pared with the number of the inmates, ventilation | seen of men, and bow to the kissing of hands should have been impeded, and the pestilence a that saluted them as their friends and admirers frequent visitor in our towns. This evil was passed by. And when they went out in the further aggravated by the fixed windows, and evening to witness a play or public spectacle, or want of chimneys in many of the dwellings, so to walk for recreation, although they had no rathat no healthy current could pass through, to pier-armed train of attendants, they still could arrest the coming of disease, or carry it away. command a formidable retinue of the 'prentices who lodged in the house, performed the duties of menials while learning their craft, and waited upon their masters and mistresses in these evening strolls, each furnished with a lantern or candle, as well as a stout club which he carried upon his shoulder. OLD HOUSES CALLED BUTCHER ROW, WHICH STOOD IN THE In mentioning these 'prentices, we introduce, for the first time, to the reader, a comparatively new class in England, too numerous, important, and formidable, to be hastily dismissed. Even already they were the representatives of mercantile jealousy arrayed against aristocratic arrogance of mercantile independence impatient of the restrictions of royalty, and ready, if need were, to give it battle and cast it off. From this period they are to be found in almost every London riot and revolt, until they were finally the conquerors at Marston Moor and Naseby. The London 'prentices, at this time, not only discharged the duties, but wore the dress of servitude, which was a little flat cap stuck upon the crown of the head, a blue cloak in summer, and a blue coat or gown in winter; and a pair of round slops or breeches, with stockings of white broadcloth attached to them. Although they were generally the sons of substantial yeomen or tradesmen, or even of a higher grade, and although the wearing of a rapier had now become general, yet this badge of a gentleman they were by no means permitted to assume. Still, being little disposed to be driven to the wall, they generally carried a stout bat or club; and as all those of a ward were united in sworn fellowship like a sodality of knighthood, while all the wards were combined like regiments into one army, they were able to retort with heavy interest the disdain of the courtiers, or even the violence of the martialists. This was not all; for they mingled with, or controlled every public commotion, so that, as soon as the uproar commenced, the warning cry of "'prentices! clubs!" was raised, and "Up then rose the 'prentices all, These "walls of sticks and dirt," as they were contemptuously called by foreigners, were happily contrasted, however, with the cleanliness, the comfort, and even the elegance and luxury that were to be found within, especially in the houses of the wealthy merchants and substantial citizens. These men were now almost as rich as the nobility; and except that they did not attend court festivals, career in the tilt-yard, or wear the insignia of high rank and title, they saw no reason why their own style of housekeeping should greatly vary from that of the nobles themselves. This conclusion was manifested by the rich dresses they wore, the costly furniture with which their rooms were ornamented, and the plate that was piled upon their side-boards; the Turkey carpets not thus employed in active warfare, that covered their chairs and tables, and the they were generally to be found in training for cloth of arras and silk that draped the walls of it; as a common sight in the streets, on summer the principal apartments. While the master of evenings, was that of groups of them practising such an establishment was pursuing his vocation fence with "bucklers and wasters," before their at the mart, his wife and daughters, dressed in a masters' doors. style which vied with that of the court ladies, and equally desirous to exhibit their finery, usually took their stations at the windows or doors, to be When Dwelling in London, both proper and tall." While the houses of the merchants were so sumptuously furnished towards the close of this period, compared with what they had been in bacco. This importation of Sir Walter Raleigh into England quickly grew into such favour, that, from Queen Elizabeth and the ladies of the court, the practice of smoking descended through all ranks until it rested with the utterly penniless, who, like Captain Bobadil, could console themselves for the want of a dinner by a whiff of Trinidada. Men, therefore-and ladies too, it is to be feared-usually carried about with them the necessary apparatus, which consisted of a tobacco-box containing tobacco that was supposed best fitted for use when it had been dried into tinder; a priming-iron, ladle, and tongs, which were made of silver and