Tor-Mohun.
_Aldress_ (Vol. v., p. 582.).--Your correspondent COWGILL gives an instance
of the use of this obsolete word in an epitaph in St. Stephen's, Norwich,
and asks where else it may be met with. I have just found it in a
manuscript diary, under date 1561, and also as used in the same city:
"A Speech made after Mr. Mayor Mingay's Dinner.
"Master Mayor of Norwich; an it please your worship you have feasted us
like a kinge. God bless the Queen's grace. We have fed plentifully, and
now whilom I can speak plain English, I heartily thank you Master
Mayor, and so do we all. Answer, boys, answer! Your beere is pleasant
and potent, and soon catches us by the caput and stops our manners, and
so Huzza for the Queen's Majesty's Grace, and all her bonny brow'd
dames of honour! Huzza for Master Mayor and our good dame Mayoress, the
Alderman and his faire _Aldress_; there they are, God save them and all
this jolly company. To all our friends round country who have a penny
in their purse, and an English heart in their bodies, to keep out
Spanish Dons and Papists with their faggots to burn our whiskers. Shove
it about. Twirl your cup-cases, handle your jugs, and huzza for Master
Mayor and his good dame!"
How long is it since the ladies of our civic dignitaries relinquished the
distinction here given to one of their order? What was the cup-case?