Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present Part 9

13_s_.: the mules arrived after the Queen's death, and they were given over to the King.

The division of the account relating to her jewels is chiefly interesting as affording an insight into the personal character of Isabella, and showing that the serious events of her life and her increasing years had not overcome her natural pa.s.sion for personal display. The total amount expended on jewels was no less than 1,399_l_., equivalent to about 16,000_l_. of our present currency; and, says Mr.

Bond, "after ample allowance for the acknowledged general habit of indulgence in personal ornaments belonging to the period, we cannot but consider Isabella's outlay on her trinkets as exorbitant, and as betraying a more than common weakness for those vain luxuries." The more costly of them were purchased of Italian merchants. Her princ.i.p.al English jewellers appear to have been John de Louthe and William de Berking, goldsmiths, of London. In a general entry of 421_l_. paid for divers articles of jewellery to Pardo Pardi, and Bernardo Donati, Italian merchants, are items of a chaplet of gold, set with "bulays"

(rubies), sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls, price 105_l_.; divers pearls, 87_l_.; a crown of gold, set with sapphires, rubies of Alexandria, and pearls, price 80_l_. The payment was not made till the 8th of August; but there can be little doubt that these royal ornaments were ordered for the occasion of Isabella's visit to Windsor, at the celebration of St. George's Day. Among other entries, is a payment of 32_l_. for several articles: namely, for a girdle of silk, studded with silver, 20_s_.; three hundred doublets (rubies), at twentypence the hundred; 1,800 pearls, at twopence each; and a circlet of gold, of the price of 16_l_. bought for the marriage of Katharine Brouart; and another of a pair of tablets of gold, enamelled with divers histories, of the price of 9_l_.

The division of Dona, besides entries of simple presents and gratuities, contains notes of gifts to messengers, from acquaintances; and others, giving us further insight into the connexions maintained by the Queen.

Notices of messengers bringing letters from the Countesses of Warren and Pembroke, are very frequent. Under the head of Prest.i.ta, moreover, is an entry of a sum of 230_l_. given to Sir Thomas de la March, in money, paid to him by the hands of Henry Pikard, citizen of London (doubtless the magnificent Lord Mayor of that name, who so royally entertained King John of France, the King of Cyprus, and the Prince of Wales, at this period), as a loan from Queen Isabella, on the obligatory letter of the same Sir Thomas: he is known as the victor in a duel, fought at Windsor, in presence of Edward III., with Sir John Viscomte, in 1350. To the origin of Isabella's interest in him we find no clue. Several payments to couriers refer to the liberation of Charles, King of Navarre, and are important, as proving that the Queen was not indifferent to the events pa.s.sing in her native country, but that she was connected with one who was playing a conspicuous part in its internal history--Charles of Navarre, perhaps the most unprincipled sovereign of his age, and known in his country's annals under the designation of "the Wicked."

Among the remaining notices of messengers and letters, we have mention of the King's butler coming to the Queen at Hertford, with letters of the King, and a present of three pipes of wine; a messenger from the King, with three casks of Gascon wine; another messenger from the King, with a present of small birds; John of Paris, coming from the King of France to the Queen at Hertford, and returning with two volumes of Lancelot and the Sang Real, sent to the same King by Isabella; a messenger bringing a boar's head and breast from the Duke of Lancaster, Henry Plantagenet; William Orloger, Monk of St. Albans, bringing to the Queen several quadrants of copper; a messenger bringing a present of a falcon from the King; a present of a wild boar from the King, and of a cask of Gascon wine; a messenger, bringing a present of twenty-four bream from the Countess of Clare; and payments to messengers bringing new year's gifts from the King, Queen Philippa, the Countess of Pembroke, and Lady Wake.

Frequent payments to minstrels playing in the Queen's presence occur, sufficient to show that Isabella greatly delighted in this entertainment; and these are generally minstrels of the King, the Prince, or of n.o.blemen, such as the Earl of March, the Earl of Salisbury, and others. And we find a curious entry of a payment of thirteen s.h.i.+llings and fourpence to Walter Hert, one of the Queen's "vigiles" (viol-players), going to London, and staying there, in order to learn minstrelsy at Lent time; and again, of a further sum to the same on his return from London, "de scola menstralcie."

