Bluegrass Messengers

Recordings & Info 8G. Madam I Have Gold and Silver (Folk Plays)

____________________

 
    C.R.Baskervill
    Mummers' Wooing Plays in England
    Modern Philology, Feb.1924, Vol.21, No.3, pp.259-262

Location:     [Unlocated], Lincs. (SK----)
Year:     Col. 1823 to 1888
Time of Occurrence:     [Not given]
Collective Name:     [Not given]

Fool

    Stand back cock me dow
    let my Lady and me have a little discourse together
    Madam if you will consent to marry Me
    we will marry off at Hand
    I have gold and silver
    and that will please thee
    You shall have a servant Maid
    to wait at your command
    if you will consent to marry me;
    we will marry off at hand

-----------------

 The Plough Play in Lincolnshire by Ruairidh Greig

The Kirmington Plough-Jags Play
Author(s): Ruairidh Greig
Source:
Folk Music Journal,
 Vol. 3, No. 3 (1977), pp. 233-241
Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society

 The Kirmington Plough-Jags Play
 RUAIRIDH GREIG
 The text of the Kirmington version of the "Plough Jags" or "Plough
 Jacks" play was first printed in "The Mummers' Play", by R. J. E.
 Tiddy (OUP 1923). This particular play seems to have been added to
 Tiddy's collection by Rupert Thomson, who edited the book for
 publication after the author was killed in action on August 10th, 1916,
 and no information as to its origin was included other than "From
 Kirmington in North Lincolnshire."' It was then with considerable
 surprise and pleasure that, during a song collecting trip in North
 Lincolnshire, I met Walter Brackenbury of Kirmington who took the
 part of the Doctor in the team which performed the play immediately
 before the First World War. Not only did Mr. Brackenbury have a
 complete version of the play which he had written out some years
 previously, but he also remembered a wealth of details about the
 performance, the organisation of the team and the attitudes of both
 the actors and their audience. We first met in August 1970 at the New
 Inn, Great Limber, to which Mr. Brackenbury at the age of 73 still
 occasionally cycled. The following details about the performance of
 the Kirmington play were recorded subsequently in a most memorable
 interview in Walter's wood shed and as far as possible are given here
 in his own words.2
 (a) Organisation
 The team was organised by the Fool, who at the time was Frank
 Vessey. He subsequently moved from the village to Barton-on-
 Humber. Walter joined after he started work at the age of 13 on a
 local farm. When asked how he came to be a member of the team,
 Walter commented, "Well, I suppose now, he was the fool, the
 selected fool, and the picking of the team would revolve round him."
 (T)
 The composition of the team did not vary drastically from year to
 year, but there would be gradual changes, often as Walter commented,
 for financial reasons.
 "Well there'd be maybe one drop out ... even the fool for instance.
 Some was poor, we was poor. My father died when I was 3. My
 Op. cit. p. 254.
 2 Transcriptions carry the suffix (T).

 mother had nine to bring up and even though we was pleased to get a
 shilling or two, we still enjoyed it. You see a chap like Frank Vessey . .
 he was never poor and some of us who were poor'd maybe stop on a
 year or more, but he got better off you see. . ." (T)
 The words of the play were not learned from print, but from the
 other members of the team during rehearsals which took place for
 several weeks before Christmas at the Fool's house.
 Unlike most of the plough plays in Lincolnshire, which were
 performed on Plough Monday, the Kirmington play was performed at
 Christmas time. The performances began, "Oh, a week or ten days
 before Christmas, when the Christmas spirit was getting on" (T) and
 the team generally "got done by Christmas . . . except odd ones that'd
 be having a party." (T) These specially requested performances were
 not popular with Walter.
 "You didn't like it much because you'd all to get clean. It took a
 devil of a long time to clean your face you know, all that black." (T)
 After the team assembled, they would decide which area to visit;
 We'd map a piece out, say this street one night; there weren't so
 many houses then and you nearly knew who'd have you in." (T).
 The group did not restrict their visits to the village of Kirmington.
 They also visited neighbouring Croxton, as well as outlying farms on
 the hills around the village.
 "You see there are those tops up there and I think we used to go to
 nearly all of them. I remember going to that one up there and it's
 nearly two miles from the village." (T)
 These farms were regarded as being especially worth visiting,
 because of the relative prosperity of the owners;
 "Well, say they'd give you five bob and that was a lot o' money i'
 them days." (T)
 The costumes worn by the team seem to have been determined
 largely by what was available. The characters and their costumes were
 as follows:-
 Fool
 "You'd get an old shirt off somebody or, if you could get it, an old
 smock what a man has for show, you know, a garthman or a
 shepherd, a white smock you know, but big shirts were generally the
 rage . . . some'd be studded wi' pretty ribbon, all colours you know;
 patches, different variations. Then there was the Fool's hat . . . what
 we call a proper Fool's hat, it went to a peak, you know, like these

 things like the roadmenders have when they're doing the roads." (T)
 Sergeant
 "The best you can get a man dressed to a soldier. I mean at that
 time o'day . . . you could borrow a red tunic o' somebody that'd been
 i' the army. He has a sword." (T)
 Indian King
 "He was dressed nearly like the fool; a bit more wild looking and a
 round hat wi' pretty feathers." (T)
 Doctor
 "You'd get a black coat, a black rain coat, hard hat if you had one
 and a bottle of cold tea and a stick." (T)
 Ladi'
 "Dressed as a lady, ordinary lady. In them days all women had big
 hats on and long dresses on and big blouses and a veil." (T)
 Bold Tom
 "'He'd want a bigger shirt, stuffed with straw and tied round. It
 weren't heavy." (T)
 Old Lame Jane
 "She wants to be a real old pensioner with long clothes, long boots
 or shoes and an old brush for sweeping the floor."
 The Fool, Indian King and Bold Tom all had their faces partially
 blackened, with moustaches and dots applied with the aid of a burnt
 cork;
 "WThatfd make you look damn silly." (T)
 (b) Performance
 The team announced their presence at the kitchen door by knocking
 and calling "Will you have Plough Jags in please?" If permission was
 given the team would enter, led by the Fool;
 "You stopped outside until it was your turn to come in." (T) When
 all the team were inside, they would stand in a line, moving only as
 required by the action of the play.
 "You'd no need to shift, only when the Sergeant slew the ... [Indian
 King I you see they'd move and then the Fool helps him up when he's
 down." (T)

 TEXT
 Fool Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
 We've come to give you a bold call,
 As Christmas is a merry time
 We've come to see you all
 We hope you'll not be offended
 By what we've got to say,
 For presently there'll be a few more boys and girls
 Come tripping up this way.

 Sergeant: In comes I the recruiting Sergeant,
 Arriving here just now.
 My orders are to list all those
 Who can follow horse, cart or plough
 Tinkers, tailors, pedlars, nailers
 Are all at my advance.
 Fool Is there anything else at your advance, Sir?
 Sergeant Yes, my advance is to see a fool dance, laugh, sing or
 play
 Or I will quickly march away.
 Fool (sings)
[music]
 One day I tried to stop a pig, sir
 And what a lark we had
 The pig went (grunting noise)
 And away he ran
 Right through my stunning legs, sir.
 Sergeant Do you call that singing? I can sing better than that
 myself.
 (sings)
[music]
 Come my lads it's time for listing.
 Listing, do not be afraid.
 You shall have all kinds of liquor
 Likewise kiss the pretty fair maids.

 Indian King: Ware out my lads let me come in,
 For I'm the chap called Indian King.
 They have been seeking me to slay,
 And I am here this very same day.
 I fought the fiery dragon,
 And brought it to the slaughter,
 And by these means I won King George's daughter.

 Sergeant: Slaughter, slaughter, no more to be said
 For in one instant I'll fetch off thine head.

 Indian King: How canst thou fetch off mine head?
 Mine head is of iron, my body of steel.
 My limbs of knuckle bone,
 I challenge thee to feel.

 Sergeant: Slaughter! (Draws sword across Indian King's throat, who falls)
 Fool: Five pounds for a Doctor!

 Sergeant: Ten pounds to stop away!

 Fool: Fifteen to come in on a case like this!

 Doctor: In comes I, the doctor.

 Fool How camest thou to be a doctor?

 Doctor I travelled for it from bedside to fireside,
 From fireside to my mother's cupboard
 That's where I got all my pork pies and sausages from.

 Fool What diseases can you cure?

 Doctor Ipsy, pipsy, palsy, gout
 Pains within and pains without,
 Heal all wounds and cleanse your blood
 And do your body a lot of good.

 Fool Can you cure this man?

 Doctor: Yes certainly, take hold of my bottle and stick while I feel o' this man's pulse.
 (The fool takes the bottle and stick and the Doctor feels the Indian King's thigh)
 Fool: Is that where a man's pulse lie?
 Doctor Yes, the strongest part of a man's body.
 He's not dead but in a trance.
 He's swallowed a horse and cart
 And can't get shut of the wheels.
 Jump up, Jack and lets have a dance.

 (Indian King is helped up)

 Lady (sings)
[music]
 I am a lady bright and fair
 My fortune is my charm
 It's true that I've been torn away
 From my dear lover's arms
 He promised for to marry me
 And that you'll understand,
 He listed for a soldier,
 And went to foreign land.
 Bold Tom: In comes I Bold Tom
 A brisk and nimble fellow
 Forty gallons of your best ale
 Will make me nice and mellow
 And a slice of your pork pie
 For, believe me, we're all hungry
 As well as dry.

 Lame Jane: In comes I, old Lame Jane
 With a neck as long as a crane
 A wig behind and a wig before
 Look out my lads,
 Fool (sings) And I'll sweep the floor.
  [music]

 Madam I've got gold and silver,
 Madam I've got house and land,
 Madam, I've got wealth and treasure
 Everything at your command.

 Lady (sings)
 What care I for your gold and silver,
 What care I for your house and land,
 What care I for your wealth and treasure,
 All I want is a nice young man.

 Fool (links arms with the Lady)
 Friends, I've come to invite you to me and my wife's wedding. What you like best you'd better bring wi' you, for we're going to have the leg of a louse and a lop fry, a barley chaff dumpling buttered with wool. Them as
 can't nag it'll have it to pull; tail chine of a cockerel also
 and eighteen gallons of your best buttermilk to rinse all
 down. Sing about lads while I draw stakes.

 (Fool collects while the rest of the cast sing)
[music]
 All Good master and good mistress
 As you sit round the fire
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who plough the muck and mire.
 The muck it is so nasty,
 The mire it is so strong,
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who plough the furrows along.
 We thank you for civility
 For what you've given us here
 We wish you a Merry Christmas
 And a Happy New Year.
 (The fool leads the way out)
 Good master and good mistress

 You see our Fool's gone out
 We make it our ability
 To follow him about.

 Two dialect words used in the Fool's last speech may require
 explanation: a "lop" is a flea and "to nag" in this context means to
 gnaw or to chew at something.
 The team collected money from the audience, and were sometimes
 offered hospitality in the form of food and beer.
 (c) Attitudes
 The attitudes of performers and audience towards the play are
 undoubtedly of considerable importance. Only rarely have comments
 on and opinions of such customs been recorded from local people,
 upon whom their survival ultimately depends. From the expression of
 attitudes towards the play,much may be learned about its importance
 to the community which fostered it, and the social function which it
 fulfilled.
 Walter Brackenbury, when asked what he regarded as the reason
 for performing the play commented:
 "Fun more than anything, entertainment. I don't think for one
 minute that the money you got was the compelling factor for going
 round, even though we was all poor." (T)
 In the days when the Plough plays were flourishing, for large
 numbers of young men, farming was the only available occupation,
 and such Christmas activities offered the opportunity for welcome
 relief from everyday concerns, as well as a chance to supplement small
 wages. In some villages, the Plough Jags outings were also an excuse
 for violence, threatening householders who refused to contribute with
 ploughing up doorsteps, or lawns, or fighting rival gangs. The Lincoln,
 Rutland and Stamford Mercury noted on 31/1/1865 that at Barton-
 on-Humber i. . . the usual gangs of Plough Jacks went through their
 uncouth performances in the streets, which are now of such a nature
 as to hardly gratify the most rigid stickler for adherence to old
 customs."
 However in Kirmington the performers did not seem to be of a
 violent disposition;
 "'There was no animosity in them days, no silly devils." (T) Despite
 their peaceful nature, they still inspired a certain amount of respect in
 young children.

 "Oh well, some children was frightened you know ... some werereally frightened ... when the Indian King come... if he were a good un, if he was well made up see." (T)
 The young performers must have got some satisfaction throughbecoming such powerful, frightening figures.
 Obviously, as a performer, Walter Brackenbury could not give a
 great deal of information about the attitudes of his audience, but the
 act of giving hospitality or money might have acted in some small way
 as an affirmation of status for the donor. No mention of bringing luck
 was remembered, but if not as bringers of luck, the Plough Jags were
 greeted with pleasure as an integral element in the annual celebrations.
 "They took it for granted, see. Christmas was Christmas, and
 Christmas was Plough Jags." (T)

----------------------

Lincolnshire Plough Plays
Author(s): E. H. Rudkin
Source: Folklore, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Mar., 1939), pp. 88-97

[photo]
 Photo: F. Kennewell
 A. CLARKE C. CLARK A. WILFORD W. CLARKE J. WILFORD C. CLARK R. MEE
 (Doctor) (Recruiting Sergeant) (Lady) (Dame Jane) (Fool) (Farmer's Man) (Beelzebub)
 THE CARLTON-LE-MOORLAND PLOUGHBOYS, 1934

 Enter Lady :
 Behold the lady bright and gay,
 Good fortune and sweet charms;
 How scornfully I've been thrown away,
 Right out of my true lover's arm.
 He swears if I don't wed with him,
 As you will understand,
 He'll enlist all for a soldier.

 Enter Farmer's Man :
 In comes I, the farmer's man,
 Don't you see my whip in my hand?
 Straight I go from end to end,
 Never make a balk or bend,
 And to my horses I attend,
 As they go gaily round the end,
 Gee! whoa! back, Spanker!

 Sergeant : Are you free, able and willing, young man, to serve the King, and take this shilling?

 Farmer's man sings :
 Thanks, kind Sergeant, for your offer;
 Time away does quickly pass;
 Dash my wig if I grieve any longer,
 For this proud and saucy lass.

  Lady sings :
 Since my lover listed and joined the Volunteers,
 I do not mean to sigh for him, nor yet to shed a tear,
 I do not mean to sigh for him, I mean to let him know,
 I've got another sweetheart, and with him I will go.

 Fool sings :
 Madam, I've got gold and silver;
Madam, I've got house and land;
 Madam, I've got rings and jewels,
and they stand at your command.

 Lady sings :
 What care I for your rings and jewels;
 What care I for your house and land;
 What care I for your gold and silver,
 When all I want is a handsome man.

 Fool sings:
 A handsome man will not maintain you;
 Beauty, it will fade away,
 Like a rose that blooms in summer,
 And in winter will decay.
 (Spoken)
 Well, dost thou love me, my pretty maid?

 Lady: Yes, Tommy, to me sorrow.

 Fool: And when shall be our wedding day?

 Lady : Why, Tommy dear, to-morrow.

 Both: Then we'll shake hands in wedlock's bands, and we'll be wed to-morrow.

 Fool: We'll ask all the hip-skip jacks to me and my wife's wedding; what we likes the best we're going to have, and what
 you likes best, well, you'll hev to bring wi'yer.

 Enter Dame Cane : In comes I, old Dame Jane,
with a neck as long as any old crane.
Dib, dab, over yon high meadows,
 once I was a blooming maid, but now a darned old widow.
Now I've caught thee, Tommy.
There, take the child (handing him a baby).

 Fool: The bairn, Jane? The bairn, Jane? It's not a bit like me.
 Dame Yane: Yes, it is. Look at its eyes, nose and cheeks,
 it's as much like you as ever it can be.

 Fool: What is it, a boy or a girl?

 Dame Yane : It's a boy.

 Fool: It isn't mine. You'd better take it and swear it to the parish pump.

 Enter Beelzebub : In comes I, Beelzebub, on my shoulder Icarry my club; in my hand a whit-leather frying pan. Don't
 you think I'm a funny old man? Is there any old woman here as can stand before me?
 Dame Jane: Yes, me, for me head is made of iron, me body
 made of steel, me hands and feet of knuckle bone, and no man
 can make me feel.
 Beelzebub strikes Dame Yane, saying: I will hash you, slash
 you as small as flies; send you to Jamaica to make mince-pies.
 Fool: Beelzebub, Beelzebub, look what you've done; killed
 poor old Dame Jane and lamed her son.
Five pounds for a doctor.
 Beelzebub: Ten pounds to stop away.
 Fool: Fifteen to come in a case like this, and he must come.
 Doctor still outside : Whoa! Boy, hold my horse; he's only a donkey.
Hold him by the tail and mind he don't kick you, and
 I'll show you the rusty side of a brass ha'penny when I come out again.
 Enter the Doctor : In comes I, the doctor.
 Fool: What, you a doctor?
 Doctor: Yes, me a doctor.
 Fool: And how came you to be a doctor?
 Doctor: Travelled for it.
 Fool: And where did you travel?
 Doctor : England, Ireland, France and Spain, over the hills and back again, to the bed-head, fireside. I've had many a
 piece of pork-pie out of my grandmother's cupboard, that's
 what's made me so clever and wise. I'll take off my hat, kid
 gloves and corduroy, walking stick, and feel of this old Dame's pulse. (Feels of leg.)
 Fool: What, is that -where her pulse lies?
 Doctor : Why, where should you feel?
 Fool : The back of her neck, of course.
 Doctor : I should have thought an old fool like you would have
 known this old gell's not dead; she's only in a trance.
 Fool: And what's that, pray?
 Doctor : She's been living on green, boiled tatey-tops three
 weeks without water. Trying to cut her throat with a wooden,
 iron rolling-pin. Accidentally done on purpose. She's also
 swallowed a donkey and cart, and the wheels won't go round.
 But never mind, inside my trousers, breeches, waistcoat pocket
 lining pocket, I've a box of pills, these pills are Persian pills. I
 should give one in the morning and two at night, and the box
 at dinner-time. If the pills don't digest the box will. I'll give a little of my Whiff Waff, and let it run down her Tiff Taff, it'll
 heal her wound and cleanse her blood, and do the old soul a lot
 of good. She can dance and she can sing, so raise her up and let's begin.

 Altogether :
 Good master and mistress, as you sit round your fire,
 Remember us poor plough boys who plough through mud and mire;
 The mire it is so very deep, the water is so clear;
 We thank you for your Christmas box and a jug of your best beer.
 Fool: The box can't speak, because it's no tongue, and a little of your money will do it no wrong.
 Altogether :
 You see our song is ended;
 You see our fool is gone;
 We're making it our business,
 To follow him along.
 We thankyou for civility, and what you gave us here;
 We wish you all good-night and another Happy New Year.

 THE PLOUGH BOY'S PLAY
 PLOUGH PLAY DIGBY
 Written down by G. BLOY, of Digby, who took the part of Tom
 Fool.
 Characters :
 Tom Fool Threshing Blade (or Beelzebub)
 Soldier Bold Black
 Lady Doctor
 Farmer's Man Doctor's Boy
 Dress :
 Tom Fool: White face-red ochred cheeks-patchwork suit.
 Bold Black : Black coat and trousers-white shirt worn outside
 trousers-black hat.
 Farmer's Boy : Slouch hat-patched coat-stick with bladder
 attached by a string (or a stocking full of bran).
 Doctor : Swallow-tail coat-tall hat-stick and gloves.
 Trotter Boy : Box hat-" dressed somehow a bit comical " and
 a J gallon bottle of medicine.
 The Characters enter singly-

 Enter Tom Fool:
 Tom: In comes I, bold Tom,
 A brisk and nimble fellow,
 Here to taste your beef and ale,
 They say it is so ripe and mellow!
 I've come so briskle and so bold,
 And confident you say,
 What can you expect from a fool,
 That knows no better way?
 A fool, a fool, I know I am!
 The little children speak the truth.
 A large company here, so smartly dressed,
 And, please you all, they'll do their best.

 Enter Soldier
 Soldier : In comes I, the Recruiting Sergeant,
 I've arriv-ed here just now.
 I've had orders from the Queen to list all jolly fellows,
 That follow either horse, cart, or plough.
 Tinkers, tailors, fiddlers, or fools.
 The more I hear the fiddle play the better I can dance.
 Tom: Faith, lad! The Fool come here to see you dance?
 Soldier: You begin to dance, sing or say,
 I'll soon walk away!

 Enter Lady
 Lady: Behold, the Lady bright and gay,
 Good fortune and sweet charms;
 Thrown away right out of my true love's arms,
 He swears that if I don't marry him, he'll list
 For a soldier and go to some foreign land.

 Enter Farmer's Man
 F. M.: In comes I, the Farmer's Boy,
 Don't you think I'm a jolly old man?
 I can either plough, or reap, or sow,
 And crack my whip and say who-oa!
 Soldier (to F. M.)
 Ten bright guineas shall be your bounty if you stay
 with me and you no longer linger.
 (Soldier gets the Farmer's Man 'listed)

 Lady : Since my love has 'listed and then to volunteer,
 Leaving me to sigh for him, I'll have him for to know,
 I'll have another sweetheart, and along with him I'll go!
 (Lady tries to run off with Tom Fool)

 Soldier (to Tom) : A handsome lass'll not maintain you,
 Her beauty it will fade away,
 Finest flower that grows in summer,
 In the winter will decay.
 (Tom, Soldier, and Lady walk up and down together)

 Tom: I've been thinking about asking a lot of you gimcracks
 to me and my wife's wedding-what you like best you'd better
 bring with you.

 Soldier : What's that for?

 Tom: Because we'll have a leg of a lark and a louse to roast.
 (Tom Fool and Lady have a bit of a jig)
 Enter a Threshing Blade.
 Threshing Blade: Behold, I am a Threshing Blade,
 You people all do know,
 My old Dad larnt me this trade
 Just 90 years ago.
 Yes! I'm the big Thrashing Man! I've thrashed beside o' my
 old Dad many a day! When my old Dad died I went to the King
 and got a new Thrashing Commission (to Tom). I'll thrash you,
 Tom, before I go!
 Tom : I should like to catch you at it!
 Threshing Blade : We'll put it off 'till another day.
 Enter Bold Black.
 Bold Black : In comes I, Bold Black!
 Bold Black's me name-
 Conquered many a nation-
 Conquer this the same!
 (Bold Black is flying about Tom Fool while he says this ;
 he draws up to him at the end)
 Tom: Dear me! Mr. Black, don't you be quite so hot.
 Remember in this room what a man you've got!

