John the Evangelist. The text of this play is given on pages 349-368, together with a reduced facsimile of the title-page. Until recently John the Evangelist was looked upon as one of the innumerable "lost" plays of the Tudor period. It has now been recovered under the notable circumstances narrated in the preface to this volume. Curiously enough, John the Evangelist was at first, in the sale catalogue, confused with Bishop Bale's John Baptist's Preaching in the Wilderness, no copy of which also is now traceable, being known only through the reprint in the Harleian Miscellanies. However, there is no doubt that if a choice of "finds" had to be made the lot would fall to the present play, which has been untraceable in any form, save that of mere mention, for hundreds of years. The British Museum Catalogue entry is:
John Saint and Apostle. Here begynneth the interlude of Johan the Evangelist [with a woodcut]. B.L. John Waley, London [1560?]. 4o. [c. 34. i. 20.]
Greg, in his "notes" to Early Play Lists (App. II. lxxix), says: "Neither Langbaine nor any of his followers had seen the piece. The Biographica Dramatica gives the date 1566, which, however, appears to be an invention of Chetwood's." The colophon indicates that it was printed by John Waley (or Walley), who was in business in Foster Lane from 1546 to 1586. This, of course, decides nothing as to the date of the play. Moreover, there is, as far as I am at present aware, only one allusion in the play itself that serves the purpose; even allowing more weight to such evidence than I am inclined to consider safe in the circumstances—Eugenio appoints Actio ([359],a) "hangman of Calais." It is hardly likely such an allusion to what was at the time regarded as a national "disaster" would have been made after the loss of Calais in 1558. On the other hand, the absence of the concluding prayer for the sovereign—its presence being a pretty certain indication of an Elizabethan play—seems to confirm the downward limit of date. One other allusion may be pertinent—"the sweetest life, Sovereign ... is to have meditation of our Lord Jesus." A Marian date is, from the tone of the play, unlikely; to suppose the reference is to Henry VIII. is equally incongruous. Both considerations are, moreover, emphasised by the fact that had the "Sovereign" been a queen, regnant or dowager, some qualification indicative of sex would in such courtly times most assuredly have been given. We are thus reduced, by the process of exhaustion, to the days of Edward VI.: i.e. between 1547 and 1553. Beyond that point I do not think we can safely go at present. The play, as now bound by the British Museum authorities, shows no signs of mutilation, and the numbering of the sheets is consecutive. The type is, for the most part, clear and good; nothing obliterated, very little blurred, and only occasionally is there exhibited a wrong letter (e.g. "laue" for "lane"); but as a whole very correct. The construction of the play is of the slightest, turning at its most serious point on the incident of "The Pharisee and the Publican going up to the Temple to pray." Indeed, the whole piece seems curiously incomplete and disconnected. Yet there are no signs whatever, in the original, of mutilation or of lines omitted. The text goes straight on, though the relation of one part to another is by no means obvious. Is it possible that the play as it has reached us is only a draft, or an imperfect, or a "pirated" copy? I am inclined on first glance to think this interlude one of the same class as those that Bishop Bale speaks of as being played at market crosses on Sunday afternoons by way of religious instruction—"thin," slight moral plays. Indications are not wanting which point to this conclusion. Such a fact, if established, would account for the transparent looseness of construction, the deep religious feeling, the reticence and restraint, the apparent confusion of one of the players at once with the apostle, the parish priest, and the actor—and much else. The original is almost devoid of punctuation; the modernised text conforms in that respect to present-day standards. The names of the speakers are likewise not always consistently given in the old copy; they are now standardised. Latin Quotations and Origins: It is thought convenient, in respect to this play, to group these as follows:—"Domine, ante ... absconditus" ([351],b), "Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee" (Psalm xxviii. 