A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I.

R >> R. Dodsley >> A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I.




_Clara tunc voce Antiphonam incipit_, O Emmanuel, _quam chorus (ut prius)
prosequetur cum organis_.

_Vel Anglicè canat_:

O high King Emmanuel, and our liege lord! the long expectation of
Gentiles, and the mighty saviour of their multitude, the health and
consolation of sinners, come now for to save us as our Lord and our
Redeemer.

_Finit Actus quartus_.



INCIPIT ACTUS QUINTUS.


PATER COELESTIS. For all the favour I have showed Israel,
Delivering her from Pharaoh's tyranny,
And giving the land _fluentem lac & mel_,
Yet will she not leave her old idolatry,
Nor know me for God. I ahhor her misery:
Vexed her I have with battles and decays,
And must I plague her, I see no other ways.

DAVID REX PIUS. Remember yet, lord, thy worthy servant Moses,
Walking in thy sight, without rebuke of thee.
Both Aaron, Jethro, Eleazar, and Phineas,
Evermore feared to offend thy majesty,
Much thou acceptedst thy servant Josua.
Caleb and Othniel sought thee with all their heart,
Aioth and Shangar for thy folk did their part.
Gideon and Tola thy enemies put to smart,
Jair and Jephtha gave praises to thy name.
These to leave idols thy people did court
Samson the strongest for his part did the same.
Samuel and Nathan thy messages did proclaim.
What though fierce Pharaoh wrought mischief in thy sight:
He was a Pagan, lay not that in our light.
I wot the Benjaminites abused the ways of right,
So did Eli's sons, and the sons of Samuel.
Saul in his office was slothful day and night,
Wicked was Shimei, so was Ahithophel.
Measure not by them the faults of Israel,
Whom thou hast loved of long time so entirely,
But of thy great grace remit her wicked folly.

PATER COELESTIS. I cannot abide the vice of idolatry,
Though I should suffer all other villany.
When Joshua was dead, that sort from me did fall
To the worshipping of Ashteroth and Baal,
Full unclean idols, and monsters bestial.

DAVID REX PIUS. For it they have had thy righteous punishment,
And for as much as they did wickedly consent
To the Philistines and Canaanites, ungodly
Idolaters, taking to them in matrimony,
Thou threwest them under the king of Mesopotamia,
After thou subduedst them for their idolatry
Eighteen years to Eglon, the king of Moabites,
And twenty years to Jabin, the king of Canaanites,
Oppressed they were seven years of the Midianites,
And eighteen years vexed of the cruel Ammonites.
In three great battles, of threescore thousand and five
Of this thy people, not one was left alive.
Have mercy now, lord, and call them to repentance.

PATER COELESTIS. So long as they sin, so long shall they have grievance.
David my servant, somewhat must I say to thee:
For that thou lately hast wrought such vanity.

DAVID REX PIUS. Spare not, blessed lord, but say thy pleasure to me.

PATER COELESTIS. Of late days thou hast misused Beersheba,
The wife of Uriah, and slain him in the field.

DAVID REX PIUS. Mercy, Lord, mercy, for doubtless I am defiled.

PATER COELESTIS. I constitute thee a king over Israel,
And thee preserved from Saul, which was thy enemy.
Yea, in my favour so much thou didst excel,
That of thy enemies I gave thee victory.
Philistines and Syrians to thee came tributary.
Why hast thou then wrought such folly in my sight,
Despising my word against all godly right?

DAVID REX PIUS. I have sinned, Lord; I beseech thee, pardon me.

PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt not die, David, for this iniquity,
For thy repentance; but thy son by Beersheba
Shall die, for as much as my name is blasphemed
Among my enemies, and thou the worst esteemed.
From thy house for this the sword shall not depart.

DAVID REX PIUS. I am sorry, Lord, from the bottom of my heart.

PATER COELESTIS. To further anger thou dost me yet compel.

DAVID REX PIUS. For what matter, Lord? I beseech thy goodness tell.

PATER COELESTIS. Why didst thou number the people of Israel?
Supposest in thy mind therein thou hast done well?

