twelve in number, and they were permanently engaged for the amusement of the court*. They are mentioned under the name of the Kyng's Menstralys' in the accounts of John Lord Howard, from the second to the ninth year of Edward IV.†

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*This fact appears in Lansd. MS., No. 1, among the Provisions made for the King's Household,' 23 Henry VI. The terms of the entry are these: xii. menist realx, one Le Gaite,'-Le Gaite, probably, being at the head of them. Ten years afterwards the 'ordinances and appointments' for the royal household were concluded at the great Council at Westminster; and at that date Thomas Ratclyffe, William Wickes, John Clyffe and Robart More belonged to the company of minstrels. Vide Cotton. MS., Cleop. F v.

A very curious MS., lately in the collection of Mr. Craven Ord. The entry is as follows; and it is to be observed that, both here and elsewhere, I have ordinarily substituted Arabic for Roman numerals, as more convenient.

،

Item, my Lord of Clarence owyth hym 20s., the which he lent hym 'to geve to the Kyng's menstralys att the meyry's house. 20s.

That is to say, the Duke of Clarence borrowed 20s. of John Lord Howard, in order to present it to the King's minstrels, at an entertainment given at the house of the Mayor. From a vast variety of singular entries in the same volume I select the following, connected with the amusements of the court and people at this date :—

'Itm, gaff to a chyld that sang beffore my lorde, 4d.

'Itm, my mastyr toke to my lords bydding, the nexte morow, after

new yers day, to my ladys graundamys harpere that dwellyth in 6 Chester, 38. 4d.

'Itm, geven to a Pryste that said a song afore my mastyr that nyte ' at Lincolne, 4d.

'Itm, geven to a harper there, 1d.

'Itm, for 2 bokys, a Frensch boke and a Ynglysh boke, calyd Dives et Pauper, 13s. 4d.

Itm, my mastyr paid for his costes, and for his mennes in tyme of 'the Justes at Westminster, 14s.

Before I quit the reign of Henry VI., it is necessary to mention, that it may be collected from the chartulary of the Guild of the Holy Trinity of St. Botolph without Aldgate, that that Society, A. D. between the years 1443 and 1448, was, or had been engaged in the performance of Miracle-plays in London*: at least, at that period it had in its possession a 'rolle of velom,' containing what is called

1443.

the Pagent of the Holy Trinity;' and as it is added, that it was paynted and lemenyd with gold,' we may conclude that it was an illuminated MS. Pageant and play were constantly used synonymously, and this rolle' was, no doubt, some dramatic piece in the nature of a Miracle-play on the subject of the Trinityt.

Early in the succeeding reign we meet with the first legislative enactment which mentions' players A.D. of interludes:' it is the 3 and 4 Edward IV., 1464. which regulates the apparel to be worn by different classes of society, and contains a special exception in favour of henshmen, pursuivants, sword-bearers to mayors, messengers, minstrels and players in their enterludes.' In the rolls of Winchester College for

Itm, the 21 day of Apryll my mastyr gaff to the waytes at Col'chester, 1s. 4d.'

* See Hone's Ancient Mysteries Described,' pp. 84 and 85.

This fraternity was incorporated as early as 1375, 48 Edward III., and in the first instance it does not appear to have been engaged at all in dramatic representations. It is possible that the pageant of the Holy Trinity devolved into its possession, and that the fraternity never assisted in the performance of it.

1466, persons of this profession are called interludentes, in an entry of the payment of 4s. to iiij interludentibus et J. Meke, cithariste,' who accompanied them as their minstrel.

The Antiquarian Society of London possesses two MSS. of the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., Richard III., and Henry VII., which contain some very valuable information connected with this inquiry. The first of these is the Household-book

A. D. of John Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of 1481. Norfolk, from the year 1481 to 1483: it is thus headed-The Boke off dayly percellis be" gonne the xxti yere off kyng Edward the iiijth and the xxiij day off Feverer: wyche lastyth unto the xiiijth day off Octobre in the xxijti yere off the Rayng off the sayde kyng Edward: 'and also Reckenynges for the goying into Skotlande.' In this curious volume I have met with no notice of players' under that denomination, nor indeed under any other that can be considered at all distinctive of the profession of an actor; but the items regarding Minstrels' are not unfrequent. Lord Howard had, indeed, four children of the chapel' attached to his own domestic establishment, and they might possibly be employed both in performing interludes and in singing*. The

*The subsequent entries of various dates, in the years 1481 and 1482, relate to musicians, minstrels, and the children of the chapel. Others to the same purport might have been extracted.

