Certain Balaam speakys of this thyng,
That of Jacob a star shall spryng,
That shall overcom kasar and kyng.
—Townley Mysteries.
[157]. Some of these forms may be but corruptions of ‘Casier,’ the old cheese-maker, found in the Writs of Parliament in such entries as ‘Michael le Casiere,’ or ‘Benedict le Casiere.’ ‘Cayser’ would require little variation to make it such.
[158]. ‘Ellice Prynce’ (Z.), ‘John le Cunte’ (E.), ‘Peter le Counte’ (G.), ‘John le Viscounte’ (B.).
[159]. ‘William le Duck’ (T.). Our ‘Ducks’ may thus be official rather than ornithological.
[160]. This word is found as a compound in ‘William Burtheyn,’ a Saxon title equivalent to the Norman ‘Chamberlain.’ The Prompt. Par. has ‘burmayden,’ i.e. ‘chamber-maid.’
[161]. In the Hundred Rolls we find a ‘Will Litleking.’ This sobriquet would readily attach to one such feast-appointed monarch whose diminutive stature would but impart additional merriment to the occasion. ‘Roger Wyteking’ (Testa de Neville) would owe his nom-de-plume to the dress he wore. It is to such an institution as this, again, we must ascribe the origin of such names as ‘Reginald Kyngessone,’ and perchance ‘Richard Kyngesman,’ both found in the Hundred Rolls also. That our ‘Kings’ are but a memorial of the festivities of our forefathers, is an undoubted fact. Every great nobleman had not merely a professed ‘fool,’ but at particular seasons a ‘King of Misrule.’ This ‘king’ initiated and conducted the merry doings of Christmastide, and was a proper officer. Besides the ‘King of Misrule,’ there were also the ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ of each village enthroned on May morning, who would be sure to keep their regal title through the year at least. Thus, among the twenty or thirty families that comprised the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne in 1422, we find ‘Hobbe the King,’ while a festival to be held there in that year is to be under the supervision of ‘Margaret, widow of Hobbe the King, Hobbe Adamson, Jenkin of the Wood, Robert Somayster (Sum-master), etc.’ (Three Lancashire Documents. Cheth. Soc.) ‘We, Adam Backhous and Harry Nycol, hath made account for the Kenggam (King-game), that same tym don William Kempe, Kenge, and Joan Whytebrede, Quen, and all costs deducted, 4l. 5s. 0d. (Ch.wardens’ Accounts: Kingston-upon-Thames. Lyson.)
[162]. The Ordinary was any ecclesiastic judge, the bishop himself, or his deputy. Thus, in a statute of Edward III., dated 1341, it is said:—‘Item, it is accorded and assented that the king and his heirs shal have the conisance of the usurers dead, and that the Ordinaries of Holy Church—les Ordinares de Seinte Esglise—have the conisance of usurers in life, as to them appertaineth, to make compulsion by the censures of Holy Church for the sin,’ &c. (Stat. Realm, vol. i. p. 296.) We still call the gaol chaplain the ordinary who conducts the condemned prisoner to the scaffold and reads the appointed service. The Parliamentary Writs give us a ‘John Ordeiner’ and a ‘Stephen Ordinar.’