dur pu 2. or killing game, e Queen was pecu gerly followed by uts the Princess and ved; and Mr. Lodge ... written by Sir Francis Soury, and the ladies of u to this diversion. † At the long bow was often cnts of a much less innocent Cutes the decline of archery, as grounds in the vicinity of ake," says he, " of the ancient uzens of this citie, now almoste vasse it for by the meanes of ur Archers for want of roome to allies, and ordinarie dicing-houses come enough to hazard their money uore peculiarly belonging to the metroMy other exhibits the fashionable mode, the day, we may enumerate the custom he middle isle of St. Paul's Cathedral. sbeth and James, Paul's Walk, as it was ed by the nobility, gentry, and professional to twelve in the forenoon, and from three to they met to converse on business, politics, or e soo in order to acquire fashions, form assignag table, or shun the grasp of the bailiff, came the and the debtor, the stale knight, and the cap tain out of service; and here it was that Falstaff purchased Bardolph; "I bought him," says the jolly knight," at Paul's." * Of the various purposes for which this temple was frequented by the loungers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Decker has left us a most entertaining account, and from his tract on this subject, published in 1609, we shall extract a few passages which throw no incurious light on the follies and dissipation of the age. The supposed tomb of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, but in reality that of Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, appears to have been a privileged part of the Cathedral:-"The Duke's tomb," observes Decker, addressing the gallant, "is a sanctuary; and will keep you alive from worms, and land rats, that long to be feeding on your carcass: there you may spend your legs in winter a whole afternoon; converse, plot, laugh, and talk any thing; jest at your creditor, even to his face; and in the evening, even by lamp-light, steal out; and so cozen a whole covey of abominable catch-polls.” † Such was the resort of the male fashionable world to this venerable Gothic pile, that it was customary for trades-people to frequent its aisles for the of collecting the dresses of the day." If purpose "If you determine to enter into a new suit, warn your tailor to attend you in Pauls, who, with his hat in his hand, shall like a spy discover the stuff, colour, and fashion of any doublet or hose that dare be seen there, and, stepping behind a pillar to fill his table books with those notes, will presently send you into the world an accomplished man; by which means you shall wear your clothes in print with the first edition." + The author even condescends to instruct his beau, when he has obtained his suit, how best to exhibit it in St. Paul's, and concludes by pointing out other recourses for killing time, on withdrawing from the cathedral. "Bend your course directly in the middle line, that * Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 29. t Henry IV. Part ii. act i. sc. 2. The cross-bow was the fashionable instrument for killing g even with the ladies, in the days of Elizabeth; the Queen was liarly fond of the sport, and her example was eagerly follo the female part of her court. Shakspeare represents the Prin her ladies, in Love's Labour's Lost, thus employed; and M informs us, through the medium of a letter, written by S Leake in 1605, that the Countess of Shrewsbury, and th the Cavendish family, were ardently attached to this dive That the honest pastime of shooting with the long commuted, in the capital, for amusements of a muc nature, we learn from Stowe, who attributes the declir a diversion, to the enclosure of common grounds i the metropolis:-" What should I speake," says h dayly exercises in the long Bow by citizens of this cleane left off and forsaken: I over passe it: fo closing in of common grounds, our Archers fe shoote abroad, creep into bowling allies, and neerer home, where they have roome enough at unlawfull games." + dy prolong Among the amusements more peculiarly polis, and which better than any other exhi at that time, of disposing of the day, we of publickly parading in the middle is During the reign of Elizabeth and Ja called, was daily frequented by the nobj men; here, from ten to twelve in th six in the afternoon, they met to co pleasure; and hither too, in order t tions for the gaming table, or shun gallant, the gamester, and the debt *Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. able to , off throw your inquisitive eye upon any knight or squire, being your familiar, salute him not by his name of Sir such a one, or so; but call him Ned, or Jack, &c. This will set off your estimation with great men and if, though there be a dozen companies between you, 'tis the better, he call aloud to you, for that is most genteel, to know where he shall find you at two o'clock; tell him at such an ordinary, or such; and be sure to name those that are dearest, and whither none but your gallants resort." * A still more offensive mode of displaying this ostentatious folly, sprang from a custom then general, and even now not altogether obsolete, of demanding spur-money from any person entering the cathedral during divine service, with spurs on. This was done by the younger choristers, and, it seems, frequently gave birth to the following gross violation of decency: "Never be seen to mount the steps into the quire, but upon a high festival day, to prefer the fashion of your doublet; and especially if the singing-boys seem to take note of you; for they are able to buzz your praises above their anthems, if their voices have not lost their maiden heads: but be sure your silver spurs dog your heels, and then the boys will swarm about you like so many white butterflies; when in the open quire shall draw forth a perfumed embroidered purse, the glorious sight of which will entice many countrymen from their devotion to wondering and quoit silver into the boy's hands, that it may be heard above the first lesson, although it be read in a voice as big as one of the great organs." + you The tract from which we have taken these curious illustrations, contains also a passage which serves to show, that London, in the time of our poet, was not unprovided with exhibitions of the docility, sagacity, and tricks of animals; and this, with similar relations, will tend to prove, that the ingenious Mr. Astley, and the Preceptor of VOL. II. *Gull's Horn-book, p. 97. They are thus called, from wearing white surplices. + Gull's Horn-book, pp. 99, 100. B B the learned pig, had been anticipated both in skill and perseverance. Decker, after conducting his "mere country gentleman" to the top of St. Paul's, proceeds thus :-" Hence you may descend, to talk about the horse that went up; and strive, if you can, to know his keeper; take the day of the month, and the number of the steps; and suffer yourself to believe verily that it was not a horse, but something else in the likeness of one: which wonders you may publish, when you return into the country, to the great amazement of all farmer's daughters, that will almost swoon at the report, and never recover till their bans be asked twice in the church." * This is the dancing-horse alluded to by Shakspeare, in Love's Labour's Lost ; an English bay gelding, fourteen years old, and named Morocco. He had been taught by one Banks, a Scotchman, and their fame was spread over a great part of Europe; "if Banks had lived in older times," remarks Sir Walter Raleigh, “he would have shamed all the inchanters in the world: for whosoever was most famous among them, could never master, or instruct any beast as he did." It was the misfortune, indeed, of this man and his horse to ‡ be taken for enchanters; while at Paris, they had a narrow escape, being imprisoned for dealing with the devil, and at length liberated, on the magistrates discovering that the whole was merely the effect of human art §; but at Rome they fell a sacrifice to the more rivetted superstitions of the people, and were both burnt as magicians; a fate to which Ben Jonson adverts in the following lines : "But amongst those Tiberts, who do you think there was? Old Bankes the juggler, our Pythagoras, Grave tutor to the learned horse. Both which, Being, beyond sea, burned for one witch, Their spirits transmigrated to a cat." || * Gull's Horn-book, pp. 104, 105. + Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 26. Act i. sc. 2. § Vide Douce's Illustrations, vol. i. pp. 213, 214. Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. 1640. Epigrammes, p. 46. |