I. Ancient Plays.--II. Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, &c.
continued several days.--III. The Coventry Play.--IV. Mysteries
described.--V. How enlivened.--VI. Moralities described.--The
Fool in Plays, whence derived.--VII. Secular Plays.--VIII.
Interludes.--IX. Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his
Time.--X. Plays performed in Churches.--XI. Cornish Miracle
Plays.--XII. Itinerant Players, their evil Characters.--XIII.
Court Plays.--XIV. Play in honour of the Princess Mary's
Marriage.--XV. The Play of Hock Tuesday.--XVI. Decline of Secular
Plays.--XVII. Origin of Puppet Plays.--XVIII. Nature of the
Performances.--XIX. Giants and other Puppet Characters.--XX.
Puppet Plays superseded by Pantomimes.--XXI. The modern
Puppet-show Man.--XXII. Moving Pictures described.
I.--ANCIENT PLAYS.
It is not my design to enter deeply upon the origin and progress of
scenic exhibitions in England: this subject has already been so ably
discussed, that very little new matter can be found to excite the
public attention: I shall, therefore, be as brief as possible, and
confine myself chiefly to the lower species of comic pastimes, many of
which may justly claim the sanction of high antiquity.
II.--MIRACLE PLAYS, DRAMAS FROM SCRIPTURE, &c. CONTINUED SEVERAL DAYS.
The theatrical exhibitions in London, in the twelfth century,
were called Miracles, because they consisted of sacred plays, or
representations of the miracles wrought by the holy confessors,
and the sufferings by which the perseverance of the martyrs was
manifested.[532] Such subjects were certainly very properly chosen,
because the church was usually the theatre wherein these pious dramas
were performed, and the actors were the ecclesiastics or their
scholars. The first play of this kind specified by name, I believe, is
called St. Catherine, and according to Matthew Paris,[533] was written
by Geofrey, a Norman, afterwards abbot of Saint Albans: he was sent
over into England by abbot Richard, to take upon him the direction of
the school belonging to that monastery, but coming too late, he went to
Dunstable and taught there, where he caused his play to be performed
about the year 1110, and borrowed from the sacrist of Saint Albans
capæ chorales, some of the ecclesiastical vestments of the abbey, to
adorn the actors. In latter times, these dramatical pieces acquired
the appellation of mysteries; because, as the learned editor of the
Reliques of Ancient Poetry supposes, the most mysterious subjects of
the scripture were frequently chosen for their composition.[534]
According to the Wife of Bath's prologue in the Canterbury Tales, the
miracle plays in Chaucer's days were exhibited during the season of
Lent, and sometimes a sequel of scripture histories was carried on for
several days. In the reign of Richard II., A.D. 1391, the parish clerks
of London put forth a play at Skinners Wells, near Smithfield, which
continued three days; the king, queen, and many of the nobility, being
present at the performance.[535] In the succeeding reign, Henry IV.,
A.D. 1409, another play was acted at the same place, and lasted eight
days; this drama began with the creation of the world, and contained
the greater part of the history of the Old and New Testament. It does
not appear to have been honoured with the royal presence, but was well
attended by most of the nobility and gentry of the realm.
III.--THE COVENTRY PLAY.
The last of these performances, no doubt, bore a close analogy to the
well known mystery entitled Corpus Christi, or Ludus Coventriæ, the
Coventry Play; transcripts of this play, nearly if not altogether
coeval with the time of its representation, are yet in existence; one
in particular is preserved in the Cotton Library.[536] The prologue
to this curious drama is delivered by three persons, who speak
alternately, and are called vexillators; it contains the argument of
the several pageants, or acts, that constitute the piece, and they
amount to no less than forty; and every one of these acts consists of a
detached subject from the holy writ, beginning with the creation of the
universe and concluding with the last judgment. In the first pageant,
or act, the Deity is represented seated on his throne by himself,
delivering a speech of forty lines beginning thus:
"Ego sum de Alpha et Omega principium et finis.
"My name is knowyn God and Kynge,
My worke for to make now wyl I wende,
In myself restyth my reyneynge,
It hath no gynnyg ne non ende."
