"--the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume."--_K. John, II_ I.]
[Footnote 4:
This, and every other passage throughout the volume, [included between
brackets,] does not appear in the first edition of 1628.]
[Footnote 5:
Adam did not, to use the words of the old Geneva Bible, "make himself
breeches," till he knew sin: the meaning of the passage in the text is
merely that, as a child advances in age, he commonly proceeds in the
knowledge and commission of vice and immorality.]
[Footnote 6:
St. Mary's church was originally built by king Alfred, and annexed to
the University of Oxford, for the use of the scholars, when St. Giles's
and St. Peter's (which were till then appropriated to them,) had been
ruined by the violence of the Danes. It was totally rebuilt during the
reign of Henry VII., who gave forty oaks towards the materials; and is,
in this day, the place of worship in which the public sermons are
preached before the members of the university.]
[Footnote 7:
_Brachigraphy_, or short-hand-writing, appears to have been much studied
in our author's time, and was probably esteemed a fashionable
accomplishment. It was first introduced into this country by Peter
Bales, who, in 1590, published The _Writing Schoolmaster_, a treatise
consisting of three parts, the first "of Brachygraphie, that is, to
write as fast as a man speaketh treatably, writing but one letter for a
word;" the second, of Orthography; and the third of Calligraphy.
Imprinted at London, by T. Orwin, &c., 1590, 4to. A second edition,
"with sundry new additions," appeared in 1597, 12mo, Imprinted at
London, by George Shawe, &c. Holinshed gives the following description
of one of Bales' performances:--"The tenth of August (1575.) a rare
peece of worke, and almost incredible, was brought to passe by an
Englishman borne in the citie of London, named Peter Bales, who by his
industrie and practise of his pen, contriued and writ within the
compasse of a penie, in Latine, the Lord's praier, the creed, the ten
commandements, a praier to God, a praier for the queene, his posie, his
name, the daie of the moneth, the yeare of our Lord, and the reigne of
the queene. And on the seuenteenthe of August next following, at Hampton
court, he presented the same to the queen's maiestie, in the head of a
ring of gold, couered with a christall; and presented therewith an
excellent spectacle by him deuised, for the easier reading thereof:
wherewith hir maiestie read all that was written therein with great
admiration, and commended the same to the lords of the councell, and the
ambassadors, and did weare the same manie times vpon hir
finger."--_Holinshed's Chronicle_, page 1262, b. edit, folio,
Lond. 1587.]
[Footnote 8:
It is customary in all sermons delivered before the University, to use
an introductory prayer for the founder of, and principal benefactors to,
the preacher's individual college, as well as for the officers and
members of the university in general. This, however, would appear very
ridiculous when "_he comes down to his friends_" or, in other words,
preaches before a country congregation.]
[Footnote 9:
_of_, first edit. 1628.]
[Footnote 10:
I cannot forbear to close this admirable character with the beautiful
description of a _"poure Persons," riche of holy thought and werk_,
given by the father of English poetry:--
Benigne he was, and wonder diligent,
And in adversité ful patient:
And swiche he was yprevéd often sithes.
Ful loth were him to cursen for his tithes,
But rather wolde he yeven out of doute,
Unto his pouré parishens aboute,
Of his offring, and eke of his substance.
He coude in litel thing have suffisance.
Wide was his parish, and houses fer asonder,
But he ne left nought for no rain ne thonder,
In sikenesse and in mischief to visite
The ferrest in his parish, moche and lite,
Upon his fete, and in his hand a staf.
* * * *
And though he holy were, and vertuous,
He was to sinful men not dispitous,
Ne of his speché dangerous ne digne,
But in his teching discrete and benigne.
To drawen folk to heven, with fairenesse,
By good ensample, was his besinesse.
* * * *
He waited after no pompe ne reverence,
Ne makéd him no spicéd conscience,
But Cristés lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, but first he folwed it himselve.
_Chaucer, Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 485.
We may surely conclude with a line from the same poem,
"A better preest I trowe that nowher non is."]
[Footnote 11:
_The secretes of the reverende maister Alexis of Piemovnt, containyng
excellente remedies against diuers diseases, &c._, appear to have been a
very favourite study either with the physicians, or their patients,
about this period.
They were originally written in Italian, and were translated into
English by William Warde, of which editions were printed at London, in
1558, 1562, 1595, and 1615. In 1603, a _fourth_ edition of a Latin
version appeared at Basil; and from Ward's dedication to "the lorde
Russell, erle of Bedford," it seems that the French and Dutch were not
without so great a treasure in their own languages. A specimen of the
importance of this publication may be given in the title of the first
secret. "The maner and secrete to conserue a man's youth, and to holde
back olde age, to maintaine a man always in helth and strength, as in
the fayrest floure of his yeres."]
