Part 11 (1/2)

The hobby-horse was originally a necessary accompaniment of the morris dance, but the Puritans had banished it before the time of the hero Kempe,-why, or wherefore, it is difficult to imagine, as his presence, with a ladle attached to his mouth to collect the douceurs of the spectators, must have been as harmless, one would fancy, as that of the _fool_ who succeeded him in the office.

In Edward the Fourth's reign, we find mention made of _hoblers_, or persons who were obliged by tenure to send a light swift horse to carry tidings of invasion from the sea-side-light hors.e.m.e.n from this came to be called hoblers-and doubtless from this origin sprang the term hobby-horse-hence the allusion to men riding their hobby.

Kempe's dance is alluded to by Ben Jonson, in his ”Every Man out of his Humour.” In his own narrative he alludes to some other similar exploit he had it in his mind to perform; but as no record exists of its accomplishment, we are left to infer that the entrance made of the death of one Will Kempe, at the time of the plague, November 1603, in the parish books of one of the metropolitan churches, refers to the merry comedian, and that his career was suddenly terminated by that unsightly foe.

In 1609, a tract with an account of a morris dance performed by twelve individuals who had attained the age of a hundred, was published, ”to which,” it was added, ”Kempe's morris dance was no more than a galliord on a common stage at the end of an old dead comedy, is to a caranto danced on the ropes.”

Not long subsequent to these events, theatres became settled down into stationary objects of attraction and amus.e.m.e.nt; and in most large cities, companies were formed to conduct the business of the performances. Among the epitaphs in the princ.i.p.al churchyard of the city, St. Peter's Mancroft, are several to the memory of different individuals who had belonged to the company. Among them, one

IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM WEST, COMEDIAN, LATE MEMBER OF THE NORWICH COMPANY.

OBIIT 17 JUNE, 1733. AGED 32.

To me 'twas given to die, to thee 'tis given To live; alas! one moment sets us even- Mark how impartial is the will of Heaven.

Another:-

IN MEMORY OF ANNE ROBERTS.

1743. AGED 30.

The world's a stage-at birth one play's begun, And all find exits when their parts are done.

HENRIETTA BRAY.

1737. AGED 60.

A COMEDIAN.

Here, reader, you may plainly see That Wit nor Humour e'er could be A proof against Mortality.

The subject of Pageantry may not be fitly closed without notice of the costly displays of magnificence that characterize the various processions and ceremonies that have become cla.s.sed under the same t.i.tle, although distinct altogether from the original dramatic representations to which the name belonged. Some of these, in honour of saints and martyrs, long since dead even to the memory of enlightened Protestantism, partake more of the character of religious festivals than any thing else; and among them the annual commemoration of St. Nicholas day, by the election of the Boy Bishop, peculiarly deserves to be cla.s.sed. In olden times, on the 6th of December, it was an invariable custom for the boys of every cathedral choir to make choice of one of their number to maintain the state and authority of a bishop, from that time until the 28th, or Innocent's day, during which period he was habited in rich episcopal robes, wore a mitre on his head, and carried a crosier in his hand; his companions a.s.sumed the dress and character of priests, yielding to their head all canonical obedience, and between them performing all the services of the church excepting ma.s.s. On the eve of Innocent's day, the Boy Bishop, and his youthful clergy in their caps, and with lighted tapers in their hand, went in solemn procession, chaunting and singing versicles, as they walked into the choir by the west door; the dean and canons of the Cathedral went first, the chaplains followed, and the Boy Bishop with his priests in the last and highest place. The Boy Bishop then took his seat, and the rest of the juveniles dispersed themselves on each side the choir on the uppermost ascent. The resident canons bearing the incense and book, the minor canons the tapers, he afterwards proceeded to the altar of the Trinity, which he censed, and then the image of the Trinity, his priests all the while singing. They all then joined in chaunting a service with prayers and responses, and in conclusion the Boy Bishop gave his benediction to the people. After he received the crosier, other ceremonies were performed, and he chaunted the complyn, and turning towards the choir delivered an exhortation. If any prebends fell vacant during his episcopal power, he had the power of disposing of them; and if he died during the month he was buried in his robes, his funeral was celebrated with great pomp, and a monument was erected to his memory with his effigy.

The discovery of a monument of this character, some hundred and seventy years since, in Salisbury Cathedral, caused much amazement to the many then unread in antiquarian lore, who marvelled much at the anomalous affair, wondering however a bishop could have been so small, or a child so rich in ecclesiastical garments.

From this custom originated the but lately discontinued honours, annually awarded to the head boy in most grammar schools, who had a place in grand civic processions, and for a season at least was magnified into a great personage.

The origin of this festival, on St Nicholas day, is involved like most others in much obscurity, and buried in heaps of legendary mysticism.

