Social Life In The Reign Of Queen Anne - free ebook by John Ashton

Read as playlist

Social Life In The Reign Of Queen Anne

John Ashton

54 chapters

31 hour read

Read as playlist

Selected Chapters

54 chapters

Social Life in Queen Anne's Reign

Social Life in Queen Anne's Reign

The Daily Courant. Wednesday, March 11, 1702. From the Harlem Courant, Dated March 18. N. S. Naples , Feb. 22. On Wednesday last, our New Viceroy, the Duke of Escalona, arriv'd here with a Squadron of the Galleys of Sicily. He made his Entrance drest in a French habit; and to give us the greater Hopes of the King's coming hither, went to Lodge in one of the little Palaces, leaving the Royal One for his Majesty. The Marquis of Grigni is also arriv'd here with a Regiment of French. Rome , Feb. 25.

5 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE.

PREFACE.

From the time of Dean Swift downwards to our own days many Political Histories of the Reign of Queen Anne have been written, but its Social Life we have been left to gather mainly from the efforts of novelists, who have been more or less conscientious, according to their knowledge, in placing it before us. No doubt the drudgery of the work, the wading through all the newspapers, and reading all the literature of the time, has deterred many from attempting what, in its execution, has proved a ver

26 minute read

Read Chapter

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

Lilli-Burlero 439 Hunt the Squirll 439 Moll Peatley 440 A List of all the Persons to whom Rings and Mourning were presented upon the occasion of Mr. Pepys's Death and Burial 441 Lord Mayor's Delight 444 Walsingham 445 The Children in the Wood 445 A List of some of the Coffee-houses in London during Queen Anne's Reign, 1702-14 448 Chocolate-houses 453 Sir Roger de Coverley 453 Roger of Coverly 453 Christ Church Bells in Oxon 454 Cheshire Rounds 455 The Nightingale 455 INDEX 459 Walsingham 445 The

51 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION. (Boys.)

CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION. (Boys.)

The Duke of Gloucester — The Queen's refusal to marry again — Treatment of children after birth — Baptismal feasts — A christening — 'Daffy's Elixir' — Treatment of infantile diseases — The nursery — Toys — Children's books — Horn books — Private tuition — Boarding and day schools — Free schools — Classical education — School books — Penmanship — Runaway boys — College education — Charity schools. In all climes, and in all ages, since Man's creation, he has been subject to the same conditions, m

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION. (Girls.)

CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION. (Girls.)

Boarding schools — Town and country educations — Pastry schools — Dancing — Toasts — 'The Little Whig' — Madame Spanheim. Girls were not all educated at home—though, doubtless, the majority of them were, with the exception of their dancing lessons—but had boarding schools of their own; and the schoolmistresses seem always to have been harassed by malicious reports. For instance: 'Whereas it is reported that Mrs. Overing who keeps a Boarding School at Bethnal Green near Hackney, is leaving off; t

19 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III. MARRIAGE.

CHAPTER III. MARRIAGE.

Eloping with heiresses — Marriage between children — Tax on bachelors — Valentines — Marriage settlements — Pin money — Posies — Drummers — Private marriages — Irregular marriages — Fleet parsons — Marriage Act — Facility of marriage — Liability of husbands — Public marriages — Marriage customs — Bride's garters — Throwing the stocking — The posset — Honeymoon. We will suppose our toast to escape the perils to which her position exposed her, and not forcibly carried off by some bold knight, as h

56 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IV. DEATH AND BURIAL.

CHAPTER IV. DEATH AND BURIAL.

Longevity — Undertakers' charges — Costliness of funerals — Mourning — Burial in woollen — Burial societies — Burial by night — A cheat — Mourning rings — Funeral pomp — Monuments — Description of a funeral — A Roman Catholic funeral — Widows. That some lived to a good old age there can be no doubt; but a patriarch died in this reign at Northampton, April 5, 1706: [59] 'This Day died John Bales of this Town, Button Maker Aged 130 and some Weeks; he liv'd in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth, King Ja

41 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER V. HOUSES, FURNITURE, ETC.

CHAPTER V. HOUSES, FURNITURE, ETC.

