drawe theis children as well in schoole of facet, as in songe, organies or such other vertues &c. Allso when they be growen to the age of 18 yeres, and then theire voyces be chaunged, they cannot be preferred in this chappell, nor within this Court, the nomber being full; then yf they will absent, the King signeth onelie such child to a colledge of Oxford or Cambridge of the King's foundacion, there to be in findeinge and study sufficientlie, till the King otherwise list to advance him." 2 The 'Master of the Song assigned to teach' the children of the Chapel in 1467, was Henry Abyndon; and in 1482, Gilbert Banastre, who each had an annual salary of 40 marks. These facts appear by the Acts of Resumption of those years, from which the above musical instructors are excepted. We learn also from Harl. MS. No. 610, that the charge of the King's Garçons du Capell was £80 per annum. In the reign of Edward IV (the precise year is not mentioned), Robert Grene, minstrel, and John Hawkyns, minstrel, each 1 On the 4th of April, 1469, Edward IV constituted the following minstrels attending the Court unum corpus et una communitas perpetua:— Walter Haliday (Marescallus), John Cliff, Robert Marshall, Thomas Grene, Thomas Calthorn, William Cliff, William Christean, William Eynesham; and the instrument recites the injury done to them by pretenders who travelled about the kingdom receiving rewards as the King's Minstrels. Rymer's Fœd., v, Part II, p. 169. Harl. MS. No. 642, a copy of the household regulations of Edw. IV, states that the wages of the minstrels was 4 d. per day, and that they were allowed two servants to carry their instruments. Of the Children of the Chapel, it is said, that when journeying with the King on progress, they were to be allowed fourpence per day for horse-hire: six of them, with the master, were to accompany the King. 2 Gilbert Banastre, or Banister, was a poet of some note in his day, and among other things wrote The Miracle of St. Thomas. Warton, History of English Poetry, ii, 449, edit. 8vo. obtained grants of ten marks a year out of the Crown lands;1 and we shall see that they continued in the same capacity in the early part of the reign of Henry VII. Hitherto, there is no reason for supposing that the musicians and singers employed by the court were foreigners, but in the reign of Richard III a number of Austrian and Bavarian minstrels were in this country. In October 1483, A. D. Henryke Hes, Hans Hes, and Mykell Yonger, ‘min- 1483. strels', had a letter of passage to return to the Duke of Austria, their master; and in March of the same year, a permission of the like kind was given for Conrad Snyth and Peter Skeydell, minstrels', to return to the Duke of Bavaria.2 Thus we see that Richard III, when Duke of Gloucester, entertained a company of players as his servants, and probably gave great encouragement to the science of music. There exists a remarkable proof of his partiality to it; for, on the 16th of September, in the second year of his reign, he issued a most arbitrary order for impressing singing men and children, even from cathedrals, colleges, chapels, and houses of religion, for the purpose of affording amusement.3 1 Harl. MSS., No. 433. 2 Harl. MSS., No. 433. 3 Subsequent monarchs were not reluctant to follow the precedent thus, perhaps, for the first time set. But vide Rym. Fœd., v, Pt. II, 66. The instrument itself, a warrant to John Melyonek, one of the Gentlemen of the Chapel, is extant in Harl. MS., No 433. It is as follows: 'Ric. &c. To all and every our subjects, as well spirituell as temporell, thise letters hering or seeing, greeting. We let you wite, that for the confidence and trust we have in our trusty and welbeloved servaunt, John Melyonek, one of the gentilmen of our chapell, and knowing also his expert habilitie and connyng in the science of musique, have licenced him, and by thise presents licence and give him auctoritie, that within all places in this our reame, as well cathedral churches, coliges, chappells, houses of relegion, and all other franchised and exempt places, as elliswhere, our colege roial at Wyndesor reserved and exept, may take and Richard III seems also to have been the first of our kings who appointed a royal Bear-ward, to diversify the court entertainments; and the warrant appointing John Brown to this office especially recites the 'diligent service' he had done the King, as the ground for granting him the privilege of wandering about the country with his bears and apes, and receiving the 'loving benevolences and favours' of the people.1 We learn from Fitzstephen that, as early as the reign of Henry II, the baiting of bears by dogs was a popular game in London; but, if a keeper of the King's bears and apes, even