Book IV

., p. 59.)

Page 20. _List, your Nobles, and attend._

This was (perhaps, by JOHN ELIOT,) certainly written in anticipatory celebration of the event described, the Reception of Queen Henrietta Maria by the citizens of London, 1625. The full title is this:—“The Author intending to write upon the Duke of _Buckingham_, when he went to fetch the Queen, prepared a new Ballad for the Fidlers, as might hold them to sing between _Dover_ and _Callice_.” It is thus the poem reappears, with some variations (beginning “_Now list, you Lordlings, and attend_, || _Unto a Ballad newly penned_,” &c.,) among the “_Choyce Poems, being Songs, Sonnets, Satyrs, and Elegies_. By the Wits of both Universities, London,” &c., 1661, p. 83. This was merely the earlier edition (of June, 1658), reissued with an irregular extra sheet at beginning. The original title-page (two issued in 1658) was “_Poems or Epigrams, Satyrs, Elegies, Songs and Sonnets, upon several persons and occasions_. By no body must know whom, to be had every body knows where, and for any body knows what. [MS. The Author John Eliot.] London, Printed for Henry Brome, at the _Gun_ in Ivie Lane, 1658.” It is mentioned that “These poems were given me neer sixteen years since [therefore about 1642] by a Friend of the Authors, with a desire they might be printed, but I conceived the Age then too squeemish to endure the freedom which the Author useth, and therefore I have hitherto smothered them, but being desirous they should not perish, and the world be deprived of so much clean Wit and Fancy, I have adventured to expose them to thy view; ... The Author writes not pedantically, but like a gentleman; and if thou art a gentleman of thy own making thou wilt not mislike it.”

Verse 9th. _Gondomar_ was the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of James I., to whom, with his “one word” of “Pyrates, Pyrates, Pyrates,” we in great part owe the slaughter of Raleigh. Of course, the date ’526, four lines lower, is a blunder. The rash visit to Madrid was in March, 1623.

Title, and verse 8th. A _Jack-a-Lent_ was a stuffed puppet, set up to be thrown at, during Lent. Perhaps it was a substitute for a live Cock; or else the Cock-throwing may have been a later “improvement:” See Hone’s _Every Day Book_, for an illustrated account, i. 249. Trace of the habit survives in our modern “Old Aunt Sally,” by which yokels lose money at Races (although Dorset Rectors try to abolish Country Fairs, while encouragement is given to gambling at Chapel Bazaars with raffles for pious purposes). In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act iii. sc. 3, Mrs. Page says to the boy, “You little _Jack-a-Lent_, have you been true to us?” Quarles alludes to the practice:—

_How like a ~Jack-a-Lent~_ _He stands, for boys to spend their Shrove-tide throws,_ _Or like a puppet made to frighten crows._

(J. O. Halliwell’s _M. W. of W._, Tallis ed., p. 127.)

John Taylor (the Water-Poet) wrote a whim-wham entitled “_Jack a Lent: his Beginning and Entertainment_,” about 1619, printed 1630; as “of the Jack of Jacks, great Jack a Lent.” And Cleveland devoted thus a Cavalier’s worn suit: “Thou shalt make _Jack-a-Lents_ and Babies first.” (_Poems_, 1662, p. 56.)

Martin Llewellyn’s Song on Cock-throwing begins “Cock a doodle doe, ’tis the bravest game;” in his _Men-Miracles_, &c., 1646, p. 61.

Page 31. _A Story strange I will you tell._

As to the burden (since some folks are inquisitive about the etymology of Down derry down, or Ran-dan, &c.), we may note that in a queer book, _The Loves of Hero and Leander_, 1651, p. 3, is a six-line verse ending thus:

“_Oh, ~Hero~, ~Hero~, pitty me,_ _With a dildo, dildo, dildo dee._”

