they prove that baths, or at least bathing-tubs, were to be found even in the houses of the poorest tradesmen, evince also that they were not always very innocently employed; and those of public resort became so infamous, that their very names are expressive of debauchery. The reader may possibly be of opinion that the spectacle of an hundred knights playing at bowls "in alleys cold," would not be so amusing as even the simplest kind of theatrical representations; and as mysteries, or miracleplays, are mentioned by Chaucer's Wife of Bath as a common and fashionable diversion, it may be thought that one of these might have been advantageously substituted for the regiment of bowling knights. But the mysteries were for a long time exhibited only on stated festivals; they were performed solely by ecclesiastics; they required considerable preparation; and there did not exist in England (the only country which seems to have been known to the author of the romance) any company of actors, at the disposal of the court, till after the middle of the sixteenth century. Mr. Warton, in his History of Poetry, has taken great pains to discover the origin, and trace the progress of theatrical entertainments in Europe; and though the subject is much too extensive for the present work, it may be worth while to present to the reader what seems to be the general outline of his opinion. cuous bathing is also exhibited in some of the early specimens of engraving, in which women are often represented as attending men to the bath, as they still do at Berne. Wenceslaus, emperor and king of Bohemia, who died in 1418, was much attached to the bathing girl who attended him during his captivity, and for whose sake he is said to have bestowed many privileges and immunities on the owners of the baths at Baden. Her picture occurs very frequently in a finely illuminated bible, written at his instance, and still preserved in the Imperial library at Vienna. This anecdote is mentioned by Lambecius in his account of that library. He observes that, as early as the fourth century, Gregory Nazianzen, an archbishop and poet, with a view of banishing pagan plays from the theatre of Constantinople, had composed many sacred dramas, intended to be substituted for the Greek tragedies, with hymns in lieu of the chorus. Whatever may have been the result of this first struggle between piety and taste, a second project of a similar nature is stated to have been successful. Theophylact, another patriarch, invented or adopted, about the year 990, a sort of religious pantomimes and farces, since known by the names of Fête des Fous, Fête de l'Ane, Fête des Innocents, &c., in the hopes of weaning the people from the Bacchanalian and calendary rites, and other pagan ceremonies, by the substitution of Christian spectacles. These farces, passing first into Italy, suggested the composition of mysteries, which from thence found their way into France and the rest of Europe; and were every where eagerly adopted by the clergy, who were glad to have in their own hands the direction of a popular amusement, capable of rivalling the scandalous pantomimes and buffooneries hitherto exhibited at fairs by the jugglers and itinerant minstrels, whom the merchants carried with them for the purpose of attracting cus tomers. A sort of miracle play, or mystery, is said to have been acted in England by the monks of the abbey of Dunstable in the eleventh century. This was the famous play of the Death of St. Catherine. At this time, the only persons who could read were ecclesiastics; but, as learning increased, the practice of acting these plays migrated from the monasteries to the universities, which were formed on a monastic plan, and in many respects resembled the ecclesiastical bodies. In the statutes of Trinityhall, Cambridge, an Imperator, or prefectus ludorum (master of the revels), is ordered to be appointed, for the purpose of superintending the amusements and plays at Christmas; and a Christmas-prince, or lord of misrule, corresponding to the Imperator at Cambridge, was a common temporary magistrate at Oxford. The same practice was afterwards introduced into our schools, and from hence into the companies of singingboys in the choirs, and the law societies. All Lylie's plays, and many of Jonson's and Shakspeare's, were acted by the children of the Chapel-royal, assisted by those of St. Paul's. "Ferrex and Porrex' was acted in 1561, by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple, and Gascoigne's "Supposes " in 1566, by those of Gray's-inn. It may be proper to observe, that this sketch, though possibly correct in general, is by no means so in respect to France; for it appears, that a regular company of players was established at Paris by a réglement of Charles VI. in December 1402, under the title of Les Confreres de la Passion. It is said to have been founded by a set of pilgrims returning from the Holy Land, who used to assemble in the public squares to chant, in several parts, the miracles of the Virgin. This company was succeeded during the same reign by a new one, composed of lawyers' clerks belonging to the Parlement and the Chatelet, under the direction of a manager, who called himself le Prince des Sots, and began to exhibit a new and burlesque species of entertainments, which, under the successive names of Sotties, Pois-pilés, and lastly Farces, continued in fashion till the time of Moliere. 281 CHAPTER XIV. Reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV. and V. (1422—1471.) HUGH DE CAMPEDEN. THOMAS CHESTRE. SCOTTISH POETS. CLERK OF TRANENT.-HOLLAND.-HENRY THE MINSTREL. REIGNS OF EDWARD IV. AND V. -HARDING. SCOGAN. NORTON.-RIPLEY.-LADY JULIANA BERNERS.-WILLIAM OF NASSYNGTON. LORD RIVERS. SCOTTISH POETS.→→→→ ROBERT HENRYSOUN. JOHNSTOUN-AND MERSAR. PATRICK THE only poets who can be assigned, with any certainty, to the reign of Henry VI., are HUGH DE CAMPEDEN and THOMAS CHESTRE, both of whom are only known to us as translators; the former having turned into English verse the romance of Sidrac, and the latter the Lay of Lanval, composed, or rather paraphrased, from the Breton original, by Mademoiselle Marie, a French poetess of the twelfth century. 66 The romance of Sidrac1 is represented by Mr. Warton as a compendium of Arabian philosophy, rather than a fable of chivalry; and Campeden's translation as exhibiting no sort of elegance in the diction, nor harmony in the versification." Chestre's work, on the contrary, besides being very fanciful and entertaining, appears to be written by an experienced versifier; because the sixlined stanza in which it is composed, has not in any 1 "The history of kyng Boccus and Sydracke," &c., London, printed by Godfray, 1510, 4to. Mr. Ritson (Bibl. Poet.) says that MS. copies are not uncommon. There is one in the Bodleian, and another in the British Museum. degree fettered his expression, which is very generally natural and easy as well as picturesque. It is unnecessary, however, to give any extract from this poem, as it has been very lately submitted to the public in the Appendix to Mr. Way's translation of the Fabliaux (Faulder, 18001). Mr. Warton suspects that the Earl of Thoulouse, a metrical romance, of which he has given the analysis (Hist. Eng. P. vol. II. p. 103), may also have been translated by Chestre; but Mr. Ritson, who has printed it in his collection, is of a different opinion. The dearth of names in our poetical catalogue towards the middle of the fifteenth century is not a proof that the art of poetry was at this time very little cultivated. The contrary, indeed, is most probably true; because many of the old ballads preserved in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, several of the metrical romances, of which a large collection still remains in manuscript in our public libraries, and the greater part of the fabulous stories of Robin Hood, as well as the tales of Gamelyn and of Beryn, so long attributed to Chaucer, appear to belong to this period. But though Henry VI. was likely to be the patron of a talent to which he had himself some pretensions 2, the general despondence and discontent which 1 It may now be read to the utmost advantage in Mr. Ritson's collection of Ancient English Romances, where it is printed (no doubt) with scrupulous fidelity. 2 In the Nuga Antique the following wretched lines are ascribed to this wretched prince : Kingdoms are but cares; Pleasure is a privy prick Which vice doth still provoke; Pomp unprompt; and fame a flame; |