DAVID REX PIUS. I cannot say nay, but I have done indiscreetly,
To forget thy grace for a human policy.

PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt of these three choose which plague thou wilt
have
For that sinful act, that I thy soul may save:
A scarceness seven years, or else three months' exile,
Either for three days the pestilence most vile,
For one thou must have: there is no remedy.

DAVID REX PIUS. Lord, at thy pleasure, for thou art full of mercy.

PATER COELESTIS. Of a pestilence then three score thousand and ten
In three days shall die of thy most puissant men.

DAVID REX PIUS. O Lord, it is I which have offended thy grace,
Spare them and not me, for I have done the trespass.

PATER COELESTIS. Though thy sins be great, thy inward heart's contrition
Doth move my stomach in wonderful condition.
I find thee a man according to my heart;
Wherefore this promise I make thee, ere I depart.
A fruit there shall come forth issuing from thy body,
Whom I will advance upon thy seat for ever.
His throne shall become a seat of heavenly glory,
His worthy sceptre from right will not dissever,
His happy kingdom of faith shall perish never.
Of heaven and of earth he was author principal,
And will continue, though they do perish all
This sign shalt thou have for a token special,
That thou mayest believe my words unfeignedly.
Where thou hast minded, for my memorial,
To build a temple, thou shalt not finish it truly.
But Solomon thy son shall do that action worthy,
In token that Christ must finish everything
That I have begun, to my praise everlasting.

DAVID REX PIUS. Immortal glory to thee, most heavenly King,
For that thou hast given continual victory
To me thy servant ever since my annointing,
And also before, by many conquests worthy.
A bear and lion I slew through thy strength only.
I slew Golias, which was six cubits long.
Against thy enemies thou madest me ever strong.
My fleshly frailness made me do deadly wrong,
And clean to forget thy laws of righteousness.
And though thou visitedst my sinfulness among
With pestilent plagues and other unquietness,
Yet never tookest thou from me the plenteousness
Of thy godly spirit, which thou in me didst plant.
I, having remorse, thy grace could never want;
For, in conclusion, thy everlasting covenant
Thou gavest unto me for all my wicked sin;
And hast promised here by protestation constant,
That one of my seed shall such high fortune win,
As never did man since this world did begin.
By his power he shall put Satan from his hold,
In rejoice whereof to sing will I be bold.

_Canora voce tunc incipit Antiphonam_, O Adonai, _quam (ut prius)
prosequetur chorus cum organis_.

_Vel sic Anglicè_:

O Lord God Adonai, and guide of the faithful house of Israel, which
sometime appearedest in the flaming bush to Moses, and to him didst give
a law in Mount Sinai, come now for to redeem us in the strength of thy
right hand.

_Finit Actus quintus_.



INCIPIT ACTUS SEXTUS.


PATER COELESTIS. I brought up children from their first infancy,
Which now despiseth my godly instructions.
An ox knoweth his lord, an ass his master's duty;
But Israel will not know me nor my conditions.
O froward people, given all to superstitions:
Unnatural children, expert in blasphemies,
Provoketh me to hate by their idolatries.
Take heed to my words, ye tyrants of Sodom,
In vain ye offer your sacrifice to me.
Discontent I am with you, beasts of Gomorrah,
And have no pleasure when I your offerings see;
I abhor your fasts and your solemnity;
For your traditions my ways ye set apart,
Your works are in vain, I hate them from the heart.

ESAIAS PROPHETA. Thy city, sweet Lord, is now become unfaithful,
And her conditions are turned upside down.
Her life is unchaste, her acts be very hurtful,
Her murder and theft hath darkened her renown.
Covetous rewards doth so their conscience drown,
That the fatherless they will not help to right,
The poor widow's cause come not afore their sight.
Thy peaceable paths seek they neither day nor night;
But walk wicked ways after their fantasy.
Convert their hearts, Lord, and give them thy true light,
That they may perceive their customable folly:
Leave them not helpless in so deep misery,
But call them from it of thy most special grace,
By thy true prophets, to their soul's health and solace.

