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  THE
  SPORTS AND PASTIMES

  OF THE
  PEOPLE OF ENGLAND:

  INCLUDING THE
  RURAL AND DOMESTIC RECREATIONS,

  MAY GAMES, MUMMERIES, SHOWS, PROCESSIONS, PAGEANTS, & POMPOUS
  SPECTACLES

  FROM
  THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.

  BY JOSEPH STRUTT.

  ILLUSTRATED BY
  One Hundred and Forty Engravings.

  IN WHICH ARE REPRESENTED

  MOST OF THE POPULAR DIVERSIONS;
  SELECTED FROM ANCIENT PAINTINGS.

  A NEW EDITION, WITH A COPIOUS INDEX,

  BY WILLIAM HONE,

  AUTHOR OF THE EVERY-DAY BOOK, TABLE BOOK, YEAR BOOK, ETC.




  LONDON:
  PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG,
  73, CHEAPSIDE.

  1845.




J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury.




ADVERTISEMENT.


THERE are two previous editions of Mr. STRUTT'S Sports and Pastimes
of the People of England. The first appeared in 1801; the second,
which was published in 1810, the year wherein the author died, was
an incorrect reprint, without a single additional line. Both were in
quarto, and as each of the plates, with few exceptions, contained
several subjects referred to in different parts of the work, and as
there were no paginal references on the plates, they were frequently
embarrassing to the reader.

The present edition is of a more convenient size, and at one-sixth of
the price of the former editions; and every engraving is on the page it
illustrates.

To a volume abounding in historical and other interesting facts, an
Index seemed indispensable; and a very copious one is annexed. The
_Two_ former editions were without.

If Mr. STRUTT had lived, I am persuaded he would have incorporated into
the body of the work some notes, which were needlessly placed on the
bottom margins. I have ventured to take them up into the pages; but
without any undue alteration of the author's language.

I hope, therefore, that my aim to render this edition generally
desirable and available, has been fully accomplished.

                                                            W. HONE.

  _Newington Green_, 1830.




CONTENTS.


  INTRODUCTION.

  A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES,
  AND MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES
  OF MIRTH OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR
  PRIVATELY, FOR THE SAKE OF AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT
  PERIOD, IN ENGLAND.

                                                                    PAGE

  I. Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace
  their Origin--II. The Romans in Britain--III. The Saxons--IV.
  The Normans--V. Tournaments and Justs--VI. Other Sports of
  the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen--VII. Knightly
  Accomplishments--VIII. Esquireship--IX. Military Sports
  patronized by the Ladies--X. Decline of such Exercises--XI.
  and of Chivalry--XII. Military Exercises under Henry the
  Seventh--XIII. and under Henry the Eighth--XIV. Princely
  Exercises under James the First--XV. Revival of Learning--XVI.
  Recreations of the Sixteenth Century--XVII. Old Sports of the
  Citizens of London--XVIII. Modern Pastimes of the Londoners--XIX.
  Cotswold and Cornish Games--XX. Splendour of the ancient Kings
  and Nobility--XXI. Royal and noble Entertainments--XXII. Civic
  Shows--XXIII. Setting out of Pageants--XXIV. Processions of
  Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain in London--XXV. Chester
  Pageants--XXVI. Public Shows of the Sixteenth Century--XXVII.
  Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth Castle--XXVIII. Love of Public
  Sights illustrated from Shakspeare--XXIX. Rope-dancing, tutored
  Animals, and Puppet-shows--XXX. Minstrelsy, Bell-ringing,
  &c.--XXXI. Baiting of Animals--XXXII. Pastimes formerly on
  Sundays--XXXIII. Royal Interference with them--XXXIV. Zeal
  against Wakes and May-Games--XXXV. Dice and Cards--XXXVI.
  Regulation of Gaming for Money by Richard Cœur de Lion,
  &c.--XXXVII. Statutes against Cards, Ball-play, &c.--XXXVIII.
  Prohibitions of Skittle play--XXXIX. Archery succeeded
  by Bowling--XL. Modern Gambling--XLI. Ladies' Pastimes,
  Needle-work--XLII. Dancing and Chess-play--XLIII. Ladies'
  Recreations in the Thirteenth Century.--XLIV. The Author's
  Labours.--Character of the Engravings.                              xv


  BOOK I.

  RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK.


  CHAPTER I.

  I. Hunting more ancient than Hawking--II. State of Hunting among
  the Britons--III. The Saxons expert in Hunting--IV. The Danes
  also--V. The Saxons subsequently and the Normans--VI. Their
  tyrannical Proceedings--VII. Hunting and Hawking after the
  Conquest--VIII. Laws relating to Hunting--IX. Hunting and Hawking
  followed by the Clergy--X. The manner in which the dignified
  Clergy in the Middle Ages pursued these Pastimes--XI. The English
  Ladies fond of these Sports--XII. Privileges of the Citizens
  of London to hunt;--private Privileges for Hunting--XIII. Two
  Treatises on Hunting considered--XIV. Names of Beasts to be
  hunted--XV. Wolves not all destroyed in Edgar's Time--XVI. Dogs
  for Hunting--XVII. Various Methods of Hunting--XVIII. Terms used
  in Hunting;--Times when to hunt                                      1


  CHAPTER II.

  I. Hawking practised by the Nobility--II. Its Origin not
  well known;--a favourite Amusement with the Saxons--III.
  Romantic Story relative to Hawking--IV. Grand Falconer of
  France, his State and Privileges--V. Edward III. partial to
  Hawking;--Sir Thomas Jermin--VI. Ladies fond of Hawking--VII. Its
  Decline--VIII. How it was performed--IX. Embellishments of the
  Hawk--X. Treatises concerning Hawking;--Superstitious Cure of
  Hawks--XI. Laws respecting Hawks--XII. Their great Value--XIII.
  The different Species of Hawks, and their Appropriation--XIV.
  Terms used in Hawking--XV. Fowling and Fishing;--the Stalking
  Horse;--Lowbelling                                                  24


  CHAPTER III.

  I. Horse-racing known to the Saxons--II. Races in Smithfield,
  and why--III. Races, at what Seasons practised--IV. The Chester
  Races--V. Stamford Races--VI. Value of Running-horses--VII.
  Highly prized by the Poets, &c.--VIII. Horse-racing commended as
  a liberal Pastime--IX. Charles II. and other Monarchs encouragers
  of Horse-racing;--Races on Coleshill-heath                          40


  BOOK II.

  RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED.


  CHAPTER I.

  I. The English famous for their Skill in Archery--II. The use of
  the Bow known to the Saxons and Danes--III. Form of the Saxon
  Bow, &c.--IV. Archery improved by the Normans--V. The Ladies fond
  of Archery--VI. Observations relative to the Cross-Bow--VII. Its
  Form and the Manner in which it was used--VIII. Bows ordered
  to be kept--IX. The decay of Archery and why--X. Ordinances in
  its Favour;--the Fraternity of St. George established--XI. The
  Price of Bows--XII. Equipments for Archery--XIII. Directions
  for its Practice--XIV. The Marks to shoot at--XV. The Length
  of the Bow and Arrows--XVI. Extraordinary Performances of the
  Archers--XVII. The modern Archers inferior to the ancient in long
  Shooting--XVIII. The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called;--grand
  Procession of the London Archers--XIX. Archery a royal Sport;--a
  good Archer, why called Arthur--XX. Prizes given to the Archers     48


  CHAPTER II.

  I. Slinging of Stones an ancient Art--II. Known to the
  Saxons--III. And the Normans--IV. How practised of late
  Years--V. Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand--VI.
  By the Londoners--VII. Casting of the Bar and Hammer--VIII.
  Of Spears--IX. Of Quoits--X. Swinging of Dumb Bells--XI.
  Foot Races--XII. The Game of Base--XIII. Wrestling much
  practised formerly--XIV. Prizes for--XV. How performed--XVI.
  Swimming--XVII. Sliding--XVIII. Skating--XIX. Rowing--XX. Sailing   71


  CHAPTER III.

  I. Hand-ball an ancient Game--The Ball, where said to have been
  invented--II. Used by the Saxons--III. And by the Schoolboys of
  London--IV. Ball Play in France--V. Tennis Courts erected--VI.
  Tennis fashionable in England--VII. A famous Woman Player--VIII.
  Hand-ball played for Tansy Cakes--IX. Fives--X. Ballon-ball--XI.
  Stool-ball--XII. Hurling--XIII. Foot-ball;--Camp-ball--XIV.
  Goff;--Cambuc;--Bandy-ball--XV. Stow-ball--XVI. Pall-mall--XVII.
  Ring-ball--XVIII. Club-ball--XIX. Cricket--XX. Trap-Ball--XXI.
  Northen-spell--XXII. Tip-cat                                        91


  BOOK III.

  PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES
  ADJOINING TO THEM.


  CHAPTER I.

  I. Tournament a general Name for several Exercises--II. The
  Quintain an ancient Military Exercise--III. Various Kinds of the
  Quintain--IV. Derivation of the Term--V. The Water Quintain--VI.
  Running at the Quintain practised by the Citizens of London; and
  why--VII. The Manner in which it was performed--VIII. Exhibited
  for the Pastime of Queen Elizabeth--IX. Tilting at a Water
  Butt--X. The Human Quintain--XI. Exercises probably derived
  from it--XII. Running at the Ring--XIII. Difference between the
  Tournaments and the Justs--XIV. Origin of the Tournament--XV.
  The Troy Game;--the Bohordicum or Cane Game--XVI. Derivation of
  Tournament;--how the Exercise was performed--XVII. Lists and
  Barriers--XVIII. When the Tournament was first practised--XIX.
  When first in England--XX. Its Laws and Ordinances--XXI. Pages,
  and Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, &c.--XXII. Preliminaries
  of the Tournament--XXIII. Lists for Ordeal Combats--XXIV.
  Respect paid to the Ladies--XXV. Justs less honourable than
  Tournaments--XXVI. The Round Table--XXVII. Nature of the
  Justs--XXVIII. Made in honour of the Fair Sex--XXIX. Great
  Splendour of these Pastimes;--The Nobility partial to them--XXX.
  Toys for initiating their Children in them--XXXI. Boat Justs, or
  Tilting on the Water--XXXII. Challenges to all comers              111


  CHAPTER II.

  I. Ancient Plays--II. Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, &c.
  continued several Days--III. The Coventry Play--IV. Mysteries
  described--V. How enlivened--VI. Moralities described--The
  Fool in Plays, whence derived--VII. Secular Plays--VIII.
  Interludes--IX. Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his
  Time--X. Plays performed in Churches--XI. Cornish Miracle
  Plays--XII. Itinerant Players, their evil Characters--XIII.
  Court-Plays--XIV. Play in honour of the Princess Mary's
  Marriage--XV. The Play of Hock Tuesday--XVI. Decline of Secular
  Plays--XVII. Origin of Puppet Plays--XVIII. Nature of the
  Performances--XIX. Giants and other Puppet Characters--XX. Puppet
  Plays superseded by Pantomimes--XXI. The modern Puppet-show
  Man--XXII. Moving Pictures described                               150


  CHAPTER III.

  I. The British Bards--II. The Northern Scalds--III. The
  Anglo-Saxon Gleemen--IV. The Nature of their Performances--V.
  A Royal Player with three Darts--VI. Bravery of a Minstrel in
  the Conqueror's Army--VII. Other Performances by Gleemen--VIII.
  The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the Saxons--IX.
  The Norman Minstrels, and their different Denominations and
  Professions--X. Troubadours--XI. Jestours--XII. Tales and
  Manners of the Jesters--XIII. Further Illustration of their
  Practices--XIV. Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of the
  Minstrels--XV. A Guild of Minstrels--XVI. Abuses and Decline of
  Minstrelsy--XVII. Minstrels were Satirists and Flatterers--XVIII.
  Anecdotes of offending Minstrels, Women Minstrels--XIX. The
  Dress of the Minstrels--XX. The King of the Minstrels, why so
  called--XXI. Rewards given to Minstrels--XXII. Payments to
  Minstrels--XXIII. Wealth of certain Minstrels--XXIV. Minstrels
  were sometimes Dancing Masters                                     170


  CHAPTER IV.

  I. The Joculator--II. His different Denominations and
  extraordinary Deceptions--III. His Performances ascribed
  to Magic--IV. Asiatic Jugglers--V. Remarkable Story from
  Froissart--VI. Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of
  the Devil; but more reasonably accounted for--VII. John Rykell,
  a celebrated Tregetour--VIII. Their various Performances--IX.
  Privileges of the Joculators at Paris.--The King's Joculator an
  Officer of Rank--X. The great Disrepute of modern Jugglers         197


  CHAPTER V.

  I. Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's
  Profession--II. Performed by Women--III. Dancing connected
  with Tumbling--IV. Antiquity of Tumbling--much encouraged--V.
  Various Dances described--VI. The Gleemen's Dances--VII.
  Exemplification of Gleemen's Dances--VIII. The Sword Dance--IX.
  Rope Dancing and wonderful Performances on the Rope--X.
  Rope Dancing from the Battlements of St. Paul's--XI. Rope
  Dancing from St. Paul's Steeple--XII. Rope Dancing from All
  Saints' Church, Hertford--XIII. A Dutchman's Feats on St.
  Paul's Weathercock--XIV. Jacob Hall the Rope Dancer--XV.
  Modern celebrated Rope Dancing--XVI. Rope Dancing at Sadler's
  Wells--XVII. Fool's Dance--XVIII. Morris Dance--XIX. Egg
  Dance--XX. Ladder Dance--XXI. Jocular Dances--XXII. Wire
  Dancing--XXIII. Ballette Dances--XXIV. Leaping and Vaulting--XXV.
  Balancing--XXVI. Remarkable Feats--XXVII. The Posture-Master's
  Tricks--XXVIII. The Mountebank--XXIX. The Tinker--XXX. The
  Fire-Eater                                                         207


  CHAPTER VI.

  I. Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers--Tricks performed by
  Bears--II. Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys--III. By Horses
  among the Sybarites--IV. In the thirteenth Century--V. In Queen
  Anne's Reign--VI. Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's, the
  Circus, &c.--VII. Dancing Dogs--VIII. The Hare beating a Tabor,
  and learned Pig--IX. A Dancing Cock--The Deserter Bird--X.
  Imitations of Animals--XI. Mummings and Masquerades--XII.
  Mumming to Royal Personages--XIII. Partial Imitations of
  Animals--XIV. The Horse in the Morris dance--XV. Counterfeit
  Voices of Animals--XVI. Animals trained for Baiting--XVII. Paris
  Garden--XVIII. Bull and Bear Baiting patronised by Royalty--XIX.
  How performed--XX. Bears and Bear-wards--XXI. Baiting in
  Queen Anne's time--XXII. Sword Play. &c.--XXIII. Public
  Sword Play--XXIV. Quarter Staff--XXV. Wrestling, &c. in Bear
  Gardens--XXVI. Extraordinary Trial of Strength                     239


  CHAPTER VII.

  I. Ancient Specimens of Bowling--Poem on Bowling--II.
  Bowling-greens first made by the English--III.
  Bowling-alleys--IV. Long-bowling--V. Supposed Origin of
  Billiards--VI. Kayles--VII. Closh--VIII. Loggats--IX.
  Nine-pins--Skittles--X. Dutch-pins--XI. Four-corners--XII.
  Half-bowl--XIII. Nine-holes--XIV. John Bull--XV. Pitch and
  Hustle--XVI. Bull-baiting in Towns and Villages--XVII.
  Bull-running--At Stamford, &c.--XVIII. At Tutbury--XIX.
  Badger-baiting--XX. Cock-fighting--XXI. Throwing at Cocks--XXII.
  Duck-hunting--XXIII. Squirrel-hunting--XXIV. Rabbit-hunting        266


  BOOK IV.

  DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS; AND PASTIMES
  APPROPRIATED TO PARTICULAR SEASONS.


  CHAPTER I.

  I. Secular Music fashionable--II. Ballad-singers encouraged
  by the Populace--III. Music Houses--IV. Origin of
  Vauxhall--V. Ranelagh--VI. Sadler's Wells--VII. Marybone
  Gardens--Operas--Oratorios--VIII. Bell-ringing--IX. Its
  Antiquity--X. Hand-bells--XI. Burlesque Music--XII.
  Dancing--XIII. Its Antiquity, &c.--XIV. Shovel-board--XV.
  Anecdote of Prince Henry--XVI. Billiards--XVII.
  Mississippi--XVIII. The Rocks of Scilly--XIX. Shove-groat--XX.
  Swinging--XXI. Tetter-totter--XXII. Shuttle-cock                   286


  CHAPTER II.

  I. Sedentary Games--II. Dice-playing;--Its Prevalency and
  Bad Effects--III. Ancient Dice-box;--Anecdote relating to
  false Dice--IV. Chess;--Its Antiquity--V. The Morals of
  Chess--VI. Early Chess-play in France and England--VII. The
  Chess-board--VIII. The Pieces, and their Form--IX. The various
  Games of Chess--X. Ancient Games similar to Chess--XI. The
  Philosopher's Game--XII. Draughts, French and Polish--XIII.
  Merelles, or Nine Mens' Morris--XIV. Fox and Geese--XV. The
  Solitary Game--XVI. Backgammon, anciently called Tables;--The
  different Manners of playing at Tables--XVII. Backgammon, its
  former and present Estimation--XVIII. Domino--XIX. Cards, when
  invented--XX. Card-playing much practised--XXI. Forbidden--XXII.
  Censured by Poets--XXIII. A Specimen of ancient Cards--XXIV.
  Games formerly played with Cards--XXV. The Game of Goose--and of
  the Snake--XXVI. Cross and Pile                                    305


  CHAPTER III.

  I. The Lord of Misrule said to be peculiar to the English--II.
  A Court Officer--III. The Master of the King's Revels--IV.
  The Lord of Misrule and his Conduct reprobated--V. The King
  of Christmas--of the Cockneys--VI. A King of Christmas at
  Norwich--VII. The King of the Bean--VIII. Whence originated--IX.
  The Festival of Fools--X. The Boy Bishop--XI. The Fool
  Plough--XII. Easter Games--XIII. Shrove-Tuesday--XIV.
  Hock-Tuesday--XV. May-Games--XVI. The Lord and Lady of the
  May--XVII. Grand May-Game at Greenwich--XVIII. Royal May-Game at
  Shooter's-hill-- XIX. May Milk-Maids--XX. May Festival of the
  Chimney Sweepers--XXI. Whitsun-Games--XXII. The Vigil of Saint
  John the Baptist, how kept--XXIII. Its supposed origin--XXIV.
  Setting of the Midsummer Watch--XXV. Processions on Saint
  Clement's and Saint Catherine's day--XXVI. Wassails--XXVII.
  Sheep-shearing and Harvest-home--XXVIII. Wakes--XXIX Sunday
  Festivals--XXX. Church Ales--XXXI. Fairs, and their Diversions
  and Abuses--XXXII. Bonfires--XXXIII. Illuminations--XXXIV.
  Fireworks--XXXV. London Fireworks--XXXVI. Fireworks on
  Tower-hill, at Public Gardens, and in Pageants                     339


  CHAPTER IV.

  I. Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children--II. Horses--III.
  Racing and Chacing--IV. Wrestling and other Gymnastic
  Sports--V. Marbles, and Span-counter--VI. Tops, &c.;--The Devil
  among the Tailors--VII. Even or Odd--Chuck-halfpenny;--Duck
  and Drake--VIII. Baste the Bear;--Hunt the Slipper,
  &c.--IX. Sporting with Insects;--Kites;--Windmills--X.
  Bob-cherry--XI. Hoodman-blind;--Hot-cockles--XII.
  Cock-fighting--XIII. Anonymous Pastimes;--Mock Honours at
  Boarding-schools--XIV. Houses of Cards;--Questions and
  Commands;--Handy-dandy;--Snap-dragon;--Push-pin;--Crambo;--Lotteries
  --XV. Obsolete Pastimes-XVI. Creag;--Queke-board;--Hand
  in and Hand out;--White and Black, and Making and
  Marring;--Figgum;--Mosel the Peg;-Hole about the
  Church-yard;--Penny-prick;--Pick-point, &c.;--Mottoes, Similes,
  and Cross-purposes;--The Parson has lost his Cloak                 379




INTRODUCTION.

     A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES, AND
     MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES OF MIRTH
     OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, FOR THE SAKE OF
     AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS, IN ENGLAND.


CONTENTS.

     I. Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace their
     Origin.--II. The Romans in Britain.--III. The Saxons.--IV.
     The Normans.--V. Tournaments and Justs.--VI. Other Sports of
     the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen.--VII. Knightly
     Accomplishments.--VIII. Esquireship.--IX. Military Sports
     patronized by the Ladies.--X. Decline of such Exercises--XI.
     and of Chivalry.--XII. Military Exercises under Henry the
     Seventh--XIII. and under Henry the Eighth.--XIV. Princely
     Exercises under James the First.--XV. Revival of Learning.--XVI.
     Recreations of the Sixteenth Century.--XVII. Old Sports
     of the Citizens of London.--XVIII. Modern Pastimes of the
     Londoners.--XIX. Cotswold and Cornish Games.--XX. Splendour
     of the ancient Kings and Nobility.--XXI. Royal and noble
     Entertainments.--XXII. Civic Shows.--XXIII. Setting out of
     Pageants.--XXIV. Processions of Queen Mary and King Philip
     of Spain in London.--XXV. Chester Pageants.--XXVI. Public
     Shows of the Sixteenth Century.--XXVII. Queen Elizabeth at
     Kenelworth Castle.--XXVIII. Love of Public Sights illustrated
     from Shakspeare.--XXIX. Rope-dancing, tutored Animals, and
     Puppet-shows.--XXX. Minstrelsy, Bell-ringing, &c.--XXXI. Baiting
     of Animals.--XXXII. Pastimes formerly on Sundays.--XXXIII.
     Royal Interference with them.--XXXIV. Zeal against Wakes and
     May-Games.--XXXV. Dice and Cards.--XXXVI. Regulation of Gaming for
     Money by Richard Cœur de Lion &c.--XXXVII. Statutes against Cards,
     Ball-play, &c.--XXXVIII. Prohibitions of Skittle-play.--XXXIX.
     Archery succeeded by Bowling.--XL. Modern Gambling.--XLI. Ladies'
     Pastimes, Needle-work.--XLII. Dancing and Chess-play.--XLIII.
     Ladies' Recreations in the Thirteenth Century.--XLIV. The Author's
     Labours.--Character of the Engravings.


I.--OBJECT OF THE WORK, TO DESCRIBE THE PASTIMES AND TRACE THEIR ORIGIN.

In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular
people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the Sports and
Pastimes most generally prevalent among them. War, policy, and
other contingent circumstances, may effectually place men, at
different times, in different points of view, but, when we follow
them into their retirements, where no disguise is necessary, we are
most likely to see them in their true state, and may best judge of
their natural dispositions. Unfortunately, all the information that
remains respecting the ancient inhabitants of this island is derived
from foreign writers partially acquainted with them as a people,
and totally ignorant of their domestic customs and amusements: the
silence, therefore, of the contemporary historians on these important
subjects leaves us without the power of tracing them with the least
degree of certainty; and as it is my intention, in the following pages,
to confine myself as much as possible to positive intelligence, I
shall studiously endeavour to avoid all controversial and conjectural
arguments. I mean also to treat upon such pastimes only as have
been practised in this country; but as many of them originated on
the continent, frequent digressions, by way of illustrations, must
necessarily occur: these, however, I shall make it my business to
render as concise as the nature of the subject will permit them to be.


II.--THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.

We learn, from the imperfect hints of ancient history, that, when the
Romans first invaded Britain, her inhabitants were a bold, active,
and warlike people, tenacious of their native liberty, and capable of
bearing great fatigue; to which they were probably inured by an early
education, and constant pursuit of such amusements as best suited the
profession of a soldier; including hunting, running, leaping, swimming,
and other exertions requiring strength and agility of body. Perhaps
the skill which the natives of Devonshire and Cornwall retain to the
present day, in hurling and wrestling, may properly be considered
as a vestige of British activity. After the Romans had conquered
Britain, they impressed such of the young men as were able to bear
arms for foreign service, and enervated the spirit of the people by
the importation of their own luxurious manners and habits; so that the
latter part of the British history exhibits to our view a slothful and
effeminate race of men, totally divested of that martial disposition,
and love of freedom, which so strongly marked the character of their
progenitors; and their amusements, no doubt, partook of the same
weakness and puerility.


III.--THE SAXONS.

The arrival of the Saxons forms a new epoch in the annals of this
country. These military mercenaries came professedly to assist
the Britons against their incessant tormentors the Picts and the
Caledonians; but no sooner had they established their footing in the
land, than they invited more of their countrymen to join them, and
turning their arms against their wretched employers, became their most
dangerous and most inexorable enemies, and in process of time obtained
full possession of the largest and best part of the island; whence
arose a total change in the form of government, laws, manners, customs,
and habits of the people.

The sportive exercises and pastimes practised by the Saxons appear
to have been such as were common among the ancient northern nations;
and most of them consisted of robust exercises. In an old Chronicle
of Norway,[1] we find it recorded of Olaf Tryggeson, a king of that
country, that he was stronger and more nimble than any man in his
dominions. He could climb up the rock Smalserhorn, and fix his shield
upon the top of it; he could walk round the outside of a boat upon
the oars, while the men were rowing; he could play with three darts,
alternately throwing them in the air, and always kept two of them
up, while he held the third in one of his hands; he was ambidexter,
and could cast two darts at once; he excelled all the men of his
time in shooting with the bow; and he had no equal in swimming. In
one achievement this monarch was outdone by the Anglo-Saxon ᵹlıᵹman,
represented by the engraving No. 50,[2] who adds an equal number of
balls to those knives or daggers. The Norman minstrel Tallefer, before
the commencement of the battle at Hastings, cast his lance into the air
three times, and caught it by the head in such a surprising manner,
that the English thought it was done by the power of enchantment.
Another northern hero, whose name was Kolson, boasts of nine
accomplishments in which he was well skilled: "I know," says he, "how
to play at chess; I can engrave Runic letters; I am expert at my book;
I know how to handle the tools of the smith;[3] I can traverse the
snow on skates of wood; I excel in shooting with the bow; I use the
oar with facility; I can sing to the harp; and I compose verses."[4]
The reader will, I doubt not, anticipate me in my observation, that
the acquirements of Kolson indicate a much more liberal education
than those of the Norwegian monarch: it must, however, be observed,
that Kolson lived in an age posterior to him; and also, that he made
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which may probably account in great
measure for his literary qualifications. Yet, we are well assured that
learning did not form any prominent feature in the education of a young
nobleman during the Saxon government: it is notorious, that Alfred the
Great was twelve years of age before he learned to read; and that he
owed his knowledge of letters to accident, rather than to the intention
of his tutors. A book adorned with paintings in the hands of his
mother, attracted his notice, and he expressed his desire to have it:
she promised to comply with his request on condition that he learned
to read it, which it seems he did; and this trifling incident laid the
groundwork of his future scholarship.[5]

Indeed, it is not by any means surprising, under the Saxon government,
when the times were generally very turbulent, and the existence of
peace exceedingly precarious, and when the personal exertions of the
opulent were so often necessary for the preservation of their lives
and property, that such exercises as inured the body to fatigue, and
biassed the mind to military pursuits, should have constituted the
chief part of a young nobleman's education: accordingly, we find that
hunting, hawking, leaping, running, wrestling, casting of darts, and
other pastimes which necessarily required great exertions of bodily
strength, were taught them in their adolescence. These amusements
engrossed the whole of their attention, every one striving to excel
his fellow; for hardiness, strength, and valour, out-balanced, in the
public estimation, the accomplishments of the mind; and therefore
literature, which flourishes best in tranquillity and retirement, was
considered as a pursuit unworthy the notice of a soldier, and only
requisite in the gloomy recesses of the cloister.

Among the vices of the Anglo-Saxons may be reckoned their propensity
to gaming, and especially with the dice, which they derived from their
ancestors; for Tacitus[6] assures us that the ancient Germans would
not only hazard all their wealth, but even stake their liberty, upon
the turn of the dice; "and he who loses," says the author, "submits
to servitude, though younger and stronger than his antagonist, and
patiently permits himself to be bound, and sold in the market; and
this madness they dignify by the name of honour." Chess was also a
favourite game with the Saxons; and likewise backgammon, said to have
been invented about the tenth century. It appears moreover, that a
large portion of the night was appropriated to the pursuit of these
sedentary amusements. In the reign of Canute the Dane, this practice
was sanctioned by the example of royalty, and followed by the nobility.
Bishop Ætheric, having obtained admission to Canute about midnight
upon some urgent business, found the king engaged with his courtiers
at play, some at dice, and some at chess.[7] The clergy, however, were
prohibited from playing at games of chance, by the ecclesiastical
canons established in the reign of Edgar.[8]


IV.--THE NORMANS.

The popular sports and pastimes, prevalent at the close of the Saxon
era, do not appear to have been subjected to any material change by the
coming of the Normans: it is true, indeed, that the elder William and
his immediate successors restricted the privileges of the chase, and
imposed great penalties on those who presumed to destroy the game in
the royal forests, without a proper licence.[9] By these restrictions
the general practice of hunting was much confined, but by no means
prohibited in certain districts, and especially to persons of opulence
who possessed extensive territories of their own.


V.--TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.

Among the pastimes introduced by the Norman nobility, none engaged
the general attention more than the tournaments and the justs. The
tournament, in its original institution, was a martial conflict, in
which the combatants engaged without any animosity, merely to exhibit
their strength and dexterity; but, at the same time, engaged in great
numbers to represent a battle. The just was when two knights, and
no more, were opposed to each other at one time. These amusements,
in the middle ages, which may properly enough be denominated the
ages of chivalry, were in high repute among the nobility of Europe,
and produced in reality much of the pomp and gallantry that we find
recorded with poetical exaggeration in the legends of knight-errantry.
I met with a passage in a satirical poem among the Harleian MSS. of the
thirteenth century,[10] which strongly marks the prevalence of this
taste in the times alluded to. It may be thus rendered in English:

    If wealth, sir knight, perchance be thine,
    In tournaments you're bound to shine
    Refuse--and all the world will swear
    You are not worth a rotten pear.[11]


VI.--OTHER SPORTS OF THE NOBILITY, AND THE CITIZENS AND YEOMEN.

While the principles of chivalry continued in fashion, the education
of a nobleman was confined to those principles, and every regulation
necessary to produce an accomplished knight was put into practice.
In order fully to investigate these particulars, we may refer to the
romances of the middle ages; and, generally speaking, dependence may
be placed upon their information. The authors of these fictitious
histories never looked beyond the customs of their own country;
and whenever the subject called for a representation of remote
magnificence, they depicted such scenes of splendour as were familiar
to them: hence it is, that Alexander the Great, in his legendary
life, receives the education of a Norman baron, and becomes expert in
hawking, hunting, and other amusements coincident with the time in
which the writer lived. Our early poets have fallen into the same kind
of anachronism; and Chaucer himself, in the Knight's Tale, speaking of
the rich array and furniture of the palace of Theseus, forgets that he
was a Grecian prince of great antiquity, and describes the large hall
belonging to an English nobleman, with the guests seated at table,
probably as he had frequently seen them, entertained with singing,
dancing, and other acts of minstrelsy, their hawks being placed upon
perches over their heads, and their hounds lying round about upon the
pavement below. The two last lines of the poem just referred to are
peculiarly applicable to the manners of the time in which the poet
lived, when no man of consequence travelled abroad without his hawk
and his hounds. In the early delineations, the nobility are frequently
represented seated at table, with their hawks upon their heads. Chaucer
says,

    Ne what hawkes sytten on perchen above,
    Ne what houndes lyggen on the flour adoun.

The picture is perfect, when referred to his own time; but bears
not the least analogy to Athenian grandeur. In the romance called
The Knight of the Swan, it is said of Ydain duchess Roulyon, that
she caused her three sons to be brought up in "all maner of good
operacyons, vertues, and maners; and when in their adolescence they
were somwhat comen to the age of strengthe, they," their tutors, "began
to practyse them in shootinge with their bow and arbelstre,[12] to
playe with the sword and buckeler, to runne, to just,[13] to playe
with a poll-axe, and to wrestle; and they began to bear harneys,[14]
to runne horses, and to approve them, as desyringe to be good and
faythful knightes to susteyne the faith of God." We are not, however
to conceive, that martial exercises in general were confined to the
education of young noblemen: the sons of citizens and yeomen had also
their sports resembling military combats. Those practised at an early
period by the young Londoners seem to have been derived from the
Romans; they consisted of various attacks and evolutions performed on
horseback, the youth being armed with shields and pointless lances,
resembling the ludus Trojæ, or Troy game, described by Virgil.[15]
These amusements, according to Fitz Stephen, who lived in the reign
of Henry II., were appropriated to the season of Lent; but at other
times they exercised themselves with archery, fighting with clubs and
bucklers, and running at the quintain; and in the winter, when the
frost set in, they would go upon the ice, and run against each other
with poles, in imitation of lances, in a just; and frequently one or
both were beaten down, "not always without hurt; for some break their
arms, and some their legs; but youth," says my author, "emulous of
glory, seeks these exercises preparatory against the time that war
shall demand their presence." The like kind of pastimes, no doubt, were
practised by the young men in other parts of the kingdom.


VII.--KNIGHTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

The mere management of arms, though essentially requisite, was not
sufficient of itself to form an accomplished knight in the times of
chivalry; it was necessary for him to be endowed with beauty, as well
as with strength and agility of body; he ought to be skilled in music,
to dance gracefully, to run with swiftness, to excel in wrestling, to
ride well, and to perform every other exercise befitting his situation.
To these were to be added urbanity of manners, strict adherence to the
truth, and invincible courage. Hunting and hawking skilfully were also
acquirements that he was obliged to possess, and which were usually
taught him as soon as he was able to endure the fatigue that they
required. Hence it is said of sir Tristram, a fictitious character
held forth as the mirror of chivalry in the romance entitled The
Death of Arthur, that "he learned to be an harper, passing all other,
that there was none such called in any countrey: and so in harping
and on instruments of musike he applied himself in his youth for to
learne, and after as he growed in might and strength he laboured ever
in hunting and hawking, so that we read of no gentlemen who more,
or so, used himself therein; and he began good measures of blowing
blasts of venery,[16] and chase, and of all manner of vermains;[17]
and all these terms have we yet of hunting and hawking; and therefore
the book of venery, and of hawking and hunting, is called the Boke of
Sir Tristram." In a succeeding part of the same romance, king Arthur
thus addresses the knight: "For all manner of hunting thou bearest the
prize; and of all measures of blowing thou art the beginner, and of all
the termes of hunting and hawking thou art the beginner."[18] We are
also informed, that sir Tristram had previously learned the language of
France, knew all the principles of courtly behaviour, and was skilful
in the various requisites of knighthood. Another ancient romance says
of its hero, "He every day was provyd in dauncyng and in songs that the
ladies coulde think were convenable for a nobleman to conne;[19] but
in every thinge he passed all them that were there. The king, for to
assaie him, made justes and turnies; and no man did so well as he, in
runnyng, playing at the pame,[20] shotyng, and castyng of the barre, ne
found he his maister."[21]


VIII.--ESQUIRESHIP.

The laws of chivalry required that every knight should pass through
two offices: the first was a page; and, at the age of fourteen, he was
admitted an esquire. The office of the esquire consisted of several
departments; the esquire for the body, the esquire of the chamber, the
esquire of the stable, and the carving esquire; the latter stood in the
hall at dinner, carved the different dishes, and distributed them to
the guests. Several of the inferior officers had also their respective
esquires.[22] Ipomydon, a king's son and heir, in the romance that
bears his name, written probably at the commencement of the fourteenth
century, is regularly taught the duties of an esquire, previous to his
receiving the honours of knighthood; and for this purpose his father
committed him to the care of a "learned and courteous knight called Sir
'Tholomew." Our author speaks on this subject in the following manner:

    'Tholomew a clerke he toke,
    That taught the child uppon the boke
    Both to synge and to rede;
    And after he taught hym other dede.
    Afterward, to serve in halle
    Both to grete and to smalle;
    Before the kynge mete to kerve;
    Hye and low fayre to serve.
    Both of howndes and hawkis game,
    After, he taught hym all; and same,
    In sea, in feld, and eke in ryvere;
    In woode to chase the wild dere,
    And in feld to ryde a stede;
    That all men had joy of hys dede.[23]

Here we find reading mentioned; which, however, does not appear to have
been of any great importance in the middle ages, and is left out in the
Geste of King Horne, another metrical romance,[24] which seems to be
rather more ancient than the former. Young Horne is placed under the
tuition of Athelbrus, the king's steward, who is commanded to teach him
the mysteries of hawking and hunting, to play upon the harp,

    Ant toggen o' the harpe
    With his nayles sharpe,

to carve at the royal table, and to present the cup to the king when
he sat at meat, with every other service fitting for him to know. The
monarch concludes his injunctions with a repetition of the charge to
instruct him in singing and music:

    Tech him of harp and of song.

And the manner in which the king's carver performed the duties of his
office is well described in the poem denominated the Squyer of Lowe
Degree:[25]

    There he araied him in scarlet red,
    And set a chaplet upon his hedde;
    A belte about his sydes two,
    With brode barres to and fro;
    A horne about his necke he caste;
    And forth he went at the laste,
    To do his office in the halle
    Among the lordes both greate and small.
    He toke a white yeard in his hand;
    Before the kynge than gan he stande;
    And sone he set hym on his knee,
    And served the kynge ryght royally
    With deynty meates that were dere.--
    --And, when the squyer had done so,
    He served them all[26] to and fro.
    Eche man hym loved in honeste,
    Hye and lowe in their degre;
    So dyd the kyng--&c.


IX.--MILITARY SPORTS PATRONIZED BY THE LADIES.

Tournaments and justs were usually exhibited at coronations royal
marriages, and other occasions of solemnity where pomp and pageantry
were thought to be requisite. Our historians abound with details of
these celebrated pastimes. The reader is referred to Froissart, Hall,
Holinshed, Stow, Grafton, &c. who are all of them very diffuse upon
this subject; and in the second volume of the Manners and Customs of
the English are several curious representations of these military
combats both on horseback and on foot.

One great reason, and perhaps the most cogent of any, why the nobility
of the middle ages, nay, and even princes and kings, delighted so
much in the practice of tilting with each other, is, that on such
occasions they made their appearance with prodigious splendour, and had
the opportunity of displaying their accomplishments to the greatest
advantage. The ladies also were proud of seeing their professed
champions engaged in these arduous conflicts; and, perhaps, a glove
or riband from the hand of a favourite female might have inspired the
receiver with as zealous a wish for conquest, as the abstracted love
of glory; though in general, I presume, both these ideas were united;
for a knight divested of gallantry would have been considered as a
recreant, and unworthy of his profession.


X.--DECLINE OF MILITARY EXERCISES.

When the military enthusiasm which so strongly characterised the middle
ages had subsided, and chivalry was on the decline, a prodigious
change took place in the nurture and manners of the nobility. Violent
exercises requiring the exertions of muscular strength grew out of
fashion with persons of rank, and of course were consigned to the
amusement of the vulgar; and the education of the former became
proportionably more soft and delicate. This example of the nobility
was soon followed by persons of less consequence; and the neglect of
military exercises prevailed so generally, that the interference of
the legislature was thought necessary, to prevent its influence from
being universally diffused, and to correct the bias of the common mind;
for, the vulgar readily acquiesced with the relaxation of meritorious
exertions, and fell into the vices of the times, resorting to such
games and recreations as promoted idleness and dissipation, by which
they lost their money, and, what is worse, their reputation, entailing
poverty and distress on themselves and their families.


XI.--DECLINE OF CHIVALRY.

The romantic notions of chivalry appear to have lost their vigour
towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, especially in this
country, where a continued series of intestine commotions employed
the exertions of every man of property, and real battles afforded but
little leisure to exercise the mockery of war. It is true, indeed, that
tilts and tournaments, with other splendid exhibitions of military
skill, were occasionally exercised, and with great brilliancy, so far
as pomp and finery could contribute to make them attractive, till the
end of the succeeding century. These splendid pastimes were encouraged
by the sanction of royalty, and this sanction was perfectly political;
on the one hand, it gratified the vanity of the nobility, and, on the
other, it amused the populace, who, being delighted with such shows of
grandeur, were thereby diverted from reflecting too deeply upon the
grievances they sustained. It is, however, certain that the justs and
tournaments of the latter ages, with all their pomp, possessed but
little of the primitive spirit of chivalry.


XII.--MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VII.

Henry VII. patronized the gentlemen and officers of his court in the
practice of military exercises. The following extract may serve as a
specimen of the manner in which they were appointed to be performed:
"Whereas it ever hath bene of old antiquitie used in this realme of
most noble fame, for all lustye gentlemen to passe the delectable
season of summer after divers manner and sondry fashions of disports,
as in hunting the red and fallowe deer with houndes, greyhoundes,
and with the bowe; also in hawking with hawkes of the tower; and
other pastimes of the field. And bycause it is well knowen, that in
the months of Maie and June, all such disports be not convenient;
wherefore, in eschewing of idleness, the ground of all vice," and to
promote such exercises as "shall be honourable, and also healthfull
and profitable to the body," we "beseech your most noble highness to
permit two gentlemen, assosyatying to them two other gentlemen to be
their aides," by "your gracious licence, to furnish certain articles
concerning the feates of armes hereafter ensuinge:"--"In the first
place; On the twenty-second daye of Maie, there shall be a grene tree
sett up in the lawnde of Grenwich parke; whereupon shall hange, by a
grene lace, a vergescu[27] blanke; upon which white shield it shal
be lawful for any gentleman that will answer the following chalenge
to subscribe his name.--Secondly; The said two gentlemen, with their
two aides, shal be redye on the twenty-thirde daie of Maie, being
Thursdaye, and on Mondaye thence next ensewinge, and so everye Thursday
and Monday untill the twentieth daye of June, armed for the foote, to
answear all gentlemen commers, at the feate called the Barriers, with
the casting-speare, and the targett, and with the bastard-sword,[28]
after the manner following, that is to saie, from sixe of the clocke
in the forenoone till sixe of the clocke in the afternoone during the
time.--Thirdly; And the said two gentlemen, with their two aiders,
or one of them, shall be there redye at the said place, the daye and
dayes before rehearsed, to deliver any of the gentlemen answeares of
one caste with the speare hedded with the morne,[29] and seven strokes
with the sword, point and edge rebated, without close, or griping one
another with handes, upon paine of punishment as the judges for the
time being shall thinke requisite.--Fourthly; And it shall not be
lawfull to the challengers, nor to the answearers, with the bastard
sword to give or offer any foyne[30] to his match, upon paine of like
punishment.--Fifthly; The challengers shall bringe into the fielde,
the said daies and tymes, all manner of weapons concerning the said
feates, that is to saye, casting speares hedded with mornes, and
bastard swords with the edge and point rebated; and the answerers to
have the first choise."[31]


XIII.--MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VIII.

Henry VIII. not only countenanced the practice of military pastimes by
permitting them to be exercised without restraint, but also endeavoured
to make them fashionable by his own example. Hall assures us, that,
even after his accession to the throne, he continued daily to amuse
himself in archery, casting of the bar, wrestling, or dancing, and
frequently in tilting, tournaying, fighting at the barriers with
swords, and battle-axes, and such like martial recreations, in most of
which there were few that could excel him. His leisure time he spent in
playing at the recorders, flute, and virginals, in setting of songs,
singing and making of ballads.[32] He was also exceedingly fond of
hunting, hawking, and other sports of the field; and indeed his example
so far prevailed, that hunting, hawking, riding the great horse,
charging dexterously with the lance at the tilt, leaping, and running,
were necessary accomplishments for a man of fashion.[33] The pursuits
and amusements of a nobleman are placed in a different point of view by
an author of the succeeding century;[34] who, describing the person and
manners of Charles lord Mountjoy, regent of Ireland, in 1599, says, "He
delighted in study, in gardens, in riding on a pad to take the aire, in
playing at shovelboard, at cardes, and in reading of play-bookes for
recreation, and especially in fishing and fish-ponds, seldome useing
any other exercises, and useing these rightly as pastimes, only for
a short and convenient time, and with great variety of change from
one to the other." The game of shovelboard, though now considered as
exceedingly vulgar, and practised by the lower classes of the people,
was formerly in great repute among the nobility and gentry; and few
of their mansions were without a shovelboard, which was a fashionable
piece of furniture. The great hall was usually the place for its
reception.


XIV.--PRINCELY EXERCISES UNDER JAMES I.

We are by no means in the dark respecting the education of the nobility
in the reign of James I.; we have, from that monarch's own hand, a set
of rules for the nurture and conduct of an heir apparent to the throne,
addressed to his eldest son Henry, prince of Wales. From the third book
of this remarkable publication, entitled ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟΝ ΔΩΡΟΝ, or, a Kinge's
Christian Dutie towards God," I shall select such parts as respect the
recreations said to be proper for the pursuit of a nobleman, without
presuming to make any alteration in the diction of the royal author.

"Certainly," he says, "bodily exercises and games are very commendable,
as well for bannishing of idleness, the mother of all vice; as for
making the body able and durable for travell, which is very necessarie
for a king. But from this court I debarre all rough and violent
exercises; as the foote-ball, meeter for lameing, than making able,
the users thereof; as likewise such tumbling trickes as only serve for
comœdians and balladines to win their bread with: but the exercises
that I would have you to use, although but moderately, not making a
craft of them, are, running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and
playing at the caitch, or tennise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like
other fair and pleasant field-games. And the honourablest and most
recommendable games that yee can use on horseback; for, it becometh a
prince best of any man to be a faire and good horseman: use, therefore,
to ride and danton great and courageous horses;--and especially use
such games on horseback as may teach you to handle your armes thereon,
such as the tilt, the ring, and low-riding for handling of your sword.

"I cannot omit heere the hunting, namely, with running houndes, which
is the most honourable and noblest sort thereof; for it is a theivish
forme of hunting to shoote with gunnes and bowes; and greyhound
hunting[35] is not so martial a game.

"As for hawkinge, I condemn it not; but I must praise it more
sparingly, because it neither resembleth the warres so neere as hunting
doeth in making a man hardie and skilfully ridden in all grounds, and
is more uncertain and subjec. to mischances; and, which is worst of
all, is there through an extreme stirrer up of the passions.

"As for sitting, or house pastimes--since they may at times supply the
roome which, being emptie, would be patent to pernicious idleness--I
will not therefore agree with the curiositie of some learned men of
our age in forbidding cardes, dice, and such like games of hazard:[36]
when it is foule and stormie weather, then I say, may ye lawfully play
at the cardes or tables; for, as to diceing, I think it becommeth best
deboshed souldiers to play at on the heads of their drums, being only
ruled by hazard, and subject to knavish cogging; and as for the chesse,
I think it over-fond, because it is over-wise and philosophicke a
folly."

His majesty concludes this subject with the following good advice to
his son: "Beware in making your sporters your councellors, and delight
not to keepe ordinarily in your companie comœdians or balladines."


XV.--REVIVAL OF LEARNING.

The discontinuation of bodily exercises afforded a proportionable
quantity of leisure time for the cultivation of the mind; so that
the manners of mankind were softened by degrees, and learning, which
had been so long neglected, became fashionable, and was esteemed an
indispensable mark of a polite education. Yet some of the nobility
maintained for a long time the old prejudices in favour of the
ancient mode of nurture, and preferred exercise of the body to mental
endowments; such was the opinion of a person of high rank, who said to
Richard Pace, secretary to king Henry VIII., "It is enough for the sons
of noblemen to wind their horn and carry their hawke fair, and leave
study and learning to the children of meaner people."[37] Many of the
pastimes that had been countenanced by the nobility, and sanctioned
by their example, in the middle ages, grew into disrepute in modern
times, and were condemned as vulgar and unbecoming the notice of a
gentleman. "Throwing the hammer and wrestling," says Peacham, in his
Complete Gentleman, published in 1622, "I hold them exercises not so
well beseeming nobility, but rather the soldiers in the camp and the
prince's guard." On the contrary, sir William Forest, in his Poesye of
Princelye Practice, a MS. in the Royal Library,[38] written in the year
1548, laying down the rules for the education of an heir apparent to
the crown, or prince of the blood royal, writes thus:

    So must a prince, at some convenient brayde,
    In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence:
    Too ryde, runne, leape, or caste by violence
    Stone, barre, or plummett, or suche other thinge,
    It not refusethe any prince or kynge.

However, I doubt not both these authors spoke agreeably to the taste of
the times in which they lived. Barclay, a more early poetic writer, in
his Eclogues, first published in 1508, has made a shepherd boast of his
skill in archery; to which he adds,

    I can dance the raye; I can both pipe and sing,
    If I were mery; I can both hurle and sling;
    I runne, I wrestle, I can well throwe the barre,
    No shepherd throweth the axeltree so farre;
    If I were mery, I could well leape and spring;
    I were a man mete to serve a prince or king.


XVI.--RECREATIONS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, published in 1660, gives us a
general view of the sports most prevalent in the seventeenth century.
"Cards, dice, hawkes, and hounds," says he, "are rocks upon which men
lose themselves, when they are imprudently handled, and beyond their
fortunes." And again, "Hunting and hawking are honest recreations,
and fit for some great men, but not for every base inferior person,
who, while they maintain their faulkoner, and dogs, and hunting nags,
their wealth runs away with their hounds, and their fortunes fly
away with their hawks." In another place he speaks thus: "Ringing,
bowling, shooting, playing with keel-pins, tronks, coits, pitching
of bars, hurling, wrestling, leaping, running, fencing, mustering,
swimming, playing with wasters, foils, foot-balls, balowns, running at
the quintain, and the like, are common recreations of country folks:
riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments,
horse-races, and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men,
and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by such means gallop
quite out of their fortunes." Speaking of the Londoners, he says, "They
take pleasure to see some pageant or sight go by, as at a coronation,
wedding, and such like solemn niceties; to see an ambassador or a
prince received and entertained with masks, shows, and fireworks.
The country hath also his recreations, as May-games, feasts, fairs,
and wakes." The following pastimes he considers as common both in
town and country, namely, "bull-baitings and bear-baitings, in which
our countrymen and citizens greatly delight, and frequently use;
dancers on ropes, jugglers, comedies, tragedies, artillery gardens,
and cock-fighting." He then goes on: "Ordinary recreations we have
in winter, as cards, tables, dice, shovelboard, chess-play, the
philosopher's game, small trunks, shuttle-cock, billiards, music,
masks, singing, dancing, ule-games, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches,
cross purposes, questions and commands, merry tales of errant knights,
queens, lovers, lords, ladies, giants, dwarfs, thieves, cheaters,
witches, fairies, goblins, and friars." To this catalogue he adds:
"Dancing, singing, masking, mumming, and stage-plays, are reasonable
recreations, if in season; as are May-games, wakes, and Whitson-ales,
if not at unseasonable hours, are justly permitted. Let them," that
is, the common people, "freely feast, sing, dance, have puppet-plays,
hobby-horses, tabers, crowds,[39] and bagpipes:" let them "play at ball
and barley-brakes;" and afterwards, "Plays, masks, jesters, gladiators,
tumblers, and jugglers, are to be winked at, lest the people should do
worse than attend them."

A character in the Cornish Comedy, written by George Powell, and
acted at Dorset Garden in 1696, says, "What is a gentleman without
his recreations? With these we endeavour to pass away that time
which otherwise would lie heavily upon our hands. Hawks, hounds,
setting-dogs, and cocks, with their appurtenances, are the true marks
of a country gentleman." This character is supposed to be a young
heir just come to his estate. "My cocks," says he, "are true cocks of
the game--I make a match of cock-fighting, and then an hundred or two
pounds are soon won, for I never fight a battle under."


XVII.--OLD SPORTS OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON.

In addition to the May-games, morris-dancings, pageants and
processions, which were commonly exhibited throughout the kingdom in
all great towns and cities, the Londoners had peculiar and extensive
privileges of hunting, hawking, and fishing:[40] they had also large
portions of ground allotted to them in the vicinity of the city for the
practice of such pastimes as were not prohibited by the government,
and for those especially that were best calculated to render them
strong and healthy. We are told by Fitz Stephen, in the twelfth
century, that on the holidays during the summer season, the young men
of London exercised themselves in the fields with "leaping, shooting
with the bow, wrestling, casting the stone, playing with the ball, and
fighting with their shields." The last species of pastime, I believe,
is the same that Stow, in his Survey of London, calls "practising with
their wasters and bucklers;" which in his day was exercised by the
apprentices before the doors of their masters. The city damsels had
also their recreations on the celebration of these festivals, according
to the testimony of both the authors just mentioned. The first tells
us that they played upon citherns,[41] and danced to the music; and
as this amusement probably did not take place before the close of
the day, they were, it seems, occasionally permitted to continue it
by moonlight. We learn from the other, who wrote at the distance of
more than four centuries, that it was then customary for the maidens,
after evening prayers, to dance in the presence of their masters and
mistresses, while one of their companions played the measure upon a
timbrel; and, in order to stimulate them to pursue this exercise with
alacrity, the best dancers were rewarded with garlands, the prizes
being exposed to public view, "hanged athwart the street," says Stow,
during the whole of the performance. This recital calls to my mind a
passage in Spenser's Epithalamium, wherein it appears that the dance
was sometimes accompanied with singing. It runs thus:

    ----The damsels they delight,
    When they their timbrels smite,
    And thereunto dance and carol sweet.


XVIII.--MODERN PASTIMES OF THE LONDONERS.

A general view of the pastimes practised by the Londoners soon after
the commencement of the last century occurs in Strype's edition of
Stow's Survey of London, published in 1720.[42] "The modern sports of
the citizens," says the editor, "besides drinking, are cock-fighting,
bowling upon greens, playing at tables, or backgammon, cards, dice,
and billiards; also musical entertainments, dancing, masks, balls,
stage-plays, and club-meetings, in the evening; they sometimes ride
out on horseback, and hunt with the lord-mayor's pack of dogs when the
common hunt goes out. The lower classes divert themselves at foot-ball,
wrestling, cudgels, nine-pins, shovelboard, cricket, stow-ball, ringing
of bells, quoits, pitching the bar, bull and bear baitings, throwing at
cocks, and, what is worst of all, lying at alehouses." To these are
added, by an author of later date, Maitland, in his History of London,
published in 1739, "Sailing, rowing, swimming and fishing, in the river
Thames, horse and foot races, leaping, archery, bowling in allies, and
skittles, tennice, chess, and draughts; and in the winter scating,
sliding, and shooting." Duck-hunting was also a favourite amusement,
but generally practised in the summer. The pastimes here enumerated
were by no means confined to the city of London, or its environs: the
larger part of them were in general practice throughout the kingdom.


XIX.--COTSWOLD AND CORNISH GAMES.

Before I quit this division of my subject, I shall mention the annual
celebration of games upon Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, to which
prodigious multitudes constantly resorted. Robert Dover, an attorney,
of Barton on the Heath, in the county of Warwick, was forty years
the chief director of these pastimes. They consisted of wrestling,
cudgel-playing, leaping, pitching the bar, throwing the sledge, tossing
the pike, with various other feats of strength and activity; many of
the country gentlemen hunted or coursed the hare; and the women danced.
A castle of boards was erected on this occasion, from which guns were
frequently discharged. "Captain Dover received permission from James
I. to hold these sports; and he appeared at their celebration in the
very clothes which that monarch had formerly worn, but with much more
dignity in his air and aspect."[43] I do not mean to say that the
Cotswold games were invented, or even first established, by captain
Dover; on the contrary, they seem to be of much higher origin, and
are evidently alluded to in the following lines by John Heywood the
epigrammatist:[44]

    He fometh like a bore, the beaste should seeme bolde,
    For he is as fierce as a lyon of Cotsolde.

Something of the same sort, I presume, was the Carnival, kept every
year, about the middle of July, upon Halgaver-moor, near Bodmin in
Cornwall; "resorted to by thousands of people," says Heath, in his
description of Cornwall, published in 1750. "The sports and pastimes
here held were so well liked by Charles II. when he touched here in
his way to Sicily, that he became a brother of the jovial society. The
custom of keeping this carnival is said to be as old as the Saxons."


XX.--SPLENDOUR OF THE ANCIENT KINGS AND NOBILITY.

Paul Hentzner, a foreign writer, who visited this country at the close
of the sixteenth century, says of the English, in his Itinerary,
written in 1598, that they are "serious like the Germans, lovers
of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of
servants, who wear their master's arms in silver."[45] This was no
new propensity: the English nobility at all times affected great
parade, seldom appearing abroad without large trains of servitors and
retainers; and the lower classes of the people delighted in gaudy
shows, pageants, and processions.

If we go back to the times of the Saxons, we shall find that, soon
after their establishment in Britain, their monarchs assumed great
state. Bede tells us that "Edwin, king of Northumberland, lived in much
splendour, never travelling without a numerous retinue; and when he
walked in the streets of his own capital, even in the times of peace,
he had a standard borne before him. This standard was of the kind
called by the Romans tufa, and by the English tuuf: it was made with
feathers of various colours, in the form of a globe, and fastened upon
a pole."[46] It is unnecessary to multiply citations; for which reason,
I shall only add another. Canute the Dane, who is said to have been
the richest and most magnificent prince of his time in Europe, rarely
appeared in public without being followed by a train of three thousand
horsemen, well mounted and completely armed. These attendants, who
were called house carles, formed a corps of body guards, or household
troops, and were appointed for the honour and safety of that prince's
person.[47] The examples of royalty were followed by the nobility and
persons of opulence.

In the middle ages, the love of show was carried to an extravagant
length; and as a man of fashion was nothing less than a man of letters,
those studies that were best calculated to improve the mind were held
in little estimation.


XXI.--ROYAL AND NOBLE ENTERTAINMENTS.

The courts of princes and the castles of the great barons were daily
crowded with numerous retainers, who were always welcome to their
masters' tables. The noblemen had their privy counsellors, treasurers,
marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, chaplains, heralds,
pursuivants, pages, henchmen or guards, trumpeters, and all the other
officers of the royal court.[48] To these may be added whole companies
of minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers, rope-dancers, and players;
and especially on days of public festivity, when, in every one of the
apartments opened for the reception of the guests, were exhibited
variety of entertainments, according to the taste of the times, but in
which propriety had very little share; the whole forming a scene of
pompous confusion, where feasting, drinking, music, dancing, tumbling,
singing, and buffoonery, were jumbled together, and mirth excited too
often at the expense of common decency.[49] If we turn to the third
Book of Fame, a poem written by our own countryman Chaucer, we shall
find a perfect picture of these tumultuous court entertainments, drawn,
I doubt not, from reality, and perhaps without any exaggeration. It
may be thus expressed in modern language: Minstrels of every kind
were stationed in the receptacles for the guests; among them were
jesters, that related tales of mirth and of sorrow; excellent players
upon the harp, with others of inferior merit[50] seated on various
seats below them, who mimicked their performances like apes to excite
laughter; behind them, at a great distance, was a prodigious number of
other minstrels, making a great sound with cornets, shaulms, flutes,
horns,[51] pipes of various kinds, and some of them made with green
corn,[52] such as are used by shepherds' boys; there were also Dutch
pipers to assist those who chose to dance either "love-dances, springs,
or rayes,"[53] or any other new-devised measures. Apart from these
were stationed the trumpeters and players on the clarion; and other
seats were occupied by different musicians playing variety of mirthful
tunes. There were also present large companies of jugglers, magicians,
and tregetours, who exhibited surprising tricks by the assistance of
natural magic.

Vast sums of money were expended in support of these absurd and
childish spectacles, by which the estates of the nobility were
consumed, and the public treasuries often exhausted. But we shall have
occasion to speak more fully on this subject hereafter.[54]


XXII.--CIVIC SHOWS.

The pageantry and shows exhibited in great towns and cities on
occasions of joy and solemnity were equally deficient in taste and
genius. At London, where they were most frequently required, that
is to say, at the reception of foreign monarchs, at the processions
of our own through the city of London to Westminster previous to
their coronation, or at their return from abroad, and on various
other occasions; besides such as occurred at stated times, as the
lord-mayor's show, the setting of the midsummer watch, and the like, a
considerable number of different artificers were kept, at the city's
expense, to furnish the machinery for the pageants, and to decorate
them. Stow tells us that, in his memory, great part of Leaden Hall was
appropriated to the purpose of painting and depositing the pageants for
the use of the city.

The want of elegance and propriety, so glaringly evident in these
temporary exhibitions, was supplied, or attempted to be supplied, by
a tawdry resemblance of splendour. The fronts of the houses in the
streets through which the processions passed were covered with rich
adornments of tapestry, arras, and cloth of gold; the chief magistrates
and most opulent citizens usually appeared on horseback in sumptuous
habits and joined the cavalcade; while the ringing of bells, the sound
of music from various quarters, and the shouts of the populace, nearly
stunned the ears of the spectators. At certain distances, in places
appointed for the purpose, the pageants were erected, which were
temporary buildings representing castles, palaces, gardens, rocks,
or forests, as the occasion required, where nymphs, fawns, satyrs,
gods, goddesses, angels, and devils, appeared in company with giants,
savages, dragons, saints, knights, buffoons, and dwarfs, surrounded
by minstrels and choristers; the heathen mythology, the legends of
chivalry, and Christian divinity, were ridiculously jumbled together,
without meaning; and the exhibition usually concluded with dull
pedantic harangues, exceedingly tedious, and replete with the grossest
adulation. The giants especially were favourite performers in the
pageants; they also figured away with great applause in the pages of
romance; and, together with dragons and necromancers, were created by
the authors for the sole purpose of displaying the prowess of their
heroes, whose business it was to destroy them.

Some faint traces of the processional parts of these exhibitions
were retained at London in the lord mayor's show about twenty or
thirty years ago;[55] but the pageants and orations have been long
discontinued, and the show itself is so much contracted, that it is in
reality altogether unworthy of such an appellation.


XXIII.--SETTING OUT OF PAGEANTS.

In an old play, the Historie of Promos and Cassandra, part the second,
by George Whetstone, printed in 1578,[56] a carpenter, and others,
employed in preparing the pageants for a royal procession, are
introduced. In one part of the city the artificer is ordered "to set
up the frames, and to space out the rooms, that the Nine Worthies may
be so instauled as best to please the eye." The "Worthies" are thus
named in an heraldical MS. in the Harleian Library:[57] "Duke Jossua;
Hector of Troy; kyng David; emperour Alexander; Judas Machabyes;
emperour Julyus Cæsar; kyng Arthur; emperour Charlemagne; and syr
Guy of Warwycke;" but the place of the latter was frequently, and I
believe originally, supplied by Godefroy, earl of Bologne: it appears,
however, that any of them might be changed at pleasure: Henry VIII. was
made a "Worthy" to please his daughter Mary, as we shall find a little
farther on. In another part of the same play the carpenter is commanded
to "errect a stage, that the wayghtes[58] in sight may stand;" one
of the city gates was to be occupied by the fowre Virtues, together
with "a consort of music;" and one of the pageants is thus whimsically
described:

    They have Hercules of monsters conquering;
    Huge great giants, in a forrest, fighting
    With lions, bears, wolves, apes, foxes, and grayes,
    Baiards and brockes----
    ----Oh, these be wondrous frayes!

The stage direction then requires the entry of "Two men apparelled
lyke greene men at the mayor's feast, with clubbs of fyreworks;" whose
office, we are told, was to keep a clear passage in the street, "that
the kyng and his trayne might pass with ease."--In another dramatic
performance of later date, Green's Tu Quoque, or the City Gallant, by
John Cooke, published in 1614, a city apprentice says, "By this light,
I doe not thinke but to be lord mayor of London before I die; and have
three pageants carried before me, besides a ship and an unicorn." The
following passage occurs in Selden's Table Talk, under the article
Judge, "We see the pageants in Cheapside, the lions and the elephants;
but we do not see the men that carry them we see the judges look big
like lions; but we do not see who moves them."


XXIV.--PROCESSIONS OF QUEEN MARY AND KING PHILIP OF SPAIN IN LONDON.

In the foregoing quotations, we have not the least necessity to make an
allowance for poetical licence: the historians of the time will justify
the poets, and perfectly clear them from any charge of exaggeration;
and especially Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, who are exceedingly
diffuse on this and such like popular subjects. The latter has recorded
a very curious piece of pantomimical trickery exhibited at the time
that the princess Mary went in procession through the city of London,
the day before her coronation:--At the upper end of Grace-church-Street
there was a pageant made by the Florentines; it was very high; and
"on the top thereof there stood foure pictures; and in the midst of
them, and the highest, there stood an angell, all in greene, with a
trumpet in his hand; and when the trumpetter who stood secretlie within
the pageant, did sound his· trumpet, the angell did put his trumpet
to his mouth, as though it had been the same that had sounded." A
similar deception but on a more extensive scale, was practised at the
gate of Kenelworth Castle for the reception of queen Elizabeth.[59]
Holinshed, speaking of the spectacles exhibited at London, when Philip
king of Spain, with Mary his consort, made their public entry in the
city, calls them, in the margin of his Chronicle, "the vaine pageants
of London;" and he uses the same epithet twice in the description
immediately subsequent; "Now," says he, "as the king came to London,
and as he entered at the drawbridge, [on London Bridge,] there was a
vaine great spectacle, with two images representing two giants, the
one named Corineus, and the other Gog-magog, holding betweene them
certeine Latin verses, which, for the vaine ostentation of flatterye,
I overpasse."[60] He then adds: "From the bridge they passed to the
conduit in Gratious-street, which was finely painted; and, among other
things," there exhibited, "were the Nine Worthies; of these king Henry
VIII. was one. He was painted in harnesse,[61] having in one hand a
sword, and in the other hand a booke, whereupon was written Verbum
Dei.[62] He was also delivering, as it were, the same booke to his
sonne king Edward VI. who was painted in a corner by him." This device,
it seems, gave great offence; and the painter, at the queen's command,
was summoned before the bishop of Winchester, then lord chancellor,
where he met with a very severe reprimand, and was ordered to erase the
inscription; to which he readily assented, and was glad to have escaped
at so easy a rate from the peril that threatened him; but in his hurry
to remove the offensive words, he rubbed out "the whole booke, and part
of the hand that held it."[63]

The Nine Worthies appear to have been favourite characters, and were
often exhibited in the pageants; those mentioned in the preceding
passage were probably nothing more than images of wood or pasteboard.
These august personages were not, however, always degraded in this
manner, but, on the contrary, they were frequently personified by human
beings uncouthly habited, and sometimes mounted on horseback. They also
occasionally harangued the spectators as they passed in the procession.


XXV.--CHESTER PAGEANTS.

The same species of shows, but probably not upon so extensive a scale,
were exhibited in other cities and large towns throughout the kingdom.
I have now before me an ordinance for the mayor, aldermen, and common
councilmen of the city of Chester, to provide yearly for the setting
of the watch, on the eve of the festival of Saint John the Baptist, a
pageant, which is expressly said to be "according to ancient custome,"
consisting of four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, one luce,[64]
one camel, one ass, one dragon, six hobby-horses, and sixteen naked
boys. This ordinance among the Harleian MSS.[65] is dated 1564. In
another MS. in the same library, it is said, "A. D. 1599, Henry
Hardware, esq. the mayor, was a godly and zealous man;" he caused "the
gyauntes in the midsomer show to be broken," and "not to goe; the devil
in his feathers," alluding perhaps to some fantastic representation not
mentioned in the former ordinance, "he put awaye, and the cuppes and
cannes, and the dragon and the naked boys." In a more modern hand it is
added, "And he caused a man in complete armour to go in their stead. He
also caused the bull-ring to be taken up," &c. But in the year 1601,
John Ratclyffe, beer-brewer, being mayor, "sett out the giaunts and
midsommer show, as of oulde it was wont to be kept."[66] In the time
of the Commonwealth this spectacle was discontinued, and the giants,
with the beasts, were destroyed. At the restoration of Charles II. it
was agreed by the citizens to replace the pageant as usual, on the eve
of the festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1661; and as the following
computation of the charges for the different parts of the show are
exceedingly curious, I shall lay them before the reader without any
farther apology. We are told that "all things were to be made new, by
reason the ould modells were all broken." The computist then proceeds:
"For finding all the materials, with the workmanship of the four great
giants, all to be made new, as neere as may be lyke as they were
before, at five pounds a giant the least that can be, and four men to
carry them at two shillings and six pence each." The materials for the
composition of these monsters are afterwards specified to be "hoops of
various magnitudes, and other productions of the cooper, deal boards,
nails, pasteboard, scaleboard, paper of various sorts, with buckram,
size cloth, and old sheets for their bodies, sleeves, and shirts, which
were to be coloured." One pair of the "olde sheets" were provided to
cover the "father and mother giants." Another article specifies "three
yards of buckram for the mother's and daughter's hoods;" which seems
to prove that three of these stupendous pasteboard personages were the
representatives of females. There were "also tinsille, tinfoil, gold
and silver leaf, and colours of different kinds, with glue and paste
in abundance." Respecting the last article, a very ridiculous entry
occurs in the bill of charges, it runs thus: "For arsnick to put into
the paste to save the giants from being eaten by the rats, one shilling
and fourpence." But to go on with the estimate. "For the new making
the city mount, called the maior's mount, as auntiently it was, and
for hireing of bays for the same, and a man to carry it, three pounds
six shillings and eight pence." The bays mentioned in this and the
succeeding article was hung round the bottom of the frame, and extended
to the ground, or near it, to conceal the bearers. "For making anew the
merchant mount, as it aunciently was, with a ship to turn round, the
hiring of the bays, and five men to carry it, four pounds." The ship
and new dressing it, is charged at five shillings; it was probably made
with pasteboard, which seems to have been a principal article in the
manufacturing of both the moveable mountains; it was turned by means of
a swivel attached to an iron handle underneath the frame. In the bill
of charges for "the merchant's mount," is an entry of twenty pence paid
to a joyner for cutting the pasteboard into several images. "For making
anew the elephant and castell, and a Cupid," with his bow and arrows,
"suitable to it," the castle was covered with tinfoil, and the Cupid
with skins, so as to appear to be naked, "and also for two men to carry
them, one pound sixteen shillings and eightpence. For making anew the
four beastes called the unicorne, the antelop, the flower-de-luce, and
the camell, one pound sixteen shillings and fourpence apiece, and for
eight men to carry them, sixteen shillings. For four hobby-horses, six
shillings and eightpence apiece; and for four boys to carry them, four
shillings. For hance-staves, garlands, and balls, for the attendants
upon the mayor and sheriffs, one pound nineteen shillings. For makinge
anew the dragon, and for six naked boys to beat at it, one pound
sixteen shillings. For six morris-dancers, with a pipe and tabret,
twenty shillings."

The sports exhibited on occasions of solemnity did not terminate with
the pageants and processions: the evening was generally concluded with
festivity and diversions of various kinds to please the populace. These
amusements are well described in a few lines by an early dramatic
poet, whose name is not known; his performance is entitled A pleasant
and stately Morall of the Three Lordes of London, black letter, no
date:[67]--

    --------Let nothing that's magnifical,
    Or that may tend to London's graceful state,
    Be unperformed, as showes and solemne feasts,
    Watches in armour, triumphes, cresset lights.
    Bonefires, belles, and peales of ordinaunce
    And pleasure. See that plaies be published,
    Mai-games and maskes, with mirthe and minstrelsie.
    Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-plaies.

The "cresset light" was a large lanthorn placed upon a long pole, and
carried upon men's shoulders. There is extant a copy of a letter from
Henry VII. to the mayor and aldermen of London, commanding them to make
bonfires, and to show other marks of rejoicing in the city, when the
contract was ratified for the marriage of his daughter Mary with the
prince of Castile.[68]


XXVI.--PUBLIC SHOWS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

These motley displays of pomp and absurdity, proper only for the
amusement of children, or to excite the admiration of the populace,
were, however, highly relished by the nobility, and repeatedly
exhibited by them, on extraordinary occasions. One would think, indeed,
that the repetitions would have been intolerable; on the contrary, for
want of more rational entertainments, they maintained for ages their
popularity, and do not appear to have lost the smallest portion of
their attraction by the frequency of representation. Shows of this kind
were never more fashionable than in the sixteenth century, when they
were generally encouraged by persons of the highest rank, and exhibited
with very little essential variation; and especially during the reign
of Henry VIII.[69] His daughter Elizabeth appears to have been equally
pleased with this species of pageantry; and therefore it was constantly
provided for her amusement, by the nobility whom she visited from
time to time, in her progresses or excursions to various parts of
the kingdom.[70] I shall simply give the outlines of a succession of
entertainments contrived to divert her when she visited the earl of
Leicester at Kenelworth castle, and this shall serve as a specimen for
the rest.


XXVII.--QUEEN ELIZABETH AT KENELWORTH.

Her majesty came thither on Saturday the ninth of July, 1575;[71] she
was met near the castle by a fictitious Sibyl, who promised peace and
prosperity to the country during her reign. Over the first gate of the
castle there stood six gigantic figures with trumpets, real trumpeters
being stationed behind them, who sounded as the queen approached.
This pageant was childish enough, but not more so than the reason for
its being placed there. "By this dumb show," says my author, "it was
meant that in the daies of king Arthur, men were of that stature; so
that the castle of Kenelworth should seem still to be kept by king
Arthur's heirs and their servants." Laneham says these figures were
eight feet high. Upon her majesty entering the gateway, the porter, in
the character of Hercules, made an oration, and presented to her the
keys. Being come into the base court, a lady "came all over the pool,
being so conveyed, that it seemed she had gone upon the water; she was
attended by two water nymphs, and calling herself the Lady of the Lake,
she addressed her majesty with a speech prepared for the purpose." The
queen then proceeded to the inner court, and passed the bridge, which
was railled on both sides, and the tops of the posts were adorned with
"sundry presents and gifts," as of wine, corn, fruits, fishes, fowls,
instruments of music, and weapons of war. Laneham calls the adorned
posts "well-proportioned pillars turned:" he tells us there were
fourteen of them, seven on each side of the bridge; on the first pair
were birds of various kinds alive in cages, said to be the presents of
the god Silvanus; on the next pair were different sorts of fruits in
silver bowls, the gift of the goddess Pomona; on the third pair were
different kinds of grain in silver bowls, the gift of Ceres; on the
fourth, in silvered pots, were red and white wine with clusters of
grapes in a silver bowl, the gift of Bacchus; on the fifth were fishes
of various kinds in trays, the donation of Neptune; on the sixth were
weapons of war, the gift of Mars; and on the seventh, various musical
instruments, the presents of Apollo. The meaning of these emblematical
decorations was explained in a Latin speech delivered by the author
of it. Then an excellent band of music began to play as her majesty
entered the inner court, where she alighted from her horse, and went up
stairs to the apartments prepared for her.

On Sunday evening she was entertained with a grand display of
fireworks, as well in the air as upon the water.

On Monday, after a great hunting, she was met on her return by
Gascoigne the poet, so disguised as to represent a savage man, who paid
her many high-flown compliments in a kind of dialogue between himself
and an echo.

On Tuesday she was diverted with music, dancing, and an interlude upon
the water.

On Wednesday was another grand hunting.

On Thursday she was amused with a grand bear-beating, to which were
added tumbling and fireworks. Bear-beating and bull-baiting were
fashionable at this period, and considered as proper pastimes for the
amusement of ladies of the highest rank. Elizabeth, though a woman,
possessed a masculine mind, and preferred, or affected to prefer, the
exercises of the chace and other recreations pursued by men, rather
than those usually appropriated to her sex.

On Friday, the weather being unfavourable, there were no open shows.

On Saturday there was dancing within the castle, and a country
brideale, with running at the quintain in the castle yard, and a
pantomimical show called "the Old Coventry Play of Hock Thursday,"
performed by persons who came from Coventry for that purpose. In the
evening a regular play was acted, succeeded by a banquet and a masque.

On the Sunday there was no public spectacle.

On the Monday there was a hunting in the afternoon, and, on the queen's
return, she was entertained with another show upon the water, in which
appeared a person in the character of Arion, riding upon a dolphin
twenty-four feet in length; and he sung an admirable song, accompanied
with music performed by six musicians concealed in the belly of the
fish. Her majesty, it appears, was much pleased with this exhibition.
The person who entertained her majesty in the character of Arion is
said to have been Harry Goldingham, of whom the following anecdote is
related: "There was a spectacle presented to queen Elizabeth upon the
water, and among others, Harry Goldingham was to represent Arion upon
the back of a dolphin; but finding his voice to be very hoarse and
unpleasant when he came to perform his part, he tears off his disguise,
and swears that he was none of Arion, not he, but even honest Harry
Goldingham; which blunt discoverie pleased the queen better than if it
had gone thorough in the right way. Yet he could order his voice to an
instrument exceedingly well."[72] This story has been applied to the
performance above mentioned, but I trust mistakenly; it certainly must
have happened on some other occasion, for such a circumstance would
not have escaped the observation of the facetious Laneham; besides it
appears in this instance that the part of Arion was performed without
defect, and the song well executed.

On Tuesday the Coventry play was repeated, because the queen had not
seen the whole of it on Saturday.

On Wednesday, the twentieth of the same month, she departed from
Kenelworth. Various other pastimes were prepared upon this occasion;
but, for want of time and opportunity, they could not be performed.


XXVIII.--LOVE OF PUBLIC SIGHTS ILLUSTRATED FROM SHAKSPEARE.

The English are particularised for their partiality to strange sights;
uncommon beasts, birds, or fishes, are sure to attract their notice,
and especially such of them as are of the monstrous kind; and this
propensity of our countrymen is neatly satirised by Shakspeare in the
Tempest; where Stephano, seeing Calaban lying upon the stage, and being
uncertain whether he was a fish, a beast, or one of the inhabitants of
the island, speaks in the following manner: "Were I in England now, as
once I was, and had this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but
would give me a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man:
any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to
relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."[73]
Indeed, we may observe that a cow with two heads, a pig with six legs,
or any other unnatural production, with proper management, are pretty
certain fortunes to the possessors.


XXIX.--ROPE-DANCING, TUTORED ANIMALS, AND PUPPET-SHOWS.

They also take great delight in seeing men and animals perform such
feats as appear to be entirely contrary to their nature; as, men
and monkeys dancing upon ropes, or walking upon wires; dogs dancing
minuets, pigs arranging letters so as to form words at their master's
command; hares beating drums, or birds firing off cannons. These
exhibitions, for all of them have in reality been brought to public
view, are ridiculed by the Spectator, in a paper dated the 3d of April,
1711. The author pretends that he received the following letter from a
sho-man who resided near Charing-Cross:

     "Honoured Sir,--Having heard that this nation is a great
     encourager of ingenuity, I have brought with me a rope-dancer
     that was caught in one of the woods belonging to the great
     Mogul, he is by birth a monkey, but swings upon a rope, takes a
     pipe of tobacco, and drinks a glass of ale, like any reasonable
     creature.[74] He gives great satisfaction to the quality; and if
     they will make a subscription for him, I will send for a brother
     of his out of Holland, that is a very good tumbler; and also for
     another of the same family whom I design for my merry-andrew, as
     being an excellent mimic, and the greatest droll in the country
     where he now is. I hope to have this entertainment in readiness
     for the next winter; and doubt not but it will please more than
     the opera or the puppet-show. I will not say that a monkey is a
     better man than some of the opera heroes; but certainly he is a
     better representative of a man than any artificial composition of
     wood and wire."

The latter part of this sarcasm relates to a feigned dispute for
seniority between Powel, a puppet-showman, who exhibited his wooden
heroes under the little piazza in Covent-garden, and the managers of
the Italian opera; which is mentioned in a preceding paper[75] to this
effect: "The opera at the Haymarket, and that under the little piazza
of Covent-garden, are at present the two leading diversions of the
town; Powel professing in his advertisements to set up Whittington and
his Cat against Rinaldo and Armida."--After some observations, which
are not immediately to the present purpose, the author proceeds: "I
observe that Powel and the undertakers of the opera had both of them
the same thought, and I think much about the same time, of introducing
animals on their several stages. though indeed with different success.
The sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket fly as yet very
irregularly over the stage, and instead of perching on the trees,
and performing their parts, these young actors either get into
the galleries, or put out the candles; whereas Powel has so well
disciplined his pig, that in the first scene he and Punch dance a
minuet together. I am informed that Powel resolves to excel his
adversaries in their own way, and introduce larks into his opera of
Susanna, or Innocence betrayed; which will be exhibited next week with
a pair of new elders."

From the same source of information, in a subsequent paper,[76] we may
find a catalogue of the most popular spectacles exhibited in London
at the commencement of the last century. Our author has introduced a
projector, who produces a scheme for an opera entitled The Expedition
of Alexander the Great; and proposes to bring in "all the remarkable
shows about the town among the scenes and decorations of his piece;"
which is described in the following manner: "This Expedition of
Alexander opens with his consulting the Oracle at Delphos; in which
the Dumb Conjurer, who has been visited by so many persons of quality
of late years, is to be introduced as telling his fortune; at the same
time Clench of Barnet[77] is represented in another corner of the
temple, as ringing the bells of Delphos for joy of his arrival. The
Tent of Darius is to be peopled by the ingenious Mrs. Salmon, where
Alexander is to fall in love with a piece of waxwork that represents
the beautiful Statira. When Alexander comes to that country in which,
Quintus Curtius tells us, the dogs were so exceedingly fierce, that
they would not loose their hold, though they were cut to pieces limb by
limb, and that they would hang upon their prey by their teeth when they
had nothing but a mouth left, there is to be a scene of Hockley in the
Hole, in which are to be represented all the diversions of that place,
the Bull-Baiting only excepted, which cannot possibly be exhibited in
the theatre by reason of the lowness of the roof. The several Woods
in Asia, which Alexander must be supposed to pass through, will give
the audience a sight of Monkies dancing upon ropes, with many other
pleasantries of that ludicrous species. At the same time, if there
chance to be any strange animals in town, whether birds or beasts,
they may be either let loose among the woods, or driven across the
stage by some of the country people of Asia. In the last Great Battle,
Pinkethman is to personate king Porus upon an Elephant, and is to
be encountered by Powel, representing Alexander the Great upon a
Dromedary, which, nevertheless, he is desired to call by the name of
Bucephalus. On the close of this great Decisive Battle, when the two
Kings are thoroughly reconciled, to show the mutual friendship and
good correspondence that reigns between them, they both of them go
together to a puppet-show, in which the ingenious Mr. Powel junior may
have an opportunity of displaying his whole art of machinery for the
diversion of the two monarchs." It is further added, that, "after the
reconciliation of these two kings, they might invite one another to
dinner, and either of them entertain his guest with the German artist,
Mr. Pinkethman's Heathen Gods, or any of the like Diversions which
shall then chance to be in vogue."

The projector acknowledged the thought was not originally his own,
but that he had taken the hint from "several Performances he had seen
upon our stage; in one of which there was a Raree Show, in another a
Ladder-Dance, and in others a posture or a moving picture with many
curiosities of the like nature."[78]


XXX.--MINSTRELSY, BELL-RINGING, &c.

The people of this country in all ages delighted in secular music,
songs, and theatrical performances;[79] which is abundantly evident
from the great rewards they gave to the bards, the scalds, the gleemen,
and the minstrels, who were successively the favourites of the opulent,
and the idols of the vulgar. The continual encouragement given to these
professors of music, poetry, and pantomime, in process of time swelled
their numbers beyond all reasonable proportion, inflamed their pride,
increased their avarice, and corrupted their manners; so that at
length they lost the favour they had so long enjoyed among the higher
classes of society; and, the donations of the populace not being
sufficient for their support, they fell away from affluence to poverty,
and wandered about the country in a contemptible condition, dependent
upon the casual rewards they might occasionally pick up at church-ales,
wakes, and fairs.[80]

Hentzner, who wrote at the conclusion of the sixteenth century, says,
"the English excel in dancing and music, for they are active and
lively." A little further on he adds, "they are vastly fond of great
noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, beating of
drums, and the ringing of bells; so that it is common for a number of
them that have got a glass in their hands to get up into some belfry
and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise."[81]
Polydore Vergil mentions another remarkable singularity belonging to
the English, who celebrated the festival of Christmas with plays,
masques, and magnificent spectacles, together with games at dice and
dancing, which, he tells us, was as ancient as the year 1170, and not
customary with other nations;[82] and with respect to the Christmas
prince, or lord of the misrule, he was, as the same author informs us,
a personage almost peculiar to this country.[83]


XXXI.--BAITING OF ANIMALS.

It were well if these singularities were the only vulnerable parts of
the national character of our ancestors; but it must be confessed that
there are other pastimes which equally attracted their attention, and
manifested a great degree of barbarism, which will admit of no just
defence. Sir Richard Steele, reprobating the inhumanity of throwing
at cocks, makes these pertinent observations: "Some French writers
have represented this diversion of the common people much to our
disadvantage, and imputed it to a natural fierceness and cruelty of
temper, as they do some other entertainments peculiar to our nation; I
mean those elegant diversions of bull-baiting, and prize-fighting, with
the like ingenious recreations of the bear-garden. I wish I knew how
to answer this reproach which is cast upon us, and excuse the death
of so many innocent cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as have been set
together by the ears, or died an untimely death, only to make us
sport."[84]

The ladies of the present day will probably be surprised to hear, that
all, or the greater part of these barbarous recreations, were much
frequented by the fair sex, and countenanced by those among them of the
highest rank and most finished education, being brought by degrees, no
doubt, to sacrifice their feelings to the prevalency of a vicious and
vulgar fashion, which even the sanction of royalty, joined with that of
ancient custom, cannot reconcile with decency or propriety.


XXXII.--PASTIMES FORMERLY ON SUNDAYS.

I know not of any objection that can have more weight in the
condemnation of these national barbarisms, than the time usually
appropriated for the exhibition of them; which, it seems, was the
after part of the Sabbath-day. The same portion of time also was
allotted for the performance of plays, called, in the writing's of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, "vaine playes and interludes;"[85]
to which are added, "dice and card-playing, dancing, and other idle
pastimes." Stephen Gosson, a very zealous, if not a very correct
writer, declaiming vehemently against plays and players, says of the
latter, "because they are permitted to play every Sunday, they make
four or five Sundayes at leaste every weeke."[86] Nor is he less severe
upon those who frequented such amusements: "To celebrate the Sabbath,"
says he, "they go to the theatres, and there keepe a general market of
bawdrie; by which means," as he afterwards expresses himself, "they
make the theatre a place of assignation, and meet for worse purposes
than merely seeing the play."[87] A contemporary writer, endeavouring
to prove the impropriety of an established form of prayer for the
church service, among other arguments, uses the following: "He,"
meaning the ministers "posteth it over as fast as he can galloppe;
for, eyther he hath two places to serve; or else there are some games
to be playde in the afternoon, as lying for the whetstone, heathenishe
dauncing for the ring, a beare or a bull to be baited, or else a
jackanapes to ride on horsebacke, or an interlude to be plaide; and,
if no place else can be gotten, this interlude must be playde in the
church. We speak not of ringing after matins is done."[88] To what
has been said, I shall add the following verses, which made their
appearance rather earlier than either of the foregoing publications;
and they describe, with much accuracy I doubt not, the manner of
spending the Sunday afternoons according to the usage of that time: but
it is proper previously to observe, that such amusements on holidays
were by no means peculiar to the young gallants of this country, but
equally practised upon the continent.

    Now, when their dinner once is done, and that they well have fed,
    To play they go; to casting of the stone, to runne, or shoote;
    To tosse the light and windy ball aloft with hand or foote;
    Some others trie their skill in gonnes; some wrastell all the day;
    And some to schooles of fence do goe, to gaze upon the play;
    Another sort there is, that doe not love abroad to roame,
    But, for to passe their time at cardes, or tables, still at
          home.[89]


XXXIII.--ROYAL INTERFERENCE WITH SUNDAY PASTIMES.

Citations to this purpose might be made from infinity of pamphlets,
written professedly against the profanation of the Sabbath: it was
certainly an evil that called loudly for redress; and the pens of
various writers, moral and religious, as well of the clergy as the
laity, have been employed for that purpose. There are some few
treatises on this subject that do honour to their authors; but far
the larger part of them are of a different description, consisting of
vehement and abusive declamations wherein the zeal of the writers is
too frequently permitted to run at random, without the least restraint
from reason and moderation, and, what is still worse, without that
strict adherence to the truth which the seriousness of the subject
necessarily required. It must be granted, however, that the continued
remonstrances from the grave and religious parts of the community
were not without effect. In the twenty-second year of the reign of
Elizabeth, the magistrates of the city of London obtained from the
queen an edict, "that all heathenish playes and interludes should be
banished upon Sabbath days;"[90] but this restriction, I apprehend,
was confined to the jurisdiction of the lord mayor; for, it is certain
that such amusements were publicly exhibited in other districts, and
especially at the Paris Garden in Southwark, a place where these sort
of sports were usually exhibited; and where three years afterwards a
prodigious concourse of people being assembled together on a Sunday
afternoon, to "see plays and a bear-baiting, the whole theatre gave way
and fell to the ground; by which accident many of the spectators were
killed, and more hurt."[91] This lamentable misfortune was considered
as a judgment from God, and occasioned a general prohibition of all
public pastimes on the Sabbath-day. The wise successor of Elizabeth,
on the other hand, thought that the restrictions on the public sports
were too generally and too strictly applied, and especially in the
country places; he therefore published on the 24th of May, 1618, the
following declaration: "Whereas we did justly, in our progresse through
Lancashire, rebuke some puritanes and precise people, in prohibiting
and unlawfully punishing of our good people for using their lawfull
recreations and honest exercises on Sundayes and other holy dayes,
after the afternoone sermon or service: It is our will, that after
the end of divine service, our good people be not disturbed, letted,
or discouraged, from any lawful recreation, such as dauncing, either
for men or women; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other
such harmless recreation; nor for having of May-games, Whitson-ales,
and morris-daunces, and the setting up of May-poles, and other sports
therewith used; so as the same be had in due and convenient time,
without impediment or neglect of divine service. But withall, we doe
here account still as prohibitted, all unlawfull games to be used
upon Sundayes onely, as beare and bull-baitings, interludes, and, at
all times in the meaner sort of people by law prohibited, bowling."
This proclamation was renewed by Charles I. in the eighth year of his
reign; which occasioned many serious complaints from the puritanical
party; but, three years afterwards, a pamphlet was published which
defended the principles of the declaration;[92] wherein the author, who
was a high church-man, endeavours to fine away the objections of its
opponents. In one part[93] he says, "those recreations are the meetest
to be used, which give the best refreshment to the bodie, and leave
the least impression in the minde. In this respect, shooting, leaping,
pitching the barre, stool-ball, and the like, are rather to be chosen
than diceing or carding." This publication was immediately answered by
the other party, who certainly had the best end of the argument, and
were not sparing in their severity, but wounded the ordinance itself
through the sides of its defender. The more precise writers objected
not only to the profanation of the Sabbath, but to the celebration of
most of the established festivals and holidays, as we find from the
following verses:

    Their feastes, and all their holydayes they keep throughout
          the yeare,
    Are full of vile idolatry, and heathen like appeare.
    I shew not here their daunces yet with filthy gestures mad,
    Nor other wanton sports that on the holydayes are had.
    In some place solemne sights and showes, and pageants faire
          are play'd
    With sundry sorts of maskers brave, in straunge attire arrai'd.[94]


XXXIV.--ZEAL AGAINST WAKES AND MAY-GAMES.

But nothing seems to have excited their indignation more than the
church-ales, wakes, and May-games. An author I have before me inveighs
greatly against the erecting and decorating of the May-poles;[95] among
others, he uses the following arguments: "Most of these May-poles are
stollen; yet they give out that the poles are given to them; when, upon
thorow examination, 'twill be found that most of them are stollen.
There were two May-poles set up in my parish; the one was stollen, and
the other was given by a profest papist. That which was stollen
was said to be given; when it was proved to their faces that it was
stollen, and they made to acknowledge their offence: this pole was
rated at five shillings. If all the poles, one with another, were so
rated which were stollen this May, what a considerable summ it would
amount to!" So much for his reasoning. He then attempts to be witty;
and arraigns the goddess Flora at the bar: "Flora, hold up thy hand;
thou art here indited by the name of Flora, of the city of Rome, in
the county of Babylon, for that thou, contrary to the peace of our
sovereign lord, his crown and dignity, hast brought in a pack of
practical fanaticks; viz. ignorants, atheists, papists, drunkards,
swearers, swash-bucklers, maid-marrions, morrice-dancers, maskers,
mummers, May-pole stealers, health-drinkers, gamesters, lewd men, light
women, contemners of magistrates, affronters of ministers, rebellious
to masters, disobedient to parents, mispenders of time, and abusers of
the creature, &c." This silly invective is concluded with a poem as
dull and insipid as the prose; in which the May-pole is supposed to be
addressing itself to one who is passing by it. The last lines run thus:

    Now, traveller, learn more grace to shew
    And see that thou thy betters know:
    Thou hear'st what I say for myself,
    I am no ape, I am no elf;
    I am no base one's parasite;
    I am the great world's favourite;
    And, sith thou must now past me fro,
    Let this my blessing with thee go:
    There's not a knave in all the town,
    Nor swearing courtier, nor base clown,
    Nor dancing lob, nor mincing quean,
    Nor popish clerk, be't priest or dean,
    Nor knight debausht, nor gentleman
    That follows drabs, or cup or cann,
    That will give thee a friendly look
    If thou a May-pole can'st not brook.

These zealous reformists have extended their censures to the church-men
as well as to the laity; they accuse them with strengthening, by their
example, the general depravation of manners and decay of religion:
how far the charge was just, I cannot take upon me to answer. It is
obvious enough that ignorant persons will not be induced to prize those
qualifications very highly, which they who have the reputation of
wisdom and learning neglect to appreciate as they ought to do.


XXXV.--DICE AND CARDS.

The Saxons and the Danes, as we have observed already,[96] were much
addicted to gaming; and the same destructive propensity was equally
prevalent among the Normans. The evil consequences arising from the
indulgence of this pernicious pleasure have in all ages called loudly
for reprehension, and demanded at last the more powerful interference
of the legislature. The vice of gambling, however, is by no means
peculiar to the people of this country: its influence is universally
diffused among mankind; and in most nations the same strong measures
that have been adopted here are found to be absolutely necessary to
prevent its extension beyond the limits of subordination. Dice, and
those games of chance dependent upon them, have been most generally
decried; and cards, in latter times, are added to them as proper
companions. Cards, when compared with dice, are indeed of modern
invention, and originally, I doubt not, were productive only of
innocent amusement; they were, however, soon converted into instruments
of gambling equally dangerous as the dice themselves, and more enticing
from the variety of changements they admit of, and the pleasing mixture
of chance with skill, which often gives the tyro an advantage over the
more experienced player; that is, supposing fair play on both sides;
but woeful experience has convinced many that this is not always the
case.


XXXVI.--REGULATION OF GAMES FOR MONEY, BY RICHARD CŒUR DE LION, &c.

Towards the close of the twelfth century, we meet with a very curious
edict relative to gaming, and which shows how generally it even
prevailed among the lower classes of the people at that period. This
edict was established for the regulation of the Christian army under
the command of Richard I. of England, and Philip of France, during the
crusade in 1190: It prohibits any person in the army beneath the degree
of a knight from playing at any sort of game for money: knights and
clergymen might play for money, but no one of them was permitted to
lose more than twenty shillings in one whole day and night, under the
penalty of one hundred shillings, to be paid to the archbishops in
the army; the two monarchs had the privilege of playing for what they
pleased; but their attendants were restricted to the sum of twenty
shillings; and, if they exceeded, they were to be whipped naked through
the army for three days.[97]


XXXVII.--STATUTES AGAINST DICE, CARDS, BALL-PLAY, &c.

The decrees established by the council held at Worcester, in the
twenty-fourth year of Henry III. prohibited the clergy from playing at
dice, or at chess:[98] but neither the one nor the other of these games
are mentioned in the succeeding penal statutes, before the twelfth
year of Richard II., when diceing is particularised, and expressly
forbidden; though perhaps they were both of them included under the
general title of games of chance, and dishonest games, mentioned in
the proclamation of Edward III. which, with other pastimes therein
specified, were generally practised to the great detriment of military
exercises, and of archery in particular.

In the eleventh year of Henry VII. cards are first mentioned among the
games prohibited by the law;[99] and at that time they seem to have
been very generally used; for, the edict expressly forbids the practice
of card-playing to apprentices, excepting the duration of the Christmas
holidays, and then only in their masters' houses.[100] We learn from
Stow, that these holidays extended "from All-Hallows evening to the day
after Candlemas-day, when," says the historian, "there was, among other
sports, playing at cards for counters, nailes, and points in every
house, more for pastime than for gain."[101] The recreations prohibited
by proclamation in the reign of Edward III., exclusive of the games of
chance, are thus specified; throwing of stones,[102] wood, or iron;
playing at hand-ball, foot-ball, club-ball, and cambucam, which I take
to have been a species of goff, and probably received its name from the
crooked bat with which it was played. These games, as before observed,
were not forbidden from any particular evil tendency in themselves,
but because they engrossed too much of the leisure and attention of
the populace, and diverted their minds from the pursuits of a more
martial nature. I should not forget to add, that "bull-baiting and
cock-fighting" are included with "other dishonest games as trivial
and useless." In[103] the reign of Edward IV. we find coits, closh or
claish, kayles or nine-pins, half-bowl, hand-in and hand-out, with
quick-borde, classed among the unlawful amusements;[104] which list was
considerably augmented in the succeeding reigns, and especially in the
eighteenth year of Henry VIII., when bowling, loggating, playing at
tennice, dice, cards and tables, or backgammon, were included.[105]

In the preamble to the Parliamentary Statutes as early as the sixth
year of Edward III., there is a clause prohibiting of boys or others
from playing at barres, or snatch-hood,[106] or any other improper
games, in the king's palace at Westminster during the sitting of the
parliament; neither might they, by striking, or otherwise, prevent any
one from passing peaceably about his business.


XXXVIII.--PROHIBITIONS OF SKITTLE-PLAY.

In modern times, the penal laws have been multiplied, and much
invigorated, in order to restrain the spirit of gambling; and in some
measure they have had a salutary effect; but the evil is so fascinating
and so general, that in all probability it will never be totally
eradicated from the minds of the people. The frequent repetition and
enforcement of the statutes in former times, proves that they were
then, as they are now, inadequate to the suppression of gaming for
a long continuance; and, when one pastime was prohibited, another
was presently invented to supply its place. I remember, about twenty
years back,[107] the magistrates caused all the skittle-frames in or
about the city of London to be taken up, and prohibited the playing at
dutch-pins, nine-pins, or in long bowling allies, when in many places
the game of nine-holes was revived as a substitute, with the new name
of Bubble the Justice, because the populace had taken it into their
heads to imagine, that the power of the magistrates extended only to
the prevention of such pastimes as were specified by name in the public
acts, and not to any new species of diversion.


XXXIX.--ARCHERY SUCCEEDED BY BOWLING.

The general decay of those manly and spirited exercises, which formerly
were practised in the vicinity of the metropolis has not arisen from
any want of inclination in the people, but from the want of places
proper for the purpose: such as in times past had been allotted to
them are now covered with buildings, or shut up by enclosures, so
that, if it were not for skittles, dutch-pins, four-corners, and the
like pastimes, they would have no amusements for the exercise of the
body; and these amusements are only to be met with in places belonging
to common drinking-houses, for which reason their play is seldom
productive of much benefit, but more frequently becomes the prelude to
drunkenness and debauchery. This evil has been increasing for a long
series of years; and honest Stow laments the retrenchments of the
grounds appropriated for martial pastimes which had begun to take place
in his day. "Why," says he, "should I speak of the ancient exercises
of the long bow, by the citizens of this city, now almost clean left
off and forsaken? I overpass it; for, by the means of closeing in of
common grounds, our archers, for want of room to shoot abroad, creep
into bowling-alleys and ordinarie diceing-houses neer home, where they
have room enough to hazard their money at unlawful games."[108] He also
tells us, that "Northumberland house, in the parish of St. Katherine
Coleman, belonging to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the
thirty-third year of Henry the Sixth; but of late, being deserted by
that noble family, the gardens were converted into bowling-alleys, and
the other parts of the estate into diceing houses. But bowling-alleys
and houses for the exercise of diceing and other unlawful games are at
this time so greatly increased in the other parts of the city and its
suburbs, that this parent spot," or, as he afterwards calls it, "the
ancient and only patron of misrule, is forsaken of its gamesters."[109]
And here we may add the following remark from an author somewhat more
ancient than Stow:[110] "common bowling-alleyes are privy mothes that
eat up the credit of many idle citizens, whose gaynes at home are not
able to weigh downe theyr losses abroad; whose shoppes are so farre
from maintaining their play, that theyr wives and children cry out
for bread, and go to bedde supperlesse ofte in the yeere." In another
place, his reflections are more general, and he exclaims, "Oh, what
a wonderful change is this! our wreastling at armes is turned to
wallowing in ladies' laps, our courage to cowardice, our running to
royot, our bowes into bowls, and our darts into dishes."


XL.--MODERN GAMBLING.

The evils complained of by these writers were then in their infancy;
they have in the present day attained to a gigantic stature; and
we may add to them E. O. tables, as also other tables for gambling
distinguished by the appellation of Rouge et Noir, Pharo-banks, and
many more fashionable novelties, equally as detrimental to morality,
and as equally destructive to the fortunes of those who pursue them,
as any of the recreations of the former times. Even horse-racing,
which anciently was considered as a liberal sport, and proper for
the amusement of a gentleman, has been of late years degraded into
a dangerous species of gambling, by no means the less deserving of
censure, because it is fashionable and countenanced by persons of the
highest rank and fortune. The good old Scotch poet little dreamed of
such an innovation, when he lamented that horse-racing was falling into
disrepute through the prevalency of games of chance. His words are
these:

    Halking, hunting, and swift horse running
    Are changit all in wrangus, wynning;
    There is no play but cartes and dyce, &c.[111]


XLI.--LADIES' PASTIMES--NEEDLE-WORK.

It now remains to say a few words in a general way respecting the
diversions of the English ladies. In the early ages, our fair
countrywomen employed a large portion of their time in needle-work and
embroidery; and their acquirements in these elegant accomplishments
most probably afforded them little leisure for the pursuits of trifling
and useless amusements; but, though we are not acquainted with the
nature of their recreations, there is no reason to suppose that they
were unbecoming in themselves, or indulged beyond the bounds of reason
or decorum. I have already, on a former occasion, particularly noticed
the skilfulness of the Saxon and Norman ladies in handling the needle,
embroidering, and working in tapestry; and that their performances were
not only held in very high estimation at home, but were equally prized
upon the continent, where none were produced that could be placed in
competition with them.[112]


XLII.--DANCING AND CHESS PLAY.

Dancing was certainly an ancient and favourite pastime with the women
of this country: the maidens even in a state of servitude claimed, as
it were by established privilege, the license to indulge themselves in
this exercise on holidays and public festivals; when it was usually
performed in the presence of their masters and mistresses.[113]

In the middle ages, dice, chess, and afterwards tables, and cards,
with other sedentary games of chance and skill, were reckoned among
the female amusements; and the ladies also frequently joined with the
men in such pastimes, as we find it expressly declared in the metrical
romance of Ipomydon. The passage alluded to runs thus:

    When they had dyned, as I you saye,
    Lordes and ladyes yede to playe;
    Some to tables, and some to chesse,
    With other gamys more or lesse.[114]

In another poem, by Gower,[115] a lover asks his mistress, when she
is tired of "dancing and caroling," if she was willing to "play at
chesse, or on the dyes to cast a chaunce." Forrest, speaking in praise
of Catharine of Arragon, first wife of Henry VIII., says, that when she
was young,

    With stoole and with needyl she was not to seeke,
    And other practiseings for ladyes meete;
    To pastyme at tables, tick tacke or gleeke,
    Cardis and dyce--&c.[116]


XLIII.--LADIES' RECREATIONS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

The English ladies did not always confine themselves to domestic
pastimes, they sometimes participated with the other sex in diversions
of a more masculine nature; and engaged with them in the sports of the
field. These violent exercises seem to have been rather unfashionable
among them in the seventeenth century; for Burton, in his Anatomy of
Melancholy, speaks of their pastimes as much better suited to the
modesty and softness of the sex. "The women," says he, "instead of
laborious studies, have curious needle-works, cutworks, spinning,
bone-lace making, with other pretty devices to adorn houses, cushions,
carpets, stool-seats," &c.[117] Not but some of these masculine females
have occasionally made their appearance: and at the commencement of the
last century, it should seem that they were more commonly seen than in
Burton's time, which gave occasion for the following satirical paper
in one of the Spectators,[118] written by Addison: "I have," says he,
"very frequently the opportunity of seeing a rural Andromache, who came
up to town last winter, and is one of the greatest fox-hunters in the
country; she talks of hounds and horses, and makes nothing of leaping
over a six-bar gate. If a man tells her a waggish story, she gives him
a push with her hand in jest, and calls him an impudent dog; and, if
her servant neglects his business, threatens to kick him out of the
house. I have heard her in her wrath call a substantial tradesman a
lousie cur; and I remember one day when she could not think of the name
of a person, she described him, in a large company of men and ladies,
by the fellow with the broad shoulders."


XLIV.--THE AUTHOR'S LABOURS--CHARACTER OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

Having laid before my readers a general view of the sports and pastimes
of our ancestors, I shall proceed to arrange them under their proper
heads, and allot to each of them a separate elucidation. The task in
truth is extremely difficult; and many omissions, as well as many
errors, must of necessity occur in the prosecution of it; but none,
I hope, of any great magnitude, nor more than candour will overlook,
especially when it is recollected, that in a variety of instances, I
have been constrained to proceed without any guide, and explore, as
it were, the recesses of a trackless wilderness. I must also entreat
the reader to excuse the frequent quotations which he will meet with,
which in general I have given verbatim; and this I have done for his
satisfaction, as well as my own, judging it much fairer to stand upon
the authority of others than to arrogate to myself the least degree of
penetration to which I have no claim.

It is necessary to add, that the engravings, which constitute an
essential part of this work, are not the produce of modern invention,
neither do they contain a single figure that has not its proper
authority. Most of the originals are exceedingly ancient, and all the
copies are faithfully made without the least unnecessary deviation. As
specimens of the art of design they have nothing to recommend them to
the modern eye, but as portraitures of the manners and usages of our
ancestors, in times remote, they are exceedingly valuable, because they
not only elucidate many obsolete customs, but lead to the explanation
of several obscurities in the history of former ages.

     _January, 1801._




SPORTS AND PASTIMES

OF THE

PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.




BOOK I.

RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK.


CHAPTER I.

     I. Hunting more ancient than Hawking.--II. State of Hunting
     among the Britons.--III. The Saxons expert in Hunting.--IV. The
     Danes also.--V. The Saxons subsequently;--The Normans.--VI.
     Their tyrannical Proceedings.--VII. Hunting and Hawking after
     the Conquest.--VIII. Laws relating to Hunting.--IX. Hunting and
     Hawking followed by the Clergy.--X. The Manner in which the
     dignified Clergy in the Middle Ages pursued those Pastimes.--XI.
     The English Ladies fond of these Sports.--XII. Privileges
     of the Citizens of London to Hunt;--Private Privileges for
     Hunting.--XIII. Two Treatises on Hunting considered.--XIV.
     Names of Beasts to be hunted.--XV. Wolves not all destroyed in
     Edgar's Time.--XVI. Dogs for Hunting.--XVII. Various Methods of
     Hunting.--XVIII. Terms used in Hunting;--Times when to hunt.


I.--HUNTING MORE ANCIENT THAN HAWKING.

We have several English treatises upon the subject of Hunting, but none
of them very ancient; the earliest I have met with is a MS. in the
Cotton Library at the British Museum,[119] written at the commencement
of the fourteenth century. These compositions bear great resemblance
to each other, and consist of general rules for the pursuit of game;
together with the names and nature of the animals proper for hunting,
and such other matters as were necessary to be known by sportsmen.
Hawking most commonly forms a part of these books; and, though this
pastime can only be considered as a modern invention, when it is put in
competition with that of hunting, yet it has obtained the precedency,
notwithstanding the sanction of antiquity is so decidedly against it. I
shall, however, in the following pages, revert the arrangement of those
amusements, and begin with hunting, which naturally, in my opinion,
claims the priority of place.


II.--HUNTING AMONG THE BRITONS.

Dio Nicæus, an ancient author, speaking of the inhabitants of the
northern parts of this island, tells us, they were a fierce and
barbarous people, who tilled no ground, but lived upon the depredations
they committed in the southern districts, or upon the food they
procured by hunting.[120] Strabo also says, that the dogs bred in
Britain were highly esteemed upon the continent, on account of their
excellent qualities for hunting; and these qualities, he seems to hint,
were natural to them, and not the effect of tutorage by their foreign
masters.[121] The information derived from the above-cited authors,
does not amount to a proof that the practice of hunting was familiar
with the Britons collectively; yet it certainly affords much fair
argument in the support of such an opinion; for it is hardly reasonable
to suppose that the pursuit of game should have been confined to the
uncultivated northern freebooters, and totally neglected by the more
civilised inhabitants of the southern parts of the island. We are well
assured that venison constituted a great portion of their food,[122]
and as they had in their possession such dogs as were naturally prone
to the chase, there can be little doubt that they would exercise them
for the purpose of procuring their favourite diet; besides, they kept
large herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, both of which required
protection from the wolves, and other ferocious animals, that infested
the woods and coverts, and must frequently have rendered hunting an act
of absolute necessity.

If it be granted that the Britons, generally speaking, were expert
in hunting, it is still uncertain what animals were obnoxious to the
chase; we know however, at least, that the hare was not anciently
included; for Cæsar tells us, "the Britons did not eat the flesh of
hares, notwithstanding the island abounded with them." And this
abstinence, he adds, arose from a principle of religion;[123] which
principle, no doubt, prevented them from being worried to death: a
cruelty reserved for more enlightened ages.