'Queen Anne' houses — Vanbrugh's house — Real 'Queen Anne' houses — Hangings and wall papers — Letting and rent — Prevention of fire — A fire — Insurance companies — Water supply — Thames Water Works — New River — Coals — Furniture — China — Bedsteads. Although for the purpose of this work it is necessary to say somewhat of the houses of the period, it is not worth while discussing the so-called revival of the architecture of Queen Anne's time. The modern houses are quaint and pretty, but they a

48 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VI. SERVANTS.

CHAPTER VI. SERVANTS.

Number of servants — Footmen — Wages — Liveries — 'How d'ye' — The Upper Gallery — Footmen's Parliament — Accomplishments — White slaves from Barbary — Negro slaves — Runaways — Apprentices. The quantity of servants in vogue at that time, especially of male servants, seems to us to be excessive, but when we look how useful they were, apart from their menial duties, as guards, and assistants when the carriage stuck in a deep rut when travelling, and remember that the old feudal system of having r

19 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VII. DAILY LIFE. (Men.)

CHAPTER VII. DAILY LIFE. (Men.)

Out-of-door amusements — A holiday — Hatred of French fashions — Beaus' oaths — Kissing — Fops: their daily life. Passing to the social habits of the people, it is difficult where to commence the description. The men of the time were humdrum and prosaic—they went nowhere, at least according to our ideas—a journey to York or so was really fraught with peril and hardship, consequently no one ever moved about unless they were compelled. The suburbs were sparsely inhabited, and there was nothing muc

16 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VIII. DAILY LIFE. (Women.)

CHAPTER VIII. DAILY LIFE. (Women.)

Receiving in bed — A lady's life — A fine lady's diary — Walking — Visiting — Tea-table scandal — Shopping — Daily church — Pets — Dancing — Books on ditto — A dancing master. And how did the women fare? We have seen that among the middle classes the domestic virtues were encouraged and highly extolled, and to be a 'notable housewife' was a legitimate and proper ambition; but how did the fine-lady class spend their time? Were their lives more usefully employed than those of the beaus? Addison sa

43 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IX. GAMBLING AND SPECULATION.

CHAPTER IX. GAMBLING AND SPECULATION.

Games at cards — Curious cards — Price — Tax on Cards — Female passion for gambling — The Groom Porter's — Gaming houses — Gamesters — Noted gamesters — Debts of honour — Speculation — Life insurances — Marine and other insurances — Shopkeepers' lotteries — Government lotteries — Prizes and winners. But primest and chief delight of men and women in this age was CARDS. Never, perhaps, was such a card-playing time—certainly not in England. Ombre, which is so vividly described in the third canto of

39 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER X. SUPERSTITION.

CHAPTER X. SUPERSTITION.

Astrologers — Their advertisements — Their tricks — Witchcraft — Cases of witchcraft. It is not for us to decry the superstition of that age—we should look to ourselves in this matter. Perhaps they were more open in their expression of belief in the supernatural, and perhaps that belief was wider spread than at present. The seventh Spectator gives a very good account of the minor superstitions, but does not touch on the grosser ones, such as the consulting of astrologers, and the belief in witch

25 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XI. COSMETICS, ETC.

CHAPTER XI. COSMETICS, ETC.

Habit of snuff-taking — Perfumes — Charles Lillie — List of scents — Soaps — Wash balls — 'Complections' — Tooth powder — Hair dye — Spectacles. There was one social habit that the two sexes had in common, and that was in taking snuff: nay, it was more than hinted that some of the fair sex smoked—not nice little fairy 'Paquitas' or dainty little cigarettes, but nasty, heavy, clumsy clay pipes. The subject will be discussed in another part, but now we merely glance at the prevalence of the habit—

11 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XII. TRADE, ETC.

CHAPTER XII. TRADE, ETC.

The penny post — Dockwra's vindication of himself — Abolition of penny post — Post days and rates — Halfpenny post — Method of doing business — The Exchange — Description of frequenters — Bankers — Curious advertisement of Sir Richard Hoare's. Among the social institutions then in existence, was the penny post, which cannot be better, or more tersely, described than in Misson's own words: 'Every two Hours you may write [164] to any Part of the City or Suburbs, he that receives it pays a Penny, a

23 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XIII. MEN'S DRESS.

CHAPTER XIII. MEN'S DRESS.

