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From stage to folk: a note on the passages from Addison's Rosamond in the "Truro" mummers' play - Topics, Notes And Comments
Folklore, August, 2003 by Tom Pettitt
1.4 Rosamond.
1. From walk to walk, from shade to shade, from walk to walk from
From stream to purling stream convey'd, shade to shade from Strim
Through all the mazes of the grove, to poolin strim comvaid
Through all the mingling tracts I rove, thrue all the minglin of
the groove thrue all the
minglin tracks of love
5. Turning, tyrnin
Burning, burnin
Changing, changin
Ranging, Rangin
Full of grief, and full of love! full of grfe [sic] and
full of woe
10. Impatient for my Lord's return, impashent from my Lords
I sigh, I pine, I rave, I mourn. return.
Was ever passion cross'd like mine?
This is not, however, the full extent of the Truro Play's indebtedness to Rosamond, for as Tiddy also noted there is another borrowing earlier in the play, within (if towards the end of) the central, traditional, Hero Combat action. As often in the mummers' plays, that action has pitted St George against the Turkish Knight, who is slain and duly brought back to life by the Quack Doctor. The confused exclamation of surprise with which in some local traditions the slain combatant revives here takes the form of a lyrical outburst (speech 14), originally spoken by Queen Eleanour in Act I scene 1 as she surveys the park where King Henry has secluded Rosamond:
1.1 Queen. P. Langdon 14 [= Turkish
Knight]
1. What place is here! What places is are
What scenes appear! what seens appare
Where'er I turn my eyes, whare ever itorn mine eye
All around tis all around
5. Enchanted ground in chantin ground
And soft Elysiums rise: and soft delusions rise
Flow'ry mountains, floury mountins
Mossy fountains, mosy fountins
Shady woods,
10. Chrystal floods,
With wild variety surprise, what will veriety surprize
As o'er the hollow vaults we walk, tis on the alow walks we
A hundred echoes round us talk: walks an hundred ecos round
From hill to hill the voice is tost, us stock from hils to hils
the voices tost
15. Rocks rebounding rocks rebounding
Caves resounding, ecos resounding
Not a single word is lost. not one single words was
lost.
The mood is evidently catching, as St George (in speech 15) responds with lines originally spoken by the Queen's Page a little later in the same scene:
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