We do not find, that, during the establishment of the Romans in
Britain, there were any restrictive laws promulgated respecting the
killing of game. It appears to have been an established maxim, in the
early jurisprudence of that people, to invest the right of such things
as had no master with those who were the first possessors. Wild beasts,
birds, and fishes, became the property of those who first could take
them. It is most probable that the Britons were left at liberty to
exercise their ancient privileges; for, had any severity been exerted
to prevent the destruction of game, such laws would hardly have been
passed over without the slightest notice being taken of them by the
ancient historians.


III.--HUNTING AMONG THE SAXONS.

The Germans, and other northern nations, were much more strongly
attached to the sports of the field than the Romans, and accordingly
they restricted the natural rights which the people claimed of
hunting. The ancient privileges were gradually withdrawn from them,
and appropriated by the chiefs and leaders to themselves; at last they
became the sole prerogative of the crown, and were thence extended to
the various ranks and dignities of the state at the royal pleasure.

As early as the ninth century, and probably long before that period,
hunting constituted an essential part of the education of a young
nobleman. Asser assures us, that Alfred the great, before he was twelve
years of age, "was a most expert and active hunter, and excelled in
all the branches of that most noble art, to which he applied with
incessant labour and amazing success."[124] It is certain that,
whenever a temporary peace gave leisure for relaxation, hunting was one
of the most favourite pastimes followed by the nobility and persons of
opulence at that period. It is no wonder, therefore, that dogs proper
for the sport should be held in the highest estimation. When Athelstan,
the grandson of Alfred, had obtained a signal victory at Brunanburgh
over Constantine king of Wales, he imposed upon him a yearly tribute of
gold, silver, and cattle; to which was also added a certain number of
"hawks, and sharp-scented dogs, fit for hunting of wild beasts,"[125]
His successor, Edgar, remitted the pecuniary payment on condition of
receiving annually the skins of three hundred wolves.[126] We do not
find, indeed, that the hawks and the hounds were included in this new
stipulation; but it does not seem reasonable that Edgar, who, like his
predecessor, was extremely fond of the sports of the field, should have
given up that part of the tribute.


IV.--HUNTING AMONG THE DANES.

The Danes deriving their origin from the same source as the Saxons,
differed little from them in their manners and habitudes, and perhaps
not at all in their amusements; the propensity to hunting, however, was
equally common to both. When Canute the Dane had obtained possession
of the throne of England, he imposed several restrictions upon the
pursuit of game, which were not only very severe, but seem to have
been altogether unprecedented; and these may be deemed a sufficient
proof of his strong attachment to this favourite pastime, for, in other
respects, his edicts breathed an appearance of mildness and regard for
the comforts of the people.


V.--HUNTING DURING THE RESTORATION OF THE SAXONS.

After the expulsion of the Danes, and during the short restoration of
the Saxon monarchy, the sports of the field still maintained their
ground. Edward the Confessor, whose disposition seems rather to have
been suited to the cloister than to the throne, would join in no other
secular amusements; but he took the greatest delight, says William of
Malmsbury, "to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of game, and to
cheer them with his voice."[127] He was equally pleased with hawking,
and every day, after divine service, he spent his time in one or other
of these favourite pastimes.[128] Harold, who succeeded him, was so
fond of his hawk and his hounds, that he rarely travelled without
them. He is so represented upon the famous tapestry of Bayeux, with
his hounds by his side and a hawk upon his hand, when brought before
William duke of Normandy.[129] Travelling thus accompanied, was not a
singular trait in the character of a nobleman at this period.

[Illustration: 1. SWINE HUNTING--IX. CENTURY.]

The above engraving represents a Saxon chieftain, attended by his
huntsman and a couple of hounds, pursuing the wild swine in a forest,
taken from a manuscriptal painting of the ninth century in the Cotton
Library.[130]

[Illustration: 2. SPEARING A BOAR--XIV. CENTURY.]

The above is a representation of the manner of attacking the wild boar,
from a manuscript written about the commencement of the fourteenth
century, in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq.

[Illustration: 3. THE UNEARTHING OF A FOX.]

The preceding engraving is from a manuscript in the Royal Library,[131]
written about the same time as the latter.


VI.--HUNTING AMONG THE NORMANS OPPRESSIVELY EXERCISED.

During the tyrannical government of William the Norman, and his two
sons who succeeded him, the restrictions concerning the killing of game
were by no means meliorated. The privileges of hunting in the royal
forests were confined to the king and his favourites; and, to render
these receptacles for the beasts of the chase more capacious, or to
make new ones, whole villages were depopulated, and places of divine
worship overthrown; not the least regard being paid to the miseries of
the suffering inhabitants, or the cause of religion. These despotic
proceedings were not confined to royalty, as may be proved from good
authority. I need not mention the New Forest, in Hampshire, made by the
elder William, or the park at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, seven miles
in circumference, and walled round with stone by Henry his son.[132]
This park, Stowe tells us, was the first made in England. The royal
example was first followed by Henry earl of Warwick, who made a park
at Wedgenoke, near Warwick, to preserve his deer and other animals for
hunting; after this the practice of park-making became general among
persons of opulence.

This subject is delineated, with great force of colouring, by John of
Salisbury, a writer of the twelfth century, when the severity of the
game laws was somewhat abated. "In our time," says the author, "hunting
and hawking are esteemed the most honourable employments, and most
excellent virtues, by our nobility; and they think it the height of
worldly felicity to spend the whole of their time in these diversions;
accordingly they prepare for them with more solicitude, expense, and
parade, than they do for war; and pursue the wild beasts with greater
fury than they do the enemies of their country. By constantly following
this way of life, they lose much of their humanity, and become as
savage, nearly, as the very brutes they hunt." He then proceeds in this
manner: "Husbandmen, with their harmless herds and flocks, are driven
from their well cultivated fields, their meadows, and their pastures,
that wild beasts may range in them without interruption." He adds,
addressing himself to his unfortunate countrymen, "If one of these
great and merciless hunters shall pass by your habitation, bring forth
hastily all the refreshment you have in your house, or that you can
readily buy, or borrow from your neighbours: that you may not be
involved in ruin, or even accused of treason."[133] If this picture
of Norman tyranny be correct, it exhibits a melancholy view of the
sufferings to which the lower classes of the people were exposed; in
short, it appears that, these haughty Nimrods considered the murder of
a man as a crime of less magnitude than the killing of a single beast
appointed for the chase.


VII.--HUNTING AND HAWKING AFTER THE CONQUEST.

King John was particularly attached to the spoils of the field; and his
partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his
frequently receiving such animals, by way of payment, instead of money,
for the renewal of grants, fines, and forfeitures, belonging to the
crown.[134]

In the reign of Edward I. this favourite amusement was reduced to a
perfect science, and regular rules established for its practice; these
rules were afterwards extended by the master of the game belonging to
king Henry IV. and drawn up for the use of his son, Henry prince of
Wales. Both these tracts are preserved, and we shall have occasion to
speak a little fuller concerning them in the course of this chapter.

Edward III. took so much delight in hunting, that even at the time he
was engaged in war with France, and resident in that country, he had
with him in his army sixty couple of stag hounds, and as many hare
hounds,[135] and every day he amused himself with hunting or hawking.

It also appears that many of the great lords in the English army had
their hounds and their hawks, as well as the king; to this may be
added, from the same author, that is, Froissart, who was himself a
witness to the fact, that Gaston earl of Foix, a foreign nobleman
contemporary with king Edward, kept upwards of six hundred dogs in his
castle for the purpose of hunting. He had four greyhounds called by the
romantic names of Tristram, Hector, Brute, and Roland.[136]

James I. preferred the amusement of hunting to hawking or shooting. It
is said of this monarch that he divided his time betwixt his standish,
his bottel, and his hunting; the last had his fair weather, the two
former his dull and cloudy.[137] One time when he was on a hunting
party near Bury St. Edmunds he saw an opulent townsman, who had joined
the chase, "very brave in his apparel, and so glittering and radiant,
that he eclipsed all the court." The king was desirous of knowing the
name of this gay gentleman, and being informed by one of his followers,
that it was Lamme, he facetiously replied, "Lamb, call you him? I know
not what kind of lamb he is, but I am sure he has got a fleece upon his
back."[138] Thus it seems that even the puns of royalty are worthy of
record.

It would be an endless, as well as a needless task, to quote all the
passages that occur in the poetical and prose writings of the last
three centuries, to prove that this favourite pastime had lost nothing
of its relish in the modern times; on the contrary, it seems to have
been more generally practised. Sir Thomas More, who wrote in the reign
of Henry VIII., describing the state of manhood, makes a young gallant
to say,

    Man-hod I am, therefore I me delyght
    To hunt and hawke, to nourishe up and fede
    The greyhounde to the course, the hawke to th' flight,
    And to bestryde a good and lusty stede.[139]

These pursuits are said by latter writers to have been destructive
to the fortunes of many inconsiderate young heirs, who, desirous of
emulating the state of their superiors, have kept their horses, hounds,
and hawks, and flourished away for a short time, in a style that
their income was inadequate to support. Others again, not having it
in their power to proceed so far, contented themselves more prudently
with joining the parties that were hunting, and partook with them the
pleasure of following the game.


VIII.--LAWS RELATING TO HUNTING.

Laws for punishing such as hunted, or destroyed the game, in the royal
forests, and other precincts belonging to the crown, were, as we have
just hinted above, established with unprecedented severity by Canute
the Dane, when he ascended the throne of England. By these edicts the
great thanes, bishops, and abbots, were permitted to hunt in the king's
chases: but all unqualified persons were subjected to very heavy fines,
not only for hunting, but even for disturbing of the game. If a
gentleman, or an inferior thane, killed a stag in the king's forests,
he was degraded from his rank; if a ceorl, or husbandman, committed the
same offence, he was reduced to slavery; and if a slave killed one,
he suffered death. Magistrates were appointed, in every county, or
shire, to put these laws in execution, and under them were appointed
inferior officers or gamekeepers, whose province it was to apprehend
the offenders.[140] By another law enacted by the same monarch, every
proprietor of land had the privilege to hunt game within his own fields
and woods; but might not pursue them into the royal forests.[141] This
prince also prohibited the exercise of hunting, or hawking, upon the
sabbath day.[142]

The severity of the game laws was rather increased, than abated, under
the governance of the four first Norman monarchs. Henry II. is said
to have relaxed their efficacy; rather, I presume, by not commanding
them to be enforced with rigour, than by causing them to be abrogated;
for they seem to have virtually existed in the reign of king John;
and occasioned the clause in the Forest Charter, insisting that no
man should forfeit his life, or his limbs, for killing the king's
deer;--but, if he was taken in the fact of stealing venison belonging
to the king, he should be subjected to a heavy fine; and, in default
of payment, be imprisoned for one year and one day; and after the
expiration of that time, find surety for his good behaviour, or be
banished the land.[143] This charter was afterwards confirmed by his
son Henry III. and the succeeding monarchs.


IX.--HUNTING BY THE CLERGY.

Another clause in the same charter grants to an archbishop, bishop,
earl, or baron, when travelling through the royal forests, at the
king's command, the privilege to kill one deer or two in the sight of
the forester, if he was at hand; if not, they were commanded to cause
a horn to be sounded,[144] that it might not appear as if they had
intended to steal the game.

It is evident that this privilege was afterwards construed into a
permission for the personages named therein to hunt in the royal
chases; but the words of the charter are not to that amount, and ought,
says Spelman, to be taken literally as they stand in the translation:
they could not however, at any rate, adds he, mean, "that the
ecclesiastics are to hunt the deer themselves, for they suppose them to
be no hunters, as the earls and barons might be; and therefore it is
not said, that he who claims the venison shall blow the horn, but only
that he shall cause it to be sounded."[145]

The propensity of the clergy to follow the secular pastimes, and
especially those of hunting and hawking, is frequently reprobated by
the poets and moralists of the former times. Chaucer, in his Canterbury
Tales, makes the monk much better skilled in riding and hunting, than
in divinity. The same poet, afterwards, in the Ploughman's Tale, takes
occasion to accuse the monks of pride, because they rode on coursers
like knights, having their hawks and hounds with them. In the same
tale he severely reproaches the priests for their dissolute manners,
saying, that many of them thought more upon hunting with their dogs,
and blowing the horn, than of the service they owed to God.[146]

The prevalence of these excesses occasioned the restrictions, contained
in an edict established in the thirteenth year of Richard II. which
prohibits any priest, or other clerk, not possessed of a benefice to
the yearly amount of ten pounds, from keeping a greyhound, or any other
dog for the purpose of hunting; neither might they use ferrits, hayes,
nets, hare-pipes, cords, or other engines to take or destroy the deer,
hares, or rabbits, under the penalty of one year's imprisonment.[147]
The dignified clergy were not affected by this statute, but retained
their ancient privileges, which appear to have been very extensive.
By the game laws of Canute the Dane they were permitted to hunt in
the forests belonging to the crown; and these prerogatives were not
abrogated by the Normans. Henry II., displeased at the power and
ambition of the ecclesiastics, endeavoured to render these grants of
none effect; not by publicly annulling them, but by putting in force
the canon law, which strictly forbade the clergy to spend their time in
hunting and hawking: and for this purpose, having obtained permission
from Hugo Pertroleonis, the Pope's legate, he caused a law to be made,
authorising him to convene the offenders before the secular judges, and
there to punish them.[148] The establishment of this edict was probably
more to show his power, than really to restrain them from hunting.


X.--HUNTING AND HAWKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES BY BISHOPS, &c.

The bishops and abbots of the middle ages hunted with great state,
having a large train of retainers and servants; and some of them are
recorded for their skill in this fashionable pursuit. Walter bishop
of Rochester, who lived in the thirteenth century, was an excellent
hunter, and so fond of the sport, that at the age of fourscore he made
hunting his sole employment, to the total neglect of the duties of his
office.[149] In the succeeding century an abbot of Leicester surpassed
all the sportsmen of the time in the art of hare hunting;[150] and
even when these dignitaries were travelling from place to place, upon
affairs of business, they usually had both hounds and hawks in their
train. Fitzstephen assures us, that Thomas à Becket, being sent as
ambassador from Henry II. to the court of France, assumed the state of
a secular potentate; and took with him dogs and hawks of various sorts,
such as were used by kings and princes.[151]

The clergy of rank, at all times, had the privilege of hunting in
their own parks and inclosures; and therefore, that they might not be
prevented from following this favourite pastime, they took care to have
such receptacles for game belonging to their priories. At the time
of the Reformation, the see of Norwich, only, was in the possession
of no less than thirteen parks, well stocked with deer and other
animals for the chase.[152] At the end of a book of Homilies in MS.,
in the Cotton Library,[153] written about the reign of Henry VI., is
a poem containing instructions to priests in general, and requiring
them, among other things, not to engage in "hawkynge, huntynge, and
dawnsynge."


XI--HUNTING AND HAWKING BY LADIES.

The ladies often accompanied the gentlemen in hunting parties; upon
these occasions it was usual to draw the game into a small compass
by means of inclosures, and temporary stands were made for them to be
spectators of the sport; though in many instances they joined in it,
and shot at the animals as they passed by them, with arrows. Agreeable
to these manners, which custom reconciled to the fair sex, most of the
heroines of romance are said to be fond of the sports of the field.
In an old poem entitled the "Squyer of lowe degre,"[154] the king of
Hungary promises his daughter that in the morning she shall go with him
on a hunting party, arrayed most gorgeously and riding in a chariot
covered with red velvet, drawn by

    Jennettes of Spayne that ben so white,
    Trapped to the ground with velvet bright.

In the field, says he, the game shall be inclosed with nets, and you
placed at a stand so conveniently that the harts and the hinds shall
come close to you--

    Ye shall be set at such a tryst,
    That hert and hynde shall come to your fyst.

He then commends the music of the bugle-horn--

    To here the bugles there yblow
    With theyr bugles in that place,
    And seven score raches at his rechase

He also assures her that she should have--

    A lese of herhounds with her to strake.

The harehound, or greyhound, was considered as a very valuable present
in former times,[155] and especially among the ladies, with whom it
appears to have been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another
metrical romance, probably more ancient than the former, called "Sir
Eglamore,"[156] a princess tells the knight, that if he was inclined
to hunt, she would, as an especial mark of her favour, give him on
excellent greyhound, so swift that no deer could escape from his
pursuit--

    Syr yf you be on huntynge founde,
    I shall you gyve a good greyhounde
      That is dunne as a doo:
    For as I am trewe gentylwoman,
    There was never deer that he at ran,
      That myght yscape him fro.

It is evident, however, that the ladies had hunting parties by
themselves.

[Illustration: 4. LADIES HUNTING--XIV. CENTURY.]

We find them, according to this representation, in the open fields
winding the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other
assistance: this delineation, which is by no means singular, is taken
from a manuscript in the Royal Library, written and illuminated early
in the fourteenth century.[157] We may also observe, that, upon these
occasions, the female Nimrods dispensed with the method of riding best
suited to the modesty of the sex, and sat astride on the saddle like
the men; but this indecorous custom, I trust, was never general, nor
of long continuance, even with the heroines who were most delighted
with these masculine exercises. An author of the seventeenth century
speaks of another fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town
of Bury in Suffolk. "The Bury ladies," says he, "that used hawking and
hunting, were once in a great vaine of wearing breeches" which it seems
gave rise to many severe and ludicrous sarcasms. The only argument in
favour of this habit, was decency in case of an accident. But it was
observed that such accidents ought to be prevented, in a manner more
consistent with the delicacy of the sex, that is, by refraining from
those dangerous recreations.[158]

Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and the nobility
who entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting
parties, which she usually joined when the weather was favourable.
She very frequently indulged herself in following of the hounds. "Her
majesty," says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, "is well
and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on
horseback and continues the sport long."[159] At this time her majesty
had just entered the seventy-seventh year of her age, and she was then
at her palace at Oatlands. Often, when she was not disposed to hunt
herself, she was entertained with the sight of the pastime. At Cowdrey,
in Sussex, the seat of lord Montecute, A. D. 1591, one day after dinner
her grace saw from a turret, "sixteen bucks all having fayre lawe,
pulled downe with greyhounds in a laund or lawn."[160]

The hunting dresses, as they appeared at the commencement of the
fifteenth century, are given from a manuscript of that time, in the
Harleian Collection.[161]

[Illustration: 5. HUNTING DRESSES.--XV. CENTURY.]


XII.--PRIVILEGES OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON TO HUNT AND HAWK.

The citizens of London were permitted to hunt and hawk in certain
districts. And one of the clauses, in the royal charter granted to them
by Henry I., runs to this purport: "The citizens of London may have
chases, and hunt as well, and as fully, as their ancestors have had;
that is to say, in the Chiltre, in Middlesex, and Surry."[162] Hence we
find, that these privileges were of ancient standing. They were also
confirmed by the succeeding charters. Fitzstephen, who wrote towards
the close of the reign of Henry II., says, that the Londoners delight
themselves with hawks and hounds, for they have the liberty of hunting
in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all Chilton, and in Kent to the waters of
Grey,[163] which differs somewhat from the statement in the charter.
These exercises were not much followed by the citizens of London at the
close of the sixteenth century, not for want of taste for the
amusement, says Stow, but for leisure to pursue it.[164] Strype,
however, so late as the reign of George I., reckons among the modern
amusements of the Londoners, "Riding on horseback and hunting with my
Lord Mayor's hounds, when the common-hunt goes out."

This common-hunt of the citizens is ridiculed in an old ballad called
the "London Customs," published in D'Urfey's Collection,[165] I shall
select the three following stanzas only.

    Next once a year into Essex a hunting they go;
    To see 'em pass along, O 'tis a most pretty shew;
    Through Cheapside and Fenchurch-street, and so to Aldgate pump,
    Each man with 's spurs in's horses sides, and his back-sword cross
          his rump.

    My lord he takes a staff in hand to beat the bushes o'er;
    I must confess it was a work he ne'er had done before.
    A creature bounceth from a bush, which made them all to laugh;
    My lord, he cried, a hare a hare, but it prov'd an Essex calf.

    And when they had done their sport, they came to London where
          they dwell,
    Their faces all so torn and scratch'd, their wives scarce knew
          them well;
    For 'twas a very great mercy, so many 'scap'd alive,
    For of twenty saddles carried out, they brought again but five.

Privileges to hunt in certain districts, were frequently granted to
individuals either from favour, or as a reward for their services.
Richard I. gave to Henry de Grey, of Codnor, the manor of Turroe, in
Essex, with permission to hunt the hare and the fox, in any lands
belonging to the crown, excepting only the king's own demesne parks;
and this special mark of the royal favour was confirmed by his brother
John, when he succeeded to the throne.[166]

Others obtained grants of land, on condition of their paying an annual
tribute in horses, hawks, and hounds. And here I cannot help noticing
a curious tenure, by which Bertram de Criol held the manor of Setene,
or Seaton, in Kent, from Edward I.; he was to provide a man, called
"veltarius," or huntsman,[167] to lead three greyhounds when the king
went into Gascony so long as a pair of shoes, valued at fourpence,
should last him.[168]


XIII.--TWO EARLY TREATISES ON HUNTING.

I have mentioned two treatises upon hunting, in a former part (the
first section) of this chapter; the earliest of them was originally
written in French, by William Twici, or Twety, grand huntsman to king
Edward II.[169] I have never seen the French tract, but the manuscript
I spoke of is in English, and from its appearance nearly coeval with
the original, but the name of John Gyfford is joined to that of
Twety, and both of them are said to be "maisters of the game" to king
Edward,[170] and to have composed this treatise upon "the crafte of
huntynge." The other, as before observed, was written by the master
of the game to Henry IV. for the use of prince Henry his son, and is
little more than an enlargement of the former tract.[171] The Book of
St. Albans, so called because it was printed there, contains the first
treatise upon the subject of hunting that ever appeared from the press.
It is however evidently compiled from the two tracts above mentioned,
notwithstanding the legendary authority of Sir Tristram, quoted in
the beginning. The Book of St. Albans is said to have been written by
Juliana Barnes, or Berners, the sister of lord Berners, and prioress
of the nunnery of Sopewell, about the year 1481, and was printed soon
afterwards. This book contains two other tracts, the one on hawking,
and the other on heraldry. It has been reprinted several times, and
under different titles, with some additions and amendments, but the
general information is the same.


XIV.--NAMES OF BEASTS OF SPORT.

Twici introduces the subject with a kind of poetical prologue, in which
he gives us the names of the animals to be pursued; and these are
divided into three classes.

The first class contains four, which, we are informed, may be properly
called beasts for hunting; namely, the hare, the hart, the wolf, and
the wild boar.[172]

The second class contains the names of the beasts of the chase, and
they are five; that is to say, the buck, the doe, the fox, the martin,
and the roe.[173]

In the third class we find three, that are said to afford "greate
dysporte" in the pursuit, and they are denominated, the grey or badger,
the wild-cat and the otter.

Most of the books upon hunting agree in the number and names of the
first class; but respecting the second and third they are not so clear.
The beasts of the chase in some are more multifarious, and divided into
two classes: the first called beasts of sweet flight, are the buck,
the doe, the bear, the rein deer, the elk, and the spytard, which, as
the author himself informs us, is a hart one hundred years old. In the
second class, are placed the fulimart, the fitchat, or fitch, the cat,
the grey, the fox, the wesel, the martin, the squirrel, the white rat,
the otter, the stoat, and the pole-cat; and these are said to be beasts
of stinking flight.[174]


XV.--WOLVES.

The reader may possibly be surprised, when he casts his eye over the
foregoing list of animals for hunting, at seeing the names of several
that do not exist at this time in England, and especially of the
wolf, because he will readily recollect the story so commonly told of
their destruction during the reign of Edgar. It is generally admitted
that Edgar gave up the fine of gold and silver imposed by his uncle
Athelstan, upon Constantine the king of Wales, and claimed in its stead
the annual production of three hundred wolves' skins; because, say the
historians, the extensive woodlands and coverts, abounding at that time
in Britain, afforded shelter for the wolves, which were exceedingly
numerous, and especially in the districts bordering upon Wales. By
this prudent expedient, add they, in less than four years the whole
island was cleared from those ferocious animals, without putting his
subjects to the least expense; but, if this record be taken in its full
latitude, and the supposition established, that the wolves were totally
exterminated in Britain during the reign of Edgar, more will certainly
be admitted than is consistent with the truth, as certain documents
clearly prove.

The words of William of Malmsbury relative to wolves in Edgar's time
are to this purport. "He, Edgar, imposed a tribute upon the king of
Wales exacting yearly three hundred wolves. This tribute continued to
be paid for three years, but ceased upon the fourth, because _nullum se
ulterius posse invenire professus_; it was said that he could not find
anymore;"[175] that is, in Wales, for it can hardly be supposed that he
was permitted to hunt them out of his own dominions.

As respects the existence of wolves in England afterwards, and till a
much later period; it appears, that in the tenth year of William I.
Robert de Umfranville, knight, held the lordship, &c. of Riddlesdale,
in the county of Northumberland, by service of defending that part of
the country from enemies and "wolves."[176] Also in the forty-third
year of Edward III. Thomas Engaine held lands in Pitchley, in the
county of Northampton, by service of finding at his own cost certain
dogs for the destruction of wolves, foxes, &c. in the counties of
Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and Buckingham.[177] As late as
the eleventh year of Henry VI. Sir Robert Plumpton held one bovate of
land, in the county of Nottingham, called Wolf hunt land, by service of
winding a horn, and chasing or frighting the wolves in the forest of
Shirewood.[178]


XVI.--DOGS OF THE CHASE.

In the manuscripts before mentioned we find the following names for the
dogs employed in the sports of the field; that is to say, raches, or
hounds; running hounds, or harriers, to chase hares; and greyhounds,
which were favourite dogs with the sportsmen; alauntes, or bull-dogs,
these were chiefly used for hunting the boar; the mastiff is also said
to be "a good hounde" for hunting the wild boar; the spaniel was of
use in hawking; "hys crafte," says the author, "is for the perdrich
or patridge, and the quaile; and, when taught to couch, he is very
serviceable to the fowlers, who take those birds with nets." There
must, I presume, have been a vast number of other kinds of dogs known
in England at this period; these, however, are all that the early
writers, upon the subject of hunting, have thought proper to
enumerate. In the sixteenth century the list is enlarged; besides those
already named, we find bastards and mongrels, lemors, kenets, terrours,
butcher's hounds, dunghill dogs, trindel-tail'd dogs, "pryckereard"
curs, and ladies small puppies.[179]

There formerly existed a very cruel law, which subjected all the dogs
that were found in the royal chases and forests, excepting such as
belonged to privileged persons, to be maimed by having the left claw
cut from their feet, unless they were redeemed by a fine; this law
probably originated with the Normans, and certainly was in force in the
reign of Henry I.[180]


XVII.--DIFFERENT MODES OF HUNTING.

Several methods of hunting were practised by the sportsmen of this
kingdom, as well on horseback as on foot. Sometimes this exercise
took place in the open country; sometimes in woods and thickets; and
sometimes in parks, chases, and forests, where the game was usually
enclosed with a haye or fence-work of netting, supported by posts
driven into the ground for that purpose. The manner of hunting at large
needs no description; but, as the method of killing game within the
enclosures is now totally laid aside, it may not be amiss to give the
reader some idea how it was performed, and particularly when the king
with the nobility were present at the sport. All the preparations and
ceremonies necessary upon the occasion are set down at large in the
manuscript made for the use of prince Henry, mentioned before;[181] the
substance of which is as follows.

When the king should think proper to hunt the hart in the parks or
forests, either with bows or greyhounds, the master of the game, and
the park-keeper, or the forester, being made acquainted with his
pleasure, was to see that every thing be provided necessary for the
purpose. It was the duty of the sheriff of the county, wherein the
hunting was to be performed, to furnish fit stabling for the king's
horses, and carts to take away the dead game. The hunters and officers
under the forester, with their assistants, were commanded to erect a
sufficient number of temporary buildings[182] for the reception of the
royal family and their train; and, if I understand my author clearly,
these buildings were directed to be covered with green boughs,[183]
to answer the double purpose of shading the company and the hounds
from the heat of the sun, and to protect them from any inconveniency
in case of foul weather. Early in the morning, upon the day appointed
for the sport, the master of the game, with the officers deputed by
him, was to see that the greyhounds were properly placed, and the
person nominated to blow the horn, whose office was to watch what
kind of game was turned out, and, by the manner of winding his horn,
signify the same to the company, that they might be prepared for its
reception upon its quitting the cover. Proper persons were then to be
appointed, at different parts of the enclosure, to keep the populace
at due distance. The yeomen of the king's bow, and the grooms of his
tutored greyhounds,[184] had in charge to secure the king's standing,
and prevent any noise being made to disturb the game before the arrival
of his majesty. When the royal family and the nobility were conducted
to the places appointed for their reception, the master of the game,
or his lieutenant, sounded three long mootes, or blasts with the horn,
for the uncoupling of the hart hounds. The game was then driven from
the cover, and turned by the huntsmen and the hounds so as to pass by
the stands belonging to the king and queen, and such of the nobility as
were permitted to have a share in the pastime; who might either shoot
at them with their bows, or pursue them with the greyhounds, at their
pleasure. We are then informed that the game which the king, the queen,
or the prince or princesses, slew with their own bows, or particularly
commanded to be let run, was not liable to any claim by the huntsmen or
their attendants; but of all the rest that was killed they had certain
parts assigned to them by the master of the game, according to the
ancient custom.

This arrangement was for a royal hunting, but similar preparations
were made upon like occasions for the sport of the great barons and
dignified clergy. Their tenants sometimes held lands of them by the
service of finding men to enclose the grounds, and drive the deer to
the stands whenever it pleased their lords to hunt them.[185]


XVIII.--HUNTING TERMS--SEASONS FOR HUNTING.

There was a peculiar kind of language invented by the sportsmen of the
middle ages, which it was necessary for every lover of the chase to be
acquainted with.

When beasts went together in companies, there was said to be a pride
of lions; a lepe of leopards; an herd of harts, of bucks, and of all
sorts of deer; a bevy of roes; a sloth of bears; a singular of boars;
a sownder of wild swine; a dryft of tame swine; a route of wolves; a
harras of horses; a rag of colts; a stud of mares; a pace of asses;
a baren of mules; a team of oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep;
a tribe of goats; a sculk of foxes; a cete of badgers; a richess of
martins; a fesynes of ferrets; a huske or a down of hares; a nest of
rabbits; a clowder of cats, and a kendel of young cats; a shrewdness of
apes; and a labour of moles.

And also, of animals when they retired to rest; a hart was said to be
harbored, a buck lodged, a roebuck bedded, a hare formed, a rabbit set,
&c.

Two greyhounds were called a brace, three a leash, but two spaniels
or harriers were called a couple. We have also a mute of hounds for a
number, a kenel of raches, a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of curs.

It is well worthy notice, that this sort of phraseology was not
confined to birds and beasts, and other parts of the brute creation,
but it was extended to the various ranks and professions of men, as the
specimen, which I cannot help adding, will sufficiently demonstrate;
the application of some of them, will, I trust, be thought apt enough:--

A state of princes; a skulk of friars; a skulk of thieves; an
observance of hermits; a lying of pardoners; a subtiltie of serjeants;
an untruth of sompners; a multiplying of husbands; an incredibility
of cuckolds; a safeguard of porters; a stalk of foresters; a blast
of hunters; a draught of butlers; a temperance of cooks; a melody of
harpers; a poverty of pipers; a drunkenship of coblers; a disguising of
taylors; a wandering of tinkers; a malepertness of pedlars; a fighting
of beggars; a rayful, (that is, a netful,) of knaves; a blush of boys;
a bevy of ladies; a nonpatience of wives; a gagle of women; a gagle
of geese; a superfluity of nuns; and a herd of harlots. Similar terms
were applied to inanimate things, as a caste of bread, a cluster of
grapes, a cluster of nuts, &c.

I shall now conclude this long, and, I fear, tedious chapter with "the
seasons for alle sortes of venery;" and the ancient books upon hunting,
seem to be agreed upon this point.

The "time of grace" begins at Midsummer, and lasteth to Holyrood-day.
The fox may be hunted from the Nativity to the Annunciation of our
Lady;[186] the roebuck from Easter to Michaelmas; the roe from
Michaelmas to Candlemas; the hare from Michaelmas to Midsummer; the
wolf as the fox; and the boar from the Nativity to the Purification of
our Lady.




CHAPTER II.

     I. Hawking practised by the Nobility.--II. Its Origin not well
     known;--A favourite Amusement with the Saxons.--III. Romantic
     Story relative to Hawking.--IV. Grand Falconer of France, his
     State and Privileges.--V. Edward III. partial to Hawking;--Sir
     Thomas Jermin.--VI. Ladies fond of Hawking.--VII. Its
     Decline.--VIII. How it was performed.--IX. Embellishments of the
     Hawk.--X. Treatises concerning Hawking;--Superstitious Cure of
     Hawks.--XI. Laws respecting Hawks.--XII. Their great Value.--XIII.
     The different Species of Hawks, and their Appropriation.--XIV.
     Terms used in Hawking.--XV. Fowling and Fishing;--The Stalking
     Horse;--Lowbelling.


I.--HAWKING BY THE NOBILITY.

Hawking, or the art of training and flying of hawks, for the purpose
of catching other birds, is very frequently called falconry or
fauconry; and the person who had the care of the hawks is denominated
the falconer, but never I believe the hawker. The sport is generally
placed at the head of those amusements that can only be practised in
the country, and probably it obtained this precedency from its being
a pastime so generally followed by the nobility, not in this country
only, but also upon the continent. Persons of high rank rarely appeared
without their dogs and their hawks; the latter they carried with them
when they journeyed from one country to another,[187] and sometimes
even when they went to battle, and would not part with them to procure
their own liberty when taken prisoners. Sometimes they formed part
of the train of an ecclesiastic.[188] These birds were considered as
ensigns of nobility: and no action could be reckoned more dishonourable
to a man of rank than to give up his hawk.[189] The ancient English
illuminators have uniformly distinguished the portrait of king Stephen
by giving him a hawk upon his hand, to signify, I presume, by that
symbol, that he was nobly, though not royally born.[190]

Sebastian Brant, a native of Germany, the author of a work entitled
Stultifera Navis, the Ship of Fools, published towards the conclusion
of the fifteenth century, accuses his countrymen of bringing their
hawks and hounds into the churches, and interrupting the divine
service; which indecency he severely reprobates and with the greatest
justice. The passage is thus translated by Alexander Barclay:[191]

    Into the church then comes another sotte,
    Withouten devotion, jetting up and down,
    Or to be seene, and showe his garded cote.
    Another on his fiste a sparhawke or fawcone,
    Or else a cokow; wasting so his shone;
    Before the aulter he to and fro doth wander,
    With even as great devotion as doth a gander.
    In comes another, his houndes at his tayle,
    With lynes and leases, and other like baggage;
    His dogges barke, so that withouten fayle,
    The whole church is troubled by their outrage.


II.--ORIGIN OF HAWKING.

I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earlier period than the
middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about that
time, is the first Latin author that speaks of falconers, and the art
of teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others.[192]
Pliny is thought to have attributed a sport of this kind to the
inhabitants of a certain district in Thrace, but his words are too
obscure for much dependance to be placed upon them.[193] An English
writer, upon what authority I know not, says, that hawking was first
invented and practised by Frederic Barbarossa, when he besieged
Rome.[194] It appears, however, to be very certain that this amusement
was discovered abroad, where it became fashionable, some time before
it was known in this country: the period of its introduction cannot
be clearly determined; but, about, the middle of the eighth century,
Winifred, or Boniface, archbishop of Mons, who was himself a native
of England, presented to Ethelbert, king of Kent, one hawk and two
falcons; and a king of the Mercians requested the same Winifred to
send to him two falcons that had been trained to kill cranes.[195]
In the succeeding century, the sport was very highly esteemed by the
Anglo-Saxon nobility; and the training and flying of hawks became one
of the essentials in the education of a young man of rank. Alfred
the great is commended for his early proficiency in this, as well
as in other fashionable amusements;[196] he is even said to have
written a treatise upon the subject of hawking, but there is no such
work at present in existence, that can with any degree of certainty
be attributed to him. The pastime of hawking must, no doubt, at this
period, have been very generally followed, to call for the prohibition
inserted in a charter granted to the Abbey of Abington, by Kenulph,
king of the Mercians; which restrains all persons from carrying of
hawks, and thereby trespassing upon the lands belonging to the monks
who resided therein.[197] This amusement continued to be a fashionable
one to the end of the Saxon æra. Byrhtric, a Saxon nobleman, who died
towards the end of the tenth century, among other valuable articles,
left by will, to earl Ælfric, two hawks, and all his heaꝺoꞃ hunꝺaꞅ
which Lambarde renders hedge-hounds; spaniels, I suppose, for the
purpose of flushing the game.[198] We have already seen that Edward the
confessor was highly pleased with the sports of the field, and pursued
them constantly every day, allotting the whole of his leisure time to
hunting or hawking.[199]


III.--ROMANTIC STORY RELATIVE TO HAWKING.

The monkish writers, after the conquest, not readily accounting for the
first coming of the Danes, or for the cruelties that they committed
in this country, have assigned several causes; and, among others,
the following story is related, which, if it might be depended upon,
would prove that the pastime of hawking was practised by the nobility
of Denmark at a very early period; such a supposition has at least
probability on its side, even if it should not be thought to derive
much strength from the authority of this narrative.

A Danish chieftain, of high rank, some say of royal blood, named
Lothbroc, amusing himself with his hawk near sea, upon the western
coasts of Denmark, the bird, in pursuit of her game, fell into the
water; Lothbroc, anxious for her safety, got into a little boat that
was near at hand, and rowed from the shore to take her up, but before
he could return to the land, a sudden storm arose, and he was driven
out to sea. After suffering great hardship, during a voyage of
infinite peril, he reached the coast of Norfolk, and landed at a port
called Rodham: he was immediately seized by the inhabitants, and sent
to the court of Edmund, king of the East Angles; when that monarch was
made acquainted with the occasion of his coming, he received him very
favourably, and soon became particularly attached to him, on account
of his great skill in the training and flying of hawks. The partiality
which Edmund manifested for this unfortunate stranger, excited the
jealousy of Beoric, the king's falconer, who took an opportunity of
murdering the Dane, whilst he was exercising of his birds in the midst
of a wood, and secreted the body: which was soon afterwards discovered
by the vigilance of a favourite spaniel. Beoric was apprehended, and,
it seems, convicted of the murder; for he was condemned to be put into
an open boat (some say the very boat in which the Danish chieftain
came to England) without oars, mast, or rudder, and in that condition
abandoned to the mercy of the ocean. It so chanced, that the boat was
wafted to the very point of land that Lothbroc came from; and Beoric,
escaped from the danger of the waves, was apprehended by the Danes, and
taken before two of the chieftains of the country, named Hinguar and
Hubba; who were both of them the sons of Lothbroc. The crafty falconer
soon learned this circumstance, and, in order to acquire their favour,
made them acquainted with the murder of their father, which he affirmed
was executed at the command of king Edmund, and that he himself had
suffered the hardship at sea, from which he had been delivered by
reaching the shore, because he had the courage to oppose the king's
order, and endeavoured to save the life of the Danish nobleman. Incited
by this abominable falsehood to revenge the murder of their father, by
force of arms, they invaded the kingdom of the East Angles, pillaged
the country, and having taken the king prisoner, caused him to be tied
to a stake, and shot to death with arrows.

This narration bears upon the face of it the genuine marks of a
legendary tale. Lidgate, a monk of Saint Edmund's Bury, has given it a
place, with the addition of several miraculous circumstances, in his
poetical life of king Edmund, who was the tutelar saint of the abbey to
which he belonged.[200] On the other hand, every one who is acquainted
with the history of the Anglo-Saxons must know, that the Danish pirates
had infested the coasts of England, and committed many dreadful
depredations, long before the time assigned for the above event; and
the success of the first parties encouraged others to make the like
attempts.


IV.--GRAND FALCONER OF FRANCE.

Hawking is often mentioned, says a modern author, in the capitularies
of the eighth and ninth centuries. The grand fauconnier of France was
an officer of great eminence; his annual salary was four thousand
florins; he was attended by fifty gentlemen, and fifty assistant
falconers; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks, he licensed
every vender of hawks in France, and received a tax upon every bird
sold in that kingdom, and even within the verge of the court; and the
king never rode out upon any occasion of consequence without this
officer attending upon him.[201]

In Doomsday-book, a hawk's airy[202] is returned among the most
valuable articles of property; which proves the high estimation these
birds were held in at the commencement of the Norman government; and
probably some establishment, like that above mentioned, was made for
the royal falconer in England.


V.--FONDNESS OF EDWARD III. &c. FOR HAWKING.

Edward III., according to Froissart, had with him in his army when he
invaded France, thirty falconers on horseback, who had charge of his
hawks;[203] and every day he either hunted, or went to the river[204]
for the purpose of hawking, as his fancy inclined him. From the
frequent mention that is made of hawking by the water-side, not only
by the historians, but also by the romance writers of the middle ages,
I suppose that the pursuit of water-fowls afforded the most diversion.
The author last quoted, speaking of the earl of Flanders, says, he was
always at the river,[205] where his falconer cast off one falcon after
the heron, and the earl another. In the poetical romance of the "Squire
of low Degree," the king of Hungary promises his daughter, that, at her
return from hunting, she should hawk by the river-side, with gos hawk,
gentle falcon, and other well-tutored birds;[206] so also Chaucer, in
the rhime of sir Thopas, says that he could hunt the wild deer,

    And ryde on haukynge by the ryver,
    With grey gos hawke in hande.[207]

An anonymous writer, of the seventeenth century, records the following
anecdote: "Sir Thomas Jermin, going out with his servants, and brooke
hawkes one evening, at Bury,[208] they were no sooner abroad, but fowle
were found, and he called out to one of his falconers, Off with your
jerkin: the fellow being into the wind[209] did not heare him; at which
he stormed, and still cried out, Off with your jerkin, you knave, off
with your jerkin: now it fell out that there was, at that instant, a
plaine townsman of Bury, in a freeze jerkin, stood betwixt him and his
falconer, who seeing sir Thomas in such a rage, and thinking he had
spoken to him, unbuttoned himself amaine, threw off his jerkin, and
besought his worshippe not to be offended, for he would off with his
doublet too, to give him content."[210]

[Illustration: 6. SAXON HAWKING--IX. CENTURY.]

This engraving represents a Saxon nobleman and his falconer, with their
hawks, upon the bank of a river, waiting for the rising of the game.
The delineation is from a Saxon manuscript written at the close of
the ninth century, or at the commencement of the tenth; in the Cotton
Library.[211] Another drawing upon the same subject, with a little
variation, occurs in a Saxon manuscript, somewhat more modern.[212] The
two following engravings are from drawings in a manuscript, written
early in the fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal Library.[213]
We see a party of both sexes hawking by the water side; the falconer
is frightening the fowls to make their rise, and the hawk is in the
act of seizing upon one of them.[214]

[Illustration: 7. HAWKING--XIV. CENTURY.]

[Illustration: 8. LADIES HAWKING--XIV. CENTURY.]


VI.--FONDNESS OF LADIES AND THE CLERGY FOR HAWKING.

We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied the
gentlemen in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by
themselves; and, if we may believe a contemporary writer,[215] in
the thirteenth century, they even excelled the men in knowledge and
exercise of the art of falconry, which reason, he very ungallantly
produces, in proof that the pastime was frivolous and effeminate.
Hawking was forbidden to the clergy by the canons of the church; but
the prohibition was by no means sufficient to restrain them from the
pursuit of this favourite and fashionable amusement. On which account,
as well as for hunting, they were severely lashed by the poets and
moralists; and, indeed, the one was rarely spoken of without the other
being included; for those who delighted in hawking were generally
proficients in hunting also.[216]


VII.--DECLINE OF HAWKING.

The practice of hawking declined, from the moment the musket was
brought to perfection, which pointing out a method more ready and
more certain of procuring game, and, at the same time, affording an
equal degree of air and exercise, the immense expense of training, and
maintaining of hawks became altogether unnecessary; it was therefore no
wonder that the assistance of the gun superseded that of the bird; or
that the art of hawking, when rendered useless, should be laid aside.
Its fall was very rapid. Hentzner, who wrote his Itinerary A. D. 1598,
assures us that hawking was the general sport of the English nobility;
at the same time, most of the best treatises upon this subject were
written. At the commencement of the seventeenth century, it seems to
have been in the zenith of its glory. At the close of the same century,
the sport was rarely practised, and a few years afterwards hardly known.


VIII.--METHOD OF HAWKING.

Hawking was performed on horseback, or on foot, as occasion required.
On horseback, when in the fields, and open country; and on foot, when
in the woods and coverts. In following the hawk on foot, it was usual
for the sportsman to have a stout pole with him, to assist him in
leaping over little rivulets and ditches, which might otherwise prevent
him in his progress; and this we learn from an historical fact related
by Hall; who informs us, that Henry VIII. pursuing his hawk on foot, at
Hitchen in Hertfordshire, attempted, with the assistance of his pole,
to jump over a ditch that was half full of muddy water, the pole broke,
and the king fell with his head into the mud, where he would have been
stifled had not a footman, named John Moody, who was near at hand, and
seeing the accident, leaped into the ditch, and released his majesty
from his perilous situation; "and so," says the honest historian, "God
of hys goodnesse preserved him."[217]


IX.--CAPARISON OF A HAWK.

When the hawk was not flying at her game, she was usually hood-winked,
with a cap or hood provided for that purpose, and fitted to her head;
and this hood was worn abroad, as well as at home. All hawks taken
upon "the fist," the term used for carrying them upon the hand, had
straps of leather called jesses, put about their legs. The jesses were
made sufficiently long for the knots to appear between the middle and
the little fingers of the hand that held them, so that the lunes, or
small thongs of leather, might be fastened to them with two tyrrits,
or rings; and the lunes were loosely wound round the little finger.
It appears that sometimes the jesses were of silk. Lastly, their legs
were adorned with bells, fastened with rings of leather, each leg
having one; and the leathers, to which the bells were attached, were
denominated bewits; and to the bewits was added the creance, or long
thread, by which the bird in tutoring, was drawn back, after she had
been permitted to fly; and this was called the reclaiming of the hawk.
The bewits, we are informed, were useful to keep the hawk from "winding
when she bated," that is, when she fluttered her wings to fly after her
game.

Respecting the bells, it is particularly recommended that they should
not be too heavy, to impede the flight of the bird; and that they
should be of equal weight, sonorous, shrill, and musical; not both of
one sound, but the one a semitone below the other;[218] they ought
not to be broken, especially in the sounding part, because, in that
case, the sound emitted would be dull and unpleasing. There is, says
the Book of Saint Albans, great choice of sparrow-hawk bells, and they
are cheap enough; but for gos-hawk bells, those made at Milan are
called the best; and, indeed, they are excellent; for they are commonly
sounded with silver, and charged for accordingly. But we have good
bells brought from Dordreght (Dort), which are well paired, and produce
a very shrill, but pleasant sound.

I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal when the bells are
cast, adds much to the sweetness of the tone; and hence probably the
allusion of Shakespear, when he says,

    How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues by night.

I cannot help adding in this place a passage from an old play, written
by Thomas Heywood; wherein one of the characters, speaking of a hawk
flying, says

    Her bels, Sir Francis, had not both one waight.
    Nor was one semitune above the other.
    Mei thinkes these Millane bels do sound too full,
    And spoile the mounting of your hawke.[219]

So much for the birds themselves; but the person who carried the hawk
was also to be provided with gloves for that purpose, to prevent their
talons from hurting his hand. In the inventories of apparel belonging
to king Henry VIII. such articles frequently occur; at Hampton Court,
in the jewel house, were seven hawkes' gloves embroidered.[220]


X.--EARLY TREATISES ON HAWKING--SUPERSTITIOUS CURE OF HAWKS.

We have a poetical fragment, written in old Norman French, as early as
the thirteenth century, containing some general observations respecting
the management of hawks, which the author informs us he found in a book
made for, or by, the good king Edward.[221] Wanley, in his catalogue of
the Harleian manuscripts, suspects there is some mistake in the name;
and that this fragment is really part of a treatise upon hawking, which
he tells us was written by king Alfred; but I rather think the author
is correct in this particular; for another manuscript[222] in English,
and about a century more modern, treating upon the same subject, has
the following indication at the close, "Here endith the booke of
haukyng, after Prince Edwarde, kynge of Englande." It appears to me,
that the original treatise referred to by both the above authors,
should be attributed to Edward the confessor; not perhaps written by
him, but at his command; which supposition is partly justified by the
extreme partiality he had for this diversion.[223]

In the last-mentioned manuscript we find not only the general rules
relative to hawking, but an account of the diseases incident to the
birds themselves, and the medicines proper to be administered to them
upon such occasions. I shall only mention the following superstitious
ceremonies: after a hawk has been ill, and is sufficiently recovered
to pursue the game, the owner has this admonition given to him; "On
the morrow tyde, when thou goest oute to haukyng, say, In the name of
the Lord, the birds of heaven shall be beneath thy feet: also, if he
be hurt by the heron, say, The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
David, has conquered; Hallelujah: and if he be bitte of any man, say,
He that the wicked man doth bind, the Lord at his coming shall set
free."[224] These sentences, I suppose, were considered as charms, but
how far they operated, I shall leave the reader to judge; the coupling
of texts of scripture with such an amusement, seems also in favour of
the supposition that the book was composed for the monkish monarch,
Edward the confessor.


XI.--LAWS RESPECTING HAWKING.

No persons but such as were of the highest rank were permitted under
the Norman government to keep hawks, as appears from a clause inserted
in the Forest Charter: this charter king John was compelled to sign;
and by it the privilege was given to every free man to have airies
of hawks, sparrow-hawks, falcons, eagles, and herons in his own
woods.[225] In the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Edward III. a
statute was made, by which a person finding a falcon, tercelet, laner,
laneret, or any other species of hawk, that had been lost by its owner,
was commanded to carry the same to the sheriff of the county wherein
it was found; the duty of the sheriff was to cause a proclamation to
be made in all the principal towns of the county, that he had such a
hawk in his custody, and that the nobleman to whom it belonged, or his
falconer, might ascertain the same to be his property, and have it
restored to him, he first paying the costs that had been incurred by
the sheriff; and, if in the space of four months no claimant appeared,
it became the property of the finder, if he was a person of rank,
upon his paying the costs to the sheriff; on the contrary, if he was
an unqualified man, the hawk belonged to the sheriff: but the person
who found it was to be rewarded for his trouble. If the person who
found the hawk concealed the same from the owner or his falconer, he
was liable upon discovery to pay the price of the bird to the owner,
and to suffer two years' imprisonment; and if he was unable to pay
the fine, his imprisonment was extended to a longer term.[226] In the
thirty-seventh year of the same monarch this act was confirmed, with
additional severity; and the stealing and concealing of a hawk, was
made felony.[227] In the same reign the bishop of Ely excommunicated
certain persons for stealing a hawk that was sitting upon her perch in
the cloisters of Bermondsey, in Southwark; but this piece of sacrilege
was committed during divine service in the choir, and the hawk was the
property of the bishop.[228]

In the reign of Henry VII. a restrictive act was established,
prohibiting any man from bearing a hawk bred in England, called a
nyesse,[229] a gos-hawk, a tassel, a laner, a laneret, or a falcon,
upon pain of forfeiting the same to the king, but that he should use
such hawks as were brought from abroad;[230] what good purpose this
ordinance was to promote, I am at a loss to say. The laws respecting
these birds were frequently varied in the succeeding times, and
the alterations seem, in some instances, to have been exceedingly
capricious.

As the hawk was a bird so highly esteemed by the nobility of England,
there will be no wonder if we find the royal edicts established for the
preservation of their eggs; accordingly, in the eleventh year of Henry
VII. it was decreed, that if any person was convicted of taking from
the nests, or destroying the eggs of a falcon, a gos-hawk, a laner, or
a swan, he should suffer imprisonment for one year and one day, and be
liable to a fine at the king's pleasure; one half of which belonged to
the crown, and the other half to the owner of the ground whereon the
eggs were found; and, if a man destroyed the same sort of eggs upon his
own ground, he was equally subject to the penalty.[231] This act was
somewhat meliorated in the reign of Elizabeth, and the imprisonment
reduced to three months: but then the offender was obligated to find
security for his good behaviour for seven years, or remain in prison
until he did.


XII.--VALUE OF HAWKS.

The severity of the above-mentioned laws may probably excite the
surprise of such of my readers, as are not informed how highly this
kind of birds was formerly appreciated. At the commencement of the
seventeenth century, we find, that a gos-hawk and a tassel-hawk were
sold for one hundred marks, which was a large sum in those days; and
the price is by no means mentioned as singular or extravagant; for, on
the contrary, an author, Edmund Best, who published a treatise upon
hawks and hawking, printed at London, 1619, and who himself trained and
sold them, insinuates, that the parting from the birds was considered
as a favour: and no doubt it was so, if the hawks in training required
such incredible pains and watchfulness, both by night and by day, as
he declares are absolutely necessary. And upon this account such as
were properly trained and exercised were esteemed presents worthy the
acceptance of a king or an emperor. In the eighth year of the reign of
Edward III. the king of Scotland sent him a falcon gentle as a present,
which he not only most graciously received, but rewarded the falconer
who brought it with the donation of forty shillings; a proof how
highly the bird was valued.[232] It is further said, that in the reign
of James I. Sir Thomas Monson gave one thousand pounds for a cast of
hawks. A cast of hawks of toure, says an old book on hawking, signifies
two, and a lese three.


XIII.--DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HAWKS.

The books of hawking assign to the different ranks of persons the
sort of hawks proper to be used by them: and they are placed in the
following order--

    The eagle, the vulture, and the merloun, for an emperor.
    The ger-faulcon, and the tercel of the ger-faulcon, for a king.
    The faulcon gentle, and the turcel gentle, for a prince.
    The faulcon of the rock, for a duke.
    The faulcon peregrine, for an earl.
    The bastard, for a baron.
    The sacre, and the sacret, for a knight.
    The lanere, and the laneret, for an esquire.
    The marlyon, for a lady.
    The hobby, for a young man.[233]
    The gos-hawk, for a yeoman.
    The tercel, for a poor man.
    The sparrow-hawk, for a priest.
    The musket, for a holy water clerk.
    The kesterel, for a knave or servant.

This list includes, I presume, the greater part, if not all, of
the names appertaining to the birds used in hawking. The Mews at
Charing-cross, Westminster, is so called, from the word mew, which in
the falconers' language, is the name of a place wherein the hawks are
put at the moulting time, when they cast their feathers. The king's
hawks were kept at this place as early as the year 1377, an. 1 Richard
II.; but A. D. 1537, the 27th year of Henry VIII., it was converted
into stables for that monarch's horses, and the hawks were removed.[234]


XIV.--TERMS USED IN HAWKING.

As in hunting, so in hawking, the sportsmen had their peculiar
impressions, and therefore the tyro in the art of falconry is
recommended to learn the following arrangement of terms as they were
to be applied to the different kinds of birds assembled in companies.
A sege of herons, and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes, and
of curlews; a dopping of sheldrakes;[235] a spring of teels; a covert
of cootes; a gaggle of geese; a badelynge of ducks; a sord or sute of
mallards; a muster of peacocks; a nye of pheasants; a bevy of quails;
a covey of partridges; a congregation of plovers; a flight of doves; a
dule of turtles; a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; a brood of
hens; a building of rooks; a murmuration of starlings; an exaltation
of larks; a flight of swallows; a host of sparrows; a watch of
nightingales; and a charm of goldfinches.


XV.--FOWLING AND FISHING--THE STALKING HORSE--LOWBELLING.

The arts of Fowling and Fishing are usually added to the more modern
treatises upon hunting and hawking. I shall select a few observations
that occur respecting the former; but with regard to the latter, I have
not met with any particulars sufficiently deviating from the present
methods of taking fish to claim a place in this work.

Fowling, says Burton, may be performed with guns, lime-twigs, nets,
glades, gins, strings, baits, pit-falls, pipe-calls, stalking horses,
setting dogs, and decoy ducks; or with chaff-nets for smaller
birds;[236] there may also be added bows and arrows, which answered the
purpose of guns before they were invented and brought to perfection.

The Stalking Horse, originally, was a horse trained for the purpose and
covered with trappings, so as to conceal the sportsman from the game
he intended to shoot at. It was particularly useful to the archer, by
affording him an opportunity of approaching the birds unseen by them,
so near that his arrows might easily reach them; but as this method
was frequently inconvenient, and often impracticable, the fowler had
recourse to art, and caused a canvass figure to be stuffed, and painted
like a horse grazing, but sufficiently light, that it might be moved
at pleasure with one hand. These deceptions were also made in the form
of oxen, cows, and stags, either for variety, or for conveniency sake.
In the inventories of the wardrobes, belonging to king Henry VIII., we
frequently find the allowance of certain quantities of stuff for the
purpose of making "stalking coats, and stalking hose for the use of his
majesty."[237]

There is also another method of fowling, which, says my author, for
I will give it nearly in his own words, is performed with nets, and
in the night time; and the darker the night the better.--"This sport
we call in England, most commonly bird-batting, and some call it
lowbelling; and the use of it is to go with a great light of cressets,
or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make a good light; and
you must have a pan or plate made like a lanthorn, to carry your light
in, which must have a great socket to hold the light, and carry it
before you, on your breast, with a bell in your other hand, and of a
great bigness, made in the manner of a cow-bell, but still larger; and
you must ring it always after one order.--If you carry the bell, you
must have two companions with nets, one on each side of you; and what
with the bell, and what with the light, the birds will be so amazed,
that when you come near them, they will turn up their white bellies:
your companions shall then lay their nets quietly upon them, and take
them. But you must continue to ring the bell; for, if the sound shall
cease, the other birds, if there be any more near at hand, will rise up
and fly away."--"This is," continues the author, "an excellent method
to catch larks, woodcocks, partridges, and all other land birds."[238]

The pipe-call, mentioned by Burton, is noticed under a different
denomination by Chaucer; "Lo," says he, "the birde is begyled with
the merry voice of the foulers' whistel, when it is closed in your
nette,"--alluding to the deceptive art of the bird-catchers in his
time.[239]

I shall just observe, that there are twelve prints, published by John
Overton, upon the popular subjects of hunting, hawking, and fishing,
&c. engraved by Hollar, from designs by Francis Barlow, which perfectly
exemplify the manner in which those pastimes were practised, somewhat
more than a century back.




CHAPTER III.

     I. Horse-racing known to the Saxons.--II. Races in Smithfield,
     and why.--III. Races, at what Seasons practised.--IV. The Chester
     Races.--V. Stamford Races.--VI. Value of Running-horses.--VII.
     Highly prized by the Poets, &c.--VIII. Horse-racing commended as a
     liberal Pastime.--IX. Charles II. and other Monarchs Encouragers
     of Horse-racing;--Races on Coleshill-heath.


I.--HORSE-RACING KNOWN TO THE SAXONS.

It was requisite in former times for a man of fashion to understand the
nature and properties of horses, and to ride well; or, using the words
of an old romance writer, "to runne horses and to approve them."[240]
In proportion to the establishment of this maxim, swift running-horses
of course rose into estimation; and we know that in the ninth century
they were considered as presents well worthy the acceptance of kings
and princes.

When Hugh, the head of the house of the Capets, afterwards monarchs
of France, solicited the hand of Edelswitha, the sister of Athelstan,
he sent to that prince, among other valuable presents, several
running-horses,[241] with their saddles and their bridles, the latter
being embellished with bits of yellow gold. It is hence concluded, and
indeed with much appearance of truth, that horse-racing was known and
practised by the Anglo-Saxons, but most probably confined to persons of
rank and opulence, and practised only for amusement sake.


II.--RACES IN SMITHFIELD.

The first indication of a sport of this kind occurs in the description
of London, written by Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of Henry
II. He tells us, that horses were usually exposed for sale in West
Smithfield; and, in order to prove the excellency of the most valuable
hackneys and charging steeds, they were matched against each other; his
words are to this effect,[242] "When a race is to be run by this sort
of horses, and perhaps by others, which also in their kind are strong
and fleet, a shout is immediately raised, and the common horses are
ordered to withdraw out of the way. Three jockeys, or sometimes only
two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest; such
as being used to ride know how to manage their horses with judgment:
the grand point is, to prevent a competitor from getting before them.
The horses, on their part, are not without emulation, they tremble and
are impatient, and are continually in motion: at last the signal once
given, they strike, devour the course, hurrying along with unremitting
velocity. The jockeys, inspired with the thoughts of applause and the
hopes of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their
whips, and cheer them with their cries."


III.--HORSE-RACING SEASONS.

In the middle ages there were certain seasons of the year when the
nobility indulged themselves in running their horses and especially in
the Easter and Whitsuntide holidays. In the old metrical romance of
"Sir Bevis of Southampton,"[243] it is said,

    In somer at Whitsontyde,
    Whan knightes most on horsebacke ride;
    A cours, let they make on a daye,
    Steedes, and Palfraye, for to assaye;
    Whiche horse, that best may ren,
    Three myles the cours was then,
    Who that might ryde him shoulde
    Have forty pounds of redy golde.

Commenius in his vocabulary, entitled "Orbis Sensualium Pictus,"
published towards the conclusion of the sixteenth century, indeed says,
"At this day, tilting, or the quintain is used, where a ring is struck
with a truncheon, instead of horse-races, which," adds he, "are grown
out of use."

A writer of the seventeenth century[244] tells us, that horse-racing,
which had formerly been practised at Easter-tide, "was then put
down, as being contrary to the holiness of the season;" but for this
prohibition I have no further authority.


IV.--CHESTER RACES.

It is certain, that horse-races were held upon various holidays, at
different parts of the kingdom, and in preference to other pastimes.
"It had been customary," says a Chester antiquary,[245] "time out of
mind, upon Shrove Tuesday, for the company of saddlers belonging to the
city of Chester, to present to the drapers a wooden ball, embellished
with flowers, and placed upon the point of a lance; this ceremony was
performed in the presence of the mayor, at the cross in the 'Rodhee,'
or Roody, an open place near the city; but this year,"[246] continues
he, "the ball was changed into a bell of silver, valued at three
shillings and sixpence, or more, to be given to him who shall run
the best, and the farthest on horseback, before them upon the same
day."[247] These bells were afterwards denominated Saint George's
bells; and we are told that in the last year of James I. John Brereton,
inn-keeper, mayor of Chester, first caused the horses entered for
this race, then called Saint George's race, to start from the point,
beyond the new tower: and appointed them to run five times round the
Roody: "and he," says my author,[248] "who won the last course or
trayne, received the bell, of a good value, of eight or ten pounds, or
thereabout, and to have it for ever; which moneyes were collected of
the citizens, to a sum for that purpose."[249] By the author's having
added, that the winner at this race was to have the bell, and have it
for ever, is implied, that it had formerly been used as a temporary
mark of honour, by the successful horseman, and afterwards returned to
the corporation; this alteration was made April 23, A.D. 1624.

Here we see the commencement of a regular horse-race, but whether the
courses were in immediate succession, or at different intervals, is not
perfectly clear; we find not, however, the least indication of distance
posts, weighing the riders, loading them with weights, and many other
niceties that are observed in the present day. The Chester races were
instituted merely for amusement, but now such prodigious sums are
usually dependent upon the event of a horse-race, that these apparently
trivial matters, are become indispensably necessary. Forty-six years
afterwards,[250] according to the same writer, the sheriffs of Chester
"would have no calves-head feast, but put the charge of it into a
piece of plate, to be run for on that day, Shrove Tuesday; and the
high-sheriff borrowed a Barbary horse of sir Thomas Middleton, which
won him the plate; and being master of the race, he would not suffer
the horses of master Massey, of Puddington, and of sir Philip Egerton,
of Oulton, to run, because they came the day after the time prefixed
for the horses to be brought, and kept in the city; which thing caused
all the gentry to relinquish our races ever since."


V.--STAMFORD RACES.

Races something similar to those above mentioned, are described by
Butcher,[251] as practised in the vicinity of the town of Stamford,
in Lincolnshire. "A concourse," says he, "of noblemen and gentlemen
meet together, in mirth, peace, and amity, for the exercise of their
swift running-horses, every Thursday in March. The prize they run for
is a silver and gilt cup, with a cover, to the value of seven or eight
pounds, provided by the care of the alderman for the time being; but
the money is raised out of the interest of a stock formerly made up by
the nobility and gentry, which are neighbours, and well-wishers to the
town."


VI.--VALUE OF RUNNING-HORSES.

Running-horses are frequently mentioned in the registers of the royal
expenditures. It is notorious, that king John was so fond of swift
horses and dogs for the chase, that he received many of his fines in
the one or the other;[252] but at the same time it does not appear that
he used the horses for any purposes of pleasure, beyond the pursuits of
hunting, hawking, and such like sports of the field.

In the reign of Edward III. the running-horses purchased for the king's
service, were generally estimated at twenty marks, or thirteen pounds,
six shillings, and eightpence each; but some few of them were prized as
high as twenty-five marks.[253] I met with an entry, dated the ninth
year of this king's reign, which states, that the king of Navarre
sent him as a present two running-horses, which I presume were very
valuable, because he gave the person who brought them no less than one
hundred shillings for his reward.[254]


VII.--RUNNING-HORSES OF THE HEROES OF ROMANCE.

If we appeal to the poets, we shall find, that swift running-horses
were greatly esteemed by the heroes who figure in their romances; and
rated at prodigious prices; for instance, in an ancient poem,[255]
which celebrates the warlike actions of Richard I., it is said, that in
the camp of the emperor, as he is called, of Cyprus,

    Too stedes fownde kinge Richarde,
    Thatt oon favell, thatt other Lyard:
    Yn this worlde, they hadde no pere;[256]
    Dromedary, neither destrere,[257]
    Stede, rabyte, ne cammele,[258]
    Goeth none so swyfte without fayle
    For a thousand pownd of golde,
    Ne sholde the one be solde.

And though the rhymist may be thought to have claimed the poetical
licence for exaggeration, respecting the value of these two famous
steeds, the statement plainly indicates that in his time there were
horses very highly prized on account of their swiftness. We do not find
indeed, that they were kept for the purpose of racing only, as horses
are in the present day; but rather, as I before observed, for hunting
and other purposes of a similar nature; and also to be used by heralds
and messengers in cases of urgency.

Race-horses were prized on account of their breed, in the time of
Elizabeth, as appears from the following observations in one of bishop
Hall's Satires.--

                                ----dost thou prize
    Thy brute beasts worth by their dams qualities?
    Says't thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed,
    Onely because a Jennet did him breed?
    Or says't thou this same horse shall win the prize,
    Because his dam was swiftest Trunchefice
    Or Runcevall his syre; himself a gallaway?
    While like a tireling jade, he lags half away.[259]


VIII.--HORSE-RACING A LIBERAL PASTIME.

Two centuries back horse-racing was considered as a liberal pastime,
practised for pleasure rather than profit, without the least idea of
reducing it to a system of gambling. It is ranked with hunting
and hawking, and opposed to dice and card playing by an old Scotch
poet, who laments that the latter had in great measure superseded
the former.[260] One of the puritanical writers[261] in the reign
of Elizabeth, though he is very severe against cards, dice, vain
plays, interludes, and other idle pastimes, allows of horse-racing as
"yielding good exercise," which he certainly would not have done, had
it been in the least degree obnoxious to the censure which at present
it so justly claims.

Burton,[262] who wrote at the decline of the seventeenth century says
sarcastically, "Horse-races are desports of great men, and good in
themselves, though many gentlemen by such means gallop quite out of
their fortunes;" which may be considered as a plain indication, that
they had begun to be productive of mischief at the time he wrote: and
fifty years afterwards, they were the occasion of a new and destructive
species of gambling. The following lines are from a ballad in D'Urfey's
collection of songs: it is called "New Market," which place was then
famous for the exhibition of horse-races.

    Let cullies that lose at a race
    Go venture at hazard to win,
    Or he that is bubbl'd at dice
    Recover at cocking again;
    Let jades that are founder'd be bought,
    Let jockeys play crimp to make sport.--
    ----Another makes racing a trade,
    And dreams of his projects to come;
    And many a crimp match has made,
    By bubbing another man's groom.[263]


IX.--ROYAL PATRONS OF HORSE-RACING--RACES ON COLESHILL HEATH, &c.

From what has been said, it seems clear enough, that this pastime was
originally practised in England for the sake of the exercise, or by
way of emulation, and, generally speaking, the owners of the horses
were the riders. These contests, however, attracted the notice of the
populace, and drew great crowds of people together to behold them;
which induced the inhabitants of many towns and cities to affix certain
times for the performance of such sports, and prizes were appointed as
rewards for the successful candidates. The prize was usually a silver
cup or some other piece of plate, about eight or ten pounds value.

In the reign of James I. public races were established in many parts of
the kingdom; and it is said that the discipline and modes of preparing
the horses upon such occasions, were much the same as are practised in
the present day.[264] The races were then called bell courses, because,
as we have seen above, the prize was a silver bell.

At the latter end of the reign of Charles I. races were held in Hyde
Park, and at New Market. After the restoration, horse-racing was
revived and much encouraged by Charles II. who frequently honoured
this pastime with his presence; and, for his own amusement, when he
resided at Windsor, appointed races to be made in Datchet mead. At New
Market, where it is said he entered horses and run them in his name,
he established a house for his better accommodation;[265] and he also
occasionally visited other places where horse-races were instituted. I
met with the following doggerel verses in a metrical Itinerary, written
at the close of the seventeenth century. The author,[266] for he hardly
deserves the name of poet, speaking of Burford Downs, makes these
remarks:

    Next for the glory of the place,
    Here has been rode many a race,--
    --King Charles the Second I saw here;
    But I've forgotten in what year.
    The duke of Monmouth here also,
    Made his horse to swete and blow;
    Lovelace, Pembrook, and other gallants
    Have been ventring here their talents,
    And Nicholas Bainton on black Sloven,
    Got silver plate by labor and drudging, &c.

At this time it seems, that the bells were converted into cups, or
bowls, or some other pieces of plate, which were usually valued at one
hundred guineas each; and upon these trophies of victory the exploits
and pedigree of the successful horses were most commonly engraved.
William III. was also a patroniser of this pastime, and established an
academy for riding, and his queen not only continued the bounty of her
predecessors, but added several plates to the former donations. George
I. instead of a piece of plate, gave a hundred guineas to be paid in
specie.

In one of the Spectators, we meet with the following advertisement,
extracted, as we are told, from a paper called the Post Boy:[267]
"On the ninth of October next will be run for on Coleshill Heath, in
Warwickshire, a plate of six guineas value, three heats, by any horse,
mare, or gelding, that hath not won above the value of five pounds: the
winning horse to be sold for ten pounds, to carry ten stone weight if
fourteen hands high: if above, or under, to carry or be allowed weight
for inches, and to be entered on Friday the fifth, at the Swan, in
Coleshill, by six in the evening. Also a plate of less value, to be run
for by asses;" which, though by no means so noble a sport as the other,
was, I doubt not, productive of the most mirth.




BOOK II.

RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED.




CHAPTER I.

     I. The English famous for their Skill in Archery.--II. The Use of
     the Bow known to the Saxons and the Danes.--III. Form of the Saxon
     Bow, &c.--IV. Archery improved by the Normans.--V. The Ladies fond
     of Archery.--VI. Observations relative to the Cross-Bow.--VII. Its
     Form, and the Manner in which it was used.--VIII. Bows ordered to
     be kept.--IX. The Decay of Archery, and why.--X. Ordinances in
     its Favour;--The Fraternity of St. George established.--XI. The
     Price of Bows.--XII. Equipments for Archery.--XIII. Directions
     for its Practice.--XIV. The Marks to shoot at.--XV. The Length
     of the Bow and Arrows.--XVI. Extraordinary Performances of the
     Archers.--XVII. The modern Archers inferior to the ancient in long
     Shooting.--XVIII. The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called;--Grand
     Procession of the London Archers.--XIX. Archery a royal Sport;--A
     good Archer, why called Arthur.--XX. Prizes given to the Archers.


I.--SKILL OF THE ENGLISH IN ARCHERY.

Among the arts that have been carried to a high degree of perfection in
this kingdom, there is no one more conspicuous than that of Archery.
Our ancestors used the bow for a double purpose: in time of war, it
was a dreadful instrument of destruction; and in peace it became an
object of amusement. It will be needless to insist upon the skill of
the English archers, or to mention their wonderful performances in
the field of battle. The victories they obtained over their enemies
are many and glorious; they are their best eulogiums, and stand upon
record in the histories of this country for the perusal, and for the
admiration of posterity. I shall therefore consider this subject in a
general point of view, and confine myself, as much as possible, to such
parts of it as relate to amusement only.


II.--THE BOW KNOWN TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES.

The Anglo-Saxons, and the Danes, were certainly well acquainted with
the use of the bow; a knowledge they derived at an early period
from their progenitors. The Scandinavian scalds, speaking in praise
of the heroes of their country, frequently add to the rest of their
acquirements a superiority of skill in handling of the bow.[268] It
does not, however, appear, that this skill was extended beyond the
purpose of procuring food or for pastime, either by the Saxons or by
the Danes, in times anterior to the conquest. It is indeed said that
Edmund, king of the East Angles, was shot to death with arrows by
the Danes; but, if this piece of history be correct, it is no proof
that they used the bow as a weapon of war. The action itself might be
nothing more than a wanton piece of cruelty; and cruelty seems to have
been a prominent feature in the character of those lawless plunderers.


III.--FORM OF THE SAXON BOW

Representations of the bow occur frequently in the Saxon manuscripts;
and from one of them in the Cotton Library, written about the eighth
century,[269] I have selected the following.

[Illustration: 9. TWO SAXON ARCHERS--VIII. CENTURY.]

The one accompanied by his dog, is in search of the wild deer; the
other has no companion, but is depicted in the act of shooting at a
bird; and from the adornment of his girdle, appears to have been no
bad marksman. The first represents Esau going to seek venison for his
father, and the second, Ishmael, after his expulsion from the house of
Abraham, and residing in the desert.

[Illustration: 10. SAXON BOW AND ARROW.--X. CENTURY.]

This engraving is made from a manuscript of the tenth century in the
Cotton Library.[270] The bow is curiously ornamented having the head
and tail of a serpent carved at the ends; and was, probably, such a one
as was used by the nobility. In all these bows we may observe one thing
remarkable, that is, the string not being made fast to the extremities,
but permitted to play at some distance from them. How far this might be
more or less advantageous than the present method, I shall not presume
to determine.


IV.--NORMAN ARCHERY.

It is well known that the Normans used the bow as a military weapon;
and, under their government, the practice of archery was not only much
improved, but generally diffused throughout the kingdom.

In the ages of chivalry the usage of the bow was considered as an
essential part of the education of a young man who wished to make a
figure in life. The heroes of romance are therefore usually praised for
their skill in archery; and Chaucer, with propriety, says of sir Thopas
"He was a good archere."[271]


V.--ARCHERY PRACTISED BY LADIES.

In the seventeenth century archery was much commended as an exercise
becoming a gentleman to practise, and greatly conducive to health.[272]
The ladies also were fond of this amusement, and by a previous
representation[273] from an original drawing in a manuscript of the
fourteenth century, we see it practised by one who has shot at a deer,
and wounded it with great adroitness; and in another previous
engraving[274] the hunting equipments of the female archers about the
middle of the fifteenth century are represented.

It was usual, when the ladies exercised the bow, for the beasts to be
confined by large inclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven in
succession from the covers to the stands, where the fair sportswomen
were placed; so that they might readily shoot at them, without the
trouble and fatigue of rousing and pursuing them.[275] It is said of
Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII., that when she was on her way
towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amusement in Alnwick
Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow.[276] It is not specified
whether the long-bow or the cross-bow was used by the princess upon
this occasion; we are certain that the ladies occasionally shot with
both, for when queen Elizabeth visited lord Montecute at Cowdrey, in
Sussex, on the Monday, August 17, 1591, "Her highness tooke horse,
and rode into the park, at eight o'clock in the morning, where was a
delicate bowre prepared, under the which were her highness musicians
placed; and a cross-bow, by a nymph, with a sweet song, was delivered
into her hands, to shoote at the deere; about some thirty in number
were put into a paddock, of which number she killed three or four, and
the countess of Kildare one."[277]


VI.--THE CROSS-BOW.

The foregoing observations refer chiefly to the long-bow, so called,
to distinguish it from the arbalist,[278] or cross-bow, which was not
only much shorter than the former, but fastened also upon a stock, and
discharged by the means of a catch or trigger, which probably gave rise
to the lock on the modern musket. Bayle, explaining the difference
between testimony and argument, uses this simile, "Testimony is like
the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the
shooter; argument is like the shot of a cross-bow, equally forcible,
whether discharged by a dwarf or a giant."

I cannot pretend to determine at what period the cross-bow was
first brought into this country, but I believe not long before the
commencement of the thirteenth century; at least, I have never met with
any representation of such an engine prior to that period. On the
continent, where probably it originated, its appearance might be
somewhat earlier. Our historians assure us that Richard I. was wounded
by an arrow from a bow of this kind, while he was reconnoitring
the walls of the castle of Chalezun; which wound was the occasion
of his death. William Brito seems to attribute the introduction of
the cross-bow to this monarch, who, he says, first showed it to the
French.[279]

In the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward I. the earl of Warwick
had in his army a number of soldiers called Ballistarii,[280] and this
word is translated cross-bow men by our chronological writers, but
certainly it may with equal propriety be rendered slingers, or casters
of stones, who frequently formed a part of the Anglo-Norman armies.[281]

From this period we hear but little concerning the cross-bows, as
military weapons, until the battle of Cressy in 1346; at which
time they were used by a large body of Genoese soldiers, who were
particularly expert in the management of these weapons, and assisted
the French upon that memorable occasion; but their efforts were
ineffectual when opposed to the archery of the English. Previous to
the commencement of the battle there fell a sharp shower of rain,
which wetted the strings of the cross-bows; and, we are told, in great
measure prevented the archers from doing their usual execution;[282]
but the strings of the long-bows used by the Englishmen do not appear
to have been damaged in the least by the rain; this might arise from
their being made with different materials; or more probably, from their
being kept with the bows, in the bow-cases, during the continuance
of the shower; for every man had a case of canvass, or of some such
material, to draw over his bow when he had done using of it.[283]

In the succeeding annals the cross-bow is continually spoken of as
a weapon of war. In 1347, the year after the celebrated victory was
obtained at Cressy, Charles, earl of Blois, at the siege of le Roche
de Rien, had no less than two thousand cross-bow men in his army.
The cross-bow was used by the English soldiery chiefly at sieges of
fortified places, and on shipboard, in battles upon the sea. But the
great fame acquired by our countrymen in archery, was derived from
their practice with the long-bow: and to this instrument they gave the
preference.


VII.--FORM AND USE OF THE CROSS-BOW.

The reader may see the manner in which the cross-bow was formerly
used, upon the following representation taken from a manuscript of the
fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[284]

[Illustration: 11. PRACTISING WITH THE CROSS-BOW.]

Below is an engraving from a painting on another manuscript in the
Royal Library much more modern.[285]

[Illustration: 12. CROSS-BOW SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS.--XVI. CENTURY.]

Here we find exhibited a school for practice; and the manner in which
the archers shot at the butts, or dead marks, a pastime frequently
alluded to by the authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the reign of Henry VII. the cross-bow was forbidden by law to
be used;[286] and, soon after his son ascended the throne, it was
found necessary to renew the prohibition;[287] yet, notwithstanding
the interference of the legislature, in less than twenty years
afterwards, the usage of cross-bows and hand-guns was so prevalent,
that a new statute was judged necessary, which forbad the use of
both, and inflicted a penalty of ten pounds for keeping a cross-bow
in the house.[288] This severe fine might probably produce a
temporary reformation; which certainly was not of long continuance,
for cross-bows were commonly used again in the succeeding reigns.
Hentzner tells us, that in the year 1598, he saw in the armory of
the tower of London, cross-bows, and bows and arrows: of which, says
he, to this day, the English make great use in their exercises. Stow
speaks of a large close, called the Tazell, let in his time to the
cross-bow-makers, wherein, he says, they used to shoot for games at the
popinjay, which, Maitland tells us, was an artificial parrot.[289] In
the present day, the cross-bow is seldom to be met with unless in the
public armories. I have seen the cross-bow used in the country, for the
purpose of shooting at the young rooks, to beat them out of their nests.


VIII.--BOWS AND ARROWS ORDERED TO BE KEPT.

But, to return from this digression: as far back as the thirteenth
century, every person not having a greater annual revenue in land than
one hundred pence, was obligated to have in his possession a bow and
arrows, with other arms offensive and defensive; and all such as had no
possessions, but could afford to purchase arms, were commanded to have
a bow with sharp arrows, if they dwelt without the royal forests, and a
bow with round-headed arrows, if they resided within the forests. The
words of the statute are, "Ark et setes hors de foreste et en foreste
ark et piles."[290] The word pile I believe is derived from the Latin,
pila, a ball; and I suppose these arrows were used to prevent the
owners from killing the king's deer. The round-headed arrows were also
called bolts, and also used with the cross-bow; hence the old adage,
"A fool's bolt is soon shot," where the retort of an ignorant man is
compared to the blunted arrow of an unskilful archer, shot off hastily,
and without any aim. The proverb is thus versified by John Heywood,

    A fooles bolte is soone shot, and fleeth oftymes fer
    But the fooles bolte, and the marke, cum few times ner.[291]

It was also ordained by the forementioned statute that proper officers
should be appointed to see that these weapons were kept in good order,
and ready for immediate service.


IX.--DECAY OF ARCHERY.

Notwithstanding the manifest advantages accruing to the nation from
the practice of archery, it seems to have been much neglected even at
a time when the glory of the English archers was in its zenith, I mean
in the reign of Edward III.; which occasioned that monarch to send
a letter of complaint upon this subject to the sheriffs of London,
declaring that the skill in shooting with arrows was almost totally
laid aside, for the pursuit of various useless and unlawful games. He
therefore commanded them to prevent such idle practices within the city
and liberties of London; and to see that the leisure time upon holidays
was spent in recreations with bows and arrows. In the thirty-ninth
year of this reign, A. D. 1349, the penalty incurred by the offenders
was imprisonment at the king's pleasure; the words of the letter are,
"arcubus et sagittis vel pilettis aut boltis," with bow and arrows, or
piles or bolts. The same command was repeated in the twelfth year of
the reign of Richard II.; but probably its good effects were merely
temporary. And in the fifth year of Edward IV. an ordinance was made,
commanding every Englishman and Irishman dwelling in England, to have
a long-bow of his own height; the act directs, that butts should be
made in every township, at which the inhabitants were to shoot at up
and down, upon all feast days, under the penalty of one halfpenny for
every time they omitted to perform this exercise. This in the poetical
legends is called "shooting about."

In the sixteenth century we meet with heavy complaints respecting the
disuse of the long-bow, and especially in the vicinity of London. Stow
informs us, "that before his time it had been customary at Bartholomew
tide, for the lord mayor, with the sheriffs and aldermen, to go into
the fields at Finsbury, where the citizens were assembled, and shoot
at the standard, with broad and flight arrows, for games." I do not
clearly understand the author's meaning in this passage, unless the
word games may signify for sport sake. This exercise was continued
for several days; but at the period in which our author lived it was
practised only one afternoon, three or four days after the festival of
Saint Bartholomew.[292]

The same writer attributes the decay of archery among the Londoners to
the enclosures made near the metropolis, by which means the citizens
were deprived of room sufficient or proper for the purpose; and his
observations appear to have been justly founded, for a few years
posterior to his death, a commission was granted by James I.[293] to
many persons of quality; in which were recited and established the
good statutes, ordinances, and proclamations, that had been previously
made at different times in favour of archery. This commission extended
to the prevention of enclosures in the grounds formerly used for the
practice of the bow.

The commissioners were also impowered to survey the lands adjoining to
the city of London, its suburbs, and within two miles circuit; and to
reduce them to the same state and order for the use of the archers,
as they stood at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII.; and where
they found any encroachments, to cause the banks to be thrown down, the
ditches filled up, and the open spaces to be made level. Charles I.
confirmed this commission, or granted another to the same purpose.


X.--ORDINANCES IN FAVOUR OF ARCHERY.--CROSS-BOWS, &c.

In the reign of Henry VIII. three several acts were made for promoting
the practice of shooting with the long-bow; one, as we have already
seen, prohibited the use of cross-bows and hand-guns: another was
occasioned by a complaint from the bowyers, the fletchers, or
arrow-makers, the stringers, and the arrow-head-makers, stating that
many unlawful games were practised in the open fields, to the detriment
of the public morals and great decay of archery. Those games were
therefore strictly prohibited by parliament; and a third act followed,
which obliged every man, being the king's subject, to exercise himself
in shooting with the long-bow; and also to keep a bow with arrows
continually in his house. From this obligation were excepted such as
were sixty years old, or by lameness or any other reasonable impediment
claimed an exemption; and also all ecclesiastics, the justices of
the two benches, or of the assizes, and the barons of the exchequer.
Fathers and guardians were also commanded to teach the male children
the use of the long-bow, and to have at all times bows provided for
them as soon as they arrived at the age of seven years; and masters
were ordered to find bows for their apprentices, and to compel them to
learn to shoot with them upon holidays, and at every other convenient
time. By virtue of the same act, every man who kept a cross-bow in his
house was liable to a penalty of ten pounds.

Soon afterwards, that is, in the twenty-ninth year of the same king's
reign, the use of cross-bows under certain restrictions was permitted,
a patent being then granted by him to sir Christopher Morris, master
of his ordinance, Anthony Knevyt and Peter Mewtas, gentlemen of his
privy chamber, for them to be overseers of the science of artillery,
by which was meant long-bows, cross-bows, and hand-guns. Others were
appointed to be masters and rulers of the same science, with power to
them and their successors, to establish a perpetual corporation, called
the Fraternity of Saint George, and to admit such persons as they found
to be eligible. The members of this society were also permitted, for
pastime sake, to practise shooting at all sorts of marks and butts, and
at the game of the popinjay, and other games, as at fowls and the like,
in the city and suburbs of London, as well as in any other convenient
places. There is the following remarkable proviso in this charter; "In
case any person should be wounded, or slain in these sports, with an
arrow shot by one or other of the archers, he that shot the arrow was
not to be sued or molested, if he had, immediately before the discharge
of the weapon, cried out, 'fast,' the signal usually given upon such
occasions."[294]

I may just add, that in addition to the hand-guns, I meet with other
instruments of like kind mentioned in the reign of Elizabeth, namely,
demy hags, or hag butts. They shot with these engines not only at
butts and other dead marks, but also at birds and beasts, using
sometimes bullets and sometimes half shot;[295] but in the beginning
of the seventeenth century the word artillery was used in a much more
extensive sense, and comprehended long-bows, cross-bows, slur-bows,
and stone-bows; also scorpions, rams, and catapults, which, the writer
tells us, were formerly used; he then names the fire-arms as follows,
cannons, basilisks, culverins, jakers, faulcons, minions, fowlers,
chambers, harguebusses, calivers, petronils, pistols, and dags. "This,"
says he, "is the artillerië which is nowe in the most estimation, and
they are divided into great ordinance, and into shot or guns," which
proves that the use of fire-arms had then in great measure superseded
the practice of archery.


XI.--PRICES ORDAINED FOR BOWS.

In the reign of Edward IV. an ordinance was established, which
compelled the bowyers of London to sell the best bow-staves at three
shillings and fourpence each; which was confirmed in the third year
of Henry VII., and in the thirty-third year of his son Henry VIII.;
but these acts were repealed in the third year of queen Mary, and the
following prices were settled by the parliament: for a bow made of the
best foreign yew, six shillings and eightpence; for an inferior sort,
three shillings and fourpence; and for one made of English yew, two
shillings.[296]

Notwithstanding the interference of the legislature in favour
of archery, it gradually declined, and at the conclusion of the
seventeenth century was nearly, if not altogether, discontinued. Yet,
if we may credit a dull poem, written in the reign of Charles II.[297]
some attempts were then made by the nobility to revive this manly
pastime. I shall only quote the four following lines:--

    Forsake your lov'd Olympian games awhile,[298]
    With which the tedious minutes you beguile
    Wave quoits and nine-pins, those bear-garden sports,
    And follow shooting, often used at courts.

The "shooting," in the last line, means with the bow. It is to be
observed, that the office of bow-bearer of Sherwood-forest was
continued to the year 1633; but it appears to have been a mere
sinecure.[299]

In the present day the use of the musket is become so general, that
archery, though it continues to be partially practised, has little
chance of recovering its former popularity.


XII.--EQUIPMENT FOR ARCHERY.

Roger Ascham, an author well versed in the subject of archery, who
lived in the reign of queen Elizabeth, informs us,[300] that it was
necessary for the archer to have a bracer, or close sleeve, to lace
upon the left arm; it was also proper for this bracer to be made
with materials sufficiently rigid to prevent any folds which might
impede the bow-string when loosed from the hand; to this was to be
added a shooting-glove, for the protection of the fingers. The bow,
he tells us, ought to be made with well-seasoned wood, and formed
with great exactness, tapering from the middle towards each end. Bows
were sometimes made of Brazil, of elm, of ash, and of several other
woods; but eugh, or yew, had the sanction, from general experience,
of superiority. Respecting the bow-string, the author was not decided
which to prefer; those made with good hemp, according to the common
usage of the time in which he lived, or those manufactured with
flax, or silk; he therefore thinks the choice ought to be left to
the string-maker. There are, he tells us, three essential parts in
the composition of the arrow, that is to say, the stele or wand, the
feathers, and the head. The stele was not always made with the same
species of wood, but varied as occasion required, to suit the different
manners of shooting practised by the archers; he commends sound ash
for military arrows, and preferred it to asp, which in his day was
generally used for the arrows belonging to the army; but for pastime,
he thought that none were better than those made of oak, hard-beam, or
birch; but after all, says he, in this point I hold it best to trust to
the recommendation of an honest fletcher. The feathers from the wing of
a goose, and especially of a grey-goose, he thought were preferable to
any others for the pluming of an arrow. Thus in the popular ballad of
Chevy Chace, an English archer aimed his arrow at sir Hugh
Mountgomerye, with such skill, that it hit him on the breast, and the
poet elegantly says,

    The grey-goose-winge that was thereon
    In his hearts blood was wett.

The more ancient ballad upon this subject, given in the first volume of
the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, reads, the "swane-feathers."

There was, it seems, but little difference between the two wings of
one bird; but, according to the opinion of the best arrow-makers, the
second feather was best in some cases and the pinion in others. It was
necessary for an archer to have several arrows of one flight (I presume
Ascham means of one shape, length, and weight), plumed with feathers
from different wings, to suit the diversity of the winds. We are not
from these directions to conclude, that the goose alone afforded the
plumage for the arrows; the feathers of many other birds were used
for the same purpose, and are mentioned in the metrical romances of
the middle ages. An old ballad of Robin Hood says, that he and his
followers had an hundred bows furnished with strings, and an hundred
sheafs of goose arrows, with bright burnished heads; every arrow was an
ell long, adorned with peacocks' feathers, and bound at the notching
with white silk.[301]

    With them they had an hundred bowes,
    The stringes were well ydight;
    An hundred shefe of arrows good
    With hedes burnish'd full bryght;
    And every arrowe an ell longe,
    With peacocke well ydight,
    And nocked they were with white silk,
    It was a semely syght.

And Chaucer, in his description of the "squyers yeomen," says,

    And he was clad in cote and hode of grene,
    A shefe of pecocke arrowes bryght and shene;
    Under his belt he bare ful thriftely
    Well coude he dresse his tackle yomanly;
    His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe,
    And in hande he bare a myghty bowe.[302]

The adornment of these arrows with peacocks' feathers is not to
be considered as a mere poetical flourish, for we have sufficient
testimony, that such plumage was actually used.[303]

But, returning to our author, he informs us, that the English arrows
had forked heads and broad-heads, yet he thought, that round pointed
heads resembling a bodkin were the best. The notch, or small hollow
part at the bottom of the arrow, made for the reception of the
bow-string, was varied as occasion required, or at the will of the
archer, being sometimes deep and narrow, and sometimes broad and not
deep.


XIII.--DIRECTIONS FOR ARCHERY.

Having thus furnished the archer with his necessary accoutrements,
Ascham proceeds to instruct him how they ought to be managed; but
first of all he recommends a graceful attitude. He should stand, says
another writer, fairly, and upright with his body, his left foot at a
convenient distance before his right; holding the bow by the middle,
with his left arm stretched out, and with the three first fingers and
the thumb of the right hand upon the lower part of the arrow affixed to
the string of the bow.[304] In the second place, a proper attention was
to be paid to the nocking, that is, the application of the notch at the
bottom of the arrow to the bow-string; we are told that the notch of
the arrow should rest between the fore-finger and the middle finger of
the right hand.[305] Thirdly, our attention is directed to the proper
manner of drawing the bow-string: in ancient times, says Ascham, the
right hand was brought to the right pap; but at present it is elevated
to the right ear, and the latter method he prefers to the former. The
shaft of the arrow below the feathers, ought to be rested upon the
knuckle of the fore-finger of the left hand; the arrow was to be drawn
to the head, and not held too long in that situation, but neatly and
smartly discharged, without any hanging upon the string. Among the
requisites necessary to constitute a good archer, are a clear sight,
steadily directed to the mark; and proper judgment, to determine the
distance of the ground; he ought also to know how to take the advantage
of a side wind, and to be well acquainted with what compass his arrows
would require in their flight: courage is also an indispensable
requisite, for whoever, says our author, shoots with the least
trepidation, he is sure to shoot badly. One great fault in particular
he complains of, which young archers generally fall into, and that
is, the direction of the eye to the end of the arrow, rather than
to the mark; to obviate this evil habit he advises such, as were so
accustomed, to shoot in the dark, by night, at lights set up at a
proper distance for that purpose. He then concludes with observing,
that "bad tutorage" was rarely amended in grown-up persons; and
therefore he held it essentially necessary, that great attention should
be paid to the teaching an archer properly, while he was young; "for
children," says he, "if sufficient pains are taken with them at the
onset, may much more easily be taught to shoot well, than men," because
the latter have frequently more trouble to unlearn their bad habits,
than was primitively requisite to learn them good ones.[306]


XIV.--MARKS FOR SHOOTING AT.

The marks usually shot at by the archers for pastime, were, "butts,
prickes, and roavers." The butt, we are told, was a level mark, and
required a strong arrow, with a very broad feather; the pricke was a
"mark of compass," but certain in its distance; and to this mark strong
swift arrows, of one flight, with a middling sized feather, were best
suited; the roaver was a mark of uncertain length; it was therefore
proper for the archer to have various kinds of arrows, of different
weights, to be used according to the different changements made in the
distance of the ground.[307]

The Cornish men are spoken of as good archers, and shot their
arrows to a great length; they are also, says Carew, "well skilled
in near shooting, and in well aimed shooting;--the butts made them
perfect in the one, and the roaving in the other, for the prickes,
the first corrupters of archery, through too much preciseness, were
formerly scarcely known, and little practised."[308] Other marks are
occasionally mentioned, as the standard, the target, hazel wands, rose
garlands, and the popinjay, which, we are told, was an artificial
parrot.[309] I have not met with such a mark in any manuscript
delineation; but, in the following engraving, the reader will find a
cock substituted for the parrot, and the archer has discharged his
arrow very skilfully.

[Illustration: 13. ARCHERY.--XIV. CENTURY.]

I am by no means certain, whether the draughtsman designed to represent
an artificial, or a living cock: the manner of its being placed on the
post, may favour the first idea; but the mouth being open, and the
elevation of the head, as if in the last gasp of life, will justify the
latter. It is taken from a MS. written early in the fourteenth century,
preserved in the Royal Library.[310]


XV.--LENGTH OF BOWS AND ARROWS.

The length of the bow is not clearly ascertained; those used by the
soldiery appear, in the manuscript drawings, to have been as tall, at
least, as the bearers; agreeable to an ordinance made in the fifth
year of Edward IV. commanding every man to have a bow his own height;
and they might, upon the average, be something short of six feet long.
The arrows used by the English archers at the memorable battle of
Agincourt, were a full yard in length.[311] Carew, in his survey of
Cornwall, says, "The Cornish archers for long shooting, used arrows a
cloth yard long." The old and more modern ballads of Chevy Chace speak
of the arrow as being the length of a cloth yard, but some of these
poetical legends extend it an ell.

Hall[312] mentions a company of archers, who met king Henry VIII. at
Shooter's Hill, on a May-day morning, where they discharged their
bows in his presence, and the arrows made a loud whistling in their
flight, "by crafte of the heade." The strangeness of the noise, we
are informed, surprised his Majesty, though at the same time he was
much pleased with the contrivance. A modern author, the Hon. Daines
Barrington, assures us, this sound was occasioned by holes being made
in the arrow heads, and that such weapons were used upon military
occasions, and especially as signals;[313] but not, I presume, before
the time mentioned by the historian; for had not those arrows been
newly introduced, there is no reason why the king, who was well
acquainted with every branch of archery, should have been surprised at
the sound they made, or pleased at the sight of them.


XVI.--FEATS IN ARCHERY.

If the metrical romances and ballads of the former ages may be depended
upon, the strength of our English archers in drawing of the bow, and
their skill in directing the arrow to its mark, were justly the objects
of admiration.

The reader, I trust, will pardon the insertion of the following
extracts from two old poetical legends, which convey, at least, some
idea of the practice of archery in times anterior to our own; the first
is a ballad in eight fyttes or parts, entitled, "A mery Geste of Robyn
Hode."[314] According to the story, the king[315] thought proper to pay
Robin Hood a visit, disguised in the habit of an abbot: and the outlaw,
by way of entertaining his guest, proposed a shooting match. Two wands
were then set up, but at so great a distance from each other, that,

    By fyfty space our kyng sayde
    Tho markes were to longe.--
    On every syde a rose garlande,
    The shot under the lyne.
    Whoso faileth of the rose garland, said Robyn,
    His takyll he shal tyne;[316]
    And yelde it to his maister,
    Be it never so fine.--
    Twyse Robyn shot about,
    And ever he cleved the wande.--

And so did Gilbert, Little John, and Scathelocke, his companions; but,

    At the last shot, that Robyn shot,
    For all his frendes fore,
    Yet he fayled of the garland.
    Three fyngers and more--

of course his "takill" was forfeited, which he presented to the king,
saying,

    Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne arrowe.

The second poem is also of the ballad kind, and apparently as old as
the former,[317] wherein Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe, and William
Cloudesle, are introduced to shoot before the king. The butts, or dead
marks set up by the king's archers, were censured by Cloudesle, saying,

    I hold hym never no good archer,
    That shoteth at buttes so wide--

and having procured two "hasell roddes," he set them up at the
distance of four hundred yards[318] from each other; his first attempt
in shooting at them, contrary to the expectation of the king, was
successful, for it is said,

    Cloudesle with a bearyng arowe[319]
    Clave the wand in two.

The king, being much surprised at the performance, told him he was the
best archer he ever saw. Cloudesle then proposed to show him a more
extraordinary proof of his skill, and tied his eldest son, a child only
seven years old, to a stake, and placed an apple upon his head. When he
bound his son he charged him not to move, and turned his face from him,
that he might not be intimidated by seeing the arrow directed towards
him: one hundred and twenty yards[320] were measured from the stake,
and Cloudesle went to the end of the measurement; he first entreated
the spectators to be silent,

    And then drew out a fayre brode arrowe;
      Hys bow was great and longe,
    He set that arrowe in his bowe
      That was both styffe and stronge.

    Then Cloudesle cleft the apple in two,
      As many a man myght se,
    Over Gods forbode,[321] sayde the kynge,
      That thou sholde shote at me.


XVII.--SUPERIORITY OF ANCIENT BOWMEN.

If we were to judge of the merits of the ancient bowmen from the
practice of archery as it is exercised in the present day, these
poetical eulogiums would appear to be entirely fictitious. There are no
such distances now assigned for the marks as are mentioned before, nor
such precision, even at short lengths, in the direction of the arrows.
By an act established An. 33 Hen. VIII., no person who had reached the
age of twenty-four years, might shoot at any mark at less than two
hundred and twenty yards distance.[322] I believe few, if any, of the
modern archers, in shooting at a mark, exceed the distance of eighty
or a hundred yards, or, in long shooting, reach four hundred yards. I
have seen the gentlemen who practise archery in the vicinity of London,
repeatedly shoot from end to end, and not touch the target with an
arrow; and for the space of several hours, without lodging one in the
circle of gold, about six inches diameter in the centre of the target:
this, indeed, is so seldom done, that one is led to think, when it
happens, it is rather the effect of chance than of skill: which proves
what Ascham has asserted, that an archer should be well taught early in
life, and confirm the good teaching by continual practice afterwards.
We may also recollect, that archery is now followed for amusement only,
and is to be commended as a manly and gentleman-like exercise.

I remember about four or five years back,[323] at a meeting of the
society of archers, in their ground near Bedford Square, the Turkish
ambassador paid them a visit; and complained that the enclosure was
by no means sufficiently extensive for a long shot: he therefore went
into the adjacent fields to show his dexterity; where I saw him shoot
several arrows more than double the length of the archery ground, and
his longest shot fell upwards of four hundred and eighty yards from his
standing. The bow he used was much shorter than those belonging to the
English archers; and his arrows were of the bolt kind, with round heads
made of wood. This distance rather exceeds the length our rhymist has
given to the wands set up by Cloudesle and his companions, but then we
are to recollect they shot with vast precision to that distance,[324]
which the ambassador did not, he had no mark, and his arrows fell
exceedingly wide of each other.

Carew, speaking of the Cornish archers two centuries back, says,
"For long shooting, their shaft was a cloth yard in length, and their
prickes twenty-four score paces, equal to four hundred and eighty
yards; and for strength, they would pierce any ordinary armour;" he
then adds, "and one Robert Arundell, whom I well knew, could shoot
twelve score paces with his right hand, with his left, and from behind
his head."[325] This puts me in mind of a curious anecdote related by
Hall: "There came to his grace, king Henry the Eighth, a certayn man,
with a bowe and arrowe, and he desyred his grace to take the muster
of hym, and to see him shoote; for that tyme hys grace was contented;
the man put hys one fote in his bosome, and so dyd shoote, and shote
a very good shote, and well towardes hys marke; whereof, not onely
his grace, but all others greatly merveyled; so the kynge gave him a
rewarde,"[326] and for this curious feat he afterwards obtained the
by-name of "Fote in Bosome."


XVIII.-THE DUKE OF SHOREDITCH.

The same monarch, Henry VIII., having appointed a great match of
archery at Windsor, a citizen of London, named Barlow, an inhabitant
of Shoreditch, joined the archers, and surpassed them all in skill;
the king was so much pleased with his performance, that he jocosely
gave him the title of "Duke of Shoreditch;" and this title the captain
of the London archers retained for a considerable time afterwards.
In 1583, in the reign of Elizabeth, a grand shooting match was held
in London, and the captain of the archers assuming his title of Duke
of Shoreditch, summoned a suit of nominal nobility, under the titles
of marquis of Barlo, of Clerkenwell, of Islington, of Hoxton, of
Shacklewell, and earl of Pancrass, &c. and these meeting together at
the appointed time, with their different companies, proceeded in a
pompous march from Merchant Taylors Hall, consisting of three thousand
archers, sumptuously apparelled; Strype says, "odly habited;" every
man had a long-bow, and four arrows. With the marquis of Barlo and the
marquis of Clerkenwell were "Hunters who wound their horns."[327] Nine
hundred and forty-two of the archers had chains of gold about their
necks. This splendid company was guarded by four thousand whifflers and
billmen, besides pages and footmen. They passed through Broad-street,
the residence of their captain, and thence into Moorfields, by
Finsbury, and so on to Smithfield, where having performed several
evolutions, they shot at a target for honour.[328]

Another cavalcade of like kind was made by the London archers in 1682,
the reign of Charles II., and the king himself was present; but being
a wet day, his majesty was obliged to leave the field soon after the
arrival of the bowmen.[329]


XIX.--ROYAL SPORT--A GOOD ARCHER WHY CALLED ARTHUR.

Kings and princes have been celebrated for their skill in archery, and
among those of our own country may be placed king Henry VII. who in his
youth was partial to this exercise, and therefore it is said of him in
an old poem, written in praise of the princess Elizabeth, afterwards
queen to Henry VII.[330]

    See where he shoteth at the butts,
    And with hym are lordes three;
    He weareth a gowne of velvette blacke,
    And it is coted above the knee.

He also amused himself with the bow after he had obtained the crown, as
we find from an account of his expenditures,[331] where the following
memorandums occur: "Lost to my lord Morging at buttes, six shillings
and eightpence:" and again, "Paid to sir Edward Boroughe thirteen
shillings and fourpence, which the kynge lost at buttes with his
cross-bowe." Both the sons of king Henry followed his example, and
were excellent archers; and especially the eldest, prince Arthur, who
used frequently to visit the society of London bowmen at Mile-end,
where they usually met, and practised with them. From his expertness
in handling of the bow, every good shooter was called by his name. The
captain also of the fraternity was honoured with the title of Prince
Arthur, and the other archers were styled his knights.[332] The title
of Prince Arthur seems to have been superseded by the creation of the
"Duke of Shoreditch."

After the death of prince Arthur, his brother Henry continued to
honour the meeting at Mile-end with his presence. We have seen already,
that he was exceedingly fond of archery, and if Hall may be credited,
at the time of his coming to the crown, "he shotte as strong, and as
greate a lengthe as any of his garde."[333]

King Edward VI., though not so conspicuous as his father or his uncle,
was nevertheless an encourager of archery, and frequently amused
himself with the bow. This appears from his own diary.[334]

Charles I. was an archer, as appears from the dedication of a treatise,
called the "Bowman's Glory;" and Catherine of Portugal, queen to
Charles II., was probably much pleased with seeing the pastime of
archery practised; for in compliment to her, a badge of silver,
weighing twenty-two ounces, was made for the marshal of the fraternity
of bowmen, having upon it the representation of an archer with his bow
drawn in the action of shooting, and inscribed with her name, "Reginæ
Catharinæ Sagittarii." This badge was made in the year 1676, by the
contribution of sir Edward Hungerford and others.[335]


XX.--PRIZES FOR ARCHERY.

I find but little said respecting the rewards bestowed upon the best
bowmen; the London fraternity are said to have shot for pastime or
for honour; however, I make no doubt, upon particular trials of
skill, rewards sufficient to excite the emulation of the archers were
proposed; they might sometimes consist of money, and perhaps more
frequently of some other valuable article, as the following lines may
testify, extracted from the Mery Geste of Robyn Hode, and the prize is
judiciously appropriated to the purpose. The poet tells us, that the
sherif of Notyngham,

    Did crye a ful fayre playe
    That all the best archyres of the north
    Should come upon a daye;
    And they that shote, al of the best,
    The prize should bear away.
    And he that shoteth al of the best,
    Furthest, fayre and lowe,
    At a payre of goodly buttes,
    Under the grene wood shaw
    A ryght good arrowe he shal have,
    The shaft of sylver whyte,
    The head, and fethers of riche red gold,
    In England is none lyke.--
    And when they came to Notyngham,
    The buttes were fayre and longe.--
    Thrise Robin shot about
    And alway he cleft the wand.

It is added, that to him was delivered the "goode arrowe, for best
worthie was he."




CHAPTER II.

     I. Slinging of Stones an ancient Art.--II. Known to the
     Saxons.--III. And the Normans.--IV. How practised of late
     Years.--V. Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand.--VI.
     By the Londoners.--VII. Casting of the Bar and Hammer.--VIII.
     Of Spears.--IX. Of Quoits.--X. Swinging of Dumb Bells.--XI.
     Foot Races.--XII. The Game of Base.--XIII. Wrestling much
     practised formerly.--XIV. Prizes for.--XV. How performed.--XVI.
     Swimming.--XVII. Sliding.--XVIII. Skating.--XIX. Rowing.--XX.
     Sailing.


I.--SLINGING OF STONES.

The art of slinging, or casting of stones with a sling, is of high
antiquity, and probably antecedent to that of archery, though not so
generally known nor so universally practised. The tribe of Benjamin
among the Israelites is celebrated in holy writ for the excellency
of its slingers. In the time of the judges there were seven hundred
Benjamites who all of them used their left hands, and in the figurative
language of the Scripture it is said, they "could sling stones at
an hair-breadth and not miss,"[336] that is, with exceedingly great
precision. Again we are told, that when David fled to Ziklag, he was
joined by a party of valiant men of the tribe of Benjamin, who could
use both the right and the left in slinging of stones and shooting
arrows out of a bow.[337] David himself was also an excellent marksman,
as the destruction of Goliath by the means of his sling sufficiently
testifies. It was, perhaps, an instrument much used by the shepherds in
ancient times, to protect their flocks from the attacks of ferocious
animals: if so, we shall not wonder that David, who kept his father's
sheep, was so expert in the management of this weapon.[338] In
Barclay's Eclogues an English shepherd boasts of his skill in using of
the sling.


II.--SLINGING BY THE ANGLO-SAXONS.

The art of slinging of stones was well known and practised at a very
early period in Europe, but we have no authority to prove that it was
carried to so high a pitch of perfection in this part of the globe, as
it appears to have been among the Asiatic nations. It is altogether
uncertain, whether the ancient inhabitants of Britain were acquainted
with the use of the sling or not; if the negative be granted, which
hardly seems reasonable, we must admit the probability of their
being taught the properties of such an instrument by the Romans, who
certainly used it as a military weapon. We can speak more decidedly on
the part of our ancestors the Saxons, who seem to have been skilful in
the management of the sling; its form is preserved in several of their
paintings, and the manner in which it was used by them, as far back as
the eighth century, may be seen below, from a manuscript of that age
in the Cotton Library.[339] It is there represented with one of the
ends unloosened from the hand and the stone discharged. In the original
the figure is throwing the stone at a bird upon the wing, which is
represented at some distance from him.

[Illustration: 14. SLINGING--VIII. CENTURY.]

In other instances we see it depicted with both the ends held in the
hand, the figure being placed in the action of taking his aim, and
a bird is generally the object of his exertion, as in the following
engraving from a parchment roll in the Royal Library, containing a
genealogical account of the kings of England, to the time of Henry
III.[340]

[Illustration: 15. MANNER OF HOLDING THE SLING.]

