May Masque by Rachel Fane, Manuscript, c. 1627 (Semi-Diplomatic Transcription)
Enter a gester with garlands on his shoulder A sheperd in a gray cote and dog in won
hand & a sheep hooke in yethe other, a man foloing
him wthwith a tabur & pipe in a red wascote a gray
payre of breches, won foloed him wthwithp matucks
& spades & a compnye bearing a mapole
witwith outhers foloing wthwith laders & outher
toles
Virgule The gester speakes
Now braue Lades, youll make my harte be
Clade,
In Greater ioy ynthan was yethe Queene of troy
When as yethe wandring Prince eneas
Came to greet her or when dame helen
heard her Prince whas com o so she run
to meete him
Since it is soe ill com againe,
& make anend of what is not yeet begane;
Virgule They set up yethe mapole & dance amores about it
then yethe gester puls a box out of his pokit &
opens it, wherin is birds beasts flouers
Virguleges: to my LoLord Please yoyou except this litel toye
Virgulewich was
a mary gold
From hence prosedes no further noy
ynthan mary gold for marys ioy,
Virguleges to my LaLady wicwhich was a fane
Tis not yethe Beast but tis yethe name
marke wel I pray ytthat same emblame
ges to my brother
LoLord dispencer
wchwhich was a grap
Virgule Yoyou loue to eat as I doe understand
Therfore a grape is good to put witwithin yryour hand
but stay,
studing From g prosedeth grace as wel as grape
Soe do I think ytthat at this time yoyou haue
Bothe grace in natuer & in name
Yryour tru loues hart here showes yethe same
Virguleges to my
sis LaLady dispencer
wicwhich was
a mous
Heres a shadoe of what yoyou did efect,
But now tis newly decte or elce to be
When tis a fare day ytthatyoyou to London
choys yryour way, a box fursuth to cloes in fast yryour hart
ytthat from yethe maker & from us
to her
great
bely
It never after start
Virgule male or female shouse yoyou whether
Heres a gift to yoyou if neather;
ges: to my
sister elizabeth
yryour gardins yeet unfirnischt as I think
com therfore now on yoyou I wil bestowe
a pot witwith floures in it
Virguleges: to my
brother frances
wicwhich This thing is good for scolers & yong men
I thinke tis good to geiue yoyou won ynthen I haue a care least yoyou should study
To much therfore I turne yethe Booke
yethe rong side up;
Virguleges to my DaDame Edny my LaLady Chefe gentil:
If i mistake yoyou not yryour name resembleth this Com thaerfore now to yoyou Il giue ak & kisges: to my dadame Eliza yethe 2 gentils
Yoyou loue yethe prim rose & eake other flowrs
excepte yethe couslup sprung from april showers
ges to my DaDame voisin yethe 3
gentil:
Noe body hath this bird, but yeet in it liues
& flys witwithin yethe are
I giue yoyou this ytthatyoyou may paturn take
To fly from france, to England,
for yoyouyethe makers sake.
VirguleVirguleVirgule
The sheperd puls him by yethe sholder
bake & speakth
The son is all most spent
I must be gon, or ells I shall be shent
For when I com my dame ielyon
With stikes & staues wil meete me
My bones are sore since yethe other day
in ytthat maner she did greet me
pardon I craue for this my greet ofence
in shewing my selfe soe impodand
Simplysyty ma plead my causeful iust
for in ytthat same is all my trust
VirguleE
they all gooe out & tak ther mapole wthwithymthem
Enter a nimpth sent from uenus in a rich
petycoet & wascoet & scarfe a garland of flouers
on her head wtwith her hare about her
A perfuming pan in
her hand
From a great godes am I sent
With this perfume of frankumsence
For to prepare yhisthis place most Blest
Wher in a whyle she means to rest
Virgule then she sets yethe perfuming pan downe
& standing by enters another
named Cupit a god of Loue witwith bowe aroes & outher things
fiting his atier
thus speaking
to uenus
The Godes Iuno unto yoyou giues welth
Pales like wiss wisdom & strenght,
Saris corne & wine most plentyfuly can giue yoyou Diane Chaste to be whats this witwithout me
When as this world was first begone
Loue twas created tis yeet not don
But frinds be all content,
My mynde is fuly bent
yoyou shale goe free,
From my sons iniury
Al days ytthatyoyou doe life
& when yoyou dye, yryour Posterity
She danceth
yethe cunnariy Soe long as mortels life
Enter urania dresed in gdood aparel
singing this song
Come hether nimpths of yethe woods & wether
Leave yryour streames for to com hether
Make haste I saye haue noe delay
Heers thats aboue yethe wether
A flower of may is sprung to day
Ytthat Like yethe flower of yoyour sunne
Tis Clought to d day in lifely aray
& ynthen at night tis done
For she deseds to asend Bake againe
From hiest Place whence she came
art thou urania nimpth of yethe fointaine
YtThat dost abide in coolest mountains
Or art ynthen of yethe Chast dianes trane
declar to me & shew yethe same
The mucike playes & they dance a dance of my making
to yethe tune of ieme
Virgule Enter 3 nimpths yethey mingel ymthemselfs together
& dance uenus & urania Ledes,
they ending ther dances
uenus speakes to yethe company
What is witwithin my powes, I willingly yoyou giue
& in yryour fauour desier to liue
I doe recant yethe words I spoke of loue
For yoyou shall constant all ways proue
To me, my son, & thes my frinds
Who will indure yryours to yethe end
Virgule She goes to her place & takes urania
by yethe hand yethe rest coopeling ymthem selfs together Cupit speakes
in this maner
Time stays for non wele take
Our leues & ynthen are gon —
Adieu frinds wele goe prepare
For yoyou a place most rare
Wher neuer human
YtThat dide com
Would ere desier to return
Nor do we thik ytthatyoyou would
If in yryour power yoyou could.
