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See also:UDAL, See also:NICHOLAS (1504—1556) , See also:English schoolmaster, translator and playwright, author of the earliest extant English See also:comedy, Roister Doister, came of the See also:family of Uvedale, who in the 14th See also:century became lords of Wykeham, Hants, by See also:marriage with the heiress of the Scures. The name was probably pronounced Oovedale, as it appears as Yevedale, Owdall, Woodall, with other variants. He latinized it as Udallus, and thence anglicized it as Udall. He is described as Owdall of the See also:parish of St See also:Cross, See also:Southampton, 12 years old at See also:Christmas 1516, when admitted a See also:scholar of See also:Winchester See also:College in 1517 (Win. See also:Seed. Reg.). He was therefore not 14 (as See also:Anthony See also:Wood says) but 161 years of See also:age when admitted a scholar of Corpus Christi College, See also:Oxford, in See also:June 1520; he is called Wodall as a lecturer at that college in 1526 to 1528 (T. See also:Fowler, Ii 1st. C. C. C.).
With See also: MS. ,8A lxiv.) at See also:Anne See also:Boleyn's See also:coronation on the 31st of May 1533. Leland's contributions are all in Latin; those of " Udallus," which See also:form the See also:chief See also:part, are mostly in English, the speeches being each spoken by a " See also:child," at Cornhill beside Leadenhall," "at the Conducte in Cornhill " and " at the little Conducte in Cheepe." His Floures for Latine Spekynge, selected and gathered out of See also:Terence and the same translated into Englysshe, published by Bartlet (in aedibus Bertheleti), were dedicated " to my most sweet See also:flock of pupils, from the monastery of the monks of the See also:order of See also:Augustine," on the 28th of See also:February 1533—1534. There were no monks of that order, and whether See also:Austin Friars or Augustinian canons were meant is open to doubt. The See also:book was prefaced with laudatory Latin verses by Leland and by See also:Edmund See also:Jonson. The latter was a Winchester and Oxford contemporary of Udal's, in 1528 See also:lower See also:master (hostiarius) at See also:Eton, a See also:post which he See also:left to become master of the school of St Anthony's See also:Hospital, then the most flourishing school in See also:London. From the See also:dedication we may infer that Udal was See also:usher under Jonson and " the sweet flock "was at St Anthony's school next See also:door to Austin Friars. At Midsummer 1534 he became See also:head master of Eton (informator puerorum or Judi grammaticalis; Eton See also:Audit Book. 25—26 See also:Hen. VIII.). It has been suggested (See also:Die. Nat. Biog.) that the Floures was dedicated to Eton boys in advance; but this is unlikely, as in those days See also:schools never got their masters till the See also:place was vacant, or on the See also:verge of vacancy. At Eton Udal's See also:salary was £Io and £1 for See also:livery, with "See also:petty receipts " of 8s. 4d. for obits, 2s. 8d. for laundress, 2S. for candles for his chamber, and 23s. 4d. " for See also:ink, candles and other things given to the See also:grammar school by Dr Lupton, See also:provost." One of his school books, Commentaries on the Tusculan questions of See also:Cicero (ed, Berouldus, 1509), with the inscription " sum See also:Nicolai Udalli 1536," is in the See also: 144, 192) with producing a play at See also:Braintree while See also:vicar there, recorded in the churchwardens' accounts for 1534 as " Placidas See also:alias See also:Sir Eustace." The play is actually called in the accounts (only extant in 17th-century extracts) " Placy Dacy alias St Ewastacy," and is the old play of Placidas, mentioned in the 9th century. Udal did not become vicar of Braintree till the 27th of See also:September 1537 (Newconrt's Repert. ii. 89). At Michaelmas he resigned the mastership of Eton to reside at Braintree, being called "See also:late schole-master wose roome nowe enjoyeth and occupieth Mr Tindall " in a See also:letter from the provost to See also: He tried, but failed, to get restored to Eton. Attempts have been made to whitewash him. But his own See also:confession, and an abject letter of repentance with promises of See also:amendment, addressed (probably) to Wriothesley, a See also:Hampshire See also:man and a family friend, cannot be got over. It shows that he was a See also:bad schoolmaster as well as an immoral one, since he pleads " myn honest chaunge from See also:vice to See also:vertue, from prodigalitee to frugall lyving, from See also:negligence of teachyng to assiduitee, from play to studie, from lightness to gravitee." In 1542-1543, after the See also:bursar of Eton had ridden up to London to the provost, Udal was paid " J3s. 4d. in full See also:satisfaction of his salary in arrears and other things due to him while he was teaching the See also:children "; but on the other See also:side of the account appears an See also:item of " 6os. received from Dr See also:Coxe for Udal's debts." So no See also:money passed to Udal. He seems to have maintained himself by translating into English, in 1542, See also:Erasmus's Apophthegms and other See also:works. In 1544 he published a new edition of the Floures of Terence. He seems to have taken a schoolmastership in See also:Northumberland or See also:Durham, as Leland in one of his Encomia speaks of him, probably