[Footnote 12:
_The Regiment of Helthe_, by Thomas Paynell, is another
volume of the same description, and was printed by Thomas Berthelette, in
1541. 410.]
[Footnote 13:
_Vespasian_, tenth emperor of Rome, imposed a tax upon urine, and when
his son Titus remonstrated with him on the meanness of the act,
"Pecuniam," says Suetonius, "ex prima pensione admovit ad nares,
suscitans _num odore offenderetur?_ et illo negante, atqui, inquit, e
lotio est."]
[Footnote 14:
"Vpon the market-day he is much haunted with vrinals, where, if he finde
any thing, (though he knowe nothing,) yet hee will say some-what, which
if it hit to some purpose, with a fewe fustian words, hee will seeme a
piece of strange stuffe." Character of an unworthy physician. "_The Good
and the Badde_" by Nicholas Breton. 4to. 1618.]
[Footnote 15:
That the murdered body bleeds at the approach of the murderer, was, in
our author's time, a commonly received opinion. Holinshed affirms that
the corpse of Henry the Sixth bled as it was carrying for interment; and
Sir Kenelm Digby so firmly believed in the truth of the report, that he
has endeavoured to explain the reason. It is remarked by Mr. Steevens,
in a note to _Shakspeare_, that the opinion seems to be derived from the
ancient Swedes, or Northern nations, from whom we descend; as they
practised this method of trial in all dubious cases.]
[Footnote 16:
"Faith, doctor, it is well, thy study is to please
The female sex, and how their corp'ral griefes to ease."
Goddard's "_Mastif Whelp._" _Satires_. 4to. Without date. Sat.
17.]
[Footnote 17:
In the first edition it stands thus:--"_and his hat is as antient as the
tower of Babel._"]
[Footnote 18:
The Low-countries appear to have afforded ample room for ridicule at all
times. In "_A brief Character of the Low-countries under the States,
being Three Weeks Observation of the Vices and Virtues of the
Inhabitants_," written by Owen Feltham, and printed Lond. 1659, 12mo, we
find them epitomized as a general sea-land--the great bog of Europe--an
universal quagmire--in short, a green cheese in pickle. The sailors (in
which denomination the author appears to include all the natives) he
describes as being able to "drink, rail, swear, niggle, steal, and be
_lowsie_ alike." P. 40.]
[Footnote 19:
_Gavelkind_, or the practice of dividing lands equally among all the
male children of the deceased, was (according to Spelman) adopted by the
Saxons, from Germany, and is noticed by Tacitus in his description of
that nation. _Gloss. Archaiol._, folio, Lond. 1664. Harrison, in _The
Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed's _Chronicle_ (vol. i.
page 180), says, "Gauell kind is all the male children equallie to
inherit, and is continued to this daie in _Kent_, where it is onelie to
my knowledge reteined, and no where else in England." And Lambarde, in
his _Customes of Kent_ (_Perambulation_, 410, 1596, page 538), thus
notices it:--"The custom of Grauelkynde is generall, and spreadeth
itselfe throughout the whole shyre, into all landes subiect by auncient
tenure vnto the same, such places onely excepted, where it is altered by
acte of parleament."]
[Footnote 20:
_Minster-walk_, 1st edit.]
[Footnote 21:
_Ambrose Spinola_ was one of the most celebrated and excellent
commanders that Spain ever possessed: he was born, in 1569, of a noble
family, and distinguished himself through life in being opposed to
Prince Maurice of Nassau, the greatest general of his age, by whom he
was ever regarded with admiration and respect. He died in 1630, owing to
a disadvantage sustained by his troops at the siege of Cassel, which was
to be entirely attributed to the imprudent orders he received from
Spain, and which that government compelled him to obey. This disaster
broke his heart; and he died with the exclamation of "_they have robbed
me of my honour_;" an idea he was unable to survive. It is probable
that, at the time this character was composed, many of the disaffected
in England were in expectation of an attack to be made on this country
by the Spaniards, under the command of Spinola.]
[Footnote 22:
_and Lipsius his hopping stile before either Tully or Quintilian._ First
edit.]
[Footnote 23:
_Primivist_ and primero were, in all probability, the same game,
although Minshew, in his Dictionary, calls them "_two_ games at cardes."
