S.R. (1924)
Main Variant |
Transcription
|
PLOUGH MONDAY.
THE MUMMERS' PLAY : RELIC OF
AN OLD CUSTOM
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SURVIVALS
With the coming of railways may old customs
began to die out of the country side, but there is
one still surviving, which was among the oldest
of all - the Mummers' Play. The relics of it will
be seen in the suburbs of Nottingham on Plough
Monday in the hands of youngsters who parade the
streets in strange attire. Their blacked faces or
masks are a survival from some primitive religious
custom and are found all over the Continent
among the actors in the counterpart of the English
play. So also the wooden swords or sticks which
the boys carry, and the oddities of their dress
are unwittingly an attempt to get near to the
special garb worn by their predecessors of long
ago. Sometimes the town boys repeat a few lines
of the old rhyme, but the effort is usually a
feeble one.
In many country places, however, the rhymes
have been retained more tenaciously. They are
of great interest, for it is certain that they go
back to the times of Crusades at least. Mr.
Cecil Sharpe, who has done a great work in the
revival of Morris dancing and old English country
games, gives them a much longer history. Along
with a learned Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford,
whose posthumous book, a collection of many
versions of the play, has just been published, he
traces back the origin of the rhymes to pagan
times. What makes the subject so interesting is
that they are found practically all over the country,
and though the versions may differ, the structure
is the same.
The leading personage in the play is St. George,
who is himself sometimes represented as King
George, probably an eighteenth century corrup-
tion. There is always a fight, and this introduces
the doctor, a character of undoubted antiquity,
who brings the victim of the struggle to life
again. Mr. Sharpe's interpretation of the legend
is the birth of a new earth, the marriage of the
Heavens and the Earth, the earth's winter time of
death, and spring time or the resurrection. He
thinks it goes back to the time when a religious
ceremony required an animal, or perhaps a human
victim. "The solemn and barbarous rite showed
forth the yearly wax and wane of life, and was
mystically identified with it. The form outlived
the reality of sacrifice till we find it in its final
stage in the death scene and the doctor of the
Mummers' play."
THE SELSTON PLAY
There are several versions of the play current in
Nottinghamshire, but for the most part they still
await a recording hand. It has a tenacious hold
in the Selston district, where it is to be found in
unusual fulness. Captain J. P. Scothorne, the
head master of Bagthorpe School, has been at the
pains to take down the version used by the boys,
of which an account is here given in print for the
first time. it would be a great help in the study
of local folk lore if the same keen interest in the
collection of these ancient rhymes could be shown
in other parts of the country.
The characters in the Selston play are six in
number. The Fool, St. George, Slasher, the
Doctor, Beelzebub and Devil Doubt. The modern
additions to the old play revealed in the text will
be easily detected.
The Fool opens with a rhyme, of which the
introductory lines are found in most versions:
Room, room, brave gentlemen, give us room for sport,
For in this room we wish to resort.
Resort, and to repeat you our merry rhyme,
For remember, good sirs, this is Christmas time.
* * *
The sound of the trumpet and the beat of the drum,
Make room, brave gentlemen, and let our actors come,
We are the merry actors that traverse the street,
We are the merry actors that fight for our meat,
We are the merry actors that show pleasant play,
Step in, St. George, and clear the way.
St. George steps forward, and thus bravely
speaks:
I am St. George who from old England sprang,
My famous name throughout the world hath rang;
Many great deeds and wonders I have made known,
And made the tyrants tremble on their throne.
I followed a fair lady to a giant's gate,
Confined in dungeon deep to meet her fate,
Then I resolved in true knight errantry,
To burst the door and set the prisoner free;
When a giant almost struck me dead,
But by my valour I cut off his head.
I've searched the world all round and round,
But a man to equal me I've never found.
St. George's enemy now appears:
I am a villain solder, and Slasher is my name,
With sword and buckler by my side I hope to win the
game;
And for to fight with me I see thou art not able,
So with my trusty broad sword I'll soon the disable.
St. George throws back the word "disable," and
continues:
Stand off, Slasher and let no more be said,
For if I draw my sword I'm sure to break thy head.
To this Slasher replies:
How can'st thou beak my head?
My head is made of iron,
My body is made of steel,
My hands and feet of knuckle bone
I'll challenge thee to feel.
