Chapter 10

[280]Do it.[281]God thank you.[282]i.e.I had.[283]The beverage of which these persons are here supposed to partake was probably what, in Charles the First's time, was calledwhite wine; which, if diluted, as was no doubt very commonly done, would present a very watery aspect. A very curious account of the wines in vogue during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. is given by Taylor the Water-Poet in hisPraise of Hempseed. Cartwright, in hisOrdinary, has the following passage, describing the various sorts of wine used in his day:—"Hearsay.Thou hast forgotten Wine, Lieutenant, wine.Slicer.Then to avoid the grosse absurdityOf a dry Battel, 'cause there must some bloudBe spilt (on th' enemies side, I mean) you mayHave there a Rundlet of brisk Claret, andAs much of Aligant, the same quantitieOf Tent would not be wanting, 'tis a wineMost like to bloud. Some shall bleed fainter colours,As Sack, and white wine. Some that have the itch(As there are Taylors still in every Army)Shall run with Renish, that hath Brimstone in't."Aligantmentioned in this extract was the wine grown in Alicante, a province of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia. Sometimes it was spelled Aligaunt or Aligaunte:—"Pseud.In Ganges Iles I thirty rivers sawFill'd with sweet nectar.Lach.O dainty lyer!Pseud.Thirty rivers moreWith Aligaunte."Timon, a Play, p. 39.In thePrivy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., under date of Feb. 16, 1530, occurs the following item:—"Paied to the S'geant of the Sello' for iii tonne of white wyne of galiake (Gaillac in Languedoc)." See alsothe Northumberland House-Hold Book, ed. 1827, p. 414; and Taylor'sPenniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 136).[284]"He that will take the bird, must not skare it."—Herbert'sOutlandish Proverbs, 1640, No. 41.[285]This word, which frequently occurs in the course of the present work, must be understood to be merely equivalent to the Greek [Greek: tyrannos], a prince whose authority is unlimited by constitutional restraints. There seems to be some ground for the supposition that [Greek: tyrannos] is nothing more than the Doric form of [Greek: koipanos]. It may be mentioned that in middle-Greek the worddespota([Greek: despotês]) bore no harsher meaning than that of apetty prince, acting independently, but acknowledging a suzerain. It is to be found in this sense, I think, in almost all the Byzantine historians.[286]i.e.when the undertaking is no matter of choice.[287]This is a very favourite tale with the early Italian novelists. In Dunlop'sHistory of Fiction, ii. 364-5 (Second Edition), the incident is said to have been founded on a real adventure of a French priest. In the following extract from a highly curious pamphlet, it appears in a different form:—"There was a rich Burgess of Antwerp, a Mercer by his trade, who was a Bawd to his own Wife (though it was against his will or knowledge), but I blame him not, for I doubt hee hath many more fellowes as innocent and ignorant as himselfe, but this was the case, his wife wearing corke shooes, was somewhat light-heel'd, and like a foul player at Irish, sometimes she would beare a man too many, and now and then make a wrong Entrance. The summe was, that shee lov'd a Doctor of Physicke well, and to attaine his company shee knew no better or safer way, than to faine her selfe sicke, that hee under the colour of visitation might feele her pulses, and apply such cordiall Remedies as might either ease or cure her. In briefe, the Doctor being sent for, comes and finds the Mercer her husband walking in his shop with a neighbour of his, where after a leash ofCongees, and a brace ofBaza los manus, the Mercer told him that his Wife is a languishing sicke woman, and withall entreats him to take the paines to walke up the staires, and minister some comfort unto her: Master Doctor, who knew her disease by the Symptomes, ascends up into the Chamber to his longing patient, staying an houre with her, applying such directions and refections, that her health was upon the sudden almost halfe recovered; so taking his leave of her (with promise of often visitation) he comes downe into the shope, where the guiltlesseBawdher husband was, who demanding of the Doctor how all did above; truely quoth hee, much better than when I came, but since I went up, your wife hath had two such strange violent fits upon her, that it would have grieved your very heart to have seene but part of one of them."—Taylor'sBawd(Works, 1630, ii. 94).[288]Louvaine.[289]Cooked.[290]It is scarcely necessary to mention that formerly all priests were styled Sir. One of John Heywood's interludes is called:A Play between Johan the Husband, Tyb the Wife, and Sir Johan the Prest. In an old ballad in the Ashmole Collection, beginning, "Adew! my pretty pussy," there is this passage:—"But the gyrld ys gon, syr,With a chokynge bon, syr,For she hath got Syr John, syr,And ys oure vyckars wyff."[291]Thwarted, crossed.[292]The original of this is the Fabliau ofLa Hence Partie, in Barbazan's Collection. The story has been used by Lando, in hisVarii Componimenti, 1552, 8vo.[293]Bath.[294]Rub, from the French,frotter.