The latter he explains, "primum et primum visum, that is, first and
first seene, because hee that can shew such an order of cardes, first
winnes the game." The coincidence between Mr. Strutt's description of
the former and the passage in the text, shows that there could be little
or no difference between the value of the cards in these games, or in
the manner of playing them. "Each player had four cards dealt to him,
one by one, the _seven_ was the highest card, in point of number, that
he could avail himself of, _which counted for twenty-one_, the _six
counted for sixteen_, the five for fifteen, and the ace for the same,"
&c. (_Sports and Pastimes_, 247.) The honourable Daines Harrington
conceived that Primero was introduced by Philip the Second, or some of
his suite, whilst in England. Shakspeare proves that it was played in
the royal circle.
-----"I left him (Henry VIII.) at _Primero_
With the duke of Suffolk."--_Henry VIII._
So Decker: "Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have
plaid at _Primero_."--_Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609. 37.
Among the Marquis of Worcester's celebrated "_Century of Inventions,_"
12mo, 1663, is one "so contrived without suspicion, that playing at
Primero at cards, one may, without clogging his memory, keep reckoning
of all sixes, sevens, and aces, which he hath discarded."--No. 87.]
[Footnote 24:
"Enquire out those tauernes which are best customd, whose maisters are
oftenest drunk, for that confirmes their taste, and that they choose
wholesome wines."--Decker's _Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609.]
[Footnote 25:
_his_, 1st edit.]
[Footnote 26:
The editor of the edition in 1732, has altered _canary_ to "_sherry_,"
for what reason I am at a loss to discover, and have consequently
restored the reading of the first edition. Venner gives the following
description of this favourite liquor. "Canarie-wine, which beareth the
name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some termed a
sacke, with this adjunct, sweete; but yet very improperly, for it
differeth not only from sacke in sweetness and pleasantness of taste,
but also in colour and consistence, for it is not so white in colour as
sack, nor so thin in substance; wherefore it is more nutritive than
sack, and less penetrative."--_Via recta ad Vitam longam_, 4to, 1622. In
Howell's time, Canary wine was much adulterated. "I think," says he, in
one of his Letters, "there is more Canary brought into England than to
all the world besides; I think also, there is a hundred times more drunk
under the name of Canary wine, than there is brought in; for Sherries
and Malagas, well mingled, pass for Canaries in most taverns. When Sacks
and Canaries," he continues, "were brought in first amongst us, they
were used to be drunk in aqua vitae measures, and 'twas held fit only
for those to drink who were used to carry their _legs in their hands,
their eyes upon their noses_, and an _almanack in their bones;_ but now
they go down every one's throat, both young and old, like
milk."--Howell, _Letter to the lord Cliff_, dated Oct. 7, 1634.]
[Footnote 27:
We learn from Harrison's _Description of England_, prefixed to
Holinshed, that _eleven o'clock_ was the usual time for dinner during
the reign of Elizabeth. "With vs the nobilitie, gentrie, and students,
doo ordinarilie go to dinner at _eleuen before noone_, and to supper at
fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone" (vol. i. page 171, edit.
1587). The alteration in manners at this time is rather singularly
evinced, from a passage immediately following the above quotation, where
we find that _merchants_ and _husbandmen_ dined and supped at a _later
hour than the nobility_.]
[Footnote 28:
Alluding to the public dinners given by the sheriff at particular
seasons of the year. So in _The Widow_, a comedy, 4to, 1652.
"And as at a _sheriff's table_, O blest custome!
A poor indebted gentleman may dine,
Feed well, and without fear, and depart so."]
[Footnote 29:
The chapel of the Virgin Mary, in the cathedral church of Gloucester,
was founded by Richard Stanley, abbot, in 1457, and finished by William
Farley, a monk of the monastery, in 1472. Sir Robert Atkyns gives the
following description of the vault here alluded to. "The _whispering
place_ is very remarkable; it is a long alley, from one side of the
choir to the other, built circular, that it might not darken the great
east window of the choir. When a person whispers at one end of the
alley, his voice is heard distinctly at the other end, though the
passage be open in the middle, having large spaces for doors and windows
on the east side. It may be imputed to the close cement of the wall,
which makes it as one entire stone, and so conveys the voice, as a long
piece of timber does convey the least stroak to the other end. Others
assign it to the repercussion of the voice from accidental
angles."--_Atkyns' Ancient and Present State of Glostershire_, Lond.
1712, folio, page 128. See also _Fuller's Worthies, in Gloucestershire_,
page 351.]
