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.
"The following variant of the play, which was written down for me by J.H., a Kirtonin-Lindsey man, who before his marriage used to be one of the performers, contains the word 'sleve' in connexion with a hat:-
And not much sleve left in the lining.
'Sleave-silk,' or 'sleave', formerly meant the soft floss-silk used for weaving; and aomng the quotations given by Nares in his 'Glossary' under 'Sleave-silk' we find:-
The bank with daffodils dight,
With grass like sleave was matted.
'Quest of Cynthia,' p.622.
Donne has 'sleave-silk flies' (sonnets, 'The Bait,' p.47). In the plough-jags play it Would seem to signify either silken fabric, or The nap on such a fabric when woven with a Satin-like surface."
Peacock's closing notes;"When a portion of this play was acted by very young lads a few years ago, 'the Doctor,' who then found the patient's pulse in his shin, wore a top hat that was much too large. This imposing headgear lent him an appearance which was all that could be desired when it was held up by his ears, but at certain disastrous moments these supports would fail, and sudden eclipse overtake the actor. It must be owned, however, that while wrestling with the difficulties thus caused, and throughout the whole scene, he, like his companions, succeeded in preserving a funereal gravity of deportment. It was only from the sense of the words uttered, not from intonation or gesture, the spectators could gather that they were witnessing a drama which had been conceived in a certain spirit of levity. Even the allusion to pork-pie failed to evoke a gleam of animation.
The wife of J.H., who supplied this dialogue, was once much alarmed when she was a girl living as a servant a Walton-le-Dale, near Tattershall, for a man disguised as a sheep (see 'Christmas Tup,' 'N.& Q.,' 9th S. ii. 511) opened the outer door of the house, in which she happened to be alone. He was one of a set of plough-jags; but she could not describe his mates and their costumes, for, startled and afraid, she 'banged the door to,' to keep the hang from entering. Usually 'the lady,' 'lame Jane,' who represents a rough old woman with a besom, 'the solder,' and 'the king' are dressed with some records to character. The plough-jags with no spoken parts, who used to be the bullocks drawing the plough, or sometimes sword-players, it may be, should properly speaking , wear very tall beribboned hats, with white shirts over their clothes. These shirts should also be trimmed with ribbons and other ornaments; but the garments are seldom seen now - perhaps because white linen shirts are at present rarely kept for wearing on high days and holidays by the men themselves, or by the friends from whom they can borrow. The fool should be dressed in skins, or in snippets of brightly coloured rags, and should be armed with a bladder at the end of a whip, or some such weapon..."
Peter Millington's Notes:This text is the last of four published in this article. The general introduction implies that they all were performed on Plough Monday by "plough-jags", although they are not explicitly stated in this case.