PATER COELESTIS. First they had fathers, then had they patriarchs,
Then dukes, then judges, to their guides and monarchs.
Now have they stout kings, yet are they wicked still,
And will in no wise my pleasant laws fulfil.
Always they apply to idol-worshipping,
From the vile beggar to the anointed king.

ESAIAS PROPHETA. For that cause thou hast in two divided them,
In Samaria the one, the other in Jerusalem.
The king of Judah in Jerusalem did dwell,
And in Samaria the king of Israel.
Ten of the twelve tribes became Samaritans,
And the other two were Hierosolimitans.
In both these countries, according to their doings,
Thou permittedst them to have most cruel kings.
The first of Judah was wicked king Rehoboam,
Of Israel the first was that cruel Jeroboam;
Abijam then followed, and in the other Nadab,
Then Baasha, then Etah, then Zimri, Jehoram, and Ahab.[294]
Then Ahaziah, then Athaliah, then Jehoash;
On the other part was Jotham and Ahaz.
To rehearse them all that have done wretchedly
In the sight of thee, it were long verily.

PATER COELESTIS. For the wicked sin of filthy idolatry,
Which the ten tribes did in the land of Samaria.
In space of one day fifty thousand men I slew,
Three of their cities also I overthrew,
And left the people in such captivity,
That in all the world they wist not whither to flee.
The other two tribes, when they from me went back
To idolatry, I left in the hand of Sesack,
The king of Egypt, which took away their treasure,
Conveyed their cattle, and slew them without measure.
In time of Ahaz, an hundred thousand and twenty
Were slain at one time for their idolatry.
Two hundred thousand from thence were captive led,
Their goods dispersed, and they with penury fed.
Seldom they fail it, but either the Egyptians
Have them in bondage, or else the Assyrians.
And alone they may thank their idolatry.

ISAIAS PROPHETA. Well yet, blessed Lord, relieve them with thy mercy.
Though they have been ill by other princes' days.
Yet good Zedekiah hath taught them goodly ways.
When the prince is good, the people are the better;
And as he is nought, their vices are the greater.
Heavenly Lord, therefore send them the consolation,
Which thou hast covenanted with every generation.
Open thou the heavens, and let the lamb come hither,
Which will deliver thy people altogether.
Ye planets and clouds, cast down your dews and rain,
That the earth may bear out healthful savour plain.

PATER COELESTIS. May the wife forget the child of her own body?

ISAIAS PROPHETA. Nay, that she cannot in any wise verily.

PATER COELESTIS. No more can I them which will do my commandments,
But must preserve them from all inconvenients.

ISAIAS PROPHETA. Blessed art thou, Lord, in all thy acts and judgments.

PATER COELESTIS. Well, Isaias, for this thy fidelity
A covenant of health thou shalt have also of me.

ISAIAS PROPHETA.[295] For Zion's sake now I will not hold my peace,
And for Jerusalem to speak will I not cease,
Till that righteous Lord become as a sunbeam bright,
And their just saver as a lamp extend his light.

PATER COELESTIS. A rod shall shoot forth from the old stock of Jesse,
And a bright blossom from that root will arise,
Upon whom always the spirit of the Lord shall be,
The spirit of wisdom, the spirit of heavenly practice,
And the spirit that will all goodness devise.
Take this for a sign: a maid of Israel
Shall conceive and bear that Lord Immanuel.

ISAIAS PROPHETA. Thy praises condign no mortal tongue can tell,
Most worthy Maker and king of heavenly glory,
For all capacities thy goodness doth excel,
Thy plenteous grace no brain can compass truly,
No wit can conceive the greatness of thy mercy,
Declared of late in David thy true servant
And now confirmed in this thy latter covenant.
Of goodness thou madest Solomon of wit most pregnant,
Asa and Jehosaphat, with good king Hezekiah,
In thy sight to do what was to thee right pleasant.
To quench idolatry, thou raisedest up Elijah,
Jehu, Elisha, Micas, and Abdias,
And Naaman Syrus thou purgedest of a lepry.
Thy works wonderful who can but magnify?
Arise, Jerusalem, and take faith by and by,
For the very light that shall save thee is coming.
The Son of the Lord appear will evidently,
When he shall resort, see that no joy be wanting.
He is thy saver and thy life everlasting,
Thy release from sin and thy whole righteousness.
Help me in this song to acknowledge his great goodness.

