"This version was sent to me in October 1924 by Mr.J.Turner of Bernard Street, Walsall.

Mr. Turner says of the play: 'I believe that Hamstall was the last place in Staffordshire to perform Mumming Plays. The late rector, Rev. J.O.Coussmaker, many years ago, fearing that the words would be forgotton, wrote them down and deposited them in the iron chest in the rectory. There I found them this year and, with the present rector's permission, made a copy of them.'"

The above mentioned manuscript was examined in:

Derek Schofield (1981), "Mummers at Hamstall Ridware, Staffs. (SK1019)" Roomer, 1983, Vo.3, No.2, pp.7-9.

Schofield's article included additional notes made by the collector - John Octavius Coussmaker - plus some corrections and remarks, of which the following are extracts:

"Douglas Kennedy reprints the play text almost exactly, but does not include Coussmaker's introductory remarks to the play. As these remarks contain background information on the play, as well as a lesson for all folklore collectors past and present, I quote them in full:

'Mummers.

Sixteen years ago (i.e. 1884) it was the usual custom on New Year's Day for one's Hall door to be suddenly thrown open, without any knocking, singing, or other ceremony, 5 or 6 young men dressed in any eccentric or gay clothing they cd get hold of (an old soldier's coat was especially prized), wd enter & then proceed to act a little rough play in the Hall. They were always very careful not to do any harm, though they pretended to be very wild fellows indeed. After a year or 2 they ceased to come, & their place was taken by a few village school boys, & now these are all grown up & have left the village, & the mummers come no more. Seeing that the custom was likely to die out, like may another relict of the past, I obtained the following words of the play, which I here append. In one or two places the meaning is not very clear, but I write it down as it was given to me, well knowing that in the text of the Greek Testament the more difficult reading is usually the more correct one, & so it well may be here. And if we ammend the text to suit our own imagination, we may lose some valuable old allusion.'

Alas, either Douglas Kennedy or Mr. Turner failed to take heed of Coussmaker's advice, because in the text published by Kennedy, there are some slight differences from the original manuscript text.

The first four lines printed in italics are not given in the manuscript, and must be either Turner's or Kennedy's rewording of the original. Some of the text has been set out in rhyming couplets, whereas Coussmaker wrote the whole text in continuous prose. The punctuation has also been altered and 'tidied up' in the printed version."

"Although most of the alterations are fairly trivial, the alteration of the sex of Beelzebub is more significant. Clearly, either Turner or Kennedy had never come across a female Beelzebub in a mummers play before and, perhaps believing it to be a mistake, changed the words to suit the supposed norm. The female Beelzebub occurs elsewhere in Stoffordshire, for example at Armitage, Brereton, Burntwoood, Darlaston, and Upper Tean, whereas at other locations (e.g. Uttoxeter), there is a character 'Old Mary Ann' who speaks some of the usual Beelzebub lines."

Initially, a version of this text and Coussmaker's introduction was downloaded from: http://www.christmas-time.com/mummers.html. This gives neither a location nor a bibliographic source, and in any case, a substantial amount of supplementary text has been added to the script. I subsequently edited the text to conform with Kennedy's version. Afterwards, I made the corrections listed by Schofield and added his notes. I have however retained Kennedy's layout in rhyming couplets (although I have split a few additional lines) as this facilitates textual analysis. I have also retained Kennedy's punctuation.