same sand (being mixed with rocks and crags) did the master of this great work build a round circular frame of stone, very thick, strong, and joined together with glutinous or bituminous matter, so high withal that the sea at the highest flood, or the greatest rage of storm or tempest, can neither dissolve the stones so well compacted in the building or yet overflow the height of it. Within this round frame, (at all adventures) he did set workmen to dig with mattocks, pickaxes, and other instruments fit for such purposes. They did dig forty feet down right into and through a rock. At last they found that which they expected, which was sea coal, they following the vein of the mine, did dig forward still: so that in the space of eight and twenty, or nine and twenty years, they have digged more than an English mile under the sea, so that when men are at work below, an hundred of the greatest ships in
Britain
man sail over their heads. Besides, the mine is most artificially cut like an arch or a vault, all that great length, with many nooks and bye-ways: and it is so made, that a man may walk upright in the most places, both in and out. Many poor people are there set on work, which otherwise through the want of employment would perish. But when I had seen the mine, and was come forth of it again; after my thanks given to Sir
George Bruce
, I told him, that if the plotters of the
Powder Treason in England had seen this mine, that they (perhaps) would have attempted to have left the Parliament House, and have undermined the Thames, and so to have blown up the barges and wherries, wherein the King, and all the estates of our kingdom were. Moreover, I said, that I couldafford to turn tapster at
London
, so that I had but
one quarter of a mile of his mine to make me
a cellar, to keep beer and bottled ale
in. But leaving these jests in
prose, I will relate a few
verses that I made
merrily of this
mine.
that have wasted, months, weeks, days, and hours
In viewing kingdoms, countries, towns, and towers,
Without all measure, measuring many paces,
And with my pen describing many places,
With few additions of mine own devising,
(Because I have a smack of
Coryatizing
[16]
)
Our
Mandeville
,
Primaleon
,
Don Quixote
,
Great
Amadis
, or
Huon
, travelled not
As I have done, or been where I have been,
Or heard and seen, what I have heard and seen;
Nor Britain's
Odcombe
(
Zany
brave
Ulysses
)
In all his ambling, saw the like as this is.
I was in (would I could describe it well)
A dark, light, pleasant, profitable hell,
And as by water I was wafted in,
I thought that I in
Charon's
boat had been,
But being at the entrance landed thus,
Three men there (instead of
Cerberus
)
Convey'd me in, in each one hand a light
To guide us in that vault of endless night,
There young and old with glim'ring candles burning
Dig, delve, and labour, turning and returning,
Some in a hole with baskets and with bags,
Resembling furies, or infernal hags:
There one like
Tantalus
feeding, and there one,
Like
Sisyphus
he rolls the restless stone.
Yet all I saw was pleasure mixed with profit,
Which proved it to be no tormenting Tophet
[17]
For in this honest, worthy, harmless hell,
There ne'er did any damned Devil dwell;
And th' owner of it gains by 't more true glory,
Than
Rome
doth by fantastic Purgatory.
A long mile thus I passed, down, down, steep, steep,
In deepness far more deep, than
Neptunes
deep,
Whilst o'er my head (in fourfold stories high)
Was earth, and sea, and air, and sun, and sky:
That had I died in that
Cimmerian
[18]
room,
Four elements had covered o'er my tomb:
Thus farther than the bottom did I go,
(And many Englishmen have not done so;)
Where mounting porpoises, and mountain whales,
And regiments of fish with fins and scales,
'Twixt me and heaven did freely glide and slide,
And where great ships may at an anchor ride:
Thus in by sea, and out by land I past,
And took my leave of good Sir
George
at last.