_Concinna tunc voce Antiphonam inchoat_, O radix Jesse _quam chorus
prosequeter cum organis_.

_Vel Anglicè hoc modo canet_.

O fruitful root of Jesse, that shall be set as a sign among people,
against the worldly rulers shall fiercely open their mouths. Whom the
Gentiles worship as their heavenly Lord, come now for to deliver us, and
delay the time no longer.

_Finit Actus sextus_.



ACTUS SEPTIMUS.


PATER COELESTIS. I have with fierceness mankind oftentimes corrected,
And again I have allured him by sweet promise,
I have sent sore plagues, when he hath me neglected,
And then by and by most comfortable sweetness.
To win him to grace, both mercy and righteousness,
I have exercised, yet will he not amend;
Shall I now lose him, or shall I him defend?
In his most mischief most high grace will I send,
To overcome him by favour, if it may be.
With his abusions no longer will I contend
But now accomplish my first will and decree.
My word being flesh, from hence shall set him free,
Him teaching a way of perfect righteousness,
That he shall not need to perish in his weakness.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Manasses, Lord, is past which turned from thee his
heart,
Ahaz and Ammon have now no more ado,
Jechonias with other, which did themselves avert
From thee to idols, may now no farther go.
The two false judges, and Baal's wicked priests also,
Phassur and Shemias, with Nebuchadnezzar,
Antiochus and Triphon, shall thee displease no more.
Three score years and ten thy people into Babylon
Were captive and thrall for idols' worshipping.
Jerusalem was lost, and left void of dominion,
Brent was their temple, so was their other building;
Their high priests were slain, their treasure came to nothing.
The strength and beauty of thine own heritage.
Thus didst thou leave them in miserable bondage.
Oft had they warnings, sometimes by Ezekiel,
And other prophets, as Isaias and Jeremiah,
Sometimes by Daniel, sometimes by Hosea and Joel,
By Amos and Obadiah, by Jonah and by Zephaniah,
By Nahum and Micah, by Haggai, and by Zachariah,
By Malachi, and also by Habakkuk,
By Olda the widow, and by the prophet Baruch.
Remember Josias, which took the abhomination
From the people, then restoring thy laws again.
Of Rechab consider the faithful generation,
Whom to wine-drinking no friendship might constrain.
Remember Abimelech, the friend of truth certain,
Zerubabel the prince, which did repair the temple,
And Jesus Josedec, of virtue the example.
Consider Nehemiah and Ezra the good scribe,
Merciful Tobiah and constant Mordecai:
Judith and queen Esther of the same godly tribe:
Devout Mathias and Judas Macabeus.
Have mind of Eleazar and then Joannes Hircanus,
Weigh the earnest faith of this godly company,
Though the other clean fall from thy memory.

PATER COELESTIS. I will, John, I will, for as I said afore,
Rigour and hardness I have now set apart,
Minding from henceforth to win man evermore
By wonderful kindness to break his stubborn heart,
And change it from sin. For Christ shall suffer smart,
In man's frail nature for his iniquity,
This to make open my messenger shalt thou be.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. As thy pleasure is, so, blessed Lord, appoint me,
For my health thou art and my soul's felicity.

PATER COELESTIS. Long ere I made thee, I thee predestinate:
Before thou wert born, I thee endued with grace.
In thy mother's womb wert thou sanctificate
By my godly gift, and so confirmed in peace
A prophet, to show a way before the face
Of my most dear Son, which will come; until then
Apply thee apace thine office to fulfil.
Preach to the people, rebuking their negligence,
Dop[296] them in water, they acknowledging their offence;
And say unto them, "The kingdom of God doth come."

