Rambles in an Old City Part 9

Thus did he do, The ill.u.s.trious Count George, Then hastened all The kings who wished To see this man entering, (But) who did not wish to hear him.

The spirit of George was there honoured, I speak truly from the report of these men, (For) he obtained What he sought from G.o.d.

Thus did he, The Holy George.

Then they suddenly adjudged him To prison; Into which with him entered Two beautiful angels * * * * *

Then he became glad When that sign was made (to him), George then prayed; My G.o.d granted every thing To the words of George; He made the dumb to speak, The deaf to hear, The blind to see, The lame to walk.

Then began the powerful man To be exceedingly enraged.

Tatian wished To ridicule these miracles.

He said that George Was an impostor; He commanded George to come forth; He ordered him to be unclothed; He ordered him to be violently beaten With a sword excessively sharp.

All this I know to be altogether true; George then arose and recovered himself; He wished to preach to those present, And the Gentiles Placed George in a conspicuous situation, (Then) began that powerful man To be exceedingly enraged.

He then ordered George to be bound To a wheel, and to be whirled round.

I tell you what is fact; The wheels were broken to pieces, This I know to be altogether true; George then arose and recovered himself, He then wished (to preach); the Gentiles Placed George in a conspicuous place, Then he ordered George to be seized And commanded him to be violently scourged; Many desired that he should be beaten to pieces, Or be burnt to a powder; They at length thrust him into a well.

There was this son of beat.i.tude, Vast heaps of stones above him, Pressed him down; They took his acknowledgment; They ordered George to rise; He wrought many miracles, As in fact he always does.

George rose and recovered himself.

He wished to preach to those Gentiles, The Gentiles Placed George in a conspicuous place.

They ordered him to rise, They ordered him to proceed, They ordered him instantly to preach.

Then he said, I am a.s.sisted by faith.

(Then he said) when Ye renounce the devil Every moment * * *

This is what St. George himself may teach us.

Then he was permitted to go into the chamber To the Queen; He began to teach her, She began to listen to him.

The fragment ends here; the queen alluded to is deemed to be the wife of Diocletian Alexandra, who has been canonized by the Romish Church. She is said to have been converted to Christianity, and suffered martyrdom with her teacher.

We now beg to take leave of St. George and St. Margaret; Mr. Snap or the Dragon in his coat of green and gold, at this present surmounted by an outer coat of considerable thickness of dust, must permit us to make our obeisance-trusting that the gleanings we have made of all these little facts of history that contributed to his importance in the day of his sovereignty and splendour, may have gained for us a parting good will.

His days of pomp and majesty are ended-with the banishment of fun and frolic, and folly, with the reformation of councils and committees, of manners and munic.i.p.alities-his glory has departed, and but for the chronicles of the past, his presence slumbering in oblivion, or in drooping despondency, hanging his head in att.i.tude of grief, might be a mystery insoluble, as also might be the annual exhibition of the shabby counterfeit presentment of his person in the shape of a c.u.mbrous imitation of himself, that is paraded once a year through street and suburb, to keep alive the shadow of the memory of "good old times," in the hearts of the populace of a pleasure-loving city-but a sorrowful and piteous spectacle is this walking ghost of the _Snap_ of the glorious guild of St. George.

CHAPTER VI.

PAGEANTRY.

_Pageantries_.-_Ancient_ "_Mysteries_."-_Origin of the religious drama_.-_Moralities_.-_Oratorios_.-_Allegorical plays of Queen Elizabeth's time_.-_The Pageants got up to do honour to her visit_.-_Will Kempe_, _Morris dancer_, _his_ "_nine days wonder_."-"_Hobby-horses_."-_Festivals_.-_St. Nicholas or Boy Bishop_.-_Bishop Blaize_.-_Woolcombers' jubilee_.-_Southland fair_.-_St.

Valentine_.-_Mode of celebrating the festival_.-"_Chairing the members_."-_Origin of the custom_.

Among the many quaint specimens of the ways and doings of the ancient respectable denizens of this present sober-minded city, that have been rescued from the dim and dusty obscurity of the munic.i.p.al record chamber, has been found a curious minute of the proceedings of a solemn court held on the Sabbath day of the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, in the nineteenth year of King Henry VIII., when a pet.i.tion was presented to the mayor, sheriffs and common council of the city of Norwich, by the aldermen and brethren of the guild of St. Luke, praying to be relieved from the burthen of being sole purveyors of plays and pageants for the people on Whitsun Monday and Tuesday; and it may safely serve as a text for a few rambling sketches of the entertainments that were wont to gratify the taste of the lovers of the drama, in the age before the stream of imperishable philosophy had been poured forth from the waters of Avon, or its banks had resounded to the harmony that was destined to sweep over the length and breadth of the earth, vibrating through the chords of every living heart that felt its breath.

