account has been given by a once popular authority on these
subjects:—"This sport we call in England most commonly bird-batting,
and some call it low-belling; and the use of it is to go with a great
light of cressets, or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make
a good light; and you must have a pan or plate made like a lanthorn,
to carry your light in, which must have a great socket to hold the
light, and carry it before you, on your breast, with a bell in your
other hand, and of a great bigness, made in the manner of a cow-bell,
but still larger; and you must ring it always after one order. If you
carry the bell, you must have two companions with nets, one on each
side of you; and what with the bell, and what with the light, the birds
will be so amazed, that when you come near them, they will turn up
their white bellies: your companions shall then lay their nets quietly
upon them, and take them. But you must continue to ring the bell; for,
if the sound shall cease, the other birds, if there be any more near
at hand, will rise up and fly away."[289:B] This method was used to
ensnare wood-cocks, partridges, larks, &c. and it is probable that to a
stratagem of this kind Shakspeare may allude, when he paints Buckingham
exclaiming—
"The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice."[289:C]
FISHING, as an _art_, has deviated little, in this country, from the
state to which it had attained three centuries ago; but it is a subject
of interest and amusement, to mark the enthusiasm with which, during
the period that we are considering, and anteriorly, this delightful
recreation has been discussed, and the minutiæ to which its literary
patrons have descended.
Of books written on the _Art of Angling_ previous to, and during the
age of Shakspeare, five, independent of subsequent editions, may be
enumerated; and from three of these, the most curious of their kind, we
shall quote a few passages indicative of the warm attachment alluded
to in the preceding paragraph. The earliest printed production on this
subject is _The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle_, included, for the
first time, in, what may be termed, the second edition of the _Book of
St. Albans_, namely, _The Treatyses perteynynge to Hawkynge, Huntynge
and Fisshynge with an angle_, printed at Westminster, by Wynkyn De
Worde, 1496. This little tract, which has been attributed, though
perhaps not[290:A] correctly, to Dame Juliana Berners, commences with
giving a decided preference to fishing when compared with hunting,
hawking, and fowling, in the course of which the author observes, that
the Angler, if his sport should fail him, "atte the leest, hath his
holsom walke, and mery at his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure
of the meede floures, that makyth him hungry; he hereth the melodyous
armony of fowles; he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes,
and many other fowles, wyth theyr brodes; wyche me semyth better than
alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes of hornys, and the scrye of
fowlis, that hunters, fawkeners, and foulers can make. And if the
Angler take fysshe; surely, thenne, is there noo man merier than he is
in his spryte[290:B];" and the book concludes in a singularly pleasing
strain of piety and simplicity. "Ye shall not use this forsayd crafty
dysporte," says this lover of fishing, "for no covetysenes, to the
encreasynge and sparynge of your money oonly; but pryncypally for your
solace, and to cause the helthe of your body, and specyally of your
soule: for whanne ye purpoos to goo on your dysportes in fysshynge,
ye woll not desyre gretly many persons wyth you, whyche myghte lette
you of your game. And thenne ye may serve God, devoutly, in sayenge
affectuously youre custumable prayer; and, thus doynge, ye shall
eschewe and voyde many vices."
Of this impression of the _Book of St. Albans_ by De Worde, numerous
editions were published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
and frequently with new titles, as the "Gentleman's Academie" 1595;
the "Jewell for Gentrie" 1614, and the "Gentleman's Recreation" 1674.
Two small tracts, however, on angling, possessing some originality,
were published by Leonard Mascall, and John Taverner, the former in
1590, and the latter in[291:A]1600; but the most important work on
the subject, after the _Treatyse on Fysshynge_, is a poem written by
one John Dennys, or Davors, with the following title: _The Secrets
of Angling; teaching the choicest Tooles, Baytes, and Seasons for
the taking of any Fish, in Pond or River: practised and familiarly
opened in three Bookes_. By J. D. Esquire. 8vo. Lond. 1613. This is a
production of considerable poetic merit, as will be evident from the
author's eulogium on his art: after reprobating the pastimes of gaming,
wantonness, and drinking, he exclaims—
"O let me rather on the pleasant brinke
Of Tyne and Trent possesse some dwelling place,
Where I may see my quill and corke downe sinke
With eager bite of Barbell, Bleike, or Dace:
And on the world and his Creatour thinke,
While they proud Thais painted sheet embrace,
And with the fume of strong tobacco's smoke,
All quaffing round are ready for to choke.
Let them that list these pastimes then pursue,
And on their pleasing fancies feed their fill;
So I the fields and meadows green may view,
And by the rivers fresh may walke at will,
Among the dazies and the violets blew:
Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodill,
Purple narcissus like the morning rayes,
Pale ganderglas, and azor culverkayes.
I count it better pleasure to behold
The goodly compasse of the lofty skie,
And in the midst thereof like burning gold,
The flaming chariot of the world's great eye;
The watry clouds that in the ayre uprold,
With sundry kinds of painted colours flie;
And faire Aurora lifting up her head,
All blushing rise from old Tithonus bed.
The hils and mountains raised from the plains,
The plains extended levell with the ground,
The ground divided into sundry vains,
The vains enclos'd with running rivers round,
The rivers making way through nature's chains,
With headlong course into the sea profound:
The surging sea beneath the vallies low,
The vallies sweet, and lakes that lovely flow.
The lofty woods, the forests wide and long
Adorn'd with leaves and branches fresh and green,
In whose cool brows the birds with chanting song
Do welcome with their quire the Summer's Queen,
The meadows fair where Flora's guifts among,
Are intermixt the verdant grasse between,
The silver skaled fish that softly swim
Within the brooks and crystall watry brim.
All these and many more of his creation,
That made the heavens, the Angler oft doth see,
And takes therein no little delectation
To thinke how strange and wonderfull they bee,
Framing thereof an inward contemplation,
To set his thoughts on other fancies free:
And whiles he looks on these with joyfull eye,
His minde is wrapt above the starry skie."[293:A]
The poet has entered so minutely into his task, as to give directions
for the colour of the angler's cloaths, which he wishes should be
russet or gray[293:B]; and he opens his third book with a descriptive
catalogue of the moral virtues and qualities of mind necessary to
a lover of the pastime; these, he informs us, are twelve, namely,
_faith_, _hope_, _charity_, _patience_, _humility_, _courage_,
_liberality_, _knowledge_, _placability_, _piety_, _temperance_,
and _memory_; an enumeration sufficiently extensive, it might be
supposed, to damp the enthusiasm of the most eager disciple; yet has
Gervase Markham, notwithstanding, wonderfully augmented the list.
This indefatigable author, in an early edition of his _Countrey
Contentments_[293:C], converted the poetry of Davors into prose, with
the following title: "The whole Art of Angling; as it was written in a
small Treatise in Rime, and now for the better understanding of the
Reader put into prose, and _adorned_ and _inlarged_." The additions
are numerous and entertaining, a specimen of which, under the marginal
notation of _Angler's vertues_, will convey a distinct and curious idea
of the estimation in which this art was held in the reign of James the
First, and of the moral and mental qualifications deemed essential, at
this period, towards its successful attainment.
"Now for the inward qualities of mind, albeit some writers reduce them
to _twelve_ heads, which, indeed, whosoever enjoyeth, cannot chuse but
be very compleat in much perfection, yet I must draw them into many
other branches. The first and most especial whereof is, that a skilful
Angler ought to be a general scholler, and seen in all the liberal
sciences, as a grammarian, to know how either to write or discourse
of his art in true and fitting terms, either without affectation
or rudeness. He should have sweetness of speech, to persuade and
intice others to delight in an exercise so much laudable. He should
have strength of arguments to defend and maintain his profession,
against envy or slander. He should have knowledge in the sun, moon,
and stars, that by their aspects he may guess the seasonableness or
unseasonableness of the weather, the breeding of storms, and from
what coasts the winds are ever delivered. He should be a good knower
of countries, and well used to highwayes, that by taking the readiest
paths to every lake, brook, or river, his journies may be more certain,
and less wearisome. He should have knowledge in proportions of all
sorts, whether circular, square, or diametrical, that when he shall
be questioned of his diurnal progresses, he may give a geographical
description of the angles and channels of rivers, how they fall from
their heads, and what compasses they fetch in their several windings.