 Slishey, Slasher, small as flies,
 I'll send you to Jamaica to make minch 1 pies-!
 Bold Black : You slishey slasher small as flies,
 Send me to Jamaica to make minch pies?
 Hold your tongue, you foolish fellow!
 Tell me none o' yer lies!
 (Threshing Blade is flying round Bold Black while this
 is going on ; he now knocks him on the floor. Tom
 Fool comes up)
 Tom: 0, man! 0, man! what hast thou done?
 Thou hast killed the finest Black that ever the sun shone on1
 Threshing Blade : Five pounds for a Doctor!
 Soldier : Ten to keep away!
 Farmer's Man : Fifteen to come!
 Enter Doctor
 Doctor : In comes the Doctor.
 (Fool encourages him)
 Tom: You a Doctor?
 Doctor : Me a Doctor.
 Tom : Where did you larn all your education from?
 Doctor : I travelled for it.
 Tom: Where did you travel?
 Doctor : England, Ireland, France, Spain and Digby.
 Tom : What pains can you cure?
 Doctor : Ipsy pipsy palsy, and the gout,
 Pains within and pains without,
 Draw a tooth, or set a leg..
 And another grand cure I did in Yorkshire the other day as
 you know nowt about, Tom.
 Tom: What was that, Doctor?
 Doctor : An old woman came running to me, tumbled over an
 empty teapot half full of flour, grazed the shin-bone of her
 elbow and made her stocking-top bleed-I set that.
 Tom : You must be a clever old chap, then-try your skill!

 1 Minch pies contain pig-meat (lungs etc.), as opposed to the orthodox
 mince pie.

 Doctor : By your kind leave, so I will.
 (calls to Doctor's Boy) Trotter, boy, bring my medicine!
 (Enter Doctor's Boy with medicine.
 Doctor takes hold of Bold Black's ankle)
 Tom: You feel there for his pulse?
 Doctor : Where should you feel?
 Tom : The back o' the neck to be sure! strongest part about a
 working man!
 Doctor : This man's been living on green tatey-tops for a fort-
 night; trying to swallow a wheelbarrow; trying to cut his
 throat with a rolling pin. This man's not dead but in a trance.
 Tom : Rise him up, and let's have a dance!
 If he can't dance, we can sing,
 So rise him up and let's begin.
 (Bold Black rises. The others dance and sing)
 All: We thank the Master of this house,
 The Mistress also,
 Likewise the little children
 That round the table go.
 Soldier (to Tom) You'd better go round and see what the good
 folks'll give you.
 (Tom goes round collecting from the audience, remarks
 are made by the actors while Tom collects)
 Ist man : Let's have a good big piece o' you pork pie!
 2nd man: Your guts is allus hungry!
 3rd man : And yours is allus dry!
 (After the collection they fall into line with Tom at the
 head, and lead off, singing):
 All: Now you see our song is ended,
 You see our fool is gone,
 We'll make it in our business
 To follow him along.
 We thank you for what you have given us here,
 Wishing all a Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year.
 (Exit all)

------------------

Plough Plays in the East Midlands
by M. W. Barley
Source: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society,
 Vol. 7, No. 2 (Dec., 1953), pp. 68-95
Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society

 PLOUGH PLAYS IN THE EAST MIDLANDS
 BY M. W. BARLEY
 THE texts of some twenty plays from Lincolnshire, eighteen from Nottinghamshire[1],
 two from Leicestershire and one from Rutland have been recovered since the
 publication of The English Folk-Play in 1933, and it seems worth while to examine
 them in the light of what E. K. Chambers then wrote[2]. His conclusion that they
 "are almost entirely confined to Lincolnshire" must be modified. Apart from the
 evidence of them from Yorkshire and also from East Anglia, Nottinghamshire now
 comes clearly into the area. The frontier between the Plough Monday play and
 other types of festivity seems to lie near the boundary of Nottinghamshire and
 Derbyshire, which is also the junction of the highland and lowland zones of England,
 and the differences between those zones are of great significance in English history.
 Before considering the distribution of the plays in detail it is necessary, and now
 possible, to define terms. Plough plays have usually been distinguished from
 Mummers' plays not only by the fact that the latter were performed at Christmas,
 but also by the names of the characters. On the latter grounds Chambers called
 the second of the two plays from Clayworth printed by R. J. E. Tiddy[3] a Mummers'
 play, no doubt because it included St. George. Tiddy called it a Plough Monday
 play, and his judgment seems preferable. A number of undoubted Mummers' plays
 have been recorded in Lincolnshire. Professor C. R. Baskervill published4 those for
 Bassingham (1823), Broughton, near Brigg (1824), and Swinderby (1842). A fragment
 of a play which may have been performed at Caistor or Nettleton in the Lincolnshire
 Wolds has been published, anld another from Mumby. There is no question that
 these are Christmas plays, and in most cases the characters are quite different from
 those in Plough plays. This is also true of fragments of a play performed c. 1880 at
 New Holland on the south bank of the Humber and collected recently by Mr. J.
 Martin; it contains for instance Little Devil Doubt, otherwise unknown in Lincoln-
 shire. At Langwith, north-east of Lincoln, "Morris dancers"5 performed a Mummers'
 play, and Plough Jags came round on Plough Monday, but did not perform any
 play.6 It appears that the custom of performing at Christmas had, with a few excep-
 tions, died out in the past century; no Mummers' play has been recorded recently

  1 See Appendix. Copies of all those not already printed are in the Cecil Sharp Library.
 2 Pp. 89-123.
 3 The Mummers' Pla)' (1923), pp. 246-7.
 4 In Modern Philology, XXI (1924), pp. 224-58.
 5 On Miss Alford's suggestion it is perhaps worth while to point out that Mummers, Sword and
 Morris dancers may all be called "Morris dancers", and one must be on guard against this confusion
 in the popular mind.
 6 Mrs. E. 'H. Rudkin in Folk-Lore, XLIV (1933), p. 289. Morris dancers at Christmas and Plough
 Boys on Plough Monday can now be paralleled at two fenland villages, p. 79.

 and the New Holland case can be explained as an intrusion, due to foreigners who
 came to work on the railway there.
 The situation in western Notts. is somewhat different. At Creswell and Carlton,
 both near Worksop, the Derby Ram was performed by children; at Cuckney, nearby,
 and at Clarborough, near Retford, an Old Horse ritual was performed at Christmas.7
 Mr. G. Christian has collected from Underwood, on the western border of Notts.,
 a Christmas Mummers' play which is still performed by children, and is quite different
 from the Plough plays except for the appearance of Beelzebub and his type speech.8
 On the other hand, plays which ought to be regarded as Plough Monday plays have
 come from Blidworth, Calverton, Mansfield, Selston, Walesby, Wellow and Worksop,
 all in central or western Notts. About some of them such as Walesby there could be
 no doubt, but others, such as Selston in particular, contain Guy or St. George and
 lines which usually belong to Mummers' plays. Since however there is no reference
 to Christmas in them, and one version (1920) speaks of two of the characters as Plough
 Bullocks, the verdict must plainly be that they are Plough plays. They have naturally
 borrowed from Mummers' plays, but after all the concept of a border line in this
 connection is not of a gap between differing customs of adjacent areas, but of the
 overlapping incidence of those customs. The Mansfield play may originally have been
 a Sword dance; the players carried wooden swords, with which they belaboured one
 another during the final song.9
 Within the two counties, the play is now known to have been performed in nearly
 every region: in Nottinghamshire in the clay area of the north (Clayworth, East
 Drayton, North Leverton), in what was Sherwood Forest and on the central tract of
 keuper marl at Woodborough, Burton Joyce and the villages from which we have
 texts; in the Trent valley (Averham, North Muskham, Norwell, Sutton-on-Trent);
 south of the Trent (East Bridgford, Plumtree, Tollerton) and in the Vale of Belvoir
 (Cropwell, Orston, Flintham, Whatton). The tradition of the play is strong in the
 villages between Newark and Lincoln (Bassingham, Carlton le Moorland, Swinderby,
 South Scarle). In Lincolnshire it has been recorded from the Isle of Axholme
 (Epworth) and on the limestone ridge from the Humberside to Leicestershire (Whit-
 ton, Alkborough, Broughton, Kirton-in-Lindsey, Willoughton, Branston, Welling-
 gore, Aswarby, Old Somerby; Clipsham, in Rutland; Branston, Knipton, in
 Leicestershire). It is well recorded on the Humber side (Barrow and Barton on
 Humber, Thornton Curtis); in the Ancholme valley (Brigg, Somerby, Hibaldstow and
 North Kelsey); in the Wolds (Kirkington, Lusby); and the margin of the Fens(Revesby,
 Frithville, Moulton and Boston). In Notts., at any rate, not all the surviving versions
 have yet been recorded, and the same is no doubt true of Lincs. It is, so far, completely
 unrecorded from the villages of the coastal fringe, except for the Mumby play and the
 "sword dancers" at Wainfleet.IO From the villages of the Lincolnshire fens there

 7J.E.F.D.S.S., V. No. 2 (1947), p. 82. At Clarborough the men and boys sang the "Derby
 Ram", according to Mrs. E. H. Rudkin.
 8 Beelzebub, as Miss Alford points out, was borrowed originally from the St. George play, but he
 must have been such an early borrowing that he has become typical of the Plough play.
 9The Mansfield play need not have once had a Sword dance. In many St. George Plays the
 Mummers carry wooden swords. Nearly always in fact.-V.A.
10 Heaneley in Viking Club Saga Book, III (1902), pp. 6, 7.

 survives only a document among the parish records of Donington, in Holland, giving
 characters of the play in about 1565. There is also evidence from wills", and the
 existence in the churches at Beltoft, Fosdyke, Deeping St. James, Quadring, Leverton,
 Sutterton, Long Sutton, Wainfleet and Whaplode prior to the Reformation, of
 plough lights maintained by those who, no doubt, also performed the plays. There
 is also evidence that a plough was kept in the church at Holbeach.12 The early
 disappearance of the ceremony from the fenland villages is difficult to explain. The
 distribution of the play coincides with the boundaries of the Danelaw, except for the
 exclusion of Derbyshire, which as part of the more backward highland zone tended
 to absorb customs from the adjacent parts of the lowland zone, as well as preserving
 more ancient ceremonies of its own. Dr. Joseph Needham has pointed out that the
 Danelaw boundary is also the frontier between Sword dances and Morris dances, and
 that in Derbyshire the traditions of the north-east, the north-west, and the east
 Midlands meet and overlap.13 Now it happens that in Lincolnshire, which was the
 area of the most intensive settlement by Danes, the Fens were the least affected by
 that popular migration. On the other hand, the absence of Plough plays cannot
 be taken to indicate weaker Danish influence, because the ceremony cannot be traced
 to an origin in Denmark or be regarded as a racial contribution to Englislh customs.
 Dr. Needham pointed out that the hilt and point Sword dance "cannot in general be
 said to be Scandinavian, because it is also found in the rest of Europe." The Plough
 play has not survived in Denmark[14] and its persistence in the Danelaw, whatever its
 origin in time or place, is an expression of the cultural homogeneity which the mixed
 Anglo-Danish population there developed and preserved for so many centuries.
 The Reformation was a blow to the ceremony, since all religious guilds were
 abolished. The churchwardens' accounts at Holme Pierrepont, Notts., show that in
 1552 the parishioners had to pay an assessment yearly to the church stock, because
 other collections "with hobby horse and lights" were now prohibited.'5 The danger
 that an old observance might cease now that the customary arrangements for it had
 been dislocated, led to the drawing up of the remarkable document from Donington
 in the early years of Elizabeth's reign. It is in very poor condition and incomplete,i6
 "I See Lincolnshire Wills, published by the Lincoln Record Society (1914, 1918), passim. Some
 references are given in County Folk Lore, V, pp. 171-4. There are in Northamptonshire wills refer-
 ences to plough lights at Lutton, Northborough, Tichmarsh and Warmington in that county:
 Archaeological Journal, LXX (1913), p. 222.

 12 Quoted in The English Folk-Play, p. 91.
 13 "The Geographical Distribution of English Ceremonial Dance Traditions," J.E.F.D.S.S., III,
 No. 1 (1936), p. 23.
 14 A letter received by the author in 1951 from Dr. Inger M. Boberg of the Danish National Museum
 at Copenhagen states: "As for the Plough Monday, it has been a custom we know, on the island of
 Als that the young people on New Year's Day went about dragging a plough, singing and begging
 for money . . . We have evidence that it has been used in other places too . . . But there is no
 trace that any of the characters was killed and brought back to life . . ." This evidence seems
 hardly sufficient for the conclusion that a plough ceremony came from Denmark.
  15 W. H. Stephenson in Old Notts., 2nd Series (1884), p. 52. At Leverington the town stock was
 kept up by the Plough Monday play proceeds. Below, p. 72.
  16 It was sent to the Lincolnshire Archives Committee's Record Office at Exchequer Gate, Lincoln,
 for repair, and Miss K. Major recognized it for what it was. I am indebted to Miss D. M. Williamson
 for help in transcribing it. Reference has been made to it, for instance by W. E. Tate in The Parish
 Chlest (1946), p. 279, but it has not hitherto been published. Square brackets indicate missing portions.

 but its purpose is clearly to lay a penalty on those who failed to play their allotted
 part of one shilling for each performance missed.
 buttfendyke for fynding [ ] yt ys Agreyd by the consent of ye hole parysh yt
 every man yt [ ] hys tymes here after specyfyed to forfeyt for every tyme yt [ I
 do xijd. apece for every playn yt ys to say
 George Atkinsonth
 John Wryght rep
 John Senear (?) ye steward
 John Jaykes holofernes
 Edward danyell
 John Reyner
 John love iii yong men
 Wm browne
 ye messyngers
 John Toplydge
 Thomas Watson
 Robt browne
 ye Knyghtes
 John elward
 John stennyt
 Sawdone 4he dyi.
 ye duke John page wryght
 Wm. Strayker messynger
 John law ye harrowlid
 Knyghts
 Thomas playn
 Robert lawranson
 (Signatures)
 John Toplydge
 John Reyner
 be me george Atkynson
 be me John Sugar
 (Signatures)
 John Wryght
 Jhon Newton
 The inhabitants of part of the parish called Butt Fen Dyke were responsible for some
 contribution which we do not know. The characters appear to be the Sultan
 ("Sawdone"), the Duke, the Herald ("harrowlld"), the Steward, Holofernes, three
 Young Men, three or four Messengers and four Knights. It is possible that one
 character is missing, since no part seems to be allocated to Edward Danyell. All the
 named characters are heroic; Beelzebub does not appear; there are none of the social
 types familiar from later plays, and there are no female characters. There is in fact
 no internal evidence that it is a Plough play; only the evidence from the church-
 wardens' accounts makes it difficult to conclude that the play was not in fact per-
 formed on Plough Monday, and a duel between the Sultan and the Duke would not
 be out of keeping. A play of Holofernes may have been acted before the princess
 Elizabeth in London in 1554, and "a sawden" was included in a performance therein
 1553 of what Professor Baskervill called "almost certainly an adaptation of a Mummers'
 play".'7 We are then left with the problem of why in the fens, and also the coastal
 marshland of Lincolnshire, the ceremony appears to have died out earlier than
 17 E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, II, p. 196, and note commenting on a statement in
 Warton's History of Poetry; Modern Philology, XXI (1924), p. 236.-M.W.B. If the Donington cast
 were of a Plough play the date would make it of the greatest value. It is not a Nativity play, I think,
 with such a character as Holophernes. It may refer to the remains of a Mystery.-V.A.

 elsewhere. Recent inquiries have revealed that at Whaplode parents of the present
 generation of adults remembered that Plough Monday was "a big day", a holiday.
 I have met men who remember the Plough play at Moulton and Frithville. There is
 a faint recollection of the play at Fosdyke; and it is said that at Spalding, when the
 ploughmen in January fetched the plough coulters from the smith who had sharpened
 them, they said "Remember the ploughboy, remember the ploughboy". It is perhaps
 significant that in these fenland parishes in the sixteenth century and later the arable
 land might be as little as four per cent, or as much as forty per cent, but never
 approached the sixty-six to seventy-five per cent which was normal, for example, in
 Leicestershire"."8 The Plough Monday ceremony may have died out because
 villagers were mainly interested in pasture farming; the ploughing calendar was of
 little concern, and the ploughman was a relatively unimportant member of the
 community.
 The Donington cast is approximately contemporary with a page of churchwarden's
 accounts belonging to the years 1563-5, in which the wardens render account "for
 the plowlyght"; this suggests that the parish was responsible for the production costs,
 and was entitled to the proceeds of the Quete. There is unequivocal evidence from
 Leverington, north of Wisbech, that the money was added to the town stock, i.e. the
 fund from which villagers could borrow capital, and that those who had taken a loan
 had to attend "at ye settynge forthe of ye plowghe every yeare". At Saxilby, Lincs.,
 the churchwardens in 1565 paid out "To the young men on the plow day at night,
 xijd". There is other evidence, for instance from Louth, that the church was entitled
 to the money received, and it is clear that the traditional connections with the church
 were not easily broken. The Waddington Church Book'9 which consists of vestry
 minutes and summary accounts of parish officers, contains for the century following
 1642 the accounts of the four "plow maisters", who are unquestionably thle successors
 of those who had looked after the plough light. Every year they signed a statement
 of the amount of "stocke" each had in his hands, which he "hath promised to bring
 in . . . upon plow day next". As there was no longer any set purpose for which the
 money was to be used, it was spent on paying the ringers, scouring the drains and such
 unforeseen and exceptional matters as, in 1643, "dressing the church after sholdiers
 had lyne in it". At Rolleston, Notts., in 1681, it was agreed that the bellringers were
 entitled to an allowance of ale from the parish on Plough Monday, as well as Christ-
 mas Day, New Year's Day, Coronation Day and Perambulation Day.20 From a
 visitation of the archdeaconry of Nottingham in 1638 we learn that the plough was
 still kept in the church in, for instance, Hawton and North and South Collingham.2'
 The play from Revesby, Lincs., has been printed at length and sufficiently studied;22
 the only point still to be made is that with its production in the year 1779 Sir Joseph
 '8 J. Thirsk, Fenland Farming in the Sixteenth Century (1953), p. 22.
 '9 Among the parish records now deposited in the Lincoln Record Office, and mentioned in the
 Archivists' Report for 1952-3, p. 25; Waddington lies on the limestone heath four miles south of
 Lincoln.
 20 Leverington Parish Accounts in Fenland N. and Q., VII, pp. 184-190. Rolleston parish records,
 now item P.R. 778 in the county archives at Shire Hall, Nottingham.
 2I Extracts from the Act Books of the Archdeacon's Court transcribed by R. J. Hodgkinson, in
 the City Library, Nottingham.
 22 The English Folk-Play, pp. 104-1

 Banks, the great naturalist, must have had some connection. By 1771 he had
 returned finally from his voyages of exploration, and he spent his time between
 London, where he was president of the Royal Society from 1777, and his home at
 Revesby, whence he took an active part in everything going on in the county. It is
 certain that nothing like the presentation of this ambitious, and very literary, enter-
 tainment can have taken place without his having had some responsibility for it.
 The performance was given on October 20th, and not at the usual season, and accord-
 ing to Brand at Revesby Abbey itself.23 The practice of visiting the great house to
 perform the play must certainly have been common; we learn from the household
 accounts of the Monson family at Burton by Lincoln, that in January, 1783, and again
 in 1784 the teams of ploughmen from the nearby villages of Saxilby, South Carlton,
 Burton and Nettleham were each paid two shillings and sixpence.
 Similarly, a household in Grantham in 1775 opened its doors to nine teams. Six of
 them came from the adjacent villages of Great Gonerby, Barrowby, Manthorpe,
 Spittlegate, Little Ponton and Old Somerby, from two of which we have modern
 texts. The other three are described respectively as "Mr. Rowley's, Mr. Grundy's
 and Mr. Crabtree's men"; they may have belonged to Grantham itself, or they were
 teams composed entirely of the employees of particular farmers.24
 It is now possible to compare the Bassingham play, written down in 1823, with
 another version collected recently from the same village by Mrs. E. H. Rudkin, which
 I shall refer to as the 1952 version, from the date of its printing in The Lincolnshire
 Poacher. The Fool enters first and the opening speech is basically the same. In
 1823 the players then came in, apparently all together (though E. K. Chambers' stage
 directions are somewhat contradictory), and sang the ploughlads' song which, in
 Bassingham 1952, and most other recent versions, comes at the end of the play, where
 it certainly seems more appropriate, since it includes thanks for food and drink. This
 song was followed by the entry of the Farmer's Eldest Son, the Husbandman, the Law-
 yer, the Old Man, and the Lady, who among these men began to choose a husband. This
 complex wooing scene has dwindled, by 1952, to a slight wooing scene between the
 Ribboner and the Lady, who follow the Recruiting Sergeant; it has none of the
 speeches from the earlier wooing. The wooing of 1952 by comparison with other
 plays, is a good scene, which one would not otherwise regard as degenerate, but it
 has no connection with 1823. The next entrant is Dame Jane, whose opening speech
 is little changed from 1823 to 1952; her argument with the Fool over her child sur-
 vives, though the words are quite altered. In 1823 there then came in the Old Man,
 who was the last competitor in the earlier wooing; he had clearly lost his true place
 in 1823, and he disappears by 1952. The most surprising difference between the two
 versions is that in 1823 the conflict is between George and the Fool, whereas in
 1952 it is between Beelzebub and Dame Jane, both with their traditional lines.
 The Doctor's part is little changed, though the comic business is somewhat expanded
 in 1952. Another major difference is that in 1823 the wooing culminates only after
 the fight and cure, in the choice of the Fool by the Lady, who sing together:
 23 I have not been able to trace the MS. of the play which was first mentioned by Brand, Popular
 Antiquities, I., p. 573, and first printed in full by Ordish, Folk-Lore, VII (1896), p. 331.
 24 Monson collection, 1O/IA/6, and Aswarby Collection 10/88/84, at the Lincoln Record Office.
 I am indebted to Miss D. M. Williamson for both these references.

 We will have a jovial wedding, the fiddle shall merrily play,
 ri forlaurel laddy ri forlaurel lay, etc.
 Nothing like this survives in any modern version, though the jokes about the
 wedding feast of "limb of lark" and "louse to roast" still have an echo in 1952. The
 two versions coincide in the parting speech. There are as a matter of fact closer
 parallels between the Swinderby play of 1842 and that from Branston recorded in
 1953 than between the two Bassingham versions.
 It may be that Bassingham, 1823, had been inflated by larger additions from plays
 and ballads than was usual, and that between 1823 and 1952 the performances in
 that village returned to a commoner level and form. On the other hand the plays
 printed by Professor Baskervill (Bassingham, 1823; Broughton, 1824; and Swinderby,
 1842) are all more literary in form than any collected recently. The modern versions
 have plainly suffered from a common process of degeneration; fragments and echoes
 linger from Tudor and Stuart plays, and Georgian plays and ballads, but nothing of a
 literary character came in after the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Much was
 lost, but a tune could help to save a speech from being forgotten, and so the Recruit-
 ing Sergeant's part has survived, almost unaltered, in both counties. The variations
 between the contemporary version printed by Professor Baskervill are not surprising.
 There was no constant play, but rather a fund of speeches, steadily maintained, or
 even enlarged by borrowing, and shrinking only in the past century. It will be noted
 that the children's version of Bassingham, 1823, contains the "big head" speech of the
 Fool, but the men's play does not. At Alkborough in 1936 the lines were known but
 no one could fit them into the remembered version.
 There are two versions of the East Bridgford play, the first noted by A. S. Buxton
 in 1920 or so, the second in 1952. The "big head" speech occurs in the former but not
 in the latter, which is in any case quite different. The 1952 version has Eezum
 Squeezum, a common Notts. character; otherwise it has, I think, recollections of the
 play performed more recently at Tollerton and Plumtree, not far away. The 1920
 version has, incidentally, the lines of King George:
 By which great deeds I gained Saleen
 The King of Egypt's daughter.
 E. K. Chambers states that only once, in a Cornish play, is the king's daughter
 named-Sabra.25
 The Clipsham play26 is exceptional because the normal version was expanded in
 the mid-Victorian period by the introduction of verbal by-play which is full of the
 phrases and sentiments of that time. Tom Fool when he enters says that he has
 "come to learn the Art of Industry"-a phrase that smacks of the Great Exhibition.
 A little later comes the passage:
 First Man: Suppose we call you Tommy, lad. And pray how far have you travelled this night?
 Fool: From my old grandmother's fireside.
 25 The English Folk-Play, p. 24.
 26 Printed in the Rutland Magazine (1904), pp. 195-8.