By which we may guess that the Rope-dancer’s Song, in our text, was probably written about, or even before, 1651. Some among us (the Editor for one) saw Madame Sacchi in 1855 mount the rope, although she was seventy years old, as nimbly as when the first Napoleon had been her chief spectator. During the Commonwealth, rope-dancing and tumbling were tolerated at the Red-Bull Theatre, while plays were prohibited. See (Note to p. 210) our Introduction to _Westminster Drollery_, pp. xv.-xx, and the Frontispiece reproduced from Kirkman’s “_Wits_,” 1673, representing sundry characters from different “Drolls,” grouped together, viz.: Falstaff and Dame Quickly, from “the Bouncing Knight;” the French Dancing-Master, from the Duke of Newcastle’s “Variety,” Clause, from Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Beggar’s Bush,” Tom Greene as Bubble the Clown uttering “Tu Quoque” from John Cooke’s “City Gallant” (peeping through the chief-entrance, reserved for dignitaries); also Simpleton the Smith, and the Changeling, from two of Robert Cox’s favourite Drolls. We add now, illustrative of practical suppression under the Commonwealth, a contemporary record:—

A SONG.

1.

_The fourteenth of ~September~_ _I very well remember,_ _When people had eaten and fed well,_ _Many men, they say,_ _Would needs go see a Play,_ _But they saw a great rout at the ~red Bull~._

2.

_The Soldiers they came,_ _(The blind and the lame)_ _To visit and undo the Players;_ _And women without Gowns,_ _They said they would have Crowns;_ _But they were no good Sooth-sayers._

3.

_Then ~Jo: Wright~ they met,_ _Yet nothing could get,_ _And ~Tom Jay~ i’ th’ same condition:_ _The fire men they_ _Would ha’ made ’em a prey,_ _But they scorn’d to make a petition._

4. [p. 89.]

_The Minstrills they_ _Had the hap that day,_ _(Well fare a very good token)_ _To keep (from the chase)_ _The fiddle and the case,_ _For the instruments scap’d unbroken._

5.

_The poor and the rich,_ _The wh... and the b...,_ _Were every one at a losse,_ _But the Players were all_ _Turn’d (as weakest) to the wall,_ _And ’tis thought had the greatest losse._ [? _cross._]

(_Wit’s Merriment, or Lusty Drollery_, 1656, p. 88.)

One such raid on the poor actors (and probably at this very theatre, the Red Bull, St. John’s Street, Clerkenwell) is recorded, as of 20th December, 1649:—“Some Stage-players in St. John’s-Street were apprehended by troopers, their clothes taken away, and themselves carried to prison” (Whitelocke’s _Memorials_, 435, edit. 1733, cited by J. P. C., _Annals_, ii. 118). It was a serious business, as we see from the Ordinance of 11 Feb., 1647-8; the demolishing of seats and boxes, the actors “to be apprehended and openly and publicly whipt in some market town ... to enter into recognizances with two sufficient sureties, never to act or play any Play or Interlude any more,” &c.

As for the Light-skirts, so elegantly referred to in the Song now reprinted (as far as we are aware, for the first time), they were certainly not actresses, but courtezans frequenting the place to ensnare visitors. Although English women did not _publicly_ perform until after the Restoration, except on one occasion (of course, at Court Masques and private mansions, the Queen herself and her ladies had impersonated characters), yet so early as 8th November, 1629, some French professional actresses vainly attempted to get a hearing at Blackfriars Theatre, and a fortnight later at the Red Bull itself, as three weeks afterwards at the Fortune. Evidently, they were unsuccessful throughout. We hear a good deal about the far-more objectionable “Ladies of Pleasure,” who beset all places of amusement. Thomas Cranley, addressing one such, in his _Amanda_, 1635, describes her several alluring disguises and habits:—

_The places thou dost usually frequent_ _Is to some playhouse in an afternoon,_ _And for no other meaning and intent_ _But to get company to sup with soon;_ _More changeable and wavering than the moon._ _And with thy wanton looks attracting to thee_ _The amorous spectators for to woo thee._

_Thither thou com’st in several forms and shapes_ _To make thee still a stranger to the place,_ _And train new lovers, like young birds, to scrapes,_ _And by thy habit so to change thy face;_ _At this time plain, to-morrow all in lace:_ _Now in the richest colours to be had;_ _The next day all in mourning, black and sad._ &c.