[Footnote 30:
_Then in apiece of gold, &c._, 1st edit._]
[Footnote 31:
_Whilst he has not yet got them, enjoys them_, 1st edit.]
[Footnote 32:
_Gallo-Belgicus_ was erroneously supposed, by the ingenious Mr. Reed, to
be the "first newspaper, published in England;" we are, however, assured
by the author of the _Life of Ruddiman_, that it has no title to so
honourable a distinction. _Gallo-Belgicus_ appears to have been rather
an _Annual Register_, or _History of its own Times_, than a newspaper.
It was written in Latin, and entituled, "MERCURSS GALLO-BELGICI: _sive,
rerum in Gallia, et Belgio potissimum: Hispania quoque, Italia, Anglia,
Germania, Polonia, Vicinisque locis ab anno 1588, ad Martium anni 1594,
gestarum_, NUNCIJ." The first volume was printed in 8vo, at Cologne,
1598; from which year, to about 1605, it was published annually; and
from thence to the time of its conclusion, which is uncertain, it
appeared in _half-yearly_ volumes. Chalmers' _Life of Ruddiman_, 1794.
The great request in which newspapers were held at the publication of
the present work may be gathered from Burton, who, in his _Anatomy of
Melancholy_, complains that "if any read now-a-days, it is a play-book,
or a pamphlet of newes."]
[Footnote 33:
Bartholomew Keckerman was born at Dantzick, in Prussia, 1571, and
educated under Fabricius. Being eminently distinguished for his
abilities and application, he was, in 1597, requested, by the senate of
Dantzick, to take upon him the management of their academy; an honour he
then declined, but accepted, on a second application, in 1601. Here he
proposed to instruct his pupils in the complete science of philosophy in
the short space of three years, and, for that purpose, drew up a great
number of books upon logic, rhetoric, ethics, politics, physics,
metaphysics, geography, astronomy, &c. &c., till, as it is said,
literally worn out with scholastic drudgery, he died at the early age
of 38.]
[Footnote 34:
"Of bread made of wheat we have sundrie sorts dailie brought to the
table, whereof the first and most excellent is the _mainchet_, which we
commonlie call white bread."--Harrison, _Description of England_
prefixed to Holinshed, chap. 6.]
[Footnote 35:
_His honour was somewhat preposterous, for he bare_, &c., first edit.]
[Footnote 36:
_Clown_, first edit.]
[Footnote 37:
The art of hawking has been so frequently and so fully explained, that
it would be superfluous, if not arrogant, to trace its progress, or
delineate its history, in this place. In the earliest periods it appears
to have been exclusively practised by the nobility; and, indeed, the
great expense at which the amusement was supported, seems to have been a
sufficient reason for deterring persons of more moderate income, and of
inferior rank, from indulging in the pursuit. In the _Sports and
Pastimes_ of Mr. Strutt, a variety of instances are given of the
importance attached to the office of falconer, and of the immense value
of, and high estimation the birds themselves were held in from the
commencement of the Norman government, down to the reign of James I., in
which Sir Thomas Monson gave £1000 for a cast of hawks, which consisted
of only _two_.
The great increase of wealth, and the consequent equalization of
property in this country, about the reign of Elizabeth, induced many of
inferior birth to practise the amusements of their superiors, which they
did without regard to expense, or indeed propriety. Sir Thomas Elyot, in
his _Governour_ (1580), complains that the falcons of his day consumed
so much poultry, that, in a few years, he feared there would be a great
scarcity of it. "I speake not this," says he, "in disprayse of the
faukons, but of them which keepeth them lyke cockneyes." A reproof,
there can be no doubt, applicable to the character in the text.]
[Footnote 38:
A term in hawking, signifying the short straps of leather which are
fastened to the hawk's legs, by which she is held on the fist, or joined
to the leash. They were sometimes made of silk, as appears from _The
Boke of hawkynge, huntynge, and fysshynge, with all the propertyes and
medecynes that are necessarye to be kepte_: "Hawkes haue aboute theyr
legges _gesses_ made of lether most comonly, some of sylke, which shuld
be no lenger but that the knottes of them shulde appere in the myddes of
the lefte hande," &c. _Juliana Barnes_, edit. 410, "_Imprynted at London
in Pouls chyrchyarde by me Hery Tab_." Sig. C. ii.]
[Footnote 39:
_This authority of his is that club which keeps them under as his dogs
hereafter_, first edit.]
[Footnote 40:
_Now become a man's total_, first edit.]
