=A. The Metre of Roister Doister.=--Udall's verse is a long line of
9, 10, 11, 12 (and rarely more) syllables; a verse which represents
the Middle English Long Line (or the Middle English _Septenarius_,
as it has been called for lack of a better name), as we find it, for
instance, in _Robert of Gloucester_, some Legends, and _Robert of
Brunne_.
This Middle English long line, of either six or seven stresses or
accents, is found in Skelton's _Magnyfycence_, and other early Plays.
In Roister Doister, on the whole, the lines of six accents seem to
prevail, lines corresponding to the Middle English Alexandrine,
or in Udall's case perhaps rather to the classical _senarius_, to
the _trimeter_ of the Roman comedy as understood by Udall. But a
great number of _septenarii_ occur at the side of these _senarii_,
distributed all over the play, and in the speeches of different persons.
In many cases it seems even doubtful whether a verse should be regarded
as a _senarius_ or a _septenarius_.
_Specimens of the Senarius_:--
Truepen| ie get | thee in||thou shalt|among |them knowe
I will | speake out| aloude ||I care |not who|heare it.
_Specimens of the Septenarius_ (the syllable before the cæsura or
the end of the line with a slighter, secondary accent, produces this
_septenarius_ in most cases):--
I go' |now Tri'st|ram Tru'st|y`||I tha'nk |you' |right mu'ch|
And see'|that in' |case I' ||should neede'|to come'|to arm'
|ing.`
_Senarii or Septenarii_:--
Yet a fi'tter wi'fe for you'r || ma'ship mi'ght be fou'nde.
or: Ye't a fi'tter wi'fe for you'r || ma'ship mi'ght be fou'nde.
Such a good'ly ma'n as you' || mi'ght get on'e with la'nde.
or: Such' a good'ly ma'n as you' || mi'ght get on'e with la nde.
=B. The Figure of the Miles Gloriosus in English Literature.=--The
limits of this edition forbid any detailed account of the pedigree of
the type of the _Miles Gloriosus_ in English Literature, but for the
benefit of the student, I wish to give the following references:--
On the _Miles Gloriosus_ of the Ancients, cf. the classical account
in Otto Ribbeck's _Alazon, Ein Beitrag zur Antiken Ethologie und zur
Kenntniss der Griechisch-Römischen Tragödie_, Leipzig, 1882. Cf.
further the masterly sketches in the _History of Roman Literature_
(Leipzig, 1887; 1, 66; 83) by the same author; the shorter account,
"_Über die Figuren des Miles Glorioius und seines Parasiten bei älteren
und neueren Dichtern_," by A. O. F. Lorenz (as an appendix to the
same scholar's edition of Plautus, _Mil. Glor._, Berlin, 1886; pp.
230 _seq._). The fullest collection of material for a general history
of this classical type in modern literature is contained in Karl von
Reinhardstoettner, _Plautus, Spätere Bearbeitungen Plautinischer
Lustspiele_, Leipzig, 1886 (pp. 130 _seq._, 595-680).
On the _Mil. Glor._ in English Literature, cf. the excellent
dissertation by Herman Graf, _Der Mil. Glor. im Englischen Drama bis
zur Zeit des Bürgerkrieges Rostock, s. a._ [1891; cf. Koch's note in
_Englische Studien_, 18, 134].
On the Shakespearian "quadrifoil," Falstaff, Parolles, Armado, Pistol,
cf. the charming _causerie_ by Julius Thümmel: _Der Mil. Glor. bei
Shakespeare_ [published first in the _Shakespeare Jahrbuch_ of 1878,
and, later, in the same author's _Shakespeare Charaktere_, Halle, 1887,
Vol. I. pp. 257-276].
=C. Titiville (I. i, 21).=--'Tuteville' was originally the name of
a devil in the French Mystery Plays (cf. Mone, _Schauspiele des
Mittelalters_, 2, 27);[630] from the French Mystery play the name was
introduced into the Mysteries of Germany, England,[631] and Holland.
His diabolical occupation is thus defined in the _Myroure of oure
Ladye_ (1 ch. 20; cf. Blunt's note, 342; as well as Skeat's to _Pierce
Plowm._, C. xiv, 123): "I am a poure dyuel and my name is Tytyuyllus
... I muste eche day ... brynge my master a thousande pokes [bags] full
of faylynges, & of neglygences in syllables and wordes that are done in
youre order in redynge and in syngynge, & else I must be sore beten."
This 'function' of the Devil seems to allow a connection[632] with
the Latin _titivillitium_,[633] "a vile thyng of no value" (Cooper),
something very small and trifling, like the "faylynges and neglygences
in syllables" in praying and reading of the church offices.
In Udall's time the ancient Devil had degenerated, and his name
had become a byword for a low, miserable fellow; cf. the play of
_Thersites_ (Dodsley, 1, 424):--
Tinkers and taborers, tipplers, taverners,
Tittifills, triflers, turners and trumpers,
and Heywood's _Proverbs_, 1 ch. 10 (40):--
There is no moe such titifyls in Englandes ground || To hold with
the hare and run with the hound.
=D. Mumblecrust and the Maids (I. iii.).=--1. _Mumblecrust._ Cooper
quotes the same name from Dekker's _Satiromastix_, and a Madge
Mumblecrust from _Misogonus_ (1577). Jack M. is the name of a beggar
in _Patient Grissel_, IV. iii (cf. Cooper). Different compounds are
Mumble-news (Shakesp. _L.L.L._ V. ii, 464) and Sir John Mumble-matins
(Pilkington, _Exposition upon Aggeus_, 1, 2).
2. _Tibet._ Tib (=Isabella) was the typical servant's name; cf.
_G.G.N._; Tib and Tom in _Ail's Well_, II. ii, 24; "every coistrel
inquiring for his Tib," _Pericles_, IV. vi, 176, etc.
3. In _Aly face_: the first part indicates the colour of her nose and
the desire of her heart.
The whole dialogue of these women takes us back to the times when it
was no dishonour to women to go "to the ale" and enjoy themselves there
with their gossips; cf. _P. Pl._, C. 7, 362; _Chester Pl._, 1, 53, etc.
=E. The Mock Requiem= (III. iii, 53) is one of the latest instances
of parodies of church services such as are found everywhere in the
literature of the Middle Ages. One of the oldest of such parodies is
the _Drunkard's Mass_, _Missa Gulæ_, printed in Halliwell and Wright's
_Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, 2, 208 (cf. the _Paternoster Goliæ_); the _Officium
Lusorum_ (printed in _Carmina Burana_, 248); the _Sequentia falsi
evangelii sec. Marcam_ (_Initium S. Evangelii sec. marcas argenti_) in
Du Meril, _Poés. Pop. Lat. Ant._ XII. s.p. 407, etc.
In English Lit. we find similar parodies in the _Requiem to the
Favourites of Henry VI_. (Ritson's _Songs_, 101; Furnivall's _Polit.
Rel. and Love Songs_, 6: For Jake Napes Sowle, _Placebo_, and
_Dirige_); in _Passages_ of the _Court of Love_ (Chalmers, _Engl.
Poets_, 1, 377), in the _Placebo Dilexi_ in Skelton's _Phyllyp
Sparowe_ (perhaps the source for Udall's happy thought); in Dunbar's
_Will of Maister Andr. Kennedy_, etc.
The parallels to Udall's parody are to be found in Maskell's _Monumenta
Ritualia_,[634] in the _Manuale et Processionale ad usum insignis
Eccles. Eboracensis_,[635] or in the _Rituale Romanum_.[636]