LUDUS COVENTRIÆ.

A Collection of Mysteries,
FORMERLY REPRESENTED AT COVENTRY
ON THE
FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI.

EDITED BY
JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, ESQ. F.R.S.
HON. M.R.I.A., F.S.A., F.R.A.S., &c.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.
1841.

LONDON:
F. SHOBERL, JUN., 51, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET,
PRINTER TO H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT.

COUNCIL
OF
THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.

President.

Vice-Presidents.

INTRODUCTION.

Three complete collections of ancient English mysteries have descended to modern times, or rather are now known to be preserved, which are generally distinguished by the titles of the Chester, the Townley, and the Coventry Mysteries; and, with the exception of a few detached pieces of far inferior importance, we derive nearly all our actual knowledge of the early English drama from these series of plays, which have been long known to every one interested in this class of literary pursuits, as some of the most curious and valuable relics of bygone times; not merely as important records of our early stage, but also as illustrating, in a very interesting manner, the customs, language, and manners of the periods to which they belong. The only one of these series (which is, perhaps, the most important of all), that has yet been printed, is the Townley, which was published by the Surtees Society, with a very interesting and learned preface by Mr. Hunter. The Coventry is contained in the following volume; and the Chester, so ably commented upon by Mr. Markland, a gentleman to whom belongs the distinction of being the first in recent times to direct public attention to these researches, has already been under the consideration of the Council of the Society under whose auspices the present volume is produced.[1]

Mr. Collier, in the second volume of his excellent History of English Dramatic Poetry, has carefully analyzed the Coventry Mysteries, with occasional notices of resemblances or dissimilarities in the method in which the same subjects are treated in the other collections. It will, therefore, be unnecessary for me in this place to enter on the general question of the chain in the evidence of dramatic history which these mysteries afford.

The Coventry Mysteries are contained in a quarto volume, the principal part of which was written in the year 1468, now preserved in the Cottonian collection of manuscripts, under the press-mark Vespas. D. viii. The date of the MS. is ascertained from the verso of fol. 100, a fac-simile of which page will be found at the commencement of this work. The history of the manuscript is unfortunately wrapped in obscurity, and it cannot be distinctly traced back to those who are presumed to have been its former possessors—the Grey Friars of Coventry. The principal authority for its appropriation to this body is contained in the following memorandum on the fly-leaf of the manuscript in the hand-writing of Dr. Richard James, librarian to Sir Robert Cotton:—“Contenta Novi Testamenti scenice expressa et actitata olim per monachos sive fratres mendicantes: vulgo dicitur hic liber Ludus Coventriæ, sive Ludus Corporis Christi: scribitur metris Anglicanis.” The MS. was previously in the possession of Robert Hegge of Christ Church, Oxford, who died in 1629,[2] and was, most probably, purchased by James about that time for Cotton, as it appears from a letter in the same library[3] that James was engaged about that period at Oxford in procuring manuscripts for his patron.

James, in his MS. collections in the Bodleian, does not notice the MS. of the Ludus Coventriæ, and I have been unsuccessful in endeavouring to trace either the destination of Hegge’s library, or the authority for James’s assertion that this volume was commonly (vulgo dicitur) known under the above title.[4] That it was so, there cannot, I imagine, be the slightest doubt, for what object could James—a man who was, most probably, uninterested about the subject of the manuscript, and inserted the account above given as Cotton’s librarian, according to his usual custom—have had in making a misrepresentation? It must be remembered, also, that the last leaf, or, perhaps, the last few leaves, are now deficient, and there is no improbability in the conjecture that these may not have been lost when James wrote his description, and that a colophon supplied him with his information.

Robert Hegge has given us his autograph in two places, and in both added the cognomen of “Dunelmensis.” On this account, some writers have conjectured that the volume originally came from Durham; but this supposition is not supported by any evidence and very little probability. The principal mark of dialect which the Mysteries contain, viz., x for sh in such words as xal, xulde, &c., belong to that part of the country in which Coventry is situated.

If, then, we have not complete and absolute evidence that Ludus Coventriæ is the proper title of these Mysteries, yet the probabilities are greatly in favour of the correctness of this appellation, and no urgent reasons have been given for any different conclusion. By this name, at all events, the MS. has been known since the time of Dr. James, who died in 1639.

