paniment of the morris
dance, but the Puritans had banished it before the time of the hero
Kempe,--why, or wherefore, it is difficult to imagine, as his presence,
with a ladle attached to his mouth to collect the douceurs of the
spectators, must have been as harmless, one would fancy, as that of the
_fool_ who succeeded him in the office.

In Edward the Fourth's reign, we find mention made of _hoblers_, or
persons who were obliged by tenure to send a light swift horse to carry
tidings of invasion from the sea-side--light horsemen from this came to
be called hoblers--and doubtless from this origin sprang the term
hobby-horse--hence the allusion to men riding their hobby.

Kempe's dance is alluded to by Ben Jonson, in his "Every Man out of his
Humour." In his own narrative he alludes to some other similar exploit
he had it in his mind to perform; but as no record exists of its
accomplishment, we are left to infer that the entrance made of the death
of one Will Kempe, at the time of the plague, November 1603, in the
parish books of one of the metropolitan churches, refers to the merry
comedian, and that his career was suddenly terminated by that unsightly
foe.

In 1609, a tract with an account of a morris dance performed by twelve
individuals who had attained the age of a hundred, was published, "to
which," it was added, "Kempe's morris dance was no more than a galliord
on a common stage at the end of an old dead comedy, is to a caranto
danced on the ropes."

Not long subsequent to these events, theatres became settled down into
stationary objects of attraction and amusement; and in most large cities,
companies were formed to conduct the business of the performances. Among
the epitaphs in the principal churchyard of the city, St. Peter's
Mancroft, are several to the memory of different individuals who had
belonged to the company. Among them, one

IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM WEST, COMEDIAN,
LATE MEMBER OF THE NORWICH COMPANY.

OBIIT 17 JUNE, 1733. AGED 32.

To me 'twas given to die, to thee 'tis given
To live; alas! one moment sets us even--
Mark how impartial is the will of Heaven.

Another:--

IN MEMORY OF
ANNE ROBERTS.
1743. AGED 30.

The world's a stage--at birth one play's begun,
And all f