He must also have the perfect art of numbring, that in the sounding of
lakes or rivers, he may know how many foot or inches each severally
containeth; and by adding, substracting, or multiplying the same,
he may yield the reason of every river's swift or slow current. He
should not be unskilful in musick, that whensoever either melancholy,
heaviness of his thoughts, or the perturbations of his own fancies,
stirreth up sadness in him, he may remove the same with some godly hymn
or anthem, of which _David_ gives him ample examples.
"He must be of a well settled and constant belief, to enjoy the benefit
of his expectation; for then to despair, it were better never to be put
in practice: and he must ever think where the waters are pleasant, and
any thing likely, that there the Creator of all good things hath stored
up much of plenty, and though your satisfaction be not as ready as your
wishes, yet you must hope still, that with perseverance you shall reap
the fulness of your harvest with contentment: Then he must be full of
love both to his pleasure and to his neighbour: to his pleasure, which
otherwise will be irksome and tedious, and to his neighbour, that he
neither give offence in any particular, nor be guilty of any general
destruction: then he must be exceeding patient, and neither vex nor
excruciate himself with losses or mischances, as in losing the prey
when it is almost in the hand, or by breaking his tools by ignorance
or negligence, but with pleased sufferance amend errors, and think
mischances instructions to better carefulness.
"He must then be full of humble thoughts, not disdaining when occasion
commands to kneel, lye down, or wet his feet or fingers, as oft as
there is any advantage given thereby, unto the gaining the end of his
labour. Then must he be strong and valiant, neither to be amazed with
storms, nor affrighted with thunder, but hold them according to their
natural causes, and the pleasure of the highest: neither must he,
like the fox which preyeth upon lambs, employ all his labour against
the smaller frey; but like the lyon that seizeth elephants, think the
greatest fish which swimmeth, a reward little enough for the pains
which he endureth. Then must he be liberal, and not working only for
his own belly, as if it could never be satisfied; but he must with
much cheerfulness bestow the fruits of his skill amongst his honest
neighbours, who being partners of his gain, will doubly renown his
triumph, and that is ever a pleasing reward to vertue.
"Then must he be prudent, that apprehending the reasons why the fish
will not bite, and all other casual impediments which hinder his sport,
and knowing the remedies for the same, he may direct his labours to be
without troublesomeness.
"Then he must have a moderate contention of the mind to be satisfied
with indifferent things, and not out of any avaritious greediness think
every thing too little, be it never so abundant.
"Then must he be of a thankful nature, praising the author of all
goodness, and shewing a large gratefulness for the least satisfaction.
"Then must he be of a perfect memory, quick and prompt to call into
his mind all the needfull things which are any way in this exercise to
be imployed, lest by omission or by forgetfulness of any, he frustrate
his hopes, and make his labour effectless. Lastly, he must be of a
strong constitution of body, able to endure much fasting, and not of
a gnawing stomach, observing hours, in which if it be unsatisfied, it
troubleth both the mind and body, and loseth that delight which maketh
the pastime only pleasing."[296:A]
It is impossible to read this elaborate catalogue of qualifications
without a smile; for who would suppose that _grammar_, _rhetoric_ and
_logic_, _astronomy_, _geography_, _arithmetic_ and _music_, were
necessary to form an angler: yet we must allow, indeed, even in the
present times, that _hope_, _patience_, and _contentment_ are still
articles of indispensable use to him who would catch fish; for though,
as Shakspeare justly observes,
"The _pleasant'st angling_ is to see the fish
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
_And greedily devour the treacherous bait_,"[296:B]
yet are we so frequently disappointed of this latter spectacle, that
the art may be truly considered as a school for the temper, and as
meriting the rational encomium of Sir Henry Wotton, a dear lover of
the angle in the days of Shakspeare, and who has declared that, after
tedious study, angling was "a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his
spirits, a diverter of sadness[297:A], a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a
moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness;" and "that it begat
habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practised it."
"Indeed, my friend," adds the amiable Walton, "you will find angling to
be like the virtue of humility; which has a calmness of spirit, and a
world of other blessings, attending upon it."[297:B]
A rural diversion of a kind very opposite to that of angling, namely,
HORSE-RACING, may be considered, during the reigns of Elizabeth and
James, if we compare it with the state to which the rage for gambling
has since carried it, as still in its infancy. It was classed, indeed,
with hawking and hunting, as a liberal pastime, and almost generally
pursued for the mere purposes of exercise or pleasure; hence the
moral satirists of the age, the Puritans of the sixteenth century,
have recommended it as a substitute for cards and dice. That it was,
however, even at this period, occasionally practised in the spirit of
the modern turf, will be evident from the authority of Shakspeare, who
says,
——————— "I have heard of _riding wagers_,
Where horses have been nimbler than the sands
That run i'the clock's behalf;"[297:C]
and Burton, who wrote at the close of the Shakspearean era, mentions
the ruinous consequences of this innovation: "Horse-races," he
observes, "are desports of great men, and good in themselves, though
many gentlemen by such means gallop quite out of their fortunes."[298:A]
To encourage, however, a spirit of emulation, prizes were established
for the swiftest horses, and these were usually either silver bells or
silver cups; from the prevalence of the former, the common term for
horse-races in the time of James I. was _bell-courses_, an amusement
which became very frequent in the reign of this prince, and, though the
value of the prize did not amount to more than eight or ten pounds, and
the riders were for the most part the owners of the horses, attracted a
numerous concourse of spectators.
The estimation in which the breed of _race-horses_ was held, even in
the age of Elizabeth, may be drawn from a passage in one of the satires
of Bishop Hall, first published in 1597:—
————————— "Dost thou prize
Thy brute beasts worth by their dam's qualities?
Say'st thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed,
Onely because a Jennet did him breed?
Or say'st thou this same horse shall win the prize,
Because his dam was swiftest Trunchifice
Or Runceval his syre; himself a galloway?
While like a tireling jade, he lags half way."[298:B]
While on this subject, we may remark, that the _Art of Riding_ was,
during the era we are contemplating, carried to a state of great
perfection;
"To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,
And witch the world with noble horsemanship,"[298:C]
was the pursuit of every eager and aspiring spirit, and various
treatises were written to facilitate the attainment of an
accomplishment at once so useful and so fashionable. Among these, the
pieces of Gervase Markham may be deemed the best; indeed, his earliest
work on the subject, which is dated 1593, claims to be the first ever
written in this country on the art of training _Running-horses_[299:A];
and is supposed also to be the first production of Markham: it went
through many impressions under various titles, and from one of these
termed _Cavelarice_, printed in 1607, I shall select a minutely curious
picture of the "horseman's apparel."
"First, when you begin to learne to ride, you must come to the stable,
in such decent and fit apparel, as is meet for such an exercise, that
is to say, a hat which must sit close and firme upon your heade, with
an indifferent narrow verge or brim, so that in the saults or bounds
of the horse, it may neither through widenesse or unweldinesse fall
from your head, nor with the bredth of the brim fall into your eies,
and impeach your sight, both which are verie grosse errors: About
your neck you shall weare a falling band, and no ruffe, whose depth
or thicknesse, may, either with the winde, or motions of your horse,
ruffell about your face; or, according to the fashion of the Spaniards,
daunce hobby-horse-like about your shoulders, which though in them is
taken for a grace, yet in true judgment it is found an errour. Your
doublet shal be made close and hansome to your bodie, large wasted,
so that you may ever be sure to ride with your points trussed (for to
ride otherwise is most vilde) and in all parts so easye, that it may
not take from you the use of anie part of your bodie. About your waste
you must have ever your girdle and thereon a smal dagger or punniard,
which must be so fast in the sheath that no motion of the horse may
cast it forth, and yet so readie, that upon any occasion you may draw
it. Your hose would be large, rounde, and full, so that they may fill
your saddle, which should it otherwise be emptie and your bodie looke
like a small substance in a great compasse, it were wondrous uncomely.
