Part 6

Insomuch," continues Fuller, "that for his good disputing, and excellent acting, in the tragedy of _Dido_, she bestowed on him a pension of 20 lib. a year; whilst Cartwright received neither reward nor commendation, whereof he not only complained to his inward friends in Trinity College, but also, after her Majesty's neglect of him, began to wade into divers opinions against her ecclesiastical government." And thus, according to the authority first cited, he became _the first Dissenter in England_, and was deprived, subsequently, as a matter of course, of both his fellowship and professorship.

It was most probably for the entertainment of the Royal Elizabeth, that one Thomas Still, M.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, composed and produced

THE FIRST ENGLISH PLAY EXTANT:

A fact no Cantab need blush at, _proh pudor_, though the plot is none of the sublimest. It was printed as early as 1575, with the following

TITLE:

"A ryght pythy, pleasant, and merie Comedie, entytuled Gammer Gurton's Needle; played on the stage not long ago in Christe's College, in Cambridge, made by Mr. S. Master of Arts. Imprynted at London, in Fleete Streeate, beneth the Conduit, at the signe of Sainte John Evangelist, by Thomas Colwell." Though altogether of a comic cast, it was not deficient in genuine humour, and is a curious sample of the simplicity which prevailed in this country, in the early days of dramatic art. It is in metre, is spun out into five regular acts, and an awful piece it is, as may be seen by the following

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE PLOT.

Gammer Gurton having lost her needle, a great hunt is made in search of it, and her boy is directed to blow the embers of an expiring fire, in order to light a candle to help the search. The witch of a cat has, in the meantime, got into the chimney, with her two fiery eyes. The boy cries, "it is the devil of a fire!" for when he puffs, it is out,--and when he does not, it is in. "Stir it!" bawls Gammer Gurton. The boy does her bidding, and the _cat_ (the _fire_ as he imagines) flies forthwith amongst a pile of wood. "The house will be burnt, all hands to work!" roars the boy, and the cat is discovered by a priest (more cunning than the rest.) This ends the _episode_, with which the _main plot_ and catastrophe vie. Gammer Gurton, it seems, had, the day before, been mending her man Hodge's breeches. Now Hodge, in some game of merriment, was to be punished, for some default, with three slaps on the breech, to be administered by the brawny hand of one of his fellow-bumpkins. To that end, his head is laid in Gammer Gurton's lap; the first slap is given, Hodge bellows out with pain, and, oh! joyful announcement, on searching for the cause of his affliction, the needle is discovered, buried up to the eye in poor Hodge's posterior portion. The needle is then extracted with becoming demonstrations, and the curtain falls.

Amongst other interesting matters associated with the memory of Queen Elizabeth (beside that of her having given Cambridge that admirable body of statutes upon which all laws for their governance still continue to be framed,) are the following memoranda, extracted by Dyer from Baker's MSS. in the public library of the University:--

"The 26th daye of Julie, 1578, the Queene's Majestie came in her progresse intended to Norfolk, to Audley End, at the town of Waldren, accompanied by the Lorde Treasurer, High Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The Vice Chancellor and Masters of Colleges thoughte meete and convenient for the dischardge of dutie, that the said Vice-Chancellor and Hedds of Coll. should shewe themselves of the Courte, and welcome her Grace into these quarters." About the end of his oration, the orator (Mr. Bridgewater of King's College) makes mention, that "Mr. Doctor Howland, then vice-chancellor, maketh his three ordinarie curtesies, and then kneeling at her Majesty's feete, presenting unto her--

A NEWE TESTAMENT IN GREEK,

Of Robert Stephens's first printing, folio, bound in redd velvett, and lymmed with gold; the arms of England sett upon eche syde of the booke very faire; and on the thirde leafe of the booke, being faire and cleane paper, was also sett and painted in colours the arms of the Universitie, with these writings following: Regiæ Majestati deditissimæ Academiæ Cantabrigiensis Insignia (viz. quatuor Leones cum Bibl. &c.) Also, with the booke, the Vice-Chancellor presented a pair of gloves, perfumed and garnished, with embroiderie and goldsmithe's wourke, pr. 60_s._ and these verses:--

"SEMPER UNA.

"Una quod es semper, quod semper es optima, Princeps, Quam bene conveniunt hæc duo verba tibi? Quod pia, quod prudens, quod casta, innuba virgo Semper es, hoc etiam semper es una modo.