Sometimes the sling is attached to a staff or truncheon, about three
or four feet in length, wielded with both hands, and charged with a
stone of no small magnitude. Those slings appear to have been chiefly
used in besieging of cities, and on board of ships in engagements by
sea. The following engraving represents a sling of this kind, from a
drawing supposed to have been made by Matthew Paris, in a MS. at Bennet
College, Cambridge.[341]

[Illustration: 16. SLINGS OF WARFARE.]


III.--SLINGING BY THE ANGLO-NORMANS.

We have sufficient testimony to prove that men armed with slings formed
a part of the Anglo-Norman soldiery,[342] and the word Balistarii, used
by our early historians, may, I doubt not, be more properly rendered
slingers than cross-bowmen; though indeed, upon the introduction of
the cross-bow, these men might take the place of the slingers. In fact
the cross-bow itself was modified to the purpose of discharging of
stones, and for that reason was also called a stone-bow, so that the
appellation Balistarius and Arcubalistarius were both of them latterly
applied to the same person. The sling, however, was not entirely
superseded by the bow at the commencement of the fifteenth century, as
the following verses plainly indicate: they occur in a manuscript poem
in the Cotton Library,[343] entitled, "Knyghthode and Batayle,"
written about that time, which professedly treats upon the duties and
exercises necessary to constitute a good soldier.

    Use eek the cast of stone, with slynge or honde:
    It falleth ofte, yf other shot there none is,
    Men harneysed in steel may not withstonde,
    The multitude and mighty cast of stonys;
    And stonys in effecte, are every where,
    And slynges are not noyous for to beare.

By the two last lines the poet means to say, that stones are every
where readily procured, and that the slings are by no means cumbersome
to the bearers, which were cogent reasons for retaining them as
military weapons; neither does he confine their use to any body or
rank of soldiers, but indiscriminately recommends the acquirement of
skill in the casting of stones, to every individual who followed the
profession of a warrior.


IV.--MODERN MODES OF SLINGING.

I remember in my youth to have seen several persons expert in slinging
of stones, which they performed with thongs of leather, or, wanting
those, with garters; and sometimes they used a stick of ash or hazel, a
yard or better in length, and about an inch in diameter; it was split
at the top so as to make an opening wide enough to receive the stone,
which was confined by the re-action of the stick on both sides, but not
strong enough to resist the impulse of the slinger. It required much
practice to handle this instrument with any great degree of certainty,
for if the stone in the act of throwing quitted the sling either sooner
or later than it ought to do, the desired effect was sure to fail.
Those who could use it properly, cast stones to a considerable distance
and with much precision. In the present day, the use of all these
engines seems to be totally discontinued.


V.--THROWING WITH THE HAND.

Throwing of heavy weights and stones with the hand was much practised
in former times, and as this pastime required great strength and
muscular exertion, it was a very proper exercise for military men.
The Greeks, according to Homer, at the time of the siege of Troy,
amused themselves with casting of the discus, which appears to have
been a round flat plate of metal of considerable magnitude and very
heavy.[344] "The discus of the ancients," says Dr. Johnson,[345] "is
sometimes called in English quoit, but improperly. The game of quoits
is a game of skill; the discus was only a trial of strength, as among
us to throw the hammer."


VI.--THROWING BY THE LONDONERS.

In the twelfth century we are assured, that among the amusements
practised by the young Londoners on holidays, was casting of
stones,[346] darts, and other missive weapons. Bars of wood and iron
were afterwards used for the same purpose, and the attention of the
populace was so much engaged by this kind of exercise, that they
neglected in great measure the practice of archery, which occasioned an
edict to be passed in the thirty-ninth year of Edward III. prohibiting
the pastimes of throwing of stones, wood, and iron, and recommending
the use of the long-bow upon all convenient opportunities.[347]


VII.--CASTING OF THE BAR AND HAMMER.

Casting of the bar is frequently mentioned by the romance writers as
one part of a hero's education, and a poet of the sixteenth century
thinks it highly commendable for kings and princes, by way of exercise,
to throw "the stone, the barre, or the plummet." Henry VIII., after his
accession to the throne, according to Hall and Holinshead, retained
"the casting of the barre" among his favourite amusements. The sledge
hammer was also used for the same purpose as the bar and the stone; and
among the rustics, if Barclay be correct, an axletree.

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, these pastimes seem
to have lost their relish among the higher classes of the people, and
for this reason Peacham, describing a complete gentleman, speaks of
throwing the hammer as an exercise proper only for soldiers in camp, or
for the amusement of the king's guard, but by no means "beseeming of
nobility."


VIII.--THROWING OF SPEARS.

Throwing of spears and javelins being properly a military exercise, was
not prohibited by the act above mentioned. It was sometimes practised
as a trial of strength, when the attempt was to throw beyond a certain
boundary, or to exceed a competitor in distance; and of skill, when
the spear was cast at a quintain, or any other determined mark.
According to Fitzstephen, it was one of the holiday sports of the young
Londoners in the reign of Henry II. With them it seems to have been
an exertion to cast the weapon farthest. The pastime is frequently
mentioned by the writers of the middle ages. Charles VI. of France and
the lords of his court, after a grand entertainment, were amused with
"Wrastling, and casting of the bar, and the dart, by Frenchmen and the
Gascoyns."[348]


IX.--QUOITS.

The game of quoits, or coits, as an amusement, is superior to any
of the foregoing pastimes; the exertion required is more moderate,
because this exercise does not depend so much upon superior strength
as upon superior skill. The quoit seems evidently to have derived its
origin from the ancient discus, and with us in the present day it is
a circular plate of iron perforated in the middle, not always of one
size, but larger or smaller to suit the strength or conveniency of the
several candidates. It is further to be observed, that quoits are not
only made of different magnitudes to suit the poise of the players,
but sometimes the marks are placed at extravagant distances, so as
to require great strength to throw the quoit home; this, however, is
contrary to the general rule, and depends upon the caprice of the
parties engaged in the contest.

To play at this game, an iron pin, called a hob, is driven into
the ground, within a few inches of the top; and at the distance of
eighteen, twenty, or more yards, for the distance is optional, a second
pin of iron is also made fast in a similar manner; two or more persons,
as four, six, eight, or more at pleasure, who divided into two equal
parties are to contend for the victory, stand at one of the iron marks
and throw an equal number of quoits to the other, and the nearest of
them to the hob are reckoned towards the game. But the determination
is discriminately made: for instance, if a quoit belonging to A lies
nearest to the hob, and a quoit belonging to B the second, A can claim
but one towards the game, though all his other quoits lie nearer to the
mark than all the other quoits of B; because one quoit of B being the
second nearest to the hob, cuts out, as it is called, all behind it: if
no such quoit had interfered, then A would have reckoned all his as
one each. Having cast all their quoits, the candidates walk to the
opposite side, and determine the state of the play, then taking their
stand there, throw their quoits back again and continue to do so
alternately as long as the game remains undecided.

Formerly in the country, the rustics not having the round perforated
quoits to play with, used horse-shoes, and in many places the quoit
itself, to this day, is called a shoe.


X.--DUMB BELLS.

John Northbroke, in a Treatise against Diceing, Dancing, &c. written in
the time of queen Elizabeth, advises young men, by way of amusement,
to "labour with poises of lead or other metal;" this notable pastime,
I apprehend, bore some resemblance to the Skiomachia,[349] or fighting
with a man's own shadow, mentioned in one of the Spectators:[350] "It
consisted," says the author, "in brandishing of two sticks, grasped in
each hand and loaden with plugs of lead at either end;--this pastime
opens the chest, exercises the limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure
of boxing without the blows." It is sometimes practised in the present
day, and called "ringing of the dumb bells."


XI.--FOOT-RACING.

There is no kind of exercise that has more uniformly met the
approbation of authors in general than running. In the middle ages,
foot-racing was considered as an essential part of a young man's
education, especially if he was the son of a man of rank, and brought
up to a military profession.

It is needless, I doubt not, to assert the antiquity of this pastime,
because it will readily occur to every one, that variety of occasions
continually present themselves, which call forth the exertions of
running even in childhood; and when more than one person are stimulated
by the same object, a competition naturally takes place among them to
obtain it. Originally, perhaps, foot-races had no other incitement
than emulation, or at best the prospect of some small reward: but in
process of time the rewards were magnified, and contests of this kind
were instituted as public amusements; the ground marked out for that
purpose, and judges appointed to decide upon the fairness of the race,
to ascertain the winner, and to bestow the reward.

In former times, according to Commenius,[351] it was customary for
the places appropriated to pedal races to be railed in on either side,
and the prize-giver stood at the goal, to deliver the reward to the
person who should first touch it. I suppose he means at the Olympic
games, among which foot-racing was one. In the present day foot-races
are not much encouraged by persons of fortune, and seldom happen but
for the purpose of betting, and the racers are generally paid for their
performance. In many instances the distance does not exceed one hundred
yards. At fairs, wakes, and upon many other occasions where many
people are assembled together, this species of amusement is sometimes
promoted, but most frequently the contest is confined to the younger
part of the concourse.

Two centuries back running, according to Peacham, was thought to be an
exercise by no means derogatory to the rank of nobility;[352] and a
poetical writer in the Cotton manuscript, "Of Knyghthode and Batayle,"
before cited,[353] written early in the fifteenth century, recommends
it strongly to the practice of the soldiery: his words are these,

    In rennynge the exercise is good also,
    To smyte first in fight, and also whenne,
    To take a place our foemen will forrenne
    And take it erst, also, to serche or sture,
    Lightly to come and go, rennynge is sure.
    Rennyng is also right good at the chase,
    And for to lepe a dike is also good;
    For mightily what man may renne and lepe,
    May well devict, and safe is party kepe.


XII.--BASE, OR PRISONERS' BARS.

There is a rustic game called Base or Bars, and sometimes written
Bays,[354] and in some places Prisoners' Bars; and as the success of
this pastime depends upon the agility of the candidates and their skill
in running, I think it may properly enough be introduced here. It was
much practised in former times, and some vestiges of the game are still
remaining in many parts of the kingdom. The first mention of this sport
that I have met with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the
parliamentary proceedings, early in the reign of Edward III., where it
is spoken of as a childish amusement, and prohibited to be played in
the avenues of the palace at Westminster,[355] during the sessions of
Parliament, because of the interruption it occasioned to the members
and others in passing to and fro as their business required. It is also
spoken of by Shakespear as a game practised by the boys:

    He with two striplings, lads more like to run
    The country base, than to commit such slaughter,
    Made good the passage.[356]

It was, however, most assuredly played by the men, and especially in
Cheshire and other adjoining counties, where formerly it seems to have
been in high repute.

The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal number,
each of them having a base or home, as it is usually called, to
themselves, at the distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The
players then on either side taking hold of hands, extend themselves in
length, and opposite to each other, as far as they conveniently can,
always remembering that one of them must touch the base; when any one
of them quits the hand of his fellow and runs into the field, which
is called giving the chase, he is immediately followed by one of his
opponents; he again is followed by a second from the former side, and
he by a second opponent; and soon alternately, until as many are out
as choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed, and
no other; and if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party
claims one toward their game, and both return home. They then run forth
again and again in like manner, until the number is completed that
decides the victory; this number is optional, and I am told rarely
exceeds twenty. It is to be observed, that every person on either side
who touches another during the chase, claims one for his party, and
when many are out, it frequently happens that many are touched.

About 1770, I saw a grand match at base played in the fields behind
Montague House, now the British Museum, by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire
against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable sum of money, which
afforded much entertainment to the spectators. In Essex they play this
game with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the
ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from
them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase,
is sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till
the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his
associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which
is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful
players, because the prison belonging to either party is always much
nearer to the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the
person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist
before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in
equal need of deliverance. The addition of the prisons occasions a
considerable degree of variety in the pastime, and is frequently
productive of much pleasantry.


XIII.--WRESTLING.

The art of wrestling, which in the present day is chiefly confined to
the lower classes of the people, was, however, highly esteemed by the
ancients, and made a very considerable figure among the Olympic games.
In the ages of chivalry, to wrestle well was accounted one of the
accomplishments which a hero ought to possess.

Wrestling is a kind of exercise that, from its nature, is likely to
have been practised by every nation, and especially by those the least
civilised. It was probably well known in this country long before the
introduction of foreign manners. The inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon
have, we are well assured, from time immemorial, been celebrated for
their expertness in this pastime, and are universally said to be the
best wrestlers in the kingdom. To give a Cornish hug is a proverbial
expression. The Cornish, says Fuller, are masters of the art of
wrestling, so that if the Olympian games were now in fashion, they
would come away with the victory. Their hug is a cunning close with
their fellow-combatants, the fruits whereof is his fair fall or foil at
the least.[357] They learned the art at an early period of life, for
you shall hardly find, says Carew, an assembly of boys in Devon and
Cornwall, where the most untowardly among them will not as readily give
you a muster (or trial) of this exercise as you are prone to require
it.[358]

The citizens of London, in times past, are said to have been expert
in the art of wrestling, and annually upon St. James's day they were
accustomed to make a public trial of their skill. In the sixth year of
Henry III. they held their anniversary meeting for this purpose near
the hospital of St. Matilda, at St. Giles's in the fields, where they
were met by the inhabitants of the city and suburbs of Westminster,
and a ram was appointed for the prize; the Londoners were victorious,
having greatly excelled their antagonists, which produced a challenge
from the conquered party, to renew the contest upon the Lammas day
following at Westminster: the citizens of London readily consented, and
met them accordingly, but in the midst of the diversion, the bailiff
of Westminster and his associates took occasion to quarrel with the
Londoners, a battle ensued, and many of the latter were severely
wounded in making their retreat to the city. This unjustifiable
petulance of the bailiff gave rise to a more serious tumult, and it was
several days before the peace could be restored.[359] Stow informs us,
that in the thirty-first year of Henry VI., A. D. 1453, at a wrestling
match near Clerkenwell, another tumult was excited against the lord
mayor, but he does not say upon what occasion it arose.

In old time, says Stow, wrestling was more used than it has been of
later years.[360] In the month of August, about the feast of St.
Bartholomew, adds this very accurate historian, there were divers
days spent in wrestling; the lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs,
being present in a large tent pitched for that purpose near
Clerkenwell;[361] upon this occasion the officers of the city, namely,
the sheriffs, serjeants, and yeomen, the porters of the king's beam or
weighing-house,[362] and others of the city, gave a general challenge
to such of the inhabitants of the suburbs as thought themselves expert
in this exercise; but of late years, continues he, the wrestling is
only practised on the afternoon of St. Bartholomew's day.[363] The
latter ceremony is thus described by a foreign writer, who was an
eye-witness to the performance: "When," says he, "the mayor goes out
of the precincts of the city, a sceptre,[364] a sword, and a cap, are
borne before him, and he is followed by the principal aldermen in
scarlet gowns with golden chains; himself and they on horseback. Upon
their arrival at a place appointed for that purpose, where a tent is
pitched for their reception, the mob begin to wrestle before them two
at a time." He adds a circumstance not recorded by the historian:
"After this is over, a parcel of live rabbits are turned loose among
the crowd, which are pursued by a number of boys, who endeavour to
catch them with all the noise they can make."[365]

From the time that wrestling became unfashionable and was rarely
practised by persons of opulence, it declined also among the populace,
but by slower degrees; and at present is seldom seen except at wakes
and fairs, where it still continues to be partially exhibited.


XIV.--PRIZES FOR WRESTLING.

We may have observed, that the reward proposed for the best wrestlers
in the contest between the Londoners and the inhabitants of
Westminster, as mentioned above, was a ram. Anciently this animal was
the prize most usually given upon such occasions, and therefore in the
rhyme of sir Thopas, Chaucer says of the Knight,

    Of wrastling was there none his pere,
    Where any Ram shulde stonde.[366]

And again, in his character of the miller,

              --------for over al ther he cam,
    At wrastlyng he wolde have away the Ram.[367]

Other rewards, no doubt, were sometimes proposed, as we may see upon
the engraving below, where two men are wrestling for a cock: the
original drawing, from a manuscript in the Royal Library,[368] is
certainly more ancient than the time of Chaucer.

[Illustration: 17. ANCIENT WRESTLING.]

In modern times the prizes were not only much varied, but were
occasionally of higher value. If we may believe the author of the old
poem, entitled "A mery Geste of Robyn Hode," there were several prizes
put up at once. The poet, speaking of a knight who was going to Robin
Hood, says,[369]

                        ----Unto Bernisdale,
    As he went, by a bridge was a wrastling,
      And there taryed was he,
    And there was all the best yemen,
      Of all the west countrey.
    A full fayre game there was set up;
      A white bull, up ypyght;
    A great courser with sadle and brydle,
      With gold burnished full bryght:
    A payre of gloves, a red gold ringe,
      A pipe of wine, good faye:
    What man bereth him best, ywis,
      The prise shall bear away.

A humorous description is given in one of the Spectators of a country
wake: the author there mentions "a ring of wrestlers; the squire," says
he, "of the parish always treats the whole company, every year, with a
hogshead of ale, and proposes a beaver hat, as a recompence to him who
gives the most falls."[370]


XV.--WRESTLING, HOW PERFORMED.

[Illustration: 18. ANOTHER REPRESENTATION.]

The manner in which this pastime was exhibited in the western parts of
England, at the distance of two centuries, is thus described by Carew,
an author then living. "The beholders then cast, or form themselves
into a ring, in the empty space whereof the two champions step forth,
stripped into their dublets and hosen, and untrussed, that they may so
the better command the use of their lymmes; and first shaking hands, in
token of friendship, they fall presently to the effect of anger; for
each striveth how to take hold of the other with his best advantage,
and to bear his adverse party downe; wherein, whosoever overthroweth
his mate, in such sort, as that either his backe, or the one shoulder,
and contrary heele do touch the ground, is accounted to give the fall.
If he be only endangered, and makes a narrow escape, it is called a
foyle."

He then adds, "This pastime also hath his laws, for instance; of taking
hold above the girdle--wearing a girdle to take hold by--playing three
pulls for trial of the mastery, the fall giver to be exempted from
playing again with the taker, but bound to answer his successor. Silver
prizes, for this and other activities, were wont to be carried about,
by certain circumferanci, or set up at bride ales; but time, or their
abuse," perhaps I might add both, "hath now worn them out of use."[371]

The Greeks had a pastime called Hippas,[372] which, we are told, was
one person riding upon the shoulders of another, as upon a horse;[373]
a sport of this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of
the fourteenth century, but generally performed by two competitors who
struggled one with the other, and he who pulled his opponent from the
shoulders of his carrier was the victor.

[Illustration: 19.]

The representations of this curious pastime are taken from different
manuscripts; one in the Royal Library,[374] and the other in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344.[375]

[Illustration: 20.]

This seems to bear more analogy to wrestling than to any other sport,
for which reason I have given it a place in the present chapter.


XVI.--SWIMMING.

Swimming is an exercise of great antiquity; and, no doubt, familiar
to the inhabitants of this country, at all times. The heroes of the
middle ages are sometimes praised for their skill in swimming: it is
said of Olaf Fryggeson, a king of Norway, that he had no equal in his
art.[376] Peacham, describing the requisites for a complete gentleman,
mentions swimming as one; and particularly recommends it to such as
were inclined to follow a military profession. In this he seems to have
followed an old poetical writer,[377] who speaks in this manner:--

    To swymme, is eke to lerne in sommer leson.
    Men fynde not a bridge, so often as a flood,
    Swymmyng to voyde; and chase an hoste wil eson.
    Eke after rayne the rivers goeth wood,[378]
    That every man in t'host can swymme, is good:
    Knyght, squyer, footman, cook, and cosynere.
    And grome, and page, in swymmyng is to lere.

Meaning thereby, that the art of swimming ought to be learned by every
class of persons belonging to an army: and, perhaps, it may not be
improper to add, by every other person also.

Swimming and diving are mentioned by the author of the Visions of
Pierce Ploughman,[379] in the following manner:--

    Take two strong men and in Temese[380] cast them,
    And both naked as a needle, ther non sikerer[381] than other;
    The one hath cunnynge and can swymme and dyve,
    The other is lewed of that laboure, lerned never to swym,
    Which trowest of these two in Temese is most in dred,
    He that never dived ne nought can of swymmyng,
    Or the swymmer that is safe if he himself lyke?

Boys in the country usually learn to swim with bundles of bulrushes,
and with corks where the rushes cannot readily be procured;
particularly in the neighbourhood of London, where we are told, two
centuries back, there were men who could teach the art of swimming
well, and, says the author, "for commoditie of river and water for that
purpose, there is no where better."[382]

I am sorry to add, that swimming is by no means so generally practised
with us in the present day as it used to be in former times. We have
several treatises on the art of swimming and diving, and in the
Encyclopædia Britannica are many excellent directions relating to it,
under the article Swimming.


XVII.--SLIDING.

Sliding upon the ice appears to have been a very favourite pastime
among the youth of this country in former times; at present the use of
skates is so generally diffused throughout the kingdom, that sliding is
but little practised, except by children and such as cannot afford to
purchase them.

Sliding is one of the diversions ascribed to young men of London by
Fitzstephen, and, as far as one can judge from his description of the
sport, it differed not in the performance from the method used by the
boys of our own time; but he adds another kind of pastime upon the ice
that is not now in practice: his words are to this effect, "Others make
a seat of ice as large as a millstone, and having placed one of their
companions upon it, they draw him along, when it sometimes happens
that moving on slippery places they all fall down headlong." Instead
of these seats of ice, among the moderns, sledges are used, which
being extended from a centre, by the means of a strong rope, those who
are seated in them are moved round with great velocity, and form an
extensive circle. Sledges of this kind were set upon the Thames during
the hard frost, in the year 1716, as the following-couplet in a song
written upon that occasion[383] plainly proves:

    While the rabble in sledges run giddily round,
    And nought but a circle of folly is found.


XVIII.--SKATING.

Skating is by no means a recent pastime, and probably the invention
proceeded rather from necessity than the desire of amusement.

It is the boast of a northern chieftain, that he could traverse the
snow upon skates of wood.[384] I cannot by any means ascertain at what
time skating made its first appearance in England, but we find some
traces of such an exercise in the thirteenth century, at which period,
according to Fitzstephen, it was customary in the winter, when the ice
would bear them, for the young citizens of London to fasten the leg
bones of animals under the soles of their feet by tying them round
their ancles, and then taking a pole shod with iron into their hands,
they pushed themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and
moved with celerity equal, says the author, to a bird flying through
the air, or an arrow from a cross-bow; but some allowance, I presume,
must be made for the poetical figure: he then adds, "at times, two of
them thus furnished agree to start opposite one to another, at a great
distance; they meet, elevate their poles, attack, and strike each
other, when one or both of them fall, and not without some bodily hurt;
and, even after their fall, are carried a great distance from each
other, by the rapidity of the motion, and whatever part of the head
comes upon the ice, it is sure to be laid bare."

The wooden skates shod with iron or steel, which are bound about the
feet and ancles like the talares of the Greeks and Romans, were most
probably brought into England from the Low Countries, where they are
said to have originated, and where it is well known they are almost
universally used by persons of both sexes when the season permits.
In Hoole's translation of the Vocabulary by Commenius, called Orbis
Sensualium Pictus, the skates are called scrick-shoes from the German,
and in the print at the head of the section, in that work, they are
represented longer than those of the present day, and the irons are
turned up much higher in the front.

Some modern writers have asserted, that "the metropolis of Scotland
has produced more instances of elegant skaters than perhaps any other
country whatever, and the institution of a skating-club, about forty
years ago, has contributed not a little to the improvement of this
amusement."[385] I have, however, seen, some years back, when the
Serpentine river in Hyde Park was frozen over, four gentlemen there
dance, if I may be allowed the expression, a double minuet in skates,
with as much ease, and I think more elegance, than in a ball room;
others again, by turning and winding with much adroitness, have readily
in succession described upon the ice the form of all the letters in the
alphabet.


XIX.--ROWING.

I shall not pretend to investigate the antiquity of boat-rowing.
This art was certainly well understood by the primitive inhabitants
of Britain, who frequently committed themselves to the mercy of the
sea in open boats, constructed with wicker work, and covered with
leather.[386] The Saxons were also expert in the management of the oar,
and thought it by no means derogatory for a nobleman of the highest
rank to row or steer a boat with dexterity and judgment. Kolson, a
northern hero, boasting of his qualifications, declares, that "he was
expert in handling the oar."[387] The reader may possibly call to his
recollection the popular story related by our historians concerning
Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, who they tell us was conveyed in great
state along the river Dee, from his palace in the city of West Chester,
to the church of St. John, and back again: the oars were managed by
eight kings, and himself, the ninth, sat at the stern of the barge and
held the helm.[388] This frolic, for I cannot consider it in any other
light, appears to be well attested, and is the earliest record of a
pastime of the kind.

The boat-quintain and tilting at each other upon the water, which were
introduced by the Normans as amusements for the summer season,[389]
could not be performed without the assistance of the oars, and probably
much of the success of the champion depended upon the skilfulness of
those who managed the boat. If we refer to two engravings[390] whereon
both these sports are represented, we shall see that the rowers are
seated contrary to the usual method, and face the head of the vessel
instead of the stern.

The institution of the water pageantry at London upon the lord mayor's
day, was of an essential service to the professed watermen, who plied
about the bridge; and gave occasion to the introduction of many
pleasure boats, which in the modern times have been greatly increased.
The first procession to Westminster by water was made A. D. 1453, by
John Norman, then lord mayor, for which he was highly commended by the
watermen.

When tilting at the quintain and justing one against another in boats
upon the water were discontinued in this country, rowing matches were
substituted, and are become exceedingly popular: we may see them
frequently exhibited upon the Thames during the summer season; and as
these contests, which depend upon skill as well as upon strength, are
rarely productive of any thing further than mere pastime, they are in
my opinion deservedly encouraged. When a rowing-match takes place near
London, if the weather be fine, it is astonishing to see what crowds of
people assemble themselves upon the banks of the Thames as spectators,
and the river itself is nearly covered with wherries, pleasure
boats, and barges, decorated with flags and streamers, and sometimes
accompanied with bands of music. This pastime, though very ancient,
and frequently practised upon solemn occasions by the Greeks and the
Romans, does not seem to have attracted the notice of our countrymen in
former times.

It may be thought unnecessary for me to mention the well-known
annual legacy of Thomas Dogget, a comedian of some celebrity at the
commencement of the last century, which provides three prizes to be
claimed by three young watermen, on condition they prove victorious
in rowing from the Old Swan Stairs near London Bridge, to the White
Swan at Chelsea. The contest takes place upon the first of August; the
number of competitors upon this occasion is restricted to six, who
must not have been out of their times beyond twelve months. Every man
rows singly in his boat, and his exertions are made against the tide;
he who first obtains his landing at Chelsea receives the prize of
honour, which is a waterman's coat, ornamented with a large badge of
silver, and therefore the match is usually called "Rowing for the Coat
and Badge." The second and the third candidates have small pecuniary
rewards, but the other three get nothing for their trouble.

Of late years the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Astley the rider,
give each of them in the course of the summer a new wherry, to be rowed
for by a certain number of watermen, two of which are allowed to row
in one boat; and these contests are extended to two or three heats or
trials before the successful candidates are determined.


XX.--SAILING.

Another popular amusement upon the water is sailing, and many persons
have pleasure boats for this purpose; I do not mean the open boats
which are usually let out for hire by the boat-builders for the purpose
of sailing, but vessels of much greater magnitude, that are covered
with a deck, and able with skilful management to weather a rough storm;
many large bets are frequently dependant upon the swiftness of these
boats, and the contest is sometimes determined at sea.

A society, generally known by the appellation of the Cumberland
Society, consisting of gentlemen partial to this pastime, give yearly
a silver cup to be sailed for in the vicinity of London. The boats
usually start from the bridge at Blackfriars, go up the Thames to
Putney, and return to Vauxhall, where a vessel is moored at a distance
from the stairs, and the sailing boat that first passes this mark upon
her return obtains the victory.




CHAPTER III.

     I. Hand-ball an ancient Game.--The Ball, where said to have
     been invented.--II. Used by the Saxons--III. And by the
     Schoolboys of London.--IV. Ball Play in France.--V. Tennis Courts
     erected.--VI. Tennis fashionable in England.--VII. A famous
     Woman Player.--VIII. Hand-ball played for Tansy Cakes.--IX.
     Fives.--X. Balloon-ball.--XI. Stool-ball.--XII. Hurling.--XIII.
     Foot-ball;--Camp-ball.--XIV. Goff;--Cambuc;--Bandy-ball.--XV.
     Stow-ball.--XVI. Pall-mall.--XVII. Ring-ball.--XVIII.
     Club-ball.--XIX. Cricket.--XX. Trap-ball.--XXI.
     Northen-spell.--XXII. Tip-cat.


I.--HAND BALL.

The ball has given origin to many popular pastimes, and I have
appropriated this chapter to such of them as are or have been usually
practised in the fields and other open places. The most ancient
amusement of this kind, is distinguished with us by the name of
hand-ball, and is, if Homer may be accredited, coeval at least with the
destruction of Troy. Herodotus attributes the invention of the ball
to the Lydians;[391] succeeding writers have affirmed, that a female
of distinction named Anagalla, a native of Corcyra, was the first who
made a ball for the purpose of pastime, which she presented to Nausica,
the daughter of Alcinous, king of Phœacia, and at the same time taught
her how to use it;[392] this piece of history is partly derived from
Homer, who introduces the princess of Corcyra with her maidens, amusing
themselves at hand-ball:

    O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play,
    Their shining veils unbound, along the skies,
    Tost and retost, the ball incessant flies.[393]

Homer has restricted this pastime to the young maidens of Corcyra, at
least he has not mentioned its being practised by the men; in times
posterior to the poet, the game of hand-ball was indiscriminately
played by both sexes.


II.--ANGLO-SAXON BALL PLAY.

It is altogether uncertain at what period the ball was brought into
England: the author of a manuscript in Trinity College, Oxford, written
in the fourteenth century, and containing the life of Saint
Cuthbert,[394] says of him, that when he was young, "he pleyde atte
balle with the children that his fellowes were." On what authority this
information is established I cannot tell. The venerable Bede, who also
wrote the life of that saint, makes no mention of ball play, but tells
us he excelled in jumping, running, wrestling, and such exercises as
required great muscular exertion,[395] and among them, indeed, it is
highly probable that of the ball might be included.


III.--LONDON BALL PLAY.

Fitzstephen, who wrote in the thirteenth century, speaking of the
London school-boys, says, "Annually upon Shrove Tuesday, they go into
the fields immediately after dinner, and play at the celebrated game of
ball;[396] every party of boys carrying their own ball;" for it does
not appear that those belonging to one school contended with those of
another, but that the youth of each school diverted themselves apart.
Some difficulty has been stated by those who have translated this
passage, respecting the nature of the game at ball here mentioned.
Stowe, considering it as a kind of goff or brandy-ball, has, without
the least sanction from the Latin, added the word bastion,[397] meaning
a bat or cudgel; others again have taken it for foot-ball,[398] which
pastime, though probably known at the time, does not seem to be a very
proper one for children: and indeed, as there is not any just authority
to support an argument on either side, I see no reason why it should
not be rendered hand-ball.[399]


IV.--BALL PLAY IN FRANCE.

The game of hand-ball is called by the French palm play,[400] because,
says St. Foix, a modern author, originally "this exercise consisted in
receiving the ball and driving it back again with the palm of the hand.
In former times they played with the naked hand, then with a glove,
which in some instances was lined; afterwards they bound cords and
tendons round their hands to make the ball rebound more forcibly, and
hence the racket derived its origin."[401] During the reign of Charles
V. palm play, which may properly enough be denominated hand-tennis, was
exceedingly fashionable in France, being played by the nobility for
large sums of money; and when they had lost all that they had about
them, they would sometimes pledge a part of their wearing apparel
rather than give up the pursuit of the game. The duke of Burgundy,
according to an old historian,[402] having lost sixty franks at palm
play with the duke of Bourbon, Messire William de Lyon, and Messire Guy
de la Trimouille, and not having money enough to pay them, gave his
girdle as a pledge for the remainder; and shortly afterwards he left
the same girdle with the comte D'Eu for eighty franks, which he also
lost at tennis.


V.--TENNIS-COURTS.

At the time when tennis play was taken up seriously by the nobility,
new regulations were made in the game, and covered courts erected,
wherein it might be practised without any interruption from the
weather. In the sixteenth century tennis-courts were common in
England, and the establishment of such places countenanced by the
example of the monarchs. In the Vocabulary of Commenius,[403] we see
a rude representation of a tennis-court divided by a line stretched
in the middle, and the players standing on either side with their
rackets ready to receive and return the ball, which the rules of the
game required to be stricken over the line. Hence the propriety of
Heywoode's proverb, "Thou hast stricken the ball under the line;"
meaning he had failed in his purpose.[404]


VI.--TENNIS FASHIONABLE IN ENGLAND.

We have undoubted authority to prove that Henry VII. was a tennis
player. In a MS. register of his expenditures made in the thirteenth
year of his reign, and preserved in the Remembrancer's Office, this
entry occurs: "Item, for the king's loss at tennis, twelvepence; for
the loss of balls, threepence." Hence one may infer, that the game was
played abroad, for the loss of the balls would hardly have happened in
a tennis-court. His son Henry, who succeeded him, in the early part of
his reign was much attached to this diversion; which propensity, as
Hall assures us,[405] "being perceived by certayne craftie persons
about him, they brought in Frenchmen and Lombards to make wagers with
hym, and so he lost muche money; but when he perceyved theyr crafte,
he eschued the company and let them go." He did not however give up
the amusement, for we find him, according to the same historian, in
the thirteenth year of his reign, playing at tennis with the emperor
Maximilian for his partner, against the prince of Orange and the
marquis of Brandenborow: "the earl of Devonshire stopped on the
prince's side, and the lord Edmond on the other side; and they departed
even handes on both sides, after eleven games fully played."[406]
Among the additions that king Henry VIII. made to Whitehall, if Stowe
be correct, were "divers fair tennis-courts, bowling-allies, and a
cock-pit."[407]

James I., if not himself a tennis player, speaks of the pastime with
commendation, and recommends it to his son as a species of exercise
becoming a prince.[408] Charles II. frequently diverted himself
with playing at tennis, and had particular kind of dresses made for
that purpose. So had Henry VIII. In the wardrobe rolls we meet with
tenes-cotes for the king, also tennis-drawers and tennis-slippers.[409]


VII.--A FAMOUS WOMAN PLAYER.

A French writer speaks of a damsel named Margot, who resided at Paris
in 1424, and played at hand-tennis with the palm, and also with the
back of her hand, better than any man; and what is most surprising,
adds my author, at that time the game was played with the naked hand,
or at best with a double glove.[410]


VIII.--HAND-BALL PLAY FOR TANSY CAKES.

Hand-ball was formerly a favourite pastime among the young persons
of both sexes, and in many parts of the kingdom it was customary for
them to play at this game during the Easter holidays for tansy cakes;
but why, says Bourne, they should prefer hand-ball at this time to
any other pastime, or play it particularly for a tansy cake, I have
not been able to find out.[411] The learned Selden conceives the
institution of this reward to have originated from the Jewish custom of
eating bitter herbs at the time of the passover.[412]

Anciently the mayor, aldermen, and sheriff of Newcastle, accompanied
with a great number of burgesses, used to go every year at the feasts
of Easter and Whitsuntide to the Forth, the little Mall of the town,
with the mace, the sword, and the cap of maintenance carried before
them. The young people still continue to assemble there at those
seasons particularly, and play at hand-ball, or dance, but are no
longer countenanced by the presence of their governors.[413]

Fuller mentions the following proverbial saying used by the citizens of
Chester, "when the daughter is stolen shut Pepper Gate," which he thus
explains: "The mayor of the city had his daughter, as she was playing
at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street, stolen away by a young man
through the same gate, whereupon he caused it to be shut up."[414]


IX.--FIVES.

Hand-tennis still continues to be played, though under a different
name, and probably a different modification of the game; it is now
called fives, which denomination perhaps it might receive from having
five competitors on each side, as the succeeding passage seems to
indicate. In 1591, when queen Elizabeth was entertained at Elvetham in
Hampshire, by the earl of Hertford, "after dinner, about three o'clock,
ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire men, in a square
greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, squaring
out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle;
in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to
five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great
liking of her highness."[415]


X.--BALLOON-BALL.

The balloon or wind-ball resembled the follis of the Romans. The follis
was a large ball of leather, blown full of wind, and beaten backwards
and forwards with the fist, and seems to have been much played with.

    "Folle decet pueros ludere, folle senes."[416]

The balloon-ball, was a large ball made of double leather, which being
filled with wind by means of a ventil, says Commenius,[417] was driven
to and fro by the strength of men's arms; and for this purpose every
one of the players had a round hollow bracer of wood to cover the hand
and lower part of the arm, with which he struck the ball. This pastime
was usually practised in the open fields, and is much commended for
the healthiness of the exercise it afforded. The balloon-ball seems
certainly to have originated from the hand-ball, and was, I apprehend,
first played in England without the assistance of the bracer; this
supposition will be perfectly established if it be granted, and I see
no reason why it should not, that the four figures represented below
are engaged in the balloon-ball play: the original delineation occurs
in a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[418]

[Illustration: 21. BALLOON-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The following engraving represents a gentleman and lady playing at
hand-ball, and as far as one can judge from the representation, the
pastime consisted in merely beating the ball from one to the other.

[Illustration: 22. HAND-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

These figures are taken from a manuscript in the Harleian Library,[419]
nearly, if not altogether, coeval in point of antiquity with the
former. The balls are unlike each other; that in the engraving No. 20
is the largest, and bears the marking of the seams.


XI.--STOOL-BALL.

Stool-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers of the three last
centuries, but without any proper definition of the game. Doctor
Johnson tells us,[420] it is a play where balls are driven from stool
to stool, but does not say in what manner or to what purpose. I have
been informed, that a pastime called stool-ball is practised to this
day in the northern parts of England, which consists in simply setting
a stool upon the ground, and one of the players takes his place before
it, while his antagonist, standing at a distance, tosses a ball with
the intention of striking the stool; and this it is the business of the
former to prevent by beating it away with the hand, reckoning one to
the game for every stroke of the ball; if, on the contrary, it should
be missed by the hand and touch the stool, the players change places.
I believe the same also happens if the person who threw the ball can
catch and retain it when driven back, before it reaches the ground. The
conqueror at this game is he who strikes the ball most times before
it touches the stool. Again, in other parts of the country a certain
number of stools are set up in a circular form, and at a distance from
each other, and every one of them is occupied by a single player; when
the ball is struck, which is done as before with the hand, every one
of them is obliged to alter his situation, running in succession from
stool to stool, and if he who threw the ball can regain it in time to
strike any one of the players, before he reaches the stool to which he
is running, he takes his place, and the person touched must throw the
ball, until he can in like manner return to the circle.

Stool-ball seems to have been a game more properly appropriated to the
women than to the men, but occasionally it was played by the young
persons of both sexes indiscriminately; as the following lines from a
song written by D'Urfey for his play of Don Quixote, acted at Dorset
Gardens in 1694,[421] sufficiently indicate:

              Down in a vale on a summer's day,
              All the lads and lasses met to be merry;
              A match for kisses at stool-ball to play,
              And for cakes, and ale, and sider, and perry.

    _Chorus._ Come all, great small, short tall, away to stool-ball.


XII.--HURLING.

Hurling is an ancient exercise, and seems originally to have been a
species of the hand-ball; it was played by the Romans with a ball
called harpastum, a word probably derived from harpago, to snatch or
take by violence. The contending parties endeavoured to force the ball
one from the other, and they who could retain it long enough to cast it
beyond an appointed boundary were the conquerors. The inhabitants of
the western counties of England have long been famous for their skill
in the practice of this pastime. There were two methods of hurling in
Cornwall, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, and both are
particularly described by Carew, a contemporary writer,[422] whose
words are these: "Hurling taketh his denomination from throwing of the
ball, and is of two sorts; in the east parts of Cornwall to goales, and
in the west to the country. For hurling to goales there are fifteen,
twenty, or thirty players, more or less, chosen out on each side, who
strip themselves to their slightest apparell and then join hands in
ranke one against another; out of these rankes they match themselves by
payres, one embracing another, and so passe away, every of which couple
are especially to watch one another during the play; after this they
pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten feet asunder, and
directly against them, ten or twelve score paces off, other twain in
like distance, which they terme goales, where some indifferent person
throweth up a ball, the which whosoever can catch and carry through his
adversaries goale, hath woune the game; but herein consisteth one of
Hercules his labours, for he that is once possessed of the ball, hath
his contrary mate waiting at inches and assaying to lay hold upon him,
the other thrusteth him in the breast with his closed fist to keep him
off which they call _butting_." According to the laws of the game,
"they must hurle man to man, and not two set upon one man at once.
The hurler against the ball must not _but_ nor _hand-fast_ under the
girdle, he who hath the ball must _but_ only in the other's breast, and
deale no fore ball, that is, he may not throw it to any of his mates
standing nearer to the goale than himself." In hurling to the country,
"two or three, or more parishes agree to hurl against two or three
other parishes. The matches are usually made by gentlemen, and their
goales are either those gentlemen's houses, or some towns or villages
three or four miles asunder, of which either side maketh choice after
the nearnesse of their dwellings; when they meet there is neyther
comparing of numbers nor matching of men, but a silver ball is cast up,
and that company which can catch and carry it by force or slight to the
place assigned, gaineth the ball and the victory. Such as see where the
ball is played give notice, crying 'ware east,' 'ware west,' as the
same is carried. The hurlers take their next way over hilles, dales,
hedges, ditches; yea, and thorow bushes, briars, mires, plashes, and
rivers whatsoever, so as you shall sometimes see twenty or thirty lie
tugging together in the water scrambling and scratching for the ball."

About the year 1775, the hurling to the goals was frequently played
by parties of Irishmen, in the fields at the back of the British
Museum, but they used a kind of bat to take up the ball and to strike
it from them; this instrument was flat on both sides, and broad and
curving at the lower end. I have been greatly amused to see with what
facility those who were skilful in the pastime would catch up the ball
upon the bat, and often run with it for a considerable time, tossing
it occasionally from the bat and recovering it again, till such time
as they found a proper opportunity of driving it back amongst their
companions, who generally followed and were ready to receive it. In
other respects, I do not recollect that the game differed materially
from the description above given. The bat for hurling was known and
probably used in England more than two centuries ago, for it is
mentioned in a book published in the reign of queen Elizabeth,[423] and
is there railed "a clubbe" or "hurle batte."


XIII.--FOOT-BALL--CAMP-BALL.

Foot-ball is so called because the ball is driven about with the feet
instead of the hands. It was formerly much in vogue among the common
people of England, though of late years it seems to have fallen into
disrepute, and is but little practised. I cannot pretend to determine
at what period the game of foot-ball originated; it does not however,
to the best of my recollection, appear among the popular exercises
before the reign of Edward III., and then, in 1349, it was prohibited
by a public edict;[424] not, perhaps, from any particular objection to
the sport in itself, but because it co-operated, with other favourite
amusements, to impede the progress of archery.

When a match at foot-ball is made, two parties, each containing an
equal number of competitors, take the field, and stand between two
goals, placed at the distance of eighty or an hundred yards the one
from the other. The goal is usually made with two sticks driven into
the ground, about two or three feet apart. The ball, which is commonly
made of a blown bladder, and cased with leather, is delivered in the
midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to drive it
through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved the game is
won. The abilities of the performers are best displayed in attacking
and defending the goals; and hence the pastime was more frequently
called a goal at foot-ball than a game at foot-ball. When the exercise
becomes exceeding violent, the players kick each other's shins without
the least ceremony, and some of them are overthrown at the hazard of
their limbs.

Barclay in his fifth eclogue[425] has these lines.

      ----The sturdie plowmen lustie, strong and bold,
    Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,
    Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall.

And a more modern poet, Waller,

    As when a sort of lusty shepherds try
    Their force at foot-ball; care of victory
    Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast,
    That their encounter seems too rough for jest.

The danger attending this pastime occasioned king James I. to say,
"From this court I debarre all rough and violent exercises, as the
foot-ball, meeter for lameing than making able the users thereof."[426]

The rustic boys made use of a blown bladder without the covering of
leather by way of foot-ball, putting peas and horse beans withinside,
which occasioned a rattling as it was kicked about:

    --And nowe in the winter, when men kill the fat swine,
    They get the bladder and blow it great and thin,
    With many beans and peason put within:
    It ratleth, soundeth, and shineth clere and fayre,
    While it is throwen and caste up in the ayre,
    Eche one contendeth and hath a great delite
    With foote and with hande the bladder for to smite;
    If it fall to grounde, they lifte it up agayne,
    And this waye to labour they count it no payne.[427]

"It had been the custom," says a Chester antiquary,[428] "time out of
mind, for the shoemakers yearly on the Shrove Tuesday, to deliver to
the drapers, in the presence of the mayor of Chester, at the cross on
the Rodehee,[429] one ball of leather called a foote-ball, of the value
of three shillings and fourpence or above, to play at from thence to
the Common Hall of the said city; which practice was productive of
much inconvenience, and therefore this year (1540), by consent of the
parties concerned, the ball was changed into six glayves of silver
of the like value, as a reward for the best runner that day upon the
aforesaid Rodehee."

In an old comedy, the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, by John Day,[430]
one of the characters speaks thus of himself: "I am Tom Stroud of
Hurling, I'll play a gole at camp-ball, or wrassel a fall a the hip
or the hin turn." Camp-ball, I conceive, is only another denomination
for foot-ball, and is so called, because it was played to the greatest
advantage in an open country. The term may probably be a contraction of
the word campaign.


XIV.--GOFF--CAMBUC--BANDY-BALL.

There are many games played with the ball that require the assistance
of a club or bat, and probably the most ancient among them is the
pastime now distinguished by the name of goff. In the northern parts of
the kingdom goff is much practised. It requires much room to perform
this game with propriety, and therefore I presume it is rarely seen
at present in the vicinity of the metropolis. It answers to a rustic
pastime of the Romans which they played with a ball of leather stuffed
with feathers, called paganica, because it was used by the common
people: the goff-ball is composed of the same materials to this day:
I have been told it is sometimes, though rarely, stuffed with cotton.
In the reign of Edward III. the Latin name cambuca[431] was applied
to this pastime, and it derived the denomination, no doubt, from the
crooked club or bat with which it was played; the bat was also called
a bandy, from its being bent, and hence the game itself is frequently
written in English bandy-ball. Below are two figures engaged at
bandy-ball, and the form of the bandy, as it was used early in the
fourteenth century, from a MS. book of prayers beautifully illuminated
and written about that time, in the possession of Francis Douce Esq.

[Illustration: 23. BANDY-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Goff, according to the present modification of the game, is performed
with a bat, not much unlike the bandy: the handle of this instrument
is straight, and usually made of ash, about four feet and a half in
length; the curvature is affixed to the bottom, faced with horn and
backed with lead; the ball is a little one, but exceedingly hard, being
made with leather, and, as before observed, stuffed with feathers.
There are generally two players, who have each of them his bat and
ball. The game consists in driving the ball into certain holes made in
the ground; he who achieves it the soonest, or in the fewest number of
strokes, obtains the victory. The goff-lengths, or the spaces between
the first and last holes, are sometimes extended to the distance of two
or three miles; the number of intervening holes appears to be
optional, but the balls must be struck into the holes, and not beyond
them; when four persons play, two of them are sometimes partners, and
have but one ball, which they strike alternately, but every man has his
own bandy.

It should seem that goff was a fashionable game among the nobility at
the commencement of the seventeenth century, and it was one of the
exercises with which prince Henry, eldest son to James I., occasionally
amused himself, as we learn from the following anecdote recorded by
a person who was present:[432] "At another time playing at goff, a
play not unlike to pale-maille, whilst his schoolmaster stood talking
with another, and marked not his highness warning him to stand farther
off, the prince thinking he had gone aside, lifted up his goff-club to
strike the ball; mean tyme one standing by said to him, 'beware that
you hit not master Newton:' wherewith he drawing back his hand, said,
'Had I done so, I had but paid my debts.'"


XV.--STOW-BALL.

A pastime called stow-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which, I presume, was a
species of goff, at least it appears to have been played with the same
kind of ball. In Littleton's Latin and English Dictionary, under the
word _paganica_, the goff-ball and the stow-ball are the same.


XVI.--PALL-MALL.

According to the author, in the reign of James I., quoted above,
pall-mall was a pastime not unlike goff, but if the definition of
the former given by Cotgrave be correct, it will be found to differ
materially from the latter, at least as it was played in modern times.
"Pale-maille," says he, "is a game wherein a round box ball is struck
with a mallet through a high arch of iron, which he that can do at
the fewest blows, or at the number agreed upon, wins." It is to be
observed, that there are two of these arches, that is, "one at either
end of the alley." The game of mall was a fashionable amusement in the
reign of Charles II., and the walk in St. James's Park, now called the
Mall, received its name from having been appropriated to the purpose
of playing at mall, where Charles himself and his courtiers frequently
exercised themselves in the practice of this pastime. The denomination
mall given to the game, is evidently derived from the mallet or wooden
hammer used by the players to strike the ball.


XVII.--RING-BALL.

Commenius[433] mentions a game which he attributes indeed to the
children, and tells us, it consisted in striking a ball with a bandy
through a ring fastened into the ground. A similar kind of pastime, I
am informed, exists to this day in the north of England; it is played
in a ground or alley appropriated to the purpose, and a ball is to be
driven from one end of it to the other with a mallet, the handle of
which is about three feet three or four inches in length; and so far it
resembles pall-mall; but there is the addition of a ring, which is not
mentioned by Cotgrave; I have however been told, that it was sometimes
used in the game of mall. This ring is placed at an equal distance from
the sides of the alley, but much nearer to the bottom than the top of
the ground, and through this ring it is necessary for the ball to be
passed in its progress. The ring is made to turn with great facility
upon a swivel, and the two flat sides are distinguished from each
other: if the ball passes through the one it is said to be lawful, and
the player goes on; but if through the other, it is declared to be
unlawful, and he is obliged to beat the ball back, and drive it through
again until such time as he causes it to pass on the lawful side; this
done, he proceeds to the bottom of the ground, where there is an arch
of iron through which it is also necessary for the ball to be passed,
and then the game is completed. The contest is decided by the blows
given to the ball in the performance, and he who executes his task with
the smallest number is the victor.


XVIII.--CLUB-BALL.

Club-ball is a pastime clearly distinguished from cambuc or goff, in
the edict above mentioned established by Edward III. The difference
seems to have consisted in the one being played with a curved bat and
the other with a straight one. The following engravings represent two
specimens of club-ball; the first, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library,
dated 1344,[434] exhibits a female figure in the action of throwing the
ball to a man who elevates his bat to strike it.

[Illustration: 24. CLUB-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Behind the woman at a little distance appear in the original
delineation several other figures of both sexes, waiting attentively
to catch or stop the ball when returned by the batsman: these figures
have been damaged, and are very indistinct in many parts, for which
reason I did not think it proper to insert them. The next specimen of
ball, taken from a drawing more ancient than the former, a genealogical
roll of the kings of England to the time of Henry III. in the Royal
Library,[435] presents two players only, and he who is possessed of
the bat holds the ball also, which he either threw into the air and
struck with his bat as it descended, or cast forcibly upon the ground,
and beat it away when it rebounded; the attention of his antagonist to
catch the ball need not be remarked, it does not appear in either of
these instances how the game was determined.

[Illustration: 25. CLUB-BALL.--XIII. CENTURY.]

XIX.--CRICKET.

From the club-ball originated, I doubt not, that pleasant and manly
exercise, distinguished in modern times by the name of cricket; I say
in modern times, because I cannot trace the appellation beyond the
commencement of the last century, where it occurs in one of the songs
published by D'Urfey.[436] The first four lines, "Of a noble race was
Shenkin," run thus:

    Her was the prettiest fellow
    At foot-ball or at cricket,
    At hunting chase, or nimble race,
    How featly her could prick it.

Cricket of late years is become exceedingly fashionable, being much
countenanced by the nobility and gentlemen of fortune, who frequently
join in the diversion. This game, which is played with the bat and the
ball, consists of single and double wicket. The wicket was formerly
two straight thin battons called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which
were fixed into the ground perpendicularly six inches apart, and over
the top of both was laid a small round piece of wood called the bail,
but so situated as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by
the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two
bails; the middle stump is added to prevent the ball from passing
through the wicket without beating it down. The external stumps are now
seven inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. Single
wicket requires five players on each side, and double wicket eleven;
but the number in both instances may be varied at the pleasure of the
two parties. At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector
of the wicket, the opponent party stand in the field to catch or stop
the ball, and the bowler, who is one of them, takes his place by the
side of a small batton or stump set up for that purpose two-and-twenty
yards from the wicket, and thence delivers the ball with the intention
of beating it down. It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail
across, which the batsman, when he runs, must beat off before he
returns home. If the bowler proves successful the batsman retires from
the play, and another of his party succeeds; if, on the contrary, the
ball is struck by the bat and driven into the field beyond the reach of
those who stand out to stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the
bowler's station, which he touches with his bat and then returns to
his wicket. If this be performed before the ball is thrown back, it is
called a run, and one notch or score is made upon the tally towards his
game; if, on the contrary, the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten
down with it by the opponent party before the striker is at home, or
can ground his bat within three feet ten inches of the wicket, at which
distance a mark made in the ground is called the popping-crease, he is
declared to be out of the play, and the run is not reckoned: he is also
out if he strikes the ball into the air, and it be caught by any of
his antagonists before it reaches the ground, and retained long enough
to be thrown up again. When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in
at the same time, one at each wicket; there are also two bowlers, who
usually bowl four balls in succession alternately. The batsmen are said
to be in as long as they remain at their wickets, and their party is
called the in-party; on the contrary, those who stand in the field with
the bowlers are called the out-party. Both parties have two innings,
and the side that obtains the most runs in the double contest claims
the victory. These are the general outlines of this noble pastime, but
there are many other particular rules and regulations by which it is
governed; and those rules are subject to frequent variations, according
to the joint determination of the players.


XX.--TRAP-BALL.

Trap-ball, so called from the trap used to elevate the ball when it is
to be stricken by the batsman, is anterior to cricket, and probably
coeval with most of the early games played with the bat and ball: we
trace it as far back as the commencement of the fourteenth century,
and a curious specimen of the manner in which it was then played is
here presented from a beautiful MS. in the possession of Francis Douce,
Esq.[437]

[Illustration: 26.: TRAP-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Here are only two players, but the game is not restricted to any
particular number, though I think it seldom exceeds six or eight on
a side. The size of the bat indicates the holder to have possessed
no great judgment in striking the ball, but the trap is sufficiently
elevated to preclude the necessity of the batsman's stooping when he
raises the ball in order to strike it away, which gives it a decided
advantage over the machine now used for the same purpose. This is
generally made in the form of a shoe, the heel part being hollowed out
for the reception of the ball; but boys and the common herd of rustics,
who cannot readily procure a trap, content themselves with making a
round hole in the ground, and, by way of a lever, use the brisket bone
of an ox, or a flat piece of wood of like size and shape, which is
placed in a slanting position, one half in the hole with the ball upon
it, and the other half out of it: the elevated end being struck smartly
with the bludgeon occasions the ball to rise to a considerable height,
and all the purposes of a trap are thus answered, especially if the
ground be hard and dry. It is usual, in the present game of trap-ball,
when properly played, to place two boundaries at a given distance from
the trap, between which it is necessary for the ball to pass when it
is struck by the batsman, for if it falls withoutside of either, he
gives up his bat and is out; he is also out if he strikes the ball into
the air and it is caught by one of his adversaries before it grounds;
and again, if the ball when returned by the opponent party touches
the trap, or rests within one bat's length of it: on the contrary, if
none of these things happen, every stroke tells for one towards the
striker's game.

Trap-ball, when compared with cricket, is but a childish pastime; but
I have seen it played by the rustics in Essex in a manner differing
materially from that now practised in the vicinity of the metropolis,
and which requires much more dexterity in the performance; for, instead
of a broad bat with a flatted face, they use a round cudgel about an
inch and a half diameter and three feet in length, and those who have
acquired the habit of striking the ball with this instrument rarely
miss their blow, but frequently strike it to an astonishing distance.
The ball being stopped by one of the opponent party, the striker forms
his judgment of the ability of the person who is to throw it back,
and calls in consequence for any number of scores towards his game
that he thinks proper; it is then returned, and if it appears to his
antagonist to rest at a sufficient distance to justify the striker's
call, he obtains his number; but when a contrary opinion is held, a
measurement takes place, and if the scores demanded exceed in number
the lengths of the cudgel from the trap to the ball, he loses the
whole, and is out; while, on the other hand, if the lengths of the
bat are more than the scores called for, the matter terminates in the
striker's favour, and they are set up to his account.


XXI.--NORTHEN SPELL.

Northen-spell is played with a trap, and the ball is stricken with
a bat or bludgeon at the pleasure of the players, but the latter, I
believe, is most commonly used. The performance of this pastime does
not require the attendance of either of the parties in the field to
catch or stop the ball, for the contest between them is simply who
shall strike it to the greatest distance in a given number of strokes;
the length of each stroke is measured before the ball is returned,
by the means of a cord made fast at one end near the trap, the other
being stretched into the field by a person stationed there for that
purpose, who adjusts it to the ball wherever it may lie; the cord is
divided into yards, which are properly numbered upon it in succession,
so that the person at the bottom of the ground can easily ascertain
the distance of each stroke by the number of the yards which he calls
to the players, who place it to their account, and the ball is thrown
back. This pastime possesses but little variety, and is by no means so
amusing to the bystanders as cricket or trap-ball.


XXII.--TIP-CAT.

Tip-cat, or perhaps more properly the game of cat, is a rustic pastime
well known in many parts of the kingdom, and is always played with a
cudgel or bludgeon resembling that used for trap-ball. Its denomination
is derived from a piece of wood called a cat, of about six inches in
length, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, diminished
from the middle, to both the ends, in the shape of a double cone; by
this curious contrivance the places of the trap and of the ball are at
once supplied; for when the cat is laid upon the ground, the player
with his cudgel strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it
will rise with a rotatory motion, high enough for him to beat it away
as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball.

There are various methods of playing the game of cat, but I shall
only notice the two that follow. The first is exceedingly simple, and
consists in making a large ring upon the ground, in the middle of which
the striker takes his station; his business is to beat the cat over
the ring. If he fails in so doing he is out, and another player takes
his place; if he is successful he judges with his eye the distance the
cat is driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number at
pleasure to be scored towards his game: if the number demanded be found
upon measurement to exceed the same number of lengths of the bludgeon,
he is out; on the contrary, if it does not, he obtains his call. The
second method is to make four, six, or eight holes in the ground, in a
circular direction, and as nearly as possible at equal distances from
each other, and at every hole is placed a player with his bludgeon:
one of the opposite party who stand in the field, tosses the cat to
the batsman who is nearest him, and every time the cat is struck the
players are obliged to change their situations, and run once from
one hole to another in succession; if the cat be driven to any great
distance they continue to run in the same order, and claim a score
towards their game every time they quit one hole and run to another;
but if the cat be stopped by their opponents and thrown across between
any two of the holes before the player who has quitted one of them can
reach the other, he is out.




BOOK III.

PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES ADJOINING TO
THEM.




CHAPTER I.

     I. Tournament a general Name for several Exercises.--II.
     The Quintain an ancient Military Exercise.--III. Various
     Kinds of the Quintain.--IV. Derivation of the Term.--V. The
     Water Quintain.--VI. Running at the Quintain practised by
     the Citizens of London; and why.--VII. The Manner in which
     it was performed.--VIII. Exhibited for the Pastime of Queen
     Elizabeth.--IX. Tilting at a Water Butt.--X. The Human
     Quintain.--XI. Exercises probably derived from it.--XII. Running
     at the Ring.--XIII. Difference between the Tournaments and the
     Justs.--XIV. Origin of the Tournament.--XV. The Troy Game;--the
     Bohordicum or Cane Game.--XVI. Derivation of Tournament;--How
     the Exercise was performed.--XVII. Lists and Barriers.--XVIII.
     When the Tournament was first practised.--XIX. When first
     in England.--XX. Its Laws and Ordinances.--XXI. Pages, and
     Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, &c.--XXII. Preliminaries
     of the Tournament.--XXIII. Lists for Ordeal Combats.--XXIV.
     Respect paid to the Ladies.--XXV. Justs less honourable than
     Tournaments.--XXVI. The Round Table.--XXVII. Nature of the
     Justs.--XXVIII. Made in Honour of the Fair Sex.--XXIX. Great
     Splendour of these Pastimes;--The Nobility partial to them.--XXX.
     Toys for initiating their Children in them.--XXXI. Boat Justs, or
     Tilting on the Water.--XXXII. Challenges to all comers.


I.--TOURNAMENT.

Every kind of military combat made in conformity to certain rules, and
practised by the knights and their esquires for diversion or gallantry,
was anciently called a tournament: yet these amusements frequently
differed materially from each other, and have been distinguished
accordingly by various denominations in the modern times. They may
however, I think, be all of them included under the four following
heads; tilting and combating at the quintain, tilting at the ring,
tournaments, and justs.

All these, and especially the two last, were favourite pastimes
with the nobility of the middle ages. The progress and decline of
tournaments in this country has already been mentioned in a general
way;[438] I shall in this place be a little more particular with
respect to the nature and distinction of these celebrated diversions.


II.--THE QUINTAIN.

Tilting or combating at the quintain is certainly a military exercise
of high antiquity, and antecedent, I doubt not, to the justs and
tournaments. The quintain, originally, was nothing more than the
trunk of a tree or post set up for the practice of the tyros in
chivalry.[439] Afterward a staff or spear was fixed in the earth,
and a shield being hung upon it, was the mark to strike at:[440] the
dexterity of the performer consisted in smiting the shield in such
a manner as to break the ligatures and bear it to the ground. In
process of time this diversion was improved, and instead of the staff
and the shield, the resemblance of a human figure carved in wood was
introduced. To render the appearance of this figure more formidable,
it was generally made in the likeness of a Turk or a Saracen armed at
all points,[441] bearing a shield upon his left arm, and brandishing a
club or a sabre with his right. Hence this exercise was called by the
Italians, "running at the armed man, or at the Saracen." The quintain
thus fashioned was placed upon a pivot, and so contrived as to move
round with facility. In running at this figure it was necessary for the
horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke
upon the forehead between the eyes or upon the nose; for if he struck
wide of those parts, especially upon the shield, the quintain turned
about with much velocity, and, in case he was not exceedingly careful,
would give him a severe blow upon the back with the wooden sabre
held in the right hand, which was considered as highly disgraceful
to the performer, while it excited the laughter and ridicule of the
spectators.[442] When many were engaged in running at the Saracen, the
conqueror was declared from the number of strokes he had made, and the
value of them; for instance, if he struck the image upon the top of the
nose between the eyes, it was reckoned for three; if below the eyes,
upon the nose, for two; if under the nose to the point of the chin, for
one; all other strokes were not counted; but whoever struck upon the
shield and turned the quintain round, was not permitted to run again
upon the same day, but forfeited his courses as a punishment for his
unskilfulness.[443]


III.--VARIOUS QUINTAINS.

The quintain in its original state was not confined to the exercise
of young warriors on horseback: it was an object of practice for
them on foot, in order to acquire strength and skill in assaulting
an enemy with their swords, spears, and battle-axes. I met with a
manuscript in the Royal Library,[444] written early in the fourteenth
century, entitled "Les Etablissmentz des Chevalerie," wherein the
author, who appears to have been a man scientifically skilled in the
military tactics of his time, strongly recommends a constant and
attentive attack of the pel (from the Latin palus), for so he calls the
post-quintain. The pel, he tells us, ought to be six feet in height
above the ground, and so firmly fixed therein as not to be moved by the
strokes that were laid upon it. The practitioner was then to assail
the pel, armed with sword and shield in the same manner as he would
an adversary, aiming his blows as if at the head, the face, the arms,
the legs, the thighs, and the sides; taking care at all times to keep
himself so completely covered with his shield, as not to give any
advantage supposing he had a real enemy to cope with: so far my author;
and prefixed to the treatise is a neat little painting representing the
pel, with a young soldier performing his exercise, which is here copied.

[Illustration: 27. THE PEL QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

Below is the quintain in the form of a Saracen, from Pluvinel.

[Illustration: 28. THE SARACEN QUINTAIN.]

An English poet who has taken up the subject of chivalry under the
title of "Knighthood and Battle,"[445] describes the attack of the pel
in the following curious manner:

    Of fight, the disciplyne, and exercise
    Was this. To have a pale or pile upright[446]
    Of mannys hight,[447] thus writeth olde and wise;
    Therewith a bacheler, or a yong knyght,
    Shal first be taught to stonde and lerne to fight.--
    And fanne of doubil wight, tak him his shelde
    Of doubil wight, a mace of tre[448] to welde.

    This fanne and mace whiche either doubil wight,
    Of shelde, and swayed in conflicte, or bataile,
    Shal exercise as well swordmen, as knyghtes.
    And noe man, as they sayn, is seyn prevaile,
    In field, or in castell, thoughe he assayle,
    That with the pile, nathe[449] firste grete exercise,
    Thus writeth Werrouris olde and wyse.

    Have eche his pile or pale upfixed fast,
    And as it were uppon his mortal foe;
    With mightyness and weapon most be cast
    To fight stronge, that he ne skape hym fro.
    On hym with shield, and sword avised so,
    That thou be cloos,[450] and preste[451] thy foe to smyte,
    Lest of thyne own dethe thou be to wite.

    Empeche[452] his head, his face, have at his gorge,[453]
    Beare at the breste, or sperne him one the side.
    With myghte knyghtly poost,[454] ene as Seynt George
    Lepe o thy foe; looke if he dare abide:
    Will he not flee? wounde him; make woundis wide,
    Hew of his honde, his legge, his theyhs, his armys,
    It is the Turk, though he be sleyn noon harm is.

Both the treatises commend the use of arms of double weight upon these
occasions, in order to acquire strength, and give the warrior greater
facility in wielding the weapons of the ordinary size; to which the
poet adds,

    And sixty pounds of weight 'tis good to bear.

The lines just now quoted evidently allude to the quintain in the form
of a Turk or Saracen, which, I presume, was sometimes used upon this
occasion. The pel was also set up as a mark to cast at with spears, as
the same poet informs us:

    A dart of more wight then is mester,[455]
    Take hym in honde and teche him it to stere;
    And cast it at the pile as at his foo,
    So that it conte and right uppon him go.

And likewise for the practice of archery:

    Set hert and eye uppon the pile or pale,
    Shoot nyghe or onne; and if so be thou ride
    On horse, is eck[456] the bowis bigge up hale,
    Smyte in the face, or breste, or back or side,
    Compelle to fle, or falle, yf that he bide.


IV.--DERIVATION OF QUINTAIN.

This exercise is said to have received the name of quintain from
Quinctus or Quintas the inventor,[457] but who he was, or when he
lived, is not ascertained. The game itself, I doubt not, is of remote
origin, and especially the exercise of the pel, or post quintain, which
is spoken of at large by Vegetius; and from him the substance of what
the two authors above quoted have said upon the subject is evidently
taken. He tells us that this species of mock combat was in common use
among the Romans, who caused the young military men to practise at it
twice in the day, at morning and at noon; he also adds that, they used
clubs and javelins, heavier than common, and fought at the pel as if
they were opposing an adversary, &c.[458]

In the code of laws established by the emperor Justinian, the quintain
is mentioned as a well known sport; and permitted to be continued, upon
condition that it should be performed with pointless spears, contrary
to the ancient usage, which it seems required them to have heads or
points.[459]


V.--THE WATER QUINTAIN.

To the best of my recollection, Fitzstephen is the first of our writers
who speaks of an exercise of this kind, which he tells us was usually
practised by the young Londoners upon the water during the Easter
holidays. A pole or mast, he says, is fixed in the midst of the Thames,
with a shield strongly attached to it; and a boat being previously
placed at some distance, is driven swiftly towards it by the force of
oars and the violence of the tide, having a young man standing in the
prow, who holds a lance in his hand with which he is to strike the
shield: and if he be dexterous enough to break the lance against it
and retain his place, his most sanguine wishes are satisfied: on the
contrary, if the lance be not broken, he is sure to be thrown into the
water, and the vessel goes away without him, but at the same time two
other boats are stationed near to the shield, and furnished with many
young persons who are in readiness to rescue the champion from danger.
It appears to have been a very popular pastime; for the bridge, the
wharfs, and the houses near the river, were crowded with people on
this occasion, who come, says the author, to see the sports and make
themselves merry.[460] The water quintain, taken from a manuscript of
the fourteenth century, in the Royal Library,[461] where a square piece
of board is substituted for the shield, is represented below.

[Illustration: 29. THE WATER QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]


VI.--RUNNING AT THE QUINTAIN PRACTISED BY THE LONDONERS, AND WHY.

Matthew Paris mentions the quintain by name, but he speaks of it in a
cursory manner as a well known pastime, and probably would have said
nothing about it, had not the following circumstance given him the
occasion. In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Henry III. A.D.
1254, the young Londoners, who, he tells us, were expert horsemen,
assembled together to run at the quintain, and set up a peacock as
a reward for the best performer. The king then keeping his court at
Westminster, some of his domestics came into the city to see the
pastime, where they behaved in a very disorderly manner, and treated
the Londoners with much insolence, calling them cowardly knaves and
rascally clowns, which the Londoners resented by beating them soundly;
the king, however, was incensed at the indignity put upon his servants,
and not taking into consideration the provocation on their parts, fined
the city one thousand marks.[462] Some have thought, these fellows were
sent thither purposely to promote a quarrel, it being known that the
king was angry with the citizens of London for refusing to join in the
crusade.[463]

We may here observe, that the rules of chivalry, at this time, would
not admit of any person, under the rank of an esquire, to enter the
lists as a combatant at the justs and tournaments; for which reason
the burgesses and yeomen had recourse to the exercise of the quintain,
which was not prohibited to any class of the people: but, as the
performers were generally young men whose finances would not at all
times admit of much expense, the quintain was frequently nothing better
than a stake fixed into the ground, with a flat piece of board made
fast to the upper part of it, as a substitute for the shield that
had been used in times remote; and such as could not procure horses,
contented themselves with running at this mark on foot. The following
representation of a lad mounted on a wooden horse with four wheels, and
drawn by two of his comrades tilting at the immoveable quintain, is
taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344.[464]

[Illustration: 30. FIXED QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

Others, again, made use of a moveable quintain, which was also
very simply constructed; consisting only of a cross-bar turning
upon a pivot, with a broad part to strike against on one side, and
a bag of earth or sand depending from the other: there was a double
advantage in these kind of quintains, they were cheap and easily to be
procured. Their form, at an early period in the fourteenth century, is
represented in the engraving above, and by the following from the same
manuscript. Both these quintains are marked, I know not why, with the
figure of a horse-shoe.

[Illustration: 31. MOVEABLE QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]


VII.--MANNER OF EXERCISING WITH THE QUINTAIN.

But to return: Stow, in his Survey of London, having related the
above-mentioned disturbance from Matthew Paris, goes on as follows:
"This exercise of running at the quintain, was practised in London,
as well in the summer as in the winter, but especially at the feast
of Christmas. I have seen," continues my author, "a quintain set upon
Cornhill by Leadenhall, where the attendants of the lords of merry
disports have run and made great pastime; for he that hit not the
board end of the quintain was laughed to scorn, and he that hit it
full, if he rode not the faster, had a sound blow upon his neck with
a bag full of sand hanged on the other end."[465] But the form of the
modern quintain is more fully described by Dr. Plott, in his History
of Oxfordshire:[466] "They first set a post perpendicularly into the
ground, and then place a slender piece of timber on the top of it on
a spindle, with a board nailed to it on one end, and a bag of sand
hanging at the other; against this board they anciently rode with
spears. Now I saw it at Deddington in this county, only with strong
staves, which violently bringing about the bag of sand, if they make
not good speed away, it strikes them in the neck or shoulders, and
sometimes knocks them off their horses; the great design of this sport
being to try the agility both of horse and man, and to break the board.
It is now," he adds, "only in request at marriages, and set up in the
way for young men to ride at as they carry home the bride; he that
breaks the board being counted the best man."


VIII.--THE QUINTAIN, A PASTIME BEFORE QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Among other sports exhibited for the amusement of queen Elizabeth,
during her residence at Kenilworth Castle, in Warwickshire, then the
seat of the earl of Leicester, who entertained her majesty there for
several days, A.D. 1575, there was, says Laneham, "a solemn country
bridal; when in the castle was set up a comely quintane for feats
at armes, where, in a great company of young men and lasses, the
bridegroom had the first course at the quintane, and broke his spear
'tres hardiment' (very boldly, or with much courage). But his mare in
his manage did a little stumble, that much adoe had his manhood to sit
in his saddle. But after the bridegroom had made his course, ran the
rest of the band, awhile in some order, but soon after tag and rag, cut
and long tail; where the speciality of the sport was to see how some
for his slackness had a good bob with the bag, and some for his haste
to topple downright, and come tumbling to the post: some striving so
much at the first setting out, that it seemed a question between man
and beast, whether the race should be performed on horseback or on
foot; and some put forth with spurs, would run his race byas, among the
thickest of the throng, that down they came together hand over head.
Another while he directed his course to the quintane, his judgment
would carry him to a mare among the people; another would run and miss
the quintane with his staff, and hit the board with his head."[467]
This whimsical description may possibly be somewhat exaggerated, but no
doubt the inexpertness of the riders subjected them to many laughable
accidents.


IX.--TILTING AT A WATER BUTT.

Below is a representation from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated
1343, of three boys tilting jointly, at a tub full of water, which is
to be struck in such a manner as not to throw it over them. I presume
they are learners only, and that therefore they are depicted without
their clothes; they undressed themselves, I apprehend, in order to
save their garments from being wetted in case the attempt should prove
unsuccessful.

[Illustration: 32. WATER-TUB QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

This farcical pastime, according to Menestrier, was practised
occasionally in Italy, where, he says, a large bucket filled with water
is set up, against which they tilt their lances; and if the stroke be
not made with great dexterity, the bucket is overset and the lanceman
thoroughly drenched with the contents.[468]


X.--THE HUMAN QUINTAIN.

I shall here say a few words concerning the human quintain, which has
escaped the notice of most of the writers upon this subject; it is,
however, very certain that the military men in the middle ages would
sometimes practise with their lances at a man completely armed; whose
business it was to act upon the defensive, and parry their blows with
his shield. A representation of this exercise is in the engraving
below, taken from a Bodleian manuscript, dated 1344.

[Illustration: 33. LIVING QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

This representation is justified by the concurrent testimony of an
ancient author, cited by Ducange, who introduces one knight saying to
another, "I do not by any means esteem you sufficiently valiant (si
bons chevalier) for me to take a lance and just with you; therefore I
desire you to retire some distance from me, and then run at me with all
your force, and I will be your quintain."[469] The satirist Hall, who
wrote in the time of Elizabeth, evidently alludes to a custom of this
kind, in a satire[470] first printed in 1599, when he was twenty-five
years of age. He says:

    Pawne thou no glove for challenge of the deed,
    Nor make thy quintaine other's armed head.


XI.--EXERCISES PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE QUINTAIN.

The living quintain, according to the representation just given, is
seated upon a stool with three legs without any support behind; and the
business, I presume, of the tilter, was to overthrow him; while, on his
part, he was to turn the stroke of the pole or lance on one side with
his shield, and by doing so with adroitness occasion the fall of his
adversary.

Something of a similar kind of exercise, though practised in a
different way, appears in the following engraving, where a man seated,
holds up one of his feet, opposed to the foot of another man, who
standing upon one leg endeavours to thrust him backwards.

[Illustration: 34.]

And again where his opponent is seated in a swing and drawn back by a
third person, so that the rope being left at liberty in the swing, the
man of course descended with great force, and striking the foot of his
antagonist with much violence, no doubt very frequently overthrew him.

[Illustration: 35.]

The two last sports were probably never exhibited by military men, but
by rustics and others in imitation of the human quintain. The contest
between the two figures below, seems to depend upon the breaking of the
stick which both of them hold, or is a struggle to overthrow each other.

[Illustration: 36.]

The following engraving from a manuscript book of prayers of the
fourteenth century, in the possession of Mr. Douce, represents two men
with a pole or headless spear, who grasp it at either end, and are
contending which shall dispossess the other of his hold.

[Illustration: 37.]

This feat the single figure, represented below from the Oxford MS.
of 1344, seems to have achieved, and is bearing away the pole in
triumph.[471]

[Illustration: 38.]


XII.--RUNNING AT THE RING.

Tilting or, as it is most commonly called, running at the ring, was
also a fashionable pastime in former days; the ring is evidently
derived from the quintain, and indeed the sport itself is frequently
called running or tilting at the quintain. With the Italians, says
Du Cange, quintano sometimes signifies a ring, hence the Florentines
say, "correr alla quintana," which with us is called running at the
ring: the learned author produces several quotations to the same
purpose.[472] Commenius also, in his vocabulary,[473] says, "At this
day tilting at the quintain is used where a hoop or ring is struck
with a lance." Hence it is clear, that the ring was put in the place of
the quintain. The excellency of the pastime was to ride at full speed,
and thrust the point of the lance through the ring, which was supported
in a case or sheath, by the means of two springs, but might be readily
drawn out by the force of the stroke, and remain upon the top of the
lance.

[Illustration: 39. THE RING IN TILTING.]

Above is the form of the ring, with the sheath, and the manner in which
it was attached to the upright supporter, from Pluvinel. The letter A
indicates the ring detached from the sheath; B represents the sheath
with the ring inserted and attached to the upright post, in which there
are several holes to raise or lower the ring to suit the conveniency of
the performer. The following engraving, also from Pluvinel, represents
the method of performing the exercise.

[Illustration: 40. TILTING AT THE RING.]

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pastime of running
at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats this subject
at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked out
according to the properties of the horses that were to run: for one of
the swiftest kind, one hundred paces from the starting place to the
ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary;
but for such horses as had been trained to the exercise, and were more
regular in their movements, eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond
it, were thought to be sufficient. The ring, says the same author,
ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat higher than the left
eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his horse; because it
was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it.[474]

In tilting at the ring, three courses were allowed to each candidate;
and he who thrust the point of his lance through it the oftenest, or,
in case no such thing was done, struck it the most frequently, was the
victor: but if it so happened, that none of them did either the one or
the other, or that they were equally successful, the courses were to be
repeated until the superiority of one put an end to the contest.[475]


XIII.--DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.

Tournaments and justs, though often confounded with each other,
differed materially. The tournament was a conflict with many knights,
divided into parties and engaged at the same time. The just was a
separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed to another. The
latter was frequently included in the former, but not without many
exceptions; for the just, according to the laws of chivalry, might be
made exclusive of the tournament.[476]

In the romantic ages, both these diversions were held in the highest
esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the
nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire; but at
the same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the
tournaments; for the knight who had paid his fees and been admitted to
the latter, had a right to engage in the former without any further
demand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means
exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will be found in
the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, a little further on.


XIV. ORIGIN OF THE TOURNAMENT.

It is an opinion generally received, that the tournament originated
from a childish pastime practised by the Roman youths called Ludus
Troiæ (the Troy game), said to have been so named because it was
derived from the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by Ascanius the
son of Æneas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, according
to the manner, I presume, in which it was practised at Rome. If he
be accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of
evolutions performed on horseback. The poet tells us, that the youth
were each of them armed with two little cornal spears, headed with iron.

    Cornea bina ferunt præfixa hastilia ferro.--_Æneid._ lib. v. l. 556.

Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, they
divided themselves into three distinct companies; and each company
consisted of twelve champions exclusive of its appropriate leader,
when, according to Trapp's translation, which if not so poetical is
more literal than Dryden's, the tutor of Ascanius, and overseer of the
sports,

                    ------Epityden, from far
    Loud with a shout, and with his sounding lash
    The signal gave: they equally divide,
    The three commanders open their brigades
    In sep'rate bodies: straight recall'd they wheel
    Their course, and onward bear their hostile darts.
    Then diff'rent traverses on various grounds,
    And diff'rent counter traverses they form;
    Orbs within orbs alternately involve,
    And raise th' effigy of a fight in arms.
    Now show their backs in flight--now furious turn
    Their darts;--now all in peace together ride.

Under the denomination of the first emperors, these games were publicly
practised by the young nobility in the circus at Rome.[477]

The same kind of sports, or others bearing close resemblance to them,
were established in this kingdom in the twelfth century, and probably
at a much earlier period. Fitzstephen, an author then living, informs
us, "that every Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner, it was
customary for great crowds of young Londoners mounted on war horses,
well trained, to perform the necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride
into the fields in distinct bands, armed hastilibus ferro dempto, with
shields and headless lances; where they exhibited the representation
of battles, and went through a variety of warlike exercises: at the
same time many of the young noblemen who had not received the honour of
knighthood, came from the king's court, and from the houses of the
great barons, to make trial of their skill in arms; the hope of victory
animating their minds. The youth being divided into opposite companies,
encountered one another: in one place they fled, and others pursued,
without being able to overtake them; in another place one of the bands
overtook and overturned the other." According to Virgil, the Roman
youth presented their lances towards their opponents in a menacing
position, but without striking with them:

    Nunc spicula vertunt infensi.--_Æneid._ lib. v. l. 586.

The young Londoners in all probability went further, and actually
tilted one against the other. At any rate, the frequent practice of
this exercise must have taught them, insensibly as it were, to become
excellent horsemen.


XV.--THE TROY GAME.

I am clearly of opinion, that the justs and tournaments arose by
slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of the
military tyros in using their arms, but which of the two had the
preeminence in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined; we
know that both of them were in existence at the time the Troy game
was practised by the citizens of London, and also that they were not
permitted to be exercised in this kingdom.

In the middle ages, when the tournaments were in their splendour, the
Troy game was still continued, though in a state of improvement, and
distinguished by a different denomination it was then called in Latin,
behordicum, and in French, bohourt or behourt, and was a kind of lance
game, in which the young nobility exercised themselves, to acquire
address in handling of their arms, and to prove their strength. Some
authors, and with great appearance of truth, derive this word from
burdis or bordis, to jest, joke, or make game, and therefore it will
properly signify a playful pastime, or combat, such as youth might
engage in.[478] The word behordicum will, however, admit of a more
enlarged signification; from a quotation which is given by Du Cange, we
find it was occasionally used for running at the quintain:

    Emmi le pre ot quintaine levée.
    Li jouvencel behordent par la prée.

Which will run thus in English: They raised a quintain in the midst of
a meadow, and the youth tilted at it with their lances.[479] In fact,
I apprehend, it might be applied to any of the military exercises
performed by the young men, either for pastime or improvement.
Menestrier says, they formerly used hollow canes instead of lances, and
for that reason it was also called the cane game. I find no authority
to place the cane game at an earlier period than the twelfth century,
when probably it originated from the following circumstance related
by Hoveden.[480] He tells us, that Richard I. of England, being at
Messina, the capital of Sicily, on his way to the Holy Land, went
with his cavalcade one Sunday afternoon to see the popular sports
exhibited without the walls of the city, and upon their return they
met in the street a rustic driving an ass loaded with hollow canes,
"arundinas quas cannas vocant." The king and his attendants took each
of them a cane, and began, by way of frolic, to tilt with them one
against another: it so happened, that the king's opponent was William
de Barres, a knight of high rank in the household of the French king,
"quidam miles optimus de familia regis Franciæ." In the encounter
they broke both their canes, and the monarch's hood was torn by the
stroke he received, "fracta est cappa regis," which made him angry;
when riding with great force against the knight, he caused his horse
to stumble with him, and while he was attempting to cast him to the
ground, his own saddle turned round and he himself was overthrown.
The king was soon provided with another horse, stronger than the
former, which he mounted, and again assaulted de Barres, endeavouring
by violence to throw him from his horse, but he could not, because
the knight clung fast to the horse's neck. Robert de Bretuil, newly
created earl of Leicester, laid hold upon de Barres to assist the king,
but Richard forbad him to interfere, desiring that they might be left
to themselves. When they had contended a long time, adding threats
to their actions, "et dictis et factis," the king was much provoked,
and commanded him to leave the place and appear no more before him,
declaring at the same time, that he would ever afterwards consider
him as an enemy; but through the mediation of the king of France, a
reconciliation was effected, and the knight was again restored to the
favour of the monarch.


XVI.--TOURNAMENTS.

Our word tournament, or tournoyement, which signifies to turn or wheel
about in a circular manner,[481] comes from the French word tournoy,
which, according to the generality of authors, is derived from the
Latin troja. This does not appear consistent with any reasonable
analogy. I am rather led to adopt the opinion of Fauchet,[482] who
thinks it came from the practice of the knights running par tour, that
is, by turns, at the quintain, and wheeling about successively in a
circle to repeat their course; but, says he, in process of time they
improved upon this pastime, and to make it more respectable ran one
at another, which certainly bore a much greater similitude to a real
engagement, especially when they were divided into large parties, and
meeting together combatted with clubs or maces, beating each other
soundly, without any favour or paying the least respect to rank or
dignity. In one of these encounters, Robert earl of Cleremont, son
of Saint Louis, and head of the house of Bourbon, was so severely
bruised by the blows he received from his antagonist, that he was never
well afterwards. This, says Fauchet, was possibly the cause of the
ordinance, that the kings and princes should not afterwards enter the
lists as combatants at these tournaments; which law indeed, continues
he, has been ill observed by the succeeding kings, and in our time by
Henry II., who, unfortunately for France, was killed at the justs he
made in honour of his daughter's marriage. It was, in fact, very common
for some of the combatants to be beat or thrown from their horses,
trampled upon and killed upon the spot, or hurt most grievously.
Indeed, a tournament at this period was rarely finished without some
disastrous accident; and it was an established law, that if any one of
the combatants killed or wounded another, he should be indemnified;
which made them less careful respecting the consequences, especially
when any advantage gave them an opportunity of securing the conquest.
Tournaments were consequently interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees.

The following quotation from an ancient manuscript romance, in the
Harleian collection, entitled Ipomydon,[483] plainly indicates the
performance of the tournament in an open field; and also, that great
numbers of the combatants were engaged at one time, promiscuously
encountering with each other: we learn moreover, that the champion who
remained unhorsed at the conclusion of the sports, besides the honour
he attained, sometimes received a pecuniary reward.

    The kyng his sonne a knyght gan make,
    And many another for his sake;
    Justes were cryed ladyes to see,
    Thedyr came lordes grete plente.
    Tournementis atyred in the felde,
    A thousand armed with spere and shelde;
    Knyghtis began togedre to ryde,
    Some were unhorsyd on every side,
    Ipomydon that daye was victorius,
    And there he gaff many a cours;
    For there was none that he mette,
    But he hys spere on hym woulde sette:
    Then after within a lytell stounde,[484]
    Horse and man both went to grounde.
    The Heraudes[485] gaff the child the gree,[486]
    A thousand pound he had to fee;
    Mynstrellys had giftes of golde
    And fourty dayes this fest was holde.

In some instances the champions depended upon their military skill and
horsemanship, and frequently upon their bodily strength; but at all
times it was highly disgraceful to be unhorsed, by whatever exertion it
might be effected.

Thomas of Walsingham, one of our own historians, tells us,[487] that
when Edward I. returned from Palestine to England, and was on his
passage through Savoy, the comes Kabilanensis, earl of Chabloun,
invited him to a tournament,[488] in which himself and many other
knights were engaged. The king with his followers, although fatigued
by the length of their journey, accepted the challenge. On the
day appointed both parties met, and, being armed with swords, the
engagement commenced; the earl singled out the king, and on his
approach, throwing away his sword, cast his arms about the neck of the
monarch, and used his utmost endeavour to pull him from his horse.
Edward, on the other hand, finding the earl would not quit his hold,
put spurs to his horse, and drew him from his saddle hanging upon his
neck, and then shaking him violently, threw him to the ground. The
earl having recovered himself and being remounted, attacked the king a
second time, but finding his hand "too heavy," he gave up the contest,
and acknowledged him to be the conqueror. The knights of the earl's
party were angry when they saw their leader drawn from his horse, and
run upon the English with so much violence, that the pastime assumed
the tumultuous appearance of a real battle, the English on their side
repelled force by force; and had not the resignation of the earl put
an end to the conflict, in all probability the consequences would have
been very serious.


XVII.--LISTS AND BARRIERS.

It was a considerable time after the establishment of justs and
tournaments, before the combatants thought of making either lists or
barriers; they contented themselves, says Menestrier,[489] with being
stationed at four angles of an open place, whence they run in parties
one against another. There were cords stretched before the different
companies, previous to the commencement of the tournaments, as we
learn from the following passage in an old English romance, among
the Harleian manuscripts:[490] "All these thinges donne thei were
embatailed eche ageynste the othir, and the corde drawen before eche
partie, and whan the tyme was, the cordes were cutt, and the trumpettes
blew up for every man to do his devoir, _duty_. And for to assertayne
the more of the tourney, there was on eche side a stake, and at eache
stake two kyngs of armes, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the
names of all them that were yolden, for they shold no more tournay."
As these pastimes were accompanied with much danger, they invented in
France the double lists, where the knights might run from one side to
the other, without coming in contact, except with their lances; other
nations followed the example of the French, and the usage of lists and
barriers soon became universal.


XVIII.--WHEN THE TOURNAMENT WAS FIRST PRACTISED.

It is impossible to ascertain the precise period when tournaments first
made their appearance; nor is it less difficult to determine by whom
they were invented. Peacham, on the authority of Nicetas, tells us,
that the emperor Emanuel Comminus, at the siege of Constantinople,
invented tilts and tournaments;[491] but this is certainly a mistake.
The French and the Germans both claim the honour. The historian,
Nithard, mentions a military game, frequently exhibited in Germany,
before the emperor Louis, and his brother Charles the bald, about the
year 842, which bears great resemblance to the tournament; for he
speaks of many knights of different nations, divided into parties equal
in number, and running at each other with great velocity, as though
they were in battle: Veluti invicem adversari sibi vellent, alter in
alterum veloci cursu ruebat.[492] Most of the German writers, however,
make the emperor Henry I., surnamed L'oiseleur, who died in 936, the
institutor of these pastimes; but others attribute their origin to
another Henry, at least a century posterior. The French, on their side,
quote an ancient history,[493] which asserts, that Geofry, lord of
Previlli in Anjou, who was slain at Gaunt in 1066, was the inventor of
the tournament.


XIX.--THE TOURNAMENT IN ENGLAND.

It seems to be certain, that tournaments were held in France and
Normandy before the conquest, and, according to our own writers, they
were not permitted to be practised in this country for upwards of sixty
years posterior to that event. The manner of performing the tournament,
as then used, says Lambarde, "not being at the tilt, as I think, but
at random and in the open field, was accounted so dangerous to the
persons having to do therein, that sundry popes forbad it by decree;
and the kings of this realm before king Stephen would not suffer it
to be frequented within their land, so that such as for exercise of
this feat of arms were desirous to prove themselves, were driven to
pass over the seas, and to perform it in some different place in a
foreign country."[494] This author's statement of the fact is perfectly
correct. In the troublesome reign of king Stephen, the rigour of the
laws was much relaxed, and tournaments, among other splendid species
of dissipation, were permitted to be exercised; they were, however,
again suppressed by Henry II.; and therefore it was, I presume, that
the young king Henry, son of Henry II., went every third year, as
Matthew Paris assures us he did, over the seas, and expended vast
sums of money "in conflictibus Gallicis," or French combats, meaning
tournaments.[495] But Richard I. having, as it is said, observed that
the French practising frequently in the tournaments, were more expert
in the use of their arms than the English, permitted his own knights
to establish the like martial sports in his dominions; but at the
same time he imposed a tax, according to their quality, upon such as
engaged in them. An earl was subjected to the fine of twenty marks
for his privilege to enter the field as a combatant; a baron, ten;
a knight having a landed estate, four; and a knight without such
possession, two; but all foreigners were particularly excluded. He
appointed five places for the holding of tournaments in England;
namely, between Sarum and Wilton; between Warwick and Kenelworth;
between Stamford and Wallingford; between Brakely and Mixeberg; and
between Blie and Tykehill. The act also specifies that the peace should
not be broken thereby, nor justice hindered, nor damage done to the
royal forests.[496] How long these imposts continued to be collected
does not appear; but tournaments were occasionally exhibited with the
utmost display of magnificence in the succeeding reigns, being not
only sanctioned by royal authority, but frequently instituted at the
royal command, until the conclusion of the sixteenth century. From that
period they declined rapidly, and fifty years afterwards were entirely
out of practice.


XX.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF JUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS.

All military men, says Fauchet,[497] who bore the title of knights or
esquires, were not indiscriminately received at these tournaments:
there were certain laws to which those who presented themselves became
subject, and which they swore to obey before they were permitted to
enter the lists.

In one of the Harleian manuscripts,[498] I met with the following
ordinance for the conducting of the justs and tournaments according to
the ancient establishment. It is preceded by a proclamation that was to
be previously made, which is couched in these terms. Be it known,[499]
lords, knights, and esquires, ladies, and gentlewomen; you are hereby
acquainted, that a superb achievement at arms, and a grand and noble
tournament will be held in the parade[500] of Clarencieux, king at
arms, on the part of the most noble baron, lord of T. C. B. and on the
part of the most noble baron, the lord of C. B. D. in the parade of
Norrais, king at arms. The regulations that follow are these: The two
barons on whose parts the tournament is undertaken, shall be at their
lodges (pavilions) two days before the commencement of the sports, when
each of them shall cause his arms to be attached[501] to his pavilion,
and set up his banner in the front of his parade; and all those who
wish to be admitted as combatants on either side, must in like manner
set up their arms and banners before the parades allotted to them.
Upon the evening of the same day they shall show themselves in their
stations, and expose their helmets to view at the windows of their
pavilions; and then "they may depart to make merry, dance, and live
well." On the morrow the champions shall be at their parades by the
hour of ten in the morning, to await the commands of the lord of the
parade, and the governor, who are the speakers of the tournament; at
this meeting the prizes of honour shall be determined.

In the document before us, it is said, that he who shall best resist
the strokes of his adversary, and return them with most adroitness on
the party of Clarencieux, shall receive a very rich sword, and he who
shall perform in like manner the best on the part of Norroys, shall be
rewarded with an helmet equally valuable.

On the morning of the day appointed for the tournament, the arms,
banners, and helmets of all the combatants shall be exposed at their
stations, and the speakers present at the place of combat by ten of the
clock, where they shall examine the arms and approve or reject them at
their pleasure; the examination being finished, and the arms returned
to the owners, the baron who is the challenger, shall then cause his
banner to be placed at the beginning of the parade, and the blazon of
his arms to be nailed to the roof of the pavilion:[502] his example is
to be followed by the baron on the opposite side, and all the knights
of either party who are not in their stations before the nailing up
of the arms, shall forfeit their privileges, and not be permitted to
tourney.

The kings at arms and the heralds are then commanded by the speakers to
go from pavilion to pavilion, crying aloud, "To achievement, knights
and esquires, to achievement;"[503] being the notice, I presume, for
them to arm themselves; and soon afterwards the company of heralds
shall repeat the former ceremony, having the same authority, saying,
"Come forth, knights and esquires, come forth:"[504] and when the two
barons have taken their places in the lists, each of them facing his
own parade, the champions on both parties shall arrange themselves,
every one by the side of his banner; and then two cords shall be
stretched between them, and remain in that position until it shall
please the speakers to command the commencement of the sports. The
combatants shall each of them be armed with a pointless sword having
the edges rebated, and with a baston, or truncheon, hanging from their
saddles, and they may use either the one or the other so long as
the speakers shall give them permission, by repeating the sentence,
"Laisseir les aler," Let them go on. After they have sufficiently
performed their exercises, the speakers are to call to the heralds, and
order them to "ployer vos baniers," fold up the banners, which is the
signal for the conclusion of the tournament. The banners being rolled
up, the knights and the esquires are permitted to return to their
dwellings.


XXI.--PAGES AND PERQUISITES OF THE KINGS AT ARMS, &c.

Every knight or esquire performing in the tournament, was permitted to
have one page, armed, within the lists, but without a truncheon or any
other defensive weapon, to wait upon him and give him his sword, or
truncheon, as occasion might require; and also in case of any accident
happening to his armour, to amend the same. In after times, three
servitors were allowed for this purpose.

The laws of the tournament permitted any one of the combatants to
unhelm himself at pleasure, if he was incommoded by the heat; none
being suffered to assault him in any way, until he had replaced his
helmet at the command of the speakers.

The kings at arms, and the heralds who proclaimed the tournament, had
the privilege of wearing the blazon of arms of those by whom the sport
was instituted; besides which they were entitled to six ells of scarlet
cloth as their fee, and had all their expenses defrayed during the
continuation of the tournament: by the law of arms they had a right to
the helmet of every knight when he made his first essay at the
tournament, which became their perquisite as soon as the sports were
concluded; they also claimed every one of them six crowns as nail
money, for affixing the blazon of arms to the pavilions. The kings
at arms held the banners of the two chief barons on the day of the
tournament, and the other heralds the banners of their confederates
according to their rank.


XXII.--PRELIMINARIES OF THE TOURNAMENT.

An illumination to a manuscript romance in the Royal Library,[505]
entitled St. Graal, written in the thirteenth century, represents the
manner in which the two chief barons anciently entered the lists at the
commencement of a tournament. The king at arms standing in the midst of
the ground holds both the banners, and the instruments of the minstrels
are ornamented with the blazonry of the arms.[506]

[Illustration: 41. PREPARATION FOR A TOURNAMENT]

The action of the two combatants, who have not yet received their
weapons, seems to be that of appealing to heaven in proof of their
having no charm to protect them, and no inclination to make use of any
unlawful means to secure the conquest; which I believe was a ceremony
usually practised upon such occasions.

In the reign of Henry V. a statute was enacted by the parliament,
containing the following regulations relative to the tournaments,
which regulations were said to have been established at the request
of all the nobility of England.[507] The act prohibits any combatant
from entering the lists with more than three esquires to bear his
arms, and wait upon him for that day. In another clause it is said,
If any of the great lords, or others Tient Mangerie, keep a public
table, for such, I presume, is implied by the term, they shall not
be allowed any additional esquires, excepting those who trencheront,
carve for them. It further specifies, that no knight or esquire, who
was appointed to attend in the lists as a servitor, should wear a sword
or a dagger,[508] or carry a truncheon, or any other weapon excepting
a large sword used in the tournament: and that all the combatants
who bore lances, should be armed with breastplates, thigh-pieces,
shoulder-pieces, and bacinets, without any other kind of armour. No
earl, baron, or knight, might presume to infringe upon the regulations
of this statute, under the forfeiture of his horse and his arms, and
the pain of imprisonment for a certain space of time, at the pleasure
of the governors of the tournament. Another clause, which probably
refers to such as were not combatants for the day, runs thus: No
one except the great lords, that is to say, earls or barons, shall
be armed otherwise than above expressed; nor bear a sword, pointed
knife, mace, or other weapon, except the sword for the tournament.
In case of transgression, he forfeited his horse, and was obnoxious
to imprisonment for one year. If an esquire transgressed the law in
any point, he not only lost his horse and his arms, but was sent to
prison for three years. But if the knights or esquires in the above
cases were possessed of lands, and appeared in arms for the service
of their lords, it seems they might recover their horses. The "Roys
des harnoys," kings at arms, the heralds, and the minstrels, were
commanded not to wear any kind of sharp weapons, but to have the swords
without points which belonged to them. Those who came as spectators on
horseback, were strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of
armour, or to bear any offensive weapons, under the penalty that was
appointed to the esquires; and no boy, or man on foot coming for the
same purpose, might appear with a sword dagger, cudgel, or lance;
they were to be punished with one year's imprisonment in case of
disobedience to the statute.


XXIII.--LISTS FOR ORDEAL COMBATS.

The lists for the tilts and tournaments resembled those, I doubt
not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according to the rules
established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., were
as follows: "The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists
shall be made and devised by the constable; and it is to be observed,
that the list must be sixty paces long and forty paces broad, set up
in good order, and the ground within hard, stable, and level, without
any great stones or other impediments; also that the lists must be made
with one door to the east, and another to the west, and strongly barred
about with good bars seven feet high or more, so that a horse may not
be able to leap over them."[509]


XXIV.--RESPECT PAID TO LADIES IN THE TOURNAMENT.

After the conclusion of the tournament, the combatants, as we have seen
above, returned to their dwellings; but in the evening they met again
in some place appropriated for the purpose, where they were joined by
the ladies, and others of the nobility who had been spectators of the
sports; and the time, we are told, was passed in feasting, dancing,
singing, and making merry. But, "after the noble supper and dancing,"
according to the ancient ordinance above quoted, the speakers of the
tournament called together the heralds appointed on both parties,
and demanded from them alternately, the names of those who had best
performed upon the opposite sides; the double list of names was then
presented to the ladies who had been present at the pastime, and
the decision was referred to them respecting the awardment of the
prizes;[510] who selected one name for each party, and, as a peculiar
mark of their esteem, the favourite champions received the rewards
of their merits from the hands of two young virgins of quality. The
statutes and ordinances for justs and tournaments made by John Tiptoft,
earl of Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., in the sixth year
of his reign, conclude thus: "Reserving always to the queenes highness
and the ladyes there present, the attribution and gift of the prize
after the manner and forme accustomed."[511]

Neither was this the only deference that was paid to the fair sex by
the laws of the tournament, for we are told, that if a knight conducted
himself with any impropriety, or transgressed the ordinances of the
sport, he was excluded from the lists with a sound beating, which was
liberally bestowed upon him by the other knights with their truncheons,
to punish his temerity, and to teach him to respect the honour of
the ladies and the rights of chivalry; the unfortunate culprit had
no other resource in such case for escaping without mischief, but by
supplicating the mercy of the fair sex, and humbly intreating them to
interpose their authority on his behalf, because the suspension of his
punishment depended entirely upon their intercession.


XXV.--JUSTS INFERIOR TO TOURNAMENTS.

The just or lance-game, in Latin justa, and in French jouste, which
some derive from jocare, because it was a sort of sportive combat,
undertaken for pastime only, differed materially, as before observed,
from the tournament, the former being often included in the latter, and
usually took place when the grand tournamental conflict was finished.
But at the same time it was perfectly consistent with the rules of
chivalry, for the justs to be held separately; it was, however,
considered as a pastime inferior to the tournament, for which reason a
knight, who had paid his fees for permission to just, was not thereby
exempted from the fees of the tournament; but, on the contrary, if he
had discharged his duties at the tournament, he was privileged to just
without being liable to any further demand. This distinction seems to
have arisen from the weapons used, the sword being appropriated to the
tournament, and the lance to the just, and so it is stated in an old
document cited by Du Cange:[512] "When," says this author, "a nobleman
makes his first appearance in the tournament, his helmet is claimed
by the heralds, notwithstanding his having justed before, because the
lance cannot give the freedom of the sword, which the sword can do of
the lance; for it is to be observed, that he who has paid his helmet at
the tournament is freed from the payment of a second helmet at the
just; but the helmet paid at justing, does not exclude the claim of
the heralds when a knight first enters the lists at the tournament."


XXVI.--THE ROUND TABLE.

The just, as a military pastime, is mentioned by William of Malmsbury,
and said to have been practised in the reign of king Stephen.[513]
During the government of Henry III. the just assumed a different
appellation, and was also called the Round Table game.[514] This name
was derived from a fraternity of knights who frequently justed with
each other, and accustomed themselves to eat together in one apartment,
and, in order to set aside all distinction of rank or quality,
seated themselves at a circular table, where every place was equally
honourable. Athenæus, cited by Du Cange,[515] says, the knights sat
round the table, "eorum scuta ferentes a tergo," bearing their shields
at their backs: I suppose for safety sake. Our historians attribute the
institution of the round table to Arthur, the son of Uter Pendragon,
a celebrated British hero, whose achievements are so disguised with
legendary wonders, that it has been doubted if such a person ever
existed in reality.

In the eighth year of the reign of Edward I., Roger de Mortimer,[516]
a nobleman of great opulence, established a round table at Kenelworth,
for the encouragement of military pastimes; where one hundred knights,
with as many ladies, were entertained at his expense. The fame of this
institution occasioned, we are told, a great influx of foreigners,
who came either to initiate themselves, or make some public proof of
their prowess. About seventy years afterwards Edward III. erected a
splendid table of the same kind at Windsor, but upon a more extensive
scale; It contained the area of a circle two hundred feet in diameter:
and the weekly expense for the maintenance of this table, when it was
first established, amounted to one hundred pounds; which, afterwards,
was reduced to twenty pounds, on account of the large sums of money
required for the prosecution of the war with France. This receptacle
for military men gave continual occasion for the exercise of arms, and
afforded to the young nobility an opportunity of learning, by the way
of pastime, all the requisites of a soldier. The example of king Edward
was followed by Philip of Valois king of France, who also instituted a
round table at his court, and by that means drew thither many German
and Italian knights who were coming to England.[517] The contest
between the two monarchs seems to have had the effect of destroying
the establishment of the round table in both kingdoms, for after this
period we hear no more concerning it. In England the round table was
succeeded by the order of the garter, the ceremonial parts of which
order are retained to this day, but the spirit of the institution ill
accords with the present manners.


XXVII.--NATURE OF THE JUSTS.

The cessation of the round table occasioned little or no alteration
respecting the justs which had been practised by the knights belonging
to it; they continued to be fashionable throughout the annals of
chivalry, and latterly superseded the tournaments, which is by no means
surprising, when we recollect that the one was a confused engagement of
many knights together, and the other a succession of combats between
two only at one time, which gave them all an equal opportunity of
showing individually their dexterity and attracting the general notice.

In the justs the combatants most commonly used spears without heads
of iron; and the excellency of the performance consisted in striking
the opponent upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him backwards
from his horse or break the spear. Froissart[2] mentions a trick used
by Reynaud de Roy, at a tilting match between him and John de Holland:
he fastened his helmet so slightly upon his head that it gave way,
and was beaten off by every stroke that was made upon the vizor with
the lance of John of Holland, and of course the shock he received was
not so great as it would have been, had he made the helmet fast to
the cuirass; this artifice was objected to by the English on the part
of Holland; but John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was present,
permitted Roy to use his pleasure; though he at the same time declared,
that for his part, he should prefer a contrary practice, and have his
helmet fastened as strongly as possible. And again the same historian,
speaking of a justing between Thomas Harpingham and sir John de
Barres, says, "As me thought the usage was thanne, their helmes wer
tied but with a lace, to the entente the spere should take no hold;" by
which it seems the trick became more common afterwards.[518]

Below is a representation of the just, taken from a manuscript in the
Royal Library,[519] of the thirteenth, or early in the fourteenth
century, where two knights appear in the action of tilting at each
other with the blunted spears.[520]

[Illustration: 42. JUSTING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

This delineation was made before the introduction of the barrier, which
was a boarded railing erected in the midst of the lists, but open at
both ends, and between four and five feet in height. In performing the
justs, the two combatants rode on separate sides of the barrier, and
were thereby prevented from running their horses upon each other.


XXVIII.--JUSTS, PECULIARLY IN HONOUR OF THE LADIES.

We have seen that the privilege of distributing the prizes and
remitting the punishment of offenders, was by the laws of the
tournament invested with the fair sex, but at the justs their authority
was much more extensive. In the days of chivalry the justs were usually
made in honour of the ladies, who presided as judges paramount over
the sports, and their determinations were in all cases decisive; hence
in the spirit of romance, arose the necessity for every "true knight"
to have a favourite fair one, who was not only esteemed by him as the
paragon of beauty and of virtue, but supplied the place of a tutelar
saint, to whom he paid his vows and addressed himself in the day of
peril; or it seems to have been an established doctrine, that love made
valour perfect, and incited the heroes to undertake great enterprises.
"Oh that my lady saw me," said one of them as he was mounting a breach
at the head of his troops and driving the enemy before him. The French
writer St. Foix, who mentions this,[521] says in another place, "It is
astonishing that no author has remarked the origin of this devotion in
the manners of the Germans, our ancestors, as drawn by Tacitus, who,"
he tells us, "attributed somewhat of divinity to the fair sex.[522]"
Sometimes it seems the knights were armed and unarmed by the ladies;
but this, I presume, was a peculiar mark of their favour, and only used
upon particular occasions, as, for instance, when the heroes undertook
an achievement on their behalf, or combating in defence of their beauty
or their honour.[523]


XXIX.--GREAT SPLENDOUR OF THESE SPORTS ATTRACTIVE TO THE NOBILITY.

At the celebration of these pastimes, the lists were superbly
decorated, and surrounded by the pavilions belonging to the champions,
ornamented with their arms, banners, and banerolls. The scaffolds for
the reception of the nobility of both sexes who came as spectators, and
those especially appointed for the royal family, were hung with
tapestry and embroideries of gold and silver. Every person, upon such
occasions, appeared to the greatest advantage, decked in sumptuous
array, and every part of the field presented to the eye a rich display
of magnificence. We may also add the splendid appearance of the
knights engaged in the sports; themselves and their horses were most
gorgeously arrayed, and their esquires and pages, together with the
minstrels and heralds who superintended the ceremonies, were all of
them clothed in costly and glittering apparel. Such a show of pomp,
where wealth, beauty, and grandeur were concentred, as it were, in one
focus, must altogether have formed a wonderful spectacle, and made a
strong impression on the mind, which was not a little heightened by the
cries of the heralds, the clangour of the trumpets, the clashing of the
arms, the rushing together of the combatants, and the shouts of the
beholders; and hence the popularity of these exhibitions may be easily
accounted for.

The tournament and the just, and especially the latter, afforded to
those who were engaged in them, an opportunity of appearing before the
ladies to the greatest advantage; they might at once display their
taste and opulence by the costliness and elegancy of their apparel, and
their prowess as soldiers; therefore, these pastimes became fashionable
among the nobility; and it was probably for the same reason that they
were prohibited to the commoners.


