CHAPTER IV

FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1450–1550)

The dates that appear at the head of this section are only approximate, but the general features of the time are well defined. In England the period begins with wars, unrest, and almost chaos; it concludes with a settled dynasty, a reformed religion, and a people united and progressive. Abroad, as well as in England, there is apparent the broad intellectual flood known as the Renaissance, running deep and strong: the renewed desire for knowledge, changes in religious ideals, the discovery of new worlds, both geographical and literary, and the enormous quickening of heart and mind. In England the scene is being prepared for the great age to follow.

LITERARY FEATURES OF THE AGE

=1. Poverty of Material.= Considering the length of the period, the poverty of the output is hard to explain. There is no English poet of any consequence; the prose writing is thin in quality and quantity; and if it were not for the activities of the Scottish poets the age would be poor indeed.

=2. Scottish Poetry.= Scottish poetry comes late into notice, but it comes with a bound. The poverty and disunion of Scotland, its severance from the intellectual stimulus of English thought, and the dearth of educational facilities all combine to retard its literary development. But these disadvantages are rapidly passing away, with the beneficial results apparent in this chapter.

=3. The Development of the Drama.= The popularity of the romance is almost gone; the drama, more suited to the growing intelligence of the time, is rapidly taking on a new importance. The professional actor and the playwright, owing to real demand for their services, are making their appearance. The development of the drama is sketched in this chapter.

=4. The Importance of the Period.= The importance of the time is belied by its apparent barrenness. In reality it is a season of healthy fallow, of germination, of rest and recuperation. The literary impulse, slowly awakening, is waiting for the right moment. When that movement comes the long period of rest gives the new movement swift and enduring force.

POETRY

=1. The Scottish Poets.= (_a_) =James I (1394–1437)= was captured by the English in 1405, and remained in England till 1424, when he married Joan Beaufort, the cousin of Henry V, and returned to Scotland. The chief poem associated with his name is _The Kingis Quhair_ (_quire_ or _book_). The attempts to disprove his authorship have not been successful. It seems to have been written during his captivity, and it records his first sight of the lady destined to be his wife. It follows the Chaucerian model of the dream, the garden, and the introduction of allegorical figures. The stanza is the rhyme royal, which is said to have derived its name from his use of it. The diction, which is the common artificial blend of Scottish and Chaucerian forms, is highly ornamented; but there are some passages of really brilliant description, and a few stanzas of passionate declamation quite equal to the best of Chaucer’s _Troilus and Cressida_. It is certainly among the best of the poems that appear between the periods of Chaucer and Spenser. Other poems, in particular the more plebeian _Peblis to the Play_ and _Christis Kirk on the Green_, have been ascribed to James, but his authorship is extremely doubtful.

The two following stanzas are fair examples of James’s poetry. The man who wrote them was no mean poet.

Of her array the form if I shall write, Towards her golden hair and rich attire, In fretwise couchit[45] with pearlis white, And great balas[46] leaming[47] as the fire, With mony ane emeraut and fair sapphire; And on her head a chaplet fresh of hue, Of Plumis parted red, and white, and blue.

Full of quaking spangis bright as gold, Forged of shape like to the amorets, So new, so fresh, so pleasant to behold, The plumis eke like to the flower jonets,[48] And other of shape, like to the flower jonets; And above all this, there was, well I wot, Beauty enough to make a world to dote. _The Kingis Quhair_

(_b_) =Sir David Lyndsay (1490–1555)= was born in Fifeshire about the year 1490. He entered the royal service, and rose to fill the important position of Lyon King-of-Arms.

His longer works, which were written during his service at Court, include _The Dreme_, in rhyme royal stanzas, with the usual allegorical setting; _The Testament of Squyer Meldrum_, in octosyllabic couplets, a romantic biography with a strongly Chaucerian flavor; _The Testament and Compleynt of the Papyngo_, which has some gleams of his characteristic humor; and _Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estatis_, a morality-play, coarse and vulgar, but containing much of his best work. It is full of telling satire directed against the Church, and it shows acute observation of the frailties of his fellows. Lyndsay represents the ruder type of the Scottish Chaucerian. He has a coarseness beyond the standard even of his day; but he cannot be denied a bluff good-humor, a sound honesty of opinion, and an abundant and vital energy.

(_c_) =Robert Henryson (1425–1500)= has left us few details regarding his life. In one of his books he is described as a “scholemaister of Dunfermeling”; he may have studied at Glasgow University; and he was dead when Dunbar (see below) wrote his _Lament for the Makaris_ in 1506. Hence the dates given for his birth and death are only approximations.

The order of his poems has not been determined. His longest is a version of the _Morall Fabillis of Esope_, composed in rhyme royal stanzas and showing much dexterity and vivacity; _The Testament of Cresseid_ is a continuation of Chaucer’s _Troilus and Cressida_, and it has a finely tragic conclusion; _Orpheus and Eurydice_, an adaptation from Boëthius, has, along with much commonplace moralizing, some passages of real pathos; and among his thirteen shorter poems _Robene and Makyne_, a little pastoral incident, is executed with a lightness, a brevity, and a precision that make it quite a gem among its fellows. His _Garment of Gude Ladies_, though often quoted, is pedantically allegorical, and of no high quality as poetry.

We quote two stanzas from _The Testament of Cresseid_. The diction is an artificial blend of that of Chaucer and of colloquial Scots, and it is heavily loaded with descriptive epithet; but it is picturesque and dramatic, in some respects suggesting the later work of Spenser.

His face frosnit,[49] his lyre was lyke the leid, His teith chatterit, and cheverit[50] with the chin, His ene[51] drowpit, how,[52] sonkin in his heid, Out of his nois the meldrop[53] fast did rin, With lippis bla,[54] and cheikis liene and thin, The iceschoklis that fra his hair doun hang, Was wonder greit, and as ane speir als lang.

