with hym a manly and warly [warlike] man named Mathewe Gowth. Thanethe capitayne of Kent thus houynge [hovering] at Blakheth, to ye ende to blynde the more the people, and to brnyg hym in fame that he kept good iustyce, behedyd there a pety capitayne of his named Parys, for somoche as he had offendyd agayne such ordnaunce as he had stablisshed in his hoste. And heryng yt the kyng & all his lordes were this [thus] departyd, drewe hym nere vnto ye cytie, so yt vpon ye first day of Iuly he entred the burgh of Southwark, beyng than Wednysday, and lodged hym there that nyght, for he myght nat be suffred to entre that cytie. . . . And the same afternoone, aboute v. of ye clok, the capitayne with his people entred by the brydge; and whan he came vpon the drawe brydge, he hewe the ropys that drewe the bridge in sonder with his sworde, and so passed into the cytie, and made in sondry places therof proclamacions in the kynges name, that no man, payne of dethe, shulde robbe or take any thynge parforce without payinge therfore. By reason wherof he wanne many hertes of the comons of the cytie; but all was done to begyle wt the people, as after shall euydently appere. He rode thorough dyuers stretes of the cytie, and as he came by London stone, he strake it with his sworde, and sayd, 'Nowe is Mortymere lorde of this cytie.' And whan he had thus shewyd hymselfe in dyuerse places of ye cytie, and shewyd his mynde to the mayre for the orderynge of his people, he retourned into Southwarke, and there abode as he before had done, his people commynge and goynge at lawful houres whan they wolde. [Cade caused several persons to be executed, one a sheriff of Kent accused of extortion.] Whan they hadde thus behedyd thyse ii. men, they toke the hede of Croumer and pyght it vpon a pole, and soo entred agayne the cytie wit ye heddes of the lordes Saye and of Croumer; and as they passed the stretes, ioyned the poles togyder, and caused eyther deed mouth to kysse other dyuerse and many tymes. Then towarde nyghte he retourned into Southwarke, and vpon the morne reentred the cytie, and dyned yt daye at a place in seynt Margarete Patyn [St Margaret Pattens] parysshe, called Gherstis hous; and whan he hadde dyned, lyke an vncurteyse gest, robbyd hym, as the day before he hadde Malpas. For whiche ii. robberyes, albe it that the porayll [poor] and nedy people drewe vnto hym, and were parteners of yt ille, ye honest and thryfty comoners caste in their myndes ye sequele of this matyer, and feryd leste they shuld be delt with in lyke maner, by meane wherof he loste ye peoples fauoure and hertes. For it was to be thought, if he had nat executyd that robory, he myght haue gone ferre and brought his purpose to good effect, if he hadde entendyd wel; but it is to demeane and presuppose that the entent of hym was nat good, wherfore it myght nat come to any good conclucyon. . . Than vpon the v. daye of Iuly, ye capitayne beynge in Southwarke, caused a man to be behedyd, for cause of displeasure to hym done, as the fame went and so kept hym in Southwarke al that day; how be it he myghte haue entred the cytie if he had wolde. And whan nyght was comyng, the mayre and cytezeins, with Mathewe Gowth, lyke to their former appoyntment, kept the passage of the brydge, beynge Sonday, and defended the Kentysshmen, whiche made great force to reentre the cytie. Thenne the capitayne seynge this bekerynge [bickering] begon, yode [went] to harneys, & called his people aboute hym, and sette so fyersly vpon name the cytezeyns, that he draue theym backe from ye stulpis [boundary-posts] in Southwarke or brydge fote, vnto the drawe brydge. Then the Kentysshmen sette fyre vpon ye drawe brydge. In defendynge wherof many a man was drowned and slayne, amonge ye whiche, of men of was Iohn Sutton, alderman, Mathewe Gowgh, gentylman, and Roger Heysande, cytezeyn. And thus contynued this skyrmysshe all nyghte tyll ix. of the clok vpon the morne. Thus contynuynge this cruell fyght, to ye distruccion of moche people on both sydes, lastly, after the Kentysshmen put to ye worse, a trewe [truce] was agreed for certayne houres; durynge ye which trew, ye archebysshop of Caunterbury, than chaunceller of Englande, sent a general pardon to ye capitayn for hymselfe, and an other for his people: by reason wherof he and his company departyd the same nyght out of Southwarke, and so