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The Cornish Drama II (Continued) Author(S): Henry Jenner Source: the Celtic Review, Vol

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The Cornish Drama II (Continued) Author(S): Henry Jenner Source: the Celtic Review, Vol The Cornish Drama II (Continued) Author(s): Henry Jenner Source: The Celtic Review, Vol. 4, No. 13 (Jul., 1907), pp. 41-68 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30069920 Accessed: 11-06-2016 10:15 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Celtic Review This content downloaded from 144.82.108.120 on Sat, 11 Jun 2016 10:15:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE CORNISH DRAMA-II 41 imagination from beginning to end, and a very late invention. I presume, however, that it arose from the fact that the fiery Sir Hector Roy of Duart, Lachlan Mor's wife's brother, and seven hundred and sixty of his followers were slain at the battle of Inverkeithing, July 2, 1651. Lachlan Mor was not at the battle of Inverkeithing, but he was at the battle of Worcester, September 3, 1651, and must have lost a number of his men there. It was against Cromwell, not against the Campbells, that the Macleans and the Mackinnons had been fighting. Possibly the Campbells could have thrashed them both, even on July 1, 1651, if they had invaded the Campbell lands; but they did not meddle with the Campbells, and the Campbells did not thrash them. I have given the Mackinnon names in the line of descent. It is possible that two or three of the men in that line died at a comparatively early age, and that they were not actually chiefs; whilst it is probable that one or two of the chiefs died without male issue and are consequently unknown to history. THE CORNISH DRAMA.-II HENRY JENNER (Continued from p. 375) ANALYSIS OF THE DRAMAS I. ORDINALE I. Origo Mundi (15th century) ACT I. 1. The Creation of the World. The six days described in seven stanzas spoken by the Father, who descends from the pulpitum, and creates Adam and places him in Paradise. Lucifer appears from heaven. The Creation of Eve and the naming of the animals. The scene closes with the institution of the Sabbath. 2. The Temptation and Fall of Man and the Expulsion from Paradise. The Father promises the Oil of Mercy. This content downloaded from 144.82.108.120 on Sat, 11 Jun 2016 10:15:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 42 THE CELTIC REVIEW 3. Adam and Eve outside Paradise. Adam attempts to dig, but the earth cries out. The Father gives him per- mission to take first one spade's length, then two, then three, and ultimately gives him all the world. Eve begins to spin. 4. Cain and Abel. The Father commands Adam to offer a tithe of the produce of his tillage as a burnt-offering on Mount Tabor. Adam sends Cain and Abel to do so. Cain thinks it folly to waste good victuals in this way, and pro- poses to keep back a part of the tithe. The Father accepts Abel's offering. Cain is jealous and kills Abel. Lucifer, Belsebuc, and Satan carry off the soul of Abel. The Father rebukes Cain and sets a mark on him, in accordance with the story in Genesis. Cain returns to his father and is cursed by him. Adam laments that he has ever seen Eve, who was the cause of his misery, and makes a sort of vow of perpetual chastity. 5. The Father sends a seraph to command Adam to beget a son. Eve announces the birth of Seth. 6. Adam, weary of life, sends Seth for the Oil of Mercy, directing him to follow the prints of his own feet burnt into the earth. Seth goes to Paradise. The cherub at the gate allows him to look in. He sees the fair garden, with its four rivers, and in it a tree. It is bare and leafless and its roots are in hell, though its top reaches to heaven, and there is a serpent in it. The cherub bids him look again, and he sees high up on the branches a new-born child, and the cherub says : Mab deu o neb a wylsys The Son of God He was whom thou didst see Aveltflogh byhan maylys Like a little child swaddled: Ef a bren adam the das. He shall redeem Adam thy father. Ef yu an oyl a versy He is the oil of mercy A fue the 'th tas dythywys That was to thy father promised: Dre y vernans yredy Through His death verily 01 an bys a fyth sylwys. All the world shall be saved. Then the cherub gives him three pips of the apple of which his parents had eaten, and tells him to put them into his This content downloaded from 144.82.108.120 on Sat, 11 Jun 2016 10:15:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE CORNISH DRAMA-II 43 father's mouth when he dies and three trees will grow from them. It is noticeable that there is only one tree in Para- dise, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Serpent, the Child, and the Apple are all on it. In the later play of 1611, Seth sees two trees, and in the second one, ' an wethan a vewnans' (the Tree of Life), is the Child in His Mother's arms, and from it the apple is taken. Seth returns, Adam dies, and is buried. Lucifer, Belsebuc, and Satan carry his soul to hell. 7. The Building of the Ark. God commands Noah to build the ark, the directions being mostly only versified Genesis, though there is one touch that might appeal to a seafaring people: 'War tu dylarg daras yn ty a wra, yu port hynwes' (in the stern a door thou shalt make, it is called a port). Noah builds the ark and the animals are taken into it. Noah and his family enter the ark, and he covers the top with a cloth to keep out the rain. The flood takes place. The raven and two doves are sent out. Noah uncovers the ark, and he, his wife, and his sons and their wives each severally offer as sacrifices a cow, a dove, a pheasant, a goose, a duck, a partridge, and a capon on an altar set up on Mount Calvary, after which the promise of the Father, with the rainbow token, is given. ACT II. 1. The Temptation of Abraham. This is nothing but the Bible story, the only addition being that Isaac by expressing his willingness to die is made a more complete type of Christ. 2. The Story of Moses. The Burning Bush. This is only versified Exodus. 3. The Story of Moses (continued). Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. The Plagues of Egypt and the Exodus, the Passage of the Red Sea, and the Destruction of Pharaoh. This is again versified Exodus. The Plagues are announced to Pharaoh by messengers. 4. The Story of Moses (continued). Moses, Caleb, and Joshua propose to build a castle (castel), an inn (ostel), or a tent (scovva). Moses ascends a mountain, where he finds This content downloaded from 144.82.108.120 on Sat, 11 Jun 2016 10:15:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 44 THE CELTIC REVIEW three rods, which he declares to be a type of the Trinity. He cuts them, and with them he heals Joshua of the bite of a serpent and Caleb of the venom of a black toad. Joshua complains of the want of water, and declares that they will all worship the blessed Jupiter (gorthye jovyn veneges- curiously making Jovyn feminine) if they do not get some. Moses, after consulting with Aaron and praying, strikes the rock with the rod and water flows. Caleb declares his re- pentance. The Father declares that Moses and Aaron shall not come into the promised land, and that none but Caleb and Joshua shall do so. Moses plants the three rods on Mount Tabor, which, by the way, was well within the Promised Land, but geography was not an exact science in the days of this play, and dies. ACT III. 1. The Story of David. David calls for wine and goes to sleep. The Father commands Gabriel to go to him and tell him to bring from Mount Tabor in Arabia the rods which Moses planted and to plant them in Jerusalem. Bag y feth map yn Bethlem, For there shall be a Son in Bethlehem Genys a thyspreen an bys, Born who shall redeem the world, Hag annethe crous a wren, And of these a cross shall be made, Rag crousa cryst ou map ker, To crucify Christ, my dear Son, Neb a'n gorthye, guyn y veys. Whoso worships Him, fair his lot. Gabriel appears to David in a dream. David wakes and tells his dream and rides off with his retinue, finds the rods, orders the band to play-giving a list of instruments per- haps suggested by the 150th Psalm or by Nebuchadnezzar's orchestra in Daniel iii.-cures a blind, a lame, and deaf man with them [in one form of the story, but not here, they cure three negroes of being black], and carries the rods to Jerusalem, where he plants them and they grow into one.
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