Atouir[55] his belt his lyart[56] lokkis lay Felterit[57] unfair, ovirfret with froistis hoir, His garmound and his gyis[58] full gay of gray, His widderit weid[59] fra him the wind out woir; Ane busteous bow within his hand he boir, Under his girdill ane flasche[60] of felloun flanis,[61] Fedderit[62] with ice, and heidit with hailstanis. _The Testament of Cresseid_

(_d_) =William Dunbar (1460–1520)= is generally considered to be the chief of the Scottish Chaucerian poets. He was born in East Lothian, studied at St. Andrews University (1477), and went to France and became a wandering friar. Returning to Scotland, he became attached to the household of James IV, and in course of time was appointed official Rhymer. He died about 1520.

Dunbar wrote freely, often on subjects of passing interest; and though his work runs mainly on Chaucerian lines it has an energy and pictorial quality that are quite individual. Of the more than ninety poems associated with his name the most important are _The Golden Targe_, of the common allegorical-rhetorical type; _The Thrissill and the Rois_, celebrating the marriage of James IV and the English Margaret (1503); _The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie Sins_, with its strong _macabre_ effects and its masterly grip of meter; _The Twa Meryit Wemen and the Wedo_, a revival of the ancient alliterative measure, and outrageously frank in expression; and _The Lament for the Makaris_, in short stanzas with the refrain _Timor Mortis conturbat me_, quite striking in its effect.

The following short extract reveals Dunbar’s strong pictorial quality and his command of meter.

Let see quoth he now wha begins:-- With that the foul Sevin Deidlie Sins Beyond to leap at anis[63]; And first of all in dance was Pride With hair wyld[64] back and bonnet o’ side, Like to make vaistie wanis.[65] And round about him as a wheel Hung all in rumples to the heel His kethat[66] for the nanis.[67] Mony proud trumpour[68] with him trippit; Through scalding fire aye as they skippit They girned[69] with hideous granis.[70] Then Ire came in with sturt[71] and strife His hand was aye upon his knife, He brandeist like a beir.[72] _The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie Sins_

(_e_) =Gawain Douglas (1474–1522)= was a member of the famous Douglas family, his father being the fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald “Bell the Cat.” He studied at St. Andrews University (1489) and probably at Paris, became a priest, and rose to be Bishop of Dunkeld. He took a great share in the high politics of those dangerous times, and in the end lost his bishopric, was expelled to England, and died in London.

His four works belong to the period 1501–13: _The Palice of Honour_, of elaborate and careful workmanship, and typical of the fifteenth-century manner; _King Hart_, a laboriously allegorical treatment of life, the Hart being the heart of life, which is attended by the five senses and other personifications of abstractions; _Conscience_, a short poem, a mere quibble on the word “conscience,” of no great poetical merit; and the _Æneid_, his most considerable effort, a careful translation of Virgil, with some incongruous touches, but done with competence and some poetical ability. It is the earliest of its kind, and so is worthy of some consideration. Douglas is the most scholarly and painstaking of his group; but he lacks the native vigor of his fellows. His style is often overloaded and listless, and in the selection of theme he shows little originality.

=2. John Skelton (1460–1529)= comes late in this period, but he is perhaps the most considerable of the poets. His place of birth is disputed; he may have studied at Oxford, and he probably graduated at Cambridge. He took orders (1498), entered the household of the Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VII, and became a tutor to Prince Henry. In 1500 he obtained the living of Diss in Norfolk, but his sharp tongue ruined him as a rector. He fell foul of Wolsey, and is said to have escaped imprisonment by seeking sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, where he died in 1529.

In his _Garlande of Laurell Skelton_ gives a list of his own works, most of which have perished. This poem itself is a dreary effort, stilted in style and diffuse in treatment. It is in satire that Skelton appears at his best. His satirical poems, in spite of their shuffling and scrambling meters, are usually sharp, often witty, and nearly always alive. _Why come ye not to Court?_ is addressed to Wolsey, and for jeering impertinence it is hard to find its equal, at that time at least; _The Tunnynge of Elynore Runnynge_ is realism indeed, for it faithfully portrays the drunken orgies of a pack of women in an ale-house. His more serious poems include a _Dirge on Edward IV_, _The Bowge of Court_, and a quite excellent morality-play, _Magnificence_.

We quote an example of Skelton’s peculiar meter, which came to be called “Skeltonics.” It is a species of jingling octosyllabic couplet, but crumbling and unstable, often descending to doggerel. It is, however, lively, witty in a shallow fashion, and attractive. His own description of it is quite just:

For though my rhyme be ragged, Tattered and jagged, Rudely rayne beaten, Rusty and moughte eaten, It hath in it some pyth.

The following extract shows his powers of invective:

But this mad Amelek Like to a Mamelek, He regardeth lords Not more than potshords; He is in such elation Of his exaltation, And the supportation Of our sovereign lord, That, God to record, He ruleth all at will. Without reason or skill; Howbeit the primordial Of his wretched original, And his base progeny, And his greasy genealogy, He came of the sank[73] royal That was cast out of a butcher’s stall. _Why come ye not to Court?_

=3. John Lydgate (1370–1451)= had a great reputation in his day, but little of it has survived. He was born at Lydgate, near Newmarket, and became a monk at Bury St. Edmunds, where he rose to be priest in 1397. He studied and wrote much, gaining a wide reputation both as a scholar and a poet. The dates of his birth and death are only approximately fixed.

Lydgate was a friend of Chaucer, upon whom he models much of his poetry. But as a poet he is no Chaucer. He has none of the latter’s metrical skill and lively imagination, and the enormous mass of his poems only enhances their futility. _The Falls of Princes_, full of platitudes and wordy digressions, is no less than 7,000 verses long; _The Temple of Glass_, of the common allegorical type, is mercifully shorter; and so is _The Story of Thebes_, a feeble continuation of Chaucer’s _Knight’s Tale_. On rare occasions, as in _London Lickpenny_, he is livelier; but he has no ear for meter, and the common vices of his time--prolixity, lack of humor, and pedantic allegory--lie heavy upon him.

=4. Thomas Occleve=, or =Hoccleve (1368–1450)=, may have been born in Bedfordshire; but we know next to nothing about him, and that he tells us himself. He was a clerk in the Privy Seal Office, from which in 1424 he retired on a pension to Hampshire.

His principal works are _The Regement of Princes_, written for the edification of Henry VIII, and consisting of a string of tedious sermons; _La Male Règle_, partly autobiographical, in a sniveling fashion; _The Complaint of Our Lady_; and _Occleve’s Complaint_.