XXX.--TOYS FOR INITIATING CHILDREN IN THESE SPORTS.

Persons of rank were taught in their childhood to relish such exercises
as were of a martial nature, and the very toys that were put into their
hands as playthings, were calculated to bias the mind in their favour.
On the opposite page the reader will find two views of a knight on
horseback, completely equipped for the just; four wheels originally
were attached to the pedestal, which has a hole in the front for the
insertion of a cord. The knight and his horse are both made with brass;
the spear and the wheels are wanting in the original, but the hole
in which the spear was inserted, still remains under the right arm,
and it is supplied upon the print by something like it placed in the
proper situation. This curious figure, which probably was made in the
fifteenth century, is in the possession of sir Frederic Eden, with
whose permission this copy, about the same size as the original, makes
its appearance here.

[Illustration: 43. A JUSTING TOY.]

The man represented by the figures in the preceding engraving may be
readily separated from the horse, and is so contrived as to be thrown
backwards by a smart blow upon the top of the shield or the front of
his helmet, and replaced again with much ease: two such toys were
requisite; each of them having a string made fast in the front of
the pedestal, being then placed at a distance in opposition the one
to the other, they were violently drawn together in imitation of two
knights tilting; and by the concussion of the spears and shields, if
dexterously managed, one or both of the men were cast to the ground.
Sometimes, as we may see by the subjoined figure from a curious
engraving on wood by Hans Burgmair, which makes one of a series of
prints representing the history and achievements of the emperor
Maximilian the First, in the possession of Francis Douce, esq. these
toys were made without wheels, and pushed by the hand upon a table
towards each other; but in both cases the effect was evidently the same.

[Illustration: 44. TOYS, REPRESENTING KNIGHTS JUSTING.]


XXXI.--BOAT JUSTS, OR TILTING ON THE WATER.

It has been previously observed, that all persons below the rank of
an esquire were excluded from the justs and the tournaments; but the
celebration of these pastimes attracted the common mind in a very
powerful manner, and led to the institution of sports, that bore at
least some resemblance to them: tilting at the quintain was generally
practised at a very early period,[524] and justing upon the ice by the
young Londoners.[525] The early inclination to join in such kind of
pastimes is strongly indicated by the two boys represented on the next
page: the place of the horse is supplied by a long switch, and that of
a lance by another. The original delineation occurs in a beautiful MS.
book of prayers, written in the fourteenth century, in the possession
of F. Douce, esq.

[Illustration: 45. BOYS TILTING IN PASTIME.]

Here we may also add the boat justs, or tilting upon the water. The
representation of a pastime of this kind is given below, from a
manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[526]

[Illustration: 46. BOAT TILTING.]

The conqueror at these justs was the champion who could dexterously
turn aside the blow of his antagonist with his shield, and at the
same time strike him with his lance in such a manner as to overthrow
him into the river, himself remaining unmoved from his station; and
perhaps not a little depended upon the skill of the rowers.[527] When
queen Elizabeth visited Sandwich in 1573, she was entertained with a
tilting upon the water, "where certain wallounds that could well swym
had prepared two boates, and in the middle of each boate was placed a
borde, upon which borde there stood a man, and so they met together,
with either of them a staff and a shield of wood; and one of them did
overthrowe another, at which the queene had good sport."[528] The same
kind of laughable pastime was practised at London, as we learn from
Stow; "I have seen," says he, "in the summer season, upon the river of
Thames, some rowed in wherries, with staves in their hands flat at the
fore end, running one against another, and for the most part one or
both of them were overthrown and well ducked."


XXXII.--CHALLENGES TO ALL COMERS.

I shall now conclude this long chapter with the two following extracts
from a manuscript in the Harleian Collection.[529] Six gentlemen
challenged "all commers at the just roial, to runne in osting harnies
along a tilte, and to strike thirteen strokes with swordes, in honour
of the marriage of Richard duke of York[530] with the lady Anne,
daughter to the duke of Norfolk."

When Henry VII. created his second son Henry prince of Wales, four
gentlemen offered their service upon the occasion. First, they made a
declaration that they do not undertake this enterprise in any manner
of presumption, but only "for the laude and honour of the feaste, the
pleasure of the ladyes; and their owne learning, and exercise of deedes
of armes, and to ensewe the ancient laudable customs."

They then promised to be ready at Westminster on a given day, the
twenty-fourth of November, to keep the justs in a place appointed for
that purpose by the king. To be there by "eleven of the clock before
noone to answer all gentlemen commers, and to runne with every commer
one after another, six courses ensewingly; and to continue that daye as
long as it shal like the kynges grace, and to tilt with such speares
as he shall ordeyn, of the which speares, the commers shall have the
choise: but if the said six courses by every one of the commers shall
be performed, and the day not spent in pleasure and sport according
to the effect of these articles, it shall then be lawful for the said
commers to begin six other courses, and so continue one after another
as long as it shall be at the king's pleasure. If it shall happen to
any gentleman that his horse fayleth him, or himself be unarmed in such
wise as he cannot conveniently accomplish the whole courses, then it
shall be lawful for his felowe to finish up the courses."

Again, they promise upon a second day, the twenty-ninth of November,
to be in readiness to mount their horses at the same place and hour as
before, to tourney with four other gentlemen, with such swordes as
the king shall ordain, until eighteen strokes be given by one of them
to the other; and add that it shall be lawful to strike all manner of
ways, the foyne only excepted, and the commers shall have their choice
of the swords. Here it may be observed, that to foyne, is to thrust,
as in fencing, which was exceedingly dangerous when the swords were
pointed. The author of a MS. poem, in the Cotton Collection,[531]
frequently referred to in the course of this work, entitled Knyghthode
and Batayle, says, in fighting with an enemy, "to foyne is better than
to smyte," and afterwards two inches, "entre foyned," hurteth more than
a broader wound with the edge of a sword.

"Whosoever," continues the Harleian manuscript, "shall certifye and
give knowledge of his name and of his comming to one of the three
kings of arms, whether it be to the justs or at the tourney, he shall
be first answered, the states alwayes reserved which shall have the
preheminence. If any one of the said commers shall think the swordes or
spears be too easy for him, the said four gentlemen will be redye to
answer him or them after their owne minde, the king's licence obteyned
in that behalf."

The gentlemen then entreat the king to sign the articles with his own
hand, as sufficient licence for the heralds to publish the same in such
places as might be thought requisite. The king accepted their offer,
and granted their petition; at the same time he promised to reward the
best performer at the justs royal with a ring of gold set with a ruby;
and the best performer at the tournament with another golden ring set
with a diamond, equal in value to the former.

Upon some particular occasions the strokes with the sword were
performed on foot, and so were the combats with the axes; the champions
having, generally, a barrier of wood breast-high between them.




CHAPTER II.

     I. Ancient Plays.--II. Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, &c.
     continued several days.--III. The Coventry Play.--IV. Mysteries
     described.--V. How enlivened.--VI. Moralities described.--The
     Fool in Plays, whence derived.--VII. Secular Plays.--VIII.
     Interludes.--IX. Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his
     Time.--X. Plays performed in Churches.--XI. Cornish Miracle
     Plays.--XII. Itinerant Players, their evil Characters.--XIII.
     Court Plays.--XIV. Play in honour of the Princess Mary's
     Marriage.--XV. The Play of Hock Tuesday.--XVI. Decline of Secular
     Plays.--XVII. Origin of Puppet Plays.--XVIII. Nature of the
     Performances.--XIX. Giants and other Puppet Characters.--XX.
     Puppet Plays superseded by Pantomimes.--XXI. The modern
     Puppet-show Man.--XXII. Moving Pictures described.


I.--ANCIENT PLAYS.

It is not my design to enter deeply upon the origin and progress of
scenic exhibitions in England: this subject has already been so ably
discussed, that very little new matter can be found to excite the
public attention: I shall, therefore, be as brief as possible, and
confine myself chiefly to the lower species of comic pastimes, many of
which may justly claim the sanction of high antiquity.


II.--MIRACLE PLAYS, DRAMAS FROM SCRIPTURE, &c. CONTINUED SEVERAL DAYS.

The theatrical exhibitions in London, in the twelfth century,
were called Miracles, because they consisted of sacred plays, or
representations of the miracles wrought by the holy confessors,
and the sufferings by which the perseverance of the martyrs was
manifested.[532] Such subjects were certainly very properly chosen,
because the church was usually the theatre wherein these pious dramas
were performed, and the actors were the ecclesiastics or their
scholars. The first play of this kind specified by name, I believe, is
called St. Catherine, and according to Matthew Paris,[533] was written
by Geofrey, a Norman, afterwards abbot of Saint Albans: he was sent
over into England by abbot Richard, to take upon him the direction of
the school belonging to that monastery, but coming too late, he went to
Dunstable and taught there, where he caused his play to be performed
about the year 1110, and borrowed from the sacrist of Saint Albans
capæ chorales, some of the ecclesiastical vestments of the abbey, to
adorn the actors. In latter times, these dramatical pieces acquired
the appellation of mysteries; because, as the learned editor of the
Reliques of Ancient Poetry supposes, the most mysterious subjects of
the scripture were frequently chosen for their composition.[534]

According to the Wife of Bath's prologue in the Canterbury Tales, the
miracle plays in Chaucer's days were exhibited during the season of
Lent, and sometimes a sequel of scripture histories was carried on for
several days. In the reign of Richard II., A.D. 1391, the parish clerks
of London put forth a play at Skinners Wells, near Smithfield, which
continued three days; the king, queen, and many of the nobility, being
present at the performance.[535] In the succeeding reign, Henry IV.,
A.D. 1409, another play was acted at the same place, and lasted eight
days; this drama began with the creation of the world, and contained
the greater part of the history of the Old and New Testament. It does
not appear to have been honoured with the royal presence, but was well
attended by most of the nobility and gentry of the realm.


III.--THE COVENTRY PLAY.

The last of these performances, no doubt, bore a close analogy to the
well known mystery entitled Corpus Christi, or Ludus Coventriæ, the
Coventry Play; transcripts of this play, nearly if not altogether
coeval with the time of its representation, are yet in existence; one
in particular is preserved in the Cotton Library.[536] The prologue
to this curious drama is delivered by three persons, who speak
alternately, and are called vexillators; it contains the argument of
the several pageants, or acts, that constitute the piece, and they
amount to no less than forty; and every one of these acts consists of a
detached subject from the holy writ, beginning with the creation of the
universe and concluding with the last judgment. In the first pageant,
or act, the Deity is represented seated on his throne by himself,
delivering a speech of forty lines beginning thus:

    "Ego sum de Alpha et Omega principium et finis.

        "My name is knowyn God and Kynge,
        My worke for to make now wyl I wende,
        In myself restyth my reyneynge,
        It hath no gynnyg ne non ende."

The angels then enter, singing from the church service, "To Thee all
angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein; To Thee the
Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy Lord God
of Hosts." Lucifer next makes his appearance, and desires to know if
the hymn they sang was in honour of God or in honour of him? The good
angels readily reply, in honour of God; the evil angels incline to
worship Lucifer, and he presumes to seat himself in the throne of the
Deity; who commands him to depart from heaven to hell, which dreadful
sentence he is compelled to obey, and with his wicked associates
descends to the lower regions. I have given a much fuller account of
this curious mystery in the third volume of the Manners and Customs
of the English People, with long extracts, and from several others
nearly equal in antiquity, to which the reader is referred. This play
was acted by the Friars Minors, or Mendicant Friars, of Coventry; and
commenced on Corpus Christi day, whence it received its title. Dugdale
says,[537] for the performance of these plays they had theatres for
the several scenes very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn
to all the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the
spectators.


IV.--MYSTERIES DESCRIBED.

The mysteries often consisted of single subjects, and made but one
performance. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford[538] I met with two
mysteries that to the best of my knowledge have not been mentioned:
the subject of one is the conversion of Saint Paul, and of the other
the casting out of the devils from Mary Magdalene; they are both very
old and imperfect, especially the latter, which seems to want several
leaves. The first is entitled Saulus; and after a short prologue the
stage direction follows, "Here outeyth Saul, goodly besene in the best
wyse lyke an adventrous knyth, thus sayynge,

    "Most dowtyd man, I am lyvynge upon the grounde,
    Goodly besene with many a ryche harlement;
    My pere on lyve I trow ys nott yfound
    Thorow the world, fro the oryent to the occydent."

The interlocutors, besides the poet who speaks the prologue, and Saul,
are Caiaphas, Ananias, first and second soldiers, the "Stabularyus," or
hostler, the servant, and Belial.


V.--MYSTERIES, HOW ENLIVENED.

Notwithstanding the seriousness of the subjects that constituted
these mysteries, it seems clear that they were not exhibited without
a portion of pantomimical fun to make them palatable to the vulgar
taste; and indeed the length and the dulness of the speeches required
some such assistance to enliven them, and keep the spectators in good
humour; and this may be the reason why the mysteries are in general
much shorter than the modern plays. Beelzebub seems to have been the
principal comic actor, assisted by his merry troop of under-devils,
who, with variety of noises, strange gestures, and contortions of the
body, excited the laughter of the populace.[539]


VI.--THE FOOL IN PLAYS, WHENCE DERIVED--MORALITIES DESCRIBED.

When the mysteries ceased to be played, the subjects for the drama were
not taken from historical facts, but consisted of moral reasonings in
praise of virtue and condemnation of vice, on which account they were
called Moralities; and these performances requiring some degree of
invention, laid the foundation for our modern comedies and tragedies.
The dialogues were carried on by allegorical characters, such as Good
Doctrine, Charity, Faith, Prudence, Discretion, Death, and the like,
and their discourses were of a serious cast; but the province of
making the spectators merry, descended from the Devil in the mystery,
to Vice or Iniquity of the morality, who usually personified some bad
quality incident to human nature, as Pride, or Lust, or any other evil
propensity. Alluding to the mimicry of this motley character, Jonson,
in Epig. 159, has these lines:

    "--------But the old Vice
    Acts old Iniquity, and in the fit
    Of mimicry gets th' opinion of a wit."

In the Staple of Newes, acted A.D. 1625, it is said, "Iniquity came
in like Hokos-pokos in a jugler's jerkin, with false skirts like the
knave of clubs;" and afterward, "Here is never a fiend to carry him,
the Vice, away; besides, he has never a wooden dagger: I'd not give a
rush for a Vice that has not a wooden dagger to snap at every one he
meetes:" in another part, the Vice is described, "in his long coat,
shaking his wooden dagger." Hence it appears this character had a dress
peculiar to himself. Philip Stubs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, printed
A.D. 1595, says, "You must go to the playhouse if you will learne
to play the Vice, to sweare, teare, and blaspheme both heaven and
hell:" and again, "Who can call him a wise man, who playeth the part
of a Foole or a Vice?" I remember to have seen a stage direction for
the Vice, to lay about him lustily with a great pole, and tumble the
characters one over the other with great noise and riot, "for dysport
sake." Even when regular tragedies and comedies were introduced upon
the stage, we may trace the decendants of this facetious Iniquity in
the clowns and the fools which so frequently disgraced them. The great
master of human nature, in compliance with the false taste of the age
in which he lived, has admitted this motley character into the most
serious parts of one of his best tragedies. The propensity to laugh
at the expense of good sense and propriety, is well ridiculed in the
"Intermeane" at the end of the first act of the Staple of Newes,
by Jonson, and again in the Preludium to the Careless Shepherdess,
a pastoral tragi-comedy by Thomas Goffe, in 1656, where several
characters are introduced upon the stage as spectators, waiting for the
commencement of the performance. One of them says:

    Why, I would have a fool in every act,
    Be 't comedy or tragedy: I've laugh'd
    Until I cr'yd again, to see what faces
    The rogue will make. Oh! it does me good
    To see him hold out's chin, hang down his hands,
    And twirle his bawble. There is nere a part
    About him but breaks jests. I heard a fellow
    Once on the stage, cry doodle doodle dooe
    Beyond compare; I'de give th' other shilling
    To see him act the Changling once again.

To this another character replies,

    And so would I; his part has all the wit,
    For none speakes, carps, and quibbles besides him;
    I'd rather see him leap, or laugh, or cry,
    Than hear the gravest speech in all the play;
    I never saw Rheade peeping through the curtain,
    But ravishing joy entered into my heart.

A boy then comes upon the stage, and the first speaker inquires for the
Fool; but being told he is not to perform that night, he says--

    Well, since there will be nere a fool i' th' play,
    I'll have my money again; the comedy
    Will be as tedious to me as a sermon.


VII.--SECULAR PLAYS.

The plays mentioned in the preceding pages, and especially the miracles
and mysteries, differed greatly from the secular plays and interludes
which were acted by strolling companies, composed of minstrels,
jugglers, tumblers, dancers, bourdours or jesters, and other performers
properly qualified for the different parts of the entertainment, which
admitted of a variety of exhibitions. These pastimes are of higher
antiquity than the ecclesiastical plays; and they were much relished
not only by the vulgar part of the people, but also by the nobility.
The courts of the kings of England, and the castles of the great earls
and barons, were crowded with the performers of the secular plays,
where they were well received and handsomely rewarded;[540] vast sums
of money were lavishly bestowed upon these secular itinerants, which
induced the monks and other ecclesiastics to turn actors themselves,
in order to obtain a share of the public bounty. But to give the
better colouring to their undertaking, they took the subjects of their
dialogues from the holy writ, and performed them in the churches. The
secular showmen, however, retained their popularity notwithstanding the
exertions of their clerical rivals, who diligently endeavoured to bring
them into disgrace, by bitterly inveighing against the filthiness and
immorality of their exhibitions.[541] On the other hand, the itinerant
players sometimes invaded the province of the church-men, and performed
their mysteries, or others similar to them, as we find from a petition
presented to Richard II. by the scholars of Saint Paul's school,
wherein complaint is made against the secular actors, because they
took upon themselves to act plays composed from the scripture history,
to the great prejudice of the clergy, who had been at much expense to
prepare such performances for public exhibition at the festival of
Christmas, 1378. But, generally speaking, the secular plays had nothing
to do with religion; and if an early writer of our own country, John
of Salisbury, may be fully credited, but little with morality: they
consisted of comic tales, dialogues, and stories, to which were added
coarse and indecent jests, intermixed with instrumental music, singing,
dancing, tumbling, gesticulation, and mimicry, to excite laughter,
without the least regard to decency; and for this reason the clergy
were prohibited from going to see them. In 1519 Cardinal Wolsey, in his
regulations for the monastery of the canons regular of Saint Austin,
forbad the brethren to be players, or mimics; but the prohibition
meant, that they should not go abroad to exercise those talents in a
secular or mercenary capacity.[542]


VIII.--INTERLUDES.

The interludes, which, I presume, formed a material part of the
performances exhibited by the secular players, were certainly of
a jocular nature, consisting probably of facetious or satirical
dialogues, calculated to promote mirth, and therefore they are censured
by Matthew Paris[543] as "vain pastimes." Something of this kind was
the representation made before king Henry VIII. at Greenwich, in 1528,
thus related by Hall: "Two persons plaied a dialogue, the effect
whereof was, whether riches were better than love; and, when they could
not agree upon a conclusion, each called in thre knightes all armed;
thre of them woulde have entered the gate of the arche in the middle
of the chambre, and the other thre resisted; and sodenly betweene the
six knightes, out of the arche fell downe a bar all gilte, at the which
bar the six knightes fought a fair battail, and then they departed,
and so went out of the place; then came in an olde man with a silver
berd, and he concluded that love and riches bothe be necessarie for
princes, that is to say, by love to be obeyed and served, and with
riches to rewarde his lovers and frendes; and with this conclusion the
dialogue ended." We hereby find, that these dialogues were not only a
part of the entertainment, but also ingeniously made the vehicles for
the introduction of other sports. Sometimes they were of a satirical
nature; and, when occasion required, they took another turn, and became
the agents of flattery and adulation: both these purposes were
answered by the following dialogue, taken from the author just now
quoted: "On Sonday at night the fifteenth of June, 1523, in the great
halle at Wyndsore," the emperor Maximilian and Henry VIII. being
present, "was a disguisiyng or play; the effect of it was, that there
was a proud horse which would not be tamed nor bridled; but Amitie sent
Prudence and Policie which tamed him, and Force and Puissance brideled
him. This horse was meant by the Frenche kyng,[544] and Amitie by the
kynge of England, and the emperor and the other persons were their
counsail and power."


IX.--DEFINITION OF TRAGEDIES IN CHAUCER'S TIME.

Comedies were not known, nor tragedies according to the modern
acceptation of the word in Chaucer's time; for what he calls tragedies,
are simply tales of persons who have fallen from a state of prosperity,
or worldly grandeur, to great adversity; as he himself tells us in the
following lines:

    Tragedy is to tel a certayne story,
    As olde bokes maken memory,
    Of them that stode in great prosperite,
    And be fallen out of hye degre
    Into misery, and ended wretchedly.[545]


X.--PLAYS PERFORMED IN CHURCHES.

The ecclesiastical plays, as we observed before, were usually performed
in churches, or chapels, upon temporary scaffolds erected for that
purpose; and sometimes, when a sufficient number of clerical actors
were not to be procured, the churchwardens and chief parishioners
caused the plays to be acted by the secular players, in order to
collect money for the defraying of the church expenses; and in many
instances they borrowed the theatrical apparel from other parishes when
they had none of their own. The acting of plays in churches was much
declaimed against by the religious writers of the sixteenth century;
and Bonner, bishop of London, in 1542, the thirty-third year of the
reign of Henry VIII., issued a proclamation to the clergy of his
diocese, prohibiting all manner of common plays, games, or interludes,
to be played, set forth, or declared, within their churches or chapels.


XI.--CORNISH MIRACLE PLAYS.

In Cornwall the miracle plays were differently represented: they were
not performed in the churches, nor under any kind of cover, but in the
open air, as we learn from Carew, whose words upon this subject are as
follow: "The guary-miracle, in English, a miracle play, is a kind of
interlude compiled in Cornish out of some scripture history, with that
grossness which accompanied the Romanes vetus comedia. For representing
it, they raise an earthen amphitheatre in some open field, having the
diameter of his enclined plain some forty or fifty feet. The country
people flock from all sides many miles of, to hear and see it, for they
have therein devils and devices to delight as well the eye as the eare.
The players conne not their parts without booke, but are prompted by
one called the ordinary, who followeth at their backs with the book in
his hand, and telleth them what to say."[546] In the Harleian Library
is preserved a miracle play of this kind in the Cornish language,
written by William Gordon, A. D. 1611, accompanied with an English
translation by John Keygwyn, A. D. 1693. It begins with the creation
and ends with Noah's flood. Noah himself concludes the play, with an
address to the spectators, desiring them to "come to-morrow betimes"
to see another play on the redemption of man; and then speaking to the
musicians, says, "Musicians, play to us, that we may dance together
as is the manner of the sport." Such a ridiculous jumble of religion
and buffoonery might well excite the indignation of serious people.
This species of amusement continued to be exhibited in Cornwall long
after the abolition of the miracles and moralities in the other parts
of the kingdom, and when the establishment of regular plays had taken
place.[547]


XII.--CHARACTER OF THE OLD ITINERANT PLAYERS.

The itinerant players often exhibited their performances upon temporary
scaffolds as late as the reign of queen Elizabeth. A writer of
that time, who is very severe against them, says, "They are called
histriones, or rather histrices, which play, upon scaffolds and stages,
enterludes and comedies;" he then launches out most furiously, calling
them "jugglers, scoffers, jeasters, and players," and ranks them with
the lowest and most vicious of mankind.[548]


XIII.--COURT PLAYS.

There was another species of entertainment which differed materially
from any of the pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages, I mean the
ludi, or plays exhibited at court in the Christmas holidays: we trace
them as far back as the reign of Edward III. The preparations made
for them at that time are mentioned without the least indication of
novelty, which admits of the supposition that they were still more
ancient. From the numeration of the dresses appropriated in 1348 to
one of these plays, which consisted of various kinds of disguisements,
they seem to have merited rather the denomination of mummeries than of
theatrical divertisements.[549] The king then kept his Christmas at
his castle at Guildford; the dresses are said to be ad faciendum ludos
domini regis, and consisted of eighty tunics of buckram of various
colours; forty-two visors of different similitudes, namely, fourteen of
faces of women, fourteen of faces of men, and fourteen heads of angels
made with silver; twenty-eight crests; fourteen mantles embroidered
with heads of dragons; fourteen white tunics wrought with the heads
and wings of peacocks; fourteen with the heads of swans with wings;
fourteen tunics painted with the eyes of peacocks; fourteen tunics
of English linen painted; and fourteen other tunics embroidered with
stars of gold.[550] How far these plays were enlivened by dialogues, or
interlocutory eloquence is not known; but probably they partook more of
the feats of pantomime than of colloquial excellency, and were better
calculated to amuse the sight than to instruct the mind.

The magnificent pageants and disguisings frequently exhibited at court
in the succeeding times, and especially in the reign of Henry VIII., no
doubt originated from the ludi above mentioned. These mummeries, as a
modern writer justly observes, were destitute of character and humour,
their chief aim being to surprise the spectators "by the ridiculous and
exaggerated oddity of the visors, and by the singularity and splendour
of the dresses; every thing was out of nature and propriety. Frequently
the masque was attended with an exhibition of gorgeous machinery,
resembling the wonders of a modern pantomime."[551]

The reader may form some judgment of the appearance the actors made
upon these occasions, from the following:

[Illustration: 47. MUMMERS.--XIV. CENTURY.]

These, and the other figures in the subjoined engraving, are taken from
a beautiful manuscript in the Bodleian Library, written and illuminated
in the reign of Edward III.[552]

[Illustration: 48. MUMMERS.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The performance seems to have consisted chiefly in dancing, and the
mummers are usually attended by the minstrels playing upon different
kinds of musical instruments.

Many of these stately shows are described at length by Hall and
Holinshed; and, as some of my readers may not have those authors near
at hand, I will subjoin the account of two of them in Hall's own words.
In the fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII, his majesty kept his
Christmas at Greenwich; and, "according to olde custome," on twelfth
night,[553] "there came," says the historian, "into the greate hall,
a mount called the riche mount. This mount was set full of riche
flowers of silke, and especially of brome[554] slippes full of poddes,
the branches were grene sattin, and the flowers flat gold of damaske
which signified Plantagenet: on the top stood a goodly bekon[555]
giving light, rounde above the bekon sat the king and five other al
in coates and cappes of right crimosin velvet, embroudered with flat
gold of damaske, their coates set full of spangelles of gold; and
foure woodhouses drew the mount 'till it came before the queen, and
then the kyng and his compaigne discended and daunced; then suddainly
the mount opened, and out came six ladies all in crimosin satin and
plunket, embroudered with golde and perle, with Frenche hoodes on their
heddes, and they daunced alone. Then the lordes of the mount tooke the
ladies and daunced together, and the ladies re-entered, and the mount
closed, and so was conveyed out of the hall."[556] The woodhouses, in
the preceding quotation, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called,
were wild or savage men; and in this instance, men dressed up with
skins, or rugs resembling skins, so as to appear like savages. These
pageants were frequently moveable and drawn upon wheels. In honour of
the marriage of Arthur, prince of Wales, with Catherine of Spain, there
were three pageants exhibited in Westminster Hall, which succeeded each
other, and were all of them drawn upon wheels: the first was a castle
with ladies; the second a ship in full sail, that cast anchor near the
castle; and the third a mountain with several armed knights upon it,
who stormed the castle, and obliged the ladies to surrender. The show
ended in a dance, and the pageantry disappeared.[557]


XIV.--PLAY IN HONOUR OF THE PRINCESS MARY.

In the tenth year of the same king's reign, in honour of his sister the
princess Mary's marriage with the king of France,[558] there was
exhibited in the great hall at Greenwich, "a rock ful of al maner of
stones very artificially made, and on the top stood five trees: the
first was an olive tree, on which hanged a shield of the armes of the
church of Rome; the second was a pyne aple tree,[559] with the arms of
the emperor; the third was a rosyer,[560] with the armes of England;
the fourth a braunche of lylies, bearing the armes of France; and the
fifth a pomegranet tree, bearing the armes of Spayn; in token that all
these five potentates were joined together in one league against the
enemies of Christe's fayth: in and upon the middes of the rock satte a
fayre lady, richely appareyled, with a dolphin in her lap. In this rock
were ladies and gentlemen appareled, in crimosyn sattyn, covered over
with floures of purple satyn, embroudered with wrethes of gold knit
together with golden laces, and on every floure a hart of gold moving.
The ladies' tyer[561] was after the fashion of Inde, with kerchiefes of
pleasaunce[562] hached with fyne gold, and set with letters of Greeke
in gold of bullion, and the edges of their kerchiefes were garnished
with hanging perle. These gentlemen and ladyes sate on the neyther
part of the rock, and out of a cave in the same rock came ten knightes
armed at all poyntes, and faughte together a fayre tournay. And when
they were severed and departed, the disguysers dissended from the rock
and daunced a great space, and sodeynly the rock moved and receaved
the disguysers and imediately closed agayn. Then entred a person
called report, appareled in crymosyn satin full of tongues, sitting
on a flying horse with wynges and feete of gold called Pegasus; this
person in Frenche declared the meaning of the rocks, the trees, and the
tourney."[563]


XV.--PLAY OF HOCK-TUESDAY.

Among the pastimes exhibited for the entertainment of queen Elizabeth
during her stay at Kenelworth Castle, Warwickshire, was a kind of
historical play, or old storial show, performed by certain persons
who came for that purpose from Coventry. It was also called the old
Coventry play of Hock-Tuesday, but must not be confounded with the
Ludus de Corpus Christi, or Coventry Mystery, mentioned before,
to which it did not bear the least analogy. The subject of the
Hock-Tuesday show was the massacre of the Danes, a memorable event in
the English history, on St. Brice's night, November 13, 1002, which
was expressed "in action and in rhimes." It is said to have been
annually acted in the town of Coventry, according to ancient custom;
but that it was suppressed soon after the reformation, at the instance
of some of their preachers, whose good intention the towns-people did
not deny, but complained of their severity; urging in behalf of the
show, that it was "without ill example of manners, papistry, or any
superstition."[564] The rhimes originally belonging to the play, I
presume, were omitted upon the above-mentioned occasion;[565] for it
appears to have been performed without any recitation in mere dumb
show, and consisted of hot skirmishes and furious encounters between
the English and the Danish forces: first by the launce knights on
horseback, armed with spears and shields, who being many of them
dismounted fought with swords and targets. Then followed two "host of
foot men," one after the other, first marching in ranks, then, turning
about in a warlike manner, they changed their form from ranks into
squadrons, then into triangles, then into rings, and then "winding out
again they joined in battle; twice the Danes had the better, but at the
last conflict they were beaten down, overcome, and many of them led
captive for triumph by our English women." Her majesty was much pleased
with this performance, "whereat," says my author, "she laughed well,"
and rewarded the actors with two bucks, and five marks in money; and
with this munificence they were highly satisfied.[566]


XVI.--DECLINE OF SECULAR PLAYS.

The secular plays, as we have seen, consisted of a medley of different
performances, calculated chiefly to promote mirth without any view
to instruction; but soon after the production of regular plays, when
proper theatres were established, the motley exhibitions of the
strolling actors were only relished by the vulgar; the law set her face
against them, the performers were stigmatised with the names of rogues
and vagabonds, and all access was denied them at the houses of the
opulent. They depended of course upon the precarious support derived
from the favours of the lower classes of the people, which was not
sufficient to enable them to appear with their former credit; their
companies were necessarily divided, and their performances became less
worthy of notice, every one of them endeavouring to shift for himself
in the best manner that he could; or a few of them uniting their
abilities as occasion might serve, exhibited at wakes and fairs, and
lived upon the contributions of rustics and children. The tragitour now
became a mere juggler, and played a few paltry tricks occasionally,
assisted by the bourdour, or jester, transformed into a modern
jack-pudding. It is highly probable, that necessity suggested to him
the idea of supplying the place of his human confederates by automaton
figures made of wood, which, by means of wires properly attached to
them, were moved about, and performed many of the actions peculiar to
mankind; and, with the assistance of speeches made for them behind
the scenery, produced that species of drama commonly distinguished
by the appellation of a droll, or a puppet-play; wherein a facetious
performer, well known by the name of Punchinello, supplied the place
of the Vice, or mirth-maker, a favourite character in the moralities.
In modern days this celebrated actor, who has something to say to the
greater part of his auditory, is called plain Punch. In the moralities,
the Devil usually carried away the Iniquity, or Evil, at the conclusion
of the drama;[567] and, in compliance with the old custom, Punch, the
genuine descendant of the Iniquity, is constantly taken from the stage
by the Devil at the end of the puppet-show. Ben Jonson, by way of
burlesque, in the comedy entitled "The Devil is an Asse," reverses the
ancient usage, and makes the Iniquity run away with the Fiend, saying--

    The Divell was wont to carry away the Evill,
    But now the Evill out-carries the Divell.--_Act v. scene 6._

The first appearance of a company of wooden actors excited, no doubt,
the admiration of the populace, and the novelty of such an exhibition
was probably productive of much advantage to the inventor. I cannot
pretend to determine the time that puppet-plays were first exhibited
in England. I rather think this species of entertainment originated
upon the continent. Cervantes has made Don Quixote a spectator at a
puppet-show, and the knight's behaviour upon this occasion is described
with great humor. The puppets were originally called motions: we find
them mentioned in Gammer Gurton's Needle, which is supposed to have
been written in 1517; and there the master of the puppet-show seems
to have been considered as no better than an idle vagrant. One of
the characters says, he will go "and travel with young Goose, the
motion-man, for a puppet-player."


XVII.--ORIGIN OF PUPPET-PLAYS.

Previous to the invention of puppets, or rather to the incorporating of
them into companies, there were automatons that performed variety of
motions. The famous rood, or crucifix, at Boxley in Kent, described by
Lambarde, was a figure of this kind, which moved its eyes, and turned
its head whenever the monkish miracle workers required its assistance.
The jack of the clock-house, often mentioned by the writers of the
sixteenth century, was also an automaton, that either struck the hours
upon the bell in their proper rotation, or signified by its gestures
that the clock was about to strike. In a humorous pamphlet called
Lanthorn and Candle, or the Bellman's Second Walk, published at London,
1605, it is said, "The Jacke of the Clocke-house goes upon screws, and
his office is to do nothing but strike;" and in an old play still more
early, "He shakes his heade and throws his arms about like the Jacke of
the Clocke-house." The name of Jack of the Clock-house was also given
to a certain description of thieves. From these figures, I doubt not,
originated the more modern heroes of the puppet-show.


XVIII.--NATURE OF PERFORMANCES BY PUPPETS.

The puppet-shows usually made their appearance at great fairs, and
especially at those in the vicinity of the metropolis; they still[568]
continue to be exhibited in Smithfield at Bartholomew-tide, though with
very little traces of their former greatness; indeed, of late years,
they have become unpopular, and are frequented only by children. It is,
however, certain, that the puppet-shows attracted the notice of the
public at the commencement of the last century, and rivalled in some
degree the more pompous exhibitions of the larger theatres.[569] Powel,
a famous puppet-show man, is mentioned in one of the early papers of
the Spectator,[570] and his performances are humorously contrasted with
those of the Opera House. At the same time there was another
motion-master, who also appears to have been of some celebrity,
named Crawley; I have before me two bills of his exhibition, one for
Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair. These are preserved
in a miscellaneous collection of advertisements and title-pages
among the Harleian MSS.[571] The first of these bills runs thus: "At
Crawley's Booth, over against the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, during
the time of Bartholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called
the Old Creation of the World, yet newly revived; with the addition of
Noah's Flood; also several fountains playing water during the time of
the play.--The last scene does present Noah and his family coming out
of the Ark, with all the beasts two and two, and all the fowls of the
air seen in a prospect sitting upon trees; likewise over the ark is
seen the Sun rising in a most glorious manner: moreover, a multitude of
Angels will be seen in a double rank, which presents a double prospect,
one for the sun, the other for a palace, where will be seen six Angels
ringing of bells.--Likewise Machines descend from above, double and
treble, with Dives rising out of Hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's
bosom, besides several figures dancing jiggs, sarabands, and country
dances, to the admiration of the spectators; with the merry conceits
of squire Punch and sir John Spendall." This curious medley was, we
are told, "completed by an Entertainment of singing, and dancing with
several naked swords, performed by a Child of eight years of age." In
the second bill, we find the addition of "the Ball of little Dogs;" it
is also added, that these celebrated performers had danced before the
queen (Anne) and most of the quality of England, and amazed every body.


XIX.--GIANTS AND OTHER PUPPET CHARACTERS.

The subjects of the puppet-dramas were formerly taken from some well
known and popular stories, with the introduction of knights and giants;
hence the following speech in the Humorous Lovers, a comedy, printed
in 1617: "They had like to have frighted me with a man dressed up like
a gyant in a puppet-show." In my memory, these shows consisted of a
wretched display of wooden figures, barbarously formed and decorated,
without the least degree of taste or propriety; the wires that
communicated the motion to them appeared at the tops of their heads,
and the manner in which they were made to move, evinced the ignorance
and inattention of the managers; the dialogues were mere jumbles of
absurdity and nonsense, intermixed with low immoral discourses passing
between Punch and the fiddler, for the orchestra rarely admitted of
more than one minstrel; and these flashes of merriment were made
offensive to decency by the actions of the puppet. In the reign of
James II. there was a noted merry-andrew named Philips; "This man,"
says Granger, "was some time fiddler to a puppet-show; in which
capacity he held many a dialogue with Punch, in much the same strain
as he did afterwards with the mountebank doctor, his master upon
the stage. This zany, being regularly educated, had confessedly the
advantage of his brethren."[572]


XX.--PUPPET-PLAYS SUPPRESSED BY PANTOMIMES.

The introduction, or rather the revival of pantomimes, which indeed
have long disgraced the superior theatres, proved the utter undoing of
the puppet-show men; in fact, all the absurdities of the puppet-show,
except the discourses, are retained in the pantomimes, the difference
consisting principally in the substitution of living puppets for
wooden ones; but it must be confessed, though nothing be added to
the rationality of the performances, great pains is taken to supply
the defect, by fascinating the eyes and the ears; and certainly the
brilliancy of the dresses and scenery, the skilful management of
the machinery, and the excellence of the music, in the pantomimes,
are great improvements upon the humble attempts of the vagrant
motion-master.


XXI.--THE MODERN PUPPET-SHOW MAN.

In the present day, the puppet-show man travels about the streets when
the weather will permit, and carries his motions, with the theatre
itself, upon his back! The exhibition takes place in the open air; and
the precarious income of the miserable itinerant depends entirely on
the voluntary contributions of the spectators, which, as far as one may
judge from the square appearance he usually makes, is very trifling.

A few years back,[573] a puppet-show was exhibited at the court end of
the town, with the Italian title Fantoccini, which greatly attracted
the notice of the public, and was spoken of as an extraordinary
performance: it was, however, no more than a puppet-show, with the
motions constructed upon better principles, dressed with more elegance,
and managed with greater art, than they had formerly been.


XXII.--MOVING PICTURES.

Another species of scenic exhibition with moving figures, bearing
some distant analogy to the puppets, appeared at the commencement of
the last century. Such a show is thus described in the reign of queen
Anne, by the manager of a show exhibited at the great house in the
Strand, over against the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market; the best
places at one shilling, and the others at sixpence each: "To be seen,
the greatest Piece of Curiosity that ever arrived in England, being
made by a famous engineer from the camp before Lisle, who, with great
labour and industry, has collected into a moving picture the following
figures: first, it doth represent the confederate camp, and the army
lying intrenched before the town; secondly, the convoys and the mules
with prince Eugene's baggage; thirdly, the English forces commanded
by the duke of Marlborough; likewise, several vessels, laden with
provisions for the army, which are so artificially done as to seem to
drive the water before them. The city and the citadel are very fine,
with all its outworks, ravelins, hornworks, counter-scarps, half-moons,
and palisados; the French horse marching out at one gate, and the
confederate army marching in at the other; the prince's travelling
coach with two generals in it, one saluting the company as it passes
by; then a trumpeter sounds a call as he rides, at the noise whereof
a sleeping centinel starts, and lifts up his head, but, not being
espied, lies down to sleep again; besides abundance more admirable
curiosities too tedious to be inserted here." He then modestly adds,
"In short the whole piece is so contrived by art, that it seems to be
life and nature." These figures, I presume, were flat painted images
moving upon a flat surface, like those frequently seen upon the tops of
clocks, where a carpenter's shop, or a stone-mason's yard, are by no
means unusually represented. A juggler named Flockton, some few years
back, had an exhibition of this kind, which he called a grand piece of
clock-work. In this machine the combination of many different motions,
and tolerably well contrived, were at one time presented to the eye.

Pinkethman's Pantheon mentioned in the Spectator, was, I presume, an
exhibition something similar to that above described, and probably the
heathen deities were manufactured from pasteboard, and seated in rows
one above the other upon clouds of the same material; at least I have
seen them so fabricated, and so represented, about 1760, at a show in
the country, which was contrived in such a manner, that the whole group
descended and ascended with a slow motion to the sound of music.




CHAPTER III.

     1. The British Bards.--II. The Northern Scalds.--III. The
     Anglo-Saxon Gleemen.--IV. The Nature of their Performances.--V.
     A Royal Player with three Darts.--VI. Bravery of a Minstrel in
     the Conqueror's Army.--VII. Other Performances by Gleemen.--VIII.
     The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the Saxons.--IX.
     The Norman Minstrels, and their different Denominations, and
     professions.--X. Troubadours.--XI. Jestours.--XII. Tales
     and Manners of the Jesters.--XIII. Further Illustration of
     their Practices.--XIV. Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of
     the Minstrels.--XV. A Guild of Minstrels.--XVI. Abuses and
     Decline of Minstrelsy.--XVII. Minstrels were Satirists and
     Flatterers.--XVIII. Anecdotes of offending Minstrels, Women
     Minstrels.--XIX. The Dress of the Minstrels.--XX. The King of the
     Minstrels, why so called.--XXI. Rewards given to Minstrels.--XXII.
     Payments to Minstrels.--XXIII. Wealth of certain Minstrels.--XXIV.
     Minstrels were sometimes Dancing Masters.


I.--THE BRITISH BARDS.

The Britons were passionately fond of vocal and instrumental music:
for this reason, the bards, who exhibited in one person the musician
and the poet, were held in the highest estimation among them. "These
bards," says an early historian, "celebrated the noble actions of
illustrious persons in heroic poems which they sang to the sweet sounds
of the lyre;"[574] and to this testimony we may add another of equal
authority; "The British bards are excellent and melodious poets, and
sing their poems, in which they praise some, and censure others, to
the music of an instrument resembling a lyre."[575] Their songs and
their music are said, by the same writer, to have been so exceedingly
affecting, that "sometimes when two armies are standing in order of
battle, with their swords drawn, and their lances extended upon the
point of engaging in a most furious conflict, the poets have stepped
in between them, and by their soft and fascinating songs calmed the
fury of the warriors, and prevented the bloodshed. Thus, even among
barbarians," adds the author, "rage gave way to wisdom, and Mars
submitted to the Muses."


II.--THE NORTHERN SCALDS.

The scalds[576] were the poets and the musicians of the ancient
northern nations; they resembled the bards of the Britons, and
were held in equal veneration by their countrymen. The scalds were
considered as necessary appendages to royalty, and even the inferior
chieftains had their poets to record their actions and indulge their
vanity.


III.--THE ANGLO-SAXON GLEEMEN.

Upon the establishment of the Saxons in Britain, these poetical
musicians were their chief favourites; the courts of the kings, and
the residences of the opulent afforded them a constant asylum; their
persons were protected, and admission granted to them without the
least restraint. In the Anglo-Saxon language they were distinguished
by two appellations; the one equivalent to the modern term of gleemen
or merry-makers, and the other harpers, derived from the harp, an
instrument they usually played upon. Glıƿ or Gliᵹman; hence Gliᵹᵹamen,
glee-games, are properly explained in Somner's Lexicon, by merry
tricks, jests, sports, and gambols, which were expressive of their new
acquirements: Heaꞃpeꞃe, the appellation of harper, was long-retained
by the English rhymists. The gleemen added mimicry, and other means
of promoting mirth to their profession, as well as dancing and
tumbling, with sleights of hand, and variety of deceptions to amuse the
spectators; it was therefore necessary for them to associate themselves
into companies, by which means they were enabled to diversify their
performances, and render many of them more surprising through the
assistance of their confederates. In Edgar's oration to Dunstan, the
mimi, or minstrels, are said to sing and dance; and, in the Saxon
canons made in that king's reign, A.D. 960, (Can. 58.) it is ordered
that no priest shall be a poet, ꞅceop, or exercise the mimical or
histrionical art, in any degree, public or private.[577] Lye renders
the words "ne ænıᵹe Ƿıꞅan ᵹlıƿıᵹe," nec ullo modo scurram agat. Upon
this subject we shall have occasion to speak more fully hereafter.


IV.--NATURE OF THE PERFORMANCES BY THE GLEEMEN.

Representations of some of these pastimes are met with occasionally
in the early Latin and Saxon manuscripts; and where they do occur,
we uniformly find that the illuminators, being totally ignorant of
ancient customs and the habits of foreign nations, have not paid the
least regard to propriety in the depicting of either, but substituted
those of their own time, and by this means they have, without design on
their part, become the communicators of much valuable information. The
following observations upon two very early paintings will, I doubt not,
in great measure confirm the truth of this assertion.

[Illustration: 49. ANGLO-SAXON DANCE.--VIII. CENTURY.]

This engraving represents two persons dancing to the music of the
horn and the trumpet, and it does not appear to be a common dance in
which they are engaged; on the contrary, their attitudes are such as
must have rendered it very difficult to perform. On the next page is a
curious specimen of a performer's art.

[Illustration: 50. ANGLO-SAXON GLEEMAN--X. CENTURY.]

We here see a man throwing three balls and three knives alternately
into the air, and catching them one by one as they fall, but returning
them again in a regular rotation. To give the greater appearance
of difficulty to this feat, it is accompanied with the music of an
instrument resembling the modern violin. It is necessary to add, that
these two figures, as well as those dancing, previously exhibited, form
a part only of two larger paintings, which, in their original state,
are placed as frontispieces to the Psalms of David; and in both, the
artists have represented that monarch seated upon his throne in the act
of playing upon the harp or the lyre, and surrounded by the masters
of sacred music. In each the king is depicted considerably larger
than the other performers, a compliment usually paid to saints and
dignified persons; which absurdity has been frequently practised by
the more modern painters. The inferior figures form a sort of border
to the sides and bottom of the royal portrait. In addition to the four
figures upon the engraving, No. 49, and exclusive of the king, there
are four more, all of them instrumental performers; one playing upon
the horn, another upon the trumpet, and the other two upon a kind of
tabor or drum, which, however, is beaten with a single drum-stick:
the manuscript in which this illumination is preserved, was written
as early as the eighth century, and is in the Cotton Collection at
the British Museum.[578] The engraving, No. 50, is from a painting on
another manuscript in the same collection,[579] more modern than the
former by full two centuries, which contains four figures besides the
royal psalmist; the two not engraved are musicians: the one is blowing
a long trumpet supported by a staff he holds in his left hand, and
the other is winding a crooked horn. In a short prologue, immediately
preceding the psalms, we read as follows: "David, filius Jesse, in
regno suo quatuor elegit qui psalmos fecerunt, id est Asaph, Æman,
Æthan, et Idithun;" which may be thus translated literally, "David, the
son of Jesse, in his reign elected four persons who composed psalms,
that is to say, Asaph, Æman, Æthan, and Idithun." In the painting these
four names are separately appropriated, one to each of the four persons
there represented; the player upon the violin is called Idithun, and
Æthan is tossing up the knives and the balls.

I have been thus particular in describing these curious delineations,
because I think they throw much light upon the profession of the
Anglo-Saxon gleeman, and prove that his exhibitions were diversified at
a very early period; for the reader, I doubt not, will readily agree
with me, that dancing and sleights of hand were better calculated for
secular pastimes, than for accompaniments to the solemn performances of
sacred psalmody. The honest illuminators having no ideas, as I before
observed, of foreign or ancient manners, saw not the absurdity of
making the Jewish monarch a president over a company of Saxon gleemen;
they had heard, no doubt, that these persons, whose names they found
recorded in the book of Psalms, were poets and musicians; and therefore
naturally concluded that they were gleemen, because they knew no others
who performed in that double capacity but the gleemen: they knew also,
that these facetious artists were greatly venerated by persons of
the highest rank, and their company requested by kings and princes,
who richly rewarded them for the exercise of their talents, and for
this reason, conceived that they were proper companions for the royal
psalmist.


V.--A ROYAL PLAYER WITH THREE DARTS.

The sleight of casting up a certain number of sharp instruments into
the air, and catching them alternately in their fall, though part of
the gleeman's profession, was not entirely confined to this practice.
It is said of Olaf Fryggeson, one of the ancient kings of Norway, that
he could play with three darts at once, tossing them in the air, and
always kept two up while the third was down in his hand.[580] Our Saxon
joculator, however, has the advantage of the monarch by adding the
three balls, which of course must have made the trick more difficult to
be performed.


VI.--BRAVERY OF A MINSTREL IN THE CONQUEROR'S ARMY.

The celebrated minstrel Taillefer, who came into England with William
the Norman, was a warrior as well as a musician. He was present at the
battle of Hastings, and appeared at the head of the conqueror's army,
singing the songs of Charlemagne and of Roland; but previous to the
commencement of the action, he advanced on horseback towards the army
of the English, and, casting his spear three times into the air, he
caught it as often by the iron head; and the fourth time he threw it
among his enemies, one of whom he wounded in the body: he then drew his
sword, which he also tossed into the air as many times as he had done
his spear, and caught it with such dexterity, that those who saw him
attributed his manœuvres to the power of enchantment.

    L'un dit al altre ki co veit,
    Ke co esteit enchantement.[581]

After he had performed these feats he galloped among the English
soldiers, thereby giving the Normans the signal of battle; and in the
action it appears he lost his life.


VII.--OTHER PERFORMANCES BY GLEEMEN.

One part of the gleeman's profession, as early as the tenth century,
was, teaching animals to dance, to tumble, and to put themselves into
variety of attitudes, at the command of their masters.

[Illustration: 51. ANGLO-SAXON GLEEMEN'S BEAR DANCE.--X. CENTURY.]

This engraving is the copy of a curious though rude delineation, being
little more than an outline, which exhibits a specimen of this pastime.
The principal joculator appears in the front, holding a knotted switch
in one hand, and a line attached to a bear in the other; the animal is
lying down in obedience to his command; and behind them are two more
figures, the one playing upon two flutes or flageolets, and elevating
his left leg while he stands upon his right, supported by a staff that
passes under his armpit; the other dancing, in an attitude exceedingly
ludicrous. This performance takes place upon an eminence resembling
a stage made with earth; and in the original a vast concourse are
standing round it in a semicircle as spectators of the sport, but they
are so exceedingly ill drawn, and withal so indistinct, that I did not
think it worth the pains to copy them. The dancing, if I may so call
it, of the flute player, is repeated twice in the same manuscript. I
have thence selected two other figures.

[Illustration: 52. ANGLO-SAXON HARPER AND HOPPESTERE.--X. CENTURY.]

Here we see a youth playing upon a harp with only four strings, and
apparently singing at the same time, while an elderly man is performing
the part of a buffoon or posture master, holding up one of his legs,
and hopping upon the other to the music. Both these drawings occur
in a MS. psalter in the Harleian Collection,[582] written in Latin,
and apparently about the middle of the tenth century. It contains
many drawings, all of them exceedingly rude, and most of them merely
outlines. We shall have occasion farther on to speak more largely
concerning all these kinds of diversions.


VIII.--THE HARP USED BY THE SAXONS.

The bards and the scalds most assuredly used the harp to accompany
their songs and modulate their voices. The Saxon gleemen and joculators
followed their example, and are frequently called harpers for that
reason; but, at the same time, it is equally certain, that they were
well acquainted with several other instruments of music, as the violin,
or something very similar to it; pipes or flutes of various kinds;
horns and trumpets; to which may be added the tabor, or drum. The harp,
indeed, was the most popular, and frequently exercised by persons
who did not follow the profession of gleemen. We learn from Bede, an
unquestionable authority, that, as early as the seventh century, it
was customary at convivial meetings to hand a harp from one person to
another, and every one who partook of the festivity played upon it in
his turn, singing a song to the music for merriment sake.[583] Bede
says, Omnes per ordinem cantare debent; and king Alfred translates the
word cantare be heaꞃpan ꞅınᵹan, sing to the harp. The historian adds,
that Caedmon, not being acquainted with such sort of songs, gat up when
he saw the harp, cytharam, brought near him, and went home; the king
adds the reason, ðonne aꞃaꞅ he ꝼoꞃ ꞅceome, then arose he for shame, not
being able to comply with the general practice. Probably this was not
the practice when the professional harper was present, whose province
it was to amuse the company.


IX.--THE NORMAN MINSTRELS.

Soon after the Conquest, these musicians lost the ancient Saxon
appellation of gleemen, and were called ministraulx, in English
minstrels, a term well known in Normandy some time before. They were,
however, called harpers by the English rhymists; but the Norman name
minstrel was much more commonly used. As the minstrel's art consisted
of several branches, the professors were distinguished by different
denominations, as, "rimours, chanterres, conteours, jougleours or
jongleurs, jestours, lecours, and troubadours or trouvers;" in modern
language, rhymers, singers, story-tellers, jugglers, relaters of heroic
actions, buffoons, and poets; but all of them were included under the
general name of minstrel. In the Latin, ministerellus, or ministrallus,
is also called mimus, mimicus, histrio, joculator, versificator,
cantor, and scurra. An eminent French antiquary says of the minstrels,
that some of them themselves composed the subjects they sang or
related, as the trouvers and the conteurs; and some of them used the
compositions of others, as the jogleours and the chanteurs. He farther
remarks, that the trouvers may be said to have embellished their
productions with rhyme, while the contours related their histories in
prose; the jugleours, who in the middle ages were famous for playing
upon the vielle, accompanied the songs of the trouvers. The vielle
was a stringed instrument, sounded by the turning of a wheel within
it, resembling that which we frequently see about the streets played
by the Savoyards, vulgarly called a hurdy-gurdy. These jugleours were
also assisted by the chanteurs: and this union of talents rendered the
compositions more harmonious and more pleasing to the auditory, and
increased their rewards, so that they readily joined each other, and
travelled together in large parties.[584] It is, however, very certain,
that the poet, the songster, and the musician, were frequently united
in the same person.


X.--TROUBADOURS.

The Norman rhymers appear to have been the genuine descendants of the
ancient Scandinavian scalds; they were well known in the northern
part of France long before the appearance of the provincial poets
called troubadours, and trouvers, that is, finders, probably from the
fertility of their invention. The troubadours brought with them into
the north a new species of language called the Roman language, which in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries was commonly used in the southern
provinces of France, and there esteemed as the most perfect of any in
Europe. It evidently originated from the Latin, and was the parent
of the French tongue; and in this language their songs and their
poems were composed.[585] These poets were much admired and courted,
being, as a very judicious modern writer[586] says, the delight of
the brave and the favourites of the fair; because they celebrated the
achievements of the one and the beauties of the other. Even princes
became troubadours, and wrote poems in the provincial dialect; among
others, a monarch of our own country certainly composed verses of this
kind. The reader will, I doubt not, readily recollect the common story
of Richard I., who, being closely confined in a castle belonging to
the duke of Austria, was discovered by his favourite minstrel Blondel,
a celebrated troubadour, through the means of a poem composed by the
poet, in conjunction with his royal master. The story is thus related
in a very ancient French author, quoted by Claude Fauchet: Blondel,
seeing that his lord did not return, though it was reported that he had
passed the sea from Syria, thought that he was taken by his enemies,
and probably very evilly entreated; he therefore determined to find
him, and for this purpose travelled through many countries without
success: at last he came to a small town, near which was a castle
belonging to the duke of Austria; and, having learned from his host
that there was a prisoner in the castle who had been confined for
upwards of a year, he went thither, and cultivated an acquaintance
with the keepers; for a minstrel, says the author, can easily make
acquaintance. However, he could not obtain a sight of the prisoner,
nor learn his quality; he therefore placed himself near to a window
belonging to the tower wherein he was shut up, and sang a few verses
of a song which had been composed conjointly by him and his patron.
The king, hearing the first part of the song, repeated the second;
which convinced the poet, that the prisoner was no other than Richard
himself. Hastening therefore into England, he acquainted the barons
with his adventure, and they, by means of a large sum of money,
procured the liberty of the monarch.[587]


XI.--JESTOURS.

The conteurs and the jestours, who are also called dissours, and
seggers, or sayers, and, in the Latin of that time, fabulatores, and
naratores, were literally, in English, tale-tellers, who recited either
their own compositions or those of others, consisting of popular tales
and romances, for the entertainment of public companies, on occasions
of joy and festivity. Gower, a writer contemporary with Chaucer,
describing the coronation of a Roman emperor, says,

    When every ministrell had playde,
    And every dissour had sayde,
    Which was most pleasaunt in his ear.[588]

In a manuscript collection of Old Stories, in the Harleian Library, we
read of a king who kept a tale-teller on purpose to lull him to sleep
every night; but some untoward accident having prevented him from
taking his repose so readily as usual, he desired the fabulator to tell
him longer stories; who obeyed, and began one upon a more extensive
scale, and fell asleep himself in the midst of it.


XII.--TALES AND MANNERS OF THE JESTOURS.

The jestours, or, as the word is often written in the old English
dialect, gesters, were the relaters of the gestes, that is, the actions
of famous persons, whether fabulous or real; and these stories were of
two kinds, the one to excite pity, and the other to move laughter, as
we learn from Chaucer:[589]

    And jestours that tellen tales,
    Both of wepying and of game.

The tales of game, as the poet expresses himself, were short jocular
stories calculated to promote merriment, in which the reciters paid
little respect to the claims of propriety, or even of common decency.
The tales of game, however, were much more popular than those of
weeping, and probably for the very reason that ought to have operated
the most powerfully for their suppression. The gestours, whose
powers were chiefly employed in the hours of conviviality, finding
by experience that lessons of instruction were much less seasonable
at such times, than idle tales productive of mirth and laughter,
accommodated their narrations to the general taste of the times,
regardless of the mischiefs they occasioned by vitiating the morals of
their hearers; hence it is, that the author of the Vision of Pierce the
Ploughman calls them contemptibly "japers, and juglers, and janglers
of gests."[590] He describes them also as haunters of taverns and
common alehouses, amusing the lower classes of the people with "myrth
of minstrelsy and losels tales," loose vulgar tales, and calls them
tale-tellers and "tutelers in ydell," tutors of idleness, occasioning
their auditory, "for love of tales, in tavernes to drink," where they
learned from them to jangle and to jape, instead of attending to their
more serious duties, he therefore makes one to say,

    I can not parfitly my pater noster as the priest it singeth,
    But I can ryms of Roben Hode, and Randol erl of Chester
    But of our Lord or our Lady I lerne nothing at all:
    I am occupied every daye, holy daye, and other,
    With idle tales at the ale.[591]--

He then blames the opulent for rewarding these "devils dissours," as he
calls them, and adds,

    He is worse than Judas that giveth a japer silver.[592]

The japers, I apprehend, were the same as the bourdours, or rybauders,
an inferior class of minstrels, and properly called jesters in
the modern acceptation of the word; whose wit, like that of the
merry-andrews of the present day, consisted in low obscenity,
accompanied with ludicrous gesticulation. They sometimes, however,
found admission into the houses of the opulent. Knighton indeed
mentions one of these japers who was a favourite in the English court,
and could obtain any grant from the king "a burdando," that is, by
jesting. They are well described by the poet:

    As japers and janglers, Judas chyldren,
    Fayneth them fantasies, and fooles them maketh.[593]

It was a very common and a very favourite amusement, so late as the
sixteenth century, to hear the recital of verses and moral speeches,
learned for that purpose, by a set of men who obtained their livelihood
thereby, and who, without ceremony, intruded themselves, not only into
taverns and other places of public resort, but also into the houses of
the nobility.


XIII.--FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OF THEIR PRACTICES.

The different talents of the minstrels are sarcastically described by
an ancient French poet;[594] who, supposing a company of them assembled
in the hall of an opulent nobleman, says, the count caused it to be
made known to them, that he would give his best new scarlet robe to the
minstrel who should occasion the most merriment, either by ridiculous
words or by actions, la meillor truffe--dire ne faire. This proposal
occasioned them to strive with each other; some of them imitated the
imbecility of drunkards, others the actions of fools, some sang, others
piped, li autre note, which properly signifies the pricking, or writing
of musical notes, but it is also applied to the playing upon pipes
and other musical instruments by note; some talked nonsense, and some
made scurrilous jests; those who understood the juggler's art played
upon the vielle, cil qui sevent la jouglerie vielant; and here it may
be noted, that the vielle seems to have been an instrument of music
chiefly used by the jugglers; others of them depended on the narration
of quaint fables, which were productive of much laughter. So far the
poet; and, if his statement be not very distant from the truth, we
shall not wonder at the outcry of our moral and religious writers
against such a mean and mercenary set of men, who were ready at command
to prostitute their abilities to the worst of purposes, and encourage
the growth of immorality and dissipation; the charge indeed is heavy,
but I fear it will be found to stand upon a strong and permanent
foundation.


XIV.--PATRONAGE, PRIVILEGES, AND EXCESSES OF THE MINSTRELS.

There is great reason to conclude that the professors of music were
more generally encouraged, and of course more numerous in this
country, subsequent to the Norman conquest, than they had been under
the government of the Saxons. We are told, that the courts of princes
swarmed with poets and minstrels. The earls also and great barons, who
in their castles emulated the pomp and state of royalty, had their
poets and minstrels: they formed part of their household establishment;
and, exclusive of their wages, were provided with board, lodging, and
clothing by their patrons, and frequently travelled with them when they
went from home.

These minstrels, as well as those belonging to the court, were
permitted to perform in the rich monasteries, and in the mansions of
the nobility, which they frequently visited in large parties, and
especially upon occasions of festivity. They entered the castles
without the least ceremony, rarely waiting for any previous invitation,
and there exhibited their performances for the entertainment of the
lord of the mansion and his guests. They were, it seems, admitted
without any difficulty, and handsomely rewarded for the exertion of
their talents.

It was no uncommon thing with the itinerant minstrels to find admission
into the houses of the opulent. The Saxon and the Danish gleemen
followed the armies in the time of war, and had access to both the
camps without the least molestation. The popular story of king Alfred,
recorded by William of Malmsbury and other writers, may be mentioned
in proof of this assertion. He, it is said, assumed the character of
a gleeman, sub specie mimi--ut joculatoriæ professor artis,[595] and
entered the Danish camp, where he made such observations as were of
infinite service. To this we may add the authority of Ingulphus, whose
words are, singens se joculatorem, assumpta cithara, &c.[596] This
stratagem was afterwards repeated by Anlaff, or Aulaff, the Dane, who
was equally successful. He assumed, says the historian, professionem
mimi, the profession of the mimic, "who by this species of art makes a
daily gain;" and then adds, "being commanded to depart, he took with
him the reward for his song."[597]

The extensive privileges enjoyed by the minstrels, and the long
continuance of the public favour, inflated their pride and made
them insolent; they even went so far as to claim their reward by a
prescriptive right, and settled its amount according to the estimation
they had formed of their own abilities, and the opulence of the
noblemen into whose houses they thought proper to intrude. The large
gratuities collected by these artists not only occasioned great numbers
to join their fraternity, but also induced many idle and dissipated
persons to assume the characters of minstrels, to the disgrace of the
profession. These evils became at last so notorious, that in the reign
of king Edward II. it was thought necessary to restrain them by a
public edict, which sufficiently explains the nature of the grievance.
It states, that many indolent persons, under the colour of minstrelsy,
intruded themselves into the residences of the wealthy, where they had
both meat and drink, but were not contented without the addition of
large gifts from the householder. To restrain this abuse, the mandate
ordains, that no person should resort to the houses of prelates, earls,
or barons, to eat, or to drink, who was not a professed minstrel;
nor more than three or four minstrels of honour at most in one day,
meaning, I presume, the king's minstrels and those retained by the
nobility, except they came by invitation from the lord of the house.

Thus we read in the old romance of Launfel,

    They had menstrelles of moche honours,
    Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompoters.

The edict also prohibits a professed minstrel from going to the house
of any person below the dignity of a baron, unless invited by the
master; and, in that case, it commands him to be contented with meat
and drink, and such reward as the housekeeper willingly offered,
without presuming to ask for any thing. For the first offence the
minstrel lost his minstrelsy, and for the second he was obliged
to forswear his profession, and was never to appear again as a
minstrel.[598] This edict is dated from Langley, 6, an. 9 Edward II.
A.D. 1315.


XV.--A GUILD OF MINSTRELS.

In little more than a century afterwards, the same grievances became
again the subject of complaint; and in the ninth year of Edward IV.
it was stated, that certain rude husbandmen and artificers of various
trades had assumed the title and livery of the king's minstrels, and,
under that colour and pretence, had collected money in divers parts of
the kingdom, and committed other disorders; the king therefore granted
to Walter Haliday, marshal, and to seven others, his own minstrels,
named by him, a charter, by which he created, or rather restored,
a fraternity, or perpetual guild, such as the king understood the
brothers and sisters of the fraternity of minstrels to have possessed
in former time; and we shall see, a little further on, that the
minstrel's art, or part of it at least, was practised by females in the
time of the Saxons. This fraternity was to be governed by a marshal
appointed for life, the same office as that anciently possessed by
the king of the minstrels,[599] and two wardens, who were empowered
to admit members into the guild, and to regulate and govern, and
to punish, when necessary, all such as exercised the profession of
minstrels throughout the kingdom. The minstrels of Chester, who had by
charter several peculiar privileges, are excepted in this act.


XVI.--ABUSES AND DECLINE OF MINSTRELSY.

It does not appear that much good was effected by the foregoing
institution; it neither corrected the abuses practised by the
fraternity, nor retrieved their reputation, which declined apace
from this period. Under queen Elizabeth, the minstrels had lost the
protection of the opulent; and their credit was sunk so low in the
public estimation, that, by a statute in the thirty-ninth year of her
reign against vagrants, they were included among the rogues, vagabonds,
and sturdy beggars, and subjected to the like punishments. This edict
also affected all fencers, bearwards, common players of interludes
(with the exception of such players as belonged to great personages,
and were authorised to play under the hand and seal of their patrons),
as well as minstrels wandering abroad, jugglers, tinkers, and pedlars;
and seems to have given the death's wound to the profession of the
minstrels, who had so long enjoyed the public favour, and basked in
the sunshine of prosperity. The name, however, remained, and was
applied to itinerant fiddlers and other musicians, whose miserable
state is thus described by Putenham, in his Arte of English Poësie,
printed in 1589:[600] "Ballads and small popular musickes sung by
these cantabanqui upon benches and barrels heads, where they have none
other audience than boyes or countrye fellowes that passe by them in
the streete, or else by blind harpers, or such like taverne minstrels
that give a fit of mirth for a groat; and their matters being for the
most part stories of old time, as the tale of sir Topas, Bevis of
Southampton, Guy of Warwick, Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough, and
such other old romances or historical rhimes, made purposely for the
recreation of the common people at Christmas dinners and bride ales,
and in tavernes and alehouses, and such other places of base resort."
Bishop Hall, the satirist, adverts to the low estate of the minstrels
at this time, in the two last lines of the following couplet:

    Much better than a Paris-garden beare,
    Or prating puppet on a theatre,
    Or Mimoes whistling to his tabouret,
    Selling a laughter for a cold meales meat.[601]

It is necessary, however, to observe, that public and private bands
of musicians were called minstrels for a considerable time after this
period, and without the least indication of disgrace; but then the
appellation seems to have been confined to the instrumental performers,
and such of them as were placed upon a regular establishment:
the musicians of the city of London, for instance, were called
indifferently waits and minstrels.[602] In the reign of Henry VII.
there were musicians belonging to the royal household, called stryng
minstrels.

We hear of the itinerant musicians again in an ordinance from Oliver
Cromwell, dated 1656, during his protectorship, which prohibits "all
persons commonly called fidlers, or minstrells," from "playing,
fidling, and making music, in any inn, alehouse, or tavern;" and also
from "proffering themselves, or desireing, or intreating any one to
hear them play, or make music in the places aforesaid." The only
vestige of these musical vagrants now remaining, is to be found in the
blind fiddlers wandering about the country, and the ballad singers, who
frequently accompany their ditties with instrumental music, especially
the fiddle, vulgarly called a crowd, and the guitar. And here we may
observe, that the name of fiddlers was applied to the minstrels as
early at least as the fourteenth century: it occurs in the Vision of
Pierce the Ploughman,[603] where we read, "not to fare as a fydeler, or
a frier, to seke feastes." It is also used, but not sarcastically, in
the poem of Launfel.[604]


XVII.--MINSTRELS WERE SATIRISTS AND FLATTERERS.

The British bards employed their musical talents in the praise of
heroic virtue, or in the censure of vice, apparently without any great
expectation of reward on the one hand, or fear of punishment on the
other. The Scandinavian scalds celebrated the valiant actions of
their countrymen in appropriate verses; and sometimes accompanied the
warriors to the field of battle, that they might behold their exploits
and describe them with more accuracy. The gleemen of the Saxons
imitated their predecessors, and attached themselves to the persons
of princes and chieftains, and retained their favour by continual
adulation. The minstrels of the Normans trod in the same steps, but
seem to have been more venal, and ready at all times to flatter or to
satirize, as best suited their interest, without paying much regard to
justice on either side.


XVIII.--ANECDOTES OF OFFENDING MINSTRELS.

It is said of William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, chancellor and
justiciary of England, who was also the Pope's legate, and a great
favourite of Richard I., that he kept a number of poets in his pay, to
make songs and poems in his praise; and also, that with great gifts
he allured many of the best singers and minstrels from the continent,
to sing those songs in the public streets of the principal cities in
England.[605]

It was, on the other hand, a very dangerous employment to censure
the characters of great personages, or hold their actions up to
ridicule; for, though the satirist might be secure at the moment, he
was uncertain that fortune would not one day or another put him into
the power of his adversary, which was the case with Luke de Barra, a
celebrated Norman minstrel; who, in his songs having made very free
with the character of Henry I. of England, by some untoward accident
fell into the hands of the irritated monarch. He condemned him to have
his eyes pulled out: and, when the earl of Flanders, who was present,
pleaded warmly in his favour, the king replied: "This man, being a
wit, a poet, and a minstrel, composed many indecent songs against me,
and sung them openly to the great entertainment of mine enemies; and,
since it has pleased God to deliver him into my hands, I will punish
him, to deter others from the like petulance." The cruel sentence was
executed, and the miserable satirist died soon after with the wounds he
had received in struggling with the executioner.[606] The gratification
of a mean revenge is a strong mark of a little mind; and this
inhumanity reflects great discredit upon the king: it would have been
noble in him to have pardoned the unfortunate culprit.

Again, in the reign of king Edward II., at the solemnization of
the feast of Pentecost in the great hall at Westminster, when that
prince was seated at dinner in royal state, and attended by the peers
of the realm, a woman habited like a minstrel, riding upon a great
horse trapped in the minstrel fashion, entered the hall, and, going
round the several tables, imitated the gestures of a mimic,[607]
and at length mounted the steps to the royal table, upon which she
deposited a letter; and, having so done, she turned her horse, and
saluting all the company, retired. The letter was found to contain
some very severe reflections upon the conduct of the monarch, which
greatly angered him; and the actress, being arrested by his command,
discovered the author of the letter, who acknowledged the offence and
was pardoned; but the door-keeper, being reprimanded on account of her
admission, excused himself, by declaring it had never been customary to
prevent the entry of minstrels and persons in disguisements, upon the
supposition that they came for the entertainment of his majesty.[608]
This woman had probably assumed the habit of a man, and a female was
chosen on this occasion, according to the opinion of an eminent modern
author, Dr. Percy, bishop of Dromore,[609] because, upon detection,
her sex might plead for her, and disarm the king's resentment. It is,
however, certain that at this time, and long before it, there were
women who practised the minstrel's art, or at least some branches of
it. We read of the glee-maidens, or female minstrels, from ᵹılƿ-meꝺen
and ᵹlẏƿıenꝺe-maꝺen, in the Saxon records; and I believe, that their
province in general was to dance and to tumble, whence they acquired
the name of tomblesteres, from the Saxon ꞇumbıan, to dance or tumble,
and saylours, from salio, to leap or dance, in the time of Chaucer, who
uses both these denominations.[610]


XIX.--THE DRESS OF THE MINSTRELS.

It is very clear, that the minstrels wore a peculiar kind of dress by
which they might readily be distinguished: the woman above mentioned
is expressly said to have been habited like a mimic or a minstrel,
and by that means obtained admission without the least difficulty to
the royal presence. I remember also a story recorded in a manuscript,
written about the reign of Edward III., of a young man of family, who
came to a feast, where many of the nobility were present, in a vesture
called a coat bardy, cut short in the German fashion, and resembling
the dress of a minstrel. The oddity of his habit attracted the notice
of the company, and especially of an elderly knight, to whom he was
well known, who thus addressed him: "Where, my friend, is your fiddle,
your ribible, or such-like instrument belonging to a minstrel?" "Sir,"
replied the young man, "I have no crafte nor science in using such
instruments." "Then," returned the knight, "you are much to blame; for,
if you choose to debase yourself and your family by appearing in the
garb of a minstrel, it is fitting you should be able to perform his
duty."[611] On a column in Saint Mary's church at Beverley in Yorkshire
is the following inscription: "This pillar made the mynstrylls;"
its capital is decorated with five men in short coats, and one of
them holds an instrument like a lute.[612] The minstrels retained in
noblemen's families wore their lords' livery; and those appertaining to
the royal household did the same. The edict of Edward IV. against the
pretended minstrels, mentioned above, expressly says, that they assumed
the name, and the livery or dress, of the king's own minstrels.[613]
The queen had also minstrels in her service, who probably wore a
livery different from those of the king for distinction-sake. In a
computus of expences, an. 11 Edw. III. in the Cotton Library, is this
entry: "Johanni de Mees de Lorem. et Petro de Wurgund. ministrallis
dominæ reginæ, facientibus ministralsias suas coram domino rege apud
Eboracum;" for which they received from the king's own hand six
shillings and eight pence each.[614] The following lines, which are
somewhat to the purpose, occur in an old historical poem, in the
Harleian Collection: they relate to sir Edward Stanley, who is highly
praised by the author for his great skill in playing upon all kinds of
instruments:

    He stood before the kinge, doubtless this was true,
    In a fayre gowne of cloth of gold, and of tilshewe,
    Lyke no common mynstrel, to shew taverne mirth,
    But lyke a noble man, both of lands, and of birth.[615]

And again, in the history of John Newchombe, the famous clothier of
Newbury, usually called Jack of Newbury, it is said, "They had not
sitten long, but in comes a noise[616] of musicians in tawnie coats;
who, putting off their caps, asked if they would have any music?"

It appears that the minstrels sometimes shaved the crowns of their
heads like the monks, and also assumed an ecclesiastical habit; this
was probably an external garment only, and used when they travelled
from place to place. The succeeding anecdote will prove that the
ecclesiastics and the mimics were not always readily distinguished from
each other: Two itinerant priests coming towards night to a cell of the
Benedictines near Oxford, they there, upon the supposition of their
being mimics, or minstrels, gained admittance; but the cellarer, the
sacrist, and others of the brethren, disappointed in the expectation
they had formed of being entertained with mirthful performances, and
finding them to be nothing more than two indigent ecclesiastics, beat
them, and turned them out of the monastery.[617]


XX.--THE KING OF THE MINSTRELS.

The king's minstrel, frequently in Latin called joculator regis or the
king's juggler, was an officer of rank in the courts of the Norman
monarchs. He had the privilege of accompanying his master when he
journeyed, and of being near his person; and probably was the regulator
of the royal sports, and appointed the other minstrels belonging to the
household; for which reason, I presume, he was also called the king,
or chief of the minstrels. At what time this title was first conferred
on him does not appear: we meet with it, however, in an account of the
public expenditures made in the fifth year of Edward I.; at which time,
the king of the minstrels, whose name was Robert, received his
master's pay for military services.[618] The same name, with the same
title annexed to it, occurs again in a similar record, dated the fourth
year of Edward II.; when he, in company with various other minstrels,
exhibeted before the king and his court, then held in the city of
York; and received forty marks, to be by him distributed among the
fraternity.[619]

The title of royalty was not confined to the king's chief minstrel: it
was also bestowed upon the regent of other companies of musicians, as
we find in a charter granted by John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, to
the minstrels of Tutbury in Staffordshire. This document he addresses,
under his seal, at the castle of Tutbury, August 24, in the fourth year
of Richard II., to nostre bene ame le roy des ministraulx, his well
beloved the king of the minstrels; and concedes to him full power and
commission to oblige the minstrels belonging to the honour of Tutbury
to perform their services and minstrelsies in the same manner that
they had been accustomed to be done in ancient times.[620] In a ballad
intituled "The marriage of Robin Hood and Clorinda the Queen of Tutbury
Feast,"[621] written probably after the disgrace of the minstrels, this
officer is called the king of the fidlers. The poet supposes himself to
have been present at the wedding, and witness of the facts he relates;
and therefore he speaks thus:

    This battle was fought near to Titbury town,
      When the bagpipes baited the bull.
    I am king of the fidlers, and swear 'tis a truth,
      And I call him that doubts it a gull.

Claude Fauchet, a French author of eminence, before quoted, speaking
concerning the title of king, formerly given to many officers belonging
to the court, makes these observations: "I am well assured, the
word king signifies comptroller, or head, as the chief heralds are
called kings at arms, because it belonged solely to them to regulate
the ceremonies of the justs and tournaments." He then applies this
reasoning to the Roy des Ribaulx, an officer in the ancient court of
France;[622] and says, his charge was to clear the palace of indolent
and disorderly persons, who followed the court, and had no business
there; and had his title as king of vagabonds, because he was the
examiner and corrector of dissolute persons.[623] In like manner, I
presume, in this country, the king of the minstrels was the governor
and director of the fraternity over which he presided. The title was
dropped in the reign of Edward IV., and that of marshal became its
substitute.


XXI.--REWARDS GIVEN TO MINSTRELS.

In the middle ages, the courts of princes, and the residences of the
opulent, were crowded with minstrels; and such large sums of money
were expended for their maintenance, that the public treasuries were
often drained. Matilda, queen to Henry I., is said to have lavished the
greater part of her revenue upon poets and minstrels, and oppressed her
tenants to procure more.[624] She was, however, by no means singular
in so doing, as the invectives of the monks sufficiently demonstrate.
These selfish professors of religion grudged every act of munificence
that was not applied to themselves, or their monasteries; and could
not behold the good fortune of the minstrels without expressing their
indignation; which they often did in terms of scurrilous abuse, calling
them janglers, mimics, buffoons, monsters of men, and contemptible
scoffers. They also severely censured the nobility for patronizing and
rewarding such a shameless set of sordid flatterers, and the populace
for frequenting their exhibitions, and being delighted with their
performances, which diverted them from more serious pursuits, and
corrupted their morals.[625] On the other hand, the minstrels appear to
have been ready enough to give them ample occasion for censure; and,
indeed, I apprehend that their own immorality and insolence contributed
more to their downfall, than all the defamatory declamations of their
opponents. The ecclesiastics were mightily pleased with the conduct
of the emperor Henry III., because, at his marriage with Agnes of
Poictou, he disappointed the poor minstrels who had assembled in great
multitudes on the occasion, giving them neither food nor rewards, but
"sent them away," says a monkish author, "with empty purses, and
hearts full of sorrow."[626] But to go on.

The rewards given to the minstrels did not always consist in money, but
frequently in rich mantles and embroidered vestments: they received,
says Fauchet, great presents from the nobility, who would sometimes
give them even the robes with which they were clothed. It was a common
custom in the middle ages to give vestments of different kinds to
the minstrels. In an ancient poem, cited by Fauchet, called La Robe
Vermeille, or, The Red Robe, the wife of a vavaser, that is, one
who, holding of a superior lord, has tenants under him, reproaches
her husband for accepting a robe; "Such gifts," says she, "belong
to jugglers, and other singing men, who receive garments from the
nobility, because it is their trade:

    S'appartient à ces jorgleours,
    Et à ces autres chanteours,
    Quils ayent de ces chevaliers,
    Les robes car c'est lor mestier."[627]

These garments the jugglers failed not to take with them to other
courts, in order to excite a similar liberality. Another artifice they
often used, which was, to make the heroes of their poems exceedingly
bountiful to the minstrels, who appear to have been introduced for that
purpose: thus, in the metrical romance of Ipomedon, where the poet
speaks of the knight's marriage, he says--

    Ipomydon gaff, in that stound,
    To mynstrelles five hundred pound.[628]

The author of Pierce the Ploughman, who lived in the reign of Edward
III., gives the following general description of the different
performances of the minstrels, and of their rewards, at that period:

    I am mynstrell, quoth that man; my name is Activa Vita;
    All Idle iche hate,[629] for All Active is my name;
    A wafirer[630] well ye wyt; and serve many lordes,
    And few robes I get, or faire furred gownes.
    Could I lye, to do[631] men laugh; then lachen[632] I should
    Nother mantill, nor money, amonges lords minstrels:
    And, for[633] I can neither taber, ne trumpe, ne tell no gestes,
    Fartin ne fislen, at feastes, ne harpen;
    Jape, ne juggle, ne gentilly pype,
    Ne neither saylen ne saute,[634] ne singe to the gytterne,
    I have no good giftes to please the great lordes.

And, if we refer to history, we shall find that the poets are not
incorrect in their statement. Gaston earl of Foix, whose munificence
is much commended by Froissart, lived in a style of splendour little
inferior to that of royalty. The historian, speaking of a grand
entertainment given by this nobleman, which he had an opportunity
of seeing, says, "Ther wer many mynstrells, as well of his own,
as of straungers; and each of them dyd their devoyre, in their
faculties.[635] The same day the earl of Foix gave to the heraulds
and minstrelles the som of five hundred frankes; and gave to the duke
of Tourayn's minstrelles gownes of cloth of gold, furred with ermyne,
valued at two hundred frankes."[636]

Respecting the pecuniary rewards of the minstrels, we have, among
others, the following accounts. At the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter
of Edward I. to John earl of Holland, every king's minstrel received
forty shillings.[637] In the fourth of Edward II. Perrot de la Laund,
minstrel to lord Hugh de Nevill, received twenty shillings for
performing his minstrelsy before the king.[638] In the same year,
Janino la Cheveretter, who is called Le Tregettour,[639] was paid
at one time forty shillings, and at another twenty, for the same
service; and John le Mendlesham, the boy[640] of Robert le Foll, twenty
shillings;[641] the same sum was also given to John le Boteller, the
boy of Perrot Duzedeys, for his performances; and, again, Perrot
Duzedeys, Roger the Trumpeter, and Janino le Nakerer, all of them
king's minstrels, received from the king sixty shillings for the like
service.


XXII.--PAYMENTS TO MINSTRELS.

In the eighth year of Edward III., licence was granted to Barbor the
Bagpiper, to visit the schools for minstrels in parts beyond the
seas,[642] with thirty shillings to bear his expenses. Licence was also
granted to Morlan the Bagpiper, to visit the minstrels' schools; and
forty shillings for his expenses.[643] A little lower we find a present
of five shillings made by the king to a minstrel, for performing his
minstrelsy before the image of the Blessed Virgin.[644] In the eleventh
year of the same reign, John de Hoglard, minstrel to John de Pulteney,
was paid forty shillings for exhibiting before the king at Hatfield,
and at London;[645] and to Roger the Trumpeter, and to the minstrels
his associates, performing at the feast for the queen's delivery, held
at Hatfield, ten pounds.[646] In the ninth year of Henry VII. "Pudesay
the piper in bagpipes," received six shillings and eight pence from the
king, for his performance.[647] In the fourteenth year of his reign,
five pounds were paid to three stryng-mynstrels for wages, but the time
is not specified; in a subsequent entry, however, we find that fifteen
shillings were given to "a stryng-mynstrel, for one moneth's wages;"
also to a "straunge taberer, in reward, sixty-six shillings and eight
pence."[648]


XXIII--WEALTH OF CERTAIN MINSTRELS.

In the middle ages, the professors of minstrelsy had the opportunity of
amassing much wealth; and certainly some of them were men of property.
In Domesday Book, it appears that Berdic, the king's joculator, had
lands in Gloucestershire;[649] Raher, or Royer, mimus rex, the mimic,
or minstrel, belonging to Henry I., was the founder of the hospital
and priory of Saint Bartholomew, in West Smithfield;[650] and the
minstrels contributed towards building the church of Saint Mary, at
Beverley in Yorkshire, as the inscription on one of the pillars plainly
indicates;[651] though, it must be owned, their general character does
not bear the marks of prudence, as the reader must have observed in the
perusal of this section.


XXIV.--MINSTRELS SOMETIMES DANCING MASTERS.

It has already been observed, that the name of minstrels was frequently
applied to instrumental performers, who did not profess any other
branch of the minstrelsy. In an old morality called Lusty Juventus, it
is said,

    Who knoweth where is ere a minstrel?
    By the Masse, I would fayne go daunce a fit.[652]

This passage calls to my memory a circumstance recorded by Fauchet,
which proves that the minstrels were sometimes dancing masters. "I
remember," says he, "to have seen Martin Baraton, an aged minstrel of
Orleans, who was accustomed to play upon the tambourine at weddings,
and on other occasions of festivity. His instrument was silver,
decorated with small plates of the same metal,[653] on which were
engraved the arms of those he had taught to dance."




CHAPTER IV.

     I. The Joculator.--II. His different Denominations and
     extraordinary Deceptions.--III. His Performances ascribed
     to Magic.--IV. Asiatic Jugglers.--V. Remarkable Story from
     Froissart.--VI. Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of
     the Devil; but more reasonably accounted for.--VII. John Rykell,
     a celebrated Tregetour.--VIII. Their various Performances.--IX.
     Privileges of the Joculators at Paris.--The King's Joculator an
     Officer of Rank.--X. The great Disrepute of modern Jugglers.


I.--THE JOCULATOR.

The joculator, or the jugglour of the Normans, was frequently included
under the collective appellation of minstrel. His profession originally
was very comprehensive, and included the practice of all the arts
attributed to the minstrel; and some of the jugglers were excellent
tumblers. Joinville, in the Life of St. Louis and Charpentier, quotes
an old author, who speaks of a joculator, qui sciebat tombare.[654]
He was called a gleeman in the Saxon era, and answers to the juggler
of the more modern times. In the fourteenth century, he was also
denominated a tregetour, or tragetour, at which time, he appears to
have been separated from the musical poets, who exercised the first
branches of the gleeman's art, and are more generally considered as
minstrels.


II.--DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS OF THE JOCULATOR, AND HIS EXTRAORDINARY
DECEPTIONS.

The name of tregetours was chiefly, if not entirely, appropriated
to those artists who, by sleight of hand, with the assistance of
machinery of various kinds, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and
produced such illusions as were usually supposed to be the effect
of enchantment; for which reason they were frequently ranked with
magicians, sorcerers, and witches; and, indeed, the feats they
performed, according to the descriptions given of them, abundantly
prove that they were no contemptible practitioners in the arts of
deception. Chaucer, who, no doubt, had frequently an opportunity of
seeing the tricks exhibited by the tregetours in his time, says, "There
I sawe playenge jogelours, magyciens, trageteours, phetonysses,
charmeresses, olde witches, and sorceresses," &c.[655] He speaks of
them in a style that may well excite astonishment: "There are," says
he, "sciences by which men can delude the eye with divers appearances,
such as the subtil tregetours perform at feasts. In a large hall they
will produce water with boats rowed up and down upon it." In the
library of Sir Hans Sloane, at the British Museum, is a MS.[656] which
contains "an experiment to make the appearance of a flode of water
to come into a house." The directions are, to steep a thread in the
liquor produced from snakes' eggs bruised, and to hang it up over a
basin of water in the place where the trick is to be performed. The
tregetours, no doubt, had recourse to a surer method. Chaucer goes on
to say, "Sometimes they will bring in the similitude of a grim lion,
or make flowers spring up as in a meadow; sometimes they cause a vine
to flourish, bearing white and red grapes; or show a castle built with
stone; and when they please, they cause the whole to disappear." He
then speaks of "a learned clerk," who, for the amusement of his friend,
showed to him "forests full of wild deer, where he saw an hundred of
them slain, some with hounds and some with arrows; the hunting being
finished, a company of falconers appeared upon the banks of a fair
river, where the birds pursued the herons, and slew them. He then
saw knights justing upon a plain;" and, by way of conclusion, "the
resemblance of his beloved lady dancing; which occasioned him to dance
also." But, when "the maister that this magike wrought thought fit,
he clapped his hands together, and all was gone in an instante."[657]
Again, in another part of his works, the same poet says,

    There saw I Coll Tregetour,
    Upon a table of sycamour,
    Play an uncouthe thynge to tell;
    I sawe hym cary a wynde-mell
    Under a walnote shale.[658]


III.--THE JOCULATORS' PERFORMANCES ASCRIBED TO MAGIC.

Chaucer attributes these illusions to the practice of natural magic.
Thus the Squire, in his Tale, says,

    An appearance made by some magyke,
    As jogglours playen at their festes grete.

And again, in the third book of the House of Fame,

    And clerkes eke which conne well
    All this magyke naturell.

Meaning, I suppose, an artful combination of different powers of nature
in a manner not generally understood; and therefore he makes the Devil
say to the Sompner in the Friar's Tale, "I can take any shape that
pleases me; of a man, of an ape, or of an angel; and it is no wonder,
a lousy juggler can deceive you; and I can assure you my skill is
superior to his." I need not say, that a greater latitude was assigned
to what the poet calls natural magic in his days, than will be granted
in the present time.


IV.--ASIATIC JUGGLERS.

Sir John Mandevile, who wrote about the same period as Chaucer, speaks
thus of a similar exhibition performed before the Great Chan: "And
then comen jogulours, and enchauntours, that doen many marvaylles;"
for they make, says he, the appearance of the sun and the moon in the
air; and then they make the night so dark, that nothing can be seen;
and again they restore the day-light, with the sun shining brightly;
then they "bringen-in daunces, of the fairest damsels of the world, and
the richest arrayed," afterwards they make other damsels to come in,
bringing cups of gold, full of the milk of divers animals, and give
drink to the lords and ladies; and then "they make knyghts jousten in
armes fulle lustily," who run together, and in the encounter break
their spears so rudely, that the splinters fly all about the hall.[659]
They also bring in a hunting of the hart and of the boar, with hounds
running at them open-mouthed; and many other things they do by the
craft of their enchantments, that are "marvellous to see." In another
part he says, "And be it done by craft, or by nicromancy, I wot
not."[660]


V.--REMARKABLE STORY FROM FROISSART.

The foregoing passages bring to my recollection a curious piece of
history related by Froissart, which extends the practice of these
deceptions far beyond the knowledge of the modern jugglers. When,
says that author, the duke of Anjou and the earl of Savoy were lying
with their army before the city of Naples, there was "an enchaunter, a
conning man in nigromancy, in the Marches of Naples." This man promised
to the duke of Anjou, that he would put him in possession of the castle
of Leufe, at that time besieged by him. The duke was desirous of
knowing by what means this could be effected; and the magician said, "I
shall, by enchauntment, make the ayre so thicke, that they within the
castell will think there is a great brydge over the sea, large enough
for ten men a-breast to come to them; and when they see this brydge,
they will readily yeilde themselves to your mercy, least they should
be taken perforce." And may not my men, said the duke, pass over this
bridge in reality? To this question the juggler artfully replied, "I
dare not, syr, assure you that; for, if any one of the men that passeth
on the brydge shall make the sign of the cross upon him, all shall go
to noughte, and they that be upon it shall fall into the sea." The earl
of Savoy was not present at this conference; but being afterwards made
acquainted with it, he said to the duke, "I know well it is the same
enchaunter, by whom the queene of Naples and syr Othes of Bresugeth
were taken in this castle; for he caused, by his crafte, the sea to
seeme so high, that they within were sore abashed, and wend all to
have died;[661] but no confidence," continued he, "ought to be placed
in a fellow of this kind, who has already betrayed the queen for hire;
and now, for the sake of another reward, is willing to give up the man
whose bounty he has received." The earl then commanded the enchanter to
be brought before him; when he boasted that, by the power of his art,
he had caused the castle to be delivered to sir Charles de la Paye,
who was then in possession of it; and concluded his speech with these
words: "Syr, I am the man of the world that syr Charles reputeth most,
and is most in fear of." "By my fayth," replied the earl of Savoy, "ye
say well; and I will that syr Charles shall know that he hath great
wrong to feare you: but I shall assure hym of you, for ye shal never
do more enchauntments to deceyve hym, nor yet any other." So saying,
he ordered him to be beheaded; and the sentence was instantly put into
execution before the door of the earl's tent. "Thus," adds our author,
"ended the mayster enchantour: and so he was payed hys wages according
to his desertes."[662]


VI.--TRICKS OF THE JUGGLERS ASCRIBED TO INFERNAL AGENCY; BUT MORE
REASONABLY ACCOUNTED FOR.

Our learned monarch James I. was perfectly convinced that these,
and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours, could only be
performed by the agency of the Devil, "who," says he, "will learne
them many juglarie tricks, at cardes and dice, to deceive men's senses
thereby, and such innumerable false practiques, which are proved by
over-many in this age."[663] It is not, however, very easy to reconcile
with common sense the knowledge the king pretended to have had of the
intercourse between Satan and his scholars the conjurers; unless his
majesty had been, what nobody, I trust, suspects him to have been,
one of the fraternity. But, notwithstanding the high authority of a
crowned head in favour of Beelzebub, it is the opinion of some modern
writers, that the tricks of the jugglers may be accounted for upon much
more reasonable, as well as more natural, principles. These artists
were greatly encouraged in the middle ages; they travelled in large
companies, and carried with them, no doubt, such machinery as was
necessary for the performance of their deceptions; and we are all well
aware, that very surprising things may be exhibited through the medium
of a proper apparatus, and with the assistance of expert confederates.
A magic lanthorn will produce appearances almost as wonderful as some
of those described by sir John Mandevile, to persons totally ignorant
of the existence and nature of such a machine. The principles of
natural philosophy were very little known in those dark ages; and, for
that reason, the spectators were more readily deceived. In our own
times we have had several exhibitions that excited much astonishment;
such as an image of wax, suspended by a ribband in the middle of a
large room, which answered questions in various languages; an automaton
chess-player, that few professors of the game could beat;[664] and men
ascending the air without the assistance of wings: yet these phenomena
are considered as puerile, now the secrets upon which their performance
depends have been divulged. But, returning to the tregetour, we shall
find that he often performed his feats upon a scaffold erected for that
purpose; and probably, says a late ingenious writer,[665] received
his name from the trebuchet, or trap-door, because he frequently made
use of such insidious machines in the displayment of his operations.
Chaucer has told us, that Coll the tregetour exhibited upon a table;
and other authors speak of "juggling upon the boardes," which clearly
indicates the use of a stage or temporary scaffold. Now, let us
only add the machinery proper for the occasion, and all the wonders
specified in the foregoing passages may be reduced to mere pantomimical
deceptions, assisted by slight of hand, and the whole readily accounted
for without any reference to supernatural agency.


VII.--JOHN RYKELL, A CELEBRATED TREGETOUR.

In the fourteenth century, the tregetours seem to have been in the
zenith of their glory; from that period they gradually declined in
the popular esteem; their performances were more confined, and of
course became less consequential. Lidgate, in one of his poems,[666]
introduces Death speaking to a famous tregetour belonging to the court
of king Henry V. in this manner:

    Maister John Rykell, sometime tregitour
      Of noble Henry kinge of Englonde,
    And of France the mighty conqueror;
      For all the sleightes, and turnyng of thyne bonde,
      Thou must come nere this dance, I understonde;
    Nought may avail all thy conclusions,
      For Dethe shortly, nother on see nor land,
    Is not desceyved by no illusions.[667]

To this summons the sorrowful juggler replies:

    What may availe mankynde naturale?
      Not any crafte schevid[668] by apparance,
    Or course of steres above celestial[669],
      Or of heavens all the influence,
      Ageynst Deth to stonde at defence.
    Lygarde-de-mayne[670] now helpith me right noughte:
      Farewell, my craft and all such sapience;
    For Deth hath mo masteries[671] than I have wroughte.

In "The Disobedient Child," an old morality, or interlude, written by
Thomas Ingeland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, a servant, describing
the sports at his master's wedding, says,

    What juggling was there upon the boardes!
      What thrusting of knyves through many a nose!
    What bearynge of formes! what holdinge of swordes!
      What puttynge of botkyns throughe legge and hose![672]

These tricks approximate nearly to those of the modern jugglers, who
have knives so constructed, that, when they are applied to the legs,
the arms, and other parts of the human figure, they have the appearance
of being thrust through them; the bearing of the forms, or seats, I
suppose, was the balancing of them; and the holding of swords, the
flourishing them about in the sword-dance; which the reader will find
described in the succeeding chapter.


VIII.--VARIOUS PERFORMANCES OF THE JOCULATORS.

Originally, as we have before observed, the profession of the joculator
included all the arts attributed to the minstrels; and accordingly his
performance was called his minstrelsy in the reign of Edward II., and
even after he had obtained the appellation of a tregetour.[673] We
are well assured, that playing upon the vielle[674] and the harp, and
singing of songs, verses, and poems taken from popular stories;[675]
together with dancing, tumbling, and other feats of agility, formed a
principal part of the joculator's occupation at the commencement of the
thirteenth century; and probably so they might in the days of Chaucer.
Another part of the juggler's profession, and which constituted a
prominent feature in his character, was teaching bears, apes, monkeys,
dogs, and various other animals, to tumble, dance, and counterfeit the
actions of men: but we shall have occasion to enlarge upon this subject
a few pages farther on.

In a book of customs, says St. Foix,[676] made in the reign of Saint
Louis, for the regulation of the duties to be paid upon the little
chatelet at the entrance into Paris, we read, that a merchant, who
brought apes to sell, should pay four deniers; but, if an ape belonged
to a joculator, this man, by causing the animal to dance in the
presence of the toll-man, was privileged to pass duty-free, with all
the apparatus necessary for his performances: hence came the proverb,
"Pay in money; the ape pays in gambols." Another article specifies that
the joculator might escape the payment of the toll by singing a couplet
of a song before the collector of the duty.

Comenius, I take it, has given us a proper view of the juggler's
exhibition, as it was displayed a century and a half back, in a short
chapter entitled Prestigiæ, or Sleights.[677] It consists of four
divertisements, including the joculator's own performances; and the
other three are tumbling and jumping through a hoop; the grotesque
dances of the clown, or mimic, who, it is said, appeared with a mark
upon his face; and dancing upon the tight rope. The print at the head
of his chapter is made agreeably to the English custom, and differs a
little from the original description. In the latter it is said, "The
juggler sheweth sleights out of a purse." In the print there is no
purse represented; but the artist is practising with cups and balls in
the manner they are used at present. The tumbler is walking upon his
hands. The rope-dancing is performed by a woman holding a balancing
pole; and on the same rope a man, probably "clown to the rope," is
represented hanging by one leg with his head downwards. In modern
times, the juggler has united songs and puppet-plays to his show.


IX.--PRIVILEGES OF THE JOCULATORS AT PARIS--THE KING'S JOCULATOR.

The joculator regis, or king's juggler, was anciently an officer of
note in the royal household; and we find, from Domesday Book, that
Berdic, who held that office in the reign of the Conqueror, was a man
of property.[678] In the succeeding century, or soon afterwards, the
title of rex juglatorum, or king of the jugglers, was conferred upon
the chief performer of the company, and the rest, I presume, were under
his control. The king's juggler continued to have an establishment in
the royal household till the time of Henry VIII.;[679] and in his reign
the office and title seem to have been discontinued.


X.--GREAT DISREPUTE OF MODERN JUGGLERS.

The profession of the juggler, with that of the minstrel, had fallen
so low in the public estimation at the close of the reign of queen
Elizabeth, that the performers were ranked, by the moral writers of the
time, not only with "ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds;"
but also with "Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sorcerers;"[680] and,
indeed, at an earlier period they were treated with but little more
respect, as appears from the following lines in Barclay's Eclogues:

    Jugglers and pipers, bourders and flatterers,
    Baudes and janglers, and cursed adouteres.[681]

In another passage, he speaks of a disguised juggler, and a vile jester
or bourder;[682] by the word disguised he refers, perhaps, to the
clown, or mimic; who, as Comenius has just informed us, danced
"disguised with a vizard." In more modern times, by way of derision,
the juggler was called a hocus-pocus,[683] a term applicable to a
pick-pocket, or a common cheat; and his performances were denominated
juggling castes.[684]




CHAPTER V.

     I. Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's
     Profession.--II. Performed by Women.--III. Dancing connected
     with Tumbling.--IV. Antiquity of Tumbling--much encouraged.--V.
     Various Dances described.--VI. The Gleemen's Dances.--VII.
     Exemplification of Gleemen's Dances.--VIII. The Sword
     Dance--IX. Rope-Dancing and wonderful Performances on the
     Rope.--X. Rope-Dancing from the Battlements of St. Paul's.--XI.
     Rope-Dancing from St. Paul's Steeple.--XII. Rope-Dancing from
     All Saints' Church, Hertford.--XIII. A Dutchman's Feats on St.
     Paul's Weathercock.--XIV. Jacob Hall the Rope-Dancer.--XV.
     Modern celebrated Rope-Dancing.--XVI. Rope-Dancing at Sadler's
     Wells.--XVII. Fool's Dance.--XVIII. Morris Dance.--XIX.
     Egg Dance.--XX. Ladder Dance.--XXI. Jocular Dances.--XXII.
     Wire-Dancing.--XXIII. Ballette Dances.--XXIV. Leaping and
     Vaulting.--XXV. Balancing.--XXVI. Remarkable Feats.--XXVII. The
     Posture-Master's Tricks.--XXVIII. The Mountebank.--XXIX. The
     Tinker.--XXX. The Fire-Eater.


I.--JOCULATORS' DANCING.

Dancing, tumbling, and balancing, with variety of other exercises
requiring skill and agility, were originally included in the
performances exhibited by the gleemen and the minstrels; and they
remained attached to the profession of the joculator after he was
separated from those who only retained the first branches of the
minstrel's art, that is to say, poetry and music.


II.--WOMEN DANCERS AND TUMBLERS.

The joculators were sometimes excellent tumblers; yet, generally
speaking, I believe that vaulting, tumbling, and balancing, were not
executed by the chieftain of the gleeman's company, but by some of his
confederates; and very often this part of the show was performed by
females, who were called glee-maidens, Maꝺen-ᵹlẏƿıenꝺ, by the Saxons;
and tumbling women, tomblesteres, and tombesteres, in Chaucer, derived
from the Saxon word ꞇomban, to dance, vault, or tumble. The same poet,
in the Romance of the Rose, calls them saylours, or dancers, from the
Latin word salio. They are also denominated sauters, from saut in
French, to leap. Hence, in Pierce Ploughman, one says, "I can neither
saylen ne saute." They are likewise in modern language called balancing
women, or tymbesteres, players upon the tymbrel, which they also
balanced occasionally, as we shall find a little farther on. It is
almost needless to add, that the ancient usage of introducing females
for the performances of these difficult specimens of art and agility,
has been successively continued to the present day.


III.--DANCING CONNECTED WITH TUMBLING.

Dancing, in former times, was closely connected with those feats
of activity now called vaulting and tumbling; and such exertions
often formed part of the dances that were publicly exhibited by the
gleemen and the minstrels; for which reason, the Anglo-Saxon writers
frequently used the terms of leaping and tumbling for dancing. Both
the phrases occur in the Saxon versions of St. Mark's Gospel; where
it is said of the daughter of Herodias, that she vaulted or tumbled,
instead of danced, before king Herod.[685] In a translation of the
seventh century, in the Cotton Library,[686] it says she plæᵹeꝺe, ⁊
ᵹelıcaꝺe Heꞃoꝺe; she jumped, or leaped, and pleased Herod. In another
Saxon version of the eleventh century, in the Royal Library,[687] she
ꞇumbeꝺe, ⁊ hıꞇ lıcoꝺe Heꞃoꝺe; she tumbled, and it pleased Herod. A
third reads, Herodias' daughter ꞇumboꝺe þæꞃe, tumbled there, &c.[4]
These interpretations of the sacred text might easily arise from a
misconception of the translators, who, supposing that no common dancing
could have attracted the attention of the monarch so potently, or
extorted from him the promise of a reward so extensive as that they
found stated in the record; therefore referred the performance to some
wonderful displayments of activity, resembling those themselves might
have seen exhibited by the glee-maidens, on occasions of solemnity,
in the courts of Saxon potentates. We may also observe, that the like
explication of the passage was not only received in the Saxon versions
of the Gospel, but continued in those of much more modern date; and,
agreeably to the same idea, many of the illuminators, in depicting this
part of the holy history, have represented the damsel in the action of
tumbling, or, at least, of walking upon her hands. Mr. Brand, in his
edition of Bourne's Vulgar Antiquities, has quoted one in old English
that reads thus: "When the daughter of Herodyas was in comyn, and had
tomblyde and pleside Harowde." I have before me a MS. of the Harleian
Collection,[688] in French, in the thirteenth century, written by some
ecclesiastic, which relates to the church fasts and festivals. Speaking
of the death of John Baptist, and finding this tumbling damsel to have
been the cause, the pious author treats her with much contempt, as
though she had been one of the dancing girls belonging to a company of
jugglers, who in his time, it seems, were not considered as paragons
of virtue any more than they are in the present day. He says of her,
"Bien saveit treschier e tumber;" which may be rendered, "She was well
skilled in tumbling and cheating tricks." And accordingly we find the
following representation.

[Illustration: 53. HERODIAS TUMBLING.]

Herodias is so drawn in a book of Prayers in the Royal Library.[689]
There is the subjoined representation a century and a half earlier.

[Illustration: 54. HERODIAS TUMBLING WITH HER SERVANT.]

Her servant stands by her side. The drawing occurs in a series of
Scripture histories in the Harleian Collection,[690] written and
illuminated at the commencement of the thirteenth century.


IV.--ANTIQUITY OF TUMBLING.

The exhibition of dancing, connected with leaping and tumbling, for
the entertainment of princes and noblemen on occasions of festivity,
is of high antiquity. Homer mentions two dancing tumblers, who stood
upon their heads,[691] and moved about to the measure of a song,
for the diversion of Menelaüs and his courtiers, at the celebration
of his daughter's nuptials. It seems that the astonishment excited
by the difficulty of such performances, obviated the absurdity, and
rendered them agreeable to persons of rank and affluence. The Saxon
princes encouraged the dancers and tumblers; and the courts of the
Norman monarchs were crowded with them: we have, indeed, but few of
their exertions particularised; for the monks, through whose medium
the histories of the middle ages have generally been conveyed to us,
were their professed enemies: it is certain, however, notwithstanding
the censure promulgated in their disfavour, that they stood their
ground, and were not only well received, but even retained, in the
houses of the opulent. No doubt, they were then, as in the present day,
an immoral and dissolute set of beings, who, to promote merriment,
frequently descended to the lowest kinds of buffoonery. We read, for
instance, of a tumbler in the reign of Edward II. who rode before
his majesty, and frequently fell from his horse in such a manner,
that the king was highly diverted, and laughed exceedingly,[692] and
rewarded the performer with the sum of twenty shillings, which at
that period was a very considerable donation. A like reward of twenty
shillings was given, by order of Henry VIII., to a strange tumbler,
that is, I suppose, an itinerant who had no particular establishment;
a like sum to a tumbler who performed before him at lord Bath's; and
a similar reward to the "tabouretts and a tumbler," probably of the
household.[693] It should seem that these artists were really famous
mirth-makers; for, one of them had the address to excite the merriment
of that solemn bigot queen Mary. "After her majesty," observes Strype,
"had reviewed the royal pensioners in Greenwich Park, there came a
tumbler, and played many pretty feats, the queen and cardinal Pole
looking on; whereat she was observed to laugh heartily."[694]


V.--VARIOUS DANCES.

Among the pastimes exhibited for the amusement of queen Elizabeth
at Kenilworth castle, there were shown, as Laneham says, before her
highness, surprising feats of agility, by an Italian, "in goings,
turnings, tumblings, castings, hops, jumps, leaps, skips, springs,
gambauds, somersaults, caprettings, and flights, forward, backward,
sideways, downward, upward, and with sundry windings, gyrings, and
circumflections," which he performed with so much ease and lightness,
that words are not adequate to the description; "insomuch that I,"
says Laneham, "began to doubt whether he was a man or a spirit;" and
afterwards, "As for this fellow, I cannot tell what to make of him;
save that I may guess his back to be metalled like a lamprey, that has
no bone, but a line like a lute-string."[695] So lately as the reign of
queen Anne, this species of performance continued to be fashionable;
and in one of the Tatlers we meet with the following passage: "I went
on Friday last to the Opera; and was surprised to find a thin house at
so noble an entertainment, 'till I heard that the tumbler was not to
make his appearance that night."[696]

Three ancient specimens of the tumbler's art are subjoined.

[Illustration: 55. TUMBLING.--XIII. CENTURY.]

This engraving represents a woman bending herself backwards, from a MS.
of the thirteenth century, in the Cotton Library.[697]

[Illustration: 56. TUMBLING--XIV. CENTURY.]

In this second representation a man is performing the same feat, but in
a more extraordinary manner. The original is contained in a MS. in the
library of sir Hans Sloane.[698]

[Illustration: 57. TUMBLING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

This representation of a girl turning over upon her hands, is from a
MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.[699] Both these MSS. are of the
fourteenth century. Feats of activity by tumblers were then, as at
present, enlivened with music.


VI.--THE GLEEMEN'S DANCES.