[Footnote 41:
Of the game called one and thirty, I am unable to find any mention in
Mr. Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_, nor is it alluded to in any of the
old plays or tracts I have yet met with. A very satisfactory account of
_tables_ may be read in the interesting and valuable publication
just noticed.]
[Footnote 42:
The room where the performers dress, previous to coming on the stage.]
[Footnote 43:
This passage affords a proof of what has been doubted, namely, that the
theatres were not permitted to be open during Lent, in the reign of
James I. The restriction was waived in the next reign, as we find from
the puritanical Prynne:--"There are none so much addicted to
stage-playes, but when they goe unto places where they cannot have them,
or when, as they are suppressed by publike authority, (as in times of
pestilence, and in _Lent, till now of late_) can well subsist without
them," &c. _Histrio Mastix_, 4to, Lond. 1633, page 384,]
[Footnote 44:
It may not be known to those who are not accustomed to meet with old
books in their original bindings, or of seeing public libraries of
antiquity, that the volumes were formerly placed on the shelves with the
_leaves_, not the _back_, in front; and that the two sides of the
binding were joined together with _neat silk_ or other strings, and, in
some instances, where the books were of greater value and curiosity than
common, even fastened with gold or silver chains.]
[Footnote 45:
A hanger-on to noblemen, who are distinguished at the university by gold
tassels to their caps; or in the language of the present day, a
_tuft-hunter_.]
[Footnote 46:
_If he could order his intentions_, first edit.]
[Footnote 47:
Minshew calls a tobacconist _fumi-vendulus_, a _smoak-seller_.]
[Footnote 48:
_Cento_, a composition formed by joining scraps from other
authors.--_Johnson_. Camden, in his _Remains_, uses it in the same
sense. "It is quilted, as it were, out of shreds of divers poets, such
as scholars call a _cento_."]
[Footnote 49:
_Firing_, first edit.]
[Footnote 50:
In the hope of discovering some account of the _strange monster_ alluded
to, I have looked through one of the largest and most curious
collections of tracts, relating to the marvellous, perhaps in existence.
That bequeathed to the Bodleian, by Robert Burton, the author of the
_Anatomy of Melancholy_. Hitherto my researches have been unattended
with success, as I have found only two tracts of this description
relating to Germany, both of which are in prose, and neither giving any
account of a monster.
1. _A most true Relation of a very dreadfull Earthquake, with the
lamentable Effectes thereof, which began upon the 8 of December 1612,
and yet continueth most fearefull in Munster in Germanie. Reade and
Tremble. Translated out of Dutch, by Charles Demetrius, Publike Notarie
in London, and printed at Rotterdame, in Holland, at the Signe of the
White Gray-hound_. (Date cut off. Twenty-six pages, 4to, with
a woodcut.)
2: _Miraculous Newes from the Cittie of Holt, in the Lordship of
Munster, in Germany, the twentieth of September last past, 1616, where
there were plainly beheld three dead bodyes rise out of their Graves
admonishing the people of Judgements to come. Faithfully translated (&c.
&c.) London, Printed for John Barnes, dwelling in Hosie Lane neere
Smithfield, 1616_. (4to, twenty pages, woodcut.)]
[Footnote 51:
It was customary to work or paint proverbs, moral sentences, or scraps
of verse, on old tapestry hangings, which were called _painted cloths_.
Several allusions to this practice may be found in the works of our
early English dramatists. See Reed's _Shakspeare_, viii. 103.]
[Footnote 52:
_Beller_, first edit.]
[Footnote 53:
_Hale_, first edit.]
[Footnote 54:
Calais sands were chosen by English duellists to decide their quarrels
on, as being out of the jurisdiction of the law. This custom is noticed
in an Epigram written about the period in which this book
first appeared.
"When boasting Bembus challeng'd is to fight,
He seemes at first a very Diuell in sight:
Till more aduizde, will not defile [his] hands,
Vnlesse you meete him vpon _Callice sands."
The Mastive or Young Whelpe of the olde Dog. Epigrams and Satyrs._ 4to,
Lond. (Printed, as Warton supposes, about 1600.)
A passage in _The Beau's Duel: or a Soldier for the Ladies_, a comedy,
by Mrs. Centlivre, 4to, 1707, proves that it existed so late as at that
day. "Your only way is to send him word you'll meet him on _Calais
sands;_ duelling is unsafe in England for men of estates," &c. See also
other instances in Dodsley's _Old Plays,_ edit. 1780, vii. 218;
xii. 412.]
