Context:

Location: Aston, Oxfordshire, England (SP3302)
Year: Col. 1913-1916
Time of Occurrence: Christmas
Collective Name: Mumming

Source:

Alfred Williams
Mumming Play
A. Williams Collection, WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 3 - Oxfordshire: No. Ox. 191, https://www.vwml.org/record/AW/3/20, accessed 5th March 2024

Cast:

Text:

{Mumming Play}

{Characters of the Piece.}

{Father Christmas.}

{The Valiant Soldier.}

{The Royal Russian King and Turkish Knight.}

{A Doctor.}

{Jack Vinney.}

{Enter}

Father Christmas

In come I, old Father Christmas,
Welcome or welcome not,
I hope old Father Christmas
Will never be forgot.
Last Christmas Day I turned the spit,
I burnt my fingers and feel on't yet.
The sparks went over the table,
The skimmer beat the ladle,
"Ay! Ay!" says the grid iron, "Can't you two agree?
I am the Justice. Bring them to me."
A room, a room, to lie down derry,
I am come this Christmas time to make you all merry.
If there's any offence I'll go hence,
If not, make room for me
And my jolly company.
Come in, the Valiant Soldier.!

{ENTER}

The Valiant Soldier.

I am the Valiant Soldier bold,
And Slasher is my name,
With my sword and my buckler by my side
I hope to win the game.

Father Christmas

Slasher, Slasher, dossent be too hot,
Before thou know'st who thou'st got.

The Valiant Soldier

What grows on Land's End?

Father Christmas

Wheat and rye.

The Valiant Soldier.

Then there shall be a battle twixt thee and I.
To which first on the ground shall lie.
So mind thy head and guard thy blow!
Mind thy eyes and face also!
Come in the Royal Russian King!

{ENTER}

The Royal Russian King}

I am the Royal Russian King,
I am the Turkish Knight,
And I come from the Turkish land,
And I am bound for to fight.
I don't value thee nor no other man,
Neither English, French, Dutch, nor Spain,
If any man thinks he can do me harm
let his voice ring!
I am the Royal, the Russian King.

{The Valiant Soldier and the Royal Russian King fight. The Royal Russian King falls.}

The Royal Russian King.

A doctor! A doctor! I really would give five pound
If a good doctor could be found.

Doctor

I won't come for five pound.

The Royal Russian King.

What will you come for, then?

Doctor.

I will come for ten pound.
I am a doctor, a doctor good,
And with my hand I can stop thy blood.
I have cured in England, I have cured in Spain.
And I am come to old England to cure again.

The Valiant Soldier

What can'st thou cure more than any other man?

Doctor

An old magpie with the toothache.

The Valiant Soldier.

How dost do that?

Doctor.

First I twist off his head,
Throw his body in the ditch,
Then chop him up as small as flies,
And send him to France to make mince pies.
Mince pies hot, mince pies cold,
Mince pies in the pot nine days old.
Come in, Jack Vinney

{ENTER}

Jack Vinney.

My name's not Jack Vinney.

Doctor

What's your name then?

Jack Vinney

My name's Mr Vinney,
a man of land and property.

Doctor

Come in then, Mr. Vinney.

Jack Vinney

Here come I, that's not been hit,
With my great head and little wit;
My head so big and wit so small,
But I'll endeavour to please you all.
As I went up along a narrow straight and crooked lane
I met with a pigsty tied to an eldern bush,
built with apples dumplings and slated with pancakes.
I knocked at the maid and out came the door.
She asked me if I could eat half a pint of ale
and drink a crust of bread and cheese.
I said - "No thank you, Miss!" but meant "Yes, if you please!".
So she brought me out a cold leg of nothing and no taters
and that's where I got my big belly.
I went on a bit further
and there I saw two old women a-sifting tobacco.
One flung a piece through a cast iron platter and beat the bottom out,
and another flung a piece through a ten foot wall
and injured a poor, dead dog.
I had massy on that poor, dead dog
and I turned him slap dab inside outerds
and sent him to Buckland Hill backwards a-barking.

Notes:

Indexer's Notes

Alfred Williams' original manuscript is deposited in the Swindon and Wiltshire History Centre.
Scanned images of the manuscript are available online in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library archives at: https://www.vwml.org/record/AW/3/20.
Chris Wildridge's edited transcript and notes are available online on the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre website at: https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Folk/Details/507.
The manuscript has been marked up with edits for publication. The transcript here ignores editorial changes in favour of the original text.
Williams published the text with the the following article: Alfred Williams "An Oxfordshire Mummers Play", Oxford Times, 24th December 1926 p8. A transcript of this article is included in Wildridge's notes to this play.
There are two major differences between the texts in William's manuscript and his published article:
(1) The short dialogue between the Doctor and Jack Vinney about Jack Vinney's name is omitted from the article.
(2) The article's text ends with the following passage, which does not exist in the manuscript:
Here all join hands and dance together singing:
Green sleeves, yellow lace,
Pretty boys dance apace
For the fiddler is in great distress
For the want of a little money.
The last page of the manuscript is part of a page cut from the top of a larger sheet. It is possible that the extra stanza was originally present, possibly on a separate sheet, but has been lost. Instead, the manuscript ends with an asterisked addition in capitals in another hand "All Dance (Green Sleeves etc)".

Alfred Williams' Notes

Page 1 of the manuscripts bears two annotations, in ink, possibly overwriting pencil:
Top right: Bampton Aston Chimney Oxon
Left near the top: This play I printed in the Oxford Times 2 years ago
Page 2 is headed: Mumming Play Aston & Bampton
Page 3 is headed: Mumming Play. Aston, Bampton, Chimney.

File History:

2024-03-06 - Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge
2024-03-05 - Proof-read and encoded by Peter Millington
2024-03-06 - TEI-encoded by Peter Millington

Extras:

Dramaturgical Chart

Dramaturgical chart for 91sp30wa
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TEI-encoded File

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