Chapter 21

72. It is now known that at least four editions of this moral play were printed, two by Richard Pynson, and two by John Skot. See Hazlitt's "Handbook," p. 463-4, where all will be found described.

73. Afterwards sold with others to Dibdin for 500 guineas, and advertised in the _Lincoln Nosegay_, 1814.

74. For the present edition the two impressions by Pynson, unknown to Hawkins, and one of those issued by Skot about 1530, have been collated. Hawkins was not aware that Skot printed the piece more than once. The imperfect copy by Pynson, in the British Museum, restores not only words, but portions of lines dropped in Skot's two issues, and has been of the greatest value on this occasion. But, on the other hand, both Pynson's editions, so far as they respectively go, exhibit misreadings, which are set right in Skot's.

75. Skot's other edition, _wonderous_.

76. The Second Person of the Trinity seems here to be meant.--Percy. [In this opinion it is hardly easy to concur. It appears to have been the Godhead whom the writer intended to personify, and although he makes the speaker refer to his Passion and Redemption, it is evidently only in a delegated sense; for Death refers to him spiritually as the Almighty.]

77. _Appaireth_ the same as _impaireth_, grows worse, degenerate, &c.

78. Skot's other edition, used by Hawkins, reads, _Have I do we_.

79. Acquaintance.

80. Been begotten.

81. _Adonai_, one of the names of God; it is the plural of _Adoni_, which signifies _Lord_.

82. The copy of Pynson's edition in the British Museum begins abruptly at this line, sign. B. _recto_, and is complete thenceforward to the end.

83. The old proverb. This is perhaps the earliest instance of its use in print.

84. So Skot's other edition, and Pynson's in British Museum. Hawkins printed _For wete you well will_.

85. The other edition by Skot reads _will not_, according to Hawkins.

86. Entice.

87. The earliest instance in print, perhaps, of this proverb being used.

88. i.e. Weened.

89. Hawkins printed _what_.

90. i.e., Thanked be God my Creator.

91. Information, knowledge.

92. Hawkins printed _voice voider_.

93. Skot's other edition, _from hell and from the fire_.

94. Health.

95. Are called.

96. Five Wits, i.e., the Five Senses. These are frequently exhibited as five distinct personages upon the Spanish stage. See Riccoboni, p. 98; but our moralist has represented them all by one character. In Shakespeare's "King Lear," the Madman says, "Bless thy Five Wits!" meaning the Five Senses.--_Percy_.

97. Praise.

98. This portion has been collated with the Douce fragment printed by Pynson ("Shakespeare Society's Papers," iii. 149), as well as with the other impression by Pynson in the British Museum.

99. Clear, free.

100. Out of the peril or danger of anything, equal to out of its control or cognizance.

101. Unction.

102. Hand.

103. Edits, _Those_.

104. Older, chief. Hawkins omitted the word _Christ_.

105. The proverb. This is the earliest use of it which has occurred.

106. Thrust.

107. Every each one.

108. The colophon in one of Skot's editions is at the end; in his other there is only his mark. But see Hazlitt's "Handbook," p. 463-4.

109. The only one known. There is a later edition in the Bodleian, printed by John Waley, and also apparently unique.

110. [This is an odd remark, the woodcuts being all common cuts of the time, turned to an extraordinary variety of uses. They are very ineffectively given by Hawkins, whoever his _masterly hand_ may have been.]

111. Holt sometimes signifies a wood, grove, or forest: so Chaucer:--

"When Zephyrus eke, with his sweet breath Inspired hath, in every holt and heath The tender croppis;"

it sometimes signifies a hill: so in the old Scotish song of "Robin and Makin"--

"Makyne went home blyth anneuche, Attour the holttis hair." --_Henryson's Works_, by Laing, p. 7. 112. Wilderness.