Of special presents by the Queen, we have mention of new year's gifts to the ladies of her chamber, eight in number, of one hundred s.h.i.+llings to each, and twenty s.h.i.+llings each to thirty-three clerks and squires; a girdle to Edward de Ketilbergh, the Queen's ward; a donation of forty s.h.i.+llings to Master Lawrence, the surgeon, for attendance on the Queen; a present of fur to the Countess of Warren; a small gift to Isabella Spicer, her G.o.d-daughter; and a present of sixty-six pounds to Isabella de St. Pol, lady of the Queen's bedchamber, on occasion of her marriage with Edward Brouart. Large rewards, amounting together to 540_l_. were given after Isabella's death, by the King's order, to her several servants, for their good service to the Queen in her lifetime.

The division of Messengers contains payments for the carriage of letters to the Queen's officers and acquaintances. Among them we find mention of a letter to the Prior of Westminster, "for a certain falcon of the Count of Tancarville lost, and found by the said Prior."

We have only to add that the period of the account is from the 1st of October to the 5th of December in the following year, the same being continued beyond the date of the Queen's death. The totals of the several divisions of the account are:--

_s_. _d_.

The Household Expenses amount to 4,014 2 11-1/2 Alms 298 18 7-1/2 Necessaries 1,395 6 11 Great wardrobe 542 10 4-1/2 Jewels 1,399 0 4 Gifts 1,248 5 2-1/2 Messengers 14 12 10 Imprests 313 4 3-1/2

Making a general total of more than 9,000_l_.

NOTE.--_Murder of Edward II._--In 1837, the Rev. Joseph Hunter communicated to the Society of Antiquaries some new circ.u.mstances connected with the apprehension and death of Sir Thomas de Gournay, charged as one of the murderers of King Edward II. Before the measures taken for Gournay's apprehension, he had escaped to the Continent, where, it was alleged, by one old chronicler, that he was taken at Ma.r.s.eilles; by another, at Burgos, in Spain; that his journey to England, in custody, was commenced, and that, by the orders of some influential persons in England, he was beheaded on board s.h.i.+p, on the voyage, lest he might implicate others, if brought to trial in England. Mr. Hunter has, however, found in Rymer's _Foedera_, minute record that Gournay was taken at Burgos, and that Edward III. dispatched a commissioner to demand him from the Spanish authorities, who, for several months, put off giving up the prisoner; and when the order for his delivery was obtained, Gournay had found means to escape from Burgos. The commissioner endeavoured to discover the fugitive's retreat, but after an absence of more than twelve months, he returned to England without success. Subsequently, Gournay was made prisoner at Naples, on some local charge; on hearing which Edward III.

dispatched another messenger, with a letter to the King of Sicily, demanding the custody of the prisoner for trial in England. This demand was complied with; and Gournay set off, in custody, on his journey hither. He is then traced to several places on the route, until his arrival at Bayonne, where he fell ill, died, and was buried. Notwithstanding the long existence of the _Foedera_, this historical blunder of his having been beheaded was not rectified until the above date by Mr. Hunter.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] See Note at p. 160.

[46] In the Office of the Board of Green Cloth, at St. James's Palace, are preserved the following _Rules of the House_ of the d.u.c.h.ess of York the mother of Richard the Third:--

"Upon eating dayes. At dinner by eleven of the clocke.

"Upon fasting dayes. At dinner by twelve of the clocke.

"At supper upon eating dayes; for the officers at four of the clocke.

"My lady and the household at five of the clocke at supper.

"Livery of fires and candles, from the feast of All-Hallows, unto Good Friday--then expireth the time of fire and candle."

THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE.

Nearly two centuries and a half ago, Gervase Markham wrote a very useful and entertaining tract, ent.i.tled "The English Housewife, containing the inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a compleate woman. As her skill in physick, surgery, cookery, extraction of oyles, banquetting stuffe, ordering of great feasts, preserving of all sorts of wines, conceited secrets, distillations, perfumes, ordering of wooll, hempe, flax, making cloth, and dyeing; the knowledge of dayries, office of malting of oates, their excellent uses in a family, of brewing, baking, and all other things belonging to a household."

