F.W.Beazley (1946)
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PLOUGH MONDAY AND "THE PLOUGH
BULLOCKS".
It is a dark, rather cold night in Mansfield in early January soon
after the opening of the present century, A small party of boys,
ranging in age from nine to fifteen, with blackened faces and dressed
in rough and ready costume, is standing hopefully, but somewhat
anxiously, outside the door of some neighbour, who, they hope, will
be prepared to enter into the fun which they have to offer.
The boys hesitate for a moment. Has the good neighbour heard
them? Has he been forewarned of their approach? Will they be
greeted with a red-hot poker and be compelled to beat a hasty retreat,
or will they be allowed to enter? At last, spurred on by the optimism
of youth, they hesitate no longer but assume the boldest air they can
in the circumstances, and, without knocking, plunge into the kitchen.
Plough Monday has begun, and they are playing their version of
"The Plough Bullocks"!
Characters.
St. George The Doctor
Bold Slasher Mickey Bent
Beelzebub Polly Flinders
Molly Mop A Rake.
St. George and Bold Slasher carry swords; Beelzebub a club and a
frying pan, while on his head he has a small tub. The doctor carries a
small bag containing his magic potions, chief of which is a bottle of
cold tea. Polly Flinders has a large stone with which to break the
"winders", Molly Mop a small mop, and the Rake a garden rake.
All have black faces and the boys wear coats turned inside out. The
girls' parts can be played by girls or by boys in feminine costume.
The characters enter in the following order, singly - St. George,
Bold Slasher, The Doctor, Beelzebub, Molly Mop, Mickey Bent,
Polly Flinders, A Rake.
St. George: (entering without knocking)
I open these doors, I enter in,
I seek all favour for to win.
Whether I stand or whether I fall,
I'll do my duty to please you all,
A room! a room! a gallant room!
A room to let me in!
We are not of the ragged sort,
But of the Royal King.
If you can't believe a word I say,
Step in, Bold Slasher, and show the way.
Bold Slasher: In comes Bold Slasher;
Bold Slasher is my name.
With sword and buckle by my side
I hope to win one game.
One game, one game, it shall stand good.
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I'll quickly draw St. George's blood.
For my head is made of iron,
My body's made of steel;
My hands and shins are knuckle-bone,
No man can make me feel
(St. George and Bold Slasher enter into a duel with swords).
(Bold Slasher is "slain" and St. George calls for thc doctor).
St. George: A Doctor! a Doctor!
Doctor: Here am I!
St. George: How came you to be the doctor?
Doctor: By my travels.
St. George: How far have you travelled?
Doctor: Over Itty Pittv, where there's neither house
land nor city.
Wooden Churches, leather bells, black pudding for
bell-ropes.
St. George: How much can you cure this man for?
Doctor: (examines Bold Slasher who is still lying prostrate).
Ten pounds is my fee,
But as thou art a poor man,
I'll take five from thee.
St. George: Get agate, then, and cure him.
Doctor: (Takes bottle of "medicine" from his bag. He raises Bold
Slasher's head and pours a little liquid down his throat).
Here, Jack, take a drink from my bottle.
Let it run down thy throttle.
When it gets and touches thy brain,
Rise up, Jack, and fight again.
(After a suitable interval to allow the "medicine" to do its
work Bold Slasher rises and the fight with St. George is
resumed. At length it is interrupted by the entrance of
Beelzebub. The other characters follow in quick succession) .
Beelzebub: In comes Beelzebub.
On my head I carry a tub;
In my hand a frying pan,
Don't you think I'm a jolly man?
(Enter Molly Mop)
Molly Mop: In comes Molly Mop;
If you don't give me a penny,
I shan't stop.
(Enter Mickey Bent)
Mickey Bent: In comes Mickey Bent;
If you don't give me a Penny,
I can't pay my rent.
(Enter Polly Flinders)
Polly Flinders: I'm Polly Flinders.
If I don't get some money,
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I'll break all your "winders"!
(She holds aloft her big stone)
(Enter A Rake)
A Rake: And lastly, here comes a Rake as long as a snake.
A few coppers, or I'll eat all your cake.
The play ends with a general rough and tumble, after which a
collection is taken.
------
The play was fun to the audience, and, to the player's, profit
too; but behind it all was ancient purpose. It was a dramatic repre-
sentation of the belief of primitive man that once nature was "dead"
it could not be revived except at the urge of some higher power.