[295]Phocion, the celebrated Athenian patriot, b. 402B.C.d. 317B.C.Full particulars about him may be found in Mr. Grote'sHistory of Greece, and in Dr. Smith'sDictionary of Classical Biography.[296]Orig. reads unnecessarily,and to be such one styll.[297]The celebrated Latin poet. "Quintus Ennius," Gellius tells us (N. A.lib. xvii. cap. 17), "said he had three hearts, because he understood the Greek, Oscan, and Latin languages."[298]Orig. readscoude.[299]So far extends Berthelet's edition, of which the colophon is: Imprinted at London in Flete Strete in the house of Thomas Berthelet nere to the Cundite, at the sygne of Lucrece. ¶ Cum priuilegio. The remaining 26 tales are from the Ed. of 1567.[300]Dormitory.[301]During the Wars of the Roses. InThe First Part of Edward IV., by Thomas Heywoud, 1600 (Shakesp. Soc. repr. p. 41), Hobs, the Tanner of Tamworth, says:—"By my troth, I know not, when I speak treason, when I do not. There's such halting betwixt two kings, that a man cannot go upright, but he shall offend t'one of them. I would God had them both, for me."[302]This word is in the original text printed twice by an oversight. I have struck out the duplicate.[303]i.e.a person dwelling in the uplands or mountainous districts where the learning of the cities had not very deeply penetrated. Hence the word became synonymous with ignorant and uninformed. Alexander Barclay's fifth eclogue is "Of the Citizen and Uplandish Man." The poem ofJack Uplandis printed in the old editions of Chaucer and in Wright'sPolitical Poems and Songs, 1861, ii. 16. Mr. Wright assigns to it the date of 1401."He hath perus'd all the impressionsOf Sonnets, since the fall of Lucifer,And made some scurvy quaint collectionsOf fustian phrases, anduplandishwords."Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1600.[304]Perhapswentis the true reading.[305]"What must he (the king) do then? He must be a student. He must write God's booke himselfe, not thinking because he is a king, but he hath licence to do what he will, as these worldly flatterers are wont to say."—Latimer's Second Sermon before King Edward VI.1549.[306]i.e.coming home.[307]Better known as Roberto Caraccioli-Caraccioli. He was born in 1425 at Licio, in the Neapolitan territory, and was thence often called Robertus Liciensis. Watt (Bibliotheca Britannica, voceLicio) mentions only his sermons: but he published several other tracts.[308]Usually speltpreaseorprese. The word signifiescrowd. It occurs in this sense in Edwardes'Damon and Pythias, composed about 1564."Yet shall there no restrayntCause me to cese,Among this prese,For to encreseYoure goodly name."Skelton'sGarlande of Laurell.[309]Orig. and Singer reador els you to holde.[310]The celebratedMoria Encomium, of which an English version appeared in 1549.[311]Nosledornousledis the same asnursled, brought up. See Todd's Johnson, 1827, in vocenosled; and Richardson's Dict.ibid.The word is not in Webster or Nares.[312]The allusion in the text is probably to the paraphrastic version of the New Testament by Erasmus, which had then recently appeared in two volumes, folio (1516). The work did not appear in an English dress till 1548.[313]Enchiridion Militis Christiani.An English translation of this work appeared in 1533, in which Enchiridion is renderedThe Handsome Weapon.[314]These pleasantries at the expense of the preachers in the time of Henry VIII. bear perhaps a little hard upon the fraternity. The rendering of Latin authors was not much improved a century or two later.[315]The Northern men seem to have been formerly favourite subjects for story tellers and ballad-writers. Martin Parker published a poem called "The King and a Poore Northern man," and there is a ballad entitled "The King and the Northern man." Neither has anything to do with the present tale. No. 95 of theC. Mery Talys, of which only a small fragment is at present known to exist, is entitled, "Of the Northern man that was all harte."[316]"Richard, Richard, by the mass I am glad that thou art king!"[317]A very usual practice in those days. At p. 254 of theNorthumberland House-hold Book(ed. 1827) we find:—"Two Gentlemen waiters for the Bordes Ende and a servaunt betwixt theim iii—Hannsmen and Yonge Gentlemen at their Fryndes fynding v (as to say Hanshmen [Henchmen] iii and yong Gentlemen iii)."Orig. and Singer, fortranereadtrade.[318]Tricks upon blind persons naturally form a feature in the jest books. The eighty-third adventure of Tyl Owlglass is a practical joke on a blind man, and inScoggin's Jests, 1626, there are one or two examples.[319]A cheat or rogue. See Rowland'sKnave of Clubbs, 1600 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 18). The wordShifteris employed by Rowlands in theKnave of Harts, 1613, and by others of our elder writers in the same sense. In the following passage, shift is used to signify a piece of knavery:—"Ferd.Brother, you lie; you got her with ashift.Frank.I was the first that lov'd her."Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1607 (Shakesp. Soc. ed. p. 87).See also Taylor'sWorks, 1630, ii. 144. In hisSculler, 1612, the last mentioned writer introduces a sharper into one of his epigrams under the nameof Mounsieur Shift, "cozen-german to Sir CuthertTheft" (Works, iii. 25).