remove hatred · Walter Ronaldsone had use to strike his wife, who took consultation with Scudder [alias Straquhan], and she did take pieces of paper, and sew them thick with thread of divers colours, and did put them in the barn amongst the corn, and from henceforth the said Walter did never strike his He was wife, neither yet once found fault with her, whatsomever she did." subdued, "entirely to her love." NOTE ON THE QUEEN OF ELPHEN. IN the highly interesting collection of Criminal Trials betore the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland,' published from original records by Robert Pitcairn, the learned editor says of the trial of Bessie Dunlop for witchcraft, in 1576, that "it is in every view extremely interesting, but more particularly on account of the very minute and graphic details given by Bessie of many circumstances connected with the prevailing superstition, especially in relation to the Court of Faerie; which, so far as the editor knows, are not elsewhere to be found." This was published in 1829, when the records of the Aberdeen trials were undiscovered. The Fairy superstition of Bessie Dunlop varies considerably from that of Andro Man. Bessie describes many of her meetings with "Thom Reid," a name by which the evil spirit was known to her. He brought her into the company, on one occasion, of “twelve persons, eight women and four men. The men were clad in gentlemen's clothing, and the women had all plaids round about them, and were very seemly like to see." When she asked Thom who they were, he said, "they were the good witches that wynnit [dwelt] in the Court of Elfame." Again, Bessie was asked by Thom Reid if she did not remember that after the birth of a child, "a stout woman came in to her, and sat down on the form beside her, aud asked a drink at her, and she gave her; who also told her that that bairn would die, and that her husband should mend of his sickness. The said Bessie answered, that she remembered well thereof; and Thom said, that was the Queen of Elfame, his mistress, who had commanded him to wait upon her and to do her good." In 1588 Alisoun Peirsoun is also indicted "for haunting and repairing with the good neighbours and the Queen of Elfame." But this Queen of Elfame [Elf-holm] has not such a specific connection with witches and witchcraft as the Queen of Elphen of Andro Man, who "has a grip of all the craft." § II. THE fortieth volume of the registers of the Town Council of Aberdeen contains the following entries : "Nono Octobris 1601. "The samen day The prouest Bailleis and counsall ordanis the svme of threttie tua merkis to be gevin to the Kingis serwandes presently in this burcht.. quha playes comedeis and staige playes Be reasoun they ar recommendit be his majesties speciall letter and hes played sum of their comedies in this burcht and ordanis the said svme to be payit to tham be the dean of gild quhilk salbe allowit in his comptis." "22 Oct 1601. "The quhilk day Sir Francis Hospitall of Haulszie Knycht Frenschman being recommendit be his majistie to the Prouest Bailleis and Counsall of this brocht to be favorablie Interteneit with the gentilmen his majesties seruands efter specifeit quha war direct to this burcht be his majestie to accumpanie the said Frenshman being ane nobillman of France cumming only to this burcht to sie the towne and cuntrie the said Frenshman with the knightis and gentillmen folowing wer all ressauit and admittit Burgesses of Gild of this burcht quha gawe thair aithis in common form folowis the names of thame that war admittit burgesses Sir Francis Hospitall of halzie knycht Sir Claud Hamiltoun of Schawfeild knycht Sir John Grahame of orkill knycht Sir John Ramsay of Ester Baronie knycht James Hay James Auchterlony Robert Ker James Schaw Thomas foster James Gleghorne Dauid Drummond Seruitors to his Majestie Monsieur de Scheyne Monsieur la Bar Seruitours to the said Sir Francis James Law James Hamiltoun seruitour to the said Sir Claud Archibald Sym Trumpeter Laurence Fletcher comediane to his majestie. Mr Dauid Wod Johne Bronderstainis" These documents present something more than the facts, that a company of players, specially recommended by the King, were paid a gratuity from the Corporation of Aberdeen for their performances in that town, one of them subsequently receiving the freedom of the borough. The provost, baillies, and council ordain that thirty-two marks should be given to the King's servants then in that borough, who played comedies and stage-plays. The circumstance that they are recommended by the King's special letter is not so important as the description of them as the King's servants. Thirteen days after the entry of the 9th of October, at which first period these servants of the King had played some of their comedies, Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty, is admitted a burgess of Guild of the borough of Aberdeen-the greatest honour which the Corporation could bestow. He is admitted to this honour, in com pany with a nobleman of France visiting Aberdeen for the gratification of his curiosity, and recommended by the King to be favourably entertained; as wel as with three men of rank, and others, who were directed by his Majesty to accompany "the said Frenchman." All the party are described in the document as knights and gentlemen.