'Payd the waytes of London 12d.

second of these two highly valuable relics, extending from 1483 to 1501, is thus entitled on the outer cover: 6 An account of the disbursements of John Lord 'Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, about his 'private affairs in the reigns of King E. 4, E. 5, R. 3, H. 7;' and within, in a handwriting of the time, we read the following introduction to the various items: This Booke of the dayly parcells paid by the handis of my Lord Howard, bygonne the ij

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day of August in the xxij yere of kyng Edward the 'Fourthe.' Not a few of the particulars are interesting in an historical point of view, and among them may be reckoned a statement of the force of 1000 men, which the Duke of Norfolk graunted to the Kyng,' Richard III., in the first year of his reign. Here also is found much that is curious in relation to the stage, for we meet among others with an entry of money paid to the 'players' of the Duke of Gloucester, before he ascended the throne as Richard III. The 'Players of Cocksale,' the 'Players of Chelmsford,'

'Itm that I toke to the trompetes of my Lord of Glocester, 5s. 'Itm that I toke my lady wiffs minstrels, 3s. 4d.

'Itm I toke to Thomas the harpere, that my lord gaff hym, 20. 'Itm to Necolas, the synger, for wages, 6s. 8d.

'Itm the same day my lord gaff to James the mynstrell, 20d.

'Itm be my ladys handes to my Lord Mares mynstrells, 3s. 4d.

'Itm to the menstrellis for mendyng of a lewte, 2s. 4d.

'The Children of the Chappel. Itm paid to Steven Mortimer for making of their doblets, 3s.

• Itm for 4 peere of hosen for the children of the Chappel, 6s.

6 Itm my Lord payd for 4 bonetts for the chyldryn of the chappell, '2s. 8d.'

and the Players of Lanam,' or Lavenham, are also mentioned; and not among the least singular items is the entry of a covenant between the Duke of Norfolk and William Wastell of London, Harper, in which the latter undertakes to teach a boy (no doubt intended for the Duke's chapel) to sing and to play upon the harp. Disguisings, and rewards for minstrels are also noticed in this account-book, which seems to have been carefully inspected by Jocky of Norfolk' himself, whose handwriting is in several places to be found*.

* Malone makes no mention of 'players' (excepting in the case of the City Actors' in the reign of Edw. IV. spoken of by Stow) as a distinct and recognized occupation prior to the time of Henry VII., who, he justly remarks, had a royal company (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii. 43.) Richard III, when Duke of Glocester, had, as we see above, a company of players,' and in all probability, he kept up the establishment when he ascended the throne. The names of the Duke of Norfolk's 'players' were these: John Hobbis, Thomas Pout, Burges and Richard Newman, and there are also entries for the cost of making doublets for them. The same MS. gives the following as the nomina puerorum Capella of Lord Oxford, who, we shall hereafter observe, very early in the reign of Henry VII., had a company of players,' and perhaps the boys of the chapel sometimes acted with them :-John Herbet, William Holcott, John Holme, Thomas Alderson, Roger Berton, James Hoggys, Jorge Cornere, John Feney, Ric. Robkyn, John Bendysh, Thomas Crowde and Thomas Ordell. The ensuing quotations from John Lord Howard's Household-book, from 22 Edw. IV. to 6 Hen. VII., will be read with interest.

'Itm on Crystemas day' [22 Edw. IV.] ' my lord gaff to 4 pleyeres ' of lord of Gloucestres, 10s.

my 'Itm the same day my lord gaff to 4 pleyers of Cocksale, 3s. 4d. 'Itm the fyrst day of Jenever, & the 22 yere of the Kyng, my Lord " gave to them of the Chapell be the hands of Bawdwyn, 13s. 4d.

• Itm