Life was Light; Death was Darkness. So we find that one of the chief
features of this play is a battle between two of the main characters,
St. George, exemplifying Light, and the other, an Evil One, typifying
Darkness. As would be expected, the fight ends in a victory for the
powers of Light; but the Evil One is not allowed to die. He could
not be. The Doctor, the outside healing influence, is brought in, and
with the aid of his magic potion restores Bold Slasher to full vitality
to continue the fight another day.
It is noteworthy that in the Mansfield version, and my notes deal
chiefly with local customs, Bold Slasher was St. George's opponent
although Beelzebub, the Prince of Darkness, would surely be the
Evil One. In another Mansfield version Beelzebub appeared as a
clown armed with a tub and a club and carried off Slasher at the end.
Sometimes he would assume the role more in keeping with tradition
and play the part of the Evil One himself. No doubt in other parts
of the county and country characters in keeping with local custom,
and, perhaps, local personalities would be introduced.
The characters and the play, would, indeed, vary frequently.
St. George was known, on occasion, as King George, while in the
Clayworth district Beelzebub went under the name of Old Eezum
Squeezum. I believe, too, that the play sometimes introduced a press
gang and King George and his myrmidons scoured the neighbourhood
for likely "victims". These, having been knocked out, were revived
by a "doctor", and the play ended with an ale-house song.
The original play included a sword dance which long survived
in parts of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
Records of Plough Monday activities go back at least, to Mediaeval
Times, when, on the first Monday after Epiphany, on which day the
ploughing season was deemed to begin, parties of agricultural workers
in various disguises, sometimes in white shirts, sometimes wearing
masks, went from door to door dragging the plough and giving a short
entertainment in the form of a play whenever encouragement was
forthcoming. Payment was expected. At that time lights were kept
burning before the shrines of various saints in the Churches to invoke
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a blessing on the work of the husbandmen. They were known as
"Plough Lights" and the toll levied by the players was used, partly at
any rate, for the upkeep of these lights. Later, the sweeping changes
of the Reformation extinguished the lights without killing the custom
of visiting the houses, and, there being no longer any lights to maintain,
the players kept the collections for themselves. Everyone was ex-
pected to give, and any defaulter was summarily punished by the
ploughing up of his "pavement".
And here one might be allowed to interpolate that, as the good
man put his hand to the plough again on Plough Monday, so the
women-folk, having ended the Christmas Festivities on the 'Twelfth
Day, returned to their distaffs or daily occupations on the next, St.
Distaff's Day.
"Give St. Distaff all the right,
Then give Christmas sport goodnight,
And next morning every one
To his own vocation."
In her book, "A Cavalier Stronghold : A Romance of the Vale
of Belvoir", published in 1890, Mrs. Chaworth-Musters brings the
ploughboys to Wyverton House to "make a merry night and free from
care" despite wind and snow, battered walls, and the troublous times of
the Civil War. In the appendix to the book is given the text of the
Cropwell play as written down for the author by one of the players.
It would seem that time had been kinder to the Cropwell play than to
many others, despoiling it of less of its story or of its charm. The
chief characters are Tom the Fool, The Recruiting Sergeant, The
Ribboner or Recruit, The Doctor, The Lady and The Ploughman,
and there are lesser characters such as Hopper Joe and The Threshing
Blade.
At the end o[ the play the players join in a country dance; then
in a chorus--
"Good Master and good Mistress,
As you sit around your fire,
Remember us poor plough lads
That plough through mud and mire.
The mire has been so very deep,
We travel far and near,
We thank you for a Christmas box;
And a pitcher of your best beer."
As they go out, all sing-
"We thank you for civility,
And what you gave us here;
We wish you all good night,
And another happy year."
In the Mansfield district the custom of dragging round the
plough was kept up until about the middle of the nineteenth century,
when the men handed over the performance to boys. We have no
recollection or evidence of any Plough Bullock Nights in this area
since the beginning of the first World War.
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For most of the material comprising this article I am indebted
to my father, Mr. S. Beazley, J.P., of Mansfield, who recently made
Plough Bullock Night the subject of an address to the "Old Mansfield
Society."
It would be interesting and useful to hear of further records of
Plough Monday in the county or of other local variations in the play.
F. W. Beazley,
Mansfield. |
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