 I doubt whether his entrance was the highlight of these Lincolnshire Plough plays, as
 it is said to be of the Cheshire Soul-caking plays in which he figures.36
 West of the Trent, the players most commonly called themselves Plough Bullocks,
 and the business of going round with the play was "Plough Bullocking". East of the
 Trent that term was not used, as far as I know; the term Plough Jags (or Jacks) was
 usual. In the eighteenth century the name was merely Plough Boys or Plough Men,
 according to the Monson household accounts. As for the condition and form of the
 texts, there is no reason to vary the remarks made by E. K. Chambers37 about the
 dislocation of incidents, the transfer of speeches from character to character, and the
 verbal degradation. The uniformity of the versions is remarkable, but not surprising;
 it is no doubt due, as he said, to the migrations of individual performers. It is
 difficult to realize, but certainly true, that the persistence of traditional pastimes was
 not incompatible with a high degree of mobility in the rural population, especially of
 course among the young, unmarried farm workers who made up the cast of the play.
 It is, perhaps, significant that the latest accretions to the play belong in the main to
 the first half of the nineteenth century, when high farming was at its peak and the
 young unmarried farm hands at their most numerous. In spite of the overall
 monotony, there are however certain regional variations which are worthy of
 comment.
 The play begins with the entrance of the presenter, announcing himself and his
 fellows. There are exceptions: at Wellingore, Lincs., all the players outside sang in
 unison:
 Some can dance and some can sing,
 By your consent we will come in.
 before the Fool entered, and it is said that at Calverton, Notts., the players "would
 burst into the house". Normally the players are presented by Tom Fool, but this
 uniformity is less marked in north- west Notts. where, as we shall see, the influence of
 the Mummers' play can be discerned. At Bothamsall the first entrant is Rummer
 Roamer (perhaps "Roomer, Roomer", the person who entered demanding "A room,
 a room") and at Mansfield a Courtier. There are three variations of the opening
 speech. In the Kesteven group it is usually:
 In comes 1, bold Tom, a brave and nimble fellow;
 I've come to taste your beef and ale, it is so ripe and mellow.
 In north Lincs. villages it is usually:
 Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I come to give you a bold call;
 As Christmas time's a merry time, I've come to see you all.
 In most Notts. versions it is:
 Here I come, who's never been before,
 There's four more actors outside the door.
 36J.E.F.D.S.S., VI, No. 2 (1950), p. 48.
 37 Op. cit., pp. 10-12.

 At Blidworth, Bothamsall, Mansfield, Selston and Worksop the following opening
 has been taken from Mummers' plays:
 A room, a room, a room to let us in,
 We are not of the ragged sort, but of the Royal King.
 In both counties, the second character to enter is most frequently the Recruiting
 Sergeant, whose function it is to develop the dialogue in the direction of the wooing
 scene. Professor Baskervill has shown38 that he had been introduced into some
 plays by the first quarter of the nineteenth century. We may quote as typical his
 speech in the modern Bassingham version:
 In comes I the Recruiting Sergeant; I have arrived here just now;
 I've had orders from the King to enlist men that follow horse, cart and plough;
 Tinkers, tailors, peddlers, nailers, all the more to my advance,
 The more I hear the fiddle play the better I can dance.
 This is followed for instance at Willoughton by his song:
 Come me lads that's bound for listing,
 List and do not be afraid,
 You shall have all kinds of liquors,
 Likewise kiss the pretty maid.
 And ten bright guineas shall be your bounty,
 And your hat be trimmed with ribbons,
 Likewise cut a gallant show.
 This song is found in identical words in most of the Notts. plays.
 What Chambers called the Fool's Wooing normally follows; in addition to the
 different date of observance, it serves to distinguish the Plough play from the
 Mummers' play. It has been lost from the rather brief versions from the Notts.
 villages of Calverton, Edingley, Wellow and Whatton; it is missing, and has probably
 never been present, at Mansfield and Worksop. At Blidworth there is a trace of it
 in the words of the Sweetheart:
 There's always good fish in the sea,
 So why should I look after thee?
 I will let him for to know
 That I will get another beau,
 And with him my heart will go.
 In view of the absence of the wooing at Mansfield and Worksop from plays which
 still have some heroic characters, we ought perhaps to regard some of these west
 Notts. plays as forming an intermediate type, played on Plough Monday, without any
 reference to Father Christmas, by men who sometimes called themselves Plough
 Bullocks, who were really performing a Mummers' play. The wooing is preserved
 best in the Branston play, and at North Kelsey, where it was last performed in 1896.
 In some other plays, especially at Thornton Curtis, Wellingore and Willoughton, in
 38 See Modern Philology, XXI (1924).

 Lincs., the traces of the wooing are cut short by the entrance of the character who
 provokes the duel. Nevertheless, some interesting lines survive. In addition to the
 usual song
 Behold the lady bright and gay
 Good fortune and sweet charms,
 So scornfully I've been thrown away
 Right out of my true lover's arms;
 He swears if I don't wed with him
 As you will understand,
 Hie'll go and list for a soldier
 And go to some foreign land
 the texts from Lusby, Branston and from the Bassingham group of villages also have
 the dialogue which has survived unchanged from the early nineteenth century, in
 which the wooer offers, unavailingly at first, gold and silver, house and land, rings and
 jewels. When the wooing succeeds and the wedding day is announced:
 I'll let you know what we're going to have for dinner: a leg of louse and a mouse
 roasted whole, so you may bolt about and get your knives and forks sharpened, for
 there won't be a deal of gravy fly in your eye.
 At Lusby the Lady hands over to the Fool her bastard child, but in the Bassingham
 group this new element in the situation is introduced by Dame Jane, the next entrant.
 The latter is the more common and no doubt correct. She is found in all the com-
 plete plays, which thus have two female characters, as Chambers pointed out. This
 seems to weaken somewhat the force of Tiddy's speculations about the significance
 of the female character.39 In the north Lincs. plays there is often a third female,
 Besom Betty, who commonly enters last, since her function in modern times is to
 sweep up the mud brought in by the players. Bessy occurs in the northern Sword
 dances; here she has taken over the besom, the devil's emblem,,40 which in some Notts.
 plays is carried by Eezum Squeezum. Dame Jane is found in Notts. at East Drayton,
 Bothamsall, Plumtree, Tollerton and Wellow only, which is another indication of the
 marginal character of the mid-Notts. plays. Further east, she is missing from
 Clipsham in Rutland, Old Somerby and Digby in Kesteven and from Lusby in the
 Wolds. Her usual lines are:
 In comes I, old Dame Jane,
 Neck as long as a crane,
 Dib-dabbing over the meadow;
 Once I was a blooming maid,
 Now I'm a down old widow.
 At Alkborough she has been pushed back to the end of the play and:
 A wig behind and a wig before,
 Clear out, lads, and I'll sweep the floor.
 39 The Mumniers' Play, pp. 76-7.
 40 The besom is surely of more importance than indicated here. It is not the devil's but woman's
 emblem, which is the reason for its connection with witches.-V.A. See also Note 47, below.

 At Somerby, near Brigg, Besom Betty enters last and sweeps, but has Jane's usual
 lines.
 The combat is of course the best remembered and recorded part of the play. In all
 the better versions there is an air of inevitability about it; at Flintham the death of
 Beelzebub is due to his stepping between the duellists, and St. George blames the
 Recruiting Sergeant who had challenged him. The participants in the fight have
 become most confused and interchaniged. Irn the Bassingham group Beelzebub kills
 Dame Jane; in the north Lincs. villages usually the Soldier kills the Indian King.
 Elsewhere the Thrasher kills the Fool (Wellow and Clipsham), the Slasher kills
 St. George (Edingley), the Recruiting Sergeant kills Threshing Blade (Tollerton), or
 St. George Beelzebub (Flintham). It was the importance of the flail in the arable
 farming areas of the Lincolnshire Heath that put the Thrasher (Clipsham) and the
 Thrashing Blade (Digby, Tollerton) into the play. I have heard of a Lincolnshire
 Methodist local preacher who was known in the next county as the Lincolnshire
 Thrasher, because he could cleanse the soul of sin as powerfully as he could empty
 corn from the ear. At Clipsham and Tollerton the Thrasher is a seasonal Irish
 worker; "I'm old Murphy, the big Thrasher", and he boasts of having thrashed
 Napoleon. Even if the characters have lost their heoic names, they still have super-
 human qualities. Beelzebub nearly always has his lines about his club and frying
 pan, even if, as at Mansfield and Wellow, he has no part in the fight. In the following
 cases instead of a frying pan he has a "whitleather frying pan" (Plumtree and
 East Bridgford, Notts.), "a whitleather pan" (Calverton, Notts.), "a leather dripping
 pan" (Blidworth, Notts.), "a long-handled frying pan covered with whitleather"
 (North Kelsey), or "a wick leather frying pan" (Wellingore, Lincs.). The lines about
 Beelzebub's head of iron, body of steel and feet of knuckle bone are usually present,
 whether they are given to Dame Jane in the Bassingham group, the Fool at Clipsham,
 Bold Black at Old Somerby, the Indian King in north Lincs., or King George at
 Walesby. Beelzebub's lines:
 Slishey, Slasher, small as flies,
 I'll send you to Jamaica to make mince pies
 are found at Bassingham, Bulby, North Kelsey, Lusby, Old Somerby in Lincs., and
 Bothamsall, Plumtree, and Walesby, Notts., but in north Lincs. they are replaced by:
 O slisher and slasher, don't thou be so hot,
 For in this room thou doesn't know what thou's got;
 For of my sword there is no doubt,
 And if thou likes we'll fight it out.
 In seven Notts. plays we have Eezum Squeezum, who is unknown in Lincs. At
 Whatton he has Beelzebub's frying pan and there and at Clayworth he fights. Else-
 where he is relegated to the end, to collect in his frying pan. At Edingley the effect
 of his ancient lines is altered by the intrusion of Sam, who follows him with the
 parody:
 c 83

 Here come I, Sam, dirty old man,
 Washed his face in the frying pan,
 Combed his hair with the garden rake.
 Don't you think he's a dirty old snake?
 Such vulgarity is unusual. A more important distinction is that in six of the plays
 from central Notts. we find St. George declaiming his speech from the Mummers' play
 about slaying the dragon and winning the King of Egypt's daughter. This is also
 found in Lincs. at Branston, Willoughton and Thornton Curtis, but nowhere else.
 The Worksop play, last performed in 1922, is unique in Notts. Plough plays in
 having two combats: one early in the play between St. George and the Ploughboy,
 and a second later between Black Prince and Little Soldier, who is really Slasher.41
 After the cure, without any dance or song, Black Prince enters with these lines:
 In steps Black Prince of Paradise,
 The Black Morocco King;
 I've travelled through this famous world
 And caused church bells to ring.
 I've seven brothers champions,
 None of them I fear;
 I've sent terror through their hearts and minds
 With my sword and spear.
 As I walked through the lonely dale
 I met a lion by his den,
 He tried hard to devour me.
 I took my sword from my side
 And cut him down before me.
 Shouldst thou dispute these words I say,
 Step forth, bold soldier, and thou shall pay.
 Enter Little Soldier:
 In steps little Soldier,
 Bold Slasher is my name.
 He has the usual lines about mince pies. After the fight and cure, Betsy Beelzebub
 enters, threatening to sweep to their grave those who don't give money. The play is
 clearly fragmentary; it has taken the Black Prince, and presumably the whole of
 second duel, from the printed chap books.42
 In modern versions the interlude of the Doctor and the cure is in prose, unlike the
 older versions, such as Bassingham, 1823. The exception is the survival frequently
 of the description of the Doctor's travels:
 England, Ireland, France and Spain,
 Over the hills and back again.
 He has commonly travelled, as at Lusby, "from the fireside to the bedside, from the
 bedside to my old grandmother's cupboard, where I've had many a bit of pork pie,
 that makes me such a noble fellow, as you see I am". For the rest, the emphasis has
 4' In the Mummers' play from Underwood, on the border of Notts. and Derbyshire, St. George
 kills in turn Bold Slasher and Cut-the-Dash.
 42 The English Folk Play, p. 28.

 points. First, the comic elaboration, although its manner is ancient, belongs to the
 middle or later part of the nineteenth century. One cannot tell where it took place;
 different parts of it were widely dispersed by migrant farm workers. It was not
 absorbed everywhere. North Lincs. we may regard as a conservative region, which
 once borrowed Soldier and Indian King but resisted modern innovation. Nor did
 the Sherwood Forest area of central Notts. take it up, because the very poor quality
 of the land was responsible for differences in the pattern of labour migration. At
 Worksop, Laxton and Bothamsall the Doctor describes his travels differently:
 From Hellitititty, where's there's neither land, house nor city; I saw a lot of little pigs run
 up the street the other day with a knife and fork stuck up their dummucks, spouting out.44
 Who'll have a slice of hot ham rum punch kicked at one poor pig kicked him over ninety
 houses thirty church steeples and broke every bone he had in his belly.
 In the Selston Mummers' play he had seen "wooden churches with black puddings
 for bellropes". This speech occurs in Lincs. only, at North Kelsey, and there is no
 parellel for the Doctor's claim at Flintham that his pills
 kills cats and rats and make a leg of mutton tremble half a mile away. I have here another
 box of pills Tommy. Here's stilts for shrimps, glasses for blind bees, crutches for lame
 grasshoppers.
 All the full versions return to the norm with the lines:
 This man's not dead, he's in a trance,
 Rise up, Jack, and have a dance;
 If he can't dance, we can sing,
 Let's raise him up and we'll begin.
 In some cases this is followed, before the final song, or even interrupting it, by more
 comic dialogue intended to make sure that the players get food and drink. This
 occurs in south and mid Lincs. and at two Notts. villages. At Bassingham and
 Laxton, Hopper Joe takes round his hopper to collect gifts. Another major variation
 in north Lincs. and central Notts. is the entry of Beelzebub or Betsy Beelzebub with
 his club and pan. At Mansfield Micky Bent wants money to pay his rent; Molly Mop
 threatens to stop, and Tommy Tup follows her:
 If anybody knocks me down,
 They'll have to pick me up.
 Then the players form a circle and sing:
 Arise, boys, arise, and help us all to sing
 Glory to the company and God save the King;
 The King he was so bold,
 He dressed himself in gold,
 With a rick stick stag,
 I'll break my sword about your back
 With a rick stick stag.
 44 This has come from far afield; compare the Weston-sub-Edge play in The English Folk Play,
 p. 47.

 At Walesby Eezum Squeezum comes in after the dance and sweeps up with his
 besom. Sweeping up must have become important from the eighteenth century
 onwards, as brick floors, carefully washed, replaced earthen floors in farmhouses and
 cottages. My grandmother recalled that to get permission for the players to enter
 the kitchen of her home at Alkborough she promised to wash the floor afterwards.
 In all the Lincs. plays from Willoughton north we find some character to sweep the
 floor. At Willoughton the only trace of the wooing is in a short speech by the Lady
 who enters after the dance; she is followed by Beelzebub and Dame Jane. The
 Lusby play is even more confused; the Lady hands her baby over to her Husband and
 agrees to marry Tom Fool, who announces the wedding feast, as in Bassingham, 1823,
 before the players form for the final dance and song. In the north Lincs. plays
 Be-lzebub and Dame Jane, who had once fought in the duel, have been displaced there
 by the Soldier and the Indian King, and are thus relegated to sweeping up and
 collecting gifts.
 There are two forms of the finale. The normal, which occurs completely or in
 disjointed fragments in all but five cases, is here quoted from Carlton le Moorland:
 Good Master and good Mistress, as you sit by your fire,
 Remember us poor ploughboys who plough through mud and mire . . .
 concluding:
 You see our song is ended,
 You see our Fool is gone;
 We're making it our business
 To follow him along;
 We thank you for your civility
 And what you gave us here;
 We wish you all good night
 And another happy year.
 Regarding this as two elements, we find at five villages the third element already
 printed by Tiddy in the Clayworth play:
 We are not London actors
 That act upon the stage;
 We're just the country plough lads
 That plough for little wage;
 We've done our best that best can do,
 And best can do no more;
 We wish you all good night
 And another happy year.
 Walesby and Flintham combine all three, sung, of course, to the one tune already
 quoted. The "London actors" are found in Lincs. at Broughton and Somerby, near
 Brigg, and at Branston and Metheringham, near Lincoln. Old Somerby, near
 Grantham has instead:
 Success to the Master and Mistress also,
 Likewise the little children that round the table go;
 Here's hoping you will never want what nature doth provide,
 While happiness and plentiness attend your fireside.
 87

 This is found at Branston as well as the three former elements. The Clipsham finale
 includes these words, but begins:
 There's a good time coming, boys,
 Wait a little longer.
 Good Master and good Mistress,
 That sits around your fire,
 Put your hands into your pockets,
 That's what we do desire;
 Put bread into our hopper,
 And beer into our can;
 Let's hope you never will despise
 Our jolly servant man.
 Presumably the tune already quoted was used for these endings; we do not know the
 tune for the unique Selston finale:
 We've come to steal your old black hen,
 You'd better leave her alone;
 She lays two eggs on every day
 And on a Sunday three; (these two lines repeated)
 We've got a leather purse,
 Made of streaking leather skin;
 We want a few pence
 To line it well within.
 From the 1952 version of Selston this song has vanished; instead we have Jenny
 Wibbles and Tommy Tup to help Beelzebub with the collection.
 The regional variations which are perhaps the most important aspect of this study
 may be summarized. The plays from south Lincolnshire, Rutland and north
 Leicestershire, or from the limestone ridge which passes through them, form one
 group which has its outliers in central Nottinghamshire. There is a distinct difference
 between plays from the clays of central Nottinghamshire, where farming conditions
 and practices were approximately the same as on the Lincolnshire limestone, and
 those from the poor sandstone of central and western Nottinghamshire which we
 call Sherwood Forest. North Lincolnshire provides another group which, in spite of
 its links with other areas, shows its own individuality. These regions, as well as
 being each a distinct entity to the regional geographer, have one feature in common:
 they were, up to the agricultural depression, areas in which relatively large-scale
 arable farming supported large numbers of young farm workers living in their
 masters' houses. That was not so true of Sherwood Forest, or even of the pasture
 farming region of the Vale of Belvoir, from which we have only one good play
 (Cropwell) and one poor one (Whatton). Similarly the absence of plays from the
 Lincolnshire fens and marshland may best be explained by the persistence of small
 scale peasant farming, and therefore the absence of the young men who on December
 nights slipped out of farmhouse kitchens to rehearse in barn or stable.45
 45 This point may seem an exaggeration, but I was informed in June 1953 by Mr. E. J. Rose of
 Laxton, who used to play Hopper Joe in the Laxton play, that when he was young, fifty years ago,
 there were in the village some thirty menservants and about fifteen maidservants. There are few,
 if any, to-day. Readers of Larkrise to Candleford will recall that "there was no girl over twelve or
 thirteen living permanently at home" in Larkrise in Flora Thompson's youth.

 A short time ago I would have said that new discoveries, which are certainly waiting
 to be made, are unlikely to alter profoundly the picture which is now visible. The
 discovery of the Branston play in 1953 shows that it is possible to under-rate the powers
 of survival of old and very elaborate forms of the play. Mr. F. Jacklin is now 78 and
 last performed the play before 1913; he remembered, accurately and without difficulty,
 the whole of the long text. He also produced a photograph taken about 1900-the
 oldest, to my knowledge, of a Plough Jag team. He is the Doctor, in a long, white
 horsehair beard. St. George has a sort of helmet and fierce horsehair moustaches.
 The Ribboner's coat is covered with bunches of braid and ribbon, and he carries a
 concertina; Tom Fool's trousers are covered with cut out shapes of implements and
 animals. The text of the play is equally interesting. The wooing of the Lady by
 the Ribboner is the longest and best since the early nineteenth-century versions, and
 it is introduced by Tom Fool with a song that comes unaltered from the Swinderby
 version of 1842. The protagonists are King George and the Sergeant; after their
 battle of words, Tom Fool says:
 Stir up the fire and shine the light,
 And see the gallant act to-night;
 The clock has struck, the time has come
 For this battle to go on.
 The Sergeant then fells the King with the words:
 Draw out thy sword in haste
 For thy ribs I will abase.
 These examples are enough to show that the play retains a flamboyant character
 that many recent texts have lost. The Fool's wedding feast is announced, according
 to the oldest tradition, after the cure, but this happy ending is threatened by Dame
 Jane's entry, offering her bastard child to its putative father, and the Fool agrees to
 marry her instead, with a unique song (to the tune already mentioned):
 Now Madam as I crossed over your dell
 One morning very soon,
 Dressed in my best apparel
 Likewise my clouded shoes,
 To thee I come a wooing,
 To thee, my buxom Nell;
 If thou loves me as I love you
 Thou lovest a person well.
 The play has thus lost very little in the last century, as the full ending shows.
 The discovery of this play encourages the belief that others as valuable may still
 be expected. Gaps in the distribution pattern may still be filled,46 the overlapping
 46 The few clues about the Lincs. fenland have been picked up since 1952.

