Part 24

The copy now happily recovered shows the play to have been "newly" printed in 1560 by John King, who was in business at the Sign of the Swan in St. Paul's Churchyard from 1555 to 1561. There is no entry in the Stationers' Register for the year 1560 or earlier. The British Museum copy is a tolerably well-printed black-letter quarto of its kind; it is also in excellent preservation. A reduced facsimile of the title-page is given on page 311, but unfortunately the paper used in these volumes is not altogether suitable for illustrative work. The old copy is, however, announced among _The Tudor Drama_ _Facsimile Texts_, and will shortly be available in collotype. The collation is A to Eii in 4s (18 leaves). The first sheet (A) has no signature, but the others are regular in notation. _Impatient_ (= intolerable, unendurable) _Poverty_ is by an unknown author, but a very shrewd attribution might even now be made were not the time, as yet, hardly ripe for scientific deductions. The materials are not at hand for anything like a systematic study of pre-Shakespearean dramatic effort and achievement; and the study of isolated plays can, at best, lead to imperfect and perhaps erroneous conclusions. Unquestionably, however, the Tudor drama deserves to be studied, as Shakespeare is now-a-days studied: as a whole, and not piecemeal. But--alack and alack!--where is the accessible material for such an inquiry? Still, if at present we do not know the author's name, we can nevertheless learn something of him from his play. He was evidently a sedate man, serious to a degree, with apparently deep-seated religious principles: note the long-sustained exhortations and the general tone of the play. It is also noteworthy that, for the period, the bawdry is "cut" to the lowest limit. There are no women's parts, and the Vice is a watered-down specimen of his class. There is little internal evidence to enable one to form an idea of the date of composition, though this may, I think, be fixed as probably not earlier than 1545, but before 1552. The allusions to usury seem to point to a period anterior to the repeal by Edward VI. in 1552 of the Usury Act of 37 Henry VIII., which was re-enacted by Elizabeth in 1570. Yet the reference to "the Queen" (347,_d_), unless a later interpolation, is obviously to Queen Elizabeth, and not to Queen Mary. The play is too distinctly and settled Protestant--indeed, the tone is even that of "the new learning" victorious--to admit of a Marian chronology. In this latter case the downward limit would be extended at least to 1558. Other allusions are likewise scanty or unilluminating--"Joy and solace be in this hall" (321,_a_), seems suggestive of a College or Inns of Court audience, as distinguished from a purely Court performance; the joining of simony with covetise (325,_c_) recalls the Edward VI. Act against simony (1552); "Conscience, the high judge of the law" (328,_b_), is reminiscent of _Respublica_: cf. 227,_d_; other references are to Newgate, Tyburn, the Fleur de Lys, etc., but they do not appear to have any special meaning. The present text is transcribed direct from a rotary-bromide copy of the original, and having been twice collated, once with the photo-text, and again finally with the original, it will, I hope, be found as accurate as human care can make it. _Variations and Corrigenda_ are as follows: The colophon (312,_d_) is in original given on Eii. v. at the end of the play--The text begins at the top of Aii _r_ without title--The stage directions in brackets do not appear in the original--The names of the speakers are in the present text systematised a little, and are consequently, in some cases, slightly different to the original--"What people are tho[se]" (314,_a_), in original _tho_ (A.S. = those)--"for shame thou _shouldst_ bear" (315,_a_), in original _shuls_--"that with _humility_" (316,_b_), in original _humyly_--"Thy very duty" (317,_a_), in original _They_--"this _well_ I knaw" (317,_a_), in original _wyll_--"Let it be _tryd_ by manhood, and _thereto_ I give thee my glove" (317,_c_), in original _tryet_ and _thertho_--"I pray _you_ sir" (317,_d_), in original _your_--"I hold it _punishment_" (318,_a_), in original _punisshment_--"Nay by _God_! there _ho_!" (318,_d_), in original _good ... hoo_--"I break your _head_" (319,_a_), in original _heed_--"_Pater dimitte illis_" (319,_b_), in original misprinted _dimitie_--"_beati_ _pauperes spiritu_" (319,_b_), in original _beaty pauperes_ _spiritu_--"As it _doth_ often" (320,_c_), in original _doeth_--"_Exeunt ambo_" (320,_d_), in original _Exiunt_ _ambo_--[_Enter_ ABUNDANCE] (321,_a_), throughout this is _Haboundaunce_--"_though_ he would" (321,_d_), in original _thought_--"_be_ openly known" (321,_d_), in original _he_--"Singular _commodum_" (321,_d_), so in original--"to _them_ that are needy" (322,_a_), in original _theym_--"_Because_ I may forbear" (322,_b_), in original _Bycause_--"_Cons. Evensine_ very shame" (322,_b_), in original, _Evensynne_--"_Cons._ To make restitution" (324,_a_), in original _Doo_--"_Make_ amends" (324,_c_), in original _Mke_--"_you_ cannot come in" (324,_d_), should be _thou_, as in original--"Now in _faith_" (326,_b_), in original _fayte_--"He goeth in a _cloak_" (327,_b_), in original _clocke_--"the _temporalty_" (327,_c_), in original _themporaltye_--"pride, _sloth_, and lechery" (327,_c_), in original _slewth_--"Set covetire in your _room_" (328,_b_), in original _rowm_--"[_Envy_] Y-wys, cousin" (328,_d_), not in original, but the speech is clearly to _Envy_--"by _Cocks_ passion" (330,_a_), in original _coxs_; so also at 330,_c_--"I have of gold three _hundred_ pound" (331,_a_), in original _hundreth_--"I am your _kinsman_" (331,_b_), in original _Kyngman_--"Ye must have _more_ servants" (331,_c_), in original _moo_--"most _expedient_" (331,_c_), original _expedyende_--"_Because_ he can so well sing" (332,_b_), in original _Bycause_--"Tush! take no _thought_" (332,_d_), in original _though_--"at a pinch ... broad as an inch" (333,_d_), the punctuation may not rightly interpret the exact sense here, but it seems elliptical and to require _If_ before _her heel_: _i.e._ how little light-heeled she were she would still serve to inflame Prosperity; the whole speech in original is without a single punctuation mark--"_Because_ he is old" (333,_d_), in original _Bycause_--The signature (335,_d_) given as _B_1,_r_ should of course have been _D_1,_r_--"That so can read his _destiny_" (336,_a_), in original _destanye_--"tell me at _one_ word" (337,_a_), in original _our_--"_obscured_ with clouds" (337,_d_), original _obscrued_--_Colhazard_ (_passim_), this in original is variously spelt; Colhasard, Collhasard, Colehazard, Collhassard, etc.--"_Sober your mood_" (340,_a_), in original _sobre you mode_--"_won_ all my good" (340,_c_), original _wome_--"Cannot chance a _main_ groat" (341,_c_), original _man_--"for I _obtain_ all thing" (343,_a_), in original _optayne_--"upon you a great _slande[r]_" (343,_c_), in original _sclaunde_--"and live in great _advoutry_" (343,_d_), original misprints _aduantrye_--"what will ye _then_ say" (344,_a_), original _thed_--"And _then_ sayeth the _Sumner_" (344,_b_), original _them ... somuer_--"be _unto_ God" (344,_c_), original _into_--"brought me to _this_ distress" (345,_a_), original _his_--"leeful for a _callet_" (345,_b_), original _called_--"and great _usurers_" (345,_c_), in original _usures_--"_Bawds_, advouterers" (345,_c_), in original _Bandes_--"fornicators, and escheaters" (345,_c_), in original _echeters_--"made his purgation" (345,_d_), original _is_--"as Thou art _omnipotent_" (347,_d_), in original _onypotent_.