Page 33. _Oh fire, fire, fire, where?_

Despite our repugnance to mutilate a text (see Introduction to _Westminster Drollery_, p. 6; ditto to _Merry Drollery Compleat_, pp. 38, 39, 40; and that to our present volume, foot-note in section third), a few letters have been necessarily suppressed in this piece of coarse humour. Verse fourth, on p. 33, refers to Ben Jonson’s loss of valuable manuscripts by fire, and his consequent “Execration upon Vulcan,” before June, 1629; an event deeply to be regretted: also to the whimsical account of the fire on London Bridge (see _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, pp. 87, 369, and Additional Note in present volume, tracing the poem to 1651, and the event to 1633).

An amusing poem was written, by Thomas Randolph, on the destruction of the Mitre Tavern at Cambridge, about 1630; it begins, “Lament, lament, you scholars all.” (See _A Crew of kind London Gossips_, 1663, p. 72).

Page 38. _In Eighty Eight, ere I was born._

Also given later, in _Merry Drollery_, 1661, p. 77, and _Ditto, Compleat_, p. 82 and 369. Compare the Harleian MS. version, No. 791, fol. 59, given in our Appendix to _Westminster Drollery_, p. 38, with note. The romance of _the Knight of the Sun_ is mentioned by Sir Tho. Overbury in his _Characters_, as fascinating a Chambermaid, and tempting her to turn lady-errant. “The book is better known under the title of _The Mirror of Princely Deedes and Knighthood_, wherein is shewed the worthinesse of The Knight of the Sunne, &c. It consists of nine parts, which appear to have been published at intervals between 1585, and 1601.” (_Lucasta_, &c., edit. 1864, p. 13.)

Page 40. _And will this Wicked World_, &c.

We never met this elsewhere: it was probably written either in 1605, or almost immediately afterwards. Among Robert Hayman’s _Quodlibets_, 1628, in Book Second, No. 49, is an Epigram (p. 27):—

Of the Gunpowder Holly-day, the 5th of November.

_The ~Powder-Traytors~, ~Guy Vaux~, and his mates,_ _Who by a Hellish plot sought Saints estates,_ _Haue in our Kalendar vnto their shame,_ _A ioyful ~Holy-day~ cald by their Name._

Jeremiah Wells has among his _Poems on Several Occasions_, 1667, one, at p. 9, “On Gunpowder Treason,” beginning “_Hence dull pretenders unto villany_,” which solemnly conjures up a picture of what might have ensued if (what even Baillie Nicol Jarvie would call) the “awfu’ bleeze” had taken place. [The same rare volume is interesting, as containing a Poem on the Rebuilding of London, after the fire of 1666, p. 112, beginning “What a Devouring Fire but t’other day!”]

With Charles Lamb, we have always regretted the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. It would have been a magnificent event, fully equal to Firmillian’s blowing up the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, at Badajoz; and the loss of life to all the Parliament Members would have been a cheap price, if paid, for such a remembrance. The worst of all is, that, having been attempted, there is no likelihood of any subsequent repetition meeting with better success. _Hinc illæ lachrymæ!_ Faux, Vaux, or Fawkes must have been a noble, though slightly misguided, enthusiast; for he had intended to perish, like Samson, with his victims. All good Protestants now admire the Nazarite, although they bon-fire-raise poor Guido. But then he failed in his work, while the other slayer of Philistines attained success: which perhaps accounts for the different apotheosis. As Lady Macbeth puts it: “The attempt, _and not the deed_, confounds us!”

Page 44. _A Maiden of the Pure Society._

A version of this epigram is among the MSS. at end of a volume of “Various Poems,” in the British Museum: Press-mark, Case 39. a. These have been printed by Fred. J. Furnival, Esq., for the Ballad Society, as “Love Poems and Humorous Ones,” 1874. “A Puritane with one of hir societie,” is No. 26, p. 22.

Page 52. _He that a Tinker_, &c.

This re-appears in the _Antidote against Melancholy_, 1661 p. 65; and, with music, in the 1719 _Pills to p. Mel._, iii. 52

Page 55. _Idol of our Sex!_ &c.

This Lady Carnarvon was the wife of Robert Dormer, second Baron Dormer, created Visc. Ascott, or Herld, and Earl of Carnarvon, 2d Aug., 1628. Obiit 1643. He fell at the Battle of Newbury, 20th Sept. (See Clarendon’s _History of the Rebellion_,