During the earlier period of the English stage, after the play was concluded, the audience were commonly entertained by a _Jig_. As no piece of that kind is extant, we are unable to ascertain its nature with precision; but it appears to have been a ludicrous metrical composition, either spoken or sung by the Clown, and occasionally accompanied by dancing and playing on the pipe and tabor. More persons than one were sometimes employed in a jig; and there is reason to believe that the performance was of considerable length, occupying even the space of an hour.[xx:1] The following entries are given verbatim from the Stationers' Books: "28 December [1591] "Thomas Gosson Entred for his copie vnder thand } of M^r Watkins, the Thirde and last } vi^d." parte of Kempes Iigge, soe yt } apperteyne not to anie other."[xx:2] } "ii^do die Maii [1595] "William Blackwall Enterd for his copie vnder M^r warden } Binges hande, a ballad, of M^r } Kempes Newe Jigge of the } vi^d." Kitchen stuffe woman.[xx:3] } "21 October [1595] "Tho. Gosson Entred for his copie vnder thande of } the Wardenes, a Ballad } called Kemps J[xxi:1] newe Jygge } vi^d." betwixt a souldior and a Miser } and Sym the clown.[xxi:2] } These entries are quoted (imperfectly) by several antiquarian writers who have enumerated the comedian's "works;" but his own express declaration, which has already[xxi:3] removed the _Dvtiful Invective_ from the list, can only be evaded, in the present case, by weakly arguing--that he did not consider a Jig as a _pamphlet_, or that the preceding entries relate to pieces which had been conveyed to the printer without his permission. My belief is that the Jigs in question were composed by regular dramatists, and that they were called "Kemp's" merely because he had rendered them popular by his acting, and probably by flashes of extemporal wit. He tells us that he had "spent his life in mad Jigges[xxi:4]"; and to one of those many entertainments Marston alludes in _The Scovrge of Villanie_, 1599: "Praise but Orchestra and the skipping Art, You shall commaund him; faith, you haue his hart Even capring in your fist. A hall, a hall, Roome for the spheres! the orbes celestiall Will daunce _Kempes Jigge_."[xxii:1] I may also remark, that, if Kemp had been a practised jig-maker, he would hardly have required the assistance of a friend to furnish him with verses for the _Nine daies wonder_.[xxii:2]