[320]Antiently, no doubt, Long Lane ran between hedges into Smithfield; but it appears that even in the early part of Elizabeth's reign building had commenced in this locality. Stow (Survey of London, edit. 1720, lib. iii. p. 122) says:—"Long Lane, so called from its length, coming out ofAldersgate StreetagainstBarbican, and falleth intoWest Smithfield. A Place also of Note for the Sale of Apparel, Linnen, and Upholsters Goods, both Secondhand and New, but chiefly for old, for which it is of note." See also p. 284 of the same book, and Cunningham'sHand Book of London, edit. 1848,in voce, with the authorities and illustrations there given. Rowlands, in hisLetting of Humors Blood in the Head Vein, 1611, Sign. C. 2verso, celebrates this spot as one of the principal haunts of the pawnbrokers. InWits Recreations, 1640 (edit. 1817, p. 109), there is the following epigram:—"He which for 's wife a widow doth obtain,Doth like to those that buy clothes inLong Lane,One coat's not fit, another's too too old,Their faults I know not, but th' are manifold."Day, in theParliament of Bees, 1641, 40, Sign. C, speaks very disrespectfully of the population of Long Lane in his time. SeeMaroccus Extaticus, 1595 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 16), Dekker'sKnights' Conjuring, 1607, ed. Rimbault, p. 54. Webster's Works, by Hazlitt, i. 94. and Taylor's Works, 1630, Sign. Ggg4. TheSwanInn has disappeared, but whether it has merged in theBarley Mow, or theOld Red Cow, I do not know.[321]Nearest.[322]The original reading is,so while they were doying.[323]Innkeeper. This form of the word continued to be used by English writers even in the later half of the seventeenth century.[324]Perhaps this, like Makeshift, was merely intended as a phrase to disguise the real name of the person intended.[325]NorthumberlandAlleywas in Fenchurch Street, and was notorious for bowling-greens, gaming-houses, &c. Probably this is the locality intended. See Cunningham'sHandbook to London. 596 edit. 1848.[326]i.e.a burlesque play.[327]Orig. and Singer readman.[328]Aldersgate. In theOrdinary, by W. Cartwright, Moth the Antiquary says:—"Yclose byAldersgatethere dwelleth oneWights clypenRobert Moth; nowAldersgateIs hotten so from one thatAldrichhight;Or else of Elders, that is, ancient men;Or else of Aldern trees which growden there;Or else, as Heralds say, fromAluredus."[329]Inns were not so plentiful at this time as they afterward became. Perhaps the establishment here referred to was the celebratedBellInn, which was still standing in the time of James the First, and which is mentioned by Taylor the Water-Poet in hisPenniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 122):—"At last I took my latest leave, thus lateAt the Bell Inn, that'sextraAldersgate."[330]i.e.it were a charity to thruste, &c. The original and Singer have, "it were almesitthruste."[331]In the original this is printed as prose, perhaps to economize space.Array, oraraye, as it is here spelled, signifies obviously disturbance or clamour. So in theHistory of King Arthur, 1634, Part iii. cap. 134:—"So in this rumour came in Sir Launcelot, and found them all at a great aray;" and the next chapter commences with, "Aha! what aray is this? said Sir Launcelot."[332]Probably the cup bequeathed by Sir Martin Bowes to the Goldsmiths' Company, and still preserved, is here meant. See Cunningham'sHandbook of London, art.Goldsmiths' Hall, and for some account of the Bowes family, which intermarried with that of D'Ewes, seeAutobiography and Correspondence of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, ii. 17, 18. It seems to have been a rather common practice formerly to engrave figures of Saints, representations of the Passion, &c. on the bottom of drinking cups.—See Rowlands'Knave of Clubbs, 1600. (Percy Soc. repr. p. 64.)[333]In the same manner that he inquired of others, &c.[334]This is related differently in Plutarch. "NowAgesilausbeing arrived inÆgypt, all the chiefe Captaines and Governors of KingTachoscame to the seashore, and honourably received him: and not they onely, but infinite numbers of Ægyptians of all sorts ... came thither from all parts to see what manner of man he was. But when they saw no stately traine about him, but an olde gray-beard layed on the grasse by the sea side, a litle man that looked simply of the matter, and but meanely apparelled in an ill-favored thread-bare gowne: they fell a-laughing at him, remembring the merry tale, that a mountaine," &c.—North'sPlutarch, edit 1603, fol. 629-30.[335]Remuneration.[336]To persuade by reasoning.[337]Turning by force of ingenuity.[338]Owed.[339]See Lane'sArabian Tales and Anecdotes, 1845, p. 73, for a story similar to this.[340]This story is applied by Richard Johnson, editor of thePleasant Conceits of Old Hobson the Merry Londoner, 1607, 4to, to his own purposes. Johnson was an unscrupulous appropriator.[341]The obstacle to the matter.[342]This tale is followed by the colophon, which is: Imprinted at London in Fletestrete, by Henry Wykes. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.

