2U 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Sept. 18, 1885. 



shepherd capping the rest by quoting, not very correctly, 

 and transposing the lines from Virgil : — 



Jam nova progenies ccelo demittitur alto, 

 Jamrediet virgo, redeunt Saturnia regra.* 

 Against which such veneer of learning John Home, 

 the second shepherd, protests : — 



What speke ye here in myn eeres ? 

 Telle us no clerge, I hold you of the freres, (friars) 

 It semys by youre Laton 

 Ye have lerd youre Caton.f 

 They then repair to Bedleme (Bethlehem), and present 

 their gifts to the babe ; one offering him a box " this 

 lytylle spruce cofer;" the second offering him a ball, 

 saying, 



Haylle, lytylle tyne mop ! 

 Eewarder of mede ! 

 Haylle, bot oone drop of grace at my nede ; 

 Haylle, lytylle mylk sop ! haylle David sede ! 

 Of our crede thou art crop.'f hayUe, in God hede !§ 

 The third shepherd gives him a bottle, and Mary having 

 bestowed her blessing, they depart. 



In the York play, which has only fourteen stanzas, the 

 shepherds, after hastening to iind their fee,|| are startled 

 by the angels' "noble noyse," and repair to Bethlehem, 

 where they find the "lorde layde betwyxe tuo bestis 

 tame," and offer him respectively a " broche by a belle 

 of tynne at youre bosom to be ; " " tuo cobill notis (cobb- 

 nuts) uppon a bande " (ribbon); and "an home spone 

 that will herbar (hold) fourty pese." 



In the Chester pageant Be Pastorihus greges pasc&itihus, 

 dramatic propriety is scattered to the winds, the angel's 

 appearance is made occasion of great fun, his pronuncia- 

 tion of "gloria" is discussed, the shepherd.s, rough 

 Cheshire or Lancashire men, refresh themselves with 

 jannocks (oatmeal- bread) of Lancashire, butter of Blacon, 

 cheese, and Halton ale, quarrel and fight, and then at the 

 appearance of the Star in the East, hie to Bethlehem, 

 where one of them, Trowle, gives Jesus " a pair of his 

 wife's old hose," and of three boys who follow them with 

 offerings, one gives his nuthook, so that 



To puUe doun apples, pears, and plombes. 

 Old Joseph shall not need to hurt his thombes. 

 The Coventry play is the most featureless of the four, 

 being filled in the main with the shepherds metrical re- 

 cital of the Messianic prophecies and adoration of the 

 " babe and bame of blys." 



But it is in the second play of the Towneley Series, 

 Secvnda Pastorum, that the comic element reaches its 

 climax, not without value, however, in the rude yet 

 faithful picture of old country-life set before us. As in 

 the first play, the shepherds in turn tell their troubles ; 

 one grumbling at the cold and the taxes (they " ar for- 

 taxed and ramyd," i.e., wrongly taxed and over-reached) ; 

 a second about his wife and marriage generally. Of the 

 former he says she is — 



As sharp as thystylle, as rugh as a brere. 



She is browyd Irke a brystylle, with a sowre loten chere ; 



Had she ones wett her whystyll she couthe syng fuUe clere 



Hyr pater noster. 

 She is as greatt as a whalle. 

 She has a galon of salle, 

 By hym that dyed for us alle ! 



t Tl'e Disticha Catonis, an introductory book then used in teacli- 



t Tpner branch. 



§ T,m-m-U;j Mysterk,, p. Ofi. 



II A. a.feolt, cattle, property ; cognate with Sanskrit ^wf?;, Latia 

 peciis, cattle, which first signifying flocks, gradually came to mean 

 property in money or kindl" 



And of the latter :— 



But Tong men of wouyng, for God that you boght. 

 Be welle war of wedjing, and thynk in youre thoght 

 " Had I wyst " is a thing it servys of noght ; 

 For thou may cache in an owre 

 That shalle savour fuUe sosvre 

 As long as thou lyifii's. 

 They are joined by a third shepherd, who complains of 

 the floods, hard work, and low wages, these last in 

 arrears as well ; after which they seek to forget their 

 sorrows in a song, the first agreeing to " syng the tenory," 

 the second to " tryble so bye," and the third "the 

 meyne," when they are interrupted by the arrival of one 

 Mak, at whom they look askance as a man suspected of 

 sheep-stealing, and scruple not to tell him so. After 

 supper, and gossip about Mak's wife — 

 Ilk yere that commes to man 

 She brynges fiirthe a lakan. 



And S( 



L them. 



Fro my top to my too 



Manus tuas commendo 



Poncio Pilato, 



Cryst crosse me spede, 

 Mak contrives while they are snoring, to slink off with 

 .sheep on his back. Hurrying home, he knocks up his 

 wife, when they put their wits together how best to hide 

 the theft, and she suggests popping the sheep in the 

 cradle and figuring lying-in. Mak agrees : 

 Thou red ; 



And I shall say thou was lyght 



Of a knave childe this nyght. 



He then returns to the shepherds, who have not missed 

 him, bat when they wake, tell dreams about him, that he 

 was clothed in a wolf's skin, that he had " trafit a fatt 

 shepe." Mak meanwhile shams sound sleep, and when 

 rotised, says he dreamed that his wife had given birth to 

 a " yong lad," and that he must hurry home. Missing 

 the sheep, they follow him, and clamour at the door, 

 when he begs them 



speke soft 

 Over a seke woman's heedc. 



They charge him with the robbery, which both Mak 

 and his wife deny, she saying through her groans . — 

 I swelt (die) 

 Outt, theyfys, fro my wonys I (dwelling) 

 Ye com to rob us for the nonys. 

 Male. Here ye not how she gronys? 



Your hartys should melt. 



At last, after looking about for signs of mutton, they 

 give up the search, when, jast as Mak is bidding them 

 farewell, one of the shepherds saj-s to another : — 

 Primus Pastor. Gaf ve the chvid anything ? 

 St-cumlus Pastor. I trow not oone f.irthving. 

 Tf reins Pastor. Fast agayne wiUe I flyng, 

 Abyde ye me there. 

 Mak, take" it to no grefe, if I com to thi bame. 

 JJaJt. Nay, thou does me greatt reprete (reproof) and 



fowle has thou fame. 

 Terclui Pastm-. The childe wille it not grefe, that lytylle day 



Mak, with your lefe, let me gyf youre bame 



Bot vj pence. 

 .Vu?;. Nay, do way ; he slejjys. 



Ti-rcins Pastor. Me thynk he pepys. 

 Mak. When he wakyns he wepys. 



I pray you go hence. 

 Tercius Pastor. Gyf me "lefe hym to kys and lyft up the clowtt. 



What the deville is this ? he has a long snowte. 

 Sccuiuhis Pastor. He is lyke to owre shepe. 

 Tcrcius Pastor. Wylle ye se how thay swedylle 



His foure feytt in the medylle 