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Unmeet, Lord, I am, _Quia puer ego sum_.
And (other than that), alack, I have no science
Fit for that office, neither yet clean eloquence.

PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt not say so, for I have given thee grace,
Eloquence and age to speak in the desert place.
Thou must do therefore as I shall thee advise,
My appointed pleasure forth utter in any wise,
My strong mighty words put I into thy mouth,
Spare not, but speak them to east, west, north, and south.

_Hic extendens Dominus manum, labia Johannis digito tanget, ac ori
imponet auream linguam_.

Go now thy way forth, I shall thee never fail,
The spirit of Elias have I given thee already.
Persuade the people, that they their sins bewail,
And if they repent their customable folly,
Long shall it not be, ere they have remedy.
Open thou their hearts, tell them their health is coming:
As a voice in desert, see thou declare the thing,
I promise thee sure, thou shalt wash him among them
In Jordan, a flood not far from Jerusalem.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Show me yet, good Lord, whereby shall I know that man,
In the multitude which will resort to Jordan.

PATER COELESTIS. In thy mother's womb of him hadst thou cognition.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Yea, that was in spirit, I would now know his person.

PATER COELESTIS. Have thou no fear, John, him shalt thou know full well,
And one special token afore will I thee tell.
_Super quem videris spiritum descendentem et manentem
Super eum, hic est qui baptizat spiritu sancto_.
Among all other whom thou shalt baptize there,
Upon whom thou seest the Holy Ghost descend
In shape of a dove, resting upon his shoulder,
Hold him for the same that shall the world amend
By baptism of spirit, and also to man extend
Most special grace. For he must repair his fall,
Restoring again the justice original.
Take now thy journey, and do as I thee advise.
First preach repentance, and then the people baptize.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. High honour, worship, and glory be unto thee,
My God eternal, and patron of all purity:
Repent, good people, for sins that now are past,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand very nigh.
The promised light to you approacheth fast,
Have faith, and apply now to receive him boldly.
I am not the light, but to bear testimony
Of him am sent, that all men may believe,
That his blood he will for their redemption give.
He is such a light as all men doth illumine,
That ever were here, or shall be after this.
All the world he made by his mighty power divine,
And yet that rude world will not know what he is.
His own he entering is not regarded of his.
They that receive him are God's true children plain,
In spirit regenerate, and all grace shall attain.
Many do reckon that I, John Baptist, am he,
Deceived are they, and that will appear in space.
Though he come after, yet he was long afore me.
We are weak vessels, he is the well of grace,
Of his great goodness all that we have we purchase.
By him are we like to have a better increase,
Than ever we had by the law of Moses.
In Moses' hard law we had not else but darkness,
Figure and shadow. All was not else but night;
Punishment for sin; much rigour, pain and roughness.
An high change is there, where all is turned to light,
Grace and remission anon will shine full bright.
Never man lived that ever see God afore,
Which now in our kind man's ruin will restore.
Help me to give thanks to that Lord evermore,
Which am unto Christ a crier's voice in the desert,
To prepare the paths and highways him before,
For his delight is on the poor simple heart.
That innocent lamb from such will never depart,
As will faithfully receive him with good mind.
Let our voice then sound in some sweet musical kind.

_Resona tunc voce Antiphonam incipit_, O clavis David, _quam prosequetur
chorus cum organis, ut prius_.

_Vel in Anglico sermone sic_:

O perfect key of David, and high sceptre of the kindred of Jacob, which
openest, and no man spereth;[297] thou speakest, and no man openeth; come
and deliver thy servant mankind, bound in prison, sitting in the darkness
of sin and bitter
damnation.


BALEUS _prolocutor_.

