There will be a delay in further postings by me here, pending my receipt of further research. I have spent a half hour on the phone with a very well informed person who assures me inter alia that it is virtually certain that the oldest part of morris costume is blackface - but he is not computerate and I am going to have to print the thread and post it my snailmail to him, and then await his handwritten response that I will need to type up and post here.

I would also say to Pip - thank you for your consideration but anyone who knows me in person will be well aware that I would rather be right than anything! What worries me is if I think I might be wrong, and for a while you had me rattled there, but I feel much more comfortable now.