[11]

The secretes of the reverende maister Alexis of Piemovnt, containyng excellente remedies against diuers diseases, &c., appear to have been a very favourite study either with the physicians, or their patients, about this period.

They were originally written in Italian, and were translated into English by William Warde, of which editions were printed at London, in 1558, 1562, 1595, and 1615. In 1603, a fourth edition of a Latin version appeared at Basil; and from Ward's dedication to "the lorde Russell, erle of Bedford," it seems that the French and Dutch were not without so great a treasure in their own languages. A specimen of the importance of this publication may be given in the title of the first secret. "The maner and secrete to conserue a man's youth, and to holde back olde age, to maintaine a man always in helth and strength, as in the fayrest floure of his yeres."

[12]

The Regiment of Helthe, by Thomas Paynell, is another volume of the same description, and was printed by Thomas Berthelette, in 1541. 410.

[13]

Vespasian, tenth emperor of Rome, imposed a tax upon urine, and when his son Titus remonstrated with him on the meanness of the act, "Pecuniam," says Suetonius, "ex prima pensione admovit ad nares, suscitans num odore offenderetur? et illo negante, atqui, inquit, e lotio est."

[14]

"Vpon the market-day he is much haunted with vrinals, where, if he finde any thing, (though he knowe nothing,) yet hee will say some-what, which if it hit to some purpose, with a fewe fustian words, hee will seeme a piece of strange stuffe." Character of an unworthy physician. "The Good and the Badde" by Nicholas Breton. 4to. 1618.

[15]

That the murdered body bleeds at the approach of the murderer, was, in our author's time, a commonly received opinion. Holinshed affirms that the corpse of Henry the Sixth bled as it was carrying for interment; and Sir Kenelm Digby so firmly believed in the truth of the report, that he has endeavoured to explain the reason. It is remarked by Mr. Steevens, in a note to Shakspeare, that the opinion seems to be derived from the ancient Swedes, or Northern nations, from whom we descend; as they practised this method of trial in all dubious cases.

[16]

   "Faith, doctor, it is well, thy study is to please
   The female sex, and how their corp'ral griefes to ease."


Goddard's "Mastif Whelp." Satires. 4to. Without date. Sat. 17.

[17]

In the first edition it stands thus:--"and his hat is as antient as the tower of Babel."

[18]

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

[19]

Gavelkind, or the practice of dividing lands equally among all the male children of the deceased, was (according to Spelman) adopted by the Saxons, from Germany, and is noticed by Tacitus in his description of that nation. Gloss. Archaiol., folio, Lond. 1664. Harrison, in The Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle (vol. i. page 180), says, "Gauell kind is all the male children equallie to inherit, and is continued to this daie in Kent, where it is onelie to my knowledge reteined, and no where else in England." And Lambarde, in his Customes of Kent (Perambulation, 410, 1596, page 538), thus notices it:--"The custom of Grauelkynde is generall, and spreadeth itselfe throughout the whole shyre, into all landes subiect by auncient tenure vnto the same, such places onely excepted, where it is altered by acte of parleament."

[20]

Minster-walk, 1st edit.

[21]

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

[22]

and Lipsius his hopping stile before either Tully or Quintilian. First edit.

[23]

Primivist and primero were, in all probability, the same game, although Minshew, in his Dictionary, calls them "two games at cardes." The latter he explains, "primum et primum visum, that is, first and first seene, because hee that can shew such an order of cardes, first winnes the game." The coincidence between Mr. Strutt's description of the former and the passage in the text, shows that there could be little or no difference between the value of the cards in these games, or in the manner of playing them. "Each player had four cards dealt to him, one by one, the seven was the highest card, in point of number, that he could avail himself of, which counted for twenty-one, the six counted for sixteen, the five for fifteen, and the ace for the same," &c. (Sports and Pastimes, 247.) The honourable Daines Harrington conceived that Primero was introduced by Philip the Second, or some of his suite, whilst in England. Shakspeare proves that it was played in the royal circle.

