Character Writings of the Seventeenth Century Part 31

"Faith, doctor, it is well, thy study is to please The female s.e.x, and how their corp'ral griefes to ease."

G.o.ddard's "_Mastif Whelp._" _Satires_. 4to. Without date. Sat.

17.]

[Footnote 17: In the first edition it stands thus:--"_and his hat is as antient as the tower of Babel._"]

[Footnote 18: The Low-countries appear to have afforded ample room for ridicule at all times. In "_A brief Character of the Low-countries under the States, being Three Weeks Observation of the Vices and Virtues of the Inhabitants_," written by Owen Feltham, and printed Lond. 1659, 12mo, we find them epitomized as a general sea-land--the great bog of Europe--an universal quagmire--in short, a green cheese in pickle. The sailors (in which denomination the author appears to include all the natives) he describes as being able to "drink, rail, swear, niggle, steal, and be _lowsie_ alike." P. 40.]

[Footnote 19: _Gavelkind_, or the practice of dividing lands equally among all the male children of the deceased, was (according to Spelman) adopted by the Saxons, from Germany, and is noticed by Tacitus in his description of that nation. _Gloss. Archaiol._, folio, Lond. 1664. Harrison, in _The Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed's _Chronicle_ (vol. i.

page 180), says, "Gauell kind is all the male children equallie to inherit, and is continued to this daie in _Kent_, where it is onelie to my knowledge reteined, and no where else in England." And Lambarde, in his _Customes of Kent_ (_Perambulation_, 410, 1596, page 538), thus notices it:--"The custom of Grauelkynde is generall, and spreadeth itselfe throughout the whole shyre, into all landes subiect by auncient tenure vnto the same, such places onely excepted, where it is altered by acte of parleament."]

[Footnote 20: _Minster-walk_, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 21: _Ambrose Spinola_ was one of the most celebrated and excellent commanders that Spain ever possessed: he was born, in 1569, of a n.o.ble family, and distinguished himself through life in being opposed to Prince Maurice of Na.s.sau, the greatest general of his age, by whom he was ever regarded with admiration and respect. He died in 1630, owing to a disadvantage sustained by his troops at the siege of Ca.s.sel, which was to be entirely attributed to the imprudent orders he received from Spain, and which that government compelled him to obey. This disaster broke his heart; and he died with the exclamation of "_they have robbed me of my honour_;" an idea he was unable to survive. It is probable that, at the time this character was composed, many of the disaffected in England were in expectation of an attack to be made on this country by the Spaniards, under the command of Spinola.]

[Footnote 22: _and Lipsius his hopping stile before either Tully or Quintilian._ First edit.]

[Footnote 23: _Primivist_ and primero were, in all probability, the same game, although Minshew, in his Dictionary, calls them "_two_ games at cardes."

The latter he explains, "primum et primum visum, that is, first and first seene, because hee that can shew such an order of cardes, first winnes the game." The coincidence between Mr. Strutt's description of the former and the pa.s.sage in the text, shows that there could be little or no difference between the value of the cards in these games, or in the manner of playing them. "Each player had four cards dealt to him, one by one, the _seven_ was the highest card, in point of number, that he could avail himself of, _which counted for twenty-one_, the _six counted for sixteen_, the five for fifteen, and the ace for the same,"

&c. (_Sports and Pastimes_, 247.) The honourable Daines Harrington conceived that Primero was introduced by Philip the Second, or some of his suite, whilst in England. Shakspeare proves that it was played in the royal circle.

-----"I left him (Henry VIII.) at _Primero_ With the duke of Suffolk."--_Henry VIII._

So Decker: "Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have plaid at _Primero_."--_Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609. 37.

Among the Marquis of Worcester's celebrated "_Century of Inventions,_"

12mo, 1663, is one "so contrived without suspicion, that playing at Primero at cards, one may, without clogging his memory, keep reckoning of all sixes, sevens, and aces, which he hath discarded."--No. 87.]

[Footnote 24: "Enquire out those tauernes which are best customd, whose maisters are oftenest drunk, for that confirmes their taste, and that they choose wholesome wines."--Decker's _Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609.]