9): in original a te is omitted after Et in second line—Beati .. . Domine!" ([352],a), "Blessed, O Lord, are they that dwell in Thy house" (Psalm lxxxiv. 4)—"Qui cum Deo Patri" ([352],a), "Who with God the Father," the beginning of an ascription or gloria—"A pœna et culpa" ([352],b), from penalty and fault: part of the Latin absolution—"Nec te collaudas .. . ipse" ([352],c), the sense is, "You will not be blamed so long as you don't extol yourself"—"Qui se collaudit" ([352],c), "Who praises himself"; probably from same source as preceding—"Responde, tunc. .. clericorum" ([352],d), "Answer then, master, doctor of the clergy"—"Sursum corda" ([353],a), "Lift up your hearts"; from the office of the mass—"Via recta" ([354],a), "the right way"—"Spes mea. .. via recta" ([354],a), "My hope stood in the right way" (or way of righteousness): several passages like this in sense appear in the Psalms, but none exactly parallel—"gratia electi" ([354],b), "chosen by grace"—"via obliquia .. . circularis" ([354],c), "the crooked way and circular way": no doubt scriptural—"omnes iniquo in circuitu impii ambulantes" ([354],c), iniquo in original reads iniqui, which I take to be a misprint: it now reads, "all the ungodly walking in the ungodly path" (or path of ungodliness): probably from the Psalms—"Ab aquilone. .. omne malum" ([355],a), "from the north is spread every evil": a parallel passage is found in Jeremiah iv. 6, "I will bring evil from the north," etc.—"Fumus tormentorum. .. secula seculorum" ([355],d), in original fumus reads finit, most likely a misprint: the passage as it now stands is intelligible, "The smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever; a quotation from Revelation xiv. 11—"Septum .. . mors" ([355],d), Septum conveys the idea of a surrounding fence or hedge (cf. 355,a and b), "the enclosing (or surrounding) master of sin is death; but?—"administrate. .. comfortate nos" ([356],c), dog-Latin: "administers, restores, comforts"—"Intentio judicat quenquam" ([357],a), "The intention decides everything"; no doubt proverbial—"In principio" ([364],d), "in the beginning": the first two words of the Latin version of St. John's Gospel—"Confiteor". .. Deo gratias .. . Deo gratias ago tibi" ([366],b), "I confess ... thanks be to God ... God I thank thee": see Luke xviii. 11—"Tu testimonium. .. est verum" ([367],a), "Thou bearest testimony of thyself; and thy testimony is not true"; an adaptation of John viii. 13—"Qui vivit. .. seculorum secula" ([368],a), "Who lives through the infinite ages of age." Amended Readings, Corrigenda, Suggestions, &c. The collation is A to Civ in 4s, with A1,v blank.—Names of Players are not in the original.—The colophon is transferred from Civ,v—Stage directions and words in brackets do not appear in the original: this is not further mentioned in these notes—"Et a te gemitus" ([351],b), a te not in original—"As it ravisheth the soul" ([351],c), original rauysshet—"such a pulpit man to lose" ([352],b), original lese—"Reponde, tunc, domine" ([352],d), original tunice—"that same death thou shalt die" ([353],a), erroneously given in my text: the original has shalt thou—["The continuation seems imperfect">[, there may be several causes for this. Certainly here, as in other places, there are no signs whatever in original of mutilation or of lines omitted. The text goes straight on, though the relation of one part to another is by no means obvious. The whole play seems curiously incomplete and scrappy, even for early dramatic effort, oftentimes of the "thinnest" and crudest. True, the action may be modelled somewhat on the lines of Heywood's Pardoner and the Friar, in which the "interruptions" of one speaker with another lead to "business." Or the play may be a mere fragment of the "book," as it left the author's hands—surreptitious, unauthorised, or unrevised. In the former case, especially assuming that it was intended as a kind of a "dramatic sermon," the action shows order of a kind: commencing with what is obviously intended as the commencement of an exhortation and omitting the "comic" and "lighter" parts, the sermon would, in a measure, be naturally complete by "following on" the speeches as follows: St. John the Evan. 351,b to 352,a; Irisdision, 353,c (with asides, incentives, or interruptions) to 356,a; St. John