Your bootes must be cleane, blacke, long, and close to your legge,
comming almost up to your middle thigh, so that they may lie as a
defence betwixt your knee and the tree of your saddle. Your boote-hose
must come some two inches higher then your bootes, being hansomely
tied up with pointes. Your spurres must be strong and flat inward,
bending with a compasse under your ancle: the neck of your spurre must
be long and straight, and rowels thereof longe and sharp, the prickes
thereof not standing thicke together, nor being above five in number.
Upon your handes you must weare a hansome paire of gloves, and in your
right hande you must have a long rodde finely rush-growne, so that the
small ende thereof be hardly so great as a round packe-threed, insomuch
that when you move or shake it, the noyse thereof may be lowde and
sharpe."[300:A]
Having thus noticed the _great rural_ diversions of this period, as
far as they deviate from modern practice, the remainder of the chapter
will be occupied by such minor amusements of the country as may now
justly be considered obsolete; for it must be recollected, that to
enumerate only what is _peculiar_ to the era under consideration, forms
the object of our research. It should, likewise, here be added, that
those amusements which are _equally common_ to both country and town,
will find their place under the latter head, such as cards, dice, the
practice of archery, baiting, &c. &c.
Among the amusements generally prevalent in the country, Burton has
included the _Quintaine_. This was originally a mere martial sport;
and, as Vegetius informs us, familiar to the Romans, from an individual
of which nation, named _Quintus_, it is supposed to have derived its
etymology. During the early feudal ages of modern Europe it continued
to support its military character, was practised by the higher orders
of society, and preceded, and probably gave origin to, tilting, justs,
and tournaments. These, however, as more elegant and splendid in their
costume, gradually superseded it during the prevalence of chivalry;
it then became an exercise for the middle ranks, for burgesses and
citizens, and at length towards the close of the sixteenth century,
degenerated into a mere rustic sport.
It would appear, from comparing Stowe with Shakspeare, that about the
year 1600, the Quintain was made use of under two forms; the most
simple consisting of a post fixed perpendicularly in the ground, on the
top of which was a cross-bar turning upon a pivot or spindle, with a
broad board nailed at one end and a bag of sand suspended at the other;
at the board they ran on horseback with spears or staves, and "hee,"
says Stowe, "that hit not the broad end of the quinten was of all men
laughed to scorne; and hee that hit it full, if he rid not the faster,
had a sound blow in his necke with a bagge full of sand hanged on the
other end."[301:A] A more costly and elaborate machine, resembling the
human form, is alluded to by Shakspeare in _As You Like It_, where
Orlando says,
——————— "My better parts
Are all thrown down; and _that which here stands up,
Is but a quintain_, a mere lifeless block."[301:B]
In Italy, Germany, and Flanders, a quintain, carved in wood in
imitation of the human form, was, during the sixteenth century, in
common use.[301:C] The figure very generally represented a Saracen,
armed with a shield in one hand, and a sword in the other, and, being
placed on a pivot, the skill of those who attacked it, depended on
shivering the lance to pieces between the eyes of the figure; for if
the weapon deviated to the right or left, and especially if it struck
the shield, the quintain turned round with such velocity as to give
the horseman a violent blow on the back with his sword, a circumstance
which covered the performer with ridicule, and excited the mirth of
the spectators. That such a machine, termed the _shield quintain_, was
used in Ireland during the reign of Richard the Second, we have the
authority of Froissart; it is therefore highly probable, that this
species of the diversion was as common in England, and still lingered
here in the reign of Elizabeth; and that to a quintain of this kind,
representing an armed man, and erected for the purpose of a _military_
exercise, Shakspeare alludes in the passage just quoted.
It must, however, be allowed, that at the commencement of the
seventeenth century, and for several years anterior, the quintain had
almost universally become the plaything of the peasantry, and was
seldom met with but at rural weddings, wakes, or fairs; or under any
other form than that which Stowe has described. No greater proof of
this can be given than the fact, that when Elizabeth was entertained
at Kenelworth Castle, in 1575, with an exact representation of a
_Country Bridale_, a quintain of this construction formed a part of
it. "Marvellous," says Laneham, "were the martial acts that were done
there that day; the bride-groom for pre-eminence had the first course
at the Quintaine, brake his spear treshardiment; but his mare in his
manage did a little so titubate, that much ado had his manhood to sit
in his saddle, and to scape the foil of a fall: With the help of his
hand, yet he recovered himself, and lost not his stirrups (for he had
none to his saddle); had no hurt as it hapt, but only that his girth
burst, and lost his pen and inkhorn that he was ready to weep for; but
his handkerchief, as good hap was, found he safe at his girdle; that
cheered him somewhat, and had good regard it should not be filed. For
though heat and coolness upon sundry occasions made him sometime to
sweat, and sometime rheumatic; yet durst he be bolder to blow his nose
and wipe his face with the flappet of his father's jacket, than with
his mother's muffler: 'tis a goodly matter, when youth is mannerly
brought up, in fatherly love and motherly awe.
"Now, Sir, after the bride-groom had made his course, ran the rest of
the band a while, in some order; but soon after, tag and rag, cut and
long tail; where the specialty of the sport was to see how some for his
slackness had a good bob with the bag; and some for his haste to topple
down right, and come tumbling to the post: Some striving so much at the
first setting out, that it seemed a question between the man and the
beast, whether the course should be made a horseback or a foot: and put
forth with the spurs, then would run his race by us among the thickest
of the throng, that down came they together hand over head: Another,
while he directed his course to the quintain, his jument would carry
him to a mare among the people; so his horse as amorous as himself
adventurous: An other, too, run and miss the quintain with his staff,
and hit the board with his head!
"Many such gay games were there among these riders: who by and by
after, upon a greater courage, left their quintaining, and ran one
at another. There to see the stern countenances, the grim looks, the
couragious attempts, the desperate adventures, the dangerous courses,
the fierce encounters, whereby the buff at the man, and the counterbuff
at the horse, that both sometime came toppling to the ground. By my
troth, _Master Martin_, 'twas a lively pastime; I believe it would have
moved some man to a right merry mood, though it had been told him his
wife lay a dying."[303:A]
This passage presents us with a lively picture of what the _rural
quintain_ was in the days of Elizabeth, an exercise which continued
to amuse our rustic forefathers for more than a century after the
princely festival of Kenelworth. Minshieu, who published his Dictionary
in 1617, the year subsequent to Shakspeare's death, informs us that
"A _quintaine_ or quintelle," was "a game in request at marriages,
when Jac and Tom, Dic, Hob and Will, strive for the gay garland."
