more peculiarly belong to the province of Police, commencing with the inaugural ceremonies attendant on the Lord Mayor's entrance on the duties of his office. The pageantry and magnificence which once accompanied this periodical assumption of power, may be estimated from the following description, taken from a manuscript written in 1575: "The day of St. Simon and Jude he (the Mayor) entreth into his estate and offyce: and the next daie following he goeth by water to Westmynster, in most tryumphlyke manner. His barge beinge garnished with the armes of the citie: and nere the sayd barge goeth a shyppbote of the Queenes Matie, beinge trymed upp, and rigged lyke a shippe of warre, with dyvers peces of ordi nance, standards, penons, and targetts of the proper armes of the sayd Mayor, the armes of the Citie, of his company; and of the maurchaunts adventurers, or of the staple, or of the company of the newe trades; next before hym goeth the barge of the lyvery of his owne company, decked with their owne proper armes, then the bachelers barge, and so all the companies in London, in order, every one havinge their owne proper barge garnished with the armes of their company. And so passinge alonge the Thamise, landeth at Westmynster, where he taketh his othe in Thexcheker, beffore the judge there (which is one of the chiefe judges of England), which done, he returneth by water as afforsayd, and landeth at Powles wharfe, where he and the rest of the Aldermen take their horses, and in great pompe passe through the greate streete of the citic, called Cheapside. And fyrste of all cometh ij great estandarts, one having the armes of the citie, and the other the armes of the Mayor's company next them ij drommes and a flute, then an ensign of the citie, and then about Ixx or Ixxx poore men marchinge ij and two togeather in blewe gownes, with redd sleeves and capps, every one bearinge a pyke and a target, wheron is paynted the armes of all them that have byn Mayor of the same company that this newe mayor is of. Then ij banners, one of the kynges armes, the other of the Mayor's owne proper armes. Then a sett of hautboits playinge, and after them certayne wyfflers, in velvett cotes, and chaynes of golde, with white staves in their handes, then the pageant of tryumphe rychly decked, whereuppon by certayne fygures and wrytinges, some matter touchinge justice, and the office of a majestrate is represented. Then xvj trumpeters, viij and viij in a company, havinge banners of the Mayor's company. Then certayne wyfflers in velvet cotes and chaynes, with white staves as aforesayde. Then the bachelers ij and two together, in longe gownen, with crymson hoodes on their shoulders of sattyn; which bachelers are chosen every yeare of the same company that the Mayor is of (but not of the lyvery), and serve as gentlemen on that and other festivall daies, to wayte on the Mayor, beinge in nomber accordinge to the quantetie of the company, sometimes sixty or one hundred. After them xij trompeters more, with banners of the Mayor's company, then the dromme and flute of the citie, and an ensigne of the Mayor's company, and after, the waytes of the citie in blewe gownes, redd sleeves and cappes, every one havinge his silver coller about his neck. Then they of the liverey in their longe gownes, every one havinge his hood on his lefte shoulder, halfe black and halfe redd, the nomber of them is accordinge to the greatnes of the companye whereof they are. After them followe Sheriffes officers, and then the Mayor's officers, with other officers of the citie, as the comon sargent, and the chamberlayne; next before the Mayor goeth the swordbearer, having on his headd the cappe of honor, and the sworde of the citie in his right hande, in a riche skabarde, sett with pearle, and on his left hand goeth the comon cryer of the citie, with his great mace on his shoulder, all gilt. The Mayor hathe on a long gowne of skarlet, and on his lefte shoulder, a hood of black velvet, and a riche coller of gold of SS. about his necke, and with him rydeth the olde Mayor also, in his skarlet gowne, hood of velvet, and a chayne of golde about his neck. Then all the Aldermen ij and ij together (amongst whom is the Recorder), all in skarlet gownes; and those that have byn Mayors, have chaynes of gold, the other have black velvett tippetts. The ij Shereffes come last of all, in their black skarlet gownes and chaynes of golde. "In this order they passe alonge through the citie, to the Guyldhall, where they dyne that daie, to the number of 1000 persons, all at the charge of the Mayor and the ij shereffes. This feast costeth 4007., whereof the Mayor payeth 2007., and eche of the Shereffes 100. Immediately after dyner, they go to the churche of St. Paule, every one of the