A beau — An inventory of him — Hats — Wigs: their price: varieties — Hair powder — Robbery of wigs — Natural hair — Neck cloths — Shirts — Open waistcoats — Colonel Edgworth — Coats — Cheap clothiers — Stockings — Boots and shoes — Shoeblacks and blacking — Handkerchiefs — Muffs — Swords — Walking sticks — Watches — Over coats — Night caps — Night gowns. We have seen the birth, marriage, and funeral of these good people, and have noted some of their social habits. Next is, how did they dress? Fa

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XIV. WOMEN'S DRESS.

CHAPTER XIV. WOMEN'S DRESS.

The commode — Description of ladies' dress — The petticoat — The bodice — A costly wardrobe — Underlinen — Dressing like men — Scents — Patches — Patching Whig and Tory — Masks — The hood — High-crowned hats — Furs — Umbrellas — Pattens — The fan — Mobs — Shopping — Stuffs — List of Indian stuffs — Lace — Linens — Tallymen — Jewellery — Diamonds — Plate — Children's jewellery. A COMMODE. The 'commode' must have been so named on the same lucus à non lucendo principle as the night cap and gown; fo

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XV. FOOD. (Solid.)

CHAPTER XV. FOOD. (Solid.)

English fare — Time of dining — Pontack's — Other ordinaries — Books on Cookery — Receipts — Pudding — Fish — Oysters — Poultry — Assize of bread — Markets — Vegetables — Lambeth gardeners — Fruit — Dried fruit. In the matter of food, people were not gourmets as a rule. The living was plentiful, but plain, and a dinner was never more than two courses; as Addison wrote, 'two plain dishes, with two or three good natured, chearful, ingenious friends, would make me more pleased and vain than all tha

34 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XVI. FOOD. (Liquid.)

CHAPTER XVI. FOOD. (Liquid.)

Beer — Hard drinking — 'Whetters' — Wines — List of French and Spanish wines — Wines of other countries — Duties on wines — Spirits — Liqueurs — Homemade wines — Prices of tea — Adulteration — Price of coffee — Chocolate — Its price — Duty on. Beer always has been the alcoholic liquor most largely consumed in England, and, among the poorer and lower middle classes, it was so in Anne's reign; but it was looked down upon, and despised, by the upper classes. It was of different qualities, from the

29 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XVII. TOBACCO.

CHAPTER XVII. TOBACCO.

Habit of smoking — Women and children smoking — Prices of tobacco — Customs duty — Origin of snuff-taking — The Vigo Expedition — Snuff rasps — Ladies taking snuff — Proper use of the snuff-box — Use of a spoon — Prices of snuffs — List of ditto — Duty on snuff. Allusion has been made to the prevalent use of tobacco, both in smoking and as snuff; and, perhaps, at no time in the century was there a larger consumption. The habit of meeting convivially at the coffee-houses, and taverns, favoured th

20 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XVIII. COFFEE-HOUSES AND TAVERNS.

CHAPTER XVIII. COFFEE-HOUSES AND TAVERNS.

Universal use of coffee-houses — Their convenience — Company — First coffee-house — Number of them — Anecdote of Bishop Trelawney — Description of interior — The news — Advance in price — Chocolate-houses — Famous coffee-houses — Button's Lion — Lloyd's — Sales by candle — Jenny Man — Don Saltero's collection — Taverns — Noblemen frequenting them — Drinking own wine — Purl houses — List of old taverns. A COFFEE HOUSE. The coffee-house was not a new institution in Anne's reign, but then it reache

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XIX. CLUBS.

CHAPTER XIX. CLUBS.

Origin — October Club — Calves Head Club — Kit Cat Club — Other clubs — Suggested clubs. The name of Club is undoubtedly taken from the practice of a jovial company to 'club,' or divide the whole expenses of the entertainment; and 'the payment of our Clubs' [322] is a frequently mentioned wind-up of any festivity. Naturally, such agreeable meetings were repeated until they became habitual, and the society, or club , was formed; and these humble beginnings laid the foundation of that great social

22 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XX. SIGHT-SEEING AND FAIRS

CHAPTER XX. SIGHT-SEEING AND FAIRS

Royal visits to the City — Lord Mayor's show — The lions at the Tower — The Armoury — Tombs at Westminster — Bartholomew Fair — Description — Shows — Tight-rope dancing — Natural curiosities — Theatrical performances, etc. — Abolition — May Fair — Lady Mary — Pinkethman — Shows — Visit to — Abolition — Southwark Fair — Its shows. But clubs were not the only social enjoyments. The populace had, during this reign, many free sights—and the numerous visits of the Queen to the City provided fine show

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXI. OTHER SIGHTS.