"Et populum quod ames, populo quod amata vicissim Semper es, hic constans semper et una manes, O utinam; quoniam sic semper es una, liceret Una te nobis semper, Eliza, frui?"

Since Cambridge has the merit of producing the _first English play_, it is but justice here to add, that

THE SCHOLARS OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD, INVENTED MOVEABLE SCENES.

This merit is claimed for them by the Oxford historians, and allowed by the historians of the stage, though they have not agreed of the exact period. We are informed, in Leland's Collectanea, that "the stage did vary three times in the acting of one tragedy." In other words, there were three scenes employed; but these, it is said by Chalmers, in his History of Oxford University, were the invention of Inigo Jones; and the exhibition, it appears, took place in the Hall of Christ Church, in 1636, (the year Wood places the invention in,) for the entertainment of the unfortunate Charles the First and his Queen, when, says our annalist, a comedy was performed for their amusement, entitled, "The Passions Calmed, or the Settling of the Floating," written by Strode, the Public Orator, and moveable scenery introduced with suitable variations; and though there is pretty conclusive evidence that this was not the first time _moveable scenes_, &c. had been introduced, it is evident they had not come into general use, from the fact that, after the departure of the King and his _suite_, the dresses and scenery were sent to Hampton Court, at the express desire of the Queen, but with a wish, suggested by the Chancellor of Oxford, the ill-fated Archbishop Laud, _that they might not come into the hands of the common players_, which was accordingly promised. Leland thinks, however, that _moveable scenes_ were better managed, before this, at Cambridge; and I know not, he says, whether the invention may not be carried back to the year 1583, when the celebrated Polish prince, Alesco, was at Oxford, and for whose entertainment, says Wood (who gives an interesting account of all the particulars of that famous Oxford gaudy,) the tragedy of Dido was acted in the Hall of Christ Church, decorated with scenes illustrative of the play, and the exhibition of "the tempest, wherein it rained small comfits, rose-water, and new artificial snow, was very strange to the beholders." But other authorities place the invention in 1605, when

JAMES THE FIRST AND HIS COURT CAME TO OXFORD,

And was entertained in the Hall of Christ Church, "with the Latin comedy of Vertumnus, written by Dr. Matthew Gwinne, of St. John's College, Oxford, and performed by the students of that house, without borrowing a single actor; and it was upon this occasion that the _humming_ of his Majesty took place, referred to in my Preface. In 1621, when James and his court happened to be at Woodstock, the scholars of Christ Church enacted Barton Holyday's comedy of [Greek: Technogamia], or the Marriage of the Arts: but his Majesty relished it so little, as to offer several times to withdraw, and was only prevented by some of his courtiers representing that his doing so would be a cruel disappointment. This incident gave rise to the well-known epigram--

"At Christ-Church marriage, done before the king, Lest that those mates should want an offering, The king himself did offer--what, I pray? He offered twice or thrice to go away."

* * * * *

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE SEEMED RIVALS

At this period. Wood states, in his Annals, that when King James was entertained at Oxford, in 1605, divers Cambridge scholars went thither out of novelty, to see and hear; and some that pretended to be wits made copies of verses on that solemnity, of which, he says, I have met with one that runs--

To Oxonforde the king is gone, With all his mighty peers, That hath in grace maintained us, These four or five long years.

Such a king he hath been, As the like was never seen: Knights did ride by his side, Evermore to be his guide: A thousand knights, and forty thousand knights, Knights of forty pounds a year.

which some attribute to one Lake. This example, he adds, was followed by the Oxonians, when James visited Cambridge in 1614, and "many idle songs" were made by them upon the proceedings at Cambridge, the most celebrated of which is the one entitled, "A Grave Poem, as it was presented in Latin by Divines and others, before his Majesty at Cambridge, by way of Enterlude, stiled 'Liber novus de adventu Regis ad Cantabrigiam,' faithfully done into English, with some liberal advantage, made rather to be sung than red, to the tune of 'Bonny Nell,'" which poem, says Wood, may be seen in the works of the witty Bishop Corbet (by whom it was written,) "printed in 1647." But in so saying our annalist not only _lies_ under a mistake, but Mr. Gutch, his editor, has not detected it. The poem is not in the edition of 1647, but in that of 1672, which is the third, corrected and enlarged, and "printed by J. C. for _William Crooke_, at the _Green Dragoon_, without Temple Bar;" as all may see who will consult the said editions, both extant in the library of the British Museum. The poem is comprised in twenty-six stanzas, as follows:--

It is not yet a fortnight, since Lutetia entertained our Prince, And wasted both a studied toy, As long as was the siege of _Troy_: And spent herself for full five days In _speeches_, _exercise_, and _plays_.

