1143.—Mummers (Bodleian MS.) [image 949x502 pixels 75]

On the far left a young mang with curly hair wears a plain robe or long tunic; he plays a lute or other stringed instrment. There are then, from left to right, a person wearing the head of a deer, a person dressed in plain mediæval (or “medieval”) clothes, a person dressed as a rabbit, and another perhaps as a bull, and on the right a woman. The mummers hold hands and perhaps are dancing. They wear long robes andsoft shoes or slippers, except for the musician and the man in plain dress, who I think are probably barefoot.

“We cannot greatly compliment our forefathers on the sport called mummings (Fig. 1143), in which men masqueraded as brutes; but it seems they were determined to have mirth, however they procured it. We, perhaps, err on the other hand, and may be too fastidious to be happy.” (p. 334)

1143.—Mummers (Bodleian MS.) details