The sea at certain places doth leak, or soak into the mine, which by the industry of SirGeorge Bruce, is all conveyed to one well near the land; where he hath a device like a horse-mill, that with three horses and a great chain of iron, going downward many fathoms, with thirty-six buckets fastenedto the chain, of the which eighteen go down still to be filled, and eighteen ascend up to be emptied, which do empty themselves (without any man's labour) into a trough that conveys the water into the sea again; by which means he saves his mine, which otherwise would be destroyed with the sea, besides he doth make every week ninety or a hundred tons of salt, which doth serve most part ofScotland, some he sends intoEngland, and very much intoGermany: all which shows the painful industry with God's blessings to such worthy endeavours: I must with many thanks remember his courtesy to me, and lastly how he sent his man to guide me ten miles on the way toStirling, where by the way I saw the outside of a fair and stately house calledAllaway, belonging to the Earl ofMarwhich by reason that his honour was not there, I past by and went toStirling, where I was entertained and lodged at one Master JohnArchibalds, where all my want was that I wanted room to contain half the good cheer that I might have had there! he had me into the castle, which in few words I do compare toWindsorfor situation, much more thanWindsorin strength, and somewhat less in greatness: yet I dare affirm that his Majesty hath not such another hall to any house that he hath neither inEnglandorScotland, except Westminster Hall which is now no dwelling hallfor a prince, being long since metamorphosed into a house for the law and the profits.
This goodly hall was built by KingJamesthe fourth, that married KingHenrythe Eight's sister, and after was slain atFlodden field; but it surpasses all the halls for dwelling houses that ever I saw, for length, breadth, height and strength of building, the castle is built upon a rock very lofty, and much beyondEdinburghCastle in state and magnificence, and not much inferior to it in strength, the rooms of it are lofty, with carved works on the ceilings, the doors of each room being so high, that a man may ride upright on horseback into any chamber or lodging. There is also a goodly fair chapel, with cellars, stables, and all other necessary offices, all very stately and befitting the majesty of a king.
FromStirlingI rode to SaintJohnstone,[19]a fine town it is, but it is much decayed, by reason of the want of his Majesty's yearly coming to lodge there. There I lodged one night at an inn, the goodman of the house his name beingPatrick Pitcairne, where my entertainment was with good cheer, good lodging, all too good to a bad weary guest. Mine host told me that the Earl ofMar, and SirWilliam MurrayofAbercairneywere gone to the great hunting to theBraeofMar[20]; but ifI made haste I might perhaps find them at a town calledBrekin, orBrechin, two and thirty miles from SaintJohnstonewhereupon I took a guide toBrechinthe next day, but before I came, my lord was gone from thence four days.
Then I took another guide, which brought me such strange ways over mountains and rocks, that I think my horse never went the like; and I am sure I never saw any ways that might fellow them I did go through a country calledGlen Esk, where passing by the side of a hill, so steep as the ridge of a house, where the way was rocky, and not above a yard broad in some places, so fearful and horrid it was to look down into the bottom, for if either horse or man had slipped, he had fallen without recovery a good mile downright; but I thank God, at night I came to a lodging in the Laird ofEdzell'sland, where I lay at an Irish house, the folks not being able to speak scarce any English, but I supped and went to bed, where I had not laid long, but I was enforced to rise, I was so stung with Irish mosquitoes, a creature that hath six legs, and lives like a monster altogether upon man's flesh, they do inhabit and breed most in sluttish houses, and this house was none of the cleanest, the beast is much like a louse inEngland, both in shape and nature; in a word, they were to me theA.and theZ.the prologue and the epilogue, thefirst and the last that I had in all my travels fromEdinburgh; and had not this Highland Irish house helped me at a pinch, I should have sworn that allScotlandhad not been so kind as to have bestowed a louse upon me: but with a shift that I had, I shifted off my cannibals, and was never more troubled with them.
The next day I travelled over an exceeding high mountain, called mountSkene, where I found the valley very warm before I went up it; but when I came to the top of it, my teeth began to dance in my head with cold, like Virginal's jacks;[21]and withal, a most familiar mist embraced me round, that I could not see thrice my length any way: withal, it yielded so friendly a dew, that did moisten through all my clothes: where the old Proverb of a Scottish mist was verified, in wetting me to the skin. Up and down, I think this hill is six miles, the way so uneven, stony, and full of bogs, quagmires, and long heath, that a dog with three legs will out-run a horse with four; for do what we could, we were four hours before we could pass it.
Thus with extreme travel, ascending and descending, mounting and alighting, I came at night to the place where I would be, in the Brae ofMar, which is a large county, all composed of such mountains, that Shooter's Hill, Gad's Hill, HighgateHill, Hampstead Hill, Birdlip Hill, or Malvern's Hills, are but mole-hills in comparison, or like a liver, or a gizard under a capon's wing, in respect of the altitude of their tops, or perpendicularity of their bottoms. There I saw MountBen Aven, with a furred mist upon his snowy head instead of a night-cap: (for you must understand, that the oldest man alive never saw but the snow was on the top of divers of those hills, both in summer, as well as in winter.) There did I find the truly Noble and Right Honourable LordsJohn ErskineEarl of Mar,James StuartEarl of Murray,George GordonEarl of Enzie, son and heir to the Marquess of Huntly,James ErskineEarl of Buchan, andJohnLordErskine, son and heir to the Earl of Mar, and their Countesses, with my much honoured, and my best assured and approved friend, SirWilliam MurrayKnight, ofAbercairney, and hundred of others Knights, Esquires, and their followers; all and every man in general in one habit, as ifLycurgushad been there, and made laws of equality: for once in the year, which is the whole month of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom (for their pleasure) do come into these Highland Countries to hunt, where they do conform themselves to the habit of the Highland men, who for the most part speak nothing but Irish;and in former time were those people which were called theRed-shanks.[22]Their habit is shoes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuff of divers colours, which they call tartan: as for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuff that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreaths of hay or straw, with a plaid about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, of much finer and lighter stuff than their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchief knit with two knots about their neck; and thus are they attired. Now their weapons are long bows and forked arrows, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, dirks, and Lochaber axes. With these arms I found many of them armed for the hunting. As for their attire, any man of what degree soever that comes amongst them, must not disdain to wear it; for if they do, then they will disdain to hunt, or willingly, to bring in their dogs: but if men be kind unto them, and be in their habit; then are they conquered with kindness, and the sport will be plentiful. This was the reason that I found somany noblemen and gentlemen in those shapes. But to proceed to the hunting.
My good Lord ofMarhaving put me into that shape,[23]I rode with him from his house, where I saw the ruins of an old castle, called the castle ofKindroghit[Castletown]. It was built by KingMalcolm Canmore(for a hunting house) who reigned inScotlandwhenEdwardthe Confessor,Harold, and NormanWilliamreigned inEngland: I speak of it, because it was the last house that I saw in those parts; for I was the space of twelve days after, before I saw either house, corn field, or habitation for any creature, but deer, wild horses, wolves, and such like creatures, which made me doubt that I should never have seen a house again.[24]
Thus the first day we travelled eight miles, where there small cottages built on purpose to lodge in, which they call Lonchards, I thank my good LordErskine, he commanded that I should always be lodged in his lodging, the kitchen being always on the side of a bank, many kettles and pots boiling, and many spits turning and winding, with great variety of cheer: as venison baked, sodden, roast, and stewed beef, mutton, goats, kid, hares, fresh salmon, pigeons, hens, capons, chickens, partridge, moor-coots, heath-cocks, capercailzies, andtermagants [ptarmigans]; good ale, sack, white, and claret, tent, (or Alicante) with most potentAquavitæ.
