Bishop of Carlisle, who was the only bishop that could be per suaded to do that office; the others refused, as she was a Pro testant, and had declared against the Church of Rome. John Knox preaches in Scotland. A translation of the Scriptures was undertaken by authority, which after passing through several emendations, became in the succeeding reign the basis of the present version. 1565, July 27. Mary, Queen of Scots, married. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The Puritans refused to conform to the Church of England. Cartwright and three hundred students of Cambridge threw off their surplices in one day. 1566, March 9. David Rizzio murdered. 1567, Feb. 9. Darnley, King of Scots, murdered. June 7. The foundation of the Royal Exchange laid by Sir Thomas Gresham. 1569, January 11. The first lottery mentioned in history began to be drawn at the west door of St. Paul's, and continued drawing night and day till the 6th of May following. 1572, August 24th. The massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris. 1580. As a precaution against the plague and the high price of fuel and victuals, a proclamation was issued to restrain the further growth of London, and the erection of any new house within three miles of the city gates is prohibited, and not more than one family allowed to live in a house. November 3. Captain Francis Drake returned from his first voyage round the globe, having been twelve days less than three years in performing it. 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh discovered Virginia, named so by him in honour of the queen. 1585. Coaches first introduced and used in England this year. 1587, February 1. The queen signs the warrant for the death of Mary, Queen of Scots. 1588. Duelling with small swords first introduced into England. 1589. The art of making paper introduced into England, and the first mill set up and paper made at Dartford, in Kent. 1590. The band of pensioners first established by Elizabeth. 1591. The art of weaving stockings invented by the Rev. Mr. Lee, of Cambridge; telescopes invented by Mr. Z. Jansen, a spectacle-maker at Middleburg, in Germany. The queen erected and endowed a university at Dublin. 1593. Above 28,000 people died of the plague in London. 1595, July. The Spaniards made a descent upon England, in Devonshire, they destroyed Penzance. 1596. The Spaniards took Calais from the French, after a siege of twelve days. 1597. Watches first brought into England from Geneva. A great plague in London and its suburbs, which swept off 17,890 persons. February 25. The Earl of Essex beheaded in the Tower. 1601, AMUSEMENTS, THEATRES, DRESS, LIVING. The manners of the people still continued coarse and barbarous, as we may learn from their amusements. Besides pitching the bar, shooting with the broad arrow, playing at racket, quoits, nine holes, and leaping hedges and ditches, their most favourite diversions were baiting different animals. Hentzner, after describing the baiting of bulls and bears, adds-"To this entertainment there follows that of whipping a blinded bear; which is performed by five or six men, standing circularly with whips, which they exercise on him without mercy, as he cannot escape from them, because of his chain. He defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing down those that come within his reach, and are not active enough to get out of it; and tearing their whips out of their hands, and breaking them. At this spectacle and every where else," he adds, "the English are constantly smoking tobacco." A more harmless, but not more rational recreation is recorded by the same writer. They are "vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannons, drums, &c. So that it is common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads, to go up some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together, for the sake of exercise.' The queen was eqally attached to noise and uproar. She used to listen, during her meals, to "twelve trumpets and two kettle drums, which together with fifes, cornets, and side-drums, made the hall ring for half on hour together." Justing in the lists, pageants, and shows, hunting, hawking, &c., formed the chief diversions of the more polished ranks in society. Plays were just getting into vogue; and regular dramatic pieces had superseded the mysteries and moralities founded on scriptural subjects. The earliest patent for acting comedies, tragedies, &c., is dated 1574; and such was the rapid progress of this rational amusement, that, early in the next century, at least fifteen licensed theatres were open to the inhabitants of London. The best plays, especially those of Shakspeare, were acted chiefly at the Blackfriars Theatre, or at the Globe, on the south side of the Thames. A flag was hoisted on the front of each theatre. The price of admission to the best place, a shilling; to the inferior ones a penny or two-pence. The critics sat on the stage, and were furnished with pipes and tobacco. The curtain drew not up, but was drawn back on each side. From the raillery of Sir Philip Sydney, it is doubtful