Elizabethan England Part 15

_Queen Elizabeth at Oxford. "Falamon and Arcite."_

1565. The Queene of England beginneth hir progresse, & vpon the 31 of August cometh to Oxford, where she visiteth eche college after other, & making an oration vnto them in Latine, as she had done in Cambridge two yeres pa.s.sed, to the gret comfort of all soche as are, or had bene, studentes there. During her being there also the Academicall exercises were holden as in their vsuall termes. Diuerse Commedies & plaies also were set forthe by the studentes of Christes Church, where her Majestie lodged; but of all the rest, onely that of "Arcite & Palemon"[239] had a tragicall successe; for, by the falle, of a walle & wooden gallery that leadeth from the staiers vnfinished to the hall, diuers persons were sore hurt, & 3 men killed out right, which came to behold the pastimes. [This paragraph takes up seven lines, and 1-1/4 inch of the height, of Harrison's MS.; so close is the writing.--F.]....

_Evils of Plays and Theatres._[240]

1572. Plaies are banished for a time out of London, lest the resort vnto them should ingender a plague, or rather disperse it, being alredy begonne. Would to G.o.d these comon plaies were exiled for altogether, as s.e.m.e.naries of impiety, & their theaters pulled downe, as no better then houses of baudrie. It is an euident token of a wicked time when plaiers wexe so riche that they can build[241] suche houses / As moche I wish also to our comon beare baitinges vsed on the sabaothe daies.[243]

_Tobacco._

1573. In these daies, the taking-in of the smoke of the Indian herbe called "Tabaco," by an instrument formed like a litle ladell, wherby it pa.s.seth from the mouth into the hed & stomach, is gretlie taken-vp & vsed in England, against Rewmes & some other diseases ingendred in the longes & inward partes, & not without effect / This herbe as yet is not so common, but that for want thereof diuers do practize for the like purposes with the Nicetian, otherwise called in latine, "Hyosciamus Luteus," or the yellow henbane, albeit, not without gret error; for, althoughe that herbe be a souerene healer of old vlcers & sores reputed incurable outwardly, yet is not the smoke or vapour thereof so profitable to be receaued inwardly. The herbe [Tobacco] is comonly of the height of a man,[244]

garnished with great leaues like the paciens,[245] bering seede, colloured, & of quant.i.ty like vnto, or rather lesse then, the fine margeronie; the herbe it self yerely coming vp also of the shaking of the seede; the collour of the floure is carnation, resembling that of the lemmon in forme: the roote yellow, with many fillettes, & therto very small in comparison, if you respect the substauns of the herbe.[246]

_A monstrous fish._

1573. A monstrous fish is taken in Thenet vpon the xj{th} of July, of 66 foote in length; one of whose eies was a full cart lode, & the diameter or thickenesse thereof, full two yardes, or 6 of our english feete....

_London Bridge Tower._

1576. The towre on the drawe bridge vpon london bridge is taken downe in Aprill, being in great decaie; & sone after made a pleasaunt & beautiful dwelling house / & whereas the heddes of soche as were executed for treason were wont to be placed vpon this towre, they were now remoued, & fixed ouer the gate which leadeth from Southwarke into the citie by that bridge....

_A great Snowstorm._

1578. A Cold winter, & ere long there falleth a great snow in England, whose driftes, in many places, by reason of a Northest winde, were so depe that the mere report of them maie seme incredible. It beganne in the 4 of feb: & held on vntil the 8 of the same moneth; during which time some men & women, beside cattell, were lost, & not heard of till the snow was melted & gone, notwithstanding that some shepe & catle lived vnder it, & fedd in the places where they laie, vpon soche gra.s.se as they cold come by. Vpon the xj{th} also of that moneth, the Thames did rise so highe, after the dissolution of this snow, that westminster hall was drowned, & moche fishe left there in the pallace yard when the water returned to her Channell, for who so list, to gather vp....