Randolph in 1642, alluding in one of his poems to the diversions of the
Spaniards, says
"Foot-ball with us may be with them balloone;
As they at _tilts_, so we at _quintaine_ runne;
And those old pastimes relish best with me,
That have least art, and most simplicitie;"
Plott in his History of Oxfordshire, first printed in 1677, mentions
the Quintain as the common bridal diversion of the peasantry at
Deddington in that county; "it is now," he remarks, "only in request
at marriages, and set up in the way for young men to ride at as they
carry home the bride, he that breaks the board being counted the best
man[304:A];" and in a satire published about the year 1690, under the
title of _The Essex Champion; or the famous History of Sir Billy of
Billerecay, and his Squire Ricardo_, intended as a ridicule, after the
manner of Cervantes, on the romances then in circulation, the hero,
Sir Billy, is represented as running at a quintain, such as Stowe has
drawn in his Survey, but with the most unfortunate issue, for "taking
his launce in his hand, he rid with all his might at the Quinten, and
hitting the board a full blow, brought the sand-bag about with such
force, as made him measure his length on the ground."[304:B]
Most of the numerous athletic diversions of the country remaining what
they were two centuries ago, cannot, in accordance with our plan,
require any comment or detail; two, however, now, we believe, entirely
obsolete, and which serve to mark the manners of the age, it will be
necessary to introduce. Mercutio, in a contest of pleasantry and banter
with Romeo, exclaims, "Nay, if thy wits run the _wild-goose chace_, I
have done."[304:C]
This barbarous species of horse-race, which has been named from its
resemblance to the flight of _wild-geese_, was a common diversion
among the country-gentlemen of this period; Burton, indeed, calls it
one of "the disports of great men[305:A];" a confession which does no
honour to the age, for this elegant amusement consisted in two horses
starting together, and he who proved the hindmost rider was obliged to
follow the foremost over whatever ground he chose to carry him, that
horse which could distance the other winning the race.
Another sport still more extraordinary and rude, and much in vogue
in the south-western counties, was, one of the numerous games with
the ball, and termed HURLING. Of this there were two kinds, _hurling
to the Goales_ and _hurling to the Country_, and both have been
described with great accuracy by Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall.
The first is little more than a species of hand-ball, but the second,
when represented as the amusement of _gentlemen_, furnishes a curious
picture of the civilisation of the times.
"In _hurling to the country_," says Carew, "two or three, or more
parishes agree to hurl against two or three other parishes. The matches
are usually made by _gentlemen_, and their goales are either those
gentlemen's houses, or some towns or villages three or four miles
asunder, of which either side maketh choice after the nearnesse of
their dwellings; when they meet, there is neyther comparing of numbers
nor matching of men, but a silver ball is cast up, and that company
which can catch and carry it by force or slight to the place assigned,
gaineth the ball and the victory.—Such as see where the ball is played
give notice, crying 'ware east,' 'ware west,' as the same is carried.
The hurlers take their next way over hilles, dales, hedges, ditches;
yea, and thorow bushes, briars, mires, plashes, and rivers whatsoever,
so _as you shall sometimes see twenty or thirty lie tugging together in
the water scrambling and scratching for the ball_."[305:B]
The _domestic_, amusements in the country being nearly, if not
altogether, the same with those which prevailed in the city, we shall,
with one exception, refer the consideration of them to another part
of this work. The pastime for which this distinction is claimed, was
known by the name of SHOVEL-BOARD, or _Shuffle-board_, and was so
universally prevalent throughout the kingdom, during the era of which
we are treating, that there could scarcely be found a nobleman's or
gentleman's house in the country in which this piece of furniture
was not a conspicuous object. The great hall was the place usually
assigned for its station, though in some places, as, for instance, at
Ludlow Castle, a room was appropriated to this purpose, called _The
Shovell-Board Room_.[306:A]
The table necessary for this game, now superseded by the use of
Billiards, was frequently upon a very large and expensive scale. "It
is remarkable," observes Dr. Plott, "that in the hall at Chartley the
shuffle-board table, though ten yards one foot and an inch long, is
made up of about two hundred and sixty pieces, which are generally
about eighteen inches long, some few only excepted, that are scarce
a foot; which, being laid on longer boards for support underneath,
are so accurately joined and glewed together, that no shuffle-board
whatever is freer from rubbs or casting.—There is a joynt also in the
shuffle-board at Madeley Manor exquisitely well done."[306:B]
The mode of playing at Shovel-board is thus described by Mr.
Strutt:—"At one end of the shovel-board there is a line drawn across,
parallel with the edge, and about three or four inches from it; at
four feet distance from this line another is made, over which it is
necessary for the weight to pass when it is thrown by the player,
otherwise the go is not reckoned. The players stand at the end of the
table, opposite to the two marks above mentioned, each of them having
four flat weights of metal, which they shove from them, one at a time,
alternately: and the judgment of the play is, to give sufficient
impetus to the weight to carry it beyond the mark nearest to the edge
of the board, which requires great nicety, for if it be too strongly
impelled, so as to fall from the table, and there is nothing to prevent
it, into a trough placed underneath for its reception, the throw is
not counted; if it hangs over the edge, without falling, three are
reckoned towards the player's game; if it lie between the line and the
edge, without hanging over, it tells for two; if on the line, and not
up to it, but over the first line, it counts for one. The game, when
two play, is generally eleven; but the number is extended when four, or
more, are jointly concerned."[307:A]
It appears from a passage in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, that, in
Shakspeare's time, the broad shillings of Edward VI. were made use
of at shovel-board instead of the more modern weights. Falstaff is
enquiring of Pistol if he picked master Slender's purse, a query
to which Slender thus replies: "Ay, by these gloves, did he, (or I
would I might never come in mine own great chamber again else,) of
seven groats in mill-sixpences, and two _Edward shovel-boards_, that
cost me two shillings and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, by these
gloves."[307:B] "That Slender means the broad shilling of one of our
kings," remarks Mr. Malone, "appears from comparing these words with
the corresponding passage in the old quarto: 'Ay by this handkerchief
did he;—two faire shovel-board _shillings_, besides seven groats in
mill-sixpences.'"[307:C]
Mr. Douce is of opinion that the game of shovel-board is not much older
than the reign of Edward VI., and that it is only a variation, on a
larger scale, of what was term'd SHOVE-GROAT, a game invented in the
reign of Henry VIII., and described in the statutes, of his 33d year,
as a _new_ game.[307:D] Shove-groat was also played, as the name
implies, with the coin of the age, namely silver groats, then as large
as our modern shillings, and to this pastime and to the instrument used
in performing it, Shakspeare likewise, and Jonson, allude; the first
in the _Second Part of King Henry IV._, where Falstaff, threatening
Pistol, exclaims, "Quoit him down, Bardolph, like _a Shove-groat
shilling_:"[308:A] the second in _Every Man in his Humour_, where
Knowell, speaking of Brain-worm, says that he has "translated begging
out of the old hackney pace, to a fine easy amble, and made it run
as smooth off the tongue as a _shove-groat shilling_."[308:B] That
the game of _Shovel-board_ is subsequent, in point of time, to the
diversion of _Shove-groat_, is probable from the circumstance noticed
by Mr. Douce, that no coin termed _shovel-groat_ is any where to be
found, and consequently the era of the broad shilling may be deemed
that also of shovel-board. Mr. Strutt supposes the modern game of
_Justice Jervis_ to resemble, in all essential points, the ancient
_Shove-groat_.[308:C]
Between the _juvenile_ sports which were common in the reigns of
Elizabeth and James, and those of the present day, little variation or
discrepancy, worth noticing, can be perceived; they were, under slight
occasional alterations of form and name, equally numerous, trifling, or
mischievous, and Shakspeare has now and then referred to them, for the
purposes of illustration or similitude; he has, in this manner, alluded
to the well-known games of _leap-frog_[308:D]; _handy-dandy_[308:E];
_wildmare_, or _balancing_[308:F]; _flap-dragons_[308:G]; _loggats_,
or _kittle-pins_[308:H]; _country-base_, or _prisoner's bars_[308:I];
_fast and loose_[308:J]; _nine men's morris_, or _five-penny
morris_[308:K]; _cat in a bottle_[308:L]; _figure of eight_[308:M],
&c. &c.; games which, together with those derived from balls, marbles,
hoops, &c. require no description, and which, deviating little in their
progress from age to age, can throw no material light on the costume of
early life. Very few diversions, indeed, peculiar to our youthful days
have become totally obsolete; among these, however, may be mentioned
one, which, from the obscurity resting on it, its peculiarity, and
former popularity, is entitled to some distinction. We allude to the
diversion of BARLEY-BREAKE, of the mode of playing which, Mr. Strutt
confesses himself ignorant, and merely quotes the following lines from
Sidney, as given by Johnson in his Dictionary:
"By neighbours prais'd, she went abroad thereby,
At _barley-brake_ her sweet swift feet to try."[309:A]
Barley-breake was, however, among young people, one of the most
popular amusements of the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, and
continued so until the austere zeal of the Puritans occasioned its
suppression: thus Thomas Randall, in "An Eclogue" on the diversions of
Cotswold Hills, complains that
"Some melancholy swaines, about have gone,
To teach all zeale, their owne complection—
These teach that dauncing is a Jezabell,
And _Barley-breake_, the ready way to hell."[309:B]
Before this puritanical revolution took place, _barley-breake_ was
a common theme with the amatory bards of the day, and allusions to
it were frequent in their songs, madrigals, and ballets. With one of
these, written about 1600, we shall present the reader, as a pleasing
specimen of the light poetry of the age:—
"Now is the month of maying,
When merry lads are playing;
Each with his bonny lasse,
Upon the greeny grasse.
