Part 25

Greg, in his "notes" to _Early Play Lists_ (App. II. lxxix), says: "Neither Langbaine nor any of his followers had seen the piece. The _Biographica_ _Dramatica_ gives the date 1566, which, however, appears to be an invention of Chetwood's." The colophon indicates that it was printed by John Waley (or Walley), who was in business in Foster Lane from 1546 to 1586. This, of course, decides nothing as to the date of the play. Moreover, there is, as far as I am at present aware, only one allusion in the play itself that serves the purpose; even allowing more weight to such evidence than I am inclined to consider safe in the circumstances--Eugenio appoints Actio (359,_a_) "hangman of Calais." It is hardly likely such an allusion to what was at the time regarded as a national "disaster" would have been made after the loss of Calais in 1558. On the other hand, the absence of the concluding prayer for the sovereign--its presence being a pretty certain indication of an Elizabethan play--seems to confirm the downward limit of date. One other allusion may be pertinent--"the sweetest life, Sovereign ... is to have meditation of our Lord Jesus." A Marian date is, from the tone of the play, unlikely; to suppose the reference is to Henry VIII. is equally incongruous. Both considerations are, moreover, emphasised by the fact that had the "Sovereign" been a queen, regnant or dowager, some qualification indicative of sex would in such courtly times most assuredly have been given. We are thus reduced, by the process of exhaustion, to the days of Edward VI.: _i.e._ between 1547 and 1553. Beyond that point I do not think we can safely go at present. The play, as now bound by the British Museum authorities, shows no signs of mutilation, and the numbering of the sheets is consecutive. The type is, for the most part, clear and good; nothing obliterated, very little blurred, and only occasionally is there exhibited a wrong letter (_e.g._ "laue" for "lane"); but as a whole very correct. The construction of the play is of the slightest, turning at its most serious point on the incident of "The Pharisee and the Publican going up to the Temple to pray." Indeed, the whole piece seems curiously incomplete and disconnected. Yet there are no signs whatever, in the original, of mutilation or of lines omitted. The text goes straight on, though the relation of one part to another is by no means obvious. Is it possible that the play as it has reached us is only a draft, or an imperfect, or a "pirated" copy? I am inclined on first glance to think this interlude one of the same class as those that Bishop Bale speaks of as being played at market crosses on Sunday afternoons by way of religious instruction--"thin," slight moral plays. Indications are not wanting which point to this conclusion. Such a fact, if established, would account for the transparent looseness of construction, the deep religious feeling, the reticence and restraint, the apparent confusion of one of the players at once with the apostle, the parish priest, and the actor--and much else. The original is almost devoid of punctuation; the modernised text conforms in that respect to present-day standards. The names of the speakers are likewise not always consistently given in the old copy; they are now standardised. _Latin Quotations and Origins_: It is thought convenient, in respect to this play, to group these as follows:--"_Domine, ante ... absconditus_" (351,_b_), "Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee" (Psalm xxviii. 9): in original _a te_ is omitted after _Et_ in second line--_Beati_ _.. . Domine!_" (352,_a_), "Blessed, O Lord, are they that dwell in Thy house" (Psalm lxxxiv. 4)--"_Qui_ _cum Deo Patri_" (352,_a_), "Who with God the Father," the beginning of an ascription or gloria--"_A_ _poena et culpa_" (352,_b_), from penalty and fault: part of the Latin absolution--"_Nec te collaudas_ _.. . ipse_" (352,_c_), the sense is, "You will not be blamed so long as you don't extol yourself"--"_Qui_ _se collaudit_" (352,_c_), "Who praises himself"; probably from same source as preceding--"_Responde,_ _tunc. .. clericorum_" (352,_d_), "Answer then, master, doctor of the clergy"--"_Sursum_ _corda_" (353,_a_), "Lift up your hearts"; from the office of the mass--"_Via recta_" (354,_a_), "the right way"--"_Spes mea. .. via recta_" (354,_a_), "My hope stood in the right way" (or way of righteousness): several passages like this in sense appear in the Psalms, but none exactly parallel--"_gratia_ _electi_" (354,_b_), "chosen by grace"--"_via obliquia_ _.. . circularis_" (354,_c_), "the crooked way and circular way": no doubt scriptural--"_omnes iniquo_ _in circuitu impii ambulantes_" (354,_c_), _iniquo_ in original reads _iniqui_, which I take to be a misprint: it now reads, "all the ungodly walking in the ungodly path" (or path of ungodliness): probably from the Psalms--"_Ab aquilone. .. omne malum_" (355,_a_), "from the north is spread every evil": a parallel passage is found in Jeremiah iv. 6, "I will bring evil from the north," etc.--"_Fumus_ _tormentorum. .. secula seculorum_" (355,_d_), in original _fumus_ reads _finit_, most likely a misprint: the passage as it now stands is intelligible, "The smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever; a quotation from Revelation xiv. 11--"_Septum_ _.. . mors_" (355,_d_), _Septum_ conveys the idea of a surrounding fence or hedge (cf. 355,_a_ and _b_), "the enclosing (or surrounding) master of sin is death; but?