 traditions of Derbyshire may be further elucidated. It is to be hoped that this
 account, which has taken the writer into fields of knowledge in which he is not accus-
 tomed to move, may stimulate others with better opportunities and equipment.47
 47Mr. Barley's study is of great value for the student of the Folk Play for its clear picture of one
 batch of material and its local distribution. Perhaps the study is too detailed to illuminate the whole
 scene, but some important points emerge:-
 The "woman" and, Beelzebub are clearly the "Antiques" among the characters although they are
 relegated to minor r6les in many of the variants. With European analogues to guide us, especially
 the primitive phallic examples in Rumania and Macedonia, the Clubman and the reproducing
 female are essential to the fertility cult. It is the basic fertility cult and not the names of characters
 that distinguishes the real Plough plays from the "Mummers' plays" which depict only death and
 resurrection. In the latter the central sex characters have been deposed, even when there is a wooing,
 presumably because their act became classed as obscene and unsuitable for popular spectacle.
 The "make-room" characters, the Besom sweepers and Do-outs are of ancient significance; sweeping
 out evil to let in magic, as the flail and club carriers thrashed out creeping death to let in life. If the
 sweepers became useful to tidy up after tihe kitchen horse-play on brick floors that usefulness does not
 explain their origin or why tIhey should commandeer buckets, mops and brushes left lying about.
 Reformation prohibitions are enough to account for the suppression of the blatant fertility aspects
 of the Plough play and the acceptance instead of edifying St. George and the other champions.
 Always there are bare traces of the ambiguous but popular figures of the old religion. The Doning-
 ton fragment possibly refers to a Mystery or Nativity play, into which that popular figure the Sawdone
 or Sultan might easily have been introduced.
 The flail has obviously special significance as beating out the live seed from the dead chaff. Scape-
 goats are belaboured with it in many East European customs and it certainly gives point to the name
 of Thrasher as a character distinct from the Club-man padded out anid stuffed to take the blows and
 carrying the female symbol of the frying pan. The description of the tall hats-big heads-decor-
 ated with beads and silver is very valuable. These can be paralleled with the great head-dresses
 of the Basque "characters" with the large mirrors to give life by reflecting light, and with the bushes
 and garlands and silver-laden Rush-carts of the Morris dancers in England. Valuable, too, is the
 evidence of the numerouts young unmarried farm workers moving from locality to locality and
 playing the part of the Plough Jacks or Bullocks-and of the early decline in the Plough plays in the
 Fen district due to small-scale farming.-D.N.K.
 In March of this year I made some recordings of Plough plays in Lincolnshire for the B.B.C.
 Folk-Music and Dialect Scheme. These include the whole of the Barrow-on-Humber Plough Jags'
 play, together with songs and their Sword dance; and John Martin and Richard Brown (aged 83) talk-
 ing about the Plough Jags. At Helpringham, near Sleaford, I went round with the village school-
 master, Mr. Aram, and recorded from the old people who remembered parts of their local "Morris
 dance." Two portions, at least, of this play were sung:-
 Then, kind soldier, I like your offer,
 Time anid wages sweet do pass.
 Dash my wig if I'll grieve any longer
 For such a proud and saucy lass.
 and:
 Behold a lady bright and fair,
 Sweet fortune and sweet charm,
 So sadly was torn away
 Out of her dear love's arm.
 From the various recordings we were able to put togethier the complete play which has recently been
 revived by Mr. Aram with some of the descendants of original performers.-P.D.K.
 90

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 I am deeply indebted to Mrs. E. H. Rudkin for generously placing at my disposal
 the texts of plays which she has collected, and the knowledge which she has acquired
 as a skilled field worker in north Lincolnshire. Canon R. F. Wilkinson, M.A., F.S.A.,
 very kindly allowed me to copy the plays collected thirty years ago by A. S. Buxton
 of Mansfield, whose note books he now possesses, as well as the text of East Drayton,
 Notts., which he himself recorded. Mr. A. J. Jenkinson drew my attention to the Old
 Somerby play, which he published, and Mr. E. G. Bolton to the text of Clipsham,
 Rutland. Mr. G. Christian very kindly gave me the text of the Mummers' play from
 Underwood, Notts., which he recorded in 1950. The information about Whaplode
 and Fosdyke in the Lincs. fens was gathered for me by Mr. H. E. Hallam. Mr. H.
 Birkett gave me the names of Mr. F. Jacklin of Branston, and Mr. E. Shields of
 Eakring, from whom came the Branston and Metheringham plays. The editor
 placed at my disposal the texts of Tollerton and Laxton, Notts., and also the
 Leicestershire plays collected by Mr. D. Welti. Most of the other texts I have
 obtained from students in extra-mural classes whiclh I conducted for University
 College, Hull, and the University of Nottingham, and I would like to thank particu-
 larly Mr. J. Martin of Barrow on Humber, as well as those who are named in the
 Appendix.
 APPENDIX
 FOLK PLAYS FROM THE EAST MIDLANDS
 Unless otherwise stated, the plays are Plough Monday plays. In the lists of characters, D indicates
 the character who dies, K the killer in the duel.
 LEICESTERSHIRE
 BRANSTON. Collected by Mr. D. Welti from Mr. G. Frisby of Branston, 1949. Opening Man,
 Tom Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Farmer's Man, Lady, King George, Doctor. Alternative versions
 with Old Threshing Blade and Beelzebub instead of King George.
 KNIPTON. Remembered by Mr. E. J. Newton. Leading Man, Farmer's Man, Recruiting Ser-
 geant, Lady, Tom Fool, Beelzebub (or Threshing Blade), Doctor.
 LINCOLNSHIRE
 Not located.
 1. "The Recruiting Sergeant" printed by C. R. Baskervill, Mocdern Philology, XXI (1924),
 pp. 259-68.
 2. Collected by M.W.B. at Barrow on Humber, 1936; north Lincs.
 3. Printed by Mrs. Murray-Aynsley in Revue des traditions populaires, IV, pp. 609-12.
 4. Fragments of version from Wolds of North Lincs. printed in Gutch & Peacock, County
 Folk-Lore, V, pp. 181-3.
 ALFORD. See description in Lincs. N. & Q., If, p. 21.
 ALKBOROUGH. Recorded by Mr. J. Gott, Walcot, and printed by M.W.B. in The Local Historian
 (Lindsey Local Hist. Soc.), No. 8 (July 1936). Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Soldier (K), Beelzebub,
 Hobby Horse, Lady, Indian King (D), Doctor, Jane, Besom Betty.
 AYHOLME, ISLE OF. Printed in CountY Folk-Lore, V, pp. 176-8. Fool, Soldier, Dame Jane with
 baby (D), Beelzebub (K), Doctor.

 BARRow ON HUMBER. Recorded by Mr. J. Martin, Barrow on Humber, 1951. Fool, Threshing
 Blade. Beelzebub, Hopper Joe, Music Jack, Besom Bet, Hobby Horse, Farmer's Man, Dame Jane
 with baby, Soldier (K), Lady, Indian King (D), Doctor, Hat Men (?). Recorded also by P. Kennedy,
 1953., for B.B.C. Recorded Programmes Library (Records Nos. 19028-9).
 BARROWBY. Fragments collected by Mr. D. Welti from Mr. R. Smart of Knipton, 1949. Tom
 Fool, Farmer's Man, Woman, Doctor, Recruiting Sergeant, Singer.
 BARTON ON HUMBER. Fragments collected by M.W.B., 1937, Clown, Soldier, Lady, Besom Betty,
 Dame Jane, Hobby Horse, Doctor (protagonists of combat not known).
 BASSINGHAM. Men's Mummers' Play, 1823, and Children's Play, 1823, printed by C. R.
 Baskervill in Modern Philology (1924), pp. 241-50. Modern version printed by E. H. Rudkin in
 The Lincolnshire Poacher (1952), pp. 23-30. Characters in 1952: Tom Fool, Recruiting Sergeant,
 Ribboner, Lady, Farmer's Man, Hopper Joe, Dame Jane (D) with baby, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 BRANSTON. "Plough Play or Morris Dance", according to Mr. F. Jacklin, who recorded it for
 L. B. Barley in May, 1953. Last performed in 1913. Fool, Sergeant (K), Ribboner, Lady, King
 George (D), Doctor, Dame Jane (with baby).
 BRIGG AND SOMERBY. Printed by M. Macnamara in Dramna, X, p. 42.
 BROUGHTON. Christmas play dated 1824 printed by C. R. Baskervill, Modern Philology, XXI
 (1924), pp. 250-8. Fool, Lady, three Ribboners, Husbandman, Ancient Man, Jane (no combat).
 BULBY. Printed by R. J. E. Tiddy in The Mummers' Play, pp. 236-40. Tom Fool, Soldier, Farmer's
 Boy, Lady, Old Jane (D), Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 BURRINGHAM. Text collected and Hobby Horse preserved by Mrs. E. H. Rudkin. Tom Fool, two
 Hobby Horses, two Grooms, Soldier, Sergeant, Elsie Belsie Bug, two Hat Men, Besom Bet, Doctor,
 two Collectors.
 CARLTON LE MOORLAND. Printed by E. H. Rudkin in Folk-Lore, L (1939), pp. 88-92 and P1. V.
 Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Lady, Farmer's Man, Dame Jane (D) with baby, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 DIGBY. Printed by E. H. Rudkin in Folk-Lore, L (1939), pp. 92-7. Tom Fool, Recruiting Ser-
 geant, Lady, Farmer's Man, Threshing Blade (K), Bold Black (D), Doctor.
 DONINGTON. Cast c. 1563-5 listed among parish records, Lincoln Record Office. Sultan, Duke,
 Messenger, Herald, Steward, Holofernes, three Young Men, three Messengers, two Knights.
 EPWORTH. Described by W. Peck, History and Topography of the Isle of Axholme (Doncaster,
 1815), p. 277.
 GRIMSBY. Plough Ship described by G. Oliver in Ye Byrde of Gryme (Grimsby, 1866), pp. 177-9.
 HALTON, W. Collected by M.W.B., 1937. Fool (K), Soldier, Beelzebub, Hobby Horse, Lady,
 Jndian King (D), Doctor, Jane, Besom Betty.
 HELPRINGHAM. Fragments recorded by P. Kennedy for B.B.C., 1953. (Records Nos. 19033-4).
 HIBALDSTOW. See County Folk-Lore, V, pp. 178, 181, and N. & Q., Ninth Series, VI[,
 pp. 322, 363. Clown, Recruiting Sergeant, Foreign Traveller, Lady, Farmer, Indian King, Lady
 ,Jane (no combat).
 KELSEY, N. Printed in The Village (published by the National Council of Social Service), No. 20
 (January 1937). Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Lady, Farmer's Man, Dame Jane (D) with baby,
 Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 KIRTON IN LINDSEY. See County Folk-Lore, V, pp. 183-6, and N. & Q., loc. cit. Tom Fool,
 Recruiting Sergeant (D), Lady, King George (K), Doctor, Dame Jane.
 KIRMINGTON. Printed by Tiddy, pp. 254-7. Fool, Sergeant (K), Music Jack, Indian King (D),
 Doctor, Lady, Bold Tom, Dame Jane.
 LUSBY. Recorded by Mr. Robert Brader, c. 1938. Tom Fool, Sergeant (K), Lady with baby,
 Husband, Beelzebub (D), Doctor.
 METHERINGHAM. Collected by M. W. B. from Mr. E. Shields of Eakring, Notts., in March, 1953.
 Tom Fool (K), Farmer's Man, Hopper Joe, Recruiting Sergeant, Dame Jane, Beelzebub (D), Doctor.
 MUMBY. Mummers' Wooing play performed at Christmas, described in County Folk-Lore, V,
 p. 220. Tom Fool, Lady, Fiddler (Recruiting Sergeant ?), Farmer's Son, two others (no combat).
 NETTLETON. Part of Mummers' play published by G. S. Dixon in Lincs. N. & Q., XVIII (1923-5),
 pp. 132-3, from notebook of W. Shadford of Caistor, 1850.
 NEW HOLLAND. Mummers' play collected since 1940 by J. Martin from Mr. J. Mouncey. Fool,
 Little Devil Doubt, Beelzebub (K), Jack Rix (D), Soldier, Doctor.
 REVESBY. Version of 1779 printed by T. F. Ordish in Folk-Lore, VII (1896), pp. 331-56, and in
 The English Folk-Play, pp. 104-

 SOMERBY. See BRIGG.
 SOMERBY, OLD (near Grantham). Printed by A. J. Jenkinson in Cornhill Magazine (Jan. 1930).
 Tom Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Lady, Plough Boy, Beelzebub (K), Bold Black (D), Doctor.
 SWINDERBY (1842). Mummers' Wooing play printed by C. R. Baskervill in Modern Philology,
 XXI (1924), pp. 262-8. Fool, Sergeant, Recruit, Lady, Husbandman, Dame Jane (no combat).
 THORNTON CURTIS AND WOOTTON. Fragments collected by M.W.B., 1939. Fool, Lady, Indian
 King (K), Soldier (D), Doctor, Recruiting Sergeant, Beelzebub, Dame Jane (order inaccurate).
 WAINFLEET. Guisers or Sword dancers. See Heanley in Viking Saga Book, III, pp. 6, 7.
 WELLINGORE. Collected by M.W.B., 1953. Tom Fool, Beelzebub (D), Deb Jane, Lady, Soldier
 (K), Doctor.
 WILLOUGHTON. Printed by E. H. Rudkin in Folk-Lore, L (Sept. 1939), p. 291. Fool,
 Recruiting Sergeant (K), Sir George (D), Doctor, Lady, Beelzebub, Dame Jane.
 WINTERTON. Opening speech only in Counity Folk-Lore, V, p. 181.
 WOOTTON. See THORNTON CURTIS.
 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
 BLIDWORTH. Collected by A. S. Buxton, c. 1920. Tom Fool (D), Sergeant (K), third Plough
 Bullock, Sweetheart, Doctor, Beelzebub.
 BOTHAMSALL(?). Text in possession of M.W.B. Rummer Roamer, Tom Fool, Sergeant, Farmer's
 Man, Jane (D) with baby, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 BRIDGFORD, E. Collected by A. S. Buxton, c, 1920. Another version collected by M.W.B., 1953.
 Cast in 1920: Tom Fool, Sergeant (K), Farmer's Man, Lady, King George (D), Doctor. Cast in
 1952: Tom Fool, Eezum Squeezum, Old Lady, Doctor (protagonists unknown).
 CALVERTON. Fragments noted by Mrs. F. G. Brooks, 1952. Eezum Squeezum, Doctor.
 CLAYWORTH. Two versions printed by Tiddy in The iMummers Play, pp. 241-7. Cast of first
 version: Bold Tom, Recruiting Sergeant (K), Farmer's Boy, Farmer's Man, Lady, Eezum Squeezum
 (D), Doctor. Cast of second version: Fool, King George (K), Beelzebub (D), Doctor.
 CROPWELL. Printed by Mrs. Chaworth Musters in A Cavalier Stronghold (1890), pp. 387-92.
 Tom Fool, Sergeant, Ribboner, Lady, Threshing Blade, Hopper Joe, Farmer's Man, Dame Jane (D)
 with baby, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 DRAYTON, E. Collected by Canon R. F. Wilkinson, c. 1925. Tom Fool, Recruiting Sergeant,
 Plough Boy, Lady (D), Dame Jane, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 EDINGLEY. Collected by A. S. Buxton, c. 1920. (?), Farmer's Man, St. George (D), Eezum
 Squeezum, Sam Slasher (K), Doctor.
 FLINTHAM. Collected by M.W.B., 1948. Tom Fool, Recruiting Sergeant, Farmer's Man, Lady,
 Beelzebub (D), St. George (K), Doctor.
 LAXTON. Recorded by Mr. J. W. Price, Westwood Farm, Laxton, 1937. Fool, King George,
 Prince of Orange, Doctor, Beelzebub, Dame Jane (protagonists King George and Prince of Orange).
 MANSFIELD. Collected by A. S. Buxton, c. 1920. Courtier, St. George (K), Slasher (D), Doctor,
 Beelzebub, Nicky Bent, Tom TuLp.
 MUSKHAM, N. Fragment collected by M.W.B., 1952. Farmer's Man.
 PLUJMTREE. Recorded by M.W.B. from Robert Astill of Plumtree, March 1953. Tom Fool,
 Sergeant, Farmer's Man, Lady, Dame Jane (D) with baby, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 SCARLE, SOUTH. Printed by J. G. Holmes in The Nottinghamshire Countryside, Vol. 13, No. 3
 (1952), pp. 7, 8. Tom Fool, Farmer's Man, Lady, Recruiting Sergeant, Dame Jane (D) with baby,
 Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 SELSTON. Mummers' play collected by A. S. Buxton, c, 1920. Last performed c, 1930. Col-
 lected again by J. L. Moss, 1951. Cast in 1920: First Plough Bullock (K), Guy (D), Second Plough
 Bullock, Doctor, Beelzebub. Cast in 1951: First Man (D), St. George (K), Old Woman, Doctor,
 Beelzebub, Jenny Wibble, Tommy Tup.
 TOLLERTON. Collected by Miss M. Shepherd, 1950. Still performed. See photograph Notting-
 ham Guardian, Jan. 10, 1950, and Violet Alford, Introd. to Engl. Folklore, p. 40. Tom Fool, Recruit-
 ing Sergeant (K), Farmer's Man, Lady, Dame Jane, Threshing Blade (D), Doctor.
 UNDERWOOD. Christmas Mummers' Play recorded by Mr. G. Christian, 1950, from children's
 performance. Bold Slasher (D), Father Christmas, St. George (K), Doctor, Cut the Dash (D),
 Little John Jack, Oliver Cromwell, Beelzebub, Little Devil Doubt.

 WALESBY. Recorded for M.W.B. by Mr. M. Whitworth, 1951. Tom Fool (D), Recruiting
 Sergeant, Lady, King George (K), Policeman, Doctor, Eezum Squeezum.
 with baby, Soldier (K), Lady, Indian King (D), Doctor, Hat Men (?).
 WELLOW. Fragments collected by M.W.B. from Mrs. Ragsdale, 1953. Tom Fool (K), (?)
 Beelzebub, Thresher (D), Deb Jane, Doctor.
 WHATTON. Collected in 1949 by M.W.B. from the Misses Greasley, Whatton. Tom Fool,
 Farmer's Man, Eezum Squeezum (D), (?) Doctor.
 WORKSOP. Collected by A. S. Buxton, 1922. Ploughboy (K), St. George (D), Black Prince (D),
 Soldier (K), Beelzebub.
 RUTLAND
 CLIPSHAM. Printed by M. G. Cherry in Rutlanid MagaZine, Vol. 1 (1903-4), pp. 195-9. First Man,
 Fool (D), Lady, Recruiting Sergeant, Servant Man, Jolly Joe, Thrasher (K), Doctor.
 E. YORKS
 Not located. Mummers' play collected by M.W.B., 1937. Fool, St. George (K), Slasher
 (wounded), Doctor, Prince of Paradise (K), King of Egypt, Hector (wounded), Beelzebub, Devil
 Doubt.
 HuFTON CRANSWICK. Collected by M.W.B. from Mr. J. Robson, 1936. Beelzebub (D), King
 William, Slasher (K), Doctor

---------------

Plough Plays in the East Midlands
Author(s): M. W. Barley
Source:
Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society,
 Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1955), pp.
249-252

 VARIA ATQUE BREVIORA
 PLOUGH PLAYS IN THE EAST MIDLANDS
 (See JEFDSS Vol. VII, No. 2, 1953, pp. 68-95)
 FURTHER NOTES CONTRIBUTED BY M. W. BARLEY
 Plough Lights p. 70. References to plough lights occur at Addlethorpe, Louth, Wigtoft.
 Costumes (p. 76): Mabel Peacock put together in her MS. notes "from unauthenticated cuttings
 from local papers", etc. She believed them to embody a correct tradition, though she could not
 confirm them from personal observation.
 "Blether Dick (the Fool) was dressed in ass'-skin. In his hand he carried a waggoner's whip with a
 distended pig's or sheep's bladder at the end of the lash. With this bladder he used to belabour
 Bess, otherwise Betty Besom. The man who acted the part of Bessy is said to have formerly worn a
 bullock's tail beneath his gown, which he held in his hand when dancing. The Plough Monday
 Mummers used to wear horse-skins with the head left on, and the jaws made to open and shut. The
 head and neck of a bullock was also worn as a mask."
 "Formerly the Ribbon men, who wear very tall hats very profusely trimmed with ribbons, had
 white shirts, or smocks, over their clothes. These shirts were also decorated with ribbons. Twenty or
 more ploughmen, with ribbons in their hats, dragged a plough from house to house on Plough
 Monday, accompanied by a troop of Morris dancers including Besom Bet. Some of them wore a
 bunch of corn ears in their hats. Sometimes the ploughmen would be joined by the threshers with
 their flails, the reapers with their sickles, and other workers more or less nearly connected with
 farm labour. In north-west Lincolnshire, in the early half of the nineteenth century, the Stangsmen or
 Gangsmen had tall beribboned hats and white shirts or blouses hanging down loose over their other
 garments. These shirts were covered with tags and knots of ribbon. The Fool had a high Fool's cap,
 and was dressed in tatters. The plough had the share taken out, and was then drawn three times
 round the farmhouse kitchen. The dance danced by the Plough Jags was a kind of Country dance."