The style of Occleve’s poetry shows the rapid degeneration that set in immediately after the death of Chaucer. His meter, usually rhyme royal or couplets, is loose and sprawling, the style is uninspired, and the interest of the reader soon ebbs very low. He himself, in his characteristic whining way, admits it with much truth:

Fader Chaucer fayne wold han me taught, But I was dul, and learned lite or nought.

=5. Stephen Hawes (1474–1530)= was a Court poet during the first twenty years of the sixteenth century. Very little is known of him, even the dates of his birth and death being largely matters of surmise.

His chief works include _The Passetyme of Pleasure_, a kind of romantic-homiletic poem, composed both in rhyme royal stanzas and in couplets, and dealing with man’s life in this world in a fashion reminiscent of Bunyan’s, _The Example of Virtue_, _The Conversion of Swerers_, and _A Joyfull Medytacyon_. Of all the poets now under discussion Hawes is the most uninspired; his allegorical methods are of the crudest; but he is not entirely without his poetical moments. His _Passetyme of Pleasure_ probably influenced the allegory of Spenser.

=6. Alexander Barclay (1476–1552)= might have been either a Scotsman or an Englishman for all that is known on the subject. He was a priest in Devonshire, and later withdrew to a monastery in Ely. His important poem, _The Ship of Fools_, a translation of a German work by Sebastian Brant, represents a newer type of allegory. The figures in the poem are not the usual wooden creatures representing the common vices and virtues, but they are sharply satirical portraits of the various kinds of foolish men. Sometimes Barclay adds personal touches to make the general satire more telling. _Certayne Ecloges_, another of Barclay’s works, is the earliest English collection of pastorals. It contains, among much grumbling over the times, quite attractive pictures of the country life of the day.

PROSE-WRITERS

=1. Reginald Pecock (1395–1460)= may have been born in Wales, and perhaps in 1395. He was educated at Oxford, and took orders, when he became prominent through his attacks upon the Lollards. In his arguments he went so far that he was convicted of heresy (1457), forced to make a public recantation, and deprived of his bishopric of Chichester. He died in obscurity about 1460.

His two works were _The Repressor of Over-much Blaming the Clergy_ (1449) and _The Book of Faith_. In his dogma he strongly supported the ancient usages of the Church; and in the style of his argument he is downright and opinionative. His prose, often rugged and obscure, is marked by his preference for English words in place of those of Latin origin. His books are among the earliest of English controversial works, and thus they mark a victory over the once all-important Latin.

=2. William Caxton (1422–91)=, the first English printer, was born in Kent about the year 1422. He was apprenticed to a London mercer, and in his capacity of mercer went to Bruges to assist in the revival of English trade with the Continent. In Bruges, where he lived for thirty-three years, he started his translations from the French, and in that city he may have learned the infant art of printing. In 1476 he established himself in London as a printer. There he began to issue a series of books that laid the foundation of English printing. The first book printed in England was _The Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosophers_ (1477). The main part of the volume was the work of Lord Rivers, but Caxton, as was his habit, revised it for the press.

In addition to printing many older texts, such as Chaucer and Malory, Caxton did some original work of great value. He translated and printed no fewer than twenty-one books, French texts, the most remarkable of which were the two earliest, _The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_ (1469) and _The Game and Playe of Chesse_ (1474). Like King Alfred, he added to many of his books introductory remarks, some of great personal or general interest.

We give a brief extract from his preface to _The Recuyell_. Observe the rather clumsy sentences and the plain language.

When I remember that every man is bounden by the commandment and counsel of the wise man to eschew sloth and idleness, which is mother and nourisher of vices, and ought to put myself unto virtuous occupation and business, then I, having no great charge of occupation, following the said counsel, took a French book and read therein many strange and marvellous histories wherein I had great pleasure and delight, as well for the novelty of the same as for the fair language of French, which was in prose so well and compendiously set and written, which methought I understood the sentence and substance of every matter. And forsomuch as this book was new and late made and drawn into French, and never had seen it in our English tongue, I thought in myself it should be a good business to translate it into our English, to the end that it might be had as well in the realm of England as in other lands, and also for to pass therewith the time, and thus concluded in myself to begin this said work. And forthwith took pen and ink and began boldly to run forth as blind Bayard, in this present work which is named the _Recuyell_ of the Trojan histories.

=3. John Fisher (1459–1535)= was born in Yorkshire about 1459, was educated at Cambridge, and entered the Church. In due course he became Bishop of Rochester. During the time of the Reformation he opposed Henry VIII’s desire to be acknowledged as the head of the English Church, and was imprisoned in the Tower (1531). While there he was made a cardinal by the Pope; and he was beheaded by the orders of Henry.

Fisher wrote much in Latin, and in English he is represented by a small collection of tracts and sermons and a longer treatise on the Psalms. Though they are of no great quantity, his prose works are in their nature of much importance. They are the first of the rhetorical-religious books that for several centuries were to be an outstanding feature of English prose. In addition, they show a decided advance in the direction of style. They are written in the style of the orator and are the result of the conscious effort of the stylist: the searching after the appropriate word (often apparent by the use of two or three words of like meaning), the frequent use of rhetorical figures of speech, and a rapid and flowing rhythm. In brief, in the style of Fisher we can observe the beginnings of an ornate style. It is still in the making, but it is the direct ancestor of the prose style of Jeremy Taylor and other divines of the same class.

In the following passage observe the use of such doublets as “painful and laborious,” “rest and ease,” and “desire and love.” The rhythm is supple, there is a quick procession of phrases, and the vocabulary is copious and Latinized to a considerable extent.

