllables and wordes that are done in youre order in redynge and in syngynge, & else I must be sore beten."

This 'function' of the Devil seems to allow a connection[632] with the Latin _titivillitium_,[633] "a vile thyng of no value" (Cooper), something very small and trifling, like the "faylynges and neglygences in syllables" in praying and reading of the church offices.

In Udall's time the ancient Devil had degenerated, and his name had become a byword for a low, miserable fellow; cf. the play of _Thersites_ (Dodsley, 1, 424):--

Tinkers and taborers, tipplers, taverners,
Tittifills, triflers, turners and trumpers,

and Heywood's _Proverbs_, 1 ch. 10 (40):--

There is no moe such titifyls in Englandes ground || To hold with
the hare and run with the hound.

=D. Mumblecrust and the Maids (I. iii.).=--1. _Mumblecrust._ Cooper quotes the same name from Dekker's _Satiromastix_, and a Madge Mumblecrust from _Misogonus_ (1577). Jack M. is the name of a beggar in _Patient Grissel_, IV. iii (cf. Cooper). Different compounds are Mumble-news (Shakesp. _L.L.L._ V. ii, 464) and Sir John Mumble-matins (Pilkington, _Exposition upon Aggeus_, 1, 2).

2. _Tibet._ Tib (=Isabella) was the typical servant's name; cf. _G.G.N._; Tib and Tom in _Ail's Well_, II. ii, 24; "every coistrel inquiring for his Tib," _Pericles_, IV. vi, 176, etc.

3. In _Aly face_: the first part indicates the colour of her nose and the desire of her heart.

The whole dialogue of these women takes us back to the times when it was no dishonour to women to go "to the ale" and enjoy themselves there with their gossips; cf. _P. Pl._, C. 7, 362; _Chester Pl._, 1, 53, etc.

=E. The Mock Requiem= (III. iii, 53) is one of the latest instances of parodies of church services such as are found everywhere in the literature of the Middle Ages. One of the oldest of such parodies is the _Drunkard's Mass_, _Missa Gulæ_, printed in Halliwell and Wright's _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, 2, 208 (cf. the _Paternoster Goliæ_); the _Officium Lusorum_ (printed in _Carmina Burana_, 248); the _Sequentia falsi evangelii sec. Marcam_ (_Initium S. Evangelii sec. marcas argenti_) in Du Meril, _Poés. Pop. Lat. Ant._ XII. s.p. 407, etc.

In English Lit. we find similar parodies in the _Requiem to the Favourites of Henry VI_. (Ritson's _Songs_, 101; Furnivall's _Polit. Rel. and Love Songs_, 6: For Jake Napes Sowle, _Placebo_, and _Dirige_); in _Passages_ of the _Court of Love_ (Chalmers, _Engl. Poets_, 1, 377), in the _Placebo Dilexi_ in Skelton's _Phyllyp Sparowe_ (perhaps the source for Udall's happy thought); in Dunbar's _Will of Maister Andr. Kennedy_, etc.

The parallels to Udall's parody are to be found in Maskell's _Monumenta Ritualia_,[634] in the _Manuale et Processionale ad usum insignis Eccles. Eboracensis_,[635] or in the _Rituale Romanum_.[636]

The references are, for--

1. The _Placebo Dilexi_ (Ps. 114), Man. Ebor. 60; Sarum 57*.

2. The Antiphona _Ne quando_ [_rapiat ut leo animam meam_, etc., Ps. 7], Ebor. 67. 68; Sarum 69*; Rit. Rom. 166. 167.

3. The Antiphona _Dirige_ [_Domine Deus meus in conspectu tuo viam meam_], Ebor. 65; Sarum 62*; Rit. Rom. 166, etc.

4. _A porta inferi_ [_Erue Domine animas eorum_], Sarum 58*; Rit. Rom. 168.

5. _Requiem æternam_ [_dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis_], Ebor. 64; Sarum 59*.

6. The 'Epistola' _Audivi vocem_ [_Lectio Libri Apoc. Joh._ 14, 13], Sarum 76*; Rit. Rom. 158.

7. The _Responsorium: Qui Lazarum_ [_resuscitasti a monumento fætidum_], Ebor. 69; R. Rom. 169.

8. The _Antiphona: In Paradisum_ [_deducant te Angeli_], Rit. Rom. 150, etc.

It is needless to say that Merygreeke does not adhere strictly to the order of the Ritual, but produces a humorous jumble.

The words _neque lux neque crux_ not in the Ritual, but refer to the 'order about the wax taper'[637] and the crucifix in the extreme unction, etc. See Maskell, I. ccxcviii.; the '_clinke_'[638] refers to the sounding of the passing bell (supposed to drive away evil spirits).[639] Larimer remarks about such 'fooleries': "The devil should have no abiding place in England if ringing of bells would serve" (_Serm._, 27, 498), and the English reformers were, on the whole, of Larimer's opinion;[640] but there were more tolerant men who ultimately prevailed, and so in course of time one short peal before the funeral was allowed, and one after it,[641] and even a threefold peal was permitted by Whitgift.[642]

On the history of the Funeral Bell, valuable material is contained in the _Parker Soc._ '_Index_,' s.v. Bells (cf. _ib._ sub. 'Candles').

=III. iii, 81, 83=: 'Pray for,' etc. If this passage were in a serious context, interesting deductions could be drawn from it as to Udall's religious views, and perhaps as to the date of the play. Prayers for the dead were entirely against the spirit and doctrines of the early Reformers. But here also less radical views were held, and so we find the Prayer enjoined by Cranmer, 1534 (_Works_, 2, 460), by Edward VI. (Injunctions, 1547, _ib._ 504). To mock the prayer would probably have been unsafe between 1547 and 1556, when Udall died. Edward's _Common Prayer Book_ of 1549 retains the prayer for the dead (p. 88, 145), but the edition of 1552 is silent about it (_ib._ 272, 319). In _Elizabeth's Primer_ of 1559 this _Prayer_ is reintroduced (cf. Priv. Prayers, 59, 67); but later Protestants again condemn it, _e.g._ Whitgift (1574), 3, 364.

