Originally prepared for textual analysis during his PhD research on the 'Origins and Development of English Folk Plays' by Peter Millington (2002).
Original spelling and typography is retained, except that superscripts, long s and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Line identifiers are those used for line types in the Folk Play Scripts Explorer.
"... In the Christmas of 1856-7, I witnessed several performances of a set of mummers, who lived in the hamlets of Upper and Lower Howsell, in the parish of Leigh, Worcestershire; and went the round of the Malvern district with their Masque. I took a sketch of their performance, and also took down the words of their little drama from the dictation of their chief performer...
With this preface, let me come to my Worcestershire version. Like the Homeric ballads, it had been handed down by oral tradition; and had been taught to the boys by their elder relatives, who had learnt it from the dictation of their seniors. One of the boys thought that 'his uncle had wrote some of it.' The lads were well up in their parts, and were spirited performers. The Valiant Soldier wore a real soldier's coat; Old Father Christmas carried holly; the Turkish Knight had a turban; and all of them were decked out with ribbons, and scarves, and had their faces painted. Little Devil-doubt had a black face, and carried a money-box, a besom, and a bladder; with the bladder he thwacked the performer whose turn it was to speak - a proceeding that reminds us of Mr. Lemuel Gulliver and the philosophers of Laputia. Little Devil-doubt having brushed away the snow, and cleared a space, the performers ranged themselves in a semicircle, and the play began:-"
Bede's Footnotes:Note 1: "The boy told me that this meant, room to raise the slain people from the ground."
Note 2: "This ought to be 'three crowns of gold.' The alteration reminds one of the stonemason with his shortened sentence of 'A virtuous woman is 5s. to her husband.'"
Note 3: "These are not unlike the professions of the Dr. Eisenbart of the German song."
Bede's final note:"Such was the Worcestershire version of the play of St. George. Beelzebub was identical with Old Father Christmas (in the other versions he is called Hubbub and Lord Grub); and the Valiant Soldier and Noble Captain were, in theatrical parlance, 'doubled' by the same performer."