[280]Do it.

[281]God thank you.

[282]i.e.I had.

[283]The beverage of which these persons are here supposed to partake was probably what, in Charles the First's time, was calledwhite wine; which, if diluted, as was no doubt very commonly done, would present a very watery aspect. A very curious account of the wines in vogue during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. is given by Taylor the Water-Poet in hisPraise of Hempseed. Cartwright, in hisOrdinary, has the following passage, describing the various sorts of wine used in his day:—"Hearsay.Thou hast forgotten Wine, Lieutenant, wine.Slicer.Then to avoid the grosse absurdityOf a dry Battel, 'cause there must some bloudBe spilt (on th' enemies side, I mean) you mayHave there a Rundlet of brisk Claret, andAs much of Aligant, the same quantitieOf Tent would not be wanting, 'tis a wineMost like to bloud. Some shall bleed fainter colours,As Sack, and white wine. Some that have the itch(As there are Taylors still in every Army)Shall run with Renish, that hath Brimstone in't."Aligantmentioned in this extract was the wine grown in Alicante, a province of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia. Sometimes it was spelled Aligaunt or Aligaunte:—"Pseud.In Ganges Iles I thirty rivers sawFill'd with sweet nectar.Lach.O dainty lyer!Pseud.Thirty rivers moreWith Aligaunte."Timon, a Play, p. 39.In thePrivy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., under date of Feb. 16, 1530, occurs the following item:—"Paied to the S'geant of the Sello' for iii tonne of white wyne of galiake (Gaillac in Languedoc)." See alsothe Northumberland House-Hold Book, ed. 1827, p. 414; and Taylor'sPenniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 136).

"Hearsay.Thou hast forgotten Wine, Lieutenant, wine.

Slicer.Then to avoid the grosse absurdityOf a dry Battel, 'cause there must some bloudBe spilt (on th' enemies side, I mean) you mayHave there a Rundlet of brisk Claret, andAs much of Aligant, the same quantitieOf Tent would not be wanting, 'tis a wineMost like to bloud. Some shall bleed fainter colours,As Sack, and white wine. Some that have the itch(As there are Taylors still in every Army)Shall run with Renish, that hath Brimstone in't."

Aligantmentioned in this extract was the wine grown in Alicante, a province of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia. Sometimes it was spelled Aligaunt or Aligaunte:—

"Pseud.In Ganges Iles I thirty rivers sawFill'd with sweet nectar.

Lach.O dainty lyer!

Pseud.Thirty rivers moreWith Aligaunte."

Timon, a Play, p. 39.

In thePrivy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., under date of Feb. 16, 1530, occurs the following item:—"Paied to the S'geant of the Sello' for iii tonne of white wyne of galiake (Gaillac in Languedoc)." See alsothe Northumberland House-Hold Book, ed. 1827, p. 414; and Taylor'sPenniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 136).

[284]"He that will take the bird, must not skare it."—Herbert'sOutlandish Proverbs, 1640, No. 41.