 Mabel Peacock also records that Mrs. Howlett of Langton, near Horncastle, remembered the Fool
 dressed in 'snips' of cloth in Harlequin colours. Mrs. Howlett was married about 1840; other old
 people confirmed this.
 The following additions can now be made to the list of plays:-
 LEICESTERSHIRE
 ELMESTHORPE. Reference in 1811 to Plough Monday and [Plough bullocks; Leicester and Rutland
 Folk Lore, p. 99.
 KEGWORTH. A degenerate version of a Plough Boys' ceremony was performed here by schoolboys
 about 1925. This item of information carries the distribution of the play into north-west Leicestershire.
 SAPCOTE. An annual display of "Morris dancing" on Plough Monday at Claybrook by players
 from Sapcote and Shamford; Macauley, History and Antiquities of Claybrook (1791), pp. 127-31.
 THURCASTON. Villagers performed "Morris dances" on Plough Monday; characters included
 Maid Marion, Fool, Beelzebub. One player said: "The bullocks are thirsty and want some beer";
 Leicester and Rutland County Folk Lore, pp. 93-4. Nichols, History of Leicestershire, IV, pt. ii,
 p. 896, records that in 1798 "on Plough Monday the young people collected as much money as
 served to feast them on three days successively"; they feasted in the schoolroom in Easter week.
 The churchwarden refused to accept the unexpended balance of £5.
 LINCOLNSHIRE
 ASHBY. Mabel Peacock recorded the visit of an Ashby team to Bottesford. Her brother Adrian
 recalled that "when times were bad the bands of Mummers were larger, the preparations more
 elaborate, and the play more carefully acted, for the younger married men joined with the ploughmen
 in getting up the piece, and wished to please as many as possible, to earn money for their families".
 BUCKNALL. Mabel Peacock has a report that the Plough play was performed here c. 1850; the
 team was "about twelve in number, yoked to the plough by ropes".
 BUTTERWICK, E. Mabel Peacock recorded that the team here included a Hobby Horse and "a
 black man . . . who probably represented . . . Indian King".
 COLSTERWORTH. The play given by Mr. E. Shields and said to come from Metheringham really
 belongs to Colsterworth. Mr. L. Butler, as a result of a further talk with him, also got a version of
 the play with differently named characters entering in a different order: Leading Man, Tom Fool (K),
 Farmer's Man, Recruiting Sergeant, Serving Maid (or Lady), Dame Jane, Hopper Joe, Belsey
 Bub (D), Doctor.
 FRISKNEY. The Plough Jags used to go round over eighty years ago (per Mrs. Simpson, Friskney,
 aged 83. August 1955).
 HELPRINGHAM. This play, referred to by Mr. P. D. Kennedy (p. 90), has been recovered by Mr.
 C. H. Aram. It had Leader, Fool, Sergeant, Lady (D), Ploughboy, Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 KIRTON-IN-LINDSEY. Mabel Peacock records a slightly different version with Fool, Jarve Elwood
 (really Beelzebub), Dame Jane, Recruiting Sergeant, King George, Doctor. It is not clear who fought
 the duel.
 KIRTON LINDSEY. Mrs. E. H. Rudkin states that the Plough Jags used to sing "Dame Durden".
 Dame Durden kept five servantmen
 To use the spades and flails,
 She also kept five servant maids
 To carry the milking pails,
 'Twas Moll and Bet and Doll and Kit
 And Dorothy Draggle-tail,
 And 'twas Bob and Dick and Jack and Will,
 And Humphrey with his flail.
 So Bob kissed Betty, and Dick kissed Moll,
 And Jack kissed Kitty, and Will kissed Doll
 Then there was Humphrey with his flail
 But Kittie she was a charming maid
 That carried the milking pail.
 250
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 Dame Durden in the morn so soon
 She did begin to call,
 To rouse her servants, maids and men,
 So loudly did she bawl.
 To Moll and Bet and Doll and Kit,
 And Dorothy Draggle-tail
 And Bob and Dick and Jack and Will
 And Humphrey with his flail.
 So Bob kissed Betty, etc.
 When in the morn of Valentine
 And birds began to mate,
 Dame Durden with her maids and men
 They all began to prate.
 There was Moll and Bet and Doll and Kit,
 And Dorothy Draggle-tail,
 And Will and Jack and Dick and Bob
 And Humphrey with his flail.
 Then Will kissed Betty, etc.
 (Written down by Mrs. E. Moore of Kirton Lindsey, in 1936).
 MESSINGHAM. Mabel Peacock describes the visit of a Messingham team to Bottesford, her home.
 It included Besom Bet, Fool (who after a mock wooing of the young lady, married Besom Bet),
 Soldier and Ribboner. She recorded that "The Fool was at times clothed in tags and tatters from
 top to toe, but on one occasion at least he was clothed in skins, with a skin cap. They appeared to
 be rabbit skins. Then, and I think at other times, he carried a whip with a bladder at the end of
 the lash, with which he assaulted the audience, and he also attacked the riotous curvetting Hobby
 Horse, who my brother says, was always fooling, quarrelling with Betty".
 SCOTTER. A fragmentary version contributed by Mrs. Drayton, with Introducer, Joe Straw (D),
 Belsey Bug (K), Doctor, Recruiting Sergeant, Lady, Besom Bet, two Hobby Horses and grooms.
 WINTERTON. Mabel Peacock describes the Hobby Horses in a team here in 1901.
 WISPINGTON. Mabel Peacock's MS. has a play with Tom Fool, Sergeant, Ribboner, Lady Dame
 Jane (D), Beelzebub (K), Doctor.
 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
 Unidentified. J. Potter Briscoe in Nottinghamshire Facts and Fancies (1876) quotes part of a south
 Notts. play with Anthony, King of England or Egypt (K), Prince (D), Salina the King's daughter
 and the Doctor. I am indebted to Mr. L. Butler for this reference.
 COLLINGHAM. Mr. A. Helm has obtained from Mr. N. M. Beaumont a fragment, including the
 Doctor's speeches.
 CAUNTON. Text recorded by M.W.B. from Mrs. Parker. Tom Fool, Sergeant, Lady, Dame Jane
 (D), Eezum Squeezum (K), Doctor.
 MANSFIELD. Mr. A. Helm has obtained from Mr. J. Harrop-White a version of a Plough play
 with Prologuer, St. George (K), Bold Slasher (D), Doctor, the Snake, Sally Mop, Belsebub. The same
 informant also produced a slight version of a Mumming play, with Father Christmas, the Doctor
 and, possibly, St. George.
 MUSKHAM, N. The full play has now been recorded by M.W.B. from Mr. W. Gascoyne. There
 were two teams in the village, one of men and another of youths; he was a member of the latter.
 Tom Fool (D), Recruiting Sergeant, Lady, Threshing Blade (carrying a stuffed stocking with which
 he kills Tom Fool), Doctor, Eezum Squeezum (wearing a stuffed sack), Little Clown. The wassail
 song was used by the Lady and for the final chorus. Last performed before 1914.
 SHELFORD. Fragments collected by Mr. L. Butler from Mrs. Atkins. First Man, Farmer's Boy,
 Belsey Bub, Eezum Squeezum (K?), Dame Jane (D), Doctor. Ploughboys toured the village during
 the day, in fools' clothes, begging. Farming men turned out in the evening, in two groups, one of
 actors with blackened faces, the other of farm hands drawing a cleaned plough. Last performed 1913..
 See also J. Potter Briscoe, op. cit., p. 6.

 TRESWELL. The teams included Dame Jane and Beelzebub.
 WOODBOROUGH. Fragments collected by M.W.B., including speeches of Big Belly Ben and the
 Doctor.
 RUTLAND
 OAKHAM. Mr. A. Helm has obtained from Mr. C. W. Alexander a play with Headman, Fool (D),
 Servant Man, Lady, Recruiting Sergeant, Threshing Blade (K), Doctor, Hopper Joe. It is identical
 with the Clipsham play. The Headman "would be the waggoner for the squire or largest farmer of
 the district".
 The writer is indebted to the Folk-Lore Society for permission to print material from the MS. of
 Mabel Peacock, now in the Society's library, and to Mr. A. Helm for lending his notes from the MS.
 TRESWELL. The teams included Dame Jane and Beelzebub.
 WOODBOROUGH. Fragments collected by M.W.B., including speeches of Big Belly Ben and the
 Doctor.
 RUTLAND
 OAKHAM. Mr. A. Helm has obtained from Mr. C. W. Alexander a play with Headman, Fool (D),
 Servant Man, Lady, Recruiting Sergeant, Threshing Blade (K), Doctor, Hopper Joe. It is identical
 with the Clipsham play. The Headman "would be the waggoner for the squire or largest farmer of
 the district".
 The writer is indebted to the Folk-Lore Society for permission to print material from the MS. of
 Mabel Peacock, now in the Society's library, and to Mr. A. Helm for lending his notes from the MS

-----------------

 Correspondence
 'The Ploughboy and the Plough Play' by Alun Howkins and Linda Merricks
 in Journal, 6.2 (1991), 187-208, and Correspondence from Beth Shaw in
 Journal, 6.4 (1993), 506-07.
 PETER MILLINGTON WRITES:
 In her comments on 'The Ploughboy and the Plough Play', Beth Shaw objected to
 Alun Howkins and Linda Merricks's using the term 'Recruiting Sergeant play' instead
 of the familiar 'wooing play'. As the source cited for their terminology,' I feel obliged
 to provide an explanation.
 Most folk play scholars have used the terms 'wooing play', 'bridal play' or 'plough
 play' to cover a large group of folk plays found in the English East Midlands. The
 term is used as if it refers to a single type of play but this is not the case. There are
 two versions. They share some common features-the Dame Jane scene and the
 quack doctor, for example-but there are distinct differences. This is especially so
 of the so-called 'wooing' scene which I will discuss further.
 The plays which have been the main focus of study are a handful of early nine-
 teenth-century texts from southwest Lincolnshire plus the Revesby play.2 The wooing
 scene can truly be called the main action of these plays. Thus we see the Lady (Cicely
 at Revesby) being courted by a whole series of suitors: the Fool (Noble Anthony),
 the Husbandman or Farming Man, a Lawyer, the Father's Eldest Son, and an Ancient
 Man. In each case the suitor states his case and is then rejected by the Lady who
 finally chooses the Fool.
 However, the vast majority of 'plough plays' from the East Midlands are of a
 different type. Here, the fool is Bold Tom or Tom Fool and, rather than a multiple
 wooing scene, there is a three-way operatic scene between the Recruiting Sergeant,
 the Farmer's Man (or Ploughboy) and the Lady Bright and Gay. The Recruiting
 Sergeant calls for recruits and the Farmer's Man abandons his sweetheart to join the
 army. The Lady, on the rebound, accepts a perfunctory proposal of marriage from
 the Fool.
 Although some of the principal characters of these scenes are superficially similar,
 there are significant differences in the cast-the fool characters, for instance, have
 different names -and the relevant lines are almost totally dissimilar. Perhaps even
 more significant is the fact that far from the Lady rejecting her suitors, in the second
 version it is she who is rejected by the recruit.
 If one accepts that these two versions are distinct, then revised terminology is
 needed. The first type can correctly be called a wooing play, but I prefer 'multiple
 wooing play' because this highlights the distinctive nature of the action. It also serves
 to distinguish it from the old terminology.
 Folk MusicJournal, Volume 7, Number 1, 1995 ISSN 0531-9684
 Copyright ( English Folk Dance and Song Society
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 72 Correspondence
 In the second version, the so-called 'wooing' is far too cursory to be seriously
 called the subject of the play and therefore should not be used as the basis of a term.
 The three-way scene between the Recruiting Sergeant, the Farmer's Man and the
 Lady Bright and Gay is the distinguishing feature. This offers several possibilities for
 terminology. I chose to coin the term 'Recruiting Sergeant play' for three reasons:
 1. Using the name of a universally present character provides an objective basis for
 terminology. In this version, where the action is capable of several interpretations,
 any term based on the action would carry a lot of undesirable baggage and should
 therefore be avoided.
 2. Of the character names that could be used, only the Recruiting Sergeant is
 sufficiently unambiguous and recognizable.
 3. The title 'The Recruiting Sergeant' is used in several manuscripts of this version,
 thus providing a precedent. These include the earliest example.3
 Beth Shaw has given us a refreshing new insight into the plays but her comments
 are primarily relevant to the multiple wooing plays. The new terminology is in no
 way meant to diminish the significance of the contribution of the female characters
 to the plots of these plays, as she suggests. In fact, I would rather hope that the term
 'multiple wooing play' emphasises this aspect.
 Dame Jane remains a character common to both versions and there is scope for
 comparing how her role differs between the two. Perhaps one could consider using
 'Dame Jane play' as a broader term under which to combine the versions, that is, as
 an alternative to 'plough play'. However, I think that 'plough play' is probably too
 entrenched to be dislodged.
 In summary, the term 'Recruiting Sergeant play' is not a simple replacement for
 'wooing play'. It extends the terminology to distinguish the main bulk of plough
 plays from the few true multiple wooing plays. My article in American Morris Newsletter
 gives further background to my terminology in the context of the possible origins of
 the plays.4
 72 Correspondence
 In the second version, the so-called 'wooing' is far too cursory to be seriously
 called the subject of the play and therefore should not be used as the basis of a term.
 The three-way scene between the Recruiting Sergeant, the Farmer's Man and the
 Lady Bright and Gay is the distinguishing feature. This offers several possibilities for
 terminology. I chose to coin the term 'Recruiting Sergeant play' for three reasons:
 1. Using the name of a universally present character provides an objective basis for
 terminology. In this version, where the action is capable of several interpretations,
 any term based on the action would carry a lot of undesirable baggage and should
 therefore be avoided.
 2. Of the character names that could be used, only the Recruiting Sergeant is
 sufficiently unambiguous and recognizable.
 3. The title 'The Recruiting Sergeant' is used in several manuscripts of this version,
 thus providing a precedent. These include the earliest example.3
 Beth Shaw has given us a refreshing new insight into the plays but her comments
 are primarily relevant to the multiple wooing plays. The new terminology is in no
 way meant to diminish the significance of the contribution of the female characters
 to the plots of these plays, as she suggests. In fact, I would rather hope that the term
 'multiple wooing play' emphasises this aspect.
 Dame Jane remains a character common to both versions and there is scope for
 comparing how her role differs between the two. Perhaps one could consider using
 'Dame Jane play' as a broader term under which to combine the versions, that is, as
 an alternative to 'plough play'. However, I think that 'plough play' is probably too
 entrenched to be dislodged.
 In summary, the term 'Recruiting Sergeant play' is not a simple replacement for
 'wooing play'. It extends the terminology to distinguish the main bulk of plough
 plays from the few true multiple wooing plays. My article in American Morris Newsletter
 gives further background to my terminology in the context of the possible origins of
 the plays.4
 Notes
 ' Peter T. Millington, 'The Problems of Analysing Folk Play Cast Lists using Numerical Methods',
 'Traditional Drama 1978: A One Day Conference', University of Sheffield, 21st October 1978, preprint,
 p. 14.
 2 C. R. Baskervill, 'Mummers' Wooing Plays in England', Modern Philology, 21 (1923), 225-72.
 3 Baskervill, pp. 259-62.
 P. Millington, 'Mystery History: The Origins of British Mummers' Plays', American Morris Newsletter,
 13.4 (1989), 9-16.
 Notes
 ' Peter T. Millington, 'The Problems of Analysing Folk Play Cast Lists using Numerical Methods',
 'Traditional Drama 1978: A One Day Conference', University of Sheffield, 21st October 1978, preprint,
 p. 14.
 2 C. R. Baskervill, 'Mummers' Wooing Plays in England', Modern Philology, 21 (1923), 225-72.
 3 Baskervill, pp. 259-62.
 P. Millington, 'Mystery History: The Origins of British Mummers' Plays', American Morris Newsletter,
 13.4 (1989), 9-16.
-------------
 

-----------------

Alan Broady

Branston Plough Playor Morris Dancers Lincolnshire

plough Play Barrow-on-Humber, Lincolnshire 1951

--------------

Marie Campbell, "Survivals of Old Folk Drama in the Kentucky Mountains" in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. LI, No. 199 (Jan-Mar 1938 (available online by JSTOR)), pp. 18-22, "A Plough Monday Play"), especially pp. 21-22, "For Gold and Silver" ("'Kind miss, kind miss, go ask your mother")

Folk play Kentucky

    Location:     [Unlocated], Kentucky, USA
    Year:     Col. 1930
    Time of Occurrence:     Plough Monday
    Collective Name:     [Not given]

Source:

    Marie Campbell
    Survivals of Old Folk Drama in the Kentucky Mountains
    Journal of American Folklore, Jan.-Mar.1938, Vol.51, No.199, pp.10-24.

Cast: (Click on any name for the character name index.)

    Soldier / Cruising Soldier / Recruiting Soldier
    Tom / The Farmer's Boy / Tommy
    Old Jane / Jane
    St. George
    Doctor
    Lady
    Lady's man, Richard
    Richard

Text:

    {A PLOUGH MONDAY PLAY.}

    Soldier:

        In comes I, the cruising [(recruiting)] soldier,
        With orders from the Queen
        To list all you fellows
        That follows horse and plough.

    Tom (the farmer's boy):

        In comes Tom, the farmer's boy,
        Don't you see my whip in hand ?
        To my plough I do attend.
        'Tis Plough Monday makes me bold,
        I hope you won't be offended.

    Old Jane {carrying a baby}:

        In comes I, Old Jane,
        With my neck as long as a crane.
        Long time I've sought thee, Tom,
        And now I've found thee,
        Pray, Tommy, take thy child.

    Tom:

        It's not mine and I won't have it.

    Old Jane:

        Look at its eyes, nose, cheek, and chin.
        It's a picture of you as ever did grin.
        Take it home and feed it.

    Tom:

        Go away home,
        I'll see you in hell fire.

    St. George:

        In comes I, St. George,
        In my hand I carry a club.
        What old woman can sass me?

    [Page 19]

    Old Jane:

        I can.
        My head it is of brass,
        My body it is of steel.
        Nobody can't make me feel nothing.

    St. George:

        If your head is made of brass,
        And your body's made of steel,
        I can make you feel.

    {He knocks Old Jane down to the floor.}

    Tom:

        What have you done?
        Killed the best woman
        Under the sun.
        Two pounds for a doctor.

    St. George:

        Ten pounds to stay away.

    Tom:

        He must come in a case like this.

    Doctor:

        Hold my horse by the tail, boy.
        He's only a donkey.
        Give him a good feed of water and a bucket of ashes to drink.
        In comes I, a doctor good
        to stop the blood.

    Tom:

        Be you a doctor?

    Doctor:

        Yes, I am a doctor.

    Tom:

        What ailments can you cure?

    Doctor:

        Just what my pill pleases.
        I goes about for the good of the country.
        I'd sooner kill than cure.
        I cured my own wife of rheumatism in all four of her elbows,
        and I'll cure this woman if she ain't too far gone.
        Hold my bottle till I feel her pulse.

    {He feels of the woman's belly.}

    Tom:

        Is that where the pulse do lie?

    Doctor:

        Yes, it lies in the strongest part of the body.
        She's not dead; she's only in a trance.
        She's swallowed a horse and cart, and can't pass off the wheels.
        These are virgin pills.
        Take one tonight and two tomorrow,
        and rub your belly with the bottle next day.
        Jump up Jane, and we'll have a dance.

    {Jane gets up and they dance around a spell.}

    Soldier:

        Come my lads, it's time for listing,
        Listing do not be afraid,
        You shall have your fill of liquor.
        Tell me, who is this pretty maid?

    Lady:

        In comes I, a lady fair,
        My fortune in my charms.
        It's true I've turned away
        Out of my true-love's arms.

    [Page 20]

        Oh, he did marry me,
        As all do understand,
        And then he listed for a soldier
        In a far and distant land.

    Soldier:

        Madam, I've got gold and silver,
        Madam, I've got house and land,
        Madam, I've got golden treasure,
        All at your command.

    Lady:

        What care I for your gold and silver?
        What care I for your house and land?
        What care I for your golden treasure?
        All I want is a nice young man.

    Tom:

        Here am I all brisk and spry,
        And I'm hungry as well as dry.

    Old Jane:

        Here am I, Old Jane,
        With my neck as long as a crane.
        Once I wore a wig behind
        And a wig before,
        Now I'm a poor widow.

    Tom:

        I'm the nice young man you want, miss.

    Soldier:

        Madam, I've got gold and silver,
        Madam, I've got house and land,
        Madam, I've got golden treasure,
        All at your command.

    {Because she could not remember the correct speeches for the characters, Aunt Mary put in the speeches between Richard and the Lady. She said Richard did not belong in the play at all and that the section put in was just something she had 'allus knowed.' This interpolated section is very similar to a part of the 'Francis New Jigge between Francis a gentleman and Richard a farmer' in The Elizabethan Jig. [Note 1]}

    Lady's man, Richard:

        Hey down a down,
        Hey down a down,
        There's never a trusty farmer
        In all our town
        That has cause to lead so merry a life
        As I that got married
        To a true and faithful wife.

    Lady:

        I thank you, gentle husband,
        You praise me to my face.

    Richard:

        I pray thee take me, lady,
        Unto my rightful place.

    [Page 21]

    Lady:

        Believe me, gentle husband,
        If you knowed as much as I,
        The words that you have spoken
        I quickly would deny.
        For since you went from home,
        A lover I have had,
        Who is so far in love with me
        That he is almost mad.
        And I have promised him
        To be his loving friend.

    Richard:

        Believe me, gentle wife,
        That this makes me to frown.
        There is no gentleman of high renown
        That shall enjoy thy love,
        Though his gold be all so good.
        Before he wrong my lady so,
        I'll spill for him his blood.
        So tell me who it is
        Doth desire thy love.

    {Several lines lost.}

    {Last song (to be sung by all the actors): Uncle Joe's version.}

    [All]

        We are not the London actors
        That act upon the stage.
        We are the country plough boys
        That work for little wage.
        Good master and good mistress,
        Just think of us poor boys
        That plough through mud and mire.
        We'd thank you, dear master,
        For a pitcher of your best beer.

    {Aunt Mary's version.}

        Good master and good mistress,
        As you sit by your fire,
        Remember us poor plough boys
        That plough amongst the mire.
        The mud it is so nasty,
        The water is not clear.
        We'd thank you for to give us
        A drink to give us cheer.

    {Aunt Mary gave also the following version of the soldier's first speech to the lady and of her answer. "Joe air contrarious," said Aunt Mary, "so's I take out them parts and sing 'em like a song ballet jest to contrary him. I call hit 'For Gold and Silver.'"}

    [Page 22]

        "Kind miss, kind miss, go ask your mother
        If you my bride shall ever be;
        If she says 'yes,' come back and tell me;
        If she says 'no,' we'll run away.
        "Kind miss, kind miss, I have much silver;
        Kind miss, I have a house and land;
        Kind miss, I have a world of pleasure;
        And all of these at thy command."
        "What care I for your gold and silver?
        What care I for your house and land?
        What care I for your world of pleasure ?
        What I want is a handsome man."

Notes:

    Campbell's Notes:

    Note 1 [Page 21]: "Charles Read Baskervill. The Elizabethan Jig and Related Song Drama, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1929, pp. 450-464."

    Page 18: "The text for this Plough Monday Play comes from Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary. They did not remember that the play had ever been 'acted out' within their lifetime of over seventy years. They said nobody else knew the play, and they argued about the way the speeches should be worded. There are portions they could not remember at all. At other places both Aunt Mary's and Uncle Joe's versions are recorded. The speeches of Richard and the Lady 'do not belong,' but Aunt Mary put them into the text to fill a gap where her memory failed. Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe said they kept the play from 'fading out of our minds pineblank by saying it over to each other every little spell.'"

    Page 24 "Though it is certain that the text of the Plough Monday Play is incomplete and is further corrupted by the interpolation of part of an Elizabethan jig, yet it does have certain conventional characters of the traditional Plough Monday Play as discussed by Chambers and Tiddy. Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe's Plough Monday Play has the plough boys, Old Jane and Tom, the rustic fool, conventional characters of the Plough Monday Play. As in the mummers' play there is a combat and a cure."

    Indexer's notes:

    This text is reproduced here for non-profit purposes with the kind permission of the copyright holders - the American Folklore Society ( www.afsnet.org ). The original journal article is available online to licenced JSTOR users.

