Myfelf, and you, fon Harry, will towards Wales, Meeting the check of such another day: 6 Let us not leave till all our own be won. [Exeunt. Either 6 And fince this bufinefs fo fair is done,] Fair for fairly. that word is here used as a diffyllable, or business as a trifyllable. MALONE. Bufinefs is undoubtedly the word employed as a trifyllable. STEEVENS. The following Obfervations arrived too late to be inferted in their proper place, and are therefore referred to the conclufion of Mr. Malone's note, p. 375. Neither evidence nor argument has in my opinion been yet produced, fufficient to controvert the received opinion, that the character of Falftaff was originally reprefented under the name of Oldcastle. The contraction of the original name Old, left standing in the first edition, as the prolocutor of one of Falstaff's fpeeches, this addrefs of " Old lad of the caftle," the Epilogue to King Henry V. plainly understood, the tradition mentioned by Mr. Rowe, and the united teftimony of contemporary or fucceeding writers, not to infift on the opinions of the moft eminent criticks and commentators, feem irrefragable. It has been observed, that if the verfes be examined in which the name of Falstaff occurs, it will be found that Oldcastle could not have ftood in thofe places;" and that "thofe only who are entirely unacquainted with our author's history and works, can fuppofe him to have undergone the labour of new-writing each verfe." Thefe verfes, I believe, are in number seven; and why he, who wrote between thirty and forty plays with eafe, cannot be reasonably fuppofed to have fub mitted to the drudgery of new-writing feven lines, to introduce an alteration commanded by his fovereign, is to me utterly incomprehenfible. But what need after all, of new-writing? There was but a fingle fyllable, in difference between the two names, to be fupplied; which might furely be effected, in some places at least, without an entirely new line. The verfes in queftion are, at prefent, as follows: 66 1. Away, good Ned. Falstaff fweats to death;" 2. "And asking every one for fir John Falstaff;" 3. "Give me my fword and cloak; Falstaff good night;" 4. "Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?" 5. "Fare you well, Falstaff, I, in my condition;" 7. 6. "Well, you must now fpeak fir John Falstaff fair;" "Go, carry fir John Falstaff to the Fleet;' And may be fuppofed to have ftood originally thus: 1. "Away, good Ned. Oldcastle fweats to death;" 2. "And asking every one for fir John Oldcastle;" 3. "Give me my fword and cloak; good night, Oldcastle ;” Now, Oldcastle, where've you been all this while?" or, Oldcastle, where have you been all this while?" Fare you well, Oldcastle, I, in my condition;" 6. " You must now fpeak fir John Olde ftle fair;" 7. Go, carry fir John Oldeaffle to th' Fieet;" or, "Carry fir John Oldcastle to the Fleet." 4. 5. Now, it is remarkable, that, of thefe feven lines, the firft actually requires the name of Oldcastle to perfect the metre, which is at prefent a foot deficient, and confequently affords a proof that it was originally written to fuit that name and no other; the second and fifth do not require the alteration of a fingle letter; the third but a flight tranfpofition; and the fourth, fixth, and seventh, the addition at most of a fingle fyllable. So that all this mighty labour, which no one acquainted with our author's history and works can fuppofe him to have undergone, confifted in the fubftitution of Falstaff for Oldcastle, the tranfpofition of two words, and the addition of three fyllables! a prodigious and infurmountable fatigue to be fure! which might have taken no lefs space than two long minutes; and which, after all, he might probably and fafely commit to the players. However the character of Sir John Oldcastle, in the original play, might be performed, he does not, from any paffage now in it, appear to have been either a pamper'd glutton or a coward; and therefore it is a fair inference that all thofe extracts from early writers, in which Oldcastle is thus defcribed, refer to our author's character fo called, and not to the old play. If it be trae that Queen Elizabeth, on feeing both or either of thefe plays of Henry IV. commanded Shakspeare to produce his fat knight in a different fituation, the might at the fame time, out of refpect to the memory of Lord Cobham, have fignified a defire that he would change his name; which, being already acquainted with another cowardly knight of the fame chriftian name, one Sir John Falfaffe, in the old play of Henry VI. (for both Hall and Holinshed call him rightly Faftolfe) he was able to do without having the trouble to invent or hunt after a new one; not perceiving or regarding the confufion which the transfer would naturally make between the two characters. However this may have been, there is every reason to believe that when these two plays came out of our author's hands, the name of Oldcastle fupplied the place of Falstaff. He continued Ned and Gadfbill, and why fhould he abandon Oldcastle? a name and character to which the public was already familiarifed, and whom an audience would indisputably be much more glad to fee along with his old companions than a ftranger; if indeed our author himself did not at the time he was writing thefe dramas, take the Sir John Oldcastle of the original play to be a real historical perfonage, as neceffarily connected with his story as Hal or Hotspur. RITSON. Mr. TOLLET's Opinion concerning the MORRIS DANCERS upon his Window. THE celebration of May-day, which is reprefented upon my window of painted glafs, is a very ancient cuftom, that has been obferved by noble and royal perfonages, as well as by the vulgar. It is mentioned in Chaucer's Court of Love, that early on Mayday "furth goth al the court, both most and left, to fetche the flouris fresh, and braunch, and blome." Hiftorians record, that in the beginning of his reign, Henry the Eighth with his courtiers "rofe on May-day very early to fetch May or green boughs; and they went with their bows and arrows fhooting to the wood." Stowe's Survey of London informs us, that " every parish there, or two or three parithes joining together, had their Mayings; and did fetch in May-poles, with diverfe warlike fhews, with good archers, Morrice Dancers, and other devices for paftime all the day long.' Shakspeare fays it was "impoffible to make the people fleep on May morning; and that they rofe early to obferve the rite of May." The court of King James the Firft, and the populace, long preferved the obfervance of the day, as Spelman's Gloffary remarks under the word, Maiuma. King Henry VIII. A&t V. fc. iii. and Midsummer Night's Dream, A& IV. fc. i. Better judges may decide, that the inftitution of this feftivity originated from the Roman Floralia, or from the Celtic la Beltine, while I conceive it derived to us from our Gothic ancestors. Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, Lib. XV. c. viii. fays" that after their long winter from the beginning of October to the end of April, the northern nations have a cuftom to welcome the returning fplendor of the fun with dancing, and mutually to feaft each other, rejoicing that a better feafon for fishing and hunting was approached." In honour of May-day the Goths and fouthern Swedes had a mock battle between fummer and winter, which ceremony is retained in the Isle of Man, where the Danes and Norwegians had been for a long time mafters. It appears from Holinfhed's Chronicle, Vol. III. p. 314, or in the year 1306. that, before that time, in country towns the young folks chofe a fummer king and queen for fport to dance about Maypoles. There can be no doubt but their majefties had proper attendants, or fuch as would beft divert the fpectators; and we may prefume, that fome of the characters varied, as fashions and customs altered. About half a century afterwards, a great addition feems to have been made to the diverfion by the introduction of the Morris or Moorish dance into it, which, as Mr. Peck, in his Memoirs of Milton, with great probability conjectures, was first brought into England in the time of Edward III. when John of Gaunt returned from Spain, where he had been to affift Peter, King of Caftile, against Henry the Baftard. "This dance," fays Mr. Peck, " was ufually performed abroad by an equal number of young men, who danced in their fhirts with ribbands and little bells about their legs. But here in England they have always an odd perfon befides, being a boy dreffed in a girl's habit, whom they call Maid Marian, an old favourite character in the sport." "Thus," as he obferves in the words of Shakspeare," they made more matter for a May morning: having as a pancake for ShroveTuefday, a Morris for May-day." * We are authorized by the poets, Ben Jonfon and Drayton, to call fome of the reprefentations on my window Morris Dancers, though I am uncertain whether it exhibits one Moorish perfonage; as none of them have black or tawny faces, nor do they brandish fwords or ftaves in their hands, nor are they in their fhirts It is evident from feveral authors, that Maid Marian's part was frequently performed by a young woman, and often by one, as I think, of unfullied reputa Our Marian's deportment is decent and graceful. tion. + Twelfth Night, A&t III. sc. iv. All's well that ends well, A& II: fc. ii. In the Morifco the dancers held fwords in their hands with the points upward, fays Dr. Johnson's note in Antony and Cleopatra, A&t III. sc. ix. The Goths did the fame in their military dance, fays Olaus Magnus, Lib. XV. ch. xxiii. Haydocke's tranflation of Lomazzo on Painting, 1598, Book II. p. 54, adorned with ribbons. We find in Olaus Magnus, that the northern nations danced with brafs bells about their knees, and such we have upon feveral of thefe figures, who may perhaps be the original English performers in a May-game before the introduction of the real Morris dance. However this may be, the window exhibits a favourite diverfion of our ancestors in all its principal parts. I fhall endeavour to explain fome of the characters, and in compliment to the lady I will begin the defcription with the front rank, in which fhe is ftationed. I am fortunate enough to have Mr. Steevens think with me, that figure 1. may be defigned for the Bavian fool, or the fool with the flabbering bib, as Bavon, in Cotgrave's French Dictionary, means a bib for a flabbering child; and this figure has fuch a bib, and a childish fimplicity in his countenance. Mr. Steevens refers to a paffage in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of The Two Noble Kinfmen, by which it appears that the Bavian in the Morris dance was a tumbler, and mimicked the barking of a dog. I apprehend that feveral of the Morris. dancers on my window tumbled occafionally, and exerted the chief feat of their activity, when they were afide the May-pole; and I apprehend that jigs, hornpipes, and the hay, were their chief dances. It will certainly be tedious to defcribe the colours of the dreffes, but the task is attempted upon an intimation, that it might not be altogether unacceptable. The Bavian's cap is red, faced with yellow, his bib yellow, his doublet blue, his hofe red, and his fhoes black. Figure 2. is the celebrated Maid Marian, who, as queen of May, has a golden crown on her head, and in her left hand a flower, as the emblem of fummer. The flower feems defigned for a red pink, but the pointals are omitted by the engraver, who copied from a drawing with the like miftake. Olaus Magnus mentions the artificial raifing of flowers for the celebration of May-day; and the fuppofition of the like practice here will account for the queen of May having in her hand any particular flower before the season of its natural production in this climate. Her vefture was once fashionable in the highest degree. It was anciently the custom for maiden ladies to wear their hair + dishevelled at their coronations, * fays: "There are other actions of dancing used, as of those who are reprefented with weapons in their hands going round in a ring, capering skilfully, shaking their zucapons after the manner of the Morris, with divers actions of meeting," &c. "Others hanging Morris bells upon their ankles." * Markham's tranflation of Herefbatch's Husbandry, 1631, obferves, "that gilliflowers, fet in pots and carried into vaults or cellars, have flowered all the winter long, through the warmness of the place." + Leland's Colleanea, 1770, Vol. IV. p. 219, 293, Vol. V. p. 332, and Holinfhed, Vol. III. p. 801, 931; and fee Capilli in Spelman's Glossary. |