=F. Roister as 'vagrant.' IV. iii, 104.=--Of all the statutes against vagrants, that of 1 Edward VI. (c. 3), 1547, affords the best parallel to Custance's resolute and humorous words. This law determines that "whosoever ... being not lame shall either like a seruing-man wanting a master, or like a beggar or after any such other sort be lurking in any house or houses, or loitering, or idle wandering by the high wayes side, or in streets, cities, townes, or villages ... then euery such person shall bee taken for a vagabond, ... and it shalbe lawfull ... to any ... person espying the same, to bring or cause to be brought the said person so liuing idle and _loiteringly_, to two of the next justices of the peace," etc.

=G. The prayer and 'song' at the end of the play. V. vi, 47.=--I am inclined to think that the song which 'they sing' according to the stage direction, is _not_ given,[643] and that verses 47-59 are _spoken_, and represent the 'prayer' which the actors would all say kneeling (cf. Nares's _Glossary_, s.v. 'kneel'). That the 'Queene' referred to is Elizabeth, and not Mary, becomes clear from the words "God graunt hir as she doth, _the Gospell to protect_." This proves, too, that these words are not by Udall, but by the unknown hand that prepared the play for the press under Elizabeth.

=H. Works quoted in the notes.=--

ARBER. The editions of Roister Doister in Arber's _English Reprints_--

1. of July 1, 1869.
2. of July 24, 1869.

N.B. The only difference which I have found between the two reprints is the _absence_ of one line [III. iv, 66] on p. 51 in the ed. of July 24; the line is contained in ed. of July 1, 1869.

CAMDEN. Proverbs in 'Remaines concerning Britaine.' London, 1623.

COOPER. Ralph Roister Doister, a comedy, ed. by W. D. Cooper, London. Printed for the Shakespeare Society, 1847.

COTGRAVE. A French and English Dictionary, ed. 1650 (with the addition of Dictionaire Anglais & François, by Robert Sherwood). [1st ed. 1611.]

DODSLEY, s. HAZLITT.

FLÜGEL. Neuenglisches Lesebuch von Ewald Flügel, Vol. I. "Die Zeit Heinrich's VIII." Halle, 1895.

HALLIWELL. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, by J. O. Halliwell. London, 1847.

HAZLITT. Edition of Roister Doister in "A Select Collection of Old English Plays," originally published by Robert Dodsley, 1744. Fourth ed. by W. Carew Hazlitt. London, 1874 (Vol. 3).

HEYWOOD. The Proverbs of John Heywood [first published in 1546? and reprinted from ed. 1598 by Julian Sharman]. London, 1874.

Epigrams [reprinted from ed. 1562]. Printed for the Spenser Society, 1867.

PALSGRAVE. Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse compose par Maistre Jehan Palsgraue, 1530. Pub. par F. Génin. Paris, 1852.

RAY. A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs, by J. Ray. Third ed. London, 1742.

FOOTNOTES:

[630] Cf. _ib._, the collection of French names of the Devil; and similar collections in Gosche's _Jahrbuch_, I.; Osborn, _Teufelslitteratur_, 16. The English Devil is still waiting for his Historian!

[631] Cf. _Towneley Myst._ (_Juditium_, p. 310, etc.): Tutivillus (to the Primus Dæmon):--

I was youre chefe tollare
And sitten courte rollar
Now am I master Lollar &c.

Gower, too, knows Titivillus; _Vox Clamantis_, 232:--

_Hic est confessor Domini, sed nec Dominarum,
Qui magis est blandus, quam Titivillus eis._

[632] There could not be a connection with: _Titimallus_--Titan (Joh. de Janua).

[633] Freund's _Dict._ quotes it from Plautus, _Casin_ 2, 5, 39: _Non ego istud verbum empsitem titivillitio_. The learned Ben Jonson knew the word (_Silent Woman_, 4, 1):--

Wife! buz? titivilitium
There's no such thing in nature!

[634] _Inhumatio defuncti_, 1, 142; cf. also his 'dissertation' on the order of the Burial, _ib._ CCXCIII.

[635] Ed. _Surtees Soc._ 1875, p. 60; cf. _ib._, _Commendatio Animarum_ 56*; _De Modo Dicendi Exsequias defunctorum ad usum Sarum_ 80*.

[636] Chapter _De Exequiis_; _Officium Defunctorum_.

[637] Cf. _ib._, _cerei qui cum cruce et thuribulo de more ... portabantur accensi_; unto the holy candle commit we our souls at our last departing, Tindale, _Works_, 1, 225; _ib._ 48; 3, 140, etc.; on the wax candle and driving the Devil away, cf. Latimer, _Sermons_, 27 (499). The reformers were as much against the candles as against the bells, and other 'popish superstitions'; cf. Grindal's _Visitation Book_ (1551-52), §§ 40, 46, etc.

[638] Cf. Brand's _Pop. Ant._ 2, 220.

[639] Cf. _Durandus Rationale_, Lib. I. fol. 9 (_De Campanis_): "Uerum aliquo moriente campanæ debent pulsari ut populus hoc audiens oret pro illo; pro muliere quidem bis ... pro viro vero ter pulsatur," etc. The superstitious background was that the bells were believed to drive away evil spirits. Cf. _ib._, "campanæ pulsantur ut demones timentes fugiant ... hæc etiam est causa quare ecclesia videns concitari tempestates campanas pulsat ut demones tubas eterni regis _id est_ campanas audientes territi fugiant et a tempestatis concitatione quiescant et ut campanæ pulsationes fideles admoneant et prouocent pro instanti periculo orationi insistere," and Brand's _Pop. Ant._ 2, 202.