File History:

    27th May 2004     - Scanned, OCRed and encoded by Peter Millington

-----------------

 ALAN BRODY
 ! Three Mumming 'Plays

 IN remember, cites an a article passage / on Since from mummers' once The Taming he wooing played of the plays a Shrew farmer's in 1924, (1593):1 eldest C. R. "This son. Baskerville / fellow 'Twas I
 cites a passage from The Taming of the Shrew (1593):1 "This fellow I
 remember, / Since once he played a farmer's eldest son. / 'Twas
 where you wooed the gendewoman so well" (Induction i.83-85). Basker-
 ville believes this passage suggests the common appearance in Elizabethan
 England of a kind of wooing ceremony peculiar to the East Midlands dur-
 ing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as the sixteenth century.
 The wooing ceremony is one of three kinds of men's dramatic ceremony
 known as the mummers' play. The other two types, as I have defined them
 elsewhere, are the Hero-Combat and the Sword Play.2 All three types are
 seasonal and all contain one common core of action, the death and resur-
 rection of one of die participants. It was diese two common aspects of the
 myriad texts and reports which have appeared since the seventeenth cen-
 tury which led scholars like Arthur Beatty, E. K. Chambers, T. F. Ordish,
 and Alex Helm to examine the mummers' plays as fragmentary survivals
 of pre-Christian agricultural rituals in England.3
 What distinguishes the Wooing Ceremony from the other two types is
 the presence of a wooing action, often with characters similar to the ones
 to which the Lord refers in The Taming of the Shrew. The Farmer's Eldest
 Son can either be the only wooer of "the Lady bright and gay," or one of
 a series that might include a Lawyer, a Squire, a Rnight, and a Fool.
 1. Charles Read Baskerville, "Mummers' Wooing Plays," MP, 21 (February 1924), 230.
 2. Alan Brody, The English Mummers and Their Píays (Philadelphia, 1969).
 3. The key works in this area are Arthur Beatty, "The St. George or Mummers' Play: A
 Study in the Protology of the Drama," Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, 15,
 Pt. 2 (October 190 6), 273-324; E. K. Chambers, The English Folk Play (Oxford, 1933); T. F.
 Ordish, "English Folk-Drama," FLf 4 (1893), 149-75; Alex Helm, "In Comes I, St.
 George," Folk-Lore (incorporating Archeological Review ), 76 (1965), 118-36; Alan Brody,
 The English Mummers and Their Plays (Philadelphia, 1970).
 [ 105 ]
This content downloaded from 12.96.67.41 on Sun, 22 Oct 2017 15:12:34 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 io 6 English Literary Renaissance
 Baskerville's allusion to Shakespeare is a passing one, of course. He is
 well aware of the tenuous nature of play texts as evidence for that kind of
 documentation. Indeed, when we notice that the Lord addresses a strolling
 player with the lines, all direct connection with the wooing ceremony
 fades: the men of the dramatic ceremony are never professional actors.
 What these lines do suggest, however, is accretion, literary and otherwise.
 The common appearance of a wooing action like this in both the profes-
 sional and folk drama is only one of many indications of cross-fertilization.
 The evidence suggests that the men's ceremony as we know it today had
 already found its dramatic shape by the late sixteenth century.
 The Wooing Ceremony is probably the oldest form of the men's cere-
 mony. Its distinctive structure, with the appearance of the old woman and
 the bastard child surrounding the central action of the Lady's wooing, is
 startlingly similar to the primitive mummers' plays of Thrace and Thes-
 saly .4 Margaret Dean-Smith characterizes all of these as "life-cycle dramas."5
 The plays from Northern Greece, however, are far more unified than those
 of England. The young woman and young man, the interloper, the old
 woman and the baby, the old man, the combat, death and resurrection all
 cohere within a dramatic unit which both imitates and insures the contin-
 uation of the life-cycle of the culture. In the East Midlands of England the
 action is fragmented. All the central figures appear - there is a wooing, a
 combat, a death and resurrection - but the relationship between the parts is
 loose, often dramatically arbitrary. What had once been primarily ritual
 action had gradually developed into dramatic imitation and ultimately
 into a simple, fragmented procession.
 During the course of this fragmentation the ruràl culture came into con-
 tact with the professional theater through touring companies. In most cases
 it would be folly to attempt to establish whether an action, a character, or
 a verbal commonplace appeared first in a literary context or the folk art.
 Beelzebub appears in Sword Plays, Hero-Combat Plays, and Wooing
 Plays, always with his club and dripping pan. He has as much in common
 with the phallus-bearing kalogheroi of Thrace as he does with the devils of
 the mystery cycle and the vices of the morality plays. Interpénétration
 seems to have occurred in all directions.
 Similarly, the traditional nonsense figures of the doctor's boast of his
 travels appear in the medieval Land of Cockayne.
 4. R. M. Dawkins, "The Modern Carnival in Thrace and the Cult of Dionysus," Journal of
 the Hellenistic Society , 26 (1906), 191-218; A.J. B. Wace, "Mumming Plays in the Southern
 Balkans," Annual of the British School at Athens , 19 (1912-13), 248-65.
 5. Margaret Dean-Smith, 'Tne Life Cycle or Folk Play, FL, 69 (195°)» 74- °6.

 Alan Brody 107
 Ive travelled all the way from Itti Titti where there's neither town nor city, wooden
 chimes, leather bells, black pudding for the bell rope, little pigs running up and down
 street, knives and forks stuck in their backsides crying "God save the king,"
 says the Doctor of the Ampleforth Play.6 It is impossible to be sure if one
 draws on the other or if, as is most likely, both spring from a third com-
 mon impulse.
 In some cases, however, there is a clear indication of precedence. When
 a character in the Horsell Woking, Surrey, Play (ms, Ordish Collection,
 1907-08) introduces himself as Punching Ella, we can be reasonably certain
 it is a corruption of the original Pulchinella, just as the oral tradition trans-
 forms the Turkish Knight of the crusades into Turkey Snipe in numerous
 versions.
 Perhaps the surest specimen of literary accretion, and one that can be
 traced back to the period of the English Renaissance, is available in the
 1824 Broughton, Lincolnshire, Play. It offers a particularly bizarre exam-
 ple of how a unified wooing action, which may in itself be literary, can
 become fragmented through still further borrowing. After a conventional
 prologue, the Lady appears and introduces herself. This commonly initi-
 ates the central wooing action. In Broughton, however, the Fool steps in
 with a most peculiar and garbled speech to the First Ribboner.
 wher's all this paltry poor; still paltry in this place, and yet not perfect for shame, step
 forth people's eyes looks dim with a very red expectation.7
 Even with 200 years of dialect and oral tradition there is still an unmistak-
 able correspondence between these lines and the Prologue to Wily Beguiled , a farce of 1606.
 What hoe, where are these paltrie Plaiers? stil poaring in their papers and neuer perfect?
 for shame come forth, your Audience stay so long, their eies waxe dim with expectation.8
 Since the substance of the speech relates so directly to the processes of the
 playhouse there can be little doubt that the lines of the London farce pre-
 cede the words of the Lincolnshire ceremony.
 Such clearly identifiable literary corruptions are rare in the mummers'
 play, although Baskerville, in The Elizabethan Jig , makes a strong case for
 his conviction that "much of the dialogue and even some whole scenes [of
 the wooing play] result from the combination of this ritual with early
 6. Chambers, The English Folk Play (Oxford, 1933)» p. 148.
 7. Baskerville, p. 250. The comparison I cite here and the quotation from Wily Beguiled
 are from Baskerville, pp. 238 and 251«.
 8. A Pleasante Comedie , called Wily Beguiled , printed by H. L. for Clement Knight (1606),
 reproduced in Three Centuries of Drama: English 1500-1641 (New York, 1956).


 wooing songs no longer extant, the whole being modified from time to
 time by new borrowings." Later he offers compelling evidence that "from
 the later part of the sixteenth century on . . . the folk plays borrowed from
 songs, jigs and plays, probably as performed in feasts, wakes and fairs."9
 It is precisely this kind of borrowing - more frequent as the separations
 between town and country gradually weaken - which aids in the fragmentation of the earlier, unified wooing ceremony.
 I
 Each of the three texts reproduced here is an atypical version of the woo-
 ing ceremony. Although many of the individual sequences and inter-
 changes may be found in hundreds of versions, the particular way in
 which these sequences come together here renders them atypical and illu-
 minating. Their central interest lies in the ways in which they depart from
 the common structure. Perhaps because this type of ceremony is confined
 to the four Midland counties of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottingham-
 shire, and Rutland, the Wooing Ceremony is more consistent in form than
 the Hero-Combat or Sword Play which have far wider geographical dis-
 tribution. This makes it easier to interpolate the basic shape of the action.
 Fundamentally, a series of suitors woos a Lady. She rejects all of them until
 the Fool; during the Fool's wooing an old woman appears with a baby
 which she claims was fathered by the Fool. Following this, a combat action
 ensues, often between the Fool and a ubiquitous character called the Recruiting Sergeant who appears to be a comic character introduced after the Renaissance. The combat leads to the death and resurrection of one of the
 figures, after which the wooing resumes. The Lady accepts the Fool and
 the Fool invites the spectators to his wedding feast.
 Of the three versions of the Wooing Ceremony reproduced here, the
 first, from Branston, Lincolnshire, seems to follow the basic structure most
 closely. There are two major events, though, that make it a fascinating,
 atypical version. The appearance of a figure like King George, as well as
 the line of action in that sequence, come directly out of the Hero-Combat
 ceremony. The full Hero-Combat type of ceremony includes in its combat
 sequence the chivalric boast, the counter-boast, the challenge, and the
 counter-challenge. After the combat comes some form of Lament, the call
 for the Doctor, the Doctor's boast (often including a fantastical account of
 his travels), and the restoration of the fallen figure. With the exception of
 9. Baskerville, The Elizabethan Jig (Chicago, 1929), p. 251.

 Alan Brody 109
 the Lament, the Branston Play contains all these boasts. The boast and
 counter-boast run from lines 70-78, the challenges from 88-108. The Fool
 initiates the call for the Doctor at line 117 and the extended and lively
 boasts of travel and cure run from lines 125-150 where the actual cure be-
 gins. It is quite as though an almost complete Hero-Combat Play had sim-
 ply been inserted into the wooing action.
 This coalescence could be the result of migration and oral influence or it
 could reflect the rise of the influence of chapbooks during the early part of
 the nineteenth century. The latter seems more likely, since less developed
 Hero-Combats appear in a number of versions from various portions of
 the Midlands.10
 The second event that makes the Branston play of interest is the resolu-
 tion of the wooing action. Here the common roles are reversed. The Lady
 disappears from the action with the appearance of Dame Jane and the final
 couple consists of the Fool and Dame Jane. In connection with this, it
 might be noted that much of the usual Punch and Judy interplay between
 the Fool and Dame Jane has the qualities of spontaneity and self-conscious
 wit.
 Fool. Bastard, Jinny. It's not like me and none of mine.
 Dame. Its nose, eyes, and chin as much like you as ever it can grin.
 Fool . Who sent you here with it, Jinny?
 Dame. The overseer of the parish, who said I was to bring it to the biggest fool I could
 find, so I thought I'd bring it to you.
 Fool. You had better go swear it to the parish pump.
 An interchange such as this one, although not worthy of Congreve, sug-
 gests a sophistication very different from the usual knockabout play be-
 tween the two figures.
 The second version, from Kent, is an anomaly. It comes from Marjorie
 Playfair in a manuscript dated October 24, 1948, in the Vaughan Williams
 Library Collection at Cecil Sharp House, London. From both its geographi-
 cal origin and its shape it is clearly not a traditional wooing ceremony. It
 does contain a death (in this case a suicide), and a revival by the Doctor
 with the traditional lines, "Not dead, but in a trance. Arise, and let us have
 a dance." The wooing action is unique, because of its confluence with a
 children's game.
 Alice Gomme's The Traditional Games of England , Scotland and Ireland
 records two versions of a children's wooing game from Derbyshire and
 10. See E. C. Cawte et al., English Ritual

 Suffolk.11 The game is called "The Lady on Yonder Hill," and the words
 of the Derbyshire version are as follows:
 Boy. There stands a kdy on yonder hill,
 Who she is I cannot tell;
 I'll go and court her for her beauty,
 Whether she answers me yes or no.
 Madam I bow vounce to thee, [sic]
 Girl. Sir, have I done thee any harm? Coxconian!
 Boy . Coxconian is not my name; 'tis Hers and Kers, and Willis and Cave.
 Girl. Stab me, ha! ha! little I fear. Over the waters there are but nine, I'll meet you a
 man alive. Over the waters there are but ten, I'll meet you there five thousand.
 Boy . Rise up, rise up, my pretty fair maid,
 You're only in a trance;
 Rise up, rise up, my pretty fair maid,
 And we will have a dance. (323)
 This is a make-believe game in which a number of children circle one boy
 and one girl. The center couple speaks the words as dialogue, and mime the
 action of the stabbing. In this case the boy stabs the girl after her speech
 ending, "I'll meet you there five thousand." He then walks around the girl
 singing the final four lines.
 In the Suffolk version, three children take principal roles. The words of
 the game are less elaborate (and less corrupted), and the action closer to the
 Kent Mummers' Play, with the suitor falling and the revival by a third
 party.
 Boy. Yonder stands a lovely lady,
 Whom she be I do not know;
 I'll go court her for my beauty,
 Whether she say me yea or nay.
 Madam, to thee I humbly bow and bend.
 Girl. Sir, I take thee not to be my friend.
 Boy. Oh, if the good fairy doesn't come I shall die. (323)
 The first four lines are spoken here by the boy. At the fifth he approaches
 the girl and falls on one knee. The girl moves away on her speech and the
 boy falls before he says, "Oh, if the good fairy doesn't come I shall die."
 As he speaks, the third player appears, touches him and he rises.
 Both these specimens, from before 1894, have a clear relationship to the
 Kent play of 1948. The Suffolk action in particular, with no combat and
 the substitution of the good fairy for the restoring Doctor, is particularly
 11. Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of Englandt Scotland and Ireland (London,
 1894-1898), p. 323-24.

 Alan Brody m
 germane, while the words of the Derbyshire version afford the verbal
 analogue.
 Again, the search for origins and precedents is futile. Alice Gomme,
 however, believes the words spring from a popular ballad or, "more prob-
 ably it may be a portion of an old play acted in booths at fair times by
 strolling players. It is not, as far as I can find out, played in any other
 counties. The lines
 Over the water at the hour of ten,
 I'll meet you with five thousand men;
 Over the water at the hour of five,
 111 meet you there if I'm alive,
 are portions of a dialogue familiar to Mr. Emslie, and also occur in some
 mumming plays" (Gomme, p. 324).
 There are, as well, games called "Lady on the Mountain" from Surrey,
 Colchester, Shropshire, Horsham, Kent, and Deptford. All these begin
 with a variant of four lines running,
 There stands a lady on the mountain,
 Who she is I do not know;
 All she wants is gold and silver,
 All she wants is a nice young beau. (Gomme, p. 321)
 This is direcdy related to the song of the wooer, beginning "Madam, I
 have gold and silver," in so many versions of the wooing ceremony.
 The third version is one that was performed at the Festival of Britain
 Pageant at Barrow-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, in 195 1 . It was collected and
 produced by John Martin, Esquire. The circumstances surrounding the
 Barrow-on-Humber Play are similar to those of the 1779 Revesby Play,
 one of the earliest and most widely known literary versions of the men's
 ceremony. When T. F. Ordish first published the Revesby Play in 1889, 12
 and later, in 1924, when Adams included it in his Folk Play section of Chief
 Pre-Shakespearian Dramas ,13 it was generally accepted as an authentic speci-
 men of the men's ceremony. It was only the later work of M. W. Barley,
 Violet Alford, Alex Helm, and myself that established the play as a con-
 scious and sophisticated entertainment drawing on traditional materials,
 most likely the work of Joseph Banks.14 This reassessment helped to clear
 12. Ordish, "Morris Dance at Revesby," Folk-Lore Journal , 7 (1889), 331-56.
 13. Joseph Quincy Adams, Chief Pre-Shakespearian Dramas (Cambridge, 1924), 357-64.
 14. Barley, "Plough Plays in the East Midlands," Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song
 Society , 7 (1952), 70; Violet Alford, Sword Dance and Drama (London, 1962); Alex Helm,
 Lectures at Keele University, ms, 1966; Brody, 148-55.

 112 English Literary Renaissance
 up the confusion about the mixture of elements linking the play to all three
 types of ceremony as well as to the morris dance.
 This same mixture appears in the Martin manuscript of the Barrow-on-
 Humber Plough Play, but here there is evidence about its genesis. The
 manuscript itself states that the 1951 version was "collected and produced"
 by Mr. Martin, so there can be no mistake that there was a controlling
 hand shaping the event. We are even more fortunate to have a number of
 traditional versions collected by Mr. Martin from Barrow-on-Humber
 and the district around it. An examination of these indicates the kinds of
 material Mr. Martin drew on to prepare the Festival performance. All the
 manuscripts are presently housed in the M. W. Barley Collection at the
 University of Nottinghamshire. The situation regarding dates and exact
 geographical location is, as is common with mummers' play manuscripts,
 superbly confused. What we know with certainty is that one was collected
 on January 12, 1936 and is not directly from Barrow-on-Humber. Two
 others are dated the same as the Festival manuscript, but show marked dif-
 ferences from it. They are shorter and contain some different characters in
 the prologue action and somewhat different quête actions. These sources, as
 well as the supporting correspondence between Martin, Barley, and Ms.
 Sara Jackson of the English Folk Dance and Song Society do, neverthe-
 less, establish the background materials for the atypical and more literary
 manuscript.
 The portion of the Festival play which deals with death and resurrection
 again takes the common shape of the Hero-Combat, with the figure called
 the Indian King assigned King George's history boast,
 I fought the fiery dragon
 And brought him to slaughter
 And by that means
 I gained the King of Egypt's daughter.
 The play also calls for two sword dances, as does the Revesby Play. These
 are the only versions of the East Midlands Wooing Ceremony that include
 a sword dance. The prologue as well, from the appearance of Tom Fool
 through the Hobby Horse, follows the shape of the Sword Dance proces-
 sion, in which each of the characters is either introduced or introduces
 himself in a Calling-On-Song.

 Alan Brody 113
 II
 We are not the London actors
 We've told you so before
 We've done the very best we could
 And the best can do no more,
 says the Second Ploughboy in Barrow-on-Humber, and indeed they are
 not the London actors. They are invariably the men of the town whose
 parts, including this familiar verbal figure, have been transmitted orally
 from generation to generation. It was not until the late-eighteenth century
 that any of the words were committed to writing, and not until the nine-
 teenth century that any quantity appeared. This was pardy because of an
 utter lack of self-consciousness about the historical implications of the sea-
 sonal custom and pardy out of a suspicion, which still lingers in some dis-
 tricts, that commitment to paper would somehow violate the nature of the
 event. The fact that they distinguish themselves in song from the London
 actors at all tells us that mummers were conscious of another kind of imita-
 tive action and had been exposed to it at some time.
 Atypical plays like the three reproduced here can help us to an under-
 standing of how the basic ceremonial structure, as it has developed from its
 ritual base into folk drama, can accommodate influences from every event
 in the culture, from the London stage to the children's playground.

------------

 BRANSTON, PLOUGH PLAY OR MORRIS DANCERS,
 LINCOLNSHIRE.
 Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Collection
 Fool (at the door of farmhouse). Good evening Ladies Gendemen all. Hope
 you won't be offended at me being so bold as to make you a call. I hope
 you won't be surprised at these few words I've got to say. Okum, Spo-
 kum, France and Spain, in comes our Sergeant all the same.
 Sergeant . In come, recruiting sergeant, I've arrived here just now with
 orders from the king to enlist all that follow horse cart or plough. Tinkers,
 tailors, pedlars, nailors all at my advance the more I hear the fiddle play,
 the better I can dance.
 Fool .
 I'm a fool come to see you dance. 10
 Sergeant .
 Pray, father, if you dance sing or say,
 I'll soon march away.
 Fool (sings: Free version of Trad. Air. " God rest you merry, gentlemen").
 All good people give attention and listen to my song:
 I'll tell you of a nice young man before the time is long;
 He's almost broken hearted the truth I do declare 15
 His love has been so tiresome, she's drawn him in a snare.
 Ribboner.
 Behold you now, I've lost my mate
 My drooping wings, hangs down my fate,
 Pity my condition, It's all along of a false young maid
 Who's led me in despair. 20
 Fool.
 Cheer up, cheer up, young man, don't die in despair,
 For in a very short time, our lady will be here.
 Lady (sings as above).
 In come the lady bright and gay
 Misfortune and sweet charms
 So scornful I've been drawn away 25
 Out of my true loves arms;
 He swears if I don't wed with him

 As you shall understand
 He'll list for all a soldier
 And go to some foreign land. 30
 Sergeant (sings).
 Come all you boys thats bound for listing
 You shall have all kinds of liquor
 And likewise kiss the pretty maid;
 Ten bright guineas shall be your bounty
 If along with me you'll go; 3 5
 Your had shall be all decked with ribbons
 Likewise cut the gallant show.
 Ribboner.
 Now kind sir, I'll take your offer,
 Time along will quickly pass;
 Dash my rags, if I grieve any longer 40
 For this proud and saucy lass.
 Lady (sings).
 Since my love enlisted, and joined the volunteers
 I neither mean to sigh for him
 I'll have him for to know,
 I'll get another sweetheart 45
 And with him I will go.
 Sergeant.
 Now madam, I desire to know if I am the man
 The pleasing of your fancy, I'll do the best I can
 I'll give you gold and silver
 All brought from India's shore 50
 And I'll for ever love you
 Pray what can I do more?
 Lady (sings).
 What care I for your gold or silver,
 What care I for your house or land,
 What care I for your rings or diamonds, 55
 All I want is a handsome man.
 Fool (takes Lady by the arm and dances).
 A handsome man will not maintain you
 For his beauty will decay;
 The finest flower that grows in the summer
 In the winter fades away

 il 6 English Literary Renaissance
 Ribboner .
 Now madam. I desire to know whether I shall be the man.
 The pleasing of your fancy, I'll do the best I can.
 I'll bring you silks and satins, all brought from India's shore,
 And I'll forever love thee, Pray what can I do more?
 Lady.
 Pooh, Pooh, young man. You can't be of your right mind 65
 Give me the man with the ragged trousers
 Who takes a girl in a sly corner.
 Fool .
 Ah! Ah! Now you see, this fair lady took her chance
 Please strike up the music and we'll have a dance.
 Enter King
 King.
 In come I, King George, noble champion bold 70
 With my bright sword in hand.
 I've won 10,000 pounds in gold
 I fought the fiery dragon
 And bought him a slaughter
 And by these violent means and schemes 75
 I gained the king's eldest daughter
 I'll turn myself round to see if any man may dare face me
 I'll hash him and dash him, the smallest of flies
 And send him to Jamaica to make mince pies.
 Sergeant (to King).
 Hold hard Jack, don't be too hot 80
 Thou little knows that thou hast got
 A man to entertain thee of thy pride?
 King.
 You! Entertain me of my pride?
 Sergeant.
 And lay the anchor by the side
 For my head is made of iron 85
 My body is guarded with steel
 My legs and arms are made of the best beaten brass and
 no man can make me feel.
 King.
 Your head is not made of Iron
 And your body is not made of steel

 Your arms and legs are not made of the best beaten brass
 And I can make you feel.
 Sergeant .
 Stand out, Stand out, you proud and coxsey come
 I'll make thy buttons fly,
 I'll fill thy body full of hills and holes 95
 And by my hand and sword thou shalt die.
 Fool.
 Stir up the fire and shine the light
 And see the gallant act tonight;
 The clock has struck, and the time has come
 For this battle to go on 100
 If you don't believe what I've got to say
 Please move your chairs and move away.
 Sergeant {to the King).
 Draw out thy sword in haste
 For thy ribs I will abase
 Thou silly ass, thou feeds on grass 105
 Thou knows thou art in danger
 Thou lives in hopes to guard thy coat
 And keep thy body from all danger
 (Sergeant here prods the King with the sword and down he goes.)
 The King of Egypt is dead and gone
 No more of him you'll see 110
 His body's dead and his soul has fled
 What will become of me?
 He bore me out and challenged me to fight
 And this I don't deny
 I only stripped one button off his coat, 115
 And made his body die.
 Fool.
 Dead, dead to be sure
 Five pounds for a doctor
 This dead man to cure.
 Sergeant.
 Ten pounds for him to stay away. 120
 Fool.
 Fifteen pounds, we must have him
 Doctor, doctor!

 Doctor.
 In comes I the doctor
 Fool.
 You're the doctor?
 Doctor.
 Yes Sir I am the doctor 125
 Fool.
 How came you to be a doctor?
 Doctor.
 I travelled for it.
 Fool.
 Where did you travel?
 Doctor.
 England, Ireland, France and Spain
 Over these hills and back again 13°
 From fireside to bedside
 Where I had many a piece of cold pudding
 Made me such a fine man.
 Fool.
 Fine man, like me doctor. What pains can you cure?
 Doctor.
 All kinds of pain. 1 3 5
 Fool.
 What is all kinds of pain?
 Doctor.
 The itch, the pitch, the palsy gout
 Pains within and pains without
 Get a tooth, draw a leg, and cure the pains within the head
 If this man has nineteen pains in his head, Sir 140
 I can draw twenty one out.
 Fool.
 You must be a clever doctor
 You had better try your skill
 Doctor
 Thank you sir, and by your leave so I will
 Hold my horse boy, while I feel of the man's pulse. 145
 Fool.
 Is that a man's pulse?