--"_administrate. .. comfortate nos_" (356,_c_), dog-Latin: "administers, restores, comforts"--"_Intentio_ _judicat quenquam_" (357,_a_), "The intention decides everything"; no doubt proverbial--"_In principio_" (364,_d_), "in the beginning": the first two words of the Latin version of St. John's Gospel--"_Confiteor_". .. _Deo gratias_ _.. . Deo gratias ago tibi_" (366,_b_), "I confess ... thanks be to God ... God I thank thee": see Luke xviii. 11--"_Tu testimonium. .. est verum_" (367,_a_), "Thou bearest testimony of thyself; and thy testimony is not true"; an adaptation of John viii. 13--"_Qui vivit. .. seculorum secula_" (368,_a_), "Who lives through the infinite ages of age." _Amended Readings, Corrigenda, Suggestions, &c._ The collation is A to Civ in 4s, with A1,_v_ blank.--Names of Players are not in the original.--The colophon is transferred from Civ,_v_--Stage directions and words in brackets do not appear in the original: this is not further mentioned in these notes--"_Et_ a te _gemitus_" (351,_b_), _a te_ not in original--"As it _ravisheth_ the soul" (351,_c_), original _rauysshet_--"such a pulpit man to _lose_" (352,_b_), original _lese_--"_Reponde_, tunc, _domine_" (352,_d_), original _tunice_--"that same death _thou shalt_ die" (353,_a_), erroneously given in my text: the original has _shalt_ _thou_--["_The continuation seems imperfect_"], there may be several causes for this. Certainly here, as in other places, there are no signs whatever in original of mutilation or of lines omitted. The text goes straight on, though the relation of one part to another is by no means obvious. The whole play seems curiously incomplete and scrappy, even for early dramatic effort, oftentimes of the "thinnest" and crudest. True, the action may be modelled somewhat on the lines of Heywood's _Pardoner and the Friar_, in which the "interruptions" of one speaker with another lead to "business." Or the play may be a mere fragment of the "book," as it left the author's hands--surreptitious, unauthorised, or unrevised. In the former case, especially assuming that it was intended as a kind of a "dramatic sermon," the action shows order of a kind: commencing with what is obviously intended as the commencement of an exhortation and omitting the "comic" and "lighter" parts, the sermon would, in a measure, be naturally complete by "following on" the speeches as follows: _St. John_ _the Evan._ 351,_b_ to 352,_a_; _Irisdision_, 353,_c_ (with asides, incentives, or interruptions) to 356,_a_; _St. John the_ _Evan._ 357,_b_ to 358,_a_; then comes an "interval," and the discourse is resumed at (JE365,_c_ to end) winding up with the "application" which was soon to form such an important feature in Puritan worship. So for the point directly at issue; but another puzzle confronts the student and one concerning which at this early stage I do not pretend to offer a solution. Personally, I should have preferred to have deferred publishing the text, in order to have had an opportunity of careful and exact comparative study of the piece in its relation to the Tudor drama as a _whole_ as well as "_play_"-meal. On the other hand, I felt that the generous support we have met with at the hands of the Society's subscribers would be best repaid by speedy publication--"In the city of Jerusalem ... walled" (353,_c_), if the play has come to us intact, and the lack of continuity is intentional, the punctuation of this passage must be altered: delete the full point after _called_ and regard the next line as a parenthesis, and substitute a semicolon for the period after _walled_--"in the _lane of business_" (354,_a_), in original _laue_ of _besynesse_--"Yes, on the left side" (354,_c_), _Ies_ in original--"full of _slouthy_ bushes" (355,_b_), this may be _flouthy_--"_Fumus_ _tormentorum_" (355,_d_), in original _Finit_: Latin quotations, _supra_ (418,_d_)--"[_Iris_]. It is time for to be walking, &c." (356,_a_), these two lines are not in original given to Irisdision, but form part of Eugenios' speech, which proceeds without a break to "Sir William of Trentram" (357,_a_). They seem to me, however, to be rightly restored as now given--"by books _Amromes_" (356,_b_), so in original:? a misprint for _amorous_, which would at least restore the sense. There is, moreover, nothing in original to suggest a break--"_St. John the Evangelist_" (357,_a_), preceded by [+] instead of the usual "leaf"--"plain _information_" (357,_b_) in original _infymacyon_--"I am _that_ John that" (357,_b_), in original "I am John that": a blunder I carelessly passed--"saw _Lungis_" (357,_c_), original _Longes_: see (424,_d_)--"almost changed my mood" (359,_c_), original _mode_--"have _been_ so witty" (359,_c_), in original _brn_--"_Yes_, yes daily" (362,_b_), in original _Ies_--"some pleasure then there _appears_" (363,_d_), in original _areres_--"between your ears" (363,_d_), in original _bytwene_--"make thee to _fly_" (365,_b_), a mistake: the original is _stye_ (= ascend, A.S.)--"_Deo_ _gratias ago tibi_" (366,_b_), substitute a full point for the comma--"In _that_ he thanked God" (366,_b_), in original _than_--"By raveners ... men can rehearse" (366,_c_). I do not feel sure that the present punctuation gives the best rendering of the original, which is entirely unstopped--"In that cayme" (366,_c_), see _supra, s.v._ Cayme:? Cain--"_Against_ _God_" (366,_d_), in original _Agayne_--"Who doth hie him shall be _ho_" (367,_a_), see _supra,_ _s.v._ Ho.