whether there was a change of scenes. It is probable this deficiency was supplied by the names of places being written in large characters on the stage; stating, for instance, that this was a wood, a garden, Thebes, Rome, or Alexandria, as the case might be. The stage was lighted with branches like those hung in churches. Before the exhibition began, three flourishes, soundings, or pieces of music were played; and music was likewise played between the acts. The instruments chiefly used were trumpets, cornets, and hautboys. Perukes and masques formed part of the stage paraphernalia; and the female parts, for the first hundred years, were performed by young men. One dramatic piece composed the whole entertainment; and the hours of acting began about one in the afternoon, and lasted generally about two hours. The audience before the performance began amused themselves with reading or playing at cards; others drank ale or smoked tobacco. For some time plays were acted on Sundays only; after 1579, they were acted on Sundays and other days indiscriminately. Such was the state of the stage at the commencement of the seventeenth century; having, for its foes, the Puritans, a race of men stern, inflexible, and unforgiving, it flourished with difficulty, and by unceasing obloquy and reproach was first pursued into unpopularity, and at length to annihilation. It did not revive until the Restoration, when Charles II. licensed two companies, Killegrew's and Sir William Davenant's. Luxury in dress made great progress. The pocket handkerchiefs of the ladies were frequently wrought with gold and silver, and their shifts were richly embroidered. The chopine is some times mentioned; it was an Italian shoe, with a heel ridiculously high. The fly cap was in great vogue. Aldermen's wives had bonnets of velvet, large and showy. Chains and bracelets were ornaments used mostly by women of rank. The ruffs made of lawn and cambric, stiffened with yellow starch, were immoderately large the poking of these gracefully behind was considered a most important attainment. The waist became enormously long, the bodice or stays finished with a most extended point in front at bottom; and to render the appearance still more inconvenient and grotesque, the upper part of the gown, near the shoulders, was considerably enlarged by wool or other stuffing. The fardingale, a Spanish petticoat, bulky over the hips, now went out of fashion; it was introduced by Philip and Mary, and Howel intimates that it was invented to conceal unlicensed pregnancy. Heywoode thus humorously sings the death of the fardingale : "Alas! poor vardingales must lie i' th' streete; Send them to Oxforde at Brode-gate to get in." : When Paul Hentzer saw Elizabeth, then in her 67th year, she had, in her ears, two pearls with very rich drops. She wore false hair, and that red; her bosom was uncovered, "as all the English ladies," says Hentzer, "have till they marry." She was dressed in white silk, bordered with pearls of the size of beans: and over it a mantle of black silk, shot with silver threads; and instead of a chain, she had an oblong collar of gold and jewels. The same writer adds, that wherever she turned her face, every one fell down upon his kness. Henry VIII. had been treated with similar servility. Petitions were presented to her as she went along, which as she received graciously, the people cried out "God save Queen Elizabeth," to which she answered, "I thancke ye, my goode peuple." The presence chamber was strewed with hay; and Hentzer gives a particular account of the tastings, and genuflexions made on entering the queen's room, though her majesty was not present. Needles and pins were now in common use; the making of the former was commenced in 1566 by Gröuse, a German. Pins were known in Henry VIII's reign, and afforded the ladies a convenient substitute for ribbons, loop-holes, tags, clasps, and skewers made of wood, brass, silver and gold. The introduction of silk, and worsted hose was a great improvement. Mrs. Montague, Eliza beth's silk woman, in her third year presented her majesty a pair of black knit silk stockings, which pleased the queen so much, that she never afterwards wore cloth hose. Soon after, Thomas Burdet, an ingenious apprentice, living opposite St. Magnus' Church, presented Lord Pembroke a pair of worsted stockings, the first knit in this country. The beard was on the wane in this reign. In the reign of Mary it throve luxuriantly; those of Bishop Gardiner and Cardinal Pole, in their portraits, are represented of an uncommon size; it gradually dwindled down into the mustachios or whiskers. The hair was cut close on the top of the head, and grew long on the sides. Showy young men wore jewels in the ears, and sometimes ribbands. The hat had superseded the woollen cap and hood. The crown of the hat was made high, narrowed towards the top, and had sometimes a rich hat-band, adorned by goldsmiths' work and precious stones, which, with a feather and scarlet cloak, marked the man of distinction. Coaches and caroches are both mentioned as being in use. They were first introduced by the Earl of Arundel. Before that time the queen, on public occasions, rode behind her chamberlain. The novelty and convenience of the plan soon brought them into general practice by people of fortune. Hackney coaches were not known till fifty years afterwards. Spoons and knives were as old as Edward the Confessor; but the fork was not yet discovered, and at every meal the fingers were used to keep the meat steady, and convey it to the mouth. Table cloths were made of very valuable linen. Mr. Otter, in Ben Johnson's Silent Woman, mentions a damask table cloth which cost eighteen pounds. The good man of the house sat at the upper end of the board," with a fayre napkyn layde before him on the table, lyke a master.' Among the customs of the sixteenth century, it must not be omitted to mention that of smoking, or as it was then called taking tobacco. It was first introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, and reached England in 1586, imported by Sir Walter Raleigh's settlers in Virginia. Sir Walter himself was one of its first admirers, but preserved great secrecy in his attachment. Owing to a ridiculous accident the foible was discovered; and it then became general. Sir Walter, as the story is related, was enjoying his pipe in solitude, forgetful that he had ordered his servant to attend him with a goblet of ale. The faithful domestic suddenly entering his study, and finding, as he thought, his master's brains on fire, and evaporating in smoke and flame through his nostrils, did his utmost to extinguish the conflagration, by emptying the goblet on Sir Walter's head. When many years after the gallant knight's fate drew near, he smoked two pipes publicly on the scaffold. Stowe, a few years after the introduction of tobacco, wrote of it; he calls it that "stinking weed," and says it was commonly used by most men and many women. The style of living had much improved. Lamb, and a great variety of delicate meats, mark the luxury of Elizabeth's reign. There were several courses, and every dish had its appropriate sauce P Beef began to be deemed too gross; brawn, however, was a favorite. A dessert of fruit, spices, and jellies, was not unusual. Breakfast was little liked. If anything was taken it was a glass of ale and a slice of bread. Rural life may be learned from Tasser's "Pointes of Husbandrie." The farmer and family's diet is fixed to be red-herrings and salt fish in Lent; at other times fresh beef, pork, &c. At Christmas "good drinke, a good fire in the hall, brawne, pudding, and souse and mustard withal, capon, turkey, cheese, apples, nuts, with jolie gamboles." The prudent housewife is advised to make her own candles; servants are directed to go to bed at ten in the summer and nine in the winter, and to rise at five in winter and four in summer. The holidays throughout the year are appointed for working men. The gayest of these festivals seems to have been the wake-day, or vigil of the parish saint, "when every wanton maie danse at her wille." The hour of dinner with people of fortune was eleven before noon, and of supper between five and six in the afternoon; while the merchant took each of their meals an hour later, and the husbandmen one hour later than the merchant. Thus the fashion is entirely changed; the opulent and leisure classes taking their meals later than the industrious orders. Why the meals became later as the times became more refined is a curious fact. The chief cause seems to be, as Hume intimates, that in rude ages men have few amusements or occupation but what day-light allows; whereas in ages of refinement reading, study, and conversation afford employment which can as conveniently be pursued in the night as the day.* Kings of England, p. 104. Fymes Moryson, in his Itinerary, bestows great praise on English inns; he says, "as soone as a passenger comes to an inne, the servants run to him, and one takes his horse and walkes him about till he be cool, then rubs him down, and gives him meat: another servant gives the passenger his private chamber, and kindles his fire; the third pulls off his bootes, and makes them cleane; then the host or hostess visits him, and if he will eate with the hoste, or at a common table with the others, his meale will cost him six pence, or in some places four pence; but if he will eat in his chamber, he commands what meat he will, according to his appetite: yea, the kitchen is open to him to order the meat to be dressed as he likes beste. After having eaten what he pleases, he may with credit set by a part for next day's breakfast. His bill will then be written for him, and should he object to any charge the host is ready to alter it. What a strange contrast to our modern style of travelling, and with what astonishment and dismay would a gentleman of the Elizabethian age peruse the following little bill of a railway hotel, for his rest and refreshment from his arrival in the afternoon, to his departure by an early train the next morning : Cigars Bupper ..... 1 0 £1 13 6 2 6 Should this book escape the trunk makers, the above bill some years hence will be a curiosity. |