[Footnote 25: _his_, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 26: The editor of the edition in 1732, has altered _canary_ to "_sherry_,"

for what reason I am at a loss to discover, and have consequently restored the reading of the first edition. Venner gives the following description of this favourite liquor. "Canarie-wine, which beareth the name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some termed a sacke, with this adjunct, sweete; but yet very improperly, for it differeth not only from sacke in sweetness and pleasantness of taste, but also in colour and consistence, for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance; wherefore it is more nutritive than sack, and less penetrative."--_Via recta ad Vitam longam_, 4to, 1622. In Howell's time, Canary wine was much adulterated. "I think," says he, in one of his Letters, "there is more Canary brought into England than to all the world besides; I think also, there is a hundred times more drunk under the name of Canary wine, than there is brought in; for Sherries and Malagas, well mingled, pa.s.s for Canaries in most taverns. When Sacks and Canaries," he continues, "were brought in first amongst us, they were used to be drunk in aqua vitae measures, and 'twas held fit only for those to drink who were used to carry their _legs in their hands, their eyes upon their noses_, and an _almanack in their bones;_ but now they go down every one's throat, both young and old, like milk."--Howell, _Letter to the lord Cliff_, dated Oct. 7, 1634.]

[Footnote 27: We learn from Harrison's _Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed, that _eleven o'clock_ was the usual time for dinner during the reign of Elizabeth. "With vs the n.o.bilitie, gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go to dinner at _eleuen before noone_, and to supper at fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone" (vol. i. page 171, edit.

1587). The alteration in manners at this time is rather singularly evinced, from a pa.s.sage immediately following the above quotation, where we find that _merchants_ and _husbandmen_ dined and supped at a _later hour than the n.o.bility_.]

[Footnote 28: Alluding to the public dinners given by the sheriff at particular seasons of the year. So in _The Widow_, a comedy, 4to, 1652.

"And as at a _sheriff's table_, O blest custome!

A poor indebted gentleman may dine, Feed well, and without fear, and depart so."]

[Footnote 29: The chapel of the Virgin Mary, in the cathedral church of Gloucester, was founded by Richard Stanley, abbot, in 1457, and finished by William Farley, a monk of the monastery, in 1472. Sir Robert Atkyns gives the following description of the vault here alluded to. "The _whispering place_ is very remarkable; it is a long alley, from one side of the choir to the other, built circular, that it might not darken the great east window of the choir. When a person whispers at one end of the alley, his voice is heard distinctly at the other end, though the pa.s.sage be open in the middle, having large s.p.a.ces for doors and windows on the east side. It may be imputed to the close cement of the wall, which makes it as one entire stone, and so conveys the voice, as a long piece of timber does convey the least stroak to the other end. Others a.s.sign it to the repercussion of the voice from accidental angles."--_Atkyns' Ancient and Present State of Glosters.h.i.+re_, Lond.

1712, folio, page 128. See also _Fuller's Worthies, in Gloucesters.h.i.+re_, page 351.]

[Footnote 30: _Then in apiece of gold, &c._, 1st edit._]

[Footnote 31: _Whilst he has not yet got them, enjoys them_, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 32: _Gallo-Belgicus_ was erroneously supposed, by the ingenious Mr. Reed, to be the "first newspaper, published in England;" we are, however, a.s.sured by the author of the _Life of Ruddiman_, that it has no t.i.tle to so honourable a distinction. _Gallo-Belgicus_ appears to have been rather an _Annual Register_, or _History of its own Times_, than a newspaper.

It was written in Latin, and ent.i.tuled, "MERCURSS GALLO-BELGICI: _sive, rerum in Gallia, et Belgio potissimum: Hispania quoque, Italia, Anglia, Germania, Polonia, Vicinisque locis ab anno 1588, ad Martium anni 1594, gestarum_, NUNCIJ." The first volume was printed in 8vo, at Cologne, 1598; from which year, to about 1605, it was published annually; and from thence to the time of its conclusion, which is uncertain, it appeared in _half-yearly_ volumes. Chalmers' _Life of Ruddiman_, 1794.

The great request in which newspapers were held at the publication of the present work may be gathered from Burton, who, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, complains that "if any read now-a-days, it is a play-book, or a pamphlet of newes."]