sometimes of gold; and thus furnished, nothing was wanting but pipes, which the master of the feast was sure to have ready in abundance. But the hourly demand which a love of tobacco creates, was not to be satisfied with mere formal opportunities of indulgence, and therefore, in an incredibly short space, tobacco ordinaries were to be found in every street, to which craving epicures might retire, amidst the bustle of their worted occupations, and recruit themselves by a half-hour's indulgence in their favourite luxury. We regret to add that the ladies of England at this period, beautiful though they were, were distinguished, in London, at least, by the blackness and rottenness of their teeth, at which incongruous defect foreign visitors were not a little puzzled. · But perhaps the immoderate use of sugar and tobacco, to which these ladies were addicted, might account for this peculiarity. former days, the style of living, in other respects, | is grievous to add, that a frequent sequel to such had undergone a correspondent improvement; a banquet, at the close of this period, was toand with greater wealth to spend, there was also full inclination to enjoy it. This natural result of the English character, which shone out so brightly in the "golden days," might have been predicted so early as the time of Alfred. The success of a merchant, therefore, and the yearly increase of his profits, could be best read upon his dining-table, which might scarcely be seen from the multitude of dishes with which it was covered. Besides those large well-dressed joints, which formed the pith and substance of good eating, and the dainties of fowl and venison by which they were followed, there were puddings composed of currants, which were imported so plentifully into England for the purpose, that the astonished Greeks, who shipped them, imagined that they were going to be used for dyeing cloth or fattening swine; and cakes of the finest flour and choicest sugar, and foreign spices; and dainty fruits, still of great rarity, such as quinces, pomegranates, and oranges, which were eaten in slices with sugar; and the more common accompaniments of apples, pears, strawberries, and other such home produce; and dried fruits, such as prunes, raisins, dates, and nuts; and opaque marmalades, and transparent jellies of every form and hue. But here we must adopt the quaint language of Stow, who exclaims, upon a similar occasion, "To describe to you the order, the dishes, the subtleties, and strange devices of the same, I lack both a head of fine wit, and also cunning in my bowels, to declare these wonderful devices." England, indeed, was then, as it ever had been, a land of good eating; and in the preparation of its great national dish, "the old English roast beef," its cookery was unrivalled. But here, again, lay the essential national difference between France and England. While the cooks of the latter country required choice good articles for their skill, without which it was nought, those of the former could all but create the articles out of which a plentiful banquet was to be made. Thus it was with the cook of Marshal Strozzi at this very period, who made an honest man eat, at unawares, a good portion of his own mule, transformed into excellent venison; and who, at the capitulation of Leith, regaled the victors with forty-five different dishes made out of the hind-quarter of a salted horse, being all the provisions that remained in the garrison. At the rich London citizen's dinner, while the edibles to which we have referred were so choice and various, the wines were of equal variety and goodness, and those which, as yet, were too acid or bitter for the unsophisticated taste of the people, were sweetened with sugar, and sometimes with the addition of lemon and spices. It The out-door sports of England have been already sufficiently mentioned. While those that were strictly national continued to be practised in all their original simplicity, those which were of later origin continued from one reign to another, notwithstanding the prohibitions for their suppression, in favour of archery practice among the yeomanry. These laws, in the time of Henry VIII. especially, bore hard on public gaminghouses, bowling-greens, tennis, and quoits, against which, however, his commands were as powerless as that of Canute against the resistless advance of the ocean. As for tilts and tournaments, with their glorious stir of chivalrous enthusiasm and broken bones, these had almost wholly disappeared during the reign of Elizabeth, and given place to the trivial though graceful sport of riding at the ring-a sport that, with the use of the horseman's lance, which it was intended to perfect, also passed away, at the coming of new forms of warfare. Nothing remained instead but hunting, which was pursued in a variety of ways, sometimes with horse and hound, and