The author and early date of the present Comedy are ascertained by a
quotation in Sir Thomas Wilson's _Rule of Reason_ of Roister Doister's
letter to Dame Custance.
The first edition of the _Rule of Reason_, 1550-1, is a very scarce
work; of which I have been unable to see a copy. The second edition,
1552, 8vo, 'newely corrected by _Thomas Wilson_,' has _not_ the
quotation: which apparently first appears in the third edition of 1553,
4to, the title of which runs, "The Rule of Reason, conteinyng the Arte
of _Logique_. Sette furthe in Englishe, and newly corrected by Thomas
Wilson. _Anno Domini. M.D.LIII._ Mense Ianuarij."
At folio 66 of this edition, Wilson, in treating of _The Ambiguitie_,
adds to his previous examples, Roister Doister's letter, with the
following heading:
¶ An example of soche doubtful writing, whiche by reason of
poincting maie haue double sense, and contrarie
meaning, taken out of an entrelude
made by Nicolas Vdal.
The present comedy was therefore undoubtedly written before the close of
the reign of Edward VI., who died 6 July 1553.
If it was then printed, that entire edition has perished. The prayer
for the Queen at _p._ 86, can be for no other than Queen Elizabeth: and
therefore, although the title-page is wanting and there is no conclusive
allusion in the play, it may confidently be believed that the extant
text was printed in Elizabeth's reign: and that it had possibly in some
respects been modified.
There now comes the evidence of the Stationers Co.'s Register, as quoted
by Mr. Collier, _Extracts_, _i. 154_, _Ed. 1848_:
Rd of Thomas Hackett, for hys lycense for pryntinge of a play
intituled auf Ruyster Duster, &c. iiijd
The missing title-page and the absence of any colophon in the Eton copy,
here reprinted, preclude demonstrative proof that it is one of Hackett's
edition. It is however morally certain that it does represent that text.
On the whole, therefore, though that text was posthumous--Udall having
died in Dec. 1556--: and though its authorship rests entirely on the
above heading of Wilson's quotation: it may be safely accepted that
Udall is the author of this comedy, and that he wrote it before 1553.
Conclusions both of them consonant with the known facts of Udall's life.
The comedy was probably first written for the Eton boys to act. Mr.
W. D. Cooper thus writes:--
Certain, however, it is that it was the custom of Eton, about the
feast of St. Andrew, for the Master to choose some Latin stage-play
for the boys to act in the following Christmas holidays, and that he
might sometimes order smart and witty English plays. "Among the
writings of Udall about the year 1540," says Warton, "are recited
_Plures Comediæ_, and a tragedy _De Papatu_, on the Papacy, written
probably to be acted by his scholars;" and it is equally probable
that the English comedy was written with a like object; for it is
admirably adapted to be a good acting play, and the author avows in
the prologue that his models were Plautus and Terence, with whose
writings his scholars were familiar.
Of the few dramatic pieces of that early period that have survived,
_Roister Doister_ is regarded as the transition-play from the Mysteries
and Enterludes of the Middle Ages to the Comedies of modern times.
A critical examination of its position in our Literature has been made
by Mr. Collier. _Hist. of Dram. Poetry. ii. 445-460 Ed. 1830_. A full
consideration of the play would exceed our present limits: we may
however call attention to the peculiar rhyme in which Udall wrote it.
In the present reprint, the text appears according to modern usage: but
in the original it stands in lines of unvarying length. Where the speech
is continuous, these lines rhyme like our ordinary poetry: but when the
dialogue is short; one, two, three or more speeches are thrown into one
line, and the last syllables of that line--whether they occur in words
in the middle or at the end of a sentence, as dictated simply by the
length of line of type--are made to rough rhyme in couplets. Thus an
irregular assonance jingles through the play.
On the opposite page are a few lines set up as in the original, to
illustrate this peculiarity; and also to show the mode used of marking
the actor's names. May this peculiar rhyme be accepted as any evidence
that Udall composed this play as much for the press as the stage?
There being no description of the representation and the stage
directions being scanty: _Roister Doister_ should be read a first time
to learn the plot; a second time to imagine the action: and a third to
combine and enjoy the two.
[Transcriber's Note:
The word "Nay" is the catchword at the bottom of its page. The line
beginning "He was with me" and ending "T. Trustie" was printed on a
single line.]
ACTUS. iiij. SCÆNA. v.
Bottom of the second, even-numbered page of folio 24, in the
original edition.
+C. Custance.+ Trupenie get thee in, thou shalt among them knowe,
How to vse thy selfe, like a propre man I trowe.
+Trupeny.+ I go. _Ex._ +C. C.+ Now Tristram Trusty I thank you right
much.
For at my first sending to come ye neuer grutch.
+T. Trusty.+ Dame Custance God ye saue, and while my life shall last,
For my friende Goodlucks sake ye shall not sende in wast.
+C. Custance.+ He shal giue you thanks. +T. Trusty.+ I wil do much
for his sake
+C. Custance.+ But alack, I feare, great displeasure shall be take.
+T. Trusty.+ Wherfore? +C. C.+ For a foolish matter. +T. T.+ What is
your cause
+C. Custance.+ I am yll accombred with a couple of dawes.