All these, and more than these we had continually, in superfluous abundance, caught by Falconers, Fowlers, Fishers, and brought by my Lord's tenants and purveyors to victual our camp, which consisted of fourteen or fifteen hundred men and horses; the manner of the hunting is this: five or six hundred men do rise early in the morning, and they do disperse themselves divers ways, and seven, eight, or ten miles compass, they do bring or chase in the deer in many herds, (two, three, or four hundred in a herd) to such or such a place, as the Nobleman shall appoint them; then when day is come, the Lords and gentlemen of their companies, do ride or go to the said places, sometimes wading up to their middles through bournes and rivers: and then: they being come to the place, do lie down on the ground, till those foresaid scouts which are called the Tinchel, do bring down the deer: but as the proverb says of a bad cook, so these Tinchel-men do lick their own fingers; for besides their bows and arrows, which they carry with them, we can hear now and then a harquebuss or a musket go off, which they do seldom discharge in vain: Then after we had stayed there three hours or thereabouts, we might perceive the deer appear on the hills round about us, (their heads making a show likea wood) which being followed close by the Tinchel, are chased down into the valley where we lay; then all the valley on each side being waylaid with a hundred couple of strong Irish greyhounds, they are let loose as the occasion serves upon the herd of deer, so that with dogs, guns, arrows, dirks, and daggers, in the space of two hours, fourscore fat deer were slain, which after are disposed of some one way, and some another, twenty and thirty miles, and more than enough left for us to make merry withal at our rendezvous. I liked the sport so well, that I made these two sonnets following.
hy should I waste invention to indite,
Ovidian
fictions, or Olympian games?
My misty Muse enlightened with more light,
To a more noble pitch her aim she frames.
I must relate to my great Master
James
,
The Caledonian annual peaceful war;
How noble minds do eternize their fames,
By martial meeting in the Brae of
Mar
:
How thousand gallant spirits came near and far,
With swords and targets, arrows, bows, and guns,
That all the troop to men of judgment, are
The God of Wars great never conquered sons,
The sport is manly, yet none bleed but beasts,
And last the victor on the vanquished feasts.
f sport like this can on the mountains be,
Where
Phœbus
flames can never melt the snow;
Then let who list delight in vales below,
Sky-kissing mountains pleasure are for me:
What braver object can man's eyesight see,
Than noble, worshipful, and worthy wights,
As if they were prepared for sundry fights,
Yet all in sweet society agree?
Through heather, moss, 'mongst frogs, and bogs, and fogs,
'Mongst craggy cliffs, and thunder-battered hills,
Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs,
Where two hours hunting fourscore fat deer kills.
Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat,
The Highland games and minds, are high and great.
Being come to our lodgings, there was such baking, boiling, roasting, and stewing, as if Cook Ruffian had been there to have scalded the devil in his feathers: and after supper a fire of fir-wood as high as an indifferent May-pole: for I assure you, that the Earl ofMarwill give any man that is his friend, for thanks, as many fir trees (that are as good as any ship's masts in England) as are worth if they were in any place near the Thames, orany other portable river) the best earldom in England or Scotland either: For I dare affirm, he hath as many growing there, as would serve for masts (from this time to the end of the world) for all the ships, caracks, hoys, galleys, boats, drumlers, barks, and water-crafts, that are now, or can be in the world these forty years.
This sounds like a lie to an unbeliever; but I and many thousands do know that I speak within the compass of truth: for indeed (the more is the pity) they do grow so far from any passage of water, and withal in such rocky mountains, that no way to convey them is possible to be passable, either with boat, horse, or cart.
Thus having spent certain days in hunting in the Brae ofMar, we went to the next county calledBadenoch, belonging to the Earl ofEnzie, where having such sport and entertainment as we formerly had; after four or five days pastime, we took leave of hunting for that year; and took our journey toward a strong house of the Earl's, calledRuthveninBadenoch, where my Lord ofEnzieand his noble Countess (being daughter to the Earl ofArgyle) did give us most noble welcome three days.
From thence we went to a place calledBalloch Castle,[25]a fair and stately house, a worthy gentleman being the owner of it, called the Laird ofGrant;his wife being a gentlewoman honourably descended being sister to the right Honourable Earl ofAthol, and to SirPatrick MurrayKnight; she being both inwardly and outwardly plentifully adorned with the gifts of grace and nature: so that our cheer was more than sufficient; and yet much less than they could afford us. There stayed there four days, four Earls, one Lord, divers Knights and Gentlemen, and their servants, footmen and horses; and every meal four long tables furnished with all varieties: our first and second course being three score dishes at one board; and after that always a banquet: and there if I had not forsworn wine till I came toEdinburghI think I had there drunk my last.