sometimes on foot. In the latter case, the game that could not be run down was to be entrapped, in which case, the hunter approached it under cover of a stalking-horse, that is, the figure of a horse, cow, or stag made of canvas, which he carried before him, and from behind which he could approach and bring down his unsuspecting victim with bow or arquebuse, which was used indifferently on these occasions. Hawking had also been a princely sport in England, as in other countries, for centuries; but as it likewise entailed a princely expense, which was now alienated into the new style of living that had succeeded, the game was abandoned, and the mews, which had formed an essential portion of every great mansion, were shut up or converted into coach-houses, by the close of the present period. Fowling of course became more common as a cheap substitute, and this was prosecuted not only with the light gun, called a birding-piece, but also with net, and pipe-call, and other modes of enticement. But a still more exciting active sport was that of horseracing, which had at last become national, and from which the improvement of English horses may be dated, the breeds hitherto in use having been of very inferior quality, whether for war, hunting, or travel. The example of giving a public prize for victory in the horse-race was first set in the reign of Elizabeth, by the saddlers of Chester, and an example so contagious quickly became general over the kingdom. The other outdoor sports of England at this period were essentially of a cruel and brutalizing character. These were cock-fighting, in which the creatures either destroyed each other, or were tied to the ground and shied at with cudgels, until they were killed by a lucky throw; an ape-chase, in which a poor monkey was strapped to a horse, and galloped hither and thither, while the spectators enjoyed the uncouth terrors both of steed and rider; bul!baiting, and bear-baiting. This a sport very pleasant of these beasts," says the lively gossiping Laneham, who witnessed the exhibition, "to see the bear with his pinkey eyes leering after his enemy's approach; the nimbleness and wait of the dog to take his advantage, and the force and experience of the bear again, to avoid the assaults: if he were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in another to get free: but if he were taken once, then what shift with biting, with clawing, with roaring, tossing, and tumbling, he would work to wind himself from them; and when he was loose, to shake his ears twice or thrice, with the blood and slaver about his physiognomy, was a matter of goodly relief." It was not thus, however, that the bear was always allowed a fair field, with mastiffs for his antagonists; for sometimes he was hood-winked, and surrounded by men with whips, who lashed him unmercifully, while the sport consisted in witnessing the blundering attempts of the poor blinded creature to escape his tormentors, by stumbling hither and thither, and making vain snatches at their weapons. In this way, bearbaiting was converted into a game of blind-man'sbuff. These sports were not confined to the country, but introduced into London, where they formed an important part of civic recreation, so THE BEAR GARDEN, SOUTHWARK.-Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata. last amusement especially became so fashionable | that while bulls were baited in the vacant places in England, that the forests of the North were now as carefully ransacked for strong bears, as formerly they had been for high-soaring falcons; and in her royal progresses, Elizabeth and her maidens were often regaled at the mansions of the nobles with a tournament of bear-baiting, which they enjoyed with keen relish. Such was the case in that famous visit which the queen made to the castle of Kenilworth, when thirteen bears were baited for her amusement. "It was of the streets, large buildings were erected for bear-baiting and cock-fighting, and a flag hoisted over the door or roof, warned the eager public of the hour when the exhibition was to commence. Another public amusement, in which the English were distinguished above every other people, was the ringing of bells, which they reduced to a science; and nothing more astonished foreign visitors, than to see the eagerness with which a party of revellers would hurry from the tavern to the church, and commence a vigorous chorus of bell-ringing, which they kept up for hours without intermission. draw forth the utmost skill, and occasion the most ruinous losses; so that, while a man might peril his soul, like Falstaff, by "fors wearing himself at primero," he might be cleaned out at gleek, new-cut, bankerout, lodam, noddy, lavalta, prime, trump, and such forms, of which little is now Among the in-door sports of the English at this period, those of the court hold the most conspicuous place; and