To trim the town, great care before Was tane by th' Lord _Vice-Chancellor_, Both morn and eve he cleared the way, The streets he gravell'd thrice a day; One stripe of _March-dust_ for to see, No _Provost_ would give more than he.

Their colledges were new be-painted, Their founders eke were new be-sainted; Nothing escaped, nor post, nor door, Nor gete, nor rail, nor b----d, nor wh----: You could not know (oh, strange mishap!) Whether you saw the _town_ or _map_.

But the pure house of _Emanuel_, Would not be like proud _Jesebel_, Nor show herself before the king An hypocrite, or _painted_ thing: But that the ways might all prove fair, Conceiv'd a tedious mile of prayer.

Upon the look'd-for seventh of _March_, Out went the townsmen all in starch, Both band and bead into the field, Where one a speech could hardly wield; For needs he would begin his stile, The king being from him half a mile.

They gave the king a piece of plate, Which they hop'd never came too late; And cry'd, Oh! look not in, great king, For there is in it just nothing: And so preferred with time and gate, A speech as empty as their plate.

Now, as the king came near the town, Each one ran crying up and down, Alas, poor _Oxford_, thou'rt undone, For now the king's past _Trompington_, And rides upon his brave grey Dapple, Seeing the top of _King's-Colledge_ chappel.

Next rode his lordship on a nag, Whose coat was blue, whose ruff was shag, And then began his reverence To speak most eloquent non-sense: See how (quoth he) most mighty prince, For very joy my horse doth wince.

What cryes the town? what we? (said he) What cryes the University? What cryes the boyes? what every thing? Behold, behold, yon comes the king: And every period he bedecks, With _En et Ecce venit Rex_.

Oft have I warn'd (quoth he) our dirt, That no silk stockings should be hurt; But we in vain strive to be fine, Unless your Grace's sun doth shine; And with the beams of your bright eye, You will be pleased our streets to dry.

Now come we to the wonderment, Of _Christendom_, and eke of _Kent_, The _Trinity_; which to surpass, Doth Deck her spokesman by a glass: Who, clad in gay and silken weeds, Thus opes his mouth, hark how he speeds.

I wonder what your Grace doth here, Who had expected been 12 year, And this your son, fair _Carolus_, That is so Jacobissimus; There's none, of all your Grace refuses, You are most welcome to our Muses.

Although we have no bells to jingle, Yet can we shew a fair quadrangle, Which, though it ne'er was graced with king, Yet sure it is a goodly thing: My warning's short, no more I'll say, Soon you shall see a gallant play.

But nothing was so much admired As were their plays, so well attired; Nothing did win more praise of mine, Than did their Actors most divine: So did they drink their healths divinely, So did they skip and dance so finely.

Their plays had sundry grave wise factors, A perfect diocess of Actors Upon the stage; for I am sure that There was both bishop, pastor, curat: Nor was this labour light or small, The charge of some was pastoral.

Our plays were certainly much worse, For they had a brown hobby-horse, Which did present unto his Grace A wondrous witty ambling pace: But we were chiefly spoyl'd by that Which was six hours of _God knows what_.

His Lordship then was in a rage, His Lordship lay upon the stage, His Lordship cry'd, All would be marr'd: His Lordship lov'd a-life the guard, And did invite those mighty men, To what think you? Even to a _Hen_.

He knew he was to use their might To help to keep the door at night, And well bestow'd he though his Hen, That they might Tolebooth _Oxford_ men. He thought it did become a lord To threaten with that bug-bear word.

Now pass we to the Civil Law, And eke the doctors of the spaw, Who all perform'd their parts so well, Sir _Edward Ratcliff_ bore the bell, Who was, by the king's own appointment, To speak of Spells and Magic Ointment.

The Doctors of the Civil Law, Urged ne'er a reason worth a straw; And though they went in silk and satten, They, _Thomson_-like clip'd the king's Latine; But yet his Grace did pardon then All treasons against _Priscian_.

