Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/348

 282 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vm.An I. 9) mi . became possessed (c. 1818) of what is now believed to be the only copy in existence of ' Ralph Roister Doister,' bound up in a volume of old plays, when, after striking off some thirty copies of it for his own use, he presented the black-letter original to the library of his old school, where it now remains. There I have inspected it many years ago and of one of these copies I am now the fortunate possessor. It is quite clear that when Mr. Briggs made this presentation to his old school he had no idea that the play was the work of a former " informator," or head master, of the school, Nicholas Udall ; and it may be equally certain that he never entertained the possibility of its being produced a century afterwards at another ancient school where that old " informator " was to have spent the short remainder of his life. At the time of Mr. Briggs' s gift the author's name was not even suspected, the title-page being absent, and there being no colophon. It was reserved for Mr. J. P. Collier, as he tells us in the preface to his ' Bibl. Account of Early English Literatiire ' (1865) to say how the authorship came to be discovered. And his elucidation shows that more minds than one were concerned in this. Thomas Wilson, in his ' Rule of Reason ' (1553) had spoken of a certain " ambiguitie " in an interlude by one Nicolas Vdal, with whom he was personally acquainted ; and Collier recognized the words' of this "ambiguitie" in his reading of the play known as ' Ralph Roister Doister.' Ergo, t( Nicolas Vdal " must have written ' Ralph Roister Doister.' It is the opinion of Prof. Arber, who edited a reprint of this play in his well-known series of "English Reprints" published in 1869, that it was undoubtedly written before the close of Edward VI. 's reign, who died in 1553. The sole evidence of when it was printed is to be gathered from the Stationers' Company's Register, which points to the year 1566, a period well advanced in Elizabeth's reign. This may be confirmed by the address to the Queen by the actors immediately preceding the songs which conclude the play, and which in the opinion of Prof. Arber can only refer to Queen Elizabeth. As to the suggestion that this address or prayer was intended for Queen Mary I would refer your readers to the above reference, where the question is considered at some length. There would seem to be little authority for the suggestion that it could refer to the late King Henry's surviving: consort, Katherine Parr, though no doubt Udall was associated with her and also with, the Princess Mary in the translations of Erasmus's ' Paraphrase upon the New Testament.' It seems to be the general opinion, however, that these verses are an interpolation of a later date, and, it may be, by Udall himself. It has been suggested, too, as not improbable that this address. may have been the forerunner of our own ' 4 National Anthem.' It is thought that the play was first written for the Eton boys to act at a time- when Udall was head master there a- supposition which is indeed more probable when we learn from Mr. W. D. Cooper, F.S.A., the editor of an edition of the play printed for the Shakespeare Society in 1847, that it was the custom at Eton about the feast of St. Andrew for the master to choose some Latin stage-play for the boys to act in the following Christmas holidays, and that he might have ordered some smart and witty English plays. From other sources we know that amongst the writings of Udall about the year 1540 (the time when he was at Eton) are recited ' Plures Comediae,' written pro- bably to be acted by his scholars ; and, says Mr. Cooper, "it is equally probable that the English comedy was written with a like object, for it is admirably adapted to be a good acting play, and the author avers in the Prologue that his models were Plautu and Terence, with whose writings his scholars were familiar." It is therefore, no great stretch of imagina- tion to believe that, as I suggested in 'N. & Q.' in 1904 (10 S. ii. 183), and may I repeat now ? May not this play, even if not written for and acted by the Eton scholars, be the precursor of those plays of Terence and Plautus with which West- minster boys are wont to delight their friends at the present day ? May not, indeed, these very plays have been originated by the old Westminster head master, himself the author of ' Flowers for Latin Speaking,' addressed to his pupils, during the brief time he remained in charge of the school,, not long before his death in December, 1556 ? And is it not also very probable that this formed one of the principal reasons why the present performances have now been cast in the old Abbot's hall at Westminster, which affords a most delightful setting to such a very interesting and historical dramatic- revival ?