The angels then enter, singing from the church service, "To Thee all
angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein; To Thee the
Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy Lord God
of Hosts." Lucifer next makes his appearance, and desires to know if
the hymn they sang was in honour of God or in honour of him? The good
angels readily reply, in honour of God; the evil angels incline to
worship Lucifer, and he presumes to seat himself in the throne of the
Deity; who commands him to depart from heaven to hell, which dreadful
sentence he is compelled to obey, and with his wicked associates
descends to the lower regions. I have given a much fuller account of
this curious mystery in the third volume of the Manners and Customs
of the English People, with long extracts, and from several others
nearly equal in antiquity, to which the reader is referred. This play
was acted by the Friars Minors, or Mendicant Friars, of Coventry; and
commenced on Corpus Christi day, whence it received its title. Dugdale
says,[537] for the performance of these plays they had theatres for
the several scenes very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn
to all the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the
spectators.
IV.--MYSTERIES DESCRIBED.
The mysteries often consisted of single subjects, and made but one
performance. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford[538] I met with two
mysteries that to the best of my knowledge have not been mentioned:
the subject of one is the conversion of Saint Paul, and of the other
the casting out of the devils from Mary Magdalene; they are both very
old and imperfect, especially the latter, which seems to want several
leaves. The first is entitled Saulus; and after a short prologue the
stage direction follows, "Here outeyth Saul, goodly besene in the best
wyse lyke an adventrous knyth, thus sayynge,
"Most dowtyd man, I am lyvynge upon the grounde,
Goodly besene with many a ryche harlement;
My pere on lyve I trow ys nott yfound
Thorow the world, fro the oryent to the occydent."
The interlocutors, besides the poet who speaks the prologue, and Saul,
are Caiaphas, Ananias, first and second soldiers, the "Stabularyus," or
hostler, the servant, and Belial.
V.--MYSTERIES, HOW ENLIVENED.
Notwithstanding the seriousness of the subjects that constituted
these mysteries, it seems clear that they were not exhibited without
a portion of pantomimical fun to make them palatable to the vulgar
taste; and indeed the length and the dulness of the speeches required
some such assistance to enliven them, and keep the spectators in good
humour; and this may be the reason why the mysteries are in general
much shorter than the modern plays. Beelzebub seems to have been the
principal comic actor, assisted by his merry troop of under-devils,
who, with variety of noises, strange gestures, and contortions of the
body, excited the laughter of the populace.[539]
VI.--THE FOOL IN PLAYS, WHENCE DERIVED--MORALITIES DESCRIBED.
When the mysteries ceased to be played, the subjects for the drama were
not taken from historical facts, but consisted of moral reasonings in
praise of virtue and condemnation of vice, on which account they were
called Moralities; and these performances requiring some degree of
invention, laid the foundation for our modern comedies and tragedies.
The dialogues were carried on by allegorical characters, such as Good
Doctrine, Charity, Faith, Prudence, Discretion, Death, and the like,
and their discourses were of a serious cast; but the province of
making the spectators merry, descended from the Devil in the mystery,
to Vice or Iniquity of the morality, who usually personified some bad
quality incident to human nature, as Pride, or Lust, or any other evil
propensity. Alluding to the mimicry of this motley character, Jonson,
in Epig. 159, has these lines:
"--------But the old Vice
Acts old Iniquity, and in the fit
Of mimicry gets th' opinion of a wit."
In the Staple of Newes, acted A.D. 1625, it is said, "Iniquity came
in like Hokos-pokos in a jugler's jerkin, with false skirts like the
knave of clubs;" and afterward, "Here is never a fiend to carry him,
the Vice, away; besides, he has never a wooden dagger: I'd not give a
rush for a Vice that has not a wooden dagger to snap at every one he
meetes:" in another part, the Vice is described, "in his long coat,
shaking his wooden dagger." Hence it appears this character had a dress
peculiar to himself. Philip Stubs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, printed
A.D. 1595, says, "You must go to the playhouse if you will learne
to play the Vice, to sweare, teare, and blaspheme both heaven and
hell:" and again, "Who can call him a wise man, who playeth the part
of a Foole or a Vice?" I remember to have seen a stage direction for
the Vice, to lay about him lustily with a great pole, and tumble the
characters one over the other with great noise and riot, "for dysport
sake." Even when regular tragedies and comedies were introduced upon
the stage, we may trace the decendants of this facetious Iniquity in
the clowns and the fools which so frequently disgraced them. The great
master of human nature, in compliance with the false taste of the age
in which he lived, has admitted this motley character into the most
serious parts of one of his best tragedies. The propensity to laugh
at the expense of good sense and propriety, is well ridiculed in the
"Intermeane" at the end of the first act of the Staple of Newes,
by Jonson, and again in the Preludium to the Careless Shepherdess,
a pastoral tragi-comedy by Thomas Goffe, in 1656, where several
characters are introduced upon the stage as spectators, waiting for the
commencement of the performance. One of them says:
Why, I would have a fool in every act,
Be 't comedy or tragedy: I've laugh'd
Until I cr'yd again, to see what faces
The rogue will make. Oh! it does me good
To see him hold out's chin, hang down his hands,
And twirle his bawble. There is nere a part
About him but breaks jests. I heard a fellow
Once on the stage, cry doodle doodle dooe
Beyond compare; I'de give th' other shilling
To see him act the Changling once again.
To this another character replies,
And so would I; his part has all the wit,
For none speakes, carps, and quibbles besides him;
I'd rather see him leap, or laugh, or cry,
Than hear the gravest speech in all the play;
I never saw Rheade peeping through the curtain,
But ravishing joy entered into my heart.
A boy then comes upon the stage, and the first speaker inquires for the
Fool; but being told he is not to perform that night, he says--
Well, since there will be nere a fool i' th' play,
I'll have my money again; the comedy
Will be as tedious to me as a sermon.
VII.--SECULAR PLAYS.
The plays mentioned in the preceding pages, and especially the miracles
and mysteries, differed greatly from the secular plays and interludes
which were acted by strolling companies, composed of minstrels,
jugglers, tumblers, dancers, bourdours or jesters, and other performers
properly qualified for the different parts of the entertainment, which
admitted of a variety of exhibitions. These pastimes are of higher
antiquity than the ecclesiastical plays; and they were much relished
not only by the vulgar part of the people, but also by the nobility.
The courts of the kings of England, and the castles of the great earls
and barons, were crowded with the performers of the secular plays,
where they were well received and handsomely rewarded;[540] vast sums
of money were lavishly bestowed upon these secular itinerants, which
induced the monks and other ecclesiastics to turn actors themselves,
in order to obtain a share of the public bounty. But to give the
better colouring to their undertaking, they took the subjects of their
dialogues from the holy writ, and performed them in the churches. The
secular showmen, however, retained their popularity notwithstanding the
exertions of their clerical rivals, who diligently endeavoured to bring
them into disgrace, by bitterly inveighing against the filthiness and
immorality of their exhibitions.[541] On the other hand, the itinerant
players sometimes invaded the province of the church-men, and performed
their mysteries, or others similar to them, as we find from a petition
presented to Richard II. by the scholars of Saint Paul's school,
wherein complaint is made against the secular actors, because they
took upon themselves to act plays composed from the scripture history,
to the great prejudice of the clergy, who had been at much expense to
prepare such performances for public exhibition at the festival of
Christmas, 1378. But, generally speaking, the secular plays had nothing
to do with religion; and if an early writer of our own country, John
of Salisbury, may be fully credited, but little with morality: they
consisted of comic tales, dialogues, and stories, to which were added
coarse and indecent jests, intermixed with instrumental music, singing,
dancing, tumbling, gesticulation, and mimicry, to excite laughter,
without the least regard to decency; and for this reason the clergy
were prohibited from going to see them. In 1519 Cardinal Wolsey, in his
regulations for the monastery of the canons regular of Saint Austin,
forbad the brethren to be players, or mimics; but the prohibition
meant, that they should not go abroad to exercise those talents in a
secular or mercenary capacity.[542]
VIII.--INTERLUDES.
The interludes, which, I presume, formed a material part of the
performances exhibited by the secular players, were certainly of
a jocular nature, consisting probably of facetious or satirical
dialogues, calculated to promote mirth, and therefore they are censured
by Matthew Paris[543] as "vain pastimes." Something of this kind was
the representation made before king Henry VIII. at Greenwich, in 1528,
thus related by Hall: "Two persons plaied a dialogue, the effect
whereof was, whether riches were better than love; and, when they could
not agree upon a conclusion, each called in thre knightes all armed;
thre of them woulde have entered the gate of the arche in the middle
of the chambre, and the other thre resisted; and sodenly betweene the
six knightes, out of the arche fell downe a bar all gilte, at the which
bar the six knightes fought a fair battail, and then they departed,
and so went out of the place; then came in an olde man with a silver
berd, and he concluded that love and riches bothe be necessarie for
princes, that is to say, by love to be obeyed and served, and with
riches to rewarde his lovers and frendes; and with this conclusion the
dialogue ended." We hereby find, that these dialogues were not only a
part of the entertainment, but also ingeniously made the vehicles for
the introduction of other sports. Sometimes they were of a satirical
nature; and, when occasion required, they took another turn, and became
the agents of flattery and adulation: both these purposes were
answered by the following dialogue, taken from the author just now
quoted: "On Sonday at night the fifteenth of June, 1523, in the great
halle at Wyndsore," the emperor Maximilian and Henry VIII. being
present, "was a disguisiyng or play; the effect of it was, that there
was a proud horse which would not be tamed nor bridled; but Amitie sent
Prudence and Policie which tamed him, and Force and Puissance brideled
him. This horse was meant by the Frenche kyng,[544] and Amitie by the
kynge of England, and the emperor and the other persons were their
counsail and power."
