Edinburgh, immediately on her arrival, forbidding any disturbance to be
given to the mass, under pain of death, Knox openly declared against it,
in his sermon, on the following Sunday; and on the marriage of the queen
with Darnley, he not only preached another sermon, expressing his
dislike to the alliance, on account of the religious principles avowed
by the young nobleman; but when the latter went to hear him preach, he
took occasion to speak his opinions, in terms certainly not the most
gentle. Such plain and honest dealing as this, was not very likely to be
palatable to a court, and he was accordingly silenced.
“By no means, however, deterred, he went on, in private, with the great
work of reformation; and was one of the most active and successful
instruments, in delivering Scotland from papal corruption, and priestly
domination. He lived to preach against the awful massacre of the
Protestants, in Paris, on St. Bartholomew’s-day; and desired that the
French ambassador might be informed that he had done so.
“He died the twenty-fourth of November, 1572, and was interred at
Edinburgh, several lords attending his funeral; and particularly the
earl of Morton, who was on that day chosen regent of Scotland, and who,
as soon as he was laid in the grave, exclaimed, ‘There lies one who
never feared the face of man—who has been often threatened with dirk and
dagger, but yet has ended his days in peace and honour; for he had God’s
providence watching over him in a special manner, whenever his life was
sought.’
“In judging of the character of John Knox, we must make some allowance
for the age in which he lived, and the part he was destined to act.
Happily for us, we live in a day when party spirit and religious bigotry
are much softened: let us, therefore, endeavour to be thankful for the
blessing, and learn to look with charity and brotherly love, on those
who may differ from us in their mode of worshipping the Supreme Being.
“But the dinner-bell rings: let us leave the gallery,” said Mr. Wilmot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAP. IV.
----------
“WHAT have you found to excite your curiosity there, Susan?” said Mr.
Wilmot, observing her eyes fixed upon the full-length picture of a
gentleman attired in the costume of the reign of Henry the Eighth.
“I am looking, Sir,” she replied, “at the singular dress of this
gentleman.”
“At no period, perhaps, of our national history,” continued Mr. Wilmot,
“was extravagance in dress carried to a higher pitch, than in this and
the succeeding reign. The various modes of _wearing the hair_, and
_cutting the beard_, seem to have afforded much umbrage to Holinshed,
who lived at this time; and he enumerates, with amusing gravity, the
variety and diversity which prevailed with respect to the latter.
Ear-rings of gold, stones, or pearls, were in use amongst the courtiers.
‘But never,’ he mournfully observes, ‘was it merrier with England, than
when an Englishman was known abroad by his own cloth; and contented
himself at home with his kersey hose, his plain slops; (or small
clothes;) his coat, gown, or cloak, of brown, blue, or _puke_; with some
pretty furniture of velvet or fur, and a doublet of sad tawny, or black
velvet, or other comely silk; without such cuts or gaudy colours as are
worn in these days, and never brought in but by consent of the French,
who think themselves the gayest men when they have most change of jaggs,
and variety of colours about them. Certainly, of all ranks,’ he
continues, ‘our merchants have the least altered their attire, and are,
therefore, the most to be commended; for, although what they wear is
very fine and costly, yet it still represents the ancient gravity
suitable for citizens and burgesses.’
“It was very unusual to see any young men above the age of eighteen or
twenty, without a dagger either by his side, or at his back; and even
burgesses and aged magistrates, whose occupations are generally supposed
to be peaceful, were also thus armed. The nobility commonly wore swords
or rapiers with their daggers, as did also every servant following his
master. Others carried two daggers, or two rapiers in a sheath, always
about them; and, when quarrels arose, the consequences were frequently
dreadful. These warlike implements were much longer than those used in
any other country. In travelling, some carried with them, on their
shoulders, staves, some of which were twelve or thirteen feet long,
besides the pike of twelve inches; but I must tell you, that these were
mostly suspicious characters.
“To such an excess had this love of dress arisen in the reign of
Elizabeth, that it was thought necessary to check it by a proclamation,
issued in October, 1559. It was, indeed, felt as a serious evil at this
period, when the manufactures of England were in so rude a state, that
almost every article for the use of the higher classes, was imported
from Flanders, France, or Italy, in exchange for the raw commodities of
the country, or, perhaps, for money.