The spring clad all in gladnesse
Doth laugh at winter's sadnesse;
And to the bagpipe's sound,
The nymphs tread out their ground.
Fye then, why sit wee musing,
Youth's sweet delight refusing;
Say daintie Nimphs and speake,
Shall wee play _barly-breake_."[310:A]
There were two modes of playing at barley-breake, and of these one
was rather more complex than the other. Mr. Gifford, in a note on the
_Virgin-Martyr_ of Massinger, where this game, in its more elaborate
form, is referred to, remarks, that "with respect to the amusement of
barley-break, allusions to it occur repeatedly in our old writers;
and their commentators have piled one parallel passage upon another,
without advancing a single step towards explaining what this celebrated
pastime really was. It was played by six people (three of each sex),
who were coupled by lot. A piece of ground was then chosen, and divided
into three compartments, of which the middle one was called hell. It
was the object of the couple condemned to this division, to catch the
others, who advanced from the two extremities; in which case a change
of situation took place, and hell was filled by the couple who were
excluded by pre-occupation, from the other places. In this "catching,"
however, there was some difficulty, as, by the regulations of the game,
the middle couple were not to separate before they had succeeded,
while the others might break hands whenever they found themselves hard
pressed. When all had been taken in turn, the last couple was said _to
be in hell_, and the game ended."[310:B]
That this description, explanatory of the passage in Massinger,
"He is at _barley-break_, and the last couple
Are now in hell,"
is accurate and full, will derive corroboration from a scarce pamphlet
entitled "Barley-breake, or a Warning for Wantons," published in 1607,
and which contains a curious representation of this amusement.
——— "On a time the lads and lasses came,
Entreating Elpin that she[311:A] might goe play;
He said she should (Euphema was her name)
And then denyes: yet needs she must away.
To Barley-breake they roundly then 'gan fall,
Raimon, Euphema had unto his mate;
For by a lot he won her from them all;
Wherefore young Streton doth his fortune hate.
But yet ere long he ran and caught her out,
And on the back a gentle fall he gave her;
It is a fault which jealous eyes spie out,
A maide to kisse before her jealous father.
Old Elpin smiles, but yet he frets within,
Euphema saith, she was unjustly cast.
She strives, he holds, his hand goes out and in:
She cries, away! and yet she holds him fast.
Till sentence given by an other maid,
That she was caught according to the law;
The voice whereof this civill quarrell staid,
And to his mate each lusty lad 'gan draw.
Euphema now with Streton is in hell,
(For so the middle roome is alwaies cald)
He would for ever, if he might, there dwell;
He holds it blisse with her to be inthrald.
The other run, and in their running change;
Streton 'gan catch, and then let goe his hold;
Euphema like a doe, doth swiftly range,
Yet taketh none, although full well she could,
And winkes on Streton, he on her 'gan smile,
And fame would whisper something in her eare;
She knew his mind, and bid him use a wile,
As she ran by him, so that none did heare."[311:B]
The simpler mode of conducting this pastime, as it was practised in
Scotland, has been detailed by Dr. Jamieson, who tells us, that it was
"a game generally played by young people in a corn-yard. One stack is
fixed on as the _dule_, or goal; and one person is appointed to catch
the rest of the company, who run out from the dule. He does not leave
it till they are all out of his sight. Then he sets off to catch them.
Any one who is taken cannot run out again with his former associates,
being accounted a prisoner; but is obliged to assist his captor in
pursuing the rest. When all are taken, the game is finished; and he who
was first taken is bound to act as catcher in the next game."[312:A]
It is evident, from our old poetry, that this style of playing at
barley-breake was also common in England, and especially among the
lower orders in the country.
It may be proper to add, at the close of this chapter, that a species
of public diversion was, during the Elizabethan period, supported by
each parish, for the purpose of innocently employing the peasantry upon
a failure of work from weather or other causes. To this singular though
laudable custom Shakspeare alludes in the _Twelfth Night_, where Sir
Toby says, "He's a coward, and a coystril, that will not drink to my
niece, 'till his brains turn o' the toe like a [312:B]_parish-top_."
"This," says Mr. Steevens, "is one of the customs now laid aside;" and
he adds, in explanation, that "a large top was kept in every village,
to be whipped in frosty weather, that the peasants might be kept
warm by exercise, and out of mischief, while they could not work;" a
diversion to which Fletcher likewise refers in his _Night-Walker_, and
which has given rise to the proverbial expression of _sleeping like a
town-top_.
From this rapid sketch of the diversions of the country, as they
existed in Shakspeare's time, it will be immediately perceived that
not many have become obsolete, and of those which have undergone some
change, the variations have not been such as materially to obscure
their origin or previous constitution. The object of this chapter
being, therefore, only to mark what was peculiar in rural pastime to
the age under consideration, and not to notice what had suffered little
or no modification, its articles, especially if we consider the nature
of the immediately preceding section, (and that nearly all amusements
common to both town and country were referred to a future part,) could
not be either very numerous, or require any very extended elucidation.
What might be necessary in the minute and isolated task of the
commentator, would be tedious and superfluous in a design which
professes, while it gives a distinct and broad outline of the
complexion of the times, to preserve among its parts an unrelaxed
attention to unity and compression.
FOOTNOTES:
[247:A] MS. Harl. Libr., No. 2057, apud Strutt's Customs, &c.
[247:B] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 8th edit. fol. 1676. p. 169,
170.
[247:C] Ibid. p. 172.
[247:D] Ibid. p. 174.
[247:E] Ibid. p. 172.
[248:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 22. note 6.
[249:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 21, 22. 25, 26.
[249:B] Pope's Preface to his edition of Shakspeare, vide Reed's
Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 183.
[249:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 25, note 3.
[250:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 26, note.
[250:B] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 130, 131.
[250:C] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 131. note 7.
[250:D] Poetaster, 1601, vide Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. of 1640,
vol. i. p. 267.
[251:A] Apology for Actors, 1612.
[251:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 307.
[251:C] Vide Malone's note in Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 307.
[251:D] By the statute of the 39 Eliz. any baron of the realm might
license a company of players; but by the statute of first James I. "it
is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth no authority given,
or to be given or made, by any baron of this realm, or any other
honourable personage of greater degree, unto any interlude players,
minstrels, jugglers, bearward, or any other idle person or persons
whatsoever, using any unlawful games or plays, to play or act, should
be available to free or discharge the said persons, or any of them,
from the pains and punishments of rogues, of vagabonds, and sturdy
beggars, in the said statutes (those of Eliz.) mentioned."