[285]This word, which frequently occurs in the course of the present work, must be understood to be merely equivalent to the Greek [Greek: tyrannos], a prince whose authority is unlimited by constitutional restraints. There seems to be some ground for the supposition that [Greek: tyrannos] is nothing more than the Doric form of [Greek: koipanos]. It may be mentioned that in middle-Greek the worddespota([Greek: despotês]) bore no harsher meaning than that of apetty prince, acting independently, but acknowledging a suzerain. It is to be found in this sense, I think, in almost all the Byzantine historians.

[286]i.e.when the undertaking is no matter of choice.

[287]This is a very favourite tale with the early Italian novelists. In Dunlop'sHistory of Fiction, ii. 364-5 (Second Edition), the incident is said to have been founded on a real adventure of a French priest. In the following extract from a highly curious pamphlet, it appears in a different form:—"There was a rich Burgess of Antwerp, a Mercer by his trade, who was a Bawd to his own Wife (though it was against his will or knowledge), but I blame him not, for I doubt hee hath many more fellowes as innocent and ignorant as himselfe, but this was the case, his wife wearing corke shooes, was somewhat light-heel'd, and like a foul player at Irish, sometimes she would beare a man too many, and now and then make a wrong Entrance. The summe was, that shee lov'd a Doctor of Physicke well, and to attaine his company shee knew no better or safer way, than to faine her selfe sicke, that hee under the colour of visitation might feele her pulses, and apply such cordiall Remedies as might either ease or cure her. In briefe, the Doctor being sent for, comes and finds the Mercer her husband walking in his shop with a neighbour of his, where after a leash ofCongees, and a brace ofBaza los manus, the Mercer told him that his Wife is a languishing sicke woman, and withall entreats him to take the paines to walke up the staires, and minister some comfort unto her: Master Doctor, who knew her disease by the Symptomes, ascends up into the Chamber to his longing patient, staying an houre with her, applying such directions and refections, that her health was upon the sudden almost halfe recovered; so taking his leave of her (with promise of often visitation) he comes downe into the shope, where the guiltlesseBawdher husband was, who demanding of the Doctor how all did above; truely quoth hee, much better than when I came, but since I went up, your wife hath had two such strange violent fits upon her, that it would have grieved your very heart to have seene but part of one of them."—Taylor'sBawd(Works, 1630, ii. 94).

"There was a rich Burgess of Antwerp, a Mercer by his trade, who was a Bawd to his own Wife (though it was against his will or knowledge), but I blame him not, for I doubt hee hath many more fellowes as innocent and ignorant as himselfe, but this was the case, his wife wearing corke shooes, was somewhat light-heel'd, and like a foul player at Irish, sometimes she would beare a man too many, and now and then make a wrong Entrance. The summe was, that shee lov'd a Doctor of Physicke well, and to attaine his company shee knew no better or safer way, than to faine her selfe sicke, that hee under the colour of visitation might feele her pulses, and apply such cordiall Remedies as might either ease or cure her. In briefe, the Doctor being sent for, comes and finds the Mercer her husband walking in his shop with a neighbour of his, where after a leash ofCongees, and a brace ofBaza los manus, the Mercer told him that his Wife is a languishing sicke woman, and withall entreats him to take the paines to walke up the staires, and minister some comfort unto her: Master Doctor, who knew her disease by the Symptomes, ascends up into the Chamber to his longing patient, staying an houre with her, applying such directions and refections, that her health was upon the sudden almost halfe recovered; so taking his leave of her (with promise of often visitation) he comes downe into the shope, where the guiltlesseBawdher husband was, who demanding of the Doctor how all did above; truely quoth hee, much better than when I came, but since I went up, your wife hath had two such strange violent fits upon her, that it would have grieved your very heart to have seene but part of one of them."—Taylor'sBawd(Works, 1630, ii. 94).

[288]Louvaine.

[289]Cooked.

[290]It is scarcely necessary to mention that formerly all priests were styled Sir. One of John Heywood's interludes is called:A Play between Johan the Husband, Tyb the Wife, and Sir Johan the Prest. In an old ballad in the Ashmole Collection, beginning, "Adew! my pretty pussy," there is this passage:—"But the gyrld ys gon, syr,With a chokynge bon, syr,For she hath got Syr John, syr,And ys oure vyckars wyff."

"But the gyrld ys gon, syr,With a chokynge bon, syr,For she hath got Syr John, syr,And ys oure vyckars wyff."

[291]Thwarted, crossed.

[292]The original of this is the Fabliau ofLa Hence Partie, in Barbazan's Collection. The story has been used by Lando, in hisVarii Componimenti, 1552, 8vo.

[293]Bath.

[294]Rub, from the French,frotter.

[295]Phocion, the celebrated Athenian patriot, b. 402B.C.d. 317B.C.Full particulars about him may be found in Mr. Grote'sHistory of Greece, and in Dr. Smith'sDictionary of Classical Biography.

[296]Orig. reads unnecessarily,and to be such one styll.

[297]The celebrated Latin poet. "Quintus Ennius," Gellius tells us (N. A.lib. xvii. cap. 17), "said he had three hearts, because he understood the Greek, Oscan, and Latin languages."

[298]Orig. readscoude.

[299]So far extends Berthelet's edition, of which the colophon is: Imprinted at London in Flete Strete in the house of Thomas Berthelet nere to the Cundite, at the sygne of Lucrece. ¶ Cum priuilegio. The remaining 26 tales are from the Ed. of 1567.

[300]Dormitory.

[301]During the Wars of the Roses. InThe First Part of Edward IV., by Thomas Heywoud, 1600 (Shakesp. Soc. repr. p. 41), Hobs, the Tanner of Tamworth, says:—"By my troth, I know not, when I speak treason, when I do not. There's such halting betwixt two kings, that a man cannot go upright, but he shall offend t'one of them. I would God had them both, for me."

[301]During the Wars of the Roses. InThe First Part of Edward IV., by Thomas Heywoud, 1600 (Shakesp. Soc. repr. p. 41), Hobs, the Tanner of Tamworth, says:—

"By my troth, I know not, when I speak treason, when I do not. There's such halting betwixt two kings, that a man cannot go upright, but he shall offend t'one of them. I would God had them both, for me."

[302]This word is in the original text printed twice by an oversight. I have struck out the duplicate.

[303]i.e.a person dwelling in the uplands or mountainous districts where the learning of the cities had not very deeply penetrated. Hence the word became synonymous with ignorant and uninformed. Alexander Barclay's fifth eclogue is "Of the Citizen and Uplandish Man." The poem ofJack Uplandis printed in the old editions of Chaucer and in Wright'sPolitical Poems and Songs, 1861, ii. 16. Mr. Wright assigns to it the date of 1401."He hath perus'd all the impressionsOf Sonnets, since the fall of Lucifer,And made some scurvy quaint collectionsOf fustian phrases, anduplandishwords."Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1600.

"He hath perus'd all the impressionsOf Sonnets, since the fall of Lucifer,And made some scurvy quaint collectionsOf fustian phrases, anduplandishwords."

Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1600.

[304]Perhapswentis the true reading.

[305]"What must he (the king) do then? He must be a student. He must write God's booke himselfe, not thinking because he is a king, but he hath licence to do what he will, as these worldly flatterers are wont to say."—Latimer's Second Sermon before King Edward VI.1549.

[306]i.e.coming home.

[307]Better known as Roberto Caraccioli-Caraccioli. He was born in 1425 at Licio, in the Neapolitan territory, and was thence often called Robertus Liciensis. Watt (Bibliotheca Britannica, voceLicio) mentions only his sermons: but he published several other tracts.

[308]Usually speltpreaseorprese. The word signifiescrowd. It occurs in this sense in Edwardes'Damon and Pythias, composed about 1564."Yet shall there no restrayntCause me to cese,Among this prese,For to encreseYoure goodly name."Skelton'sGarlande of Laurell.

[308]Usually speltpreaseorprese. The word signifiescrowd. It occurs in this sense in Edwardes'Damon and Pythias, composed about 1564.

"Yet shall there no restrayntCause me to cese,Among this prese,For to encreseYoure goodly name."

Skelton'sGarlande of Laurell.

[309]Orig. and Singer reador els you to holde.

[310]The celebratedMoria Encomium, of which an English version appeared in 1549.

[311]Nosledornousledis the same asnursled, brought up. See Todd's Johnson, 1827, in vocenosled; and Richardson's Dict.ibid.The word is not in Webster or Nares.

[312]The allusion in the text is probably to the paraphrastic version of the New Testament by Erasmus, which had then recently appeared in two volumes, folio (1516). The work did not appear in an English dress till 1548.

[313]Enchiridion Militis Christiani.An English translation of this work appeared in 1533, in which Enchiridion is renderedThe Handsome Weapon.

[314]These pleasantries at the expense of the preachers in the time of Henry VIII. bear perhaps a little hard upon the fraternity. The rendering of Latin authors was not much improved a century or two later.