IX.--DEFINITION OF TRAGEDIES IN CHAUCER'S TIME.
Comedies were not known, nor tragedies according to the modern
acceptation of the word in Chaucer's time; for what he calls tragedies,
are simply tales of persons who have fallen from a state of prosperity,
or worldly grandeur, to great adversity; as he himself tells us in the
following lines:
Tragedy is to tel a certayne story,
As olde bokes maken memory,
Of them that stode in great prosperite,
And be fallen out of hye degre
Into misery, and ended wretchedly.[545]
X.--PLAYS PERFORMED IN CHURCHES.
The ecclesiastical plays, as we observed before, were usually performed
in churches, or chapels, upon temporary scaffolds erected for that
purpose; and sometimes, when a sufficient number of clerical actors
were not to be procured, the churchwardens and chief parishioners
caused the plays to be acted by the secular players, in order to
collect money for the defraying of the church expenses; and in many
instances they borrowed the theatrical apparel from other parishes when
they had none of their own. The acting of plays in churches was much
declaimed against by the religious writers of the sixteenth century;
and Bonner, bishop of London, in 1542, the thirty-third year of the
reign of Henry VIII., issued a proclamation to the clergy of his
diocese, prohibiting all manner of common plays, games, or interludes,
to be played, set forth, or declared, within their churches or chapels.
XI.--CORNISH MIRACLE PLAYS.
In Cornwall the miracle plays were differently represented: they were
not performed in the churches, nor under any kind of cover, but in the
open air, as we learn from Carew, whose words upon this subject are as
follow: "The guary-miracle, in English, a miracle play, is a kind of
interlude compiled in Cornish out of some scripture history, with that
grossness which accompanied the Romanes vetus comedia. For representing
it, they raise an earthen amphitheatre in some open field, having the
diameter of his enclined plain some forty or fifty feet. The country
people flock from all sides many miles of, to hear and see it, for they
have therein devils and devices to delight as well the eye as the eare.
The players conne not their parts without booke, but are prompted by
one called the ordinary, who followeth at their backs with the book in
his hand, and telleth them what to say."[546] In the Harleian Library
is preserved a miracle play of this kind in the Cornish language,
written by William Gordon, A. D. 1611, accompanied with an English
translation by John Keygwyn, A. D. 1693. It begins with the creation
and ends with Noah's flood. Noah himself concludes the play, with an
address to the spectators, desiring them to "come to-morrow betimes"
to see another play on the redemption of man; and then speaking to the
musicians, says, "Musicians, play to us, that we may dance together
as is the manner of the sport." Such a ridiculous jumble of religion
and buffoonery might well excite the indignation of serious people.
This species of amusement continued to be exhibited in Cornwall long
after the abolition of the miracles and moralities in the other parts
of the kingdom, and when the establishment of regular plays had taken
place.[547]
XII.--CHARACTER OF THE OLD ITINERANT PLAYERS.
The itinerant players often exhibited their performances upon temporary
scaffolds as late as the reign of queen Elizabeth. A writer of
that time, who is very severe against them, says, "They are called
histriones, or rather histrices, which play, upon scaffolds and stages,
enterludes and comedies;" he then launches out most furiously, calling
them "jugglers, scoffers, jeasters, and players," and ranks them with
the lowest and most vicious of mankind.[548]
XIII.--COURT PLAYS.
