MYSTERIES DESCRIBED, ESPECIALLY THE English Miracle Plays, FOUNDED ON APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT STORY, EXTANT AMONG THE UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM; INCLUDING NOTICES OF ECCLESIASTICAL SHOWS, THE FESTIVALS OF FOOLS AND ASSES-THE ENGLISH BOY BISHOP BY WILLIAM HONE. WITH ENGRAVINGS ON COPPER AND WOOD. "Is it possible the spells of Apocrypha should juggle men into such strange Mysteries?" Shakspeare. LONDON: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM HONE, 45, LUDGATE HILL. By J. M'Creery, Tooks Court. PREFACE. It is related of Johnson, by his pleasant biographer, that he said, he loved the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant.' Deeper read in our early writers, than the great moralist, an erudite antiquary of our own day* observes, that, with respect to what is often absurdly denominated black letter learning, the taste which pre-. vails in the present times for this sort of reading, wherever true scholarship and a laudable curiosity are found united, will afford the best reply to the hyper-criticisms and impotent sarcasms of those who, having from indolence or ignorance neglected to cultivate so rich a' field of knowledge, exert the whole of their endeavours to depreciate its value.' The truth of this has been subsequently attested by the popularity of the author of Waverley, who, aided by antient lore, imparts to his scenes and portraits of other times the truth and high' finish of Gerard Dow and Denner, and the dignity and grace of Titian and Vandyke. Need I apologize then for bringing together the results of recent desultory reading, intimately connected with that class of literature which is especially dear to me from accidental acquaintance with it in childhood, and stolen intima * Mr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. pref. xi. b cies, during thirty years of a life spent in 'violating, step after step, the circumscription by which the aristocratic compasses were again and again, with reluctant extension to successive greater distances, defining the scope of the knowledge proper for a man of my condition.'* A memorable period in my humble existence is the occasion of the ensuing sheets. On the 19th of De cember 1817, the late Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough observed, that the first scenic performances were Mysteries or representations of incidents in Saered Writ.' The remark induced me, about three years ago, to inquire somewhat on this subject, and in consequence of a perusal, accidentally simultane ous, of the religious Coventry Plays or Mysteries in the British, Museum, and certain of the Apocryphal Gospels, together with the possession of engravings by, old masters, from scenes common to each, I hastily compiled and published the volume entitled, The Apocryphal New Testament.' Though my main pur pose in producing it was, that for which I stated it to be of use, namely, to explain the subjects of pictures and prints that are without explanation from any other source,'† and notwithstanding I conceived, that, so far as the Gospels, were concerned, it would be re garded as a work of mere curiosity, yet it was dexterously construed into a cause of attack. The fierceness of the Quarterly in October 1821, roused me to answer the assailant, and I sent a sheet of reply to the press in the following month. To accompany it, but *Foster. +Apoc. N. Test, Preface. * as a distinct publication, the ensuing pages from 13 to 68 inclusive, were then actually printed off, and I received a proof from the printer of sixteen pages more to conclude the tract, when abridgment of my lersure, but, above all, the subsidence of my resentment into profound contempt for the flagitious frauds of the reverend reviewer, and a conviction that those who were qualified to judge of his article would see its mendacity, determined me not to engage in polemics. Abandoning the proposed refutation, yet to ·wards the close of last summer recollecting the por tion of the Mysteries in the printer's warehouse, I sat down, intending to complete my notices of these curious dramas in a few hours, and within the limits that I originally assigned to myself; the difficulty however of wholly relinquishing my pen, while, by fits and snatches, I could employ it agreeably, enlarged the proposed pamphlet to the present volume. Concerning the Coventry Mysteries, Dugdale relates, in his History of Warwickshire, published in 1656, that Before the suppression of the monasteries this city was very famous for the pageants that were play'd therein, upon Corpus-Christi Day (one of their ancient faires) which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small be nefit thereto: which pageants being acted with mighty state and reverence by the Grey Friers, had theatres for the several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city, for the better advantage of spectators, and contain'd the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the old Englishe rithme, as appeareth |