The external evidence is also greatly in favour of the claim of Coventry to these plays. Coventry was a place formerly famous for the performance of its Corpus Christi plays by the Grey Friars, in the same manner as Chester was for the performances of its trading companies. Mr. Sharp’s Dissertation on the Coventry Mysteries, 4to., Cov. 1816, contains a most curious and valuable collection of information[5] relative to the plays once performed there, and the manner in which the actors were dressed. In 1456, Queen Margaret was at Coventry, when she saw “alle the pagentes pleyde save domesday, which might not be pleyde for lak of day.” Even as late as 1575, “certain good harted men of Coventree” had the honour of performing before Queen Elizabeth in the celebrated entertainment at Kenilworth, and gained considerable applause.[6] And Heywood, in a passage which has been frequently quoted, alludes to the devil as a famous character in the old Coventry mysteries:—

“For as good happe wolde have it chaunce,

Thys devyll and I were of olde acqueyntaunce;

For oft, in the play of Corpus Christi,

He hath played the devyll at Coventry.”[7]

The Coventry Mysteries attracted the attention of the antiquary, Dugdale, at an early period, and he has given us the following curious and important account of them:—

“Before the suppression of the monasteries, this city was very famous for the pageants that were play’d therein, upon Corpus-Christi day; which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small benefit therto; which pageants being acted with mighty state and reverence by the friers of this house, had theaters for the severall scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city, for the better advantage of spectators: and contain’d the story of the New-Testament, composed into old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. [in bibl. Cotton. sub effigie Vesp. D. 9.] intituled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventriæ. I have been told by some old people, who in their younger years were eye-witnesses of these pageants so acted, that the yearly confluence of people to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded no small advantage to this city.”[8]—Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire, fol. Lond. 1656, p. 116, col. 1.

I scarcely think, however, that this notice of the MS. affords much evidence in favour of James’s title, except so far as it shows that Dugdale himself had no doubt whatever about its correctness. It will be observed that Dugdale does not give a right reference to the press-mark of the manuscript, and he had probably not examined the volume with much attention, or he could scarcely have omitted to notice the following passage at the end of the prologue, which has been adduced to prove that these mysteries were not exclusively[9] performed before the “gentyllys and ȝemanry” of Coventry:—

“A Sunday next, yf that we may,

At vj. of the belle we gynne oure play

In N. towne.”

“The letter N,” observes Mr. Collier,[10] “is placed for the nomen of the town, which was to be filled up as occasion required, by the person making the proclamation.” If the opinion I have formed of their locality be correct, I can account for this by supposing that the prologues of the vexillators belong to another series of plays, or that these mysteries were occasionally performed at other places. The summaries of the pageants, as given in the prologue, are often confusedly numbered; and it must be confessed that the conclusion would suit a company of strolling players much better than the venerable order of the Grey Friars. In the order of the pageants, I have not regarded the speeches of the vexillators; and the divisions in the MS. being very incorrectly given, I have endeavoured to make as correct an arrangement as possible, taking the two other series of mysteries as my guide.

At the commencement of the twenty-ninth pageant, Contemplatio, an allegorical personage, who acts as prologue-speaker, explains the events and moralises on occasion, but who is in no way concerned in the action, says—

“We intendyn to procede the matere that we lefte the last ȝere:”

which proves that the remainder of these pageants were not played the same year as the preceding twenty-eight mysteries.

In offering the first edition of the Coventry Mysteries to the members of the Shakespeare Society, I am anxious to state that I have endeavoured to give the reader as faithful a copy of the original manuscript as was possible, with all its errors and defects. These are not few, for the MS. is evidently the work of a scribe who was not very well acquainted with his copy. He makes barbarous work of the few Latin passages which occur, and verbal errors are of frequent occurrence; and yet, on mature deliberation, I came to the conclusion that it would be more advisable to leave these corrections for the notes, and thus give the reader an opportunity of forming his own opinion on passages which are certainly corrupt, but which may possibly admit of more than one method of explanation.

The frequent occurrence of the double letter ff in the manuscript, and in places where it could not be used for the capital letter, implies a dialectical distinction, the exact meaning of which has not yet been discovered. I have carefully preserved them in the text.

The Glossary will be found useful to those who are learned in the philology of our early language, as there are many words of very unfrequent occurrence; but I have constructed it more especially with a view to the wants of those who have not made our early poetry a matter of study. In doing so, I thought that I should be consulting the best interests of the Shakespeare Society, as a large majority of its members belong, in all probability, to the latter class.

J. O. Halliwell.

Alfred Place, London, June 21st, 1841.