_Plagues of Locusts or Gra.s.shoppers, and Mice._

1583. Great harme done in England in diuerse s.h.i.+res, by locustes, or "grashoppers" as we call them, which deuoured the gra.s.se, & consumed the pastures & medowes in very pitifull maner: soche great nombers of crowes also do come into those partes to fede vpon those creatures, that they tread downe & trample the rest, I meane, whatsoeuer the locust had left vntouched. Not long before, if not about this time, also some places of the hundredes in Ess.e.x were no lesse annoyed with mise, as report then went, which did gret hurt to corne & the fruites of the erth, till an infinite nomber of Owles were a.s.sembled into those partes, which consumed them all to nothing. Certes the report is true; but I am not sure whether it was in this, or the yere before or after this, for I did not enter the note when it was first sent vnto me, the lettre being cast aside, & not hard of after the receipt.

_Stafford's Conspiracy._[247]

1586. Another Conspiracy is detected vpon Newyeres daie, wherein the death of our Queene is ones againe intended, by Stafford & other, at the receipt of her Newyeres giftes; but, as G.o.d hath taken vpon him the defence of his owne cause, so hath he, in extraordinary maner, from time to time preserued her Majestie, his servant, from the treason & traiterous practizes of her aduersaries, & wonderfully bewraied their diuises./

_A Star in the Moon. A wet Summer in Autumn._

1587. A Sterre is sene in the bodie of the mone vpon the _____ of Marche, whereat many men merueiled, & not without cause, for it stode directly betwene the pointes of her hornes, the mone being chaunged, not pa.s.sing 5 or 6 daies before; & in the later end of the Crabbe after this, also there insued a very moyst & wet somer, wherby moche haie was lost, & harvest in the begining grew to be very troublesome. There followed also a like Autumn; by meanes wherof, shepe & moche other cattell died in abundant maner in most places of our Iland,[248] wherby the residew grew to be very dere ... ("a reasonable good haruest for corne."--_Stowe_, 1243.--F.)

The first skonses are made in England vpon the borders of the Thames, & in other places of the land, to kepe the Spanish powre from entrauns, whose chief purpose is, as most affirme, to invade Kent with one part of their navie, & to come by the River of Thames to sacke London with the other./....

_The Spanish Armada. Leicester's Death._

1588. The Spanish navie so long loked for, doth now at last show it self ouer against our coastes, vpon our 20 of July, where it is foughten withall vpon the morow, onely with 50 saile of our English s.h.i.+pps vnder the conduct of the lord Admirall[249] & Sir Fraunces Drake; afterward by our whole navie of 150 saile, for the s.p.a.ce of 2 daies together: in thend whereof, they are put to flight before Calice, & driven to returne home about by Scotland, with great losse, so that, of 160 saile & more, which came out of Spaine, scasely 40 returned againe in safety vnto that king; G.o.d himself so fighting for vs, that we lost not 80 men, neither was there so moche as one vessell of oures sonke by the enemy, or taken, in all these skirmishes. In their returne also, & beside those 15 vesselles which they lost in our seas, 17 other of them did either perish vpon the coast of Ireland, or, coming thether for succour, were seized vpon also vnto her Majesties vse. The lieftenaunt of this great navie was the duke Medina of Cydonia, & with him were 210 n.o.ble men, among which, beside the kinges b.a.s.t.a.r.d sonne, were 2 marquesses, one prince, one duke, 4 erles, & 3 Lordes, which came to seeke aduentures, & winne honor vpon England, as they said; howbeit, as G.o.d would, they neuer touched the land, nor came nere vnto our sh.o.r.e by diuers miles. The duke of Parma should haue a.s.sisted them at this present with 80 or 100 saile prouided out of the Low Countries; but being kept in by wether, & a portion of our navie, & his mariners also forsaking him, he was inforced to staie & kepe vpon the land, where he abode in safety, & out of the roring gunshot / (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, pp. 1243-1258.--F.)