[Footnote 55:
Strict devotees were, I believe, noted for the smallness and precision
of their ruffs, which were termed _in print_ from the exactness of the
folds. So in Mynshul's _Essays,_ 4to, 1618. "I vndertooke a warre when I
aduentured to speake in _print,_ (not in _print as Puritan's ruffes_ are
set.)" The term of _Geneva print_ probably arose from the minuteness of
the type used at Geneva. In the _Merry Devil of Edmonton_, a comedy,
4to, 1608, is an expression which goes some way to prove the
correctness of this supposition:--"I see by thy eyes thou hast bin
reading _little Geneva print;"_--and, that _small ruffs_ were worn by
the puritanical set, an instance appears in Mayne's _City Match,_ a
comedy, 4to, 1658.
"O miracle!
Out of your _little ruffe,_ Dorcas, and in the fashion!
Dost thou hope to be saved?"
From these three extracts it is, I think, clear that a _ruff of Geneva
print_ means a _small, closely-folded ruff,_ which was the distinction
of a nonconformist.]
[Footnote 56:
A virginal, says Mr. Malone, was strung like a spinnet, and shaped like
a pianoforte: the mode of playing on this instrument was therefore
similar to that of the organ.]
[Footnote 57:
_Weapons are spells no less potent than different, as being the sage
sentences of some of her own sectaries._ First edit.]
[Footnote 58:
Robert Bellarmine, an Italian jesuit, was born at Monte Pulciano, a town
in Tuscany, in the year 1542, and in 1560 entered himself among the
jesuits. In 1599 he was honoured with a cardinal's hat, and in 1602 was
presented with the arch-bishopric of Capua: this, however, he resigned
in 1605, when Pope Paul V. desired to have him near himself. He was
employed in the affairs of the court of Rome till 1621, when, leaving
the Vatican, he retired to a house belonging to his order, and died
September 17, in the same year.
Bellarmine was one of the best controversial writers of his time; few
authors have done greater honour to their profession or opinions, and
certain it is that none have ever more ably defended the cause of the
Romish Church, or contended in favour of the pope with greater
advantage. As a proof of Bellarmine's abilities, there was scarcely a
divine of any eminence among the Protestants who did not attack him:
Bayle aptly says, "they made his name resound every where, ut littus
Styla, Styla, omne sonaret."]
[Footnote 59:
Faustus Socinus is so well known as the founder of the sect which goes
under his name, that a few words will be sufficient. He was born in
1539, at Sienna, and imbibed his opinions from the instruction of his
uncle, who always had a high opinion of, and confidence in, the
abilities of his nephew, to whom he bequeathed all his papers. After
living several years in the world, principally at the court of Francis
de Medicis, Socinus, in 1577, went into Germany, and began to propagate
the principles of his uncle, to which, it is said, he made great
additions and alterations of his own. In the support of his opinions, he
suffered considerable hardships, and received the greatest insults and
persecutions; to avoid which, he retired to a place near Cracow, in
Poland, where he died in 1504, at the age of sixty-five.]
[Footnote 60:
Conrade Vorstius, a learned divine, who was peculiarly detested by the
Calvinists, and who had even the honour to be attacked by King James the
First, of England, was born in 1569. Being compelled, through the
interposition of James's ambassador, to quit Leyden, where he had
attained the divinity-chair, and several other preferments, he retired
to Toningen, where he died in 1622, with the strongest tokens of piety
and resignation.]
[Footnote 61:
_His style is very constant, for it keeps still the former aforesaid;
and yet it seems he is much troubled in it, for he is always humbly
complaining--your poor orator_. First edit.]
[Footnote 62:
"To _moote_, a term vsed in the innes of the court; it is the handling
of a case, as in the Vniuersitie their disputations," &c. So _Minshew_,
who supposes it to be derived from the French, _mot, verbum, quasi verba
facere, aut sermonem de aliqua re habere_. _Mootmen_ are those who,
having studied seven or eight years, are qualified to practise, and
appear to answer to our term of barristers.]
[Footnote 63:
The prologue to our ancient dramas was ushered in by trumpets. "Present
not yourselfe on the stage (especially at a new play) untill the quaking
prologue hath (by rubbing) got cullor into his cheekes, and is ready to
giue the trumpets their cue that hee's vpon point to enter."--Decker's
_Gul's Hornbook_, 1609, p. 30. "Doe you not know that I am the Prologue?
Do you not see this long blacke veluet cloke vpon my backe? _Haue you
not sounded thrice?_"--Heywood's _Foure Prentises of London_,
4to, 1615.]