[640] bells ... with such other vanities, Tindale, 3, 258; ape's play, _ib._ 283, etc.

[641] Grindal, _Works_, 136.

[642] 3, 362; Injunctions at York, 1571, 8; Articles at Canterbury, 1576, 9.

[643] Collier, _Hist. Dram. Poetry_, 2, 459, thinks the whole epilogue is 'sung.'

_William Stevenson_

GAMMER GURTONS NEDLE

_Edited with Critical Essay
and Notes by Henry Bradley,
Hon. M.A., Oxford_

CRITICAL ESSAY

=Date of the Play and its Authorship.=--The title-page of the earliest known edition of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_, printed by Thomas Colwell in 1575, states that this "right pithy, pleasaunt, and merie comedie" was "played on stage, not longe ago, in Christes Colledge in Cambridge," and that it was "made by Mr. S., Mr. of Art." There is here no intimation that any former edition had appeared. But the register of the Company of Stationers shows that in the year ending 22 July, 1563, Colwell paid 4d. for licence to print a play entitled _Dyccon of Bedlam, etc._; and as "_Diccon the Bedlam_" is a most important character in _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ (his name, by good right, standing first in the list of _dramatis personæ_), there is a fair presumption that the piece for which Colwell obtained a licence in 1562-3 was in substance identical with that which he actually printed in 1575 under another title.[644] Whether _Dyccon_ was really published in or soon after 1563, or whether Colwell for some reason or other allowed twelve years to elapse before carrying out his intention of publishing the play, cannot now be determined with certainty; the balance of probability seems, however, to be in favour of the latter supposition.[645]

The identity of "Mr. S., Master of Art," to whom the authorship of the comedy is ascribed on the title-page, appears to be discoverable by means of certain evidence contained in the bursar's books of Christ's College, for the knowledge of which the present editor is indebted to the kindness of the Master of that college, Dr. Peile. If we are right in identifying _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ with the play which was licenced to the printer in the year ending 22 July, 1563, the performance at Christ's College must have taken place before that date, for it was not the custom to send a play to the press before it had been acted. Now, in the academic year ending Michaelmas, 1563, there is no record of any dramatic representation having been given in the college. In the preceding year, 1561-62, the accounts mention certain sums "spent at Mr. Chatherton's playe." The person referred to is William Chaderton, then Fellow of Christ's; but, as his name does not begin with S, this entry does not concern our inquiry. In 1560-61 there is no mention of any play; but in 1559-60 we find the two following items:--

"To the viales at Mr. Chatherton's plaie, 2_s._ 6_d._"
"Spent at Mr. Stevenson's plaie, 5_s._"

As no evidence to the contrary has been found, it appears highly probable that the "Mr. S." of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ was William Stevenson, Fellow of Christ's College from 1559 to 1561. It is further probable that he is identical with the person of the same name who was Fellow of the college from 1551 to 1554,[646] and who appears in the bursar's accounts as the author of a play acted in the year 1553-54. It may be presumed that he was deprived of his fellowship under Queen Mary, and was reinstated under Elizabeth. Whether Stevenson's play of 1559-60 was the same which had been given six years before, or whether it was a new one, there is no evidence to show. The former supposition, however, derives some plausibility from the fact that, as several critics have pointed out, the allusions to church matters in _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ seem to indicate a pre-Elizabethan date for its composition.[647] At all events it seems likely that the play of 1553-54 was in English, for the accounts speak of a Latin play (managed by another Fellow, named Persevall) as having been performed in the same year.

Of Stevenson's history nothing is known, beyond the bare facts that he was born at Hunwick in Durham, matriculated as a sizar in November, 1546, became B.A. in 1549-50, M.A. in 1553, and B.D. in 1560. He was ordained deacon in London in 1552, appointed prebendary of Durham in January, 1560-61, and died in 1575, the year in which _Gammer Gurton_ was printed.

It may at first sight appear to be a formidable objection to Stevenson's authorship of the play, that the title-page of the edition of 1575 speaks of the representation at Cambridge as having taken place "not longe ago." But Colwell had had the MS. in his possession ever since 1563; and there is nothing unlikely in the supposition that the wording of the original title-page was retained without any other alteration than the change in the name of the piece. The title-page, it may be remarked, is undated, the tablet at the foot, which is apparently intended to receive the date, being left blank. This fact may possibly indicate that when the printing of the volume was begun it was anticipated that its publication might have to be delayed for some time.[648] The appearance of the title-page suggests the possibility that it may have been altered after being set up: "_Gammer gur_-| _tons Nedle_" in small italic may have been substituted for =Diccon of= | =Bedlam= in type as large as that of the other words in the same lines. In Colwell's edition of Ingelend's _Disobedient Child_ (printed 1560) the title-page has the same woodcut border, but the name of the piece is in type of the same size as that of the preceding and following words. As this woodcut does not occur in any other of Colwell's publications now extant, it seems reasonable to infer that _Gammer Gurton_ was printed long before 1575.

=Former Attributions of Authorship=.--It is necessary to say something about the two persons to whom the authorship of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ has hitherto been attributed--Dr. John Bridges, who was in succession Dean of Salisbury and Bishop of Oxford, and Dr. John Still, who was made Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1593. It is curious that both the distinguished churchmen who have been credited with the composition of this very unclerical play received the degree of D.D. in the same year in which it was published.

The evidence on which it has been attempted to assign the play to John Bridges is contained in certain passages of the "Martin Marprelate" tracts. In the first of these, the _Epistle_, published in 1588, the author addresses Bridges in the following terms:--

"You have bin a worthy writer, as they say, of a long time; your
first book was a proper enterlude, called _Gammar Gurtons Needle_.
But I think that this trifle, which sheweth the author to have had
some witte and invention in him, was none of your doing, because
your books seeme to proceede from the braynes of a woodcocke, as
having neither wit nor learning."