What life is more painful and laborious of itself than is the life of hunters which, most early in the morning, break their sleep and rise when others do take their rest and ease, and in his labour he may use no plain highways and the soft grass, but he must tread upon the fallows, run over the hedges, and creep through the thick bushes, and cry all the long day upon his dogs, and so continue without meat or drink until the very night drive him home; these labours be unto him pleasant and joyous, for the desire and love that he hath to see the poor hare chased with dogs. Verily, verily, if he were compelled to take upon him such labours, and not for this cause, he would soon be weary of them, thinking them full tedious unto him; neither would he rise out of his bed so soon, nor fast so long, nor endure these other labours unless he had a very love therein. _The Ways to Perfect Religion_

=4. Hugh Latimer (1491–1555)= was born in Leicestershire, educated at Cambridge, and rose to be chaplain to Henry VIII and Bishop of Worcester. He resisted some of the reforms of Henry, was imprisoned in the Tower, and was released on the death of the King. At the accession of Mary he was once again thrown into jail, and was burned at Oxford.

Latimer’s English prose works consist of two volumes of sermons published in 1549. They are remarkable for their plain and dogmatic exposition, their graphical power, and their homely appeal. He is the first of the writers of plain style.

=5. Sir Thomas More (1478–1535)= was born in London, and was the son of a judge. He was educated in London, attached to the household of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and became a lawyer. A man of eager and aspiring mind, he fell under the influence of Erasmus, Colet, and other humanists of the period. For a time he sat in Parliament and saw State service. His advanced political views led to his imprisonment (1534), and he was beheaded in the following year.

Owing to their elegance and wit, his Latin works are of unusual importance. They include his _Utopia_, the description of his imaginary ideal state. This book was not translated into English until 1551, and so does not count as an English work of More’s. His English prose works include _The Lyfe of John Picus_, _The Historie of Richard III_, and a number of tracts and letters. He writes ably and clearly, but with no great distinction of manner. He is the first writer of the middle style.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS

=1. Poetry.= In this period we have to chronicle the appearance of the _eclogue_ or _pastoral_ in the work of Barclay (_Ecloges_) and in some shorter poems like Henryson’s _Robene and Makyne_. The pastoral, which in classical times had been practiced by Virgil and Theocritus, became a common form of poetical exercise in Italy, France, and Spain before, in the sixteenth century, it appeared in England. It was marked by a set of conventional shepherds and shepherdesses, possessing such names as Colin, Phyllis, and Phœbe; by stock scenes introducing sheep, meadows, and flowers; and it was often made the medium for philosophical and political theories. As yet the golden age of the pastoral had not made its appearance in England, but the beginning of the vogue was apparent.

A glance at the poems mentioned in this chapter will reveal the importance of the _allegory_. In this period it grew and hardened into a mechanical and soulless device, for the poets lacked sufficient poetical fire to give it life. The allegory, as we can see in Dunbar’s _Golden Targe_ and Lydgate’s _Temple of Glass_, usually opened with a garden and a dream, conventionalized to an absurd degree, and it continued with the introduction of the Goddess of Love, the Virtues and Vices, and similar stock personations. The allegory, however, in spite of its enormous elaboration, was not at the end of its popularity, and, as we shall see in the next chapter, it was to add another great poet to its list of devotees.

The development of the _ballad_ and _carol_ continued, with highly satisfactory results. These poems began to acquire polish and expertness, for the early rudeness was becoming a thing of the past. To this period probably belong the lovely carol to the Virgin Mary beginning “I sing of a maiden,” and the ballads connected with Robin Hood, Fair Rosamund, and many others.

=2. Prose.= There were no outstanding achievements in prose, but facts all helped to reveal the waning influence of Latin and the increasing importance given to English. English prose appeared in theological works, as in those of Fisher; and =Cranmer (1489–1556)= gave it a new field in his notable English Prayer Book. Historical prose was represented by _The Chronicle of England_ of =Capgrave (1393–1464)=, who wrote in a businesslike fashion; a species of philosophical prose appeared in _The Governance of England_ of =Fortescue (1394–1476)=, and in _The Boke named the Governour_ of =Eylot (1490–1546)=, a kind of educational work; _The Castle of Health_, also by the last author, was a medical work. The great race of Elizabethan translators is well begun by =Lord Berners (1467–1533)=, who translated Froissart with freedom and no mean skill; and, lastly, the English Bible was taking shape.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE

The work on the English Bible began as early as the eighth century, when Bede translated a portion of the Gospel of St. John into Old English prose. The work was ardently continued during the Old English period--for example, in the Lindisfarne Gospels (about 700) and the prose of Ælfric (about 1000). During the Anglo-Norman period, owing to the influence of French and Latin, English translation did not flourish; but efforts were made, especially in the Psalms and the Pauline epistles. Translation was systematically undertaken by =Wyclif (1320–84)=, under whose direction two complete versions were carried through about 1384 and 1388. How much actual translation Wyclif accomplished will never be known, but his was the leading spirit, and to him falls the glory of being the leader in the great work. To the second of the Wycliffian versions is sometimes given the name of =John Purvey=, the Lollard leader who succeeded Wyclif. The two versions are simple and unpretentious renderings, the second being much more finished than the first.

After Wyclif translation flagged till the Reformation bent men’s minds anew to the task. The greatest of all the translators was =William Tyndale (1485–1536)=, who did much to give the Bible its modern shape. Tyndale suffered a good deal of persecution owing to his hardihood, and was driven abroad, where much of his translation was accomplished, and where it was first printed. It was at Cologne that the first English Bible appeared in print. A feature of Tyndale’s translation was its direct reliance upon the Hebrew and Greek originals, and not upon the Latin renderings of them. Of these Latin texts the stock version was the Vulgate, upon which Wyclif to a large extent relied.

=Miles Coverdale (1488–1568)= carried on the work of Tyndale. Though he lacked the latter’s scholarship, he had an exquisite taste for phrase and rhythm, and many of the most beautiful Biblical expressions are of his workmanship.

Translations now came apace. None of them, however, was much improvement upon Tyndale’s. In 1537 appeared the finely printed version of “Thomas Matthew,” who was said to be =John Rogers=, a friend of Coverdale. The _Great Bible_, the first of the authorized versions, was executed by a commission of translators, working under the command of Henry VIII. It was based on Matthew’s Bible. Another notable translation was the Calvinistic _Geneva Bible_ (1560). This book received the popular name of “_Breeches Bible_,” owing to its rendering of Genesis iii, 7: “They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves breeches.” In the reign of Elizabeth was issued the _Bishops’ Bible_ (1568), a magnificent folio, which was translated by a committee of bishops and learned men. It was intended to be a counterblast to the growing popularity of the Breeches Bible.

