profound ignorance and superstition which could tolerate such gross caricature of all that was most sacred, and rendered the spectators blind to the practical impiety and blasphemy which abounded in such exhibitions. The most sacred personages, not excepting the Supreme himself, were brought upon the stage, and the actors who represented them were familiarly called by the names of the characters they personated. Take, for example, the following account of the expense of a certain exhibition given by the Smith's company of Coventry. We have some 'strange items,' as our author terms them; and if the sense of the ludicrous prevails at all over the sense of the blasphemous, it is only because it is quite certain that the ignorant writers did not intend to be blasphemous. 'God's coat of white leather (6 skins). 'Cheverel (chevelure, peruke) for God. "Girdle for God. Paid to God 2s. Item to Herod, 3s. 4d. Item to Pilatt is wyffe, 2s. Item to the devyll and to Judas, 18d. are among the entries. Those of the Cappers are not less remarkable: Item, payd to Pilate, 4d. In one of these old plays occurs the following pirate-song, which is not without considerable merit; and is otherwise curious, as containing perhaps the most ancient specimen of nautical minstrelsy in the language : Lustely, lustely, lustely let us saile forthe! The wind trim doth serve us, it blowes from the North. All thinges we have ready, and nothing we want, 'Her flagges be new trimmed, set floating alofte, 'And here is a maister excelleth in skill, And our maister's mate, he is not to seeke; 'If fortune then faile not, and our next voiage prove, The cannes shal be filled with wine, ale, and beare. We must close our extracts by the two following amusing anecdotes of old John Skelton, the laureate, and one of our earliest dramatic writers: That Skelton was not much sooner silenced by Wolsey, might partly have been owing to his love of jesting, and to the favor with which it caused him to be regarded by king and nobles. For them he composed his Merie Tales,' and we give two as proofs of the reputa tion of the jovial laureate. TALE I. 'How Skelton came late home to Oxforde from Abington. Skelton was a English-man borne, as Skogan was, and he was educated and brought uppe in Oxfoorde, and there was he made a poet laureat. And on a tyme hee had bene at Abbington to make mery, wher that he had eate salto meates, and he dyd come late home to Oxfoorde; and he dyd lye in an ine named the Tabere, whyche is now the Angell, and he dyd drynke and went to bed. Aboute mydnighte he was so thyrstie or drye, that hee was constrayned to call the tapstere for drynke, and the tapstere heard hym not. Then he cryed to hys oste and hys ostess, and to the osteler for drynke, and no man would heare him. 'Alacke,' sayd Skelton, I shall peryshe for lacke of drynke: what remedye?' At last he dyd crie out, and sayd, Fyer, fyer, fyer!' When Skelton harde every man bustled himself upward, and some of them were naked, and some were halfe asleepe, and amased, and Skelton dyd crye, Fyer, fyer!' (styll,) that everye man knew not where to resorte, Skelton dyd go to bed; and the oste and the ostess, and the tapstere, with the osteler, dyd runne to Skelton's chambere wythe candles lyghted in theyr handes, saying, 'Where, where, where is the fyer?' Here, here,' sayd Skelton; and poynted hys fynger to hys mouth, sayinge, 'fetch me some drynke to quenche the fyer, and the heate, and the drinesse of my mouthe:' and so they dyd. Wherfore, it is goode for every man to helpe hys owne selfe in tyme of nede wyth some policie or crafte, so be yt ther bee no deceit nor falshed used." TALE II. 'How Skelton dressed the Kendal-man in the sweat time. At 'On a tyme Skelton rode from Oxfoorde to London wyth a Kendalman, and at Uxbrydge they bayted. The Kendal-man layde hys cappe upon the borde in the halle, and he went to serue hys horse. Skelton took the Kendal-man's cappe, and dyd putte betwyxt the lyninge and the outer syde a dysh of butter. And when the Kendal-man had dreste hys horse, he dyd come yn to diner, and dyd putte on hys cappe. (That tyme the sweatynge sycknesse was in Englande.) the laste, when the butter had taken heate of the Kendal-man's heade, yt dyd begynne to ron over hys face and aboute hys cheekes. Skelton sayd, Syr, you sweate soore; beware that you have not the sweatynge syckness.' And the Kendal-man sayd, By the masse, I'se wrang; I mus go tyl bed.' Skelton sayd, I am skilled in physicke, and 'specially in the sweatynge sycknesse, that I wyll warrant anye man.' In good fayth,' sayd the Kendal-man, 'do see, and I'se pay for your skott to London.' 