It is not by any means my intention to insinuate, from what has been
said in the foregoing pages, that there were no dances performed by the
Saxon gleemen and their assistants, but such as consisted of vaulting
and tumbling: on the contrary, I trust it may be proved, that their
dances were varied and accommodated to the taste of those for whom the
performance was appropriated; being calculated, as occasion required,
to excite the admiration and procure the applause of the wealthy or the
vulgar.


VII.--EXEMPLIFICATION OF GLEEMEN'S DANCES.

We have already noticed a dance, represented by the engraving No. 50,
from a painting of the tenth century, the most ancient of the kind
that I have met with.[700] The crouching attitudes of the two dancers,
point out great difficulty in the part they are performing, but do not
convey the least indication of vaulting or tumbling. Attitudes somewhat
similar I have seen occur in some of the steps of a modern hornpipe.

[Illustration: 58. GLEEMEN'S DANCE.--IX. CENTURY.]

Here, also, we find a young man dancing singly to the music of two
flutes and a lyre; and the action attempted to be expressed by the
artist is rather that of ease and elegancy of motion, than of leaping,
or contorting of the body in a violent manner. It is evident that this
delineation, which is from a Latin and Saxon MS. of the ninth century,
in the Cotton Library,[701] was intended for the representation of
part of the gleeman's exhibition; for the designer has crowded into the
margin a number of heads and parts of figures, necessarily incomplete
from want of room, who appear as spectators; but these are much
confused, and in some places obliterated, so that they could not have
been copied with any tolerable effect. The dance represented by the
engraving No. 51, from a MS. of the ninth century,[702] in which the
musician bears a part, I take to be of the burlesque kind, and intended
to excite laughter by the absurdity of the gestures practised by the
performers; but that in the following engraving, from a MS. of the
fourteenth century, in the Royal Library,[703] has more appearance of
elegance.

[Illustration: 59. DANCING TO A BEAR.]

This dance is executed by a female; and probably the perfection of the
dance consisted in approaching and receding from the bear with great
agility, so as to prevent his seizing upon her, and occasioning any
interruption to the performance, which the animal, on the other hand,
appears to be exceedingly desirous of effecting, being unmuzzled for
the purpose, and irritated by the scourge of the juggler.


VIII.--THE SWORD-DANCE.

There is a dance which was probably in great repute among the
Anglo-Saxons, because it was derived from their ancestors the ancient
Germans; it is called the sword-dance; and the performance is thus
described by Tacitus:[704] "One public diversion was constantly
exhibited at all their meetings; young men, who, by frequent exercise,
have attained to great perfection in that pastime, strip themselves,
and dance among the points of swords and spears with most wonderful
agility, and even with the most elegant and graceful motions. They
do not perform this dance for hire, but for the entertainment of the
spectators, esteeming their applause a sufficient reward."[705] This
dance continues to be practised in the northern parts of England about
Christmas time, when, says Mr. Brand, "the fool-plough goes about; a
pageant that consists of a number of sword-dancers dragging a plough,
with music." The writer then tells us that he had seen this dance
performed very frequently, with little or no variation from the ancient
method, excepting only that the dancers of the present day, when they
have formed their swords into a figure, lay them upon the ground, and
dance round them.

I have not been fortunate enough to meet with any delineation that
accords with the foregoing descriptions of the sword-dance; but in a
Latin manuscript of Prudentius with Saxon notes, written in the ninth
century, and now in the Cotton Library,[706] a military dance of a
different kind occurs. It is exceedingly curious, and has not, that I
recollect, been mentioned by any of our writers. The drawing is copied
below.

[Illustration: 60. SWORD-DANCE.]

This drawing represents two men, equipped in martial habits, and each
of them armed with a sword and a shield, engaged in a combat; the
performance is enlivened by the sound of a horn; the musician acts in
a double capacity, and is, together with a female assistant, dancing
round them to the cadence of the music; and probably the actions of the
combatants were also regulated by the same measure.

Early in the last century, and, I doubt not, long before that period, a
species of sword-dance, usually performed by young women, constituted a
part of the juggler's exhibition at Bartholomew fair. I have before me
two bills of the shows there presented some time in the reign of queen
Anne. The one speaks of "dancing with several naked swords, performed
by a child of eight years of age;" which, the showman assures us, had
given "satisfaction to all persons." The other, put forth, it seems,
by one who belonged to Sadler's Wells, promises the company, that they
shall see "a young woman dance with the swords, and upon a ladder,
surpassing all her sex." Both these bills were printed in the reign
of queen Anne; the first belonged to a showman named Crawley;[707]
and the second to James Miles, from Sadler's Wells, who calls his
theatre a music booth, and the exhibition consisted chiefly of dancing.
The originals are in the Harleian Library.[708] About thirty years
back,[709] I remember to have seen at Flockton's, a much noted but
very clumsy juggler, a girl about eighteen or twenty years of age, who
came upon the stage with four naked swords, two in each hand; when the
music played, she turned round with great swiftness, and formed a great
variety of figures with the swords, holding them over her head, down by
her sides, behind her, and occasionally she thrust them in her bosom.
The dance generally continued about ten or twelve minutes; and, when
it was finished, she stopped suddenly, without appearing to be in the
least giddy from the constant reiteration of the same motion.


IX.--THE ROPE-DANCE.

This species of amusement is certainly very ancient. Terence, in the
prologue to Hecyra, complains that the attention of the public was
drawn from his play, by the exhibitions of a rope-dancer:

    Ita populus studio stupidus in funambulo
    Animum occupârat.

We are well assured, that dancing upon the rope constituted a part
of the entertainment presented to the public by the minstrels and
joculators; and we can trace it as far back as the thirteenth century:
but whether the dancers at that time exhibited upon the slack or tight
rope, or upon both, cannot easily be ascertained; and we are equally in
the dark respecting the extent of their abilities: but, if we may judge
from the existing specimens of other feats of agility performed by them
or their companions, we may fairly conclude that they were by no means
contemptible artists.

When Isabel of Bavaria, queen to Charles VI. of France, made her public
entry into Paris, among other extraordinary exhibitions prepared for
her reception was the following, recorded by Froissart, who was himself
a witness to the fact: "There was a mayster[710] came out of Geane; he
had tied a corde upon the hyghest house on the brydge of Saynt Michell
over all the houses, and the other ende was tyed to the hyghest tower
of our Ladye's churche; and, as the quene passed by, and was in the
great streat called Our Ladye's strete; bycause it was late, this sayd
mayster, wyth two brinnynge[711] candelles in hys handes, issued out
of a littel stage that he had made on the heyght of our Lady's tower,
synginge[712] as he went upon the cord all alonge the great strete,
so that all that sawe him hadde marvayle how it might be; and he bore
still in hys handes the two brinnynge candelles, so that he myght be
well sene all over Parys, and two myles without the city. He was such
a tombler, that his lightnesse was greatly praised." In the French,
"Molt fist d'appertices tant que la legierete de lui, et toutes ses
œuvres furent molt prisées;" "He gave them many proofs of his skill,
so that his agility and all his performances were highly esteemed."
The manner in which this extraordinary feat was carried into execution
is not so clear as might be wished. The translation justifies the idea
of his walking down the rope; but the words of Froissart are, "S'asbit
sur cel corde, et il vint tout au long de la rue;" that is, literally,
he seated himself upon the cord, and he came all along the street;
which indicates his sliding down, and then the trick will bear a close
resemblance to those that follow. But St. Foix, on the authority of
another historian, says, he descended dancing upon the cord; and,
passing between the curtains of blue taffety, ornamented with large
fleurs-de-lis of gold, which covered the bridge, he placed a crown upon
the head of Isabel, and then remounted upon the cord.[713]


X.--ROPE-DANCING FROM THE BATTLEMENTS OF ST. PAUL'S.

A performance much resembling the foregoing was exhibited before king
Edward VI. at the time he passed in procession through the city of
London, on Friday, the nineteenth of February, 1546, previous to his
coronation. "When the king," says the author, "was advanced almost to
St. George's church,[714] in Paul's church-yard, there was a rope as
great as the cable of a ship, stretched in length from the battlements
of Paul's steeple, with a great anchor at one end, fastened a little
before the dean of Paul's house-gate; and, when his majesty approached
near the same, there came a man, a stranger, being a native of Arragon,
lying on the rope with his head forward, casting his arms and legs
abroad, running on his breast on the rope from the battlements to the
ground, as if it had been an arrow out of a bow, and stayed on the
ground. Then he came to his majesty, and kissed his foot; and so, after
certain words to his highness, he departed from him again, and went
upwards upon the rope till he came over the midst of the church-yard;
where he, having a rope about him, played certain mysteries on the
rope, as tumbling, and casting one leg from another. Then took he the
rope, and tied it to the cable, and tied himself by the right leg a
little space beneath the wrist of the foot, and hung by one leg a
certain space, and after recovered himself again with the said rope and
unknit the knot, and came down again. Which stayed his majesty, with
all the train, a good space of time."[715]


XI.--ROPE-DANCING FROM ST. PAUL'S STEEPLE.

This trick was repeated, though probably by another performer, in the
reign of queen Mary; for, according to Holinshed, among the various
shows prepared for the reception of Philip king of Spain, was one of
a man who "came downe upon a rope, tied to the battlement of Saint
Paule's church, with his head before, neither staieing himself with
hand or foot; which," adds the author, "shortlie after cost him his
life."[716]


XII.--ROPE-DANCING FROM ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, HERTFORD.

A similar exploit was put in practice, about fifty years back,[717]
in different parts of this kingdom; I received the following account
of the manner in which it was carried into execution at Hertford from
a friend of mine,[718] who assisted the exhibitor in adjusting his
apparatus, and saw his performance several times: A rope was stretched
from the top of the tower of All Saints' church, and brought obliquely
to the ground about fourscore yards from the bottom of the tower,
where, being drawn over two strong pieces of wood nailed across each
other, it was made fast to a stake driven into the earth; two or three
feather beds were then placed upon the cross timbers, to receive
the performer when he descended, and to break his fall. He was also
provided with a flat board having a groove in the midst of it, which
he attached to his breast; and when he intended to exhibit, he laid
himself upon the top of the rope, with his head downwards, and adjusted
the groove to the rope, his legs being held by a person appointed for
that purpose, until such time as he had properly balanced himself. He
was then liberated, and descended with incredible swiftness from the
top of the tower to the feather-beds, which prevented his reaching
the ground. This man had lost one of his legs, and its place was
supplied by a wooden leg, which was furnished on this occasion with a
quantity of lead sufficient to counterpoise the weight of the other.
He performed this three times in the same day; the first time, he
descended without holding any thing in his hands; the second time, he
blew a trumpet; and the third, he held a pistol in each hand, which he
discharged as he came down.


XIII.--A DUTCHMAN'S FEATS ON ST. PAUL'S WEATHERCOCK.

To the foregoing extraordinary exhibitions we may add another equally
dangerous, but executed without the assistance of a rope. It was
performed in the presence of queen Mary in her passage through London
to Westminster, the day before her coronation, in 1553, and is thus
described by Holinshed:[719]

"When she came to Saint Paule's church-yard against the school master
Heywood sat in a pageant under a vine, and made to her an oration in
Latin; and then there was one Peter, a Dutchman, that stoode upon the
weathercocke of Saint Paul's steeple, holding a streamer in his hands
of five yards long, and waving thereof. He sometimes stood on one foot,
and shook the other, and then he kneeled on his knees, to the great
marvell of all the people. He had made two scaffolds under him; one
above the cross, having torches and streamers set upon it, and another
over the ball of the cross, likewise set with streamers and torches,
which could not burn, the wind was so great." The historian informs us,
that "Peter had sixteene pounds, thirteene shillings, and foure pence,
given to him by the citie for his costs and paines, and for all his
stuffe."


XIV.--JACOB HALL THE ROPE-DANCER.

In the reign of Charles II. there was a famous rope-dancer named Jacob
Hall, whose portrait is still in existence.[720] The open-hearted
duchess of Cleveland is said to have been so partial to this man, that
he rivalled the king himself in her affections, and received a salary
from her grace.


XV.--MODERN CELEBRATED ROPE-DANCING.

Soon after the accession of James II. to the throne, a Dutch woman
made her appearance in this country; and "when," says a modern author,
"she first danced and vaulted upon the rope in London, the spectators
beheld her with a pleasure mixed with pain, as she seemed every moment
in danger of breaking her neck." This woman was afterwards exceeded
by Signora Violante, who not only exhibited many feats which required
more strength and agility of body than she was mistress of, but had
also a stronger head, as she performed at a much greater distance from
the ground than any of her predecessors. Signor Violante was no less
excellent as a rope-dancer. The spectators were astonished, in the
reign of George II., at seeing the famous Turk dance upon the rope,
balance himself on a slack wire without a poise, and toss up oranges
alternately with his hands: but this admiration was considerably abated
when one of the oranges happened to fall, and appeared by the sound to
be a ball of painted lead. Signor and Signora Spinacuta were not
inferior to the Turk. "The former danced on the rope (in 1768) at the
Little Theatre in the Haymarket, with two boys tied to his feet. But
what is still more extraordinary, a monkey has lately performed there,
both as a rope-dancer and an equilibrist, such tricks as no man was
thought equal to before the Turk appeared in England."[721]


XVI.--ROPE-DANCING AT SADLER'S WELLS, &c.

During the last century, Sadler's Wells was a famous nursery for
tumblers, balance-masters, and dancers upon the rope and upon the wire.
These exhibitions have of late years lost much of their popularity: the
tight-rope dancing, indeed, is still continued there[722] by Richer, a
justly celebrated performer. This man certainly displays more ease and
elegance of action, and much greater agility, upon the rope, than any
other dancer that I ever saw: his exertions at all times excite the
astonishment, while they command the applause of the spectators.

I shall only observe, that the earliest representation of rope-dancing
which I have met with occurs in a little print affixed to one of the
chapters of the vocabulary of Commenius, translated by Hoole;[723]
where a woman is depicted dancing upon the tight-rope, and holding
a balance charged with lead at both ends, according to the common
usage of the present day;[724] and behind her we see a man, with his
hand downwards, and hanging upon the same rope by one of his legs.
This feat, with others of a similar kind, are more usually performed
upon the slack rope, which at the same time is put into motion; the
performer frequently hanging by one foot, or by both his hands, or in a
variety of different manners and attitudes; or by laying himself along
upon the rope, holding it with his hands and feet, the latter being
crossed, and turning round with incredible swiftness, which is called
roasting the pig.


XVII.--FOOL'S DANCE.

The fool's dance, or a dance performed by persons equipped in the
dresses appropriated to the fools, is very ancient, and originally, I
apprehend, formed a part of the pageant belonging to the festival of
fools. This festival was a religious mummery, usually held at Christmas
time; and consisted of various ceremonials and mockeries, not only
exceedingly ridiculous, but shameful and impious.[725] A vestige of the
fool's dance, preserved in a MS. in the Bodleian Library,[726] written
and illuminated in the reign of king Edward III. and completed in 1344,
is copied below.

[Illustration: 61. A FOOL'S DANCE.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In this representation of the dance, it seems conducted with some
degree of regularity; and is assisted by the music of the regals and
the bagpipes.[727] The dress of the musicians resembles that of the
dancers, and corresponds exactly with the habit of the court fool at
that period.[728] I make no doubt, the morris-dance, which afterwards
became exceedingly popular in this country, originated from the
fool's dance; and thence we trace the bells which characterised the
morris-dancers. The word morris applied to the dance is usually derived
from Morisco, which in the Spanish language signifies a Moor, as if
the dance had been taken from the Moors; but I cannot help considering
this as a mistake, for it appears to me that the Morisco or Moor dance
is exceedingly different from the morris-dance formerly practised in
this country; it being performed by the castanets, or rattles, at the
end of the fingers, and not with bells attached to various parts of
the dress. In a comedy called Variety, printed in 1649, we meet with
this passage: "like a Bacchanalian, dancing the Spanish Morisco, with
knackers at his fingers." This dance was usually, I believe, performed
by a single person, which by no means agrees with the morris-dance.
Sir John Hawkins[729] observes that, within the memory of persons
living, a saraband danced by a Moor constantly formed part of the
entertainment at a puppet-show; and this dance was always performed
with the castanets. I shall not pretend to investigate the derivation
of the word morris; though probably it might be found at home: it
seems, however, to have been applied to the dance in modern times, and,
I trust, long after the festival to which it originally belonged was
done away and had nearly sunk into oblivion.


XVIII.--MORRIS-DANCE.

The morris-dance was sometimes performed by itself, but was much more
frequently joined to processions and pageants, and especially to those
appropriated for the celebration of the May-games. On these occasions,
the Hobby-horse, or a Dragon, with Robin Hood, the maid Marian, and
other characters, supposed to have been the companions of that famous
outlaw, made a part of the dance. In latter times, the morris was
frequently introduced upon the stage. Stephen Gosson, who wrote about
1579, in a little tract entitled Playes Confuted, speaks of "dauncing
of gigges, galiardes, and morisces, with hobbi-horses," as stage
performances.

The garments of the morris-dancers, as we observed before, were
adorned with bells, which were not placed there merely for the sake of
ornament, but were to be sounded as they danced. These bells were of
unequal sizes, and differently denominated, as the fore bell, the
second bell, the treble, the tenor or great bell, and mention is also
made of double bells. In the third year of queen Elizabeth, two dozen
of morris-bells were estimated at one shilling.[730] The principal
dancer in the morris was more superbly habited than his companions,
as appears from a passage in an old play, The Blind Beggar of Bednal
Green, by John Day, 1659, wherein it is said of one of the characters,
"He wants no cloths, for he hath a cloak laid on with gold lace, and an
embroidered jerkin; and thus he is marching hither like the foreman of
a morris."

I do not find that the morris-dancers were confined to any particular
number: in the ancient representation of this dance given by the
engraving No. 61, there are five, exclusive of the two musicians. A
modern writer speaks of a set of morris-dancers who went about the
country, consisting of ten men who danced, besides the maid Marian, and
one who played upon the pipe and tabor.[731]

The hobby-horse, which seems latterly to have been almost inseparable
from the morris-dance, was a compound figure; the resemblance of the
head and tail of a horse, with a light wooden frame for the body, was
attached to the person who was to perform the double character, covered
with trappings reaching to the ground, so as to conceal the feet of
the actor, and prevent its being seen that the supposed horse had
none. Thus equipped, he was to prance about, imitating the curvetings
and motions of a horse, as we may gather from the following speech in
an old tragedy called the Vow-breaker, or Fair Maid of Clifton, by
William Sampson, 1636. "Have I not practised my reines, my carreeres,
my prankers, my ambles, my false trotts, my smooth ambles, and
Canterbury paces--and shall the mayor put me, besides, the hobby-horse?
I have borrowed the fore-horse bells, his plumes, and braveries;
nay, I have had the mane new shorn and frizelled.--Am I not going to
buy ribbons and toys of sweet Ursula for the Marian--and shall I not
play the hobby-horse? Provide thou the dragon, and let me alone for
the hobby-horse." And afterwards: "Alas, Sir! I come only to borrow
a few ribbandes, bracelets, ear-rings, wyertyers, and silk girdles,
and handkerchers, for a morris and a show before the queen--I come to
furnish the hobby-horse."


XIX.--THE EGG-DANCE.

I am not able to ascertain the antiquity of this dance. The indication
of such a performance occurs in an old comedy, entitled The longer thou
livest, the more Foole thou art, by William Wager,[732] in the reign of
queen Elizabeth, where we meet with these lines:

    Upon my one foote pretely I can hoppe,
    And daunce it trimley about an egge.

Dancing upon one foot was exhibited by the Saxon gleemen, and probably
by the Norman minstrels, but more especially by the women-dancers,
who might thence acquire the name of hoppesteres, which is given
by Chaucer. A vestige of this denomination is still retained, and
applied to dancing, though somewhat contemptuously; for an inferior
dancing-meeting is generally called a hop. A representation of the
dance on one foot, taken from a manuscript of the tenth century,
appears by the engraving No. 52,[733] where the gleeman is performing
to the sound of the harp.

Hopping matches for prizes were occasionally made in the sixteenth
century, as we learn from John Heywoode the epigrammatist. In his
Proverbs, printed in 1566, are the following lines:

    Where wooers hoppe in and out, long time may bring
    Him that hoppeth best at last to have the ring--
    --I hoppyng without for a ringe of a rushe.

And again, in the Four P's, a play by the same author, one of the
characters is directed "to hop upon one foot;" and another says,

    Here were a hopper to hop for the ring.

Hence it appears a ring was usually the prize, and given to him who
could hop best, and continue to do so the longest.

But to return to the egg-dance. This performance was common enough
about thirty years back,[734] and was well received at Sadler's Wells;
where I saw it exhibited, not by simply hopping round a single egg,
but in a manner that much increased the difficulty. A number of eggs,
I do not precisely recollect how many, but I believe about twelve or
fourteen, were placed at certain distances marked upon the stage; the
dancer, taking his stand, was blindfolded, and a hornpipe being played
in the orchestra, he went through all the paces and figures of the
dance, passing backwards and forwards between the eggs without touching
one of them.


XX.--THE LADDER-DANCE.

So called, because the performer stands upon a ladder, which he shifts
from place to place, and ascends or descends without losing the
equilibrium, or permitting it to fall. This dance was practised at
Sadler's Wells at the commencement of the last century, and revived
about thirty years back. It is still continued there[735] by Dubois,
who calls himself the clown of the Wells, and is a very useful actor,
as well as an excellent performer upon the tight-rope. In the reign
of queen Anne, James Miles, who declared himself to be a performer
from Sadler's Wells, kept a music-booth in Bartholomew Fair, where
he exhibited nineteen different kinds of dances; among them were a
wrestler's dance, vaulting upon the slack rope, and dancing upon the
ladder; the latter, he tells us, as well as the sword-dance, was
performed by "a young woman surpassing all her sex."[736]--An Inventory
of Playhouse Furniture, quoted in the Tatler[737] under the article,
Materials for Dancing, specifies masques, castanets, and a ladder of
ten rounds. I apprehend the ladder-dance originated from the ancient
pastime of walking or dancing upon very high stilts. A specimen of
such an exhibition is here given from a MS. roll in the Royal Library,
written and illuminated in the reign of Henry III.[738] The actor is
exercising a double function, that is, of a musician, and of a dancer.

[Illustration: 62. STILT DANCING.--XIII. CENTURY.]


XXI.--JOCULAR DANCES.

In the Roman de la Rose, we read of a dance, the name of which is not
recorded, performed by two young women lightly clothed. The original
reads, "Qui estoient en pure cottes, et tresses a menu tresse;" which
Chaucer renders, "In kyrtels, and none other wede, and fayre ytressed
every tresse." The French intimates that their hair was platted, or
braided in small braids. The thin clothing, I suppose, was used then,
as it is now upon like occasions, to show their persons to greater
advantage. In their dancing they displayed a variety of singular
attitudes; the one coming as it were privately to the other, and, when
they were near together, in a playsome manner they turned their faces
about, so that they seemed continually to kiss each other

    --------They threw yfere
    Ther mouthes, so that, through ther play,
    It semed as they kyste alway.--_Chaucer's translation_.

A dance, the merit of which, if I mistake not, consisted in the agility
and adroitness of the performer, has been noticed already, and is
represented by the engraving No. 51;[739] and likewise in No. 59,[740]
where a woman is dancing, and eluding the pursuit of a bear made angry
by the scourge of his master. The various situations of the actress and
the disappointment of the animal excited, no doubt, the mirth as well
as the applause of the spectators.

Many of the ancient dances were of a jocular kind, and sometimes
executed by one person: we have, for instance, an account of a man
who danced upon a table before king Edward II. The particulars of the
dance are not specified; but it is said, that his majesty laughed
very heartily at the performance: "Et lui fist tres grandement
rire."[741] It probably consisted of quaint attitudes and ridiculous
gesticulations. The king, however, was so delighted, that he gave a
reward of fifty shillings to the dancer, which was a great sum in those
days. A few years ago,[742] there was a fellow that used to frequent
the different public-houses in the metropolis, who, mounting a table,
would stand upon his head with his feet towards the ceiling, and make
all the different steps of a hornpipe upon it for the diversion of the
company. His method of performing was to place a porter-pot upon the
table, raised high enough for his feet to touch the ceiling, when his
head was upon the pot. I have been told that many publicans would not
permit him to come into their houses, because he had damaged their
ceiling, and in some places danced part of it down. An exhibition
nearly as ridiculous is here represented from a MS. in the Royal
Library.

[Illustration: 63. REMARKABLE DANCE.--XIII. CENTURY.]

Here we perceive a girl dancing upon the shoulders of the joculator,
who at the same time is playing upon the bagpipes, and appears to be in
the action of walking forwards.[743]


XXII.--WIRE-DANCING.

Wire-dancing, at least so much of it as I have seen exhibited, appears
to me to be misnamed: it consists rather of various feats of balancing,
the actor sitting, standing, lying, or walking, upon the wire, which
at the same time is usually swung backwards and forwards; and this, I
am told, is a mere trick, to give the greater air of difficulty to the
performance. Instead of dancing, I would call it balancing upon the
wire.


XXIII.--BALLETTE-DANCES.

The grand figure-dances, and ballettes of action, as they are called,
of the modern times, most probably surpass in splendour the ancient
exhibitions of dancing. They first appeared, I believe, at the
Opera-house; but have since been adopted by the two royal theatres, and
imitated with less splendour upon the summer stages. These spectacles
are too extensive by far in their operations, and too multifarious
to be described in a general work like this: suffice it to say, they
are pantomimical representations of historical and poetical subjects,
expressed by fantastical gestures, aided by superb dresses, elegant
music, and beautiful scenery; and sorry am I to add, they have nearly
eclipsed the sober portraitures of real nature, and superseded in the
public estimation the less attractive lessons of good sense.


XXIV.-LEAPING AND VAULTING.

There are certain feats of tumbling and vaulting that have no connexion
with dancing, such as leaping and turning with the heels over the head
in the air, termed the somersault, corruptly called a somerset. Mrs.
Piozzi, speaking of Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, and favourite of
James I., says, "and the sommerset, still used by tumblers, taken from
him."[744] The word, however, was in use, and applied by the tumblers
to the feat above mentioned, before the birth of Carr. There was also
the feat of turning round with great rapidity, alternately bearing upon
the hands and feet, denominated the fly-flap. In a satirical pamphlet,
entitled The Character of a Quack Doctor, published at London, 1676,
the empiric, boasting of his cures, says, "The Sultan Gilgal, being
violently afflicted with a spasmus, came six hundred leagues to meet me
in a go-cart: I gave him so speedy an acquittance from his dolor, that
the next night he danced a saraband with fly-flaps and somersets," &c.:
but this is evidently conjoining the three for the sake of ridicule.
The performance of leaping through barrels without heads, and through
hoops, especially the latter, is an exploit of long standing: we find
it represented in the annexed engraving from a drawing in an ancient
manuscript.

[Illustration: 64. A FEAT IN THE XIV. CENTURY.]

Two boys are depicted holding the hoop, and the third preparing to leap
through it, having deposited his cloak upon the ground to receive him.

William Stokes, a vaulting master of the seventeenth century, boasted,
in a publication called The Vaulting Master, &c. printed at Oxford
in 1652, that he had reduced "vaulting to a method." In his book are
several plates containing different specimens of his practice, which
consisted chiefly in leaping over one or more horses, or upon them,
sometimes seating himself in the saddle and sometimes standing upon
the same. All these feats are now[745] performed at Astley's, and at
the circus in St. George's Fields, with many additional acquirements;
and the horses gallop round the ride while the actor is going through
his manœuvres: on the contrary, the horses belonging to our vaulter
remained at rest during the whole time of his exhibition.

A show-bill for Bartholomew Fair, during the reign of queen Anne[746]
announces "the wonderful performances of that most celebrated master
Simpson, the famous vaulter, who, being lately arrived from Italy,
will show the world what vaulting is!" The bill speaks pompously: how
far his abilities coincided with the promise, I cannot determine, for
none of his exertions are specified. But the most extraordinary vaulter
that has appeared within my memory was brought forward in 1799, at
the Circus. He was a native of Yorkshire, named Ireland, then about
eighteen years of age, exceedingly well made, and upwards of six feet
high. He leaped over nine horses standing side by side and a man seated
upon the mid-horse; he jumped over a garter held fourteen feet high;
and at another jump kicked a bladder hanging sixteen feet at least
from the ground; and, for his own benefit, he leaped over a temporary
machine representing a broad-wheeled waggon with the tilt. These
astonishing specimens of strength and agility were performed, without
any trick or deception, by a fair jump, and not with the somersault,
which is usually practised on such occasions. After a run of ten or
twelve yards, he ascended an inclined plane, constructed with thick
boards, and about three feet in height at one end; from the upper
part of this plane he made his spring, and having performed the leap,
was received into a carpet held by six or eight men. I examined this
apparatus very minutely, and am well persuaded that he received no
assistance from any elasticity in the boards, they being too thick
to afford him any, and especially at the top, where they were made
fast to the frame that supported them; nor from any other kind of
artificial spring. It may readily be supposed that exertions of such
an extraordinary nature could not be long continued without some
disastrous accident; and accordingly, in the first season of his
engagement, he sprained the tendon of his heel so violently, that he
could not perform for nearly two years afterwards.


XXV.--BALANCING.

Under this head perhaps may be included several of the performances
mentioned in the preceding pages, and especially the throwing of three
balls and three knives alternately into the air, and catching them as
they fall, as represented by the engraving No 50, from a MS. of the
eighth century. This trick, in my memory, commonly constituted a part
of the puppet-showman's exhibition; but I do not recollect to have seen
it extended beyond four articles; for instance, two oranges and two
forks; and the performer, by way of conclusion, caught the oranges upon
the forks.

In the Romance of the Rose, we read of tymbesteres, or
balance-mistresses, who, according to the description there given,
played upon the tymbres, or timbrels, and occasionally tossing them
into the air, caught them again upon one finger. The passage translated
by Chaucer, stands thus:

    There was manye a tymbestere--
    --Couthe her crafte full parfytly:
    The tymbres up full subtelly
    They cast, and hent full ofte
    Upon a fynger fayre and softe,
    That they fayled never mo.[747]

Towards the close of last summer (1799) I saw three itinerant musicians
parading the streets of London; one of them turned the winch of an
organ which he carried at his back, another blew a reed-pipe, and the
third played on a tambourine; the latter imitated the timbesters above
mentioned, and frequently during the performance of a tune cast up
the instrument into the air three or four feet higher than his head,
and caught it, as it returned, upon a single finger; he then whirled
it round with an air of triumph, and proceeded in the accompaniment
without losing time, or occasioning the least interruption.


XXVI.--REMARKABLE FEATS OF BALANCING.

Subjoined are a few specimens of the ancient balance-master's art.

[Illustration: 65. BALANCING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

This engraving, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library,[748] represents a
girl, as the length of the hair seems to indicate, habited like a boy,
and kneeling on a large broad board, supported horizontally by two men;
before her are three swords, the points inclined to each other, and
placed in a triangular form; she is pointing to them with her right
hand, and holds in her left a small instrument somewhat resembling a
trowel, but I neither know its name nor its use.

[Illustration: 66. BALANCING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The man in this engraving, from a drawing in a MS. book of prayers
possessed by Francis Douce, esq., is performing a very difficult
operation: he has placed one sword upright upon the hilt, and is
attempting to do the like with the second; at the same time his
attitude is altogether as surprising as the trick itself. Feats similar
to

[Illustration: 67. BALANCING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

I have seen carried into execution, and especially that of balancing a
wheel.

[Illustration: 68. XIV. CENTURY.]

This was exhibited about the year 1799, at Sadler's Wells, by a
Dutchman, who not only supported a wheel upon his shoulder, but
also upon his forehead and his chin: and he afterwards extended the
performance to two wheels tied together, with a boy standing upon
one of them. The latter engravings are from the MS. in the Bodleian
Library just referred to. The following is from a MS. Psalter formerly
belonging to J. Ives, esq. of Yarmouth.

[Illustration: 69. BALANCING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In the middle of the eighteenth century, there was a very celebrated
balance-master, named Mattocks, who made his appearance also at the
Wells; among other tricks, he used to balance a straw with great
adroitness, sometimes on one hand, sometimes on the other; and
sometimes he would kick it with his foot to a considerable height,
and catch it upon his nose, his chin, or his forehead. His fame was
celebrated by a song set to music, entitled Balance a Straw, which
became exceedingly popular. The Dutchman mentioned above performed the
same sort of feat with a small peacock's feather, which he blew into
the air, and caught it as it fell on different parts of his face in a
very surprising manner.


XXVII.--THE POSTURE-MASTER.

The display of his abilities consisted in twisting and contorting his
body into strange and unnatural attitudes. This art was, in doubt,
practised by the jugglers in former ages; and a singular specimen of
it, delineated on the last mentioned Bodleian MS., in the reign of
Edward III., is here represented.

[Illustration: 70. A POSTURE-MASTER.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The performer bends himself backwards, with his head turned up between
his hands, so as nearly to touch his feet; and in this situation he
hangs by his hams upon a pole, supported by two of his confederates.

The posture-master is frequently mentioned by the writers of the
two last centuries; but his tricks are not particularised. The most
extraordinary artist of this kind that ever existed, it is said was
Joseph Clark, who, "though a well-made man, and rather gross than
thin, exhibited in the most natural manner almost every species of
deformity and dislocation; he could dislocate his vertebræ so as to
render himself a shocking spectacle; he could also assume all the
uncouth faces that he had seen at a Quaker's meeting, at the theatre,
or any other public place." To this man a paper in the Guardian
evidently alludes, wherein it is said: "I remember a very whimsical
fellow, commonly known by the name of the posture-master, in Charles
the Second's reign, who was the plague of all the tailors about town.
He would send for one of them to take measure of him; but would
so contrive it as to have a most immoderate rising in one of his
shoulders; when his clothes were brought home and tried upon him, the
deformity was removed into the other shoulder; upon which the taylor
begged pardon for the mistake, and mended it as fast as he could; but,
on another trial, found him as straight-shouldered a man as one would
desire to see, but a little unfortunate in a hump back. In short, this
wandering tumour puzzled all the workmen about town, who found it
impossible to accommodate so changeable a customer."[749] He resided
in Pall Mall, and died about the beginning of king William's reign.
Granger tells us he was dead in the year 1697.[750] There was also a
celebrated posture-master, by the name of Higgins, in the reign of
queen Anne, who performed between the acts at the theatre royal in
the Haymarket, and exhibited "many wonderful postures," as his own
bill declares:[751] I know no farther of him. In the present day, the
unnatural performances of the posture-masters are not fashionable, but
seem to excite disgust rather than admiration in the public mind, and
for this reason they are rarely exhibited.


XXVIII.--THE MOUNTEBANK.

I may here mention a stage-performer whose show is usually enlivened
with mimicry, music, and tumbling; I mean the mountebank. It is
uncertain at what period this vagrant dealer in physic made his
appearance in England: it is clear, however, that he figured away with
much success in this country during the two last centuries; he called
to his assistance some of the performances practised by the jugglers;
and the bourdour, or merry-andrew, seems to have been his inseparable
companion: hence it is said in an old ballad, entitled Sundry Trades
and Callings,

    A mountebank without his fool
      Is in a sorrowful case.

The mountebanks usually preface the vending of their medicines with
pompous orations, in which they pay as little regard to truth as to
propriety. Shakspeare speaks of these wandering empirics in very
disrespectful terms:

    As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
    Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
    And many such like libertines of sin.

In the reign of James II. "Hans Buling, a Dutchman, was well known in
London as a mountebank. He was," says Granger,[752] "an odd figure of
a man, and extremely fantastical in his dress; he was attended by a
monkey, which he had trained to act the part of a jack-pudding, a part
which he had formerly acted himself, and which was more natural to him
than that of a professor of physic." The ignorance and the impudence
of the mountebanks are ridiculed in the Spectator, and especially in
that paper which concludes with an anecdote of one who exhibited at
Hammersmith.[753] He told his audience that he had been "born and bred
there, and, having a special regard for the place of his nativity, he
was determined to make a present of five shillings to as many as would
accept it: the whole crowd stood agape, and ready to take the doctor
at his word; when, putting his hand into a long bag, as every one was
expecting his crown-piece, he drew out a handful of little packets,
each of which, he informed the spectators, was constantly sold for five
shillings and sixpence, but that he would bate the odd five shillings
to every inhabitant of that place. The whole assembly immediately
closed with this generous offer, and took off all his physic, after the
doctor had made them vouch that there were no foreigners among them,
but that they were all Hammersmith men."


XXIX.--THE TINKER.

Another itinerant, who seems in some degree to have rivalled the
lower classes of the jugglers, was the tinker; and accordingly he is
included, with them and the minstrels, in the act against vagrants
established by the authority of queen Elizabeth.[754] His performances
were usually exhibited at fairs, wakes, and other places of public
resort: they consisted in low buffoonery and ludicrous tricks to engage
the attention and move the laughter of the populace. Some of them are
specified in the following speech from The Two Maides of Moreclacke, an
old dramatic performance, printed in 1609: "This, madame, is the tinker
of Twitnam. I have seene him licke out burning firebrands with his
tongue, drink two-pence from the bottome of a full pottle of ale, fight
with a masty,[755] and stroke his mustachoes with his bloody-bitten
fist, and sing as merrily as the soberest querester."


XXX.--THE FIRE-EATER.

The first article in the foregoing quotation brings to my recollection
the extraordinary performances of a professed fire-eater, whose name
was Powel, well known in different parts of the kingdom about forty
years ago. Among other wonderful feats, I saw him do the following:--He
ate the burning coals from the fire; he put a large bunch of matches
lighted into his mouth, and blew the smoke of the sulphur through his
nostrils; he carried a red-hot heater round the room in his teeth; and
broiled a piece of beef-steak upon his tongue. To perform this, he
lighted a piece of charcoal, which he put into his mouth beneath his
tongue, the beef was laid upon the top; and one of the spectators blew
upon the charcoal, to prevent the heat decreasing, till the meat was
sufficiently broiled. By way of conclusion, he made a composition of
pitch, brimstone, and other combustibles, to which he added several
pieces of lead; the whole was melted in an iron ladle, and then set on
fire; this he called his soup; and, taking it out of the ladle with
a spoon of the same metal, he ate it in its state of liquefaction,
and blazing furiously, without appearing to sustain the least injury.
And here we may add the whimsical trickery of a contemporary artist,
equal to the above in celebrity, who amused the public, and filled his
pockets, by eating stones, which, it is, said he absolutely cracked
between his teeth, and afterwards swallowed.




CHAPTER VI.

     I. Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers.--Tricks performed by
     Bears.--II. Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys.--III. By Horses
     among the Sybarites.--IV. In the thirteenth Century.--V. In Queen
     Anne's Reign.--VI. Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's, the
     Circus, &c.--VII. Dancing Dogs.--VIII. The Hare beating a Tabor,
     and learned Pig.--IX. A Dancing Cock.--The Deserter Bird.--X.
     Imitations of Animals.--XI. Mummings and Masquerades.--XII.
     Mumming to Royal Personages.--XIII. Partial Imitations of
     Animals.--XIV. The Horse in the Morris-dance.--XV. Counterfeit
     Voices of Animals.--XVI. Animals trained for Baiting.--XVII.
     Paris Garden.--XVIII. Bull and Bear Baiting patronised by
     Royalty.--XIX. How performed.--XX. Bears and Bear-wards.--XXI.
     Baiting in Queen Anne's time.--XXII. Sword Play, &c.--XXIII.
     Public Sword Play.--XXIV. Quarter Staff.--XXV. Wrestling, &c. in
     Bear Gardens--XXVI. Extraordinary Trial of Strength.


I. ANIMALS HOW TUTORED BY JUGGLER

One great part of the joculator's profession was the teaching of bears,
apes, horses, dogs, and other animals, to imitate the actions of men,
to tumble, to dance, and to perform a variety of tricks, contrary
to their nature; and sometimes he learned himself to counterfeit
the gestures and articulations of the brutes. The engravings which
accompany this chapter relate to both these modes of diverting the
public, and prove the invention of them to be more ancient than is
generally supposed. The tutored bear lying down at the command of his
master, represented by the engraving No. 51,[756] is taken from a
manuscript of the tenth century; and the bear in No. 59[757] is from
another of the fourteenth. I have already had occasion to mention these
two delineations; and the two following, from a manuscript in the
Bodleian Library,[758] require no explanation.

[Illustration: 71. TUTORED BEAR.--XIV. CENTURY.]

[Illustration: 72. TUTORED BEAR.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The next represents

[Illustration: 73. A BEAR STANDING ON HIS HEAD.]

This and the following are from a book of prayers in the Harleian
Collection,[759] written towards the close of the thirteenth century.

[Illustration: 74. BEAR AND MONKEY.]

I shall only observe, that there is but one among these six drawings in
which the animal is depicted with a muzzle to prevent him from biting.
The dancing bears have retained their place to the present time, and
they frequently perform in the public streets for the amusement of
the multitude; but the miserable appearance of their masters plainly
indicates the scantiness of the contributions they receive on these
occasions.


II.--TRICKS PERFORMED BY APES AND MONKEYS.

Thomas Cartwright, in his Admonition to Parliament against the Use
of the Common Prayer, published in 1572, says, "If there be a bear
or a bull to be baited in the afternoon, or a jackanapes to ride on
horseback, the minister hurries the service over in a shameful manner,
in order to be present at the show." We are not, however, hereby to
conceive, that these amusements were more sought after or encouraged
in England than they were abroad. "Our kings," says St. Foix, in his
History of Paris, "at their coronations, their marriages, and at
the baptism of their children, or at the creation of noblemen and
knights, kept open court; and the palace was crowded on such occasions
with cheats, buffoons, rope-dancers, tale-tellers, jugglers, and
pantomimical performers. They call those," says he, "jugglers, who play
upon the vielle, and teach apes, bears," and perhaps we may add, dogs,
"to dance."[760]

Apes and monkeys seem always to have been favourite actors in the
joculator's troop of animals. A specimen of the performance of a
monkey, as far back as the fourteenth century, is represented by the
last engraving; and the following is from another of the same date,
already referred to, in the Bodleian Library.[761]

[Illustration: 75. A TUMBLING APE.]

Leaping or tumbling over a chain or cord held by the juggler, as
we here see it depicted, was a trick well received at Bartholomew
fair in the time of Ben Jonson; and in the induction, or prologue,
to a comedy written by him, which bears that title, in 1614, it is
said, "He," meaning the author, "has ne're a sword and buckler man in
his fayre; nor a juggler with a well educated ape to come over the
chaine for the king of England, and back again for the prince, and
sit still on his haunches for the pope and the king of Spaine." In
recent times, and probably in more ancient times also, these facetious
mimics of mankind were taught to dance upon the rope, and to perform
the part of the balance-masters. In the reign of queen Anne, there
was exhibited at Charing Cross, "a wild hairy man," who, we are told,
danced upon the tight rope "with a balance, true to the music;" he
also "walked upon the slack rope" while it was swinging, and drank a
glass of ale; he "pulled off his hat, and paid his respects to the
company;" and "smoaked tobacco," according to the bill, "as well as
any Christian."[762] But all these feats were afterwards outdone by a
brother monkey, mentioned before, who performed many wonderful tricks
at the Haymarket theatre, both as a rope-dancer and an equilibrist.[763]


III.--TRICKS PERFORMED BY HORSES AMONG THE SYBARITES.

The people of Sybaris, a city in Calabria, are proverbial on account
of their effeminacy; and it is said that they taught their horses to
dance to the music of the pipe; for which reason, their enemies the
Crotonians, at a time when they were at war with them, brought a great
number of pipers into the field, and at the commencement of the battle,
they played upon their pipes; the Sybarian horses, hearing the sound of
the music, began to dance; and their riders, unable to manage them as
they ought to have done, were thrown into confusion, and defeated with
prodigious slaughter. This circumstance is mentioned by Aristotle; and,
if not strictly true, proves, at least that the teaching of animals to
exceed the bounds of action prescribed by nature was not unknown to the
ancients.[764]


IV.--TRICKS PERFORMED BY HORSES IN THE XIII. CENTURY.

We are told that, in the thirteenth century, a horse was exhibited
by the joculators, which danced upon a rope; and oxen were rendered
so docile as to ride upon horses, holding trumpets to their mouths
as though they were sounding them.[765] Accordingly we find the
representation of several surprising tricks performed by horses, far
exceeding those displayed in the present day. A manuscript of the
fourteenth century, in the Royal Library,[766] contains the following
cruel diversion:

[Illustration: 76. A HORSE BAITED WITH DOGS.]

Another manuscript, more ancient by at least half a century, in the
same collection, represents

[Illustration: 77. A HORSE DANCING TO THE PIPE AND TABOR.]

In the often cited Bodleian MS.[767] of the fourteenth century, is

[Illustration: 78. ANOTHER HORSE.]

Here the horse is rearing up and attacking the joculator, who opposes
him with a small shield and a cudgel. These mock combats, to which the
animals were properly trained, were constantly regulated by some kind
of musical instrument. The two following performances, also delineated
from the last mentioned manuscript, are more astonishing than those
preceding them.

[Illustration: 79. HORSE AND TABOR.]

In this instance, the horse is standing upon his hinder feet, and
beating with his fore feet upon a kind of tabor or drum held by his
master. In the following is the same

[Illustration: 80. HORSE AND TABOR.]

The animal is exhibiting a similar trick with his hinder feet, and
supports himself upon his fore feet. The original drawings, represented
by these engravings, are all of them upwards of four hundred and fifty
years old; and at the time in which they were made the joculators were
in full possession of the public favour.

Here it is deemed worthy to note, that in the year 1612, at a grand
court festival, Mons. Pluvinel, riding-master to Louis XIII. of France,
with three other gentlemen, accompanied by six esquires bearing their
devices, executed a grand ballette-dance upon managed horses.[768]
Something of the same kind is done[769] at Astley's and the Circus;
but at these places the dancing is performed by the horses moving upon
their four feet according to the direction of their riders; and of
course it is by no means so surprising as that exhibited by the latter
engravings.


V.--TRICKS BY HORSES IN QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN.

Horses are animals exceedingly susceptible of instruction, and their
performances have been extended so far as to bear the appearance of
rational discernment. In the Harleian Library[770] is a show-bill,
published in the reign of queen Anne, which is thus prefaced: "To be
seen, at the Ship upon Great Tower Hill, the finest taught horse in
the world." The abilities of the animal are specified as follows:
"He fetches and carries like a spaniel dog. If you hide a glove, a
handkerchief, a door key, a pewter bason, or so small a thing as a
silver two-pence, he will seek about the room till he has found it;
and then he will bring it to his master. He will also tell the number
of spots on a card, and leap through a hoop; with a variety of other
curious performances." And we may, I trust, give full credit to the
statement of this advertisement; for a horse equally scientific is to
be seen in the present day[771] at Astley's amphitheatre; this animal
is so small, that he and his keeper frequently parade the streets in a
hackney coach.


VI.--ORIGIN OF HORSE EXHIBITIONS AT ASTLEY'S, THE CIRCUS, &c.

Riding upon two or three horses at once, with leaping, dancing, and
performing various other exertions of agility upon their backs while
they are in full speed, is, I believe, a modern species of exhibition,
introduced to public notice about forty years back by a man named
Price, who displayed his abilities at Dobney's near Islington; soon
afterwards, a competitor by the name of Sampson made his appearance;
and he again was succeeded by Astley. The latter established a
riding-school near Westminster bridge, and has been a successful
candidate for popular favour. These performances originally took place
in the open air, and the spectators were exposed to the weather which
frequently proving unfavourable interrupted the show, and sometimes
prevented it altogether; to remedy this inconvenience, Astley erected
a kind of amphitheatre, completely covered, with a ride in the middle
for the displayment of the horsemanship, and a stage in the front, with
scenes and other theatrical decorations; to his former divertisements
he then added tumbling, dancing, farcical operas, and pantomimes. The
success he met with occasioned a rival professor of horsemanship named
Hughes, who built another theatre for similar performances not far
distant, to which he gave the pompous title of the Royal Circus. Hughes
was unfortunate, and died some years back; but the Circus has passed
into other hands; and the spectacles exhibited there in the present
day[772] are far more splendid than those of any other of the minor
theatres.


VII.--DANCING DOGS.

I know no reason why the joculators should not have made the dog one
of their principal brute performers: the sagacity of this creature and
its docility could not have escaped their notice; and yet the only
trick performed by the dog, that occurs in the ancient paintings, is
simply that of sitting upon his haunches in an upright position, which
he might have been taught to do with very little trouble, as in the
following engraving from the Bodleian MS. finished in 1344, and in
others that will presently appear.

[Illustration: 81. DOG.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Neither do I recollect that dogs are included in the list of animals
formerly belonging to the juggler's exhibitions, though, no doubt, they
ought to have been; for, in Ben Jonson's play of Bartholmew Fayre,
first acted in 1614, there is mention made of "dogges that dance the
morrice," without any indication of the performance being a novelty.
Dancing dogs, in the present day, make their appearance in the public
streets of the metropolis; but their masters meet with very little
encouragement, except from the lower classes of the people, and from
children; and of course the performance is rarely worthy of notice.
At the commencement of the last century, a company of dancing dogs
was introduced at Southwark fair by a puppet-showman named Crawley.
He called this exhibition "The Ball of Little Dogs;" and states in
his bill, that they came from Lovain: he then tells us, that "they
performed by their cunning tricks wonders in the world of dancing;" and
adds, "you shall see one of them, named marquis of Gaillerdain, whose
dexterity is not to be compared;[773] he dances with madame Poncette
his mistress and the rest of their company at the sound of instruments,
all of them observing so well the cadence, that they amaze every body."
At the close of the bill, he declares that the dogs had danced before
the queen [Anne] and most of the nobility of England. But many other
"cunning tricks," and greatly superior to those practised by Crawley's
company, have been performed by dogs some few years ago, at Sadler's
Wells, and afterwards at Astley's, to the great amusement and disport
of the polite spectators. One of the dogs at Sadler's Wells acted the
part of a lady, and was carried by two other dogs; some of them were
seated at a table, and waited on by others; and the whole concluded
with the attack and storming of a fort, entirely performed by dogs.


VIII.--THE HARE AND TABOR, AND LEARNED PIG.

It is astonishing what may be effected by constant exertion and
continually tormenting even the most timid and untractable animals; for
no one would readily believe that a hare could have been sufficiently
emboldened to face a large concourse of spectators without expressing
its alarm, and beat upon a tambourine in their presence; yet such a
performance was put in practice not many years back, and exhibited at
Sadler's Wells; and, if I mistake not, in several other places in
and about the metropolis. Neither is this whimsical spectacle a
recent invention. A hare that beat the tabor is mentioned by Jonson,
in his comedy of Bartholmew Fayre, acted at the commencement of the
seventeenth century; and a representation of the feat itself, taken
from a drawing on a manuscript upwards of four hundred years old, in
the Harleian Collection,[774] is given below.

[Illustration: 82. HARE AND TABOR.]

And here I cannot help mentioning a very ridiculous show of a learned
pig, which of late days attracted much of the public notice, and at the
polite end of the town. This pig, which indeed was a large unwieldy
hog, being taught to pick up letters written upon pieces of cards, and
to arrange them at command, gave great satisfaction to all who saw
him, and filled his tormenter's pocket with money. One would not have
thought that a hog had been an animal capable of learning: the fact,
however, is another proof of what may be accomplished by assiduity;
for the showman assured a friend of mine, that he had lost three very
promising brutes in the course of training, and that the phenomenon
then exhibited had often given him reason to despair of success.


IX.--A DANCING COCK AND THE DESERTER BIRD.

The joculators did not confine themselves to the tutoring of
quadrupeds, but extended their practice to birds also; and a curious
specimen of their art appears by the following engraving, from a
drawing on the same MS. in the Harleian Collection whence No. 81 was
taken.

[Illustration: 83. A COCK DANCING ON STILTS TO THE MUSIC OF A PIPE AND
TABOR.]

In the present day, this may probably be considered as a mere effort
of the illuminator's fancy, and admit of a doubt whether such a trick
was ever displayed in reality: but many are yet living who were
witnesses to an exhibition far more surprising, shown at Breslaw's, a
celebrated juggler, who performed at London[775] somewhat more than
twenty-years ago:[776] it was first shown in the vicinity of Pall
Mall, in 1789, at five shillings each person; the price was afterwards
reduced to half-a-crown; and finally to one shilling. A number of
little birds, to the amount, I believe, of twelve or fourteen, being
taken from different cages, were placed upon a table in the presence
of the spectators; and there they formed themselves into ranks like a
company of soldiers: small cones of paper bearing some resemblance to
grenadiers' caps were put upon their heads, and diminutive imitations
of muskets made with wood, secured under their left wings. Thus
equipped, they marched to and fro several times; when a single bird
was brought forward, supposed to be a deserter, and set between six
of the musketeers, three in a row, who conducted him from the top to
the bottom of the table, on the middle of which a small brass cannon
charged with a little gunpowder had been previously placed, and the
deserter was situated in the front part of the cannon; his guards then
divided, three retiring on one side, and three on the other, and he
was left standing by himself. Another bird was immediately produced;
and, a lighted match being put into one of his claws, he hopped boldly
on the other to the tail of the cannon, and, applying the match to the
priming, discharged the piece without the least appearance of fear or
agitation. The moment the explosion took place, the deserter fell
down, and lay, apparently motionless, like a dead bird; but, at the
command of his tutor he rose again; and the cages being brought, the
feathered soldiers were stripped of their ornaments, and returned into
them in perfect order.


X.--IMITATIONS OF ANIMALS.

Among the performances dependent on imitation, that of assuming the
forms of different animals, and counterfeiting their gestures, do not
seem to have originated with the jugglers; for this absurd practice,
if I mistake not, existed long before these comical artists made
their appearance, at least in large companies, and in a professional
way. There was a sport common among the ancients, which usually
took place on the kalends of January, and probably formed a part of
the Saturnalia, or feasts of Saturn. It consisted in mummings and
disguisements; for the actors took upon themselves the resemblance of
wild beasts, or domestic cattle, and wandered about from one place to
another; and he, I presume, stood highest in the estimation of his
fellows who best supported the character of the brute he imitated.
This whimsical amusement was exceedingly popular, and continued to
be practised long after the establishment of Christianity; it was,
however, much opposed by the clergy, and particularly by Paulinus
bishop of Nola, in the ninth century, who in one of his sermons tells
us, that those concerned in it were wont to clothe themselves with
skins of cattle, and put upon them the heads of beasts.[777] What
effect his preaching may have had at the time, I know not: the custom,
however, was not totally suppressed, but may be readily traced from
vestiges remaining of it, to the modern times. Dr. Johnson, in his
Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, says a gentleman informed
him, that, at new year's eve, in the hall or castle of the laird, where
at festivals there is supposed to be a very numerous company, one man
dresses himself in a cow-hide, on which other men beat with sticks; he
runs with all this noise round the house, which all the company quits
in a counterfeited fright; the door is then shut, and no re-admission
obtained after their pretended terror, but by the repetition of a
verse of poetry, which those acquainted with the custom are provided
with.[778] The ancient court ludi, described in a former chapter,[779]
are certainly off-shoots from the Saturnalian disfigurements; and from
the same stock we may pertinently derive the succeeding masquings and
disguisements of the person frequently practised at certain seasons of
the year; and hence also came the modern masquerades. Warton says, that
certain theatrical amusements were called mascarades very anciently in
France. These were probably the court ludi.[780]


XI.--MUMMINGS AND MASQUERADES.

In the middle ages, mummings were very common. Mumm is said to be
derived from the Danish word mumme, or momme in Dutch, and signifies to
disguise oneself with a mask: hence a mummer; which is properly defined
by Dr. Johnson to be a masker, one who performs frolics in a personated
dress. The following verse occurs in Milton's Samson Agonistes, line
1325:

    Jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics.

At court, as well as in the mansions of the nobility, on occasions
of festivity, it frequently happened that the whole company appeared
in borrowed characters; and, full licence of speech being granted to
every one, the discourses were not always kept within the bounds of
decency.[781] These spectacles were exhibited with great splendour in
former times and particularly during the reign of Henry VIII.[782]
they have ceased, however, of late years to attract the notice of the
opulent; and the regular masquerades which succeeded them, are not
supported at present with that degree of mirthful spirit which, we are
told, abounded at their institution; and probably it is for this reason
they are declining so rapidly in the public estimation.

The mummeries practised by the lower classes of the people usually
took place at the Christmas holidays; and such persons as could not
procure masks rubbed their faces over with soot, or painted them; hence
Sebastian Brant, in his Ship of Fools,[783] alluding to this custom,
says,

    The one hath a visor ugley set on his face,
      Another hath on a vile counterfaite vesture,
    Or painteth his visage with fume in such case,
      That what he is, himself is scantily sure.

It appears that many abuses were committed under the sanction of these
disguisements; and for this reason an ordinance was established, by
which a man was liable to punishment who appeared in the streets of
London with "a painted visage."[784] In the third year of the reign of
Henry VIII. it was ordained that no persons should appear abroad like
mummers, covering their faces with vizors, and in disguised apparel,
under pain of imprisonment for three months. The same act enforced the
penalty of 20_s._ against such as kept vizors in their houses for the
purpose of mumming.[785]

Bourne, in his Vulgar Antiquities,[786] speaks of a kind of mumming
practised in the North about Christmas time, which consisted in
"changing of clothes between the men and the women, who, when dressed
in each other's habits, go," says he, "from one neighbour's house to
another, and partake of their Christmas cheer, and make merry with them
in disguise, by dancing and singing and such like merriments."


XII.--MUMMING TO ROYAL PERSONAGES.

Persons capable of well-supporting assumed characters were frequently
introduced at public entertainments, and also in the pageants exhibited
on occasions of solemnity; sometimes they were the bearers of presents,
and sometimes the speakers of panegyrical orations. Froissart tells us,
that, after the coronation of Isabel of Bavaria, the queen of Charles
VI. of France, she had several rich donations brought to her by mummers
in different disguisements; one resembling a bear, another an unicorn,
others like a company of Moors, and others as Turks or Saracens.[787]

When queen Elizabeth was entertained at Kenilworth castle, various
spectacles were contrived for her amusement, and some of them produced
without any previous notice, to take her as it were by surprise. It
happened about nine o'clock one evening, as her majesty returned from
hunting, and was riding by torch-light, there came suddenly out of the
wood, by the road-side, a man habited like a savage, covered with ivy,
holding in one of his hands an oaken plant torn up by the roots, who
placed himself before her, and, after holding some discourse with a
counterfeit echo, repeated a poetical oration in her praise, which was
well received. This man was Thomas Gascoyne the poet; and the verses
he spoke on the occasion were his own composition. The circumstance
took place on the 10th of July, 1575.[788]

The savage men, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called, frequently
made their appearance in the public shows; they were sometimes clothed
entirely with skins, and sometimes they were decorated with oaken
leaves, or covered, as above, with ivy.


XIII.--PARTIAL IMITATIONS OF ANIMALS.

The jugglers and the minstrels, observing how lightly these ridiculous
disguisements were relished by the people in general, turned their
talents towards the imitating of different animals, and rendered their
exhibitions more pleasing by the addition of their new acquirements.
Below are specimens of their performances, from the Bodleian MS. before
cited.[789]

[Illustration: 84. XIV. CENTURY.]

This presents to us the resemblance of a stag. The following, from the
same MS., pictures a goat walking erectly on his hinder feet.

[Illustration: 85. XIV. CENTURY.]

Neither of these fictitious animals have any fore legs; but to the
first the deficiency is supplied by a staff, upon which the actor
might recline at pleasure; his face is seen through an aperture on
the breast; and, I doubt not, a person was chosen to play this part
with a face susceptible of much grimace, which he had an opportunity
of setting forth to great advantage, with a certainty of commanding
the plaudits of his beholders. It was also possible to heighten the
whimsical appearance of this disguise by a motion communicated to the
head; a trick the man might easily enough perform, by putting one
of his arms into the hollow of his neck; and probably the neck was
made pliable for that purpose. In the subjoined delineation, from the
same MS., we find a boy, with a mask resembling the head of a dog,
presenting a scroll of parchment to his master.

[Illustration: 86. XIV. CENTURY.]

In the original there are two more boys, who are following, disguised
in a similar manner, and each of them holding a like scroll of
parchment. The wit of this performance, I protest, I cannot discover.


XIV.--THE HORSE IN THE MORRIS-DANCE.

The prancing and curveting of horses was counterfeited in the
hobby-horse, the usual concomitant of the morris-dance. I have already
spoken on this subject;[790] and shall only add in this place an
anecdote of prince Henry, the eldest son of James I.--"Some of his
highness's young gentlemen, together with himself," says my author,
"imitating in sport the curveting and high-going of horses, one that
stood by said that they were like a company of horses; which his
highness noting, answered, 'Is it not better to resemble a horse, which
is a generous and courageous beast, than a dull slow-going ass as you
are?'" The prince, we are told, was exceedingly young at the time he
made this reply.[791]


XV.--COUNTERFEIT VOICES OF ANIMALS.

I have not been able to ascertain how far the ancient jugglers exerted
their abilities in counterfeiting the articulation of animals; but we
may reasonably suppose they would not have neglected so essential a
requisite to make their imitations perfect.

In the reign of queen Anne, a man whose name was Clench, a native of
Barnet, made his appearance at London. He performed at the corner of
Bartholomew-lane, behind the Royal Exchange. His price for admittance
was one shilling each person. I have his advertisement before me;[792]
which states that he "imitated the horses, the huntsmen, and a pack
of hounds, a sham doctor, an old woman, a drunken man, the bells, the
flute, the double curtell, and the organ with three voices, by his
own natural voice, to the greatest perfection." He then professes
himself to "be the only man that could ever attain to so great an
art." He had, however, a rival, who is noted in one of the papers of
the Spectator, and called the whistling man. His excellency consisted
in counterfeiting the notes of all kinds of singing birds.[793] The
same performance was exhibited in great perfection by the bird-tutor
associated with Breslaw the juggler, mentioned a few pages back.[794]
This man assumed the name of Rosignol,[795] and, after he had quitted
Breslaw, appeared on the stage at Covent-garden theatre, where, in
addition to his imitation of the birds, he executed a concerto on a
fiddle without strings; that is, he made the notes in a wonderful
manner with his voice, and represented the bowing by drawing a small
truncheon backwards and forwards over a stringless violin. His
performance was received with great applause; and the success he met
with produced many competitors, but none of them equalled him: it was,
however, discovered, that the sounds were produced by an instrument
contrived for the purpose, concealed in the mouth; and then the trick
lost all its reputation. Six years ago,[796] I heard a poor rustic,
a native of St. Alban's, imitate, with great exactness, the whole
assemblage of animals belonging to a farm-yard; but especially he
excelled in counterfeiting the grunting of swine, the squeaking of
pigs, and the quarrelling of two dogs.


XVI.--ANIMALS TRAINED FOR BAITING.

Training of bulls, bears, horses, and other animals, for the purpose of
baiting them with dogs, was certainly practised by the jugglers; and
this vicious pastime has the sanction of high antiquity. Fitz-Stephen,
who lived in the reign of Henry II., tells us that, in the forenoon
of every holiday, during the winter season, the young Londoners were
amused with boars opposed to each other in battle, or with bulls and
full-grown bears baited by dogs.[797] This author makes no mention of
horses; and I believe the baiting of these noble and useful animals
was never a general practice: it was, however, no doubt, partially
performed; and the manner in which it was carried into execution
appears by the engraving No. 76.[798] Asses also were treated with the
same inhumanity; but probably the poor beasts did not afford sufficient
sport in the tormenting, and therefore were seldom brought forward as
the objects of this barbarous diversion.


XVII.--PARIS GARDEN.

There were several places in the vicinity of the metropolis set
apart for the baiting of beasts, and especially the district of
Saint Savour's parish in Southwark, called Paris Garden; which place
contained two bear-gardens, said to have been the first that were
made near London; and in them, according to Stow, were scaffolds for
the spectators to stand upon:[799] and this indulgence, we are told,
they paid for in the following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden,
the Bell Savage, or Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or
fence-play, must not account of any pleasant spectacle, unless first
they pay one pennie at the gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold,
and a third for quiet standing."[800] One Sunday afternoon in the year
1582, the scaffolds being overcharged with spectators, fell down during
the performance; and a great number of persons were killed or maimed by
the accident.[801]


XVIII.--BULL AND BEAR-BAITING PATRONIZED BY ROYALTY.

Bull and bear-baiting is not encouraged by persons of rank and opulence
in the present day; and when practised, which rarely happens, it is
attended only by the lowest and most despicable part of the people;
which plainly indicates a general refinement of manners and prevalency
of humanity among the moderns; on the contrary, this barbarous pastime
was highly relished by the nobility in former ages, and countenanced
by persons of the most exalted rank, without exception even of the
fair sex. Erasmus, who visited England in the reign of Henry VIII.,
says, there were "many herds of bears maintained in this country for
the purpose of baiting."[802] When queen Mary visited her sister the
princess Elizabeth during her confinement at Hatfield-house, the next
morning, after mass, a grand exhibition of bear-baiting was made for
their amusement, with which, it is said, "their highnesses were right
well content."[803] Queen Elizabeth, on the 25th of May, 1559, soon
after her accession to the throne, gave a splendid dinner to the French
ambassadors, who afterwards were entertained with the baiting of bulls
and bears, and the queen herself stood with the ambassadors looking on
the pastime till six at night. The day following, the same ambassadors
went by water to Paris Garden, where they saw another baiting of
bulls and of bears;[804] and again, twenty-seven years posterior,
queen Elizabeth received the Danish ambassador at Greenwich, who was
treated with the sight of a bear and bull-baiting, "tempered," says
Holinshed, "with other merry disports;"[805] and, for the diversion of
the populace, there was a horse with an ape upon his back; which highly
pleased them, so that they expressed "their inward-conceived joy and
delight with shrill shouts and variety of gestures."[806]


XIX.--BULL AND BEAR-BAITING, HOW PERFORMED.

The manner in which these sports were exhibited towards the close of
the sixteenth century, is thus described by Hentzner,[807] who was
present at one of the performances: "There is a place built in the form
of a theatre, which serves for baiting of bulls and bears; they are
fastened behind, and then worried by great English bull-dogs; but not
without risque to the dogs, from the horns of the one and the teeth
of the other; and it sometimes happens they are killed on the spot;
fresh ones are immediately supplied in the places of those that are
wounded or tired. To this entertainment there often follows that of
whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five or six men standing
circularly with whips, which they exercise upon him without any mercy,
as he cannot escape because of his chain; he defends himself with all
his force and skill, throwing down all that come within his reach, and
are not active enough to get out of it, and tearing the whips out of
their hands, and breaking them." Laneham, speaking of a bear-baiting
exhibited before queen Elizabeth in 1575, says, "It was a sport very
pleasant to see the bear, with his pink eyes learing after his enemies,
approach; the nimbleness and wait of the dog to take his advantage;
and the force and experience of the bear again to avoid his assaults:
if he were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in another to get
free; that if he were taken once, then by what shift with biting, with
clawing, with roaring, with tossing, and tumbling, he would work and
wind himself from them; and, when he was loose, to shake his ears twice
or thrice with the blood and the slaver hanging about his physiognomy."
The same writer tells us, that thirteen bears were provided for this
occasion, and they were baited with a great sort of ban-dogs.[808] In
the foregoing relations, we find no mention made of a ring put into
the nose of the bear when he was baited; which certainly was the more
modern practice; hence the expression by the duke of Newcastle, in the
Humorous Lovers, printed in 1617: "I fear the wedlock ring more than
the bear does the ring in his nose."


XX.--BEARS AND BEAR-WARDS.

When a bear-baiting was about to take place, the same was publicly made
known, and the bear-ward previously paraded the streets with his bear,
to excite the curiosity of the populace, and induce them to become
spectators of the sport. The animal, on these occasions, was usually
preceded by a minstrel or two, and carried a monkey or baboon upon
his back. In the Humorous Lovers, the play just now quoted, "Tom of
Lincoln" is mentioned as the name of "a famous bear;" and one of the
characters pretending to personate a bear-ward, says, "I'll set up
my bills, that the gamesters of London, Horsleydown, Southwark, and
Newmarket, may come in and bait him here before the ladies; but first,
boy, go fetch me a bagpipe; we will walk the streets in triumph, and
give the people notice of our sport."


XXI.--BAITING IN QUEEN ANNE'S TIME.

The two following advertisements,[809] which were published in the
reign of queen Anne, may serve as a specimen of the elegant manner in
which these pastimes were announced to the public:

"At the Bear Garden in Hockley in the Hole, near Clerkenwell Green,
this present Monday, there is a great match to be fought by two Dogs of
Smithfield Bars against two Dogs of Hampstead, at the Reading Bull, for
one guinea to be spent; five lets goes out of hand; which goes fairest
and farthest in wins all. The famous Bull of fireworks, which pleased
the gentry to admiration. Likewise there are two Bear-Dogs to jump
three jumps apiece at the Bear, which jumps highest for ten shillings
to be spent. Also variety of bull-baiting and bear-baiting; it being
a day of general sport by all the old gamesters; and a bull-dog to be
drawn up with fireworks. Beginning at three o'clock."

"At William Well's bear-garden in Tuttle-fields, Westminster, this
present Monday, there will be a green Bull baited; and twenty Dogs to
fight for a collar; and the dog that runs farthest and fairest wins the
collar; with other diversions of bull and bear-baiting. Beginning at
two of the clock."


XXII.--SWORD-PLAY.

The sword-dance, or, more properly, a combat with swords and bucklers,
regulated by music, was exhibited by the Saxon gleemen. We have spoken
on this subject in a former chapter, and resume it here, because the
jugglers of the middle ages were famous for their skill in handling the
sword.

[Illustration: 87. SWORD-PLAY--XIII. CENTURY.]

This combat, represented from a manuscript of the thirteenth century,
in the Royal Library,[810] varies, in several respects, from that
in the engraving No. 60;[811] though both, I presume, are different
modifications of the same performance, as well as that below, from a
manuscript in the Royal Library,[812] which is carried into execution
without the assistance of a minstrel.

[Illustration: 88. SWORD-PLAY.--XIII. CENTURY.]

These combats bore some resemblance to those performed by the Roman
gladiators; for which reason the jugglers were sometimes called
gladiators by the early historians; "Mimi, salii, balatrones, æmiliani,
gladiatores, palæstritæ--et tota joculatorum copia, &c."[813] It
also appears that they instituted schools for teaching the art of
defence in various parts of the kingdom, and especially in the city of
London, where the conduct of the masters and their scholars became so
outrageous, that it was necessary for the legislature to interfere;
and, in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward I. A. D. 1286, an
edict was published by royal authority, which prohibited the keeping of
such schools, and the public exercise of swords and bucklers, "eskirmer
au bokeler."

It is said that many robberies and murders were committed by these
gladiators; hence the appellation of swash buckler, a term of reproach,
"from swashing," says Fuller, "and making a noise on the buckler, and
ruffian, which is the same as a swaggerer. West Smithfield was formerly
called Ruffian Hall, where such men usually met, casually or otherwise,
to try masteries with sword and buckler; more were frightened than
hurt, hurt than killed therewith, it being accounted unmanly to strike
beneath the knee. But since that desperate traytor Rowland Yorke first
used thrusting with rapiers, swords and bucklers are disused."[814]
Jonson, in the induction to his play called Bartholomew Fair, speaks of
"the sword and buckler age in Smithfield;" and again, in the Two Angry
Women of Abbington, a comedy by Henry Porter, printed in 1599, we have
the following observation: "Sword and buckler fight begins to grow out
of use; I am sorry for it; I shall never see good manhood again; if it
be once gone, this poking fight of rapier and dagger will come up; then
a tall man, that is, a courageous man, and a good sword and buckler
man, will be spitted like a cat or a rabbit."

Such exercises had been practised by day and by night, to the great
annoyance of the peaceable inhabitants of the city; and by the
statute of Edward I. the offenders were subjected to the punishment
of imprisonment for forty days; to which was afterwards added a mulct
of forty marks.[815] These restrictions certainly admitted of some
exceptions; for it is well known that there were seminaries at London,
wherein youth were taught the use of arms, held publicly after the
institution of this ordinance. "The art of defence and use of weapons,"
says Stow, "is taught by professed masters;"[816] but these most
probably were licensed by the city governors, and under their control.
The author of a description of the colleges and schools in and about
London, which he calls "The Third University of England," printed in
black letter in 1615, says, "In this city," meaning London, "there
be manie professors of the science of defence, and very skilful men
in teaching the best and most offensive and defensive use of verie
many weapons, as of the long-sword, back-sword, rapier and dagger,
single rapier, the case of rapiers, the sword and buckler, or targate,
the pike, the halberd, the long-staff, and others.[817] Henry VIII.
made the professors of this art a company, or corporation, by letters
patent, wherein the art is intituled The Noble Science of Defence.
The manner of the proceeding of our fencers in their schools is this;
first, they which desire to be taught at their admission are called
scholars, and, as they profit, they take degrees, and proceed to be
provosts of defence; and that must be wonne by public trial of their
proficiencie and of their skill at certain weapons, which they call
prizes, and in the presence and view of many hundreds of people; and,
at their next and last prize well and sufficiently performed, they
do proceed to be maisters of the science of defence, or maisters of
fence, as we commonly call them." The king ordained, "that none, but
such as have thus orderly proceeded by public act and trial, and have
the approbation of the principal masters of their company, may profess
or teach this art of defence publicly in any part of England." Stow
informs us, that the young Londoners, on holidays, after the evening
prayer, were permitted to exercise themselves with their wasters and
bucklers before their masters' doors. This pastime, I imagine, is
represented by a drawing in the Bodleian MS.[818] from whence the
annexed engraving is taken, where clubs or bludgeons are substituted
for swords.

[Illustration: 89. BUCKLER-PLAY.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The bear-gardens were the usual places appropriated by the masters of
defence for public trials of skill. These exhibitions were outrageous
to humanity, and only fitted for the amusement of ferocious minds;
it is therefore astonishing that they should have been frequented by
females; for, who could imagine that the slicing of the flesh from a
man's cheek, the scarifying of his arms, or laying the calves of his
legs upon his heels, were spectacles calculated to delight the fair
sex, or sufficiently attractive to command their presence. The manner
of performing a prize-combat, at the commencement of the last century,
is well described, and the practice justly reprobated, in one of the
papers belonging to the Spectator:[819] but these exhibitions were not
without their trickery, as we may find by another paper[820] in the
same volume.


XXIII.--PUBLIC SWORD-PLAY.

The following show-bill, dated July 13, 1709, contains the common mode
of challenging and answering used by the combatants; it is selected
from a great number now lying before me;[821] and, being rather
curious, I shall transcribe it without making any alteration.

"At the Bear Garden in Hockley in the Hole, near Clerkenwell Green,
a trial of skill shall be performed between Two Masters of the noble
Science of Defence on Wednesday next, at two of the clock precisely.

"I George Gray, born in the city of Norwich, who have fought in most
parts of the West Indies, namely, Jamaica and Barbadoes, and several
other parts of the world, in all twenty-five times, and upon a stage,
and never yet was worsted, and being now lately come to London, do
invite James Harris to meet and exercise at these following weapons,
namely, back-sword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, single
falchon, and case of falchons."

"I James Harris, Master of the said noble Science of Defence, who
formerly rid in the horse-guards, and hath fought a hundred and ten
prizes, and never left a stage to any man, will not fail, God willing,
to meet this brave and bold inviter at the time and place appointed;
desiring sharp swords, and from him no favour. No person to be upon the
stage but the seconds. Vivat Regina!"


XXIV.--QUARTER-STAFF.

In another challenge the quarter-staff is added to the list of weapons
named on these occasions. Quarter-staff Dr. Johnson explains to be "A
staff of defence, so called, I believe, from the manner of using it;
one hand being placed at the middle, and the other equally between
the end and the middle."[822] The quarter-staff was formerly used by
the English, and especially in the western parts of the kingdom. I
have seen a small pamphlet with this title: "Three to One; being an
English-Spanish combat, performed by a western gentleman of Tavystock,
in Devonshire, with an English quarter-staff, against three rapiers
and poniards, at Sherries in Spain,[823] in the presence of the dukes,
condes, marquisses, and other great dons of Spain, being the council of
war;" to which is added, "the author of this booke, and actor in this
encounter, being R. Peecke." On the same page there is a rude wooden
print, representing the hero with his quarter-staff, in the action of
fighting with the three Spanyards, who are armed with long swords and
daggers. Caulfield has copied this print in his Assemblage of Noted
Persons.


XXV.--WRESTLING, &c. IN BEAR-GARDENS.

Wrestling, and such other trials of strength and activity as had
formerly been exhibited in the spectacles of the minstrels and
jugglers, were at this period transferred to the bear-gardens, where
they continued in practice till the total abolition of those polite
places of amusement.


XXVI.--EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL OF STRENGTH.

I shall conclude this chapter with the two following instances of
bodily power, recorded by our historians. The first is of Courcy, earl
of Ulster; who, in the presence of John king of England and Philip of
France, cut through a helmet of steel with one blow of his sword, and
struck the weapon so deeply into the post upon which the helmet was
placed, that no one but himself was able to draw it out again.[824] The
second is mentioned by Froissart;[825] who tells us that, one
Christmas-day, the earl of Foix, according to his usual custom, "held a
great feast; and, after dyner, he deperted out of the hall, and went up
into a galarye, of twenty-four stayres of heyght. It being exceedingly
cold, the erle complained that the fire was not large enough; when a
person named Ervalton, of Spayne, went down the stayres, and beneth
in the court he sawe a great meny of asses laden with woode, to serve
the house: than he went, and tooke one of the greatest asses, with
all the woode, and layde hym on hys backe, and went up al the stayres
into the galary; and dyd caste downe the asse, with al the woode, into
the chimney, and the asse's fete upward: whereof the erle of Foix had
greate joye; and so hadde all thy that wer ther, and had mervele of his
strength."




CHAPTER VII.

     I. Ancient Specimens of Bowling--Poem on Bowling.--II.
     Bowling-greens first made by the English.--III.
     Bowling-alleys.--IV. Long-bowling.--V. Supposed Origin of
     Billiards.--VI. Kayles.--VII. Closh.--VIII. Loggats.--IX.
     Nine-pins--Skittles.--X. Dutch-pins--XI. Four-corners.--XII.
     Half-bowl.--XIII. Nine-holes.--XIV. John Bull.--XV. Pitch
     and Hustle.--XVI. Bull-baiting in Towns and Villages.--XVII.
     Bull-running--At Stamford, &c.--XVIII. At Tutbury.--XIX.
     Badger-baiting.--XX. Cock-fighting.--XXI. Throwing at
     Cocks.--XXII. Duck-hunting.--XXIII. Squirrel-hunting.--XXIV.
     Rabbit-hunting.


I.--ANCIENT BOWLING--POEM ON BOWLING.

The pastime of bowling, whether practised upon open greens or in
bowling-alleys, was probably an invention of the middle ages. I cannot
by any means ascertain the time of its introduction; but I have traced
it back to the thirteenth century. The earliest representation of a
game played with bowls, that I have met with, occurs in a MS. in the
Royal Library,[826] as here represented.

[Illustration: 90. BOWLING.--XIII. CENTURY.]

Here two small cones are placed upright at a distance from each
other; and the business of the players is evidently to bowl at them
alternately; the successful candidate being he who could lay his bowl
the nearest to the mark. The French, according to Cotgrave, had a
similar kind of game, called Carreau, from a square stone which, says
he, "is laid in level with and at the end of a bowling-alley, and in
the midst thereof an upright point set as the mark whereat they bowl."
The following engraving, from a drawing in a beautiful MS. Book of
Prayers, in the possession of Francis Douce, esq., represents two other
bowlers; but they have no apparent object to play at, unless the bowl
cast by the first may be considered as such by the second, and the game
require him to strike it from its place.

[Illustration: 91. BOWLING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Below these we see three persons engaged in the pastime of bowling;
and they have a small bowl, or jack, according to the modern practice,
which serves them as a mark for the direction of their bowls: the
action of the middle figure, whose bowl is supposed to be running
towards the jack, will not appear by any means extravagant to such as
are accustomed to visit the bowling-greens.

[Illustration: 92. BOWLING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The following little poem, by William Stroad, which I found in "Justin
Pagitt's Memorandum Book,"[827] one of the Harleian manuscripts at the
British Museum,[828] expresses happily enough the turns and chances of
the game of bowls:

A PARALLEL BETWIXT BOWLING AND PREFERMENT.

    Preferment, like a game at boules,
      To feede our hope hath divers play:
    Heere quick it runns, there soft it roules,
      The betters make and shew the way
    On upper ground, so great allies
      Doe many _cast_ on their desire;
    Some up are thrust and forc'd to rise,
      When those are stopt that would aspire.

    Some, whose heate and zeal exceed,
      Thrive well by _rubbs_ that curb their haste,
    And some that languish in their speed
      Are cherished by some favour's blaste;
    Some rest in other's _cutting out_
      The fame by whom themselves are made;
    Some fetch a _compass_ farr about,
      And secretly the marke invade.

    Some get by _knocks_, and so advance
      Their fortune by a boysterous aime:
    And some, who have the sweetest chance,
      Their en'mies _hit_, and win the game.
    The fairest _casts_ are those that owe
      No thanks to fortune's giddy sway;
    Such honest men good _bowlers_ are
      Whose own true _bias cutts_ the way.

In the three delineations just represented, we may observe that the
players have only one bowl for each person: the modern bowlers have
usually three or four.


II.--BOWLING-GREENS FIRST MADE BY THE ENGLISH.

Bowling-greens are said to have originated in England;[829] and
bowling upon them, in my memory, was a very popular amusement. In
most country towns of any note they are to be found, and some few are
still remaining in the vicinity of the metropolis; but none of them, I
believe, are now so generally frequented as they were accustomed to be
formerly.


III.--BOWLING-ALLEYS.

The inconveniency to which the open greens for bowling were necessarily
obnoxious, suggested, I presume, the idea of making bowling-alleys,
which, being covered over, might be used when the weather would not
permit the pursuit of the pastime abroad; and therefore they were
usually annexed to the residences of the opulent; wherein if the ladies
were not themselves performers, they certainly countenanced the pastime
by being spectators; hence the king of Hungary, in an old poem entitled
The Squyer of Low Degree, says to his daughter, "to amuse you in your
garden

    An hundredth knightes, truly tolde,
    Shall play with bowles in alayes colde."

Andrew Borde, in his Dictarie of Helthe, describing a nobleman's
mansion, supposes it not to be complete without "a bowling-alley."
Among the additions made by Henry VIII. at Whitehall, were "divers fair
tennice-courtes, bowling-alleys, and a cock-pit."[830]

It appears that soon after the introduction of bowling-alleys they
were productive of very evil consequences; for they became not only
exceedingly numerous, but were often attached to places of public
resort, which rendered them the receptacles of idle and dissolute
persons; and were the means of promoting a pernicious spirit of
gambling among the younger and most unwary part of the community. The
little room required for making these bowling-alleys was no small cause
of their multiplication, particularly in great towns and cities. In
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries these nurseries of vice were
universally decried, and especially such of them as were established
within the city and suburbs of London,[831] where the ill effects
arising from them were most extensive.


IV.--LONG-BOWLING.

Bowling-alleys, I believe, were totally abolished before I knew London;
but I have seen there a pastime which might originate from them, called
long-bowling. It was performed in a narrow enclosure, about twenty or
thirty yards in length, and at the farther end was placed a square
frame with nine small pins upon it; at these pins the players bowled in
succession; and a boy, who stood by the frame to set up the pins that
were beat down by the bowl, called out the number, which was placed
to the account of the player; and the bowl was returned by the means
of a small trough, placed with a gradual descent from the pins to
the bowlers, on one side of the enclosure. Some call this game
Dutch-rubbers.

Bowling, according to an author in the seventeenth century, is a
pastime "in which a man shall find great art in choosing out his
ground, and preventing the winding, hanging, and many turning
advantages of the same, whether it be in open wilde places, or in close
allies; and for his sport, the chusing of the bowle is the greatest
cunning; your flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed
bowles for open grounds of advantage, and your round bowles, like a
ball, for green swarthes that are plain and level."[832]


V.--SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF BILLIARDS.

Below is a representation which seems to bear some analogy to bowling.

[Illustration: 93. A CURIOUS ANCIENT PASTIME.]

Here the bowls, instead of being cast by the hand, are driven with a
battoon, or mace, through an arch, towards a mark at a distance from
it; and hence, I make no doubt, originated the game of billiards, which
formerly was played with a similar kind of arch and a mark called the
king, but placed upon the table instead of the ground. The improvement
by adding the table answered two good purposes; it precluded the
necessity for the player to kneel, or stoop exceedingly, when he struck
the bowl and accommodated the game to the limits of a chamber.


VI.--KAYLES.

Kayles, written also cayles and keiles, derived from the French word
quilles, was played with pins, and no doubt gave origin to the modern
game of nine-pins; though primitively the kayle-pins do not appear to
have been confined to any certain number, as we may observe by the two
following engravings:

[Illustration: 94. KAYLES.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In this engraving, from a Book of Prayers in the possession of Francis
Douce, esq., the pastime of kayles is playing with six pins. The
annexed is from another drawing on a MS. in the Royal Library.[833]

[Illustration: 95. KAYLES.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Here the pastime is played with eight pins; and the form of these pins
is also different, but that might depend entirely upon the fancy of the
makers. One of them, in both cases, is taller than the rest.

The arrangement of the kayle-pins differs greatly from that of the
nine-pins, the latter being placed upon a square frame in three rows,
and the former in one row only. The two delineations here copied
represent that species of the game called club-kayles, "jeux de quilles
à baston," so denominated from the club or cudgel that was thrown at
them.


VII.--CLOSH.

The game of cloish, or closh, mentioned frequently in the ancient
statutes,[834] seems to have been the same as kayles, or at least
exceedingly like it: cloish was played with pins, which were thrown at
with a bowl instead of a truncheon, and probably differed only in name
from the nine-pins of the present time.


VIII.--LOGGATS.

This, I make no doubt, was a pastime analogous to kayles and cloish,
but played chiefly by boys and rustics, who substituted bones for pins.
"Loggats," says sir Thomas Hanmer, one of the editors of Shakespeare,
"is the ancient name of a play or game, which is one of the unlawful
games enumerated in the thirty-third statute of Henry VIII.: it is the
same which is now called kittle-pins, in which the boys often make use
of bones instead of wooden pins, throwing at them with another bone
instead of bowling." Hence Shakespeare, in Hamlet, speaks thus; "did
these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats with
them?" And this game is evidently referred to in an old play, entitled
The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art, published in the reign
of queen Elizabeth,[835] where a dunce boasts of his skill

    At skales, and the playing with a sheepes-joynte.

In skales, or kayles, the sheepes-joynte was probably the bone used
instead of a bowl.


IX.--NINE-PINS--SKITTLES.

The kayle-pins were afterwards called kettle, or kittle-pins; and
hence, by an easy corruption, skittle-pins, an appellation well known
in the present day. The game of skittles, as it is now played, differs
materially from that of nine-pins, though the same number of pins are
required in both. In performing the latter, the player stands at a
distance settled by mutual consent of the parties concerned, and casts
the bowl at the pins: the contest is, to beat them all down in the
fewest throws. In playing at skittles, there is a double exertion; one
by bowling, and the other by tipping: the first is performed at a given
distance, and the second standing close to the frame upon which the
pins are placed, and throwing the bowl through in the midst of them;
in both cases, the number of pins beaten down before the return of the
bowl, for it usually passes beyond the frame, are called fair, and
reckoned to the account of the player; but those that fall by the
coming back of the bowl are said to be foul, and of course not counted.
One chalk or score is reckoned for every fair pin; and the game of
skittles consists in obtaining thirty-one chalks precisely: less loses,
or at least gives the antagonist a chance of winning the game; and more
requires the player to go again for nine, which must also be brought
exactly, to secure himself.

The preceding quotation from Hanmer intimates that the kittle-pins
were sometimes made with bones; and this assertion is strengthened by
the language of a dramatic writer, the author of the Merry Milk-maid
of Islington, in 1680, who makes one of his characters speak thus to
another: "I'll cleave you from the skull to the twist, and make nine
skittles of thy bones."


X.--DUTCH-PINS.

Dutch-pins is a pastime much resembling skittles; but the pins are
taller and slenderer, especially in the middle pin, which is higher
than the rest, and called the king-pin. The pins are nine in number,
and placed upon a frame in the manner of skittles; and the bowls used
by the performers are very large, but made of a light kind of wood.
The game consists of thirty-one scores precisely; and every player
first stands at a certain distance from the frame, and throws his bowl
at the pins, which is improperly enough called bowling; afterwards he
approaches the frame and makes his tipp by casting the bowl among the
pins, and the score towards the game is determined by the number of
them beaten down. If this pin be taken out singly, when the bowl is
thrown from a distance, the game is won; this instance excepted, it
reckons for no more than the other pins.


XI.--FOUR-CORNERS.

Is so called from four large pins which are placed singly at each
angle of a square frame. The players stand at a distance, which may
be varied by joint consent, and throw at the pins a large heavy bowl,
which sometimes weighs six or eight pounds. The excellency of the game
consists in beating them down by the fewest casts of the bowl.


XII.--HALF-BOWL.

This is one of the games prohibited by Edward IV.;[836] and received
its denomination from being played with one half of a sphere of wood.
Half-bowl is practised to this day in Hertfordshire, where it is
commonly called rolly-polly; and it is best performed upon the floor of
a room, especially if it be smooth and level. There are fifteen small
pins of a conical form required for this pastime; twelve of which are
placed at equal distances upon the circumference of a circle of about
two feet and a half diameter; one of the three remaining pins occupies
the centre; and the other two are placed without the circle at the back
part of it, and parallel with the bowling-place, but so as to be in a
line with the middle pin; forming a row of five pins, including two
of those upon the circumference. In playing this game, the bowl, when
delivered, must pass above the pins, and round the end-pin, without
the circle, before it beats any of them down; if not, the cast is
forfeited: and, owing to the great bias of the bowl, this task is not
very readily performed by such as have not made themselves perfect
by practice. The middle pin is distinguished by four balls at the
top; and, if thrown down, is reckoned for four towards the game; the
intermediate pin upon the circle, in the row of five, has three balls,
and is reckoned for three; the first pin without the circle has two
balls, and is counted for two; and the value of all the others singly
is but one. Thirty-one chalks complete the game; which he who first
obtains is the conqueror. If this number be exceeded, it is a matter of
no consequence: the game is equally won.


XIII.--NINE-HOLES.

This is mentioned as a boyish game, played at the commencement of
the seventeenth century. I have not met with any description of this
pastime; but I apprehend it resembled a modern one frequently practised
at the outskirts of the metropolis; and said to have been instituted,
or more probably revived, about 1780, as a succedaneum for skittles,
when the magistrates caused the skittle grounds in and near London
to be levelled, and the frames removed. Hence some say the game of
nine-holes was called "Bubble the Justice," on the supposition that
it could not be set aside by the justices, because no such pastime was
named in the prohibitory statutes; others give this denomination to a
different game: the name by which it is now most generally known is
"Bumble-puppy;" and the vulgarity of the term is well adapted to the
company by whom it is usually practised. The game is simply this: nine
holes are made in a square board, and disposed in three rows, three
holes in each row, all of them at equal distances, about twelve or
fourteen inches apart; to every hole is affixed a numeral, from one
to nine, so placed as to form fifteen in every row. The board, thus
prepared, is fixed horizontally upon the ground, and surrounded on
three sides with a gentle acclivity. Every one of the players being
furnished with a certain number of small metal balls, stands in his
turn, by a mark made upon the ground, about five or six feet from the
board; at which he bowls the balls; and according to the value of
the figures belonging to the holes into which they roll, his game is
reckoned; and he who obtains the highest number is the winner. Doctor
Johnson confounds this pastime with that of kayles, and says, "it is a
kind of play still retained in Scotland, in which nine holes, ranged
in threes, are made in the ground, and an iron bullet rolled in among
them."[837]

I have formerly seen a pastime practised by school-boys, called
nine-holes: it was played with marbles, which they bowled at a board,
set upright, resembling a bridge, with nine small arches, all of them
numbered; if the marble struck against the sides of the arches, it
became the property of the boy to whom the board belonged; but, if it
went through any one of them, the bowler claimed a number of marbles
equal to the number upon the arch it passed through.


XIV.--JOHN BULL.

This is the name of a modern pastime, which may be played in the open
air, or in a room. A square flat stone, being laid level on the surface
of the ground, or let into the floor, is subdivided into sixteen small
squares; in every one of these compartments a number is affixed,
beginning from one; the next in value being five, the next ten; thence
passing on by tens to an hundred, and thence again, by hundreds, to
five hundred. These numbers are not placed regularly, but contrasted,
so that those of the smallest value are nearest to those of the
highest; and in some instances, as I am informed, the squares for the
greater numbers are made much smaller than those for the small ones.
On reaching five hundred a mark is made, at an optional distance from
the stone, for the players to stand; who, in succession, throw up
one halfpenny or more, and make their score according to the number
assigned lo the compartment in which the halfpenny rests, which must be
within the square; for, if it lies upon one of the lines that divide
it from the others, the cast is forfeited, and nothing scored. Two
thousand is usually the game; but this number is extended or diminished
at the pleasure of the gamesters.


XV.--PITCH AND HUSTLE.

This is a game commonly played in the fields by the lowest classes of
the people. It requires two or more antagonists, who pitch or cast an
equal number of halfpence at a mark set up at a short distance; and the
owner of the nearest halfpenny claims the privilege to hustle first;
the next nearest halfpenny entitles the owner to a second claim; and
so on to as many as play. When they hustle, all the halfpence pitched
at the mark are thrown into a hat held by the player who claims the
first chance; after shaking them together, he turns the hat down
upon the ground; and as many of them as lie with the impression of
the head upwards belong to him; the remainder are then put into the
hat a second time, and the second claimant performs the same kind of
operation; and so it passes in succession to all the players, or until
all the halfpence appear with the heads upwards. Sometimes they are
put into the hands of the player, instead of a hat, who shakes them,
and casts them up into the air; but in both instances the heads become
his property: but if it should so happen, that, after all of them have
hustled, there remain some of the halfpence that have not come with the
heads uppermost, the first player then hustles again, and the others in
succession, until they do come so.


XVI.--BULL-BAITING IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

I have already informed my readers, that bull-baiting, or worrying of
bulls with dogs, was one of the spectacles exhibited by the jugglers
and their successors.[838] It is also necessary to observe, that this
cruel pastime was not confined to the boundaries of the bear-gardens;
but was universally practised on various occasions, in almost every
town or village throughout the kingdom, and especially in market
towns, where we find it was sanctioned by the law;[839] and in some of
them, I believe, the bull-rings, to which the unfortunate animals were
fastened, are remaining to the present hour. It may seem strange, that
the legislature should have permitted the exercise of such a barbarous
diversion, which was frequently productive of much mischief by drawing
together a large concourse of idle and dissipated persons, and
affording them an opportunity of committing many gross disorders with
impunity. Indeed a public bull-baiting rarely ended without some riot
and confusion. A circumstance of this sort is recorded in the annals of
the city of Chester. The author[840] tells us, that "a bull was baited
at the high-cross, on the second of October, (1619,) according to the
ancient custome for the mayor's farewell out of his office; it chaunced
a contention fell out betwixt the butchers and the bakers of the cittye
aboute their dogges then fyghtynge; they fell to blowes; and in the
tumult of manye people woulde not be pacifyed; so that the mayor,
seeing there was greate abuse, being citezens, could not forbeare, but
he in person hymself went out amongst them, to have the peace kept; but
they in their rage, lyke rude and unbroken fellowes, did lytill regarde
hym. In the ende, they were parted; and the begynners of the sayde
brawle, being found out and examined, were commytted to the northgate.
The mayor smotte freely among them and broke his white staffe; and the
cryer Thomas Knowstley brake his mase; and the brawle ended."


XVII.--BULL-RUNNING AT STAMFORD, &c.

This is another barbarous diversion somewhat different from
bull-baiting, and much less known: I do not recollect that it was
regularly practised in any part of the kingdom, excepting at Stamford,
in Lincolnshire, and at Tutbury, in Staffordshire. The traditionary
origin of the bull-running at Stamford, and the manner in which it was
performed in the seventeenth century, are given by Butcher, in his
Survey of that town;[841] and this account I shall lay before my
readers, in the author's own words. "The bull-running is a sport of
no pleasure, except to such as take a pleasure in beastliness and
mischief: it is performed just the day six weeks before Christmas. The
butchers of the town, at their own charge, against the time provide the
wildest bull they can get. This bull over night is had into some stable
or barn belonging to the alderman. The next morning, proclamation is
made by the common bellman of the town, round about the same, that each
one shut up their shop-doors and gates, and that none, upon pain of
imprisonment, offer to do any violence to strangers; for the preventing
whereof, the town being a great thoroughfare, and then being term-time,
a guard is appointed for the passing of travellers through the same,
without hurt; that none have any iron upon their bull-clubs, or other
staff, which they pursue the bull with. Which proclamation made, and
the gates all shut up, the bull is turned out of the alderman's house;
and then hivie-skivy, tag and rag, men, women, and children, of all
sorts and sizes, with all the dogs in the town, promiscuously running
after him with their bull-clubs, spattering dirt in each other's faces,
that one would think them to be so many furies started out of hell
for the punishment of Cerberus, &c. And, which is the greater shame,
I have seen persons of rank and family, of both sexes,[842] following
this bulling-business. I can say no more of it, but only to set forth
the antiquity thereof as tradition goes. William earl of Warren, the
first lord of this town in the time of king John, standing upon his
castle walls in Stamford, saw two bulls fighting for a cow in a meadow
under the same. A butcher of the town, owner of one of the bulls, set a
great mastiff-dog upon his own bull, who forced him up into the town;
when all the butchers' dogs, great and small, followed in pursuit of
the bull, which, by this time made stark mad with the noise of the
people and the fierceness of the dogs, ran over man, woman, and child,
that stood in his way. This caused all the butchers and others in the
town to rise up, as it were, in a kind of tumult." The sport so highly
diverted the earl, who, it seems, was a spectator, that "he gave all
those meadows in which the two bulls had been fighting, perpetually as
a common to the butchers of the town, after the first grass is eaten,
to keep their cattle in till the time of slaughter, upon the condition
that, on the anniversary of that day, they should yearly find, at their
own expense, a mad bull for the continuance of the sport."


XVIII.--BULL-RUNNING AT TUTBURY.

The company of minstrels belonging to the manor of Tutbury had several
peculiar privileges granted to them by a charter from John of Gaunt
duke of Lancaster.[843] In this charter it is required of the minstrels
to perform their respective services, upon the day of the assumption
of our Lady, (the 15th of August,) at the steward's court, held for
the honour of Tutbury, according to ancient custom. They had also, it
seems, a privilege, exclusive of the charter, to claim upon that day a
bull from the prior of Tutbury.[844] In the seventeenth century, these
services were performed the day after the assumption; and the bull was
given by the duke of Devonshire, as the prior's representative.

The historian of Staffordshire[845] informs us, that a dinner was
provided for the minstrels upon this occasion, which being finished,
they went anciently to the abbey gate, but of late years to "a little
barn by the town side, in expectance of the bull to be turned forth to
them." The animal provided for this purpose had his horns sawed off,
his ears cropped, his tail cut short, his body smeared over with soap,
and his nose blown full of beaten pepper, in order to make him as mad
as it was possible for him to be. Whence, "after solemn proclamation
first being made by the steward, that all manner of persons should give
way to the bull, and not come near him by forty feet, nor by any means
to hinder the minstrels, but to attend to his or their own safeties,
every one at his peril; he was then put forth, to be caught by the
minstrels, and none other, within the county of Stafford, between the
time of his being turned out to them, and the setting of the sun, on
the same day; which if they cannot doe, but the bull escapes from them
untaken, and gets over the river into Derbyshire, he continues to be
lord Devonshire's property: on the other hand, if the minstrels can
take him and hold him so long as to cut off but some small matter of
his hair, and bring the same to the market cross, in token that they
have taken him; the bull is brought to the bailiff's house in Tutbury,
and there collared and roped, and so conveyed to the bull-ring in the
High-street, where he is baited with dogs; the first course allotted
for the king, the second for the honour of the town, and the third for
the king of the minstrels;[846] this done, the minstrels claim the
beast, and may sell, or kill and divide him amongst them according to
their pleasure." The author then adds, "this rustic sport, which they
call bull-running, should be annually performed by the minstrels only;
but now a-days, they are assisted by the promiscuous multitude, that
flock thither in great numbers, and are much pleased with it; though
sometimes, through the emulation in point of manhood that has been
long cherished between the Staffordshire and Derbyshire men, perhaps
as much mischief may have been done, as in the bull-fighting[847]
practised at Valentia, Madrid, and other places in Spain."[848] The
noise and confusion occasioned by this exhibition is aptly described in
The Marriage of Robin Hood and Clorinda, Queen of Titbury Feast,[849] a
popular ballad published early in the last century:

    Before we came to it, we heard a strange shouting,
      And all that were in it looked madly,
    For some were a bull-back, some dancing a morrice,
      And some singing Arthur O'Bradley.


XIX.--BADGER-BAITING.

May also be placed in this chapter. In order to give the better effect
to this diversion, a hole is dug in the ground for the retreat of the
animal; and the dogs run at him singly in succession; for it is not
usual, I believe, to permit any more than one of them to attack him at
once; and the dog which approaches him with the least timidity, fastens
upon him the most firmly, and brings him the soonest from his hole, is
accounted the best. The badger was formerly called the "grey," hence
the denomination of greyhounds applied to a well known species of dogs,
on account of their having been generally used in the pursuit of this
animal.


XX.--COCK-FIGHTING.

This barbarous pastime, which claims the sanction of high antiquity,
was practised at an early period by the Grecians, and probably still
more anciently in Asia. It is a very common sport, and of very long
standing, in China.[850] It was practised by the Romans:[851] with
us, it may be traced back to the twelfth century; at which period we
are certain it was in usage, and seems to have been considered as a
childish sport. "Every year," says Fitzstephen, "on the morning of
Shrove-Tuesday, the school-boys of the city of London[852] bring game
cocks to their masters, and in the fore part of the day, till dinner
time, they are permitted to amuse themselves with seeing them fight."
Probably the same custom prevailed in other cities and great towns.
Stow having cited the preceding passage from Fitzstephen, adds, "cocks
of the game are yet," that is at the close of the sixteenth century,
"cherished by divers men for their pleasures, much money being laid
on their heads when they fight in pits, whereof some are costly made
for that purpose."[853] The cock-pit was the school, and the master
the controller and director of the pastime. This custom, according to
Mr. Brand, "was retained in many schools in Scotland within the last
century, and perhaps may be still in use there: the schoolmasters
claimed the runaway cocks as their perquisites; and these were called
fugees, 'corrupt, I suppose,' says he, 'of refugees.'"[854]

In the reign of Edward III. cock-fighting became a fashionable
amusement; it was then taken up more seriously than it formerly had
been, and the practice extended to grown persons; even at that early
period it began to be productive of pernicious consequences, and was
therefore prohibited in 1366 by a public proclamation, in which it
was ranked with other idle and unlawful pastimes. But notwithstanding
it was thus degraded and discountenanced, it still maintained its
popularity, and in defiance of all temporary opposition has descended
to the modern times. Among the additions made by Henry VIII. to the
palace at Whitehall, was a cock-pit;[855] which indicates his relish
for the pastime of cock-fighting; and James I. was so partial to this
diversion, that he amused himself in seeing it twice a week.[856]
Exclusive of the royal cock-pit, we are told there was formerly one
in Drury-lane, another in Jewin-street, and if the following story be
founded on fact, a third in Shoe-lane: "Sir Thomas Jermin, meaning to
make himself merry, and gull all the cockers, sent his man to the pit
in Shoe-lane, with an hundred pounds and a dunghill cock, neatly cut
and trimmed for the battle; the plot being well layd the fellow got
another to throw the cock in, and fight him in sir Thomas Jermin's
name, while he betted his hundred pounds against him; the cock was
matched, and bearing sir Thomas's name, had many betts layd upon his
head; but after three or four good brushes, he showed a payre of
heeles: every one wondered to see a cock belonging to sir Thomas cry
_craven_, and away came the man with his money doubled."[857]

I shall not expatiate upon the nature and extent of this fashionable
divertisement; but merely mention a part of it called the Welch main,
which seems to be an abuse of the modern times; and as a late judicious
author justly says, "a disgrace to us as Englishmen."[858] It consists
of a certain or given number of pairs of cocks, suppose sixteen, which
fight with each other until one half of them are killed; the sixteen
conquerors are pitted a second time in like manner, and half are slain;
the eight survivors, a third time; the four, a fourth time; and the
remaining two, a fifth time: so that "thirty-one cocks are sure to be
inhumanly murdered for the sport and pleasure of the spectators." I
am informed that the Welch main usually consists of fourteen pair of
cocks, though sometimes the number might be extended.

In the old illuminated manuscripts we frequently meet with paintings
representing cocks fighting; but I do not recollect to have seen in
any of them the least indication of artificial spurs; the arming their
heels with sharp points of steel is a cruelty, I trust, unknown in
former ages to our ancestors. I have been told the artificial spurs are
sometimes made with silver.

In addition to what has been said, I shall only observe, that the
ancients fought partridges and quails as well as cocks; in like manner,
says Burton, as the French do now;[859] how far, if at all, the example
has been followed in England, I know not.


XXI.--THROWING AT COCKS.

If the opposing of one cock to fight with another may be justly
esteemed a national barbarism, what shall be said of a custom more
inhuman, which authorised the throwing at them with sticks, and
ferociously putting them to a painful and lingering death? I know not
at what time this unfortunate animal became the object of such wicked
and wanton abuse: the sport, if such a denomination may be given to
it, is certainly no recent invention, and perhaps is alluded to by
Chaucer,[860] in the Nonnes Priests' Tale, when he says,

            "----There was a cocke,
    For that a priestes' sonne gave hym a knocke,
    Upon his legges, when he was yonge and nice,
    He made him for to lose his benefice."

The story supposes the cock to have overheard the young man ordering
his servant to call him at the cock-crowing; upon which the malicious
bird forbore to crow at the usual time, and owing to this artifice the
youth was suffered to sleep till the ordination was over.

Throwing at cocks was a very popular diversion, especially among the
younger parts of the community. Sir Thomas Moore, who wrote in the
sixteenth century, describing the state of childhood, speaks of his
skill in casting a cok-stele, that is, a stick or cudgel to throw at
a cock. It was universally practised upon Shrove-Tuesday. If the poor
bird by chance had its legs broken, or was otherwise so lamed as not
to be able to stand, the barbarous owners were wont to support it with
sticks, in order to prolong the pleasure received from the reiteration
of its torment. The magistrates, greatly to their credit, have for
some years past put a stop to this wicked custom, and at present it is
nearly, if not entirely, discontinued in every part of the kingdom.

Heath, in his account of the Scilly Islands,[861] speaking of St.
Mary's, says, "on Shrove-Tuesday each year, after the throwing at cocks
is over, the boys of this island have a custom of throwing stones in
the evening against the doors of the dwellers' houses; a privilege they
claim from time immemorial, and put in practice without control, for
finishing the day's sport; the terms demanded by the boys are pancakes
or money, to capitulate. Some of the older sort, exceeding the bounds
of this whimsical toleration, break the doors and window shutters,
&c. sometimes making a job for the surgeon as well as for the smith,
glazier, and carpenter."

In some places it was a common practice to put the cock into an earthen
vessel made for the purpose, and to place him in such a position that
his head and tail might be exposed to view; the vessel, with the bird
in it, was then suspended across the street, about twelve or fourteen
feet from the ground, to be thrown at by such as chose to make trial of
their skill; two-pence was paid for four throws, and he who broke the
pot, and delivered the cock from his confinement, had him for a reward.
At North Walsham, in Norfolk, about 1760, some wags put an owl into
one of these vessels; and having procured the head and tail of a dead
cock, they placed them in the same position as if they had appertained
to a living one: the deception was successful, and at last, a labouring
man belonging to the town, after several fruitless attempts, broke the
pot, but missed his prize; for the owl being set at liberty, instantly
flew away, to his great astonishment, and left him nothing more than
the head and tail of the dead bird, with the potsherds, for his money
and his trouble; this ridiculous adventure exposed him to the continual
laughter of the town's people, and obliged him to quit the place, to
which, I am told, he returned no more.


XXII.--DUCK-HUNTING.

This is another barbarous pastime, and for the performance it is
necessary to have recourse to a pond of water sufficiently extensive
to give the duck plenty of room for making her escape from the dogs
when she is closely pursued; which she does by diving as often as
any of them come near to her. Duck-hunting was much practised in the
neighbourhood of London about thirty or forty years ago; but of late it
is gone out of fashion; yet I cannot help thinking, that the
deficiency, at present, of places proper for the purpose, has done more
towards the abolishment of this sport than any amendment in the nature
and inclinations of the populace.

Sometimes the duck is tormented in a different manner, without the
assistance of the dogs; by having an owl tied upon her back, and so put
into the water, where she frequently dives in order to escape from the
burden, and on her return for air, the miserable owl, half drowned,
shakes itself, and hooting, frightens the duck; she of course dives
again, and replunges the owl into the water; the frequent repetition of
this action soon deprives the poor bird of its sensation, and generally
ends in its death, if not in that of the duck also.


XXIII.--SQUIRREL-HUNTING.

This is a rustic pastime, and commonly practised at Christmas-time and
at Midsummer; those who pursue it find plenty of exercise; but nothing
can excuse the wantonly tormenting so harmless an animal.


XXIV.--RABBIT-HUNTING.

Hentzner, who visited England at the close of the sixteenth century,
mentions this diversion, and assures us that he saw it performed in the
presence of the lord mayor of London, when the annual wrestling was
concluded: his words are as follow; "after this is over, a parcel of
live rabbits are turned loose among the crowd, which are pursued by a
number of boys, who endeavour to catch them with all the noise they can
make."




BOOK IV.

DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS; AND PASTIMES APPROPRIATED TO
PARTICULAR SEASONS.




CHAPTER I.