With these we are close upon the great _Authorized Version_ (1611), which we shall mention in the next chapter, where also we shall briefly discuss the influence and the literary qualities of this translation. A few representative passages from the early translations will be found in the exercises attached to this chapter.

=3. The Drama.= As we have arrived on the threshold of the great Elizabethan drama, it is here convenient to sketch the growth of the dramatic form of literature.

(_a_) THE ORIGINS. (1) _Classical._ By the fourth or fifth century the Latin drama had become degraded almost past recognition. It left the merest traces in the _mimes_, who were professional strolling players common to all Europe during the Dark Ages. Their performances seem to have been poor and ribald enough, and they left little trace upon English drama.

(2) _Popular Elements._ At the great festivities, such as those at Easter and Yule, there were popular shows that included a large amount of acting and speaking. These plays, rude and childish probably, were survivals of ancient pagan beliefs and contained many scraps of folk-lore. There were nature-myths, such as that representing the expulsion of winter, in which a figure representing summer was slain and then revived. In England these _mummings_, as they were called, developed into elaborate sword-play, into morris-dancing (partly of foreign origin), and into dramatic versions of the feats of Robin Hood and St. George. These plays, which were commonly acted at the feast of Corpus Christi, were the occasion of fun and license, particularly at the election of the “Abbot of Unreason,” with his attendants, the hobby-horse and the clown.

(3) _Ecclesiastical Elements._ In early times the Church was the chief supporter of the popular drama. The Church service, including the Mass itself, contains dramatic elements. In the course of time, in order to make the Church services more intelligible and attractive, there grew up a habit of exhibiting “living pictures” illustrating Gospel stories, especially those connected with Easter. As early as the fifth century we have mention of such primitive dramatic entertainments, which were accompanied by the singing of hymns. Such was the origin of the _mystery_.

(_b_) THE MYSTERY-PLAY. The mystery was the dramatic representation of some important Biblical theme, such as the Nativity or the Resurrection. There were stock characters, set speeches (usually in doggerel verse), and a rudimentary plot supplied by the Biblical narrative. The mystery was in existence as early as the tenth century. Priests took part in the plays, though it is not certain that they wrote them; and the performances took place in the vicinity of some church. This feature proved so attractive that the mystery developed quite elaborate forms. The mystery-play proper centered around the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, but other themes that grew into favor were those of the Fall, Noah, Daniel, and Lazarus.

We add a brief passage from an ancient Cornish mystery. The reader should observe the set speeches of uniform length, the simple style, and the rhymeless stanzas.

_Mary Magdalene._ Oh! let us hasten at once, For the stone is raised From the tomb. Lord, how will it be this night, If I know not where goes The head of royalty?

_Mary, Mother of James._ And too long we have stayed, My Lord has gone his way Out of the tomb, surely. Alas! my heart is sick; I know not indeed if I shall see him, Who is very God.

_Mary Salome._ I know truly, and I believe it, That he is risen up In this day. How long will it be to us now, That we find not our Lord? Alas! woe! woe!

[_They sing._

_The Dirge_

Alas! mourning I sing, mourning I call, Our Lord is dead that bought us all. _The Three Maries_

(_c_) THE MIRACLE-PLAY. From the well-developed mystery-play it was but a step to the _miracle-play_. In such plays the theme passed from the Scriptural story to that of the lives of the saints. The plots were much more varied, the characters nearer to human experience, and the style rather more urbane.

(_d_) THE MORALITY-PLAY registered a further advance. In such plays virtues and vices were presented on the stage as allegorical creations, often of much liveliness. Abstractions such as Justice, Mercy, Gluttony, and Vice were among the commonest characters. An important feature of this class of play is the development of characterization. It is almost crude; but it is often strongly marked and strongly contrasted, with broad farcical elements. The favorite comic character was Vice, whose chief duty was to tease the Devil.

_Everyman_ (about 1490), perhaps the best of the morality-plays, is represented by the brief extract here given. The characters are simply but effectively drawn, and the play does not lack a noble pathos.

_Everyman._ O all thing faileth, save God alone; Beauty, Strength, and Discretion; For when Death bloweth his blast, They all run from me full fast.

_Five-Wits._ Everyman, my leave now of thee I take; I will follow the other, for here I thee forsake.

_Everyman._ Alas! then may I wail and weep, For I took you for my best friend.

_Five-Wits._ I will no longer thee keep; Now farewell, and there an end.

_Everyman._ O Jesu, help, all hath forsaken me!

_Good-Deeds._ Nay, Everyman, I will bide with thee, I will not forsake thee indeed; Thou shalt find me a good friend at need.

_Everyman._ Gramercy, Good-Deeds; now may I true friends see; They have forsaken me every one; I loved them better than my Good-Deeds alone. Knowledge, will ye forsake me also?

_Knowledge._ Yea, Everyman, when ye to death do go: But not for no manner of danger.

_Everyman._ Gramercy, Knowledge, with all my heart.

(_e_) THE PLAY-CYCLES. As the plays developed, so did the demands upon the stagecraft of the performers. At first the priests were equal to it. Quite elaborate erections were used. In the very early productions a popular setting was an erection in three stories. The top represented heaven, with the heavenly inhabitants, the “middel erde” was in the center, and lowest of all were the flames of hell, tenanted by cheerfully disposed devils. In the course of time the acting passed from the priests into the hands of the craftsmen, the students, and the schoolboys. The merchants’ guilds, in particular, were the most consistent supporters of the drama.

A curious feature was the fashion in which the plays ran in cycles or groups, each of which became associated with some town. The earliest is the Chester play-cycle (1268–76), comprising twenty-four plays; others are the York, with forty-nine; the Townley, with thirty-two, acted at the fairs at Widkirk; and the Coventry, of which only one play survives. Each member of the play-series was connected in theme with the others, and the complete cycle illustrated Bible history in all its stages.

Each company of the guild, say the Barbers or the Wax-chandlers, took a unit of the series. Each unit was short, corresponding to an _act_ of the modern drama. They were composed in a great variety of meters, from doggerel to complicated lyrical stanzas.

