EDITIONS.
_Hyckescorner. [At the end:] Enprynted by me Wynkyn de Worde. 4°, Black letter.
Hycke scorner. [At the end:] Thus endeth the enterlude of Hycke scorner.
Imprinted at London in foster laene by John Waley. 4°, Black letter_.
HICKSCORNER.
This piece is printed from a black letter copy in Mr Garrick's collection,[109] of which the following is a very accurate analysis, extracted from Dr Percy's "Relics of Ancient English Poetry," vol. i. p. 130:—
"Hickscorner bears no distant resemblance to comedy: its chief aim seems to be to exhibit characters and manners, its plot being much less regular than the foregoing. The prologue is spoken by Pity, represented under the character of an aged pilgrim; he is joined by Contemplation and Perseverance, two holy men who, after lamenting the degeneracy of the age, declare their resolution of stemming the torrent. Pity then is left upon the stage, and presently found by Freewill, representing a lewd debauchee who, with his dissolute companion, Imagination, relate their manner of life, and not without humour describe the stews and other places of base resort. They are presently joined by Hickscorner, who is drawn as a libertine returned from travel, and agreeably to his name scoffs at religion. These three are described as extremely vicious, who glory in every act of wickedness. At length two of them quarrel, and Pity endeavours to part the fray; on this they fall upon him, and put him into the stocks, and then leave him. Pity then descants in a kind of lyric measure on the profligacy of the age, and in this situation is found by Perseverance and Contemplation, who set him at liberty, and advise him to go in search of the delinquents. As soon as he is gone, Freewill appears again, and after relating in a very comic manner some of his rogueries and escapes from justice, is rebuked by the two holy men who, after a long altercation, at length convert him and his libertine companion, Imagination, from their vicious course of life, and then the play ends with a few verses from Perseverance, by way of epilogue.
"It would be needless to point out the absurdities in the plan and conduct of the foregoing play: they are evidently great. It is sufficient to observe that, bating the moral and religious reflections of Pity, &c., the piece is of a comic caste, and contains a humorous display of some of the vices of the age. Indeed, the author has generally been so little attentive to the allegory, that we need only substitute other names to his personages, and we have real characters and living manners."
The woodcuts prefixed to this and the foregoing play were very minutely traced and executed by a masterly hand; and there being something singular in giving the portraits of the dramatis personae, it is presumed the following will be particularly pleasing to the reader.[110]
[It appears to have been from this drama or interlude, that the saying arose of "Hickscorner's jests." (See Mr J.P. Collier's Diary, part iii. p. 13.)]
[Illustration]