There was another species of entertainment which differed materially
from any of the pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages, I mean the
ludi, or plays exhibited at court in the Christmas holidays: we trace
them as far back as the reign of Edward III. The preparations made
for them at that time are mentioned without the least indication of
novelty, which admits of the supposition that they were still more
ancient. From the numeration of the dresses appropriated in 1348 to
one of these plays, which consisted of various kinds of disguisements,
they seem to have merited rather the denomination of mummeries than of
theatrical divertisements.[549] The king then kept his Christmas at
his castle at Guildford; the dresses are said to be ad faciendum ludos
domini regis, and consisted of eighty tunics of buckram of various
colours; forty-two visors of different similitudes, namely, fourteen of
faces of women, fourteen of faces of men, and fourteen heads of angels
made with silver; twenty-eight crests; fourteen mantles embroidered
with heads of dragons; fourteen white tunics wrought with the heads
and wings of peacocks; fourteen with the heads of swans with wings;
fourteen tunics painted with the eyes of peacocks; fourteen tunics
of English linen painted; and fourteen other tunics embroidered with
stars of gold.[550] How far these plays were enlivened by dialogues, or
interlocutory eloquence is not known; but probably they partook more of
the feats of pantomime than of colloquial excellency, and were better
calculated to amuse the sight than to instruct the mind.
The magnificent pageants and disguisings frequently exhibited at court
in the succeeding times, and especially in the reign of Henry VIII., no
doubt originated from the ludi above mentioned. These mummeries, as a
modern writer justly observes, were destitute of character and humour,
their chief aim being to surprise the spectators "by the ridiculous and
exaggerated oddity of the visors, and by the singularity and splendour
of the dresses; every thing was out of nature and propriety. Frequently
the masque was attended with an exhibition of gorgeous machinery,
resembling the wonders of a modern pantomime."[551]
The reader may form some judgment of the appearance the actors made
upon these occasions, from the following:
[Illustration: 47. MUMMERS.--XIV. CENTURY.]
These, and the other figures in the subjoined engraving, are taken from
a beautiful manuscript in the Bodleian Library, written and illuminated
in the reign of Edward III.[552]
[Illustration: 48. MUMMERS.--XIV. CENTURY.]
The performance seems to have consisted chiefly in dancing, and the
mummers are usually attended by the minstrels playing upon different
kinds of musical instruments.
Many of these stately shows are described at length by Hall and
Holinshed; and, as some of my readers may not have those authors near
at hand, I will subjoin the account of two of them in Hall's own words.
In the fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII, his majesty kept his
Christmas at Greenwich; and, "according to olde custome," on twelfth
night,[553] "there came," says the historian, "into the greate hall,
a mount called the riche mount. This mount was set full of riche
flowers of silke, and especially of brome[554] slippes full of poddes,
the branches were grene sattin, and the flowers flat gold of damaske
which signified Plantagenet: on the top stood a goodly bekon[555]
giving light, rounde above the bekon sat the king and five other al
in coates and cappes of right crimosin velvet, embroudered with flat
gold of damaske, their coates set full of spangelles of gold; and
foure woodhouses drew the mount 'till it came before the queen, and
then the kyng and his compaigne discended and daunced; then suddainly
the mount opened, and out came six ladies all in crimosin satin and
plunket, embroudered with golde and perle, with Frenche hoodes on their
heddes, and they daunced alone. Then the lordes of the mount tooke the
ladies and daunced together, and the ladies re-entered, and the mount
closed, and so was conveyed out of the hall."[556] The woodhouses, in
the preceding quotation, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called,
were wild or savage men; and in this instance, men dressed up with
skins, or rugs resembling skins, so as to appear like savages. These
pageants were frequently moveable and drawn upon wheels. In honour of
the marriage of Arthur, prince of Wales, with Catherine of Spain, there
were three pageants exhibited in Westminster Hall, which succeeded each
other, and were all of them drawn upon wheels: the first was a castle
with ladies; the second a ship in full sail, that cast anchor near the
castle; and the third a mountain with several armed knights upon it,
who stormed the castle, and obliged the ladies to surrender. The show
ended in a dance, and the pageantry disappeared.[557]
XIV.--PLAY IN HONOUR OF THE PRINCESS MARY.
In the tenth year of the same king's reign, in honour of his sister the
princess Mary's marriage with the king of France,[558] there was
exhibited in the great hall at Greenwich, "a rock ful of al maner of
stones very artificially made, and on the top stood five trees: the
first was an olive tree, on which hanged a shield of the armes of the
church of Rome; the second was a pyne aple tree,[559] with the arms of
the emperor; the third was a rosyer,[560] with the armes of England;
the fourth a braunche of lylies, bearing the armes of France; and the
fifth a pomegranet tree, bearing the armes of Spayn; in token that all
these five potentates were joined together in one league against the
enemies of Christe's fayth: in and upon the middes of the rock satte a
fayre lady, richely appareyled, with a dolphin in her lap. In this rock
were ladies and gentlemen appareled, in crimosyn sattyn, covered over
with floures of purple satyn, embroudered with wrethes of gold knit
together with golden laces, and on every floure a hart of gold moving.