Here no man spoke aught to the point, But all they said was out of joint; Just like the Chappel ominous, In th' Colledge called _God with us_, Which truly doth stand much awry, Just north and south, _yes verily_.

Philosophers did well their parts, Which proved them Masters of the Arts; Their Moderator was no fool, He far from _Cambridge_ kept a school: The country did such store afford, The Proctors might not speak a word.

But to conclude, the king was pleased, And of the court the town was eased: But Oxford though (dear sister hark it) The king is gone but to New-Market, And comes again ere it be long, Then you may sing another song.

The king being gone from _Trinitie_, They make a scramble for degree; Masters of all sorts and all ages, Keepers, subsizers, lackayes, pages, Who all did throng to come abroad, With _pray make me_ now, _good my Lord_.

They prest his lordship wondrous hard, His lordship then did want the guard, So did they throng him for the nonce, Till he bless them all at once, And cry'd _Hodiissime_: _Omnes Magistri estote_.

Nor is this all which we do sing, For of your praise the world must ring: Reader, unto your tackling look, For there is coming forth a book, Will spoyl _Joseph Bernesius_ The sale of _Rex Platonicus_.

His Majesty was, as usual, entertained with speeches, disputations, and dramatic exhibitions. Fuller relates, that the following

EXTRAORDINARY DIVINITY ACT,

Or Disputation, was kept at Cambridge before this prince, during this visit, where Dr. John Davenant (afterwards Bishop of Sarum) was respondent, and Dr. Richardson, amongst others, opponent. The question was maintained, in the _negative_, concerning the excommunicating of kings. Dr. Richardson vigorously pressed the practice of St. Ambrose, who excommunicated the emperor Theodosius,--insomuch, says Fuller, that the king, in a great passion, returned,--"_Profecto fuit hoc ab Ambrosio insolentissime factum_." To which Dr. R. rejoined,--"_Responsum vere Regium, et Alexandro dignum, hoc non est argumentu dissolvere, sed desecare_,"--and so, sitting down, discontinued from any further argument. It was for the entertainment of James during this visit, that

THE FAMOUS CAMBRIDGE LATIN COMEDY,

Entitled IGNORAMUS, was first enacted. It originated in a dispute on the question of precedency, in 1611, when the Mayor, whose name was Thomas Smart, had seated himself in a _superior_ place in the Guildhall of the town, in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, who asserted his right to the same; but the Mayor refused to resign the seat, till the Vice-Chancellor's attendants forcibly ejected him. The dispute was laid before the Privy Council, who decided in favour of the Vice-Chancellor. But during the progress of the affair, the Recorder of Cambridge, named Brankyn, stoutly defended the Mayor and Corporation against the rights of the University. This it was that induced the author of the play, Geo. Ruggle, Fellow of Clare-Hall, to _show him up_, in the pedantic, crafty, pragmatical character of _Ignoramus_; and if lawyer Brankyn, it is said, had not actually set the dispute agoing, he greatly contributed to keep it alive. At this time King James had long been expected to visit Cambridge, who had a strong prejudice against lawyers, and a ruling passion to be thought the patron of literature. The circumstances suggested to Ruggle the propriety of exposing lawyer Brankyn before his Majesty, in the above character, and to render it the more forcible, he resolved to adopt the common-law forms, and the cant and barbarous phraseology of lawyers in the ordinary discourse. It was, therefore, necessary that he should make himself master of that _dialect_, in which almost the best amongst them were accustomed to write and even to discourse; a jargon, says Wilson, in his _Memorabilia Cantabrigiæ_, could not but be offensive to a classical car. He, therefore, took more than ordinary pains to acquaint himself with the technical terms of the profession, and to mark the abuse of them, of which he has admirably availed himself in the formation of the character of _Ignoramus_, who not only transacts business, but "woos in language of the Pleas and Bench." The comedy was enacted before his Majesty by the members of the University, and he was so much delighted with, _on dit_, either the wit or absurdity, that he caused it to be played a second time, and once at Newmarket. During one of these representations, says Dr. Peckard, formerly Master of Magdalen College, in his Life of Mr. Farrer, "the King called out aloud, 'Treason! Treason!' The gentlemen about him being anxious to know what disturbed his Majesty, he said, 'That the writer and performers had acted their parts so well, that he should die of laughter.'" It was during the performance of this play, according to Rapin and others, that James was first struck with the personal beauty of _George Villiers_, who afterwards became Duke of Buckingham, and supplanted _Somerset_ in his favour. Thomas Gibbons, Esq. says, in his Collection, forming part of the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, (No. 980, art. 173.) that "the comedy of Ignoramus, supposed to be by Mr. Ruggle, is but a translation of the Italian comedy of Baptista Porta, entitled _Trapulario_, as may be seen by the comedy itself, in Clare-hall Library, with Mr. Ruggle's notes and alterations thereof." A literary relique that is said to have now disappeared; but it is to be hoped, for the credit of a learned Society, that it is a _mistake_. Dyer in his _Privileges of Cambridge_ (citing vol. ii. fol. 149 of Hare's MSS.) gives _the judgment of the Earl Marshal of England_, which settled this famous controversy. The original document is extant in the Crown Office, in these words:--"I do set down, &c. that the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge is to be taken in commission before the Mayor. King James, also, in the third of his raigne, by letters under the privy signett, commandeth the Lord Ellesmere, Chancellor of England,