FOOTNOTES

[1] I am not without hopes of one or two more collections turning up. In MS. Addit. 4791, fol. 157, is given a list of the plays represented at Dublin on Corpus Christi day, 1468, which differs materially from the contents of any known series. The play of the “Sacrifice of Abraham,” in Trinity College, Dublin, may be one of these. It has been printed by Mr. Collier.

[2] Wood’s Athenæ, by Bliss, vol. ii., p. 458. Hegge does not allude to the MS. in any of his writings.

[3] MS. Cotton. Julius, C. iii., fol. 193. James was then resident at Oxford.

[4] In the old catalogue of the Cottonian library, commenced in the year 1621, in MS. Harl. 6018, there is no notice of the present MS. I find, however, in a list of books “lent out of my study befor this 23 Aprill, 1621,” an entry which may be interesting to the reader: “Ælfricus Grammar Saxon to Ben: Jonson.” This was doubtlessly “the most ancient grammar written in the Saxon tongue and character,” which Kynaston saw in his hands. See Gifford’s Jonson, vol. ix., p. 254.

[5] Collected from the records of the corporation. Mr. Sharp has also printed a Coventry play of a later date, which does not contain the dialectical peculiarity mentioned above.

[6] Laneham’s Letter, 12mo. Lond. 1575, p. 32.

[7] Playe called the foure P. P. sig. d. ii. Sharp has given us many particulars relative to this character. See also Collier’s Hist. Dram. Poet. vol. ii. p. 262-266.

[8] The reader will not perhaps be displeased to see this passage as it stands in the original MS. of Dugdale’s work:—“Before the suppression of the monasteries, this cittye was very famous for the pageants that were play’d therein upon Corpus Christi day. These pageants were acted with mighty state and reverence by the fryers of this house, and conteyned the story of the New Testament which was composed into old English rime. The theatres for the severall scenes were very large and high; and, being placed upon wheeles, were drawne to all the eminent places of the cittye, for the better advantage of the spectators. In that incomparable library belonging to Sir Thomas Cotton, there is yet one of the bookes which perteyned to this pageant, entitled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventriæ. I myselfe have spoke with some old people who had, in their younger yeares, bin eyewitnesses of these pageants soe acted; from whom I have bin told that the confluence of people from farr and neare to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded noe small advantage to this cittye.”

[9] “It appears, by the latter end of the prologue, that these plays or interludes were not only played at Coventry, but in other towns and places upon occasion.”—Wright’s Historia Histrionica, 8vo. Lond. 1699, p. 17.

[10] History of Dramatic Poetry, vol. ii. p. 156.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
1.Prologue[1]
2.i. The Creation[19]
3.ii. The Fall of Man[24]
4.iii. Cain and Abel[33]
5.iv. Noah’s Flood[40]
6.v. Abraham’s Sacrifice[49]
7.vi. Moses and the Two Tables[58]
8.vii. The Prophets[65]
9.viii. The Barrenness of Anna[70]
10.ix. Mary in the Temple[79]
11.x. Mary’s Betrothment[90]
12.xi. The Salutation and Conception[105]
13.xii. Joseph’s Return[117]
14.xiii. The Visit to Elizabeth[124]
15.xiv. The Trial of Joseph and Mary[131]
16.xv. The Birth of Christ[145]
17.xvi. The Adoration of the Shepherds[156]
18.xvii. The Adoration of the Magi[161]
19.xviii. The Purification[172]
20.xix. The Slaughter of the Innocents[179]
21.xx. Christ disputing in the Temple[189]
22.xxi. The Baptism of Christ[199]
23.xxii. The Temptation[205]
24.xxiii. The Woman taken in Adultery[213]
25.xxiv. Lazarus[223]
26.xxv. The Council of the Jews[239]
27.xxvi. The Entry into Jerusalem[252]
28.xxvii. The Last Supper[259]
29.xxviii. The Betraying of Christ[280]
30.xxix. King Herod[288]
31.xxx. The Trial of Christ[293]
32.xxxi. Pilate’s Wife’s Dream[308]
33.xxxii. The Condemnation and Crucifixion of Christ[311]
34.xxxiii. The Descent into Hell[329]
35.xxxiv. The Burial of Christ[331]
36.xxxv. The Resurrection[338]
37.xxxvi. The Three Maries[354]
38.xxxvii. Christ appearing to Mary[360]
39.xxxviii. The Pilgrim of Emaus[364]
40.xxxix. The Ascension[377]
41.xl. The Descent of the Holy Ghost[381]
42.xli. The Assumption of the Virgin[383]
43.xlii. Doomsday[401]
44.Notes[407]
45.Glossary[419]

THE
COVENTRY MYSTERIES.