Part 36

3 Sold. No.

1 Sold. Peace, I say! What should this mean?

2 Sold. 'Tis the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd, Now leaves him.

A very usual popular amusement was the Masque, which would consist of a public procession with decorated cars containing the characters, accompanied by hobby horses, tumblers, and open air music. This is referred to in the next passage, where Theseus speaks of the masque as an 'abridgement' for the evening, that is, an entertainment to shorten the hours. The lamentable play of Pyramus and Thisbe follows, which, it will be noticed, has some of the main features of a masque.

Mid's Night's Dream V, i, 39.

Theseus. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening? What masque, what music?...

* * * * *

"A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth." Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief! That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow. How shall we find the concord of this discord?

In the Merchant of Venice, Shylock mentions the procession of a masque through the streets, forbidding Jessica to look out of the window at these 'Christian fools with varnished faces.' The music accompanying the procession is named--viz., drum and fife.

Merchant II, v, 22.

Lancelot. 'You shall see a masque' ...

Shylock. What! are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica. Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, And the vile squeaking of the wryneck'd fife, Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces.

The 'vile squeaking of the wryneck'd fife' is of some musical interest. The adjective 'wryneck'd' refers, not to the instrument itself, which was straight, but to the player, whose head has to be slightly twisted round to get at the mouthpiece. Mersennus (b. 1588) says that the Fife is the same as the Tibia Helvetica, which was simply a small edition of the Flauto Traverso, or German Flute. That is, the Fife of those days was much the same as the modern Fife of the cheaper kind, with the usual six holes, and a big hole near the stopped end, where the breath was applied. The instrument was therefore held across [traverso] the face of the player, whose head would be turned sideways, and hence comes Shylock's description of it as the 'wryneck'd' fife.

In Much Ado, Benedick draws a distinction between the Drum and Fife and the Tabor and Pipe. The former (see Othello III. iii. 353) were of a decided military cast; whereas the latter were more associated with May Day entertainments, bull-baitings, and out-of-door amusements generally. The Tabor was a little drum, the Pipe (as explained before, in Section III., about Autolycus) a tiny whistle with only three holes. The two were played simultaneously by one person.

Much Ado II, iii, 13. Benedick, of Claudio in love.

Ben. I have known, when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe: ... but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; ... of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.

Besides these more civilised 'pipes,' the country-man's pipe of cornstalk is mentioned by Titania, in Mids. II. ii. 8. This was really a 'reed,' not a whistle of any kind.

The tabor leads one on to the Tabourine, which was the full-sized military drum, corresponding to the modern side-drum. See Troil. IV, v, 275. 'Beat loud the tabourines,' and Antony IV, viii, 37, 'our rattling tabourines.'

The drum supplied the great proportion of military music in those days, besides having its importance as a means of signalling orders to the troops. This is dealt with more fully in the chapter on Stage Directions.

Parolles' sham anxiety about a lost drum is mentioned fourteen or fifteen times in All's Well III. v. and vi.; and IV. i. Parolles earns his nickname of 'Tom Drum,' in Act V. iii. 320.

The following is an interesting passage of a more serious kind--

K. John V, ii, 164.

Lewis [Dauphin.] Strike up the drums! and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest, and our being here.

Bastard. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will cry out; And so shall you, being beaten. Do but start An echo with the clamour of thy drum, And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd, That shall reverberate all as loud as thine; Sound but another, and another shall, As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear, And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder.

An entirely different use of the Drum is alluded to by Parolles, in his slanderous evidence against Captain Dumain.

All's Well IV, iii, 262.

1 Soldier. What say you to his expertness in war?

Parolles. 'Faith, sir, he has led the drum before the English tragedians, ... and more of his soldiership I know not.