[252:A] A character in _Gammar Gurtons Needle_, says Mr. Strutt,
a comedy supposed to have been written A. D. 1517, declares he
will go "and travel with young Goose, the _motion-man_, for a
puppet-player."[252:E] This reference, however, is inaccurate, for
after a diligent perusal of the comedy in question, no such passage is
to be found.
[252:B] Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. 1640, vol. ii. p. 77. act v. sc.
4.
[252:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 112.
[252:D] Vide Malone on the Chronological Order of Shakspeare's Plays.
Reed's Shakspeare, vol. 2. p. 304.
[252:E] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 150, note b.
[253:A] Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 323, note _s_.
[253:B] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 20.
[253:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 304, and Chalmers's Apology, p.
324, note.
[254:A] Athenæ Oxon. vol. ii. p. 812.
[254:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 124.
[254:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 16.
[254:D] They were given him by Endymion Porter, the King's servant.
[254:E] Biographical History of England, vol. ii. p. 399, 8vo. edit. of
1775.
[255:A] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 20, and Heath's Description of
Cornwall, 1750.
[255:B] "About the year 750, Winifrid, or Boniface, a native of
England, and archbishop of Mons, acquaints Ethelbald, a king of
Kent, that he has sent him, one hawk, two falcons and two shields.
And Hedilbert, a king of the Mercians, requests the same archbishop
Winifrid to send him two falcons which have been trained to kill
cranes. See Epistol. Winifrid. (Bonifac.) Mogunt. 1605. 1629. And in
Bibl. Patr. tom. vi., and tom. xiii. p. 70."—Warton's Hist. of English
Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221.
[256:A] Jonson's Works, fol. vol. i. p. 6. act i. sc. 1.
[256:B] Brathwait's English Gentleman, 2d edit. 1633. p. 220.
[257:A] "The Booke of Faulconrie, or Hawking, for the onely delight
and pleasure of all Noblemen and Gentlemen: collected out of the best
aucthors, as wel Italians as Frenchmen, and some English practises
withall concernyng Faulconrie, the contentes whereof are to be seene
in the next page folowyng. By Geo. Turbervile, Gentleman. Nocet empta
dolore voluptas. Imprinted at London for Chr. Barker, at the signe of
the Grashoper in Paules Church-yarde, 1575." To this was added, the
"Noble Arte of Venerie or Hunting;" and a re-impression of both, "newly
revived, corrected, and augmented with many additions proper to these
present times," was published by Thomas Purfoot, in 1611.
Gervase Markham published in 1595 the edition of Dame Julyana Barne's
Treatise on Hawking and Hunting, which we have formerly noticed, and
which was first printed by Caxton, and afterwards by Winkin De Worde;
and in 1615, the first edition of his _Country Contentments_, which
contains a treatise on Hawking; a work so popular, that it reached
thirteen or fourteen editions.
Edmund Best, who trained and sold hawks, printed a treatise on Hawks
and Hawking in 1619.
[259:A] Brathwait's English Gentleman, 2d edit. 1633. p. 201-203.
[259:B] Henry Peacham, who remarks of Hawking, that it is a recreation
"very commendable and befitting a Noble or Gentleman to exercise,"
adds, that "by the Canon Law, Hawking was forbidden unto Clergie." The
Compleat Gentleman, 2d. edit. p. 212, 213.
[260:A] Vide Quaternio, or a Fourefold Way to a Happie Life, set forth
in a Dialogue betweene a Countryman and a Citizen, a Divine and a
Lawyer. Per Tho. Nash, Philopolitean, 1633.
[260:B] English Gentleman, p. 200.
[262:A] Quaternio, 1633. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add,
that the writer of this work must not be confounded with Thos. Nash the
author of _Pierce Penniless_, who died before 1606.
[262:B] To _bind with_ is to _tire_ or _seize_.—Gentleman's Recreation.
[263:A] _To cancelier._ "Canceller is when a high-flown hawk in her
stooping, turneth two or three times upon the wing, to recover herself
before she seizeth her prey."—Gentleman's Recreation.
[263:B] Gifford's Massinger, vol. iv. p. 136, 137.—The _Guardian_,
from which this passage is taken, was licensed in October 1633.
[264:A] Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 57, 58.
[264:B] Hall's Life of Henry VIII. sub an. xvj.
[265:A] Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
[265:B] Anonymous MS., entitled "Merry Passages and Jeasts." Bibl.
Harl. 6395. Art. cccliv.
[265:C] Merry Passages and Jeasts, art. ccxxiii.
[266:A] The Falconer was sometimes denominated the _Ostringer_ or
Sperviter: "they be called Ostringers," says Markham, "which are the
keepers of Goshawkes or Tercelles, and those which keepe Sparrow-hawkes
or Muskets are called _Sperviters_, and those which keepe any other
kinde of hawke being long-winged are termed _Falconers_." Gentleman's
Academie or Booke of S. Alban's, fol. 8.
[266:B] Satyrical Essayes, Characters, &c., by John Stephens, 1615,
16mo. 1st edit.
[267:A] "All hawks," says Markham, "generally are _manned_ after one
manner, that is to say, by watching and keeping them from sleep, by
a continuall carrying them upon your fist, and by a most familiar
stroaking and playing with them, with the wing of a dead fowl, or such
like, and by often gazing and looking them in the face, with a loving
and gentle countenance, and so making them acquainted with the man.
"After your hawks are manned, you shall bring them to the _Lure_[267:D]
by easie degrees, as first, making them jump unto the fist, after fall
upon the lure, then come to the voice, and lastly, to know the voice
and lure so perfectly, that either upon the sound of the one, sight of
the other, she will presently come in, and be most obedient; which may
easily be performed, by giving her reward when she doth your pleasure,
and making her fast when she disobeyeth: short wing'd hawks shall be
called to the fist only, and not to the lure; neither shall you use
unto them the loudnesse and variety of voice, which you do to the long
winged hawks, but only bring them to the fist by chiriping your lips
together, or else by the whistle." Countrey Contentments, 11th edit. p.
30.
[267:B] Country Contentments, p. 29.
[267:C] Though it sometimes appears that the jesses were made of silk.
[267:D] An object stuffed like that kind of bird which the hawk was
designed to pursue. The use of the _lure_ was to tempt him back after
he had flown.—Steevens.
[268:A] "These observations are taken from 'The Boke of Saint Albans;'
a subsequent edition says, 'at least a note under.'"[268:D]
[268:B] "I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal,
when the bells are cast, adds much to the sweetness of the sound; and
hence probably the allusion of Shakspeare, when he says,
'How silver sweet sound lovers tongues by night.'"
[268:C] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 28.
[268:D] This subsequent edition, to which Mr. Strutt alludes, is
probably that by Gervase Markham, who tells us under the head of
"Hawkes belles:" "The bells which your hawke shal weare, looke in any
wise that they be not too heavy, whereby they overloade hir, neither
that one be heavier than an other, but both of like weight: looke also,
that they be well sounding and shrill, yet not both of one sound, _but
one at least a note under the other_." He adds "of spar-hawkes belles
there is choice enough, and the charge little, by reason that the store
thereof is great. But for goshawks sometimes belles of Millaine were
supposed to bee the best, and undoubtedly they be excellent, for that
they are sounded with silver, and the price of them is thereafter, but
there be _now_," he observes, "used belles out of the lowe Countries
which are approoved to be _passing good_, for they are principally
_sorted_, they are well sounded, and sweet of ringing, with a pleasant
shrilnesse, and excellently well lasting." Gentleman's Academie, fol.
13.
