Lady Rachel Fane’s Apethorpe “May Day Masque”, May 1627

Transcrip on and Modernisa on from the MS and the ELR text of Marion O’Connor1

These were the persons that were in, aged:

My brothers Antony Fane (12 years), George Fane (10 years), William Fane (8 years), Robert
Fane (7 years) and my sister, Frances Fane (4 years).

My cousin Margaret Wortley (11 years), one Esther Mitchell (9 years), Mary Falconer (11
years), Richard Burton (5 years).2

[Prologue]

A Jest[er] as in a red coat, give to him a white cap, speaks, a horn in one hand, a sta in the
other:

O you, the objects of this place,

I come of measure one foot pace:
No faster doth this thing require,
For it is of so mean a re3:
‘Tis only for to pass the me
That ‘bove the highest orbs4 do climb.
Pardon, we crave, before that we begin,
And pardon deserves this thing.
Consider well the actors and the makers,
And then I hope you will be good spectators.
This thing is like to the corona on:
The worst goes rst, for ‘ s the fashion.
So shall your eyes behold this thing anon:
If you’ll a end, it is at hand.

A jester with garlands on his shoulder.5

Enter a shepherd in a gray coat, a6 dog in one hand and a sheephook in the other; a man
following him with a tabor and pipe, in a red waistcoat, a gray pair of breeches; one followed

1Linea on of verse in the MS is not consistent, but where it can be made regular without emending, I have
rearranged it. I have adjusted the stage direc ons to make them ow more easily. In the MS they are
some mes interlineated. For a clearer picture of the MS layout, see O’Connor.
2 In the MS, the children’s ages are given in small superscript.
3 A er MS could represent “a er” i.e. “a rank”, but cf. below “his a er” of Cupid’s costume.
4 MS ourps
5This direc on is squeezed in above the massed entrance. It may simply be elabora ng the Prologue’s
appearance, or may refer to a second gure.
6 Sic MS; & O’Connor

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 him with ma ocks and spades, and a company bearing a Maypole, with others following
with ladders and other tools.

The Jester speaks:

Now, brave lads, you’ll make my heart be clad

In greater joy than was the Queen of Troy
When as the wandering Prince Aeneas
Came to greet her, or when Dame Helen heard
Her Prince was come and so she run to meet him.7

He speaks to the Company8:

‘Tis I that am chief captain of this band;
From woods where may do ourish today
I have brought these silly men.

Shepherd:
Leave o those idle sports and come in your civility l this be done.
You’ll tarry so long that in short space
Others will come and take our place.

Jester:
Since it is so, I’ll come again,
And make an end of what is not yet begun.

They set up the maypole and dance a morris about it.

Then the Jester pulls a box out of his pocket and opens it, wherein is birds, beasts, owers.

Jester to my Lord, which was a marigold:

Please you, accept this li le toy.
From hence proceeds no further noy
Than marigold for Mary’s joy.

Jester to my Lady, which was a weather vane:

‘Tis not the beast, but ‘ s the name:
Mark well, I pray, that same emblem.

Jester to my brother, Lord Despencer, which was a grape:

You love to eat as I do understand,
Therefore a grape is good to put within your hand.
(studying):
But stay:

7Line breaks in the MS for this speech are at “be/ Clad”; “Troy/When”; “eneas/ Came”; “helen/heard” and
“run/to”.
8 i.e. to the audience

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 From “g” procedeth grace as well as grape:
So do I think that at this me you have
Both grace in nature and in name.
Your true love’s heart here shows the same.

Jester to my sister, Lady Despencer, which was a mouse:

Here’s a shadow of what you9 did a ect,
But now ‘ s newly decked or else to be,
When ‘ s a fair day that you to London
Choose your way, a box forsooth to close in fast your heart
That from the maker and from us
It never a er start.

to her great belly:

Male or female shows you whether.
Here’s a gi to you if neither10.

Jester to my sister Elizabeth:

Your garden’s yet unfurnished, as I think.
Come, therefore, now on you I will bestow
A pot with owers in it.

Jester to my brother Francis11:

This thing is good for scholars and young men:
I think ‘ s good to give you one then.
I have a care lest you should study
Too much therefore I turn the book
The wrong side up.

Jester to my Dame Edney, my Lady’s chief gentlewoman:

If I mistake you12 not your name resembleth this.
Come therefore now to you I’ll give a kiss.

Jester to my Dame Eliza, the second gentlewoman:

You love the primrose and eke other owers
Except a cowslip sprung from April showers.

Jester to my Dame Voisin, the third gentlewoman:

Nobody hath this bird, but yet it lives
And ies within the air.