-----"I left him (Henry VIII.) at Primero With the duke of Suffolk."--Henry VIII.

So Decker: "Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have plaid at Primero."--Gul's Horne-booke, 1609. 37.

Among the Marquis of Worcester's celebrated "Century of Inventions," 12mo, 1663, is one "so contrived without suspicion, that playing at Primero at cards, one may, without clogging his memory, keep reckoning of all sixes, sevens, and aces, which he hath discarded."--No. 87.

[24]

"Enquire out those tauernes which are best customd, whose maisters are oftenest drunk, for that confirmes their taste, and that they choose wholesome wines."--Decker's Gul's Horne-booke, 1609.

[25]

his, 1st edit.

[26]

The editor of the edition in 1732, has altered canary to "sherry," for what reason I am at a loss to discover, and have consequently restored the reading of the first edition. Venner gives the following description of this favourite liquor. "Canarie-wine, which beareth the name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some termed a sacke, with this adjunct, sweete; but yet very improperly, for it differeth not only from sacke in sweetness and pleasantness of taste, but also in colour and consistence, for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance; wherefore it is more nutritive than sack, and less penetrative."--Via recta ad Vitam longam, 4to, 1622. In Howell's time, Canary wine was much adulterated. "I think," says he, in one of his Letters, "there is more Canary brought into England than to all the world besides; I think also, there is a hundred times more drunk under the name of Canary wine, than there is brought in; for Sherries and Malagas, well mingled, pass for Canaries in most taverns. When Sacks and Canaries," he continues, "were brought in first amongst us, they were used to be drunk in aqua vitae measures, and 'twas held fit only for those to drink who were used to carry their legs in their hands, their eyes upon their noses, and an almanack in their bones; but now they go down every one's throat, both young and old, like milk."--Howell, Letter to the lord Cliff, dated Oct. 7, 1634.

[27]

We learn from Harrison's Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed, that eleven o'clock was the usual time for dinner during the reign of Elizabeth. "With vs the nobilitie, gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go to dinner at eleuen before noone, and to supper at fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone" (vol. i. page 171, edit. 1587). The alteration in manners at this time is rather singularly evinced, from a passage immediately following the above quotation, where we find that merchants and husbandmen dined and supped at a later hour than the nobility.

[28]

Alluding to the public dinners given by the sheriff at particular seasons of the year. So in The Widow, a comedy, 4to, 1652.

"And as at a sheriff's table, O blest custome! A poor indebted gentleman may dine, Feed well, and without fear, and depart so."

[29]

The chapel of the Virgin Mary, in the cathedral church of Gloucester, was founded by Richard Stanley, abbot, in 1457, and finished by William Farley, a monk of the monastery, in 1472. Sir Robert Atkyns gives the following description of the vault here alluded to. "The whispering place is very remarkable; it is a long alley, from one side of the choir to the other, built circular, that it might not darken the great east window of the choir. When a person whispers at one end of the alley, his voice is heard distinctly at the other end, though the passage be open in the middle, having large spaces for doors and windows on the east side. It may be imputed to the close cement of the wall, which makes it as one entire stone, and so conveys the voice, as a long piece of timber does convey the least stroak to the other end. Others assign it to the repercussion of the voice from accidental angles."--Atkyns' Ancient and Present State of Glostershire, Lond. 1712, folio, page 128. See also Fuller's Worthies, in Gloucestershire, page 351.

[30]

Then in apiece of gold, &c., 1st edit.

[31]

Whilst he has not yet got them, enjoys them, 1st edit.

