Part 27

MANKIND. The text is given on pp. 1-40. This curious picture of real life and ne'er-do-weels in late Plantagenet and early Tudor times is one of the unique Macro plays, and existed, until quite recently, in manuscript only. With this manuscript and its history I have dealt fully in another part of this volume (_see_ Macro Plays and MSS.). During the last ten years _Mankind_ has been three times reprinted--by Dr. Brandl (_Quellen_, etc., 1904), by Prof. Manly (_Specimens of the Pre-Shakespearean_ _Drama_, 1904), and by the _Early English Text Society_ (Extra Series xci, 1904). The last-named text in all probability more nearly approaches fidelity to the original than the others; but as the amanuensis, to all appearance, was the same for all three, and was responsible for the confessedly untrustworthy texts which Dr. Brandl and Prof. Manly have been compelled to use without an opportunity of a new collation with the original manuscript, one cannot but entertain some misgiving as to the accuracy of the Early English Text Society's version. Especially is this the case in view of the fact that, so far as I can learn, the E.E. text, as set by the printers from the copy supplied to them, does not seem to have been compared with the original MS. The manifold errors too, alike in the otherwise admirable introductory sketches, in the footnotes, and in the glossary, are not reassuring. Quotation after quotation, reference after reference, are incorrectly given. For example, in # 2, pp. xi.-xix., there are no less than twelve errors of this description that have casually come to my notice; while, having occasion to use the glossary references more frequently, I have found its usefulness much more largely impaired. Taking a column here and there at random, these are the results:--page 196, col. 1, 2 errors; 199, col. 2, 1 error; 200, col. 2, 5 references wrong; 210, col. 1, 4 errors. Why, too, Monk _Hyngston_ (xix.) instead of _Hyngham_? And, in reference to this strange inaccuracy, I must add that the same Society's edition of _Respublica_ is no better; indeed, it is worse! One page alone of the Notes (p. 66) contains no less than four wrong references, and the weight of Mr. Magnus's argument for an attribution of the play to Udall is marred by such unaccountable misquotation of names as _Mengrade_ for _Merry-greek_ and _Mumblecourt_ for _Mumblecrust_ (both on page xxi.). Under the circumstances, and being unable to obtain access to the original manuscript, my own text must be taken for what it is ultimately proved. I have, of course, always given greater weight to the E.E.T.S. version, because it is the copy nearest to the original (the Brandl and Manly texts are copies of this copy), but in many cases Dr. Brandl and Professor Manly have done what service they could, and good service often, in suggested and amended readings and restorations. As no good purpose could, under the circumstances, have been served in dealing with all the minutiæ of this kind in an uncertain text, I have confined my remarks in this respect to the more important points raised. By punctuation, often and _in toto_, I differ from all three, jointly and severally; varying the interpretation. These I have noted. But one conclusion is obvious. The texts of these Macro plays as they stand are not all that scholars can desire; and it is to be hoped that permission may be obtained for a collotype facsimile of the whole of the plays. The cost would be great, but I have no doubt that consideration can be satisfactorily solved. _Corrigenda, Suggested Readings,_ _Restorations, etc._ [In the following pages the attributions are indicated by F = Early Eng. Text Society's Editors; M = Professor Manly; B = Dr. Brandl; and _Ed._ = the present editor.] The "Names of the players" do not appear in the original manuscript--"our _first_ creation" (3,_b_), original _syest_ or _syrst_ (F)--"to _have_ him revived" (3,_c_), original _hade_--"By _meditation_ of our Lady" (4,_a_), read _mediation_ (M)--"make his _avaunt_" (4,_b_), _a-vaunce_ in MS.--"that _venomous_ serpent" (4,_d_), original _vemynousse_--"leave your _calculation_" (5,_a_), _calcacyon_ in F.: I follow M and B in present reading--[_A leaf of_ _the manuscript, etc._] (6,_a_), in the manuscript the next speech is to Mercy, but I have followed Prof. Manly's suggestion, also quoted by Dr. Furnivall. He says: "These lines begin a new leaf in the MS. They seem highly inappropriate in the mouth of Mercy.... Moreover, it is clear from ["we three" (7,_a_), and "all three" (7,_c_)] that the entrance of New Gyse, Now-a-days, and Nought was immediately preceded by Mercy's use of the words forming their names. I therefore suppose that at least one leaf of MS. (containing their entrance) has been lost at this point, and suggest that the command to the minstrels be assigned to New Gyse"--"have traced somewhat _to fell_" (7,_a_), _to fylde fell_ in MS.: I have followed the Manly text, which is based on a suggestion of Prof. Kittredge's, that _fylde_ was written by mistake, and that the copyist then, observing that _fylde_ neither rhymed nor made sense, added the right word, but neglected to erase _fylde_--"Christ's curse _have ye_" (7,_b_), _hade_ in MS. = had ye = have ye--"I had the _cup in_ my hand" (7,_b_), MS. has _cup ready in_: so also F and B; M as in present text--"Say _no[ugh]t_ again" (7,_c_), I have followed Manly: B and F have _not_ as in MS.--"shall find us _sh[r]ews_" (7,_c_), _schewys_ in MS.--"that brought you _hither_" (7,_c_), _brethern_ in MS., _hither_ being M's emendation with a suggestion that possibly _brether_ is the right word: F and B follow MS.--"Ye betray _many men_" (7,_d_), "_a man_" struck out (F)--"_my_ denomination" (8,_a_), "_by_" written over in MS. (F)--"a little force" (8,_a_), _faus_ in MS.--"full of English Latin" (8,_a_), a marginal note says: "to have this English made in Latin: I am a-ferde yt wyll brest: 'It ram be' [? MS.], quod the bocher on-to me, 'When I stale a leg a motun [gh]e are a stronge cunnynge clerke, I prey,' etc."--"_here is a pardon by limit_" (8,_c_), I have omitted _lo_ before "here" by mistake: "pardon by limit" is in original, _pardon bely mett_--"the demonical frayry" (8,_d_), M supposes a line lost here, but there is no indication of such in the MS.--"of _their_ own Christ" (9,_b_), _her_ in MS.--"Alas! what was thy fortune" (10,_d_), here a marginal note in the MS. occurs, "I may both syth and sobbe; þis ys a pituose remembrance, O In my soull, so sotyll in thy substance." Prof. Manly says "this may be a part of the three lines necessary to restore the versification." He indicates a line missing before the line beginning "Alas! what was thy fortune," and two lines missing after the line ending "that stinking dunghill"--"[MANKIND _approaches_ MERCY" (11,_a_), F adds "and kneels to him"--"In _sinful_ guiding" (11,_b_), _sympull_ in MS. which is followed by F; M has _sinful_--"_Vita hominis est_ milicia" (11,_d_), nnilicia in MS.--"Measure yourself," etc. (12,_b_), this line is in margin in MS.--"_I trow_ and ye were" (12,_d_), _It row_ in MS.: the same miscript occurs at 13,_a_--"_Mo than a_ good sort" (13,_b_), M suggests emending to "Methink a"--"To _them_ ye will go" (13,_b_), _hem_ in MS.; I follow M: B suggests _hom_--"by Saint _Quintin_" (13,_c_), _Sent_ _Qisyntyn_ in MS.--"I am even _very weary_" (13,_c_), _wery wery_ in MS.--"be there again to-morrow" (13,_c_), M, for the sake of the rhyme, suggests _to-morne_--"patience of Job _in_ tribulation" (14,_a_), so in M: the MS. has &--"my own sweet son" (14,_a_), against this line in the margin in another hand is, "_ita factum est_"--"To pervert _your_ conditions" (14,_b_), _þer_ in MS.: F suggests for _þi_; M reads your; B suggests _your_--"all their _means_" (14,_b_), _nnenys_ in MS.--"_intermise_ yourself not" (14,_c_), scratched through in MS. and "_intro-mytt_" written over in another hand--"of the _cunning that I can_" (15,_a_), _co[=m]ynge ... kam_ in MS.--"It is written, etc." (16,_a_), this song is omitted by Manly (_see_ Holyke, _ante_) but given by F and B, the latter in _Quellen_, pp. 50-51, not page 61 as erroneously given by the Early English Text editors--"if he will have _compos[t]_" (17,_c_), _compasse_ in MS.: F corrects to _compass[t]e_; M to _compost_; B to _composte_--"By Cock's body sacred" (18,_b_), F queries this as being _sakyide_ in MS.--"By the _aid_ of His grace" (18,_b_), _syde_ in MS.: F suggests _ayde_ and says "MS. fs crost there before _syde_ ... see line 400" [With the help, &c., 19,_a_]--"_Nec in_ hasta" (18,_c_), _hastu_ in MS.: F refers to "Non in gladio, nec in hasta.... 1 Reg. xvii. 47"--"Alack, alack!" (19,_d_), F says (this commences leaf 127 back), "In another hand, at top, 'Honorabyll well belouyd frende, I hertely Recummend me on-to you'"--"Yea, _Christ's cross_" (20,_b_), _Crastes_ in MS.: M suggests _Christ's curse_, comparing it with "Christ's copped curse" (36,_a_)--"There! we're on anon" (20,_b_), I may have been misled, though the MS. is by no means clear: "Ther, wher, on & on," which _might_ be interpreted, "There, ware! on anon! Out! ye shall not," etc., or "There! we're one and [_i.e._ to] one. Out! ye shall not," etc.--"Know ye any _aught_" (20,_c_), _out_ in MS.: F and B read _ou[gh]t_--"with a _flowte_" (20,_d_), _flewte_ in MS.: M queries it for _flowte_, which I have adopted--"Else _there_ shall" (20,_d_)? _þei_ in MS. (F)--"he is a _worshipful_ man" (21,_a_), _worschyppull_ in MS.--"nor pence _nor_ two pence" (21,_b_), _of_ in MS.; F, M, and B read _or_--"Ye say _us_ ill" (21,_b_), _as_ in MS.--"The devil have [_thee_]" (22,_a_), suggested by M--"_that be_ sought" (22,_c_), so in MS.: F and B read _that [yt] be_; though elliptical the passage reads = that which is to be: my "pointing" varies from other authorities--"Mischief _hat[h]_ informed [_me_]" (22,_d_), _hat_ in MS.: [_me_] suggested by F--"Take _W[illiam]_ Fide" (22,_d_), suggested by F: M reads _w[ith yow]_, and B _w[yth yow]_--"begin at _m[aster]_ Huntington" (23,_a_), supplied by M--"Huntington of Sanston ... Hammond of Swaffham" (23,_a_ and _b_), see E.E.T.S edition--"_see_ well where and whither" (23,_b_), _be_ in MS.--"Let us _con_ well our neck-verse" (23,_c_), _com_ in MS.--"I bless you with my _left_ hand" (23,_c_), _right_ struck out in MS.--"enter, I hope, _unreadily_" (24,_a_), so in M: _ouer redyly_ in MS.--"grace were _wane_" (24,_b_), "_cran_ (?) written after 'wane' in another hand" (F)--"While I over-delve it" (24,_c_), _ouer dylew yt_ in MS.--"into thi[_s_] yard" (25,_b_), supplied by M--"pow[_d_]er of Paris" (25,_d_), supplied by M--"Ye shall [_see_] _a_ good sport" (25,_d_), supplied by M: Brandl, however, suggests that _a_ = have, which provides, I think on reflection, a better reading without altering the text--"Be as _be_ may ... Mercy be wroth" (26,_a_ and _b_), "these lines are added at the bottom of the page" (F), _be_ is _it_ in original--"I shall _sleep_" (26,_b_),?MS. _skepe_ (F)--"rideth over the gallows" (26,_d_), _galouf_ in MS. for _galous_--"And thy own wife _brethel_" (27,_a_), see Brethel, _ante_ (382,_d_): F in a footnote (p. 22) says, "Qy. _bethell_, M," but M (p. 338) has "Qy. _brethell_"!--"Adieu, fair _master_" (27,_b_), F suggests _master[s]_--"such a _likely_ man" (27,_d_), _lyghly_ which F reads _lygh[t]ly_ = likely--"ye have sco[u]red a pair of fetters" (28,_d_), _scoryde_ in MS.: see _Scoured, post_, (461,_a_)--"_that_ sweet mouth" (28,_d_), _þo_ in MS.--"do _it [in]_ forma" (29,_c_), "fo" is struck out after _it_ in MS.: _in_ is supplied by M--"his side-gown may be _sold_" (29,_d_), _solde_ in F and M, but F has a note "solde MS., tolde M" which I do not understand: M at all events is intelligible in noting the _solde_ of his text as "MS. tolde"; but which is correct?