“The invectives of divines have placed upon lasting records some
transient follies, which might otherwise have sunk into oblivion; and
the sermon of bishop Pilkington, a warm polemic of this time, may be
quoted as a kind of commentary on the proclamation. He reproves
‘fine-fingered rufflers, with their sable about their necks, corked
slippers, trimmed buskins, and warm mittens. These tender Parnels,’ he
says, ‘must have one gown for the day, another for the night; one long,
another short; one for winter, another for summer; one furred through,
another but faced; one for the workday, another for the holiday; one of
this colour, another of that; one of cloth, another of silk and damask:
change of apparel, one afore dinner, another after; one of Spanish
fashion, another of Turkey; and, to be brief, never content with enough,
but always devising new fashions and strange.”
‘Yea, a ruffian will have more in his ruff and his hose, than he should
spend in a year. He, which ought to go in a russet coat, spends as much
on apparel for him and his wife, as his father would have kept a good
house with.”
“Miss Aikin conjectures, that the costly furs here mentioned, had
probably become fashionable, since a direct intercourse had been opened,
in Henry the Eighth’s reign, with Russia; from which country ambassadors
had arrived, whose barbaric splendours had astonished the eyes of the
good people of London. The affectation of wearing, in turns, the costume
of all nations in Europe, with which the queen herself was not a little
infected, may be traced partly to the practice of importing articles of
dress from those nations, and that of employing foreign tailors in
preference to native ones; and partly to the taste for travelling,
which, since the revival of letters, had become laudably prevalent among
the young nobility and gentry of England.
“In the reign of Elizabeth, also, we find an order of the lord mayor and
common council, regulating the dress of apprentices, and directing that
they shall not presume to wear any apparel than that received from their
masters. It was enacted, that ‘apprentices shall wear no hat, but a
woollen cap: they shall not wear ruffles, cuffs, loose collars, nor any
thing more than a ruff at the collar, and that not more than a yard and
a half long. They must wear no doublets but what are made of canvass,
fustian, sackcloth, English leather, or woollen, without any gold,
silver, or silk trimmings. They must wear hose of cloth and kersey; but
of no other colour than white, blue, or russet. Their breeches must be
of the same materials as their doublets, and neither stitched, laced,
nor bordered. Their upper coat must be of cloth or leather, without
stitching, pinking, edging, or silk trimming. They shall wear no other
surtout than a cloth gown or cloak, lined or faced with cotton, cloth,
or baize, with a plain, round, fixed collar. No pumps, shoes, or
slippers, to be allowed them, but of English leather, without being
pinked, edged, or stitched. No girdles or garters to be worn, but what
are made of crewel, woollen, thread, or leather. They must wear neither
sword nor dagger; but a knife only. All jewels, rings, gold, silver, or
silk, are forbidden in any part of their dress. Neither shall they
frequent any dancing, fencing, or musical schools, under severe
penalties; one of which was, to be publicly whipped at the hall of their
company.’”
“During the reign of Henry the Eighth, luxury seems to have increased
rapidly,” remarked Mrs. Spencer. “The furniture of the houses, the style
of living, and even gardening, appear alike to have undergone a
progressive improvement.”
“Yes,” answered Mr. Wilmot: “we find that, about this time, the walls of
the houses were either hung with tapestry, arras work, or painted
cloths, on which were represented birds, beasts, herbs, &c. Wainscotting
with oak, or wood imported from the east, began now to be generally
used, and rendered the rooms much more comfortable than formerly. Stoves
were not much used, though they began to appear in the houses of the
nobility and the wealthy citizens.