retourned euery man to his owne. But it was nat longe after that ye capitayne wt his company was thus departed, that proclamacions were made in dyuers places of Kent, of Southsex [Sussex], and Sowtherey [Surrey], that who myght take ye foresayd Iak Cade, other on lyue or dede, shuld haue a M. marke [1000 marks] for his trauayl. After whiche proclamacion thus publisshed, a gentylman of Kent, named Alexander Iden, awayted so his tyme, that he toke hym in a gardyn in Sussex, where in the takynge of hym the sayd Iak was slayne and so beyng deed was brought into Southwarke the xi. daye of the moneth of 1450 and there lefte in the Kynges Benche for that nyght. And vpon morowe ye deed corps was drawen thorugh the hyghe stretes of the cytie vnto Newgate, & there hedyd and quarteryd, whose hede was than sent to London brydge, & his iiii. quarters were sent to iii. sondry townes of Kent. Edward Hall, or HALLE (c. 1499-1547), chronicler or historian, was a Londoner born, from Eton passed in 1514 to King's College, Cambridge, and next studied at Gray's Inn. He became a common serjeant in 1532. His Union of the Noble Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (1542; 3rd ed. 1550; best ed. by Sir Henry Ellis, 1809) was only brought down to 1532; the rest, down to 1546, was completed by the editor and continuator, Richard Grafton (d. 1572), who was the printer of Matthew's Bible, of the first Book of Common Prayer, and of Hardyng's Chronicle, as well as of chronicles compiled by himself. Hall's dignity and the reality of his figures had a charm for Shakespeare ; and for Henry VIII's reign the work is really valuable as the intelligent evidence of an eyewitness-though too eulogistic of the king. The following extract, describing the scene in the council-room of the Protector Gloucester (afterwards Richard III.), shows how closely Hall was sometimes followed by Shakespeare : The lorde protectour caused a counsaill to be set at the tower on the fridaye the thirtene daye of Iune, where was muche commonyng [communing] for the honourable solemnitee of the coronacion, of the whiche the tyme appoincted aproched so nere, that the pageauntes were a makyng daye & night at Westminster, and vitaile killed whiche afterwarde was caste awaye. These lordes thus sittyng commonyng of this matter, the rotectour came in emong theim about nyne of the clocke alutyng theim curteously, excusyng him self that he had been from theim so long, saiyng merely that he had been i sleper that daye. And after a litle talkyng with them e sayed to the bishopp of Ely, My lorde you haue verye good strawberies in youre garden at Holborne, I require you let vs haue a messe of theim. Gladly (my lord qd quoth] he) I would I had some better thing as redy to your pleasure as that, and with that in all hast he sente his seruaunt for a dishe of strawberies. The protectour set the lordes faste in commonyng and there vpon prayed theim to spare him a litle, and so he departed and came agayn betwene x. and eleuen of the clocke into the chambre all chaunged with a sowre angry countenaunce, knittyng the browes, frownyng and fretyng and gnawyng on his lips, and so set hym doune in his place. All the lordes were dismaied and sore marueyled of this maner and sodeyne chaunge and what thyng should hym ayle. When he had sitten a whyle, thus he began: What were they worthy to haue that compasse and ymagine the destruccion of me beyng so neare of bloud to the kyng & protectoure of this his royall realme: At which question, all the lordes sate sore astonyed, musyng muche by whom the question should be ment, of which euery man knew him self clere. Then the lorde Hastynges as he that for the familiaritie that was betwene theim, thought he might be boldest with him, aunswered and sayd that they were worthy to be punished as heynous traytours what soeuer they were, and all the other affirmed the same. That is (qd he) yonder sorceres my brothers wife and other with her, menyng the quene. At these woordes many of the lordes were sore abashed whiche fauoured her, but the lorde Hastynges was better content in hys mynde that it was moued by her then by any other that he loued better, albeit hys hart grudged that he was not afore made of counsail of this matter as well as he was of the takyng of her kynred and of their puttyng to death, whiche were by hys assent before deuysed