Each company having selected and rehearsed its play, the entire apparatus was enclosed in a huge vehicle called the _pageant_. The body of the vehicle was enclosed, and served as the dressing-and property-room; the top was an open-air stage. On the day of the festival, which at York and Coventry was Corpus Christi, the whole contrivance was pulled about the town, and performances were given at certain fixed points, of which the abbey was the chief. In _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ Shakespeare has caricatured many features of these artisans’ dramatic performances.

(_f_) THE INTERLUDE. The last predecessor of the drama proper was the _interlude_, which flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century. It had several distinguishing points: it was a short play that introduced real characters, usually of humble rank, such as citizens and friars; there was an absence of allegorical figures; there was much broad farcical humor, often coarse; and there were set scenes, a new feature in the English drama. It will be observed that the interlude was a great advance upon the morality-play. =John Heywood=, who lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century, was the most gifted writer of the interlude. _The four P’s_ is one of his best. It is composed in doggerel verse, and describes a lying-match between a Pedlar, a Palmer, a Pardoner, and a Potycary. His _Johan Johan_ has much sharp wit and many clever sayings.

(_g_) THE EARLIEST DRAMAS. Our earliest dramas began to appear about 1550. Their immediate cause was the renewed study of the classical drama, especially the plays of Seneca (3 B.C.-A.D. 65), whose mannerisms were easily imitated by dramatic apprentices. The classical drama gave English drama its five acts, its set scenes, and many other features.

(1) _Tragedies._ The first tragedies had the Senecan stiffness of style, the conventional characters and plot, though in some cases they adopted the “dumb show,” an English feature. _Gorboduc_ (1562), afterward called _Ferrex and Porrex_, written by Norton and Lord Buckhurst, was probably the earliest, and was acted at the Christmas revels of the Inner Temple. The meter was a wooden type of regular blank verse. Other plays of a similar character were _Appius and Virginia_ (1563), of anonymous authorship; the _Historie of Horestes_ (1567), also anonymous; _Jocasta_ (1566); and Preston’s _Cambises, King of Percia_ (1570). Hughes’s _Misfortunes of King Arthur_ (1587) broke away from the classical theme, but, like the others, it was a servile imitation of classical models. Many of the plays, however, preserved a peculiarly English feature in the retention of the comic Vice.

(2) _Histories._ Along with the alien classical tragedy arose a healthier native breed of historical plays. These plays, the predecessors of the historical plays of Shakespeare, were dramatized forms of the early chronicles, and combined both tragic and comic elements. This union of tragedy and comedy was alien to the classical drama, and was the chief glory of the Elizabethan stage. Early historical plays were _The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth_ (before 1588), a mixture of rude verse and prose; _The Troublesome Raigne of King John_ (before 1591); and _The Chronicle History of King Leir_ (1594).

(3) _Comedies._ Though the comedies drew much upon Latin comedians, such as Plautus, and upon Italian models also, they were to a great extent the growth of the English mumming element. They were composed usually in mixed verse and prose, the humor was of a primitive character, but the best of them had verve and high good-humor, and they were distinguished by some worthy songs and ditties. _Ralph Roister Doister_ (1551), by =Nicholas Udall=, is the earliest extant comedy. Its author was the headmaster of Eton, and the play seems to have been composed as a variant upon the Latin dramas that were the stock-in-trade of the schoolboy actors then common. Another comedy was _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_ (1575), the authorship of which is in dispute. The plot is slight, but the humor, though the reverse of delicate, is abundant, and the play gives interesting glimpses of contemporary English life.

We add a small scene from an early comedy. It shows the doggerel verse and the uninspired style--the homely natural speech of the time.

CHRISTIAN CUSTANCE MARGERIE MUMBLECRUST

_C. Custance._ Who took thee this letter, Margerie Mumblecrust?

_M. Mumble._ A lusty gay bachelor took it me of trust, And if ye seek to him he will love your doing.

_C. Custance._ Yea, but where learned he that manner of wooing?

_M. Mumble._ If to sue to him, you will any pains take, He will have you to his wife (he saith) for my sake.

_C. Custance._ Some wise gentleman, belike. I am bespoken: And I thought verily this had been some token From my dear spouse Gawin Goodluck, whom when him please, God luckily send home to both our hearts’ ease.

_M. Mumble._ A joyly man it is, I wot well by report, And would have you to him for marriage resort; Best open the writing, and see what it does speak.

_C. Custance._ At this time, nurse, I will neither read ne break.

_M. Mumble._ He promised to give you a whole peck of gold.

_C. Custance._ Perchance, lack of a pint when it shall be all told.

_M. Mumble._ I would take a gay rich husband, and I were you.

_C. Custance._ In good sooth, Madge, e’en so would I, if I were thou. But no more of this fond talk now, let us go in, And see thou no more move me folly to begin. Nor bring me no more letters for no man’s pleasure, But thou know from whom.

_M. Mumble._ I warrant ye shall be sure. _Ralph Roister Doister_

_Summary._ We can thus see the material that lay to the hand of Shakespeare and his fellows. It was almost of uniform development and of ancient and diverse origin; it was frequently coarse and childish, but its material was abundant and vital. The time was at hand, and so was the genius of the master to give this vast body a shape and impulse. Almost in a day, after centuries of slow ripening, the harvest came, with a wealth and excellence of fruition that is one of the marvels of our literature.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE

=1. Poetry.= In English poetry there was a marked decadence in style. In the works of Lydgate, Skelton, and Hawes the meters often became mere doggerel; there was little trace of real poetical imagination and phrasing; and the actual vocabulary is not striking. Compared with that of Chaucer, their work seems childish and inept. Many reasons have been advanced to explain this rapid collapse. The most obvious one is the sheer lack of talent: there is nobody to carry on the Chaucerian tradition with any great credit. Another cause is probably the rapid decay of the use of the final _e_, which in the meter of Chaucer was an item of much moment. Pronunciation of English was rapidly changing, and the new race of poets had not the requisite skill to modify the old meter to suit the new age. In Scottish poetry there is much

## activity. To a large extent the Scottish poets were content to imitate

the mannerisms of Chaucer. In one respect, indeed, they carried his descriptive-allegorical method too far, and made their poems lifeless. Such were the less successful poems of Dunbar (_The Golden Targe_), and of Gawain Douglas (_The Palice of Honour_). On the other hand, peculiar Scottish features were not lacking: a breezy and sometimes vulgar humor, bred, perhaps, of the ruder folk and the bleaker air; a robust independence and common sense; a note of passion and pathos; and a sense of the picturesque both in nature and in man. We find such features illustrated, wholly or in part, in such poems as Lyndsay’s _Satyre of the Thrie Estatis_, in Dunbar’s _Lament for the Makaris_, and at the close of Henryson’s _Testament of Cresseid_.