during the reign of Henry VIII., and his minister Wolsey, these palace ex-known but the names. Next to cards was backhibitions had attained the height of regal magnificence. Still, however, there was a coarseness and barbarism about them, which two successive female reigns could not wholly eradicate. They chiefly consisted of masks, pageants, banquetings, interludes, and allegorical plays-and the whole, gathered into one brilliant constellation to welcome and dazzle the most honoured of royal visitors, are still as bright and intelligible as ever in the mirror-like pages of Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth. Dancing, the amusement of all nations and ranks, was not likely to be neglected during a female reign, and of all queens, such a one as Elizabeth, who danced "high and disposedly," and rewarded the best dancer of her court with the chancellorship. Her beautiful rival, Mary Stuart, who danced as well, perhaps even better, had no such favourable opportunities for its display in the sombre halls of Holyrood, and among her stern gray-bearded Presbyterian barons, as Elizabeth had in the palace of Greenwich, among the kneeling and admiring nobles, and therefore the question of the latter to Mel-relles: the table, often of the finest wood, was ville, as to which was the better dancer of the two, sounded grievously like cruel mockery and insult. The chief style of court dancing at this time, seems to have consisted of grave stately movements; and the pavo or peacock, which was the favourite dance, appears to have been so called, from its imitating the march, attitudes, and display of that proud bird of beauty. It need not surprise us to learn, that under the reign of such a sovereign as Elizabeth, and with such graceful accomplished courtiers as the Earls of Leicester and Essex, Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir Walter Raleigh, the English dancing was renowned over the whole Continent. Downward through every gradation of rank, from the palace to the village hut or green, went the practice of dancing in all its manifold forms; but while some of these were sufficiently innocent and healthful, others were as certainly indecorous and immoral, and hence the loud outery that condemned the whole practice, both from the Puritans of England and the Presbyterians of Scotland. Next to dancing, the games of skill and chance come to be mentioned among the in-door amusements; and foremost of these was cardplaying, which was equally practised by prince and peasant. In Elizabeth's time, the games seem to have been as various among card-players as they are at present, and equally calculated to gammon, which was now refined into a sober intellectual amusement, and adopted as a favourite among the studious. Other house games, which had long prevailed in England, were now about to recede before the superior attractions of backgammon and cards, and to which we can only afford a parting notice. These were:-Merelles, or nine men's morris, a game honoured by the mention of Shakspeare,' and which was played upon a smooth board, divided into nine compartments, at which a counter was jerked, while the aim was to throw it into the one that numbered highest. In the country, where this game was frequently played in the open air, the sod sufficed for a board, and the compartments were made by nine holes dug in the turf. In Scotland, where many of the old Anglo-Saxon sports common to both countries are still retained, there exists in some rural districts the game of nineholes, which is played by school-boys in the same fashion. The games of shovel-board and shove-groat were improvements upon the me divided into the same number of compartments, and a groat or silver penny, impelled by a dexterous jerk of the palm, was sent in quest of a lucky number. Higher still than these, was the game of draughts, usually called tables, and probably derived from the more difficult one of chess. As for the different modes of dicing, these depended upon the caprice of the moment, or the games to which they were auxiliary, and therefore need no description. The dice, however, were not only thrown by hand, as at present, but also by a machine contrived for the purpose. This was a box or funnel, into which unmarked dice were dropped, while a round board beneath, that turned upon a pivot, and was marked with the different numbers, received them upon one or other figure as they fell. Perhaps it is unnecessary to add, that besides taverns, eatinghouses, smoking ordinaries, and other such places of public entertainment, gaming-houses had now multiplied to a great amount over the whole extent of London. Besides these general sports and amusements, there were days set apart for festive observances, in which all classes threw aside their cares, and The nine men's morris is filled up with mud; -Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii. scene 