[315]The Northern men seem to have been formerly favourite subjects for story tellers and ballad-writers. Martin Parker published a poem called "The King and a Poore Northern man," and there is a ballad entitled "The King and the Northern man." Neither has anything to do with the present tale. No. 95 of theC. Mery Talys, of which only a small fragment is at present known to exist, is entitled, "Of the Northern man that was all harte."

[316]"Richard, Richard, by the mass I am glad that thou art king!"

[317]A very usual practice in those days. At p. 254 of theNorthumberland House-hold Book(ed. 1827) we find:—"Two Gentlemen waiters for the Bordes Ende and a servaunt betwixt theim iii—Hannsmen and Yonge Gentlemen at their Fryndes fynding v (as to say Hanshmen [Henchmen] iii and yong Gentlemen iii)."Orig. and Singer, fortranereadtrade.

[317]A very usual practice in those days. At p. 254 of theNorthumberland House-hold Book(ed. 1827) we find:—

"Two Gentlemen waiters for the Bordes Ende and a servaunt betwixt theim iii—Hannsmen and Yonge Gentlemen at their Fryndes fynding v (as to say Hanshmen [Henchmen] iii and yong Gentlemen iii)."Orig. and Singer, fortranereadtrade.

"Two Gentlemen waiters for the Bordes Ende and a servaunt betwixt theim iii—Hannsmen and Yonge Gentlemen at their Fryndes fynding v (as to say Hanshmen [Henchmen] iii and yong Gentlemen iii)."

Orig. and Singer, fortranereadtrade.

[318]Tricks upon blind persons naturally form a feature in the jest books. The eighty-third adventure of Tyl Owlglass is a practical joke on a blind man, and inScoggin's Jests, 1626, there are one or two examples.

[319]A cheat or rogue. See Rowland'sKnave of Clubbs, 1600 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 18). The wordShifteris employed by Rowlands in theKnave of Harts, 1613, and by others of our elder writers in the same sense. In the following passage, shift is used to signify a piece of knavery:—"Ferd.Brother, you lie; you got her with ashift.Frank.I was the first that lov'd her."Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1607 (Shakesp. Soc. ed. p. 87).See also Taylor'sWorks, 1630, ii. 144. In hisSculler, 1612, the last mentioned writer introduces a sharper into one of his epigrams under the nameof Mounsieur Shift, "cozen-german to Sir CuthertTheft" (Works, iii. 25).

"Ferd.Brother, you lie; you got her with ashift.

Frank.I was the first that lov'd her."

Heywood'sFair Maid of the Exchange, 1607 (Shakesp. Soc. ed. p. 87).

See also Taylor'sWorks, 1630, ii. 144. In hisSculler, 1612, the last mentioned writer introduces a sharper into one of his epigrams under the nameof Mounsieur Shift, "cozen-german to Sir CuthertTheft" (Works, iii. 25).

[320]Antiently, no doubt, Long Lane ran between hedges into Smithfield; but it appears that even in the early part of Elizabeth's reign building had commenced in this locality. Stow (Survey of London, edit. 1720, lib. iii. p. 122) says:—"Long Lane, so called from its length, coming out ofAldersgate StreetagainstBarbican, and falleth intoWest Smithfield. A Place also of Note for the Sale of Apparel, Linnen, and Upholsters Goods, both Secondhand and New, but chiefly for old, for which it is of note." See also p. 284 of the same book, and Cunningham'sHand Book of London, edit. 1848,in voce, with the authorities and illustrations there given. Rowlands, in hisLetting of Humors Blood in the Head Vein, 1611, Sign. C. 2verso, celebrates this spot as one of the principal haunts of the pawnbrokers. InWits Recreations, 1640 (edit. 1817, p. 109), there is the following epigram:—"He which for 's wife a widow doth obtain,Doth like to those that buy clothes inLong Lane,One coat's not fit, another's too too old,Their faults I know not, but th' are manifold."Day, in theParliament of Bees, 1641, 40, Sign. C, speaks very disrespectfully of the population of Long Lane in his time. SeeMaroccus Extaticus, 1595 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 16), Dekker'sKnights' Conjuring, 1607, ed. Rimbault, p. 54. Webster's Works, by Hazlitt, i. 94. and Taylor's Works, 1630, Sign. Ggg4. TheSwanInn has disappeared, but whether it has merged in theBarley Mow, or theOld Red Cow, I do not know.

"He which for 's wife a widow doth obtain,Doth like to those that buy clothes inLong Lane,One coat's not fit, another's too too old,Their faults I know not, but th' are manifold."