The fifth day with much ado we gate from thence toTarnaway, a goodly house of the Earl ofMurrays,[26]where that Right Honourable Lord and his Lady did welcome us four days more. There was good cheer in all variety, with somewhat more than plenty for advantage: for indeed the County ofMurrayis the most pleasantest and plentiful country in allScotland; being plain land, that a coach may be driven more than four and thirty miles one way in it, alongst by the sea-coast.
From thence I went toElgininMurray,[27]an ancient City, where there stood a fair and beautiful church with three steeples, the walls of it and thesteeples all yet standing; but the roofs, windows, and many marble monuments and tombs of honourable and worthy personages all broken and defaced: this was done in the time when ruin bare rule, and Knox knocked down churches.
FromElginwe went to the Bishop ofMurrayhis house which is calledSpiny, orSpinay: a Reverend Gentleman he is, of the noble name ofDouglas, where we were very well welcomed, as befitted the honour of himself and his guests.
From thence we departed to the Lord Marquess ofHuntlysto a sumptuous house of his, named theBog of Geethe, where our entertainment was like himself, free, bountiful and honourable. There (after two days stay) with much entreaty and earnest suit, I gate leave of the Lords to depart towardsEdinburgh: the Noble Marquess, the Earl ofMar,Murray,Enzie,Buchan, and the LordErskine; all these, I thank them, gave me gold to defray my charges in my journey.
So after five and thirty days hunting and travel I returning, past by another stately mansion of the Lord Marquesses, calledStroboggy, and so overCarnymount toBrechin, where a wench that was born deaf and dumb came into my chamber at midnight (I being asleep) and she opening the bed, would feign have lodged with me: but had I been aSardanapalus, or aHeliogabulus, I think thateither the great travel over the mountains had tamed me; or if not, her beauty could never have moved me. The best parts of her were, that her breath was as sweet as sugar-candian,[28]being very well shouldered beneath the waste; and as my hostess told me the next morning, that she had changed her maiden-head for the price of a bastard not long before. But howsoever, she made such a hideous noise, that I started out of my sleep, and thought that the Devil had been there: but I no sooner knew who it was, but I arose, and thrust my dumb beast out of my chamber; and for want of a lock or a latch, I staked up my door with a great chair.
Thus having escaped one of the seven deadly sins as atBrechin, I departed from thence to a town calledForfor; and from thence toDundee, and so toKinghorn,Burntisland, and so toEdinburgh, where I stayed eight days, to recover myself of falls and bruises, which I received in my travel in the Highland mountainous hunting. Great welcome I had showed me all my stay atEdinburgh, by many worthy gentlemen, namely, old MasterGeorge Todrigg, MasterHenry Livingston, MasterJames Henderson, MasterJohn Maxwell, and a number of others, who suffered me to want no wine or good cheer, as may be imagined.
Now the day before I came fromEdinburgh, I went toLeith, where I found my long approved and assured good friend MasterBenjamin Jonson, at one MasterJohn Stuartshouse; I thank him for his great kindness towards me: for at my taking leave of him, he gave me a piece of gold of two and twenty shillings[29]to drink his health inEngland.And withal, willed me to remember his kind commendations to all his friends: So with a friendly farewell, I left him as well, as I hope never to see him in a worse estate: for he is amongst noblemen and gentlemen that know his true worth, and their own honours, where, with much respective love he is worthily entertained.
So leavingLeithI returned toEdinburgh, and within the port or gate, called theNether-Bow, I discharged my pockets of all the money I had: and as I came pennyless within the walls of that city at my first coming thither; so now at my departing from thence, I came moneyless out of it again; having in company to convey me out, certain gentlemen, amongst the which MasterJames Acherson, Laird ofGasford, a gentleman that brought me to hishouse, where with great entertainment he and his good wife did welcome me.
