Part 31 (1/2)

”Faith, doctor, it is well, thy study is to please The female s.e.x, and how their corp'ral griefes to ease.”

G.o.ddard's ”_Mastif Whelp._” _Satires_. 4to. Without date. Sat.

17.]

[Footnote 17: In the first edition it stands thus:--”_and his hat is as antient as the tower of Babel._”]

[Footnote 18: The Low-countries appear to have afforded ample room for ridicule at all times. In ”_A brief Character of the Low-countries under the States, being Three Weeks Observation of the Vices and Virtues of the Inhabitants_,” written by Owen Feltham, and printed Lond. 1659, 12mo, we find them epitomized as a general sea-land--the great bog of Europe--an universal quagmire--in short, a green cheese in pickle. The sailors (in which denomination the author appears to include all the natives) he describes as being able to ”drink, rail, swear, niggle, steal, and be _lowsie_ alike.” P. 40.]

[Footnote 19: _Gavelkind_, or the practice of dividing lands equally among all the male children of the deceased, was (according to Spelman) adopted by the Saxons, from Germany, and is noticed by Tacitus in his description of that nation. _Gloss. Archaiol._, folio, Lond. 1664. Harrison, in _The Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed's _Chronicle_ (vol. i.

page 180), says, ”Gauell kind is all the male children equallie to inherit, and is continued to this daie in _Kent_, where it is onelie to my knowledge reteined, and no where else in England.” And Lambarde, in his _Customes of Kent_ (_Perambulation_, 410, 1596, page 538), thus notices it:--”The custom of Grauelkynde is generall, and spreadeth itselfe throughout the whole shyre, into all landes subiect by auncient tenure vnto the same, such places onely excepted, where it is altered by acte of parleament.”]

[Footnote 20: _Minster-walk_, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 21: _Ambrose Spinola_ was one of the most celebrated and excellent commanders that Spain ever possessed: he was born, in 1569, of a n.o.ble family, and distinguished himself through life in being opposed to Prince Maurice of Na.s.sau, the greatest general of his age, by whom he was ever regarded with admiration and respect. He died in 1630, owing to a disadvantage sustained by his troops at the siege of Ca.s.sel, which was to be entirely attributed to the imprudent orders he received from Spain, and which that government compelled him to obey. This disaster broke his heart; and he died with the exclamation of ”_they have robbed me of my honour_;” an idea he was unable to survive. It is probable that, at the time this character was composed, many of the disaffected in England were in expectation of an attack to be made on this country by the Spaniards, under the command of Spinola.]

[Footnote 22: _and Lipsius his hopping stile before either Tully or Quintilian._ First edit.]

[Footnote 23: _Primivist_ and primero were, in all probability, the same game, although Minshew, in his Dictionary, calls them ”_two_ games at cardes.”

The latter he explains, ”primum et primum visum, that is, first and first seene, because hee that can shew such an order of cardes, first winnes the game.” The coincidence between Mr. Strutt's description of the former and the pa.s.sage in the text, shows that there could be little or no difference between the value of the cards in these games, or in the manner of playing them. ”Each player had four cards dealt to him, one by one, the _seven_ was the highest card, in point of number, that he could avail himself of, _which counted for twenty-one_, the _six counted for sixteen_, the five for fifteen, and the ace for the same,”

&c. (_Sports and Pastimes_, 247.) The honourable Daines Harrington conceived that Primero was introduced by Philip the Second, or some of his suite, whilst in England. Shakspeare proves that it was played in the royal circle.

-----”I left him (Henry VIII.) at _Primero_ With the duke of Suffolk.”--_Henry VIII._

So Decker: ”Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have plaid at _Primero_.”--_Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609. 37.

Among the Marquis of Worcester's celebrated ”_Century of Inventions,_”

12mo, 1663, is one ”so contrived without suspicion, that playing at Primero at cards, one may, without clogging his memory, keep reckoning of all sixes, sevens, and aces, which he hath discarded.”--No. 87.]

[Footnote 24: ”Enquire out those tauernes which are best customd, whose maisters are oftenest drunk, for that confirmes their taste, and that they choose wholesome wines.”--Decker's _Gul's Horne-booke_, 1609.]

[Footnote 25: _his_, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 26: The editor of the edition in 1732, has altered _canary_ to ”_sherry_,”

for what reason I am at a loss to discover, and have consequently restored the reading of the first edition. Venner gives the following description of this favourite liquor. ”Canarie-wine, which beareth the name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some termed a sacke, with this adjunct, sweete; but yet very improperly, for it differeth not only from sacke in sweetness and pleasantness of taste, but also in colour and consistence, for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance; wherefore it is more nutritive than sack, and less penetrative.”--_Via recta ad Vitam longam_, 4to, 1622. In Howell's time, Canary wine was much adulterated. ”I think,” says he, in one of his Letters, ”there is more Canary brought into England than to all the world besides; I think also, there is a hundred times more drunk under the name of Canary wine, than there is brought in; for Sherries and Malagas, well mingled, pa.s.s for Canaries in most taverns. When Sacks and Canaries,” he continues, ”were brought in first amongst us, they were used to be drunk in aqua vitae measures, and 'twas held fit only for those to drink who were used to carry their _legs in their hands, their eyes upon their noses_, and an _almanack in their bones;_ but now they go down every one's throat, both young and old, like milk.”--Howell, _Letter to the lord Cliff_, dated Oct. 7, 1634.]

[Footnote 27: We learn from Harrison's _Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed, that _eleven o'clock_ was the usual time for dinner during the reign of Elizabeth. ”With vs the n.o.bilitie, gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go to dinner at _eleuen before noone_, and to supper at fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone” (vol. i. page 171, edit.

1587). The alteration in manners at this time is rather singularly evinced, from a pa.s.sage immediately following the above quotation, where we find that _merchants_ and _husbandmen_ dined and supped at a _later hour than the n.o.bility_.]

[Footnote 28: Alluding to the public dinners given by the sheriff at particular seasons of the year. So in _The Widow_, a comedy, 4to, 1652.