“Item paid for a brode clothe againste
the Witson plais vi_s._ viii_d._
Item for a barrell of bere to gene to the pleares
to make them to drinke vi_s._ --
Item for packe thread at Witson daye
to hange up the clothe -- ii_d._”
1568. To Mr. Rand’ Barnes[28] iii_s._ iiii_d._
” To Mr. Whyte for singing iiii_s._ --
” Spent on the Chanter and Clark of the Minster -- v_d._
1569. For the Clergy for our songs iiii_s._ ii_d._
[28] Organist.
But before the plays took place it was customary to send messengers on
horseback and on stilts[29] to various places round the city[30] to
read the “Banes” or “Banns,” announcing the performance, and Bellin
has left us a copy of the “Banes,” which has been often printed, and
is therefore here abbreviated. It is a curious document, for it is so
extremely apologetic in tone, and notes even words in the plays which
had become obsolete. The “Banes” is dated 1600, and it is possible that
Bellin merely meant the date of his copying, but a careful study of it
makes me suspect that there was in this year one last expiring effort
made by the citizens to perform the plays, and that _this_ “Banes” was
specially written for the occasion. Although Archbishop Grindal had
prohibited the plays in 1571, we know of performances up to 1576. In
1599, also, Henry Hardware, the Mayor, “was not liked by the commons,”
because he tried to do away with the Midsummer show and all festivity,
but we are expressly told that next year the Mayor, Robert Brerewode,
“restored again all the ancient customs ... and put down Mr. Hardware,”
and he may have tried to revive the plays as well as the Midsummer
show. However, no trace of any performance in 1600 has yet come to
light.
[29]
“To our horses at the rydyng of the Banes xvi_d._
“To Richard Dobie for going on the stilts at the Banes ryding” --
--_Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts._
Some of the performers from the Mayor’s Midsummer show gradually got
grafted on to the “Banes Riding,” and increased the importance of it.
[30] The Castle and the North Gate were two of the appointed places,
and the “Banes” would be heard by the wretched prisoners there, to whom
a donation was generally accorded:--
“To the prisoners at the Castle i_d._
To the prisoners at the North Gate i_d._”
_Painters and Glaziers’ Accounts._