at this time, as translated to the See also:Brigantes. He seems to have been made to resign his living at Braintree, a successor being appointed on the 14th of See also:December 1544. He purged himself, however, by composing the See also:Answer to (he Articles of the Commoners of See also:Devonshire and See also:Cornwall (See also:Pocock; Troubles of the See also:Prayer Book of 1549, Camd. See also:Soc., new See also:series, 37, 141, 193), when they See also:rose in See also:rebellion in the summer of 1549 against the First Prayer Book of See also:Edward VI. In 1551 he received a patent for See also:printing his See also:translation of See also:Peter See also:Martyr's two works on the See also:Eucharist 'and the See also:Great See also:Bible in English (Pat. 4 Edw. VI. pt. 5, M. 5, See also:Shakespeare Soc. iii. See also:xxx.). He was rewarded by being made a See also:canon of Windsor on the 14th of December 1551. On the 5th of See also:January " after the See also:common reckoning 1552 " (i.e. 1551/2) he edited a translation of Erasmus's Paraphrases of the Gospels, him-self translating the first three, while that on St John was being translated by the princess See also:Mary, till she See also:fell sick and handed her See also:work over to Dr See also:Malet. The work was done at the See also:suggestion and expense of the See also:dowager See also:queen Katharine, in whose See also:charge Mary was. A translation by Udal of Geminus's Anatomie or Compendiosa See also:talus anatomiae delineatio, a huge See also:volume with gruesome plates, was published in 1553." Udal's See also:preface is dated the loth of See also:July 1552 " at Windesore. In June and September 1553 (Trevelyan Pap. Camd. Soc. 84, ii. 31, 33) " Mr Nicholas Uvedale " was paid at the See also:rate of £13, 6s. 8d. a year as " scholemaster to Mr Edward See also:Courtney,
1 Tusser was a chorister of St See also:Paul's.
" Sweete mistresse, where as I love you nothing at all, Regarding your substance and richnesse chiefe of all," and so on; whereas it was meant to read
" Sweete mistresse, whereas I love you (nothing at all Regarding your substance and richnesse) chiefe of all, For your personage, beautie, demeanour and wit."
The play was entered at Stationers' See also: 408. For though Udal did become head master of Westminster, he only became so nearly two years after Wilson's quotation from Roister Doister appeared. He was at Winchester in the See also:interval, for See also:Stephen See also:Gardiner, See also:bishop of Winchester and See also:chancellor, by will of the 8th of See also:November 1555 (P.C.C. 3 Noodes), gave 40 marks (£26, 135. 4d.) to " Nicholas Udale, my scholemaister. " In what sense he was Gardiner's schoolmaster it is hard to guess. He was not head master or usher of Winchester College; but he may have been master of the old See also:City Grammar or High School, to which the bishop appointed (A. F. Leach, His,. Winch. See also:Coll. 32, 48). The schoolhouse had been leased out for 41 years in 1544 but it is possible Gardiner had revived the school or kept a school at his See also:palace of Wolvesey. At Westminster " Mr Udale was admitted to be scholemaster 16 Dec. See also:anno 1555 " (See also:Chapter See also:Act-Book).
The last act of the See also:secular canons, substituted by See also: 612). One of these interludes was probably Roister Doister; for it was in January 1553, i.e. 1554, that Thomas Wilson, master of St Katharine's Hospital by the Tower, produced the third edition of The Rule of See also:Reason, the first See also:text-book on See also:logic written in English,which contains, while the two earlier editions, published in 1551 and 1552 respectively, do not contain, a See also:long quotation from Roister Doister. It gives under the heading of " ambiguitie, " as " an example of such doubtful See also:writing whiche, by reason of poincting, maie have See also:double sense and contrarie meaning . . taken out of an intrelude made by Nicholas Udal," the letter which See also:Ralph Roister procured a scrivener to compose for him, asking See also:Christian See also:Constance, the heroine, to marry him. Roister's emissary read it
556
Yevedale," i.e. Udal. Katharine was perhaps a See also:sister or other relation, as See also: So it is clear that the school never stopped. Udal therefore was master of Westminster for just over two years. He died at the age of 52.
Roister Doister well deserves its fame as the first English comedy. It is infinitely See also:superior to any of its predecessors in form and substance. It has sometimes been described as a See also:mere See also:adaptation of See also:Plautus's See also:Miles Gloriosus. Though the central See also:idea of the play—that of a braggart soldier (with an impecunious See also:parasite to flatter him) who thinks every woman he See also:sees falls in love with him and is finally shown to be an See also:arrant See also:coward—is undoubtedly taken from Plautus, yet the See also:plot and incidents, and above all the See also:dialogue, are absolutely See also:original, and infinitely superior to those of Plautus. Even the final incident, in which the See also:hero is routed, is made more humorous by the male slaves being represented by maid-servants with mops and pails.
The play was printed by F. See also:Marshall in 1821; in Thomas See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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