[32]

Gallo-Belgicus was erroneously supposed, by the ingenious Mr. Reed, to be the "first newspaper, published in England;" we are, however, assured by the author of the Life of Ruddiman, that it has no title to so honourable a distinction. Gallo-Belgicus appears to have been rather an Annual Register, or History of its own Times, than a newspaper. It was written in Latin, and entituled, "MERCURSS GALLO-BELGICI: sive, rerum in Gallia, et Belgio potissimum: Hispania quoque, Italia, Anglia, Germania, Polonia, Vicinisque locis ab anno 1588, ad Martium anni 1594, gestarum, NUNCIJ." The first volume was printed in 8vo, at Cologne, 1598; from which year, to about 1605, it was published annually; and from thence to the time of its conclusion, which is uncertain, it appeared in half-yearly volumes. Chalmers' Life of Ruddiman, 1794. The great request in which newspapers were held at the publication of the present work may be gathered from Burton, who, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, complains that "if any read now-a-days, it is a play-book, or a pamphlet of newes."

[33]

Bartholomew Keckerman was born at Dantzick, in Prussia, 1571, and educated under Fabricius. Being eminently distinguished for his abilities and application, he was, in 1597, requested, by the senate of Dantzick, to take upon him the management of their academy; an honour he then declined, but accepted, on a second application, in 1601. Here he proposed to instruct his pupils in the complete science of philosophy in the short space of three years, and, for that purpose, drew up a great number of books upon logic, rhetoric, ethics, politics, physics, metaphysics, geography, astronomy, &c. &c., till, as it is said, literally worn out with scholastic drudgery, he died at the early age of 38.

[34]

"Of bread made of wheat we have sundrie sorts dailie brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the mainchet, which we commonlie call white bread."--Harrison, Description of England prefixed to Holinshed, chap. 6.

[35]

His honour was somewhat preposterous, for he bare, &c., first edit.

[36]

Clown, first edit.

[37]

The art of hawking has been so frequently and so fully explained, that it would be superfluous, if not arrogant, to trace its progress, or delineate its history, in this place. In the earliest periods it appears to have been exclusively practised by the nobility; and, indeed, the great expense at which the amusement was supported, seems to have been a sufficient reason for deterring persons of more moderate income, and of inferior rank, from indulging in the pursuit. In the Sports and Pastimes of Mr. Strutt, a variety of instances are given of the importance attached to the office of falconer, and of the immense value of, and high estimation the birds themselves were held in from the commencement of the Norman government, down to the reign of James I., in which Sir Thomas Monson gave £1000 for a cast of hawks, which consisted of only two.

The great increase of wealth, and the consequent equalization of property in this country, about the reign of Elizabeth, induced many of inferior birth to practise the amusements of their superiors, which they did without regard to expense, or indeed propriety. Sir Thomas Elyot, in his Governour (1580), complains that the falcons of his day consumed so much poultry, that, in a few years, he feared there would be a great scarcity of it. "I speake not this," says he, "in disprayse of the faukons, but of them which keepeth them lyke cockneyes." A reproof, there can be no doubt, applicable to the character in the text.

[38]

A term in hawking, signifying the short straps of leather which are fastened to the hawk's legs, by which she is held on the fist, or joined to the leash. They were sometimes made of silk, as appears from The Boke of hawkynge, huntynge, and fysshynge, with all the propertyes and medecynes that are necessarye to be kepte: "Hawkes haue aboute theyr legges gesses made of lether most comonly, some of sylke, which shuld be no lenger but that the knottes of them shulde appere in the myddes of the lefte hande," &c. Juliana Barnes, edit. 410, "Imprynted at London in Pouls chyrchyarde by me Hery Tab." Sig. C. ii.

[39]

This authority of his is that club which keeps them under as his dogs hereafter, first edit.

[40]

Now become a man's total, first edit.

[41]

Of the game called one and thirty, I am unable to find any mention in Mr. Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, nor is it alluded to in any of the old plays or tracts I have yet met with. A very satisfactory account of tables may be read in the interesting and valuable publication just noticed.

[42]

The room where the performers dress, previous to coming on the stage.

[43]

This passage affords a proof of what has been doubted, namely, that the theatres were not permitted to be open during Lent, in the reign of James I. The restriction was waived in the next reign, as we find from the puritanical Prynne:--"There are none so much addicted to stage-playes, but when they goe unto places where they cannot have them, or when, as they are suppressed by publike authority, (as in times of pestilence, and in Lent, till now of late) can well subsist without them," &c. Histrio Mastix, 4to, Lond. 1633, page 384.