By aid of a contemporary[47] we are enabled to present a curious portrait of the Housewife from this authentic source. It should first be mentioned that the profusion of provisions in the banquets of the time bordered upon the barbarous magnificence, compared to the elegant modes of preparing dishes in the present day, and called for dining-halls and kitchens of sufficient dimensions to avoid the terrible confusion that must otherwise have occurred. Hence, the superintendence of the household was a labour of great extent and responsibility. It was held that a woman had no right to enter the state of matrimony unless possessed of a good knowledge of Cookery: otherwise she could perform but half her vow: she might love and obey, but she could not cherish. To be perfect in this art she must know in which quarter of the moon to plant and gather all kinds of salads and herbs throughout the year; she must also be cleanly, have "a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and a ready eare;" and be neither b.u.t.ter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted: for if she were the first of these, she would let everything fall; if the second, she would consume that which she should increase; and if the third, she would lose time with too much niceness.

For an ordinary feast with which any good man might entertain his friends, about sixteen dishes were considered a suitable supply for the first course. This included such substantial articles as a s.h.i.+eld of brawn with mustard, a boiled capon, a piece of boiled beef, a chine of beef roasted, a neat's tongue roasted, a pig roasted, baked _chewets_ (minced chickens made into b.a.l.l.s), a roasted goose, a roasted swan, a turkey, a haunch of venison, a venison pasty, a kid with a pudding in it, an olive-pie, a couple of capons, and custards. Besides these princ.i.p.al dishes, the housewife added as many salads, frica.s.sees, _quelquechoses_, and _devised pastes_ as made thirty-two dishes, which were considered as many as it was polite to put upon the table for the first course. Then followed second and third courses, in which many of the dishes were for show only, but were so tastefully made as to contribute much to the beauty of the feast.

The banquets given by princes or n.o.bles were much more important affairs. They were served in this manner:--First the grand sallet was to be marshalled in by gentlemen and yeomen-waiters, then green sallets, boiled sallets, and compound sallets; these were followed by all the frica.s.sees, such as collops, rashers, &c.; then by boiled meats and fowls; then by the roasted beef, mutton, goose, swans, veal, pig, and capon; next were ushered in the hot baked meats, such as fallow-deer in pasty, chicken or calves'-foot pie, and dowset; then the cold baked pheasants, partridges, turkey, goose, and woodc.o.c.ks; lastly, carbonadoes both simple and compound. These were all arranged upon the table in such a manner that before each trencher stood a salad, a frica.s.see, a boiled meat, a roasted meat, a baked meat, and a carbonado,--a profusion that must have been almost overwhelming. The second course comprised the lesser wild and land fowl, which were again followed up with the larger kinds, as herons, shovellers, cranes, bustards, peac.o.c.ks, &c.; and these by cold baked red-deer, hare-pie, gammon of bacon pie, wild boar, roe-pie; and scattered among these were the "conceited secrets" in the way of confectionery and sweet pastry, which were the pride of the good housewife's heart; besides whatever fish was available, which was to be distributed according to the manner in which it was dressed, with the respective courses, the fried with the frica.s.sees, the broiled with the carbonadoes, the dry with the roast meats, and those stewed in broths with the boiled meats. The carbonadoes consisted of any meat scotched on both sides and sprinkled with seasonings in various combinations, and then either broiled over the fire or before it. Roasted geese were stuffed with gooseberries--hence the term; and, if we were to enter into the given details of the various modes of dressing these numerous dishes, we could mention many as long disused. Some of the terms employed are as startling to modern ears as the ingredients: to take one instance, pie-dishes were called coffins.

We are not to conclude that the above profusion was an every-day fact.

There are hints here and there that this was by no means the case.

