Context:

Location: Sunningwell, Berkshire, England (SP4900)
Year: Communicated 1913
Time of Occurrence: Christmas
Collective Name: [Not given]

Source:

R.J.E. Tiddy
Sunningwell, Berks.
Thomas Fairman Ordish Collection, https://www.vwml.org/record/TFO/1/1/12

Cast:

Text:

{1}

{Sunningwell, Berks}

(First Man)

A room a room i do presume
and now by all yea brave gallant boys own
who gave us leave to act and rime
now on this merry christmas time
activity of age activity of youth
i,ll show you some of the finest sports and plays
that ever been acted on St. andrews day before
come in my eldest son,

(Second man)

Where is that man, that man that dares to bid me stand.
i,ll knock him down with my creatious hand
i,ll cut him and stew him into as small as flies
and send him to the cook shop to be made into minse pies.
i fought my battle at home and abroad
and its all true upon my word
i neither value thee or any other man or any other spanish turk
that tries to do me any hurt
so now let all your voices ring
for i am the royal of prussia king
come in bull slash,

(Third man) (Bull Slash)

Here is that man that dares to bid thee stand.
all though thou said, st thou,st cut me down with thy creatious hand
thou said,st thou,st out and stew me into as small as flies
and send me to the cook shop to be made into mince pies.
bold french bold french officer am i,
many a time thou,st cut and driven me across many along field to fly,
but now i am come with my mind to try,
so mind thy head and gard thy blows,
and thy face and eyes also,
to battle to battle thee and i shall try,
to see which on the ground shall lye,

{2}

(First man)

Oh doctor doctor prey thy part
king George is wounded through the heart
oh doctor doctor haste to haste
to see that thou no longer stayst
five pound will i freely give
if that noble doctor can be found.

(Fourth man)

See sir here comes your noble doctor here
a doctor and a doctor good
and with my hand i,ll save is blood
both cure is body and stomache too,

(First man) .

where came,st thou from

(Fourth man)

From france from spane
from all parts of the dominion doth i came,

(First man)

what can,st thou cure

(Fourth man)

all sorts of diseases
just what my little phisic pleases,
the hitch the stich the stone the pain the palsy and.the gout
the pain within and the pain without
molly grubbs polly grubbs and all thoes little ram tarn tory deceases,
take one and try,
if you die never believe me any more,
bring unto me an old woman seven years dead
eight years buried and nine years laid in her grave
and if she as got an old hollow hum tum scrum tum Jack tooth in her head,
i,ll be bond of a bound of a thousand pounds
that if she,ll crack one of my pills.
it will main taine her to life again
so this is the case as was before
rise up king George and fight once more,

(Fourth man)

Ah king thee,st been and done a fine thing
i have been a cured one man
and thee,st been and killed another
{3}
so if there is any other man that can do any more than me
let him come in and try if is name is Jack finney.

(Fifth man)

My name is not jack finney
my name is Mrs finney
a woman of great fame
do more than thee or any other man again

(Fourth man)

what can,st thee do

(Fifth man)

why cure the magpie with the toothache,

(Fourth man)

(how could,st do that)

(Fifth man)

why out his head off and throw his body in a dry ditch to drown

(Fourth man)

oh you barbers rascall

(Fifth man)

no barbers at all Sir
and i could surely cure this man if he is not quite dead
so i prey unto you my honest friend rises up thy head.
so here comes i as aint been hit
with my great head and little wits
my head so big and my wits so small
{4}
i brought my fiddle to please you all

(All five men together)

Inker tonker tinker
sold is wife for sinker
chimney corner was his place
there he sat and dried his face
up in the chimney corner.

Notes:

Indexer's Notes

Typed transcripts of the manuscript in the Ordish Collection are annotated "Communicated by R J E Tiddy 1913".

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Notes

Text of play collected by R J E Tiddy, presumably the one sent to Ordish under cover of TFO/3/2/5. [TFO/1/1/13 and TFO/1/1/14, both described as "Communicated by R J E Tiddy 1913" are presumably typed copies made by or for Ordish.] The boundary changes of 1974 changed Sunningwell's county from Berkshire to Oxfordshire.

File History:

2011-02-01 - Digitised by Eddie Cass et al
2024-03-07 - Proof-read and encoded by Peter Millington
2024-03-07 - TEI-encoded by Peter Millington

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