Originally prepared for textual analysis during his PhD research on the 'Origins and Development of English Folk Plays' by Peter Millington (2002).
Original spelling and typography is retained, except that superscripts, long s and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Line identifiers are those used for line types in the Folk Play Scripts Explorer.
"5. Morris-Dancers' Play.
Emulating the example set by Miss Cherry in vol.i. of the Magazine, I was fortunate enough to obtain the 'book' of the Edith Weston Christmas Play just in the nick of time. The play has not been performed here for some seven or eight years and the member of the caste who kindly dictated the words to me has since left the village. Though several of his fellow performers have been able to furnish me with assistance in clearing up doubtful readings in certain passages, it is unlikely that anyone else would have been able to remember the whole of the Drama, and as it is improbable that it will ever be revived it is some satisfaction to have secured the words before they passed into oblivion. I have made no attempt to 'edit' the play, my endeavour having been to set it down exactly in the form in which I received it.
As an instructive example of the manner in which corruptions and variations creep in I may mention the word Jamaica in King George's second speech. My first informant gave me Jimmy Coe, and though he was unable to suggest any explanation of the words he insisted on their correctness. On referring to a second authority I was given Jimaico, while a third gave me Jamaica, which last agrees with the corresponding line in a version of the play published in Ditchfield's 'Old English Customs,' and is probably the original word. I subsequently learnt that Jericho was known as an alternative reading for Jamaica, a fact which might almost suggest that the author of the immortal 'Jabberwocky' had been applying his 'portmanteau' principle to the two words and had evolved 'Jemico' therefrom!
To anyone who cares to compare the Edith Weston play with the Clipsham Plough Monday play or with some of the published versions of these Folk-dramas, it is quite evident that there is a strong general resemblance underlying the endless variations. The Doctor with his wonderful pills is an almost invariable feature, while the strange hybrid of King George and Saint George is another familiar character in the plays, as are also Beelzebub and the exalted personage usually referred to as the "Proosia King." I have failed to ascertain any derivation of the name Albert Hart and am inclined to think that as a character-name in Folk Drama he is new to science, though his counterpart under other appellations may be found elsewhere. I may explain that this play is not a Plough Monday Play but has invariably been performed at Christmas. The performers have always been known as "Morris-dancers," though "Mummers" would probably be a more accurate name for the actors in such a play."