In his second pamphlet, the _Epitome_, "Martin Marprelate" twice alludes to the dean's supposed authorship of the play, in a manner which conveys the impression that he really believed in it. None of "Martin's" adversaries seem to have contradicted his statement on this point, though Cooper in particular was at great pains to refute the pamphleteer's "slanders" on other dignitaries. It must be admitted that everything that is known of Bridges is decidedly favourable to the supposition that he might have written comedy in his youth. His voluminous _Defence of the Government of the Church of England_ abounds in sprightly quips, often far from dignified in tone; and his controversial opponents complained, with some justice, of his "buffoonery." He is recorded by Harrington to have been a prolific writer of verse; and that his interests were not exclusively theological appears from the fact that he is said to have translated, in 1558, three of Machiavelli's _Discourses_, having previously resided in Italy. The only reason for rejecting "Martin Marprelate's" attribution of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ to him is that he was not "Mr. S.," and that he belonged not to Christ's College, but to Pembroke. But as he was resident at Cambridge in 1560 (having taken the degree of A.M. in that year), it is quite possible that he may have assisted William Stevenson in the composition or revision of the play.

The name of Bishop Still is so familiar as that of the reputed author of _Gammer Gurton_, that many readers will be surprised to learn that this attribution was first proposed in 1782 by Isaac Reed in his enlarged edition of Baker's _Biographia Dramatica_.[649] Reed discovered in the accounts of Christ's College an entry referring to a play acted at Christmas, 1567 (not 1566, as he states); and as this is the latest entry of the kind occurring before 1575, he plausibly inferred that it related to the representation of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_, which in Colwell's title-page was stated to have taken place "not long ago." The only Master of Arts of the college then living, whose surname began with S, that he was able to find, was John Still, whom he therefore confidently identified with the "Mr. S." who is said to have written _Gammer Gurton_. If our arguments in favour of Stevenson's authorship be accepted, Reed's conclusion of course falls to the ground; and the character of Bishop Still, as it is known from the testimony of several of his personal friends, renders it incredible that he can ever have distinguished himself as a comic writer. The characteristic quality by which he seems chiefly to have impressed his contemporaries was his extraordinary seriousness. Archbishop Parker, in 1573, speaks of him as "a young man," but "better mortified than some other forty or fifty years of age"; and another eulogist commends "his staidness and gravity." If Still's seriousness had been, like that of many grave and dignified persons, in any eminent degree qualified by wit, there would surely have been some indication of the fact in the vivaciously written account of him given by Harrington. But neither there nor elsewhere is there any evidence that he ever made a joke, that he ever wrote a line of verse, or that he had any interests other than those connected with his sacred calling. A fact which has often been remarked upon as strange by those who have accepted the current theory of Still's authorship of _Gammer Gurton_ is that in 1592, when he was vice-chancellor of Cambridge, his signature, followed by those of other heads of houses, was appended to a memorial praying that the queen would allow a Latin play to be substituted for the English play which she had commanded to be represented by the university actors on the occasion of her approaching visit. The memorialists urged that the performance of English plays had not been customary in the university, being thought "nothing beseminge our students." It is not necessary to attribute much importance to this incident, but, so far as it has any bearing on the question at all, it goes to support the conclusion, already certain on other grounds, that the author of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ cannot have been John Still.[650]

=Place in the History of Comedy.=--In attempting to assign the place of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ in the history of the English drama, we should remember that it is the sole surviving example of the vernacular college comedies--probably more numerous than is commonly suspected--produced during the sixteenth century, and that most of the features which appear to us novel were doubtless the result of a gradual development. So far as our knowledge goes, however, it is the second English comedy conforming to the structural type which modern Europe has learned from the example of the Roman playwrights. The choice of the old "septenary" measure, in which most of the dialogue is written, may have been due to recollection of the Terentian iambic tetrameter catalectic, just as the rugged Alexandrines of _Ralph Roister Doister_ were probably suggested by the Latin comic senarius. But while in Udall's play the matter as well as the form is largely of classical origin, the plot and the characters of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ are purely native. Its material is drawn at first hand from observation of English life; its literary ancestry, so far as it has any, is mainly to be traced through John Heywood's interludes to the farces of the fifteenth-century mysteries, of which one brilliant example is preserved in the _Secunda Pastorum_ of the Towneley cycle.

The artistic merit of the piece has often been unduly depreciated, from causes which it is not difficult to understand. The very rudimentary kind of humour which turns on physically disgusting suggestions is no longer amusing to educated people, and there is so much of this poor stuff in the play that the real wit of some scenes, and the clever portraiture of character throughout, have not received their fair share of acknowledgment. Most people who have lived long in an English village will recognise Gammer Gurton and Dame Chat as capital studies from life, though their modern representatives are not quite so foul-mouthed in their wrath as the gossips of the sixteenth century; and Hodge, whose name has become the conventional designation of the English farm labourer, is an equally lifelike figure. The brightly drawn character of Diccon represents a type which the working of the poor laws, and many social changes, have banished from our villages. But old people who were living down to the middle of this century had many stories to tell of the crazy wanderer, who was recognised as too feather-brained to be set to any useful work, but who was a welcome guest in cottage homes, and whose pranks were looked on with kindly toleration by well-disposed people, even when they led to inconvenient consequences.[651] The game of cross-purposes brought about by Diccon's machinations, which forms the plot, is humorously imagined, and worked out with some skill. It does not, of course, rise above the level of farce; but there is real comedy, not quite of the lowest order, in the scene where the fussy self-importance of Dr. Rat, bursting with impotent rage at his well-merited discomfiture, is confronted with the calm impartiality of "Master Baily"--the steward of the lord of the manor, apparently, and the representative of temporal authority in the village. The common verdict that _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ is a work of lower rank than _Ralph Roister Doister_ is perhaps on the whole not unjust; but the later play has some merits of its own, and, as the first known attempt to present a picture of contemporary rustic life in the form of a regular comedy, it may be admitted to represent a distinct advance in the development of English dramatic art.