in the Tower of London, were known before the reign of Edward I, we are aware of no earlier record of his existence as a licensed sease, for us and in our name, al such singing men and children, being Yeven, &c., at Not 1 Harl. MSS., No. 433. We make no apology for quoting this document, connected as it is with the rude amusements of the time: 'Ric. &c., &c. To all Maires, Shireffs, Bailliefs, Constables, and other oure true liegemen and subgects, to whom these oure present letters shall come greting. Knowe ye that for the good, true and diligent service which our trusty servant and Bare Ward, John Broune, this berer, hath doone unto us, Wee have made, ordeyned and constituted, and by these presents make, ordeyne, and constitute, the said John Broune, Maister, Guyder, and Ruler of all our Beres and Apes to us apperteyning or in any wise belonging within this our realme of England and Wales. Wherfore we streitly chardge and commaund you, that ye in no wise unquiete, moleste, vexe, or trouble him, nor his servaunts, kepers of our said Beres and Apes, but to him, and the keper of our said game for our pleasure, ye shew your lovyng benyvolences and favors, and them curtesly ressarve and entreate for your reasonable money payements, not suffering any manner persone, in that ye goodly may, otherwise to vexe, moleste or greve, than shall appertene and be thought convenyent and resonable in that parte; as ye entende to please us and to eschewe the contrarie. Yoven, &c., the vj day of January, A° primo.' court officer. At subsequent periods he is constantly mentioned in that capacity. It perhaps deserves remark, that in a proclamation issued on the 7th of May, 1485, for the encouragement of shooting with the long bow, enumerating various 'inhibited disports', theatrical amusements are not referred to: the games forbidden by name are, ‘carding, dising, boling, playeng at tenys, coyting, and pikking'. A similar proclamation had been issued by Edward III, in 1349, and by Richard II, in 1389: but, at that early date, any notice of regular dramatic performances could not be expected.1 In the reign of Henry VII, dramatic performances must have been frequent in all parts of England. The A. D. King had two distinct sets of players; his 'players of 1485. interludes', and the Gentlemen of the Chapel, who appear to have performed always during the festivities of Christmas, and perhaps at other seasons. In the Chapter-house, Westminster, was an unbound MS. book of payments out of the Exchequer, beginning at Michaelmas, 9 Henry VII, in the hand-writing of a person of the name of Stokes, who was one of the Tellers under Lord Dynham, the Lord Treasurer: it contains an entry of the precise sum paid half-yearly to John English, Edward Maye, Richard Gibson, and John Hammond, who are styled the 'players of the King's interludes'; and they signed with their own hands the receipt for the money. This remarkable 1 Henry VIII, on 5th of May, 1526, and December 4th, 1528, issued orders of the same tenor. The games forbidden by him were 'bowling, closshe, coyting, loggetting, playing at tenys, dice, cards, and tables'. On the 18th of June, 34 Henry VIII, William Griffith obtained a licence under the privy seal to keep 'a tennys play' for the amusement of foreigners; but the King's natural born subjects are expressly forbidden, in the instrument, to frequent this tennis-court. The original document was in the Chapter-house, Westminster. and novel record (the earliest we have met with) is in the following form, under the date of Easter Term, 1494. 'xvij Die Maij. John Englissh, Edwardo Maye, Rico Gibbeson, & John Hammond, Lusoribus Regis, alias, in lingua Anglicana, les pleyars of the kyngs enterluds, de feodis suis V mrc p Ann: le home, per lre Regis de privato Sigillo dormant de termino Michaelis alt: pte rec: denar: separatim p manus proprias x mrc. These four persons (we give their signatures in fac-simile) were, in fact, 'the King's players', of whom Malone thought himself fortunate to discover a mere notice, under that appellation, in a book in the Remembrancer's office: by what is given above, we not only learn their names, but the precise amount of their salary and the mode in which it was paid; and in order that the matter should be clearly understood, the 1 1 Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 43. Mr. Ouvry, late President of the Society of Antiquaries, is in possession of an original receipt on behalf of Gibson, English, May, and Hammond for their salaries, but it is only signed by May and English for themselves and their fellows: original documents of this kind are of course extremely rare; and the four men are there called 'lusores regis, players of the King's enterludes'. |