Deep in the human mind lies the yearning for amus.e.m.e.nt, great have been those who, laying hold of this inherent principle of our nature, could make it a means for enlightening and enn.o.bling it; nor must we judge of the sincerity of the attempts that were made in this work, by their impotency or failure. In dark and barbarous times, what may seem gross buffoonery to our refined senses, may have had power to convey a moral lesson or excite a worthy impulse; and we may scarcely with any justice withhold our meed of praise and admiration of the philosophy of those old monks, who, seeing the immorality that characterized the exhibitions provided by strolling players, jugglers, tumblers, dancers, and jesters, journeying from town to town, and castle to castle, and filling the large square court-yards provided for their express accommodation by every house of any pretensions to rank, set their inventive powers to work, to find a subst.i.tute for these recreations of dubious tendency, and endeavoured to supersede the secular by the religious drama.

Appolonarius, and Gregory, Archbishop of Constantinople, had done likewise, and dramatised scenes both from the Old and New Testament, as subst.i.tutes for Euripides and Sophocles, when the study of Greek philosophy was deemed heresy, and to have read Virgil required from St.

Augustine penitence and prayer for pardon. Hence priests turned playwrights and actors, and instead of profane mummeries presented scriptural stories, or legendary tales, which they at least deemed improving and instructive. Most old cities present traces, more or less distinct, of these specimens of clerical ingenuity.

The Coventry and Chester mysteries have been preserved almost entire; royalty honoured them with its presence, both in the person of Richard III. and Henry VII. and his queen; York and London have contributed their store of relics, and the performances of the company of Clerks that gave the name to far-famed Clerkenwell, and the fraternity of the Holy Trinity, St. Botolph's Aldersgate, have become matters of history.

We have to borrow light from these richer stores, to comprehend the full meaning of the few traces left among our chronicles, that bear evidence of similar practices in the other localities; and here we return to the pet.i.tion of the St. Luke's guild or fraternity. Each branch of trade had then its company, or guild, and was governed by laws of its own, under general supervision of the munic.i.p.al authorities. The St. Luke's guild was composed of pewterers, braziers, bell-founders, plumbers, glaziers, stainers, and other trades, and upon them it would seem that the whole expense of the Whitsunside dramatic entertainments had fallen; wherefore they besought their "discreet wisdoms" to enact, and ordain, and establish, that every occupation within the city, should yearly, at the procession on Monday in Pentecost week, set forth one pageant, by their "discreet wisdoms" to be a.s.signed and appointed of their costs and charges, which should be "to the worship of the city, profit of the citizens and inhabitants, and to the great sustentation, comfort and relief as well of the said guild and brethren of the same;" which favourable aid should bind them and their successors "daily to pray to G.o.d for the prosperities long to endure of their discreet wisdoms."

Which pet.i.tion being heard and understood, it was agreed and enacted that thenceforth every occupation in the said city should find and set forth in the said procession one such pageant as should be appointed by master mayor and his brethren aldermen. In the same hand-writing as the minute to this effect is a list of pageants, probably arranged in consequence of it.

PAGEANTS.

1. Mercers, Drapers, Creation of the World.

Haberdashers.

2. Glasiers, Steyners, h.e.l.le carte.

Screveners, Pchemyters, Carpenters, Gravers, Caryers, Colermakers Whelewrights.

3. Grocers, Raffemen, Paradyse.

(Chandlers).

4. Shermen, Fullers, Abell and Cain.

Thikwollenweavers, Covlightmakers, Masons, Lymebrenrs.

5. Bakers, Bruers, Inkepers, Noyse Shipp.

Cooks, Millers, Vynteners, Coupers.

6. Taillors, Broderers, Reders, Abraham and Isaak.

and Tylers.

7. Tanners, Coryors, Moises and Aaron with the Cordwainers. children of Irael, and Pharo with his Knyghts.

8. Smythes. Conflict of David and Golias.

9. Dyers, Calaunderers, The birth of Christ, with Goldsmythes, Goldbeters, Shepherds and three Kyngs of Saddlers, Pewterers and Brasyers. Colen.

10. Barbors, Wexchandlers, The Baptysme of Criste.

Surgeons, Fisitians, Hardewaremen, Hatters, Cappers, Skynners, Glovers, Pynnmakers, Poyntemakers, Girdelers, Pursers, Bagmakers, "Scepps," Wyredrawers, Cardmakers.

11. Bochers, The Resurrection.

Fismongers,Watermen.

12. Worsted Wevers. The Holy Ghost.

"These plays were performed on moveable stages constructed for the purpose, described by Dugdale as 'theatres very large and high, placed on wheels;' and Archdeacon Rogers, who died in 1595, and saw the Whitsun plays performed at Chester, gives a very minute description of the mode in which they were exhibited: 'They were divided there into twenty-four pageants, according to the companies of the city; every company brought forth its _pageant_, which was the carriage or stage in which they played; these were wheeled about from street to street, exchanging with each other, and repeating their several plays in the different places appointed. The pageants, or carriages, were high places made like two rooms, one above the other, open at the top; the lower room was used as a dressing-room, the higher room was the performing place."

