Minor Queries Answered.
_The Bed of Ware._--In Shakspeare's comedy of _Twelfth Night_, the
following words are used by Sir Toby, Act III. Sc. 2.:
"... Although the sheet were big enough for the Bed of Ware in
England."
Query: What is the history of Bed of Ware?
†
[Nares, in his _Glossary_, says, "This curious piece of furniture
is said to be still in being, and visible at the Crown or at the
Bull in Ware. It is reported to be twelve feet square, and to be
capable of holding twenty or twenty-four persons." And he refers
to Chauncy's _Hertfordshire_ for an account of its receiving at
once twelve men and their wives, who lay at top and bottom in this
mode of arrangement; first two men, then two women, and so on
alternately; so that no man was near to any woman but his wife.]
_Merry Andrew._--When did the term _Merry Andrew_ first come into use,
and what was the occasion of it?
χ. β.
[Although Strutt, in his _Sports and Pastimes_, has several
allusions to Merry Andrews, he does not attempt to explain the
origin of the term. Hearne, in his _Benedictus Abbas_ (tom. i.
Præf. p. 50. ed. Oxon. 1735, as quoted by Warton in his _English
Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 74. ed. 1840), speaking of the well-known
Andrew Borde, gives it as his opinion that this facetious
physician gave rise to the name of MERRY ANDREW, the fool on the
mountebank's stage: "'Twas from the Doctor's method of using such
speeches at markets and fairs, that in aftertimes those that
imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were styled MERRY
ANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our stages."]
_A Baron's Hearse._--In reading a curious old book, entitled the
_Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation_, which was
written by David Lloyd, and published in 1665, I was at a loss to know
what a _baron's hearse_ might be, and hope therefore that some of your
readers may be able to give me some information respecting it. It occurs
at page 448., in his observations on the life of Sir Henry Umpton, who,
he says, "had allowed him a _baron's hearse_, because he died
ambassadour leiger."