the Evan. 357,b to 358,a; then comes an "interval," and the discourse is resumed at (JE[365],c to end) winding up with the "application" which was soon to form such an important feature in Puritan worship. So for the point directly at issue; but another puzzle confronts the student and one concerning which at this early stage I do not pretend to offer a solution. Personally, I should have preferred to have deferred publishing the text, in order to have had an opportunity of careful and exact comparative study of the piece in its relation to the Tudor drama as a whole as well as "play"-meal. On the other hand, I felt that the generous support we have met with at the hands of the Society's subscribers would be best repaid by speedy publication—"In the city of Jerusalem ... walled" ([353],c), if the play has come to us intact, and the lack of continuity is intentional, the punctuation of this passage must be altered: delete the full point after called and regard the next line as a parenthesis, and substitute a semicolon for the period after walled—"in the lane of business" ([354],a), in original laue of besynesse—"Yes, on the left side" ([354],c), Ies in original—"full of slouthy bushes" ([355],b), this may be flouthy—"Fumus tormentorum" ([355],d), in original Finit: Latin quotations, supra ([418],d)—"[Iris]. It is time for to be walking, &c." ([356],a), these two lines are not in original given to Irisdision, but form part of Eugenios' speech, which proceeds without a break to "Sir William of Trentram" ([357],a). They seem to me, however, to be rightly restored as now given—"by books Amromes" ([356],b), so in original:? a misprint for amorous, which would at least restore the sense. There is, moreover, nothing in original to suggest a break—"St. John the Evangelist" ([357],a), preceded by ✠ instead of the usual "leaf"—"plain information" ([357],b) in original infymacyon—"I am that John that" ([357],b), in original "I am John that": a blunder I carelessly passed—"saw Lungis" ([357],c), original Longes: see ([424],d)—"almost changed my mood" ([359],c), original mode—"have been so witty" ([359],c), in original brn—"Yes, yes daily" ([362],b), in original Ies—"some pleasure then there appears" ([363],d), in original areres—"between your ears" ([363],d), in original bytwene—"make thee to fly" ([365],b), a mistake: the original is stye (= ascend, A.S.)—"Deo gratias ago tibi" ([366],b), substitute a full point for the comma—"In that he thanked God" ([366],b), in original than—"By raveners ... men can rehearse" ([366],c). I do not feel sure that the present punctuation gives the best rendering of the original, which is entirely unstopped—"In that cayme" ([366],c), see supra, s.v. Cayme:? Cain—"Against God" ([366],d), in original Agayne—"Who doth hie him shall be ho" ([367],a), see supra, s.v. Ho.
Joint, "jeopard a joint" (R[256],d)—"t'adventure a joint" (R[250],c), to take a risk or hazard, as of injury, loss, hanging, etc. "My ten duckets are like my ten fingers, they will not jeopard a joynt for you."—Decker, Fortunatus (1600), Works (1873), I. 153.
Jolly, "here is a jolly jacket" (M[31],d), bright, gay, splendid, in newest fashion. "Jolye and gaye sadeles."—Wyclif, Sel. Wks. (c. 1380), III. 520.
Junctly, "marred junctly together" (M[16],d) jointly.
Junkery, "a banket or a junkery" (N[95],c), banquet, feast, junket: specifically a merrymaking accompanied by eating and drinking. "Pertrych and his felaw bere gret visage and kepe gret junkeryes and dyneres."—Paston Lett. (1449), IV. 24 (1901).
Juris, see In.
Justices of Quorum (JE[352],d). According to Mr. Craigie (O.E.D., s.v.), quorum was "originally certain justices of the peace, usually of eminent learning or ability, whose presence was necessary to constitute a bench; latterly the term was loosely applied to all justices." "The Justicez or Justice of the Pease of the Quorum yn the same shire."—Rolls Parlt. (1455), V. 334. I.
Justitia, (a) (R. passim), as a pertinent comment on the motif of this play it may be remarked that the name Justitia was (O.E.D.) applied in the eleventh century in a general way to persons charged with the administration of the law, especially to the Sheriffs; it was subsequently limited to the president or one of the members of the Curia Regis, out of which the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer were developed: see previous entry.