The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-19

the Doctor In the employment of this
parsonage ii will be remarked that this
plays. In the performance Everyman must
have wanted much of the character and
variety which are found in some other con-
temporary productions"
The interlocutors in this work are: Mes
senger, God. Dethe. Everyman. fellowship.
kyndrede. Good-dedes. knowledge. Confess
SION, Beaute, strength, Dyscrecion, Five
wyttes. Aungell. Doctoure."
wilim Hawkins (obit, 1soI, included
E~veryInan In the first of his three VOL
umes of Old Plays-a collection published
Origin of the English Drama"-and with it
The editor coupled a critical analysis, by
eryman' that it is "a grave. solemn piece.
not without some rude attempts to excite
terror and pity" Hawkins ~(aEless. indeed.
1t was another of the same name who COM
Whitcchurch, Dorsetshire. and he ought to
be remembered. if only for having written
these excellent lines, in his Essay on
Genius:'
Give me. kind Heaven. still higher points
to reach;
Give me to practice what l strive to teach!
My standing rules of daily conduct be
Faith, honour. Justice. candou-. charity!
careless OF false reproach or vain applause,
BE worth my eulogy and truth ny cause!"
Collier notes hat "Everynan" was twice
printed by Skot, one copy having the colo
phon and the other emitting it. Skot's edi-
- II - NHN OtO RtN
served in the Library Of Lincoln Cathedral.
Collier also notes that Pynson's edition
varies materially from that of Skot. The
following is the speech of the Doctoure,
closing the play. as given by Pynson:
This memory all men maye have in mynde
Ye heven take it a worthe, olde and yonge,
And forsake prydc, for he deceive you in
the ende
And remebre beaute, and vwyttes, strength
and discretion;
They all at last DO every man forsake
Save his good dedes there do he take.
But beware, fo~ and they be small
Before God he hattie no helpe at all;
None excuse may be there for every man.
Alas. howe shall he do than?
For after deth amendeS may no man make.
ror than mercy and pyte dothe hymn for
sake
If his reckenyngc be not clere whan he do
com
God viii say, lite maIedicite in ignem eter-
num-.
And he that hath his accounte hole and
Hye in heven he shall be crounde.
Unto whiche, please God, brynge us all
thether,
That We may 1--WE body and soule to gyder.
Their to helpe the trinyte:
Amen, saye We for saynt charyte.."
Genest says that William Hawkins was
of Magdalen College, oxford, ard that he
died before the publication OF his collection
of Old plays, 1773; but there were several
contemporary authors of the same name,
and this may have been an error. Genesis
note on "~Everyman' is as follows:
This Morality was published early in
the reign of Henry VIII. The subject is the
summoning of every man out of the world
by Death, and its moral that nothing will
comforts of religion. The design of it is to
inculcate great reverence for old Mother
Church and her Popish superstitions. In the
course of this piece 1t is said that priest
hood excels all other things and that more
power is given to priests than to angels"
1t was remarked by DR.. Young. in his
A-s- rt~~, a. ~ - kIr II. N
men mortal but themselves" and. since a
reminder Of this singular truth seems to be
continually needed. the play of Every
man." If not celebrating as an entertain
ment, may prove useful as an admonition.
The Vicar of Wakefield, it will be remem-
bered, placed his wife's epitaph over the
mantelpiece, in order, among other things,
to remind her of her latter end. The old
Moral" has been edited so as to make it
Ineligible, and the performance of it that
was given by Mr.. Groet's company elected
all its dramatic value and emphasized all
its ethical f~oree-value which is slight and
force which is completely insignificant.
The names of the performers are kindly
withheld. Worse elocutionists may, per-
haps, be in existence, but they have not
hitherto emerged in this neighborhood. The
delivery of the Deity-whose bass voice
reverberated from a curtained abysm over
head-was especially dreadful; while that
of the Chorus. or Doctor. by whom these
obsequies were begun and ended, most
painfully illustrated all the faults of hol-
lowness and shallowness, windy sorority
and lachrymose affectation, for which so
many pulpit performers are drearily distin-
guiShed. The company is headed by Miss
Edith Wynne nIatthieson, who, obviously,
has had experience as an actreSs-her i'm
personation of Everyman being fine in de-
meanor, dignified in pose and in movement,
self-poised, deliberate, firm with repose,
elaborate in execution, and continuously
felicitous with expressive action. Situa-
lions and incidents that might readily have
become ludicrous were made solemn by her
sincerity, even though they skirt burlesque
so closely that they never could be made
truly impre ssive. Death, with Sand-papered
legs, lettering around with a bass drum,
and cardinal attributes simpering in win
dow curtain muSlins, would damn anything.
Nothing funnier than this collection of
gowns and attitudes has been seen here,
unless in the Maeterlinck play, which more
than once they recalled. Miss MatthieSon
reached her climax at the incident of the
scourge and the subsequent apostrophe of
prayer. Her voice has sweet tones, but it is
never sympathetic. Her suggestion of the
forlorn lassitude and lonely anguish of dis
solution, when sinking into the grave,
evinoed at least a perception of
pathos. if it did not create the erect of it.
This actress would probably give a respect
able performance Of such a part as Jane
Shore. She was viewed with respectful in
terest and sympathy by a melancholy audi
ence of about four hundred persons, who
felt somewhat sorry for her, exceedingly so
for themselves.