=Dialect.=--The treatment of dialect in the play demands a word of notice. All the characters, except the curate and the baily, who belong to the educated class, and Diccon, who may be presumed to have come down from a better social station than that of the village people, use a kind of speech which is clearly intended to represent the dialect of the southwestern counties. It is not always very correct; the writer, for instance, seems to have thought that _cham_ stood for "am" as well as "I am," so that he makes Hodge say "cham I not." Stevenson, as we have seen, was of northern birth; and, as a line or two in the same dialect is found in _Ralph Roister Doister_, there is some reason for believing that the dialect of the stage rustic was already a matter of established convention.[652] The word _pes_, a hassock, which occurs in the play, is peculiar, so far as is known, to the East Anglian dialect, and may have been picked up by the author in his walks about Cambridge. Whether derived from _Gammer Gurton_ or from plays of earlier date, the conventional dialect of the stage rustic kept its place throughout the Elizabethan period. Shakspere's rustics, as is well known, mostly use the southwestern forms, not those current in the poet's native Warwickshire.

=The Present Text.=--The text of the present edition is taken from the copy of Colwell's edition (1575) in the Bodleian Library. The original spelling has been preserved, except that _j_ and _v_ are substituted for _i_ and _u_ when used as consonants, and _u_ for _v_ when used as a vowel. Obvious misprints have been corrected, but are mentioned in the footnotes (except in the case of mere errors of word-division, which it seemed unnecessary to notice). The punctuation, and the use of initial capitals, have been conformed to modern practice. Another copy of Colwell's edition is in the British Museum. The play was reprinted in 1661, and, with modernised spelling, in Dodsley's _Old Plays_, and in the new edition of Dodsley by W. C. Hazlitt. An excellent edition, with the original spelling, was published in 1897 by Professor J. M. Manly, in vol. ii. of his _Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama_. Several of the readings which are given in Professor Manly's text or footnotes as those of Colwell's edition do not agree with those either of the London or the Oxford copy. In the footnotes to the present edition reference to Colwell's, Hazlitt's, and Manly's editions are indicated by Ed. 1575, H. and M., respectively.

HENRY BRADLEY.

FOOTNOTES:

[644] The alternative possibility is that _Gammer Gurton_ was a sequel to _Dyccon_. In that case the two plays would most probably be by the same author, so that the value of the argument in the next paragraph would hardly be affected.

[645] Partly because the title-page of 1575 contains no indication that the play had been printed before, and partly because (as will be shown) there is some evidence that the publication was delayed after the title had been changed. It would be interesting to know whether a second licence was obtained for printing the play under its later name; but there happens to be a gap in the detailed accounts of the Stationers Company extending from 1571 to 1576.

[646] If the Stevenson of 1559-61 was not identical with his namesake, some record of his graduations and matriculation ought to exist. But Dr. Peile, who has taken the trouble to search through the university registers for several years prior to 1559, informs me that no such record can be found.

[647] The reference to the king, moreover, in Act V. ii, 236 would strengthen the probability that the play of 1575 (and 1559-60) was originally composed during Stevenson's first fellowship; at any rate before the death of Edward VI. It might therefore be identical with the play acted in 1553-4.--_Gen. Ed._

[648] Too much importance must not, however, be attached to this, as the same thing is found in the title-page of _The Disobedient Child_, above referred to. The date of 1575 for our comedy is given in the colophon at the end of the book. See also p. 206 _n_.

[649] This title was given by Reed; Baker's original work of 1762 was called _A Dictionary of the Stage_.

[650] The arguments against Still's authorship of _Gammer Gurton_, and in favour of that of Bridges, are stated at length in an article by Mr. C. H. Ross in the nineteenth volume of _Anglia_ (1896), to which we are indebted for several useful references.

[651] Of course it is not meant that these persons corresponded exactly to the type represented by Diccon--the ex-patient of Bethlehem Hospital, discharged as being supposed to be cured or rendered harmless, and wearing a badge indicating the possession of a licence to beg.

[652] In Pikeryng's _Horestes_ (1567), which is some years earlier than the first known publication of _Gammer Gurton_, the country characters (one of whom is named Hodge) speak a strongly marked southwestern dialect.

A Ryght
Pithy, Pleasaunt and merie
Comedie: Intytuled
_Gammer gurtons
Nedle_: Played on
Stage, not longe
ago in Christes

_Colledge in Cambridge_

_Made by Mr. S. Mr. of Art._

Imprynted at London in
Fleete street beneth the Conduit
at the ligne of S. John
Evangelist by _Thomas
Colwell_.

The Names of the Speakers in this Comedie

DICCON,[653] _the Bedlem_.
HODGE,[654] _Gammer Gurtons servante_.
TYB, _Gammer Gurtons mayde_.
GAMMER GURTON.
COCKE,[655] _Gammer Gurtons boye_.
DAME CHATTE.
DOCTOR RAT, _the Curate_.
MAYSTER BAYLYE.
DOLL, _Dame Chattes mayde_.
SCAPETHRYFT,[656] _Mayst. Beylies servante_.
_Mutes._

God Save the Queene.

P. 205 represents the title-page, but without the border to which I refer on p. 199. Mr. W. J. Lewis points out to me that this woodcut title page had been used previously by William Copland, in 1553, for his editions of Douglas _Æneis_ and _Palice of Honour_.

FOOTNOTES:

[653] The older form of Dick, nickname for Richard.

[654] Nickname for Roger.

[655] Misprinted _Docke_.

[656] Professor Manly gives _scapetbryk_ as the reading of the edition of 1575; but in the copies in the Bodleian Library and in the British Museum the name is printed correctly.

Gammer Gurtons Nedle

The Prologue. A ii

As Gammer Gurton with manye a wyde styche
Sat pesynge and patching of Hodg her mans briche,
By chance or misfortune, as shee her geare tost,
In Hodge lether bryches her needle shee lost.
When Diccon the bedlem had hard by report 5
That good Gammer Gurton was robde in thys sorte,
He quyetly perswaded with her in that stound[657]
Dame Chat, her deare gossyp, this needle had found;
Yet knew shee no more of this matter, alas!
Then knoeth Tom, our clarke, what the priest saith at masse. 10
Hereof there ensued so fearfull a fraye,
Mas[658] Doctor was sent for, these gossyps to staye,
Because he was curate, and estemed full wyse;
Who found that he sought not, by Diccons device.
When all thinges were tombled and cleane out of fassion, 15
Whether it were by fortune, or some other constellacion,
Sodenlye the neele Hodge found by the prickynge,
And drew it out of his bottocke, where he felt it stickynge.
Theyr hartes then at rest with perfect securytie,
With a pot of good nale they stroake up theyr plauditie. 20

The fyrst Acte. The fyrst Sceane.

DICCON.

_Diccon._ Many a myle have I walked, divers and sundry waies,
And many a good mans house have I bin at in my daies;
Many a gossips cup in my tyme have I tasted,
And many a broche[659] and spyt have I both turned and basted;
Many a peece of bacon have I had out of thir balkes, 5
In ronnyng over the countrey, with long and were walkes;
Yet came my foote never within those doore cheekes,
To seeke flesh or fysh, garlyke, onyons, or leeke[s],
That ever I saw a sorte[660] in such a plyght
As here within this house appereth to my syght. 10
There is howlynge and scowlyng, all cast in a dumpe,
With whewling and pewling, as though they had lost a trump. A ii b
Syghing and sobbing, they weepe and they wayle;
I marvell in my mynd what the devill they ayle.
The olde trot syts groning, with alas! and alas! 15
And Tib wringes her hands, and takes on in worse case.
With poore Cocke, theyr boye, they be dryven in such fyts,
I feare mee the folkes be not well in theyr wyts.
Aske them what they ayle, or who brought them in this staye,
They aunswer not at all, but "alacke!" and "welaway!" 20
Whan I saw it booted not, out at doores I hyed mee,
And caught a slyp of bacon, when I saw that none spyed mee,
Which I intend not far hence, unles my purpose fayle,
Shall serve for a shoinghorne to draw on two pots of ale.

The fyrst Acte. The second Sceane.

HODGE. DICCON.

_Hodge._ See! so cham[661] arayed with dablynge in the durt!
She that set me to ditchinge, ich wold she hat the squrt!
Was never poore soule that such a life had.
Gogs bones! thys vylthy glaye hase drest me to bad!
Gods soule! see how this stuffe teares! 5
Iche were better to bee a bearward and set to keepe beares!
By the Masse, here is a gasshe, a shamefull hole in deade!
And one stytch teare furder, a man may thrust in his heade.

_Diccon._ By my fathers soule, Hodge, if I shoulde now be sworne,
I can not chuse but say thy breech is foule betorne, 10
But the next remedye in such a case and hap
Is to plaunche on a piece as brode as thy cap.

_Hodge._ Gogs soule, man, tis not yet two dayes fully ended
Synce my dame Gurton, chem sure, these breches amended;
But cham made suc[h]e a drudge to trudge at euery neede, 15
Chwold rend it though it were stitched with[662] sturdy
pacthreede.

_Diccon._ Ho[d]ge, let thy breeches go, and speake and tell mee soone
What devill ayleth Gammer Gurton & Tib her mayd to frowne.

_Hodge._ Tush, man, thart deceyved: tys theyr dayly looke;
They coure so over the coles, theyre eyes be bleared with
smooke. 20

_Diccon._ Nay, by the masse, I perfectly perceived, as I came hether,
That eyther Tib and her dame hath ben by the eares together,
Or els as great a matter, as thou shalt shortly see.

_Hodge._ Now, iche beseeche our Lord they never better agree!

_Diccon._ By Gogs soule, there they syt as still as stones in the
streite,
As though they had ben taken with fairies, or els with some il
sprite. 26

_Hodge._ Gogs hart! I durst have layd my cap to a crowne
Chwould lerne of some prancome as sone as ich came to town.

_Diccon._ Why, Hodge, art thou inspyred? or dedst thou therof here?

_Hodge._ Nay, but ich saw such a wonder as ich saw nat this seven
yere. 30
Tome Tannkards cow, be Gogs bones! she set me up her saile,
And flynging about his halfe aker[663] fysking with her taile,
As though there had ben in her ars a swarme of bees,
And chad not cryed "tphrowh, hoore," shead lept out of his lees.

_Diccon._ Why, Hodg, lies the connyng in Tom Tankards cowes taile? 35

_Hodge._ Well, ich chave hard some say such tokens do not fayle.
Bot ca[n]st thou not tell,[664] in faith, Diccon, why she frownes,
or wher at?
Hath no man stolne her ducks or hen[n]es, or gelded Gyb, her cat?

_Diccon._ What devyll can I tell, man? I cold not have one word!
They gave no more hede to my talk than thow woldst to a lorde.

_Hodge._ Iche cannot styll but muse, what mervaylous thinge it is.
Chyll in and know my selfe what matters are amys. 42

_Diccon._ Then fare well, Hodge, a while, synce thou doest inward
hast,
For I will into the good wyfe Chats, to feele how the ale doth
taste.

The fyrst Acte. The thyrd Sceane.

HODGE. TYB.