The ladies' tyer[561] was after the fashion of Inde, with kerchiefes of
pleasaunce[562] hached with fyne gold, and set with letters of Greeke
in gold of bullion, and the edges of their kerchiefes were garnished
with hanging perle. These gentlemen and ladyes sate on the neyther
part of the rock, and out of a cave in the same rock came ten knightes
armed at all poyntes, and faughte together a fayre tournay. And when
they were severed and departed, the disguysers dissended from the rock
and daunced a great space, and sodeynly the rock moved and receaved
the disguysers and imediately closed agayn. Then entred a person
called report, appareled in crymosyn satin full of tongues, sitting
on a flying horse with wynges and feete of gold called Pegasus; this
person in Frenche declared the meaning of the rocks, the trees, and the
tourney."[563]
XV.--PLAY OF HOCK-TUESDAY.
Among the pastimes exhibited for the entertainment of queen Elizabeth
during her stay at Kenelworth Castle, Warwickshire, was a kind of
historical play, or old storial show, performed by certain persons
who came for that purpose from Coventry. It was also called the old
Coventry play of Hock-Tuesday, but must not be confounded with the
Ludus de Corpus Christi, or Coventry Mystery, mentioned before,
to which it did not bear the least analogy. The subject of the
Hock-Tuesday show was the massacre of the Danes, a memorable event in
the English history, on St. Brice's night, November 13, 1002, which
was expressed "in action and in rhimes." It is said to have been
annually acted in the town of Coventry, according to ancient custom;
but that it was suppressed soon after the reformation, at the instance
of some of their preachers, whose good intention the towns-people did
not deny, but complained of their severity; urging in behalf of the
show, that it was "without ill example of manners, papistry, or any
superstition."[564] The rhimes originally belonging to the play, I
presume, were omitted upon the above-mentioned occasion;[565] for it
appears to have been performed without any recitation in mere dumb
show, and consisted of hot skirmishes and furious encounters between
the English and the Danish forces: first by the launce knights on
horseback, armed with spears and shields, who being many of them
dismounted fought with swords and targets. Then followed two "host of
foot men," one after the other, first marching in ranks, then, turning
about in a warlike manner, they changed their form from ranks into
squadrons, then into triangles, then into rings, and then "winding out
again they joined in battle; twice the Danes had the better, but at the
last conflict they were beaten down, overcome, and many of them led
captive for triumph by our English women." Her majesty was much pleased
with this performance, "whereat," says my author, "she laughed well,"
and rewarded the actors with two bucks, and five marks in money; and
with this munificence they were highly satisfied.[566]
XVI.--DECLINE OF SECULAR PLAYS.
The secular plays, as we have seen, consisted of a medley of different
performances, calculated chiefly to promote mirth without any view
to instruction; but soon after the production of regular plays, when
proper theatres were established, the motley exhibitions of the
strolling actors were only relished by the vulgar; the law set her face
against them, the performers were stigmatised with the names of rogues
and vagabonds, and all access was denied them at the houses of the
opulent. They depended of course upon the precarious support derived
from the favours of the lower classes of the people, which was not
sufficient to enable them to appear with their former credit; their
companies were necessarily divided, and their performances became less
worthy of notice, every one of them endeavouring to shift for himself
in the best manner that he could; or a few of them uniting their
abilities as occasion might serve, exhibited at wakes and fairs, and
lived upon the contributions of rustics and children. The tragitour now
became a mere juggler, and played a few paltry tricks occasionally,
assisted by the bourdour, or jester, transformed into a modern
jack-pudding. It is highly probable, that necessity suggested to him
the idea of supplying the place of his human confederates by automaton
figures made of wood, which, by means of wires properly attached to
them, were moved about, and performed many of the actions peculiar to
mankind; and, with the assistance of speeches made for them behind
the scenery, produced that species of drama commonly distinguished
by the appellation of a droll, or a puppet-play; wherein a facetious
performer, well known by the name of Punchinello, supplied the place
of the Vice, or mirth-maker, a favourite character in the moralities.
