ALTHOUGH in the short reign of Edward the Sixth, the splendour of the
royal Christmasses was, in general, somewhat reduced, yet, in 1551-2,
there was one of the most magnificent revellings on record; for the
youthful king being much grieved at the condemnation of the Duke of
Somerset, it was thought expedient to divert his mind, by additional
pastimes, at the following Christmas. George Ferrers, of Lincoln’s
Inn, being a gentleman of some rank, was appointed lord of Misrule,
or master of the king’s pastimes, and acquitted himself so well as
to afford great delight to many, and some to the king, but “not in
proportion to his heaviness.” George Ferrers seems to have been well
adapted for his responsible office; not only being a gentleman, but
a person of decision, and determined to carry it through, with due
spirit and display; and to see that his officers, as well as himself,
were well attended to. He complained to the master of the revels, Sir
Thomas Cawarden, that the apparel provided for his counsellors was
not sufficient, or fit for the purpose, and no doubt had the defect
remedied; as, from the account of the expenses, the dresses were
handsome, and his own in particular may be called superb. He also
stated he should require John Smyth, as his disard, or clown; besides
jugglers, tumblers, and fools, &c.; and a new fool’s coat, with a hood,
was made for Smyth, what he had already not being fit for the purpose.
The dress of this clown, who was probably a well-known court fool, from
his being applied for by name, will show that no expense was spared,
even about the officers of this gallant lord of Misrule. He had a long
fool’s coat, of yellow cloth of gold, all over fringed with white, red,
and green velvet, containing 7½ yards, at £2 per yard, garded with
plain yellow cloth of gold, four yards, at 33_s._ 4_d._ per yard; with
a hood, and a pair of buskins, of the same figured gold, containing 2½
yards, at £5; and a girdle of yellow sarcenet, containing one quarter,
16_d._ The whole value being £26 14_s._ 8_d._, a goodly sum for the
dress of a jester.
[Illustration: James Stephanoff, del. Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
LORD OF MISRULE.]
At the risk of being tedious, the various dresses of the lord of
Misrule himself must be mentioned, to give some notion of the style
in which this celebrated revelling was got up. On Christmas Day, and
during that week, he wore a robe of white baudekyn (a rich stuff,
made of silk, interwoven with golden thread), containing nine yards,
at 16_s._ a yard, garded with embroidered cloth of gold, wrought in
knots, fourteen yards, at 11_s._ 4_d._ a yard; having a fur of red
feathers, with a cape of camlet thrum. A coat of flat silver, fine with
works, five yards at 50_s._, with an embroidered gard of leaves of
gold, and silk, coloured, containing fifteen yards, at 20_s._ A cap of
maintenance, of red feathers and camlet thrum, very rich, with a plume
of feathers. A pair of hose, the breeches made of a gard of cloth of
gold, embroidered in panes; nine yards of garding, at 13_s._ 4_d._,
lined with silver sarcenet, one ell, at 8_s._ A pair of buskins, of
white baudekyn, one yard, at 16_s._, besides making and other charges,
8_s._ more. A pair of pantacles, of Bruges satin, 3_s._ 4_d._; a girdle
of yellow sarcenet, containing a quarter of a yard, 16_s._ The whole
cost being £52 8_s._ 8_d._, independent of the cap of maintenance.
For the remaining dresses, it is unnecessary to state the quantities
and particular prices. He had, for New Year’s Day, and that week, a
robe of red baudekyn, with an embroidered gard of purple silver; a
coat of the same materials, embroidered and garded in like manner; a
pair of hose, slopwise; the breeches of cloth of gold figured with
red and green velvet, with a cut gard of cloth of gold on it; and a
pair of buskins of red baudekyn; the cost being £34 15_s._ A hunter’s
coat, of cloth of gold, figured with red and green velvet church-work,
garded with a border of cloth of gold, embroidered, lined with under
sleeves of white baudekyn; a hat of plain cloth of gold, garnished
with leaves of green satin. The cost £19 14_s._ 4_d._ For Twelfth Day,
and his progress in London, he wore a robe of wrought purple furred
velvet, the inside white and black, like powdered ermine, with a coat,
a head-piece, and a scapular, of the same; the garment welted above,
with blue and yellow gold tinsel; the hat garnished with purple velvet,
striped with threads of silver; and an ell of white and blue taffeta,
for laces for the same. A pair of hose, the breeches of purple cloth
of silver, welted with purple tinsel and gold. A pair of buskins,
striped purple velvet, with threads of silver, £33 12_s._; the above
sums being exclusive of workmanship, and other necessary materials.