aforesaid poore men, bearrynge staffe torches and targetts, whiche torches are lighted when it is late, before they come from evenynge prayer. Had the police of the city been as strictly regulated, as were the ceremonies A breffe description of the Royall Citie of London, capitall citie of this realme of England. (City arms.) Wrytten by me William Smythe citezen and haberdasher of London, 1575." MS. "This compilation," says Mr. Haslewood, "forms a quarto volume of moderate thickness, and was intended for publication." -British Bibliographer, vol. i. p. 539-542. attending the inauguration of its chief magistrate, the inhabitants of London, in Queen Elizabeth's days, would have had little cause of complaint, with regard to personal protection; but, though the Statutes of the Streets were numerous and rigid, and sometimes ridiculously minute, for No. 22 enacts, that 66 no man shall blowe any horne in the night, within this citie, or whistle after the houre of nyne of the clock in the night, under paine of imprisonment," yet they were so ill executed, that, even in the day-time, disturbances of the most atrocious kind were deemed matters of common occurrence. Thus Gilbert Talbot and his wife, writing to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, consider the following acts of violence as trifling matters: "On Thursday laste (Feb. 13th, 1587), as my Lorde Rytche was rydynge in the streates, there was one Wyndam that stode in a dore, and shotte a dagge at him, thynkynge to have slayne him; but Cod provyded so for my L. Rytche, that this Wyndam apoyntynge his servante y morpynge to charge his dagge wth 11 bulletts, the fellow, doubtinge he mente to doe sum myschefe wth it, charged it only wth powder and paper, and no bullett; and so this L's lyfe was thereby saved, for otherwyse he had beene slayne. Wyndam was presently taken by my L. Rytche's men, and, beynge broughte before the Counsell, confessed his intende, but the cause of his quarrell I knowe not; but he is comytted to the Towre. The same daye, also, as S John Conway was goynge in the streetes, Mr Lodovyke Grevell came sodenly uppon him, and stroke him on the hedd with a sworde, and but for one of St John Conway's men, who warded the blow, he had cutt of his legges; yet did he hurte him sumwhat on bothe his shynns: The Councell sente for Lodovyko Grevell, and have comytted him to the Marchallcye. I am forced to trouble yo' Honors wth theses tryflynge matters, for I know no greater."*. Yet a sufficient number of watchmen, constables, and justices of the peace was not wanting. Of these, the first were armed with halberds, which, in Shakspeare's time, were called bills, and they usually carried a lanthorn in one hand, and sometimes a bell in the other, resting the halberd on the shoulder.† Notwithstanding these official characters, however, the peace of the city was frequently more effectually preserved by the interference of the apprentices, than by that of the appointed guardians of public order; for it appears, from Shakspeare's dramas, that the cry of Clubs! was a signal for the apprentices to arm themselves with these weapons, and quell the disturbance. Thus in King Henry the Eighth (act v. sc. 3), the Porter's man says:-"I hit that woman who cried out, clubs! when I might see from far some forty truncheoneers draw to her succour, which were the hope of the Strand;" and in Henry the Sixth, Part the First, even the Mayor of London is represented, on occasion of a quarrel between the partizans of the Duke of Gloucester and the Cardinal of Winchester, as threatening to call in similar assistance: "I'll call for clubs, if you will not away."-Act i. sc. 3. We cannot wonder that the inferior officers of the Police should be slack in the performance of their duty, when we recollect, that the Justices of the Peace, in these days, especially those resident in the metropolis, were so open to bribery, that many of them obtained the appellation of Basket Justices; nor did a member of the House of Commons hesitate, during the reign of Elizabeth, to describe a justice of the peace as "an animal who for half a dozen of chickens would readily dispense with a dozen penal laws." Many customs of a miscellaneous nature might with ease be extracted from the dramas of our poet; but to give them any relative bearing or concatenation would be nearly impossible, and a totally insulated detail of minute circumstances would prove tedious to the most persevering reader. Enough, we trust, has been collected to throw no feeble light on the general manners and modes of living, of * Lodge Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 206. The costume of the Watchman is thus represented in the title-page to Decker's "O per se 0,” &c. 4to. 1612. D'Ewes's Journals of Parliament, in Queen Elizabeth's Reign, p. 661, 664. the period under consideration, especially if it be recollected that the full picture is to be formed from a combination of this with the similar chapter, in a former part of the work, on the costume of rural life. CHAPTER VII. On the Diversions of the Metropolis, and the Court-The Stage; its Usages and Economy. Or the diversions of the metropolis and court, some were peculiar, and some were shared in common with the country. "The country hath his recreations,” observes Burton, "the city his several Gymnicks and exercises, feasts and merry meetings."