Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse Part 45

They have forsaken me, everyone; I loved them better than my Good Deeds alone.

Knowledge will ye forsake me also?

KNOWLEDGE. Yea, Everyman, when ye to death do go, But not yet, for no manner of danger.

EVERYMAN. Gramercy, Knowledge with all my heart!

KNOWLEDGE. Nay, yet I will not from hence depart Till I see where ye shall become.

EVERYMAN. Me-thinketh, alas, that I must be gone To make my reckoning, and my debtes pay, For I see my time is nigh spent away.

Take example, all ye that this do hear or see, How they that I loved best do forsake me, Except my Good Deeds, that bideth truly.

GOOD DEEDS. All earthly thing is but vanity: Beauty, Strength, and Discretion do man forsake-- Foolish friends and kinsmen that fair spake-- All fleeth save Good Deeds, and that am I.

EVERYMAN. Have mercy on me, G.o.d most mighty!

And stand by me, thou mother and maid, Holy Mary!

GOOD DEEDS. Fear not, I will speak for thee.

EVERYMAN. Here I cry G.o.d mercy!

GOOD DEEDS. Short our end and minish our pain!

Let us go and never come again.

EVERYMAN. Into thy hands, Lord, my soul I commend!

Receive it, Lord, that it be not lost: As thou me boughtest so me defend, And save me from the fiendes boast, That I may appear with that blessed host That shall be saved at the Doom, (In ma.n.u.s tuas) of mightes most, For ever (commendo spiritum meum).

KNOWLEDGE. Now hath he suffered that we all shall endure; The Good Deeds shall make all sure.

Now hath he made ending-- Me-thinketh that I hear angels sing, And make great joy and melody, Where Everyman's soul shall received be.

ANGEL. Come excellent elect spouse to Jesu!

Here above thou shalt go Because of thy singular virtue.

Now thy soul is taken thy body fro, Thy reckoning is crystal clear.

Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere, Unto the which all ye shall come That liveth well, before the day of Doom.

DOCTOR. This memorial men may have in mind: Ye hearears, take it of worth, old and young, And forsake pride, for he deceiveth you in the end; And remember beauty, five wits, strength and discretion, They all at the last do every man forsake, Save his good deeds, there doth he take.

But beware! for and they be small, Before G.o.d he hath no help at all.

None excuse may be there for every man, Alas! how shall he do then?

For after death amends may no man make.

For then mercy and pity doth him forsake.

If his reckoning be not clear when he do come, G.o.d will say (ite maledicti in ignem eternum) And he that hath his account whole and sound, High in heaven he shall be crowned.

Unto the which place G.o.d bring us all thither, That we may live, body and soul, together.

Thereto help the Trinity!

Say ye, for Saint Charity, Amen!

_Pleadings in A Theatrical Lawsuit._

_Temp. HENRY VIII_.

[From the Records of the Court of Requests.]

_Pleadings in a Theatrical Lawsuit._

From the Records of the Court of Requests.

JOHN RASTELL _v._ HENRY WALTON.

=Court of Requests.=

=c. 1530.=

I

Humbly complaineth unto your gracious Highness your poor orator and humble subject John Rastell, that where your said orator delivered to one Henry Walton certain parcels of stuff and goods to the value of 20 marks, safely to keep to the use of your said orator, that is to say, a player's garment of green sarcenet lined with red tuke and with roman letters st.i.tched upon it of blue and red sarcenet, and another garment paned with blue and green sarcenet lined with red buckram, and another garment paned likewise and lined as the other, with a cape furred with white cats, and another garment paned with yellow, green, blue, and red sarcenet, and lined with red buckram. Another garment for a priest to play in, of red Say, and a garment of red and green Say, paned and guarded with gold skins, and fustians of Naples black, and sleeved with red, green, yellow, and blue sarcenet. And another garment, spangled, of blue satin of Bruges, and lined with green sarcenet. Also two old short garments, paned of satin Bruges and of sarcenet of divers colours in the bodies. Also a woman's garment of green and blue sarcenet, chequered and lined with red buckram, also two caps of yellow and red sarcenet, and two curtains of green and yellow sarcenet. Also two long broad pieces of blue linen cloth, with lyre in them. Also three pieces of open silvered linen cloths; also one long broad piece of red buckram. Which said stuff and goods the said Walton promised to deliver again to your said orator, whensoever he should be by your said orator thereto required.

