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RECREATIONS 631
John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, a Queen of the May, or
'Lady May*, as she is named, and the rest for a pageant at
Greenwich. Christmas too had always been not only a religious
feast but also a season of secular merriment. It was Yuletide
(midxNovember to Candlemas) associated with logs, mistle^
toe, and boars' heads; and never perhaps was it celebrated more
than in the time of the first two Tudors when a
elaborately
'Lord of Misrule' or as Stow calls him 'Master of merry dis^
ports* was annually appointed to supervise
the revels. This
practice was not confined to the royal household; a Lord of
Misrule was commonly elected in the houses of great men, in
the Inns of Court, and in the colleges of Oxford and Canv
bridge. It was at the universities that it survived longest; the
Christmas Prince, an account of the revels held at St. John's
College, Oxford, which lasted from the Feast of St. Andrew
1607 to Shrove Tuesday 1608, contains perhaps the most de^
tailed account of this form of entertainment. 1 Where the court
gave the lead, the people followed. Hitherto the simple enjoy
ments oflife had been impeded by government legislation and
decrees ofthe Church. After the battle ofBosworth a relaxation
is discernible. Though in 1495 a statute was again enacted
forbidding artificers and labourers from playing games, little
notice seems to have been taken ofit. Outdoor games were be'
coining more general, more varied, and more orderly; bowling'
greens, skittle-alleys, and shovel/boards were everywhere
to be
found. The cruder forms of amusement were giving place
to
more civilized recreations. Above all the printed book, music,
and drama were fast developing to relieve the boredom of the
hours of leisure. Yet the problem of the long dreary winter
nights was not entirely overcome, and perhaps the most satis^
fying pastime was love-making. So Thomas Campion, who
wrote at the end of the sixteenth century, after recounting
various forms ofamusement concludes his poem:
Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,
They shorten tedious nights.
1 Printed by the Malonc Society, 1922. Cf. R S. Boas, Stuart Drma (Oxford,
1946), pp. 401-12.