100 



ceremonials and pageants of May-day, where Rolin Hood 

 was represented as lord of the May, with Maid Marian^ 

 his faithful mistress, as lad}^ of the May ; the feast of fools, 

 and other similar pageants, were suited to the taste of the 

 times, and seem to have had a Sort of monastic quaint- 

 liess,' Which plainly marked out their -deriTation from the 

 convent. A lord of misrule was elected,* and a prelate 

 of fools : all this was accompanied by a multitude of bur- 

 lesque ceremonies. There Avas, also, the feast of innocents, 

 and that of the ass. In the latter a wooden ass was ex- 

 hibited, with a person enclosed, and attended b}- a crowd 

 of mummers, representing six Jews, six Gentiles, of M'hom 

 the poet Virgil was one, and some other personages. There 

 was an oration in prais6 of the ass; and the whole assem- 

 bly brayed like asses, as lOud as the}^ could. The utmost 

 coarseness of manners, broad humour, and \ ulgar ribaldry-, 

 prevailed on these occasions. * hikiv;;! 

 " 'What contributed, at- first, to enlighten the world, and 

 advance the progress 'of the _^fine 'arts, in a certain degree, 

 and for a certain purpose, became ' afterwards the cause 



' ' • of 



* When Queen Elizabeth was entertained by her favourite Leicester, at 

 Kenelworth castle, the images of the ancient manners and amusements were 

 i-iiVivddj atid mummeries, dnd the recitations of minstrels, made a large part 

 .of the amusement on this occasion. The mock heroic legend of the Tour- 

 nament of Tottenham, much in the manner of the burlesque poem of the 

 Orlandino, of Teofilo Folengo, a famous Macaronic writer, born in the year 

 1493, who published, sometimes under the name of Merlino Coccaio, some- 

 times under that of Limerno Pitocco, was composed and recited by a perso- 

 nateti mitistrel. 