-"What so pleasant as to see some Pageant or sight go by, as at Coronations, Weddings, and such like solemnities, to see an Embassadour or a Prince met, received, entertained, with Maskes, Shews, Fireworks, etc,:* and an old dramatic poet, of 1590, gives us a still more copious list of town amusements: 66 Let nothing that's magnifical, Or that may tend to London's graceful state, Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-plaies. "Every palace," continues Burton, "every city almost, hath his peculiar walks, cloysters, terraces, groves, theatres, pageants, games, and several recreations;" and we purpose, in this chapter, giving some account of the leading articles thus enumerated, but more particularly of the stage, as being peculiarly connected with the design and texture of our work. As the principal object, therefore, of the present discussion will be the amusements usually appropriated to the capital; those which it has in common with the country shall be first enumerated, though in a more superficial way. Of these, card-playing seems to have been as universal in the days of Elizabeth, as in modern times, and carried on, too, with the same ruinous consequences to property and morals; for though Stowe tells us, when commemorating the customs of London, that "from All-Hallows eve to the day following Candlemasday, there was, among other sports, playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain," yet we learn from contemporary satirists, from Gosson, Stubbes, and Northbrooke, S that all ranks, and especially the upper classes, were incurably addicted to gaming in the pursuit of this amusement, which they considered equally as seductive and pernicious as dice. The games at cards peculiar to this period, and now obsolete, are, 1. Primero, supposed to be the most ancient game of cards in England. It was very fashionable in the age of Shakspeare, who represents Henry the Eighth playing "at primero with the duke of Suffolk;" (Act. v. sc. 1.) and Falstaff exclaiming in Anatomie of Melancholy, fol. 8th edit. p. 171. col. i. "The Pleasant and Stately Morall of the Three Lordes and Three Ladies of London," &c. London, 1590. Vide Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, Introduct., p. xxviii.; and Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. i. p. 350, 351. Anatomie of Melancholy, p. 172. col. i. "Schoole of Abuse," "Anatomie of Abuses," and " Treatise againt Diceing, Card-playing" &c. the Merry Wives of Windsor, "I never prospered since I foreswore myself at primero." Act iv. sc. 5. The mode of playing this curious game is thus described by Mr. Strutt, from Mr. Barrington's papers upon card-playing, in the eighth volume of the Archæologia: "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, but the two, the three, and the four, for their respective points only. The knave of heats 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. " * 2. Trump, nearly coeval in point of antiquity with primero, and introduced in "Gammer Gurton's Needle," a comedy, first acted in 1561, where Dame Chat, addressing Diccon, says, "We be fast set at trump, man, hard by the fyre;" and we learn from Decker that, in 1612, it was much in vogue : "To speake," he remarks, "of all the sleights used by card-players in all sorts of games would but weary you that are to read, and bee but a thanklesse and unpleasing labour for me to set them down. Omitting, therefore, the deceipts practised (even in the fayrest and most civill companies) at Primero, Saint Maw, Trump, and such like games, I will, &c.”