JOINT, "_jeopard a joint_" (R256,_d_)--"_t'adventure a_ _joint_" (R250,_c_), to take a risk or hazard, as of injury, loss, hanging, etc. "My ten duckets are like my ten fingers, they will not _jeopard a joynt_ for you."--Decker, _Fortunatus_ (1600), Works (1873), I. 153.

JOLLY, "here is a _jolly_ jacket" (M31,_d_), bright, gay, splendid, in newest fashion. "_Jolye_ and gaye sadeles."--Wyclif, _Sel. Wks._ (_c_. 1380), III. 520.

JUNCTLY, "marred _junctly_ together" (M16,_d_) jointly.

JUNKERY, "a banket or a _junkery_" (N95,_c_), banquet, feast, junket: specifically a merrymaking accompanied by eating and drinking. "Pertrych and his felaw bere gret visage and kepe gret _junkeryes_ and dyneres."--_Paston Lett._ (1449), IV. 24 (1901).

JURIS, see In.

JUSTICES OF QUORUM (JE352,_d_). According to Mr. Craigie (_O.E.D., s.v._), _quorum_ was "originally certain justices of the peace, usually of eminent learning or ability, whose presence was necessary to constitute a bench; latterly the term was loosely applied to all justices." "The Justicez or _Justice_ _of the_ Pease of the _Quorum_ yn the same shire."--_Rolls_ _Parlt._ (1455), V. 334. I.

JUSTITIA, (_a_) (R. _passim_), as a pertinent comment on the _motif_ of this play it may be remarked that the name _Justitia_ was (_O.E.D._) applied in the eleventh century in a general way to persons charged with the administration of the law, especially to the Sheriffs; it was subsequently limited to the president or one of the members of the Curia Regis, out of which the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer were developed: see previous entry.

(_b_) _Just[ici]a tamen non luxit in nobis_ (R253,_b_), see _Book of Wisdom_ (_Sap._, 1, 15), where it reads, _Justitiæ lumen non luxit in nobis._ Mr. Magnus earmarks the mistake as "interesting, if, as is probable, the MS. is not the author's; it is the kind of miscopying which we might expect."

KAYS, "where be my _kays_" (R184,_d_), this seemingly cockney Irish pronunciation of "key" is in truth the correct one, and was the standard down to the close of the seventeenth century. In M.E. the rhyme was with _day_, _play_, _say_, etc., and Dryden so employs it. On the other hand, early in the fifteenth century the (northern) spelling _kee_ was in vogue, from which it appears that the modern pronunciation _kee_ is of northern origin, but it is difficult to say how it came into general English use (_O.E.D._).

KEEP, "_Keep_ your tail" (M21,_a_), _i.e._ keep it out of sight.

KENT ... NORTHUMBERLAND, etc. (R254,_a_): see Respublica.

KING, see Cat.

KISS, see Courtesy.

KNIGHT, "Christ's own _knight_" (M12,_a_), soldier. "A _knight_ with a spear."--_Youth_, Anon. Plays, 2 Ser. (E.E.D.S.), 97,_d_. "That _knycht_ quha peirsit our Lordis syde with the speir."--Winzet, _Four_ _Scoir Thre Quest_. (1563), _Works_ (1888), I. 77.

KNIL, "I rang her a _knil_" (N97,_d_), a loud peal on a bell: specifically the passing bell, but frequently used of more or less violent ringing.