In modern days this celebrated actor, who has something to say to the
greater part of his auditory, is called plain Punch. In the moralities,
the Devil usually carried away the Iniquity, or Evil, at the conclusion
of the drama;[567] and, in compliance with the old custom, Punch, the
genuine descendant of the Iniquity, is constantly taken from the stage
by the Devil at the end of the puppet-show. Ben Jonson, by way of
burlesque, in the comedy entitled "The Devil is an Asse," reverses the
ancient usage, and makes the Iniquity run away with the Fiend, saying--
The Divell was wont to carry away the Evill,
But now the Evill out-carries the Divell.--_Act v. scene 6._
The first appearance of a company of wooden actors excited, no doubt,
the admiration of the populace, and the novelty of such an exhibition
was probably productive of much advantage to the inventor. I cannot
pretend to determine the time that puppet-plays were first exhibited
in England. I rather think this species of entertainment originated
upon the continent. Cervantes has made Don Quixote a spectator at a
puppet-show, and the knight's behaviour upon this occasion is described
with great humor. The puppets were originally called motions: we find
them mentioned in Gammer Gurton's Needle, which is supposed to have
been written in 1517; and there the master of the puppet-show seems
to have been considered as no better than an idle vagrant. One of
the characters says, he will go "and travel with young Goose, the
motion-man, for a puppet-player."
XVII.--ORIGIN OF PUPPET-PLAYS.
Previous to the invention of puppets, or rather to the incorporating of
them into companies, there were automatons that performed variety of
motions. The famous rood, or crucifix, at Boxley in Kent, described by
Lambarde, was a figure of this kind, which moved its eyes, and turned
its head whenever the monkish miracle workers required its assistance.
The jack of the clock-house, often mentioned by the writers of the
sixteenth century, was also an automaton, that either struck the hours
upon the bell in their proper rotation, or signified by its gestures
that the clock was about to strike. In a humorous pamphlet called
Lanthorn and Candle, or the Bellman's Second Walk, published at London,
1605, it is said, "The Jacke of the Clocke-house goes upon screws, and
his office is to do nothing but strike;" and in an old play still more
early, "He shakes his heade and throws his arms about like the Jacke of
the Clocke-house." The name of Jack of the Clock-house was also given
to a certain description of thieves. From these figures, I doubt not,
originated the more modern heroes of the puppet-show.
XVIII.--NATURE OF PERFORMANCES BY PUPPETS.
The puppet-shows usually made their appearance at great fairs, and
especially at those in the vicinity of the metropolis; they still[568]
continue to be exhibited in Smithfield at Bartholomew-tide, though with
very little traces of their former greatness; indeed, of late years,
they have become unpopular, and are frequented only by children. It is,
however, certain, that the puppet-shows attracted the notice of the
public at the commencement of the last century, and rivalled in some
degree the more pompous exhibitions of the larger theatres.[569] Powel,
a famous puppet-show man, is mentioned in one of the early papers of
the Spectator,[570] and his performances are humorously contrasted with
those of the Opera House. At the same time there was another
motion-master, who also appears to have been of some celebrity,
named Crawley; I have before me two bills of his exhibition, one for
Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair. These are preserved
in a miscellaneous collection of advertisements and title-pages
among the Harleian MSS.[571] The first of these bills runs thus: "At
Crawley's Booth, over against the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, during
the time of Bartholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called
the Old Creation of the World, yet newly revived; with the addition of
Noah's Flood; also several fountains playing water during the time of
the play.--The last scene does present Noah and his family coming out
of the Ark, with all the beasts two and two, and all the fowls of the
air seen in a prospect sitting upon trees; likewise over the ark is
seen the Sun rising in a most glorious manner: moreover, a multitude of
Angels will be seen in a double rank, which presents a double prospect,
one for the sun, the other for a palace, where will be seen six Angels
ringing of bells.--Likewise Machines descend from above, double and
treble, with Dives rising out of Hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's
bosom, besides several figures dancing jiggs, sarabands, and country
dances, to the admiration of the spectators; with the merry conceits
of squire Punch and sir John Spendall." This curious medley was, we
are told, "completed by an Entertainment of singing, and dancing with
several naked swords, performed by a Child of eight years of age." In
the second bill, we find the addition of "the Ball of little Dogs;" it
is also added, that these celebrated performers had danced before the
queen (Anne) and most of the quality of England, and amazed every body.
XIX.--GIANTS AND OTHER PUPPET CHARACTERS.
