Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/362

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ID* s. n. OCT. s, 190*.

" Commandery," which used to be most obligingly shown by the occupier, Mr. Little burv. He described it. I think, as an oratory

W. C. B.

"FEED THE BKUTE" (10 th S. i. 348, 416, ii. 257). It may be added that a sequel to this remark lately appeared in an American paper, which I only saw casually. One oi the brutes, on hearing this famous saying quoted yet once more, is said to have exclaimed, " I wish they 'd begin."

WALTER W. SKEAT.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

London in the Time of the Tudors. By Sir Walter

Besant. (A. & C. Black.) OF the four volumes constituting the new ' Survey of London,' for which the late Sir Walter Besant is or will be responsible, three have now appeared. First to see the light was ' London in the Eighteenth Century' (see 9 th S. xi. 98). A year later came ' London in the Time of the Stuarts ' (see 10 th S. i. 18). The present volume the third in order of appearance, but the second in that of date will be succeeded by a fourth, with which much progress has been made, entitled 'London in Mediaeval Times.' Whether that instalment even will be final, or whether the work will be extended to an earlier date, which seems highly improbable, or to a later, we wait contentedly to see. That the scheme which we knew was entertained by Sir Walter of constituting himself a new Stow was much more than a velleity is abundantly proven, and we stand amazed at the extent and value of the materials that have been accumulated, and at the amount of solid work which in the intervals of oppressive claims Sir Walter found time to accomplish. What has already appeared seems sufficient to constitute him a chief historian of London, and to give him a place with the Mait- lands, Pennants, Lysonses, Stows, and their suc- cessors. The limitations imposed by the scheme are the same as in previous volumes, and the method of workmanship conforms in all respects with that hitherto observed. No attempt is made to deal with that literature which is the supreme accom- plishment of Tudor times. The Armada itself, which is the event the most far-reaching in its influences of the sixteenth century, has not even a separate heading in the index ; and the death of Mary Stuart, the most picturesque and tragic inci- dent of the English renaissance, finds bare mention. It is, in fact, London, and not England, with which Sir Walter deals, and it is social life, and not history, with which he is concerned. Dates are in this case definitely fixed, and the volume opens with the accession of Henry VII. (1485), and ends with the death of Elizabeth (1603), covering thus a period of a century and eighteen years. Henry's arrival in London immediately on the death of his prede- cessor was marked by an incident sufficiently familiar in the lives of Tudor monarchs, and closely followed by one of the calamities most characteristic of mediaeval and renaissance times. The first consisted in the presenta- tion at Shoreditch to the conquering monarch,

by the Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen clothed in velvet, of a thousand marks ; the second of an out- break of the "sweating sickness" which carried off in a few days two Mayors and six Aldermen. It is impossible for the student of social life and manners to steer clear of history, and the risings in favour of Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck elicit from, the writer the philosophic reflection that in or after a period of civil war the public, accustomed to the use of arms, are ready to have recourse to- them on the slightest provocation. This, the most historical portion of the work, contains six chapters,, five of them devoted to the Tudor monarchs, and one a species of supplement assigned to ' The Queen [Elizabeth] in her Splendour.' Further headings consist of 'Religion,' 'Elizabethan London,* ' Government and Trade of the City,' and ' Social Life.' There are also some appendixes of great interest including the picture of the behaviour of gallants in the middle aisle of St. Paul's, from Dekker's ' Gull's Horn Book,' a list of executions,, a list of the plants grown in an Elizabethan garden, and a monthly provision table through the year 1605. From this it appears that among objects of consumption were "crayne,""storcke," "shoveller," " bay ninge," " ruffe," "gull, "and "true," the last name, that of a fowl, being undiscoverable in this spelling in any dictionary to which we have access, including the 'N.E.D-,' where it appears under 'Brewe' only.

Religion naturally in the present volume occupies an important place. Its various manifestations are studied only as regards London. Even in the case of the dissolution of the monasteries it is London only upon which our author dwells. A sort of defence ot Henry VIII. in respect of the murder of the Car-
 * husian monks, of Bishop Fisher, and of Sir Thomas

More is attempted: "All Christendom shuddered when those holy men were dragged forth to suffer all Christendom recognized that there was a King n England who would brook no interference, who cnew his own mind, and would work his own will." As much might be said of Herod and many a suc- ceeding persecutor. A curious plate from an his- martyrdom of the Carthusian monks, all of whom n the same trestle are being dragged by horses n presence of a singularly unclad mob. A con- scientious attempt to hold the scales justly between are naturally perceptible. Under ' Superstition '- which is classed with religion witchcraft and magic are the principal items. Touching for the king's evil, talismans, amulets, and the practice of strology are also chief subjects of comment. An> nteresting chapter is that on the ' Citizen.' ' Lite- ature and Art ' are dealt with, though no attempt i,t critical estimate is essayed. Under ' Manners and Customs,' the London inns, the theatres, and imilar headings, much curious information is upplied. In this, as in previous volumes, the llustrations are of the highest interest. For these he principal collections have been laid under con- ribution. Gerard's portrait of Queen Elizabeth rom Burleigh House supplies the frontispiece; a eproduction of Ralph Agas's great map of London, leansed of Vertue's spurious additions, is given ,t the close. Quite impossible is it to convey ,n idea of the wealth and value of the illustra- ions. They comprise portraits of all the Tudor monarchs and the principal personages of their
 * he degrading and horrible death of traitors : yet
 * orical print in the British Museum shows the
 * he two factions is made, but Protestant leanings