[44]

It may not be known to those who are not accustomed to meet with old books in their original bindings, or of seeing public libraries of antiquity, that the volumes were formerly placed on the shelves with the leaves, not the back, in front; and that the two sides of the binding were joined together with neat silk or other strings, and, in some instances, where the books were of greater value and curiosity than common, even fastened with gold or silver chains.

[45]

A hanger-on to noblemen, who are distinguished at the university by gold tassels to their caps; or in the language of the present day, a tuft-hunter.

[46]

If he could order his intentions, first edit.

[47]

Minshew calls a tobacconist fumi-vendulus, a smoak-seller.

[48]

Cento, a composition formed by joining scraps from other authors.--Johnson. Camden, in his Remains, uses it in the same sense. "It is quilted, as it were, out of shreds of divers poets, such as scholars call a cento."

[49]

Firing, first edit.

[50]

In the hope of discovering some account of the strange monster alluded to, I have looked through one of the largest and most curious collections of tracts, relating to the marvellous, perhaps in existence. That bequeathed to the Bodleian, by Robert Burton, the author of the Anatomy of Melancholy. Hitherto my researches have been unattended with success, as I have found only two tracts of this description relating to Germany, both of which are in prose, and neither giving any account of a monster.

1. A most true Relation of a very dreadfull Earthquake, with the lamentable Effectes thereof, which began upon the 8 of December 1612, and yet continueth most fearefull in Munster in Germanie. Reade and Tremble. Translated out of Dutch, by Charles Demetrius, Publike Notarie in London, and printed at Rotterdame, in Holland, at the Signe of the White Gray-hound. (Date cut off. Twenty-six pages, 4to, with a woodcut.)

2: Miraculous Newes from the Cittie of Holt, in the Lordship of Munster, in Germany, the twentieth of September last past, 1616, where there were plainly beheld three dead bodyes rise out of their Graves admonishing the people of Judgements to come. Faithfully translated (&c. &c.) London, Printed for John Barnes, dwelling in Hosie Lane neere Smithfield, 1616. (4to, twenty pages, woodcut.)

[51]

It was customary to work or paint proverbs, moral sentences, or scraps of verse, on old tapestry hangings, which were called painted cloths. Several allusions to this practice may be found in the works of our early English dramatists. See Reed's Shakspeare, viii. 103.

[52]

Beller, first edit.

[53]

Hale, first edit.

[54]

Calais sands were chosen by English duellists to decide their quarrels on, as being out of the jurisdiction of the law. This custom is noticed in an Epigram written about the period in which this book first appeared.

   "When boasting Bembus challeng'd is to fight,
   He seemes at first a very Diuell in sight:
   Till more aduizde, will not defile [his] hands,
   Vnlesse you meete him vpon Callice sands."


The Mastive or Young Whelpe of the olde Dog. Epigrams and Satyrs. 4to, Lond. (Printed, as Warton supposes, about 1600.)

A passage in The Beau's Duel: or a Soldier for the Ladies, a comedy, by Mrs. Centlivre, 4to, 1707, proves that it existed so late as at that day. "Your only way is to send him word you'll meet him on Calais sands; duelling is unsafe in England for men of estates," &c. See also other instances in Dodsley's Old Plays, edit. 1780, vii. 218; xii. 412.

[55]

Strict devotees were, I believe, noted for the smallness and precision of their ruffs, which were termed in print from the exactness of the folds. So in Mynshul's Essays, 4to, 1618. "I vndertooke a warre when I aduentured to speake in print, (not in print as Puritan's ruffes are set.)" The term of Geneva print probably arose from the minuteness of the type used at Geneva. In the Merry Devil of Edmonton, a comedy, 4to, 1608, is an expression which goes some way to prove the correctness of this supposition:--"I see by thy eyes thou hast bin reading little Geneva print;"--and, that small ruffs were worn by the puritanical set, an instance appears in Mayne's City Match, a comedy, 4to, 1658.