The first of the Norwich pageants, the Creation of the World, is similar to one described by Hone, as performed at Bamberg, in Germany, so late as 1783; and its details so precisely accord with the stage directions still extant of similar representations in this country, that it has been adopted as a fair specimen of the play alluded to in the list.

The description of the German representation is thus given in the words of an eye-witness:-"The end of a barn being taken away, a dark hole appeared, hung with tapestry the wrong side outwards; a curtain running along, and dividing the middle. On this stage the Creation was performed. A stupid-looking Capuchin personated the Creator. He entered in a large full-bottomed wig, with a false beard, wearing over the rusty dress of his order a brocade morning-gown, the lining of light blue silk being rendered visible occasionally by the pride the wearer took in showing it; and he eyed his slippers with the same satisfaction. He first came on, making his way through the tapestry, groping about; and purposely running his head against posts, exclaiming, with a sort of peevish authority, 'Let there be light,' at the same time pushing the tapestry right and left, and disclosing a glimmer through linen clothes from candles placed behind them. The creation of the sea was represented by the pouring of water along the stage; and the making of dry land by the throwing of mould. Angels were personated by girls and young priests, habited in dresses (hired from a masquerade shop), to which the wings of geese were clumsily attached, near the shoulders. The angels actively a.s.sisted the character in the flowered dressing-gown, in producing the stars, moon, and sun. To represent winged fowl, a number of c.o.c.ks and hens were fluttered about; and for other living creatures, some cattle were driven on the stage, with a well-shod horse, and two pigs with rings in their noses. Soon after, Adam appeared. He was a clumsy fellow, in a strangely-shaped wig; and being closely clad with a sort of coa.r.s.e stocking, looked quite as grotesque as in the worst of the old woodcuts, and something like Orson, but not so decent. He stalked about, wondering at every thing, and was followed from among the beasts by a large ugly mastiff, with a bra.s.s collar on. When he reclined to sleep, preparatory to the introduction of Eve, the mastiff lay down by him. This occasioned some strife between the old man in brocade, Adam, and the dog, who refused to quit his post; nor would he move when the angels tried to whistle him off. The performance proceeded to the supposed extraction of the rib from the dog's master; which being brought forward and shewn to the audience, was carried back to be succeeded by Eve, who, in order to seem rising from Adam's side, was dragged up from behind his back, through an ill-concealed and equally ill-contrived trap-door, by the performer in brocade. As he lifted her over, the dog, being trod upon, frightened her by a sudden snap, so that she tumbled upon Adam. This obtained a hearty kick from a clumsy angel to the dog, who consoled himself by discovering the rib produced before, which, being a beef bone, he tried his teeth upon."

The second pageant was "Paradise," provided by the Grocers and Raffemen.

In the Grocers' books, now lost, were the items of expenditure about this pageant, among others, for painting clothes for Adam and Eve, &c. In the French collections, a legendary incident is introduced in this play: When Adam attempts to swallow the apple, it will not stir; and, according to the legend, this was the cause of the lump in the man's throat, which has been preserved ever since.

The third pageant, "h.e.l.l Carte," was brought forth by the Glaziers, &c.

One of a series of illuminated drawings of the eleventh century, ill.u.s.trative of the Old and New Testaments, part of the Cottonian Library in the British Museum, gives an idea of the manner in which this subject was represented. By no very complex machinery, the huge painted mouth was made to open and shut, and demons are represented dragging into it a variety of cla.s.ses of dishonest people; thereby conveying a moral and satirical admonition against some of the crying sins of the day, most practised among, and most offensive to, the lower and middle cla.s.ses of society. One of these offenders was the ale-wife, who gave short measure. In a _miserere_ in Ludlow church, there is set forth a demon carrying an ale-wife, with her false measure and gay head-dress, to the mouth, while two other demons play on the bagpipes, and read from a scroll the catalogue of her sins.

The fourth pageant, "Abel and Cain," was furnished by the Sheremen, &c.

Disputes between Cain and his man were comic scenes introduced into it, and formed its chief attraction.

The fifth, "Noyse Ship," was brought forth by the Bakers. A fragment of a Newcastle play of the same name affords a specimen of its probable character. The _dramatis persona_ are Noah, his wife, and Diabolus; and a considerable portion of the play consists of disputes between Noah and his wife, about entering the ark, as:-

NOAH.

Good wife, doe now, as I thee bidd.

NOAH'S WIFE.

Not I, ere I see more need, Though thou stande all day and stare.

NOAH.