[Footnote 33: Bartholomew Keckerman was born at Dantzick, in Prussia, 1571, and educated under Fabricius. Being eminently distinguished for his abilities and application, he was, in 1597, requested, by the senate of Dantzick, to take upon him the management of their academy; an honour he then declined, but accepted, on a second application, in 1601. Here he proposed to instruct his pupils in the complete science of philosophy in the short s.p.a.ce of three years, and, for that purpose, drew up a great number of books upon logic, rhetoric, ethics, politics, physics, metaphysics, geography, astronomy, &c. &c., till, as it is said, literally worn out with scholastic drudgery, he died at the early age of 38.]

[Footnote 34: "Of bread made of wheat we have sundrie sorts dailie brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the _mainchet_, which we commonlie call white bread."--Harrison, _Description of England_ prefixed to Holinshed, chap. 6.]

[Footnote 35: _His honour was somewhat preposterous, for he bare_, &c., first edit.]

[Footnote 36: _Clown_, first edit.]

[Footnote 37: The art of hawking has been so frequently and so fully explained, that it would be superfluous, if not arrogant, to trace its progress, or delineate its history, in this place. In the earliest periods it appears to have been exclusively practised by the n.o.bility; and, indeed, the great expense at which the amus.e.m.e.nt was supported, seems to have been a sufficient reason for deterring persons of more moderate income, and of inferior rank, from indulging in the pursuit. In the _Sports and Pastimes_ of Mr. Strutt, a variety of instances are given of the importance attached to the office of falconer, and of the immense value of, and high estimation the birds themselves were held in from the commencement of the Norman government, down to the reign of James I., in which Sir Thomas Monson gave 1000 for a cast of hawks, which consisted of only _two_.

The great increase of wealth, and the consequent equalization of property in this country, about the reign of Elizabeth, induced many of inferior birth to practise the amus.e.m.e.nts of their superiors, which they did without regard to expense, or indeed propriety. Sir Thomas Elyot, in his _Governour_ (1580), complains that the falcons of his day consumed so much poultry, that, in a few years, he feared there would be a great scarcity of it. "I speake not this," says he, "in disprayse of the faukons, but of them which keepeth them lyke c.o.c.kneyes." A reproof, there can be no doubt, applicable to the character in the text.]

[Footnote 38: A term in hawking, signifying the short straps of leather which are fastened to the hawk's legs, by which she is held on the fist, or joined to the leash. They were sometimes made of silk, as appears from _The Boke of hawkynge, huntynge, and fysshynge, with all the propertyes and medecynes that are necessarye to be kepte_: "Hawkes haue aboute theyr legges _gesses_ made of lether most comonly, some of sylke, which shuld be no lenger but that the knottes of them shulde appere in the myddes of the lefte hande," &c. _Juliana Barnes_, edit. 410, "_Imprynted at London in Pouls chyrchyarde by me Hery Tab_." Sig. C. ii.]

[Footnote 39: _This authority of his is that club which keeps them under as his dogs hereafter_, first edit.]

[Footnote 40: _Now become a man's total_, first edit.]

[Footnote 41: Of the game called one and thirty, I am unable to find any mention in Mr. Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_, nor is it alluded to in any of the old plays or tracts I have yet met with. A very satisfactory account of _tables_ may be read in the interesting and valuable publication just noticed.]

[Footnote 42: The room where the performers dress, previous to coming on the stage.]

[Footnote 43: This pa.s.sage affords a proof of what has been doubted, namely, that the theatres were not permitted to be open during Lent, in the reign of James I. The restriction was waived in the next reign, as we find from the puritanical Prynne:--"There are none so much addicted to stage-playes, but when they goe unto places where they cannot have them, or when, as they are suppressed by publike authority, (as in times of pestilence, and in _Lent, till now of late_) can well subsist without them," &c. _Histrio Mastix_, 4to, Lond. 1633, page 384,]

[Footnote 44: It may not be known to those who are not accustomed to meet with old books in their original bindings, or of seeing public libraries of antiquity, that the volumes were formerly placed on the shelves with the _leaves_, not the _back_, in front; and that the two sides of the binding were joined together with _neat silk_ or other strings, and, in some instances, where the books were of greater value and curiosity than common, even fastened with gold or silver chains.]