Robert, Erle of Leicester, dieth, who in his time became the man of grettest powre (being but a subiect) which in this land, or that euer had bene exalted vnder any prince sithens the times of Peers Gavestone & Robert Veer,[250] some time duke of Ireland. Nothing almost was done, wherein he had not, either a stroke or a commoditie; which, together with his sc.r.a.ping from the churche & comons, spoile of her maiesties thresure, & sodeine death of his first wife &c. procured him soche inward envie & hatred, that all men, so farre as they durst, reioysed no lesse outwardlie at his death, then for the victorie obteined of late against the Spanish nauie /.... (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, p. 1259.--F.)

A generall thankesgeuing thorow out England in euery church, for the victory of the Allmightie geuen by thenglish ouer the Spanish navie; in which, the Queene her selfe, & her n.o.bility, came to S{t} Paules churche in London, November the 19, where, after she had hard the divine service, & in her owne person geuen solemne thankes to G.o.d, in the hering of soche as were present, she hard the sermon at the Crosse preached by the bishop of Sarum, & then dined with the bishop of London in his pallace thereunto annexed. The kinges of Scotland, Denmarke, Sueden, Navarra, with the churches of Geneva & diuers other cities of Germany, had done the like also, a litle while before, in their churches, as we are credibly informed. The Spanierdes also, indeuoring to hide their reprochefull voiage from the eies of their comon people, do triumphe for their victory obteined ouer the Englishe nation, & send to the pope for a seconde million of gold, which he bound himself to geue them at their landing in England, they having alredy receaved the first at their departure from the Groyne in Maie past; but his intelligencers informed him, so that he kept his crownes at home/... (_Stowe_, p. 1260.--F.)

_The Mad Parliament._

1588. A parliament is holden in London, which some doe call "the greene meting," other, "the madde parliament," because it consisted, for the most part, of yong burgesses, picked out of purpose to serue some secrete turne against the state present of the clergy; of whome no tale was there left vntold, that might deface their condicion. In this a.s.sembly, billes were put vp, as it is said, which required that the ministery of England should be subiect to service in the warres, & called to appeare at musters, sizes, &c. as laie subiectes of the land; that they should prouide furniture of armour & munition, according to the seuerall valuation of their livinges; that eche of them should haue but one living, & be resident vpon the same; & that all impropriations in spirituall mens handes onely, should be restored to the churche, with other like diuises; but in thend, none of them all went forward; & right good cause; for hereby most churches should quickely haue bene without their pastor, the Collegiate & cathedrall houses (the chief marke whereat they shot) rellinquished, & some of the spiritualty more charged then vj of the greattest of the n.o.bility in the land, whose livinges are not valued in soche strict maner as those are of the clergy, who also in this parliament are charged with a doble subsidie to be paid in 6 yeres. (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, p. 1261.--F.)

_The Parliament of Feb. 1592-3._

[_Last entry, in a very tottery hand, 2 months before Harrison's death or burial on 24 April 1593, six days after he'd ended his 59th year._--F.]

1592. A Parliament beginneth at London, feb. 19 [1592-3], being mondaie / many men looke for many thinges at the handes of the congregates, chiefly the precisiens for the ouerthrow of bishops & all ecclesiasticall regiment, and erection of soche discipline as thei themselues haue prescribed / the Clergy also feared some stoppage of former lawes provided for the wel [?] paiment of their t.i.thes / but all men expect a generall graunt of money, the cheef end, in our time, of the aforesaid a.s.semblies; which being obserued, the rest will sone haue an ende / In the very begining of this parliament, there were more then 100 of the lower house, returned for outlawes, I meane, so well of knightes as of burgesses, & more are daiely loked for to be found in like estate / but is it not, thinke you, a likely matter, that soche men can be authors of good lawes, who, for their own partes, will obey no law at all? How gret frendes the precisians in ther practizes are to these men, the possession of their desire wold esily declare, if thei might ones obteine it. [_a later entry: the Parliament broke up on April 10, 1593,_[251] _a fortnight before Harrison's death_.--F.] neuerthelesse, in the vpshot of that meting, it was found, that notwithstanding the money graunted--which was well nigh yelded vnto, in respect of our generall necessitie--there were so many good profitable lawes ordeined in this parliament as in any other that haue pa.s.sed in former times, the mallicious dealinges also of the precisians, papistes, & comeling [?] provokers[252] was not a litle restreigned in the same, to the gret benefite of the country.