Which said stuff and goods, after the said delivery to him made, the said Walton occupied at his pleasure, by the s.p.a.ce of half a year and more, during the time that your said orator was in the parts beyond the sea, in France. After whose coming home your said orator demanded of the said Walton relivery of the said stuff and goods, to whom the said Walton answered and said that he would bring him home the said goods and stuff, yet that notwithstanding he brought to him no part thereof, but drove him forth from time to time, by the s.p.a.ce of two or three weeks, during which time the said Walton, unknown to your said orator, which was every day continually in the said city, and constantly in company with the said Walton, craftily, falsely, by the subtle advice and counsel of a clerk of the Mayor's Court in the City of London, and by a Sergeant of the same Court, entered a false feigned plaint, put in bill in the said Court, against your said orator, supposing that your said orator should owe to the said Walton 40 s.h.i.+llings stirling, wherein indeed your said orator owed him never a penny, and by the custom of the said City made attachment of the said goods and stuff being in his own hands, and caused that one John Wilkinson, plasterer, and one Thomas Curtis, were a.s.signed to be pricers; which Wilkinson, at the request and desire of the said Henry, priced the said goods and stuff but to the value of 35s. 9d., which goods and stuff at that time were well worth 20 marks and above. Upon which pricement the said Henry had judgement to recover the said goods and stuff, for the which your said orator can never have remedy by course of the common law; and though your said orator within the year did put in surety to answer to the said plaint and bill, and to disprove the said action, yet your said orator could never, nor shall never by the order of the common law, there recover again the said stuff and goods, but shall recover no more for them but only the sum wherefor they were priced, which is but 35s. 9d. as is before said; and so hath and shall, by such falsehood, subtlety, and design of the said Walton, and of the said Wilkinson and Curtis which were pricers, lose 11 or 12 pounds or above, and is without remedy therefore for ever, except your gracious Highness be showed to him in this behalf. In consideration whereof it may please your Grace and your most honourable Council to command one of your officers of arms to go to the said Henry Walton and to the said John Wilkinson and Thomas Curtis, and to command them in your name to appear before your Grace and your honourable Council at Westminster, there to answer to the premises and there to be directed according to right and good conscience; and your said orator and subject shall daily pray for the preservation of your Royal estate, long to endure.

(Signed) JOHANNES RASTELL.

II

_The answer of_ HENRY WALTON _to the Bill of Complaint of_ JOHN RASTELL _gentleman_.

The said Henry Walton by protestation saith, that the said goods in the bill of complaint of the said John Rastell mentioned, be not of so great value as in his said bill of complaint is supposed. And saith that the said bill of complaint is uncertain, and insufficient in the law to be answered unto, and the matter therein contained feigned and craftily imagined, to the intent to put the said Henry Walton to great costs and expenses. Nevertheless, for answer and declaration of the truth, the said defendant saith that it appeareth by the bill of the said complainant that he hath no cause of action in this honourable court, for it appeareth by his bill of complaint that the said goods be recovered in the King's Court holden before the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London, according to the custom of the said City. And further, the defendant saith that he brought an action of debt against the said John Rastell of 40s. in the said court; and he, the said Henry Walton, having in his own keeping the said goods in the said bill of complaint supposed, attached them in his own hands, according to the custom of the said City; which goods were afterwards, by the commandment of the said court, by the said John Wilkinson and Thomas Curtis, were praised at 35s. 9d. And where the said John Rastell, in his said bill of complaint, saith that the goods aforesaid were praised much under their value, the said Henry Walton saith that they were praised to as much as they at the time of the prais.e.m.e.nt were worth. And where the said complainant in his said bill of complaint saith that he oweth not the said defendant the said 40s. and is without remedy, the said Henry Walton will aver that the said John Rastell oweth him the said 40s. And also the said Henry saith that the said John Rastell might have come into the said court, holden before the Mayor and Aldermen aforesaid, within the year and the day according to the custom, and there to have put in sureties, and so to have dissolved the attachment, but hath suffered and s....psed his time. And the said Henry Walton shall aver that the said goods were of no more value than they were priced at, for they were rotten and torn players' garments. Without that that the said Henry Walton craftily or falsely, and by subtle advice of his counsel, commenced the said action against the said John Rastell, in manner and form as he in his said bill untruly hath alleged. And without that that anything being material or effectual in the said bill, otherwise than in the said answer of the said Henry, is alleged is true. And in as much as the said goods be lawfully recovered in the King's Court, holden before the Mayor and Aldermen in the City of London aforesaid, being a Court of Record, the which record cannot be undone without errer or attaint, therefore the said Henry Walton prayeth to be dismissed out of this honourable court, with his reasonable costs and expenses for his wrongful vexation, &c.