[269:A] These technical terms may admit of some explanation, from the
following passage in Markham's edition of the Booke of St. Alban's,
1595, where speaking of the fowl being found in a river or pit, he
adds, "if shee (the hawk) nyme or take the further side of the river
or pit from you, then she slaieth the foule at _fere juttie_: but if
she kill it on that side that you are on yourselfe; as many times
it chanceth, then you shall say shee killed the foule at the _jutty
ferry_: if your hawke nime the foule aloft, you shal say she tooke it
_at the mount_. If you see store of mallards separate from the river
and feeding in the fielde, if your hawke flee covertly under hedges,
or close by the ground, by which means she nymeth one of them before
they can rise, you shall say, that foule was killed _at the querre_."
Gentleman's Academie, fol. 12.
[270:A] Ancient British Drama, vol. ii. p. 436.
[270:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 387. Act iii. sc. 3.
[270:C] Ibid., vol. v. p. 339. Act iii. sc. 1.
[270:D] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, fol. 8th edit. p. 152.
[271:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 135. Act iv. sc. 1.
[271:B] Ibid. vol. xx. p. 147. Act iii. sc. 2.
[271:C] Ibid. p. 93. Act ii. sc. 2.
[271:D] Ibid. vol. v. p. 126. Act iii. sc. 3.
[271:E] Fairy Queen, book i. cant. 11. stan. 34. "Eyes, or nias," says
Mr. Douce, "is a term borrowed from the French _niais_, which means
any young bird in the nest, _avis in nido_. It is the first of five
several names by which a falcon is called during its first year."
Illustrations, vol. i. p. 74.
[272:A] Censura Literaria, vol. x. p. 231.
[273:A] Complete Gentleman, 2nd edit., p. 212, 213.
[273:B] Dekkar's Villanies discovered by lanthorne and candle-light,
&c. 1616.
[274:A] Vide Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221. note.
[274:B] MS. Cotton Library, Vespasianus, B. 12.
[274:C] MS. Digb. 182. Bibl. Bodl. Warton, vol. ii. p. 221. note m.
[275:A] The substance of this account is taken from _The Maistre of the
Game_, written for the use of Prince Henry.
[276:A] Vide Censura Literaria, vol. x. p. 237, 238.
[276:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 173. Act iii. sc. 5.
[276:C] In a work entitled "A Briefe Discourse of the true (but
neglected) use of Charact'ring the degrees by their perfection,
imperfection, and diminution, in measurable musicke, against the
common practice and custome of these times. Examples whereof are
exprest in the harmony of 4 voyces, concerning the pleasure of 5 usuall
Recreations. 1. Hunting. 2. Hawking. 3. Dauncing. 4. Drinking. 5.
Enamouring. By Thomas Ravenscroft, Bachelar of Musicke. London, printed
by Edw. Allde for Tho. Adams, 1614. Cum privilegio Regali, 4to."
Puttenham refers to one Gray as the author of this ballad, who was
in good estimation, he says, with King Henry, "and afterwards with
the Duke of Sommerset Protectour, for making certaine merry ballades,
whereof one chiefly was, _The hunte it_ (is) _up_, the hunte is up." P.
12.
Ritson refers to another ballad, as the prototype of Shakspeare's line,
which, he says, is very old, and commences thus:—
"The hunt is up, the hunt is up,
And now it is almost day;
And he that's a bed with another man's wife,
It's time to get him away."
Remarks critical and illustrative, &c., 1783, p. 183.
[278:A] Of the language formerly used by the huntsman to his dogs, a
very curious description is given by Markham, in his modernised edition
of the Booke of St. Albans, 1595.
"When the Huntsman," says he, "commeth to the kennell in the morning
to couple up his hounds, and shall _jubet_ once or twice to awake the
dogs: opening the kennell doore, the Huntsman useth some gentle rating,
lest in their hasty comming forth they should hurt one another: to
which the Frenchman useth this worde, _Arere, Arere_, and we, _sost,
ho ho ho ho_, once or twice redoubling the same, coupling them as they
come out of the kennell. And being come into the field, and having
uncoupled, the Frenchman useth, _hors de couple avant avant_, onse or
twise with _soho_ three times together: wee use to _jubet_ once or
twice to the dogges, crying, _a traile a traile, there dogges there_,
and the rather to make the dogs in trailing to hold close together
striking uppon some Brake crie _soho_. And if the hounds have had rest,
and being over lustie, doe beginne to fling away, the Frenchmen use to
crie, _swef ames swef_, redoubling the same, with _Arere ames ho_: nowe
we to the same purpose use to say, _sost ho, heere againe ho_, doubling
the same, sometimes calling them backe againe with _jubet_ or hallow:
poynting with your hunting staffe upon the ground, saying _soho_.
"And if some one of the hounds light upon a pure scent, so that by the
manner of his eager spending you perceive it is very good, yet shall
the same hounds crying, _there, now there_: and to put the rest of the
crie in to him, you shall crie, _ho avant avant, list a Talbot, list
list there_. To which the French man useth, _Oyes a Talbot le vailant
oyes oyes, trove le coward_, in the same manner with little difference.
And if you find by your hounds where a Hare hath beene at relefe, if
it be in the time of greene corne, and if your hounds spend uppon
the troile merily, and make a goodly crie, then shall the Huntsman
blow three motes with his horne, which hee may sundry times use with
discretion, when he seeth the houndes have made away: A double, and
make on towards the seate; now if it be within some field or pasture
where the Hare hath beene at relefe, let the Huntsman cast a ring with
his houndes to finde where she hath gone out, which if the houndes
light uppon, he shall crie, _There boyes there, that tat tat, hoe
hicke, hicke, hicke avant, list to him list_, and if they chance by
their brain sicknesse to overshoote it, he shall call to his hounds,
_ho againe ho_, doubling the same twice. And if undertaking it againe,
and making it good, hee shall cheare his hounds: _there, to him there,
thats he, that tat tat_, blowing a mote. And note, that this word
_soho_ is generally used at the view of any beast of Chase or Venerie:
but indeede the word is properly _saho_, and not _soho_, but for the
better pronuntiation and fulnes of the same we say _soho_ not _saho_.
Now the hounds running in full chase, the Frenchman useth to say, _ho
ho_, or _swef alieu douce alieu_, and wee imitating them say, _There
boies, there avant there, to him there_, which termes are in deede
derived from their language."—Gentleman's Academie, fol. 32, 33. These
appear to be the terms in use at the close of the sixteenth century;
for he afterwards mentions that the "olde and antient Huntsmen had
divers termes" which were not in his time "very needefull."
[280:A] Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 164.
[280:B] Antiquarian Repertory, vol. i. p. 27.
[280:C] To take the _assay_ or _say_, was to draw the knife along
the belly of the deer, in order to ascertain how fat he was, and the
operation was begun at the brisket.
[281:A] Chaloner's Prayze of Follie, 1577. The whole process of
"undoing the Hart," may be seen in Markham's "Gentlemans Academie,"
fol. 35.
[281:B] Jonson apud Whalley, act i. sc. 6.
[281:C] Alluding to the Book of St. Albans, republished, under this
title, in 1595, by Gervase Markham.
[283:A] Satyrical Essayes, &c. by John Stephens, 1615.
[284:A] Countrey Contentments, 1615.—11th edit. 1683, p. 7-9.
[284:B] _Flews_, the large chaps of a hound.
[284:C] _Sanded_, that is, of a sandy colour, the true denotement of a
blood-hound.
[284:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 449-452, Midsummer-Night's
Dream, act iv. sc. 1.
[285:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 60. Act ii. sc. 2.
[285:B] Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. i. Laneham's Letter, p.
12, original edition, p. 17, 18.
[286:A] Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii.
[286:B] "The true narration of the Entertainment of his Royall
Majestie, from the time of his departure from Edenbrough, till his
receiving at London; with all or the most special occurrences. Together
with the names of those gentlemen whom his Majestie honoured with
Knighthood." At London printed by Thomas Creede, for Thomas Millington,
1603. 4to.
