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The Skryveners' Play, The Incredulity of St. Thomas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2010
Extract
Although the manuscript from which the ensuing Miracle–play is printed is not, perhaps, earlier than the reign of Henry VI., there is ground for believing, from the character of the speeches, and from the extreme simplicity of its construction, that, if not the oldest, it is one of the oldest dramas existing in our language. In this respect it may rival “The Harrowing of Hell,” the MS. of which (Harl. 2253) carries us back to the reign of Edward III.It is not now printed for the first time. It was discovered many years ago “amongst the Archives at Guildhall, York,” and was published by Mr. J. Croft, E.S.A. in his “Excerpta Antiqua,” which came out in 1797. Ancient records were not then read with so much facility as at present; the manuscript itself is in various places scarcely legible, and the then editor, without being at all to blame, committed serious errors which we have endeavoured to remedy. The valuable original is now the property of John Sykes, Esq. M.D. of Doncaster, who has kindly permitted the Camden Society to make use of it.
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References
page 5 note * Mr. Davies, in his “York Records of the Fifteenth Century,” 8vo. 1843, p.233Google Scholar, states that the Plays were 57 in number a few-years later than in 1415, and in his list the Scriveners' Play, Apparicio Christi Thome Apostolo et aliis, is the fiftieth. The MS. formerly in Thoresby's collection, afterwards at Strawberry Hill, and at its last remove sold among the late Mr. Heywood Bright's books to Lord Ashburnham, has been believed to be a collection of these separate Plays.
page 14 note * This line seems to have been altered thus, chiefly by a marginal addition: “Ye must thynke syne thus me to teyn.”
1 Skryveners.] This word is written in a handwriting of the time upon the ancient parchment cover to the MS., indicating that the Play was acted by the Guild of Scriveners, we may presume, of the City of York.
2 our lord to sloo] i. e. our Lord to slay. Here and elsewhere we observe the capital or other letters as we find them in the original, in order to give a more exact notion of it, and of the practice of the age.
3 haytes vs full yle] So the original, but Mr. Croft misread “haytes” hath: the meaning of the line is, “These wicked Jews hate us full ill.”
4 Y for I red] Therefore I advise. In the next line “here yt wee Ieynd”meanshere that we lie or remain: James advises the disciples not to remove, until Christ send them some succour. After these words we are to suppose that the Saviour either entered, or made himself visible, to the disciples with the words “Peace and rest be unto you.”
5 we wayt not how] We wit, or know, not how.
6 yt doos vs teyne] To teen or tene is a verb, but not so commonly used as the substantive, which has various senses: here “teyne” means annoy, grieve, or vex—“that does us annoy.” It occurs afterwards in the form of “tyne.] See what John says before to the same purport. It is clear, therefore, that on the appearance of the Saviour some contrivance was used for producing instantaneous splendour.
8 what thynke ye, made men] i. e. mad men. Croft read mey for “men;” and in the next line harth for “hartes.”
9 and grathly grapis my wondes weytt] i. e. and readily gripe, or feel, my wet wounds. Grath is an adjective of ordinary occurrence, but the adverb is more uncommon, and Richardson in his Dictionary has no example of its use.
10 for yow ye gattes yus haue I goon]. “For you these ways thus have I gone.” The Saviour again requires them to use the evidence of their own senses, and to ascertain that he was composed of flesh and bone, which spirits have not.
11 to gayr yow kene] i. e. “to make you lcnow.” The word “gayr” seems to have been originally miswritten graz, and it is corrected in the MS. by interlineation.
12 yu louand lord, ytlast shall aye] i. e. “Thou loving lord, that shall endure for ever.” “Lovand” is the A.S. participle present, as leapand, feeland, bleedand, &c. Croft very absurdly printed “Then honor'd lord,” &c. The MS. is here very plainly written. The disciples afterwards offer the Saviour honey-comb and roach-fish.
13 & for ye shall whan hope forgett] “Wanhope,” usually spelt as one word, though not so in this MS., is despair. Christ eats in order to render the confidence of the disciples firm and great, and for the purpose of banishing their despondency.
14 yett in me efte] i. e. yet in me hereafter. The Saviour then bestows the remnant, or what is left, on the disciples present.
15 & vnto you ye holy goost
resave you here] “Goost” (probably formerly written gayst) seems intended to rhyme with “rayst” and “wayst” in previous lines; but the MS. is far from clear in this part of the play, and perhaps was not understood by the scribe. The general import is evident enough.
16 Ryght at your steyne]“Right at your voice.” It was most likely properly written stevyn by the author, but mistaken by the scribe: it, of course, rhymes with “hevyn” in the next line but one.
17 wt wondis wan] We must take “wan” here in the sense of faint, or languid, the epithet being applied to the wound, instead of the sufferer.
18 wth swapis sore] With sore blows or strokes. There is, perhaps, some corruption in the two following lines. A “swape” is still a whip in the North of England.
19 my selfe I schened] To “shend,” among other things, means to destroy. Thomas says that he mars, undoes, or destroys himself with grief on account of the loss of the Saviour, whom he had always found a faithful friend.
20 I trow ye mang] Perhaps “mang” is to be considered the provincial pronunciation of meng, and then the meaning would be “I trow ye are confused.” To meng is to mingle, and it is so used in the Towneley Miracle-Plays, as printed by the Surtees Society, 8vo. 1836, p. 35.
21 he ys one lyff] He is alive. Croft printed, “Thomas lely is our lyff,” which is nonsense. In the next line be converted “Ryfe” into ryse, by mistaking the,f for ans; and in the corresponding line he converted “thryfe” into thrye. “Tholyd,” in the next line, means suffered.
22 why sa ye say] Either this is an observation “why, so ye say,” or the words have been inverted for the sake of the rhyme, and we ought to read it as a question “why say ye so?”
23 ye wend was hee] i. e. “I lay my life it was some spirit that you supposed was he.” Jacobus has already used the word sprit.
24 ytwhytt thou well] The meaning is, “Spirits never have such things, Thomas, that you well know.”
25 are shall I trow no talis be twene] “Ere I shall be sure there are no tales between us.” The word “fare,” in the first line of this stanza, is used in the same way by Chaucer, as quoted by Richardson: “Now, fellows, let be your fare,” is, “Now, fellows, put an end to this ado.”
26 and tyll wyth trawntes] The meaning seems to be, “Do you think it no sin to grieve me thus, and to put upon me sueh inventions” There is, possibly, some clerical error in “tyll.”
27 for mans prow] i. e. for man's benefit or advantage. Chaucer uses “prow” in this sense: see Tyrwhitt's Glossary; also the Towneley Miracle-Plays, as published by the Surtees Society, p. 11.
28 ar all bled hand] So written in the MS., but properly it ought to be bleedand, for bleeding: see note 12 on the word “lovand.” Croft read “my wondis are all bledsand.”
29 mys trowand] i. e. misbelieving, or unbelieving.
30 wt mane and mood] Equivalent to “with might and main;” or more properly “main and might,” “mood” rhyming with “blod.”
31 And this menye] Referring, of course, to the spectators of the play, assembled round the scaffold, on which the representation took place.