The matters are such that we have uttered here,
As ought not to slide from your memorial.
For they have opened such comfortable gear
As is to the health of this kind universal,
Graces of the Lord and promises liberal,
Which he hath given to man for every age,
To knit him to Christ, and so clear him of bondage.
As St Paul doth write unto the Corinthians plain.
Our forefathers were under the cloud of darkness,
And unto Christ's days did in the shadow remain:
Yet were they not left, for of him they had promise,
All they received one spiritual feeding doubtless.
They drank of the rock which them to life refreshed,
For one saving health in Christ all they confessed.
In the woman's seed was Adam first justified:
So was faithful Noah; so was just Abraham,
The faith in that seed in Moses forth multiplied,
Likewise in David and Esay, that after came.
And in John Baptist, which showed the very lamb.
Though they see afar, yet all they had one justice,
One Mass (as they call it) and in Christ one sacrifice.
A man cannot here to God do better service
Than on this to ground his faith and understanding.
For all the world's sin alone Christ paid the price,
In his only death was man's life always resting,
And not in will-works, nor yet in man's deserving,
The light of our faith makes this thing evident,
And not the practice of other experiment.
Where is now free-will, whom the hypocrites commend,
Whereby they report they may at their own pleasure
Do good of themselves, though grace and faith be absent,
And have good intents their madness with to measure?
The will of the flesh is proved here small treasure,
And so is man's will, for the grace of God doth all.
More of this matter conclude hereafter we shall.[298]






THE FOUR P.P.



_EDITIONS_.

_See_ Hazlitt's "_Handbook_," 1867, p.269.




PREFACE.


John Heywood, or Heewood, one of the most ancient dramatic writers in the
English language, was born in the city of London,[299] and educated in
the University of Oxford, at [Broadgate, afterwards called Pembroke,
College,] in St Aldgate's parish. He was in his time more celebrated for
his wit than his learning; and having some fair possessions at North
Mims, he resided there after he left Oxford, and became intimately
acquainted with Sir Thomas More, who lived in that neighbourhood.[300]
Here the latter wrote his celebrated work called "Utopia," and is
supposed to have assisted Heywood[301] in the composition of his
"Epigrams."[302] Through Sir Thomas More's means, it is probable our
author was introduced to the knowledge of King Henry the Eighth, and of
his daughter the Princess, afterwards Queen Mary; by the former of whom
he was held in much esteem for the mirth and quickness of his conceits;
and so much[303] valued by the latter, that he was often, after she came
to the throne, admitted to the honour of waiting upon and exercising his
fancy before her, even to the time she lay lauguishing on her deathbed.
His education having been in the Roman Catholic faith, he continued
steadily attached to the tenets of that religion; and during the
reign[304] of Edward the Sixth, fell under the suspicion of practising
against the government, and narrowly escaped the halter. After the death
of his patroness the queen, he left the nation, says Wood,[305] for
religion's sake, and settled at Mechlin in Brabrant, where he [appears
to have been still living in January 1576-7. The exact date of his death
is uncertain, but] he died,[306] leaving several children; one of whom,
Jasper Heywood, translated three of Seneca's Plays, and wrote several
poems, printed in the "Paradise of Dainty Devises," 4to, 1576. This
Jasper Heywood was, according to Fuller, executed in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth; but more probably, as Sir Richard Baker asserts, was among
those who were taken in 1585, and sent out of England.[307]

John Heywood[308] was one of our earliest [writers of a dramatic cast. He
can hardly be called a dramatist.] Oldys[309] says he began to write
about the year 1530, but that he could not find he published anything so
early. [His first production in point of date may have been the play of
the "Pardoner and the Frere," printed April, 1533; but two other
interludes by him appeared the same year without note of the month. They
were perhaps all written a little before.[310]

Mr Collier remarks of Heywood's "Spider and Fly:"] "This parable,
apologue, or allegory (for it is one and all three), is not perhaps so
'dull, tedious, and trifling,' as Warton contends; and if it be without
much 'fancy,' it has both meaning and moral. In 'the conclusion,' Heywood
informs us that he began the work twenty years before it was finished,
and that he did nothing to it during an interval of nineteen years. He
adds, that it was commenced 'with the first, and ended with the last,' of
his poor works. The maid who sweeps down the spider he explains to mean
Queen Mary, in 'sense allegorical' also."

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