“But expensive furniture was most prevalent. ‘Not only,’ says Holinshed,
‘is it not rare to see abundance of arras, rich hangings of tapestry,
silver vessels, and such other plate as would furnish several cupboards,
to the sum oftentimes of a thousand or two thousand pounds at the least;
but the rest of the house was proportionably furnished. In the abodes of
knights, gentlemen, merchants, and some other wealthy citizens, it is
not unusual to behold a great profusion of tapestry, Turkish work,
pewter, brass, fine linen, and costly cupboards of plate, worth five or
six hundred or a thousand pounds.’ But the tide of luxury invaded even
the lower orders. ‘The inferior artificers, and main farmers, who, by
virtue of their old, not of their new leases, (says the chronicler,)
learned to garnish also their cupboards with plate, their joined beds
with tapestry and silk hangings, and their tables with carpets and fine
linen. There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remain,’
says Holinshed, ‘which have noted three things to be marvellously
altered in England, within their sound remembrance; and other three
things too, too much increased. One is the multitude of chimneys lately
erected: whereas, in their young days, there were not above two or
three, if so many, in most up-landish towns of the realms, (the
religious houses, and manor places of their lords always excepted, and,
peradventure, some great personages,) but each one made his fire against
a reredosse in the hall, where he dined and dressed his meat. The
second, is the great (although not general) amendment of lodging; for,
said they, our fathers, yea, and we also ourselves, have lain full oft
on straw pallets, or rough mats, covered only with a sheet or coverlets,
made of dagswain[3] or hop-harlots[4]; and a good round log under their
heads, instead of a bolster and pillow. If our forefathers had, within
seven years after their marriage, purchased a mattress or flock-bed, and
added thereto a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he considered
himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town, who, probably,
himself, seldom lay on a bed of down, or whole feathers; so contented
were they with simple fare. Indeed, even now[5], in some parts of
Bedfordshire, and elsewhere farther in the south, the same plans are
pretty much pursued. Pillows were only for an indulgence to the sick. As
for servants, if they had any sheet above them, it was well; for rarely
had they any thing under their bodies, to protect them from the pricking
straws, which often found their way through the canvass of the pallet.
The third thing they speak of, is the exchange of vessels; as pewter for
treen[6] platters, and silver or tin spoons, for wooden ones; for so
common were all sorts of treen ware in old times, that a person could
hardly find four pieces of pewter, including the salt-cellar, in a good
farmer’s house; and yet, in spite of this frugality, they were scarcely
able to live, and pay their rents, without selling a cow, or a horse, or
more, although they paid but four pounds, at the uttermost, by the
year.’
Footnote 3:
A rough, coarse mantle.
Footnote 4:
Probably hop-sacking.
Footnote 5:
Henry the Eighth’s reign.
Footnote 6:
Wooden and earthen dishes.
“It is impossible not to smile at Holinshed’s enumeration of the evils
attendant upon the introduction of chimneys. Colds, catarrhs, &c. are
included; whilst he gravely assures us, that whilst they had only
reredosses, their heads were free from pain. Smoke being considered not
only a sufficient hardener of the timber in the house, but the best
medicine to keep the good man and his family from the quack, or
catarrhs, which were then but little known.”
Mrs. Spencer smilingly remarked, that she supposed our forefathers would
willingly have acquiesced in the observation, that, “Where ignorance is
bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” “But,” she added, “I believe they took
their meals at much earlier hours than are at present in fashion.”
“Yes,” answered Mr. Wilmot: “the nobility and gentry dined at eleven
o’clock before noon, and supped at five, or between five and six o’clock
in the evening. The merchants seldom dined or supped before twelve at
noon, or six at night, especially in London. The husbandmen dined at
high noon, and supped at seven or eight; but out of term, in our
universities, the scholars dined at ten.
“Great silence was observed at the tables of the ‘honourable and wise;’
and it seems that a curious custom prevailed amongst artificers and
husbandmen, of each _guest_ bringing his own dish, or so many with him,
as his wife and he could agree upon.
“Abundance and unbounded liberality, prevailed at the entertainments of
the great. The cooks, at this period, seem to have been mostly
Frenchmen, or strangers. Besides the usual meats, and the delicacies
that the season afforded, red deer is particularly enumerated. It was
usual to reserve the beginning of every dish for the greatest personage
sitting at table, to whom it was handed up by the waiters, as order
required; from whom it again descended to the lower end, so that every
guest tasted of it. Unexpected and numerous visitors flocked to the
mansions of the nobility and gentry, and rendered it necessary not only
to retain a large retinue of servants, but a very ample supply of
provisions.