Oatmeal is called the crown of the housewife's garland, as being the largest item of consumption in the household; and whigge (whey) is praised as an excellent cool drink, and as wholesome as any other with which to slake a labouring man's thirst the whole summer long. On the other hand, we know this whigge was looked upon in a somewhat similarly scornful light as that in which we regard small beer, because it was adopted to distinguish the political body opposed to the Tories. And the constant supervision of the mistress of the house over every undertaking would also be a surety against the practice of extravagance. Although there were good men-maltsters in the land, there was no beer to compare with that made by the mistress and her maids. These made both beer and ale; cider from apples; perry from pears; mead and metheglin from honey and herbs. The wines, too, were in her care. It is curious to note the kind of care they experienced at her hands. Every _fatt_ (vat) of foreign wine was dosed with several gallons of milk and eggs beaten up, and each was flavoured with some gallons of another, in a mode that must have much bewildered the palates of King Charles's lieges. If claret lost its colour, she stewed some damsons or black bullaces, and poured their syrup into the hogshead, when all came right again. If sack ran muddy, she took some rice, flour, and camphor, and popped that mixture into the b.u.t.t; if any wine became hard, she knew how to make it mellow with honey and eggs: the same with muskadine and malmsey.

The indefatigable mistress of the house was as omnipresent in the bakehouse as elsewhere, and saw to the making up the various kinds of bread, both for the family and the hinds or servants. There were several kinds in use; wheat bread, rye bread, rye and wheat mixed, and barley and wheat mixed: into the servants' barley-bread she adroitly mixed two pecks of peas and a peck of malt. She also looked in at the dairy, saw that it was kept as clean as a prince's chamber, and gave an eye to the profits. She could send several cheeses to table,--new milk cheese, nettle-cheese, floaten milk cheese and eddish or after-math cheese.

By way of relaxation to these serious duties, which, with the necessary supervision of the dressing and spinning of wool, hemp, and flax, must have kept the good dame pretty fully employed, she prescribed for any of her household that were indisposed, compounded her own remedies, and made stores of scented bags to lay among her h.o.a.rded-up linen, scented waters for different ornamental purposes, perfumes to burn, was.h.i.+ng-b.a.l.l.s, perfumed gloves, rosemary-water to preserve the complexion (called the bath of life), violet-water, herb-water for weak eyes, and other distillations. Plasters, ointments, lotions of all kinds, were among her cunning secrets. These occupations serve to show why the offices were so s.p.a.cious and my lady's closet so small.

Markharn gives scores of quaint recipes no housewife could ignore who was at all sensitive as to her reputation for skill. In these we are reminded of the absence of really scientific knowledge in the peculiar value set upon valueless distinctions. The milk of a red cow, for instance, was deemed more efficacious than that of any other colour for medicinal purposes; b.u.t.ter made in May without any salt in it was esteemed a sovereign cure for wounds, strains, or aches, although that made in any other month possessed no such virtue; and again, it was of no use to apply certain remedies unless the moon was on the wane. This portion of the volume is dedicated to the Right Honourable and most Excellent Lady, Frances, Countess Dowager of Exeter.

Before we leave this Dinner-table of other days, we should add to the Housewife's duties the Art of Carving, which, until our time, was performed by the mistress of the house. We gather from Lord Wharncliffe's edition of the _Correspondence of Lady Mary Worthy Montague_, that, in the last century, this task must have required no small share of bodily strength, "for the lady was not only to invite--that is, urge and tease--her company to eat more than human throats could conveniently swallow, but to carve every dish, when chosen, with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable the duty,--each joint was carried up in its turn, to be operated upon by her, and her alone; since the peers and knights on either hand were so far from being bound to offer their a.s.sistance, that the very master of the house, posted opposite to her, might not act as her croupier; his department was to push the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of guests, the most inconsiderable among them--the curate, or subaltern, or squire's younger brother--if suffered through her neglect to help himself to a slice of the mutton placed before him, would have chewed it in bitterness, and gone home an affronted man, half inclined to give a wrong vote at the next election. There were then professed carving masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically; from one of whom Lady Mary Wortley Montague said she took lessons three times a week, that she might be perfect on her father's days; when, in order to perform her functions without interruption, she was forced to eat her own dinner alone an hour or two beforehand."

FOOTNOTES:

[47] From the _Builder_, 1864, with additions.

A HEREFORDs.h.i.+RE LADY IN THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR.