=2. Prose.= The development of prose style was marked by a number of small improvements which in the aggregate represented no small advance. Unlike the poetry of the time, prose suffered from no retrogression. There was a perceptible increase in skill, due to increased practice; there was a growing perception of the beauties of rhythm and cadence; and, in the purely formal sense, there was the appearance of the prose paragraph. Above all, the chief prose styles--the ornate, the middle, and the plain--are appearing faintly but perceptibly. With their arrival the rapid development of English prose is assured.

EXERCISES

1. The following prose passages are early examples of ornate, middle, and simple styles. Analyze them carefully with respect to their sentence-construction, vocabulary, and rhythm, and show how each deserves its name.

(1) Forasmuch as this honourable audience now is here assembled to prosecute the funeral observances and ceremonies about this most noble prince late our king and sovereign, king Henry the seventh. And all be it I know well mine unworthiness and inabilities to this so great a matter, yet for my most bounden duty, and for his gracious favour and singular benefits exhibit unto me in this life, I would now after his death right affectuously some thing say, whereby your charities the rather might have his soul recommended. And to that purpose I will entreat the first psalm of the _dirige_, which psalm was written of the holy king and prophet king David, comforting him after his great falls and trespasses against Almighty God and read in the church in the funeral obsequies of every Christian person when that he dieth. FISHER, _Funeral Sermon on Henry VII_

(2) Maistres Alyce, in my most hartywise, I commend me to you. And whereas I am enfourmed by my son Heron of the losse of my barnes and our neighbours’ also with all the corn that was therein; albeit (saving God’s pleasure), it is gret pitie of so much good corne lost; yet sith it hath liked hym to sende us such a chaunce, we must and are bounden, not only to be content, but also to be glad of his visitacion. He sente us all that we have loste, and sith he hath by such a chaunce taken it away againe, his pleasure be fulfilled! Let us never grudge thereat, but take it in good worth and hartely thank him as well for adversitie as for prosperitie. MORE, _Letter to his Wife_

(3) Now-a-dayes the judges be afraid to heare a poore man against the rich, insomuch they will either pronounce against him, or so drive off the poore man’s sute, that he shall not be able to go thorow with it. The greatest man in a realme cannot so hurt a judge as the poore widdow; such a shrewd turne she can do him. And with what armour, I pray you? She can bring the judge’s skinne over his eares, and never lay hands upon him. And how is that? “The teares of the poore fall downe upon their cheekes, and go up to heaven,” and cry for vengeance before God, the judge of widdowes, the father of widdowes and orphanes. Poore people be oppressed even by lawes. Wo worth to them that make evill lawes against the poore! LATIMER, _Sermons_

2. Point out in what respects the style and sentiment of each of the following extracts represent its age and nationality. Write a critique on the passages taken together: point out their common features.

(1) Now there was made, fast by the tower’s wall A garden fair; and in the corners set An herbere[74] green, with wandis long and small Railed about, and so with treis set Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet That lyf[75] was none walking there forbye That might within scarce any wight espy.

And therewith cast I doun mine eye again Where as I saw walking under the tower Full secretly, now comen her to pleyne[76] The fairest or the freshest younge flower That e’er I saw methought before that hour For which sudden abate[77] anon astart The blood of all my body to my heart. JAMES I OF SCOTLAND, _The Kingis Quhair_

(2) Thus I, Colin Clout, As I go about, And wandering as I walk, I hear the people talk: Men say for silver and gold Mitres are bought and sold. There shall no clergy oppose A mitre nor a crose, But a full purse-- A straw for God’s curse! What are they the worse? For a simoniac Is but a hermoniac, And no more ye may make Of simony men say But a child’s play; Over this the foresaid lay Report how the pope may A holy anchorite call Out of a stony wall. SKELETON, _Colin Clout_

(3) He came all so still Where his mother was, As dew in April That falleth on the grass.

He came all so still To his mother’s bower, As dew in April That falleth on the flower.

He came all so still Where his mother lay, As dew in April That falleth on the spray.

Mother and maiden, Was never none like she! Well may such a lady, God’s mother to be! ANONYMOUS

(4) My father was sae waik of bluid and bane That he deit,[78] wherefore my mother made greate mane; Then she deit within ane day or two, And there began my poverty and wo. Our gude grey meir was baitand[79] on the field, And our land’s laird took her for his heryield.[80] The vicar took the best cow by the heid Incontinent, when my father was deid. And when the vicar heard tell how that my mother Was deid, fra hand, he took till him the other. LYNDSAY, _Satyre of the Thrie Estatis_

3. The following series of translations of Matthew iii, 1–4, illustrates the development of Biblical style. Write a short comment upon them, comparing them and pointing out the development.