[Footnote 64:
St. Paul's Cathedral was, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, a
sort of exchange and public parade, where business was transacted
between merchants, and where the fashionables of the day exhibited
themselves. The reader will find several allusions to this custom in the
_variorum_ edition of Shakspeare, _K. Henry IV._, part 2. Osborne, in
his _Traditional Memoires on the Reigns of Elisabeth and James_, 12mo,
1658, says, "It was the fashion of those times (James I.) and did so
continue till these, (the interregnum,) for the principal gentry, lords,
courtiers, and men of all professions, not merely mechanicks, to meet in
_St. Paul's _church by eleven, and walk in the middle isle till twelve,
and after dinner from three to six; during which time some discoursed of
business, others of news." Weever complains of the practice, and says,
"it could be wished that walking in the middle isle of _Paul's_ might be
forborne in the time of diuine service." _Ancient Funeral Monuments_,
1631, page 373.]
[Footnote 65:
In the _Dramatis Personal_ to Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his Humour_,
Bobadil is styled a _Paul's man_; and Falstaff tells us that he bought
Bardolph in _Pauls_. _King Henry IV_., part 2.]
[Footnote 66:
----"You'd not doe
Like your penurious father, who was wont
_To walk his dinner out in Paules._"
--Mayne's _City Match_, 1658.]
[Footnote 67:
The time of supper was about five o'clock.]
[Footnote 68:
Paul's cross stood in the churchyard of that cathedral, on the north
side, towards the east end. It was used for the preaching of sermons to
the populace; and Holinshed mentions two instances of public penance
being performed here; in 1534 by some of the adherents of Elizabeth
Barton, well known as _the holy maid of Kent_, and in 1536 by Sir Thomas
Newman, a priest, who "_bare a faggot at Paules crosse for singing masse
with good ale_."]
[Footnote 69:
_Dole_ originally signified the portion of alms that was given away at
the door of a nobleman. Steevens, note to _Shakspeare_. Sir John Hawkins
affirms that the benefaction distributed at Lambeth Palace gate, is to
this day called the _dole_.]
[Footnote 70:
That is, the contents of his basket, if discovered to be of light weight,
are distributed to the needy prisoners.]
[Footnote 71:
_Study_, first edit.]
[Footnote 72:
The first edition reads _post_, and, I think, preferably.]
[Footnote 73:
_Keep for attend_.]
[Footnote 74:
_Squeazy_, niggardly.]
[Footnote 75:
_And the clubs out of charity knock him down,_ first
edit.]
[Footnote 76:
That is, _runs you up a long score_.]
[Footnote 77:
This, as well as many other passages in this work, has been appropriated
by John Dunton, the celebrated bookseller, as his own. See his character
of Mr. Samuel Hool, in _Dunton's Life and Errors_, 8vo, 1705, p. 337.]
[Footnote 78:
"A prison is a grave to bury men alive, and a place wherein a man for
halfe a yeares experience may learne more law than he can at Westminster
for an hundred pound."--Mynshul's _Essays and Characters of a
Prison_, 4to, 1618.]
[Footnote 79:
_In querpo_ is a corruption from the Spanish word _cuerpo_. "_En cuerpo,
a man without a cloak_."--Pineda's Dictionary, 1740. The present
signification evidently is, that a gentleman without his serving-man, or
attendant, is but half dressed:--he possesses only in part the
appearance of a man of fashion. "_To walk in cuerpo, is to go without a
cloak."--Glossographia Anglicana Nova_, 8vo, 1719.]
[Footnote 80:
_Proper_ was frequently used by old writers for comely, or handsome.
Shakspeare has several instances of it:
"I do mistake my person all this while:
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous _proper_ man."
--_K. Richard III_. Act I. Sc. 2, &c.]
[Footnote 81:
"Why you know an'a man have not skill in the _hawking and hunting_
languages now-a-days, I'll not give a rush for him."--_Master Stephen.
Every Man in his Humour_.]
[Footnote 82:
"Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum:
Ter frustra conprensa manus effugit imago,
Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno."
--_Virgil_, Æn. vi. _v_. 700.]
[Footnote 83:
Probably the name of some difficult tune.]
[Footnote 84:
Jump here signifies to coincide. The old play of Soliman and Perseda
uses it in the same sense:
"Wert thou my friend, thy mind would _jump_ with mine."
So in _Pierce Penilesse his Supplication to the Divele_:--"Not two
of them _jump_ in one tale," p. 29.]
[Footnote 85:
_Imputation_ here must be used for _consequence_; of which I am,
however, unable to produce any other instance.]