This is yethe worst we thinke
Of yoyou, we do desier yethe like from yoyou YrYour good wishes if yoyou please
As many in number as drops in yethe seays
Till time comes for to rest euer
& to desarueth ymthem wille indeuor
Againe adieu god bgy god night
adieu adieu.
Finus
Prosopography
Janelle Jenstad
Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director
of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.
Mahayla Galliford
Assistant project manager, 2024-present; research assistant, encoder, and remediator,
2021-present. Mahayla Galliford (she/her) graduated with a BA (Hons) English from
the University of Victoria in 2024. Mahayla’s undergraduate research explored early
modern stage directions and civic water pageantry. She continues her studies through
the UVic English master’s program and focuses on editing and encoding girls’ manuscript
writing in collaboration with LEMDO.
Navarra Houldin
Project manager 2022–present. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them)
completed their BA in History and Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. During
their degree, they worked as a teaching assistant with the University of Victoriaʼs
Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. Their primary research was on gender and
sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America.
Rachel Fane
Sofia Spiteri
Sofia Spiteri is currently completing her Bachelor of Arts in History at the University
of Victoria. During the summer of 2023, she had the opportunity to work with LEMDO
as a recipient of the Valerie Kuehne Undergraduate Research Award (VKURA). Her work
with LEMDO primarily includes semi-diplomatic transcriptions for The Winterʼs Tale and Mucedorus.
Orgography
LEMDO Team (LEMD1)
The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project
director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators,
encoders, and remediating editors.
University of Victoria (UVIC1)
https://www.uvic.ca/
Metadata
Authority title
May Masque by Rachel Fane, Manuscript, c. 1627 (Semi-Diplomatic Transcription)
Type of text
Primary Source Text
Publisher
University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform
Series
Digital Renaissance Editions
Source
Manuscript, c. 1627
Kent URI: https://www.kentarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/GB51_U269_3_2_60
Facsimile from the Kent History and Library Centre
Editorial declaration
This semi-diplomatic text has been prepared according to the DRE Editorial Guidelines
and the LEMDO Encoding Guidelines for encoding and transcribing manuscripts.
Edition
Released with LEMDO Editions for Peer Review 0.1.6
Sponsor(s)
Digital Renaissance Editions
Anthology Leads and Co-Coordinating Editors: Brett Greatley-Hirsch, Janelle Jenstad,
James Mardock, and Sarah Neville.
University of Victoria
https://www.uvic.ca/
Encoding description
Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines. The
encoding makes the following assumptions (rendered based on the _semi-dip.scss file):
text is aligned left and set in Roman type unless otherwise specified; titlepage components
and running titles are centered; signatures are centered and letterspaced; running
titles are centered and set in italic type; catchwords are aligned right; speech prefixes
are indented and set in italic type; and stage directions are set in italic type and
aligned left unless the stage element has a place attribute. Where this playbook differs
generally from LEMDOʼs default assumptions, the TEI Header includes one or more tagsDecl
elements describing this playbookʼs particular imposition and composition. Where this
playbook contains local deviations from its own general patterns, the encoding includes
element-level and inline CSS to describe the playbookʼs unique features.
Document status
published
Funder(s)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability
Intellectual copyright in this edition is held by the editor, Mahayla Galliford. The XML files of the semi-diplomatic transcription and the modern texts are licensed
for reuse under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, which means that they are freely downloadable without permission under the following
conditions: (1) credit must be given to the editor, DRE, and LEMDO in any subsequent
use of the files and/or data; (2) derivatives (e.g., adapted scripts for performance)
must be shared under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license; and (3) commercial uses are
not permitted without the knowledge and consent of DRE, the editor, and LEMDO.
