Excudebat Augustinus Mathewes impensis
Roberti Mulbourne ad insigne
Canis venatici in coemeterio Paulino. 1632.
The words 'Priscianus Verberans et Vapulans' remind us of the
once-famous 'Comoedia' of Nicodemus Freschlin; but the later poem
shows no reminiscence of the earlier. These details will doubtless
interest and amuse in relation to Crashaw's pieces. Priscianus,
otherwise Nisus, a schoolmaster, whips a boy who broke and dirtied
his whipping-horse, and the boy's parents bring an action against
him for assault. The place is evidently Aldborough in
Suffolk--illumined by the genius of Crabbe--and the name of the
boy's family Coleman. The poem thus begins and proceeds--the
marginal notes being placed at the bottom of our pages:
Pinguibus in populi, qui dicitur Austricus,[101] arvis
Praeturam, fasces, lictores nuper adepta
Villa[102] antiqua, novo jam Burgi turget honore.
He describes the school:
Vicinae senior Carbonius[3] incola villae,
'Lingua vernacula idem quod {anthrakandros},
sends his son as a scholar: the stipend 20_s._ a year:
De stipe[103] consentit genitor: Carbunculus intrat.
He describes the whipping-block, the judicious use of which saves
boys from the gallows:
Iste caballus
Non in perniciem, non urbis ut ille ruinam _the Trojan_
Sed curam imberbis populi, regimenque salubre:
A triplici ligno[104] lignum hoc penate tuetur
Praecipitem aetatem.
Young Coleman plays truant from school, and one day, when the school
is empty, breaks and defiles the horse. He openly boasts of his
feat, and returning another day to repeat his misdeed, is caught by
Nisus, who mounts him on the injured horse, which, by poetical
license, is made to whinny with content. The youth expects twenty
cuts, and receives four:
Quattuor[105] inflixit tantum mediocriter ictus,
Plures optet equus, plures daret arbiter aequus.
Coleman senior calls on the Schoolmaster, who remarks that payment
for his son's schooling is in arrear. Coleman returns with Mrs.
Coleman, and demands a receipt for the payment, which he makes, as
Nisus discovers, lest a counter-action be brought against him:
Vult sibi ut absolvens[106] accepti latio detur
Consignata manu Nisi, atque a teste probata.
Then Mrs. Coleman shows herself deserving of the cucking-stool:
..... bona Carbonissa
Inque caput Nisi cumulata opprobria plaustro
Digna et rixivomas sub aquis mersante[107] cathedra,
Quinetiam manibus quasi pugnatura lacessit.
They bring their action for assault. (The English words in the
marginal notes, placed below, are in black-letter:)
Nulla mora est, juristam adhibent, de fonte dicarum
Qui populo Placita ad Communia[108] panditur, exit
Schedula quod vulgo[109] Regis Breve dicitur: illo
Mox capitur Nisus, geminoque sub obside spondet
In responsurum praescripto tempore: tempus
Cunctarum[110] lux est animarum crastini. Verum
Actor quis?[111] Puer ipse, virum qui provocat, annos
Nondum bis-senos superans. Sed et actio quaenam?
Quid crimen? Pravus atque atrox injuria, tristes
Et tragicae ambages, ampullae sesquipedales,
Quod[112] Regis contra pacem vi Nisus, et armis
Insultum fecit, male tractans verbere saevo
Verberibus diris adeo, plenisque pericli
De pueri vita ut desperaretur.
The poem ends, leaving poor Nisus in the midst of his first
law-suit:
Ecce
Nisus, jam primum Nisus miser ambulat in jus:
and the marginal note is 'In causis litigiosis sive casibus
inscriptionum stylus Johannes de Stiles versus Johannem de Nokes.' A
concluding chronogram gives the year 1629: