SUSSEX "TIPTEERERS'" PLAY.
IN connection with the celebration of Christmas in Sussex, a rude outdoor play is still performed on Boxing Day (December 26th). One version of this play has been published by the Rev. W. D. Parish in the appendix to his Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect, but this is not so complete as some other versions. I have therefore endeavoured to collect and collate all the versions of the play used in Sussex; and through the kindness of several correspondents I am now able to give the full text of a very complete version, with full explanatory notes. I am indebted for the words to Edmund Young, Esq., M.R.C.S., of Steyning, Sussex, who obtained them from William Turrall, Captain of the Steyning "Tipteers" (or Tipteerers).
The origin of the name Tipteers or Tipteerers, as the Sussex mummers are termed, appears to be obscure, unless it is derived from their obtaining "tips" in recompense for their performance.
The play is probably a corruption of "The Seven Champions of Christendom," as is shown by the following note kindly furnished by James Rock, Esq.:[1]—"Within my recollection a party of mummers used to go about the streets of Hastings performing 'The Seven Champions of Christendom.' Of this play I only remember that one of the performers stepped forward saying, 'I am St. George for England '; another then said, 'I am St. Denis for France,' whereupon a terrific combat ensued. Sword-dances were also performed, in which the dancers tripped about between swords laid on the ground. Something of the same kind is, or was lately, practised by boys at Christmas-time in the village of Hollington, near Hastings. The
- ↑ Of Tonbridge, but who formerly resided at Hastings.