IN, (_a_) _in manus tuas_ (M23,_b_), from Psalm xxx. 6: _in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum_ = into Thy hands I commit my spirit. The _queck_ in text should not have been in italics.

(_b_) "_i[n] forma juris d'hazard_" (M29,_c_), restored by Prof. Brandl: in original, "_do yt forma jurys_ _dasard_."

INCROKE, "He took of her an _incroke_" (IP326,_c_),?--As a verb, Murray has _incrook_ and _inkroke_ = to bend or bow down; _e.g._ in Rom. xi. 10, the phrase "and _bow down_ their back alway" is given by Wyclif as "in kroke" their back.

INGHAM, see Macro Plays.

INQUEST, "to do at your _inquest_" (R234,_b_), request: in original, _enquest_.

INSTITUTE, "He hath _institute_ you above all His works" (M11,_d_), appointed, set, invested. "Cousin of York, we _institute_ your Grace to be our Regent in these parts of France."--Shakespeare, _1 Hen. VI._ (1596), iv. 1, 162.

INSTITUTION, "a beast doth after his natural _institution_" (M9,_b_), nature, established order.

INTERLECTION, "Let us have an _interlection_" (M20,_c_), talk, consultation, conference: not in _O.E.D._ Though regularly formed, probably a nonce word.

INTERMISE, "_intermise_ yourself not in their company" (M14,_b_), mix, interfere, interpose, concern, or occupy oneself with: not in _O.E.D._, but sufficiently indicated (_s.v._ _Inter-_, p. 381, 1. 1 _b_ and _Intermise_, subs.).

INVENTUS, "_non est inventus_" (M34,_d_), _i.e._ he is not to be found.

I-PILATE, "he was i-pounst and _i-pilate_" (R211,_b_), pilated = brought before Pilate, "beaked": see I.

I-POLLD, "were ne'er so _i-polld_" (R211,_a_), fleeced, robbed, cheated. Mr. Magnus, however, glosses it as "pulled about." "And have wynked at the _pollyng_ and extorcion of hys unmeasurable officiers."--Hall, _Union_ (1548).

I-POUNST, "he was _i-pounst_ and i-pilate" (R211,_b_), ? beaten, scourged; an eastern counties word.

IRISDISION, see Trentham.

