came to the town, "boldly stept up to him and demanded his name, who made him answer that his name was Mannering. Mannering (saith he); that name was ill bestowed on one who can so forget all manners as to stand covered before a bench upon which the majesty of his sovereign was represented: which manners (saith he) since thou wantest, I will teach thee: and withal first snatching his bonnet from his head, trod upon it, then spurned it before him. At which the other, being enraged, asked him, How he durst to offer that violence to one who brought so strong a commission? Your commission (saith George) I cry your mercy, sir; and withal desired the favour of the bench, that he might have the liberty to peruse it, which being granted, aye, marry (saith he, having read it) I cannot choose but submit myself to this authority: and making an offer, as if he meant to kiss it, tore it in pieces. Mannering seeing this, began to stamp, stare, and swear; but George taking him fast by the collar so shook him, as if he had purposed to have made all his bones loose in his skin, and drawing his dagger and pointing it to his bosom, told him, he had devised physic to purge his cholerick blood; and gathering

up the three seals, told him, It was these three pills which he must instantly take and swallow, or never more expect to return to his master: nor did he leave him, or take the dagger from his breast, till he had

seen them down; and afterwards, when he had perceived that they had almost choked him, he called for a bottle of ale, and said these words: It shall never be said that a messenger shall be sent by such great persons to the town of Wakefield, and that none would be so kind as to make him drink; therefore here (saith he), Mannering, is a health to the confusion of the traitor thy master, and all his rebellious army, and pledge it me without evasion or delay, or I vow by the allegiance which I owe to my prince and sovereign, that thou hast drunk thy last already. Mannering seeing there was no remedy, and feeling the wax still sticking in his throat, drunk it off supernaculum; which the other seeing, Now (saith he) commend me to thy master and the rest, and tell them one George-a-Greene, no better man than the Pindar of the town of Wakefield, who tho' I have tore their commission, yet I have sent them their seals safe back again by their servant. Whatsoever Mannering thought, little was he heard to speak, but went away muttering the devil's pater noster, and so left them." When this romance was written does not appear; but Mr Dyce is of opinion that it preceded Robert Greene's Pleasant Conceyted Comedie of George-a-Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, which was first printed in 1599, and where the tedious passage which has been quoted is cast into a livelier form:

"Mannering. ...I come not barely of myself; For see, I have a large commission.

George-a-Greene. Let me see it, sirrah.

seals be these?

Whose

Man. This is the earl of Kendal's seal at arms; This Lord Charnel Bonfield's;

And this Sir Gilbert Armstrong's.

George. I tell thee, sirrah, did good King Edward's

son

Seal a commission against the king his father,

Thus would I tear it in despite of him,

[He tears the commission.

Being traitor to my sovereign.

Man. What! hast thou torn my lord's commission? Thou shalt rue it, and so shall all Wakefield.

George. What, are you in choler? I will give you pills

To cool your stomach. Seest thou these seals?
Now, by my father's soul,

Which was a yeoman, when he was alive,

Eat them, or eat my dagger's point, proud squire. Man. But thou doest but jest, I hope.

George. Sure that shall you see before we two part.

Man. Well, and there be no remedy, so George One is gone, I pray thee, no more now.

George. O sir; if one be good, the others cannot

hurt.

So, sir,

Now you may go tell the Earl of Kendal,
Although I have rent his large commission,
Yet of courtesy I have sent all his seals
Back again by you.

Man. Well, sir, I will do your errand. [Exit."

The author of this play relished the jest so highly, that, not content with weaving it into his drama, he once put it into execution. "Had hee liu'd, Gabriel," says Nash, "and thou shouldst vnartificially and odiously libeld against him as thou hast done, he would haue made thee an example of ignominy to all ages that are to come, and driuen thee to eate thy owne booke buttered, as I sawe him make an appariter once in a tauern eate his citation, waxe and all, very handsomely seru'd twixt two dishes.”2

The play of Sir John Oldcastle furnishes yet another instance :

1 Dramatic Works of Robert Greene, by the Rev. Alex. Dyce, vol. ii. pp. 167, 209. Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. iii., p. 11.

2 Strange Newes of the intercepting certaine Letters, and a Conuoy of Verses, as they were going priuilie to victuall the Low Countries. By Tho. Nashe, Gentleman. Printed 1592;-quoted by Mr Dyce in his Life of Greene, p. xliv.

"Harpool. ...Dost thou know on whom thou servest a' process?

Sumner. Yes, marry, do I; on Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham.

Har. I am glad thou knowest him yet. And, sirrah, dost thou not know that the Lord Cobham is a brave lord that keeps good beef and beer in his house, and every day feeds a hundred poor people at his gate, and keeps a hundred tall fellows? Sum. What's that to my process?

Har. Marry this, sir; is this process parchment?
Sum. Yes, marry is it.

Har. And this seal wax?
Sum. It is so.

Har. If this be parchment and this wax, eat you this parchment and this wax, or I will make parchment of your skin, and beat your brains into wax, Sirrah Sumner, despatch; devour, sirrah, devour.

Sum. I am my lord of Rochester's sumner; I came to do my office, and thou shalt answer it.

Har. Sirrah, no railing, but betake yourself to your teeth. Thou shalt eat no worse than thou bring'st with thee. Thou bring'st it for my lord, and wilt thou bring my lord worse than thou wilt eat thyself?

Sum. Sir, I brought it not my lord to eat.

Har. O, do you sir me now? All's one for that; I'll make you eat it for bringing it.