CHAPTER XXI. OTHER SIGHTS.

The Lincolnshire ox — The large hog — The whale — Monkeys and wild beasts — 'The Lest Man and Hors in the World' — Performing horse — Dwarfs and giants — Human curiosities — Helen and Judith — Conjurors — Posture masters — Mr. Clinch — Waxwork — Mrs. Salmon, etc. — Westminster Abbey wax-figures — Powell's puppets — Moving pictures — Glass-blowing — Miraculous fountain — Winstanley — His waterworks — The four Indian chiefs. But it must not be imagined that these fairs monopolised all the rarities

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXII. ROUGH SPORTS.

CHAPTER XXII. ROUGH SPORTS.

Bear-baiting — Bear-gardens — Bull-baiting — Description — Extra ordinary bull bait — Cock-fighting — Cock-pits — Value of matches — Training. But all amusements at this time were not so innocent as the foregoing: there were fiercer and more blood-stirring excitements for the men. Take bear and bull baiting. The former was dying out, and was no longer as popular as it was during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. Slender. [367] Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' the town?

24 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXIII. HORSE-RACING, HUNTING, SHOOTING, &C.

CHAPTER XXIII. HORSE-RACING, HUNTING, SHOOTING, &C.

The Queen's love of racing — Visit to Newmarket — Queen's plates — Value of matches — Race meetings — Tregonwell Frampton — His horse Dragon — The Queen's love of hunting — Sir Roger de Coverley — Fox-hunting — Stag-hunting — Hare-hunting — Coursing — Packs of hounds — Fishing — Hawking — Netting — The Game Act — Shooting, sitting and flying — Match shooting — Archery. The horse, necessarily, in those days, when locomotion was only obtainable through its agency, was of prime importance: farriery

38 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXIV. SWORD-PLAY AND OTHER SPORTS. GARDEN, ETC.

CHAPTER XXIV. SWORD-PLAY AND OTHER SPORTS. GARDEN, ETC.

Challenges — The stakes — The combatants — Description of fights — General combativeness — Boxing — Cudgel-playing — Pedestrianism — Tennis — Cricket — Football — Skating — Billiards — Country wakes — Bowling — Bowling greens — Formal gardening — Clipping trees — Books on gardening — Trees and flowers — Town and country life — Country labourers. In those days, when everyone with any pretensions to gentility wore a sword, and duelling was rife, it is no wonder that exhibitions of skill in that we

48 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXV. THE DRAMA.

CHAPTER XXV. THE DRAMA.

The theatres — Dorset Gardens — Its demolition — Performances — Lincoln's Inn Fields — Theatre Royal, Drury Lane — Its company — Mrs. Tofts — The Queen's Theatre, Haymarket — Its foundation stone — Its operas — Pinkethman's theatre at Greenwich — The Queen and the Stage — Her reforms — Strolling players — Behaviour at the theatre — Orange wenches — Stage properties — Actors — Betterton — Verbruggen — Cave Underhill — Estcourt — Dogget — Colley Cibber — Wilks — Booth — Pinkethman — Minor actors —

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXVI. OPERA, CONCERTS, MUSIC.

CHAPTER XXVI. OPERA, CONCERTS, MUSIC.

Introduction of Italian opera — Its rapid popularity — Mixture of languages — Handel — His operas, and visit here — Singers — Abel — Hughs — Leveridge — Lawrence — Ramondon — Mrs. Tofts — Her madness — Foreign singers — Margherita de l'Epine — Nicolino Grimaldi — Isabella Girardeau — Composers — Dr. Blow — Jeremiah Clarke — Dean Aldrich — Tom D'Urfey — Henry Carey — Britton, the small coal man — His concerts — His death — Concerts and concert rooms — Gasparini, the violinist — Musical instrument

42 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXVII. PAINTERS AND ARCHITECTS.

CHAPTER XXVII. PAINTERS AND ARCHITECTS.

Wollaston — Murray — Hugh Howard — Lewis Crosse — Luke Cradock — Charles Jervas — Richardson — Sir James Thornhill — Sir Godfrey Kneller — Closterman — Pelegrini — Sebastian Ricci — Vander Vaart — Laguerre — Dahl — Boit — Class of pictures in vogue — Water colours — Drawings — Engravings — Sculpture — Grinling Gibbons — Architects — Sir C. Wren — Vanbrugh. The sister art of painting was not well represented in this reign—by native talent, at all events, except by Thornhill. There was Wollaston,

29 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXVIII. SCIENCE, ETC.

CHAPTER XXVIII. SCIENCE, ETC.

Its infancy — Virtuosi — Gresham College — Visit to the Royal Society's Museum — Their curiosities — Their new house — Geology — Experimental philosophy — Courses of chemistry — Mathematics — List of patents — Hydraulic machinery — Savery's steam engine — Description. Exact science, as we understand the term, hardly existed. Sir Isaac Newton was just lighting the spark which has been fanned by succeeding generations into such a mighty flame. The Royal Society was an absolute laughing-stock, and

32 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXIX. LITERATURE, THE PRESS, ETC.

CHAPTER XXIX. LITERATURE, THE PRESS, ETC.

Authors — Public libraries — Their condition — George Psalmanazar — Hack writers — Poverty of authors — Their punishment — The press — Daily Courant — List of newspapers — London Gazette — Postboy — Postman — Dawk's News Letter — Dyer's — Evening papers — Dearth of domestic news — Amenities of the press — Roper and Redpath — Tutchin — His trial — Press remuneration — Mrs. Manley — The Essay papers — The halfpenny stamp — Its effect — Advertising — Almanacs — List of them — Moore's — The Ladies'

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXX. MEDICAL.

CHAPTER XXX. MEDICAL.

List of diseases — Quackery — Bleeding, etc. — Physicians — Surgeons — Apothecaries — Dissension between the physicians and apothecaries — The dispensary — Pharmacopœias — Some nostrums — Prescriptions — Cupping — Treatment of lunatics — Physicians' carriages — Dr. Radcliffe — Sir Samuel Garth — Sir Hans Sloane — Dr. Mead — His duel with Woodward — Study of Anatomy — Surgical instruments — Oculists — Sir William Read — Roger Grant — The Queen touching for the evil — Description of the ceremony —

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXI. SPAS AND BATHING.

CHAPTER XXXI. SPAS AND BATHING.

Bath — Manners of the company there — Description of Bath — Its gaieties — Sale of the water — Tunbridge — Epsom — Hampstead — Other spas — Turkish baths — Controversy on hot and cold bathing — The Hummums — Description of a Turkish bath — Other bagnios — Cold bathing and baths. It was a great time for our English spas, and 'Spaw Water' was a favourite drink with the temperate. Chief of all, for its curative qualities, and for its society, was Bath, or 'The Bath,' as it was called; and, as it oc

36 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXII. RELIGIONS.

CHAPTER XXXII. RELIGIONS.

Inactivity of the Church — Dulness of Sunday — Contempt of the clergy — Low estimation of a chaplain — Dress of the clergy — Church furniture — Traffic in benefices — Forged orders — Dr. Sacheverell — 'The modern champions' — Queen Anne's Bounty — Its history — Fifty new churches — Protestant tone of Church feeling — The effigies on Queen Elizabeth's birthday — Oppression of Roman Catholics — Religious sects — Eminent Nonconformists — Daniel Burgess — Dislike to Quakers — Examples — William Penn

57 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXIII. LEGAL.

CHAPTER XXXIII. LEGAL.

The different branches of the law — Briefless Barristers — Green bags — Forensic wigs — Attorneys — Knights of the Post — Lord Somers — Lord Cowper: his abolition of New Year's gifts. Speaking of lawyers, Addison says: [569] 'The Body of the Law is no less encumbered with superfluous Members, that are like Virgil's Army which he tells us was so crouded, many of them had not Room to use their Weapons. This prodigious Society of Men may be divided into the Litigious and Peaceable. Under the first

11 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE RIVER.

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE RIVER.

Use as a highway — River slang — Rates of watermen — Description of wherries — Pleasure parties and barges — The Folly — Its frequenters — Gravesend tilt boat — Fares at the Horse Ferry — The Fleet Ditch. The River Thames was then a veritable 'silent highway,' in the sense of affording transport for passengers for short distances. In fact, the wherries then took the places in a great measure of our present cabs; and a cry of 'Next Oars' or 'Sculls,' when anyone made his appearance at the top of

22 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXV. THE STREETS.

CHAPTER XXXV. THE STREETS.

