In these colleges numbers of young nobility, gentry, and others, are
educated, and chiefly in the study of physic, for very few apply
themselves to that of the law; they are allowed a very good table, and
silver cups to drink out of. Once a person of distinction, who could not
help being surprised at the great number of cups, said, “He should have
thought it more suitable to the life of students, if they had used rather
glass, or earthenware, than silver.” The college answered, “They were
ready to make him a present of all their plate, provided he would
undertake to supply them with all the glass and earthenware they should
have a demand for; since it was very likely he would find the expense,
from constant breaking, exceed the value of the silver.”
The streets in this city are very handsome and clean; but that which is
named from the goldsmiths who inhabit it, surpasses all the rest; there
is in it a gilt tower, with a fountain that plays. Near it, on the
farther side, is a handsome house built by a goldsmith and presented by
him to the city. There are besides to be seen in this street, as in all
others where there are goldsmiths’ shops, all sorts of gold and silver
vessels exposed to sale, as well as ancient and modern medals, in such
quantities as must surprise a man the first time he sees and considers
them.
Fitz-Stephen, a writer of English history, reckoned in his time in London
one hundred and twenty-seven parish churches, and thirteen belonging to
convents; he mentions, besides, that upon a review there of men able to
bear arms, the people brought into the field under their colours forty
thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. _Vide_ Camden’s “Britannia,”
Middlesex.
The best oysters are sold here in great quantities.
Everybody knows that English cloth is much approved of for the goodness
of the materials, and imported into all the kingdoms and provinces of
Europe.
We were shown, at the house of Leonard Smith, a tailor, a most perfect
looking-glass, ornamented with gold, pearl, silver, and velvet, so richly
as to be estimated at five hundred ecus du soleil. We saw at the same
place the hippocamp and eagle stone, both very curious and rare.
And thus much of London.
Upon taking the air down the river, the first thing that struck us was
the ship of that noble pirate, Sir Francis Drake, in which he is said to
have surrounded this globe of earth. On the left hand lies Ratcliffe, a
considerable suburb: on the opposite shore is fixed a long pole with
ram’s-horns upon it, the intention of which was vulgarly said to be a
reflection upon wilful and contented cuckolds.
We arrived next at the royal palace of Greenwich, reported to have been
originally built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and to have received
very magnificent additions from Henry VII. It was here Elizabeth, the
present Queen, was born, and here she generally resides, particularly in
summer, for the delightfulness of its situation. We were admitted, by an
order Mr. Rogers had procured from the Lord Chamberlain, into the
presence chamber, hung with rich tapestry, and the floor, after the
English fashion, strewed with hay, {46} through which the Queen commonly
passes on her way to chapel. At the door stood a gentleman dressed in
velvet, with a gold chain, whose office was to introduce to the Queen any
person of distinction that came to wait on her; it was Sunday, when there
is usually the greatest attendance of nobility. In the same hall were
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, a great number of
Councillors of State, officers of the Crown, and gentlemen, who waited
the Queen’s coming out; which she did from her own apartment when it was
time to go to prayers, attended in the following manner:—
First went gentlemen, barons, earls, Knights of the Garter, all richly
dressed and bareheaded; next came the Chancellor, bearing the seals in a
red silk purse, between two, one of whom carried the Royal sceptre, the
other the sword of state, in a red scabbard, studded with golden _fleurs
de lis_, the point upwards: next came the Queen, in the sixty-fifth year
of her age, as we were told, very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but
wrinkled; her eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her nose a little
hooked; her lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the English seem
subject to, from their too great use of sugar); she had in her ears two
pearls, with very rich drops; she wore false hair, and that red; upon her
head she had a small crown, reported to be made of some of the gold of
the celebrated Lunebourg table; her bosom was uncovered, as all the
English ladies have it till they marry; and she had on a necklace of
exceeding fine jewels; her hands were small, her fingers long, and her
stature neither tall nor low; her air was stately, her manner of speaking
mild and obliging. That day she was dressed in white silk, bordered with
pearls of the size of beans, and over it a mantle of black silk, shot
with silver threads; her train was very long, the end of it borne by a
marchioness; instead of a chain, she had an oblong collar of gold and
jewels. As she went along in all this state and magnificence, she spoke
very graciously, first to one, then to another, whether foreign
Ministers, or those who attended for different reasons, in English,
French, and Italian; for, besides being well skilled in Greek, Latin, and
the languages I have mentioned, she is mistress of Spanish, Scotch, and
Dutch. Whoever speaks to her, it is kneeling; now and then she raises
some with her hand. While we were there, W. Slawata, a Bohemian baron,
had letters to present to her; and she, after pulling off her glove, gave
him her right hand to kiss, sparkling with rings and jewels, a mark of
particular favour. Wherever she turned her face, as she was going along,
everybody fell down on their knees. {49} The ladies of the court
followed next to her, very handsome and well-shaped, and for the most
part dressed in white. She was guarded on each side by the gentlemen
pensioners, fifty in number, with gilt battle-axes. In the ante-chapel,
next the hall where we were, petitions were presented to her, and she
received them most graciously, which occasioned the acclamation of “Long
Live Queen Elizabeth!” She answered it with “I thank you, my good
people.” In the chapel was excellent music; as soon as it and the
service were over, which scarce exceeded half an hour, the Queen returned
in the same state and order, and prepared to go to dinner. But while she
was still at prayers, we saw her table set out with the following
solemnity:—
A gentleman entered the room bearing a rod, and along with him another
who had a table-cloth which, after they had both kneeled three times with
the utmost veneration, he spread upon the table, and, after kneeling
again, they both retired. Then came two others, one with the rod again,
the other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread; when they had kneeled
as the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the table, they
too retired with the same ceremonies performed by the first. At last
came an unmarried lady (we were told she was a countess), and along with
her a married one, bearing a tasting-knife; the former was dressed in
white silk, who, when she had prostrated herself three times in the most
graceful manner, approached the table and rubbed the plates with bread
and salt with as much awe as if the Queen had been present. When they
had waited there a little while, the yeomen of the guards entered,
bareheaded, clothed in scarlet, with a golden rose upon their backs,
bringing in at each turn a course of twenty-four dishes, served in plate,
most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a gentleman in the same
order they were brought, and placed upon the table, while the lady taster
gave to each of the guard a mouthful to eat of the particular dish he had
brought, for fear of any poison. During the time that this guard, which
consists of the tallest and stoutest men that can be found in all
England, being carefully selected for this service, were bringing dinner,
twelve trumpets and two kettledrums made the hall ring for half an hour
together. At the end of all this ceremonial, a number of unmarried
ladies appeared, who, with particular solemnity, lifted the meat off the
table, and conveyed it into the Queen’s inner and more private chamber,
where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest goes to the ladies of
the Court.
The Queen dines and sups alone with very few attendants, and it is very
seldom that anybody, foreigner or native, is admitted at that time, and
then only at the intercession of somebody in power.
Near this palace is the Queen’s park, stocked with deer. Such parks are
common throughout England, belonging to those that are distinguished
either for their rank or riches. In the middle of this is an old square
tower, called Mirefleur, supposed to be that mentioned in the romance of
“Amadis de Gaul;” and joining to it a plain, where knights and other
gentlemen use to meet, at set times and holidays, to exercise on
horseback.
We left London in a coach, in order to see the remarkable places in its
neighbourhood.
The first was Theobalds, belonging to Lord Burleigh, the Treasurer. In
the gallery was painted the genealogy of the Kings of England; from this
place one goes into the garden, encompassed with a ditch full of water,
large enough for one to have the pleasure of going in a boat and rowing
between the shrubs; here are great variety of trees and plants,
labyrinths made with a great deal of labour, a _jet d’eau_, with its
basin of white marble, and columns and pyramids of wood and other
materials up and down the garden. After seeing these, we were led by the
gardener into the summer-house, in the lower part of which, built
semicircularly, are the twelve Roman emperors in white marble, and a
table of touchstone; the upper part of it is set round with cisterns of
lead, into which the water is conveyed through pipes, so that fish may be
kept in them, and in summer-time they are very convenient for bathing.
In another room for entertainment, very near this, and joined to it by a
little bridge, was an oval table of red marble. We were not admitted to
see the apartments of this palace, there being nobody to show it, as the
family was in town, attending the funeral of their lord. {53}
Hoddesdon, a village.
Ware, a market town.
Puckeridge, a village; this was the first place where we observed that
the beds at inns were made by the waiters.
Camboritum, Cantabrigium and Cantabrigia, now called Cambridge, a
celebrated town, so named from the river Cam, which after washing the
western side, playing through islands, turns to the east, and divides the
town into two parts, which are joined by a bridge, whence its modern
name—formerly it had the Saxon one of Grantbridge. Beyond this bridge is
an ancient and large castle, said to be built by the Danes: on this side,
where far the greater part of the town stands, all is splendid; the
streets fine, the churches numerous, and those seats of the Muses, the
colleges, most beautiful; in these a great number of learned men are
supported, and the studies of all polite sciences and languages flourish.
I think proper to mention some few things about the foundation of this
University and its colleges. Cantaber, a Spaniard, is thought to have
first instituted this academy 375 years before Christ, and Sebert, King
of the East Angles, to have restored it A.D. 630. It was afterwards
subverted in the confusion under the Danes, and lay long neglected, till
upon the Norman Conquest everything began to brighten up again: from that
time inns and halls for the convenient lodging of students began to be
built, but without any revenues annexed to them.
The first college, called Peter House, was built and endowed by Hugh
Balsam, Bishop of Ely, A.D. 1280; and, in imitation of him, Richard
Badew, with the assistance of Elizabeth Burke, Countess of Clare and
Ulster, founded Clare Hall in 1326; Mary de St. Paul, Countess of
Pembroke, Pembroke Hall in 1343; the Monks of Corpus Christi, the college
of the same name, though it has besides that of Bennet; John Craudene,
Trinity Hall, 1354; Edmond Gonville, in 1348, and John Caius, a physician
in our times, Gonville and Caius College; King Henry VI., King’s College,
in 1441, adding to it a chapel that may justly claim a place among the
most beautiful buildings in the world. On its right side is a fine
library, where we saw the “Book of Psalms” in manuscript, upon parchment
four spans in length and three broad, taken from the Spaniards at the
siege of Cadiz, and thence brought into England with other rich spoils.
Margaret of Anjou, his wife, founded Queen’s College, 1448, at the same
time that John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, built Jesus College; Robert
Woodlarke, Catherine Hall; Margaret of Richmond, mother of King Henry
VII., Christ’s and St. John’s Colleges, about 1506; Thomas Audley,
Chancellor of England, Magdalen College, much increased since both in
buildings and revenue by Christopher Wray, Lord Chief Justice; and the
most potent King Henry VIII. erected Trinity College for religion and
polite letters—in its chapel is the tomb of Dr. Whitacre, with an
inscription in gold letters upon marble; Emanuel College, built in our
own times by the most honourable and prudent Sir Walter Mildmay, one of
Her Majesty’s Privy Council; and lastly, Sidney College, now first
building by the executors of the Lady Frances Sidney, {56} Countess of
Sussex.
We must note here that there is certain sect in England called Puritans;
these, according to the doctrine of the Church of Geneva, reject all
ceremonies anciently held, and admit of neither organs nor tombs in their
places of worship, and entirely abhor all difference in rank among
Churchmen, such as bishops, deans, &c.; they were first named Puritans by
the Jesuit Sandys. They do not live separate, but mix with those of the
Church of England in the colleges.
Potton, a village.
Ampthill, a town; here we saw immense numbers of rabbits, which are
reckoned as good as hares, and are very well tasted.
We passed through the towns of Woburn, Leighton, Aylesbury, and Wheatley.
Oxonium, Oxford, the famed Athens of England; that glorious seminary of
learning and wisdom, whence religion, politeness, and letters, are
abundantly dispersed into all parts of the kingdom. The town is
remarkably fine, whether you consider the elegance of its private
buildings, the magnificence of its public ones, or the beauty and
wholesomeness of its situation, which is on a plain, encompassed in such
a manner with hills, shaded with wood, as to be sheltered on the one hand
from the sickly south, and on the other from the blustering west, but
open to the east, that blows serene weather, and to the north, the
preventer of corruption, from which, in the opinion of some, it formerly
obtained the appellation of Bellositum. This town is watered by two
rivers, the Cherwell and the Isis, vulgarly called the Ouse; and though
these streams join in the same channel, yet the Isis runs more entire and
with more rapidity towards the south, retaining its name till it meets
the Thame, which it seems long to have sought, at Wallingford; thence,
called by the compound name of Thames, it flows the prince of all British
rivers, of whom we may justly say, as the ancients did of the Euphrates,
that it both sows and waters England.