The Tudor jest-book, A Hundred Merry Tales, tells the story of John Adoyne, a Suffolk man who unwittingly terrifies his neighbours by wandering around the town in his demon's costume after a local religious play. The squire, on being told the devil is at his door, "marvelously abashed called up his chaplain and made the holy candle [i.e., one used at the Candlemas procession] to be lighted to be lighted and gat holy water," to conjure [sic] him away."
--Eamonn Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, p. 17
http://www.archive.org/details/hundredmerrytale00hazl
ReplyDelete- D. Mitsui
How nerdy am I, that I'm laughing at four hundred year old jokes?
ReplyDelete(And I thought my finding 19th century humour thigh-slappingly hilarious was sad) ;-)
Are you reading Duffy? (p17 suggests so!)
ReplyDeleteAn excellent book, but just too darned long; I've never been able to finish it.
Well, well -- I just bought Duffy's book the other day and started reading it. So far it's really good.
ReplyDelete