On the morrow he sent one of his men to bring me to a place calledAdam, to MasterJohn Acmootyehis house, one of the Grooms of his Majesty's Bed-chamber; where with him and his two brethren, MasterAlexander, and MasterJames Acmootye, I found both cheer and welcome, not inferior to any that I had had in any former place.
Amongst our viands that we had there, I must not forget the Sole and Goose (sic), a most delicate fowl, which breeds in great abundance in a little rock called theBass, which stands two miles into the sea. It is very good flesh, but it is eaten in the form as we eat oysters, standing at a side-board, a little before dinner, unsanctified without grace; and after it is eaten, it must be well liquored with two or three good rouses[30]of sherry or canary sack. The Lord or owner of theBassdoth profit at the least two hundred pound yearly by those geese; theBassitself being of a great height, and near three quarters of a mile in compass, all fully replenished with wild fowl, having but one small entrance into it, with a house, a garden, and a chapel in it; and on the top of it a well of pure fresh water.
FromAdam, MasterJohnand MasterJames Acmootyewent to the town ofDunbarwith me,where ten Scottish pints of wine were consumed, and brought to nothing for a farewell: there at MasterJames Baylieshouse I took leave, and MasterJames Acmootyecoming forEngland, said, that if I would ride with, that neither I nor my horse should want betwixt that place andLondon. Now I having no money nor means for travel, began at once to examine my manners and my want: at last my want persuaded my manners to accept of this worthy gentleman's undeserved courtesy. So that night he brought me to a place calledCockburnspath, where we lodged at an inn, the like of which I dare say, is not in any of his Majesty's Dominions. And for to show my thankfulness to MasterWilliam Arnotand his wife, the owners thereof, I must explain their bountiful entertainment of guests, which is this:
Suppose ten, fifteen, or twenty men and horses come to lodge at their house, the men shall have flesh, tame and wild fowl, fish with all variety of good cheer, good lodging, and welcome; and the horses shall want neither hay or provender: and at the morning at their departure the reckoning is just nothing. This is this worthy gentlemen's use, his chief delight being only to give strangers entertainmentgratis: and I am sure, that inScotlandbeyondEdinburgh, I have been at houses likecastles for building; the master of the house his beaver being his blue bonnet, one that will wear no other shirts, but of the flax that grows on his own ground, and of his wife's, daughters', or servants' spinning; that hath his stockings, hose, and jerkin of the wool of his own sheep's backs; that never (by his pride of apparel) caused mercer, draper, silk-man, embroiderer, or haberdasher to break and turn bankrupt: and yet this plain home-spun fellow keeps and maintains thirty, forty, fifty servants, or perhaps, more, every day relieving three or fourscore poor people at his gate; and besides all this, can give noble entertainment for four or five days together to five or six earls and lords, besides knights, gentlemen and their followers, if they be three or four hundred men, and horse of them, where they shall not only feed but feast, and not feast but banquet, this is a man that desires to know nothing so much, as his duty to God and his King, whose greatest cares are to practise the works of piety, charity, and hospitality: he never studies the consuming art of fashionless fashions, he never tries his strength to bear four or five hundred acres on his back at once, his legs are always at liberty, not being fettered with golden garters, and manacled with artificial roses, whose weight (sometime) is the last reliques of some decayed Lordship: Many of theseworthy housekeepers there are inScotland, amongst some of them I was entertained; from whence I did truly gather these aforesaid observations.
So leavingCockburnspath, we rode toBerwick, where the worthy old Soldier and ancient Knight, SirWilliam Bowyer, made me welcome, but contrary to his will, we lodged at an Inn, where MasterJames Acmootyepaid all charges: but atBerwickthere was a grievous chance happened, which I think not fit the relation to be omitted.