 Doctor .
 Yes sir, the strongest part of a working man
 Is backward in the head.
 Fool
 I expect you know best doctor
 Is this man dead? 150
 (Pointing to the King)
 Doctor .
 No, he is not dead, he's in a trance
 He's been trying a new experiment,
 He's been living nineteen days out of a fortnight
 By mistake: he has swallowed our donkey and cart
 And choked himself with a pillow, poor fellow 155
 I'll give him a drop out of my bottle
 And team it gendy down his throtde
 It will heal his wounds, and cool his blood
 And I hope it will do his soul some good.
 This man can dance if you can sing 160
 So arise, young man and lets begin.
 Fool
 Hey, Hey, whats the dancing and jigging about?
 Here's the tight lad to dance
 I can dance half an hour on a barley chaff riddle
 Neither break nor bend or spell 165
 I'll ask you all to me and my wifes wedding
 For what you like best, you must bring with you
 I know what me and my lady likes
 And what we likes best we shall have.
 Doctor .
 What's that? Ragden. 170
 Fool
 Go and look greasy chops
 I've always you to please
 A long tailed cabbage
 A pickled sameritt
 A liver and lights of a cobblers laps 175
 And half a gallon of buttermilk to relish

 Doctor.
 We shall have a feed
 Fool.
 Thank you sir.
 Old Dame Jane.
 In comes I old dame Jane
 Head and neck as long as a crane 180
 Dib, dab over the meadow
 Once I was a blooming young maid
 Now I am a downed old widow
 I travel from door to door
 Since all my joy was asked 185
 Since you called me what you did
 Tommy, take your bastard.
 Fool.
 Bastard, Jinny. It's not like me and none of mine.
 Dame.
 Its nose, eyes, and chin as much like you as ever it can grin.
 Fool.
 Who sent you here with it, Jinny? 19°
 Dame.
 The overseer of the parish, who said I was to bring it to
 The biggest fool I could find, so I thought I'd bring it to you
 Fool.
 You had better go swear it to the parish pump.
 Dame.
 That's all I've got to thank you for.
 Fool (sings).
 Now madam, as I crossed over yon dell 195
 One morning very soon
 Dressed in my best apparel
 Likewise my clouded shoes
 To thee I come a wooing
 To thee my bucksome Nell 200
 If thou love me as I love you
 Thou lovest a person well
 Dame.
 If you love me, tell me true.
 Fool.
 Yes, and to my sorrow.

 Alan Brody 121
 Dame.
 "When shall be our wedding day? 205
 Fool.
 Tommy, love, tomorrow.
 All (sing).
 And we'll be wed in wedlock, dear,
 So brave old Nelly and I
 Good master and good mistress
 As you sit round your fire 210
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who ploughs the mud and mire
 The mire it is so very deep
 And the water runs so clear
 We thank you for a Christmas box 215
 And a pitcher of your best beer.
 Dame.
 Hey, hey, and a bit of your pork pie.
 Fool.
 Y our allust hungry !
 Dame.
 And your allust dry !
 Fool.
 That's it, Jinney, scrap about. 220
 All sing.
 Here's to the master of this house
 The mistress also
 Likewise the little children
 That round the table go.
 We hope they'll never come to want 225
 While nations do provide
 A happy home and plentiness, and a tender fireside
 We are not the London actors
 That acts the London part
 We are the Branston plough boys 230
 We are not the London actors
 We've told you so before
 And we've done it as well as we can, my boys
 No men can do no more.
 Pass round Tambourine and collect beer and pork pies.
 Good master and good mistress

 You see our fool has gone
 We make it in our business
 To follow him along
 We thank you for your civility
 And what you've given us here 240
 And we wish you a merry christmas
 And a happy new year.
 MUMMERS' PLAY, KENT.
 Marjorie Playfair , MS, Oct. 24th , 1948 in Vaughan Williams
 Memorial Library Collection
 A. Madam, to you I humbly bow and bend
 B. Sir, I take you not to be my friend.
 A. Madam, have I ever done you any harm?
 B. Yes, you saucy coxcomb, get you gone.
 A. Coxcomb? I defy the name. 5
 It is a stab from whence it came,
 B. A stab, sir? That 's the least I fear,
 Appoint the place, and I'll meet you there.
 A. At yonder place (or plain) at the hour of five,
 I'll meet you there if I'm still alive. 10
 B. At yonder place (or plain) at the hour of ten,
 I'll meet you there with a thousand men.
 But stay, sir, do you not want a wife,
 To speak English, Scotch and French. 15
 A. Before I'd take you for my wife
 I'd take a sword and end my life.
 Stabs himself '
 B . Oh doctor; doctor, is he dead?
 Doctor.
 Not dead, but in a trance.
 Arise, and let us have a dance. 20
 All seize hands and dance around

 PLOUGH PLAY, BARROW- ON-HUMBER.
 MS y M . W. Barley Collection , University of Nottingham Library
 Performed at the Festival of Britain Pageant at Barrow-on-Humber,
 Lincolnshire, 1951.
 Collected and produced by John Martin, Esq.
 Entry of sword dancers and Plough Jags pulling a plough and singing .
 "We're all jolly fellows that follow the plough."
 Tom Fool . First (tambourine).
 In comes I, Tom Fool
 Never been to school
 I hope you'll not be offended
 By what we've got to say
 As a few more gay plough lads 5
 Will pass along this way.
 Beelzebub . Third (Jug and frying pan).
 In comes I, Beelzebub
 On my showder I carry my jug
 In my hand a frying pan
 Don't you think I'm a jolly old man.* 10
 Threshing Blade. Second (carrying fail).
 Behold, I am the threshing blade
 You people all do know
 My old dad larn't me this trade
 Justy ninety years ago
 We are not the London actors 15
 That play upon the stage
 We are but country plough boys
 Who work for little wage *
 Hopper Joe . Fourth (carrying wooden hopper).
 In comes I, old hopper Joe
 I can either, plough, reap, sow or mow 20
 I hope the master will bestow
 All he can afford us now.
 Musical Jack. Fifth (with melodeon).
 In comes I, musical Jack

Arrows inked in the margin suggest that these two speeches

 Never been here before
 If you nobbut give us a copper 25
 I'll never come back no more.
 (I'm a foreign traveller
 I have travelled over land and sea) this part later .
 All I want is a darling wife
 To bear me company 30
 If I could win her love and get her vow
 I would sit down more content
 While others hold the plough.
 Besom Bet . Sixth (carries a besom).
 In comes I, old Besom Bet
 (The last two lines should come in here)
 I'm Besom Bet without a doubt 35
 If you don't give me money
 I'll sweep you all out
 Money I want, money I crave,
 If you don't give me money
 I'll sweep you to your grave 40
 A wig behind and a wig before
 Hey up, me lads, and I'll sweep the floor.
 Hobby Horse . Seventh (has a bell topping and should have a clapper).
 In comes I, old hobby horse
 Finest colt that ever was foaled
 I can hop, trot, skip or gallop 45
 Jump a butter pot nine miles high
 And as we're all very hungry
 And all very dry
 We should like a sup of your beer
 And a bit of pork pie. 50
 Hopper Joe.
 Here, hold on about your beer
 I see nothing in the old hopper here.
 Tom Fool.
 What do you want to see
 In your old hopper, Joe.
 Hopper Joe.
 Pork pie or mince pies 55
 I am as hungry as you are dry.

 Alan Brody 125
 Plough Boy . Eighth (whip, long one).
 In comes I, the farmer's man
 Don't you see the whip in my hand
 I go to plough my master's land
 I turn it upside down so grand 60
 Straight I go from end to end
 Never make a balk or bend
 And to my horses I attend
 As they go gaily round the end
 Gee, whoa back! spanker. 65
 Tom Fool.
 A funny old man this
 With his shirt outside
 Most men wear it inside
 Dame Jane with baby. Ninth (rag doll).
 In comes I, old Dame Jane
 With a neck as long as a crane 70
 Dancing oe'r the meadow
 Once I was a charming maid
 Now I'm a down old widow.
 Soldier. Tenth.
 I am the recruiting sergeant
 I've arrived here just now 75
 To enlist all those who follow
 Horse, cart or plough.
 Lady. Eleventh.
 I'm a lady bright and gay
 My beauty is my charm
 I scornfully (for Lewis) was thrown away 80
 Out of my true loves arms
 He swears if I won't wed with him
 Upon the first of May
 He'll list up for a soldier
 And go so far away. 85
 Indian King. Txvelfth.
 Hey up, me lads let me come in
 For I'm the chap thats Indian King
 I fought the fiery dragon
 And brought him to slaughter

 And my that means 9°
 I gained the King of Egypt's daughter.
 Soldier .
 Twixt thee and me there is a doubt
 That we shall have to fight this out.
 Indian King.
 All these years they have been trying me to slay
 But f m alive this very day 95
 Soldier .
 Slash, Slash, let no more be said
 Or I will smite off thine head.
 King.
 How cans't thou smite off mine head
 My head is made of iron
 My body's made of steel 100
 My hands and feet are knuckle bone
 And I challenge thee to feel.
 They fight and King falls.
 Beelzebub.
 He's dead,
 Oh man, oh man, what hast thou done
 Thou's killed the finest man 105
 That ever sun shone on
 Fool.
 Five pounds for a doctor.
 Musical Jack.
 Ten pounds if he'll stay away.
 Doctor. Thirteenth.
 I'm the doctor.
 Fool.
 What can you cure? 110
 Doctor.
 Ipsey, pipsey, palsy gout
 Pains within and pains without
 Heal the sick, the blind, the lame
 Bring the dead to life again.
 Fool.
 Give proof of your skill.

 Doctor .
 I once cured an old man
 Who had been dead ninety nine days
 Everyrime he turned in his grave
 His bagpipes played
 And I once went up to York 120
 To cure old Mrs. Cork
 Who had tumbled upstairs
 With an empty teapot full of gin
 She grazed her shins and made her stockings bleed.
 Fool.
 Can you cure this man? 125
 Doctor.
 Take hold of my botde of whiff whaff
 While I feel of his pulse
 His heart beats fifteen times to the tick of my watch once
 I must give him three drops of medicine
 Out of this litde bottle down his old throttle 130
 And one of my simple pimple pills
 This man's not dead he's in a trance
 Rise up Jack and lets dance
 (Sword dance should be done here.)
 Doctor sings to Lady. All dance and sing ploughboy s song.
 Soldier.
 Now me lads incline for listing
 Time away will swiftly pass 135
 You shall have all kinds of liquor
 Likewise kiss a brawny lass
 Ten bright guineas shall be your bounty
 If along with me you'll go
 Your hat shall be well trimmed with ribbons 140
 You shall cut a gallant show
 Soldier turns to ploughboy.
 Are you free able and willing
 Young man, to serve the King
 And take this shilling.
 Ploughboy.
 Thanks kind sergeant for your offer

 Time away does quickly pass
 Dash my wig ! I'll grieve no longer
 For this proud and saucy lass.
 Lady.
 Now since my lovers listed
 And joined the volunteers 150
 I do not mean to sigh for him
 Nor yet to shed a tear
 I just mean to let him know
 I will get another sweetheart
 And along with him will go. 155
 Hobby Horse and Lady sing and flirt.
 Soldier.
 Madam, I've got gold and silver
 Madam, I've got house and land
 Madam, I've got rings and jewels
 All shall be at your command.
 Lady.
 What care I for your rings and jewels 160
 What care I for your house and land
 What care I for your gold and silver
 All I want is a nice young man.
 Fool.
 A handsome man will not maintain you
 Beauty it will fade away 165
 Like a rose that blooms in summer
 And in winter will decay.
 Dame Jane.
 Hey Tommy
 Long have I sought thee
 Now I've caught thee 17°
 There! take the child.
 Fool.
 The bairn Jane! The bairn Jane!
 Its not a bit like me
 Dame Jane.
 Yes it is. Just look at its eyes nose and chin
 Its more like you it can grin. 175
 Fòol.
 Its not mine, its not mine

 Go and take it to the overseers
 Turns to Lady . Musical Jack9 s song.
 Well dost thou love me my pretty maid.
 Lady . Yes Tommy to my sorrow
 Fool. And when shall be our wedding 180
 Both.
 We'll both shake hands in wedlock
 And we'll be wed tomorrow.
 Fool.
 We'll ask all the hip, skipjacks
 To me and my wife's wedding
 What we likes best we're going to have 185
 And what you likes best you'll have to bring with you.*
 Ploughboy. Second.
 We are not the London actors
 We've told you so before
 We've done the very best we could
 And the best can do no more. 190
 Ploughboy. First.
 Good master and good mistress
 When you sit round your fire
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who plough the muck and mire
 For the muck it is so nasty 195
 The mire it is so strong
 Remember us poor ploughboys
 Who plough the furrows along.
 Hopper Joe. Third.
 So now our play is ended
 And our Tom Fool has gone 200
 We'll make it now our business
 To follow him along.
 Musical Jack.
 We thank you for your courtesy
 And what you gave us here
 We wish you all a very good night 205
 And another happy year.
 A good fat pig, plenty of money and nought to do.
 * An arrow inked in the margin suggests that Hopper Joe's speech, "So now our Play is
 ended," should appear

 Sword dance performed by eight dancers
 Songs by ploughboys .
 Exit of company dragging plough and singing ^Farmer9 s boy "
 Doctor s song.
 I gain! my love
 I gain! my love
 I gain me high degree 210
 I hope you'll put something into my hat
 To pay my wedding fee.
 Plough boys song .
 Crack, crack, goes me whip
 I whistle and I sing
 I sit upon me wagon 215
 I'm me happy as a king
 Me horses they are willing
 And I am never sad
 For none can lead a happier Ufe
 Than Jack the farmer's lad.* 220
 Doctor .
 This man's not dead he's in a trance
 The only fault is he has swallowed an acre and a half of
 green tatie tops, a row of houses, a donkey and cart
 and can't digest the wheels
 Rise up Jack and lets dance. 225
 Musical Jack's song.
 I'm a foreign traveller
 I've travelled over land and sea
 All I want is a darling wife
 To bear me company
 If I could win her love 230
 And get her vow
 I would sit down more content
 While others hold the plough.
 SKIDMORE COLLEGE
 SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK
 * Mr. Martin omits the final two speeches

The "Plough Jacks’" Play from Kirmington, Lincs. - 1923 R. J. E. Tiddy (1923) pp. 254-257

Context:
    Location:     Kirmington, Lincolnshire, England (TA1011)
    Year:     Publ. 1923
    Time of Occurrence:     Xmas
    Collective Name:     Plough Jacks

Source:
    R.J.E.Tiddy
    The Mummers' Play
    Oxford, University Press, 1923, pp.254-257

Cast: (Click on any name for the character name index.)
    Fool
    Sergeant / Recruiting Sergeant
    Music Jack
    Indian King
    Doctor
    Lady
    Bold Tom
    Lame Jane

Text:
    Fool

        Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
        I have come to give you a bold call
        As Xmas is a merry time I have come to see you all
        I hope you won't be offended for what I've got to say -
        Presently there will be some more boys and girls
        come tripping along this way-
        Some can whistle and some can sing
        By your consent they will come in -
        Hookam, Spookam, Spankam and Spain
        In comes the Sergeant of the same.

    Sergeant

        In comes I the recruiting Sergeant, arriving here just now
        I have come to list all those who can follow horse cart or plough
        Tinkers, tailors, pedlers nailers, all at my advance.

    Fool

        Is there anything else at your advance?

    Sergeant

        Yes my advance
        Is to see a fool dance
        Either dance sing or play
        Or I will shortly march away.

    Fool

        One day I tried to stop a pig
        And what a lark we had Sir
        The pig says 'umph' and away he went
        Right through my stunning legs Sir -

    Sergeant

        Do you call that singing?

    Fool

        Yes, plenty good enough for a man like you -

    Sergeant

        I can sing better than that myself

    Music Jack

        In comes I old music Jack
        'I'll give you a tune before I go back.'

    Indian King

        Ware out my lads, let me come in
        For I'm the Chap they call Indian King
        They have been seeking me to slay
        But I'm here this very day
        I fought the fiery dragon and brought it to the slaughter,
        And by those means I won King George's daughter.

    Sergeant

        Slaughter, Slaughter, no more to be said,
        For in one instant I'll fetch off your head.

    Indian King

        How can'st thou fetch off mine head?
        My head is made of iron and my body of steel,
        My limbs are made of knuckle bone, I challenge thee to feel.

    Sergeant

        'Slaughter'

    {He knocks down Indian King.}

    Fool

        Five pounds for a doctor.

    Sergeant

        Ten to stop away -

    Fool

        Fifteen, he must come on a case like this.

    Doctor

        In comes I the Doctor.

    Fool

        How came you to be a doctor?

    Doctor

        I travelled for it
        from bedside to fireside
        and from fireside to my mother's cupboard
        that's where I get all my pork pies and sausages from: -

    Fool

        But can you cure this man ?

    Doctor

        Yes, certainly, take hold of my bottle and stick
        While I feel this man's pulse -

    {Feels his stomach.}

    Fool

        Is that where a man's pulse lies?

    Doctor

        Yes, it is the strongest part of a man's body
        he 's not dead but in a trance,
        he's swallowed a horse and cart and can't get rid of the wheels -
        Jump up Jack and we'll have a dance.

    {Sergeant's Song.}

    Sergeant

        Come, my lads it's time for listing -
        Listing do not be afraid -
        You shall have all kind of liquor
        Likewise kiss the pretty maid.

    Lady

        I am a lady bright and fair
        My fortune is my charms
        It's true that I've been borne away
        Out of my dear lover's arms,
        He promised for to marry me
        As you will understand,
        He listed for a soldier
        And went into foreign land.

    {Sergeant's Song.}

    Sergeant

        Madam, I've got gold and silver
        Madam I've got house and land
        Madam I've got world and treasure,
        Everything at thy command -

    Lady

        What care I for your gold and silver
        What care I for your house and land
        What care I for your world and treasure
        All I want is a nice young man.

    Bold Tom

        In comes Bold Tom a brisk and nimble fellow
        Forty gallons of your best ale will make us nice and mellow.
        A piece of your pork pie. For believing me I'm telling no lie
        For we're all hungry as well as dry.

    Lame Jane

        In comes I lame Jane,
        with a neck as long as a crane -
        Once I was a young maid -
        now I'm a down old widow -
        A wig behind and a wig before
        Ware out my lads and I'll sweep the floor.

    Fool

        O. I'm the nice young man you want, Miss -
        Friends I've come to invite you to me and my wife's wedding -
        and that which you like best you'll have to bring with you
        for we are going to have a leg of a louse and a lock fried,
        a barley chaff dumpling buttered with wool,
        and those who can't nag it will have it to pull -
        The tail chine of a cockerel
        and 18 gallons of your best butter milk to rinse all down. -
        Sing about lads while I draw stakes.

    {Last Song.}

    [All]

        Good master and good mistress
        As you sit round your fire
        Remember us poor plough boys
        Who plough the muck and mire.
        The muck it is so nasty
        The mire it is so near
        We thank you for civility
        For what you've given us here.
        We wish you a merry Xmas
        And a Happy New Year.
        Good master and good mistress
        You see our fool's gone out
        We make it our ability
        To follow him about

Notes:

    Indexer's Notes:    According to Tiddy's editor R.S.T., this text was not from Tiddy's own collection. It's provenance is not given.

    Scanned text downloaded from http://members.tripod.co.uk/Sandmartyn/ploug02.htm

File History:

    1999     - Scanned by Martin Collins
    11/09/1999     - Encoded by Peter Millington

 ----------------------

The Kirmington Plough-Jags Play
Author(s): Ruairidh Greig
Source:
Folk Music Journal,
 Vol. 3, No. 3 (1977), pp. 233-241
Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society

 The Kirmington Plough-Jags Play
 RUAIRIDH GREIG
 The text of the Kirmington version of the "Plough Jags" or "Plough
 Jacks" play was first printed in "The Mummers' Play", by R. J. E.
 Tiddy (OUP 1923). This particular play seems to have been added to
 Tiddy's collection by Rupert Thomson, who edited the book for
 publication after the author was killed in action on August 10th, 1916,
 and no information as to its origin was included other than "From
 Kirmington in North Lincolnshire."' It was then with considerable
 surprise and pleasure that, during a song collecting trip in North
 Lincolnshire, I met Walter Brackenbury of Kirmington who took the
 part of the Doctor in the team which performed the play immediately
 before the First World War. Not only did Mr. Brackenbury have a
 complete version of the play which he had written out some years
 previously, but he also remembered a wealth of details about the
 performance, the organisation of the team and the attitudes of both
 the actors and their audience. We first met in August 1970 at the New
 Inn, Great Limber, to which Mr. Brackenbury at the age of 73 still
 occasionally cycled. The following details about the performance of
 the Kirmington play were recorded subsequently in a most memorable
 interview in Walter's wood shed and as far as possible are given here
 in his own words.2
 (a) Organisation
 The team was organised by the Fool, who at the time was Frank
 Vessey. He subsequently moved from the village to Barton-on-
 Humber. Walter joined after he started work at the age of 13 on a
 local farm. When asked how he came to be a member of the team,
 Walter commented, "Well, I suppose now, he was the fool, the
 selected fool, and the picking of the team would revolve round him."
 (T)
 The composition of the team did not vary drastically from year to
 year, but there would be gradual changes, often as Walter commented,
 for financial reasons.
 "Well there'd be maybe one drop out ... even the fool for instance.
 Some was poor, we was poor. My father died when I was 3. My
 Op. cit. p. 254.
 2 Transcriptions carry the suffix (T).
 233


 mother had nine to bring up and even though we was pleased to get a
 shilling or two, we still enjoyed it. You see a chap like Frank Vessey . .
 he was never poor and some of us who were poor'd maybe stop on a
 year or more, but he got better off you see. . ." (T)
 The words of the play were not learned from print, but from the
 other members of the team during rehearsals which took place for
 several weeks before Christmas at the Fool's house.
 Unlike most of the plough plays in Lincolnshire, which were
 performed on Plough Monday, the Kirmington play was performed at
 Christmas time. The performances began, "Oh, a week or ten days
 before Christmas, when the Christmas spirit was getting on" (T) and
 the team generally "got done by Christmas . . . except odd ones that'd
 be having a party." (T) These specially requested performances were
 not popular with Walter.
 "You didn't like it much because you'd all to get clean. It took a
 devil of a long time to clean your face you know, all that black." (T)
 After the team assembled, they would decide which area to visit;
 We'd map a piece out, say this street one night; there weren't so
 many houses then and you nearly knew who'd have you in." (T).
 The group did not restrict their visits to the village of Kirmington.
 They also visited neighbouring Croxton, as well as outlying farms on
 the hills around the village.
 "You see there are those tops up there and I think we used to go to
 nearly all of them. I remember going to that one up there and it's
 nearly two miles from the village." (T)
 These farms were regarded as being especially worth visiting,
 because of the relative prosperity of the owners;
 "Well, say they'd give you five bob and that was a lot o' money i'
 them days." (T)
 The costumes worn by the team seem to have been determined
 largely by what was available. The characters and their costumes were
 as follows:-
 Fool
 "You'd get an old shirt off somebody or, if you could get it, an old
 smock what a man has for show, you know, a garthman or a
 shepherd, a white smock you know, but big shirts were generally the
 rage . . . some'd be studded wi' pretty ribbon, all colours you know;
 patches, different variations. Then there was the Fool's hat . . . what
 we call a proper Fool's hat, it went to a peak, you know, like these
 234

 things like the roadmenders have when they're doing the roads." (T)
 Sergeant
 "The best you can get a man dressed to a soldier. I mean at that
 time o'day . . . you could borrow a red tunic o' somebody that'd been
 i' the army. He has a sword." (T)
 Indian King
 "He was dressed nearly like the fool; a bit more wild looking and a
 round hat wi' pretty feathers." (T)
 Doctor
 "You'd get a black coat, a black rain coat, hard hat if you had one
 and a bottle of cold tea and a stick." (T)
 Ladi'
 "Dressed as a lady, ordinary lady. In them days all women had big
 hats on and long dresses on and big blouses and a veil." (T)
 Bold Tom
 "'He'd want a bigger shirt, stuffed with straw and tied round. It
 weren't heavy." (T)
 Old Lame Jane
 "She wants to be a real old pensioner with long clothes, long boots
 or shoes and an old brush for sweeping the floor."
 The Fool, Indian King and Bold Tom all had their faces partially
 blackened, with moustaches and dots applied with the aid of a burnt
 cork;
 "WThatfd make you look damn silly." (T)
 (b) Performance
 The team announced their presence at the kitchen door by knocking
 and calling "Will you have Plough Jags in please?" If permission was
 given the team would enter, led by the Fool;
 "You stopped outside until it was your turn to come in." (T) When
 all the team were inside, they would stand in a line, moving only as
 required by the action of the play.
 "You'd no need to shift, only when the Sergeant slew the ... [Indian
 King I you see they'd move and then the Fool helps him up when he's
 down." (T)
 TEXT
 Fool Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
 We've come to give you a bold call,
 As Christmas is a merry time
 235