[Footnote 86:
_Sturtridge fair_ was the great mart for business, and resort for
pleasure, in Bishop Earle's day. It is alluded to in Randolph's
_Conceited Pedlar_, 410, 1630:--
"I am a pedlar, and I sell my ware
This braue Saint Bartholmew or _Sturtridge faire_."
Edward Ward, the author of _The London Spy_, gives a whimsical
account of a journey to Sturbridge, in the second volume of his works.]
[Footnote 87:
This silly term of endearment appears to be derived from _chick_ or
_my chicken_, Shakspeare uses it in _Macbeth_, Act iii.
Scene 2:--
"Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest _chuck_."]
[Footnote 88:
The great cross in West Cheap was originally erected in 1290, by Edward
I., in commemoration of the death of Queen Ellinor, whose body rested at
that place, on its journey from Herdeby, in Lincolnshire, to Westminster,
for interment. It was rebuilt in 1441, and again in 1484. In 1584 the
images and ornaments were destroyed by the populace; and in 1599 the top
of the cross was taken down, the timber being rotted within the lead, and
fears being entertained as to its safety. By order of Queen Elizabeth, and
her privy council, it was repaired in 1600, when, says Stow, "a cross of
timber was framed, set up, covered with lead, _and gilded_," &c.
Stow's _Survey of London_, by Strype, book iii. p. 35. Edit, folio.
Lond. 1720.]
[Footnote 89:
This must allude to the play written by Heywood with the following title:
_The Foure Prentises of London. With the Conquest of Jerusalem. As it
hath bene diuerse times acted at the Red Bull, by the Queenes Maiesties
Servants_. 410, Lond. 1615. In this drama, the four prentises are
Godfrey, Grey, Charles, and Eustace, sons to the _old Earle of
Bullen_, who, having lost his territories, by assisting William the
Conqueror in his descent upon England, is compelled to live like a private
citizen in London, and binds his sons to a mercer, a goldsmith, a
haberdasher, and a grocer. The _four prentises_, however, prefer the
life of a soldier to that of a tradesman, and, quitting the service of
their masters, follow Robert of Normandy to the holy land, where they
perform the most astonishing feats of valour, and finally accomplish the
_conquest of Jerusalem_. The whole play abounds in bombast and
impossibilities, and, as a composition, is unworthy of notice or
remembrance.]
[Footnote 90:
_The History of the Nine Worthies of the World; three whereof were
Gentiles; I. Hector, son of Priamus, king of Troy. 2. Alexander the
Great, king of Macedon, and conqueror of the world. 3. Julius Caesar,
first emperor of Rome. There Jews. 4. Joshua, captain general and leader
of Israel into Canaan. 5. David, king of Israel. 6. Judas Maccabeus, a
'valiant Jewish commander against the tyranny of Antiochus. Three
Christians. 7. Arthur, king of Britain, who courageously defended his
country against the Saxons. 8. Charles the Great, king of France and
emperor of Germany. 9. Godfrey of Bullen, king of Jerusalem. Being an
account of their glorious lives, worthy actions, renowned victories, and
deaths._ 12mo. No date.]
[Footnote 91:
Those of the same habits with himself; his associates.]
[Footnote 92:
The _dear year_ here, I believe, alluded to, was in 1574, and is thus
described by that faithful and valuable historian Holinshed:--"This
yeare, about Lammas, wheat was sold at London for three shillings the
bushell: but shortlie after, it was raised to foure shillings, fiue
shillings, six shillings, and, before Christmas, to a noble, and seuen
shillings; which so continued long after. Beefe was sold for twentie
pence, and two and twentie pence the stone; and all other flesh and
white meats at an excessiue price; all kind of salt fish verie deare, as
fine herrings two pence, &c.; yet great plentie of fresh fish, and oft
times the same verie cheape. Pease at foure shillings the bushell;
ote-meale at foure shillings eight pence; baie salt at three shillings
the bushell, &c. All this dearth notwithstanding (thanks be given to
God), there was no want of anie thing to them that wanted not monie."
--Holinshed, _Chronicle_, vol. in., p. 1259, a. edit, folio, 1587.]
[Footnote 93:
On the 21st of December 1564 began a frost, referred to by Fleming in
his Index to _Holinshed_, as the "_frost called the great frost_," which
lasted till the 3rd of January 1565. It was so severe that the Thames
was frozen over, and the passage on it, from London Bridge to
Westminster, as easy as and more frequented than that on dry land.]
[Footnote 94:
The person who exhibits Westminster Abbey.]