     I. Secular Music fashionable.--II. Ballad-singers encouraged
     by the Populace.--III. Music Houses.--IV. Origin of
     Vauxhall.--V. Ranelagh.--VI. Sadler's Wells.--VII. Marybone
     Gardens--Operas--Oratorios.--VIII. Bell-ringing.--IX. Its
     Antiquity.--X. Hand-bells.--XI. Burlesque Music.--XII.
     Dancing.--XIII. Its Antiquity, &c.--XIV. Shovel-board.--XV.
     Anecdote of Prince Henry.--XVI. Billiards.--XVII.
     Mississipi.--XVIII. The Rocks of Scilly.--XIX. Steve groat.--XX.
     Swinging.--XXI. Tetter-totter.--XXII. Shuttle-cock.


I.--SECULAR MUSIC FASHIONABLE

The national passion for secular music admitted of little or no
abatement by the disgrace and dispersion of the minstrels. Professional
musicians, both vocal and instrumental, were afterwards retained
at the court, and also in the mansions of the nobility. In the
sixteenth century, a knowledge of music was considered as a genteel
accomplishment for persons of high rank. Henry VIII. not only sang
well, but played upon several sorts of instruments; he also wrote
songs, and composed the tunes[862] for them; and his example was
followed by several of the nobility, his favourites. An author, who
lived in the reign of James I. says, "We have here," that is, in
London, "the best musicians in the kingdom, and equal to any in Europe
for their skill, either in composing and setting of tunes, or singing,
and playing upon any kind of instruments. The musicians have obtained
of our sovereign lord the king, his letters patent to become a society
and corporation."[863] To which we may add, that the metropolis never
abounded more, if so much as at present, with excellent musicians, not
such only as make a profession of music, but with others who pursue it
merely for their amusement; nor must we omit the fair sex; with them
the study of music is exceedingly fashionable; and indeed there are few
young ladies of family who are not in some degree made acquainted with
its rudiments.[864]


II.--PUBLIC BALLAD-SINGERS.

The minstrel being deprived of all his honours, and having lost the
protection of the opulent, dwindled into a mere singer of ballads,
which sometimes he composed himself, and usually accompanied his voice
with the notes of a violin. The subjects of these songs were chiefly
taken from popular stories, calculated to attract the notice of the
vulgar, and among them the musical poets figured away at wakes, fairs,
and church-ales.[865] Warton speaks of two celebrated trebles; the one
called Outroaringe Dick; and the other Wat Wimbas, who occasionally
made twenty shillings a day by ballad-singing;[866] which is a strong
proof that these itinerants were highly esteemed by the common people.


III.--MUSIC HOUSES.

Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the professed musicians
assembled at certain houses in the metropolis, called music houses,
where they performed concerts, consisting of vocal and instrumental
music, for the entertainment of the public; at the same period there
were music booths at Smithfield during the continuance of Bartholomew
fair. An author of the time,[867] however, speaks very contemptibly of
these music meetings, professing that he "had rather have heard an old
barber[868] ring Whittington's bells upon a cittern than all the music
the houses afforded." There were also music-clubs, or private meetings
for the practice of music, which were exceedingly fashionable with
people of opulence. Hence, in The Citizen turned Gentleman, a comedy
by Edw. Ravenscroft, published in 1675, the citizen is told that, in
order to appear like a person of consequence, it was necessary for
him "to have a music club once a week at his house." The music houses
first mentioned were sometimes supported by subscription; and from
them originated three places of public entertainment well known in the
present day; namely, Vauxhall, Ranelagh, and Sadler's Wells.


IV.--ORIGIN OF VAUXHALL.

Spring Gardens, now better known by the name of Vauxhall Gardens, is
mentioned in the Antiquities of Surrey, by Aubrey, who informs us, that
sir Samuel Moreland "built a fine room at Vauxhall, (in 1667,) the
inside all of looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant to behold;
which," adds he, "is much visited by strangers. It stands in the middle
of the garden, covered with Cornish slate, on the point whereof he
placed a punchanello, very well carved, which held a dial; but the
winds have demolished it."[869] "The house," says a more modern author,
sir John Hawkins,[870] "seems to have been rebuilt since the time
that sir Samuel Moreland dwelt in it; and, there being a large garden
belonging to it, planted with a great number of stately trees, and
laid out in shady walks, it obtained the name of Spring Gardens; and,
the house being converted into a tavern, or place of entertainment, it
was frequented by the votaries of pleasure." This account is perfectly
consonant with the following passage in a paper of the Spectator,[871]
dated May 20, 1712: "We now arrived at Spring Gardens, which is
exquisitely pleasant at this time of the year. When I considered the
fragrancy of the walks and bowers, with the choirs of birds that sung
upon the trees, and the loose tribe of people that walked underneath
their shades, I could not but look upon the place as a kind of
Mahometan paradise." In 1730 the house and gardens came into the hands
of a gentleman whose name was Jonathan Tyers, who opened it with an
advertisement of a "ridotto al fresco;"[872] a term which the people of
this country had till then been strangers to. These entertainments
were several times repeated in the course of the summer, and numbers
resorted to partake of them; which encouraged the proprietor to make
his garden a place of musical entertainment for every evening during
the summer season: to this end he was at great expense in decorating
the gardens with paintings; he engaged an excellent band of musicians,
and issued silver tickets for admission at a guinea each; and receiving
great encouragement, he set up an organ in the orchestra; and in a
conspicuous part of the gardens erected a fine statue of Handel, the
work of Roubiliac, a very famous statuary, to whom we owe several of
the best monuments in Westminster Abbey.


V.--RANELAGH.

The success of this undertaking was an encouragement to another of a
similar kind. A number of persons purchased the house and gardens of
the late earl of Ranelagh; they erected a spacious building of timber,
of a circular form, and within it an organ, and an orchestra capable
of holding a numerous band of performers. The entertainment of the
auditors during the performance is, either walking round the room, or
refreshing themselves with tea and coffee in the recesses thereof,
which are conveniently adapted for that purpose. Sir John Hawkins[873]
says, "The performance here, as at Vauxhall, is instrumental,
intermixed with songs and ballad airs, calculated rather to please the
vulgar than gratify those of a better taste."


VI.--SADLER'S WELLS.

We meet with what is said to be "a true account of Sadler's Well," in
a pamphlet published by a physician at the close of the seventeenth
century.[874] "The water," says he, "of this well, before the
Reformation, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures
performed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called
Holy-well. The priests belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to
attend there, made the people believe that the virtues of the water
proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers; but at the Reformation
the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of
it was altogether superstitious; and so by degrees it grew out of
remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out; when a gentleman
named Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being
surveyor of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden,
in the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an
arch of stone."[875] After the decease of Sadler, one Francis Forcer,
a musician and composer of songs, became occupier of the well and
music-room; he was succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the
diversion of rope-dancing and tumbling,[876] which were then performed
abroad in the garden. There is now a small theatre appropriated to
this purpose, furnished with a stage, scenes, and other decorations
proper for the representation of dramatic pieces and pantomimes. The
diversions of this place are of various kinds, and form upon the whole
a succession of performances very similar to those displayed in former
ages by the gleemen, the minstrels, and the jugglers.


VII.--MARY-BONE GARDENS--ORATORIOS.

To the three preceding places of public entertainment, we may add a
fourth, not now indeed in existence, but which about thirty years
back[877] was held in some degree of estimation, and much frequented;
I mean Marybone Gardens; where, in addition to the music and singing,
there were burlettas and fireworks exhibited. The site of these gardens
is now covered with buildings. There were also other places of smaller
note where singing and music were introduced, but none of them of any
long continuance; for being much frequented by idle and dissolute
persons, they were put down by the magistrates.

The success of these musical assemblies, I presume, first suggested the
idea of introducing operas upon the stage, which were contrived at once
to please the eye and delight the ear; and this double gratification,
generally speaking, was procured at the expense of reason and
propriety. Hence, also, we may trace the establishment of oratorios in
England. I need not say that this noble species of dramatic music was
brought to great perfection by Handel: the oratorios produced by him
display in a wonderful manner his powers as a composer of music; and
they continue to be received with that enthusiasm of applause which
they most justly deserve. Under this title, oratorios, are included
several of his serenatas, as Acis and Galatea, Alexander's Feast, &c.;
but generally speaking, the subjects of the oratorios are taken from
the Scriptures, and therefore they are permitted to be performed on the
Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent when plays are prohibited.


VIII.--BELL-RINGING.

It has been remarked by foreigners that the English are particularly
fond of bell-ringing;[878] and indeed most of our churches have a ring
of bells in the steeple, partly appropriated to that purpose. These
bells are rung upon most occasions of joy and festivity, and sometimes
at funerals, when they are muffled, and especially at the funerals of
ringers, with a piece of woollen cloth bound about the clapper, and
the sounds then emitted by them are exceedingly unmelodious, and well
fitted to inspire the mind with melancholy. Ringing of rounds; that
is, sounding every bell in succession, from the least to the greatest,
and repeating the operation, produces no variety; on the contrary, the
reiteration of the same cadences in a short time becomes tiresome: for
which reason the ringing of changes has been introduced, wherein the
succession of the bells is shifted continually, and by this means a
varied combination of different sounds, exceedingly pleasant to the
ear, is readily produced. This improvement in the art of ringing is
thought to be peculiar to the people of this country.[879] Ringing
the bells backwards is sometimes mentioned, and probably consisted in
beginning with the largest bell and ending with the least; it appears
to have been practised by the ringers as a mark of contempt or disgust.


IX.--ANTIQUITY OF BELL-RINGING.

When bell-ringing first arose in England cannot readily be ascertained.
It is said that bells were invented by Paulinas, bishop of Nola,[880]
at the commencement of the fifth century. In 680, according to
Venerable Bede, they were used in Brittany, and thence perhaps brought
into this country. Ingulphus speaks of them as well known in his time,
and tells us, "that Turketullus, the first abbot of Croyland, gave six
bells to that monastery; that is to say, two great ones, which he named
Bartholomew and Betteline; two of a middling size, called Turketulum
and Beterine; and two small ones, denominated Pega and Bega; he also
caused the greatest bell to be made, called Gudhlac, which was tuned to
the other bells, and produced an admirable harmony not to be equalled
in England."[881] Turketullus died in 875.

According to the ritual of the Romish church, the bells were not only
blessed and exorcised, but baptized as those above mentioned, and
anointed with holy oil.[882] After these ceremonies had passed it was
believed that the evil spirits lurking in the air might be driven
away by their sound. The general use of bells is expressed in the two
following Latin lines:

    "Laudo Deum verum--plebem voco--congrego clerum--
    Defunctos ploro--pestum fugo--festa decoro."

That is, to praise the true God--to call the people--to congregate the
clergy--to bemoan the dead--to drive away pestilential disorders--to
enliven the festivals.

I know not how far the pastime of bell-ringing attracted the notice
of the opulent in former times; at present it is confined to the
lower classes of the people, who are paid by the parish for ringing
upon certain holidays. At weddings, as well as upon other festive
occurrences, they usually ring the bells in expectance of a pecuniary
reward.


X.--HAND-BELLS.

These, which probably first appeared in the religious processions, were
afterwards used by the secular musicians, and practised for the sake
of pastime. The joculator dancing before the fictitious goat, depicted
by the engraving No. 85, has two large hand-bells, and nearly of a
size; but in general, they are regularly diminished, from the largest
to the least; and ten or twelve of them, rung in rounds or changes by
a company of ringers, sometimes one to each bell, but more usually
every ringer has two. I have seen a man in London, who I believe is now
living,[883] ring twelve bells at one time; two of them were placed
upon his head, he held two in each hand, one was affixed to each of his
knees, and two upon each foot; all of which he managed with great
adroitness, and performed a vast variety of tunes.

The small bells were not always held in the hand; they were sometimes
suspended upon a stand, and struck with hammers, by which means one
person could more readily play upon them. An example of this kind,
taken from a manuscript in the Royal Library,[884] is given below.

[Illustration: 96. HAND-BELLS.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The figure in the original is designed as a representation of king
David, and affixed to one of his psalms.


XI.--BURLESQUE MUSIC.

The minstrels and joculators seem to have had the knack of converting
every kind of amusement into a vehicle for merriment, and among others,
that of music has not escaped them.

Here we see one of these drolls holding a pair of bellows by way of a
fiddle, and using the tongs as a substitute for the bow.

[Illustration: 97. BURLESQUE MUSIC.]

This, and such like vagaries, were frequently practised in the
succeeding times; and they are neatly ridiculed in one of the papers
belonging to the Spectator,[885] where the author mentions "a tavern
keeper who amused his company with whistling of different tunes,
which he performed by applying the edge of a case knife to his lips.
Upon laying down the knife he took up a pair of clean tobacco pipes,
and after having slid the small ends of them over a table in a most
melodious trill, he fetched a tune out of them, whistling to them at
the same time in concert. In short the tobacco pipes became musical
pipes in the hands of our virtuoso, who," says the writer, "confessed
ingenuously that he broke such quantities of pipes that he almost
broke himself, before he brought this piece of music to any tolerable
perfection."[886] This man also "played upon the frying-pan and
gridiron, and declared he had layed down the tongs and key because
it was unfashionable." I have heard an accompaniment to the violin
exceedingly well performed with a rolling-pin and a salt-box, by a
celebrated publican named Price, who kept the Green Man, formerly
well known by the appellation of the Farthing Pye House, at the top
of Portland Row, St. Mary-le-bone. I have also seen a fellow who used
to frequent most of the public houses in and about the town, blow up
his cheeks with his breath, and beat a tune upon them with his fists,
which feat he seemed to perform with great facility. The butchers have
a sort of rough music, made with marrow-bones and cleavers, which they
usually bring forward at weddings; and in the Knave in Grain, a play
first acted in 1640,[887] ringing of basons is mentioned. This music,
or something like it, I believe, is represented by the engraving No. 57.


XII.--DANCING.

To what has been said upon this subject in a former chapter,[888] I
shall here add a few words more, and consider it as performed for
amusement only. In the middle ages dancing was reckoned among the
genteel accomplishments necessary to be acquired by both sexes; and in
the romances of those times, the character of a hero was incomplete
unless he danced excellently.[889] The knights and the ladies are often
represented dancing together, which in the MS. poem of Launfal, in the
Cotton Collection,[890] is called playing:

    The quene yede to the formeste ende,
    Betweene Launfal and Gauweyn the hende,[891]
        And after her ladyes bryght;
    To daunce they wente alle yn same,
    To see them playe hyt was fayr game,
        A lady and a knyght;
    They had menstrelles of moche honours,
    Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompetors,
        And else hyt were unright.

The poet then tells us, they continued their amusement great part of a
summer's day, that is, from the conclusion of dinner to the approach of
night.

Dancing was constantly put in practice among the nobility upon days
of festivity, and was countenanced by the example of the court. After
the coronation dinner of Richard II., the remainder of the day was
spent in the manner described by the foregoing poem; for the king,
the prelates, the nobles, the knights, and the rest of the company,
danced in Westminster Hall to the music of the minstrels.[892] Sir John
Hawkins mentions a dance called pavon, from pavo, a peacock, which
might have been proper upon such an occasion. "It is," says he, "a
grave and majestic dance; the method of dancing it anciently was by
gentlemen dressed with caps and swords, by those of the long robe in
their gowns, by the peers in their mantles, and by the ladies in gowns
with long trains, the motion whereof in dancing resembled that of a
peacock."[893] Several of our monarchs are praised for their skill in
dancing, and none of them more than Henry VIII., who was peculiarly
partial to this fashionable exercise. In his time, and in the reign
of his daughter Elizabeth, the English, generally speaking, are said
to have been good dancers; and this commendation is not denied to
them even by foreign writers. Polydore Virgil praises the English for
their skill in dancing,[894] and Hentzner says, "the English excell in
danceing."[895]


XIII.--ANTIQUITY, &c. OF DANCING.

The example of the nobility was followed by the middling classes of the
community; they again were imitated by their inferiors, who spent much
of their leisure time in dancing, and especially upon holidays; which
is noticed and condemned with great severity by the moral and religious
writers, as we may find by turning to the Introduction. Dancing is
there called a heathenish practice, and said to have been productive of
filthy gestures, for which reason it is ranked with other wanton sports
unfit to be exhibited. An old drama without date, but probably written
early in the reign of Elizabeth, entitled A new Interlude and a Mery,
of the Nature of the four Elements,[896] accuses the people at large,
with "loving pryncypally disportes, as daunsynge, syngynge, toys,
tryfuls, laughynge, and gestynge; for," adds the author, "connynge
they set not by."[897] But Sebastian Brant, in his Ship of Fooles, is
much more severe upon this subject. I shall give the passage as it is
paraphrased by Barclay:[898]

    The priestes, and clerkes, to daunce have no shame;
    The frere, or monke in his frocke and cowle,
    Must daunce; and the doctor lepeth to play the foole.

He derives the origin of dancing from the Jews, when they worshipped
the golden calf:

    Before this ydoll dauncing, both wife and man
    Despised God; thus dauncing first began.

The damsels of London, as far back as the twelfth century, spent the
evenings on holidays in dancing before their masters' doors. Stow
laments the abolition of this "open pastime," which he remembered to
have seen practised in his youth,[899] and considered it not only as
innocent in itself, but also as a preventive to worse deeds "within
doors," which he feared would follow the suppression. The country
lasses perform this exercise upon the greens, where it is said they
dance all their rustic measures, rounds, and jiggs.[900] We read also
of dancing the Raye,[901] or Reye, as it is written by Chaucer, and
which appears to have been a rustic dance, and probably the same as
that now called the Hay, where they lay hold of hands, and dance round
in a ring. A dance of this kind occurs several times in the Bodleian
MS.,[902] dated A. D. 1344, whence many of the engravings which
elucidate this work are taken. Chaucer speaks also of love-dances,
and springs, as well known in his time;[903] but none of them are
described. Of late years dancing is generally thought to be an
essential part of a young female's education, and is commonly taught
her at the boarding-school; and perhaps, when used with moderation,
may not be improper. But some of the dances that the girls are
permitted to perform are justly to be censured; among these may be
ranked one called Hunt the Squirrel, in which, while the woman flies
the man pursues her, but as soon as she turns, he runs away, and she
is obliged to follow; and the Kissing-dance, the same, I suppose, as
the Cushion-dance mentioned by Heywood at the commencement of the
seventeenth century:[904] both of them are discommended in a paper of
the Spectator.[905]


XIV.--SHOVEL-BOARD.

Among the domestic pastimes, playing at shovelboard claims a principal
place. In former times the residences of the nobility, or the mansions
of the opulent, were not thought to be complete without a shovelboard
table; and this fashionable piece of furniture was usually stationed
in the great hall.[906] The tables for this diversion were sometimes
very expensive, owing to the great pains and labour bestowed upon their
construction. "It is remarkable," says Dr. Plott, in his History of
Staffordshire, "that in the hall at Chartley the shuffle-board table,
though ten yards one foot and an inch long, is made up of about two
hundred and sixty pieces, which are generally about eighteen inches
long, some few only excepted, that are scarce a foot, which, being laid
on longer boards for support underneath, are so accurately joined and
glewed together, that no shuffle-board whatever is freer from rubbs or
casting.--There is a joynt also in the shuffle-board at Madeley Manor
exquisitely well done."

The length of these tables, if they be perfectly smooth and level,
adds to their value in proportion to its increase; but they rarely
exceed three feet or three feet and a half in width. At one end of the
shovelboard there is a line drawn across parallel with the edge, and
about three or four inches from it; at four feet distance from this
line another is made, over which it is necessary for the weight to pass
when it is thrown by the player, otherwise the go is not reckoned. The
players stand at the end of the table, opposite to the two marks above
mentioned, each of them having four flat weights of metal, which they
shove from them one at a time alternately: and the judgment of the play
is, to give sufficient impetus to the weight to carry it beyond the
mark nearest to the edge of the board, which requires great nicety,
for if it be too strongly impelled, so as to fall from the table, and
there is nothing to prevent it, into a trough placed underneath for
its reception, the throw is not counted; if it hangs over the edge,
without falling, three are reckoned towards the player's game; if it
lie between the line and the edge without hanging over, it tells for
two; if on the line, and not up to it, but over the first line, it
counts for one. The game, when two play, is generally eleven; but the
number is extended when four or more are jointly concerned. I have seen
a shovelboard-table at a low public-house in Benjamin-street, near
Clerkenwell-green, which is about three feet in breadth and thirty-nine
feet two inches in length, and said to be the longest at this time in
London.


XV.--ANECDOTE OF PRINCE HENRY.

There certainly is not sufficient variety in this pastime to render it
very attractive, but in point of exercise it is not inferior to any
of the domestic amusements; for which reason it was practised by the
nobility in former ages, when the weather would not admit of employment
abroad. Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I., occasionally
exercised himself in this manner, as the following anecdote may prove:
it is recorded by one of his attendants, who declares that he was
present at the time, and that he has not attributed to him a single
sentence not uttered by him in this or any other of the anecdotes
related by him;[907] and therefore I will give it in the author's own
words:--"Once when the prince was playing at shoffleboard, and in his
play changed sundry pieces, his tutor, being desirous that even in
trifles he should not be new-fangled, said to him, that he did ill to
change so oft; and therewith took a piece in his hand, and saying that
he would play well enough therewith without changing, threw the piece
on the board; yet not so well but the prince, smileing thereat, said,
Well throwne, Sir. Whereupon Master Newton telling him, that he would
not strive with a prince at shoffleboard, he answered, You gownsmen
should be best at such exercises, being not meete for those that are
more stirring. Yes, quoth Master Newton, I am meete for whipping of
boyes. And hereupon the prince answered, You need not vaunt of that
which a ploughman or cartdriver can doe better than you. Yet I can
doe more, said Master Newton, for I can governe foolish children. The
prince respecting him, even in jesting, came from the further end of
the table, and smiling, said, while he passed by him, Hee had neede be
a wise man himselfe that could doe that."


XVI.--BILLIARDS.

This pastime, which in the present day has superseded the game of
shovelboard, and is certainly a more elegant species of amusement,
admits of more variety, and requires at least an equal degree of skill
in the execution. The modern manner of playing at billiards, and the
rules by which the pastime is regulated, are so generally known, that
no enlargement upon the subject is necessary. The invention of this
diversion is attributed to the French, and probably with justice; but
at the same time I cannot help thinking it originated from an ancient
game played with small bowls upon the ground; or indeed that it was,
when first instituted, the same game transferred from the ground to the
table.[908] At the commencement of the last century, the billiard-table
was square, having only three pockets for the balls to run in, situated
on one of the sides; that is, at each corner one, and the third
between them. About the middle of the table was placed a small arch of
iron, and in a right line, at a little distance from it, an upright
cone called the king. A representation of the billiard-table, according
to this description, may be found in the frontispiece to a little
duodecimo treatise called The School of Recreation, published in 1710.
At certain periods of the game it was necessary for the balls to be
driven through the one and round the other, without beating either of
them down; and their fall might easily be effected because they were
not fastened to the table; this is called the French game; and much
resembled the Italian method of playing, known in England by the name
of Trucks, which also had its king at one end of the table. Billiards
are first mentioned as an unlawful game towards the close of the last
reign, when billiard-tables were forbidden to be kept in public-houses,
under the penalty of ten pounds for every offence.[909]


XVII.--MISSISSIPI.

This is played upon a table made in the form of a parallelogram. It
much resembles a modern billiard-table, excepting that, instead of
pockets, it has a recess at one end, into which the balls may fall;
and this recess is faced with a thin board equal in height to the
ledge that surrounds the table; and in it are fifteen perforations,
or small arches, every one of them surmounted by a number from one
to fifteen inclusive, the highest being placed in the middle, and
the others intermixed on either side. The players have four or six
balls at pleasure. These balls, which are usually made of ivory, and
distinguished from each other by their colour, some being red and some
white, they cast alternately, one at a time, against the sides of
the table, whence acquiring an angular direction, and rolling to the
arches, they strike against the intervening parts, or pass by them.
In the first instance the cast is of no use; in the second the value
of the numbers affixed to the arches through which they run is placed
to the score of the player; and he who first attains one hundred and
twenty wins the game. This pastime is included in the statute above
mentioned relating to billiards, and the same penalty is imposed upon
the publican who keeps a table in his house for the purpose of playing.



XVIII--THE ROCKS OF SCILLY.

This diversion requires a table oblong in its form, and curved at the
top, which is more elevated than the bottom. There is a hollow trunk
affixed to one side, which runs nearly the whole length of the table,
and is open at both ends. The balls are put in singly at the bottom,
and driven through it by the means of a round batoon of wood. When a
ball quits the trunk it is impelled by its own gravity towards the
lower part of the table, where there are arches similar to those upon
the mississipi-table, and numbered in like manner; but it is frequently
interrupted in its descent by wires inserted at different distances
upon the table, which alter its direction, and often throw it entirely
out of the proper track. The game is reckoned in the same manner as at
mississipi, and the cast is void if the ball does not enter any of the
holes.


XIX.--SHOVE-GROAT, &c.

Shove-groat, named also Slyp-groat, and Slide-thrift, are sports
occasionally mentioned by the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and probably were analogous to the modern pastime called
Justice Jervis, or Jarvis, which is confined to common pot-houses,
and only practised by such as frequent the tap-rooms. It requires a
parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle
of a table, about twelve or fourteen inches in breadth, and three or
four feet in length: which is divided, latitudinally, into nine equal
partitions, in every one of which is placed a figure, in regular
succession from one to nine. Each of the players provides himself with
a smooth halfpenny, which he places upon the edge of the table, and
striking it with the palm of his hand, drives it towards the marks; and
according to the value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein
the halfpenny rests, his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at
thirty-one, and must be made precisely: if it be exceeded, the player
goes again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, or the turn
is forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that
separate the partitions, or overpasses the external boundaries, the
go is void. It is also to be observed, that the players toss up to
determine who shall go first, which is certainly a great advantage.
Some add a tenth partition, with the number ten, to the marks above
mentioned; and then they play with four halfpence, which are considered
as equivalent to so many cards at cribbage; and the game is counted, in
like manner, by fifteens, sequences, pairs, and pairials, according to
the numbers appertaining to the partitions occupied by the halfpence.


XX.--SWINGING.

This is a childish sport, in which the performer is seated upon the
middle of a long rope, fastened at both ends, a little distance from
each other, and the higher above his head the better. The rope we
call the Swing, but formerly it was known by the name of Meritot,
or Merry-trotter.[910] This simple pastime was not confined to the
children, at least in the last century, but practised by grown persons
of both sexes, and especially by the rustics. Hence Gay:

    On two near elms the slacken'd cord I hung,
    Now high, now low, my Blouzalinda swung.

It was also adopted at the watering-places by people of fashion, and
the innovation is justly ridiculed in the Spectator.[911]

Of late years a machine has been introduced to answer the purpose of
the swing. It consists of an axletree, with four or six double arms
inserted into it, like the spokes of a large water-wheel; every pair
of arms is connected at the extremities by a round rod of iron, of
considerable thickness, and upon it a box is suspended, resembling the
body of a post-chaise, which turns about and passes readily between
the two spokes, in such a manner as to continue upright whatever may
be the position of its supporters. These carriages usually contain
two or three persons each, and being filled with passengers, if I
may be allowed the term, the machine is put into action, when they
are successively elevated and depressed by the rotatory motion. This
ridiculous method of riding was in vogue for the space of two summers,
and was exhibited at several places in the neighbourhood of London; and
the places where the machines were erected frequented by persons
of both sexes, and by some whose situation in life, one might have
thought, would have prevented their appearance in such a mixed, and
generally speaking, vulgar company; but the charms of novelty may be
pleaded in excuse for many inadvertencies.

The Grecian boys had a game called in Greek Ελκυστινδα,[912] which I
have seen played by the youth of our own country; it was performed by
the means of a rope passed through a hole made in a beam, and either
end held by a boy, who pulls the rope, in his turn, with all his
strength; and by this means both of them are alternately elevated from
the ground.


XXI.--TITTER-TOTTER.

To the foregoing we may add another pastime well known with us by the
younger part of the community, and called Titter-totter. It consists
in simply laying one piece of timber across another, so as to be
equipoised; and either end being occupied by a boy or a girl, they
raise or depress themselves in turn. This sport was sometimes played by
the rustic lads and lasses, as we find from Gay:

    Across the fallen oak the plank I laid,
    And myself pois'd against the tott'ring maid;
    High leap'd the plank, adown Buxoma fell, &c.


XXII.--SHUTTLE-COCK.

This a boyish sport of long standing. It is represented by the
following engraving from a drawing on a MS. in the possession of
Francis Douce, esq.

[Illustration: 98. SHUTTLE-COCK.--XIV. CENTURY.]

It appears to have been a fashionable pastime among grown persons in
the reign of James I. In the Two Maids of Moreclacke, a comedy printed
in 1609, it is said, "To play at shuttle-cock methinkes is the game
now." And among the anecdotes related of prince Henry, son to James 1.,
is the following: "His highness playing at shittle-cocke, with one farr
taller than himself, and hittyng him by chance with the shittle-cocke
upon the forehead, 'This is,' quoth he, 'the encounter of David with
Goliath.'"[913]




CHAPTER II

     I. Sedentary Games.--II. Dice-playing;--Its Prevalency and
     bad Effects.--III Ancient Dice-box;--Anecdote relating to
     false Dice.--IV. Chess;--Its Antiquity.--V. The Morals of
     Chess.--VI. Early Chess-play in France and England.--VII. The
     Chess-board.--VIII. The Pieces, and their Form.--IX. The various
     Games of Chess.--X. Ancient Games similar to Chess.--XI. The
     Philosopher's Game.--XII. Draughts, French and Polish.--XIII.
     Merelles, or Nine Mens' Morris.--XIV. Fox and Geese.--XV. The
     Solitary Game.--XVI. Backgammon, anciently called Tables;--The
     different Manners of playing at Tables.--XVII Backgammon,
     its former and present estimation.--XVIII. Domino.--XIX.
     Cards, when invented.--XX. Card-playing much practised.--XXI.
     Forbidden.--XXII. Censured by Poets.--XXIII. A specimen of ancient
     Cards.--XXIV. Games formerly played with Cards.--XXV. The Game of
     Goose--and of the Snake.--XXVI. Cross and Pile.


I.--SEDENTARY GAMES.

This chapter is appropriated to sedentary games, and in treating upon
most of them I am under the necessity of confining myself to very
narrow limits. To attempt a minute investigation of their properties,
to explain the different manners in which they have been played, or
to produce all the regulations by which they have been governed, is
absolutely incompatible with my present design. Instead, therefore, of
following the various writers upon these subjects, whose opinions are
rarely in unison, through the multiplicity of their arguments, I shall
content myself by selecting such of them as appear to be most cogent,
and be exceedingly brief in my own observations.


II.--DICE PLAY--ITS PREVALENCY AND BAD EFFECTS.

There is not, I believe, any species of amusement more ancient than
dice-playing; none has been more universally prevalent, and, generally
speaking, none is more pernicious in its consequences. It is the
earliest, or at least one of the most early pastimes in use among the
Grecians. Dice are said to have been invented, together with chess, by
Palamedes, the son of Nauplius, king of Eubœa.[914] Others, agreeing
to the time of the invention of dice, attribute it to a Greek soldier
named Alea, and therefore say that the game was so denominated.[915]
But Herodotus[916] attributes both dice and chess to the Lydians, a
people of Asia; in which part of the world, it is most probable, they
originated at some very remote but uncertain period. We have already
seen that the ancient Germans, even in their state of barbarism,
indulged the propensity for gambling with the dice to a degree of
madness, not only staking all they were worth, but even their liberty,
upon the chance of a throw, and submitted to slavery if fortune
declared against them.[917] The Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans
their descendants, were all of them greatly addicted to the same
infatuating pastime. One would not, at first sight, imagine that the
dice could afford any great variety of amusement, especially if they
be abstractedly considered; and yet John of Salisbury, in the twelfth
century, speaks of ten different games of dice then in use; but as he
has only given us the names, their properties cannot be investigated.
He calls it,[918] "The damnable art of dice-playing." Another author,
contemporary with him, says, "The clergymen and bishops are fond of
dice-playing."[919]


III.--ANCIENT DICE-BOX--ANECDOTE RELATING TO FALSE DICE.

The common method of throwing the dice is with a hollow cylinder of
wood, called the dice-box, into which they are put, and thence, being
first shaken together, thrown out upon the table; but in one of the
prints which occur in the Vocabulary of Commenius,[920] we meet with a
contrivance for playing with the dice that does not require them to be
numbered upon their faces. This curious machine[921] is copied below.

[Illustration: 99. OLD DICE-BOX.]

The dice are thrown into the receptacle at the top, whence they fall
upon the circular part of the table below, which is divided into six
compartments, numbered as the dice usually are; and according to the
value of the figures affixed to the compartments into which they fall
the throw is estimated. Perhaps the inner part of the circle, with the
apparatus above it, was so constructed as to move round with great
rapidity when the dice were put into the tunnel. It would then be
analogous to the E O tables of the present day, wherein a ball is used,
and the game is determined by the letters E or O being marked upon the
compartment into which it falls. The E O tables may have derived their
origin from the above contrivance.

Dice-playing has been reprobated by the grave and judicious authors
of this country for many centuries back; the legislature set its face
against it at a very early period;[922] and in the succeeding statutes
promulgated for the suppression of unlawful games, it is constantly
particularised and strictly prohibited.

Supposing the play to be fair on either side, the chances upon the
dice are equal to both parties; and the professed gamblers being well
aware of this, will not trust to the determination of fortune, but
have recourse to many nefarious arts to circumvent the unwary; hence
we hear of loaded dice, and dice of the high cut. The former are dice
made heavier on one side than the other by the insertion of a small
portion of lead; and the latter may be known by the following anecdote
in an anonymous MS. written about the reign of James I., and preserved
in the Harleian Collection.[923] "Sir William Herbert, playing at
dice with another gentleman, there rose some questions about a cast.
Sir William's antagonist declared it was a four and a five; he as
positively insisted that it was a five and six; the other then swore,
with a bitter imprecation,[924] that it was as he had said: Sir William
then replied, 'Thou art a perjured knave; for give me a sixpence, and
if there be a four upon the dice, I will return you a thousand pounds;'
at which the other was presently abashed, for indeed the dice were
false, and of a high cut, without a four." The dice are usually made of
bone or ivory, but sometimes of silver, and probably of other metals.
The wife of the unfortunate Arden of Feversham, sent to Mosbie, her
paramour, a pair of silver dice, in order to reconcile a disagreement
that had subsisted between them, and occasioned his abstaining from her
company.[925]


IV.--CHESS--ITS ANTIQUITY.

This noble, or, as it is frequently called, royal pastime, is said, by
some authors, to have originated, together with dice-playing, at the
siege of Troy; and the invention of both is attributed to Palamedes,
the son of Nauplius, king of Eubœa;[926] others make Diomedes, and
others again, Ulysses, the inventor of chess.[927] The honour has also
been attributed to Ledo and Tyrrheno, two Grecians, and brothers,
who being much pressed by hunger, sought to alleviate their bodily
sufferings by diverting the mind.[928] None of these stories have any
solid foundation for their support; and I am inclined to follow the
opinion of Dr. Hyde and other learned authors, who readily agree that
the pastime is of very remote antiquity, but think it first made its
appearance in Asia.


V.--THE MORALS OF CHESS.

John de Vigney wrote a book which he called The Moralization of Chess,
wherein he assures us that this game was invented by a philosopher
named Xerxes in the reign of Evil Merodach, king of Babylon, and
was made known to that monarch in order to engage his attention and
correct his manners. "There are three reasons," says de Vigney, "which
induced the philosopher to institute this new pastime: the first, to
reclaim a wicked king; the second, to prevent idleness; and the third,
practically to demonstrate the nature and necessity of nobleness." He
then adds, "The game of chess passed from Chaldea into Greece, and
thence diffused itself all over Europe." I have followed a MS. copy at
the Museum in the Harleian Library.[929] Our countryman Chaucer, on
what authority I know not, says it was

    --Athalus that made the game
    First of the chesse, so was his name.[930]

The Arabians and the Saracens, who are said to be admirable players at
chess, have new-modelled the story of de Vigney and adapted it to
their own country, changing the name of the philosopher from Xerxes to
Sisa.[931]


VI.--EARLY CHESS-PLAY IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

It is impossible to say when the game of chess was first brought into
this kingdom; but we have good reason to suppose it to have been well
known here at least a century anterior to the Conquest, and it was
then a favourite pastime with persons of the highest rank. Canute the
Dane, who ascended the throne of England A. D. 1017, was partial to
this pastime.[932] The following story is told of William, duke of
Normandy, afterwards king of England. When a young man, he was invited
to the court of the French king, and during his residence there,
being one day engaged at chess with the king's eldest son, a dispute
arose concerning the play; and William, exasperated at somewhat his
antagonist had said, struck him with the chess-board; which obliged
him to make a precipitate retreat from France, in order to avoid the
consequences of so rash an action.[933] A similar circumstance is said
by Leland to have happened in England.[934] John, the youngest son of
Henry II., playing at chess one day with Fulco Guarine, a nobleman of
Shropshire, a quarrel ensued, and John broke the head of Guarine with
the chess-board, who in return struck the prince such a blow that he
almost killed him. It seems, however, that Fulco found means of making
his peace with king Henry, by whom he was knighted, with three of his
brethren, a short time afterwards. John did not so easily forgive the
affront; but, on the contrary, showed his resentment long after his
accession to the English throne, by keeping him from the possession
of Whittington Castle, to which he was the rightful heir.[935] It
is also said of this monarch, that he was engaged at chess when the
deputies from Rouen came to acquaint him that the city was besieged
by Philip king of France, but he would not hear them out till he had
finished the game. In like manner Charles I. was playing at chess when
he was told that the final resolution of the Scots was to sell him
to the parliament; and he was so little discomposed by the alarming
intelligence, that he continued the game with great composure.[936]
Several other instances to the same purpose might be produced, but
these may suffice; and in truth, I know not what interpretation to put
upon such extraordinary conduct; it proves at least that the
fascinating powers of this fashionable diversion are very extensive
upon the minds of those who pursue it earnestly.


VII.--THE CHESS-BOARD.

The number of the pieces and the manner in which they are placed do not
appear to have undergone much, if any, variation for several centuries.
The following is the most ancient representation of the pastime that I
have met with.

[Illustration: 100. ANCIENT-CHESS-PLAY.]

This engraving· is from a drawing in a beautifully illuminated MS.
preserved in the British Museum among the Harleian Collection.[937]
This MS. was written at the close of the fourteenth century, and bears
every mark of being the very copy presented to Isabel of Bavaria, the
queen of Charles VI. of France. Her portrait, very neatly finished,
occurs twice, and that of the king her husband once. The author of
this MS. makes Ulysses to be the inventor of chess; and the painting
is intended to represent that chieftain engaged with some other
Grecian hero who is come to visit and play the game with him, the two
bystanders, I presume, are the umpires to decide the matter in case of
any dispute.

The Cotton Library contains a MS. of the thirteenth century with the
following:

[Illustration: 101. CHESS-BOARD.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In this representation is exhibited the manner of placing the pieces,
which are thus called in Latin verse:

    Miles et Alphinus, rex, roc, regina pedinus.

The same MS. supplies a perfect singularity:

[Illustration: 102. CIRCULAR CHESS-BOARD.--XIV CENTURY.]

It will be observed that the pieces are also placed on the above board.


VIII.--CHESS-PIECES, AND THEIR FORM.

The names of the chess pieces, as they are given in
the foregoing manuscript, are these: Rey--Reyne, or
Ferce--Roc--Alfin--Chivaler--Poun:--that is, 1. The King--2. The Queen,
or Ferce[938]--3. The Rock--4. The Alfin--5. The Knight--6. The Pawn.
Their forms are annexed.

[Illustration: 103. CHESSMEN.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In modern times the roc is corruptedly called a rook, but formerly it
signified a rock or fortress, or rather, perhaps, the keeper of the
fortress; the alfin was also denominated by the French fol, and with us
an archer, and at last a bishop.


IX.--THE VARIOUS GAMES OF CHESS.

In a manuscript in the Royal Library,[939] written about the same time
as that last mentioned, we find no less than forty-four different
names given to so many games of chess, and some of them are played
more ways than one, so that in the whole they may be said to amount to
fifty-five; and under every title there are directions for playing the
game, but I apprehend they would be of little use to a modern player.
I shall, however, give the several denominations as they occur, with
an attempt at a translation. If the learned reader should find that I
have mistaken the meaning of any of these titles, which is very likely
to be the case, he will consider the difficulty I had to encounter, and
remember I give the translation with diffidence.

1. Guy de chivaler, played three ways--2. De dames--3. De
damoyseles--4. De alfins, two ways--5. De anel--6. De covenant--7.
De propre confusion--8. Mal assis--9. Cotidian, two ways--10. Poynt
estraunge, two ways--11. Ky perde sey sauve--12. Ky ne doune ces ke
il eyme, ne prendrant ke disire--13. Bien trove--14. Beal petit--15.
Mieut vaut engyn ke force--16. Ky est larges est sages--17. Ky doune
ganye--18. Ly enginous e ly coveytous--19. Covenaunt fet ley--20. Ve
pres sen joyst ke loyns veyt--21. Meschief fet hom penser--22. La chace
de chivaler--23. La chace de ferce et de chivaler--24. Bien fort--25.
Fol si prent--26. Ly envoyons--27. Le seon sey envoye--28. Le veyl
conu--29. Le haut enprise--30. De cundut--31. Ky put se prenge--32. La
batalie sans array--33. Le tret emble, two ways--34. Ly desperes--35.
Ly marvelious, two ways--36. Ne poun ferce home fet--37. Muse
vyleyn--38. De dames et de damoyceles--39. Fol si sey fie, two
ways--40. Mal veysyn, two ways--41. Je mat de ferces--42. Flour de
guys--43. La batalie de rokes--44. Double eschec.

1. The knights' game--2. The ladies' game--3. The damsels'
game--4. The game of the alfins--5. The ring--6. The agreement--7.
Self-confounded--8. Ill placed or bad enough--9. Day by day--10. The
foreign point--11. The loser wins--12. He that gives not what he
esteems, shall not take that he desires--13. Well found--14. Fair
and small--15. Craft surpasses strength--16. He that is bountiful
is wise--17. Who gives gains--18. Subtilty and covetousness--19.
Agreement makes law--20. He sees his play at hand who sees it at a
distance--21. Misfortunes make a man think--22. The chace of the
knight--23. The chace of the queen and the knight--24. Very strong--25.
He is a fool if he takes--26. The messengers--27. Sent by his own
party--28. The old one known--29. The high place taken--30. Perhaps
for conduit, managed or conducted--31. Take if you can--32. The battle
without arrangement--33. The stolen blow--34. The desperates--35.
The wonder--36. A pawn cannot make a queen--37. The clown's lurking
place--38. The ladies and the damsels--39. A fool if he trusts--40.
Bad neighbour--41. I mate the queen--42. The flower or beauty of the
games--43. The battle of the rooks--44. Double chess.


X.--ANCIENT GAMES SIMILAR TO CHESS.

The ancient pastimes, if more than one be meant, which bear the names
of ludus latrunculorum, ludus calculorum, et ludus scrupulorum, have
been generally considered as similar to chess, if not precisely the
same; but the authors of the Encyclopédie Françoise, assure us they
did not bear any resemblance to it, at least in those essential parts
of the game which distinguish it from all others; but were played with
stones, shells, or counters. The ancients, we are told, used little
stones, shells, and nuts, in making their calculations without the
assistance of writing. These little stones were called by the Greeks
Ψηφοι, and calculi or scrupuli by the Romans; and such articles, it is
supposed, were employed by them in playing the games above mentioned.
This method of reckoning passed from the Greeks to the Romans, but
when luxury introduced itself at Rome, the stones and shells were laid
aside, and counters made with ivory became their substitutes. If the
foregoing observations be well founded, we may justly conclude that
the ludus calculorum which Homer mentions as a pastime practised by
his heroes, called in Greek πετος or πεσσος, consisted in a certain
arrangement and combination of numbers, every piece employed in the
game being marked with an appropriate number, and probably might
resemble a more modern pastime, which still retains the Greek name
of Rithmomachia, from αριθμος, numerus, et μαχι, pugna, expressive
of a battle with numbers, said by some to have been invented by
Pythagoras,[940] and by others to be more ancient: with us it is called
the Philosopher's Game, and seems indeed to have been well calculated
for the diversion of soldiers, because it consists, not only in a
contention for superiority by the skilful adjustment of the numbers,
but in addition, allows the conqueror to triumph and erect his trophy
in token of the victory; this part of the game, we are told, requires
much judgment to perform with propriety, and if the player fails, his
glories are but half achieved.


XI.--THE PHILOSOPHER'S GAME.

We have some account of the philosopher's game, but very loosely drawn
up, in a manuscript in the Sloanian Library[941] at the British Museum.
It is called, says the author, "a number fight," because in it men
fight and strive together by the art of counting or numbering how one
may take his adversary's king and erect a triumph upon the deficiency
of his calculations. It is then said, "you may make your triumph as
well with your enemy's men taken, as with your own not taken."

The board or table for playing this game is made in the form of a
parallelogram just as long again as it is broad; it is divided into
eight squares the narrow way, and extended to sixteen the other, and
bears the resemblance of two chess-boards fastened together: the
chequers in like manner being alternately black and white, and two
persons only at one time can properly play the game; to either party is
assigned twenty-four soldiers, which constitute his army, (hoste, in
the original,) and one of them is called the Pyramis or king: one third
of these pieces are circular, which form two rows in the front of the
army; one third are triangular, which are placed in the middle; and one
third are square, which bring up the rear, and one of these situated in
the fifth row is the Pyramis. The men belonging to the two parties are
distinguished by being black and white, and every one of them is marked
with an appropriate number. There were sometimes added to these numbers
certain signs or algebraic figures, called cossical signings, which
increased the intricacy of the game. The army that presents a front of
even numbers is called the even hoste, and the other the odd hoste. The
two armies at the commencement of the play are drawn up in the order
represented below.[942]

[Illustration: 104.]

[Illustration: 105. THE PHILOSOPHER'S GAME.]

It was my wish to have subjoined a general outline of the method
of playing the game, but the author is so exceedingly obscure in
his phraseology, and negligent in his explanations, that I found it
impossible to follow him with the least degree of satisfaction.[943]
It is, however, certain, that the great object of each player is to
take the king from his opponent, because he who succeeds may make his
triumph and erect his trophy.

Burton, speaking of this pastime, in his Anatomy of Melancholy,[944]
calls it the Philosophy Game, and thinks it "not convenient for
students;" to which he adds, "the like I say of Dr. Fulke's
Metromachia, and his Ouronomachia, with the rest of those intricate,
astrological, and geometrical fictions, for such as are mathematically
given, and other curious games." Dr. Fulke was a Cambridge man, and his
book was printed at London 1566.


XII.--DRAUGHTS--FRENCH AND POLISH.

This pastime is well known in the present day; and I believe there are
now in London as excellent draught-players as ever existed. Draughts,
no doubt, is a modern invention, and easier to be learnt than chess,
because it is not so intricate; for the pieces are of equal value till
they become kings, and can only move one way, that is, diagonally;
but, like chess, it depends entirely upon skill, and one false move
frequently occasions the loss of the game. There are two methods of
playing at draughts, the one commonly used in England, denominated
the French Game, which is played upon a chess-board, and the other
called the Polish Game, because, I presume, the first was invented
in France and the latter in Poland. This requires a board with ten
squares or chequers in each row, and twenty men, for so the pieces are
usually named. The draught-man is called in French dame. The men in
the Polish game can only move forwards as they do in the French game,
but they have the privilege of taking backwards as well as forwards;
and the king, if not opposed by two men close together, can move from
one corner of the board to the other. The Polish game admits of most
variety, and is, in my opinion, infinitely the best; but it is little
known in this country, and rarely played, except by foreigners. We
have a recent publication upon the French game of draughts, which
fully explains the nature of the pastime, and points out most of the
important moves, published by Sturges, who, I am told, is an excellent
player.


XIII.--MERELLES--NINE MENS' MORRIS.

Merelles, or, as it was formerly called in England, nine mens' morris,
and also five-penny morris, is a game of some antiquity. Cotgrave
describes it as a boyish game, and says it was played here commonly
with stones, but in France with pawns, or men, made on purpose, and
they were termed merelles; hence the pastime itself received that
denomination. It was certainly much used by the shepherds formerly,
and continues to be used by them, and other rustics, to the present
hour. But it is very far from being confined to the practice of boys
and girls. The form of the merelle-table, and the lines upon it, as it
appeared in the fourteenth century, is here represented.

[Illustration: 106. MERELLES.]

These lines have not been varied. The black spots at every angle and
intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid upon.
The men are different in form or colour for distinction sake; and from
the moving these men backwards or forwards, as though they were dancing
a morris, I suppose the pastime received the appellation of nine
mens' morris; but why it should have been called five-penny morris,
I do not know. The manner of playing is briefly this: two persons,
having each of them nine pieces, or men, lay them down alternately,
one by one, upon the spots; and the business of either party is to
prevent his antagonist from placing three of his pieces so as to form
a row of three, without the intervention of an opponent piece. If a
row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his
competitor's pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage;
excepting he has made a row, which must not be touched if he have
another piece upon the board that is not a component part of that
row. When all the pieces are laid down, they are played backwards and
forwards, in any direction that the lines run, but only can move from
one spot to another at one time: he that takes off all his antagonist's
pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not materials at
hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the ground,
and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect, as above
mentioned, stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and
play the game by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that
they are set over the dots upon the table. Hence Shakspeare, describing
the effects of a wet and stormy season, says,

    The folds stand empty in the drowned field,
    And crows are fatted with the murrain flock,
    The nine mens' morris is filled up with mud.


XIV.--FOX AND GEESE.

This is a game somewhat resembling that of merelles in the manner the
pieces are moved, but in other respects, as well as in the form of the
table, it differs materially; the intersection and angles are more
numerous, and the dots of course increased, which adds to the number of
the moves.

[Illustration: 107. FOX AND GEESE.]

To play this game there are seventeen pieces, called geese, which are
placed as we see them upon the engraving, and the fox in the middle,
distinguished either by his size or difference of colour, as here, for
instance, he is black. The business of the game is to shut the fox up,
so that he cannot move. All the pieces have the power to move from one
spot to another, in the direction of the right lines, but cannot pass
over two spots at one time. It is to be observed, that this board is
sometimes made with holes bored through it, where the dots are made,
and pegs equal to the number of geese put into them, and the fox is
distinguished by being larger and taller than the rest. The geese are
not permitted to take the fox if he stands close to them, but the fox
may take a goose, in like case, if the spot behind it be unoccupied,
or not guarded by another goose; and if all be taken, or the number
so reduced that the fox cannot be blocked, the game is won. The great
deficiency of this game is, that the fox must inevitably be blocked if
the geese are played by a skilful hand; for which reason, I am told, of
late some players have added another fox; but this I have not seen.


XV.--THE SOLITARY GAME.

This is so denominated because it is played by one person only. It is
said to have been invented by an unfortunate man who was several years
kept in solitary confinement at the Bastile in Paris. The board for
this pastime is of a circular form, and perforated with holes at half
an inch distance from each other, to the amount of fifty or sixty. A
certain number of pegs are then fitted to these holes, but not enough
to fill them all; and the manner of playing the game is, to pass one
of the pegs over another into a hole that is unoccupied, taking the
peg so passed from the board, and to continue doing so till all the
pegs but one are taken away; which is an operation much more difficult
to perform than any one could readily imagine who had not made the
attempt. It must be remembered that only one peg can be passed over at
a time, and that no peg can be put over another, unless it stands close
to it without an intervening hole.


XVI.--BACKGAMMON, OR TABLES.

The game of chess, and most of the pastimes derived from it, depend
entirely upon the skill of the players, and afford no chance of
success to an indifferent one if his antagonist be possessed of more
knowledge in moving the pieces than himself. Therefore, in order
to bring two players of unequal talents nearer to a level, other
diversions were invented, in which both chance and skill were united,
as we see they are in the game at tables, which in Latin is called
tabularum ludus, and in French tables. Hence the following line in the
romance of Parise la Duchesse:

    Puis aprist il as tables et eschas joier;

Then he learned to play at tables and at chess.[945] The game of tables
is better known at present by the name of Backgammon. This pastime is
said to have been discovered about the tenth century,[946] and the name
derived from two Welsh words signifying "little battle." But I trust,
as before observed, that the derivation may be found nearer home. The
words are perfectly Saxon, as Bac, or Bæc, and gamen, that is, Back
Game; so denominated because the performance consists in the players
bringing their men back from their antagonists' tables into their own;
or because the pieces are sometimes taken up and obliged to go back,
that is, re-enter at the table they came from. The ancient form of the
backgammon-table is represented by the annexed engraving:

[Illustration: 108. TABLES.--XIII. CENTURY.]

The original of the engraving occurs in a beautifully illuminated
manuscript in the Harleian Collection.[947] The table, as here
delineated, is not divided in the middle, but the points, on
either side, are contained in a single compartment. Annexed is the
representation of a backgammon-table at least a century more modern.

[Illustration: 109. TABLES.--XIV. CENTURY.]

In this the division is fairly made, but the points are not
distinguished by different colours, according to the present, and
indeed more ancient usage. The writer of the latter manuscript, which
is in the King's Library,[948] says, "There are many methods of playing
at the tables with the dice. The first of these, and the longest, is
called the English game, Ludus Anglicorum, which is thus performed: he
who sits on the side of the board marked 1-12 has fifteen men (homines)
in the part marked 24, and he who sits on the side marked 13-24 has a
like number of men in the part 1. They play with three dice, or else
with two, allowing always (semper, that is, at every throw) six for a
third die. Then he who is seated at 1-12 must bring all his men placed
at 24 through the partitions (paginas), from 24 to 19, from 18 to 13,
and from 12 to 7, into the division 6-1, and then bear them off; his
opponent must do the same from 1 to 7, thence to 12, thence to 18,
into the compartment 19-24; and he who first bears off all his men is
conqueror." Here we may observe, that the most material circumstances
in which the game differed, at this remote period, from the present
method of playing it, are, first, in having three dice instead of two,
or reckoning a certain number for the third; and secondly, in placing
all the men within the antagonist's table, which, if I do not mistake
the author, must be put upon his ace point. But to go on: "There is,"
says he, "another game upon the tables called Paume Carie, which is
played with two dice, and requires four players, that is, two on either
side; or six, and then three are opposed to three." He then speaks of a
third game, called "Ludus Lumbardorum, the Game of Lombardy, and thus
played: he who sits on the side marked 13-24 has his men at 6, and his
antagonist has his men at 19;" which is changing the ace point in the
English game for the size point: and this alteration probably shortened
the game. He then mentions the five following variations by name only;
the Imperial game, the Provincial game, the games called Baralie,
Mylys, and Faylis.


XVII.--BACKGAMMON--ITS FORMER AND PRESENT ESTIMATION.

At the commencement of the last century backgammon was a very favourite
amusement, and pursued at leisure times by most persons of opulence,
and especially by the clergy, which occasioned dean Swift, when writing
to a friend of his in the country, sarcastically to ask the following
question: "In what esteem are you with the vicar of the parish; can you
play with him at backgammon?" But of late years this pastime is become
unfashionable, and of course it is not often practised. The tables,
indeed, are frequently enough to be met with in the country mansions;
but upon examination you will generally find the men deficient, the
dice lost, or some other cause to render them useless. Backgammon is
certainly a diversion by no means fitted for company, which cards are
made to accommodate in a more extensive manner; and therefore it is no
wonder they have gained the ascendancy.


XVIII.--DOMINO.

This is a very childish sport, imported from France a few years back,
and could have nothing but the novelty to recommend it to the notice of
grown persons in this country. It consists of twenty-eight small oblong
and flat pieces of ivory or bone, and all of the same size and shape.
The back of every piece is plain, and sometimes black; the face is
white, divided into two parts by a line in the middle, and marked with
a double number, or with two different numbers, or with a number and
a blank, and one of them is a double blank. The numbers are the same
as those upon the dice, from one to six inclusive. When two play, the
whole of the pieces, which are ridiculously enough called cards, are
hustled about the table with their faces downwards, and each of them
draw seven or nine, according to agreement, and the remaining pieces
are undiscovered until the hand is played, which is thus performed:
the right of first playing being cut for, he who obtains it lays down
one of his pieces, and the other is to match one of the numbers marked
upon it with a similar number marked upon a piece of his own, which
he lays close to it; the other then matches one of the open numbers
in like manner; and thus they continue alternately to lay down their
pieces as long as they can be matched; and he who first gets rid of all
his pieces wins the game: but if it so happen, as it often does, that
neither of them have exhausted their pieces, nor can match the open
numbers on the table, they then discover what remains on both sides,
and he whose pieces contain the fewest spots obtains the victory.
Sometimes four play, in which case they deal out six cards to each,
leaving only four upon the table, and then play on in rotation.


XIX.--CARDS--WHEN INVENTED.

The general opinion respecting the origin of playing-cards is, that
they were first made for the amusement of Charles VI. of France, at the
time he was afflicted with a mental derangement, which commenced in
1392, and continued for several years. The proof of this supposition
depends upon an article in the treasury registers belonging to that
monarch, which states that a payment of fifty-six sols was made to
Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards gilded and
painted with divers colours and different devices, to be carried
to the king for his diversion.[949] If it be granted, and I see no
reason why it should not, that this entry alludes to playing-cards,
the consequences that have been deduced from it, do not necessarily
follow; I mean, that these cards were the first that were made, or that
Gringonneur was the inventor of them; it by no means precludes the
probability of cards having been previously used in France, but simply
states that those made by him were gilt and diversified with devices
in variegated colours, the better to amuse the unfortunate monarch.

Some, allowing that Gringonneur was the first maker of playing-cards,
place the invention in the reign of Charles V., upon the authority of
Jean de Saintre, who was page to that monarch; he mentions card-playing
in his chronicle; for he was an author. The words he uses are these:
"Et vous qui etes noyseux joueux de cartes et de des.--And you who are
contentious play at cards and at dice."[950] This would be sufficient
evidence for the existence of cards before the ascension of Charles VI.
to the throne of France, if it could be proved that the page did not
survive his master; but, on the other hand, if he did, they may equally
be applied to the amusements of the succeeding reign.


XX.--CARD-PLAYING MUCH PRACTISED.

A prohibitory edict against the usage of cards was made in Spain
considerably anterior to any that have been produced in France. In
Spain, as early as A. D. 1387, John I., king of Castile, in an edict,
forbade playing of cards and dice in his dominions. The provost of
Paris, January 22, A. D. 1397, published an ordinance, prohibiting the
manufacturing part of the people from playing at tennice, dice, cards,
&c.[951] which has inclined several modern writers upon this subject
to refer the invention of cards from France to Spain; and the names of
some of the cards, as well as of many of the most ancient games, being
evidently derived from the Spanish language, are justly considered as
strong corroborating arguments in favour of such an opinion. Such, for
instance, as primero and the principal card in the game quinola; ombre
and the cards spadill, manill, basto, punto, matador, quadrille, a
species of ombre, &c. The suit of clubs upon the Spanish cards is not
the trefoils as with us, but positively clubs, or cudgels, of which
we retain the name, though we have lost the figures; the original
name is bastos. The spades are swords, called in Spain espadas; in
this instance we retain the name and some faint resemblance of the
figure.[952]

A very intelligent writer upon the origin of engraving, baron
Heineken, asserts that playing-cards were invented in Germany, where
they were used towards the latter end of the fourteenth century; but
his reasons are by no means conclusive. He says they were known there
as early as the year 1376.[953]

An author of our own country produces a passage cited from a wardrobe
computus made in 1377, the sixth year of Edward I., which mentions
a game entitled, "the four kings;"[954] and hence with some degree
of probability he conjectures that the use of playing-cards was then
known in England, which is a much earlier period than any that has
been assigned by the foreign authors. It is the opinion of several
learned writers well acquainted with Asiatic history, that cards were
used in the eastern parts of the world long before they found their
way into Europe.[955] If this position be granted, when we recollect
that Edward I. before his accession to the throne resided nearly five
years in Syria, it will be natural enough to suppose that he might have
learned the game of "the four kings" in that country, and introduced
it at court upon his return to England. An objection, which indeed
at first sight seems to be a very powerful one, has been raised in
opposition to this conjecture: it is founded upon the total silence of
every kind of authority respecting the subject of card-playing from the
time that the above-mentioned entry was made to 1464, an early period
in the reign of Edward IV., including an interval of one hundred and
eighty-six years. An omission so general, it is thought, would not
have taken place, if the words contained in that record alluded to the
usage of playing-cards. A game introduced by a monarch could not fail
of becoming fashionable; and if it continued to be practised in after
times, must in all probability have been mentioned occasionally in
conjunction with other pastimes then prevalent. But this silence is by
no means a proof that the game of "the four kings" was not played with
cards, nor that cards did not continue to be used during the whole of
the above-mentioned interval in the higher circles, though not perhaps
with such abuses as were afterwards practised, and which excited the
reprehension of the moral and religious writers. Besides, at the time
that cards were first introduced, they were drawn and painted by the
hand without the assistance of a stamp or plate; it follows of course
that much time was required to complete a set or pack of cards; and
the price they bore no doubt was adequate to the labour bestowed upon
them, which necessarily must have enhanced their value beyond the
purchase of the under classes of the people. For this reason it is, I
presume, that card-playing, though it might have been known in England,
was not much practised until such time as inferior sets of cards,
proportionably cheap, were produced for the use of the commonalty,
which seems to have been the case when Edward IV. ascended the throne,
for in 1463, early in his reign, an act was established on a petition
from the card-makers of the city of London, prohibiting the importation
of playing-cards;[956] and soon after that period card-playing became a
very general pastime.

The increasing demand for these objects of amusement, it is said,
suggested the idea of cutting the outlines appropriated to the
different suits upon separate blocks of wood and stamping them upon the
cards;[957] the intermediate spaces between the outlines were filled up
with various colours laid on by the hand. This expeditious method of
producing cards reduced the price of them, so that they might readily
be purchased by almost every class of persons: the common usage of
cards was soon productive of serious evils, which all the exertions of
the legislative power have not been able to eradicate.[958]

Another argument against the great antiquity of playing-cards is drawn
from the want of paper proper for their fabrication. We certainly have
no reason to believe that paper made with linen rags was produced in
Europe before the middle of the fourteenth century, and even then the
art of paper-making does not appear to have been carried to any great
perfection. It is also granted that paper is the most proper material
we know of for the manufacturing of cards; but it will not therefore
follow that they could not possibly be made with any other; and if we
admit of any other, the objection will fall to the ground.


XXI.--CARD-PLAYING FORBIDDEN.

Card-playing appears to have been a very fashionable court amusement
in the reign of Henry VII. In an account of money disbursed for the
use of that monarch, an entry is made of one hundred shillings paid at
one time to him for the purpose of playing at cards.[959] The princess
Margaret, his daughter, previous to her marriage with James IV., king
of Scotland, understood the use of cards. She played with her intended
husband at Harbottle Castle; the celebration of their nuptials took
place A. D. 1503, she being then only fourteen years of age.[960]
Catherine of Spain, the consort of prince Arthur, afterwards married
to Henry VIII. his brother, is said in her youth to have been well
acquainted with the art of embroidery and other works of the needle
proper for ladies to know, and expert in various courtly pastimes;
and she could play at "tables, tick-tacke or gleeke, with cardis and
dyce."[961]

The universality of card-playing in the reign of this monarch is
evident from a prohibitory statute being necessary to prevent
apprentices from using cards except in the Christmas holidays, and then
only in their masters' houses.[962] Agreeable to this privilege, Stow,
speaking of the customs at London, says, "from All-Hallows eve to the
day following Candlemas-day, there was, among other sports, playing at
cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime
than for gain."[963] But this moderation, I apprehend, was by no means
general, for several contemporary writers are exceedingly severe in
their reflections upon the usage of cards, which they rank with dice,
and consider both as destructive to morality and good order.[964]


XXII.--CARD-PLAYING CENSURED BY POETS.

Henry VIII. preferred the sports of the field, and such pastimes as
promoted exercise, to sedentary amusements; his attachment to dice he
gave up at an early part of his life; and I do not recollect that Hall
the historian, who is so minute in describing the various sources of
entertainment pursued by this athletic monarch, ever mentions cards as
one of them: I am, indeed, well aware that Shakspeare speaks of his
"playing at primero with the duke of Suffolk;" and it is very possible,
that the poet might have had some authority for so doing. Sir William
Forrest, who wrote at the close of his reign, and presented a poetical
treatise entitled The Poesye of Princylye Practice, to his son Edward
VI., speaks therein of the pastimes proper for the amusement of a
monarch, and says, he may after dinner indulge himself with music, or
otherwise

    Att tables, chesse or cardis awhile himselfe repose;

but adds, that "syttynge pastymes are seldom found good, especially in
the day-time;" he therefore advises the pursuit of those that afforded
both air and exercise.[965] In another part of his poem he speaks in
strong terms against the practice of card-playing, as productive of
idleness, especially when it is followed by the labouring people, in
places of common resort:

    Att ale howse too sit, at mack or at mall,
    Tables or dyce, or that cardis men call,
    Or what oother game owte of season dwe,
    Let them be punysched without all rescue.[966]

Forrest's manuscript is in the Royal Library,[967] and at the
commencement of the poem he is represented presenting it to king
Edward VI. The author of an old morality, entitled Hycke Scorner,[968]
written probably some time before this poem by Forrest, has placed the
card-players with such company as evinces he had not a good opinion of
their morals:

    Walkers by nyght, with gret murderers,
    Overthwarte with gyle, and joly carders.

And also in Barclay's translation of the Ship of Fooles, by Sebastian
Brant, printed by Pynson in 1508, are these lines:

    The damnable lust of cardes and of dice,
    And other games, prohibite by the lawe.

It is not, however, necessary to produce any further evidence from the
writers of the former times to prove the evil tendency of card-playing,
when it is indulged beyond the limits of discretion. Too many instances
of ruin and destruction may be brought forward in the present day to
convince us of the justness of their censures.


XXIII.--ANCIENT CARDS.

The early specimens of playing-cards that have been produced, differ
very little in their form from those now used. This form is certainly
the most convenient for the purposes assigned to them, and has been
most generally adopted. We shall, however, prove, that it was subject
to variation. The figures and devices that constitute the different
suits of the cards seem anciently to have depended upon the taste
and invention of the card-makers; and they did not bear the least
resemblance to those in present use.

It has been observed, that outlines made upon blocks of wood were
stamped upon the cards, and afterwards filled up by the hand; but, soon
after the invention of engraving upon copper, the devices were produced
by the graver, and sufficiently finished, so that the impressions
did not require any assistance from the pencil. It appears also,
that the best artists of the time were employed for this purpose. I
am exceedingly happy to have it in my power to lay before my readers
a curious specimen of ancient engraved cards, in the possession of
Francis Douce, esq., with whose permission they are added to this work.
I have chosen one from each of the different suits, namely, the King of
Columbines, the Queen of Rabbits, the Knave of Pinks, and the Ace of
Roses; which answered to the spades, the clubs, the diamonds, and the
hearts, of the moderns. The annexed engravings are of the same size as
the originals. They are nearly square, and, originally, I have no doubt
but they were perfectly so.

[Illustration: 110. THE KING OF COLUMBINES.]

[Illustration: 111. THE QUEEN OF RABBITS.

Ancient Cards.]

[Illustration: 112. THE KNAVE OF PINKS.]

[Illustration: 113. THE ACE OF ROSES.

Ancient Cards.]

Upon the other cards belonging to the pack the number of the flowers or
animals answered to the pips at present, with the addition of numeral
figures corresponding with the devices, that they might be readily
distinguished without the trouble of counting them. The originals
of these cards, I make no doubt, are the work of Martin Schoen, a
well-known and justly celebrated German artist; and Mr. Douce is in
possession of part of another set, which evidently appear to be the
production of Israel Van Mecheln, who was contemporary with Schoen.
Mecheln outlived Martin Schoen a considerable time; the latter died in
1486, and the former in 1523. The earliest print that I have seen by
Mecheln with a date is 1480; but he practised the art of engraving some
time prior to that period.

A set or pack of cards, but not equally ancient with those above
mentioned, were in the possession of Dr. Stukeley: the four suits
upon them consisted of bells, of hearts, of leaves, and of acorns;
by which, the doctor imagined, were represented the four orders of
men among us: the bells are such as are usually tied to the legs of
the hawks, and denoted the nobility; the hearts were intended for the
ecclesiastics; the leaves alluded to the gentry, who possess lands,
woods, manors, and parks; the acorns signified the farmers, peasants,
woodmen, park-keepers, and hunters. But this definition will, I trust,
be generally considered as a mere effusion of fancy. It is remarkable
that in these cards there are neither queens nor aces; but the former
are supplied by knights, the latter have no substitute. Dr. Stukeley's
cards were purchased at his sale by Mr. Tuttet, and again at his sale
by Mr. Gough, in whose possession they now remain.[969] The last
gentleman has given a full description of them in a paper upon the
subject of card-playing, in the Archæologia.[970] The figured cards,
by us denominated court cards, were formerly called coat cards; and
originally, I conceive, the name implied coated figures, that is, men
and women who wore coats, in contradistinction to the other devices
of flowers and animals not of the human species. The pack or set of
cards, in the old plays, is continually called a pair of cards; which
has suggested the idea that anciently two packs of cards were used, a
custom common enough at present in playing at quadrille; one pack being
laid by the side of the player who is to deal the next time. But this
supposition rests entirely upon the application of the term itself,
without any other kind of proof whatever: and seems, indeed, to be
entirely overturned by a passage in a very old play entitled The
longer thou livest the more Foole thou art; in which Idleness desires
Moros the clown to look at "his booke," and shows him "a paire of
cardes."[971] In a comedy called A Woman killed with Kindness, a pair
of cards and counters to play with are mentioned.


XXIV.--GAMES FORMERLY PLAYED WITH CARDS.

PRIMERO is reckoned among the most ancient games of cards known to have
been played in England; each player, we are told, 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;
but the two, the three, and the four, for their respective points only.
The knave of hearts was commonly fixed upon for the quinola, which the
player might make what card or suit he thought proper; if the cards
were of different suits the highest number won the primero, if they
were all of one colour he that held them won the flush.[972]

PRIME, mentioned by Sir John Harrington in his satirical description
of the fashionable court games, published in 1615, the hon. Daines
Barrington thinks was not the same as primero; he has not, however,
specified the difference between them. The poet says,

    The first game was the best, when free from crime,
    The courtly gamesters all were in their prime.

TRUMP. A game thus denominated in the old plays is perhaps of equal
antiquity with primero, and at the latter end of the sixteenth century
was very common among the lower classes of people. Dame Chat, in Gammer
Gurton's Needle, says to Dicon, "we be set at trump, man, hard by the
fire, thou shalt set upon the king;" and afterwards to her maid,

    Come hither, Dol; Dol, sit down and play this game,
      And as thou sawest me do, see thou do even the same;
    There are five trumps besides the queen, the hindmost thou shalt
          find her;
      Take heed of Sim Glover's wife, she hath an eye behind her.[973]

Trump is thought to have borne some resemblance to the modern game of
whist.

GRESCO is mentioned in conjunction with primero in the comedy of
Eastward Hoe;[974] "he would play his hundred pounds at gresco and
primero as familiarly as any bright piece of crimson of them all."

Sir John Harrington, after having mentioned prime, proceeds to
enumerate the games that succeeded in the following manner:

    The second game was post,[975] until with posting
    They paid so fast, 'twas time to leave their bosting.
    Then thirdly follow'd heaving of the maw,
    A game without civility or law,
    An odious play, and yet in court oft seen,
    A saucy knave to trump both king and queen.
    Then follow'd lodam.[976]----
    Now noddy follow'd next.--
    The last game now in use is banckerout,[977]
    Which will be plaid at still I stand in doubt,
    Until lavalta turne the wheele of time
    And makes it come aboute again to prime.

GLEEK is mentioned with primero in Green's Tu quoque, where one of
the characters proposes to play at twelve-penny gleek, but the other
insists upon making it for a crown at least.

Coeval with gleek we find MOUNT SAINT, or more properly Cent, in
Spanish Cientos, or hundred, the number of points that win the game.
Thus in a play by Lewis Machin, called the Dumb Knight, the third
edition printed in 1608, the queen says of this game, "the name is
taken from hundreds;" and afterwards to Philocles, "you are a double
game, and I am no less; there is an hundred, and all cards made but one
knave."[978] Mount Saint was played by counting, and probably did not
differ much from PICQUET, or picket, as it was formerly written, which
is said to have been played with counters, and to have been introduced
in France about the middle of the seventeenth century. Picket is
mentioned in Flora's Vagaries, printed in 1670.

NEW CUT is mentioned in A Woman killed with Kindness, a play written by
Thomas Heywood, third edition, 1617, where one of the characters says,
"if you will play at new cut, I am soonest hitter of any one heere for
a wager."

KNAVE OUT OF DOORS occurs also in the same play, together with RUFF,
which is proposed to be played with honours; double ruff, and English
ruff, with honours, are mentioned in the Complete Gamester, published
in 1674, and is distinguished from French ruff.

LANSQUENET is a French game, and took its name from the Lansquenets, or
light German troops, employed by the kings of France in the fifteenth
century.[979]

BASSET, said by Dr. Johnson to have been invented at Venice, was a very
fashionable game towards the close of the seventeenth century.

OMBRE was brought into England by Catherine of Portugal, queen to
Charles II.

QUADRILLE, a modern game, bears great analogy to ombre, with the
addition of a fourth player, which is certainly a great improvement.

WHIST, or as it was formerly written, whisk, is a game now held in high
estimation. At the commencement of last century, according to Swift,
it was a favourite pastime with clergymen, who played the game with
swabbers; these were certain cards by which the holder was entitled
to part of the stake, in the same manner that the claim is made for
the aces at quadrille. Whist, in its present state of improvement, may
properly be considered as a modern game, and was not, says the hon.
Daines Barrington, played upon principles till about fifty years ago,
when it was much studied by a set of gentlemen who frequented the Crown
coffee-house in Bedford-row. Mr. Barrington's paper on card-playing in
the Archæologia, was published in 1787, and the author says that the
first mention he finds of the game of whist is in the Beaux Stratagem,
a comedy by Geo. Farquhar, pub. A. D. 1707. He also thinks that whist
might have originated from the old game of trump. Cotgrave explains the
French word triomphe in this manner; the game called ruff, or trump;
also the ruff, or trump in it.

To the games already mentioned we may add the following: _Put_, and the
_High Game_; _Plain Dealing_, _Wit and Reason_, _Costly Colours_, _Five
Cards_, _Bone Ace_,[980] _Queen Nazareen_, _Lanterloo_, _Penneech_,
_Art of Memory_, _Beast_, _Cribbage_, and _All Fours_. Nearly all these
games may be found in a small book entitled the Complete Gamester,
with the directions how to play them. _Crimp_, mentioned in the
Spectator,[981] I take to be a game played with the cards, and one
might be led to think the same of _Roulet_ by the wording of the act
18 Geo. II. by which it is prohibited. The words are, "And whereas
a certain pernicious game, called Roulet, or Roly-poly, is daily
practised," the act then directs "that no place shall be kept for
playing at the said game of roulet, or roly-poly, or any other game
with cards or dice," &c.


XXV.--THE GAME OF GOOSE--AND OF THE SNAKE.

In addition to the pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages, I shall
produce two or three more; and they are such as require no skill in the
performance, but depend entirely upon chance for the determination of
the contest.

We have a childish diversion usually introduced at Christmas time,
called the Game of Goose. This game may be played by two persons;
but it will readily admit of many more; it originated, I believe, in
Germany, and is well calculated to make children ready at reckoning the
produce of two given numbers. The table for playing at goose is usually
an impression from a copper-plate pasted upon a cartoon about the size
of a sheet almanack, and divided into sixty-two small compartments
arranged in a spiral form, with a large open space in the midst marked
with the number sixty-three; the lesser compartments have singly an
appropriate number from one to sixty-two inclusive, beginning at the
outmost extremity of the spiral lines. At the commencement of the play,
every one of the competitors puts a stake into the space at No. 63.
There are also different forfeitures in the course of the game that
are added, and the whole belongs to the winner. At No. 5 is a bridge
which claims a forfeit at passing; at 19, an alehouse where a forfeit
is exacted and to stop two throws; at 30, a fountain where you pay for
washing; at 42, a labyrinth which carries you back to 23; at 52, the
prison where you must rest until relieved by another casting the same
throw; at 58, the grave whence you begin the game again; and at 61,
the goblet where you pay for tasting.[982] The game is played with two
dice, and every player throws in his turn as he sits at the table: he
must have a counter or some other small mark which he can distinguish
from the marks of his antagonists, and according to the amount of the
two numbers thrown upon the dice he places his mark; that is to say,
if he throws a four and a five, which amount to nine, he places his
mark at nine upon the table, moving it the next throw as many numbers
forward as the dice permit him, and so on until the game be completed,
namely, when the number sixty-three is made exactly; all above it
the player reckons back, and then throws again in his turn. If the
second thrower at the beginning of the game casts the same number as
the first, he takes up his piece, and the first player is obliged to
begin the game again. If the same thing happens in the middle of the
game, the first player goes back to the place the last came from. It
is called the game of the goose, because at every fourth and fifth
compartment in succession a goose is depicted, and if the cast thrown
by the player falls upon a goose, he moves forward double the number of
his throw.

We have also the Game of Snake, and the more modern Game of Matrimony,
with others of the like kind; formed upon the same plan as that of the
goose, but none of them, according to my opinion, are in the least
improved by the variations.


XXVI.--CROSS AND PILE.

Cross and pile, or with us head or tail, is a silly pastime well enough
known among the lowest and most vulgar classes of the community, and
to whom it is at present very properly confined; formerly, however, it
held a higher rank, and was introduced at the court. Edward II. was
partial to this and such like frivolous diversions, and spent much of
his time in the pursuit of them. In one of his wardrobe rolls we meet
with the following entries: "Item, paid to Henry, the king's barber,
for money which he lent to the king to play at cross and pile, five
shillings. Item, paid to Pires Barnard, usher of the king's chamber,
money which he lent the king, and which he lost at cross and pile; to
Monsieur Robert Wattewille eightpence."[983]

A halfpenny is generally now used in playing this game; but any other
coin with a head impressed on one side will answer the purpose: the
reverse of the head being called the tail without respect to the figure
upon it, and the same if it was blank. Anciently the English coins were
stamped on one side with a cross. One person tosses the halfpenny
up and the other calls at pleasure head or tail; if his call lies
uppermost when the halfpenny descends and rests upon the ground, he
wins; and if on the contrary, of course he loses. Cross and pile is
evidently derived from a pastime called Ostrachinda, Οστρακινδα, known
in ancient times to the Grecian boys, and practised by them upon
various occasions; having procured a shell, it was seared over with
pitch on one side for distinction sake, and the other side was left
white; a boy tossed up this shell and his antagonist called white or
black, Νυξ et ημερα, (literally night and day), as he thought proper,
and his success was determined by the white or black part of the shell
being uppermost.




CHAPTER III.

     I. The Lord of Misrule said to be peculiar to the English.--II.
     A Court Officer.--III. The Master of the King's Revels.--IV.
     The Lord of Misrule and his Conduct reprobated.--V. The
     King of Christmas--of the Cockneys--VI. A King of Christmas
     at Norwich.--VII. The King of the Bean.--VIII. Whence
     originated.--IX. The Festival of Fools.--X. The Boy Bishop.--XI.
     The Fool-Plough.--XII. Easter Games.--XIII. Shrove-Tuesday.--XIV.
     Hock-Tuesday.--XV. May-Games.--XVI. The Lord and Lady of the
     May.--XVII. Grand May-Game at Greenwich.--XVIII. Royal May-Game
     at Shooter's-hill.--XIX. May Milk-Maids.--XX. May Festival of the
     Chimney Sweepers.--XXI Whitsun-Games.--XXII. The Vigil of Saint
     John the Baptist, how kept.--XXIII. Its supposed origin.--XXIV.
     Setting of the Midsummer Watch.--XXV. Processions on Saint
     Clement's and Saint Catherine's day.--XXVI. Wassails.--XXVII.
     Sheep-shearing and Harvest-home.--XXVIII. Wakes.--XXIX. Sunday
     Festivals.--XXX. Church Ales.--XXXI. Fairs, and their diversions
     and abuses.--XXXII. Bonfires.--XXXIII. Illuminations.--XXXIV.
     Fireworks.--XXXV. London Fireworks.--XXXVI. Fireworks on
     Tower-hill, at Public Gardens, and in Pageants.


I.--THE LORD OF MISRULE PECULIAR TO ENGLAND.

It is said of the English, that formerly they were remarkable for the
manner in which they celebrated the festival of Christmas; at which
season they admitted variety of sports and pastimes not known, or
little practised in other countries.[984] The mock prince, or lord
of misrule, whose reign extended through the greater part of the
holidays, is particularly remarked by foreign writers, who consider
him as a personage rarely to be met with out of England;[985] and, two
or three centuries back, perhaps this observation might be consistent
with the truth; but I trust we shall upon due examination be ready to
conclude, that anciently this frolicksome monarch was well known upon
the continent, where he probably received his first honours. In this
kingdom his power and his dignities suffered no diminution, but on the
contrary were established by royal authority, and continued after they
had ceased to exist elsewhere. But even with us his government has
been extinct for many years, and his name and his offices are nearly
forgotten. In some great families, and also sometimes at court, this
officer was called the Abbot of Misrule. Leland says, "This
Christmas[986] I saw no disguiseings at court, and right few playes;
but there was an abbot of misrule that made much sport, and did right
well his office."[987] In Scotland he was called the Abbot of Unreason,
and prohibited there in 1555 by the parliament.[988] No doubt in many
instances the privileges allowed to this merry despot were abused, and
not unfrequently productive of immorality; the institution itself, even
if we view it in its most favourable light, is puerile and ridiculous,
adapted to the ages of ignorance, when more rational amusements were
not known, or at least not fashionable.


II.--THE LORD OF MISRULE A COURT OFFICER.

Holingshed, speaking of Christmas, calls it, "What time there is
alwayes one appointed to make sporte at courte called commonly lorde of
misrule, whose office is not unknowne to such as have bene brought up
in noblemens' houses and among great housekeepers, which use liberal
feasting in the season."[989] Again: "At the feast of Christmas," says
Stow, "in the king's court wherever he chanced to reside, there was
appointed a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports; the same
merry fellow made his appearance at the house of every nobleman and
person of distinction, and among the rest the lord mayor of London
and the sheriffs had severally of them their lord of misrule, ever
contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest
pastimes to delight the beholders; this pageant potentate began his
rule at All-hallow eve, and continued the same till the morrow after
the Feast of the Purification; in which space there were fine and
subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries."[990]


III.--THE MASTER OF THE KING'S REVELS.

In the fifth year of Edward VI., at Christmas time, a gentleman
named George Ferrers, who was a lawyer, a poet, and an historian,
was appointed by the council to bear this office; "and he," says
Holingshed, "being of better calling than commonly his predecessors had
been before, received all his commissions and warrauntes by the name of
master of the kinge's pastimes; which gentleman so well supplied his
office, both of shew of sundry sights, and devises of rare invention,
and in act of divers interludes, and matters of pastime, played by
persons, as not only satisfied the common sorte, but also were verie
well liked and allowed by the council, and others of skill in lyke
pastimes; but best by the young king himselfe, as appeared by his
princely liberalitie in rewarding that service." It was certainly
an act of much policy in the council to appoint so judicious and
respectable an officer for the department at this time, and was done
in order to counteract by shows and pastimes the discontent that
prevailed, and divert the mind of the king from reflecting too deeply
upon the condemnation of his uncle the duke of Somerset.


IV.--THE LORD OF MISRULE--AND HIS CONDUCT REPROBATED.

This master of merry disports was not confined to the court, nor to
the houses of the opulent, he was also elected in various parishes,
where, indeed, his reign seems to have been of shorter date. Philip
Stubbs, who lived at the close of the sixteenth century, places this
whimsical personage, with his followers, in a very degrading point
of view.[991] I shall give the passage in the author's own words,
and leave the reader to comment upon them. "First of all, the wilde
heades of the parish flocking togither, chuse them a graund captaine
of mischiefe, whom they innoble with the title of Lord of Misrule;
and him they crowne with great solemnity, and adopt for their king.
This king annoynted chooseth forth twentie, fourty, threescore, or
an hundred lustie guttes, like to himself, to waite upon his lordly
majesty, and to guarde his noble person. Then every one of these men
he investeth with his liveries of greene, yellow, or some other light
wanton colour, and as though they were not gawdy ynough, they bedecke
themselves with scarffes, ribbons, and laces, hanged all over with gold
ringes, pretious stones, and other jewels. This done, they tie aboute
either legge twentie or fourtie belles, with riche handkerchiefes in
their handes, and sometimes laide acrosse over their shoulders and
neckes, borrowed, for the most part, of their pretie mopsies and loving
Bessies. Thus all thinges set in order, then have they their hobby
horses, their dragons, and other antiques, together with their baudie
pipers, and thundring drummers, to strike up the devil's daunce with
all. Then march this heathen company towards the church, their pypers
pyping, their drummers thundring, their stumpes dauncing, their
belles jyngling, their handkerchiefes fluttering aboute their heades
like madde men, their hobbie horses and other monsters skirmishing
amongst the throng: and in this sorte they go to the church, though
the minister be at prayer or preaching, dauncing and singing like
devils incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can heare
his owne voyce. Then the foolish people they looke, they stare, they
laugh, they fleere, and mount upon the formes and pewes to see these
goodly pageants solemnized. Then after this, aboute the church they
go againe and againe, and so fourthe into the churche yard, where
they have commonly their sommer-halls, their bowers, arbours, and
banquetting-houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and daunce
all that day, and paradventure all that night too; and thus these
terrestrial furies spend the sabbath day. Then, for the further
innobling of this honourable lardane, lord I should say, they have
certaine papers wherein is painted some babelerie[992] or other of
imagerie worke, and these they call my Lord of Misrule's badges or
cognizances. These they give to every one that will give them money
to maintain them in this their heathenish devilrie; and who will not
show himself buxome to them and give them money, they shall be mocked
and flouted shamefully; yea, and many times carried upon a cowlstaffe,
and dived over heade and eares in water, or otherwise most horribly
abused. And so besotted are some, that they not only give them money,
but weare their badges or cognizances in their hates or cappes openly.
Another sorte of fantasticall fooles bring to these helhounds, the
Lord of Misrule and his complices, some bread, some good ale, some new
cheese, some old cheese, some custardes, some cracknels, some cakes,
some flauns, some tartes, some creame, some meat, some one thing, and
some another." Hence it should seem the Lord of Misrule was sometimes
president over the summer sports. The author has distinguished this
pageantry from the May-games, the wakes, and the church-ales, of which,
I should otherwise have thought, it might have been a component part.


V.--THE KING OF CHRISTMAS.

The society belonging to Lincoln's-inn had anciently an officer
chosen at this season, who was honoured with the title of king of
Christmas-day, because he presided in the hall upon that day. This
temporary potentate had a marshal and a steward to attend upon him.
The marshal, in the absence of the monarch, was permitted to assume
his state, and upon New-Year's-day he sat as king in the hall when the
master of the revels, during the time of dining, supplied the marshal's
place. Upon Childermas-day they had another officer, denominated the
King of the Cockneys, who also presided on the day of his appointment,
and had his inferior officers to wait upon him.[993]


VI.--A KING OF CHRISTMAS AT NORWICH.

In the history of Norfolk[994] mention is made of a pageant exhibited
at Norwich upon a Shrove Tuesday, which happened in the month of March,
"when one rode through the street, having his horse trapped with
tyn foyle and other nyse disgysynges, crowned as Kyng of Christmas,
in token that the season should end with the twelve moneths of the
year; and afore[995] hym went yche[996] moneth dysgysyd as the season
requiryd."


VII.--THE KING OF THE BEAN.

The dignified persons above mentioned were, I presume, upon an equal
footing with the King of the Bean, whose reign commenced upon the
vigil of the Epiphany, or upon the day itself. We read that, some time
back, "it was a common Christmas gambol in both our universities, and
continued," at the commencement of the last century, "to be usual in
other places, to give the name of king or queen to that person whose
extraordinary good luck it was to hit upon that part of a divided cake
which was honoured above the others by having a bean in it."[997] The
reader will readily trace the vestige of this custom, though somewhat
differently managed, and without the bean, in the present method of
drawing, as it is called, for king and queen upon Twelfth-day. I will
not pretend to say in ancient times, for the title is by no means of
recent date, that the election of this monarch, the King of the Bean,
depended entirely upon the decision of fortune: the words of an old
kalendar belonging to the Romish church[998] seem to favour a contrary
opinion; they are to this effect: On the fifth of January, the vigil
of the Epiphany, the Kings of the Bean are created;[999] and on the
sixth the feast of the kings shall be held, and also of the queen; and
let the banqueting be continued for many days. At court, in the eighth
year of Edward III., this majestic title was conferred upon one of
the king's minstrels, as we find by an entry in a computus so dated,
which states that sixty shillings were given by the king, upon the day
of the Epiphany, to Regan the trumpeter and his associates, the court
minstrels, in the name of King of the Bean.[1000]


VIII.--WHENCE THESE MOCK DIGNITIES WERE DERIVED.

Selden asserts,[1001] and in my opinion with great justice, that
all these whimsical transpositions of dignity are derived from the
ancient Saturnalia, or Feasts of Saturn, when the masters waited upon
their servants, who were honoured with mock titles, and permitted to
assume the state and deportment of their lords. These fooleries were
exceedingly popular, and continued to be practised long after the
establishment of Christianity, in defiance of the threatenings and the
remonstrances of the clergy, who, finding it impossible to divert the
stream of vulgar prejudice permitted them to be exercised, but changed
the primitive object of devotion; so that the same unhallowed orgies,
which had disgraced the worship of a heathen deity, were dedicated,
as it was called, to the service of the true God, and sanctioned by
the appellation of a Christian institution. From this polluted stock
branched out variety of unseemly and immoral sports; but none of
them more daringly impious and outrageous to common sense, than the
Festival of Fools, in which the most sacred rites and ceremonies of
the church were turned into ridicule, and the ecclesiastics themselves
participated in the abominable profanations. The following outlines of
this absurd diversion will no doubt be thought sufficient.


IX.--THE FESTIVAL OF FOOLS.

In each of the cathedral churches there was a bishop, or an archbishop
of fools, elected; and in the churches immediately dependent upon the
papal see a pope of fools. These mock pontiffs had usually a proper
suit of ecclesiastics who attended upon them, and assisted at the
divine service, most of them attired in ridiculous dresses resembling
pantomimical players and buffoons; they were accompanied by large
crowds of the laity, some being disguised with masks of a monstrous
fashion, and others having their faces smutted; in one instance to
frighten the beholders, and in the other to excite their laughter: and
some, again, assuming the habits of females, practised all the wanton
airs of the loosest and most abandoned of the sex. During the divine
service this motley crowd were not contented with singing of indecent
songs in the choir, but some of them ate, and drank, and played at dice
upon the altar, by the side of the priest who celebrated the mass.
After the service they put filth into the censers, and ran about the
church, leaping, dancing, laughing, singing, breaking obscene jests,
and exposing themselves in the most unseemly attitudes with shameless
impudence.[1002] Another part of these ridiculous ceremonies was, to
shave the precentor of fools upon a stage erected before the church,
in the presence of the populace; and during the operation, he amused
them with lewd and vulgar discourses,[1003] accompanied by actions
equally reprehensible. The bishop, or the pope of fools, performed
the divine service habited in the pontifical garments, and gave his
benediction to the people before they quitted the church. He was
afterwards seated in an open carriage, and drawn about to the different
parts of the town, attended by a large train of ecclesiastics and
laymen promiscuously mingled together; and many of the most profligate
of the latter assumed clerical habits in order to give their impious
fooleries the greater effect; they had also with them carts filled with
ordure, which they threw occasionally upon the populace assembled to
see the procession.[1004] These spectacles were always exhibited at
Christmas-time, or near to it, but not confined to one particular day.
It was sometimes on Christmas-day, and on the feasts of St. Stephen,
St. John, the Innocents, the Circumcision, the Epiphany, &c.[1005] When
the ceremony took place upon St. Stephen's-day, they sang, as part of
the mass, a burlesque composition called the Prose of the Ass, or the
Fool's Prose. It was performed by a double choir, and at intervals,
in place of a burden, they imitated the braying of an ass. Upon the
festival of St. John the Evangelist they had another arrangement
of ludicrous sentences, denominated the Prose of the Ox, equally
reprehensible.[1006] These exhibitions were highly relished by the
populace at large, and crept into the monasteries and nunneries, where
they were practised by the female votaries of religion.


X.--THE BOY-BISHOP

Grotesque ceremonies, something similar to those above mentioned,
certainly took place in England; but probably they were not carried
to that extent of impiety, nor so grossly offensive to decency. We
had a king of the fools, but his office was suppressed at an early
period, and not, that I remember, revived in the succeeding times. A
Rex Stultorum, in Beverley church, was prohibited in 1391.[1007] The
election and the investment of the boy-bishop was certainly derived
from the festival of fools. It does not appear at what period this idle
ceremony was first established, but probably it was ancient, at least
we can trace it back to the fourteenth century. In all the collegiate
churches, at the feast of St. Nicholas, or of the Holy Innocents, and
frequently at both, it was customary for one of the children of the
choir, completely apparelled in the episcopal vestments, with a mitre
and crosier, to bear the title and state of a bishop. He exacted a
ceremonial obedience from his fellows, who being dressed like priests,
took possession of the church, and performed all the ceremonies
and offices which might have been celebrated by a bishop and his
prebendaries: Warton, and the author of the manuscript he has followed,
add, "the mass excepted;" but the proclamation of Henry VIII. for the
abolition of this custom, proves they did "singe masse." Colet, dean of
St. Paul's, though he was "a wise and good man," countenanced this idle
farce; and in the statutes for his school[1008] at St. Paul's,
expressly orders that the scholars "shall, every Childermas, that
is, Innocents-day, come to Paule's churche, and hear the Childe
Byshop's[1009] sermon, and after be at hygh masse, and each of them
offer a penny to the childe byshop; and with them the maisters and
surveyors of the schole."[1010] To this Warton adds, "I take this
opportunity of intimating that the custom at Eton of going ad montem,
originated from the ancient and popular practice of these theatrical
processions in collegiate bodies."[1011] After having performed
the divine service, the boy-bishop and his associates went about
to different parts of the town, and visited the religious houses,
collecting money. These ceremonies and processions were formally
abrogated by proclamation from the king and council, in 1542, the
thirty-third year of Henry VIII.; the concluding clause of the
ordinance runs thus: "Whereas heretofore dyvers and many superstitious
and chyldysh observances have been used, and yet to this day are
observed and kept in many and sundry places of this realm upon St.
Nicholas, St. Catherines, St. Clements, and Holy Innocents, and such
like holydaies; children[1012] be strangelie decked and apparayled
to counterfeit priests, bishops, and women, and so ledde with songs
and dances from house to house, blessing the people, and gathering
of money; and boyes do singe masse, and preache in the pulpits, with
such other unfittinge and inconvenient usages, which tend rather to
derysyon than enie true glorie to God, or honor of his sayntes."[1013]
This idle pageantry was revived by his daughter Mary; and in the
second year of her reign an edict, dated November 13, 1554, was issued
from the bishop of London to all the clergy of his diocese, to have a
boy-bishop in procession.[1014] The year following, "the child bishop,
of Paules church, with his company," were admitted into the queen's
privy chamber, where he sang before her on Saint Nicholas-day and
upon Holy Innocents-day.[1015] Again the next year, says Strype, "on
Saint Nicholas-even, Saint Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a
bishop in pontificalibus,[1016] went abroad in most parts of London,
singing after the old fashion; and was received with many ignorant but
well-disposed people into their houses, and had as much good cheer as
ever was wont to be had before." After the death of Mary this silly
mummery was totally discontinued. We may observe, that most of the
churches in which these mock ceremonies were performed, had dresses
and ornaments proper for the occasion, and suited to the size of the
wearers, but in every other respect resembling those appropriated to
the real dignitaries of the church; hence it is we frequently meet with
entries of diminutive habits and ornaments in the church inventories,
as una mitra parva cum petris pro episcopo puerorum, that is, a
small mitre with jewels for the bishop of the boys.[1017]


XI.--THE FOOL-PLOUGH.

Cards, dice, tables, and most other games prohibited by the public
statutes at other seasons of the year, were tolerated during the
Christmas holidays, as well as disguisements and mummings; and in some
parts of the kingdom vestiges of these customs are to be found to
the present day. "In the north," says Mr. Brand,[1018] at Christmas
time "fool-plough goes about; a pageant that consists of a number
of sword-dancers dragging a plough about with music, and one, or
sometimes two of them attired in a very antic dress; as the Bessy in
the grotesque habit of an old woman, and the Fool almost covered with
skins, a hairy cap on his head, and the tail of some animal hanging
down his back: the office of one of these characters is to go about
rattling a box among the spectators of the dance to collect their
little donations; and it is remarkable that in some places where
this pageant is retained, they plough up the soil before any house
where they receive no reward." The pageant and the dance seem to
be a composition of gleanings of several obsolete customs followed
anciently. The Fool and the Bessy are plainly fragments of the festival
of fools.[1019]

The fool-plough was, perhaps, the yule-plough; it is also called the
white-plough, because the gallant young men that compose the pageant
appear to be dressed in their shirts without coats or waistcoats; upon
which great numbers of ribbands folded into roses are loosely stitched.
Mr. Brand adds, "it appears to be a very airy habit for this cold
season, but they have warm waistcoats under it."

In general Plough-Monday, or the first Monday after Twelfth-day, is
the Ploughmen's Holiday, when they beg for the plough-money to drink.
In Essex and Suffolk, at Shrove-tide or upon Shrove-Tuesday, after the
confession, it was usual for the farmer to permit his ploughman to go
to the barn blindfolded, and "thresh the fat hen," saying, "if you can
kill her then give it thy men; and go you and dine on fritters and
pancakes."[1020]


XII.--EASTER GAMES.

In the islands of Scilly it was customary of late years at this
season for "the young people to exercise a sort of gallantry called
goose dancing, when the maidens are dressed up for young men, and the
young men for maidens; thus disguised they visit their neighbours in
companies, where they dance, and make jokes upon what has happened
in the island; when every one is humorously told their own without
offence being taken; by this sort of sport, according to yearly custom
and toleration, there is a spirit of wit and drollery kept up among
the people. When the music and dancing is done, they are treated with
liquor, and then they go to the next house of entertainment."[1021]


XIII.--SHROVE-TUESDAY, &c.

Cock-fighting, and throwing at cocks on Shrove-Tuesday, and playing at
hand-ball for tansy-cakes at Easter-tide, have been already mentioned,
with other trifling sports which are comprised under their appropriate
heads, and need not to be repeated; but, according to Stow, the week
before Easter, "great shows were made by bringing a twisted tree, or
with, as they termed it, into the king's palace, and into the houses
of the nobility and gentry." I am not certain whether the author means
that this custom was confined to the city of London, or whether it
extended to other parts of England.[1022] It is now obsolete.


XIV.--HOKE-DAY, OR HOCK-DAY.

This popular holiday, Quindena Paschæ, mentioned by Matthew Paris and
other ancient writers, was usually kept on the Tuesday[1023] following
the second Sunday after Easter-day; and distinguished, according
to John Rouse,[1024] by various sportive pastimes, in which the
towns-people, divided into parties, were accustomed to draw each other
with ropes. Spelman is more definite, and tells us, "they consisted
in the men and women binding each other, and especially the women the
men," and hence it was called Binding-Tuesday.[1025] Cowel informs
us that it was customary in several manors in Hampshire for "the
men to hock the women on the Monday, and the women the men upon the
Tuesday; that is, on that day the women in merriment stop the ways
with ropes and pull the passengers to them, desiring something to be
laid out in pious uses in order to obtain their freedom."[1026] Such
are the general outlines of this singular institution, and the pens of
several able writers have been employed in attempting to investigate
its origin.[1027] Some think it was held in commemoration of the
massacre of the Danes, in the reign of Ethelred the Unready, on Saint
Brice's-day;[1028] others, that it was in remembrance of the death of
Hardicanute, which happened on Tuesday the 8th of June, 1041, by which
event the English were delivered from the intolerant government of the
Danes: and this opinion appears to be most probable. The binding part
of the ceremony might naturally refer to the abject state of slavery in
which the wretched Saxons were held by their imperious lords; and the
donations for "pious uses," may be considered as tacit acknowledgments
of gratitude to heaven for freeing the nation from its bondage. In the
churchwarden's accounts for the parish of Lambeth for the years 1515
and 1516, are several entries of hock monies received from the men and
the women for the church service. And here we may observe, that the
contributions collected by the fair sex exceeded those made by the
men.[1029]

Hock-day was generally observed as lately as the sixteenth century.
We learn from Spelman that it was not totally discontinued in his
time. Dr. Plott, who makes Monday the principal day, has noticed some
vestiges of it at the distance of fifty years, but now it is totally
abolished.


XV.--MAY-GAMES.

The celebration of the May-games, at which we have only glanced in a
former part of the work,[1030] will require some enlargement in this
chapter. "On the calends or first of May," says Bourne,[1031] "commonly
called May-day, the juvenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a
little after midnight and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied
with music and blowing of horns, where they break down branches
from the trees, and adorn them with nosegays and crowns of flowers;
when this is done, they return with their booty homewards about the
rising of the sun, and make their doors and windows to triumph with
their flowery spoils; and the after part of the day is chiefly spent
in dancing round a tall poll, which is called a May-poll; and being
placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were,
consecrated to the Goddess of Flowers, without the least violation
being offered to it in the whole circle of the year."

This custom, no doubt, is a relic of one more ancient, practised by
the Heathens, who observed the last four days in April, and the first
of May, in honour of the goddess Flora. An old Romish calendar, cited
by Mr. Brand, says, on the 30th of April, the boys go out to seek
May-trees, "Maii arbores a pueris exquirunter." Some consider the
May-pole as a relic of Druidism; but I cannot find any solid foundation
for such an opinion.

It should be observed, that the May-games were not always celebrated
upon the first day of the month; and to this we may add the following
extract from Stow: "In the month of May the citizens of London of
all estates, generally in every parish, and in some instances two or
three parishes joining together, had their several mayings, and did
fetch their may-poles with divers warlike shows; with good archers,
morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime, all day long; and
towards evening they had stage-plays and bonfires in the streets. These
great mayings and may-games were made by the governors and masters of
the city, together with the triumphant setting up of the great shaft or
principal may-pole in Cornhill before the parish church of Saint
Andrew,"[1032] which was thence called Saint Andrew Undershaft.

No doubt the May-games are of long standing, though the time of their
institution cannot be traced. Mention is made of the May-pole at
Cornhill, in a poem called the "Chaunce of the Dice," attributed to
Chaucer. In the time of Stow, who died in 1605, they were not conducted
with so great splendour as they had been formerly, owing to a dangerous
riot which took place upon May-day, 1517, in the ninth year of Henry
VIII. on which occasion several foreigners were slain, and two of the
ringleaders of the disturbance were hanged.

Stow has passed unnoticed the manner in which the May-poles were
usually decorated; this deficiency I shall supply from Philip Stubs,
a contemporary writer, one who saw these pastimes in a very different
point of view, and some may think his invectives are more severe than
just; however, I am afraid the conclusion of them, though perhaps
much exaggerated, is not altogether without foundation. He writes
thus:[1033] "Against Maie-day, Whitsunday, or some other time of the
year, every parish, towne, or village, assemble themselves, both men,
women, and children; and either all together, or dividing themselves
into companies, they goe some to the woods and groves, some to the
hills and mountaines, some to one place, some to another, where they
spend all the night in pleasant pastimes, and in the morning they
return, bringing with them birche boughes and branches of trees to
deck their assemblies withal. But their chiefest jewel they bring from
thence is the Maie-pole, which they bring home with great veneration,
as thus--they have twentie or fourtie yoake of oxen, every oxe having
a sweete nosegaie of flowers tied to the tip of his hornes, and these
oxen drawe home the May-poale, their stinking idol[1034] rather, which
they covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bound round with
strings from the top to the bottome, and sometimes it was painted with
variable colours, having two or three hundred men, women, and children
following it with great devotion. And thus equipped it was reared with
handkerchiefes and flagges streaming on the top, they strawe the ground
round about it, they bind green boughs about it, they set up summer
halles, bowers, and arbours hard by it, and then fall they to
banquetting and feasting, to leaping and dauncing about it, as the
heathen people did at the dedication of their idolls. I have heard it
crediblie reported, by men of great gravity, credite, and reputation,
that of fourtie, threescore, or an hundred maides going to the wood,
there have scarcely the third part of them returned home againe as they
went."

In the churchwarden's account for the parish of St. Helen's in
Abingdon, Berks, dated 1566, the ninth of Elizabeth, is the following
article: "Payde for setting up Robin Hoode's bower, eighteenpence;"
that is, a bower for the reception of the fictitious Robin Hood and his
company, belonging to the May-day pageant.[1035]


XVI.--THE LORD AND LADY OF THE MAY.

It seems to have been the constant custom, at the celebration of the
May-games, to elect a Lord and Lady of the May, who probably presided
over the sports. On the thirtieth of May, 1557, in the fourth year of
queen Mary, "was a goodly May-game in Fenchurch-street, with drums,
and guns, and pikes; and with the nine worthies who rode, and each of
them made his speech, there was also a morrice dance, and an elephant
and castle, and the Lord and Lady of the May appearing to make up the
show."[1036] We also read that the Lord of the May, and no doubt his
Lady also, was decorated with scarfs, ribbands, and other fineries.
Hence, in the comedy called The Knight of the Burning Pestle, written
by Beaumont and Fletcher in 1611, a citizen, addressing himself to the
other actors, says, "Let Ralph come out on May-day in the morning, and
speak upon a conduit, with all his scarfs about him, and his feathers,
and his rings, and his knacks, as Lord of the May." His request
is complied with, and Ralph appears upon the stage in the assumed
character, where he makes his speech, beginning in this manner:

    With gilded staff and crossed scarf the May Lord here I stand.

The citizen is supposed to be a spectator, and Ralph is his apprentice,
but permitted by him to play in the piece.

At the commencement of the sixteenth century, or perhaps still earlier,
the ancient stories of Robin Hood and his frolicsome companions seem
to have been new-modelled, and divided into separate ballads, which
much increased their popularity; for this reason it was customary
to personify this famous outlaw, with several of his most noted
associates, and add them to the pageantry of the May-games. He presided
as Lord of the May; and a female, or rather, perhaps, a man habited
like a female, called the Maid Marian, his faithful mistress, was the
Lady of the May. His companions were distinguished by the title of
"Robin Hood's Men," and were also equipped in appropriate dresses;
their coats, hoods, and hose were generally green. Henry VIII., in the
first year of his reign, one morning, by way of pastime, came suddenly
into the chamber where the queen and her ladies were sitting. He was
attended by twelve noblemen, all apparelled in short coats of Kentish
kendal, with hoods and hosen of the same; each of them had his bow,
with arrows, and a sword, and a buckler, "like outlawes, or Robyn
Hode's men. The queen, it seems, at first was somewhat affrighted by
their appearance, of which she was not the least apprised. This gay
troop performed several dances, and then departed."[1037]

Bishop Latimer, in a sermon which he preached before king Edward VI.,
relates the following anecdote, which proves the great popularity of
the May pageants. "Coming," says he, "to a certain town on a holiday
to preach, I found the church door fast locked. I taryed there half an
houre and more, and at last the key was found, and one of the parish
comes to me and sayes, Syr, this is a busy day with us, we cannot hear
you; it is Robin Hoode's day; the parish are gone abroad to gather for
Robin Hood; I pray you let[1038] them not. I was fayne, therefore, to
give place to Robin Hood. I thought my rochet would have been regarded;
but it would not serve, it was faine to give place to Robin Hoode's
men."[1039] In Garrick's Collection of Old Plays[1040] is one entitled
"A new Playe of Robyn Hoode, for to be played in the May-games, very
pleasaunte and full of Pastyme," printed at London by William Copland,
black letter, without date. This playe consists of short dialogues
between Robyn Hode, Lytell John, Fryer Tucke, a potter's boy, and
the potter. Robyn fights with the friar, who afterwards becomes his
chaplain; he also breaks the boy's pots, and commits several other
absurdities. The language of the piece is extremely low, and full of
ribaldry.


XVII.--GRAND MAY-GAME AT GREENWICH.

It has been observed that the May-games were not confined to the first
day of the month, neither were they always concluded in one day;
on the contrary, I have now before me a manuscript,[1041] written
apparently in the reign of Henry VII., wherein a number of gentlemen,
professing themselves to be the servants of the Lady May, promise to
be in the royal park at Greenwich, day after day, from two o'clock in
the afternoon till five, in order to perform the various sports and
exercises specified in the agreement; that is to say,

On the 14th day of May they engage to meet at a place appointed by the
king, armed with the "harneis[1042] thereunto accustomed, to kepe the
fielde, and to run with every commer eight courses." Four additional
courses were to be granted to any one who desired it, if the time would
permit, or the queen was pleased to give them leave; agreeable to the
ancient custom by which the ladies presided as arbitrators at the
justs.[1043]

On the 15th the archers took the field to shoot at "the standard with
flight arrows."

On the 16th they held a tournament with "swords rebated to strike with
every commer eight strokes," according to the accustomed usage.

On the 18th, for I suppose Sunday intervened, they were to be ready
to "wrestle with all commers all manner of ways," according to their
pleasure.

On the 19th they were to enter the field, to fight on foot at the
barriers, with spears in their hands and swords rebated by their sides,
and with spear and sword to defend their barriers: there were to be
eight strokes with the spear, two of them "with the foyne," or short
thrust, and eight strokes with the sword; "every man to take his best
advantage with gript or otherwise."