These dresses, which were supplied from the king’s stores, must have
satisfied the cravings of the most finished exquisite: and, taking into
account that he was attended by the following attendants of his court,
besides Venus, who formed part of the pageant, and that they were all
handsomely or appropriately dressed, it was enough to turn any moderate
man’s head. His suite was composed of his heir apparent, who was John
Smyth, before mentioned, three other sons, and two natural sons (the
sons being represented in handsome fool’s dresses), counsellors, pages
of honour, gentlemen ushers, sergeant at arms, a provost marshal, under
marshal, lieutenant of ordnance, heralds for himself, others for Venus,
a trumpeter for himself, and another for Venus, an orator, interpreter,
a jailor, footmen, a messenger, an Irishman, an Irishwoman, six
hunters, jugglers, a fool for his lordship, and one for Venus.
On the 4th of January, he went by water, from Greenwich to London, and
landed at the Tower wharf, attended by a number of young knights and
gentlemen, with trumpets, bagpipes, and flutes, and a morris dance with
a tabret. One strange part of the procession, also, was a cart, with
the pillory, gibbet, and stocks. He then rode through Tower-street,
where he was received by Sergeant Vawee, the lord of Misrule to John
Mainard, one of the sheriffs of London, who conducted him to the house
of Sir George Barne, the lord mayor, where there was a banquet: and, at
his departure, the lord mayor gave him a standing cup, with a cover of
silver-gilt, of the value of £10, for a reward. He also set a hogshead
of wine and a barrel of beer at his gate, for the train that followed
him.
The motto taken by Ferrers was, _semper ferians_ (always keeping
holiday), and his crest was the holm-bush, or evergreen holly. He had
himself to incur considerable expenses, independent of the assistance
he received from the king’s stores; but the honour qualified this, and,
of course, men of family and property were selected for the onerous
office.
In the following year the revels were kept nearly in the same manner;
and, on this occasion, the king’s lord of Misrule was graciously
pleased to knight the sheriff’s lord of Misrule; and they had a great
banquet at my lord Treasurer’s.
Towards the end of the short reign of Edward, it was enacted, that
the Eves of Christmas Day, the Circumcision, and the Epiphany, should
be kept as fasts. But this was repealed very early in the reign of
Mary, who, about the same time, issued a proclamation to prevent
books, ballads, and interludes, from touching on points of doctrine
in religion; and which, in effect, stopped all interludes and dramas,
without special license. Her short reign was not very congenial to
Christmas festivities, her own melancholy temperament, and domestic
disappointments, interfering with them at court; but they were
still kept up throughout the country, although much checked by the
persecutions on account of religion. And what more fierce and rancorous
than the persecution of man by his fellow-man, of Christian by his
so-called fellow Christian, in the name of the All-merciful God;
slaying and torturing by fire and sword, for difference in the worship
of that Being, who abounds in pity and compassion for the erring
sinner! Proud, cold, vindictive man! it will be an awful question to
answer hereafter, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s
blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
The Christmas masques were not, however, abandoned, and in the first
Christmas after the marriage of Philip and Mary, there was one where
the characters seem somewhat incongruous with the disposition of Mary,
as there were six Venuses, or amorous ladies, with six cupids, and male
and female Turks, &c.
Among the numerous miscellaneous New Year’s gifts presented to Mary in
1556, were the fore part of a kyrtell, and a pair of sleeves, of cloth
of silver, richly embroidered all over with Venice silver, and raised
with silver and black silk, given by the princess Elizabeth; a table,
painted of the queen’s marriage, by Suete, painter; a smock, wrought
all over with silk, and collar and ruffs of damask, gold, pearl, and
silver, by the Duchess of Somerset; six sugar loaves, six tapnetts of
figs, four barrels of suckets, and orange water, &c., by Lady Yorke,
who, apparently, had a sweet tooth; two fat oxen, by Mr. Michael
Wentworth—in the present time we should have taken them for granted,
as prize oxen; two guinea-cocks, scalded by Gent; a marchpane, and two
dishes of jelly, by Burrage, master cook; a fat goose and a capon, by
Mrs. Preston; a cake of spice bread, by Kelley, plasterer; nutmegs and
ginger, and a long stalk of cinnamon elect, in a box, by Smalwodde,
grocer; a basket of pomegranates, cherries, apples, oranges, and
lemons, by Harris, fruiterer; three rolls of songs, by Sheparde, of the
chapel; a fair lute, edged with passamayne of gold and silk, by Browne,
instrument maker.
The lord-mayor kept his state as usual, and in the end of January,
1557, the lord treasurer’s lord of Misrule,—for this officer’s power
was frequently extended to Candlemas Day—came to the lord-mayor with
his suite, and invited him to dinner.
In the following year there is a notice of the lord of Misrule, which
would be rather strange if we did not know that going to the Poultry
Compter in those days was not always a mark of disgrace or difficulty,
as in recent times; but after all allowance made, some part of the
account is suspicious; however, as we have not got the name of the
master reveller, we may give the story, that on New Year’s Eve a
lord of Misrule, with his herald, trumpets, and drums, and several
attendants, disguised in white, went to London, and was brought to the
Poultry Compter, and divers of his men lay all night there, and they
went astray home again, by four and six together, to Westminster, on
horseback and on foot. It is to be hoped that those who came disguised
in white did not go home disguised in liquor; but let us give them the
benefit of the doubt.
Queen Elizabeth, who, to powerful intellect, joined much of the
arbitrary temper of her father, possessed also great vanity and
fondness of display. In her time, therefore, the festivities were
renewed with great pomp and show; and theatrical entertainments were
also particularly encouraged, and were frequently performed before the
queen, especially at Christmas time. To restrain somewhat the great
expenses of these entertainments, she directed, in her second year,
estimates to be made of them previously; but this wholesome practice,
judging from the cost of after years, did not exist very long. In
1559, which may be called her first Christmas, the play before her,
on Christmas Night, unluckily contained some offensive or indecent
matter, as the players were commanded to leave off, and the mask came
in dancing. On the Twelfth Night following there was a play, and then a
goodly mask, and afterwards a great banquet.
In 1561, a lord of Misrule, having with him a train of 100 horsemen,
richly apparelled, rode through London to the Inner Temple, where there
was great revelling throughout the Christmas; Lord Robert Dudley,
afterwards Earl of Leicester, being the constable and marshal, under
the name of Palaphilos; and Christopher Hatton, afterwards chancellor,
was master of the game. A sort of parliament had been previously
held on St. Thomas’s Eve to decide whether the Society should keep
Christmas; and if so, the oldest bencher delivered a speech on the
occasion, the oldest butler was to publish the officers’ names, and
then, “in token of joy and good liking, the bench and company pass
beneath the hearth, and sing a carol, and so to boyer.” It was at this
Temple Grand Christmas that Ferrex and Porrex, which may be considered
as the first play assuming the character of the regular tragedy, was
performed. The revels at these Grand Christmasses generally continued
throughout the whole twelve days; Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and
Twelfth Day, being more particularly distinguished. On this occasion,
at the breakfast of Twelfth Day, were brawn, mustard, and malmsey; the
dinner of two courses to be served in the hall, and after the first
course came the master of the game, apparelled in green velvet, and the
ranger of the forest in green satin, bearing a green bow with arrows,
each of them having a hunting horn about his neck; after blowing three
blasts of venery, they paced three times round the fire, which was then
placed in the middle of the hall. The master of the game next made
three courtesies and knelt down, and petitioned to be admitted into the
service of the lord of the feast. This ceremony having been performed,
a huntsman came into the hall with a fox, and a purse-net with a cat,
both bound at the end of a staff, and nine or ten couple of hounds, the
horns blowing. The fox and cat were then set upon by the hounds, and
killed beneath the fire; a pleasant Christmas amusement. This sport
being finished, the marshal ushered all in their proper places, and
after the second course, the oldest of the masters of the revels sang
a song, with the assistance of others present; after some repose and
further revels, supper of two courses was served, and when that was
finished, the marshal was borne in by four men, on a sort of scaffold
or framework, and taken three times round the hearth, crying out, “A
lord, a lord,” &c.; after which he came down and went to dance. The
lord of Misrule then addressed himself to the banquet,—the unfortunate
fox and cat ought to have formed part—which ended with minstrelsy,
mirth, and dancing; when they all departed to rest.
In 1573, there was some urgent expedition necessary in getting the
revels ready in time; for a set of unfortunate plasterers were kept at
work all night, and as they could not be spared, nor trusted, to go
abroad to supper, they were allowed bread, and cheese, and beer, for
that meal. The queen generally had masks of different kinds before her
at Christmas time, of greater or less magnificence; but mention must
not be omitted of the celebrated Christmas at Gray’s Inn, in 1594, of
which an account was published under the title of Gesta Grayorum. Mr.
Henry Helmes, the Christmas Prince, took for his style, “The High and
Mighty Prince; Henry, Prince of Purpoole; Arch-duke of Stapulia and
Bernardia; Duke of High and Nether Holborn; Marquis of St. Giles and
Tottenham; Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell; Great Lord of
the Cantons of Islington, Kentish Town, Paddington, and Knightsbridge;
Knight of the most heroical Order of the Helmet; and sovereign of the
same.” According to our views, the entertainments would be considered
heavy and pedantic in their nature; but they were in the style of the
age, and seem to have given much satisfaction. There was a cessation
of sports from Twelfth Night till the 1st of February, the prince
being supposed absent in Russia on public affairs. On that day he was
received at Blackwall, as if on his return, and that and the following
day were spent in revelling and feasting, which then ceased until
Shrovetide, when a mask was performed before the queen, containing,
as usual, some gross flattery, and she was so much pleased with the
performance, that on the courtiers dancing a measure after it, she
exclaimed, “What! shall we have bread and cheese after a banquet.”
She was particularly partial to theatrical performances, and throughout
her reign frequent mention is made of the plays performed during
Christmas, at Court, and the rewards given to the players; the
children of St. Paul’s also, and the scholars on her new foundation in
Westminster, often performed before her at this season.
In 1560 and several following years, Sebastian Westcott, master of the
children of St. Paul’s, received £6 13_s._ 4_d._, for their services,
which seems to have been the usual price paid to regular players for a
play, until the end of her reign, when it was increased to £10. Richard
Farrant, the master of the children of Windsor, received for their
services, in 1574, as much as £13 6_s._ 8_d._
In 1560, Sir Thomas Benger was made master of the revels, succeeding
Sir Thomas Cawarden; he dying in 1577, Mr. Thomas Blagrave, who had
acted since 1573, held the office for a short time; but Mr. Edmund
Tylney was appointed in 1579, and died in 1610.
The play performed on Twelfth Night, 1571, was called Narcissus,
in which a live fox was let loose and chased by dogs; so that the
introduction of live animals on the stage is not a modern invention.
On New Year’s Day 1574, the children of Westminster performed Truth,
Faithfulness, and Mercy. The scholars on the foundation at Westminster,
known as the queen’s scholars, have continued the custom of acting
plays to the present time, the performances having for very many years
past been one of Terence’s plays, of which four are taken in rotation,
and excellent acting is in general exhibited to a select and talented
audience; the concluding ceremony of the cap, however, reminds one of
the usual termination of the country Christmas play of St. George. In
the beginning of this reign there are references to the custom, then
called an old one, of scholars being allowed, even by their foundation
deed, to bar out their masters a week before Christmas and Easter.
At Christmas 1574, she had a company of Italian players, amongst
others, one of them was a tumbler. On New Year’s Night 1582, there
were also sundry feats of tumbling by the servants of Lord Strange,
besides plays during the Christmas, and a mask of ladies. In several
following years a tumbler, called Symons, seems to have been famed for
divers feats of activity, and the queen apparently took pleasure in
such exhibitions. In 1600, a person, called Nycke, tumbled before her,
and 14_s._ are charged for his silk hose. In her latter years we find
Edward Allen, John Heming, and Thomas Pope, presenting plays before
her. The rewards given to the players, vary from £6 13_s._ 4_d._ to
£40. As the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ written at the queen’s request,
and other of Shakespeare’s plays, were performed at court, we may
fairly presume that some of them were performed at Christmas, and that
the great Bard himself may have acted before her.
In 1592, the vice-chancellor, and heads of colleges, at Cambridge, were
directed to act a comedy before the queen, at Christmas; but these
unfortunate victims of too much learning were obliged to memorialize
the vice-chamberlain, stating their inability to act in English, and
asking leave to perform in Latin. They must have been in their glory
in the reign of Elizabeth’s successor, the pedant James, whom, on one
occasion, they addressed as Jacobissime Jacobe. Like her predecessors,
the queen would play at dice at Christmas time, but she had dice set
for her that threw the high numbers only, as fives and sixes; and, as
she knew not the trick, she was kept in good humour by her success,
as she, of course, won; and her courtiers probably thought it worth
some sacrifice to avoid incurring the effects of the paternal temper
existing in her.
Kemp, in his celebrated morris-dance, from London to Norwich, takes
particular notice of the Norwich waits, saying that few cities have
the like, and none better; who, besides their excellency in wind
instruments, their rare cunning on the viol and violin, had admirable
voices, every one of them being able to serve as a chorister in
any cathedral church. One Richard Reede, a wait of Cambridge, is
particularly mentioned, as having 20_s._ for his attendance at a
gentleman’s mansion, during the Christmas of 1574. Besides these,
Puttenham speaks of tavern minstrels, that gave a fit of mirth for a
groat, much in the style of our present peripatetic street musicians;
their matter being for the most part stories of old time, as the tale
of Sir Topas, the exploits of Bevis of Southampton, Guy of Warwick,
Adam Bell, and Clymm of the Clough, and such other old romances or
historical rhymes, made purposely for recreation of the common people
at Christmas dinners, and brideales, and in taverns, and alehouses, and
such other places of base resort.
The nobility, as in former times, imitated the court in the manner of
keeping Christmas, and the gentry followed in their steps; but they
were allured to town by the superior festivities in the metropolis, to
the neglect of their friends and dependents in the country, besides
dissipating their means in London, and thus causing an inability to
preserve proper hospitality and charity in their own neighbourhood. In
order to check this practice, an order was made in 1589, directing the
gentlemen of Norfolk and Suffolk to leave London before Christmas, and
repair to their own countries, there to keep hospitality among their
neighbours. Their presence also would not only enable them to increase
the real enjoyment of their dependents, but would serve to controul any
tendency to riot or debauch at the country alehouses, at this time the
resort of many idle strollers, under the guise of minstrels, jugglers,
revellers, &c., and would, if right-minded themselves, give a proper
direction to the festivities.
“At Christmas be mery, and thanke god of all;
And feast thy pore neighbours, the great with the small.”
In 1581, there was a book written by Thomas Lovell, published by John
Aldee, against the ‘Use and Abuse of Dauncinge and Mynstralsye.’ It
is of a puritanical nature, being a supposed dialogue between Custom
who defends them, and Verity who attacks them and is made victorious.
Custom, however, pleads hard for dancing at Christmas time, showing
that it had been a usage of long standing.
“Christmas is a mery time,
good mirth therfore to make;
Young men and maids together may
their legs in daunces shake;
Wee se it with some gentlemen
a common use to be,
At that time to provide to have
some pleasant minstrelsie.”
Towards the end of the Queen’s life, when she herself failed in health
and spirit, there was in general a great abatement in Christmas
festivities; the country taking the tone from the monarch. In ‘Summer’s
Last Will and Testament,’ written about this time, Autumn talks of
Christmas, as—
“..... a pinch-back, cut-throat churl,
That keeps no open house, as he should do,
Delighteth in no game or fellowship,
Loves no good deeds and hateth talk;
But sitteth in a corner turning crabs,
Or coughing o’er a warmed pot of ale;”
and in ‘Father Hubbard’s Tales,’ by Middleton, the Ant’s Tale,
referring probably to the time about the end of this reign, and
showing the nature of the amusements in vogue at Christmas, the writer
says, “Do but imagine now what a sad Christmas we all kept in the
country, without either carols, wassail-bowls, dancing of Sellenger’s
round in moon-shine about maypoles, shoeing the mare, hoodman-blind,
hot-cockles, or any of our old Christmas gambols; no, not so much as
choosing king and queen on Twelfth Night.”
With Elizabeth’s fondness for luxury and dress, and her passion for
adulation, it may well be imagined that her New Year’s Gifts were
rigidly expected, or exacted, from all classes connected with her; from
Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, down to Smyth the dustman;
and they were of a most miscellaneous description. In the preceding
reigns, when she was princess, she was in the habit of giving and
receiving them, but in a comparatively quiet and unobtrusive manner,
frequently consisting of presents of gilt plate, and the messengers
with gifts to her always receiving rewards; but on one occasion she
gave her brother, King Edward, a translation in Latin, in her own hand,
of an Italian sermon of Occhini; her pride of scholarship even then
showing itself. There are many instances of authors giving compositions
of their own as New Year’s Gifts, and of books being printed with that
name, no doubt by way of attracting at this season. On New Year’s Day,
1561, Nowell, Dean of St. Paul’s, who preached before the queen on
that day, got much blamed by her, for having laid on her cushion, as a
New Year’s Gift, a prayer-book richly bound, having several fine cuts
and pictures of the stories of saints and martyrs; for she considered
these as being contrary to the proclamation against images, pictures,
and Romish relics in churches, and desired such mistake might never
occur again. One can fancy the venerable Dean shrinking under the
stern rebuke of the peremptory young lady on a point of ecclesiastical
discipline. In return for the gifts presented to her, she generally
gave articles of gilt plate, as cups, bowls, salts, &c., varying
according to the rank of the person; from 400 ounces to Sir Christopher
Hatton, to two ounces to Mrs. Tomysen, the dwarf; and also presents of
money to the servants. It would be useless to insert a long list of
these gifts, a few will show the variety, the value and taste of some,
and the strangeness, according to our ideas, of others.
[Illustration: James Stephanoff, del. Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S NEW YEARS GIFTS.]
