On the whole, therefore, though that text was posthumous— Udall having died in Dec. 1556—: and though its authorship rests entirely on the above heading of Wilson’s quotation: it may be safely accepted that Udall is the author of this comedy, and that he wrote it before 1553. Conclusions both of them consonant with the known facts of Udall’s life.
The comedy was probably first written for the Eton boys to act. Mr. W. D. Cooper thus writes:—
Certain, however, it is that it was the custom of Eton, about the feast of St. Andrew, for the Master to choose some Latin stage-play for the boys to act in the following Christmas holidays, and that he might sometimes order smart and witty English plays. “Among the writings of Udall about the year 1540,” says Warton, “are recited Plures Comediæ, and a tragedy De Papatu, on the Papacy, written probably to be acted by his scholars;” and it is equally probable that the English comedy was written with a like object; for it is admirably adapted to be a good acting play, and the author avows in the prologue that his models were Plautus and Terence, with whose writings his scholars were familiar.
Of the few dramatic pieces of that early period that have survived, Roister Doister is regarded as the transition-play from the Mysteries and Enterludes of the Middle Ages to the Comedies of modern times. A critical examination of its position in our Literature has been made by Mr. Collier. Hist. of Dram. Poetry. ii. 445-460 Ed. 1830. A full consideration of the play would exceed our present limits: we may however call attention to the peculiar rhyme in which Udall wrote it.
In the present reprint, the text appears according to modern usage: but in the original it stands in lines of unvarying length. Where the speech is continuous, these lines rhyme like our ordinary poetry: but when the dialogue is short; one, two, three or more speeches are thrown into one line, and the last syllables of that line—whether they occur in words in the middle or at the end of a sentence, as dictated simply by the length of line of type—are made to rough rhyme in couplets. Thus an irregular assonance jingles through the play.
On the opposite page are a few lines set up as in the original, to illustrate this peculiarity; and also to show the mode used of marking the actor’s names. May this peculiar rhyme be accepted as any evidence that Udall composed this play as much for the press as the stage?
There being no description of the representation and the stage directions being scanty: Roister Doister should be read a first time to learn the plot; a second time to imagine the action: and a third to combine and enjoy the two.
Actus. iiij. Scæna. v.
Bottom of the second, even-numbered page of folio 24, in the original edition.
| C. Custance. | Trupenie get thee in, thou shalt among them knowe, How to vse thy selfe, like a propre man I trowe. |
| Trupeny. | I go. Ex. C. C. Now Tristram Trusty I thank you right much. For at my first sending to come ye neuer grutch. |
| T. Trusty. | Dame Custance God ye saue, and while my life shall last, For my friende Goodlucks sake ye shall not sende in wast. |
| C. Custance. | He shal giue you thanks. T. Trusty. I wil do much for his sake |
| C. Custance. | But alack, I feare, great displeasure shall be take. |
| T. Trusty. | Wherfore? C. C. For a foolish matter. T. T. What is your cause |
| C. Custance. | I am yll accombred with a couple of dawes. |