   "O miracle!
   Out of your little ruffe, Dorcas, and in the fashion!
   Dost thou hope to be saved?"


From these three extracts it is, I think, clear that a ruff of Geneva print means a small, closely-folded ruff, which was the distinction of a nonconformist.

[56]

A virginal, says Mr. Malone, was strung like a spinnet, and shaped like a pianoforte: the mode of playing on this instrument was therefore similar to that of the organ.

[57]

Weapons are spells no less potent than different, as being the sage sentences of some of her own sectaries. First edit.

[58]

Robert Bellarmine, an Italian jesuit, was born at Monte Pulciano, a town in Tuscany, in the year 1542, and in 1560 entered himself among the jesuits. In 1599 he was honoured with a cardinal's hat, and in 1602 was presented with the arch-bishopric of Capua: this, however, he resigned in 1605, when Pope Paul V. desired to have him near himself. He was employed in the affairs of the court of Rome till 1621, when, leaving the Vatican, he retired to a house belonging to his order, and died September 17, in the same year.

Bellarmine was one of the best controversial writers of his time; few authors have done greater honour to their profession or opinions, and certain it is that none have ever more ably defended the cause of the Romish Church, or contended in favour of the pope with greater advantage. As a proof of Bellarmine's abilities, there was scarcely a divine of any eminence among the Protestants who did not attack him: Bayle aptly says, "they made his name resound every where, ut littus Styla, Styla, omne sonaret."

[59]

Faustus Socinus is so well known as the founder of the sect which goes under his name, that a few words will be sufficient. He was born in 1539, at Sienna, and imbibed his opinions from the instruction of his uncle, who always had a high opinion of, and confidence in, the abilities of his nephew, to whom he bequeathed all his papers. After living several years in the world, principally at the court of Francis de Medicis, Socinus, in 1577, went into Germany, and began to propagate the principles of his uncle, to which, it is said, he made great additions and alterations of his own. In the support of his opinions, he suffered considerable hardships, and received the greatest insults and persecutions; to avoid which, he retired to a place near Cracow, in Poland, where he died in 1504, at the age of sixty-five.

[60]

Conrade Vorstius, a learned divine, who was peculiarly detested by the Calvinists, and who had even the honour to be attacked by King James the First, of England, was born in 1569. Being compelled, through the interposition of James's ambassador, to quit Leyden, where he had attained the divinity-chair, and several other preferments, he retired to Toningen, where he died in 1622, with the strongest tokens of piety and resignation.

[61]

His style is very constant, for it keeps still the former aforesaid; and yet it seems he is much troubled in it, for he is always humbly complaining--your poor orator. First edit.

[62]

"To moote, a term vsed in the innes of the court; it is the handling of a case, as in the Vniuersitie their disputations," &c. So Minshew, who supposes it to be derived from the French, mot, verbum, quasi verba facere, aut sermonem de aliqua re habere. Mootmen are those who, having studied seven or eight years, are qualified to practise, and appear to answer to our term of barristers.

[63]

The prologue to our ancient dramas was ushered in by trumpets. "Present not yourselfe on the stage (especially at a new play) untill the quaking prologue hath (by rubbing) got cullor into his cheekes, and is ready to giue the trumpets their cue that hee's vpon point to enter."--Decker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609, p. 30. "Doe you not know that I am the Prologue? Do you not see this long blacke veluet cloke vpon my backe? Haue you not sounded thrice?"--Heywood's Foure Prentises of London, 4to, 1615.

[64]

St. Paul's Cathedral was, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, a sort of exchange and public parade, where business was transacted between merchants, and where the fashionables of the day exhibited themselves. The reader will find several allusions to this custom in the variorum edition of Shakspeare, K. Henry IV., part 2. Osborne, in his Traditional Memoires on the Reigns of Elisabeth and James, 12mo, 1658, says, "It was the fashion of those times (James I.) and did so continue till these, (the interregnum,) for the principal gentry, lords, courtiers, and men of all professions, not merely mechanicks, to meet in St. Paul's church by eleven, and walk in the middle isle till twelve, and after dinner from three to six; during which time some discoursed of business, others of news." Weever complains of the practice, and says, "it could be wished that walking in the middle isle of Paul's might be forborne in the time of diuine service." Ancient Funeral Monuments, 1631, page 373.