“The chief part of the food was brought in before them, chiefly on
silver vessels, if they were of the degree of barons, bishops, and
upwards, and placed on their tables. What was left, was sent down to
their serving-men and waiters; and their reversion was bestowed upon the
poor, who waited in flocks at their gates to receive the bounty.
“A daily allowance was appointed for their halls, where the chief
officers and household servants, (for all were not permitted by custom
to sit with their lord,) with such inferior guests as were not high
enough to associate with the nobleman himself, took their meals.
“In the houses of the nobles, pots, goblets, jugs of silver, with Venice
glasses of all shapes, were commonly in use. In inferior habitations,
‘pots of earth, of various colours and moulds, many of them garnished
with silver, were in requisition; and pewter supplied the place of more
costly utensils, amongst the still lower ranks. When any one had drank,
he made the cup clean by pouring out what remained, and restoring the
vessel to the cupboard again. Gentlemen and merchants maintained about
an equality at their tables, varying the number of dishes according to
the resort of strangers; yet even these maintained an ordinary for their
servants, independent of what was left by the family.’ Venison appears
to have been with them a favourite, and by no means rare dish; and at
certain feasts given by them, they appear to have rivalled the haughty
barons, in the variety and sumptuousness of the dishes prepared.
Butchers’ meat was rejected with disdain; and some very minute
particulars have reached us, of the ornamental parts of these
entertainments. Amongst them, jellies of various colours and forms are
named. ‘Marchpain wrought with no small curiosity, tarts of various hues
and sundry denominations, conserves of old fruits and home bred,
suckets, sugar-bread, ginger-bread florentines, with several outlandish
confections, altogether seasoned with sugar,’ seem to have borne a
conspicuous part.
“We are as ignorant of the excellence of some of these highly-extolled
dishes,” said Mr. Wilmot, as he paused for a few moments, “as our
ancestors were of many of those fruits and vegetables, which are now
familiar to the lowest class. I allude to melons, pompions, gourds,
cucumbers, radishes, skirrets, parsnips, turnips, carrots, cabbages, and
all kinds of salad herbs. These, from the time of Henry the Fourth, to
the latter end of Henry the Seventh, and beginning of Henry the Eighth’s
reign, were not only unknown, but were considered as food suitable alone
for hogs and other animals. After this period, they not only became
plentiful among the higher orders, who were in the habit of sending
abroad yearly for new seeds, but found their way commonly to the
inferior classes.
“At the same era, gardening received a new impulse; and the ingenuity
and care of the florist, is spoken of in terms of high eulogium,
together with some little appearance of incredulity, as relates to the
practicability of the theories advanced; theories which are now
comprehended by the most humble individual. It may also surprise you to
learn, that the culture of medicinal herbs formed a very important and
useful branch of the gardener’s calendar, at this time; and noblemen and
gentlemen devoted to them large plots of ground, and mingled them with
the flowers which adorned their parterres.
“The varieties of fruit which were likewise introduced at this epoch,
are mentioned with a tone of exultation, that may cause a similar
feeling of surprise on your part, my little cousins,” said Mr. Wilmot,
“accustomed as you are to regard them as the natural produce of autumn.
“‘Delicate apples, plums, pears, walnuts, and filberts,’ are included in
this catalogue; whilst apricots, peaches, almonds, and figs, are spoken
of as strange fruit, introduced within the last forty years of the
author’s account, and cultivated only in the orchards of the nobility.”
“The word _comfortable_,” said Mrs. Spencer, “understood in no other
country so well as in England, could not, I think, have been applied, as
characteristic of the mode of living practised by our ancestors.”
“Not according to our modern ideas,” answered Mr. Wilmot; “but I will
relate a few more anecdotes, descriptive of ancient customs and manners.
“Previous to the time of Elizabeth, instead of glass, the windows of
houses in the country were composed either of lattice made of wicker, or
of spars of oak placed in chequer; but in the reign of the ‘maiden
queen,’ glass becoming cheaper, this mode of admitting light fell into
disuse.”
“I do not wonder that they were glad to exchange,” said Susan: “it must
have rendered the houses cold and comfortless.”