K. Q. TITLE, see Jack Noble.

KYX, "as dry as a _kyx_" (R271,_b_), a dry, hollow stalk. "Elders they may bee, which being fullest of spungie pith, proue euer the driest _kixes_."--_Pappe_ _w. Hatchet_ (1589), Civ.

LADE, "by whom thou art _lade_" (IP335,_b_), led.

LADYDOM, "Chwas besiraunce your _ladidom_ to see" (R213,_c_). Mr. Magnus says "a new formation." Murray's first quotation is dated 1843.

LADY OF WOLPIT (IP315,_d_), this should have been Woolpit, near Bury-St.-Edmunds. See Woolpit.

LAMMAS, "at the latter _Lammas_" (R219,_a_), never: see _Slang and its Analogues_.

LAVATORY, "that blessed _lavatory_" (M3,_c_), a figurative usage: cf. "the _lavatory_ of grace" (_Pilgr. Perf._, W. de W. 60_b_, 1526).

LAY, "hold for the _lay_" (JE353,_d_), lake, pool: in the _O.E.D._ the latest quotation for the literary use of this word is 1481, later ones being taken from the early nineteenth century dialect glossaries. This example is therefore useful.

LEAD, "I have no _lead_ on my heels" (M25,_a_), the "heel of lead" was proverbial for slow, unsprightly movement: cf. "Love, I am full of _lead_" (Shakespeare, _Ant. and Cleop._, iii. 11, 72).

LEARN, "Titivillus can _learn_ you many pretty things" (M25,_d_), this present-day vulgarism was formerly in constant literary use. Wyclif in his first (1382) rendering of Prov. ix. 7 employed it--"Who _lerneth_ a scorner," etc.: in the revised text of 1388 he substituted "techith."

LEFT HAND, see Hand.

LEGS, see Titivillus.

LEMAN, "take thee a _leman_" (M27,_a_), mistress, whore: see other volumes of this series.

LESE, "an open _lese_" (N108,_d_), pasture, meadowland, common. "We been his people and scheep of his _leese_."--_Prymer_ (_c._ 1400), 17 (1891).

LESING, "many a _lesing_" (M18,_b_), lie, lying, falsehood.

LET, "not minding you to _let_" (R188,_b_), hinder, obstruct.

LIKELY, "such a _likely_ man" (M27,_d_), in original _lygh[t]ly_; seemly, becoming, good-looking. "The damoysel beheld the poure knyght, and sawe he was a _lykely_ man"--Malory, _Arthur_ (1470-85), II. ii. 77.

LIMIT, "a pardon by _limit_" (M8,_c_), in original _bely_ _mett_. Apparently a pardon sold or bestowed by a friar limiter: see other volumes of this series.

LION OF COTSWOLD (N109,_c_), a sheep: an earlier example than the first of the _O.E.D._ quotations.

LIVE, "_on live_" (IP300,_c_), alive: an attributive use.

LIVER, "shall _liver_ him" (R271,_c_), deliver.

LONGETH, "that _longeth_ to thine office" (M8,_c_), pertains to, is fit and appropriate for.

LOREL (IP335,_b_), a generic term of reproach. "I play the _lorell_ or the loyterer."--- Palsgrave, _Lang. Fran._ (1530), 659.

LOSELL, "like a loitering _losell_" (R257,_d_), profligate, rake: etymologically, "one who is lost," "a son of perdition."

LOSS, "poor we bear the _loss_" (R231,_d_), see Respublica.

LOUTS, "we made them _louts_" (R221,_c_), _i.e._ caused them to submit to our demands and disgorge. "To whome grete astates obeyde and _lowttede_."--_Elegy_ _on Henry_ (_c._ 1500), in _Percy's Releg._, 45.

LOVE, "Hasty _love_ is soon hot, and soon cold" (WS161,_a_); Heywood (_Works_, E.E.D.S., II. 6,_d_) has "hot _love_, soon cold."

LOWLER (JE354,_d_), a variant of Loller = Lollard. Originally applied (_c._ 1300) to a charitable fraternity, and subsequently to pretenders to austere piety and humility. Hence in reproach to certain "heretics," followers of Wyclif and similar purists.

LUNGIS (JE357,_c_), in original _Longes_. As this play is, generally speaking, carefully printed the use of the capital seems to point to a proper name, and not to _lunges_ = thrusts, stabs. _Lungis_ is the apocryphal name of the centurion who pierced our Lord with a spear: L. _longinus_. The _O.E.D._ cites this as the origin of _lungis_ = lout, loafer--a generic reproach. On the other hand, if _lunge_ = a stab, it gives an instance of the use of the word some 200 years earlier than Dr. Murray's premier example: in either case the present illustration is useful and interesting.

LURDAN, LURDEN (_passim_), a generic reproach and term of abuse; examples are numerous.

MACE, see Mass.