9 yo MS; ye O’Connor
10 nether MS
11 Frances wc MS, but the present is not iden ed.
12 yo MS; ye O’Connor

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 I give this that you may pa ern take
To y from France to England,
For ye the13 maker’s sake.

The shepherd pulls him by the shoulder back and speaks.

Shepherd:
The sun is almost spent.
I must be gone or else I shall be shent.
For when I come, my dame Gillian
With strikes and staves will meet me.
My bones are sore since the other day
In that manner she did greet me.
Pardon I crave for this my great o ense
In showing myself so impudent.
Simplicity may plead my cause full just
For in the same is all my trust.

They all go out and take their maypole with them.

Enter a nymph sent from Venus in a rich pe coat and waistcoat and scarf, a garland of
owers on her head, with her hair about her; a perfuming pan in her hand.

Nymph:
From a great goddess am I sent
With this perfume of frankincense
For to prepare this14 place most blessed
Wherein a while she meanes to rest.

Then she sets the perfuming pan down and standing by, enters another named Cupid, a god
of Love, with bow, arrows, and other things ng his a re, thus speaking to Venus.

Cupid (then Venus stands half within and half without):

Draw near.
The air is purged.
This place is blessed.
‘Tis t your person
Here should rest.

Then he, taking Venus by the hand, conducts her to the beholders, with 2 nymphs more
taking her.

13 ye ye MS. This may be an error for a single ye.

y s MS. All other instances of “this” in the MS are spelled out, sugges ng this began to be wri en as ye and
14

was immediately corrected.

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 Venus:
The goddess Juno unto you gives wealth;
Pallas likewise wisdom and strength;
Ceres corn and wine most plen fully can give you;
Diana chaste to be. What’s this without me?
When as this world was rst begun
Love ‘twas created. ‘Tis yet not done.
But, friends, be all content.
My mind is fully bent:
You shall go free
From my son’s injury
All days that you do live,
And when you die, your posterity
As long as mortals’ life.

She dances the canary.

Enter Urania dressed in good apparel, singing this song.15

Urania:
Come hither, nymphs of the woods and weather;
Leave your streams for to come hither.
Make haste, I say, have no delay.
Here’s that’s above the weather.
A ower of May is sprung today
That like the ower of the sun
‘Tis bright today in lively array
And then at night ‘ s done.
For she descends to ascend back again
From highest place, whence she came.

Venus:
Art though Urania, nymph of the fountain
That dost abide in coolest mountains,
Or art thou of the chaste Diana’s train?
Declare to me, and show the same!

Urania:
Urania is my name, nymph of the fountain,
I am the same.
I am not of the chaste Diana’s train,
But I do honour her and her name.

Venus:

15 This song appears to be in two stanzas 4443, with an irregular concluding couplet.

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 I think ‘ s good for exercise to dance.
Let us begin. The nymphs anon come in.

Urania:
What you command, I willingly obey.

The music plays and they dance a dance of my making to the tune of “Jemmy”.16 Enter three
nymphs that17 mingle themselves together and dance. Venus and Urania leads. They ending
their dances, Venus speaks to the company.

Venus:
What is within my powers, I willingly you give
And in your favour desire to live.
I do recant the words I spoke of Love
For you shall constant always18 prove
To me, my son, and these my friends
Who will endure yours to the end.

She goes to her place and takes Urania by the hand, the rest coupling themselves together.
Cupid speaks in this manner:

Cupid:
I come19 for to accord
To what my mother has done.
For that I know
Her wisdom is so
That she can more good
Than I unto you show.

Then Cupid comes before and with this song of Urania’s singing goes out to a sad tune.

Urania[’s] song:
Time stays for none. We’ll take
Our leaves and then are gone.
Adieu, friends, we’ll go prepare
For you a place most rare
Where never human
That did come

16 A jig-tune “Put up thy Dagger, Jemy” appears in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (ca 1620) in a se ng by Giles
Farnaby (and again, simply en tled “Jemey”, in a MS now in the Tokyo Nanki Library). Lyrics containing this line
also appear in a polemic pamphlet of 1641 (see C. R. Baskerville, The Elizabethan Jig, p. 56). It seems likely this
is the tune used by Fane. I thank Ross Du n for this sugges on.
17 ye MS
18 all ways MS
19 sic MS; am come O’Connor

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Would e’er desire to return.
Nor do we think that you would
If in your power you could.
This is the worst we think
Of you. We do desire the like from you:
Your good wishes if you please –
As many in number as drops in the seas
And to deserveth them will endeavour
Til Time comes for to rest ever.
Again adieu, goodbye, goodnight,
Adieu, adieu!

FINIS