“But you forget,” said Mr. Wilmot, “they must have formed nice avenues
for the smoke to escape, when there were not any chimneys. But I have
omitted to mention a curious fashion, which took its rise from some
learned divine, previous to the reign of Henry the Fourth, and which
continued long after that of the sixth Henry. It was no other than that
of taking away the father’s surname, however honourable or ancient, and
substituting that of the town in which the individual was born. Thus,
Richard Nottingham, a celebrated friar, was named from an island where
he was born, near Gloucester. William Barton, a famous doctor, and
chancellor of Oxford in Richard the Second’s reign, from Barton in
Lincolnshire. Walter Disse, of Disse in Suffolk, a Carmelite friar, and
confessor to the duke and duchess of Lancaster, in Henry the Fourth’s
reign. Richard Hampoole, from a town in Yorkshire, a zealous doctor, and
afterwards a virtuous hermit, in Henry the Sixth’s days. Hundreds of
others followed this example, among whom may be enumerated William
Wainfleet, bishop of Winchester, lord chancellor of England, and founder
of Magdalen College, Oxford. His original name was Paten; but he altered
it to the name of the town of which he was a native. To this whimsical
notion may be traced many of our present surnames, such as German, or
Germin, which was assumed out of affection to Germany, the country from
which their forefathers came. Jute, Jud, and Chute, from the tribe of
Judes, one of the German nations who came over with Hengist and Horsa;
and Calthrop, Caltrap, and Caltrop, were all but for Caldthorp,
signifying a cold town. Paten, Patten, or Patent, is likewise derived
from the Saxon word Pate, the sole of the foot, and therefrom Patan,
signifying flat-footed.
“Before the Reformation, there were very few free-schools in England.
Latin was generally taught to the youths at the monasteries. In the
nunneries were taught needle-work, confectionery, surgery, and physic,
(surgeons and apothecaries being then very rare,) writing, drawing, &c.
“Before the civil wars, in gentlemen’s houses, at Christmas, the first
dish that was brought to table, was a boar’s head with a lemon in its
mouth. The first dish that was brought to table on Easter-day, was a red
herring, riding away on horseback; that is, a herring served up by the
cook in a corn-salad, to look like a man on horseback. A gammon of bacon
was eaten at Easter, to show the abhorrence of Judaism, at that solemn
commemoration of our Lord’s resurrection.
“In 1486, the reign of Henry the Seventh, a certain number of archers,
and other strong, active persons, were constituted by this monarch
yeomen of the guard, and were in daily attendance upon his person. This
was the first English monarch that instituted a bodyguard; and it was
generally thought that he took his precedent from France.
“In 1568, noblemen’s and gentlemen’s coats were made in the same fashion
as those of yeomen of the guard; and in 1678, the benchers of the inns
of Court still maintained that fashion in the making of their gowns.
“The Normans brought with them civility into England. In those days,
upon any occasion of bustle of business, great lords sounded their
trumpets, and summoned all those that they held under them. Sir Walter
Long, of Draycott, kept a trumpeter, and rode with thirty servants and
retainers; from whence took the rise of the sheriff’s trumpets.
“Gentlemen carried prodigious fans, with very long handles: with these
their daughters were often corrected. The lord chief justice, Sir Edward
Coke, rode the circuit with a fan of this description: the earl of
Manchester also used a fan; and both fathers and mothers slashed their
daughters with them, when they were grown up women. At Oxford and
Cambridge, the rod was frequently used by the tutors and deans; and Dr.
Potter, of Trinity College, in the year 1669, or thereabouts, whipped
his pupil who had a sword by his side.
“The conversation and habits of these times were starched and formal:
gravity often passed for wisdom, and quibbles for wit, even in
clergymen’s sermons. The gentry and citizens had little learning of any
kind; and their way of bringing up their children was suitable to all
the rest. They were as severe as schoolmasters to them, and the
schoolmasters were as severe as governors of houses of correction. The
child, consequently, dreaded the sight of his parents. Gentlemen of
thirty and forty years of age, stood like mutes and bare-headed before
them; and the daughters, when grown young women, stood at the
cupboard-side, during the whole time of the proud mother’s visit,
unless, as the fashion then was, leave was requested that a cushion
might be given them to kneel upon, when they had done sufficient penance
by standing, and which was brought them by a serving-man.