IRK, "unlusty and _irk_" (M24,_c_)--"I am near _irk_ of both" (M26,_b_), tired, bored, disgusted.

IS (R. _passim_), I; oftentimes the sibilant is carried to the next word.

I-STRIKE, "sixpence in each shilling was _i-strike_ quite away" (R232,_a_), struck: see Respublica.

I-TORMENT, "zo _i-torment_" (R211,_a_), tormented.

I-TROUNST, "so _i-trounst_" (R211,_b_). Prof. Brandl refers to M.E. _trunsioun_ and O.F. _tronchon_.

JACK-A-NAPES (R264,_b_), here = a tame ape or monkey. The origin of the term in this and its more usual sense (= an ape-like, pert, or ridiculous person) is obscure. Dr. Murray says that so far as yet found the word appears first as an opprobrious nickname of William de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk who was murdered in 1450, whose badge was a clog and chain such as was attached to a tame ape. Thus in contemporary poems (_e.g._, _Pol. Poems_, _c._ 1499 [Rolls], II. 222) several noblemen are designated by their badges, Suffolk being named the "ape-clogge." We find _Jack-napes_ generic for an ape in Skelton (1522), and shortly afterwards the term was current in the present and more common sense. But the connection between _Jack Napes_ and an _ape_ (again to quote Dr. Murray) "is uncertain."

JACK NOBLE, "Hence Forty Pence ... _Jack Noble_ is a-bed" (N98,_a_), a pun on the value of the coins (forty pence being half a noble) and the lady's preference. What _K. q. title_ means I cannot divine. Prof. Brandl suggests _King--Queen_, but confesses it obscure; _a bry_ appears to signify a breeze, awkward affair or predicament.

JAKE, "a good _jake_ of fence" (M32,_a_), coat of defence; a sleeveless tunic or jacket formerly worn by foot-soldiers and others, usually of quilted leather. Sometimes = a coat of mail.

JAVELS, "_javels_ as shall wrong them" (R192,_b_), a generic reproach--rascal, good-for-nothing. "How much more abhominable is that pieuish pride in a lewde vnthriftye, _iavell_."--More, _Treat. Pass._ (1534), Introd. Wks., 1272.

JE, _Je nescey_ (N97,_b_), _i.e._ _Je ne sais [pas]_.

JET (_passim_), formerly as hard a worked word as "commodity" or "cast"; it signified any device, contrivance, art, fashion, style, mode, manner, or custom. As _verb_ = to strut, walk with consequence, and so forth.

JEWELS (M18,_a_), privities: see privity (19,_d_): New Guise's and Mankind's "business" seems to have been not over fastidious.

JIS (_passim_), Jesus: cf. Gis.

JOAN (_passim_), a generic name for an alewife, strumpet, and the like: see _Doctour Double Ale_ and next entry.

JOHN, "_Come kiss me, John_" (N93,_c_). Chappell says that nothing remains of the words except "Jon come kisse me now, Jon come kisse me now; Jon come kisse me by and by, and make no more adow." The music is given in _Citharen Lessons_, 1609; _Airs and Sonnets_, _MS._, _T.C. Dublin_, etc. It is also mentioned in _Jacob and Esau_, in Heywood's _A Woman Kill'd with Kindness_ (1600); in _'Tis_ _merry when Gossips meet_ (1609); in a song in _Westminster_ _Drollery_ (1671 and 1674); in Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_ (1611); _The Scourge of_ _Folly_ (N.D.); Brathwayte's _Shepherd's Tales_ (1623); in Hy. Bold's _Songs and Poems_ (1685); and in Sir W. Davenant's _Love and Honour_.

WILLIAM BYRD.

JOHN-HOLD-MY-STAFF (R188,_a_), a parasite, lickspittle. "And here it is the fortune of a man to be married to a woman of so peevish and domineering a temper that she will wear the breeches and the cap too: so that the poor fop at home is like _John-Hold-my-Staff_; she must rule, govern, insult, brawl," etc.--_Fifteen_ _Comforts of Matrimony._

JOHN IRISCHE (WH304,_d_), the allusion is lost.

JOHN SHOLE (WH304,_d_), see previous entry.

JOHN THE EVANGELIST. The text of this play is given on pages 349-368, together with a reduced facsimile of the title-page. Until recently _John the_ _Evangelist_ was looked upon as one of the innumerable "lost" plays of the Tudor period. It has now been recovered under the notable circumstances narrated in the preface to this volume. Curiously enough, _John the Evangelist_ was at first, in the sale catalogue, confused with Bishop Bale's _John_ _Baptist's Preaching in the Wilderness_, no copy of which also is now traceable, being known only through the reprint in the _Harleian Miscellanies_. However, there is no doubt that if a choice of "finds" had to be made the lot would fall to the present play, which has been untraceable in any form, save that of mere mention, for hundreds of years. The British Museum Catalogue entry is:

JOHN SAINT AND APOSTLE. Here begynneth the interlude of Johan the Evangelist [with a woodcut]. B.L. John Waley, London [1560?]. 4^o. [c. 34. i. 20.]