In 1560, she had a pair of silk stockings given her by Mrs. Montagu,
her silk-woman, which by some are said to have been the first pair
worn in England; however, they became common soon afterwards. It
may be mentioned, as an act of kindness, that in this year she gave
sixty French crowns, as a New Year’s Gift, to —— Penne, widow, who
had been formerly nurse to King Edward. In the following year she
received presents in money from £40 by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
in a red silk purse in demy sovereigns, to £4 by Lady Cheeke, in a
russet silk purse; also various articles of dress, most of them richly
wrought, among which were smocks worked in silk; and standing collars
and partelets wrought with gold, silver, and silk; and miscellaneous
articles, from handsome pieces of jewellery, down to one pye of
quinces, by John Betts, servant of the pastry, who received two gilt
spoons in return. In subsequent years the gifts are much of the same
nature, and a few only need be particularised. Some may be considered
as partaking of a professional character: her doctors generally giving
a pot of orange blossoms and a pot of ginger, or something similar; and
her apothecary a box of lozenges, or a pot of conserves; while her cook
gave a marchpane, made into some kind of device; and her serjeant of
the pastry, a quince pie, and sometimes a pie of quinces and wardens
gilt.
In 1574, the favourite, Earl of Leicester, gave her a splendid fan,
that ladies now might envy, being of white feathers, set in a handle
of gold; one side of it garnished with two very fair emeralds, one of
them especially fine, and garnished with diamonds and rubies; and the
other side garnished with diamonds and rubies; and on each side a white
bear and two pearls hanging, a lion rampant with a white muzzled bear
at his foot. Handsomely wrought smocks are frequently mentioned. This
article, as is well known, was different from that in present wear, the
ornamental part could be safely exhibited, and gentlemen could present
them without breach of decorum; though in our present fastidious days,
a New Year’s Gift to a lady of a chemisette, berthe, or gilêt, might be
considered as a somewhat eccentric _gage d’amour_.
In 1578, Philip Sidney gave a cambric smock, which may be considered as
quite in the florid or decorated style of workmanship; the sleeves and
collar being wrought with black work, and edged with a small bone lace
of gold and silver; and a suite of ruffs cutwork, flourished with gold
and silver, and set with spangles. In the same year, Sir Gawen Carew
gave one worked with Venice gold, and edged with a small bone lace of
Venice gold; Smyth, the dustman, gave two bolts of cambric; her doctors
and apothecary, pots of ginger and candy; and Mark Anthony, a violl.
In the following year, Morrys Watkins, whoever he might be, gave
eighteen larks in a cage, and received 20_s._ in reward. In several
years there are handsome gowns, petticoats, kirtles, doblets, and
mantles, some embroidered with precious stones, bracelets, and other
ornaments; so that it does not appear so very surprising that at her
death, Elizabeth left a hoard of 2000 dresses behind her. It must be
presumed, however, that she was not in the habit of giving away any of
her apparel, or her ladies’ maids would have had rich perquisites.
In 1582, Lady Howard gave her a jewel of gold, representing a cat
and mice playing with her, garnished with small diamonds and pearls;
typifying perhaps the queen and her maids; and she received from eight
maskers a flower of gold, garnished with sparks of diamonds, rubies,
and opals, with an agate of her majesty’s “phisnamy,” and a pearl
pendant, with devices painted in it.
In 1589, she had a jewel of gold, like an alpha and omega, whatever
that might be, garnished with sparks of diamonds. Sir Francis Drake
also gave her a fan of white and red feathers, the handle of gold,
enamelled with a half moon of mother of pearl, within that a half moon
garnished with sparks of diamonds, and a few seed pearls on one side,
having her majesty’s picture within it, and on the other side a device
with a crow over it. Lord North, in his Household Book, charges £40, as
his New Year’s Gift to the queen, and £16 10_s._ given at court at New
Year’s tide. It need scarcely be observed that the custom of New Year’s
Gifts was prevalent among all classes, and many examples might be given
of payments on account of them in the domestic records of the age.
The customs in France about this time were very similar to ours. In
Sully’s ‘Memoirs,’ 1606, it is stated, “Les cérémonies du jour de
l’an, des rois et jours suivans, se passèrent à l’accoustumée, en
présens, festins, banquets, balets, mascarades, courses de bague, et
autres réjouissances et magnificences, le roy, la reine, et la reine
Marguerite vous ayant envoyé vos estrennes, et à madame vostre femme
aussi.”
[Illustration]