Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/386

330 characters were added, and so the Robin Hood play was evolved. A genuine folk-play, which, by the way, has been the theme of the libretto of a recent comic opera.

As to the national character of this folk-play, I have no wish to exaggerate, but I fancy there is hardly a district in England where it was unknown. Nearly all the parochial records and accounts contain notices of it. It is frequently described as the King Play or the King Game, or the Game of King and Queen. One of the earliest notices I know of is contained in the 38th Canon of the Council of Worcester, held in 1240, where, in reference to the fact that Robin Hood, outlaw as he was, found sanctuary within the church, clergymen, after being forbidden to join in disreputable games or dancings, or to play at dice, are enjoined that they shall not allow games of King and Queen to be acted. In Machyn’s Diary, under date 24th June 1559, we read: “There was a May-game, with a giant, and drums, and guns, and the ix worthies, with speeches; and then Saint George and the Dragon, the morris-dance, and after Robin Hood, and Little John, and Maid Marion, and friar Tuck, and they had speeches, round about London. The xxvth day of June the same May-game went unto the palace at Greenwich, playing afore the Queen and Council.” The reference to the Nine Worthies “with speeches”, is to the Pageant of “The ix Worthys and King Arthur”, which is recorded as having been performed at Coventry on the occasion of the visit to that town of Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII, in 1498; and the reference to Robin Hood and his fellows “with speeches” is to the “Robin Hood” play.

It is noticeable here that the combination of various distinct plays or pageants are spoken of as a “May Game”. And the same entertainment was often given at Easter and Whitsuntide. Other plays which occasionally figured in the programme were the pageant of the “Three Kings of Cologne”, and the pageant of the “Lord of Misrule”, although this latter was more frequently represented at Christmas.