[287:A] Memoirs, p. 35.
[287:B] Wilson's History of Great Britain, p. 106. fol. London, 1653.
[287:C] Osborn's Works, 8vo. ninth edit. 1689, p. 444.
[288:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p. 183. Act v. sc. 4.
[288:B] Ibid. vol. vi. p. 68.
[288:C] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 368. Poly-Olbion, song
xxv.
[288:D] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 458. Nymphal vi.
[288:E] New Shreds of the Old Snare, by John Gee, 4to. p. 23. Vide
Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vi. p. 68. note 9.
[289:A] Harleian MS. 2281.
[289:B] Jewel for Gentrie, Lond. 1614.
[289:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 24. Henry VIII. act i. sc. 1.
[290:A] Mr. Haslewood, after much research, attributes to the pen of
this ingenious lady only the following portions of De Worde's edit. of
1496:
1. A small portion of the treatise on Hawking.
2. The treatise upon Hunting.
3. A short list of the beasts of chace.
4. And another short one of beasts and fowls.
The public are much indebted to this elegant antiquary for an admirable
fac-simile reprint of De Worde's rare and interesting volume.
[290:B] Burton has introduced, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, though
without acknowledgment, the very words of this quotation.—Vide p. 169.
8th edit.
[291:A] The titles of these works are—"A Booke of Fishing with Hooke
and Line, and of all other Instruments thereunto belonginge, made by
L. M. 4to. Lond. 1590:" the 4th edit. of Mascall's Book, was reprinted
in 1606—"Certain Experiments concerning Fish and Fruit, practised
by John Taverner, Gentleman, and by him published for the benefit of
others." 4to. London (printed for Wm. Ponsonby) 1600.—It would appear,
from a note in Walton's Complete Angler, that there was an impression
of Taverner's book of the same date with a different title, namely,
"Approved experiments touching Fish and Fruit, to be regarded by the
lovers of Angling."—Vide Bagster's edit. 1808. Life of Walton, p. 14.
note.
A third was designated "The Pleasures of Princes, or Good Men's
Recreations: containing a Discourse of the general Art of Fishing
with the Angle, or otherwise: and of all the hidden Secrets belonging
thereunto. 4to. Lond. 1614."
[293:A] This beautiful encomium has been quoted in Walton's Complete
Angler, with many alterations, and some of them much for the worse; for
instance, the very opening of the quotation is thus given:—
"Let me live harmlessly; and near the brink
Of Trent or Avon _have_ a dwelling-place—
and the conclusion of the fourth stanza:—
"The raging sea, beneath the vallies low,
Where lakes, and rills, and rivulets _do_ flow."
Bagster's edit. p. 123.
[293:B] Gervase Markham, in his _Art of Angling_, not only recommends
the same colours, but adds a caution which marks the rural dress of the
day: "Let your apparel," says he, "be close to your body, without any
_new fashioned flashes, or hanging sleeves, waving loose, like sails
about you_." P. 59.
[293:C] The first edition of the Countrey Contentments, 1615, does
not possess the _Art of Angling_; it probably appeared in the second,
a year or two after; for the work was so popular that it rapidly ran
through several impressions: the fifth is dated 1633.
[296:A] Countrey Contentments, 11th edit. p. 59-62.
[296:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vi. p. 78. Much Ado about Nothing, act
iii. sc 1.
[297:A] To this effect, likewise, Col. Venables gives a decided
testimony; for in the preface to his "Experienc'd Angler," first
published in 1662, he declares, "if example (which is the best proof)
may sway any thing, I know no sort of men less subject to melancholy
than anglers, many have cast off other recreations and embraced it,
but I never knew any angler wholly cast off (though occasions might
interrupt) their affections to their beloved recreation;" and he adds,
"if this art may prove a noble brave rest to my mind, 'tis all the
satisfaction I covet."
[297:B] Walton's Complete Angler apud Bagster, p. 122.—"Let me take
this opportunity," says Mr. Bowles, "of recommending the amiable and
venerable Isaac Walton's Complete Angler; a work the most singular
of its kind, breathing the very spirit of contentment, of quiet, and
unaffected philanthropy, and interspersed with some beautiful relics of
poetry, old songs, and ballads." Bowles's Pope, vol. i. p. 135.
[297:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 512. Cymbeline, act iii. sc.
2.
[298:A] Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 170. part ii. sat. 2. Mem. iv.
[298:B] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. v. p. 275. book iv. satire 3.
[298:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 381. Henry IV. part i. act iv.
sc. 1.
[299:A] The title is as follows: "A Discource of Horsemanshippe:
wherein the breeding and ryding of Horses for service, in a breefe
manner is more methodically sette downe then hath been heretofore, &c.
Also the manner to chuse, trayne, ryde and dyet, both Hunting-horses
and _Running-horses_: with all the secretes thereto belonging
discovered. _An arte never hearetofore written by any author._
Bramo assai, poco spero, nulla chiegio." At London. Printed by John
Charlewood for Richard Smith, 1593, 4to. Dedicated "To the Right
Worshipfull, and his singular good father, Ma. Rob. Markham, of Cotham,
in the County of Nottingham, Esq. by Jervis Markham. Licensed 29
January, 1592-3." Vide Herbert, v. 2. 1102.
[300:A] Cavelarice, or the arte and knowledge belonging to the
Horse-ryder, 1607. Book ii. chap. 24.
[301:A] Survey of London, 4to. 1618, p. 145.
[301:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p. 29.
[301:C] Vide Pluvinel sur l'exercise de monter a cheval, part iii. p.
177. et Traite des Tournois, Joustes, &c. par Claude Fran. Menestrier,
p. 264.
[303:A] Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. and of
Laneham's Letter, p. 30-32.
[304:A] Natural Hist. of Oxfordshire, p. 200.
[304:B] Censura Literaria, vol. viii. p. 233, 234.
[304:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 111. Act ii. sc. 4.
[305:A] Anatomy of Melancholy, 8th edit. p. 170.
[305:B] Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 1602, book i. p. 74.
[306:A] Vide Todd's Milton, 2d. edit. vol. vi. p. 192.
[306:B] Natural History of Staffordshire, p. 383.
[307:A] Sports and Pastimes, p. 264.
[307:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 22.
[307:C] Ibid. vol. v. p. 23. note 2.
[307:D] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 454, 455.
[308:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 96.
[308:B] Whalley's Works of Ben Jonson, vol. i.
[308:C] Vide Sports and Pastimes, p. 267. edit. of 1810.
[308:D] Henry V., act v. sc. 2.
[308:E] Lear, act iv. sc. 6.
[308:F] Second Part of Henry IV., act ii. sc. 4.
[308:G] Love's Labour Lost, act v. sc. 1. and Second Part of Henry IV.,
act ii. sc. 4.
[308:H] Hamlet, act v. sc. 1.
[308:I] Cymbeline, act v. sc, 3.
[308:J] Anthony and Cleopatra, act iv. sc. 10.
[308:K] Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.
[308:L] Much Ado about Nothing, act i. sc. 1.
[308:M] Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.
[309:A] Sports and Pastimes, p. 338.
[309:B] Annalia Dubrensia, 1636, c. iii.
[310:A] Cantus of Thomas Morley, the first booke of ballets to five
voyces.
[310:B] Massinger's Works, by Gifford, vol. i. p. 104.
[311:A] His daughter.
[311:B] "Barley-breake, or a Warning for Wantons. Written by W. N.,
Gent. Printed at London by Simon Stafford, dwelling in the Cloth-fayre,
neere the Red Lyon, 1607. 4to. 16 leaves." Vide British Bibliographer,
vol. i. p. 65.—This poem has been attributed, notwithstanding the
initials, to Nicholas Breton.
[312:A] Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language,
1808.
[312:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 248.