Day, in theParliament of Bees, 1641, 40, Sign. C, speaks very disrespectfully of the population of Long Lane in his time. SeeMaroccus Extaticus, 1595 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 16), Dekker'sKnights' Conjuring, 1607, ed. Rimbault, p. 54. Webster's Works, by Hazlitt, i. 94. and Taylor's Works, 1630, Sign. Ggg4. TheSwanInn has disappeared, but whether it has merged in theBarley Mow, or theOld Red Cow, I do not know.

[321]Nearest.

[322]The original reading is,so while they were doying.

[323]Innkeeper. This form of the word continued to be used by English writers even in the later half of the seventeenth century.

[324]Perhaps this, like Makeshift, was merely intended as a phrase to disguise the real name of the person intended.

[325]NorthumberlandAlleywas in Fenchurch Street, and was notorious for bowling-greens, gaming-houses, &c. Probably this is the locality intended. See Cunningham'sHandbook to London. 596 edit. 1848.

[326]i.e.a burlesque play.

[327]Orig. and Singer readman.

[328]Aldersgate. In theOrdinary, by W. Cartwright, Moth the Antiquary says:—"Yclose byAldersgatethere dwelleth oneWights clypenRobert Moth; nowAldersgateIs hotten so from one thatAldrichhight;Or else of Elders, that is, ancient men;Or else of Aldern trees which growden there;Or else, as Heralds say, fromAluredus."

[328]Aldersgate. In theOrdinary, by W. Cartwright, Moth the Antiquary says:—

"Yclose byAldersgatethere dwelleth oneWights clypenRobert Moth; nowAldersgateIs hotten so from one thatAldrichhight;Or else of Elders, that is, ancient men;Or else of Aldern trees which growden there;Or else, as Heralds say, fromAluredus."

[329]Inns were not so plentiful at this time as they afterward became. Perhaps the establishment here referred to was the celebratedBellInn, which was still standing in the time of James the First, and which is mentioned by Taylor the Water-Poet in hisPenniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 122):—"At last I took my latest leave, thus lateAt the Bell Inn, that'sextraAldersgate."

"At last I took my latest leave, thus lateAt the Bell Inn, that'sextraAldersgate."

[330]i.e.it were a charity to thruste, &c. The original and Singer have, "it were almesitthruste."

[331]In the original this is printed as prose, perhaps to economize space.Array, oraraye, as it is here spelled, signifies obviously disturbance or clamour. So in theHistory of King Arthur, 1634, Part iii. cap. 134:—"So in this rumour came in Sir Launcelot, and found them all at a great aray;" and the next chapter commences with, "Aha! what aray is this? said Sir Launcelot."

[332]Probably the cup bequeathed by Sir Martin Bowes to the Goldsmiths' Company, and still preserved, is here meant. See Cunningham'sHandbook of London, art.Goldsmiths' Hall, and for some account of the Bowes family, which intermarried with that of D'Ewes, seeAutobiography and Correspondence of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, ii. 17, 18. It seems to have been a rather common practice formerly to engrave figures of Saints, representations of the Passion, &c. on the bottom of drinking cups.—See Rowlands'Knave of Clubbs, 1600. (Percy Soc. repr. p. 64.)

[333]In the same manner that he inquired of others, &c.

[334]This is related differently in Plutarch. "NowAgesilausbeing arrived inÆgypt, all the chiefe Captaines and Governors of KingTachoscame to the seashore, and honourably received him: and not they onely, but infinite numbers of Ægyptians of all sorts ... came thither from all parts to see what manner of man he was. But when they saw no stately traine about him, but an olde gray-beard layed on the grasse by the sea side, a litle man that looked simply of the matter, and but meanely apparelled in an ill-favored thread-bare gowne: they fell a-laughing at him, remembring the merry tale, that a mountaine," &c.—North'sPlutarch, edit 1603, fol. 629-30.

[335]Remuneration.

[336]To persuade by reasoning.

[337]Turning by force of ingenuity.

[338]Owed.

[339]See Lane'sArabian Tales and Anecdotes, 1845, p. 73, for a story similar to this.

[340]This story is applied by Richard Johnson, editor of thePleasant Conceits of Old Hobson the Merry Londoner, 1607, 4to, to his own purposes. Johnson was an unscrupulous appropriator.

[341]The obstacle to the matter.

[342]This tale is followed by the colophon, which is: Imprinted at London in Fletestrete, by Henry Wykes. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.

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