[65]

In the Dramatis Personal to Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, Bobadil is styled a Paul's man; and Falstaff tells us that he bought Bardolph in Pauls. King Henry IV., part 2.

[66]

                 ----"You'd not doe
   Like your penurious father, who was wont
   To walk his dinner out in Paules."


         --Mayne's City Match, 1658.

[67]

The time of supper was about five o'clock.

[68]

Paul's cross stood in the churchyard of that cathedral, on the north side, towards the east end. It was used for the preaching of sermons to the populace; and Holinshed mentions two instances of public penance being performed here; in 1534 by some of the adherents of Elizabeth Barton, well known as the holy maid of Kent, and in 1536 by Sir Thomas Newman, a priest, who "bare a faggot at Paules crosse for singing masse with good ale."

[69]

Dole originally signified the portion of alms that was given away at the door of a nobleman. Steevens, note to Shakspeare. Sir John Hawkins affirms that the benefaction distributed at Lambeth Palace gate, is to this day called the dole.

[70]

That is, the contents of his basket, if discovered to be of light weight, are distributed to the needy prisoners.

[71]

Study, first edit.

[72]

The first edition reads post, and, I think, preferably.

[73]

Keep for attend.

[74]

Squeazy, niggardly.

[75]

And the clubs out of charity knock him down, first edit.

[76]

That is, runs you up a long score.

[77]

This, as well as many other passages in this work, has been appropriated by John Dunton, the celebrated bookseller, as his own. See his character of Mr. Samuel Hool, in Dunton's Life and Errors, 8vo, 1705, p. 337.

[78]

"A prison is a grave to bury men alive, and a place wherein a man for halfe a yeares experience may learne more law than he can at Westminster for an hundred pound."--Mynshul's Essays and Characters of a Prison, 4to, 1618.

[79]

In querpo is a corruption from the Spanish word cuerpo. "En cuerpo, a man without a cloak."--Pineda's Dictionary, 1740. The present signification evidently is, that a gentleman without his serving-man, or attendant, is but half dressed:--he possesses only in part the appearance of a man of fashion. "To walk in cuerpo, is to go without a cloak."--Glossographia Anglicana Nova, 8vo, 1719.

[80]

Proper was frequently used by old writers for comely, or handsome. Shakspeare has several instances of it:

   "I do mistake my person all this while:
   Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
   Myself to be a marvellous proper man."


--K. Richard III. Act I. Sc. 2, &c.

[81]

"Why you know an'a man have not skill in the hawking and hunting languages now-a-days, I'll not give a rush for him."--Master Stephen. Every Man in his Humour.

[82]

   "Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum:
   Ter frustra conprensa manus effugit imago,
   Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno."
             --Virgil, Æn. vi. v. 700.

[83]

Probably the name of some difficult tune.

[84]

Jump here signifies to coincide. The old play of Soliman and Perseda uses it in the same sense:

   "Wert thou my friend, thy mind would jump with mine."


So in Pierce Penilesse his Supplication to the Divele:--"Not two of them jump in one tale," p. 29.

[85]

Imputation here must be used for consequence; of which I am, however, unable to produce any other instance.

[86]

Sturtridge fair was the great mart for business, and resort for pleasure, in Bishop Earle's day. It is alluded to in Randolph's Conceited Pedlar, 410, 1630:--

   "I am a pedlar, and I sell my ware
   This braue Saint Bartholmew or Sturtridge faire."


Edward Ward, the author of The London Spy, gives a whimsical account of a journey to Sturbridge, in the second volume of his works.

[87]

This silly term of endearment appears to be derived from chick or my chicken, Shakspeare uses it in Macbeth, Act iii. Scene 2:--

   "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck."