manie are garnished with silver) or at the leastwise in pewter, all which notwithstanding are seldeme set on the table, but each one as necessitie urgeth, calleth for a cup of such drinke as him listeth to have: so that when he hath tasted of it he delivered the cup againe to some one of the standers by, who making it clean by pouring out the drinke that remaineth, restoreth it to the cupboard from whence he I fetched the same. By this device, much idle tippling is further more cut off, for if the full pots should continuallie stand at the elbow or heer the trencher, diverse would alwaies be dealing with them, whereas now they drinke seldome and onelie when necessitie urgeth, and so avoid the note of, great drinking, or often troubling of the servitors with filling of their bols. Neverthelesse in the noble men's hals, this order is not used, neither in anie man's house commonlie under the degree of a knight or esquire of great revenues. It is a world to see in these our daies, wherein gold and silver most aboundeth, how that our gentelitie as lothing those mettals (bicause of the plentie) do now generallic choose rather the Venice glasses both for our wine and beere, than anie of those mettals or stone wherein before time we have beene accustomed to drinke, but such is the nature of man generallie that it most coveteth things difficult to be atteined; and such is the estimation of this stuffe, that manie become rich onelie with their new trade unto Murana (a town neere to Venice' situat on the Adriatike sea) from whence the verie best are dailie to be had, and such as for beautie doo well neare match the christall or the ancient Murrhina vassa, whereof now no man hath knowledge. And as this is seene in the gentilitie, so in the wealthie communaltie the like desire of glasse is not neglected." To this interesting sketch a few particulars shall be added in order to render the picture more complete; and, in the first place, we shall give an account, from an eye-witnesse, of the ceremonies accompanying the dinner-table of Elizabeth. While the Queen was still at prayers," relates Hentzner, "we saw her table set cut with the following solemnity: "A gentleman entered the room bearing a rod, and along with him another who had a table-cloth, which, after they had both kneeled three times with the utmost veneration, he spread upon the table, and after kneeling again, they both retired. Then came two others, one with the rod again, the other with a salt-seller, a plate and bread; when they had kneeled as the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the table, they too retired with the same ceremonies performed by the first. At last came an unmarried lady (we were told she was a countess) and along with her a married one, bearing a tasting knife; the former was dressed in white silk, who, when she had prostrated herself three times in the most graceful manner, approached the table, and rubbed the plates with bread and salt, with as much awe, as if the queen had been present: when they had waited there a little while, the yeomen of the guards entered, bareheaded, clothed in scarlet, with a golden rose upon their backs, bringing in at each turn a course of twenty-four dishes, served in plate most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a gentleman in the same order they were brought, and placed upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to each of the guard a mouthful to eat, of the particular dish he had brought for fear of any poison. During the time that this guard, which consists of the tallest and stoutest men that can be found in all England, The strict regularity and temperance which prevailed in the court of Elizabeth, were by no means characteristic of that of her successor, who, in his convivial moments, too often grossly transgressed the bends of sobriety. When Christian IV. King of Denmark, visited England in July, 1606, the carousals at the palace were carried to most extravagant height, and their influence on the higher ranks was such, that" our good English nobles," remarks Harrington, "whom I never could get to taste good liquor, now follow the fashion, and wallow in beastly delights. The ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen to roll about in intoxication;" accusations which he fully substantiates whilst relating the following most ludicrous scene ; being carefully selected for this service, I fell at his feet, though I rather think were bringing dinner, twelve trumpets it was in his face. Much was the and two kettle-drums made the ball hurry and confusion; cloths and napting for half an hour together. Atkins were at hand, to make all clean the end of all this ceremonial a num- His Majesty then got up and would ber of unmarried ladies appeared, who, dance with the Queen of Sheba; but with particular solemnity, lifted the he fell down and humbled himself bemeat off the table, and conveyed it fore her, and was carried to an inner into the queen's inner and more private chamber and laid on a bed of state; chamber, where, after she had chosen for which was not a little defiled with the herself, the rest goes to the ladies of presents of the Queen which had been the court. The queen dines and sups bestowed on his garments; such as alone with very few attendants." wine, cream, jelly, beverage, cakes, spices, and other good matters. The entertainment and show went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down; wine did so oc cupy their upper chambers. Now did appear, in rich dress, Hope, Faith, and Charity: Hope did assay to speak, but wine rendered her endeavours so feeble that she withdrew, and hoped the King would excuse her brevity Faith was then all alone, for I am cer tain she was not joyned with good works, and left the court in a staggering condition: Charity came to the King's feet, and seemed to cover the multitude of sins her sisters had committed; in some sorte she made obeysance and brought gifts, but said she would return home again, as there was no gift which heaven had not already given his Majesty. She then returned to Hope and Faith, who were both sick and spewing in the lower hall. Next came Victory, in bright armour, and presented a rich sword to the King, who did not accept it, but put it by with his hand; and by a strange medley of versification, did endeavour. to make suit to the king. But Victory did not triumph long; for, after much lamentable utterance, she was led away like a silly captive, and laid to sleep in the outer steps of the antichamber. Now did Peace make entry, and strive to get foremoste to the King; but I grieve to tell how great "One day," says he, "a great feast was held, and, after dinner, the representation of Solomon his Temple, and the coming of the Queen of Sheba was made, or (as I may better say) was meant to have been made, before their Majesties, by device of the Earl of Salisbury and others.-But, alas! as all earthly thinges do fail to poor mortals in enjoyment, so did prove our presentment hereof. The Lady who did play the Queen's part, did carry most precious gifts to both their Majesties; but, forgetting the steppes arising to the canopy, overset her caskets into his Danish Majesties lap, and wrath she did discover unto those of her attendants; and much contrary to her semblance, most rudely made war with her olive branch, and laid on the pates of those who did oppose her coming. "The facetious Knight concludes his story by declaring that " in Your Queen's days I neer did see such lack of good order, discretion, and sobriety; as I have now done." To the reign of Elizabeth is to be attributed the introduction of a luxury, which has since become almost universal, the custom of using, or, as it was then called, of taking tobacco. This herb, which was first brought into England by Sir Francis Drake, about ~~the year 1586, met with an early and Violent opposition, and gave birth to a multitude of invectives and satires, among which the most celebrated is *King James's "Counterblast to Tobacco." This monarch entertained the most rooted antipathy to the use ~ of tobacco in any form, and closes his 3 treatise by asserting that it is " a custom loathsome to the eye, hatefull to Ithe nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the 'pit that is bottomless." He also tells Jus in another work, that were he to invite the devil to a dinner, “ he should have these three dishes-1st. a pig; 2d! a poole of ling and mustard; and 3d. a pipe of tobacco for digesture." Tobacco may be said, indeed to have made many inroads in domestic cleanliness, and, on this account, to have deservedly incurred the dislike of that large portion of the female sex on whom the charge of household economy devolved. Surely," says James, smoke becomes a kitchen farre better than a dining chamber," a remark which is as applicable now as it was then; but we cannot help smiling when he adds, with his usual credulity," and yet it makes a kitchen also oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soyling and infecting them, with an unctuous and oily kind of soote, as hath beene found in some great Tobacco takers, that after their death were opened." Such were, indeed, the tales in common circulation among the lower orders, and which Ben Johnson has very humorously put into the mouth of Cob in Every Man in his Humour :—“ By Gods me," says the water-bearer, "I marle what pleasure or felicity they have in taking this rogueish tobacco ! It's good for nothing but to choak a man, and fill him full of smoke and embers: there were four died out of one house with taking of it, and two more the bell went for yesternight; and one of them, they say, will ne'er scape it; he voided a bushel of soot yesterday, upward and downward.— By the stocks, an' there were no wiser men that I, I'd have it present whipping, man or woman that should but deal with a tobacco-pipe; why, it will stifle them all in the end, as many as use it; it's little better than ratsbane or rosaker." It would appear that the prejudices against the use of this narcotic required much time for their extirpation; for Burton, who wrote about thirty years after its introduction, and at the very close of the Shakespearean era, seems as violent against the common use of tobacco as even James himself:-" A good vomit," says he, "I confesse, a vertuous herbe, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used, but as it is commonly used by most men, which take it as Tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a mischiefe, a violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, devilish damn'd tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of body and soule." Nothwithstanding this abuse however, and the edicts of King James fo bidding its consumption in all ale-1 houses, tobacco soon acquired such general favour, that Stowe tells us in his Annals, "it was commonly used. by most men and many women;" and James appealing to his subjects, exclaims," Now how you are by this custome disabled in your goods, let the gentry of this land beare wit nesse, some of them bestowing three, some foure hundred pounds a yeere upon this precious stinke;" a sum so enormous, that we must conclude them to have been as determined smokers as the Buckinghamshire parson recorded by Lilly, who" was so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no tobacco, he would cut the bell ropes and smoke them." ner. Snuff-taking was as much in fashion as smoking; and the following passage from Decker proves, that the gallants of his day were as extravagant and ridiculous in their use of it as our ́modern beaux, whether we regard the splendour of their boxes, or their affectation in applying the contents; it appears also to have been customary to take snuff immediately before din"Before the meat come smoking to the board, our gallant must draw out his tobacco-box, and' the ladle for the cold snuff into the nostril,-all which artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach to the price of it; then let him show his several tricks in taking it, as the whiff, the ring, &c. for these are compliments that gain gentlemen no mean respect. "It is singular," remarks Dr. Nott, alluding to the general use of tobacco at this period, when the introduction of this new indulgence had so engaged the pen of almost every cotemporary playwright and pamphleteer, nay, even royalty itself, that Shakespeare should have been totally silent upon it. SIR, THE BASHFUL MAN seh bip ada dierw a tenu 25 oldmy vad I labour under a species of distress which I fear will at length drive me utterly from that society in which I am most ambitious to appear; but, I will give you a short sketch of origin and present situation, by which you will be enabled to judge of my difficulties. My father was a farmer of no great property, and with no other learning than he had acquired at a charityschool: but my mother being dead, and I an only child, he determined to give me that advantage, which he fancied would have made him happy, viz. a learned education. I was sent to a country grammar-school, and from thence to the university, with a view of qualifying for holy orders. Here having but small allowance from my father, and being naturally of a timid and bashful disposition, I had no opportunity of rubbing off that native awkwardness, which is the fatal cause of all my unhappiness, and which I now begin to fear can never be amended. The consciousness of this unhappy failing made me avoid society, and I became enamoured of a college life, particularly when I reflected that the uncouth manners of my father's family, were little calculated to improve my outward conduct: I therefore had resolved on living at the University and taking pupils, when two unexpected events greatly altered the posture of my affairs, viz-my father's death, and the arrival of an uncle from the Indies. My uncle was but little affected, for he had been separated from his brother more than thirty years, and in that time he had acquired a fortune which he used to boast, would make a Nebob happy in short he had brought, Conscious of my unpolished gait, I have for some time past taken private lessons of a professor who teaches grown gentlemen to dance ;" and though I at first found wondrous difficulty in the art he taught, my knowledge of the mathematics was of prodigious use in teaching me the equilibrium of my body, and the due over with him the sum of sixty thou-grown up, and living with their mothsand pounds, and upon this he built er and a maiden sister of sir Thomas's his hopes of never-ending happiness. at Friendly-hall, dependant on their While he was planning schemes of father. greatness and delight, whether the change of climate might affect him, or what other cause, I know not, but he was snatched from all his dreams of joy by a short illness, of which, he died, leaving me heir to all his property. And now behold me, at the age of twenty-five, well stocked with latin, greek, and mathematics, possessed of an ample fortune, but so awk-adjustment of the centre of gravity, to ward and unversed in every gentlemanlike accomplishment, that I am pointed at by all who see me, as the wealthy learned clown. I have lately purchased an estate in the country, which abounds in what is called a fashionable neighbourhood: and when you reflect on my parentage and uncouth manners, you will hardly think how much my company is courted by the surrounding families, (especially by those who have marriageable daughters); from these gentlemen I bave received familiar calls and the most pressing invitations, and though I wished to accept the offered friendship, I have repeatedly excused myself under the pretence of not being quite settled for the truth is, that when I have rode or walked with a full intention to return their several visits, my heart has failed me as I approached their gates, and I have frequently returned homeward, resolving to try again to-morrow. At length, however, I determined to conquer my timidity; and three days ago accepted of an invitation to dine with one whose open easy manners, left me no doubt of a cordial welcome; sir Thomas Friendly, who lives about two miles distant, is a baronet with about five thousand pound a-year estate, joining to that I purchased; he has two sons and five daughters, all the five positions. Having now acquired the art of walking without tottering, and learnt to make a bow, I boldly ventured to accept the baronet's invitation to a family dinner, not doubting but my new acquirement would enable me to see the ladies with tolerable intrepidity. But alas! how vain are all the hopes of theory, when unsupported by habitual practice. As I approached the house, a dinner-bell alarmed my fears, lest I had spoiled the dinner by want of punc tuality impressed with this idea, I blushed the deepest crimson as my name was repeatedly announced by the several livery servants, who ushered me into the library, hardly knowing what or whom I saw : at my first entrance I summoned all my fortitude, and made my new-learned bow to lady Friendly; but unfortunately in bringing back my left foot to the third po sition, I trode upon the gouty toe of poor sir Thomas, who had followed close at my heels to be the nomenclator of the family. The confusion this occasioned in me, is hardly to be conceived, since none but bashful men can judge of my distress, and of that description the number I believe is small. The baronet's politeness by degrees dissipated my concern, and I was astonished to see how far good breeding could enable him to suppress |