III.

_The replication of_ JOHN RASTELL _to the Answer of_ HENRY WALTON.

The said John Rastell saith that his said bill is true, and certain, and sufficient to be answered unto, and matter determinable in this honourable court, and will aver everything to be true contained in the said bill of complaint; and that the said answer is uncertain and insufficient to be answered unto, and matter feighed and untrue. And further saith that the said John Rastell, as soon as he had knowledge that the said Walton had commenced the said action of debt of 40s. in the said Mayor's Court in London, the said Rastell came into the said court and there put in surety to the said action. Whereupon the said Walton declared against the said Rastell that the said Rastell should owe to the said Walton 40s., for that that the said Rastell confessed himself in the said City of London to owe to the said Walton 40s., to the which the said Rastell answered and tended his law, according to the custom of the said City, that he owed nothing to the said Walton in manner and form as the said Walton against him declared. Whereby the said Walton perceived that upon the said plea and tender his said action should be dissolved; demurred in law upon the same plea, which demurrer, what for lack that the Recorder of the said City and other Councillors can have no convenient time to argue the said matter, and also for lack that the counsel for the said Walton was not ready when the said matter of law should be argued, the said matter as yet doth depend there undiscussed. But yet the said John Rastell saith that if the said matter be discussed and judged for the said Rastell, as undoubtedly it will be, yet the said Rastell, by the custom of the said City, shall never recover again his said goods, nor stuff, but only 35s. 9d. for the said stuff, so that in the said court he hath no other remedy nor record to punish the said Walton nor the said praisers for their said deceit and falsehood in praising of the said goods and stuff at 35s. 9d., which were worth at that time 20 marks and above, as in the said bill of complaint is alleged; for the great part of the said goods were garments of silk and other stuff, fresh and newly made, with much workmans.h.i.+p done upon them, to the great cost and charge of your said orator, without that that the said goods were at the time of the said apprais.e.m.e.nt of no more value than they were praised at. And without that that they were gone rotten and torn players' garments, for the said Rastell saith that the said Walton hath letten them out to hire to divers stage-plays and interludes, and hath received and had for the hire of them since the said prais.e.m.e.nt of them the sum of 20 n.o.bles and above. And without that that any other thing material or effectual in this said answer alleged necessary to be replied unto is true. All which matters your said orator is ready to prove and aver as this court will award, and prayeth as he prayed in his said bill.

IV.

_The parcels confessed by Walton_.

_In primis._ A player's garment of } green, lined with red tuke and } with Roman letters st.i.tched upon } it, of blue and red sarcenet. } 8 yds. 22s.

FISHPOLE.--_Item_. One other garment, paned with } blue and green sarcenet, lined } with red buckram } 7 yds. 20s.

FISHPOLE.--_Item_. Another garment, paned } likewise, and lined as the } other, with a cape furred with } white cats } 7 yds. 20s.