Size of London — Pall Mall — London in wet weather — Early morning — Street cries: a list of them — Roguery in the streets — Orderly regulations — State of the roads — Rule of the road — Street signs — Description of the streets — Milkmaids on May Day — Hyde Park; its regulations — Lighting the streets — The streets at night. London, it is scarcely necessary to remark, was very circumscribed in its area compared to its overgrown present dimensions. The northern bank of the river was well occupie

36 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXVI. CARRIAGES, ETC.

CHAPTER XXXVI. CARRIAGES, ETC.

Smithfield — Horse courses — Waggons — Stage coaches: travelling in them described — Bad roads — Posting — Hackney coaches: their Fares — Hackney coachmen — State coaches — Other carriages — Suburban drives — A Mechanical coach — Mourning coaches — Harness — Sedan chairs — Chairmen. Among the many places swept away, and yet which many of us well remember, is Smithfield, where both cattle and horses were sold; and Ward gives a very amusing account of the horse sales there. 'From thence we proceed

42 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE MOHOCKS.

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE MOHOCKS.

Scourers, etc. — Bully Dawson — Two outbreaks — That in 1712 — Hawkubites — Exploits of the Mohocks — Sir Roger de Coverley — Swift's fear of them — Emperor of the Mohocks — Gog and Magog — The Queen's proclamation — Decline of the scare — Constables and watchmen. In every age and country young blood is hot blood, and in this reign it was particularly so. The wild blood of the Cavaliers still danced in the veins of the beaus in Anne's time, and nightly frolics and broils were of frequent occurre

29 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXVIII. DUELLING.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. DUELLING.

Its prevalence — Bullying — Fielding's duels — Favourite localities — Its illegality — Col. Thornhill and Sir Cholmley Dering: their quarrel and duel — Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun—Story of their duel. The senseless custom of duelling was much in vogue in this reign, although perhaps it had not reached to the height it afterwards did. The custom of wearing swords rendered the arbitrament of every dispute liable to be settled by those weapons. A few hasty words and the sword was whipped out, a

18 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XXXIX. THE ARMY AND NAVY.

CHAPTER XXXIX. THE ARMY AND NAVY.

Sale of commissions — General practice — Its illegality — Arrears of pay — Descriptions of officers — Army chaplains — The rank and file — Description of them — Irregularity of pay — Rations — Recruiting — Bounty — Gaol birds — Vagrants — Desertions — Story of seditious drummers — Train bands — The Navy: its deeds — Unpopularity of the service — Pressing — Desertion — Rewards for capture — Pay — Description of Admiralty — Mercantile marine. 'Colonel Southwell has sold his regiment for 5,000 l. t

49 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XL. CRIME.

CHAPTER XL. CRIME.

Capital punishment — Its frequency — An execution described — Behaviour on the scaffold and way to execution — Revival after hanging — Peine forte et dure — Hanging in chains — Highwaymen — Claude du Val lying in state — Ned Wicks and Lord Mohun: their swearing match — A highwayman hanged — Highwaymen in society — Highway robberies — Footpads — Burglars — John Hall — Benefit of clergy — Coining — Pickpockets — Robbery from children — Perjury — Sharpers — Begging impostors — Gipsies — Constables

2 hour read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XLI. PRISONS.

CHAPTER XLI. PRISONS.

Dreadful condition of Prisons — Bridewell — Description of — Flogging — Houses of Correction — Compters — Description of the Poultry compters — 'Garnish' — Newgate — Description of — Marshalsea — Queen's Bench — Fleet and Ludgate — Poor Debtors — Kidnappers — Country prisons — Bankrupts. Perhaps one of the foulest social blots in this reign was the loathsome pollution, moral and physical, of the prisons. It was not that public attention was not called to it. Every writer who touched at all upon

44 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER XLII. WORKHOUSES, HOSPITALS, ETC.

CHAPTER XLII. WORKHOUSES, HOSPITALS, ETC.

The London Workhouse — Life therein — Bedlam — Its building — Regulations — Description of interior — Governors — Bartholomew Hospital — St. Thomas's — Almshouses. The London Workhouse, in Bishopsgate Street, was, perhaps, one of the first of these municipal institutions, and there the rogues, vagrants, and sturdy beggars were really set to work, and the women were employed in sewing or washing linen, beating hemp, and picking oakum. The children, who were either vagrants or parish children, wer

44 minute read

Read Chapter

HUNT THE SQUIRIL.

HUNT THE SQUIRIL.