On the 20th they were to give additional proof of their strength by
casting "the barre on foote, and with the arme, bothe heavit and
hight." I do not clearly understand this passage, but suppose it means
by lifting and casting aloft.

On the 21st they recommenced the exercises, which were to be continued
daily, Sundays excepted, through the remaining part of May, and a
fortnight in the month of June.


XVIII.--ROYAL MAY-GAME AT SHOOTER'S HILL.

Henry VIII., when young, delighted much in pageantry, and the early
part of his reign abounded with gaudy shows; most of them were his own
devising, and others contrived for his amusement. Among the latter we
may reckon a May-game at Shooter's hill, which was exhibited by the
officers of his guards; they in a body, amounting to two hundred, all
of them clothed in green, and headed by their captain, who personated
Robin Hood, met the king one morning as he was riding to take the
air, accompanied by the queen and a large suite of the nobility of
both sexes. The fictitious foresters first amused them with a double
discharge of their arrows; and then, their chief approaching the king,
invited him to see the manner in which he and his companions lived.
The king complied with the request, and the archers, blowing their
horns, conducted him and his train into the wood under the hill, where
an arbour was made with green boughs, having a hall, a great chamber,
and an inner chamber, and the whole was covered with flowers and sweet
herbs. When the company had entered the arbour, Robin Hood excused the
want of more abundant refreshment, saying to the king, "Sir, we outlaws
usually breakfast upon venison, and have no other food to offer you."
The king and queen then sat down, and were served with venison and
wine; and after the entertainment, with which it seems they were well
pleased, they departed, and on their return were met by two ladies
riding in a rich open chariot, drawn by five horses. Every horse,
according to Holingshed, had his name upon his head, and upon every
horse sat a lady, with her name written. On the first horse, called
Lawde, sat Humidity; on the second, named Memeon, sat lady Vert, or
green; on the third, called Pheton, sat lady Vegitive; on the fourth,
called Rimphon, sat lady Pleasaunce; on the fifth, called Lampace, sat
Sweet Odour.[1044] Both of the ladies in the chariot were splendidly
apparelled; one of them personified the Lady May, and the other Lady
Flora, "who," we are told, "saluted the king with divers goodly songs,
and so brought him to Greenwich."

We may here just observe that the May-games had attracted the notice
of the nobility long before the time of Henry; and agreeable to the
custom of the times, no doubt, was the following curious passage in the
old romance called The Death of Arthur: "Now it befell in the moneth
of lusty May, that queene Guenever called unto her the knyghtes of the
round table, and gave them warning that, early in the morning, she
should ride on maying into the woods and fields beside Westminster."
The knights were all of them to be clothed in green, to be well horsed,
and every one of them to have a lady behind him, followed by an esquire
and two yeomen, &c.[1045]


XIX.--MAY MILK-MAIDS.

"It is at this time," that is, in May, says the author of one of the
papers in the Spectator,[1046] "we see the brisk young wenches, in
the country parishes, dancing round the May-pole. It is likewise on
the first day of this month that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting
herself in a most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver tankards,
and like the virgin Tarpeia, oppressed by the costly ornaments which
her benefactors lay upon her. These decorations of silver cups,
tankards, and salvers, were borrowed for the purpose, and hung round
the milk-pails, with the addition of flowers and ribbands, which the
maidens carried upon their heads when they went to the houses of their
customers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of
them. In a set of prints called Tempest's Cryes of London, there is one
called the merry milk-maid's, whose proper name was Kate Smith. She
is dancing with the milk-pail decorated as above mentioned, upon her
head.[1047] Of late years the plate, with the other decorations, were
placed in a pyramidical form, and carried by two chairmen upon a wooden
horse. The maidens walked before it, and performed the dance without
any incumbrance. I really cannot discover what analogy the silver
tankards and salvers can have to the business of the milk-maids. I
have seen them act with much more propriety upon this occasion, when in
place of these superfluous ornaments they substituted a cow. The animal
had her horns gilt, and was nearly covered with ribbands of various
colours, formed into bows and roses, and interspersed with green oaken
leaves and bunches of flowers."


XX.--MAY FESTIVAL OF THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS.

The chimney-sweepers of London have also singled out the first of May
for their festival; at which time they parade the streets in companies,
disguised in various manners. Their dresses are usually decorated
with gilt paper, and other mock fineries; they have their shovels and
brushes in their hands, which they rattle one upon the other; and to
this rough music they jump about in imitation of dancing. Some of the
larger companies have a fiddler with them, and a Jack in the Green,
as well as a Lord and Lady of the May, who follow the minstrel with
great stateliness, and dance as occasion requires. The Jack in the
Green is a piece of pageantry consisting of a hollow frame of wood or
wicker-work, made in the form of a sugar-loaf, but open at the bottom,
and sufficiently large and high to receive a man. The frame is covered
with green leaves and bunches of flowers interwoven with each other, so
that the man within may be completely concealed, who dances with his
companions, and the populace are mightily pleased with the oddity of
the moving pyramid.


XXI.--WHITSUN GAMES.

The Whitsuntide holidays were celebrated by various pastimes commonly
practised upon other festivals; but the Monday after the Whitsun week,
at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, a fat lamb was provided, and the maidens
of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, were permitted
to run after it, and she who with her mouth took hold of the lamb
was declared the Lady of the Lamb, which, being killed and cleaned,
but with the skin hanging upon it, was carried on a long pole before
the lady and her companions to the green, attended with music, and
a morisco dance of men, and another of women. The rest of the day
was spent in mirth and merry glee. Next day the lamb, partly baked,
partly boiled, and partly roasted, was served up for the lady's feast,
where she sat, "majestically at the upper end of the table, and her
companions with her," the music playing during the repast, which, being
finished, the solemnity ended.[1048]


XXII.--MIDSUMMER EVE FESTIVAL.

On the Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, commonly called Midsummer
Eve, it was usual in most country places, and also in towns and
cities, for the inhabitants, both old and young, and of both sexes,
to meet together, and make merry by the side of a large fire made
in the middle of the street, or in some open and convenient place,
over which the young men frequently leaped by way of frolic, and also
exercised themselves with various sports and pastimes, more especially
with running wrestling, and dancing. These diversions they continued
till midnight, and sometimes till cock-crowing;[1049] several of the
superstitious ceremonies practised upon this occasion are contained
in the following verses, as they are translated by Barnabe Googe,
from the fourth book of The Popish Kingdome, written in Latin by Tho.
Neogeorgus: the translation was dedicated to queen Elizabeth, and
appeared in 1570.

    Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne,
    When bonfiers great, with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne:
    And yong men round about with maides doe daunce in every streete,
    With garlands wrought of Mother-wort, or else with Vervaine sweete
    And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes
    Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoever stands,
    And thorow the flowres beholds the flame, his eyes shall feele
          no paine.
    When thus till night they daunced have, they through the fire amaine
    With striving mindes doe run, and all their hearbes they
          cast therin,
    And then, with wordes devout and prayers, they solemnely begin,
    Desiring God that all their illes may there confounded bee,
    Whereby they thinke through all that yeare, from Agues to be free.

At London, in addition to the bonfires, "on the eve of this saint, as
well as upon that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, every man's door was
shaded with green birch, long fennel, Saint John's wort, orpin, white
lilies, and the like, ornamented with garlands of beautiful flowers.
They, the citizens, had also lamps of glass with oil burning in them
all night; and some of them hung out branches of iron, curiously
wrought, containing hundreds of lamps lighted at once, which made a
very splendid appearance." This information we receive from Stow, who
tells us that, in his time, New Fish-street and Thames-street were
peculiarly brilliant upon these occasions.


XXIII.--SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF THE MIDSUMMER VIGIL.

The reasons assigned for making bonfires upon the vigil of Saint
John in particular are various, for many writers have attempted the
investigation of their origin; but unfortunately all their arguments,
owing to the want of proper information, are merely hypothetical, and
of course cannot be much depended upon. Those who suppose these fires
to be a relic of some ancient heathenish superstition engrafted upon
the variegated stock of ceremonies belonging to the Romish church, are
not, in my opinion, far distant from the truth. The looking through
the flowers at the fire, the casting of them finally into it, and the
invocation to the Deity, with the effects supposed to be produced by
those ceremonies, as mentioned in the preceding poem, are circumstances
that seem to strengthen such a conclusion.

According to some of the pious writers of antiquity, they made large
fires, which might be seen at a great distance, upon the vigil of this
saint, in token that he was said in holy writ to be "a shining light."
Others, agreeing with this, add also, these fires were made to drive
away the dragons and evil spirits hovering in the air; and one of them
gravely says, in some countries they burned bones, which was called
a bone-fire; for "the dragons hattyd nothyng mor than the styncke of
bernyng bonys." This, says another, habent ex gentilibus, they have
from the heathens. The author last cited laments the abuses committed
upon these occasions. "This vigil," says he, "ought to be held with
cheerfulness and piety, but not with such merriment as is shewn by the
profane lovers of this world, who make great fires in the streets, and
indulge themselves with filthy and unlawful games, to which they add
glotony and drunkenness, and the commission of many other shameful
indecencies."[1050]


XXIV.--SETTING OF THE MIDSUMMER WATCH.

In former times it was customary in London, and in other great cities,
to set the Midsummer watch upon the eve of Saint John the Baptist; and
this was usually performed with great pomp and pageantry.[1051] The
following short extract from the faithful historian, John Stow, will
be sufficient to show the childishness as well as the expensiveness
of this idle spectacle. The institution, he assures us, had been
appointed, "time out of mind;" and upon this occasion the standing
watches "in bright harness." There was also a marching watch, that
passed through all the principal streets. In order to furnish this
watch with lights, there were appointed seven hundred cressets; the
charge for every cresset was two shillings and fourpence; every cresset
required two men, the one to bear it, and the other to carry a bag
with light to serve it. The cresset was a large lanthorn fixed at the
end of a long pole, and carried upon a man's shoulder. The cressets
were found partly by the different companies, and partly by the city
chamber. Every one of the cresset-bearers was paid for his trouble;
he had also given to him, that evening, a strawen hat and a painted
badge, besides the donation of his breakfast next morning. The marching
watch consisted of two thousand men, most of them being old soldiers
of every denomination. They appeared in appropriate habits, with their
arms in their hands, and many of them, especially the musicians and
the standard bearers, rode upon great horses. There were also divers
pageants and morris-dancers with the constables, one half of which,
to the amount of one hundred and twenty, went out on the eve of Saint
John, and the other half on the eve of Saint Peter. The constables were
dressed in "bright harnesse, some over gilt, and every one had a joinet
of scarlet thereupon, and a chain of gold; his henchman following
him, and his minstrels before him, and his cresset-light at his side.
The mayor himself came after him, well mounted, with his sword-bearer
before him, in fair armour on horseback, preceded by the waits, or city
minstrels, and the mayor's officers in liveries of worsted, or say
jackets party coloured. The mayor was surrounded by his footmen and
torch-bearers, and followed by two henchmen on large horses. The
sheriffs' watches came one after the other in like order, but not
so numerous; for the mayor had, besides his giant, three pageants;
whereas the sheriffs had only two besides their giants, each with their
morris-dance and one henchman: their officers were clothed in jackets
of worsted, or say party-coloured, but differing from those belonging
to the mayor, and from each other: they had also a great number of
harnessed men."[1052] This old custom of setting the watch in London
was maintained until the year 1539, in the 31st year of Henry VIII.
when it was discontinued on account of the expense, and revived in the
year 1548, the 2d of Edward VI. and soon after that time it was totally
abolished.

On Midsummer eve it was customary annually at Burford, in Oxfordshire,
to carry a dragon up and down the town, with mirth and rejoicing; to
which they also added the picture[1053] of a giant. Dr. Plott tells
us, this pageantry was continued in his memory, and says it was
established, at least the dragon part of the show, in memory of a
famous victory obtained near that place, about 750, by Cuthred, king of
the west Saxons, over Ethebald, king of Mercia, who lost his standard,
surmounted by a golden dragon,[1054] in the action.


XXV.--PROCESSIONS ON ST. CLEMENT'S AND ST. CATHERINE'S DAYS.

The Anniversary of Saint Clement, and that of Saint Catherine, the
first upon the 23d, and the second upon the 25th, of November, were
formerly particularized by religious processions which had been disused
after the Reformation, but again established by queen Mary. In the
year she ascended the throne, according to Strype, on the evening of
Saint Catherine's day, her procession was celebrated at London with
five hundred great lights, which were carried round Saint Paul's
steeple;[1055] and again three years afterwards, her image, if I
clearly understand my author, was taken about the battlements of the
same church with fine singing and many great lights.[1056] But the
most splendid show of this kind that took place in Mary's time was the
procession on Saint Clement's day, exhibited in the streets of London:
it consisted of sixty priests and clerks in their copes, attended by
divers of the inns of court, who went next the priests, preceded by
eighty banners and streamers, with the waits or minstrels of the city
playing upon different instruments.[1057]


XXVI.--WASSAILS.

Wassail, or rather the wassail bowl, which was a bowl of spiced ale,
formerly carried about by young women on New-year's eve, who went
from door to door in their several parishes singing a few couplets of
homely verses composed for the purpose, and presented the liquor to the
inhabitants of the house where they called, expecting a small gratuity
in return, Selden alludes to this custom in the following comparison:
"The Pope, in sending reliques to princes, does as wenches do by their
wassails at New-year's tide, they present you with a cup, and you
must drink of a slabby stuff; but the meaning is, you must give them
monies ten times more than it is worth."[1058] The wassail is said to
have originated from the words of Rowena, the daughter of Hengist;
who, presenting a bowl of wine to Vortigern, the king of the Britons,
said, Wæs hæel, or, Health to you, my lord the king; (Ƿæꞅ hæl laꝼoꞃꝺ
cẏnnınᵹ). If this derivation of the custom should be thought doubtful,
I can only say that it has the authority at least of antiquity on its
side. The wassails are now quite obsolete; but it seems that fifty
years back, some vestiges of them were remaining in Cornwall; but the
time of their performance was changed to twelfth-day.[1059]


XXVII.--SHEEP-SHEARING AND HARVEST-HOME.

There are two feasts annually held among the farmers of this country,
which are regularly made in the spring, and at the end of the summer,
or the beginning of autumn, but not confined to any particular day.
The first is the sheep-shearing, and the second the harvest-home; both
of them were celebrated in ancient times with feasting and variety of
rustic pastimes: at present, excepting a dinner, or more frequently a
supper, at the conclusion of the sheep-shearing and the harvest, we
have little remains of the former customs.

The particular manner in which the sheep-shearing was celebrated in
old time is not recorded; but respecting the harvest-home we meet with
several curious observations. Hentzner, a foreign gentleman, who was
in England at the close of the sixteenth century, and wrote an account
of what he saw here, says, "as we were returning to our inn, (in or
near Windsor) we happened to meet some country people celebrating their
harvest-home: their last load of corn they crown with flowers, having
besides, an image richly dressed, by which perhaps they signify Ceres;
this they keep moving about, while the men and women, and men and
maid-servants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout as loud
as they can till they arrive at the barn." Moresin, another foreign
writer, also tells us that he saw "in England, the country people bring
home," from the harvest field, I presume he means, "a figure made with
corn, round which the men and the women were promiscuously singing, and
preceded by a piper or a drum."[1060] "In the north," says Mr. Brand,
"not half a century ago, they used every where to dress up a figure
something similar to that just described, at the end of harvest, which
they called a kern-baby, plainly a corruption of corn-baby, as the
kern, or churn supper, is of corn-supper."[1061]

The harvest-supper in some places is called a mell-supper, and a
churn-supper. Mell is plainly derived from the French word mesler,
to mingle together, the master and servant promiscuously at the same
table.[1062] At the mell-supper, Bourne[1063] tells us, "the servant
and his master are alike, and every thing is done with equal freedom;
they sit at the same table, converse freely together, and spend the
remaining part of the night in dancing and singing, without any
difference or distinction. There was," continues my author, "a custom
among the heathens much like this at the gathering of their harvest,
when the servants were indulged with their liberty, and put upon an
equality with their masters for a certain time. Probably both of them
originated from the Jewish feast of tabernacles."[1064]


XXVIII.--WAKES.

The wakes when first instituted in this country were established upon
religious principles, and greatly resembled the agapæ, Αγαπαι, or
love feasts of the early Christians. It seems, however, clear, that
they derived their origin from some more ancient rites practised in
the times of paganism. Hence Pope Gregory, in his letter to Melitus, a
British abbot, says, "whereas the people were accustomed to sacrifice
many oxen in honour of dæmons, let them celebrate a religious and
solemn festival, and not slay the animals, diabolo, to the devil, but
to be eaten by themselves, ad laudem Dei, to the praise of God."[1065]
These festivals were primitively held upon the day of the dedication
of the church in each district, or the birth-day of the saint whose
relics were therein deposited, or to whose honour it was consecrated;
for which purpose the people were directed to make booths and tents
with the boughs of trees adjoining to the churches, circa easdem
ecclesias,[1066] and in them to celebrate the feast with thanksgiving
and prayer. In process of time the people assembled on the vigil, or
evening preceding the saint's-day, and came, says an old author, "to
churche with candellys burnyng, and would wake, and come toward night
to the church in their devocion,"[1067] agreeable to the requisition
contained in one of the canons established by king Edgar, whereby
those who came to the wake were ordered to pray devoutly, and not to
betake themselves to drunkenness and debauchery. The necessity for this
restriction plainly indicates that abuses of this religious institution
began to make their appearance as early as the tenth century. The
author above cited goes on, "and afterwards the pepul fell to
letcherie, and songs, and daunses, with harping and piping, and also to
glotony and sinne; and so tourned the holyness to cursydness; wherefore
holy faders ordeyned the pepull to leve that waking and to fast the
evyn, but it is called vigilia, that is waking, in English, and eveyn,
for of eveyn they were wont to come to churche." In proportion as these
festivals deviated from the original design of their institution, they
became more popular, the conviviality was extended, and not only the
inhabitants of the parish to which the church belonged were present at
them, but they were joined by others from the neighbouring towns and
parishes, who flocked together upon these occasions, and the greater
the reputation of the tutelar saint, the greater generally was the
promiscuous assembly. The pedlars and hawkers attended to sell their
wares, and so by degrees the religious wake was converted into a
secular fair. The riot and debaucheries which eventually took place
at these nocturnal meetings, became so offensive to religious persons
that they were suppressed, and regular fairs established, to be held
on the saint's-day, or upon some other day near to it as might be
most convenient; and if the place did not admit of any traffic of
consequence, the time was spent in festive mirth and vulgar amusements.
These fairs still retain the ancient name of wakes in many parts of the
kingdom.


XXIX.--SUNDAY FESTIVALS.

"In the northern parts of this nation," says Bourne, "the inhabitants
of most country villages are wont to observe some Sunday in a more
particular manner than the other common Sundays of the year, namely,
the Sunday after the day of dedication of their church," that is, the
Sunday after the saint's day to whom the church was dedicated. "Then
the people deck themselves in their gaudiest clothes, and have open
doors and splendid entertainments for the reception and treating of
their relations and friends, who visit them on that occasion from each
neighbouring town. The morning is spent for the most part at church,
though not as that morning was wont to be spent, with the commemoration
of the saint or martyr; nor the grateful remembrance of the builder
and endower." Being come from church, the remaining part of the day
is spent in eating and drinking, and so is a day or two afterwards,
together with all sorts of rural pastimes and exercises, such as
dancing on the green, wrestling, cudgelling, and the like. "In the
northern parts, the Sunday's feasting is almost lost, and they observe
only one day for the whole, which among them is called hopping, I
suppose from the dancing and other exercises then practised. Here they
used to end many quarrels between neighbour and neighbour, and hither
came the wives in comely manner, and they which were of the better sort
had their mantles carried with them, as well for show as to keep them
from the cold at the table. These mantles also many did use at the
churches, at the morrow masses, and at other times."[1068]


XXX.--CHURCH-ALES.

The Church-ales, called also Easter-ales, and Whitsun-ales from their
being sometimes held on Easter-Sunday, and on Whit-Sunday, or on
some of the holidays that follow them, certainly originated from the
wakes. The churchwardens and other chief parish officers observing the
wakes to be more popular than any other holidays, rightly conceived,
that by establishing other institutions somewhat similar to them,
they might draw together a large company of people, and annually
collect from them, gratuitously as it were, such sums of money for
the support and repairs of the church, as would be a great easement
to the parish rates. By way of enticement to the populace they brewed
a certain portion of strong ale, to be ready on the day appointed for
the festival, which they sold to them; and most of the better sort,
in addition to what they paid for their drink, contributed something
towards the collection; but in some instances the inhabitants of one
or more parishes were mulcted in a certain sum according to mutual
agreement, as we find by an ancient stipulation,[1069] couched in the
following terms: "The parishioners of Elverton and those of Okebrook
in Derbyshire agree jointly to brew four ales, and every ale of one
quarter of malt between this,[1070] and the feast of Saint John the
Baptist next comming, and every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook
shall be at the several ales; and every husband and his wife shall
pay two pence, and every cottager one penny. And the inhabitants
of Elverton shall have and receive all the profits comming of the
said ales, to the use and behoof of the church of Elverton; and the
inhabitants of Elverton shall brew eight ales betwixt this and the
feast of Saint John, at which ales the inhabitants of Okebrook shall
come and pay as before rehearsed; and if any be away one ale, he is
to pay at t'oder ale for both." In Cornwall the church-ales were
ordered in a different manner; for there two young men of a parish were
annually chosen by their foregoers to be wardens, "who, dividing the
task, made collections among the parishioners of whatever provision
it pleased them to bestow; this they employed in brewing, baking, and
other acates, against Whitson-tide, upon which holidaies the neighbours
meet at the church-house, and there merely feed on their own victuals,
contributing some petty portion to the stock. When the feast is ended,
the wardens yield in their accounts to the parishioners; and such money
as exceedeth the disbursements, is layed up in store to defray any
extraordinary charges arising in the parish."[1071]

To what has been said upon this subject, I shall only add the following
extract from Philip Stubs, an author before quoted, who lived in the
reign of queen Elizabeth, whose writings[1072] are pointed against the
popular vices and immoralities of his time. "In certaine townes," says
he, "where drunken Bacchus bears swaie against Christmass and Easter,
Whitsunday, or some other time, the churchwardens, for so they call
them, of every parish, with the consent of the whole parish, provide
half a score or twentie quarters of mault, whereof some they buy of
the church stocke, and some is given to them of the parishioners
themselves, every one conferring somewhat, according to his ability;
which mault being made into very strong ale, or beer, is set to sale,
either in the church[1073] or in some other place assigned to that
purpose. Then, when this nippitatum, this huffe-cappe, as they call
it, this nectar of life, is set abroach, well is he that can get
the soonest to it, and spends the most at it, for he is counted the
godliest man of all the rest, and most in God's favour, because it
is spent upon his church forsooth. If all be true which they say,
they bestow that money which is got thereby for the repaire of their
churches and chappels; they buy bookes for the service, cupps for
the celebration of the sacrament, surplesses for Sir John, and such
other necessaries," &c. He then proceeds to speak upon "the manner of
keeping wakesses (wakes) in England," in a style similar to that above
cited, and says they were "the sources of gluttonie and drunkenness;"
and adds, "many spend more at one of these wakesses than in all the
whole year besides." It has before been observed that this author is
very severe upon most of the popular sports; but in justice to him
I may add, that similar complaints have been exhibited against the
church-ales and wakes in times greatly anterior to his existence. And,
indeed, if we look at the wakes and fairs as they are conducted in the
present day, I trust we shall not hesitate to own that they are by no
means proper schools for the improvement of the public morals.

The ingenious researcher into the causes of melancholy thinks
that these kinds of amusement ought not to be denied to the
commonalty.[1074] Chaucer, in the Ploughman's Tale, reproves the
priests because they were more attentive to the practice of secular
pastimes than to the administration of their holy functions, saying
they were expert

    At the wrestlynge and at the wake,
      And chefe chauntours at the nale,
    Markette beaters, and medlyng make,
      Hoppen and houters with heve and hale.


XXXI.--FAIRS.

The church-ales have long been discontinued; the wakes are still kept
up in the northern parts of the kingdom; but neither they nor the
fairs maintain their former importance; many of both, and most of the
latter, have dwindled into mere markets for petty traffic, or else
they are confined to the purposes of drinking, or the displayment of
vulgar pastimes. These pastimes, or at least such of them as occur
to my memory, I shall mention here in a cursory manner, and pass
on to the remaining part of this chapter. In a paper belonging to
the Spectator[1075] there is a short description of a country wake.
"I found," says the author, "a ring of cudgel-players, who were
breaking one another's heads in order to make some impression on
their mistresses' hearts." He then came to "a foot-ball match," and
afterwards to "a ring of wrestlers." Here he observes, "the squire of
the parish always treats the company every year with a hogshead of ale,
and proposes a beaver hat as a recompence to him who gives the most
falls." The last sport he mentions is pitching the bar. But he might,
and with great propriety, have added most of the games in practice
among the lower classes of the people that have been specified in the
foregoing pages, and perhaps the whistling match recorded in another
paper.[1076] "The prize," we are told, "was one guinea, to be conferred
upon the ablest whistler; that is, he that could whistle clearest, and
go through his tune without laughing, to which at the same time he was
provoked by the antic postures of a merry-andrew, who was to stand
upon the stage, and play his tricks in the eye of the performer.
There were three competitors; the two first failed, but the third, in
defiance of the zany and all his arts, whistled through two tunes with
so settled a countenance that he bore away the prize, to the great
admiration of the spectators." This paper was written by Addison, who
assures us he was present at the performance, which took place at Bath
about the year 1708. To this he adds another curious pastime, as a kind
of Christmas gambol, which he had seen also; that is, a yawning match
for a Cheshire cheese; the sport began about midnight, when the whole
company were disposed to be drowsy; and he that yawned the widest, and
at the same time most naturally, so as to produce the greatest number
of yawns from the spectators, obtained the cheese.

The barbarous and wicked diversion of throwing at cocks usually took
place at all the wakes and fairs that were held about Shrove-tide,
and especially at such of them as were kept on Shrove-Tuesday.
Upon the abolition of this inhuman custom, the place of the living
birds was supplied by toys made in the shape of cocks, with large
and heavy stands of lead, at which the boys, on paying some very
trifling sum, were permitted to throw as heretofore; and he who could
overturn the toy claimed it as a reward for his adroitness. This
innocent pastime never became popular, for the sport derived from
the torment of a living creature existed no longer, and its want was
not to be compensated by the overthrowing or breaking a motionless
representative; therefore the diversion was very soon discontinued.

At present, snuff-boxes, tobacco-boxes, and other trinkets of small
value, or else halfpence or gingerbread, placed upon low stands, are
thrown at, and sometimes apples and oranges, set up in small heaps; and
children are usually enticed to lay out their money for permission to
throw at them by the owners, who keep continually bawling, "Knock down
one you have them all." A halfpenny is the common price for one throw,
and the distance about ten or twelve yards.

The Jingling Match is a diversion common enough at country wakes and
fairs. The performance requires a large circle, enclosed with ropes,
which is occupied by as many persons as are permitted to play. They
rarely exceed nine or ten. All of these, except one of the most active,
who is the jingler, have their eyes blinded with handkerchiefs or
napkins. The eyes of the jingler are not covered, but he holds a small
bell in each hand, which he is obliged to keep ringing incessantly so
long as the play continues, which is commonly about twenty minutes, but
sometimes it is extended to half an hour. In some places the jingler
has also small bells affixed to his knees and elbows. His business is
to elude the pursuit of his blinded companions, who follow him, by the
sound of the bells, in all directions, and sometimes oblige him to
exert his utmost abilities to effect his escape, which must be done
within the boundaries of the rope, for the laws of the sport forbid
him to pass beyond it. If he be caught in the time allotted for the
continuance of the game, the person who caught him claims the prize:
if, on the contrary, they are not able to take him, the prize becomes
his due.

Hunting the Pig is another favourite rustic pastime. The tail of the
animal is previously cut short, and well soaped, and in this condition
he is turned out for the populace to run after him; and he who can
catch him with one hand, and hold him by the stump of the tail without
touching any other part, obtains him for his pains.

Sack Running, that is, men tied up in sacks, every part of them being
enclosed except their heads, who are in this manner to make the best of
their way to some given distance, where he who first arrives obtains
the prize.

Smock Races are commonly performed by the young country wenches, and
so called because the prize is a holland smock, or shift, usually
decorated with ribbands.

The Wheelbarrow Race requires room, and is performed upon some open
green, or in a field free from incumbrances. The candidates are all of
them blindfolded, and every one has his wheelbarrow, which he is to
drive from the starting-place to a mark set up for that purpose, at
some considerable distance. He who first reaches the mark of course
is the conqueror. But this task is seldom very readily accomplished;
on the contrary, the windings and wanderings of these droll
knights-errant, in most cases, produce much merriment.

The Grinning Match is performed by two or more persons endeavouring to
exceed each other in the distortion of their features, every one of
them having his head thrust through a horse's collar.

Smoking Matches are usually made for tobacco-boxes, or some other
trifling prizes, and may be performed two ways: the first is a trial
among the candidates who shall smoke a pipe full of tobacco in the
shortest time: the second is precisely the reverse; for he of them who
can keep the tobacco alight within his pipe, and retain it there the
longest, receives the reward.

To these we may add the Hot Hasty-pudding Eaters, who contend for
superiority by swallowing the greatest quantity of hot hasty-pudding in
the shortest time; so that he whose throat is widest and most callous
is sure to be the conqueror.

The evening is commonly concluded with singing for laces and ribbands,
which divertisement indiscriminately admits of the exertions of both
sexes.


XXXII.--BONFIRES.

It has been customary in this country, from time immemorial, for the
people, upon occasions of rejoicing, or by way of expressing their
approbation of any public occurrence, to make large bonfires upon
the close of the day, to parade the street with great lights, and to
illuminate their houses. These spectacles may be considered as merely
appendages to the pageants and pompous shows that usually preceded
them; and they seem to have been instituted principally for the
diversion of the populace. In the reign of Henry VII. a letter was sent
from the king to the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, commanding them
to cause bonfires to be made, and to manifest other signs of rejoicing,
on account of the espousals of his daughter Mary.[1077] And within
these forty years[1078] bonfires continued to be made in London at the
city expense, and in certain places at Westminster by order from the
court, upon most of the public days of rejoicing; but of late they have
been prohibited, and very justly, on account of the mischief occasioned
by the squibs and crackers thrown about by the mob who assembled upon
these occasions.

In London, and probably in other large cities, bonfires were frequently
made in the summer season, not only for rejoicing sake, but to cleanse
the air. Hence Stow, writing upon this subject, says, "In the months
of June and July, on the vigils of festival days, and on the evenings
also of those days after sunset, bonfires were made in the streets. The
wealthy citizens placed bread and good drink upon the tables before
their doors upon the vigil of the festival; but on the festival evening
the same tables were more plentifully furnished with meat and drink,
to which not only the neighbours but passengers were also invited to
sit and partake, with great hospitality. These were called bonfires,
as well of amity among neighbours that, being before at controversie,
were, at these times, by the labour of others, reconciled, and made of
bitter enemies loving friends; and also for the virtue that a great
fire hath to purge the infection of the air."[1079] There are many
fanciful derivations of the compound word bonfire; but I perfectly
agree with Dr. Johnson, who thinks the first syllable originated from
the French word bon, good; because these fires were usually made upon
the receipt of some good news, or upon occasions of public rejoicing.


XXXIII.--ILLUMINATIONS.

I do not know at what period illuminations were first used as marks of
rejoicing. They are mentioned by Stow, in his Survey of London, who
tells us that lamps of glass, to the amount of several hundreds, were
hung upon branches of iron curiously wrought, and placed at the doors
of the opulent citizens upon the vigils of Saint John the Baptist, and
of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.[1080] The historian does not speak of
these lights as any novelty, neither is there any reason to conclude
that similar illuminations were not made in other great towns and
cities as well as in London; so that the custom might have been of long
standing, and probably originated from some religious institution. But
the lights, for I can hardly call them illuminations, most generally
used at this period, were the cressets, or large lanthorns, which were
carried in procession about the street. When they were laid aside,
the windows of the houses were decorated with lighted candles, or
the outsides ornamented with lamps of various colours, and placed
in variety of forms; to which may be added, transparent paintings,
inscriptions, and variety of other curious and expensive devices, that
seem to be almost peculiar to the present age; and certainly the grand
illuminations exhibited on the 23d of April, 1789, upon the happy
occasion of his Majesty's recovery, far surpassed, not only in the
number and brilliancy of the lights, but also in the splendour and
beauty of the transparencies, every other spectacle of the like kind
that has been made in this country, or perhaps in any other.


XXXIV.--FIREWORKS.

Fireworks, for pastime, are little spoken of previous to the reign of
Elizabeth, and seem to have been of a very trifling nature. We are
told, when Ann Bullen was conveyed upon the water from Greenwich to
London, previous to her coronation, in 1533, "there went before the
lord-mayor's barge, a foyste[1081] for a wafter full of ordinance; in
which foyste was a great red dragon, continually moving and casting
forth wildfire; and round about the said foyste stood terrible,
monstrous, and wilde men, casting of fire, and making a hideous noise."
This vessel with the fireworks, I apprehend, was usually exhibited when
the lord mayor went upon the water, and especially when he went to
Westminster on the lord mayor's day. Hence Morose, in Jonson's comedy
of the Silent Woman, says to his visitors, who come with drums and
trumpets, "Out of my dores, you sonnes of noise and tumult, begot on
an ill May-day, or when the gally-foist is afloate to Westminster; a
trumpetter could not be conceived till then."[1082]

Among the spectacles prepared for the diversion of queen Elizabeth at
Kenelworth Castle in 1575, there were displays of fireworks, which
are thus described by Laneham, who was present.[1083] "On the Sunday
night," says he, "after a warning piece or two,[1084] was a blaze of
burning darts flying to and fro, beams of stars coruscant, streams
and hail of fire sparks, lightnings of wildfire on the water; and on
the land, flight and shot of thunderbolts, all with such continuance,
terror, and vehemence, the heavens thundered, the waters surged, and
the earth shook." Another author, Gascoyne, speaks thus: "On the Sunday
were fireworks showed upon the water, passing under the water a long
space; and when all men thought they had been quenched, they would rise
and mount out of the water again and burne furiously until they were
utterlie consumed."[1085] On the Thursday following, according to
Laneham, "there was at night a shew of very strange and sundry kinds
of fireworks compelled by cunning to fly to and fro, and to mount very
high into the air upward, and also to burn unquenchable in the water
beneath." And again, sixteen years afterwards, the same queen was
entertained by the earl of Hertford at Elvetham in Hampshire, and after
supper there was a grand display of fireworks, preceded by "a peale
of one hundred chambers,[1086] discharged from the Snail Mount;" with
"a like peale discharged from the ship Isle, and some great ordinance
withal. Then was there a castle of fireworkes of all sorts, which
played in the fort; answerable to that there was, at the Snail Mount, a
globe of all manner of fireworkes, as big as a barrel. When these were
spent there were many running rockets upon lines, which passed between
the Snail Mount and the castle in the fort. On either side were many
fire-wheeles, pikes of pleasure, and balles of wildfire, which burned
in the water."[1087]


XXXV.--LONDON FIREWORKS.

A writer, who lived in the reign of James I., assures us there were
then "abiding in the city of London men very skilful in the art of
pyrotechnie, or of fireworkes."[1088] But, so far as one can judge from
the machinery delineated in the books formerly written upon the subject
of firework making, these exhibitions were very clumsily contrived,
consisting chiefly in wheels, fire-trees, jerbs, and rockets, to which
were added, men fantastically habited, who flourished away with poles
or clubs charged with squibs and crackers, and fought with each other,
or jointly attacked a wooden castle replete with the same materials, or
combated with pasteboard dragons running upon lines and "vomitting of
fire like verie furies." These men fantastically habited were called
green men. Thus, in The Seven Champions of Christendom, a play written
by John Kirke, and printed 1638, it is said, "Have you any squibs, any
green men, in your shows, and whizzes on lines, Jack-pudding upon the
rope, or resin fireworks?"

I am decidedly of opinion that the fireworks displayed within these
last fifty years[1089] have been more excellent in their construction,
more neatly executed, and more variable and pleasing in their
effects, than those produced at any former period. It is certain that
the early firework makers were totally unacquainted with the nature
and properties of the quick-match, which is made with spun cotton,
soaked in a strong solution of saltpetre, and rolled, while wet, in
pounded gunpowder, and which, being enclosed in small tubes of paper,
communicates the fire from one part of the apparatus to another with
astonishing celerity. The old firework makers were obliged to have
recourse to trains of corned gunpowder, conveyed by grooves made in the
wood-work of the machinery, when they were desirous of communicating
the fire to a number of cases at once, and especially if they were
at a distance from each other, which was not only a very circuitous
process, but liable to a variety of unpleasant accidents; and to this
cause is attributed the failure of the tremendous firework exhibited
in the Green Park in the reign of George II., when the performance was
interrupted, and the grandeur of the general effect totally destroyed,
by the timbers belonging to one of the wings taking fire through the
explosion of the gunpowder trains communicated by the wooden channels.
This unfortunate accident, in all probability, would not have happened
had the communications from one part of the machinery to the other been
made with quick-match. I received the above information from a very
skilful firework maker belonging to the train of artillery, who had an
opportunity of seeing the manner in which the trains were laid, and was
present at the exhibition.


XXXIV.--FIREWORKS ON TOWER-HILL, AT PUBLIC GARDENS, AND IN PAGEANTS.

It was customary, in my memory, for the train of artillery annually
to display a grand firework upon Tower-hill on the evening of his
Majesty's birth-day. This spectacle has been discontinued for several
years in compliance with a petition for that purpose made by the
inhabitants on account of the inconveniences they sustained thereby.

Fireworks were exhibited at Marybone Gardens while they were kept open
for public entertainment; and about five-and-twenty years ago,[1090]
Torre, a celebrated French artist, was employed there, who, in addition
to the usual displayment of fire-wheels, fixed stars, figure pieces,
and other curious devices, introduced pantomimical spectacles, which
afforded him an opportunity of bringing forward much splendid
machinery, with appropriate scenery and stage decoration, whereby
he gave an astonishing effect to his performances, and excited the
admiration and applause of the spectators. I particularly remember
two, the Forge of Vulcan, and the Descent of Orpheus to Hell in search
of his wife Eurydice. The last was particularly splendid: there were
several scenes, and one of them supposed to be the Elysian fields,
where the flitting backwards and forwards of the spirits was admirably
represented by means of a transparent gauze artfully interposed between
the actors and the spectators.

Fireworks have for many years been exhibited at Ranelagh Gardens; they
are now[1091] displayed occasionally at Vauxhall; and, in an inferior
style, at Bermondsey Spa.

In speaking upon this subject I have mentioned some of the actors
formerly concerned in the pyrotechnical shows. Those said above to have
been on board the city foyst, or galley, are called monstrous wilde
men;[1092] others are frequently distinguished by the appellation of
green men;[1093] and both of them were men whimsically attired and
disguised with droll masks, having large staves or clubs, headed with
cases of crackers. Annexed is

[Illustration: 114. A GREEN MAN.]

This engraving, representing the character equipped in his proper
habit, and flourishing his firework, is from a book of fireworks
written by John Bate, and published in 1635. Below is

[Illustration: 115. A WODEHOUSE.]

This character, which is that of a wild or savage man, was very common
in the pageants of former times, and seems to have been very popular.
It was in a dress like this, I suppose, that Gascoyne appeared before
queen Elizabeth; see p. 253. The figure itself is taken from a ballad,
in black letter, entitled "The mad, merry Pranks of Robin Good Fellow."
Bishop Percy, probably with great justice, supposes it to have been one
of the stage-disguisements for the representation of this facetious
spirit.




CHAPTER IV.

     I.--Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children.--II.
     Horses.--III. Racing and Chacing.--IV. Wrestling
     and other Gymnastic Sports.--V. Marbles, and
     Span-counter.--VI. Tops, &c.;--The Devil among the
     Taylors.--VII. Even or Odd--Chuck-halfpenny;--Duck
     and Drake.--VIII. Baste the Bear;--Hunt the Slipper,
     &c.--IX. Sporting with Insects;--Kites;--Windmills.--X.
     Bob-cherry.--XI. Hoodman-blind;--Hot-cockles.--XII.
     Cock-fighting.--XIII. Anonymous Pastimes;--Mock Honours at
     Boarding-schools.--XIV. Houses of Cards;--Questions and
     Commands;--Handy-dandy;--Snap-dragon;--Push-pin;--Crambo;
     --Lotteries.--XV. Obsolete Pastimes.--XVI. Creag;--Queke-board;
     --Hand in and Hand out;--White and Black, and Making and
     Marring;--Figgum;--Mosel the Peg;--Hole about the Church-yard;
     --Penny-prick;--Pick-point, &c.;--Mottoes, Similes, and
     Cross-purposes;--The Parson has lost his Cloak.


I.--POPULAR MANLY PASTIMES IMITATED BY CHILDREN.

Most of the popular pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages were
imitated by the younger part of the community, and in some degree, at
least, became the sports of children. Archery, and the use of missive
weapons of all kinds, were formerly considered as an essential part
of a young man's education; for which reason the bow, the sling, the
spear, and other military instruments, were put into his hands at a
very early period of his life; he was also encouraged in the pursuit
of such sports as promoted muscular strength, or tended to make him
acquainted with the duties of a soldier. When the bow and the sling
were laid aside in favour of the gun, prudence naturally forbad the
putting an instrument of so dangerous a nature into the hands of
children; they however provided themselves a substitute for the gun,
and used a long hollow tube called a trunk, in which they thrust a
small pointed arrow, contrived to fit the cavity with great exactness,
and then blowing into the trunk with all their might, the arrow was
driven through it and discharged at the other end by the expansion of
the compressed air. Sometimes pellets of clay were used instead of
the arrows. Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary, under the article trunk,
has this quotation from Ray: "In a shooting trunk, the longer it is
to a certain limit, the swifter and more forcibly the air drives the
pellet." The trunks were succeeded by pot-guns made with hollow pieces
of elder, or of quills, the pellets being thrust into them by the
means of a ramrod. These were also called pop-guns; and perhaps more
properly, from the popping noise they make in discharging the pellets.
Big bouncing words are compared to pot-gun reports in a comedy called
The Knave in Graine, printed in 1640.[1094]


II.--HORSES.

Most boys are exceedingly delighted with riding, either on horses or
in carriages, and also upon men's shoulders, which we find to be a
very ancient sport;[1095] and I trust there are but few of my readers
who have not seen them with a bough or a wand substituted for a horse,
and highly pleased in imitating the gallopping and prancing of that
noble animal.[1096] This is an amusement of great antiquity, well known
in Greece; and if report speaks truth, some of the greatest men have
joined in it, either to relax the vigour of their own minds for a time,
or to delight their children. The Persian ambassadors found Agesilaus,
the Lacedemonian monarch, employed in this manner.[1097] Socrates also
did the same, for which it seems his pupil Alcibiades used to laugh at
him.[1098] If we turn to the engraving No. 45,[1099] we shall see two
boys, each of them having two wands, the one serves for a horse, and
the other for a spear, and thus equipped they are justing together.
The engraving No. 30,[1100] represents a boy mounted upon a wooden
horse, drawn by two of his companions, and tilting at the quintain;
and here we may remark that the bohourts, the tournaments, and most of
the other superior pastimes have been subjected to youthful imitation;
and that toys were made on purpose to train up the young nobility in
the knowledge and pursuit of military pastimes, as may be seen by the
engravings Nos. 43 and 44.[1101] Nay, some writers, and not without the
support of ancient documents, derive the origin of all these splendid
spectacles from the sportive exercises of the Trojan boys.[1102]


III.--RACING AND CHACING.

Contending with each other for superiority in racing on foot is natural
to children;[1103] and this emulation has been productive of many
different amusements, among which the following seem to be the most
prominent.

Base, or Prisoners' Bars, is described in a preceding part of this
work.[1104]

Hunt the Fox.--In this game one of the boys is permitted to run
out, and having law given to him, that is, being permitted to go to
a certain distance from his comrades before they pursue him, their
object is to take him if possible before he can return home. We have
the following speech from an idle boy in The longer thou livest the
more Fool thou art, an old comedy, written towards the close of the
sixteenth century:[1105]

    And also when we play and hunt the fox,
      outrun all the boys in the schoole.

Hunt the Hare is the same pastime under a different denomination.

Harry-racket, or Hide and Seek, called also Hoop and Hide; where one
party of the boys remain at a station called their home, while the
others go out and hide themselves; when they are hid one of them cries
hoop, as a signal for those at home to seek after them. If they who are
hidden can escape the vigilance of the seekers and get home uncaught,
they go out to hide again; but so many of them as are caught, on the
contrary, become seekers, and those who caught them have the privilege
of hiding themselves.

Thread the Taylor's Needle.--In this sport the youth of both sexes
frequently join. As many as choose to play lay hold of hands, and the
last in the row runs to the top, where passing under the arms of the
two first, the rest follow: the first then becoming the last, repeats
the operation, and so on alternately as long as the game continues.

Cat after Mouse; performed indiscriminately by the boys and the girls.
All the players but one holding each other's hands form a large circle;
he that is exempted passes round, and striking one of them, immediately
runs under the arms of the rest; the person so struck is obliged to
pursue him until he be caught, but at the same time he must be careful
to pass under the arms of the same players as he did who touched him,
or he forfeits his chance and stands out, while he that was pursued
claims a place in the circle. When this game is played by an equal
number of boys and girls, a boy must touch a girl, and a girl a boy,
and when either of them be caught they go into the middle of the ring
and salute each other; hence is derived the name of kiss in the ring.

Barley-brake.--The excellency of this sport seems to have consisted in
running well; but I know not its properties. Johnson quotes these lines
from Sidney:

    By neighbours prais'd, she went abroad thereby,
    At barley-brake her sweet swift feet to try.[1106]

Puss in the Corner.--A certain number of boys or girls stand singly
at different distances; suppose we say for instance one at each of
the four corners of a room, a fifth is then placed in the middle; the
business of those who occupy the corners is to keep changing their
positions in a regular succession, and of the out-player, to gain one
of the corners vacated by the change before the successor can reach it:
if done he retains it, and the loser takes his place in the middle.

Leap Frog.--One boy stoops down with his hands upon his knees and
others leap over him, every one of them running forward and stooping in
his turn. The game consists in a continued succession of stooping and
leaping. It is mentioned by Shakspeare in King Henry the Fifth; "If I
could win a lady at leap-frog, I should quickly leap into a wife:" by
Jonson in the comedy of Bartholomew Fair, "A leap-frogge chance now;"
and by several other more modern writers.


IV.--WRESTLING AND OTHER GYMNASTIC SPORTS.

To the foregoing pastimes we may add Wrestling, which was particularly
practised by the boys in the counties of Cornwall and Devon.[1107] In
the engraving No. 18, we find two lads contending for mastery at this
diversion.

Hopping and Sliding upon one Leg are both of them childish sports, but
at the same time very ancient, for they were practised by the Grecian
youth; one they called akinetinda, Ακινητινδα,[1108] which was a
struggle between the competitors who should stand motionless the
longest upon the sole of his foot; the other denominated ascoliasmos,
Ασκωλιασμος,[1109] was dancing or hopping upon one foot,[1110] the
conqueror being he who could hop the most frequently, and continue
the performance longer than any of his comrades; and this pastime is
alluded to by the author of the old comedy, The longer thou livest
the more Fool thou art, wherein a boy boasting of his proficiency in
various school games, adds,

    And I hop a good way upon my one legge.

Among the school-boys in my memory there was a pastime called
Hop-Scotch, which was played in this manner: a parallelogram about four
or five feet wide, and ten or twelve feet in length, was made upon
the ground and divided laterally into eighteen or twenty different
compartments, which were called beds; some of them being larger than
others. The players were each of them provided with a piece of a tile,
or any other flat material of the like kind, which they cast by the
hand into the different beds in a regular succession, and every time
the tile was cast, the player's business was to hop upon one leg after
it, and drive it out of the boundaries at the end where he stood to
throw it; for, if it passed out at the sides, or rested upon any one of
the marks, it was necessary for the cast to be repeated. The boy who
performed the whole of this operation by the fewest casts of the tile
was the conqueror.

Skipping.--This amusement is probably very ancient. It is performed by
a rope held by both ends, that is, one end in each hand, and thrown
forwards or backwards over the head and under the feet alternately.
Boys often contend for superiority of skill in this game, and he who
passes the rope about most times without interruption is the conqueror.
In the hop season, a hop-stem stripped of its leaves is used instead of
a rope, and in my opinion it is preferable.

Trundling the hoop is a pastime of uncertain origin, but much in
practice at present, and especially in London, where the boys appear
with their hoops in the public streets, and are sometimes very
troublesome to those who are passing through them.

Swimming, sliding,[1111] and of late years skating, may be reckoned
among the boys' amusements; also walking upon stilts,[1112] swinging,
and the pastime of the meritot and see-saw, or tetter-totter, which
have been mentioned already,[1113] together with most of the games
played with the ball,[1114] as well as nine-pins and skittles.[1115]


V.--MARBLES AND SPAN-COUNTER.

Marbles seem to have been used by the boys as substitutes for bowls,
and with them they amuse themselves in many different manners. I
believe originally nuts, round stones, or any other small things that
could be easily bowled along, were used as marbles. Those now played
with seem to be of more modern invention. It is said of Augustus
when young, that by way of amusement he spent many hours in playing
with little Moorish boys cum nucibus, with nuts.[1116] The author of
one of the Tatlers calls it "a game of marbles not unlike our common
taw."[1117]

Taw, wherein a number of boys put each of them one or two marbles
in a ring and shoot at them alternately with other marbles, and he
who obtains the most of them by beating them out of the ring is the
conqueror.

Nine holes; which consists in bowling of marbles at a wooden bridge
with nine arches. There is also another game of marbles where four,
five, or six holes, and sometimes more, are made in the ground at a
distance from each other; and the business of every one of the players
is to bowl a marble by a regular succession into all the holes, which
he who completes in the fewest bowls obtains the victory.

Boss out, or boss and span, also called hit or span, wherein one bowls
a marble to any distance that he pleases, which serves as a mark for
his antagonist to bowl at, whose business it is to hit the marble first
bowled, or lay his own near enough to it for him to span the space
between them and touch both the marbles; in either case he wins, if
not, his marble remains where it lay and becomes a mark for the first
player, and so alternately until the game be won.

Span-counter is a pastime similar to the former, but played with
counters instead of marbles. I have frequently seen the boys for want
of both perform it with stones. This sport is called in French tapper,
a word signifying to strike or hit, because if one counter is struck by
the other, the game is won.


VI.--TOPS, &c.--THE DEVIL AMONG THE TAILORS.

The top was used in remote times by the Grecian boys. It is mentioned
by Suidas, and called in Greek τροχος, and in Latin turbo. It was
well known at Rome in the days of Virgil,[1118] and with us as early
at least as the fourteenth century, when its form was the same as it
is now, and the manner of using it can admit of but little if any
difference. Boys whipping of tops occur in the marginal paintings of
the MSS. written at this period. It was probably in use long before.

In a manuscript at the Museum I met with the following anecdote of
prince Henry, the eldest son of James I., and the author assures us it
is perfectly genuine;[1119] his words are these: "The first tyme that
he the prince went to the towne of Sterling to meete the king, seeing a
little without the gate of the towne a stack of corne in proportion not
unlike to a topp wherewith he used to play; he said to some that were
with him, 'loe there is a goodly topp;' whereupon one of them saying,
'why doe you not play with it then?' he answered, 'set you it up for me
and I will play with it.'"

We have hitherto been speaking of the whip-top; for the peg-top, I
believe, must be ranked among the modern inventions, and probably
originated from the te-totums and whirligigs, which seem all of them
to have some reference to the tops, saving only that the usage of the
te-totum may be considered as a kind of petty gambling, it being marked
with a certain number of letters: and part of the stake is taken up, or
an additional part put down, according as those letters lie uppermost.
The author of Martin. Scriblerus mentions this toy in a whimsical
manner: "He found that marbles taught him percussion, and whirligigs
the axis in peretrochio." When I was a boy the te-totum had only four
sides, each of them marked with a letter; a T for take all; an H for
half, that is of the stake; an N for nothing; and a P for put down,
that is, a stake equal to that you put down at first. Toys of this
kind are now made with many sides and letters.

There is a childish pastime which may well be inserted here, generally
known by the ridiculous appellation of the Devil among the Tailors;
it consists of nine small pins placed like skittles in the midst of a
circular board, surrounded by a ledge with a small recess on one side,
in which a peg-top is set up by means of a string drawn through a
crevice in the recess; the top when loosed spins about among the pins
and beats some, or all of them, down before its motion ceases; the
players at this game spin the top alternately, and he who first beats
down the pins to the number of one-and-thirty is the conqueror. This
silly game, I am told, is frequently to be seen at low public houses,
where many idle people resort and play at it for beer and trifling
stakes of money.


VII.--EVEN OR ODD--CHUCK-HALFPENNY--DUCK AND DRAKE.

Even or Odd is another childish game of chance well known to the
ancients, and called in Greek artiazein, Αρτιαζειν, and in Latin par
vel impar. Hence the following line in Horace:

     Ludere par, impar; equitare in arundine longâ.

     To play at even or odd--to ride upon a long reed or cane.[1120]

The play consists in one person concealing in his hand a number of any
small pieces, and another calling even or odd at his pleasure; the
pieces are then exposed, and the victory is decided by counting them;
if they correspond with the call, the hider loses; if the contrary, of
course he wins. The Grecian boys used beans, nuts, almonds, and money;
in fact any thing that can be easily concealed in the hand will answer
the purpose.

Cross and Pile is mentioned some pages back.[1121] Here we may add
Chuck-farthing, played by the boys at the commencement of the last
century; it probably bore some analogy to pitch and hustle.[1122] There
is a letter in the Spectator supposed to be from the father of a romp,
who, among other complaints of her conduct, says, "I catched her once
at eleven years old at chuck-farthing among the boys."[1123] I have
seen a game thus denominated played with halfpence, every one of the
competitors having a like number, either two or four, and a hole being
made in the ground with a mark at a given distance for the players to
stand, they pitch their halfpence singly in succession towards the
hole, and he whose halfpenny lies the nearest to it has the privilege
of coming first to a second mark much nearer than the former, and all
the halfpence are given to him; these he pitches in a mass towards the
hole, and as many of them as remain therein are his due; if any fall
short or jump out of it, the second player, that is, he whose halfpenny
in pitching lay nearest to the first goer's, takes them and performs
in like manner; he is followed by the others so long as any of the
halfpence remain.

Duck and Drake, is a very silly pastime, though inferior to few
in point of antiquity. It is called in Greek epostrakismos,
Εποστρακισμος,[1124] and was anciently played with flat shells,
testulam marinam, which the boys threw into the water, and he whose
shell rebounded most frequently from the surface before it finally
sunk, was the conqueror. With us a part of a tile, a potsherd, or a
flat stone, are often substituted for the shells.

To play at ducks and drakes is a proverbial expression for spending
one's substance extravagantly. In the comedy called Green's Tu Quoque,
one of the characters, speaking of a spendthrift, says, "he has thrown
away as much in ducks and drakes as would have bought some five
thousand capons."


VIII.--BASTE THE BEAR--HUNT THE SLIPPER, &c.

Baste, or buffet the bear with hammer and block, are rather appendages
to other games than games by themselves, being punishments for
failures, that ought to have been avoided; the first is nothing more
than a boy couching down, who is laden with the clothes of his comrades
and then buffeted by them; the latter takes place when two boys have
offended, one of which kneeling down bends his body towards the ground,
and he is called the block; the other is named the hammer, and taken
up by four of his comrades, one at each arm and one at each leg, and
struck against the block as many times as the play requires.

Hunt the Slipper.--In this pastime a number of boys and girls
indiscriminately sit down upon the ground in a ring, with one of their
companions standing on the outside; a slipper is then produced by
those seated in the ring, and passed about from one to the other
underneath their clothes as briskly as possible, so as to prevent the
player without from knowing where it is; when he can find it, and
detain it, the person in whose possession it was, at that time, must
change place with him, and the play recommences.

Shuttle-cock has been spoken of in a former chapter, the engraving, No.
98,[1125] affords an ancient representation of the game.


IX.--SPORTING WITH INSECTS--KITES--WINDMILLS.

Spinning of chafers and of butterflies.--I do not know a greater fault
in the nurture of children than the conniving at the wanton acts of
barbarity which they practise at an early age upon innocent insects;
the judgment of that parent must be exceedingly defective, or strangely
perverted, who can proportion the degree of cruelty to the smallness
of the creature that unfortunately becomes the sufferer. It is but a
fly, perhaps he may say, when he sees his child pluck off its wings or
its legs by way of amusement; it is but a fly, and cannot feel much
pain; besides the infant would cry if I was to take it from him, and
that might endanger his health, which surely is of more consequence
than many flies: but I fear worse consequences are to be dreaded by
permitting it to indulge so vicious an inclination, for as it grows up,
the same cruelty will in all likelihood be extended to larger animals,
and its heart by degrees made callous to every claim of tenderness and
humanity.

I have seen school-boys shooting of flies with a headless pin impelled
through part of a tobacco-pipe, by the means of a bent cane, and this
instrument is commonly called a fly-gun; from this they have proceeded
to the truncating of frogs, and afterwards to tormenting of cats, with
every other kind of animal they dare to attack; but I have neither time
to recollect, nor inclination to relate, the various wanton acts of
barbarism that have been practised, arising from the want of checking
this pernicious inclination as soon as it begins to manifest in the
minds of children.

The chafers, or May-flies, a kind of beetles found upon the bloom of
hemlock in the months of May and June, are generally made the victims
of youthful cruelty. These inoffensive insects are frequently caught
in great quantities, crammed into small boxes without food, and carried
in the pockets of school-boys to be taken out and tormented at their
leisure, which is done in this manner; a crooked pin having two or
three yards of thread attached to it, is thrust through the tail of the
chafer, and on its being thrown into the air it naturally endeavours to
fly away, but is readily drawn back by the boy, which occasions it to
redouble its efforts to escape; these struggles are called spinning,
and the more it makes of them, and the quicker the vibrations are, the
more its young tormentor is delighted with his prize.

I am convinced that this cruelty, as well as many others above
mentioned, arise from the perpetrators not being well aware of the
consequences, nor conscious that the practice of them is exceedingly
wicked. I hope the reader will excuse my introducing a story relating
to myself; but as it may serve to elucidate the argument, I shall
venture to give it. When a child, I was caught by my mother, who
greatly abhorred every species of cruelty, in the act of spinning a
chafer; I was so much delighted with the performance that I did not
observe her coming into the room, but when she saw what I was about,
without saying any thing previously to me, she caught me by the ear and
pinched it so severely that I cried for mercy; to the punishment she
added this just reproof: "That insect has its feelings as you have! do
you not see that the swift vibrations of its wings are occasioned by
the torment it sustains? you have pierced its body without remorse,
I have only pinched your ear, and yet you have cried out as if I had
killed you." I felt the admonition in its full effect, liberated the
poor May-fly, and never impaled another afterwards.

[Illustration: 116. BOY AND BUTTERFLY.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The preceding representation is from a drawing on a manuscript in the
Royal Library.[1126]

This barbarous sport is exceedingly ancient. We find it mentioned by
Aristophanes in his comedy of The Clouds.[1127] It is called in the
Greek melolonthe, Μηλολονθη, rendered in the Latin scarabæus, which
seems to have been the name of the insect. But the Grecian boys were
less cruel in the operation than those of modern times, for they bound
the thread about the legs of the beetle, instead of thrusting a pin
through its tail. We are also told that the former frequently amused
themselves in the same manner with little birds, substituted for the
beetles.[1128]

The Kite is a paper machine well known in the present day, which the
boys fly into the air and retain by means of a long string. It probably
received its denomination from having originally been made in the shape
of the bird called a kite; in a short French and English Dictionary
published by Miege, A.D. 1690, the words cerf volant, are said among
other significations to denote a paper kite, and this is the first time
I have found it mentioned. Now, the paper kites are not restricted to
any particular form; they appear in a great diversity of figures, and
not unfrequently in the similitude of men and boys. I have been told,
that in China the flying of paper kites is a very ancient pastime,
and practised much more generally by the children there than it is in
England. From that country perhaps it was brought to us, but the time
of its introduction is unknown to me; however, I do not find any reason
to conclude that it existed here much more than a century, back.

[Illustration: 117. THE PAPER WINDMILL.]

This is from a painting nearly five hundred years old; though differs
very little in its form from those used by the children at present.


X.--BOB-CHERRY.

This is "a play among children," says Johnson, "in which the cherry is
hung so as to bob against the mouth," or rather so high as to oblige
them to jump in order to catch it in their mouth, for which reason the
candidate is often unsuccessful. Hence the point in the passage which
Johnson quotes from Arbuthnot. "Bob-cherry teaches at once two noble
virtues, patience and constancy; the first in adhering to the pursuit
of one end, the latter in bearing a disappointment."

[Illustration: 118. BOB-CHERRY.]

In this engraving, taken from a MS. of the fourteenth century, in the
Royal Library,[1129] we see a sport of this kind where four persons
are playing, but the object they are aiming at is much larger than
a cherry, and was probably intended to represent an apple or an
orange. "It was customary," we are told by Mr. Brand, "on the eve of
All-Hallows, for the young people in the north to dive for apples, or
catch at them when stuck at one end of a kind of hanging beam, at the
other extremity of which is fixed a lighted candle, and that with their
mouths, only having their hands tied behind their back."[1130]

[Illustration: 119. DIVING FOR APPLES.]

A pastime something resembling that of diving for the apples, I
take it, is represented by the foregoing engraving from a MS. in the
Bodleian Library,[1131] and the business of the boy upon the form, with
his head over the vessel of water, is to catch some object contained
therein, or to avoid being ducked when the other end of the form is
elevated by his companion.


XI.--HOODMAN BLIND--HOT COCKLES.

_Hoodman Blind_, more commonly called Blind Man's Buff, is where a
player is blinded and buffeted by his comrades until he can catch
one of them, which done, the person caught is blinded in his stead.
This pastime was known to the Grecian youth, and called by them myia
chalki, Μυια χαλκι.[1132] It is called Hoodman's Blind because the
players formerly were blinded with their hoods. In the Two angry Women
of Abington, a comedy, this pastime is called the Christmas-sport of
Hobman-Blind.

The manner in which Hoodman Blind was anciently performed with us
appears from these three different representations, all of them from
the Bodleian MS. before mentioned.

[Illustration: 120.]

[Illustration: 121.]

[Illustration: 122. HOODMAN BLIND.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The players who are blinded have their hoods reversed upon their heads
for that purpose, and the hoods of their companions are separately
bound in a knot to buffet them.

_Hot Cockles_, from the French hautes-coquilles, is a play in which
one kneels, and covering his eyes lays his head in another's lap and
guesses who struck him. Gay describes this pastime in the following
lines:

    As at Hot Cockles once I laid me down,
    And felt the weighty hand of many a clown,
    Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I
    Quick rose, and read soft mischief in her eye.

"The Chytrinda, Χυτρινδα, of the Grecians," says Arbuthnot, "is
certainly not our hot cockles, for that was by pinching, not by
striking;" but the description of the chytrinda, as it is given by
an ancient writer, bears little or no resemblance to the game of hot
cockles, but is similar to another equally well known with us, and
called frog in the middle. The chytrinda took place in this manner:--A
single player, called χοτρα, kotra, and with us the frog, being seated
upon the ground, was surrounded by his comrades who pulled or buffeted
him until he could catch one of them; which done, the person caught
took his place, and was buffeted in like manner.[1133] I scarcely need
to add, that the frog in the middle, as it is played in the present
day, does not admit of any material variation. There was another method
of playing this game, according to the same author; but it bears no
reference to either of those above described. The following engravings
represent both the pastimes above mentioned, taken from the Bodleian
manuscript of 1344 last referred to.

[Illustration: 123. HOT-COCKLES.]

[Illustration: 124. FROG IN THE MIDDLE.]


XII.--COCK-FIGHTING.

I have already spoken at large upon cock-fighting, and throwing at
cocks. I shall only observe that the latter, especially, was a very
common pastime among the boys of this country till within these few
years; and in the following engraving we have the copy of a curious
delineation, which I take to represent a boyish triumph.

[Illustration: 125. COCK-THROWING TRIUMPH.]

The hero supposed to have won the cock, or whose cock escaped unhurt
from the danger to which he had been exposed, is carried upon a long
pole by two of his companions; he holds the bird in his hands, and
is followed by a third comrade, who bears a flag emblazoned with a
cudgel, the dreadful instrument used upon these occasions. The original
painting occurs in the manuscript mentioned in the preceding article.


XIII.--ANONYMOUS PASTIMES--MOCK HONOURS AT BOARDING SCHOOLS.

The two next engravings are representations of a pastime, the name of
which is unknown to me; but the purpose of it is readily discovered.

[Illustration: 126.]

In this, which is from the just cited Bodleian MS., we see a young
man seated upon a round pole which may readily turn either way, and
immediately beneath him is a vessel nearly filled with water; he holds
a taper in each hand, and one of them is lighted, and his business,
I presume, is to bring them both together and light the other, being
careful at the same time not to lose his balance, for that done, he
must inevitably fall into the water.

In the following, from a beautiful book of prayers in the possession
of Francis Douce, esq., the task assigned to the youth is still more
difficult, as well from the manner in which he is seated, as from the
nature of the performance, which here he has completed: that is, to
reach forward and light the taper held in his hands from that which is
affixed to the end of the pole, and at a distance from him.

[Illustration: 127.]

The originals of both these engravings were made in the fourteenth
century.

The subjoined engraving, also from a drawing in Mr. Douce's book of
prayers, represents two boys seated upon a form by the side of a
water-tub; both of them with their hands fixed below their knees, and
one bending backwards in the same position, intending, I presume, to
touch the water without immerging his head, or falling into it, and
afterwards to recover his position.

[Illustration: 128.]

This trick being done by the one was probably imitated by the other;
I speak however from conjecture only. If it be necessary for him who
stoops to take any thing out of the water, the pastime will bear some
analogy to the diving for apples represented by the engraving No. 119,
on a preceding page.[1134]

In some great Boarding Schools for the fair sex, it is customary, upon
the introduction of a novice, for the scholars to receive her with
much pretended solemnity, and decorate a throne in which she is to be
installed, in order to hear a set speech, addressed to her by one of
the young ladies in the name of the rest. The throne is wide enough for
three persons to sit conveniently, and is made with two stools, having
a tub nearly filled with water between them, and the whole is covered
by a counterpane or blanket, ornamented with ribands and other trifling
fineries, and drawn very tightly over the two stools, upon each of
which a lady is seated to keep the blanket from giving way when the new
scholar takes her place; and these are called her maids of honour. The
speech consists of high-flown compliments calculated to flatter the
vanity of the stranger; and as soon as it is concluded, the maids of
honour rising suddenly together, the counterpane of course gives way,
and poor miss is unexpectedly immerged in the water.


XIV.--HOUSES OF CARDS--QUESTIONS AND
COMMANDS--HANDY-DANDY--SNAP-DRAGON--PUSH-PIN--CRAMBO--LOTTERIES.

_Building_ of houses _with cards_, and such like materials, is a very
common amusement with children, as well as drawing little waggons,
carts, and coaches; and sometimes boys will harness dogs and other
animals, and put them to their waggons in imitation of horses.
Something of this kind is alluded to by Horace, who writes thus in one
of his satires:[1135]

              Ædificare cassus, plostello adjungere mures.
    To build little houses, and join mice to the diminutive waggons.

_Questions and Commands_, a childish pastime, which though somewhat
different in the modern modification, most probably derived its origin
from the basilinda, Βασιλινδα,[1136] of the Greeks, in which we are
told a king, elected by lot, commanded his comrades what they should
perform.

_Handy-dandy_, "a play," says Johnson, "in which children change
hands and places;" this seems clear enough according to the following
quotation from Shakspeare: "See how yond justice rails upon yond simple
thief! hark in thine ear; change places; and handy-dandy which is
the justice and which is the thief;" to which is added another from
Arbuthnot, "neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so
ancient as handy-dandy."

_Snap-dragon._ This sport is seldom exhibited but in winter, and
chiefly at Christmas-time; it is simply heating of brandy or some
other ardent spirit in a dish with raisins; when the brandy being set
on fire, the young folks of both sexes standing round it pluck out
the raisins, and eat them as hastily as they can, but rarely without
burning their hands, or scalding their mouths.

_Push-pin_ is a very silly sport, being nothing more than simply
pushing one pin across another.

_Crambo_ is a diversion wherein one gives a word, to which another
finds a rhyme; this, with other trifling amusements, is mentioned in a
paper belonging to the Spectator.[1137] "A little superior to these,"
that is, to persons engaged in cross-purposes, questions, and commands,
"are those who can play at crambo, or cap-verses." In this we trace
some vestige of a more ancient pastime, much in vogue in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, called the A B C of Aristotle; which is
strongly recommended by the author, one "Mayster Bennet," not only to
children, but also to persons of man's estate, if ignorant of letters.
The proem to this curious alliterative alphabet is to the following
effect:

"Whoever will be wise and command respect let him learn his letters,
and look upon the A B C of Aristotle, against which no argument will
hold good: It is proper to be known by clerks and knights, and may
serve to amend a mean man, for often the learning of letters may save
his life. No good man will take offence at the amendment of evil,
therefore let every one read this arrangement and govern himself
thereby.

    Hearkyn and heare every man and child how that I begynne.

    A to amerous, to adventurous; ne anger the too much.
    B to bold, to busy, and board thou not too brode.
    C to curtes, to cruel, and care not too sore.
    D to dull, to dreadfull, and drynk thou not too oft.
    E to ellynge, to excellent; ne to ernestfull neyther.
    F to fierce, ne too familier but frendely of chere.
    G to glad, to gloryous, and gealosy thou shalt hate.
    H to hasty, to hardy, ne too hevy yn thyne herte.
    I to jettyng, to jangling, and jape not too oft.
    K to keeping, to kynd, and ware knaves taches among.
    L to lothe, to lovyng, to lyberall of goods.
    M to medlurs, to merry but as manner asketh.
    N to noyous, to nyce, ne nought to newe fangle.
    O to orpyd, to oveyrthwarte, and othes do thee hate.
    P to preysyng, to prevy, ne peerless with prynces.
    Q to queynt, to querelous, but quyene wele thee may.
    R to ryetous, to revelyng, ne rage not too moche.
    S to strange, ne to stervyng, nor stare not too brode.
    T to taylours, ne tayle wyse, for temperance yt hatyth.
    V to venemous, to violent, and waste not too mych.
    W to wyld, ne wrathful, and ne too wyse deeme thee.

                For fear of a fall.
      A measurable meane way is best for us all.      Explicit."

There are two copies of this alphabet among the Harleian manuscripts,
one marked 1706, written in the fourteenth century, and another marked
541; whence the above is chiefly taken. At the end of the former we
read "XY wyth ESED AND per se--Amen."

_Lotteries_, in which toys and other trifling prizes were included to
be drawn for by children, were in fashion formerly, but by degrees, and
especially since the establishment of the State Lottery, they have been
magnified into a dangerous species of gambling, and are very properly
suppressed by the legislature. They were in imitation of the State
Lotteries, with prizes of money proportionable to the value of the
tickets, and drawn in like manner. These lotteries are called little
goes.


XV.--OBSOLETE PASTIMES.

I have here attempted to give some account of the principal sports
practised by the children of this country. I am fully sensible that
the list will admit of very many additions, and also that the pastimes
which are included in it have been subject to numberless variations. I
have, however, set down all that I can recollect, and described them
according to the manner in which I have seen the larger part of them
performed. It only remains for me to enumerate a few more, which indeed
are not well known to me, but may be elucidated hereafter by some more
able writer.

[Illustration: 129.]

This engraving represents a kind of a mock procession, where one of
the company, equipped in a royal habit with a crown upon his head, is
walking with his mantle displayed by two attendants, and preceded by a
zany beating a tambourin with knotted thong. I presume it to be the
installation of the King of the Bean, who has already been introduced
to the reader.

Below it are two figures, one of them blinded with his hood, having a
club upon his shoulder, and approaching towards an iron cauldron, in
order no doubt to strike it with his club.

[Illustration: 130.]

This may probably refer to the amusement at wakes and fairs, where
various tasks for pastime sake are frequently assigned to blindfolded
persons, as the Wheelbarrow Race, described on a preceding page.[1138]
The drawings from whence the two last engravings are derived, are in
the Bodleian MS. of 1344 already mentioned.

The sport in the next representation is quite unknown to me, unless
it may be thought to bear some resemblance to the Greek game called
apodidraskinda, Αποδιδρασκινδα,[1139] where one being seated in the
midst of his comrades, closed his eyes, or was blinded by the hand of
another, while the rest concealed themselves, and he who was found
by him after he was permitted to rise, took his place; this was
evidently a species of the pastime called hide and seek. The original
of this engraving is in a MS. of the thirteenth century, in the Royal
Library.[1140]

[Illustration: 131.]

I am equally at a loss respecting the two next representations.

[Illustration: 132.]

[Illustration: 133.]

Those that are standing, and those that are seated below them, are
evidently engaged in a similar kind of pastime. The only game within
the compass of my knowledge that bears any resemblance to it, I have
seen played by two persons one of them alternately holds up the fingers
of his right hand, varying the number at his pleasure, and the other is
obliged to answer promptly by exposing a like number of his fingers,
which is called by both, and the least variation on either side loses.
In these delineations there are three players, and he in the middle
seems to be alternately answering to the other two. They are in the
Bodleian MS. of 1344.

Mr. Douce's Book of Prayers of the fourteenth century contains the
following representation.

[Illustration: 134.]

Here we see a rope apparently made fast at both ends, and a man laying
hold of it with his teeth, by which he seems to support himself.
If this be the meaning of the delineator, the trick may properly
be classed with those that were exhibited by the minstrels and the
joculators.

[Illustration: 135.]

[Illustration: 136.]

With respect to the two preceding drawings from the frequently
mentioned MS. of 1344, in the Bodleian Library, I can hardly venture
a conjecture; unless we may suppose them to represent two of the
ridiculous ceremonies belonging to the Festival of Fools. I suspect the
monks with the nuns in No. 135, are lay people who have assumed the
religious habits, for the former have not the tonsure, but their hair
is powdered with blue.


     XVI.--CREAG--QUEKE-BOARD--HAND IN AND HAND OUT--WHITE AND BLACK,
     AND MAKING AND MARRING--FIGGUM--MOSEL THE PEG--HOLE ABOUT THE
     CHURCHYARD--PENNY-PRICK, PICK-POINT, &c.--MOTTOES, SIMILES, AND
     CROSS-PURPOSES--THE PARSON HAS LOST HIS CLOAK.

_Creag_ is a game mentioned in a computus dated the twenty-eighth of
Edward I., A. D. 1300, and said to have been played by his son prince
Edward.

_Queke Borde_, with _Hand yn and Hand oute_, are spoken of as new
games, and forbidden by a statute made in the seventeenth year of
Edward IV.

_White and Black_, and also _Making and Marring_ are prohibited by a
public act established in the second and third years of Philip and Mary.

_Figgum_ is said to be a juggler's game in the comedy of Bartholomew
Fayre by Ben Jonson, acted in 1614; to which is added, "the devil is
the author of wicked Figgum." In the same play mention is made of
crambe (probably crambo), said to be "another of the devil's games."

_Mosel the Pegge_, and playing for the hole about the church yard, are
spoken of as boys' games, in a comedy called The longer thou livest the
more Fool thou art, written in the reign of queen Elizabeth.

_Penny-pricke_ appears to have been a common game in the fifteenth
century, and is reproved by a religious writer of that period.[1141]

_Pick-point_, _Venter-point_, _Blow-point_,[1142] and _Gregory_, occur
in a description of the children's games in the sixteenth century.
Blow-point was probably blowing an arrow through a trunk at certain
numbers by way of lottery. To these may be added another pastime,
called _Drawing Dun out of the Mire_. Chaucer probably alludes to this
pastime in the Manciple's Prologue, where the host seeing the cook
asleep, exclaims, "Syr, what dunne is in the mire."

_Mottoes_, _Similes_, and _Cross Purposes_, are placed among the
childrens' games in a paper belonging to the Spectator.[1143] And the
_Parson has lost his cloak_, in another, where a supposed correspondent
writes thus: "I desire to know if the merry game of the parson has
lost his cloak is not much in vogue amongst the ladies this Christmas,
because I see they wear hoods of all colours, which I suppose is for
that purpose."[1144]




FOOTNOTES:

[1] Pontoppidan's History of Norway, p. 248.

[2] On p. 173.

[3] The famous Dunstan was also an excellent blacksmith.

[4] Oläi. Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129; Bartholin. p. 420.

[5] Asser. in Vit. Ælfredi.

[6] De Moribus Germ.

[7] Hist. Ramsien. apud Gale, vol. i. an. 85.

[8] A. D. 960, can. 64, Johnson's Canons.

[9] See p. 6 in the body of the work.

[10] No. 2253, fol. 108.

[11] In the original it is purry poume, that is rotten apple.

[12] The cross-bow.

[13] That is, to practise with lances, two persons running one against
the other.

[14] Armour.

[15] See p. 126 of this work.

[16] Hunting.

[17] In the first chapter, p. 17, the reader will find the animals to
be hunted divided into three classes; namely, beasts of venery, beasts
of chase, and raskals, or vermin. The horn was sounded in a different
manner according to the class of the beasts pursued.

[18] Morte Arthur, translated from the French by sir Thomas Mallory,
knight, and first printed by Caxton, A.D. 1481. "The English," says
a writer of our own country, "are so naturally inclined to pleasure,
that there is no countrie wherein gentlemen and lords have so many
and so large parkes, only reserved for the purpose of hunting." And
again, "Our progenitors were so delighted with hunting, that the parkes
are nowe growne infinite in number, and are thought to containe more
fallow deere than all the Christian world besides." Itinerary of Fynes
Moryson, published in 1617, part iii. book iii. cap. 3.

[19] To learn.

[20] Written also paume; that is, hand-tennice.

[21] Romance of Three Kings' Sons and the King of Sicily, Harl. MS. 326.

[22] Mem. Anc. Cheval. tom. i. p. 16.

[23] Harl. MS. 2252.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Printed by Copeland; black letter, without date; Garrick's
Collection, K. vol. ix.

[26] That is, all of the lords and other nobility who were seated in
the hall.

[27] For vierge escu, a virgin shield, or a white shield, without
any devices, such as was borne by the tyros in chivalry who had not
performed any memorable action.

[28] A sword without edge or point, as it is explained in the following
articles.

[29] That is, with heads without points, or blunted so that, they could
do no hurt.

[30] Foyne, or foin, signifies to push or thrust with the sword,
instead of striking.

[31] Harl. MS. 69.

[32] Hall, in Life of Henry VIII.

[33] Arte of Rhetorike by Tho. Wilson, fol. 67.

[34] Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, published A. D. 1617.

[35] Coursing, I presume, he means.

[36] I here omit a long train of royal reasoning in confutation of the
assertions of the learned men his majesty alludes to in this passage.

[37] Biograph. Brit. p. 1236.

[38] No. 17, D. iii.

[39] Crowd is an ancient name for the violin.

[40] See the first and second chapters in the body of the work.

[41] The words of Fitz Stephen are, "Puellarum cithara ducit choros, et
pede libero pulsatur tellus, usque imminente lunâ." The word cithara,
Stow renders, but I think not justly, timbrels.

[42] Vol. i. p. 257.

[43] Athen. Oxon. ii. col. 812; and see Granger's Biographical History,
vol. ii. p. 398 8vo.

[44] In his Proverbs, part I, chap. 11

[45] Scuta ex argento facta.

[46] Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 16.

[47] Dr. Henry's Hist. vol. ii. lib. v. cap. 7.

[48] See the Northumberland Family-Book.

[49] Johan. Sarisburiensis, lib. i. c. 8. p. 34.

[50] Smale harpers with ther glees.

[51] Cornmuse and Shalmes--many a floyte and lytlyngehorne.

[52] Pypes made of grene corne are also mentioned in the Romance of the
Rose.

[53] These are the author's own words.

[54] In the chapters on Minstrels, Jugglers, &c. pp. 170, 197. The
plays and pageants exhibited at court are described in the chapter
treating on Theatrical Amusements, p. 150.

[55] [Before 1801.]

[56] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, H. vol. iii.

[57] No. 2220, fol. 7

[58] Or waits, the band of city minstrels.

[59] See further on, p. xlvi.

[60] These passages do not prove that the historian was disgusted with
the pageantry, abstractedly considered, but rather with the occasion
of its exhibition; for, he speaks of the same kind of spectacles, with
commendation, both anterior and subsequent to the present show, which
do not appear to have had the least claim for superiority in point of
reason or consistency.

[61] Armour.

[62] "The Word of God;" meaning the Bible published in English by his
authority, which was prohibited in the sanguinary reign of his fanatic
daughter.

[63] Holinshed, vol. iii. pp. 1091, 1120, &c.

[64] Called below a flower-de-luce, an animal I am not in the least
acquainted with.

[65] No. 1968.

[66] Harl. MS. 2125.

[67] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays.

[68] Cotton MS. Titus, B. i.

[69] See the account of the court ludi in the chapter on Theatrical
Exhibitions.

[70] The reader may find accounts of most of these excursions in a
work entitled The Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, in two volumes 4to.
published by Mr. Nichols.

[71] This account is chiefly taken from a small pamphlet called
Princely Pleasure at Kenelworth Castle. Progresses, vol. i.

[72] Harl. MS. 6395, entitled Merry Passages and Jests, art. 221.

[73] Tempest, act ii, scene iv.

[74] There actually was such a monkey exhibited at that time near
Charing-Cross, but in the bills which were given to the public he is
called a Wild Hairy Man, and they tell us he performed all that the
Spectator relates concerning him; but this subject is treated more
fully in the body of the work.

[75] Spectator, vol. i. No. 14.

[76] Spectator, vol. i. No 31, dated Thursday, April 5, 1711.

[77] A man famous at that time for imitating a variety of musical
instruments with his voice, and, among others, the bells. See his bill
of performance, at p. 255.

[78] All these pastimes the reader will find particularised, under
their proper heads, in the body of the work.

[79] "To pass over griefe," says an author of our own, "the Italians
sleepe, the English go to playes, the Spaniards lament, and the Irish
bowl," &c. Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, in 1617, part iii. book i. cap. 3.

[80] The reader will find this subject particularly treated on, in the
chapter that relates to minstrels and music, in the body of the work.

[81] Hentzner's Itinerary, published by lord Orford, at
Strawberry-hill, pp. 88, 89.

[82] Hist. Angl. lib. xiii.

[83] De Rerum Invent, lib. v. cap. 2.

[84] Tatler, No. 134, dated Thursday, Feb. 16, 1709.

[85] See a pamphlet written by John Northbrooke. published in the reign
of queen Elizabeth, without date.

[86] School of Abuse, published 1579.

[87] Gosson, I hope, was acquainted with the vulgar part of the
audience only, or, which is more probable, spoke from report, and that
exaggerated.

[88] Admonition to Parliament, by Tho. Cartwright, published A. D. 1572.

[89] Still, for stay. The Pope's Kingdom, book iv. translated from the
Latin of Tho. Neogeorgus, by Barnabe Googe, and dedicated to queen
Elizabeth, A. D. 1570.

[90] John Field, in his Declaration of God's Judgment at Paris Garden,
published A. D. 1503, fol. 9.

[91] Field, ut supra. See also D. Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments.

[92] Entitled, A Treatise concerning the Sabbath, published A. D. 1636.

[93] Page 25.

[94] The Pope's Kingdom, from Neogeorgus by Googe.

[95] Thomas Hall, B. D. Pastor of King's Norton, in his pamphlet
entitled Funebria Floræ; or, the Down-fall of May-Games; published 1660.

[96] See p. xx.

[97] Benedict. Abbas, Vit. Ric. I. edit, à Hearne, tom. ii. p. 610.

[98] The words in the original, as quoted by Du Cange, are these: "Nec
ludant ad aleas vel taxillos, nec sustineant ludos fieri de rege et
regina," &c. The game of king and queen he conceives to have been some
game with the cards; but most authors who have written upon the subject
of playing cards, think that they were not known at that period, at
least in this country: it is certain, however, that in the time of
Elizabeth, the game of king and queen was understood to mean the
playing with cards. "John Heywood, the great epigrammatist," according
to Camden, "used to say he did not love to play at kinge and queene,
but at Christmasse, according to the old order of Englande; that few
men plaiyed at cardes but at Christmasse; and then almost all, men and
boyes." Camden's Remains, p. 378. I have ventured to substitute chess
for cards, in which game the two principal pieces are the king and the
queen, and are so denominated in a MS. nearly coeval with the edict.
See the account of this game in the body of the work.

[99] An. 11 Hen. VII. cap. 2.

[100] No householder might permit the games prohibited by the statute
to be practised in their houses, excepting on the holidays, as before
specified, under the penalty of six shillings and eightpence for every
offence.

[101] Survey of London, p. 79.

[102] Pilam manualem, pedinam, et bacculoream, et ad cambucam, &c.

[103] Rot. Claus. 39 Ed. III. m. 23.

[104] The magistrates are commanded to seize upon the said tables,
dice, cards, boules, closhes, tennice-balls, &c. and to burn them.

[105] An. 17 Edw. II. cap. 3.

[106] Nul enfaunt ne autres jeur a barres, ne a autres jues nient
convenebles come a oustre chaperon des gentz, ne a mettre en eux, &c.
Rot. Pari. an. 6 Edw. III. Harl. MS. 7058.

[107] [Before 1801.]

[108] Survey of London, p. 85.

[109] It was afterwards converted into small cottages, which were let,
at large rents, to strangers and others, Ibid. p. 158.

[110] Stephen Gosson, in The School of Abuse, 1579.

[111] That is, cards and dice; an old anonymous poem "of Covetice,"
cited by Warton, History of Poetry, vol. ii. p. 316.

[112] In the Manners and Customs of the English; the Chronicle of
England; and more particularly in the View of the Dresses of the
English; vol. i. p. 73. vol. ii. p. 140, &c.

[113] See p. xxxv.

[114] Harl. MS. 2252.

[115] Confessio Amantis.

[116] Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 311.

[117] Part ii. sect 2. cap. 4.

[118] No. 57, A. D. 1711.

[119] Vespasian, B. xii. There are also three copies of this MS. but
more modern, in the Royal Library. [See sec. xiii. of the present
chapter.]

[120] Dio Nicæus ex Xiphilin.

[121] Lib. iv.

[122] Cæsar Bel. Gal. lib. vi.

[123] Cæsar Bel. Gal. lib. vi.

[124] Asser. in Vit. Ælfredi.

[125] Will. Malmsbury. Hist. Reg. Anglorum, lib. ii. cap. 6.

[126] Ibid. cap. 8.

[127] Ibid. ut sup. cap. 13.

[128] Ibid.

[129] Montfaucon Monarch. Fran. and Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities.

[130] Tiberius, B. v.

[131] No. 2, B. vii.

[132] Will. Malmsbury, lib. iv.

[133] Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curialium, lib. i. cap. 4.

[134] Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 135.

[135] "Fort chiens et chiens de levries," Froissart. Chron. vol. i.
cap. 210.

[136] Froissart, vol. iv.

[137] Wellwood's Memoirs, p. 35.

[138] Harl. MS. No. 6395, anonymous, entitled "Merry Passages and
Jeasts."

[139] Sir Thomas More's Poems. See also Warton's History of English
Poetry, 4to vol. iii. p. 101.

[140] Constitut. Cnut. Reg. de Forest, apud Spelm. Gloss, et Wilkins,
Leg. Sax. p. 146.

[141] Leges Cnuti, apud Lambard, cap. 77.

[142] Ibid. cap. 15.

[143] Carta de Foresta, cap. 11.

[144] Faciat cornare, ibid. cap. 17.

[145] Spelman's Answer to the Apology for Archbishop Abbot.

[146] Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Numerous quotations might be made
from other writers in addition to those above; but they are sufficient
for my purpose.

[147] Stat. 13 Rich. II.

[148] An. 21 Hen. II. A. D. 1157. See Spelman's Answer to the Apology
for Archbishop Abbot.

[149] P. Blensens. epist. lvi. p. 81

[150] Knyghton, apud Decem Script, p. 263.

[151] Stephanid. vit. S. Thom.

[152] Vide Spelman ut supra.

[153] Claudius. A. 2.

[154] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, K. vol. ix.

[155] The following extracts prove king John to have been exceedingly
partial to this kind of dogs. Rot. Pip. iv. Reg. Johan. A. D. 1203.
Rog. constab. Cestriæ debet D marcas et X palfridos et X laissas
Leporariorum, &c. that is, five hundred marks, ten horses, and ten
leashes of greyhounds.--An. xi. Johan. 1210. Rog. de Mallvell redd.
comp, de 1 palfrido velociter currente et 2 laissiüs Leporariorum, one
swift running horse, and six greyhounds.

[156] Garrick's Collec. K. vol. x.

[157] 2. B. vii. [In the original drawing, and on Mr. Strutt's plate,
the figures pursuing and pursued are in a line together: but for the
purpose of including all the figures within the preceding page, the
lady on horseback is placed above, instead of behind the female archer.]

[158] MS. Harl. 6395. Merry Passages and Jeasts, art. 345.

[159] Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney, dated September 12, A.D. 1600.

[160] Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii.

[161] No. 4431.

[162] Maitland's Hist. London, book i. chap. 6.

[163] Stephanides Descript. London.

[164] Stow's Survey of London, vol. i. p. 157.

[165] "Pills to Purge Melancholy," 1719, vol. iv. p. 42.

[166] Blount's Ancient Tenures.

[167] Or "vautrarius," which Blount derives from the French vaultre, a
mongrel hound, and supposes the name to signify an inferior huntsman;
and this opinion I have adopted.

[168] E c. An. 34 Edward I. No. 37. Richard Rockesley held the same
land by the same tenure, in the second year of Edward II. Blount ut
supra.

[169] Entitled "Art de Venerie le quel Maistre Guillame Twici venour le
Roy dangleterre fist en son temps por aprandre Autres; or the Art of
Hunting, which Mr. Wm. Twici, huntsman to the king of England, made for
the instruction of others." See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p.
221.

[170] Cotton MS. Vespasian, B. xii.

[171] MS. Harl. This book is entitled "The Maister of the Game."

[172] The Book of St. Albans, I fancy, by mistake, places the wild roe
for the wild boar.

[173] The Book of St. Albans adds, that all other kinds of beasts
subject to hunting are to be called "Raskall," derived, I suppose, from
the Saxon word papcal, which signifies a lean beast, or one of no worth.

[174] The word in the original MS. is written fute and fuite, which
I conceive to be French, and then the interpretation I have given of
flight will be proper. The meaning is, that the latter leave a scent
behind them when they are chased.

[175] Hist. Reg. Angl. lib. ii. cap.8.

[176] Testa Nevelli.

[177] Memb. 13.

[178] Ibid. See more in Blount's Ancient Tenures.

[179] "Booke of hauking and hunting," without date, reprinted with the
title of "A Jewell for Gentrie." Lond. 1614.

[180] See Blount's Antient Tenures, art. Sutton, &c.

[181] Page 17, sec. xiii.

[182] They are called "trists" or "trestes" in the MS. and might
possibly be temporary stages.

[183] The passage runs thus in the MS. "the fewtrerers ought to make
fayre logges of grene boughes at their trestes," &c.

[184] Chastised greyhoundes, MS.

[185] See Blount's Ancient Tenures.

[186] See the Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Hunting.

[187] See p. 4. sec. v.

[188] See p. 11. sec. x.

[189] Memoirs des Inscrip. tom. ix. p. 542.

[190] See the Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England.

[191] And printed by Pynson A. D. 1508.

[192] Lib. v. cap. 8.

[193] Pliny Nat. Hist. lib. x. cap. 8.

[194] Peacham's Complete Gentleman, p. 183.

[195] Epist. Winifred. See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. ii. p. 221.

[196] See p. 3. sec. iii.

[197] This charter was granted A. D. 821. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i.
p. 100.

[198] See the whole of the curious will in Lambarde's Perambulation of
Kent, p. 540.

[199] See p. 4. sec. v.

[200] Lidgate presented this poem to king Henry VI. when that monarch
held his court at Bury. The presentation MS. is yet extant in the
Harleian Library, No. 2278.

[201] Walton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221.

[202] Aira Accipitris.

[203] Trente fauconniers à cheval, chargez d'oiseaux. Froissart's
Chron. vol. i. cap. 210.

[204] Ou en riviere. Ibid.

[205] Tous jours en riviere. Ibid. cap. 140.

[206] Garrick's Collect. of old Plays, K. vol. x.

[207] Canterbury Tales.

[208] Bury St. Edmund's, in Suffolk.

[209] That is, to the windward; I use the author's own words.

[210] MS. Harl. 6395. Merry Passages and Jeasts, art. 223.

[211] Tiberius, C. vi.

[212] Julius. A. vi.

[213] Marked 2 B. vii.

[214] [The fowls before the falconer in the original drawing are placed
below in the present engraving, to accommodate it to the page.]

[215] Johan. Sarisburiensis, lib. i. cap. 4.

[216] See p. 4. sec. v.

[217] Hall in the life of Henry VIII. sub an. xvi.

[218] These observations are taken from "The Boke of Saint Albans;" a
subsequent edition says, "at least a note under."

[219] "A Woman killed with Kindness," third edition, 1617. Garrick's
Coll. E. vol. iv.

[220] MS. Harl. 1419.

[221] "Ke en escrit trove, si cum io lis, el livere al bon Rei Edward."
MS. Harl. 978.

[222] MS. Harl. 2340.

[223] See sec. v. p. 4.

[224] In nomine Domini volatilia cœli erunt sub pedibus tuis--Vicit Leo
de tribu Juda radix David Alleluya--Quem iniquus homo ligavit, Dominus
per adventum suum solvet.

[225] Carta de Forresta, cap. xi.

[226] Rot. Parl. 34 Ed. III.

[227] Ibid. 37 Ed. 111.

[228] A. D. 1337. Regist. Adami Orleton. Epis. Wint. fol. 56.

[229] A hawk was called a nyesse, or an eyesse, from her having watery
eyes.

[230] Stat. xi. Hen. VII.

[231] Stat. xi. Hen. VII.

[232] Expen. Hosp. Reg. Ed. III. MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii. p. 275

[233] Between this and the next line the author makes the following
observation: "These ben hawkes of toure, and ben bothe illured to be
called and reclaymed." Jewel for Gentrie. Lond. 1614.

[234] Stow's Survey of London.

[235] The sheldrake is a species of wild fowl.

[236] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, book v. chap. 8. edit Lond. 1660.

[237] Harleian, MS. 2284.

[238] Jewel for Gentrie. Lond. 1614.

[239] Testament of Love, book ii.

[240] Knight of the Swan, Garrick's Collect. K. vol. x.

[241] Equos cursores. Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. Angl. lib. ii. cap. 6.

[242] I have followed the translation published by Mr. White, of
Fleet-street, A. D. 1772. See Stow's Survey of London, and republished
with additions by Strype. [The translation of Fitzstephen published by
Mr. White, was made by the late Dr. Samuel Pegge.]

[243] "Syr Bevys of Hampton," black letter, without date, printed by
Wm. Copland. Garrick's Collect. K. vol. ix.

[244] Bourne Antiq. Vulgares, chap. xxiv.

[245] Probably the elder Randel Holme of Chester, one of the city
heralds. MS. Harl. 2150 fol. 235.

[246] The thirty-first of Henry VIII.

[247] That is Shrove Tuesday.

[248] Probably the younger Randel Holme.

[249] MS. Harl. 2125.

[250] A. D. 1665. and 5 Charles II.

[251] In his Survey of the Town of Stamford, first printed A. D. 1646.
chap. 10.

[252] See p. 7. sec. vii.

[253] Bernado de Nictum pro uno cursorio hardo empto de eodem, xxv.
marc. Compot. Garderoba. An. xi. Ed. III. MS. Cot. Nero, C. viii. fol.
219.

[254] Michali de la Were Scut. Regis Navarr. present domino Regi duos
equos cursores ex parte dono Domini sui, de dono Regis. C. sol. Ibid.

[255] MS. Harl. 4690, written early in the fourteenth century.

[256] Peer or equal.

[257] A French word, signifying a large powerful horse.

[258] Steed, rabbit, nor camel.

[259] Lib. iv. fat. 3. Edit. 1599.

[260] Poem of Covetice, quoted by Warton. Hist. English Poetry, vol.
ii. p. 316.

[261] John Northbrooke.

[262] Anatomy of Melancholy, part. ii. sec. 2, chap. 4, edit. 1660.

[263] Pills to purge Melancholy, fourth edit. 1719, vol. ii. p. 53.

[264] Ency. Brit, under Race.

[265] Ibid.

[266] Probably Matthew Thomas Baskervile, whose name appears at the
end; it was written about the year 1690. MS. Harl. 4716.

[267] Dated Sept. 11, A.D. 1711. Spectator, vol. iii. No. 173.

[268] Olaii Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129. Barthol. p. 420. Pontoppidan's
Hist. Norway, p. 248.

[269] Claudius, B. iv.

[270] Tiberius, C. vi.

[271] Canterbury Tales.

[272] Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, p. 187. edit. 1622.

[273] Engraving 4, p. 13.

[274] Engraving 5, p. 15.

[275] See book i. ch. i. sec. xvii. p. 21.

[276] Leland's Collect. vol. iv. p. 278.

[277] Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii.

[278] Arcübalista in Latin, and also frequently steel bow in English,
because the horns were usually made with steel.

[279] Camden's Remains.

[280] Nichol. Trivet. Annal.

[281] See Manners and Customs of the English, vol. i.

[282] Serres, and also most of our own historians. Froissart praises
the skill of the Genoese cross-bowmen upon another occasion, saying,
"They shot so surely, that lightly they myst not of their level." Vol.
iv. chap. 38. fol. 47. English translation, [by Lord Berners,] and in
several other places.

[283] Ascham's Toxophilus.

[284] 2 B. vii.

[285] 19 C. viii. dated 1496.

[286] Stat. 29 Hen. VII. A. D. 1508.

[287] Stat. 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 13.

[288] Stat. 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 17.

[289] History of London, book ii. p. 482.

[290] Stat. temp. Ed. II. apud Winton.

[291] Heywood's Epigrams and Proverbs, 1566. ch. 13.

[292] Stow's Survey of London, by Strype, vol. ii. p. 257. Stow died A.
D. 1605.

[293] Ann. 8 Jacobi prim. Ibid.

[294] Stow's Survey, by Strype, vol. i. p. 250.

[295] Gesta Grayorum, fol. 18, printed 1594. Garrick's Collect. C. vol.
14.

[296] Maitland's London, book v. chap. i.

[297] "Archerye revived," by Robert Shotterel and Thomas D'Urfey, 1676;
p. 53.

[298] Alluding, I presume, to tennice, or the balloon ball.

[299] Archæologia, vol. vii. p.58.

[300] In his "Toxophilus, or the schole of shooting," written in 1544,
first published in 1571, republished by Mr. James Bennet in 1761.

[301] "Geste of Robyn Hode." Garrick's Collect. K. vol. x.

[302] Prologue to Canterbury Tales.

[303] Lib. Compotis Garderobæ sub an. 4 Ed. II. page 53, is this entry,
Pro duodecim flecchiis cum pennis de pavonæ emptis pro rege, de 12
den.; that is, For twelve arrows plumed with peacocks' feathers, bought
for the king, twelve pence. MS. Cott. Lib. Nero, C. viii.

[304] Country Contentments, 1615, chap. viii. p. 107.

[305] Ibid.

[306] Ascham, p. 129, et infra.

[307] Country Contentments.

[308] Survey of Cornwall, by Richard Carew, Esq. 1602. B. i. p. 73.

[309] See sec. x. p.57.

[310] 2 B. vii.

[311] See most of our historians.

[312] An. 7 Hen. VIII. fol. 56

[313] Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 58.

[314] Black letter, without date. Imprinted at London upon the Three
Crane Wharfe, by Willyam Copland. Garrick's Collect. Old Plays, K. vol.
x. Dr. Percy, bishop of Dromore, says, "There is a more ancient copy
printed by Wynkin de Worde, preserved in the archives of the public
library at Cambridge." Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i.

[315] King Edward IV., I presume, is meant by the poet, for in one of
the lines we read "Edward our comely kynge". Anachronisms of this kind
were common enough in the old ballads.

[316] That is, he shall lose it, or rather, it shall be forfeited.

[317] Black letter, without date, and printed also by Copland in
Lothbury. Its title is, The Names of the Three Archers; the whole
ballad, with some small variations, is in the Reliques of Ancient
Poetry, vol. i. p. 154, &c. This copy is bound up in the same volume of
the Garrick Collection of Old Plays with the Geste of Robyn Hode.

[318] Twenty score paces, says the song.

[319] I rather think the poet meant an arrow shot "compass," for the
pricke or wand was a "mark of compass," that is, the arrow in its
flight formed the segment of a circle. See sec. xiv. p. 62.

[320] "Six score paces." Song.

[321] God forbid.

[322] Archæologia, vol. i. p. 58.

[323] [Mr Strutt wrote this in 1800.]

[324] See sec. xvi. p. 65.

[325] Survey of Cornwall, 1602.

[326] In vita Hen. VIII. fol. 8.

[327] Stow's Survey, by Strype, vol. i. p. 250.

[328] Strype's London, vol. i. p. 250.

[329] Archæologia, vol. vii.

[330] MS. Harl. 365, fol. 96.

[331] An. 7 et 9 Hen. VII. MS. in the Remembrancer's Office. See also
Appendix to Dr. Henry's Hist. Brit. vol. vi.

[332] Archæologia, vol. vii.

[333] In Life of Hen. VIII. 1511, fol. 8.

[334] Archæologia, vol. vii.

[335] Ency. Brit.

[336] Judges, chap. xx. ver. 16.

[337] 1 Chron. chap. xii. ver. 2.

[338] 1 Samuel, chap. xvii. and xviii.

[339] Claudius, B. iv.

[340] 14. B. v.

[341] C. v. 16.

[342] Manners and Customs of the English, vol. i.

[343] Titus A. xxiii. part 1, fol. 8.

[344] Iliad, book xxiii.

[345] In his Dictionary, under _quoit_.

[346] Fitzstephen's Description of London.

[347] Rot. claus. Memb. 23.

[348] Froissart, Lord Berners' translation, vol. iv. chap. 149, fol.
184.

[349] Σκιομαχια.

[350] Vol. ii. No. 115.

[351] Orbis sensualium Pictus.

[352] Compleat Gentleman, 1622.

[353] Titus A. xxiii. part i. page 6. See p. 73. sec. iii.

[354] Johnson's Dictionary, word _Base_.

[355] "Nul enfaunt ne autres ne jue--à barres." Rot. Parl. MS. Harl.
7057.

[356] Cymbeline.

[357] Worthies of England in Cornwall, p. 197.

[358] Survey of Cornwall, 1602, p. 75.

[359] Matthew Paris. Hist. Ang. sub an. 1222.

[360] Survey of London, p. 78, 85.

[361] The margin says, "at Skinner's Well."

[362] There are now, says the author, no such men, meaning "the porters
of the king's beam," that is, at the commencement of the seventeenth
century.

[363] Survey of London, p. 85.

[364] I presume he means the mace.

[365] Hentzner's Itinerary first published A. D. 1598. Lord Orford's
translation, Strawberry Hill edition, p. 36.

[366] Canterbury Tales.

[367] Prologues to the Canterbury Tales.

[368] 2 B. viii.

[369] Second fit, or part, Garrick's Collect. Old Plays, K. vol. x.

[370] Vol. ii. No. 161, published 1711.

[371] Survey of Cornwall, 1602, p. 75.

[372] Ιππας.

[373] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[374] 2 B. vii.

[375] 2464, Bod. 264.

[376] Pontoppidan's Hist. of Norway, p. 148.

[377] MS. Cott. Titus, A. xxiii.

[378] Wood, or wode, signifies wild or mad; and here, that the rain
makes the rivers swell and overpass their bounds.

[379] Edit. 1550, p. 13.

[380] The river Thames.

[381] Sikerer, surer, safer; that is, neither the one nor the other
should have any extraneous assistance, but each should depend entirely
upon his own exertions to escape from the water.

[382] History of all the schools and colleges in and about London,
printed A. D. 1615.

[383] In D'Urfey's Collection of Songs, 1719, vol. iii. p. 4.

[384] Oläi. Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129.

[385] Ency. Brit. art. Skating.

[386] Cæsar Bell. Gall. lib. v. cap. 12.

[387] Bartholin, p. 420.

[388] Will. Malms. Mat. West. in the reign of Edgar.

[389] Fitzstephen's Description of London. Stow's Survey.

[390] See book iii. chap. i. sec. v.

[391] Lib. i.

[392] Ælian, lib. ii. Volaterranus, lib. xxix.

[393] Odyssey, by Pope, b. v.

[394] No. lvii.

[395] "Sive enim saltu, sive cursu, sive luctatu," &c. Vita Sancti
Cudbereti, cap. i.

[396] "Lusum pilæ celebrem." Stephanides de ludis.

[397] "The scholars of each school have their ball or bastion in their
hands." Survey of London.

[398] Lord Lyttelton, History of Henry the Second, vol. iii. p. 275;
and [Dr. Pegge] the translator of Fitzstephen, in 1772.

[399] By the word celebrem Fitzstephen might advert to the antiquity of
the pastime.

[400] Jeu de paume, and in Latin pila palmaria.

[401] Essais historiques sur Paris, vol. i. p. 160

[402] Laboureur. Sub an. 1368.

[403] Published by Hoole, 1658.

[404] John Heywoode's works, London, 1566.

[405] In the life of Henry V11I. the second year of his reign, fol. 11.

[406] Ibid. fol. 98.

[407] Survey of London, p. 496.

[408] Basilicon Doron, b. iii.

[409] MSS. Harl. 2248 and 6271.

[410] St. Foix Essais Historiques sur Paris, vol. i. p. 160.

[411] Antiquities of the Common People, chap. xxiv.

[412] Table Talk, art. Christmas.

[413] Mr. Brand, in his additions to Bourne.

[414] Fuller's Worthies, published 1662, p. 168.

[415] Progresses of Q. Eliz. by Mr. Nichols, vol. ii. p. 19.

[416] Martial, lib. iv. Epig. 45.

[417] Orbis Sensualium Pictus, cap. 133.

[418] 20. D. iv.

[419] No. 6563.

[420] In his Dictionary; word _stool_.

[421] See also his Pills to purge Melancholy, vol. i. p. 91.

[422] Survey of Cornwall, 1602, book i. p. 73.

[423] "Philogamus," black letter, without date.

[424] See sec. ix. p. 55.

[425] Ship of Fools, 1508.

[426] Basilicon Doron, book iii.

[427] Barclay ut supra.

[428] I rather think the elder Randel Holmes, one of the city heralds,
MS. Harl. 2150, fol. 235.

[429] An open place near the city. See p. 42

[430] Acted A.D. 1659.

[431] Cambuta vel cambuca. Baculus incurvatus, a crooked club or staff:
the word cambuca was also used for the virga episcoparum, or episcopal
crosier, because it was curved at the top. Du Cange, Glossary, in voce
_cambuta_.

[432] An anonymous author, Harl. MS. 6391.

[433] Orbis Sensualium Pictus, cap. cxxxvi.

[434] No. 264.

[435] 14. B. v.

[436] Pills to purge Melancholy, fourth edition, 1719, vol. ii. p. 172.

[437] See p. 102.

[438] In the Introduction.

[439] Vegetius de re militari, lib. i. cap. xi. et xiv.

[440] "Terræ infixis sudibus scuta apponuntur--Quintanæ ludus scilicet
equestris exerceretur--in equis lusitari solitum appeusis sudes in
terram impactas scutis." Robertus Monach. Hist Hierosol. lib. v.

[441] Menestrier, Traité des Tournois, Joustes, &c. p. 264.

[442] Menestrier ut supra; Du Cange Gloss, in voce _quintana_; Pluvinel
sur l'exercise de monter à cheval, part iii. p. 177.

[443] Menestrier, p. 112, et Pluvinel ut supra.

[444] 20. B. xi

[445] Knyghthode and Batayle, MS. Cott. Titus A. xxiii. fol. 6 and 7.
This curious poem, written early in the fifteenth century, appears to
be a translation of the former treatise, or rather a paraphrase upon it.

[446] Set up.

[447] Of man's height.

[448] A mace or club of wood.

[449] Hath not.

[450] Close.

[451] Prompt, swift, ready.

[452] From the French, _empêcher_, to hinder or withstand, here used
for attack.

[453] Throat.

[454] Power, strength.

[455] Than is required, that is in time of real action.

[456] It is the same.

[457] A quincto auctore nomen habebat, vide Joan Meursi, de Ludis
Græcorum, in tit Κονταξ Κυντανος.

[458] Vegetius de re militari. lib. i. cap. xi. et xiv.

[459] Κυντανον χονταξ χωρις της πυρπις, quintanum contacem sine fibula.
Cod. de aleatoribus, lib. iii. tit. 43.

[460] Stephanides Descrip. Lond.

[461] 2 B. vii.

[462] Matthew Paris. Hist. Angl. sub an 1253.

[463] Strype's Stow, &c.

[464] Bod. 264.

[465] Survey of London, p.

[466] First published in 1677.

[467] Laneham in Queen Elizabeth's Progresses, by Mr. Nichols, vol. i.
p. 249.

[468] Traité de Tournois, 1669, p. 347.

[469] Le Roman de Giron le courtois. Du Cange, Gloss. in voce
_quintana_.

[470] Lib. iv. Sat. 3.

[471] Referred to in p. 118.

[472] Gloss. in voce _quintana_.

[473] Orbis Sensualium Pictus, by Hoole, 1658.

[474] Art de monter à cheval, part iii. p. 156.

[475] Menestrier, Traité de Tournoi, p. 112.

[476] Du Cange, Gloss. in voce _justa_.

