The Mummers' PlayClarendon Press, 1923 - 257 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Ascott-under-Wychwood ballad Battalion Beelzebub blood Bold Slasher boys Captain Thunderbolt Cecil Sharp Champion character charming Christmas will never Clown comedy comes I little comes I old connexion cure dead Devil Doctor drama Elizabethan England English feel fetch fight Fool France gallant give gout ground hand head and little Headman humour interest Jack Finney John Finney jolly old killed King George letter literature Little John little wit merry miles mince pies Miracle Plays Moralities Morris Morris dance Mucedorus Mummers never be forgot noble old Father Christmas Oxford Oxfordshire pains palsy pills Pinny popular taste Prince George rise ritual Robin Hood Ruffler shoulder I carry sing song sort St George survival Sword Dance thee thing thou Tiddy Tom Fool tooth traditional Turkey Turkish Knight village Walk What's wit so small wounded young rascal
Popular passages
Page 62 - She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt. In al the parisshe wyf ne was ther noon That to th' offring bifore hir sholde goon; And if ther dide, certeyn, so wrooth was she, That she was out of alle charitee. Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of ground; I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound That on a Sonday were upon hir heed.
Page 12 - Sir, though (I thank God for it) I do hate Perfectly all this town, yet there's one state In all ill things so excellently best, That hate towards them breeds pity towards the rest.
Page 127 - Cesario; it is old and plain: The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, Do use to chant it ; it is silly sooth, And dallies with the innocence of love, Like the old age.
Page 183 - Christmas comes but once a year : And, when it comes, it brings good cheer ; % But, when it's gone, it's never the near.
Page 144 - Father Christmas. Here come I, old Father Christmas, Welcome, or welcome not, I hope old Father Christmas Will never be forgot.
Page 143 - Here come I little Devil Doubt If you don't give me money I'll sweep you all out. Money I want and money I crave If you don't give me money I'll sweep you all to the grave.
Page 67 - For some one serves as a familiar friend, Joy spreads, and sorrow spreads; and this whole Vale, Home of untutored shepherds as it is, Swarms with sensation, as with gleams of sunshine, Shadows or breezes, scents or sounds.
Page 117 - Good mother, how shall we find a pig, if we do not look about for't ! will it run off o' the spit, into our mouths, think you, as in Lubberland, and cry, wee, wee!
Page 129 - Who, I, sir? I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead, and the devil a penny they have left me, but a bare pension, and that is thirty meals a day and ten bevers — a small trifle to suffice nature.
Page 164 - I yes, there is a doctor to be found All ready, near at hand, To cure a deep and deadly wound, And make the champion stand. Father Christmas. What can you cure ? Doctor. All sorts of diseases, Whatever you pleases, The phthisic, the palsy, and the gout ; If the devil's in, I'll blow him out.