The tale upon which it is said to have been founded is, that in the fourth century St. Nicholas was bishop of Myra, when two young gentlemen arrived at that city on their road to Athens, whither they were going to complete their education. By their father's desire they were to seek the benediction of the bishop on their way, but as it was late at night when they reached Myra, they deferred doing so till the next morning; but in the meantime the host of the inn at which they were lodging, stimulated by avarice to possess himself of their property, killed the young gentlemen, cut them in pieces, salted them, and purposed to sell them for pickled pork.

St. Nicholas, the bishop, being favoured with a sight of these proceedings in a vision, (or, as we should now-a-days express it, by _clairvoyance_) went to the inn, reproached the cruel landlord for his crime, who, confessing it, entreated the saint to pray to heaven for his pardon. The bishop, moved by his entreaties, besought pardon for him, and restoration of life to the children. He had scarcely finished, when the pickled pieces re-united, and the animated youths threw themselves from the brine-tub at the bishop's feet; he raised them up, exhorted them to ascribe the praise to G.o.d alone, and sent them forward on their journey, with much good counsel.

Such is the miracle handed down as the cause of the adoption of Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of children. The Eton Montem is considered to be a corruption of the ceremony of electing a boy-bishop, probably changed at the time of the suppression of the religious festivals at the Reformation.

One other pageant, more especially connected with the history of a manufacturing city, is the procession of Bishop Blaize, or St. Blazius, the great patron saint of wool-combers; in which usually figured Jason, the hero of the ”golden fleece,” and forty Argonauts on horseback, the emblems of the expedition, preceded by Hercules, Peace, Plenty, and Britannia. These were followed by the bishop, dressed in episcopal costume, crowned with a mitre of wool, drawn in an open chariot by six horses, and attended by vergers, bands of music, the city standard, a chaplain, and orators delivering, at intervals, grandiloquent speeches.

Seven companies of wool-combers on foot, and five on horseback, brought up the rear; shepherds, shepherdesses, tastefully attired in fancy costumes, added to the brilliancy of the display. Bishop Blazius, the princ.i.p.al personage in the festivity, was Bishop of Sebesta, in Armenia, and the reputed inventor of the art of combing wool. The Romish church canonized the saint, and attributed to his miraculous interposition many wondrous miracles. Divers charms, also, for extracting thorns from the body, or a bone from the throat, were prescribed to be uttered in his name.

Among the festivals that lay claim to antiquity, of which some faint traces, at least, are left in the observances of the nineteenth century, are some few that belong as much to the history of the present as the past, and must not be omitted in sketches of the characteristic features of an old city. The Fair-the great annual gatherings of wooden houses and wooden horses, tin trumpets, and spice nuts, Diss bread, and gingerbread-menageries of wild natural history, and caravans of tame _unnatural_ collections, giants, dwarfs, albinos, and _lusus naturae_ of every conceivable deformity-of things above the earth and under the earth, in the sea and out of the sea-of panoramas, dioramas-wax-works, with severable heads and moving countenances-of Egyptian tents, with gla.s.s factories in miniature concealed within their mystic folds, under the guidance of the gla.s.s-wigged alchemist, the presiding genius-performing canaries, doing the Mr. and Mrs. Caudle, and firing off pistols-pert hares playing on the tambourine, and targets and guns to be played with for prizes of nuts, and whirligigs and rocking-boats-the avenues of sailcloth, with their linings of confectionary, toys, basket-work, and ornamental stationery-the gong and the drum, and the torrents of Cheap-Jack eloquence, mingling with the music of the leopard-clad minstrels of the zoological departments;-dear is the holiday to the hearts, and memories, and antic.i.p.ations, of many an _enlightened_ infant of this highly developed age;-as dear, and welcome, and thrilling, in its confusion of noise, and bewilderment of colour, as ever of old, to the children of larger growth, who, in the infancy of civilization, were wont to find in them their primers of learning, arts, and sciences.

When trade was princ.i.p.ally carried on by means of fairs, and they lasted many days, the merchants who frequented them for business purposes, used every art and means to draw people together, and were therefore accompanied, we are told, by jugglers, minstrels, and buffoons; and as then few public amus.e.m.e.nts or spectacles were established, either in cities or towns, the fair-time was almost the only season of diversion.

The clergy, finding that the entertainments of dancing, music, mimicry, &c. exhibited at them, drew people from their religious duties, in the days of their power proscribed them-but to no purpose; and failing in their efforts, with the ingenuity that characterized their age and profession, changed their tastes, and took the recreations into their own hands, turned actors and play-writers themselves, and subst.i.tuted the Religious Mysteries for the profane punchinellos and juggleries that have since, in later times, resumed their sway, undisputed by any ecclesiastical rivals for popular applause in the dramatic line.

Among other sports that formed the attractions to the Fair in olden times, was the Quintain, a game of contest, memorable in the annals of the city, as having on one occasion, in the reign of Edward I., been made the opportunity of commencing hostilities of a far more formidable nature and protracted extent than the occasion itself could warrant, or be presumed to cause.