TO PLACE THE VICE-CHANCELLOR BEFORE THE MAYOR,

in all commissions of the peace or otherwise, where public shew of degrees is to be made."

AN OXONIAN AND A BISHOP,

Who had half a score of the softer sex to lisp "Papa," not one of whom his lady was conjuror enough "to get off," was one day accosted in Piccadilly by an old Oxford _chum_, with, "I hope I see your Lordship well." "Pretty well, for a man who is daily smothered in _petticoats_, and has ten daughters and a wife to carve for," was the reply.

* * * * *

BRIEF NOTICE OF THE BOAR'S HEAD CAROL, AS SUNG IN QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, ON CHRISTMAS DAY.

"The earliest collection of Christmas carols supposed to have been published," says Hone, in his Every-Day Book, "is only known from the last leaf of a volume, printed by Wynkyn Worde, in the year 1521. This precious scrap was picked up by Tom Hearne; Dr. Rawlinson purchased it at his decease in a volume of tracts, and bequeathed it to the Bodleian Library. There are two carols upon it: one, 'a caroll of huntynge,' is reprinted in the last edition of Juliana Berner's 'Boke of St. Alban's;' the other, 'a caroll bringing in the boar's head,' is in Mr. Dibdin's edition of "Ames," with a copy of it as it is now sung in Queen's College, Oxford, every Christmas Day. Dr. Bliss of Oxford also printed on a sheet, for private distribution, a few copies of this, and Anthony Wood's version of it, with notices concerning the custom, from the handwriting of Wood and Dr. Rawlinson, in the Bodleian Library. Ritson, in his ill-tempered 'Observations on Warton's History of English Poetry,' (1782, 4to., p. 37,) has a Christmas carol upon bringing up the boar's head, from an ancient MS. in his possession, wholly different from Dr. Bliss's. The 'Bibliographical Miscellanies' (Oxford, 1814, 4to.) contains seven carols from a collection in one volume, in the possession of Dr. Cotton, of Christ-Church College, Oxford, 'imprynted at London, in the Poultry, by Richard Kele, dwelling at the longe shop vnder Saynt Myldrede's Chyrche,'" probably between 1546 and 1552. "I had an opportunity of perusing this exceedingly curious volume (Mr. Hone,) which is supposed to be unique, and has since passed into the hands of Mr. Freeling." "According to Aubrey's MS., in the Coll. Ashmol. Mus., Oxford," says a writer in the Morning Herald of the 25th of Dec., 1833, "before the last Civil Wars, in gentlemen's houses, at Christmas, the first dish that was brought to the table was _a boar's head, with a lemon in his mouth_. At Qeeun's College, Oxford," adds this writer, "they still retain this custom; the bearer of it brings it into the hall, singing, to an old tune, an old Latin rhyme, "_Caput apri defero_," &c. "The carol, according to Hearne, Ames, Warton, and Ritson," says Dr. Dibdin, in his edition of the second, is as follows:--

A CAROL BRINGING IN THE BORES HEED.

Caput apri differo Reddens laudes domino. The bore's heed in hande bring I, With garlands gay and rosemary, I praye you all synge merely, Qui estis in convivio.