 We've come to see you all
 We hope you'll not be offended
 By what we've got to say,
 For presently there'll be a few more boys and girls
 Come tripping up this way.
 Sergeant In comes I the recruiting Sergeant,
 Arriving here just now.
 My orders are to list all those
 Who can follow horse, cart or plough
 Tinkers, tailors, pedlars, nailers
 Are all at my advance.
 Fool Is there anything else at your advance, Sir?
 Sergeant Yes, my advance is to see a fool dance, laugh, sing or
 play
 Or I will quickly march away.
 Fool (sings)
 Li e -oIF ' C # T' ;
 One day I tried to stop a pig, sir
 And what a lark we had
 The pig went (grunting noise)
 And away he ran
 Right through my stunning legs, sir.
 Sergeant Do you call that singing? I can sing better than that
 myself.
 (sings)
 P Fl 4 i T0 J Od 1
 III, I~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 236


 Come my lads it's time for listing.
 Listing, do not be afraid.
 You shall have all kinds of liquor
 Likewise kiss the pretty fair maids.
 Indian King Ware out my lads let me come in,
 For I'm the chap called Indian King.
 They have been seeking me to slay,
 And I am here this very same day.
 I fought the fiery dragon,
 And brought it to the slaughter,
 And by these means I won King George's daughter.
 Sergeant Slaughter, slaughter, no more to be said
 For in one instant I'll fetch off thine head.
 Indian King How canst thou fetch off mine head?
 Mine head is of iron, my body of steel.
 My limbs of knuckle bone,
 I challenge thee to feel.
 Sergeant Slaughter! (Draws sword across Indian King's throat,
 who falls)
 Fool Five pounds for a Doctor!
 Sergeant Ten pounds to stop away!
 Fool Fifteen to come in on a case like this!
 Doctor In comes I the doctor.
 Fool How camest thou to be a doctor?
 Doctor I travelled for it from bedside to fireside,
 From fireside to my mother's cupboard
 That's where I got all my pork pies and sausages from.
 Fool What diseases can you cure?
 Doctor Ipsy, pipsy, palsy, gout
 Pains within and pains without,
 Heal all wounds and cleanse your blood
 And do your body a lot of good.
 Fool Can you cure this man?
 Doctor Yes certainly, take hold of my bottle and stick while I
 feel o' this man's pulse.
 (The fool takes the bottle and stick and the Doctor feels
 the Indian King's thigh)
 Fool Is that where a man's pulse lie?
 Doctor Yes, the strongest part of a man's body.
 He's not dead but in a trance.
 237

 He's swallowed a horse and cart
 And can't get shut of the wheels.
 Jump up, Jack and lets have a dance.
 (Indian King is helped up)
 Lady (sings)
 LI i I
 s; k J J:e I/ 1)1 I I II
 4p t l _ t ' e i #' # w #- z i .
 I am a lady bright and fair
 My fortune is my charm
 It's true that I've been torn away
 From my dear lover's arms
 He promised for to marry me
 And that you'll understand,
 He listed for a soldier,
 And went to foreign land.
 Bold Tom In comes I Bold Tom
 A brisk and nimble fellow
 Forty gallons of your best ale
 Will make me nice and mellow
 And a slice of your pork pie
 For, believe me, we're all hungry
 As well as dry.
 Lame Jane In comes I old Lame Jane
 With a neck as long as a crane
 A wig behind and a wig before
 Look out my lads,
 Fool (sings) And I'll sweep the floor.
 Mt . . ,IyI I<IrM ,I .
 238 ; - 1 r r r Z t g r r 2 0 5 d
 238

 Madam I've got gold and silver,
 Madam I've got house and land,
 Madam, I've got wealth and treasure
 Everything at your command.
 Lady (sings)
 What care I for your gold and silver,
 What care I for your house and land,
 What care I for your wealth and treasure,
 All I want is a nice young man.
 Fool (links arms with the Lady)
 Friends, I've come to invite you to me and my wife's
 wedding. What you like best you'd better bring wi' you,
 for we're going to have the leg of a louse and a lop fry,
 a barley chaff dumpling buttered with wool. Them as
 can't nag it'll have it to pull; tail chine of a cockerel also
 and eighteen gallons of your best buttermilk to rinse all
 down. Sing about lads while I draw stakes.
 (Fool collects while the rest of the cast sing)
 V5 LI 40 I 10 w Ai' |
 __~ _ _XI LI 11 1~ I F
 '~~' r ~ ~ I L I -
 All Good master and good mistress
 As you sit round the fire
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who plough the muck and mire.
 The muck it is so nasty,
 The mire it is so strong,
 Remember us poor plough boys
 Who plough the furrows along.
 We thank you for civility
 For what you've given us here
 We wish you a Merry Christmas
 And a Happy New Year.
 (The fool leads the way out)
 Good master and good mistress
 239

 You see our Fool's gone out
 We make it our ability
 To follow him about.
 Two dialect words used in the Fool's last speech may require
 explanation: a "lop" is a flea and "to nag" in this context means to
 gnaw or to chew at something.
 The team collected money from the audience, and were sometimes
 offered hospitality in the form of food and beer.
 (c) Attitudes
 The attitudes of performers and audience towards the play are
 undoubtedly of considerable importance. Only rarely have comments
 on and opinions of such customs been recorded from local people,
 upon whom their survival ultimately depends. From the expression of
 attitudes towards the play,much may be learned about its importance
 to the community which fostered it, and the social function which it
 fulfilled.
 Walter Brackenbury, when asked what he regarded as the reason
 for performing the play commented:
 "Fun more than anything, entertainment. I don't think for one
 minute that the money you got was the compelling factor for going
 round, even though we was all poor." (T)
 In the days when the Plough plays were flourishing, for large
 numbers of young men, farming was the only available occupation,
 and such Christmas activities offered the opportunity for welcome
 relief from everyday concerns, as well as a chance to supplement small
 wages. In some villages, the Plough Jags outings were also an excuse
 for violence, threatening householders who refused to contribute with
 ploughing up doorsteps, or lawns, or fighting rival gangs. The Lincoln,
 Rutland and Stamford Mercury noted on 31/1/1865 that at Barton-
 on-Humber i. . . the usual gangs of Plough Jacks went through their
 uncouth performances in the streets, which are now of such a nature
 as to hardly gratify the most rigid stickler for adherence to old
 customs."
 However in Kirmington the performers did not seem to be of a
 violent disposition;
 "'There was no animosity in them days, no silly devils." (T) Despite
 their peaceful nature, they still inspired a certain amount of respect in
 young children.
 240

 "Oh well, some children was frightened you know ... some were
 really frightened ... when the Indian King come... if he were a good
 un, if he was well made up see." (T)
 The young performers must have got some satisfaction through
 becoming such powerful, frightening figures.
 Obviously, as a performer, Walter Brackenbury could not give a
 great deal of information about the attitudes of his audience, but the
 act of giving hospitality or money might have acted in some small way
 as an affirmation of status for the donor. No mention of bringing luck
 was remembered, but if not as bringers of luck, the Plough Jags were
 greeted with pleasure as an integral element in the annual celebrations.
 "They took it for granted, see. Christmas was Christmas, and
 Christmas was Plough Jags." (T)

-----------------------------------------------

     Lincolnshire Plough Plays
Author(s): E. H. Rudkin Source: Folklore, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Mar., 1939), pp. 88-97 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. Stable

    88 Collectanea What tune, ladies and gentlemen ? Oh, the old favourite(s)- Ran Tan, the tinder box; Jack up the orchard; Cat in the fiddle bag. All sing " Darkies lead a happy life " while the collection is taken in the frying pan.

Given to me by George Diston, stone mason, of Snowshill, Gloucestershire. II June, 1936. He said he originally saw it performed at Blockley, Glos., brought it to Snowshill and taught it to the young men there where it is now performed every Christmas.

HERE is the version the Carlton-le-Moorland players have been presenting this year (1934).

Enter the Fool: In comes I, bold Tom, a brave and brisk young fellow.
I've come to taste your beef and ale, because they say it's ripe and mellow.
Good evening, ladies and gents all, it's plough week as makes me so bold as to call, and I hope you won't be offended at what few words I've got to say, because there's a few more chaps coming on the way. Oakam, Pokam, France and Spain, in comes the Sergeant on the same. Enter the Recruiting Sergeant : In comes I, the Recruiting Sergeant; I've landed here just now; I've had orders from the King to enlist all men that follow cart, horse or plough, tinkers, tailors, meddlers, nailers, all the more to my advance, and the more I hear the fiddle play the better I can dance. Fool: Faith, lad, can you dance? Sergeant sings : Come all ye lads that are bound, For listing, list and do not be afraid; You shall have all kind of liquors, Likewise kiss this pretty, fair maid.
   Enter Lady : Behold the lady bright and gay, Good fortune and sweet charms; How scornfully I've been thrown away, Right out of my true lover's arm. He swears if I don't wed with him, As you will understand, He'll enlist all for a soldier. Enter Farmer's Man : In comes I, the farmer's man, Don't you see my whip in my hand? Straight I go from end to end, Never make a balk or bend, And to my horses I attend, As they go gaily round the end, Gee! whoa! back, Spanker! Sergeant : Are you free, able and willing, young man, to serve the King, and take this shilling? Farmer's man sings : Thanks, kind Sergeant, for your offer; Time away does quickly pass; Dash my wig if I grieve any longer, For this proud and saucy lass. Tady sings : Since my lover listed and joined the Volunteers, I do not mean to sigh for him, nor yet to shed a tear, I do not mean to sigh for him, I mean to let him know, I've got another sweetheart, and with him I will go. Fool sings : Madam, I've got gold and silver; Madam, I've got house and land; Madam, I've got rings and jewels, and they stand at your command. Lady sings : What care I for your rings and jewels; What care I for your house and land; What care I for your gold and silver, When all I want is a handsome man. This content downloaded from 185.44.78.144 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:48:08 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
    go Collectanea Fool sings: A handsome man will not maintain you; Beauty, it will fade away, Like a rose that blooms in summer, And in winter will decay. (Spoken) Well, dost thou love me, my pretty maid? Lady: Yes, Tommy, to me sorrow. Fool: And when shall be our wedding day? Lady : Why, Tommy dear, to-morrow. Both: Then we'll shake hands in wedlock's bands, and we'll be wed to-morrow. Fool: We'll ask all the hip-skip jacks to me and my wife's wedding; what we likes the best we're going to have, and what you likes best, well, you'll hev to bring wi'yer. Enter Dame 3Cane : In comes I, old Dame Jane, with a neck as long as any old crane. Dib, dab, over yon high meadows, once I was a blooming maid, but now a darned old widow. Now I've caught thee, Tommy. There, take the child (handing him a baby). Fool: The bairn, Jane ? The bairn, Jane? It's not a bit like me. Dame Yane: Yes, it is. Look at its eyes, nose and cheeks, it's as much like you as ever it can be. Fool: What is it, a boy or a girl? Dame Yane : It's a boy. Fool : It isn't mine. You'd better take it and swear it to the parish pump. Enter Beelzebub : In comes I, Beelzebub, on my shoulder I carry my club; in my hand a whit-leather frying pan. Don't you think I'm a funny old man? Is there any old woman here .as can stand before me? Dame lane : Yes, me, for me head is made of iron, me body made of steel, me hands and feet of knuckle bone, and no man can make me feel. Beelzebub strikes Dame Yane, saying: I will hash you, slash you as small as flies; send you to Jamaica to make mince-pies. Fool: Beelzebub, Beelzebub, look what you've done; killed This content downloaded from 185.44.78.144 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:48:08 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
    Collectanea 91 poor old Dame Jane and lamed her son. Five pounds for a doctor. Beelzebub: Ten pounds to stop away. Fool: Fifteen to come in a case like this, and he must come. Doctor still outside : Whoa! Boy, hold my horse; he's only a donkey. Hold him by the tail and mind he don't kick you, and I'll show you the rusty side of a brass ha'penny when I come out again. Enter the Doctor : In comes I, the doctor. Fool: What, you a doctor? Doctor: Yes, me a doctor. Fool: And how came you to be a doctor? Doctor : Travelled for it. Fool: And where did you travel? Doctor : England, Ireland, France and Spain, over the hills and back again, to the bed-head, fireside. I've had many a piece of pork-pie out of my grandmother's cupboard, that's what's made me so clever and wise. I'll take off my hat, kid gloves and corduroy, walking stick, and feel of this old Dame's pulse. (Feels of leg.) Fool: What, is that -where her pulse lies? Doctor : Why, where should you feel? Fool : The back of her neck, of course. Doctor : I should have thought an old fool like you would have known this old gell's not dead; she's only in a trance. Fool: And what's that, pray? Doctor : She's been living on green, boiled tatey-tops three weeks without water. Trying to cut her throat with a wooden, iron rolling-pin. Accidentally done on purpose. She's also swallowed a donkey and cart, and the wheels won't go round. But never mind, inside my trousers, breeches, waistcoat pocket lining pocket, I've a box of pills, these pills are Persian pills. I should give one in the morning and two at night, and the box at dinner-time. If the pills dmn't digest the box will. I'11 give a little of my Whiff Waff, and let it run down her Tiff Taff, it'll heal her wound and cleanse her blood, and do the old soul a lot of good. She can dance and she can sing, so raise her up and let's begin. This content downloaded from 185.44.78.144 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:48:08 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
    92 Collectanea Altogether : Good master and mistress, as you sit round your fire, Remember us poor plough boys who plough through mud and mire; The mire it is so very deep, the water is so clear; We thank you for your Christmas box and a jug of your best beer. Fool: The box can't speak, because it's no tongue, and a little of your money will do it no wrong. Altogether : You see our song is ended; You see our fool is gone; We're making it our business, To follow him along. We thankyou for civility, and what you gave us here; We wish you all good-night and another Happy New Year.

THE PLOUGH BOY'S PLAY
PLOUGH PLAY DIGBY Written down by G. BLOY, of Digby, who took the part of Tom Fool. Characters : Tom Fool Threshing Blade (or Beelzebub) Soldier Bold Black Lady Doctor Farmer's Man Doctor's Boy Dress : Tom Fool: White face-red ochred cheeks-patchwork suit. Bold Black : Black coat and trousers-white shirt worn outside trousers-black hat. Farmer's Boy : Slouch hat-patched coat-stick with bladder attached by a string (or a stocking full of bran). Doctor : Swallow-tail coat-tall hat-stick and gloves. Trotter Boy : Box hat-" dressed somehow a bit comical " and a J gallon bottle of medicine. The Characters enter singly-

Enter Tom Fool: Tom: In comes I, bold Tom, A brisk and nimble fellow, Here to taste your beef and ale, They say it is so ripe and mellow! I've come so briskle and so bold, And confident you say, What can you expect from a fool, That knows no better way? A fool, a fool, I know I am! The little children speak the truth. A large company here, so smartly dressed, And, please you all, they'll do their best. Enter Soldier Soldier : In comes I, the Recruiting Sergeant, I've arriv-ed here just now. I've had orders from the Queen to list all jolly fellows, That follow either horse, cart, or plough. Tinkers, tailors, fiddlers, or fools. The more I hear the fiddle play the better I can dance. Tom: Faith, lad! The Fool come here to see you dance? Soldier: You begin to dance, sing or say, I'll soon walk away! Enter Lady Lady: Behold, the Lady bright and gay, Good fortune and sweet charms; Thrown away right out of my true love's arms, He swears that if I don't marry him, he'll list For a soldier and go to some foreign land. Enter Farmer's Man F. M.: In comes I, the Farmer's Boy, Don't you think I'm a jolly old man? I can either plough, or reap, or sow, And crack my whip and say who-oa! Soldier (to F. M.) Ten bright guineas shall be your bounty if you stay with me and you no longer linger.

    94 - Collectanea (Soldier gets the Farmer's Man 'listed) Lady : Since my love has 'listed and then to volunteer, Leaving me to sigh for him, I'll have him for to know, I'll have another sweetheart, and along with him I'll go! (Lady tries to run off with Tom Fool) Soldier (to Tom) : A handsome lass'll not maintain you, Her beauty it will fade away, Finest flower that grows in summer, In the winter will decay. (Tom, Soldier, and Lady walk up and down together) Tom: I've been thinking about asking a lot of you gimcracks to me and my wife's wedding-what you like best you'd better bring with you. Soldier : What's that for? Tom: Because we'll have a leg of a lark and a louse to roast. (Tom Fool and Lady have a bit of a jig) Enter a Threshing Blade. Threshing Blade: Behold, I am a Threshing Blade, You people all do know, My old Dad larnt me this trade Just 90 years ago. Yes! I'm the big Thrashing Man! I've thrashed beside o' my old Dad many a day! When my old Dad died I went to the King and got a new Thrashing Commission (to Tom). I'll thrash you, Tom, before I go! Tom : I should like to catch you at it! Threshing Blade : We'll put it off 'till another day. Enter Bold Black. Bold Black : In comes I, Bold Black! Bold Black's me name- Conquered many a nation- Conquer this the same! (Bold Black is flying about Tom Fool while he says this ; he draws up to him at the end) Tom: Dear me! Mr. Black, don't you be quite so hot. Remember in this room what a man you've got!
    Collectanea 95- Slishey, Slasher, small as flies, I'll send you to Jamaica to make minch 1 pies-! Bold Black : You slishey slasher small as flies, Send me to Jamaica to make minch pies? Hold your tongue, you foolish fellow! Tell me none o' yer lies! (Threshing Blade is flying round Bold Black while this is going on ; he now knocks him on the floor. Tom Fool comes up) Tom: 0, man! 0, man! what hast thou done? Thou hast killed the finest Black that ever the sun shone on1 Threshing Blade : Five pounds for a Doctor! Soldier : Ten to keep away! Farmer's Man : Fifteen to come! Enter Doctor Doctor : In comes the Doctor. (Fool encourages him) Tom: You a Doctor? Doctor : Me a Doctor. Tom : Where did you larn all your education from? Doctor : I travelled for it. Tom: Where did you travel? Doctor : England, Ireland, France, Spain and Digby. Tom : What pains can you cure? Doctor : Ipsy pipsy palsy, and the gout, Pains within and pains without, Draw a tooth, or set a leg.. And another grand cure I did in Yorkshire the other day as you know nowt about, Tom. Tom: What was that, Doctor? Doctor : An old woman came running to me, tumbled over an empty teapot half full of flour, grazed the shin-bone of her elbow and made her stocking-top bleed-I set that. Tom : You must be a clever old chap, then-try your skill! 1 Minch pies contain pig-meat (lungs etc.), as opposed to the orthodox mince pie.
    96 Collectanea Doctor : By your kind leave, so I will. (calls to Doctor's Boy) Trotter, boy, bring my medicine! (Enter Doctor's Boy with medicine. Doctor takes hold of Bold Black's ankle) Tom: You feel there for his pulse? Doctor : Where should you feel? Tom : The back o' the neck to be sure! strongest part about a working man! Doctor : This man's been living on green tatey-tops for a fort- night; trying to swallow a wheelbarrow; trying to cut his throat with a rolling pin. This man's not dead but in a trance. Tom : Rise him up, and let's have a dance! If he can't dance, we can sing, So rise him up and let's begin. (Bold Black rises. The others dance and sing) All: We thank the Master of this house, The Mistress also, Likewise the little children That round the table go. Soldier (to Tom) You'd better go round and see what the good folks'll give you. (Tom goes round collecting from the audience, remarks are made by the actors while Tom collects) Ist man : Let's have a good big piece o' you pork pie! 2nd man: Your guts is allus hungry! 3rd man : And yours is allus dry! (After the collection they fall into line with Tom at the head, and lead off, singing): All: Now you see our song is ended, You see our fool is gone, We'll make it in our business To follow him along. We thank you for what you have given us here, Wishing all a Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year. (Exit all)
    Collectanea 97 PLOUGH PLAY DIGBY A shortened version. Enter Tom Fool Tomrn : In comes I as never been afore, Six more actors at the door. Some can dance and some can sing, By your leave they shall come in. Enter Soldier Soldier : In comes I the Recruiting Sergeant, etc. E. H. RUDKIN G

Article Contents p. 88 [unnumbered] p. 89 p. 90 p. 91 p. 92 p. 93 p. 94 p. 95 p. 96 p. 97 Issue Table of Contents Folklore, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Mar., 1939), pp. i-vii+1-112 Volume Information [pp. i-vii] Front Matter Minutes of Meetings [pp. 1-3] The Folk-Lore Society. Sixty-First Annual Report of the Council [pp. 4-11] Scottish Lore of Earth, Its Fruits, and the Plough [pp. 12-32] The Wonders of the Isle of Man [pp. 33-44] The "Green Man" in Church Architecture [pp. 45-57] Cain and Abel [pp. 58-65] Collectanea Folklore from West Norfolk [pp. 66-75] Folk Tales [pp. 75-81] A Tale from Mid Curr [pp. 81-83] The Snowshill Mummers [pp. 83-88] Lincolnshire Plough Plays [pp. 88-97] Correspondence Headless Ghosts [p. 98] Old-World Folk-Tale [pp. 98-99] Reviews Review: untitled [pp. 100-103] Review: untitled [pp. 103-104] Review: untitled [pp. 104-105] Review: untitled [pp. 105-106] Review: untitled [pp. 106-108] Review: untitled [p. 108] Short Bibliographical Notices [pp. 109-110] Obituary Notice [pp. 111-112] Back Matter