The fight ensues, and Slasher is killed. The
Fool now calls for the doctor, who appears, and
in the traditional manner bargains for his fee. Fool
asks "Well, how far have you travelled in
doctorship?" and the reply is similar to that
found in nearly all versions: .
Italy, Germany, France, and Spain.
And now returned to cure the diseases in old
England again.
The doctor is asked what diseases he can cure,
and replies "All sorts." He adds:
I have spectacles in my pocket
For blind bumble bees;
Pack saddles and panniers for grasshoppers,
Crutches for lame ducks.
Slasher is brought to life again by the doctor
requiring him "to take a little out of my bottle,
and let it run down thy throttle." Slasher gets
up, but complains: "My back is wounded, my
heart's confounded."
The last two actors now appear. The first of
them is the one character of the play whose rhymes
Nottingham boys reproduce:
In steps I Beelzebub,
Ovc
er my shoulders I carry a club:
I think myself a jolly old msn -
If you don't believe the words I say,
Enter, Devil Doubt, and clear the way.
On which Devil Doubt has his little say, and the
whole company join in the concluding song:
In steps our little Devil Doubt,
With my breeches inside out;
Money I want, and money I crave,
lf your don't give me money
I'll sweep you all to your grave.
Song by all -
Sing faldo, sing faldo, sing faldo, my name;
If you give me nothing, I'll say nothing -
Sing faldo, my name.
Misses and masters, sit at your ease,
Put your hand in your pocket, and give what you
please.
The Selston version bears a very close re-
semblance to one which is common in Lancashire.
The characters in both cases are the same, the
Doctor addresses Slasher as Jack, fixes his fee at
ten pounds, as in the version transcribed by Mr.
Scothorne, and then comes down to five pounds.
The play in Lancashire was formerly performed at
Eastertide as well as at Christmas.
IN NORTH NOTTS.
In North Notts. a somewhat different form of
the play was to be found. A version current in
the middle of the last century was printed some
years ago from the recollections of the late Mr,
E. Sutton. In it there were only four characters;
The Herald, the Hero, St. George, and the Doctor.
St. George's opening speech in this version ran as
follows;
I am St. George, that bold and valiant knight
Who spilled his blood for England's right,
For England's right, for England's reign,
And all her glories I'll maintain.
Slasher, here become Herom thus speaks in
response to St. George's challenge:
If thy head be made of iron,
And thy body made of steel,
Thy hands and arms be solid brass,
My sword can make thee feel.
St. George:
Who are thou, thou braggart knave?
Hero:
I am an old soldier, stout and bold,
And Hero is my name.
St. George:
Thou knowest, Turk, before we fight,
Thou art not able -
These lines are particularly interesting, as "The
Turk," is clearly reminiscent of the Crusades.
The same reference is found in many other
versions. It will be noticed that the "disable"
of the Selston version here becomes "able," a
word on which Hero plays in his reply.
St. George and Hero fight, and when the latter
is wounded, there is the same cry for the Doctor.
St. George inquires where the Doctor has travelled,
and is told:
Through England, Scotland, France and Spain,
And now I've come back to England again.
The Doctor, asked what he can cure, replies:
The itch, the stitch, the grunt, the gout,
The pain within and the pain without.
* * *
I heal the sick, I cure the lame
I raise the dead to life again
The Doctor finally cures Hero:
Let a little of my bottle get down thy throttle,
Take my holus bolus quickly down thy throat
And rise, and sing a merry note.
In the Lancashire version the Doctor's catalogue
of his cures is the same as at Selston, where, how-
ever the words are not now correctly remembered.
I can cure the itch, the stitch, the palsy, and the gout,
If a man has nineteen devils in his throat,
I can cast twenty-one out.
Every version contains the question as to the
extent of the Doctor's travels. Mr. Cecil Sharpe
gives the reply in Northumberland as follows:
Through Italy, France and Spain,
and now I've come back,
To cure the diseases in England again.
PROCESSION OF THE PLOUGH.
The procession of the plough is another very old
custom on Plough Monday, and among other
places in the county in which it had survived before
the war was East Bridgford.
What is the real meaning and age of the
Mummers' Play? Why is it found all over the
country, and in the most remote parts of the
country? It would help in finding the answer if
in every village some record could be compiled of
its old customs, traditions and folk lore. These
will all soon be lost now that the motor bus is
obliterating the distinction between town and
country. S. R. |
|
