Part 43

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

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

IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

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

AT OXFORD.

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

MISCELLANEOUS.

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

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[103] Amœnit. eccles., i. 807.

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

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

[106] See pp. 157, 334.

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

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

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

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

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

[112] Canterbury tales, iv. 331.

[113] Vol. ii. p. 14.

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

[115] Ubi supr. p. lxxxviii.

[116] Biblioth. Belgic. i. 353.

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

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

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

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

[121] Cant. tales, IV. 331.

[122] MS. Harl. 5396.

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

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

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

[126] See Mr. Ellis's _Metrical romances_, vol. iii. pp. 155, 157.

[127] P. 253, folio edit.

[128] Vol. iii. p. 647. Mr. Gough speaks of it as separately printed. _Brit. Topogr._ ii. 27. It is also copied in Burton's _Unparallelled varieties_, p. 159, edit. 1699, 12mo, and _The gentleman's magazine_, vol. 1. p. 310. It has been twice versified: 1. anonymously, under the title of _A hue and cry after the priest, or the convent, a tale_, 1749, 8vo; and 2. by Mr. Jodrell under that of _The knight and friars_, 1785, 4to.

[129] The curious reader may also consult the following authorities, where he will find the above story in some shape or other. Fauchet, _Anciens poetes Francois_, chap. lxxxix. Barbasan, _Fabliaux et contes_, ii. 125. The first novel of Masuccio. Straparole, _Piacevole notte_, N. v. fab. 3. _Patrañas_ di Timoneda, patr. 3. _Comptes du monde adventureux_, 1595, 18mo, compte xxiii. Guellette _Contes Tartares_, in the story of _Les 3 bossus de Damas. Histoire des larrons_, tom. i. pp. 2, 239. _Biblioth. amus. et instructive_, tom. ii. p. 14. _Bibl._ de Du Verdier et La croix du Maine, par Juvigny, tom. iv. p. 376. _Pasquil's Jests_, or _Mother Bunch's merriments_, p. 51; and Marlow's _Jew of Malta_, in Reed's _Old plays_, vol. viii. p. 366.

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

The same story occurs likewise in the following works. Le Grand, _Fabliaux et contes_, tom. iii. p. 168. Sansovino, _Cento novelle_, giorn. 9, nov. 1. _Les facetieuses journées_, p. 287. Lestrange's _Æsop_, vol. i. fab. 464, 8vo edition. _Asiatic miscellany_, 12mo, 1787, p. 73, from the _Ayar Danish_ of Abulfazel, which seems to have been extracted from, or at least much resembles, the oriental work that forms the seventh chapter in the _Directorium humanæ vitæ_.

[131] Jones's _Relics of the Welsh bards_, p. 75, where there is an old Welsh song, or _Englyn_ on the subject.

[132] See Le Grand, _Fabliaux et contes_, ii. 426, who quotes the _Tartarian tales_ for a similar story.

[133] See the exempla at the end of the _Sermones discipuli_, ex. ix. de. B. The _Sermones fratris Gulielmi Cartusiensis_, 1494, 12mo, sig. V. 7 b. An ancient collection of Latin sermons in the Harl. coll. No. 5396. See likewise _A christen exhortation unto customable swearers_, at the end of _The christen state of matrimonye_, 1543, 12mo, p. 28, the author of which cites the _Preceptorium Johannis Beets_, a German preacher about 1450; and Burton's _Unparellelled varieties_, p. 21.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[143] _Cento novelle antiche._ nov. 68. _Patrañas_ de Timoneda, pat. 17. _Dialogus creaturarum moralizatus_, cap. 120. Minsheu's address to the reader, before his _Spanish grammar_, 1623, folio.

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

[145] Patr. 21.

[146] See Vincent de Beauvais, _Specul. historiale_, lib. viii. cap. 90, 91. Herolt, _Sermones discipuli_, par. iii. exempl. i. de mirac. b. Virginis, and Le Grand, _Fabliaux_, v. 164.

[147] _Confessio Amantis_, fo. 32.

[148] _Biblioth. Britannico-Hibern._ p. 476.

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

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

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

[152] _Typogr. antiq._ p. 233.

[153] This seems a mistake for 1602.

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

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

DISSERTATION III.

ON THE ANCIENT ENGLISH MORRIS DANCE.

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

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

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

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

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