* We have to inquire, then, who was Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty? Assuredly the King had not in his service a company of Scotch players. In 1599 he had licensed a company of English comedians to play at Edinburgh. Fond as James was of theatrical exhibitions, he had not the means of gratifying his taste, except through the visits of English comedians. Scotland had no drama. Before the Reformation she had her Mysteries, as England had. The Moralities of Lyndsay, of which The Satyre of the three Estaitis' is one of the most remarkable, were indeed dialogues, but in no sense of the word dramas. The biting humour, the fierce invectives, the gross obscenity which we find in The Satyre of the three Estaitis,' were no doubt the characteristics of other popular exhibitions of the same period. But, taking that singular production as a specimen, they were scarcely so dramatic in their form and spirit as the contemporary productions in England of John Heywood, of which The four P's' is a favourable example. Philotus" Ane verie excellent and delectabill Treatise intitulit Philotys, qvhairin we may persave the greit inconveniences that fallis out in the Marriage betvvene age and zouth"-belongs to a later period. It was first printed in 1603, and again in 1612, when it was entitled a Comedy.' The plot is founded upon one of the stories of Barnaby Rich, told by him in the collection from which Shakspere is supposed to have derived some hints for the conduct of the action in Twelfth Night. The dialogue of Philotus' is in verse, not deficient in spirit and harmony, but utterly undramatic-sometimes easy and almost refined, at others quaint and gross beyond all conception. The stanza with which the play opens will furnish some notion of the prevailing metre, and of the poetical tone, of this singular performance : "O lustie luifsome lamp of licht, Your countenance, your cullour cleir, My senses to illude." Until William Alexander appeared in 1603 with his tragedy of Darius,' Scotland possessed no literature that could be called dramatic; and it may be doubted if even Alexander's Historical Dialogues' can be properly called dramas. We may safely conclude that King James would have no Scottish company of players, because Scotland had no dramas to play. * Archibald Sym, trumpeter, was a person of dignified occupation. He was no doubt the statetrumpeter, whose business it was to assist in proclaiming the royal commands to the people. In Scottish annals we find constant notices of certain acts of authority notified at Edinburgh "by open proclamation and sound of trumpet at the Cross." Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty," was undoubtedly an Englishman; and "the King's servants presently in this borough who play comedies and stage-plays" were as certainly English players. There are not many facts known by which we can trace the history of Lawrence Fletcher. He is not mentioned amongst "the names of the principal actors in all these plays," which list is given in the first folio edition of Shakspere; but he undoubtedly belonged to Shakspere's company. Augustine Phillipps, who, by his will, in 1605, bequeathed a thirty-shilling piece of gold to his "fellow" William Shakspere, also bequeathed twenty shillings to his "fellow" Lawrence Fletcher. But there is more direct evidence than this of the connection of Fletcher with Shakspere's company. The patent of James I., dated at Westminster on the nineteenth of May, 1603, in favour of the players acting at the Globe, is headed "Pro Laurentio Fletcher et Willielmo Shakespeare & aliis; " and it licenses and authorises the performances of "Laurence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemings, Henrie Condel, William Sly, Robert Armin, Richard Cowly, and the rest of their associates." The connection in 1603 of Fletcher and Shakspere cannot be more distinctly established than by this document. Chalmers says that Fletcher “ was placed before Shakspeare and Richard Burbage in King James's licence as much perhaps by accident as by design."* The Aberdeen Register is evidence against this opinion. Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty, is admitted to honours which are not bestowed upon the other King's servants who had acted plays in the borough of Aberdeen in 1601. Lawrence Fletcher is first named in the letters patent of 1603. It is evident, we think, that he was admitted a burgess of Aberdeen as the head of the company, and that he was placed first in the royal licence for the same reason. But there is a circumstance, we apprehend, set forth in the Aberdeen Registers which is not only important with reference to the question of Shakspere having visited Scotland, but which explains a remarkable event in the history of the stage. The company rewarded by the Corporation of Aberdeen on the 9th of October, 1601, were not only recommended by his Majesty's special letter, but they were the King's servants. Lawrence Fletcher, according to the second entry, was comedian to his Majesty. This English company, then, had received an honour from the Scottish King, which had not been bestowed upon them by the English Queen. They were popularly termed the Queen's players about 1590; but, subsequently, we find them invariably mentioned in the official entries as the Lord Chamberlain's servants. As the servants of the first officer of the Court, they had probably higher privileges than the servants of other noblemen; but they were not formally recognised as the Queen's servants during the remainder of Elizabeth's reign. In Gilbert Dugdale's The Time Triumphant; declaring in briefe the arival of our Soveraigne Leidge Lord King James into England,' printed in 1604, the author, after noticing that the King "dealt honours as freely to our nations as their hearts could wish,” adds, 'not only to the indifferent of worth and the worthy of honour did he freely Apolog, p. 422. |