113. Property or money.

114. Thrive.

115. Apparently the prison cell, divided into two parts, so as to hold two persons.

116. Prisoners in chains.

117. An allusion I do not understand.

118. i.e., steal. So Shakespeare:--

[_Nim_. The good humour is to steal at a minim's rest. _Pist_. Convey, the wise it call: steal? foh; a fico for the phrase. --_Merry Wives of Windsor_.

i. 3, Dyce's second edition, i. 353.]

119. [A proverb. See Hazlitt's "English Proverbs," 1869, p. 395.]

120. Lying or falsehood.

121. Heel.

122. Apulia.

123. Arragon.

124. The Cape of Good Hope.

125. Newfoundland.

126. Genoa.

127. See "Halliwell'a Dictionary," in v. The exact origin and meaning of the word, which seems to be a mere fantastic phrase, is apparently unknown.

128. Egypt.

129. Shaped, contrived.

130. Original reads _said_.

131. Favour or favouritism.

132. Pledge.

133. _At nale_, at the alehouse. So Chaucer in the "Frere's Tale":--

"And thay were glad to fille wel his purs, And make him grete festis atte nale." --_Bell's Chaucer_, ii. 91.

134. i.e., The dagger.

135. Old copy, _hyz_.

136. Original, _away_.

137. Compare "A Treatise of a Galaunt," printed about this time, and reprinted in "Hazlitt's Popular Poetry," iii. 151 et seq.; also the ballad called "The Manner of the World Now-a-days," in Collier's "Old Ballads," 1840.

138. Original reads _with_.

139. Adultery.

140. Since.

141. Perhaps Freewill was intended to speak incorrect French.

142. Soiled.

143. A proverb.

144. A medicinal gum.

145. _Quick brimstone_, gunpowder.

146. Cast.

147. Proof.

148. Advise.

149. Encourage.

150. Shut.

151. A play on the similarity of the words _Latin_ and _Latten_.

152. Fetters.

153. A celebrated place for foot-pads.

154. This word, in its present sense, _shoals_, seems to be unglossed.

155. i.e., Haunt Shooter's Hill in the chance of meeting with prey.

156. Constable.

157. Heel.

158. Error, misdoings.

159. According to your bidding.

160. Sobriety of conduct.

161. i.e., How light my heart is.

162. Doxy.

163. Comrade, friend.

164. _Ale-stake_, a maypole, a sign before an alehouse. Chaucer, in "The Pardoner's Prologue," calls it ale-stake--

"But first, quod he, here at this ale-stake I wil both drynke and byten on a cake." --_Bell's Chaucer_, iii. 68.

165. Query, an euphemism for _theft_.

166. Nearest.

167. The colophon is: Enprynted by me Wynken de Worde.

168. Mr Child, in "Four Old Plays," Cambridge, U.S., 1848.

169. Old copy reads _shepe_.

170. Owneth.

171. Mistrust.

172. Guerdon, recompense.

173. _Health_, in a spiritual sense.

174. These were what were called friars-limiters.

175. At the charge of the place.

176. By Jesus, I'll pull thee by the sweet ears.

177. The pardoner quotes a proverb.

178. See a long note in Nare's, edition 1859, in v. The sense is really equivalent to our modern _rigmarolle_.

179. Original has _eyoteles_.

180. Treat.

181. Always, continually.

182. The colophon is: Imprinted by Wyllyam Rastell the v. day of Apryll the yere of our lorde M.CCCCC.XXXIII. Cum priuilegio. The only copy known, formerly Heber's, is now in the library of the Duke of Devonshire.

183. Another work must in future be added to the list of Wynkyn de Worde's pieces, although only a fragment of it was very recently discovered by Mr Rodd, of Newport Street. It is the last leaf of a tract, the running title of which is "Ragmannes Rolle," and it purports to be a collection of the names and qualities of good and bad women in alternate stanzas. The meaning of "Ragman's Roll" may be seen in Todd's "Johnson's Dictionary," _vide_ "Rigmarolle;" but in the following Envoy, Wynkyn de Worde speaks of "King Ragman," a new personage in history. It is inserted only as a literary curiosity.

"Explicit Ragmannes rolle. "Lenvoy of the prynter. "Go lytyl rolle, where thou arte bought or solde, Amonge fayre women behaue the manerly: Without rewarde of any fee or golde, Saye as it is, touchynge trouthe hardely: And yf that they do blame thee wrongfully, Excuse thy prynter, and thy selfe also, Layenge the faute on kynge Ragman holly Whiche dyde the make many yeres ago. Finis. --nprynted at London, in the Fletestrete, at the ----e of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde."

The words "Enprynted" and "Signe," have been partly torn away, with the corner of the leaf. See the poem printed from a MS. in Hazlitt's "Popular Poetry," i. 68-78, and compare "Towneley Mysteries," p. 311.

184. This interlude has now been again collated with the Dublin copy, and a certain number of inaccuracies removed.

185. Bonerly or bonairely, i.q., _debonaire_.

186. See Halliwell's Dictionary, in v. This word is very common, yet its precise meaning rather obscure. It is used where its import is equivalent to _folks_.

187. _Storlde_ in old copy.

188. See Halliwell in v.

189. Distribute.

190. Seat, throne.

191. Move.

192. Kept, supported.

193. Divide in two.

194. Vague, loose.

195. Young.

196. By an error of the press this word is printed "wyghtly" in the original.

197. In a row.

198. Make mouths.

199. Tell a falsehood.

200. See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 305.

201. Air or bar.

202. List.

203. To take hire.

204. Hence it is evident that the audience was to suppose seven years to elapse during the speaking of this soliloquy. The progress of time is elsewhere sufficiently marked.

205. Fellow; here, of course, a mate or mistress.

206. Promised, pret. of _Behete_.

207. Mightily.

208. Hold thee ready; be forward.

209. Watch.

210. Wait on.

211. Where.

212. Placed.

213. Done.

214. Time, occasion.

215. i.e., St. Thomas a. Becket, at Canterbury.

216. Original reads _right of_.

217. _Hende_, Sax.: civil, courteous.

218. _Do_ in the original.

219. Original has _ladies brightest_.

220. Countenance, more literally, colour, complexion; the more correct orthography seems to _blea_--yellow. Some have _rudde_ in the same sense.

221. Samoa.

222. Original has _Ynde the loys_.

223. _Tene_, Sax,: grieve.

224. See Nares, edit. 1859, p. 111.

225. Man.

226. Mated, matched.

227. Made lame.

228. Dream or muse under the branch of a tree.

229. For _necessary_.

230. This term used to be applied indifferently to both sexes.

231. Taken.

232. Belongeth.

233. i.e., _Lout_, or bow.

234. See Hazlitt's "Popular Poetry," i. 264, et seq.

235. Straw.

236. Lend, lean.

237. _King_ seems a misprint here; perhaps _kind_ or _mind_ ought to be substituted.

238. Less.

239. If.

240. Fear.

241. Friar.

242. i.e., _Thrive_.

243. _Fonge_, Sax, take. It is here used in the sense of _depart_.

244. Promise.

245. Orig. reads _all_.

246. Certainly, _securely_.

247. Market.

248. i.e., _Out_ or _off_.

249. _Blessed_, in a bad sense.

250. Thrift.

251. Or _meinie_, alluding to the audience.

252. Plead.

253. Ministereth.

254. A proverbial expression of contempt.

255. Same.

256. i.e., Covenant or agreement.

257. Probably the earliest mention of this proverb.

258. Generally bankers, but perhaps here merely city-men.

259. A game at dice.

260. _Infere_, i.e., in company.

261. List, like.

262. Seek.

263. Original has _creature_.

264. i.e., Together.

265. _Borwe_, Sax., is pledge or security, and _to borrow_ is to secure.