† 3, Gleek. This game is alluded to twice by Shakspeare; ‡ and from a passage in Cook's "Green's Tu Quoque," appears to have been held in much esteem :— it is then proposed to play either at twelve-penny gleek, or crown gleek.S To these may be added, Gresco, Mount Saint, New Cut, Knave out of Doors, and Ruff, all of which are mentioned in old plays, and were favourites among our ancestors,** Tables and Dice, enumerated by Burton after cards, include some games unknown to the present day; such as tray-trip, mum-chance, philosopher's game, novum, etc.; the first is noticed by Shakspeare in Twelfth Night, and appears, from a note by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to have been a species of draughts; the second was also a game at tables, and is coupled by Ben Jonson in the "Alchemist" with tray-trip; the third is mentioned by Burton, and is described by Mr. Strutt from a manuscript in 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 ;" and the fourth is introduced by Shakspeare in Love's Labour's Lost (Act v. sc. 2); "it was properly called Novum quinque," remarks Mr. Douce, "from the two principal throws of the dice, nine and five ;—was called in French Quinque-nove, and is said to have been invented in Flanders." The immoralities to which dice have given birth, we are authorised in considering, from the proverbial phraseology of Shakspeare, to have been as numerous in * Sports and Pastimes, 4to. 1810, p. 291, 292. + Belman of London, sig. F 2. Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 1. Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 5. In the Compleat Gamester, 2nd edit. 1676, p. 90, may be found the mode of playing this game. **The first of these games is mentioned in "Eastward Hoe, printed in 1605, and written by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston; the second in the "Dumb Knight," the production of Lewis Machin, 1608; the third in "A Woman killed with Kindness," written by Thomas Heywood, 1617, where are also noticed Lodam, Noddy, Post and Pair, a species of Brag, Knave out of Doors, and Ruff, this last being something like Whist, snd played in four different ways, under the names of English Ruff, French Ruff, Double Ruff, and Wide Ruff.-Vide Ancient British Drama, vol. ii. p. 444, 445. his time as at present. The expressions "false as dice,' "* and "false as dicers' oaths," will be illustrated by the following anecdote, taken from an anonymous MS, of the reign of James the First : "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 a six; the other then swore with a bitter imprecation, 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 başhed, for indeed the dice were false, and of a high cut, without a four."‡ Dancing was an almost daily amusement in the court of Elizabeth; the Queen was peculiarly fond of this exercise, as had been her father Henry the Eighth, and the taste for it became so general, during her reign, that a great part of the leisure of almost every class of society was spent, and especially on days of festivity, in dancing. To dance elegantly was one of the strongest recommendations to the favour of Her Majesty; and her courtiers, therefore, strove to rival each other in this pleasing accomplishment; nor were their efforts, in many instances, unrewarded. Sir Christopher Hatton, we are told, owed his promotion, in a great measure, to his skill in dancing; and in accordance with this anecdote, Gray opens his " Long Story" with an admirable description of his merit in this department, which, as containing a most just and excellent picture, both of the architecture and manners of "the days of good Queen Bess," as well as of the dress and agility of the knight, we with pleasure transcribe. Stoke-Pogeis, the scene of the narrative, was formerly in the possession of the Hattons: "In Britain's isle, no matter where, To raise the cieling's fretted height, Full oft within the spacious walls, The Brawl, a species of dance, here alluded to, is derived from the French word braule, "indicating," observes Mr. Douce, "a shaking or swinging motion. It was performed by several persons uniting hands in a circle, and giving each other continual shakes, the steps changing with the tune. It usually consisted of three pas and a pied-joint, to the time of four strokes of the bow; which, being repeated, was termed a double brawl. With this dance, balls were usually opened."S Shakspeare seems to have entertained as high an idea of the efficacy of a French brawl, as probably did Sir Christopher Hatton, when he exhibited before Queen Elizabeth; for he makes Moth in Love's Labour's Lost ask Armado, 66 Master, will you win your love with a French brawl?" and he then exclaims, "These betray nice wenches." (Act iii. sc. 1.) That several dances were included under the term brawls, appears from a passage in Shelton's Don Quixote : "After this there came in another artificial dance, of those called Brawles ;" and Mr. Douce informs us, that amidst a great variety of brawls, noticed in Thoinot Arbeau's treatise on dancing, entitled "Orchesographie," occurs a Scottish brawl; and he adds that this dance continued in fashion to the close of the seventeenth century.* ** Another dance of much celebrity at this period, was the Pavin or Pavan, which, from the solemnity of its measure, seems to have been held in utter aversion by |