to be beheaded at Pomfrete, this selfe same daye, in the whiche he was not ware that it was by other deuised that he hym selfe should the same daye be beheaded at London then sayed the protectour in what wyse that sorceresse and other of her counsayle, as Shores wyfe, with her affinitie haue by their sorcery and witchecrafte this [thus] wasted my body, and therwith plucked vp his doublet sleue to his elbowe on hys lefte arme, where he shewed a weryshe [shrivelled] wythered arme & small as it was neuer other. And therupon, euery mannes mynde mysgaue theim, well perceyuyng that this matter was but a quarell, for well they wist that the quene was both to wyse to go about any such folye, & also if she would, yet would she of all folke make Shores wyfe least of her counsaile whom of all women she most hated as that concubine whom the kyng her husband most loued. Also, there was no manne there but knewe that hys arme was euer such sith the day of his birth. Neuerthelesse the lorde Hastynges, which from the death of kyng Edward kept Shores wife, whom he somwhat doted in the kynges lyfe, sauyng it is sayed that he forbare her for reuerence towarde his kyng, or els of a certayne kynde of fidelitie towarde his frend. Yet nowe his hart somewhat grudged to haue her whom he loued so highly accused, and that as he knewe well vntruely, therefore he answered and sayed, Certaynly my lorde, yf they haue so done, they be worthy of heynous punishement. What, qd the protectour, thou seruest me I wene with yf and with and. I tell the they haue done it, and that wyll I make good on thy bodye traytour. And therewith (as in a great anger) he clapped his fyste on the borde a great rappe, at whiche token geuen, one cried treason without the chamber, and therwith a doore clapped, and in came rushyng men in harneyes as many as the chamber could hold. And anone the protectoure sayed to the lorde Hastynges, I arrest the traytoure. What, me my lorde? qd he. Yea the traytoure, qd the protectour. And one let flye at the lorde Stanley, which shroncke at the stroacke and fell vnder the table, or els hys head had bene cleft to the teth, for as shortly as he shrancke, yet ranne the bloude aboute his eares. Then was the Archebishop of Yorke and doctour Morton bishopp of Ely & the lorde Stanley taken and diuers other whiche were bestowed in dyuers chambers, saue the lorde Hastynges (whom the protect our commaunded to spede and shryue him apace,) for by sainct Poule (qd he) I wyll not dyne tyll I se thy head of. It boted hym not to aske why, but heuily he toke a priest at auenture and made a shorte shrift, for a lenger woulde not be suffered, the protectour made so much hast to his dyner, which might not go to it tyll this murther were done, for sauyng of hys vngracious othe. So was he brought furthe into the grene besyde the chapel within the towre, and his head layed doune on a logge of tymber that lay there for buildyng of the chapel, & there tyrannously striken of, and after his body and head wer enterred at Wyndesore by his maister kyng Edward the forth, whose soules Iesu pardon. Amen. The Later Miracle-Plays and Religious Moralities. We turned aside (page 49) from the history of the drama at the point which the miracle-plays had reached in the time of Chaucer when Herod and Pilate, as played by clerks or craftsmen on 'scaffolds high,' were already famous for their ranting, and the sorrow of Noah and his fellowship' when Noah's wife refused to come into the ark was a recognised theme for comic treatment. The great cycles of matter from the beginning of the world' were being acted all over England, and human nature, more especially the human nature of playwrights and actors, being what it is, it was only to be expected that the authors and players of each cycle should endeavour to introduce into their representation some special features whereby it might differ from and surpass others. The Bible story Of being common ground to all, these differences could only be introduced either by the importation of legends or by the use of the imagination in scenes in which it would not clash with the somewhat elastic medieval ideas of reverence. legendary accretions we have an example in a painful but dramatic episode in the so-called 'Coventry' cycle, where a summoner, of the kind Chaucer depicted in the Canterbury Tales, arraigns Joseph and Mary before the Bishop, and the Blessed Virgin's chastity is proved by an ordeal which brings confusion on her accuser. Of the use of imagination the stock instance is the comic development of the talk of the shepherds as they watch their flocks on the night of the Nativity. In the Chester Plays this takes the form of an bbbb enormous supper and a wrestling match between master and servant, in which the servant is, of course, victorious. In the 'Wakefield' cycle (often cited as the Towneley Plays, from the Towneley family in whose possession the unique manuscript long remained) the development is much more marked, for here we meet with the work of a playwright whose talent, when we remember the cramped conditions under which he wrote, may be said to have come near to genius. These Wakefield Plays have come down to us in a more composite form than any other cycle. The play of Jacob and Esau, from which a passage has already been quoted (page 48), has been regarded by good authorities as one of the most primitive fragments of the religious drama. Five plays were borrowed, in a corrupt form, from the cycle played at the neighbour city of York. What here concerns us is, that about the end of the fourteenth century, or the earliest years of the fifteenth, the cycle was revised and added to by this unknown genius, whose work can clearly be traced by his fondness for a particular metre and the extraordinary freedom with which he handled his subjects. His favourite metre is a nine-line stanza, with central rhymes in the first four lines (cddde) and we find this used with admirable regularity through five long plays, that of Noah, two versions of a Shepherds' Play, and the plays of Herod the Great and the Scourging of Christ. In all of these, it will be noted, there are personages (Noah's wife, shepherds, soldiers, executioners) in whose case the silence of the Scriptures left the dramatist a free hand. In addition to the five complete plays, we find passages in the nine-line metre, obviously of the same authorship, embedded in two other plays connected with Christ's Passion, in a play on the Raising of Lazarus, and in another on the Last Judgment; and (although here the evidence of metre deserts us) we cannot be wrong in attributing to the same hand some interpolations of extraordinary humour and boldness in the killing of Abel. Thus we have altogether upwards of four thousand lines from this man's pen, and alike in their boisterous humour, their popular satire, and their grim portrayal of the terrors of death, they rank indisputably as among the most notable dramatic work produced before the reign of Elizabeth. Our first extract must be taken from the famous sheep-stealing episode in the second of the two Shepherds' Plays. The thief is a certain Mak, whom the shepherds suspect when they see him approach, but admit to share their supper. After disarming their suspicions by lying down in the midst of them, he rises while they sleep, carries off a fat sheep to his cottage, and then resumes his sleeping-place till the shepherds wake him, and he goes about his business. The shepherds miss the stolen sheep, quickly suspect Mak, and run to his cottage. Mak's wife, so he says, has just had a baby, but he welcomes them nevertheless, and here is the scene that follows: (57) Yode, went; nawther, neither; mode, temper; mette, meat: alys, ails; oght bot goode, anything that is not good; les, lose; there, there; forthynkys, makes sorry. (58) Suspowse, suspicion; rype, ransack; fott, fetched. (59) Ceyll, luck; swelt, faint; wengi, dwelling for the nonys, for the nonce you come to seize your chance of robbing us.' (60) Negh, approach: thor, there; farm, fared; lygys, lies; credyll, cradle. (61) Spyllys, destroyest; Bst hatters, But hang it! nesh, tender; tome platers, empty plates. (64) All oone, all agreed; hald, hold of; mendys, amends; luf, love; Gaf, gave; flyng, hasten. (65) Reprefe, reproof; fowll has thou farne, ill have you behaved; starne, star; do way, cease. (66) Clowit, cloth; Ill spon weft. ...owte, Bad spinning makes bad cloth (a proverb); How, Gyb. pepe, This line is assigned in the MS. to the 3rd Shepherd, who has already seen the sheep; kynde will crepe, Nature shows itself somehow (another proverb). (67) Qwantt gawde, dainty trick; far cast, far throw, good try; kee, high; wast, it was; bren, burn; skawde, scold; swedyll, swaddle. (68) Fare, fuss; hatt, be called; ayre, heir; sagh, say; dyllydowne, pet; gar, make. 1st Shep. This was a qwant stevyn that ever yit I hard. It is a mervell to nevyn, thus to be skard. 2nd Shep. Of Godys son of hevyn he spak upward. All the wod on a levyn me thoght that he gard Appere. 3rd Shep. He spake of a barne In Bedlem I you warne. 1st Shep. That betokyns yond starne. Let us seke hym there. (69) Noyse, nose; forspokyn, bewitched; wrokyn, avenged; wepyn, weapons; forshapyn, transformed. (70) Feft, endowed; sam, together; stede, place; dede, death; eft, again; gyrd of, strike off; With you... left, I put myself at your mercy; reede, advice; nawther ban ne flyte, neither curse nor scold; chyte, chide; as tyte, as quickly as possible. (71) What, how; in poynt for, ready to sevyn skore, i.e. sevenscore pounds; ay whore, anywhere; mene, think; tene, sorrow; Do, text So. (72) Heynd, gentle; lorne, lost; warloo, warlock, wizard; sheynd, punish; behestys, bids; lygys, lies; that fre, that noble child. (73) Qwant, dainty; stevyn, voice; nevyn, speak of; skard, scared; on a levyn, lit by lightning; gard, caused; starne, star.-Throughout this extract it will be noted that the northern forms are very marked. Thus, after Gill's trick is exposed, the sheep found in the cradle, and Mak deservedly blankettossed, the play ends in orthodox fashion with the procession of the shepherds to Bethlehem and the presentation of their simple gifts to the Holy Child. But until the appearance of the Angels there is no religious element in it; it is purely secular comedy, a rustic play worked out to its end in a masterly fashion. As a contrast to the foregoing extract we must, in justice to the range of our anonymous dramatist, quote the five grim stanzas which he interpolated into the York Play of Lazarus. Fresh from the grave, pointing to the marks of arrested but not yet effaced corruption, Lazarus preaches a sermon on Death, of which medieval poets ever took a morbid and horrible view, and which is here depicted with grisly power: (7) 1 Each one. 2 Death. 3 Be eaten. 4 Weight. 5 and 6 Rad and lyre, the tanned and untanned skin. 7 Your higher good ther shall be that your sorrows are at their least-i.e. exister.ce shall be all pain. 8 Scantily. 9 Remembrance. 10 Executors. 11 Loyal. The interpolation in the play of the Last Judgment is much longer than this, extending to some three hundred lines of broad satire, which ranges from the crimes of the perjurer and oppressor to the follies of the women, whose headgear makes them look horned like a cow,' and of those who pad their shoulders with moss and flock. 'Had domysday oght tarid,' say the devils, we must have biggid hell more [built hell larger], the world is so warid [cursed]': Oure porter at hell yate Is haldyn so strate, The author of these plays and interpolations introduces, along with English proverbs and some allusions to popular stories, a few tags in Latin, and may have been in minor orders; but his interests and his turn of thought were certainly secular, and had he lived at a time when the secular drama had won a recognised place he must have left no mean mark on English literature. As it was, he carried the principle of humorous and satirical relief to the farthest point which the essentially religious character of the miracle-plays could admit, and no further development was possible. The popularity of these miracle-plays was enormous and of long duration; but whether from the love of novelty or from the wish to apply the same methods to other branches of Christian teaching, a rival to them came into existence as early as the time of Wyclif, who, in urging the lawfulness of having the Bible in English, reminds his readers how herfore freris han taught in Englond the Paternoster in Englissch tunge as men seyen in the playe of York' (De Officio Pastorali, Cap. 15. This York Play of the Lord's Prayer (Ludus Oracionis Domini) was performed under the auspices of a special guild of the same name. which numbered in 1399 over a hundred members, and lasted till it was suppressed by Henry VIII. The play itself had an even longer life, for it was performed in 1558, and once again in 1572, in `which last year Archbishop Grindal confiscated the manuscript under pretext of examining into the purity of its doctrine. A 'Creed Play,' which |