1 agreed to eat, drink, and be merry. The first of sometimes by twenty or even forty yoke of oxen, these which we would particularize was the 1st while each ox had its horns wreathed with of May. The celebration of this most gladsome flowers. The pole was then set up in the widest of months was commenced so early as mid- opening of the street; the people danced round night of the last day of April; and as soon as it during the greater part of the day, and afterthe twelfth hour had struck, every parish, vil- wards it remained untouched during the rest lage, and town was alive with unwonted bustle, of the year. As London of course deserved the and its inhabitants, male and female, betook stateliest of may-poles, that which was erected themselves to the fields and forests, accompanied at the north-west corner of Aldgate Street, and with a band of music, where they spent the hours opposite St. Andrew's Church, was higher than in merriment until morning had dawned, at the steeple itself, and hence the church was called which time they returned to their homes, carry- St. Andrew-under-Shaft. An evil destination, ing with them the branches of trees, and heaps however, awaited this pole, for, in 1517, the of wild flowers, with which they erected arbours, London 'prentices raised such a desperate insurand held a feast to welcome the coming of sum-rection against the foreign dealers and artisans, mer. But the chief object of their search was MAYPOLE AT ST. BREVELS, Forest of Dean. From a sketch by J. Brown. a tall straight tree for a may-pole; and having selected one suitable for the occasion, it was cut down, and conveyed to the town or village, 1 How much this festival of Robin Hood was opposed to the Reformation, and in what light it was regarded by the Reformers, may be learned by the following extract from one of Latimer's sermons, preached before Edward VI. :-"I came once myself riding on a journey homeward from London, and I sent word over night into the town that I would preach there in the morning, because it was holiday, and methought it was a holiday's work. The church stood in my way, and I took my horse, and my company, and went thither, and when I came there the church door was fast locked. I tarried there half-an-hour and more. At last the key was found, and one of the parish comes to me and said, 'Sir, this is a busy day with us, we cannot hear you; it is Robin Hood's Day: the parish are gone abroad to gather for Robin Hood; I pray you let them not.' I was fain VOL. II. whom they meant utterly to extirpate, that, after the uproar was quelled, and the gallows had done its work, the towering pole was levelled, and laid under the pent-house-lids of a row of houses in Alleygate, thenceforth called Shaft Alley, while the May festival of this year was called "evil May-day." During the reign of Elizabeth, the Puritan spirit regarded these flower-wreathed may-poles, and the dances round them, as an abomination equal to the idolatry of the golden calf, but was unable to effect their suppression until the time of the Commonwealth; when, by a decree of parliament, in 1644, every may-pole in England and Wales was ordered to be taken down, and none to be afterwards erected. Another May game that was dear to the people, was the play of Robin Hood-this patriot, robber, and outlaw having, by universal consent, been commemorated as king of good fellows, and lord of the May. On this occasion, the fitting characters for the pageant were elected; and besides Robin himself, his fair mate, Maid Marian, who was lady of the May, Friar Tuck, his chaplain, Little John, his lieutenant, and a band of Sherwood archers, in Lincoln green, figured in the play. Besides these appropriate characters, the pageant was heightened by the dragon and hobby-horse, that crawled or pranced hither and thither, and a band of morris-dancers, who capered in gay or antic attire, and with small bells, toned according to the scale, fastened to their elbows, knees, and ankles.' Among the other seasons of festive obser there to give place to Robin Hood. I thought my rocket would have been regarded, though I were not: but it would not serve, it was fain to give place to Robin Hood's men. It is no laughing matter, my friends; it is a weeping matter, a heavy matter, a heavy matter. Under the pretence for gathering for Robin Hood, a traitor and a thief, to put out a preacher; to have his office less esteemed; to prefer Robin Hood before the ministration of God's Word; and all this hath come of unpreaching prelates. This realm hath been ill provided for, that it hath had such corrupt judgments in it, to prefer Robin Hood to God's Word." This play or pageant of Robin Hood, instead of being confined to England, was also a favourite in Scotland, and was as distasteful to John Knox as to his friend Latimer. On this account 140 |