[477] Tacitus Annal. lib. xi. Et Suetonius in vit. Claud.

[478] Du Cange, Gloss. in voce _bohordicum_. The word, somewhat
differently spelt, occurs in Mandat. Reg. Angl. cited by Du Cange, and
in Rymer Fœd. tom. v. p. 223 et alia.

[479] Roman D'Aubrey, MS. apud Du Cange ut supra.

[480] Annal. pars posterior sub an. 1191.

[481] Cotgrave.

[482] Origines des Chevaliers, &c. p. 9.

[483] No. 2252. fol. 64.

[484] A small space of time.

[485] Heralds, whose office it was to superintend the ceremonious parts
of the tournaments.

[486] Reward.

[487] Hist. Angl. fol. 3, A.D. 1274.

[488] Ludum militarum (qui vulgo _torneamentum_ dicitur). Ibid.

[489] Tracte de Tournois.

[490] No. 326.

[491] Complete Gentleman, p. 178.

[492] See more upon this subject in the Encyclopédie François, art.
_Tournoi_.

[493] Chronique de Tours.

[494] Perambulation of Kent, p. 492.

[495] Hist. Angl. A.D. 1179.

[496] Harl. MS. 69.

[497] Origines des Chevaliers, &c.

[498] No. 69.

[499] Or ooyez, for Ouïr, more literally Hear now; and the words are
repeated.

[500] Marche, part of the lists I presume, or portion of ground
appropriated to the tournament.

[501] Feront clouer leurs armes, literally nail them; the clouage or
nail money, as we shall see afterwards, was the perquisite of the
heralds.

[502] "Mettra sa banier, au commencement dedits bastons et clouera la
blason de ses armes, a lautre vout." The passage is by no means clear;
I have therefore given the words of the original.

[503] A l'aschevier, chevaliers, &c.

[504] Hors chevaliers, &c.

[505] No. 14. E. iii.

[506] The minstrels of the barons are behind them in Mr. Strutt's
quarto plate, as in the MS. illumination; on the present page, the
minstrels are placed below the combatants, in order to accommodate the
figures to the space presented by the octavo size.

[507] Harl. MS. 69.

[508] Coutel, literally a knife.

[509] Cotton MS. Nero D. vi. and Harl. MS. 69, ut supra

[510] "Avec une grele de coups." Encyclop. Fran. in voce _tournoi_.

[511] Harl. MS. 69.

[512] Glossary, in voce _justa_.

[513] "Pugnæ facere quod justam vocant." Hist. Novellæ, fol. 106, sub
an. 1142.

[514] Matthew Paris properly distinguishes it from the tournament. "Non
hastiludio, quod torneamentum dicitur, sed--ludo militari, qui mensa
rotunda dicitur." Hist. Angl. sub an. 1252.

[515] Glossary, in voce _mensa rotunda_.

[516] Rogerus de Mortuo Mari. Tho. Walsingham. Hist. Angl. sub an.
1280, fol. 3.

[517] Tho. Walsingham. Hist. Angl. sub an. 1344, fol. 154. Vol. iii.
chap. lix.

[518] Froissart, vol. iii. chap. cxxxiii. fol. 148, lord Berners'
translation.

[519] No. 14, E. iii.

[520] [In the original engraving the knights are opposed to each other
on the same line: in the present they are separated, and one placed
below, in order to represent them within the octavo page of the size is
the quarto.]

[521] Essais Hist. sur Paris, vol. iii. p. 263.

[522] Ibid. vol. i. p. 327.

[523] As the ladies, say some modern authors, were _l'ame_, the soul
of the justs, it was proper that they should be therein distinguished
by some peculiar homage; and, accordingly at the termination of a
just with lances, the last course was made in honour of the sex, and
called the lance of the ladies. The same deference was paid to them in
single combats with the sword, the axe, and the dagger. Encyclop. Fran.
article _joute_.

[524] See sect. vii. p. 118.

[525] See book ii. chap. ii. sec. xviii. p. 87.

[526] No. 1, B vii.

[527] See what has been said respecting the quintain upon the water,
sect. v. p. 116.

[528] Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. p. 56.

[529] No. 69.

[530] Son to king Edward IV., who lost his life with his brother Edward
in the Tower.

[531] Titus, A. xxiii, part i. fol. 7.

[532] Fitzstephen's Description of London.

[533] Quendam ludum de sancta Katerina (quam miracula vulgariter
appellamus) fecit. Vitæ Abbat. p. 35

[534] Essay on the Origin of the English Stage, vol. 1.

[535] Stow's Survey of London, p. 76.

[536] Vespasian, D. viii.

[537] Warwickshire, p. 116.

[538] Digby, 113.

[539] See the Manners and Customs of the English, where this subject is
treated upon more largely.

[540] See more upon this subject in the following chapter.

[541] By writing and preaching against them. A monkish author of
the twelfth century says of them, "Etiam illi quo obscænio partibus
corporis oculis omnium eam ingerunt turpitudinem, quam erubescat videre
vel cynicus, &c." Joh. Sarisburensis de Nugis Curialium, lib. i. cap.
viii. p. 34.

[542] Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. p. 568.

[543] Vitæ Abbatum, p. 6.

[544] Or rather we should say, the French king was meant by the horse,
&c.

[545] Prologue to the Monk's Tale, which consists of seventeen short
stories or tragedies, of which, he tells us, he had an hundred in his
cell.

[546] Survey of Cornwall, Lond. 1602, p. 71.

[547] [It is proper to observe, that the Harleian manuscript of the
"Guary-Miracle," referred to by Mr. Strutt, entitled "The Creation of
the World, with Noah's Flood, written in Cornish by William Jordan,
with an English translation by John Keigwin," has been carefully edited
by Davies Gilbert Esq. M.P. F.R.S. F.S.A. &c. and printed by Mr. J. B.
Nichols in one volume 8vo. 1827. Mr. Davies Gilbert, who, subsequent to
that work was elected president of the Royal Society, had previously
edited and given to the public a remarkable Cornish poem called "Mount
Calvary," also translated by John Keigwin, with a memoir of Keigwin,
and some particulars of his family, by Nicholas Harris Nicolas,
esq. F.S.A. These two volumes, and another on "Ancient Christmas
Carols, with the tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West
of England," also by Mr. Gilbert, are highly valuable additions to
our metrical and dramatic archæologia. The airs of the carols are
especially curious; and the preface to them contains accounts of a
versified play exhibiting the prowess of St. George over a Mahometan
adversary, and of a rustic farce which usually followed it.]

[548] A treatise against dicing, dancing, vain plays, or interludes,
&c. by John Northbrooke.

[549] Wardrobe roll of Edward III.

[550] Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. i. p. 238.

[551] Warton, vol. iii. p. 156. See also Dr. Henry, Hist. Brit. vol.
vi. book vi. chap. 7.

[552] No. 264. This MS. was completed in the year 1343.

[553] Vita Hen. VIII. fol. 59.

[554] Broom.

[555] Beacon.

[556] Hall's Union. Vita Hen. VIII. fol. 9.

[557] Harl. MS. 69, p. 31.

[558] October the eighth.

[559] Pine apple.

[560] A rose tree.

[561] Head dress.

[562] Pleasaunce was a fine thin species of gauze, which was striped
with gold.

[563] Hall, ut sup fol. 59.

[564] Laneham's account of the sports at Kenelworth Castle, in
Nichols's Progresses of queen Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 22.

[565] Owing to the discontinuance of the play they might have been
lost, and probably the time did not permit them to be written anew.
Reliq. Anc. Poet. vol. i. p. 142.

[566] Laneham ut supra, p. 24.

[567] See sect. vi. p. 153.

[568] [In 1801.]

[569] See the Introduction.

[570] No. xiv. vol. i. first published in 1711.

[571] No. 5931.

[572] Biogr. Hist. vol. iv. p. 350.

[573] [Before 1801.]

[574] Ammianus Marcell. lib. xv. cap. 9.

[575] Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. cap. 31.

[576] Bartholin de causis contemp. a Danis Mortis, lib. i. cap. 2, et
Wormii Lit. Run. ad finim.

[577] Spel. Concil. tom. i. p. 455.

[578] Vespasian, A. i.

[579] Tiberius, C. vi.

[580] Pontoppidan. Hist. Norway, p. 148.

[581] Wace, Hist. de tut les Reys de Brittaigne, continued by Geoffrai
Gaimer, MS. in the Royal Library, marked 13 A. xxi.

[582] No. 603.

[583] Bede's Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 24.

[584] Fauchet, Origine de la Langue et Poësie Françoise, 1581, liv. i.
chap. viii. fol. 72.

[585] Le Grand, Fables, ou Contes des 12. 13. Siècles, tom. v.

[586] Dr. Henry, Hist. Brit. vol. viii. sect. 3. chap. 5. p. 502.

[587] Fauchet des anciens Poets François, liv. ii. chap. vii. p. 92;
and see Walpole Royal and Noble Authors, vol. i. p. 6.

[588] Confessio Amantis, lib. vii.

[589] The thirde boke of Fame.

[590] Edition of 1550.

[591] The ale here evidently implies the place where ale was sold.
Ibid. pass. 1.

[592] A reward. Ibid. pass. xi.

[593] P. Ploughman, pass. primus.

[594] Fabiliaux et Contes, edit. Par. tom. ii. p. 161.

[595] Malmsb. lib. ii. cap. 4.

[596] Hist. p. 869.

[597] Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 6.

[598] App. to Leland's Collect. vol. vi. p. 36.

[599] At this time there was also a sergeant of the minstrels. See
Essay on Ancient Minstrels, Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i.

[600] Book ii. chap. 9.

[601] Lib. iv. sat. i.

[602] Stow's Survey of Lond. p. 84 and 85

[603] Pass. xi.

[604] See p. 184.

[605] Benedict. Abbas, sub an. 1190. Hoveden writes thus: "Cantores et
joculatores de illo canerent in plateis; ut jam dicebatur ubique quod
non erat talis in orbe;" declaring every where that his equal was not
in the world. Hist. p. 103.

[606] Orderic. Vitalis, Eccles. Hist. pp. 880, 881.

[607] The author uses these words: "Intravit quædam mulier ornata
histrionali habitu, equum bonum insidens histrionaliter phaleratum, quæ
mensas more histrionem circuivit," &c. Tho. Walsingham, Hist. Anglæ sub
an. 1317, p. 85.

[608] Non esse moris domus regiæ histriones ab ingressu quemlibet
prohibere.

[609] Essay upon Ancient Minstrels, in Reliques of Ancient Poetry.

[610] The first in the Pardoner's Tale, and the last in the Romance
of the Rose. See the article on tumbling and dancing in a succeeding
section.

[611] Harl. MS. 1764.

[612] Sir John Hawkin's History of Music, vol. ii. p. 298.

[613] See p. 184.

[614] MS. Nero, C viii.

[615] Harl. MS. 541.

[616] The word noise signifies a company. The reader will find the
application of many such terms to different trades and professions in
p. 24.

[617] Hist. and Antiq. Oxon. lib. i. p. 67, sub an. 1224.

[618] "Regi Roberto ministrallo, scut. ad arma commoranti ad vadia
regis, capientur per diem 12 en." &c. MS. Cott. Vespasianus, C. xvi.

[619] "Regi Roberto, et aliis ministrallis diversis, facientibus
ministralsias suas coram rege et aliis magnatibus, de dono ipsius
regis, per manus dicti regis Roberti, recipientis denarios ad
participandum inter eosdem, apud Eboracum, 20 die Feb. 40 marc." MS.
Cott. Nero, C. viii.

[620] Dugd. Monast. vol. i. fol. 355.

[621] Collection of Old Ballads, London, 1723.

[622] Chaucer, in the Romance of the Rose, where the title Roy des
Ribaulx occurs in the original, translates it "king of harlotes."

[623] Origines des Dignitez et Magistrats de France, fol. 43.

[624] Will. Malmsb. p. 93, col. 1.

[625] Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curial. lib. i. cap. 8; lib. iii.
cap. 7. Matt. Paris, in Vit. Hen. III. sub an. 1251, &c.

[626] "Infinitum histrionum et joculatorum multitudinem, sine cibo et
muneribus, va cuam et mœrentum abire permisit." Chron. Virtziburg.

[627] Origine de la Langue et Poësie Françoise, lib. i. cap. 4.

[628] Harl. MS. 2252.

[629] All idleness I hate.

[630] A confectioner.

[631] That is, if he could tell falsehoods to make men laugh.

[632] Lack, or want.

[633] Because.

[634] Dance, nor jump. Pass. xiv.

[635] Duty in their several stations.

[636] Lord Berners' Froissart, vol. iv. cap. 41.

[637] Anstis, Ord. Gart. vol. ii. p. 303.

[638] Liber de Computis Garderobæ, MS. Cott. Lib. Nero, C. viii. fol.82.

[639] Cheveretter, or bagpiper; from chevre, a bagpipe, and tregettor,
or juggler, a slight of hand player; Ibid. See more on this subject in
the next chapter relating to the joculator.

[640] Garcionis; from the French garçon, a boy, or lad. In this
instance it probably means an apprentice, or servant. Ibid. p. 83.

[641] Another entry specifies twenty shillings paid to Robert le Foll
to buy himself boclarium, a buckler, to play, ad ludendum, before the
king. ibid. p. 85.

[642] "Scolas ministrallis in partibus trans mare." Liber de Computis
Garderobæ, MS. Cott. Lib. Nero, C. viii. p. 276.

[643] Ibid.

[644] "Facienti ministralsiam suam coram imagine Beatæ Mariæ in Veltam,
rege presente, 5 sol." Ibid. p. 277.

[645] Ibid. p. 290.

[646] Ibid.

[647] MS. in the Remembrancer's Office. See the extract in Dr. Henry's
British History, vol. vi. Appendix, No. V.

[648] From another MS. in the same office. Ibid.

[649] See the next chapter, under the account of the joculators.

[650] Leland's Collectanea, pp. 61. 99.

[651] See p. 189.

[652] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays.

[653] "Un tabourin d'argent semé de plaques aussi d'argent." Origine de
la Langue et Poësie Françoise, lib. i. cap. viii. fol. 72

[654] Supplement to Du Cange.

[655] Chaucer, House of Fame, book iii.

[656] No. 1315.

[657] Frankeleyn's Tale.

[658] House of Fame, book iii.

[659] The original runs thus: "And they runnen togidre a great randoum;
and they frunchen togidre full fiercely, and they breken thare speres
so rudely, that the tronchouns flen in sprotes and peces alle about the
halle." Mandevile's Travels, p. 285. I have modernized the English in
many places, for sometimes it is hardly intelligible.

[660] Ibid.

[661] That is, they were frighted, expecting to be drowned by the
rising of the water.

[662] Froissart's Chronicle by lord Berners, vol. iii. chap. 392, fol.
272.

[663] Dæmonologie.

[664] See "The Conjuror Unveiled," a small pamphlet translated from
the French; which gives a full account of these curious pieces of
mechanism, and of several others equally surprising.

[665] Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his excellent edition of Chaucer's "Canterbury
Tales," vol. iii. p. 299.

[666] "The Daunce of Macabre," translated, or rather paraphrased, from
the French. In this Daunce, Death is represented addressing himself
to persons of all ranks and ages. John Lydgate was a monk of St.
Edmondsbury Abbey. MS. Harl. No. 116.

[667] The meaning is, that Death will come shortly, and not be deceived
by any false appearances.

[668] Schevid, for achieved, that is to say, performed.

[669] Or any astrological judgment derived from the stars or their
influence; for the jugglers usually pretended to be astrologers and
soothsayers. See the Essay on Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to the
Reliques of Ancient Poetry, by the bishop of Dromore.

[670] Legerdemain; a corrupted word, derived from the French,
signifying properly slights of hand, such as are usually performed by
the modern jugglers.

[671] More cunning tricks.

[672] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, K. vol. ii.

[673] "Janino le tregettor, facienti ministralsiam suam coram rege,"
&c.; that is, to Janino the tregetour, for performing his minstrelsy
before the king, in his chamber near the priory of Swineshead, twenty
shillings. Lib. Comput. Garderobæ, an. 4 Edw. II. fol. 86. MS. Cott.
Nero, C. viii.

[674] The same as the modern hurdy-gurdy.

[675] Their performances are thus described by a French poet who wrote
in the year 1230:

        C'il juggleurs in pies esturent,
          S'ont vielles et harpes prisses
          Chansons, sons, vers, et reprises,
        Et gestes chante nos ont.

        Du Cange, in voce _Joculator_.

        See also sir John Hawkins's History of Music, vol ii. 44.

[676] Essais Hist. sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 39.

[677] "Orbis Sensualium Pictus," by Hoole, 1658; chap. 131.

[678] "Glowecesterscire. Berdic, joculator regis, habet iij villas, et
ibi v car.; nil redd." Extract from Domesday.

[679] Essay on Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to bishop Percy's Reliques
of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. xciii.

[680] A Treatise against Dicing, Dauncing, vaine Playes, or Enterludes,
&c. by John Northbrooke, printed at London in the time of Elizabeth.

[681] Egloge the third, at the end of Brant's "Ship of Fools," by
Barclay, printed A.D. 1508.

[682] "Mirrour of Good Manners," translated from the Latin by Barclay,
who was a priest and monk of Ely.

[683] Or hokos-pokos, as by Ben Jonson, in "The Staple for Newes." See
p. 153. This is the earliest mention I have found of this term. It
occurs again in the Seven Champions, by John Kirk, acted in 1663; "My
mother could juggle as well as any hocus-pocus in the world."

[684] "Playes confuted," by Stephen Gosson; no date, but written about
1580.

[685] St. Mark, chap. vi. ver. 22.

[686] Nero, D. iv.

[687] No. 1, A. xiv.

[688] No. 2253. fol. 45.

[689] No. 2, B. vii.

[690] No. 1527

[691] Odyssey, lib. iv. lin. 18. The original word is κυβις ητηρε,
saltatores qui se in capita dejiciunt.

[692] "De queux le roi rya grantement." Roll of Expenses in the reign
of king Edward II. in the possession of Thomas Astle, esq.

[693] From a MS. in the Remembrancer's Office, an. 13 Hen. VIII.

[694] Eccles. Mem. vol. iii. p. 312, cap. 39.

[695] Laneham's Letter, in Mr. Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth,
pp. 15, 17.

[696] No. 115, dated Jan. 3, 1709.

[697] Domitian, A. 2.

[698] No. 335.

[699] No. 264.

[700] On p. 173.

[701] Cleopatra, C. viii.

[702] On p. 176.

[703] No. 2, B. viii.

[704] Tacit. de Morib. Germ. cap. 24.

[705] The reader may find a more particular account of the various
motions and figures formed by the dancers, from Olaüs Magnus, in Mr.
Brand's notes upon the 14th chapter of Bourne's Vulgar Antiquities, p.
175.

[706] Cleopatra. C. viii.

[707] See p. 166.

[708] No 5931.

[709] [Before 1800.]

[710] I have followed the old English translation by lord Berners. The
French is "maistre engigneur," which may be rendered "master juggler."
Vol. iv. chap. 38, fol. 47.

[711] Burning or lighted candles, in the French chierges ardans.

[712] Singing.

[713] Essais sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 42.

[714] It should be St. Gregory's church, which stood on the south side
of St. Paul's nearly opposite to the Dean's Gateway.

[715] Archæologia, vol. vii.

[716] Holinshed, Chron. vol. iii. p. 1121.

[717] [Before 1800.]

[718] Mr. John Carrington, of Bacon's, in the parish of Bramfield, near
Hertford.

[719] Holinshed, Chron. vol iii. p. 1091.

[720] Granger, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 349.

[721] Granger, vol. iv. pp. 352, 353.

[722] [In 1801.]

[723] Orbis Sensualium Pictus, A. D. 1658.

[724] Richer dances with great facility without any balance, and walks
down the rope into the pit, and ascends again. He also adds a variety
of other performances.

[725] An account of this festival may be found in the account of
Christmas Games, book iv. chap. iii. sect. 9.

[726] No. 964.

[727] [In the drawing the musicians face the dancers: they are placed
below them in the above engraving to suit the present page.]

[728] [Mr. Douce is of opinion, that the dance set forth above by Mr.
Strutt, from the Bodleian MS., did not form a part of the festival of
fools.]

[729] History of Music, vol. iv. p. 388.

[730] Archæologia, vol. i. p. 15. See also the Witch of Edmonton, a
tragi-comedy by William Rowley, printed in 1658.

[731] See Johnson's Dictionary, word _Morris-dance_.

[732] Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, 1 vol. 18mo.

[733] See p. 176.

[734] [Reckoning from 1801.]

[735] [In 1801.]

[736] Harl. Lib. 5931.

[737] Vol. i. No. 42.

[738] 14, B. v

[739] On p. 176.

[740] On p. 214.

[741] Rot. Comput. temp. Edw. II. penès T. Astle, esq.

[742] [Before 1801.]

[743] 14. E. iii.

[744] Retrospection of Eighteen Hundred Years, vol. ii. p. 224.

[745] [In 1801.]

[746] In a volume of Miscellaneous Papers, Bibl. Harl. 5931.

[747] In the original French it is said,

"------et timberesses, Qui moult savoient bien juer, Qui ne finoient
de ruer Le timbre en haut, si recueilloient Sus un doi conques
enfailloient."


[748] No. 264.

[749] No. 102, July 8, 1713.

[750] Biog. Hist. vol. iv. See also Philos. Trans. No. 242, for July,
1698.

[751] Miscell. Collect. Harl. Lib. No. 5931.

[752] Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 350.

[753] Vol. viii. No. 572; see also vol. vi. No. 444.

[754] See p. 135.

[755] Or mastiff dog.

[756] On p. 176.

[757] On p. 214.

[758] No. 264.

[759] No. 6563.

[760] Essais Hist. sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 178.

[761] No. 264.

[762] From a Miscellaneous Collection of Papers, Harl. Lib. 5931.

[763] Granger, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 353.

[764] Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary, word _Sybaris_.

[765] Mem sur Anc. Cheval. tom. i. p. 247.

[766] No. 2, B. vii.

[767] No. 264.

[768] Menestrier, Trait. de Tournois, p. 218.

[769] [In 1800.]

[770] No. 5938.

[771] [A.D. 1800.]

[772] [1800.]

[773] His meaning, I suppose, is that the performance of this dog was
not to be equalled.

[774] No. 6563.

[775] In Cockspur-street, opposite the Haymarket.

[776] [Before 1800.]

[777] Du Cange, Gloss. in vocibus _Cervula_ et _Kalendæ_.

[778] See also Bourne's Vulgar Errors, edited by Brand, p. 175.

[779] Chap. ii. sect. xiii. p. 159.

[780] History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 237.

[781] Mem. Anc. Cheval. tom. ii. p. 68.

[782] See a description of two of them, p. 161.

[783] Translated by Alexander Barclay, and printed by Pynson in 1508.

[784] Stow's Survey, fol. 680.

[785] Northbrooke's Treatise, p. 105.

[786] Chap. xvi.

[787] Chron. tom. i. iv. chap. 157, lord Berners' translation.

[788] See Nichols's Progresses, vol. i.

[789] No. 26.

[790] Page 223.

[791] The author, whose name does not appear, declares himself to have
been witness to the facts he records. MS. Harl. 6391.

[792] Miscell. Collect. Harl. Lib. No. 115.

[793] Vol. viii. No. 570.

[794] See p. 249.

[795] Literally, nightingale.

[796] [Before 1800.]

[797] Description of London. See also Stow's Survey, p. 78.

[798] On p. 243.

[799] Survey of London, ubi supra.

[800] Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, published A.D. 1570, p. 248.

[801] Survey of London, ubi supra. See also the Introduction to this
work.

[802] Erasmi Adagia, p. 361.

[803] Life of Sir Thomas Pope, sect. iii. p. 85.

[804] Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. p. 40.

[805] Chronicle of Eng. vol. iii. fol. 1552.

[806] Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii. p. 228.

[807] Itinerary, printed in Latin, A. D. 1598. See lord Orford's
translation, Strawberry Hill, p. 42.

[808] Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. fol. 249.

[809] In a Miscellaneous Collection of Bills and Title-pages, Harl.
Lib. No. 15.

[810] No. 14, E. iii.

[811] See p. 215.

[812] No. 20, D. vi.

[813] Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curialium, lib. i. cap. viii. p.
34.

[814] Worthies of England, A. D. 1662.

[815] Maitland's History of London, book i. chap. xi.

[816] Survey of London, chap. ii.

[817] I apprehend he means the quarter-staff.

[818] Dated 1344. No. 264.

[819] Vol. vi. No. 436.

[820] No. 449.

[821] In a Miscellaneous Collection of Title-pages, Bills, &c. in the
Harleian Library, marked 115.

[822] Dictionary, word _Quarter-staff_.

[823] Nov. 15, 1625.

[824] Fuller's Worthies in Somersetshire.

[825] Vol. iv. chap. 23, fol. 24, lord Berners' translation.

[826] No. 20, E. iv.

[827] Page 41.

[828] No. 1026.

[829] Encyclopædia Britannica, in voce.

[830] Stow's Survey, p. 496.

[831] Ibid. pp. 85, 158.

[832] "Country Contentments," published in 1615.

[833] No. 2, B. vii.

[834] An. 17 Edw. IV. cap. 3; again 18 and 20 Hen. VIII. &c.; in both
which acts this game is prohibited.

[835] Garrick's Collection, vol. i. 18.

[836] An. 17 Edw. IV. cap. 8; the prohibition extends also to closh and
kayles.

[837] Dictionary, word _kayle_.

[838] See p. 243.

[839] One of the city laws however prohibits the baiting a bull, a
bear, or a horse in the open streets of London, under the penalty of 20
shillings. Stow's Survey, p. 666.

[840] Probably the first Randal Holmes, a native of that city. MS.
Harl. 2125.

[841] First published A.D. 1646. This transcript is from the edit. of
1717, cap. x. pp. 76, 77.

[842] This passage he has Latinized in these words: "Senatores majorum
gentium et matronæ de eodem gradu."

[843] See p. 191.

[844] Histriones--habebunt unum Taurum de Priore de Tutebury, Inspex.
temp. Hen. VI. Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. p. 355.

[845] Dr. Plott.--In his natural history of this county the reader will
find a full account of the services, &c. performed by the minstrels
upon this day, pp. 437, 438, 439.

[846] A title conferred upon the chief minstrel. See p. 191.

[847] "Jeu de Taureau."

[848] Whence he derives this sport; to which however it bears but
little analogy. See Mr. Pegge's dissertation upon bull-baiting.
Archæologia, vol. ii.

[849] Collect. of Old Ballads, pub. London, 1723.

[850] Philos. Transact. vol. xix. p. 591.

[851] For a full explanation of the manner of cock-fighting among the
ancient Greeks and Romans, see a memoir upon that subject by the late
Rev. Mr. Pegge, Archæologia, vol. iii. p. 132.

[852] Description of London; temp. Hen. II.

[853] Survey of London, p. 76.

[854] Bourne's Antiq. Vulgares by Brand, p. 233.

[855] Stow's Survey of London, p. 496.

[856] Mons. de la Boderie's Letters, vol. i. p. 56.

[857] MS. Harl. 6395, written in the reign of James I., and bearing
this title: "Merry Passages and Jeasts."

[858] Rev. Mr. Pegge, in his memoir on cock-fighting, Archæol. vol.
iii. p. 132.

[859] Anatomy of Melancholy, published A. D. 1660.

[860] Canterbury Tales.

[861] Published at London, 1750.

[862] Hall, in the life of that monarch.

[863] A. D. 1604, in the second year of the reign of James I. Treatise
on College and Schools in and about London, printed 1615.

[864] Some time ago the spinnet was a favourite instrument among the
ladies; afterwards the guitar; and now the harpsichord, or forte-piano.

[865] See p. 186.

[866] At Braintree fair in Essex. Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. iii. p.
292. This was a century and a half back, when twenty shillings
was a considerable sum. The ancient ballade have frequently this
colophon: "Printed by A. B. and are to be sold at the stalls of the
ballad-singers." But an ordinance published by Oliver Cromwell against
the strolling fiddlers, silenced the ballad-singers, and obliged the
sellers to shut up shop. Hawkins, Hist. Music, vol. iv. p. 113.

[867] Edward Ward, author of the London Spy, part xi. p. 255.

[868] The barbers formerly were often musicians, and usually kept a
lute, a viol, or some other musical instrument, in their shops, to
amuse their customers while waiting; at present, the newspaper is
substituted for the instrument of music.

[869] Vol. i. p. 12.

[870] Hist. Music, vol. v. p. 352.

[871] Vol. v. No. 383.

[872] Or entertainment of music in the open air.

[873] Hist. of Music, vol. v. pp. 352, 353.

[874] It is said to be written by T. G. doctor in physic, and was
published A. D. 1684.

[875] A. D. 1683.

[876] Hawkins, ut supra.

[877] [About 1770.]

[878] See the Introduction.

[879] Hawkins's Hist. of Music, vol. iv. p. 211.

[880] A city of Campania--about the year 400.

[881] Hist. Abat. Croyland. Ingulphus died 1109.

[882] See Chauncy's Hist. of Hertfordshire, p. 383.

[883] [In 1800.]

[884] No. 20. B. xi.

[885] Vol. v. No. 570.

[886] Ibid.

[887] Garrick's Col. old plays, G. vol. ii.

[888] Book iii. chap. v. p. 207.

[889] See the Introduction.

[890] Caligula, A 2. fol. 53.

[891] Polite, courteous.

[892] Rym. Fœd. tom. vii. p. 160. col. 2.

[893] Hist. Music, vol. iii. p. 383.

[894] Hist. Angl.

[895] Itinerary.

[896] Garrick's Col. I, vol. iii.

[897] That is, learning they esteem not.

[898] First printed by Pynson, A. D. 1508.

[899] Stow died A. D. 1605, aged 80. Survey of London, by Strype, vol.
i. p. 251.

[900] A Woman Killed with Kindness. Trag. by Thomas Heywood, 3d edit.
A. D. 1617, Garrick's Collect. E. vol. iv.

[901] See the Introduction.

[902] No. 264.

[903] House of Fame, book iii.

[904] See note 1, above.

[905] Vol. i. No. 76.

[906] See the Introduction.

[907] MS. Harl. 6391.

[908] See p. 270, and the representation of the ground billiards by the
engraving No. 93.

[909] By stat. 30 Geo. II.

[910] The first occurs in Chaucer; the second in the vocabulary called
Orbis Sensualium Pictus, as translated by Hoole, chap. cxxxvi. In Latin
it is called Oscillum, and thus described by an old author; Oscillum
est genus ludi, &c. In English to this effect; Oscillum is a sort of
game played with a rope depending from a beam, in which a boy or a girl
being seated, is driven backwards and forwards. Speght's Glossary to
Chaucer.

[911] Vol. viii. No. 496; and again No. 492 in the same volume.

[912] Eustatius ad Iliad. G.

[913] Harl. MS. 6391.

[914] Palamed. de Alea. lib. i. cap. 18.

[915] Isidorus Originum, lib. xviii. cap. 60.

[916] Lib. i.

[917] See the Introduction.

[918] De Nug. Curialium, lib. i. cap. 5.

[919] Orderic. Vital, p. 550.

[920] Orbis Sensualium Pictus, translated by Hoole, p. 658.

[921] In Latin, Pyrgus, Turricula, et Frittillus.

[922] "Nec ludant ad aleas vel taxillos." Decret. Concil. Vigorn. A. D.
1240, directed to the clergy.

[923] No. 6395, Art. 69.

[924] "As false as dicers' oaths," is a proverbial expression, and used
by Shakspeare in Hamlet, act iii. scene 4.

[925] An. 5 Ed. VI. A. D. 1551, Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 1062.

[926] Palamed. de Aleatoribus, cap. 18.

[927] Lepistre Othea, MS. "Ulixes fu un baron de Grece de grant
soubtillete, et en temps du siege de Troye il trouva le gieu des
esches," &c. Ulysses was a baron of Greece, exceedingly wise, and
during the siege of Troy invented the game of chess. Harl. Lib. 4431.

[928] Ency. Brit. word Chess.

[929] No. 1275.

[930] Dream of Love.

[931] Encyclop. Françoise, in voce Echecs.

[932] See the Introduction.

[933] See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.

[934] Collect. vol. i. p. 264.

[935] Ibid.

[936] Ency. Brit. word Chess.

[937] No. 4431.

[938] In Chaucer's Dream this piece is called fers and feers.

[939] 13 A. xviii.

[940] And revived by Claud. Bruxer and others, A. D. 1514. Burton's
Descrip. of Leicestershire, under Loughborough, p. 182.

[941] No. 451.

[942] [The white pieces above, No. 104, should be to the left, and be
opposed by the blacks, No. 105, on the right; that is to say, were the
engravings on the present page divided by the scissars, and placed as
represented in Mr. Strutt's print, the round whites would be opposite
to the round blacks.]

[943] The printed edition of Claud. Bruxer, who revived this play, in
which no doubt it is fully explained, I have not seen. It is said to
have been published by Hen. Stephanus, A. D. 1514.

[944] Part ii. sect. 2. mem. 4.

[945] Du Cange, Gloss. in voce Tabula.

[946] See the Introduction.

[947] No. 1527.

[948] No. 13, A. xviii.

[949] The whole passage runs thus: "Donne a Jacqemin Gringonneur,
peintre, pour trois jeux de cartes, à or et à diverse couleurs de
plusieurs devises, pour porter vers le dit Seigneur Roy pour son
abatement, cinquante-six sol Parisis." St. Foix, Essais sur Paris, tom.
i. p. 341.

[950] Chronic. de Petit Jean de Saintre, cap. 15.

[951] Bullet, p. 18. See also Mr. Gough on Card-playing, Archæologia,
vol. viii. p. 152 et seq.

[952] See the hon. Daines Barrington on Card-playing, Archæologia, vol.
viii. p. 135 et seq.

[953] Heineken, Idée générale d'une Collection des Estampes, pp. 237,
249.

[954] "Waltero Sturton, ad opus Regis, ad ludendum ad quatuor reges,"
viii _s._ v _d_ Anstis, History of the Garter.

[955] Warton says it seems probable that the Arabians were the
inventors of cards, which they communicated to the Constantinopolitan
Greeks. Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 316. Indeed it is very likely
they were brought into the western parts of Europe during the crusades.

[956] Henry's Hist. Brit. vol. v. book v. cap. vii.

[957] And hence originated the noble and beneficial art of printing.
These printing blocks are traced back to the year 1423, and probably
were produced at a much earlier period. Idée générale d'une Collect.
des Estampes, ut sup.

[958] An old Scotch poem, cited by Warton, speaks of cards and dice as
fashionable amusements, but of evil tendency. Hist. Poet. vol. ii. p.
316.

[959] Extract from a MS. in the Remembrancer's Office, dated December
26, an. 9 Hen. VII.

[960] Addit. to Leland's Collect. vol. iii. p. 285.

[961] Sir Will. Forrest. See Warton's Hist. Poet. vol. iii. sect. 36,
p. 311.

[962] The same statute forbade any householder to permit card-playing
in his house under the penalty of six shillings and eight pence for
every offence. Stat. an. 11 Hen. VII. cap. 2.

[963] Stow's Survey. By points he means narrow ribbons with which one
part of the dress was attached to the other.

[964] Especially Stephen Gosson, in his School of Abuse, printed
A. D 1579; and John Northbrooke, in a Treatise against Diceing,
Card-playing, Dancing, &c. without date, but apparently published soon
after the former.

[965] Cap. ix.

[966] Cap. xix.

[967] No. 17, D. iij.

[968] Black letter, without date, printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Garrick's
Collection of Old Plays.

[969] [In 1800.]

[970] Vol. vii. p. 152 et seq.

[971] Garrick's Collect. vol. i. 18.

[972] Hon. Daines Barrington on Card-playing, Archæologia, vol. viii.

[973] This play is said to have been first acted A. D. 1561; the
edition I quote from is dated 1575.

[974] Written by Jonson, Chapman, and Marlow, and printed A. D. 1605.

[975] Called also post and pair.

[976] Called Saint Lodam by Mr. Barrington, I know not upon what
authority, Archæologia, ut supra.

[977] Perhaps the same with bankafalet mentioned in the Complete
Gamester.

[978] See also Mr. Barrington, ut supra.

[979] Bullet, Recherches Hist. sur Cartes à jouer, p. 152.

[980] Perhaps this may be the same as the game called Ace of Hearts,
prohibited with all lotteries by cards and dice, an. 12 Geo. II. cap.
38, sect. 2.

[981] Vol. v. No. 323.

[982] See Des Lust und Spiel Hauses, published at Bude 1680.

[983] Antiq. Repert. vol. ii. p. 58.

[984] See Introduction.

[985] Polydore Vergil de Rerum Invent. lib. v. cap. 2.

[986] An. 4 Hen. VII. A. D. 1489.

[987] Collect. vol. iii. Append. p. 256.

[988] See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 381.

[989] Chron. of Brit. vol. iii. fol 1317.

[990] Survey of London, p. 79.

[991] Anatomie of Abuses, printed A. D. 1595.

[992] Childish, trifling.

[993] Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, fol. 247.

[994] By Blomfield, vol. ii. p. 3.

[995] Before.

[996] Each.

[997] Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. chap. xvii.

[998] Cited by Mr. Brand, notes to Bourne, p. 205.

[999] Reges Fabis creantur.

[1000] In nomine Regis de Fabâ. MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii.

[1001] Table Talk, London, 1689, title Christmas.

[1002] Circular Letter addressed to the Clergy of France, by P. de
Blois, published in 1444.

[1003] Register de Eglise de S. Stephen de Dijon, 1494.

[1004] P. de Blois, ut supra.

[1005] Encyclopédie Françoise, article Fête des Fous.

[1006] Theoph. Raynaud.

[1007] Dugdale's Monast. vol. iii. Appendix vii.

[1008] A. D. 1512. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 248; and vol.
iii. p. 390.

[1009] Of St. Paul's cathedral.

[1010] Knight's Life of Colet, p. 362.

[1011] Hist. Poet. ut supra.

[1012] Boys.

[1013] MS. Cott. Tiberius B. i.

[1014] Strype's Eccl. Mem. vol. iii. chap. 39. p. 310.

[1015] Ibid. chap. 35. p. 202.

[1016] Ibid. chap. 39. p. 310.

[1017] Invent. York Cathedral. See also Dugdale's Hist of St. Paul's,
p. 205.

[1018] Additions to Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. chap. 14. p. 175.

[1019] Ibid.

[1020] See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. iii. p. 307.

[1021] Heath's Islands of Scilly, 1750, p. 125.

[1022] Survey of Lond. p. 79.

[1023] M. Paris Hist. Aug. sub anno 1152.

[1024] Or Ross, the Warwickshire historian. Edita Hearne, p. 105.

[1025] Gloss, under the title Hock-day.

[1026] Hist. Hampshire.

[1027] See a Memoir by the Rev. Mr. Jenne, Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 224

[1028] A. D. 1002. But the time of the year does not agree. St.
Brice's-day is the 13th of November.

[1029] Memoir, ut supra.

[1030] Page 223, and Introduction.

[1031] Antiq. Vulgares, chap. 25.

[1032] Survey of London, p. 80.

[1033] In his Anatomie of Abuses, printed in 1595.

[1034] The May-pole is treated with little less ceremony by the Rev.
Thomas Hall, another Reformist, cited in the Introduction.

[1035] Archæologia, vol. i. cap. 4, p. 11.

[1036] Strype's Eccles. Mem. vol. iii. cap. 49, p. 377.

[1037] Hall, in Vit. Hen. VIII. fol. vi

[1038] Hinder or prevent

[1039] Latimer's Sermons, printed 1589

[1040] K. vol. x.

[1041] Harl. Lib. 69.

[1042] I suppose the author means tilting armour, for the purpose of
justing, here called running of courses.

[1043] See p. 143.

[1044] Hall, in Vit. Hen. VIII. an. 2, p. vi.

[1045] See an account of this book in the Introduction.

[1046] Vol. v. No. 365, first published A. D. 1712.

[1047] See Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 354.

[1048] Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 49.

[1049] Bourne's Antiq. vol. ix. chap. 27

[1050] MSS. Harl. 2354 and 2391.

[1051] The midsummer pageants at Chester are fully described in the
Introduction.

[1052] Survey of London, pp. 84, 85.

[1053] Perhaps it should be image, and resembled those commonly used in
other pageants.

[1054] Nat. Hist Oxford, p.343, and Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 154.

[1055] Eccl. Memoirs, vol. iii. chap. 39, p. 51.

[1056] Ibid. p. 309.

[1057] Eccl. Memoirs, vol. iii. chap. 49, p. 377

[1058] Table Talk, 1689, article Pope.

[1059] Heath's Description of Cornwall, p. 445

[1060] Præcedente tibicine aut tympano. Moresin. Deprav. Reliq. Orig.
in verbo vacina.

[1061] Brand's Observations on Bourne's Vulg. Antiq. chap. xxxi. p. 303.

[1062] Ibid.

[1063] Vulg. Antiq. ut supra.

[1064] Ibid.

[1065] Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. i. cap. 30.

[1066] Ibid.

[1067] Homily for the Vigil of St. John Baptist. MS. Harl.

[1068] Antiq. Vulg. chap. 30.

[1069] Dodsworth's MSS. Bid. Bob. vol. 148. fol. 97.

[1070] That is, the time the contract was made.

[1071] Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 1602, book i. p. 68.

[1072] The Anatomie of Abuses, 1595.

[1073] I rather think it should be church-yard.

[1074] Burton, Anat. Melancholy, part ii. sect. 2. cap. 4.

[1075] Vol. ii. No. 161, first printed 1711.

[1076] Vol. iii. No.

[1077] See the Introduction.

[1078] Reckoning from 1800.

[1079] Survey of London.

[1080] See p. 373. It does not appear that these lamps were made with
glass of various colours, according to the present fashion. I rather
think this improvement is perfectly modern.

[1081] A galley, or small vessel.

[1082] Act iv. scene 2.

[1083] Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. i.

[1084] I suppose he means the discharge of a cannon or two.

[1085] Princely Pleasures at Kenelworth Castle, p. 62.

[1086] Small kind of cannons.

[1087] Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. ii. p. 19.

[1088] History of all the Colleges in and about London, printed A. D.
1615.

[1089] [Before 1800.]

[1090] [Reckoning from 1800.]

[1091] [In 1800.]

[1092] See p. 375.

[1093] See p. 375; and the Introduction; whence it appears these green
men attended the pageants, and preceded the principal persons in the
procession to clear the way.

[1094] Garrick's Collection, G. vol. ii.

[1095] See p. 84.

[1096] See p. 254.

[1097] Plut. in Apophthegm. Laced. et Ælian. Var. Hist. lib. xii. cap.
15.

[1098] Val. Max. lib. viii. cap. 8.

[1099] See p. 147.

[1100] See p. 118.

[1101] See pp. 144-146.

[1102] See p. 125.

[1103] See p. 77.

[1104] See p. 78.

[1105] Garrick's Collect. I. vol. xviii.

[1106] Dictionary, word _barley-brake_.

[1107] See p. 80.

[1108] Joan. Meursi, de Lud. Græc.

[1109] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7

[1110] See p. 225.

[1111] See pp. 85, 86.

[1112] Taken from tricks of the jugglers. See p. 226.

[1113] See pp. 302, 303.

[1114] See chap. iii. p. 91, et infra.

[1115] See p. 270.

[1116] Sueton, in Vita Aug. cap. 83.

[1117] No. 112.

[1118] The poet has drawn a simile from this pastime. Æneidos, lib.
vii. lin. 378, et infra.

[1119] Harl. Lib. No. 6391.

[1120] Lib. ii. sat. 3. line 48.

[1121] See p. 337.

[1122] See p. 276.

[1123] Vol. vi. No. 466.

[1124] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1125] See p. 303.

[1126] No. 2. b. vii.

[1127] Act ii. scene the last.

[1128] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1129] No. 2, B. vii.

[1130] Addition to Bourne's Vulg. Antiq.

[1131] No. 264.

[1132] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1133] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1134] Page 391.

[1135] Lib. ii. sat. 3. line 47.

[1136] Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1137] Vol. vii. No. 504.

[1138] Page 571.

[1139] Pollux. lib. ix. cap. 7.

[1140] No. 20. D. iv.

[1141] Harl. MS. 2391.

[1142] Harl. MS. 2125.

[1143] Vol. iii. No. 246.

[1144] Vol. iv. No. 278.




INDEX.


  A B C of Aristotle, 398.

  Abbot of Misrule, 339, 340.

  Abbots, 8, 9.

    See Clergy.

  Abingdon, 353.

  Abington Abbey, 26.

  Abraham, 167.

  Ace of Roses, 320.

  Aery of Hawks, 28.

  Ælfric, Earl, 26.

  Æman, 174.

  Æthan, 174.

  Ætheric, Bishop, xxi.

  Agapæ, 364.

  Agesilaus, 380.

  Agnes of Poictou, 192.

  Alauntes, 19.

  Albans, St., 17, 150, 255.

  Alcibiades, 38.

  Alcinous, 91.

  Alea, 305.

  Ales (Church and Whitsun), xxxiv, 367.

  Alexander the Great, xxii, li.

  Alfred, xx.

  All-hallows, 391.

  Alleys (Bowling), lxiii, 268.

  Andromache (a rural), lxvi.

  Animals--baiting, teaching, imitating, &c., xlix, liii, 175,
    239, 242, 253, 256, 388.

  Anjou, Duke of, 200.

  Anlaff, a Dane, 183.

  Anne, 168, 211, 216, 230, 236, 242, 245, 247, 259.

  ---- Lady, daughter of Duke of Norfolk, 148.

  Apes, 22, 204, 239, 241, 242, 243, 257.

  Apples, diving for, 391, 396.

  Arabians, 308, 325.

  Archbishops, 9.
    See Clergy.

  Archery, lxii, 48
    bow known to Saxons and Danes, _ibid_
    archery of the Normans, 50
    by ladies, _ibid_
    forms of Saxon bows, _ibid_
    use and practice of the cross-bow, 53
    bows and arrows to be kept, 54, 56
    decay of archery, 55
    prices for bows, 58
    equipment of an archer, 59
    directions for archery, 61
    marks for shooting at, 62, 63
    feats in archery, 64
    ancient bowmen's superiority, 66
    a good archer called Arthur, 68
    prizes for archery, &c. 69, 73, 115.

  Arcubalistarians, 73.

  Arden of Feversham, 307.

  Argument and testimony compared, 51.

  Arion and Harry Goldingham, xlviii.

  Aristotle, A B C of, 398.

  Ark, Noah's, 166.

  Arms, list of under Elizabeth, 58
    at tournaments, 134, 135, 137.

  Arragon, 161, 327.

  Arrows, 59, 63, 70.
    See Archery.

  Arsnic, to save giants, xliv.

  Art of Memory, 335.

  Arthur, round table of, 140.

  ---- a good archer why called, 68.

  ---- Prince of Wales, 161, 327.

  Artillery, list of, under Elizabeth, 58.

  ---- gardens, xxxiv.

  Arundell, Robert, a good slinger, 67.

  Asaph, 174.

  Ascanius, 126.

  Asia and Asiatics, 71 199, 281, 306, 308, 325.

  Asses, Ass-racing, 22, 47, 256, 346.

  Astley (Amphitheatre), 90, 230, 246, 247, 265.

  Athelstan, 18, 31, 40.

  Attitudes for archery, 61.

  Augustus, 384.

  Austria, Duke of, 179.

  Automaton chess-player, 201.

  Axes, combats with, 149.
    See Justs.


  Baboon, 259.

  Babylon, 308.

  Backgammon, xxi, 319.

  Badger, 18, 22, 280.

  Bagpipes, 194, 195.

  Baiting animals with dogs, lii, liii, 276, 280.

  Balancing, 231, 232, 233, 234, 242.

  Balistarii, 52, 73.

  Ball, games with, 91 to 110, 173, 195, 196, 204, 231, 300.

  ---- of little dogs, 167.

  Ballad-singers, 287.
    See Joculators.

  Balloon-ball, 96.

  Ban-dogs, 258.

  Bandy-ball, 101, 102.

  Banners, 134, 135, 136.

  Baptism of Bells, 292.

  Bar, throwing of, 75, 76, 369.

  Baraton, Martin, 196.

  Barbary horses, 42.

  Barber, a bagpiper, 194, 195.

  Barbers, 287, 337.

  Bards, 170.
    See Minstrels.

  Barge, Lord Mayor's, 307.

  Barley-brake, 382.

  Barlo, Marquis of, 67.

  Barnard Peres, 337.

  Barnet, 255.

  Base, or Prisoners' Bars, 78, 381.

  Bason-ringing, 294.

  Basset, 335.

  Bastard dogs, 19.

  ---- swords, xxix.

  Baste the Bear, 387.

  Bastile, 319.

  Bat for hurling, &c., 91.
    See Ball.

  Bath, 370.

  ----, Lord, 210.

  Batting (Bird), 38.

  Battle, tournaments like, 131, 132.

  Bayeaux tapestry, 4.

  Bean, King of the, 343, 400.

  Bears, bear-baiting, bear-garden, &c., xlviii, 18, 176, 204, 211,
    227, 239, 256, 257, 258, 259, 262, 264.

  ---- game of "Baste the Bear," 387.

  Beast, a game at cards, 335.

  Beasts for hunting, 17, 22.

  ---- of chase, 17, 22.

  Beasts of flight, 18.

  Becket, Thomas à, 11.

  Bedford-square archery, 66.

  Beef-steak, dressing of, 236.

  Beelzebub, 153, 201.

  Bell, Adam, 65, 185.

  Bell Savage, shows at the, 356.

  Bells for ringing, hawk-bells, prize-bells, &c., 291, 32, 39, 42, 46,
    223, 255.

  ---- (Dumb), 77.

  Benjamin Street, 298.

  Benjamites, slingers, 71.

  Beoric, king's falconer, 27.

  Berdic, king's joculator, 195, 205.

  Bermondsey, Southwark, 35, 377.

  Berners, Juliana, 17.

  ----, Lord, 17.

  Bessy (the), 348.

  Beverley, 189, 195, 346.

  Bevis of Southampton, 185.

  Bewits, or hawk's bells, 32.

  Bible-plays. See Plays.

  Billiards, 270, 299.

  Binding Tuesday, 350.

  Birds, tutoring, catching, imitating, &c., 28, 38, 39, 248, 255, 390.
    See Hawking, Partridge, &c.

  Bishop of Fools, 345.

  ---- (Boy), 346.

  Bishops, 8, 9, 11.
    See Clergy.

  Bitterns, 37.

  Blackfriars bridge, 90.

  Bladder (blown), foot-ball, 101.

  Blessing of Bells, 292.

  Blie, 133.

  Blind-man's-buff, 392, 393.

  Blois, Charles, Earl of, 52.

  Blondel, a minstrel, 179.

  Blow Point, 403.

  Boar-hunting, fighting, &c., 5, 17, 23, 252, 256.

  Boats, 88, 146.

  Bob-cherry, 391.

  Bodmin, xxxvii.

  Bone Ace, 335.

  Bonfires, 360, 372.

  Boniface, or Winifred, Archbishop of Mons, 25.

  Bonner, Bishop, 157.

  Borough, Sir Ed., 68.

  Boss-out, or Boss and Span, 384.

  Boteler, John de, 194.

  Bourbon, Duke of, 93.

  Bow and Arrows, lxii, 48, 58, 63, 73, 379.

  Bowl (Wassail), 363.

  Bowling, lxii, lxiii, 266, 270.

  Box (Dice), 306.

  Boxley, Kent, 165.

  Boy Bishop, 346.

  Boys, 379 to 400.

  Braintree fair, 287.

  Brakely, 133.

  Brandenborow, Marquis of, 94.

  Bread, 23.

  Breakfast (Royal), 356.

  Breeches formerly worn by ladies, 14.

  Breslaw, juggler, 249, 255.

  Bretail, Robert de, 128.

  Bridal (Country), 119.

  British Museum, 79, 99.

  Brittany, 291.

  Broad-street, 68.

  Brunanburgh, victory at, 3.

  Bubble the justice, 274.

  Bucket of water, tilting at, 120.

  Buckingham, 19.

  Buckler-play, 262.

  Bucks. See Deer.

  Buffoons. See Joculators.

  Buling Hans, a mountebank, 236.

  Bull-baiting and Bull-running, xliv, liii, liv, 256, 257, 259, 276,
    277.

  ---- dogs, 19, 257, 259.

  ---- John, game called, 275.

  Bullen, Anne, 374.

  Bulrushes, 86.

  Bumble-puppy, 274, 275.

  Burford, Ox., 46, 362.

  Burgundy, old Duke of, 93.

  Burlesque Music, 293.

  Burlettas, 290.

  Bury St. Edmund's, 8, 14, 27, 29.

  Butchers' hounds, 20.

  Butt (Water), tilting at, 120.

  Butterfly and boy, 389.

  Butts, archery, 53, 58, 62, 64, 65.

  Byrhtric, a Saxon, 26.


  Caedmon, 177.

  Caiaphas, 153.

  Cakes, tansy, 349.

  Calculation, methods of, 313.

  Caledonians, xix.

  Calf (Golden), 296.

  Calves-head feast, 42.

  Cambuc, 101.

  Camp-ball, 101.

  Candles, play about lighting, 395.

  Cane Game, 128.

  Canute, xxi, 4, 10, 309.

  Caparison for a hawk, 32.

  Capet, Hugh, 40.

  Car, Robert, Earl of Somerset, 229.

  Cards, xxxii, xxxiii, xxxix, 323 to 336.

  ----, Houses of, 397.

  Carpet-working, lxvi.

  Carreau, French game called, 266.

  Cast of Hawks, 36.

  Castanets, 223.

  Casting the bar, 75.

  Cat, pole-cat, wild-cat, 18, 22, 109.

  Cat after mouse, 381.

  Catabanque, 185.

  Catherine of Portugal, 69, 335.

  ---- of Arragon, 161, 327.

  Cauldron, Iron, a play with, 400.

  Ceres, 364.

  Chabloun, Earl of, 130.

  Chaffinches, li.

  Chaffnets, 38.

  Chaldea, 308.

  Chalezun, castle of, 52.

  Challenger to justs and tournaments, xxix, 148, 263.

  Chan (Great), 199.

  Changes, ringing of, 291.

  Charing-cross, a mews, 37, 242.

  Charlemagne, 175.

  Charles I., lvii, 56, 69, 309.

  ---- II., xliv, 46, 59, 68, 220, 235.

  ---- V. of France, 324.

  ---- VI. of France, 76, 217, 252, 323, 324.

  ---- VII. of France, 311.

  Charles the Bald, 132.

  Charms for hawks, 34.

  Chartley-hall, 297.

  Chase, beasts of, 17.

  Chases. See Forests.

  Cheapside pageants, xli.

  Cheats, 241.
    See Joculators.

  Cheek-music, 201.

  Chelsea, 89.

  Cherry (Bob), 391.

  Cheshire, 79, 370.

  Chess, xxi, lxv, 300 to 310.

  Chester, 41, 88, 95, 101, 184, 277.

  Cheveretter, Janino de, 194, 203.

  Childermas, 346, 347.

  Childrens' plays, 379 to 400.

  Chiltre (The), 15.

  Chimney-sweepers, 358.

  China, 281, 390.

  Chivalry, xxvii.

  Christmas, 118, 156, 222, 251, 252, 285, 327, 339 to 349, 370.

  Chuck-farthing, 386.

  Churches--plays, abuses, festivals, ales, in, 25, 150, 157, 345, 346,
    348, 365, 367.

  Churn, or corn, supper, 364.

  Circus in St. George's-fields, 230, 245, 246.

  Clarencieux, king at arms, 135.

  Cleavers (marrow-bones and), 294.

  Clench of Barnet, li, 255.

  Cleremont, Earl of, 129.

  Clergy, xxi, liv, lx, 8, 9, 11, 21, 24, 31, 37, 150, 152, 155,
    156, 157, 183, 190, 192, 241, 256, 306, 344.

  Clerkenwell, 81, 263, 289, 298.

  ----, Marquis of, 67.

  Cleveland, Duchess of, 221.

  Closh, game of, 271.

  Cloudesle, William, an archer, 95.

  Clown, 204.

  Club-ball, 104, 105.

  Clubs, suit of, 324.

  Clym of the Clough, 65, 185.

  Coaches, hackney--a horse and his keeper parading in one, 245.

  Coat and Badge, rowing for the, 89.

  Coblers, 22.

  Cock--cock-fighting, cock-throwing, &c., xxxiv, liii, 248, 349, 370,
    394.

  Cockchafers, &c. spinning of, 388, 389.

  Cock-pit, 281.

  Cockneys, 343.

  Coleshill Heath, Warwickshire, 47.

  Colet, Dean, 346.

  Coll, the tregetour, 202.

  Colts, 22.

  Columbines, king of, 327, 328, 329, 330.

  Combats (ordeal), lists for, 138.

  Concerts, 287.

  Conjurer, the dumb, li.

  Constantine of Wales, 3, 18.

  Constantinople, 131.

  Cooks, 22.

  Coots, 32.

  Corcyra, 91.

  Corineus, giant, xlii.

  Corners, Four, 273.

  Cornhill, 118, 351.

  Cornish and Cornwall, 62, 63, 67, 80, 98, 158, 363, 367, 382.

  Corpus Christi, mystery called, 151.

  Costly Colours, 335.

  Cotswold, game of, xxxvi.

  Covent Garden theatre, xxx, l.

  Coventry Play (the), xlviii, xlix, 151.

  Counters, 327.

  Country Bridal, 119.

  ---- Plays, 159.
    See Plays.

  Courcy, Earl of Ulster, 264.

  Court, or Coat, Cards, 332.

  ---- Plays, 159.
    See Plays.

  Cow and Cow-hide, 250, 358.

  Cowdry, in Suss., 14.

  Crambo, 398.

  Cranes, 25, 37.

  Crawl, a showman, 166, 247.

  Creag, 403.

  Cressets, xlvi, 247, 373.

  Cressy, battle of, 52.

  Cribbage, 335.

  Cricket, 106.

  Crimp, 336.

  Criol, Bertram de, 16.

  Cross-bow, 51.
    See Archery.

  ---- Purposes, 403.

  Cross-and-Pile, 337.

  Crotonians, 242.

  Crowds, violins, xxxiv.

  Crown coffee-house, 335.

  Croyland, Abbot of, 291, 292.

  Cruelty to animals, 388, 389.

  Cuckolds, 22.

  Cuckows, 25.

  Cudgel players, 369.

  Cumberland sailing society, 90.

  Cups (prize), 20, 90.

  Cure of Hawks, 33.

  Curlews, 37.

  Curs, 20.
    See Dogs.

  Cushion dance, 297.

  ---- working, lxiv.

  Cut-work by ladies, lxvi.

  Cuthred, King of W. Saxons, 363.


  Dances, Dancers, Dancing Animals, and Rope-dancing, xlvii, lxv,
    196, 207 to 228, 239 to 259, 295, 342, 349, 357.

  Danes, xx, lix, 26, 48, 49, 183, 257, 306, 350.

  Darts, 75, 76.

  Datchet-mead races, 46.

  David, 71, 174, 293.

  D'Eu, Count, 93.

  Dee river, 88.

  Deer, xxv, 9, 17, 18, 20, 22, 54.

  Defence, science of, 262.

  Deformity curiously imitated, 235.

  Delphos Bells, 51.

  Demihags, 58.

  Derbyshire, 79, 279, 280.

  Deserter acted, 249.

  Devil and Devils, 153, 201, 365.

  ---- among the Taylors, 385.

  Devil's dance, 342.

  Devonshire, 80, 382.

  ---- Duke of, 279.

  Dice, xxxii, xxxiii, lix, 305, 306.

  Diomedes, 308.

  Discus, 74.

  Disquirements, or Mummings, 251.

  Dislocation curiously imitated, 235.

  Diving, 85.

  ---- apple diving, 391.

  Dobney's, near Islington, 246.

  Dogget's Coat and Badge, 89.

  Dogs, 2, 19, 20, 22, 43, 167, 204, 239, 243, 246, 253, 257, 258, 259,
    276, 284.

  ---- a ball of little dogs, 167.

  Domino, 322.

  Dort in Holland, 33.

  Double wicket, 106.

  Dover, Rob., xxxvi.

  Doves, 37.

  Dragon (Snap), 397.

  Dragons, xl, 223, 224, 342, 360, 362, 363, 374.

  Dramas. See Plays.

  Draughts, 316.

  Draw-bridge on London-bridge, xlii.

  Drawing Dun out of the Mire, 403.

  Dresses, hunting, 15.

  ---- equipment for an archer, 59.

  ---- Minstrels', 189.

  ---- caparison of a hawk, 32.

  Drury-lane, 282.

  Duck-hunting, 284.

  ---- and Owl, 285.

  Ducks and Drakes, 387.

  Duke, appropriate hawks of a, 37.

  ---- of Shoreditch, 67, 68.

  Dumb Bells, 77.

  Dun (drawing out of the Mire), 403.

  Dunghill dogs, 20.

  Dunstable, 150.

  Dunstan, St. xx, 171.

  Dutch, xxxix, 220, 233, 234, 236, 270, 273.

  Duzedeys, Perrot, 194.


  Eagles, 34, 37.

  Earls--their hawk, and their tax for tournaments, 37, 133.

  Easter, 41, 94, 116, 349, 367.

  Eating fire and stones, 236.

  ---- hasty-pudding, 367.

  Ecclesiastics. See Clergy.

  Edelswitha, 40.

  Eden, Sir Fred, 144.

  Edgar, 4, 18, 21, 88, 171, 365.

  Edmund, King of East Angles, 27, 49.

  Education of Princes, James I. on, xxxi.

  Edward the Confessor, 26, 34.

  ---- I., 7, 16, 52, 130, 140, 190, 194, 260, 325, 403.

  ---- II., lx, 17, 183, 188, 191, 203, 210, 227, 337.

  ---- III., lx, lxi, 19, 28, 34, 43, 55, 75, 100, 102, 104, 140,
    159, 189, 193, 194, 195, 222, 235, 281, 344.

  ---- IV., lxi, 55, 58, 139, 148, 184, 189, 194, 274, 325, 403.

  ---- VI., xliii, 69, 218, 328, 340, 354, 362.

  Edwin King of Northumberland, xxxvii.

  Egerton, Sir P, 43.

  Egg dance, 225.

  Eggs of hawks, 35.

  Elizabeth, xlii, xlvi, lvi, 14, 44, 45, 58, 67, 77, 95, 99, 119,
    121, 147, 159, 162, 185, 203, 205, 224, 252, 257, 296, 374, 378.

  ----, daughter of Ed. I. 194.

  Elk, 18.

  Eltham, Hants, 375.

  Elverton, Derb., 367.

  Elvetham, Hants, 95.

  Elysian Fields, 377.

  Emanuel Comminus, 131.

  Emperors, appropriate hawks of, 37
    meanness of one, 192.

  Enchanters, 199, 200.

  Enclosures, 20, 21, 50, 56.

  Eneas, 126.

  Engravings in the work, notice of, lxvi.

  Entertainments, royal and noble, xxxviii, xliv.

  E. O. tables, 307.

  Epiphany, 344.

  Ervalton of Spain, 265.

  Esau, 50.

  Esquires and Esquireship, xxv, 37, 115, 135, 137.

  Essex, 19, 79, 108, 349.

  Ethelbald, King of Mercia, 362.

  Ethelbert, King of Kent, 25.

  Ethelred the unready, 350.

  Eton Montem, 347.

  Eu, Count d', 93.

  Eubœa, 305, 308.

  Even or Odd, 386.

  Evil Merodac, 308.

  Eurydice, 377.

  Exorcism of bells, 292.


  Fabulators, 180.
    See Joculators.

  Fair sex, 143.
    See Ladies.

  Fairs, 366, 369.

  Falcon, 37.
    See Hawking.

  Falconer, 24, 28.

  Fantoccini, 167.

  Feathers, 59, 60, 234.

  Fenchurch-street, 353.

  Ferrers, George, 340.

  Ferrets, 22.

  Festival of Fools, 344, 345.

  Fiddle without strings, music with, 255.

  Fiddlers, 186.
    See Minstrels.

  Figgum, 403.

  Fighting of cocks. See Cock-fighting.

  Fingers, games with, 403.

  Fireworks, 374.

  Fishing and Fowling, 38.

  Fives, 95.

  Flight, beasts of sweet and of stinking, 18.

  Flora, 351, 357.

  Florentines, xlii.

  Flower de luce, a beast called, xliii, xlv.

  Flute, imitation of, 255.

  Foix, Earl of, 7, 194, 264.

  Fol, Rob. le, 194.

  Fool, or Fools, 152, 153, 154, 236.

  Fool's dance, 221, 222.

  ---- bolt, 55.

  ---- festival, 345.

  ---- plough, 348.

  Foot, standing on one, 383
    contest with the feet, 121.

  ---- ball, 100, 369.

  ---- racing, 77, 101.

  Forcer, Francis, musician, 290.

  Forests (Royal), xxi, 6, 9, 17, 19, 22, 34, 54, 133.

  Fote in Bosom, 47.

  Four Corners, 273.

  ---- Kings, 325.

  Fowling and Fishing, 38.

  Fox, 5, 17, 18, 22, 23, 381.

  ---- and Geese, 318.

  France and French, 28, 92, 94, 131, 132, 140, 179, 191, 257, 266,
    270, 299, 309, 316, 317, 319, 323, 324.

  Frederic Barbarossa, 25.

  Freize jerkin, 29.

  French Draughts, 316.

  Friar Tuck, 354.

  Friars, 22.
    See Clergy.

  Frog in the middle, the, 393.

  Frying-pan music, 294.

  Fulco Guarine, 309.

  Fulimart, 18.

  Fulke, Dr. 316.


  Game--names of beasts of sport, 17, 31, 50.

  ---- cocks, 281.
    See Cock-fighting.

  ---- laws, xxi, 4, 6, 8, 20, 34, 35.

  ---- of Goose, 336.

  ---- The solitary Game, 319.

  Gaming, xxi, lix to lxii, 44, 45, 307, 327, 328.

  Gardens, Artillery, xxxiv.

  ---- Dorset Garden, xxxiv.

  Gardens, Marybone, 290.

  ---- Northumberland public, lxiii.

  ---- Paris Garden, lvi, 256, 257.

  ---- Ranelagh, 289, 377.

  ---- Spring, or Vauxhall, 288.

  Garter, Order of, 141.

  Gascoygne, Thomas, poet, xlvii, 252, 378.

  Gaston, Earl of Foix, 7, 194, 264.

  Gaunt, John of, 132, 191, 279.

  Geese, 22, 37, 349.

  Genoese, 52, 62.

  Geoffry, Lord of Previlli, 132.

  George I., 46.

  ---- II., 376.

  ---- III., 374.

  Germans, 20, 131, 132, 141, 143, 214, 306, 325, 336.

  Geofrey, Abbot of St. Albans, 150.

  Giants (pageant), xl, xli, xlii, xliii, 147, 362.

  Gladiators, 260.

  Gleek, 334.

  Gleemen, 171, 173, 183, 213, 359.
    See Joculators.

  Globe Tavern, near Hungerford-market, 168.

  Gloves, hawks, 33.

  Gloucester, Thomas, Duke of, 138.

  Goats, 22, 253.

  Godefroy, Earl of Bologne, xli.

  Goff, game of, 101, 102, 103.

  Gog-magog, xlii.

  Golden Calf, 296.

  Goldfinches, 38.

  Goldingham, Harry and Arion, xlviii.

  Goliah, 71.

  Goose, game of, 336.

  ---- (Fox and), 318.

  Gordon, Will, 158.

  Goshawks. See Hawking.

  Grace, time of, in hunting, 20, 23.

  Gray, George, fencer, 263.

  Great Chan, performance by, 199.

  Greeks, 74, 84, 87, 89, 281, 303, 305, 308, 313, 314, 325, 338, 380,
    383, 385, 386, 387, 390, 392, 393, 398, 400, 403.

  Green, Jack in the, 358.

  ---- man, 294, 375, 377, 378.

  ---- Park, 376.

  Greens (Bowling), lxiii, 268.

  Greenwich, xxix, 156, 161, 162, 257, 355, 374.

  Gregory, Pope, 365.

  Groat (Shove), 301.

  Gresco, 333.

  Grey, or Badger, 18, 280.

  ---- waters of, 15

  ---- (Henry de), of Codnor, 16.

  ---- hounds, 7, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 280.

  Gridiron music, 294.

  Grief, how counteracted, lii.

  Gringonneur, Jacquemin, 323.

  Grinning-match, 371.

  Grooms of tutored greyhounds, 21.

  Guards, officers of, 356.

  Guarine, Fulco, 309.

  Guary miracle (the), 158.

  Guilford, 159.

  Gums, 31, 379.

  Gyfford, John, 17.


  Hag-butts, 58.

  Hags (Demi), 58.

  Half-bowl, 274.

  Halgaver Moor, Cornw., xxxvii.

  Haliday, Walter, 184.

  Hall, Jacob, rope-dancer, 220.

  Hammer-throwing, xxxii, 75.

  Hammersmith, 237.

  Hampshire, 350.

  Hampstead, 259.

  Hand-ball, 91, 95, 292, 349.

  ---- guns, 54, 57.
    See Bow.

  ---- in Hand, lxi.

  Handel, 289, 290.

  Hands--persons equally right and left handed, 71.

  Handy-dandy, 397.

  Hart, 17, 18.
    See Deer.

  Harvest-home, 363.

  Hastings, 175.

  Hasty-pudding, eating, 372.

  Hatfield, 195.

  ---- House, 257.

  Hawking, xxxi, xxxiii
    travelling with hawks, &c., 4, 6, 7, 8, 11
    how hawking conducted for ladies, 11
    hawks paid in tribute, 16
    early treatise on hawking, &c., 17, 24
    value of hawks, 24, 25
    hawks, ensigns of nobility, 24
    origin of hawking, 25
    hawks and hounds taken to church, 25
    training hawks essential to the education of a gentleman, 25
    romantic story about hawking, 26
    among Saxons, 29
    decline of hawking, 31
    method of hawking, 31
    caparison of hawks, 32
    their value, 34, 36
    early treatises on hawking, 33
    different species of hawks, 36, 37
    law against having any but foreign ones, 35
    terms used in hawking, 37.

  Hay, or Raye, dance, 297.

  Haye, a fence-work of netting, 20.

  Haymarket Theatre, l, 221.

  Hazel wands, 62.

  Head or Tail, 337.

  Health-drinkers, lviii,lxiii.

  ----, public, bonfires for, 372.

  Helmets, 134, 139, 140, 264.

  Henchmen, 362.

  Hen (threshing the fat), 348.

  Henry I., 20, 187, 195.

  ---- II., 9, 10, 11, 15, 40, 76, 132, 192, 256, 309.

  ---- III., lx, 9, 72, 81, 105, 117, 140.

  ---- IV., 7, 17, 151.

  ---- V., 17, 137, 202.

  ---- VI., 11, 81.

  ---- VII., xxviii, xlvi, lx, 11, 81, 35, 54, 58, 68, 93, 148, 186,
    195, 327, 352, 357, 372.

  ---- VIII., xxx, xli, xliii, 8, 32, 37, 56, 67, 68, 75, 94, 160,
    161, 205, 251, 252, 254, 262, 269, 272, 286, 287, 295, 328, 347,
    354, 356, 362.

  ---- I. Emperor, 132.

  ---- III. ---- 192.

  ---- II. of France, 129.

  ---- son of James I., 103, 298, 385.

  Heralds and Heraldry, 17, 135, 138, 139.

  Herbert, Sir W. 307.

  Hercules, 98.

  Hermits, 22.

  Herodias, 208, 209.

  Herons, 34, 37.

  Hertford, 219.

  ---- Earl of, 375.

  Hertfordshire, 15, 274.

  Heywood, Master of St. Paul's School, 220.

  Hide and Seek, 381, 400.

  Higgins, a posture-master, 236.

  High Game, 335.

  Hinguar, 27.

  Hippas, 84.

  Hitchin, Herts, 22.

  Hobby-horses, xliv, 224, 254, 341, 342.

  Hock Tuesday and Hocking, 162, 349, 350.

  Hockley in the Hole, li, 259, 263.

  Hocus Pocus, 206.

  Hog, learned, 248.

  Hoglard, John de, 195.

  Holland, John, Earl of, 194.

  Holy Land, 128.

  Home (Harvest), 363.

  Hoodman-blind, 392, 393.

  Hoods for hawks, 32.

  Hoops, leaping through, &c., 229, 383.

  Hopping, 225, 366, 382, 383.

  Horn-blowing, xxxii, 12, 19, 30, 172.

  Horse-collar, grinning through, 371.

  ---- racing and Horses
    tribute in horses, &c., 16
    horses trained to conceal sportsmen, 38
    racing in Smithfield, 40
    seasons for racing, 41
    Chester races, 41
    Barbary horses, 42
    value of racers, 43
    racers of romance, 44
    racing, a liberal pastime, 44
    breed of horses attended to, 44
    royal patrons of racing, 45
    Hyde Park races, 46, 47
    Stamford races, 43
    tricks and performances by horses, 242 to 246
    horses baited with dogs, &c., 243, 357, 380.

  ---- (Stalking), 38.

  Hospitality on saints' days, &c., 373.

  Hot-cockles, 392, 393.

  Hounds, 7, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 25.
    See Greyhounds.

  Houses (card), 397.

  Hubba, 27.

  Huffe-cap, 368.

  Hug, Cornish, 80.

  Hugh Capet, 40.

  Hughes's Royal Circus, 246.

  Hugo Petroleonis, 10.

  Hungary, King of, 28.

  Hungerford, Sir Ed., 69.

  Hunting, xxv, xxxi, xxxiii
    more ancient than hawking, 1
    among the Britons, 2
    the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, 3, 4, 5, 6
    hunting swine and the wild-boar, 5
    how conducted for ladies, 11
    hunting dresses, 14, 15
    hunting privileges of Londoners, 15
    beasts of sport, 17
    early treatises on hunting, 17
    different modes of hunting, 20
    in enclosures, 20
    hunting terms, 22.

  ---- (Duck), 284, 285.

  ---- (Squirrel), 285.

  ---- "Hunt the Fox," 381.

  ---- "Hunt the Squirrel," 297.

  ---- "Hunt the Slipper," 387.

  Hurling, 98.

  Husbands, 22.

  Hustle (Pitch and), 276.

  Hyde Park, 46, 88.


  Ice sliding, 86, 382, 384.

  Idethun, 174.

  Illuminations, 373.

  Imitations of animals, 249 to 256.

  Infection, bonfires against, 372, 373.

  Iniquity, a dramatic character, 153.

  Innocents' day, 346, 347.

  Installation, mock, at schools, 396.

  Interludes, 156.
    See Plays.

  Ireland, a vaulter, 230.

  Isabel of Bavaria, 217, 252, 310.

  Ishmael in the desert, 50.

  Islington, 67.

  Italy and Italians, lii, 112, 120, 133, 141, 211.


  Jack in the Green, 358.

  ---- of the Clock-house, 164.

  ---- Pudding, 375.

  James I., xxxi, lvi, 7, 36, 46, 56, 201, 229, 254, 282, 298, 304,
    307, 375.

  ---- II., 167, 220, 236, 286.

  Janglers, 181, 192.
    See Minstrels.

  Japers, 181.
    See Minstrels.

  Jerkin (Frieze), 29.

  Jermin, Sir T., 29, 282.

  Jervis (Justice), 301.

  Jesses, a hawk's, 32.

  Jestors, Jestours, 180.
    See Minstrels.

  Jewin-street, 282.

  Jews, 94, 296, 364.

  Jigs, 297.

  Jingling-match, 370.

  Joculators, 197
    their performances ascribed to magic, 198
    Asiatic jugglers, 199
    their tricks accounted for, 201
    Rykell, a tregetour, 202
    privileges of king's jugglers, 205
    disrepute of modern jugglers, 205
    dancing, tumbling, and balancing by joculators, 205, 208
    Herodias tumbling, 208, 209
    various modes of dancing and tumbling, 211
    representations of tumbling, 211, 212
    gleemens' dances, 213
    sword-dancing, rope-dancing, 214 to 221
    Morris-dance, 223
    the posture-master, 235
    mountebanks, 236
    balancing, 231
    the tinker, 237
    animals trained for baiting, &c. by joculators, 239 to 259
    sword-play, 259, 293.
    See Minstrels.

  John Bull, game called, 275.

  ---- (King), 264, 278, 309.

  ---- I. of Castile, 324.

  ---- of Gaunt, 141, 279.

  ---- de Holland, 141.

  ---- (St.), 12, 16, 34, 43, 209.

  Judges looking big as lions, xli.

  Jugglers, 181, 182, 185, 193, 199.
    See Minstrels, Joculators.

  Justice Jervis, 301.

  Justinian, 116.

  Justs, xxi, xxvii, xxviii
    challenges to, &c. 111, 148, 263
    difference from tournaments, 125
    law for, 133
    justs represented, 142
    peculiarly in honour of the ladies
    the lance of the ladies, 143
    great splendour of justs, &c., 143, 146, 355.


  Kayles, 270.

  Kenilworth, xlii, xlvi, 19, 20, 117, 140, 162, 211, 252.

  Kent, 15, 25.

  Kenulph, King of the Mercians, 26.

  Kern-baby, or Corn-baby, 364.

  Keygwyn, John, 158.

  Kidlington, Oxon. 358.

  King, his hawks, 37.

  ---- birth-day, 376.

  ---- deer. See Deer.

  ---- duty to God, by James I., xxxi.

  ---- of the bean, 343, 400.

  ---- Cockneys, 343.

  ---- jugglers, 205.

  ---- minstrels, 185, 189, 190, 194.

  ---- and Queen, game of, 60.

  Kings, ancient splendour of, xxvii, 88.

  ---- at arms, 135.

  Kissing-dance, 297.

  Kite-flying, 390.

  Kittle-pins, 272.

  Knave of pinks, 328.

  ---- out of doors, 35.

  Knevyt, Anthony, 57.

  Knights and Knighthood, xxii, xxiv, 37, 120, 125, 133, 135, 137,
    139, 140, 141, 143.

  Knives, and knives and balls, and knives of jugglers, 137, 173, 203,
    231, 294.

  Knowsley, Thomas, cryer, 277.

  Kolson, a northern hero, xix, 88.


  Lace-making, by ladies, lxv.

  Ladder-dance, 226.

  Ladies, xxvii, xxxv, liv, lxiv to lxvi, 11, 13, 14, 22, 29, 30, 31,
    37, 50, 91, 97, 104, 105, 138, 139, 143, 148, 257, 263, 287, 366.
    See also Women.

  Ladies' puppies, 26.

  Lady of the Lamb, 358.

  Lamb, Lady of the, 358.

  Lambeth, 350.

  Lamps (Glass), 373.

  Lance of the Ladies, 143.

  Lances, 125, 139.

  Lansquenet, 335.

  Lanterloo, 335.

  Larks, li, 38, 39.

  Latimer, Bishop, 354.

  Laund, Perrot de la, 194.

  Laws, Game. See Game Laws.

  Lazarus, 166.

  Leadenhall, 40, 118.

  Leap-frog, 382.

  Leaping and Vaulting, 229, 230.

  Learned pig, 248.

  Learning, xxxii, xxxvii.

  Ledo, a Greek, 308.

  Leicester, Abbot of, 11.

  ---- Earl of, 128.
    See Kenilworth.

  Lemors, dogs called, 20.

  Lent, xxiii, 126, 151, 290, 334.

  Leopards, 22.

  Letters described by skating, 88.

  Leufe Castle, 200.

  Lincoln's Inn Society, 343.

  Lions, 22.

  Lists and Barriers, 131.
    See Tournaments.

  Little Goes, 399.

  Living Quintain, 120.

  Loggats, 271, 272.

  Lombards, 94.

  Lombardy, game of, 322.

  London and Londoners; exercises, pastimes, privileges, &c. of, xxiii,
    xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxix, xlvi, lv, lvii, lxii, 16, 55, 56, 57,
    66, 69, 75, 76, 80, 86, 87, 90, 92, 126, 146, 147, 150, 186, 219,
    220, 252, 256, 261, 262, 269, 274, 281, 284, 286, 296, 302, 316,
    325, 327, 347, 349, 358, 359, 361, 362, 372, 375.
    See Finsbury, Lord Mayor, Shoreditch, &c.

  Long Bow. See Bow.

  Long-bowling, 269.

  Longchamp, Bishop, 187.

  Lord and Lady of the May, 353.

  ---- Mayor, xxxvi, xxxix, xli, 81, 89, 340, 361, 374.

  ---- of Misrule, 339, 340, 341.

  Lorem, Johan de Mees de, 189.

  Lothbroc, story about, 26.

  Lotteries, childrens', 398.

  Lovain, 247.

  Love-feasts, 364.

  Love perfecting Valor, 143.

  Louis XIII., 245.

  Louis, Emperor, 132.

  Lowbelling, 38.

  Luce, a beast called, xliii, xlv.

  Lydians, 91, 304.

  Lyon, William de, 93.

  Lytell John, 354.


  Maces, 129.

  Mad-bull, bequest about, 278.

  Madely Manor, 298.

  Madrid, 280.

  Magic-lanthorn, 198, 201.

  Mahometan paradise, 288.

  Maid Marian, 353, 354.

  Main (Welch), 282.

  Making and Marring, 403.

  Mall in St. James's Park, 103.

  Mallards, 37.

  Mandeville, Sir J., 199, 201.

  Marbles, 384.

  Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., 327.

  Margot, a French lady, 94.

  Marian (Maid), 353, 354.

  Marks for shooting at, 62, 65.

  Marriages, game of quintain at, 119.

  Marrow-bones and Cleavers, 294.

  Martins, 17, 18, 22.

  Mary, xli, 58, 210, 219, 257, 347, 362, 372.

  Marybone Gardens, 290, 376.

  Masquerades, 251.

  Mass, burlesque, 346.

  Massey, Master, 43.

  Master of Defence, 262.

  ---- of the game, 17, 20, 21.

  ---- of King's revels, 340.

  Match (quick), 376.

  Matilda, Queen of Hen. II., 192.

  Matrimony, game of, 337.

  Mattock, balance-master, 234.

  Maximilian, Emperor, 94, 157.

  May-games, May-day, and May-poles, lvii, 351 to 358.

  Mecheln, Israel Van, 332.

  Melitus (Abbot), 365.

  Men not so easily taught as children, 62.

  Mendlesham, John le, 194.

  Menelaüs, 210.

  Merchant Taylors' Hall, 67.

  Mercia, 362.

  Merelles, or nine men's morris, 317.

  Meritot, or Merry-trotter, a swing, 302.

  Merlin, 37.

  Merry Andrew, 236, 370.

  ---- makers. See Minstrels.

  Merrythought [Meritot], 302.

  Messina, 128.

  Metromachia, 316.

  Mews at Charing-cross, 37.

  Mewtas, Peter, 57.

  Middlesex, 15.

  Middleton, Sir T., 42.

  Midsummer Eve, 359, 360.

  Milan, 33.

  Mile-end archers, 68.

  Miles, James, performer, 226.

  Military Sports, xxvii to xxxi.
    See Archery, &c.

  Milk-maids (May), 357.

  Mimes, or Mimics, 171.
    See Minstrels.

  Minstrels, Merrymakers, &c., lii, 170
    northern scalds, 171
    Saxon gleemen, 171, 172
    plays with balls and knives, 173
    a very distinguished minstrel, 175
    Saxon harpers, 177
    jestours, 180, 181, 182
    guild of minstrels, 184
    abuses and decline of minstrelsy, 185
    minstrels satyrists and flatterers, 186
    anecdotes and dress of minstrels, 189, 190
    rewards to them, 192, 194
    their profligacy, 192, 205
    sometimes dancing-masters, 196
    other notices, 279, 286, 287, 293, 358, 361, 363.
    See Joculators.

  Minuets on the Serpentine ice, 88.

  Miracle plays, 150, 158.
    See Plays.

  Mississippi, 300.

  Mixeberg, 133.

  Moles, 22.

  Monasteries, 346.
    See Clergy.

  Monday, Plough, 348.

  Mongrels, 20.

  Monkeys, l, li, 204, 221, 239, 241, 259.

  Monks, 10.
    See Clergy.

  Mons, Winifred, Archbishop of, 25

  Monson, Sir T., 36.

  Montacute, Lord, 14.

  Montague House, 79.

  Montein (Eton), 347.

  Moody, John, 32.

  Moorflelds, 68.

  Moors, 252, 384.

  Moralities, plays called, 153.
    See Plays.

  More, Sir T., 283.

  Moreland, S. founder of Vauxhall, 288.

  Morging, Lord, 68.

  Morisco, Spanish, 223.

  Morlen, a bagpiper, 195.

  Morris-dancing, 223, 247, 254.

  ----, Nine Mens', &c., 317.

  Morris, Sir Chr. 57.

  Mortimer, Roger de, 140.

  Mosbie, a paramour, 307.

  Moselle the Pegge, 403.

  Mottoes, 403.

  Moving pictures, 168.

  Mount Saint, 334.

  Mountebanks, 236.

  Mountjoy, Charles, Lord, xx.

  Mules, 22.

  Mummings, or Disguisements, 160, 250.
    See Plays.

  Music and Musicians, xxiv, 182, 286 to 294.
    See Minstrels.

  ---- houses, 287.

  Muskets, 31, 379.

  Mysteries, plays called, 151.
    See Plays.


  Nails, 327.

  Nakerer, Janino le, 194.

  Naples, 200.

  Nauplius, King of Eubœa, 305, 308.

  Nausica, 91.

  Needle-work, lxiv.

  Nevill, Hugh de, 194.

  New Cut, 334.

  ---- Forest, 6.

  ---- year, 250, 343, 363.

  Newcastle, 95.

  Newmarket races, 46.

  Newton, Master, 103, 298.

  Nightingales, 28.

  Nine Worthies, xliii.

  ---- holes, 274.

  ---- men's morris, 317.

  ---- pins, 272, 384.

  Noah, 16, 158.

  Nobility, xxii, xxiii, xxiv, xxxi, xxxii, xxxvii, xxxviii, xlvi, 1,
    3, 4, 6, 8, 21, 24, 111, 125, 137, 139, 183.

  Nola, Bishop of, 250, 291.

  Norfolk, 284.

  ---- Duke of; Lady Anne, his daughter, 148.

  Norman, John, Lord Mayor, 89.

  Normans, xx, xxi, lix, lxiv, 6, 50, 73, 132, 175, 177, 197, 225, 306.

  Norroy, King at Arms, 135.

  North Walsham, 284.

  Northamptonshire, 19.

  Northumberland house and gardens, lxiii.

  Norway, xix.

  Norwich, 11, 343.

  Nunneries, 346.


  Oars, 89.

  Odd (Even and), 386.

  Oatlands, palace of, 14.

  Okebrook, Derb., 367.

  Olaf, Trygession, xix, 85, 175.

  Olympic games, 78, 80.

  Ombre, 335.

  Opera, l, 228, 290.

  Orange, Prince of, 94.

  Oratorios, 290.

  Ordeal combats, 138.

  Organ, imitation of, 255.

  Orleans, 377.

  Ostrachinda, 338.

  Othes of Bresugeth, Sir, 200.

  Otter, 18.

  Ouronomachia, 316.

  Outroaring Dick, 287.

  Owls, 284, 285.

  Oxen, docility and adornment of, 243, 285.

  Oxfordshire, 19.


  Pace, R., xxxii.

  Paganica, 102.

  Pageants, xxxv, xl, xli, 159, 161, 361, 362, 376.

  Pages, xxv, 135.

  Painter, peril of a, xliii.

  Pair of cards, 332.

  Palestine, 130.

  Pall-mall, a game, xxxi, 103, 249.

  Pancakes, 284.

  Pancrass, Earl of, 67.

  Pantheon, Pinkethman's, 169.

  Pantomimes, 6, 167.

  Paper windmill, 390.

  Paradise, Mahometan, 288.

  Pardoners, 22.

  Paris, 204, 217, 241.

  ---- Garden, lvi, 256, 257.

  ---- Matthew, 73.

  Parks, 6.

  Parrot (Popinjay), 54, 57, 62.

  Parson has lost his cloak, 403.

  Partridges, 37, 39, 283.

  Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, 250, 291.

  Paume Carie, 322.

  Pavon, a dance, 295.

  Paye, Sir Charles de la, 200.

  Peacock-dance, or Pavon, 295.

  Peacocks, 37, 60, 117, 234.

  Pedlers, 22, 185.

  Peecke, R. curious combat of, 264.

  Pel-quintain, 113, 119, 120.

  Penneech, 335.

  Penny Pricke, 403.

  Pentecost, 183.

  Perrot de Laund, 194.

  Persian Ambassador, 380.

  Peter the Dutchman, 220.

  Pharo bank, lxiv.

  Pheacia, 91.

  Pheasants, 37.

  Philip and Mary, lix.
    See Mary.

  ---- of France, 141, 264, 309.

  Philips, a Merry-Andrew, 167.

  Philosopher's game, 314.

  Pick-point, 403.

  Picts, xix.

  Pictures (moving), 168.

  Pigs, li, 5, 248, 370.
    See Boar.

  Pile (Cross and), 337.

  Pinkethman, Mr., lii, 169.

  Pinks, Knave of, 329, 331.

  Pins, wooden, games with, 269.

  Pipe-call, 39.

  Pipers, 22, 342.

  Piquet, or Picket, 334.

  Pitch and Hustle, 276.

  Pitchley North, 19.

  Plain dealing, 335.

  Plays and Players, xxxii, liv
    ancient plays, 150
    their long duration, 151
    Coventry play, _ibid_
    mysteries described, 152
    secular plays, 155
    plays performed in churches, 157
    Cornish miracle-plays, 158
    court plays, 159
    character of old itinerant players, 159, 181
    representations of mummers, 160
    play in honour of Princess Mary, 161
    of Hock Tuesday, 162
    decline of secular plays, 163
    origin of puppet-plays, 164, 165
    pantomimes and puppet characters, 167
    moving pictures, 168.
    See also Minstrels.

  Plovers, 37.

  Plough Fool and Plough Monday, 348.

  Plummet, casting the, 75.

  Plumpton, Sir Rob., 19.

  Pluvinel, M., riding-master, 245.

  Poesy, effects of, 170.

  Poets, 179.
    See Minstrels.

  Points, ribbons, 327.

  Pole, Cardinal, 210.

  Poles, May-poles, balancing-poles, &c., 123, 205, 351, 352.

  Polish Draughts, 316.

  Pope, the, 242.

  ---- of Fools, 345.

  Popinjay (Parrot), 54, 57, 62.

  Porters, 22.

  Post-quintain, 113.

  Posture-master, 234, 235.

  Pot-guns, or Pop-guns, 380.

  Powel, a puppet-showman, l, 165.

  Powel, a famous fire-eater, 237.

  Prayers books, how illuminated, 102, 123, 209, 232, 240, 267, 395.

  Preville, Geoffry, Lord of, 132.

  Price, predecessor of Astley, 246.

  ---- a burlesque musician, 294.

  Prices ordained for bows, 58.

  Priests. See Clergy.

  Prime and Primero, 328, 333.

  Princes, education of, xxxi, 22.

  Printing traced to cards, 326.

  Prisoners'-bars, 78, 381.

  Prizes for archery, wrestling, rowing, at tournaments, &c. 69, 82,
    83, 89, 90, 133, 138, 139, 143, 149, 192, 225, 263, 372.

  ---- called weapons, 262.

  Processions and Pageants, xxxv, xlii, 361, 362, 395.

  Prose of the Ox and Ass, 346.

  Pryckeared Curs, 20.

  Punch, li, 164, 166.

  Pudesey, the piper, 195.

  Puns, royal, 8.

  Puppets and Puppet-shows, xlix, 164, 165, 167, 223, 231.

  Puppies, ladies', 20.

  Puritans, their zeal against some pastimes, lv, lvii.

  Push-pin, 398.

  Puss in the corner, 382.

  Putney, 90.

  Pythagoras, 314.


  Quack doctors, 236.

  Quadrille, 335.

  Quails, 19, 37, 283.

  Quarter-staff, 264.

  Queen, privileges of, at tournaments, &c. 139.

  ---- Nazareen, 335.

  ---- of Rabbits, 328.

  Queke-borde, 403.

  Questions and Commands, 397.

  Quick-borde, lxi.

  ---- match, 376.

  Quinctus, or Quintas, 115.

  Quindena Paschæ, 349.

  Quintain, 112 to 121.

  Quintus Curtius, li.

  Quoits, 75, 76.


  Rabbits, 22, 82, 285.

  ----, Queen of, 329, 330.

  Races. See Horse-racing, Foot, &c.

  Raches, hounds called, 6.

  Racket, 92, 93.

  Raher, or Royal Minstrel, 195.

  Ram, ancient prize for wrestling, 81, 82.

  Ranelagh, 289, 377.

  Ranelagh, Earl of, 289.

  Raskall, vermin called, 18.

  Rat (White), 18.

  Ratcliffe, John, of Chester, xliv.

  Raye, or Hay dance, 297.

  Reclaiming of hawks, 32.

  Regan, King's trumpeter, 344.

  Rein-deer, 18.

  Rethmomachia, 314.

  Reynaud de Roy, 141.

  Ribible, 280.

  Richard I., lix, 16, 52, 59, 128, 132, 177, 187.

  ---- II., 10, 37, 55, 138, 151, 155, 191, 295.

  Riddlesdale, Manor of, Northumberland, 19.

  Riding at the ring, 111, 123.

  Ridotto al Fresco, 288.

  Rinaldo and Armida, l.

  Ring-ball, 104.

  ----, hopping for, 225.

  ----, tilting at the, 111, 123.

  Ringing bells, 291.

  ---- basins, 294.

  Roaver, archery mark, 62.

  Robin Hood, 64, 223, 224, 353, 354, 356.

  Roche de Rien, 52.

  Rochester, Walter, Bishop of, 11.

  Rocks of Scilly, 301.

  Rodham, Norfolk, 27.

  Roe and roebuck, 17, 23, 232.

  Roger the trumpeter, 194, 195.

  Roland, 175.

  Rolling-pin and salt-box music, 294.

  Rolly-polly, 274.

  Rome and Romans, xviii, 25, 72, 95, 102, 115, 125, 281, 313, 314.

  Rooks, 38.

  Rope-dancing, &c., xlix, 204, 216, 217, 218, 242, 243, 303, 383,
    402.

  Roses, ace of, 329, 331.

  Rosignol, imitator of birds' singing, 255.

  Roubilliac, 289.

  Rouen, 309.

  Rouge et Noir, lxiv.

  Roulet, 336.

  Round Table (the), 140, 141.

  Rowena, daughter of Hengist, 363.

  Rowing matches on the Thames, &c. 89.

  Royal breakfast, 356.

  ---- dancing, 295.

  ---- education, xxxi.

  ---- entertainments, xxxviii, xlvi.

  ---- forests, 6, 54.

  ---- hunting, 20.

  ---- player with three darts, 17.
    See Kings.

  ---- Exchange, 255.

  Ruff, game of, 335.

  Ruffian Hall, Smithfield called, 261.

  Running. See Horse-racing, Foot-racing, &c.

  ---- (Bull), 277.

  Rustics, curious imitation by one, 256.

  Rutlandshire, 19.

  Rykell, John, the tregetour, 202.


  Sack running, 371.

  Sadler, Mr. 290.

  ----'s Wells, 221, 210, 226, 234, 247, 289.

  Saddlers, 42.

  Sailing, 90.

  Salmon, Mrs. 51.

  Saint Albans, 17, 150, 255.

  ---- Austin, 156.

  ---- Bartholomew, Fair, Hospital, &c., 81, 195, 216, 230.

  ---- Brice's Day, 350.

  ---- Catharine, 151, 362.

  ---- Clement, 347.

  ---- Cuthbert, 92.

  ---- George, 57.

  ---- James, 80.

  ---- John, xliv, 209, 346, 367, 373.

  ---- Louis, 129, 204.

  ---- Matilda's Hospital, 81.

  ---- Nicholas, 346.

  ---- Paul's church, dean, &c., 36, 152, 155, 218, 219, 373.

  ---- Peter, 361, 373.

  ---- Stephen, 346.

  ---- Saviour's, 356.

  Saintre, Jean de, 324.

  Saints' days, hospitality on, 373.

  Salt-box and rolling-pin music, 294.

  Sampson, predecessor of Astley, 246.

  Sandwich, 147.

  Saracens, 115, 252, 388.

  Sarum, 133.

  Saturnalia, 250, 344.

  Satirists, 186, 187.

  Savoy, 130, 178.

  ---- Earl of, 200.

  Saulus, 152.

  Saxons, xviii, xx, xxix, xxxvii, lix, lxiv, 25, 40, 48, 49, 50, 72,
    88, 91, 183, 184, 187, 188, 208, 210, 214, 225, 259, 306, 320, 345,
    363.

  Scalds (Northern), 171, 178.
    See Minstrels.

  Scandinavians, 171, 178.
    See Minstrels.

  School-plays, 379 to 400.

  Scotland, 88, 309.

  Scripture dramas, 150.
    See Plays.

  ---- phrases used as charms, 34.

  Seasons (hunting), 22, 23.

  Seaton, manor of, Kent, 16.

  Secular music and plays, 155, 287.
    See Music, Plays.

  Serjeants, 22.

  Serpentine River, 88.

  Servants, xxxv, lxv, 37.

  Shacklewell, 67.

  Shadow fighting, 77.

  Shakespeare, xlix.

  Sheep-shearing, 363.

  Sheriffs, 20, 340.

  Sherries, in Spain, 264.

  Sherwood Forest, 19, 59.

  Shields, xxix.

  Shoe-lane, 282.

  Shoes, quoits sometimes called, 77.

  Shooters' Hill, 56, 63.

  Shooting. See Archery.

  Shoreditch, Duke of, 67, 68.

  Shovel-board, xxx, 297, 298.

  Shropshire, 309.

  Shrove Tuesday, or Tide, 42, 92, 101, 281, 288, 284, 343, 349, 390.

  Shuttle-cock, 303.

  Sicily, 128.

  Sidney, Sir R. 14.

  Sieges, cross-bows used at, 52.

  Similes, 403.

  Simpson, Master, a vaulter, 230.

  Singers, ballad-singers, &c. 287, 294, 372.
    See Joculators.

  ----, imitation of singing birds, 255.

  Single-wicket, 106.

  Skating, 86, 87.

  Skinner's Well, near Smithfield, 151.

  Skiomackia, 77.

  Skipping, 383.

  Skittles, 272, 384.

  Sledge-hammer throwing, 75.

  Sledges, ice, 86.

  Sleights of jugglers, 204.
    See Joculators.

  Slide-thrift, 301.

  Sliding on ice, 86, 382, 384.

  Slinging, 52, 71, 72, 73, 74, 379.

  Slipper (Hunt the), 387.

  Slur-bows. See Bows.

  Slyp-groat, 301.

  Smalserhorn Rock, xix.

  Smithfield, 40, 68, 165, 259, 261, 287.

  Smock-racing, 371.

  Smoking apes and matches, 243, 371.

  Snake, game of, 337.

  Snap-dragon, 397.

  Snatchood, lxi.

  Snipes, 37.

  Socrates, 380.

  Soldiers, xxxii, xxxiii, 85, 314.

  Solitary Game (the), 319.

  Somersault, 229, 230.

  Somerset, Duke of, uncle of Ed. VI., 340.

  Somersetshire, 95.

  Sompners, 22.

  Songsters. See Minstrels.

  Soup, a fire-eater's, 236.

  Southwark fair, 247.

  Spades of playing cards, 324.

  Spain and Spaniards, lii, 222, 243, 280, 324, 334.

  ----, Ervalton of, 265.

  Span (Counter), 384.

  Spaniels, 19.

  Sparrows, li.

  Spears, throwing, balancing, &c., 5, 75, 141, 148, 234.

  Spell, Northen, 109.

  Spendall, Sir J. 166.

  Spinacuta, a rope-dancer, 221.

  Spinning by ladies, lxv.

  ---- cockchafers, &c., 388, 389.

  Sport, beasts of, names of, 17.

  Spring Gardens, 288.

  Spurs for cock-fighting, 282.

  Spytard (the), a centenarian hart, 18.

  Stalking-horse, 38.

  Stinking flight, beasts of, 18.

  Stone bows. See Bow.

  Stones, slinging, throwing. See Slinging.

  ---- eating, 236.

  Stool-ball, 103.

  Stow-ball, 103.

  Straw-balancing, 234.

  Strength, instances of, xix, 264.

  Strings for bows, 59.

  Sturges, a great chess player, 317.

  Suffolk, 349.

  ----, Duke of, 328.

  Sunday, xlvii, xlviii, 8, 342, 355, 356, 366.

  Surrey, 15.

  Swallows, 38.

  Swan (the Old), near London bridge, 89.

  ----, White, Chelsea, 89.

  Swans, 35, 36, 37.

  Swash-buckler, 261.

  Sweet flight, beasts of, 18.

  Swimming, 85, 384.

  Swine-hunting, 5.

  Swinging, 122, 302, 384.

  Swords for tournaments, balancing dances, &c., xxi, xxix, 134,
    203, 214, 215, 216, 232, 233, 259, 260, 263.

  Sybarites, 242.

  Syria, 179, 325.


  Tabernacles, feast of, 364.

  Table, the round, 140.

  Tables, or Backgammon, xxi, 319.

  Tabors beat by hares and horses, 208, 244.

  Taillefer, a minstrel, xix, 175.

  Takill, an arrow. See Arrows.

  Talares of the Greeks, 87.

  Tale-tellers, 180.
    See Joculators.

  Tambourine, 247.

  Tansy-cakes, 349.

  Taper lighting, 395.

  Tapestry, lxiv, 4.

  Tapper, or Span-Counter, 384.

  Targets, 62.

  Tarpeia, 357.

  Taw, 384.

  Taylors, 22, 235.

  ---- (the Devil among the), 385.

  Tazel, place called, 54.

  Te-totum, 384.

  Tell, William, his feat of archery, 65.

  Tennis and Tennis-Courts, 94, 95.

  Terms applied in hunting, 22.

  ---- hawking, 37.

  ---- to various trades or classes, 22.

  Terrours, dogs called, 20.

  Testimony and argument, 51.

  Thames, the, xxxvi, 89.

  ---- Street, 360.

  Theseus, xxii.

  Thieves, xxii.

  Tholomew, Sir, xxv.

  Thomas à Becket, 11.

  ---- of Walsingham, 130.

  Thrace, 25.

  Thread the needle, 381.

  Thresh the fat hen, 348.

  Throwing at cocks, &c., xxxii, 283, 349, 355, 370.

  Timbrels, 231.

  Time, division of, 7.

  Tinkers, or Buffoons, 22, 185, 237.

  Tip-cat, 6, 109.

  Tiptoft, John, Earl of Worcester, 138.

  Titter-totter, 303.

  Tobacco-pipe music, 294.

  Tongs and bellows music, 294.

  Topas, Sir, 185.

  Tops, boys', 385.

  Torre, a firework maker, 376.

  Tothill-fields, 259.

  Tournaments, xxi, xxvii, xxviii.
    fatal violence at, 129
    interdicted by the church, 129
    real contest at one, 130
    laws for, 133
    different from justs, 125
    origin of tournaments, _ibid_
    first practice of tournaments, 131
    account of them in England, 132
    pages and perquisites of Kings at Arms, 135
    preliminaries of the tournament, 138
    lists for ordeal combats, 138
    their great splendour, 143
    toys for imitating them, 146, 380
    challenges for them, &c., 148, 380.

  Tower-hill, 376.

  Toys for children's imitation of martial exercises, 144.

  Tragedies, definition of, &c., 157.
    See Plays.

  Troubadours, 178.

  Tuck, Friar, 354.

  Tufa, a standard, xxxvii.

  Tuesday. See Hock, Shrove.

  Tumbling, 207 to 212, 217, 229.

  Turketully, Abbot of Croyland, 291.

  Turkish ambassador, 66.

  Turks, 220, 252.

  Turre, Essex, manor of, 16.

  Turtles, 37.

  Tutbury, Suffolk, 191, 277, 279.

  Tuttel, Mr. 332.

  Twelfth Eve, &c., 342, 349, 363.

  Twicy, or Twety, William, 17, 349.

  Twisted tree, 349.

  Tyers, Jonathan, 288.

  Tykehill, 133.

  Tyrrheno, a Greek, 308.


  Ule games, xxxiv.
    See Christmas.

  Ulster, Earl of, Courcy, 264.

  Ulysses, 308, 311.

  Umfraville, Robert de, 19.

  Unearthing a fox, 5.

  Unicorn, 252.

  Universities, 343
    London in 1615, called the third university, 261.

  Uter Pendragon, 140.


  Valentia, 280.

  Valor perfected by Love, 143.

  Vaulting, 207, 229.

  Vauxhall Gardens, 90, 280, 377.

  Venter Point, 403.

  Vermin, xxiv.

  Vice, a dramatic character, 153.

  Vielle, 178.

  Violante, Signora, 220.

  Vizors, 251, 252.

  Voices of animals and men, imitations of, 255.

  Vortigern, 363.

  Vulcan's Forge, 376.

  Vulture, 37.


  Waits, xli, 361, 363.

  Wakes, 364.

  Wales, Constantine, King of, 3.

  Wallingford, 133.

  Walloons, 147.

  Walsham (North), 284.

  Walsingham, Thomas of, 130.

  Walter, Bishop of Rochester, 11.

  Wardrobe, old theatrical, 159.

  Warren, Earl of, 278.

  Warwick, 133.

  ---- Earl of, 52.

  Wassails, 363.

  Wasters and Bucklers, 35.

  Wat Wimbas, 287.

  Watch, setting the, xxxix, 361.

  Water-fowl, 28.

  ---- tilting, 88, 120.

  ---- fireworks on, 374.

  ---- See Rowing, Sailing, Swimming, Thames, &c.

  Watteville, M. Robert, 337.

  Wedgenoke Park, 6.

  Welch, 320
    Welch-main, 282.

  Wells, William, bear-garden, of, 259.

  Westminster, 81, 117, 148, 320, 357, 372.

  ---- Abbey, 289.

  ---- Hall, 188.

  ---- Palace, lxi, 79.

  Wheelbarrow-racing, 371.

  Wheels, balancing of, 233.

  Wherry (Astley's), 290.

  Whetstone, George, pageant by, xli.

  Whipping for gamblers, vi.

  Whirligig, 385.

  Whist, 94, 269, 282.

  Whistling, 255, 294.

  White and Black, 403.

  Whitehall, 94, 269, 282.

  Whitsuntide, xxxiv, 41, 309, 358.

  Whittington against Rinaldo, l.

  Wicker-work, boats of, 88.

  Wild-bear, cat, &c. See Boar, Cat, &c.

  William I., xxi, 4, 6, 175, 309.

  ---- III., 46, 236.

  Wilton, 133.

  Windsor, 140, 157, 364.

  Wind-ball, 95.

  ---- mill (paper), 390.

  Winifred, Archbishop of Mons, 25.

  Wire-dancing, 228.

  Wit and Reason, 335.

  Wives, 22.
    See Women.

  Wodehouse, or Woodhouses, 161, 378.

  Wolsey, Cardinal, 156.

  Wolves, 18, 22, 23.

  Women, xliv, 184, 188, 207, 216, 227, 350.
    See also Ladies.

  Woodcocks, 37, 39.

  Woodstock Park, 6.

  Worcester, Earl of, 138.

  Wrestling, 80 to 84, 76, 264, 285, 355, 359.

  Wurgund, Peter de, 189.


  Xeres in Spain, 264.

  Xerxes, a philosopher, 308.


  Yawning-match, 370.

  Yeomen of King's bow, 21.

  York, 189, 191.

  ----, Duke of, 148.

  ---- shire, 230.

  Yule Plough, or Fool Plough, 348.


  Zany, 371.

  Ziklag, 71.


THE END.




J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury, London.




  +----------------------------------------------------------------- +
  | Transcriber's Note:                                              |
  |                                                                  |
  | Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.     |
  | See below for other errors.                                      |
  |                                                                  |
  | Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant |
  | form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.    |
  |                                                                  |
  | Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.            |
  |                                                                  |
  | Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters,         |
  | _like this_.                                                     |
  |                                                                  |
  | Footnotes were moved to the end of the book before the index and |
  | numbered in one continuous sequence.                             |
  |                                                                  |
  | Alphabetical sorting errors in the Index were corrected.         |
  |                                                                  |
  | Corrections:                                                     |
  |   P. xxxix: Tregetor -----> Tregetour "... magicians and         |
  |     tregetours...."                                              |
  |   P. xlii: Corinens -----> Corineus "... the one named           |
  |     Corineus, and the other Gog-magog....                        |
  |   P. 206: Juggeling -----> Juggling "... his performances were   |
  |     denominated juggling castes."                                |
  |   P. 349: eason -----> season "... late years at this season for |
  |     'the young people...'."                                      |
  |   P. 360: brenyng -----> bernyng "... the styncke of bernyng     |
  |     bonys."                                                      |
  |                                                                  |
  | Variants unchanged:                                              |
  |   Taylor and Tailor.                                             |
  |   Whitson-tide,  Whitsontyde, Whitsuntide.                       |
  |                                                                  |
  | Other notes:                                                     |
  |   P. 119, footnote 465, and p. 369 footnote 1076: The citations  |
  |     could not be documented and were left incomplete.            |
  |   P. 128, footnote 479, and p. 269, footnote 830. The anchors for|
  |     these footnotes were missing and their placement by the      |
  |     transcriber could not be verified.                           |
  |   p. 151: "In the succeeding reign, 10 Henry IV., A.D. 1409,.... |
  |     The meaning of the number 10 could not be ascertained and it |
  |     was removed.                                                 |
  |   p. 280: The reference to footnote 1 at the end of the poem was |
  |     removed as the footnote could not be found.                  |
  |   p. 385: The words "In a manuscript at the Museum ..." and      |
  |     "... is perfectly genuine;" were followed by the same        |
  |     footnote number.  Only the second occurence was retained.    |
  +------------------------------------------------------------------+