--"spare that ye _may_" (30,_a_), so in MS and F, which I have followed: M reads _mow_ (to rhyme with _yow_, p. 30, line 1), and notes his departure from the original--"beshrew your ears, _a_ fair hand" (30,_b_), _&_ in MS. and F: M reads _a_--"Curia _tenta generalis_" (30,_c_), _Carici_ in MS.: see Curia, _ante_ (391,_a_)--"makest much [_tarrying_]" (30,_d_), supplied by M and adopted by F--"I can[_not_] express this inconvenience" (32,_d_), [_not_] supplied by M and adopted by F--"_Christus_ et _omnia jura_" (33,_c_), _sit_ in MS.: emended by Kittredge in M--"Equity to be laid over part[l]y" (33,_d_), _party_ in MS: this line was a puzzler to M and B in consequence of the wretchedly inaccurate copy of the text supplied to them, and on which they had to work. The variations are characteristic: F is direct from MS. and collated (?); M and B are copies of a copy made by the same person at different times: these differ alike one with the other, and with the F copy. (F) "Equyte to be leyde ou_er_ p_ar_ty, & mercy to prevayll." (M) O quyte to be leyde ou_er_, p_er_ty & mercy to prevayll! (B) O, quyte to be leyde, ou_er_ p_ar_ty and mercy to prevayll! The readings adopted or suggested are--(F) As given above. (M) Equyte to be leyde ou_er_, pety & mercy to prevayll! (B) O, quyte to be lewyde, ou_er_ pety _and_ mercy to prevayll! From this it will be seen that all differ with one another and from myself in interpreting this line: I offer mine as a suggestion--"with these cursed _caitiffs_" (34,_a_), _cayftys_ in MS.--"nigh dead in the crick" (34,_c_), _my_ in MS.: corrected by M and B, and adopted by F, to _ny_--"Hic, hic, hic" (34,_c_), M says a line is wanted here rhyming with the third line lower down to complete the stanza--"a _cepe_ coppus" (34,_d_), so in original which says M may be intentional: he reads _cape corpus_--"give the rope just to _thy_ neck" (35,_d_), _pye_ in MS.: restored by M and B--"_He_ _is_ so timorous" (36,_a_), _He ys ys_ in MS.--"To see your _solicitious_ face" (36,_b_), _solaycyose_ in MS.: M reads _solacyose_; B _solicitose_--"What! ask mercy yet once again?" (36,_c_), F says that from this point to "good perseverance" (40,_b_) the MS. is in another hand--"my _worst_ transgression" (36,_c_), _wernt_ or _werunt_ in MS.: F has _werst_: M has _wekit_--"dolorous _fears_" (36,_d_), _seris_ in MS.: F has _feris_: M has _feres_; and B suggests _sores_--"this sinful sinner to _redeem_" (36,_d_), so in MS.: M and B suggest _reduce_ for the rhyme's sake--"_Nam hec ... non sunt_" (36,_d_), F "notes" this passage: "Ps. lxxvi (lxxvii, Engl.), 11, _'hæc mutatio dexteræ Excelsi_'; '_Verte impios,_ _et non erunt_'--Prov. xii. 7"--"as Himself doth _precise_" (37,_b_), M says "_precyse_ does not rhyme: qy. _preche_, or, as Kittredge suggests, _precysely_ _teche_"--"_Nolo mortem, &c._" (37,_b_), "_Nolo mortem_ _impii, sed ut convertatur impius a vita sua, et vivat_, Ezech. xxviii. 11" (F)--"he will [be] reducible" (37,_b_), M--"Incline your capacity," etc. (37,_d_), in MS. this line reads, "My doctrine is convenient, Incline your capacity": the change is due to M--"as _I_ said before" (38,_a_), _he_ in MS. (M)--"cause of great grievan_ce_" (38,_b_), "_ge_ in MS. altered to _ce_ or _se_" (F)--"Not to the _lowli'st_ joy" (38,_d_), F reads _holest_, and "notes" M's query of MS. being miswritten for _loliest_ or _lest_: B also suggests _lo[w]l[i]est_--"Scripture doth _prove_" (38,_d_), _prewe_ in MS. and followed by F: M has _prove_--"my _suavious_ solace" (38,_d_), to B: F has _suatius_; M has _solatius_--"my _inexcusable_ reproof" (39,_a_), so in MS.: M suggests _inexorable_ may be better--"fantastical visions, _sedulously_ sought" (39,_b_), _sedociusly_ in MS.: the emendment is to M: B reads _seducively_--"_Libere velle_," _etc._ (40,_a_), _Libere_ _welle liebere welle_ (Kittredge in M)--"Dominus custodi[a]t te" (40,_b_), _custodit se_ in MS. (M)--"my _several_ patrociny" (40,_c_), "? MS. suuerall (several, individual). Kittredge suggests _special_" (F)--"_Search_ your conditions" (40,_c_), in original _Serge_--"O Liber," etc. (40,_d_), see _Macro Plays_.

MAN OF ARMS (M28,_c_), a sarcasm: Mischief is loaded with fetters.

MANITORY, "my doctrine _manitory_" (M39,_b_), warning.

MARKET, "about our _market_ depart" (R207,_d_), here generic for business, affairs.

MARY MASS (R202,_b_), a mass in honour of the Virgin Mary: specifically festivals held on Candlemas Day (2 February), the assumption (15 August), and the latter Marymass, the nativity of the Virgin (8 September). The asseveration was common in the sixteenth century; moreover, a covert allusion to the trouble of Queen Mary as regards the celebration of the mass in her late brother's time may be intended.

MAS (_passim_), master: in Respublica _mace_.

MASS, see Prime.

MASSHIP, "I trow we shall his _masship_ trim" (R230,_d_), mastership.

MAST, "_mast_ Wealth" (WH289,_d_), master.

MATINS, see Prime.

MEASURE, "_Measure is treasure_" (M12,_b_), proverbial. "Men wryte of oold how _mesour is tresour_."--Lydgate, _Min. Poems_ (Percy Soc.), 208 (_c._ 1430).

MEDWALL (HENRY). Mr. T. Seccombe, writing in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, says he "flourished in 1486"; but beyond the fact that he was chaplain to John Morton (who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1486, and died in 1500), little is known of this early writer of interludes. The only work of his extant is _Nature_ (see pp. 43-133). Bale mentions another interlude not now extant, but ascribed to Medwall, "Of the Finding of Truth, carried away by Ignorance and Hypocrisy." This was diversified by the introduction of a fool, an innovation which commended it to Henry VIII. when it was produced before him at Richmond, Christmas 1516. Apart from this feature the piece was misliked, and the King "departyd before the end to hys chambre."

MEEK, "Except that man himself do _meek_" (WH279,_b_), abase, humble.

MELL, "not suffer to _mell_" (R213,_a_)--"with such-high matters to _mell_" (R235,_b_),--"will not _mell_" (R250,_b_), meddle.

MEMBER, "I scannot _member_ his name" (R212,_d_),--"to _member_ in my heart" (R234,_d_), remember: in original _membre_.

MEMENTO, "_Memento_, _homo_," etc. (M15,_b_): see _Job_ xxxiv. 15.

MENGE, "I shall _menge_ his corn" (M24,_a_), mix, or? scatter.

"The busy bee, her honey now she _mings_."

--Surrey, _Songs and Sonnets_ (1557), Description of Spring.

MERCHANT, "prattling _merchant_" (_passim_), fellow, chap: frequently in depreciation.

MERE, "be used _mere_" (WS174,_a_), simply, solely, "single-eyed," unquestionably, downright.

"This is _mere_ falsehood."

--Shakespeare, _Winter's Tale_ (1604), iii. 2.

MET, "I hope to have his foot _met_" (M23,_d_), caught.

MICH, "cost him even as _mich_" (N67,_c_), much.

"Alle the _myche_ tresour that traytour had wonnene To commons of the contré, clergye and other."

--_Morte Arthure_, _MS. Lincoln_, f. 66.

MISCHIEVE, "herself to _mischieve_" (IP313,_d_), harm, injure.

"Grant, I may ever love, and rather woo Those that would _mischief_ me, than those that do."

--Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_ (1609), iv. 3.

MISERICORDIA, "put out the _i_ of Misericordia, and without an _i_ play e'en plain trussing corda" (R243,_d_); the pun survives to this day.

MISERY, "harlotry, _misery_, treachery" (R263,_d_), miserliness, parsimony, coveteousness. "But Brutus, scorning his (Octavius Cæsar's) _misery_ and niggardliness, gave unto every band a number of wethers to sacrifice."--North, _Plutarch_ (1578), p. 215.

MISH, MASH, see Driff, draff.

MISWOMEN (IP320,_c_), a generic reproach: here = strumpets, wantons.

"Fly the _miswoman_, least she thee deceiue."

--Chaucer, _Remedy of Love_.

MO (_passim_), more.

MOME (_passim_), clown, buffoon, blockhead, fool.

MOON, "made you believe the _moon_ was a green cheese" (R265,_c_), bamboozled or deceived you; the proverbialism is, in truth, of respectable antiquity: also _cream cheese_.

MORROW, "on Sundays, _on the morrow_" (M31,_c_), in the morning.

MOSELLING, "I fell down _moselling_" (JE363,_d_), original _moselynge_;? drunk (cf., muzzling, muzzy): the E.E.T.S. editors gloss _meselynge_ = diseaseful, from _measle_, but the context would bear my own "shot." "In _meselynge_ glotonye, with goode metis and drynkys trye, I norche my syster Lecherye" (_Castell of Persev._ [E.E.T.S.], 144, 2258).

MOT, MOUGHT (_passim_), might.

MOUNSIRE, "_Mounsire_ authority" (R197,_c_)--(also R224,_b_), an early corrupted form of "Monsieur": cf. modern _Mounseer_.

MUMCHANCE (WH286,_a_), a game of hazard with cards or dice: see Nares.

NAM, "_Nam hæc est mutatio, dexteræ Excelsi: vertit_ _impios, et non sunt_" (M36,_d_), see _Psalm_ lxxvii. 11, and _Prov._ xii. 7.

NAMNOT, NAMMOT (R267,_d_), am not: the double negative, _ne am not_.

NARSE (WS153,_b_), arse: the transference of the _n_ of the indefinite article, and a similar process in respect to the _n_ of "mine," "thine," etc. is not infrequent in _M.E._; cf. "naunt," "nuncle," "nam," "newt," "nickname," etc.