_Hodge._ Cham agast; by the masse, ich wot not what to do.
Chad nede blesse me well before ich go them to.
Perchaunce some felon sprit may haunt our house indeed;
And then chwere but a noddy to venter where cha no neede.

_Tyb._ Cham worse then mad, by the masse, to be at this staye! 5
Cham chyd, cham blamd, and beaton, all thoures on the daye;
Lamed and honger-storved, prycked up all in jagges,
Havyng no patch to hyde my backe, save a few rotten ragges!

_Hodge._ I say, Tyb--if thou be Tyb, as I trow sure thou bee,--
What devyll make a doe is this, betweene our dame and thee? 10

_Tyb._ Gogs breade, Hodg, thou had a good turne thou wart not here
[this while]! A iii b
It had been better for some of us to have ben hence a myle;
My gammer is so out of course and frantyke all at ones,
That Cocke, our boy, and I, poore wench, have felt it on our
bones.

_Hodge._ What is the matter--say on, Tib--wherat she taketh so on? 15

_Tyb._ She is undone, she sayth, alas! her joye and life is gone!
If shee here not of some comfort, she is, fayth![665] but dead;
Shal never come within her lyps one inch of meate ne bread.

_Hodge._ Byr Ladie, cham not very glad to see her in this dumpe.
Cholde[666] a noble her stole hath fallen, & shee hath broke
her rumpe. 20

_Tyb._ Nay, and that were the worst, we wold not greatly care
For bursting of her huckle bone, or breaking of her chaire;
But greatter, greater, is her grief, as, Hodge, we shall all feele!

_Hodge._ Gogs woundes, Tyb! my gammer has never lost her neele?

_Tyb._ Her neele!

_Hodge._ Her neele! 25

_Tyb._ Her neele!
By him that made me, it is true, Hodge, I tell thee.

_Hodge._ Gogs sacrament, I would she had lost tharte out of her
bellie!
The Devill, or els his dame, they ought[667] her, sure, a shame!
How a murryon came this chaunce, say, Tib! unto our dame?

_Tyb._ My gammer sat her downe on her pes,[668] and bad me reach thy
breeches, 30
And by and by (a vengeance in it!) or she had take two stitches
To clap a clout upon thine ars, by chaunce asyde she leares,
And Gyb, our cat, in the milke pan she spied over head and eares.
"Ah, hore! out, thefe!" she cryed aloud, and swapt the breches
downe. 34
Up went her staffe, and out leapt Gyb at doors into the towne,
And synce that tyme was never wyght cold set their eies upon it.
Gogs malison chave (Cocke and I) bid twenty times light on it.

_Hodge._ And is not then my breeches sewid up, to morow that I shuld
were?

_Tyb._ No, in faith, Hodge, thy breeches lie for al this never the
nere.

_Hodge._ Now a vengeance light on al the sort, that better shold have
kept it, 40
The cat, the house, and Tib, our maid, that better shold have
swept it!
Se where she cometh crawling! Come on, in twenty devils way!
Ye have made a fayre daies worke, have you not? pray you, say!

The fyrst Acte. The iiii. Sceane.

GAMMER. HODGE. TYB. COCKE.

_Gammer._ Alas, Hoge, alas! I may well cursse and ban A iv
This daie, that ever I saw it, with Gyb and the mylke pan;
For these and ill lucke togather, as knoweth Cocke, my boye,
Have stacke away my deare neele, and robd me of my joye,
My fayre long strayght neele, that was myne onely treasure; 5
The fyrst day of my sorow is, and last end of my pleasure!

_Hodge._ Might ha kept it when ye had it! but fooles will be fooles
styll.
Lose that is vast in your handes ye neede not but ye will.

_Gammer._ Go hie the, Tib, and run thou, hoore, to thend here of
the towne![669]
Didst cary out dust in thy lap; seeke wher thou porest it
downe, 10
And as thou sawest me roking, in the ashes where I morned,
So see in all the heape of dust thou leave no straw unturned.

_Tyb._ That chal, Gammer, swythe and tyte,[670] and sone be here
agayne!

_Gammer._ Tib, stoope & loke downe to the ground to it, and take some
paine.

_Hodge._ Here is a prety matter, to see this gere how it goes; 15
By Gogs soule, I thenk you wold loes your ars, and it were loose!
Your neele lost, it is pitie you shold lack care and endlesse
sorow.
Gogs deth! how shall my breches be sewid? Shall I go thus to
morow?

_Gammer._ Ah Hodg, Hodg! if that ich cold find my neele, by the reed,
Chould sow thy breches, ich promise the, with full good double
threed, 20
And set a patch on either knee shuld last this monethes twaine.
Now God and good Saint Sithe[671] I praye to send it home againe!

_Hodge._ Wherto served your hands and eies, but this your neele to
kepe?
What devill had you els to do? ye kept, ich wot, no sheepe!
Cham fame abrode to dyg and delve, in water, myre, and claye, 25
Sossing and possing in the durte styll from day to daye.
A hundred thinges that be abrode, cham set to see them weele,
And four of you syt idle at home, and can not keepe a neele!

_Gammer._ My neele! alas! ich lost it, Hodge, what time ich me up
hasted
To save the milke set up for the, which Gib, our cat, hath
wasted. 30

_Hodge._ The Devill he burst both Gib and Tib, with al the rest!
Cham alwayes sure of the worst end, who ever have the best!
Where ha you ben fidging abrode, since you your neele lost?

_Gammer._ Within the house, and at the dore, sitting by this same
post,
Wher I was loking a long howre, before these folks came here; 35
But welaway, all was in vayne, my neele is never the nere!

_Hodge._ Set me a candle, let me seeke, and grope where ever it bee.
Gogs hart, ye be so folish, ich thinke, you knowe it not when you
it see!

_Gammer._ Come hether, Cocke; what, Cocke, I say!