In the river ofTweed, which runs byBerwick, are taken by fishermen that dwell there, infinite numbers of fresh salmons, so that many households and families are relieved by the profit of that fishing; but (how long since I know not) there was an order that no man or boy whatsoever should fish upon a Sunday: this order continued long amongst them, till some eight or nine weeks before Michaelmas last, on a Sunday, the salmons played in such great abundance in the river, that some of the fishermen (contrary to God's law and their own order) took boats and nets and fished, and caught near three hundred salmons; but from that time until Michaelmas day that I was there, which was nine weeks, and heard the report of it, and saw the poor people's miserable lamentations, they had not seen one salmon in the river; and some of them were in despair that they should never see any more there; affirming itto be God's judgment upon them for the profanation of the Sabbath.
The thirtieth of September we rode fromBerwicktoBelfordfromBelfordtoAlnwick, the next day fromAlnwicktoNewcastle, where I found the noble Knight, SirHenry Witherington; who, because I would have no gold nor silver, gave me a bay mare, in requital of a loaf of bread that I had given him two and twenty years before, at the Island ofFlores, of the which I have spoken before. I overtook atNewcastlea great many of my worthy friends, which were all coming forLondon, namely, MasterRobert Hay, and MasterDavid Drummond, where I was welcomed at MasterNicholas Tempestshouse. FromNewcastleI rode with those gentlemen toDurham, toDarlington, toNorthallerton, and toTopcliffeinYorkshire, where I took my leave of them, and would needs try my pennyless fortunes by myself, and see the city ofYork, where I was lodged at my right worshipful good friend, Master DoctorHudsonone of his Majesty's chaplains, who went with me, and shewed me the goodly Minster Church there, and the most admirable, rare-wrought, unfellowed[31]chapter house.
FromYorkI rode toDoncaster, where my horses were well fed at the Bear, but myself found out the honorable Knight, SirRobert Anstrutherat hisfather-in-law's, the truly noble SirRobert Swiftshouse, he being then High Sheriff ofYorkshire, where with their good Ladies, and the right Honourable the LordSanquhar, I was stayed two nights and one day, SirRobert Anstruther(I thank him) not only paying for my two horses' meat, but at my departure, he gave me a letter toNewarkuponTrent, twenty eight miles in my way, where MasterGeorge Atkinsonmine host made me as welcome, as if I had been a French Lord, and what was to be paid, as I called for nothing, I paid as much; and left the reckoning with many thanks to SirRobert Anstruther.
So leavingNewark, with another gentleman that overtook me, we came at night toStamford, to the sign of the Virginity (or the Maidenhead) where I delivered a letter from the LordSanquhar; which caused MasterBatesand his wife, being the master and mistress of the house, to make me and the gentleman that was with me great cheer for nothing.
FromStamfordthe next day we rode toHuntington, where we lodged at the Postmaster's house, at the sign of the Crown; his name isRiggs. He was informed who I was, and wherefore I undertook this my pennyless progress: wherefore he came up to our chamber, and supped with us, and very bountifully called for three quarts of wine and sugar, and four jugs of beer. He did drink andbegin healths like a horse-leech and swallowed down his cups without feeling, as if he had had the dropsy, or nine pound of sponge in his maw. In a word, as he is a post, he drank post, striving and calling by all means to make the reckoning great, or to make us men of great reckoning. But in his payment he was tired like a jade, leaving the gentleman that was with me to discharge the terrible shot, or else one of my horses must have lain in pawn for his superfluous calling, and unmannerly intrusion.
But leaving him, I leftHuntington, and rode on the Sunday toPuckeridge, where MasterHollandat the Falcon, (mine old acquaintance) and my loving and ancient host gave me, my friend, my man, and our horses excellent cheer, and welcome, and I paid him with, not a penny of money.
The next day I came toLondon, and obscurely coming within Moorgate, I went to a house and borrowed money: and so I stole back again toIslington, to the sign of the Maidenhead,[32]staying till Wednesday, that my friends came to meet me, who knew no other, but that Wednesday was myfirst coming; where with all love I was entertained with much good cheer: and after supper we had a play of the Life and Death ofGuy of Warwick,[33]played by the Right Honourable the Earl ofDerbyhis men. And so on the Thursday morning being the fifteenth of October, I came home to my house inLondon.