["The rest is silence."]

_Printed by_ WALTER SCOTT, _Felling, Newcastle-on-Tyne_.

Footnotes:

[1] Condensed from the first part of the edition of 1876 for the "New Shakspere Society."--W.

[2] This does not apply to a small portion of Book I. used by Dr. F., and also somewhat in this reprint.--W.

[3] Who'll write a like one for Victorian England? (Mr. Fyffe has since done this.) Oh that we had one for Chaucer's England!--F.

[4] The Elizabethan sweep in this, as in so many other plans of the day.--F.

[5] See Holinshed's Dedication to Lord Burghley in vol. iii. of his _Chronicle_.--F. (See Appendix.--W.)

[6] William Harrison's _Chronologie_ is mentioned on the last leaf of the Preface to vol. iii. of _Holinshed_, p. 1, at foot--"For the computation of the yeares of the world, I had by Maister Wolfes aduise followed _Functius_; but after his [Wolfe's] decea.s.se, M. W[illiam] H[arrison] made me partaker of a Chronologie, which he had gathered and compiled with most exquisit diligence, following _Gerardus Mercator_, and other late chronologers, and his owne obseruations, according to the which I haue reformed the same."--Holinshed, in the Preface to his _Chronicles_, vol.

iii. sign A 4, ed. 1587,--and in his _Description_, "I haue reserued them vnto the publication of my great _Chronologie_, if (while I liue) it happen to come abroad." It was never publisht. My search for the MS. of it results in my having just received (Aug. 28) its large folio vols. 2, 3, 4, from the Diocesan Library of Derry, in Ireland. The Rev. H. Cotton, _Thurles, Ireland_ (Dec. 21, 1850), said where it was, in I. _Notes and Queries_, iii. 105, col. 2; and after two fruitless searches it was found, and lent me by the Bishop, through his Librarian, the Rev. B. Moffett of Foyle College, Londonderry, as well as a curious and terribly corrected MS. of an English work on Weights and Measures, Hebrew, Greek, English, etc., dated 1587, which must be Harrison's too.

The 3 folio volumes of the _Chronologie_ are 8 inches deep as they lie, each being 10-3/4 inches broad, by 17-1/2 high, with 73, and sometimes more, lines to a page. An enormous amount of work is in them, and all of them are in Harrison's own hand, at different times of his life. Vol. 2, "The second part of the English Chronologye written by Wm. Harrison," runs from the Creation to Christ's birth. Vol. 3, "The third p_ar_t of the Chronology conteining a just & perfite true &c. as followeth in the next Leafe, to thend of the t.i.tle, & to be brought hether," stretches from the birth of Christ to William the Norman's Conquest of England. Vol. 4, "The iij{th} and Last part of the great English Chronology writte_n_ By Wm.

H.," [t.i.tle in another hand?] goes from the beginning of William the Conqueror's reign, Oct. 14, 1066, to the February of 1592-3, only two months before Harrison's own death (or burial) on April 24, 1593. And each volume tells, in Chronicle fas.h.i.+on, what went on all over the world in each successive year, so far as Harrison knew. The contemporary part of vol. 4 is of course the most interesting: "A William Harrison wrote some Latin lines on the deaths of the Brandons, Dukes of Suffolk, printed with the collection published on that occasion, 4to, London, 1552."--F.

[7] Holinshed, iii. 1499; extract in my edition of Thynne's _Animadversions_, 1875, p. lx.x.xv.--F.

[8] In his account of the rivers, etc., Harrison sometimes quotes other people in the first person, "I, we," as if he had himself been to the places they describe.--F.