(_a_) (1) In þo dayes come Ihone baptist prechand in desert of þe Iewry, & seyand, (2) Do [gh]e penaunce; forwhy þe kyngdome of heuyne sal come negh. (3) Þis is he of whome it was seide be Isay þe prophete, sayand, Þe voice of þe cryand in þe desert, redye [gh]e þe way of God, right make [gh]e þe lityl wayes of him.’ (4) & Ihone his kleþing of þe hoerys of camels, & a gyrdyl of a skyn about his lendys; & his mete was þe locust & hony of þe wode. ANONYMOUS, 1300

(_b_) (1) In thilke days came Ioon Baptist, prechynge in the desert of Iude, sayinge, (2) Do [gh]e penaunce, for the kyngdom of heuens shal nei[gh] (_or_ cume ni[gh]e). (3) Forsothe this is he of whome it is said by Ysaye the prophet, A voice of a cryinge in desert, Make [gh]e redy the wayes of the Lord; make [gh]e ri[gh]tful the pathes of hym. (4) Forsothe that ilk Ioon hadde cloth of the heeris of cameylis, and a girdil of skyn aboute his leendis; sothely his mete weren locustis, and hony of the wode. WYCLIF, _First Version_, 1384

(_c_) (1) In tho daies Ioon Baptist cam, and prechide in the desert of Iudee, and seide, (2) Do [gh]e penaunce, for the kyngdom of heuenes shal nei[gh]e. (3) For this is he, of whom it is seid bi Ysaie, the prophete, seyinge, A vois of a crier in desert, Make [gh]e redi the weies of the Lord; make [gh]e ri[gh]t the pathis of hym. (4) And this Ioon hadde clothing of camels heeris, and a girdil of skynne aboute his leendis; and his mete was honysoukis and hony of the wode. WYCLIF, _Second Version_, 1388

(_d_) In those dayes Ihon the baptyser cam and preached in the wyldernes of Iury, saynge, Repent, the kyngedom of heven ys at hond. Thys ys he of whom it ys spoken be the prophet Isay, whych sayth; the voice of a cryer in wyldernes, prepaire ye the lordes waye, and make hys pathes strayght. Thys Ihon had hys garment of camelles heere, and a gyrdyll of a skynne about hys loynes. Hys meate was locustes and wyldhe ony. TYNDALE, 1526

(_e_) In those dayes Ihon the Baptyst came and preached in the wildernes of Jury, saynge: Amende youre selues, the kyngdome of heuen is at honde. This is he, of whom it is spoken by the prophet Esay, which sayeth: The voyce of a cryer in the wyldernes, prepare the Lordes waye, and make his pathes straight. This Ihon had his garment of camels heer, and a lethren gerdell aboute his loynes. Hys meate was locustes and wylde hony. COVERDALE, 1536

(_f_) In those dayes came Iohn the Baptyst, preaching in the wyldernes of Iewry, saying, Repent of the life that is past, for the kyngdome of heauen is at hande, For thys is he, of whom the prophet Esay, spake, which sayeth, the voyce of a cryer in the wyldernes, prepare ye the waye of the lorde: make hys pathes strayght. This Iohn had hys garment of camels heer and a gyrdell of a skynne aboute hys loynes. His meate was locustes and wylde hony. _The Great Bible_, 1539

4. In the following series of extracts from the early plays comment upon the general standard of style, and point out any development that is apparent. Pay particular attention to the meter.

(1) (_From the Chester play-cycle, dating probably from the fourteenth century._)

_Ham’s Wife._ And I will go to gather slich[81] The ship for to clean and pitch; Anointed it must be, every stitch, Board, tree, and pin.

_Japhet’s Wife._ And I will gather chips here, To make a fire for you, in fear, And for to dight[82] your dinner, Against you come in.

[_Here they make signs as though they were working with divers instruments._

_Noah._ Now in the name of God I will begin, To make the ship that we shall in, That we be ready for to swim, At the coming of the flood, These boards I join together, To keep us safe from the weather, That we may roam both hither and thither, And safe be from this flood.... _God._ Noah, take thou thy company, And in the ship hie that you be, For none so righteous man to me Is now on earth living. _The Deluge_

(2) (_From a sixteenth-century interlude._)

_Bale_ [_speaking as Epilogue_]. The matters are such as we have uttered here, As ought not to slide from your memorial; For they have opened such comfortable gear, As is to the health of this kind universal, Graces of the Lord and promises liberal, Which he gives to man for every age, To knit him to Christ, and so clear him of bondage. BALE, _God’s Promises_

(3) (_A historical play._)

For non other cawse God hath kyngs constytute And gevyn them the sword, but forto correct all vyce. I have attempted this thing to execute Uppon transgressers accordyng unto justyce; And be cawse I wyll not be parcyall in myn offyce For theft and murder to persones spirytuall, I have ageynst me the pristes and the bysshoppes all A lyke dysplesure in my fathers tyme ded fall, Forty yeres ago, for ponyshment of a clarke. No cun[`s]ell myght them to reformacyon call, In ther openyon they were so stordy and so starke, But ageynst ther prynce to the pope they dyd so barke, That here in Ynglond in every cyte and towne Excommunycacyons as thonder bolts came downe. BALE, _Kynge Johan_

(4) (_From the earliest comedy._)

_R. Roister._ Now, nurse, take this same letter here to thy mistress, And as my trust is in thee, ply my business.

_M. Mumble._ It shall be done.

_Mathew Merygreeke._ Who made it?

_R. Roister._ I wrote it each whit.

_M. Mery._ Then needs it no mending.

_R. Roister._ No, no.

_M. Mery._ No, I know your wit, I warrant it well.

_M. Mumble._ It shall be delivered. But if ye speed, shall I be considered?

_M. Mery._ Whough! Dost thou doubt of that?

_M. Mumble._ What shall I have?

_M. Mery._ An hundred times more than thou canst devise to crave.

_M. Mumble._ Shall I have some new gear? for my old is all spent.

_M. Mery._ The worst kitchen-wench shall go in ladies’ raiment....

[_Here they sing, and go out singing._ UDALL, _Ralph Roister Doister_

5. Trace the influence of the Church upon the early English drama, and account for the decay of the Church influence.

6. Point out some of the effects of the Reformation that are apparent in the literature of the day.

7. In what respects is the period 1450–1550 a period of literary decadence, and in what respects does it show an advance?

8. Account for the sudden appearance of Scottish literature, and for its rapid rise to such a high standard.

9. In what respects was the Scottish literature of the time imitative, and in what respects was it original?

10. “As the Romance decays, the Drama develops.” Is this quite true? If so, can you account for the fact?

11. “The most original and powerful poetry of the fifteenth century was composed in popular form for the ear of the common people.” Discuss this statement with reference to the ballads, the carols, the songs, and the dramas of the time, as they compare with the other poetry of the day.

12. “It is doubtful if anyone in the fifteenth century thought of prose as a medium of artistic expression.” Comment upon this statement.

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