☉ ☉ ☉ ☉ Men. 'Dancing Master,' Ed. 1713. ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ Women. Note. —Each Strain must be played twice over, to each Part of the Dance. The first Man Heys [667] on the We. side, the 1st Wo. Heys on the Men's side at the same time ( a ). The 1st Man Heys on the Men's side, the Wo. on the We. side, till they come into their own Places ( b ). The 1st cu. cross over and turn ( a ) then the 2 cu. do the same ( b ). The 1st Man figures the Figure of 8 on the Man's side, his Partner follows after him the sa

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MOLL PEATLEY.

MOLL PEATLEY.

LONGWAYS FOR AS MANY AS WILL. ☉ ☉ ☉ ☉ Men. 'Dancing Master,' Ed. 1713. ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ Women. The 1 Man begins on the Women's side, the 1 cu. sides to the 2 cu. of one side, and then of the other side; then hit your right elbows together, and then your left, and turn with your left hands behind, and your right hands before, and turn twice round; and then your left Elbows together and turn as before, and so to the next....

37 minute read

Read Chapter

LORD MAYOR'S DELIGHT.

LORD MAYOR'S DELIGHT.

LONGWAYS FOR AS MANY AS WILL. ☉ ☉ ☉ ☉ Men. 'Dancing Master,' Ed. 1713. ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ Women. The 1 Man cast off below the 2 Man, then back to back with the 2 Wo. and stand in the 2 Man's place. The 1 Wo. cast off below the 2 Wo. and go back with the 2 Man being in the 1 Man's place, and stand in the 2 Wo. place. All four hands half round, then fall back and turn with one hand. Cross over with your own Partner, then the 1 Couple Sett to their partners and Cast off....

43 minute read

Read Chapter

WALSINGHAM.

WALSINGHAM.

Chappell's 'Popular Music of the Olden Time.' As I went to Wal-sing-ham, To the shrine with speed; Met I with a jol - ly pal - mer, In a pil - grim's weed. Is in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal book, but is probably much older. Is mentioned very frequently; see 'Knight of the Burning Pestle.' Also Act 5 of Fletcher's 'The Honest Man's Fortune,' a servant says: 'I'll renounce my five mark a year, and all the hidden art I have in carving, to teach young birds to whistle Walsingham .'...

27 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

Now pon - der well, You parents dear, These words which I shall write; A dole - ful sto - ry you shall hear, In time brought forth to light....

12 minute read

Read Chapter

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY.

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY.

In Chappell's 'Popular Music of the Olden Time,' the oldest account of this tune is given as follows: 'According to Ralph Thoresby's MS. account of the family of Calverley, of Calverley in Yorkshire, the dance of Roger de Coverley was named after a knight who lived in the reign of Richard I. Thoresby was born in 1658. The following extract was communicated to Notes and Queries, vol. i. p. 369, by Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, Bart.:—Roger, so named from the Archbishop (of York), was a person o

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CHRIST CHURCH BELLS IN OXON.

CHRIST CHURCH BELLS IN OXON.

'Dancing Master,' Ed. 1713. Dean Aldrich ....

5 minute read

Read Chapter

CHESHIRE ROUNDS.

CHESHIRE ROUNDS.

LONGWAYS FOR AS MANY AS WILL, ☉ ☉ ☉ ☉ Men. 'Dancing Master,' 1713. ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ Women. The 1 Man casts off and his Partner follows him, the man goes quite round; the Woman slips up the middle; the Woman casts off and goes quite round. The 1 Man slips up the middle, the 1 cu. cross over below the 2 cus. and cross up into their own places again, then right and left quite round into the 2 couples place....

37 minute read

Read Chapter

THE NIGHTINGALE.

THE NIGHTINGALE.

The Words by Mr. Welsted . Set by Mr. Carey . While in a Bow'r w th beau - ty blest, ... y e lov - 'd y e lov - 'd A - min-tor lies; While sink - ing on Lu - - cin-da's . . breast, He fond - ly, fond - ly kiss - 'd her Eyes: A wake-ful Night-in - - - gale, who long had mourn'd, had mourn'd with - in y e Shade, sweet - ly re - new'd her plain - tive Song, And war - - - - bled through the Glade. Melodious Songstress! cry'd ye Swain, To Shades, to Shades less happy go; Or, if thou wilt with us rema

56 minute read

Read Chapter