The subjects of the puppet-dramas were formerly taken from some well
known and popular stories, with the introduction of knights and giants;
hence the following speech in the Humorous Lovers, a comedy, printed
in 1617: "They had like to have frighted me with a man dressed up like
a gyant in a puppet-show." In my memory, these shows consisted of a
wretched display of wooden figures, barbarously formed and decorated,
without the least degree of taste or propriety; the wires that
communicated the motion to them appeared at the tops of their heads,
and the manner in which they were made to move, evinced the ignorance
and inattention of the managers; the dialogues were mere jumbles of
absurdity and nonsense, intermixed with low immoral discourses passing
between Punch and the fiddler, for the orchestra rarely admitted of
more than one minstrel; and these flashes of merriment were made
offensive to decency by the actions of the puppet. In the reign of
James II. there was a noted merry-andrew named Philips; "This man,"
says Granger, "was some time fiddler to a puppet-show; in which
capacity he held many a dialogue with Punch, in much the same strain
as he did afterwards with the mountebank doctor, his master upon
the stage. This zany, being regularly educated, had confessedly the
advantage of his brethren."[572]
XX.--PUPPET-PLAYS SUPPRESSED BY PANTOMIMES.
The introduction, or rather the revival of pantomimes, which indeed
have long disgraced the superior theatres, proved the utter undoing of
the puppet-show men; in fact, all the absurdities of the puppet-show,
except the discourses, are retained in the pantomimes, the difference
consisting principally in the substitution of living puppets for
wooden ones; but it must be confessed, though nothing be added to
the rationality of the performances, great pains is taken to supply
the defect, by fascinating the eyes and the ears; and certainly the
brilliancy of the dresses and scenery, the skilful management of
the machinery, and the excellence of the music, in the pantomimes,
are great improvements upon the humble attempts of the vagrant
motion-master.
XXI.--THE MODERN PUPPET-SHOW MAN.
In the present day, the puppet-show man travels about the streets when
the weather will permit, and carries his motions, with the theatre
itself, upon his back! The exhibition takes place in the open air; and
the precarious income of the miserable itinerant depends entirely on
the voluntary contributions of the spectators, which, as far as one may
judge from the square appearance he usually makes, is very trifling.
A few years back,[573] a puppet-show was exhibited at the court end of
the town, with the Italian title Fantoccini, which greatly attracted
the notice of the public, and was spoken of as an extraordinary
performance: it was, however, no more than a puppet-show, with the
motions constructed upon better principles, dressed with more elegance,
and managed with greater art, than they had formerly been.
XXII.--MOVING PICTURES.
Another species of scenic exhibition with moving figures, bearing
some distant analogy to the puppets, appeared at the commencement of
the last century. Such a show is thus described in the reign of queen
Anne, by the manager of a show exhibited at the great house in the
Strand, over against the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market; the best
places at one shilling, and the others at sixpence each: "To be seen,
the greatest Piece of Curiosity that ever arrived in England, being
made by a famous engineer from the camp before Lisle, who, with great
labour and industry, has collected into a moving picture the following
figures: first, it doth represent the confederate camp, and the army
lying intrenched before the town; secondly, the convoys and the mules
with prince Eugene's baggage; thirdly, the English forces commanded
by the duke of Marlborough; likewise, several vessels, laden with
provisions for the army, which are so artificially done as to seem to
drive the water before them. The city and the citadel are very fine,
with all its outworks, ravelins, hornworks, counter-scarps, half-moons,
and palisados; the French horse marching out at one gate, and the
confederate army marching in at the other; the prince's travelling
coach with two generals in it, one saluting the company as it passes
by; then a trumpeter sounds a call as he rides, at the noise whereof
a sleeping centinel starts, and lifts up his head, but, not being
espied, lies down to sleep again; besides abundance more admirable
curiosities too tedious to be inserted here." He then modestly adds,
"In short the whole piece is so contrived by art, that it seems to be
life and nature." These figures, I presume, were flat painted images
moving upon a flat surface, like those frequently seen upon the tops of
clocks, where a carpenter's shop, or a stone-mason's yard, are by no
means unusually represented. A juggler named Flockton, some few years
back, had an exhibition of this kind, which he called a grand piece of
clock-work. In this machine the combination of many different motions,
and tolerably well contrived, were at one time presented to the eye.
Pinkethman's Pantheon mentioned in the Spectator, was, I presume, an
exhibition something similar to that above described, and probably the
heathen deities were manufactured from pasteboard, and seated in rows
one above the other upon clouds of the same material; at least I have
seen them so fabricated, and so represented, about 1760, at a show in
the country, which was contrived in such a manner, that the whole group
descended and ascended with a slow motion to the sound of music.