266. Unto.

267. A symbol of submission or agreement.

268. Usually spelt _route_, from the Fr., to roar or snore.

269. Stagger.

270. Fetched.

271. The word _fro_ or _from_ in original is too much, and has been inserted by error: the sense is, "And to all folks he called me shame."

272. Orig. has _So_.

273. Or creed.

274. Was called.

275. The colophon is: Here endeth the Interlude of Mundus & Infans. Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of ye Sonne by me Wynkin de worde. The yere of our Lorde M.CCCCC. and xxij. The xvij. daye of July.

276. The greater part of this quotation is torn off in the only copy known with certainty to exist, as well as the date and printer's name, if any were ever appended.--_Collier_.

277. It is said by Mr Wallis, in "The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland," 4to, vol. ii. p. 390, that John Bale lived and studied at the Abbey of Hulme in that county, of which society he was a member. [See Cooper's "Athenae," i. 225.]

278. Mr A. Chalmers, in his "Biographical Dictionary," says that Bale was of Jesus College, Cambridge.--_Collier_.

279. The writer of art. _Bale_ in the "Biographia Britannica" hath fallen into a mistake, asserting him to have been of St John's College, Oxford. Bale's own words are these: "In omni literarum barbarie ac mentis coecitate illic et _Cantabrigiae_ pervagabar, nullum habens tutorem aut Mecaenatem; donec, lucente Dei verbo, ecclesiae revocari coepissent ad verae theologiae purissimos fontes." Dr. Berkenhout hath adopted the same error.--_Reed_.

280. See his "Vocacyon."

281. Mr A. Chalmers gives the date of Bale's consecration, February 2, 1553, and not the 20th of March. The former is correct.--_Collier_.

282. Five centuries of writers seem to have been printed at Wesel in 1549, under the following title: "_Illustrium Majoris Britaniae Scriptorum, hoc est Angliae, Cambriae, et Scotiae, Summarium_." The most complete and enlarged edition was printed at Basil by Oporinus in 1559.-- _Collier_.

283. Not including his "King Johan," printed by Collier, 1838. Of these and his other works, see a very copious list in Cooper's "Athenae," i. 227-30. See also Hazlitt's "Handbook," v. Bale. The list given in the former edition of Dodsley was so imperfect and unsatisfactory as not to appear worth retention.

284. But in Dodsley's own edition, 1744, occurs the following interesting notice omitted in that of 1825: "This antient piece I found in the Harleian Collection of Old Plays, consisting of between 600 and 700, which are now in my possession." Very probably, Garrick was partly indebted to Dodsley for his dramatic rarities.

285. It will be seen that the design of the author necessarily divided itself into seven ages or periods, for the seven promises by the Creator to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Esaias, and John the Baptist.-- _Collier_.

286. This list of characters is not in the old copy, but was made out from the mention of persons in the progress of the piece.--_Collier_.

287. The old copy from which this dramatic piece was first reprinted by Dodsley, and subsequently by Mr Reed, having been damaged, and a part of the leaf lost, it was not possible to ascertain exactly the last word of this line: it was therefore supplied by conjecture, and not very happily: the line has till now stood--

"Without whose knowledge no man to the truth can _come_."

But the form of the stanza, and the rhyme in the next line, shows decidedly that this is wrong. In Davenport's "City Night Cap," Act 3, we meet with a not very dissimilar use of the word _fall_.

"I have made a modest choice of you, grave sir, To be my ghostly father; and to you I _fall_ for absolution."

288. The commencement of this Act is not marked in the original, although notice is given of its conclusion.--_Collier_.

289. This scriptural expression occurs very frequently in our ancient dramatic writers--

"Never this heart shall have the thoughtful dread _To die the death_ that, by your grace's doom, By just desert shall be pronounc'd to me." --_Ferrex and Porrex_, A. 4, S. 2.

"Either _to die the death_, or to abjure For ever the society of men." --_Midsummer Night's Dream_, A. 1, S. 1.

"Or else he must not only _die the death_, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To lingering sufferance." --_Measure for Measure_, A. 2, S. 4. See Dr Johnson and Mr Steevens's notes on the two latter passages.

"Wert thou my bosom-love, _thou dyst the death_; Best ease for madness is the loss of breath." --Machin's _Dumb Knight_, A. 2.

290. Stir. Glossary to Mandevile's _Voyage_, 1725. It is a very common form.

291. Acknowledge.

292. Original has _trade_.

293. Chaucer, in his "Canterbury Tales," l. 509, describing the Parson, says--

"He set not his benefice to hire, And laft his sheep _accombred_ in the mire," &c.

Dr Morrell spells the word _accumbrit_, and explains it in this manner-- "_Accumbrit_ may be interpreted _to wallow, to lie down_, qu. _accumbere_." But Chaucer sometimes uses it in another sense--

"That they were _acombrit_ in their own distreyt." --_Merchant's Second Tale_, 2910.

_i.e_., They were encumbered, brought into great straights. A vet. Gall. _Combre_ or _Comble_.

"Trough wine and women there was both _accombred_." --Pierce Plowman's _Vision_.

None of these explanations exactly agrees with the text. Bishop Bale certainly means, agreeably to the passage in the Bible to which he alludes, _to destroy_ or _overwhelm_.

294. _Achab_ in original, and Latimer in his First Sermon before King Edward VI., calls him _Hachab_.

295. In the former edition this and the next five lines were given to _Pater Coelestis_.

296. Dip.

297. i.e., Asketh, inquireth. So, in Henryson's "Testament of Creside"--

"Quha had bene thair, and lyking for to heir His facound toung and termis exquisite, Of Rhetorick the prettick he micht leir, In breif sermone are pregnant sentence wryte, Befoir Cupide veiling his cap alyte, Speiris the caus of that vocatioun? And he anone schew his intentioun." --_Laing's Edit_., 1865, p. 84.

Again, Douglas's "Virgil," B. iii. p. 72--

"The seik ground deny is frute and fudis, My fader exhortis us turn againe our studis To Delos, and Apollois ansure _spere_, Be seiking him of succours us to lere."

Again, B. v. p. 140--

"Ane uthir mache to him was socht and _sperit_."

298. The colophon is: Thus endeth thys Tragedy or enterlude, manyfestynge the chefe promyses of God unto Man by all ages in the olde lawe, from the fall of Adam to the incarnacyon of the Lorde Jesus Christ. Compyled by Johan Bayle, Anno Domini 1538.

299. Wood, in his "Athenae Oxonienses," vol. 1, p. 149, positively fixes his birth at this place. Other writers have made him a native of North Mims in Hertfordshire, but apparently without any authority. [See Warton's "H.E.P.," edit. 1871, i. 80.] Bale, who lived nearest to the author's time, calls him _Civis Londinensis_; which words, though they do not absolutely prove that he was born in London, yet surely are sufficient in a matter of this uncertainty to warrant any one to conclude that he was a native of that city, as no circumstance appears to induce a belief that he acquired the title of Citizen of London otherwise than by birth.

300. Peacham's "Compleat Gentleman," 4to, 1627, p. 95.

301. Gabriel Harvey's "MS. Note to Speght's Chaucer," as quoted in Mr Steevens's "Shakspeare," vol. 5.

302. T. Bastard, in his "Chrestoleros, Seven Bookes of Epigrams," 1598, has the following, addressed _Ad Johannem Dauis_, in which he speaks of Heywood and his reputation in this department--

"Yf witt may make a Poet, as I gesse, _Heywood_ with auncient Poets may I compare. But thou in word and deed hast made him lesse In his owne witt, hauing yet learning spare The goate doth hunt the grasse, the wolfe the goat The lyon hunts the wolfe by proofe we see; _Heywood_ sang others downe, but thy sweete note, Dauis, hath sang him downe, and I would thee. Then be not mou'de, nor count it such a sinn, To will in thee what thou hast done in him."

The subsequent _Ad Lectorem_ is to the same effect--

"Reader, if Heywood liued now againe, Whome time of life, hath not of praise bereaued; If he would write, I could expresse his vaine: Thus would he write, or else I am deceiued."

Sir J. Harington quotes one of Heywood's Epigrams in the Notes to B. 38 of his Translation of "Orlando Furioso;" and Thomas Wilson, in his "Rhetorique," 1553, speaks of Heywood's "Proverbs," adding that his "paynes in that behalfe are worthye of immortall prayse." In Barnaby Googe's "Husbandry," "our English Martiall, John Heywood," is quoted regarding Essex Cheese. It would not be difficult to add several other authors who quote or applaud him.--_Collier_.

303. "Athen. Oxon.," vol. 1, p. 149.

304. "But to step backe to my teske (though everie place I step to, yeeldes me sweeter discourse) what thinke you by Haywood, that scaped hanging with his mirth; the king being graciously and (as I thinke) truly perswaded, that a man that wrate so pleasant and harmlesse verses, could not have any harm full conceit against his proceedings, and so by the honest motion of a gentleman of his chamber saved him from the jerke of the six-string'd whip." (Harington's "Metamorphosis of Ajax," 1596, p. 25).

305. "Athen. Oxon.," vol. 1, p. 149.

306. The subsequent anecdote is given by Puttenham in his "Arte of English Poesie," 1589, p. 230:--

"The like hapned on a time at the Duke of Northumberlandes bourd, where merry _John Heywood_ was allowed to sit at the tables end. The Duke had a very noble and honorable mynde alwayes to pay his debts well, and when he lacked money would not stick to sell the greatest part of his plate; so had he done few dayes before. Heywood being loth to call for his drinke so oft as he was dry, turned his eye toward the cupbord and sayd, 'I finde great misse of your graces standing cups.' The Duke thinking he had spoken it of some knowledge that his plate was lately sold, said somewhat sharply, 'Why, sir, will not those cuppes serve as good a man as your selfe?' Heywood readily replied, 'Yes, if it please your grace; but I would haue one of them stand still at myne elbow, full of drinke, that I might not be driven to trouble your men so often to call for it.' This pleasant and speedy reuers of the former wordes holpe all the matter againe, whereupon the Duke became very pleasaunt, and dranke a bolle of wine to Heywood, and bid a cup should alwayes be standing by him."

This story, in itself of very little worth, serves to show the sort of terms Heywood was upon with the nobility of his time.--_Collier_.

307. The editor of the last edition of the "Biographical Dictionary" asserts, but without citing his particular authority for the fact, that "after many peregrinations, he died at Naples, January the 9th, 1598."-- _Collier_.

308. [In the former edition of this work there was a note stating that he had been preceded by Palsgrave in his "Acolastus." But "Acolastus" was merely a translation by Palsgrave from the Latin of Fullonius, performed in 1529 in Holland. The English was not printed till 1540.]

309. _MSS. Notes on Langbaine_.

310. [Here followed, in the former editions, an elaborate list, full of errors, of Heywood's writings, for which see Hazlitt's "Handbook," in v. Dyce (Middleton's Works, ii., 277) thought there was no ground for assigning to him No. 4 of Hazlitt.]

311. [They appear to have been first published in 1546.]

312. "Worthies," p. 221.

313. [Hazlitt's "Handbook," 1867, p. 269.]

314. Although more pains than usual were bestowed on the collation of this piece, yet, as it was printed originally by Dodsley from the most corrupt of the old copies, many of the errors and a few interpolations were allowed by the subsequent editor to remain. The orthography also, professed to be observed, was very frequently abandoned.--_Collier_.