'Then,' said Skelton, 'get you a kerchief, and I will bryng you abed.' The which was done. Skelton caused the cappe to be sod in boat lee, and dryed it. In the morning Skelton and the Kendal-man dyd ryde merily to London.' The volume by Mr. Bell, on the English Poets, is certainly more judiciously executed than the three volumes which have passed under review. It comprises the lives of Michael Drayton, Abraham Cowley, Edmund Waller, John Milton, and Samuel Butler. The work is by no means deficient in research. But we think we have reason to complain here, as in the volumes just noticed, of the want of that enlarged, comprehensive, and elegant criticism which can alone do full justice to the lives and writings of names so illustrious. Still, as the work is unfinished, we forbear saying any more upon it at present. Art. VI. 1. The New Cratylus: or Contributions towards a more 3. Article Language in the Penny Cyclopædia. THE appearance of the above works is an auspicious omen for English scholarship. They expatiate in a field of research which till lately has been little visited by our countrymen, and 'And here is a maister excelleth in skill, And our maister's mate, he is not to seeke; 'If fortune then faile not, and our next voiage prove, The cannes shal be filled with wine, ale, and beare. -Ibid, p. 272. We must close our extracts by the two following amusing anecdotes of old John Skelton, the laureate, and one of our earliest dramatic writers: That Skelton was not much sooner silenced by Wolsey, might partly have been owing to his love of jesting, and to the favor with which it caused him to be regarded by king and nobles. For them he composed his Merie Tales, and we give two as proofs of the reputation of the jovial laureate. 'TALE I. 'How Skelton came late home to Oxforde from Abington. Skelton was a English-man borne, as Skogan was, and he was educated and brought uppe in Oxfoorde, and there was he made a poet laureat. And on a tyme hee had bene at Abbington to make mery, wher that he had eate salto meates, and he dyd come late home to Oxfoorde; and he dyd lye in an ine named the Tabere, whyche is now the Angell, and he dyd drynke and went to bed. Aboute mydnighte he was so thyrstie or drye, that hee was constrayned to call the tapstere for drynke, and the tapstere heard hym not. Then he cryed to hys oste and hys ostess, and to the osteler for drynke, and no man would heare him. 'Alacke,' sayd Skelton, I shall peryshe for lacke of drynke: what remedye?' At last he dyd crie out, and sayd, Fyer, fyer, fyer !' When Skelton harde every man bustled himself upward, and some of them were naked, and some were halfe asleepe, and amased, and Skelton dyd crye, Fyer, fyer!' (styll,) that everye man knew not where to resorte, Skelton dyd go to bed; and the oste and the ostess, and the tapstere, with the osteler, dyd runne to Skelton's chambere wythe candles lyghted in theyr handes, saying, Where, where, where is the fyer?' Here, here,' sayd Skelton; and poynted hys fynger to hys mouth, sayinge, fetch me some drynke to quenche the fyer, and the heate, and the drinesse of my mouthe:' and so they dyd. Wherfore, it is goode for every man to helpe hys owne selfe in tyme of nede wyth some policie or crafte, so be yt ther bee no deceit nor falshed used." TALE II. 'How Skelton dressed the Kendal-man in the sweat time. At 'On a tyme Skelton rode from Oxfoorde to London wyth a Kendalman, and at Uxbrydge they bayted. The Kendal-man layde hys cappe upon the borde in the halle, and he went to serue hys horse. Skelton took the Kendal-man's cappe, and dyd putte betwyxt the lyninge and the outer syde a dysh of butter. And when the Kendal-man had dreste hys horse, he dyd come yn to diner, and dyd putte on hys cappe. (That tyme the sweatynge sycknesse was in Englande.) the laste, when the butter had taken heate of the Kendal-man's heade, yt dyd begynne to ron over hys face and aboute hys cheekes. Skelton sayd, Syr, you sweate soore; beware that you have not the sweatynge syckness.' And the Kendal-man sayd, By the masse, I'se wrang; I mus go tyl bed.' Skelton sayd, I am skilled in physicke, and 'specially in the sweatynge sycknesse, that I wyll warrant anye man.' In good fayth,' sayd the Kendal-man, 'do see, and I'se pay for your skott to London.' Then,' said Skelton, 'get you a kerchief, and I will bryng you abed.' The which was done. Skelton caused the cappe to be sod in boat lee, and dryed it. In the morning Skelton and the Kendal-man dyd ryde merily to London.' The volume by Mr. Bell, on the English Poets, is certainly more judiciously executed than the three volumes which have passed under review. It comprises the lives of Michael Drayton, Abraham Cowley, Edmund Waller, John Milton, and Samuel Butler. The work is by no means deficient in research. But we think we have reason to complain here, as in the volumes just noticed, of the want of that enlarged, comprehensive, and elegant criticism which can alone do full justice to the lives and writings of names so illustrious. Still, as the work is unfinished, we forbear saying any more upon it at present. Art. VI. 1. The New Cratylus: or Contributions towards a more 3. Article Language in the Penny Cyclopædia. THE appearance of the above works is an auspicious omen for English scholarship. They expatiate in a field of research which till lately has been little visited by our countrymen, and |