_Cocke._ Howe, Gammer?

_Gammer._ Goe, hye the soone,
And grope behynd the old brasse pan, whych thing when thou hast
done, 40
Ther shall thou fynd an old shooe, wherein if thou look well,
Thou shalt fynd lyeng an inche of a whyte tallow candell.
Lyght it, and bryng it tite away.

_Cocke._ That shalbe done anone.

_Gammer._ Nay, tary, Hodge, till thou hast light, and then weele seke
ech one. 45

_Hodge._ Cum away, ye horson boy, are ye aslepe? ye must have a crier!

_Cocke._ Ich cannot get the candel light: here is almost no fier.

_Hodge._ Chil hold[672] the a peny chil make the come, if that ich may
catch thine eares!
Art deffe, thou horson boy? Cocke, I say; why canst not heares?

_Gammer._ Beate hym not, Hodge, bul help the boy, and come you two
together.

The i Acte. The v Sceane.

GAMMER. TYB. COCKE. HODGE.

_Gammer._ How now, Tib? quycke, lets here what newes thou hast brought
hether!

_Tyb._ Chave tost and tumbled yender heap our and over againe,
And winowed it through my fingers, as men wold winow grain;
Not so much as a hens turd but in pieces I tare it,
Or what so ever clod or clay I found, I did not spare it, 5
Lokyng within and eke without, to fynd your neele, alas!
But all in vaine and without help! your neele is where it was.

_Gammer._ Alas my neele! we shall never meete! adue, adue, for aye!

_Tyb._ Not so, Gammer, we myght it fynd, if we knew where it laye.

_Cocke._ Gogs crosse, Gammer, if ye will laugh, looke in but at the
doore, 10
And see how Hodg lieth tombling and tossing amids the floure,
Rakyng there some fyre to fynd amonge the asshes dead,
Where there is not one sparke so byg as a pyns head;
At last in a darke corner two sparkes he thought he sees,
Which were indede nought els but Gyb our cats two eyes. 15
"Puffe!" quod Hodg, thinking therby to have fyre without doubt;
With that Gyb shut her two eyes, and so the fyre was out;
And by and by them opened, even as they were before;
With that the sparkes appered, even as they had done of yore;
And even as Hodge blew the fire (as he did thinke), 20
Gib, as she felt the blast, strayghtway began to wyncke;
Tyll Hodge fell of swering, as came best to his turne,
The fier was sure bewicht, and therfore wold not burne.
At last Gyb up the stayers, among the old postes and pinnes,
And Hodge he hied him after, till broke were both his shinnes; 25
Cursyng and swering othes were never of his makyng,
That Gyb wold fyre the house if that shee were not taken.

_Gammer._ See, here is all the thought that the foolysh urchyn taketh!
And Tyb, me thinke, at his elbowe almost as mery maketh.
This is all the wyt ye have, when others make their mone. 30
Cum downe, Hodge, where art thou? and let the cat alone!

_Hodge._ Gogs harte, help and come up! Gyb in her tayle hath fyre,
And is like to burne all, if shee get a lytle hier!
Cum downe, quoth you? nay, then you might count me a patch.[673]
The house commeth downe on your heads, if it take ons the
thatch. 35

_Gammer._ It is the cats eyes, foole, that shyneth in the darke.

_Hodge._ Hath the cat, do you thinke, in every eye a sparke?

_Gammer._ No, but they shyne as lyke fyre as ever man see.

_Hodge._ By the masse, and she burne all, yoush beare the blame for
mee!

_Gammer._ Cum downe and helpe to seeke here our neele, that it were
found. 40
Downe, Tyb, on the knees, I say! Downe, Cocke, to the ground!
To God I make avowe, and so to good Saint Anne,
A candell shall they have a pece, get it where I can,
If I may my neele find in one place or in other.

_Hodge._ Now a vengeaunce on Gyb light, on Gyb and Gybs mother, 45
And all the generacyon of cats both far and nere!
Loke on this ground, horson, thinks thou the neele is here?

_Cocke._ By my trouth, Gammer, me thought your neele here I saw,
But when my fyngers toucht it, I felt it was a straw.

_Tyb._ See, Hodge, whats t[h]ys? may it not be within it? 50

_Hodge._ Breake it, foole, with thy hand, and see and thou canst fynde
it.

_Tyb._ Nay, breake it you, Hodge, accordyng to your word.

_Hodge._ Gogs sydes! fye! it styncks; it is a cats tourd!
It were well done to make thee eate it, by the masse!

_Gammer._ This matter amendeth not; my neele is still where it
wasse. 55
Our candle is at an ende, let us all in quight,
And come another tyme, when we have more lyght.

The Second Acte.

_First a Song._[674]

Backe and syde go bare, go bare,
Booth foote and hande go colde;
But bellye, God send thee good ale ynoughe,
Whether it be newe or olde.

I can not eate but lytle meate,
My stomacke is not good;
But sure I thinke that I can drinke
With him that weares a hood.
Thoughe I go bare, take ye no care,
I am nothinge a colde;
I stuffe my skyn so full within
Of joly good ale and olde.
Backe and syde go bare, go bare, etc.

I love no rost but a nut browne toste
And a crab layde in the fyre.[675]
A lytle bread shall do me stead:
Much breade I not desyre.
No froste nor snow, no winde, I trowe,
Can hurte mee if I wolde;
I am so wrapt, and throwly lapt
Of joly good ale and olde.
Backe and syde go bare, etc.

And Tyb my wyfe, that as her lyfe
Loveth well good ale to seeke,
Full ofte drynkes shee tyll ye may see
The teares run downe her cheeke;
Then dooth she trowle to mee the bowle
Even as a mault worme shuld;
And sayth, sweete hart, I tooke my part
Of this joly good ale and olde.
Backe and syde go bare, etc.