Refrait, "harp both on refrait" (N[59],d), refrain, burden. "Of ther song the refreit was of pees."—Lydgate in Pol. Poems (1443), II., 211 (Rolls).
Remord, "thou ought to remord" (IP[316],b), feel remorse. "Remord and rew, and pondir weill my parte."—A. Scott, Poems (c. 1560), xiii. 38 (S.T.S.).
Remotion, "to you ... have recourse and remotion" (M[3],d), inclination to.
Ren (passim), run.
Reporture, "to make reporture" (N[100],c), mention, report. "To hyr I wyll goo and make reportur."—Digby Myst. (c. 1485), III., 2084 (1882).
Resided, "one resided me with a bowl of water" (JE[358],a). I have been unable to arrive at any satisfactory explanation of this passage.
Respublica. The text is given on pp. 177-272. The original forms one of the Macro plays in manuscript, now the property of Mr. J. H. Gurney of Keswick Hall, near Norwich: see Macro Plays and Manuscripts, ante. Respublica has been three times previously printed in modern times—(a) by Mr. John Payne Collier in Illustrations of Old English Literature, I. (1866), B. M. press-mark, 2326, c; (b) by Prof. Brandl in Quellen, etc. (1904); and (c) by the Early English Text Society (Extra Series xciv.), edited by Mr. Leonard A. Magnus, LL.B., "from Mr. Gurney's unique Macro MS. 115" (1905), B. M. press-mark, Ac. 9926/60. I do not know how Mr. Collier got his copy; Dr. Brandl states his copy was made for him by Dr. Emeke, "and we both have collated it." Whether the copy was made direct from the original manuscript, or whether it was (as in the case of Mankind) (q.v.) a copy of a copy, or further, whether the collation of the proof-sheets was with the original or with the copy is not stated: still even the last is something towards assurance, for the ways of the modern "comp." and the oversight of the average "reader" are, at times, passing strange. Yet Mr. Magnus by his remark, "Prof. Brandl had to make his edition from a copy of the manuscript," seems to infer that the German editor was unable to get into close contact with the original. This uncertainty is unfortunate, for were we sure of the contrary, there would have been immediate and well-founded confidence in the fidelity of Prof. Brandl's text. But worse remains. Mr. Magnus, beyond saying that "the manuscript has been kindly lent by the owner," nowhere, so far as I can read, mentions that the copy of the same as prepared for the printers had, when in proof, been compared with the original manuscript. My own experience in collating the three copies of Mankind (q.v.), made respectively for the E.E.T.S., Prof. Manly, and Prof. Brandl, does not tend to reassure one. Indeed, the sampling of Mr. Manly's printed sheets in another direction has convinced me that though the text may be, and probably is, substantially accurate, yet it would be folly to waste valuable time in furnishing, for this play, even the simplest of textual notes and criticism. Knowing, by experience, the weighty trustworthiness of Prof. Brandl's work in respect to other plays, I commenced by modernising his text, at the same time collating it with that of Collier, only to find, when I came to compare it with the E.E.T. Society's edition, just the same obviously careless miscripts and blunders that I found when collating Mankind. This estimate was confirmed when I tested the value of the work done on Respublica, apart from the text, in the same fashion that I tested the worth of Mankind. Taking pages xviii. (four lines from bottom) to xxii. (two lines from top) of Mr. Magnus' Introduction (E.E.T.S., Extra Series xciv.), to prove the accuracy of the quotations and references, what is the result? In 124 lines there are no fewer than forty errors in quotation, reference figures, and the like, or more than one mistake for every three lines!!! I fear little faith can be placed in the accuracy of the text of the play when such a result is forthcoming in respect to the very structure of the setting. Nor is this an isolated or specially selected weak spot: these particular pages attracted attention as providing an obviously distinctive chance of checking the work done. Turn again to the glossary references, and taking a column haphazard, the second column of page 79, and the same process of verifying the printed page shows five blunders in thirty-four entries from Cale to Creature. Or, take page 66 of the notes, and one reaps four blunders in twelve lines (Notes, l. 439-l. 581)! I cannot therefore help feeling uncertain about the text of the play itself, and as I have been unable, as yet, to get access to the original, I prefer to save useless labour by sending forth my own text without comment of any kind. As a matter of course the E.E.T.S. version is no doubt nearest the original, and, in doubtful cases I have, equally of course, followed it in preference to the Collier or Brandl versions; but it must not be taken as worth more than it really is. I can only once again express a sincere hope that some one will in the near future be allowed to reproduce these invaluable Macro Plays in facsimile. Respublica is noteworthy in more respects than one. Obviously written by a Catholic, it is the Reformation in its social and political, and not in its doctrinal, aspect that forms the pivot of the action of the play. The calmest judgments of posterity incline to the view that the mainspring of the revolt against the Papacy in England rested more on zeal as the tool of worldliness than, as elsewhere, on worldliness as the tool of zeal. A king whose character was despotism itself personified, unprincipled ministers, a rapacious aristocracy, a servile Parliament, such were the instruments by which England was delivered from the yoke of Rome. The work which had been begun by Henry, the murderer of his wives, was continued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother, and completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest. By Reformers and Catholics alike, religion was made the tool of spoliation, rapine, and oppression. The Reformation left the country morally and materially bankrupt, and Catholic though Mary was, much seems to have been expected of her by the nation at large. Indeed, the great mass of the people cared little or nothing for the factional strife of either camp, except so far as it affected them from a social point of view. Hence the motif of Respublica and its curiously moderate tone. It would really seem that Queen Mary was possessed of a softness not usually credited to her, and that she succumbed to political faction as her brother before her and her sister after her succumbed. It is, therefore, this aspect—the social aspect—of the great upheaval with which the author of Respublica is concerned, and no more pithy or pungent contemporary narrative or satire exists. Apart from the regrettable shortcomings of Mr. Magnus' volume in other respects, he has done useful yeoman service to English scholarships by tracing and emphasising, point by point, the action of the play in its relation to political events, practically identifying the play as a stage version of the events of the reign of Edward VI. I can only refer my readers to his altogether admirable analysis—a statement of fact and resumé which happily is not and cannot be marred by the evil influence of inaccuracy of reference and quotation. Further, if Mr. Magnus' essay be read in conjunction with that portion of Hallam's Constitutional History of England, which concerns this period—Macaulay's famous review of the same will serve admirably—and with Book II. of Burnett's History of the Reformation, the key will be found to emphasise the points made by Mr. Magnus, and to illustrate and explain the political and social allusions with which Respublica abounds. On the question of authorship, Mr. Magnus also attempts an attribution, suggesting Udall, the author of Ralph Roister Doister. His facts and inferences are, to my mind, inconclusive; as he himself admits. Identity of phraseology, tricks of style, similarity of orthography, and the like, are at best uncertain grounds to form the basis of Tudor attributions. Very shortly the corpus of pre-Shakespearean drama now in progress will enable the student to tackle his subject to more purpose than heretofore.
Rested, "would have rested me" (IP[316],c), a contracted form of arrest.
Restority, "it is restority" (R[222],c), restorative; note the exigency of the rhyme.