About two centuries ago, there lived in the good old city of Hereford, one Mrs. Joyce Jefferies, of whose singular establishment, during nine years, a minute record has been preserved. In a cathedral town, olden features of English life may be traced more considerably than in other towns of less antiquity and extent. Hereford is thought to be derived from the British Here-fford, signifying the "old road." It has its Mayor's Court, view of Frankpledge, and court of Pie Pondre; though it has lost its monastic edifices; and, two centuries ago, its castle, built by Harold, was in ruins, which, as materials, were worth no more than 85_l_. One of the gateways of the town walls has been fitted up as a prison. There are several hospitals or alms-houses. Its Saxon cathedral occupies the site of a former church of wood; it is dedicated to St. Ethelbert, whose name was given to its nine days' fair; two of its fairs are "for diversions." In short, amidst broad streets, and red brick houses, and other modern aspects, are many interesting traces of old times and habits, furnished with its two crosses and a stone pulpit.

Its river, the Wye, teems with salmon[48] and grayling; the whole county appears like one orchard; cider and perry are made everywhere; and there is a good deposit of tobacco pipe clay. In one of its towns, on Shrove Tuesday, a bell rings at noon as a signal for the people to begin frying their pancakes; and among its festal records is that of a Morrice dance, performed by ten persons--a "nest of Nestors"--whose united ages recorded one thousand years.

In this old city, then, lived Mrs. Jefferies, upon an income averaging 500_l_. a year, in a house in Widemarch Street--the street in which Garrick, the actor, was born--which she built at a cost of 800_l_. but which was ordered to be pulled down in the time of the Rebellion, under Charles I., and the materials sold for 50_l_. This was a calamitous loss. Besides, the old lady lived beyond her means, not by self-indulgence in costly luxuries, but in indiscriminate gifts; and three-fourths of the entries in her accounts consist of sums bestowed in presents, of loans never repaid, or laid out in articles to give away.

She continued in the city till the year 1642, when, driven by stress of war, she abandoned it, and sought refuge in the dwellings of others.

Ultimately, in 1644, she gave up housekeeping to the day of her death.

The household establishment of Mrs. Jefferies is by no means, for a single person, on a contracted scale. Many female servants are mentioned; two having wages from 3_l_. to 3_l_. _4_s. per annum, with gowns of dark stuff at Midsummer. Her coachman, receiving 40_s_. per annum, had at Whitsuntide, 1639, a new cloth suit and cloak; and, when he was dressed in his best, exhibited fine blue silk ribbon at the knees of his hose. The liveries of this and another man-servant were, in 1641, of fine Spanish cloth, made up in her own house, and cost upwards of nine pounds. Her man of business, or steward, had a salary of 5_l_.

16_s_. A horse was kept for him, and he rode about to collect her rents and dues, and to see to her agricultural concerns. She appeared abroad in a coach drawn by two mares; a nag or two were in her stable; one that a widow lady in Hereford purchased of her, she particularly designated as "a rare ambler."

Mrs. Jefferies had a host of country cousins; for, in those days, family connexions were formed in more contracted circles than at present, and the younger people intermarried nearer home; and she was evidently an object of great interest and compet.i.tion among such as sought for sponsors to their children. She seems to have delighted in the office of gossip, or _G.o.d-sib_, that is, _sib_, as related, by means of religion.

The number of her G.o.d-children became a serious tax upon her purse. A considerable list of her christening gifts includes, in 1638, a silver tankard to give her G.o.d-daughter, little Joyce Walsh, 5_l_. 5_s_. 6_d_.; "at Heriford faier, for blue silk ribbon and taffetary lace for skarfs,"

for a G.o.d-son and G.o.d-daughter, 8_s_.; and 1642, "paid Mr. Side, gouldsmith in Heriford, for a silver bowle to give Mrs. Lawrence daughter, which I found, too, called Joyse Lawrence, at 5_s_. 8_d_. an oz., 48_s_. 10_d_." But to Miss Eliza Acton she was more than maternally generous and was continually giving proofs of her fondness in all sorts of indulgence, supplying her lavishly with costly clothes and sums of money--money for gloves, for fairings, for cards against Christmas, and money repeatedly to put in her purse.

We have mentioned Mrs. Jefferies' loans. She had various sums placed out at interest, on bond and mortgage, varying from three hundred pounds and upwards, and one of eight hundred pounds. The securities were frequently s.h.i.+fting; and the number of persons who paid to her irregularly enough, in this way, in two years, was little short of one hundred. The borrowers of these moneys were knights, yeomen, gentry, farmers, and tradesmen; burgesses, and aldermen, and Mayors of Hereford, with many others. The collection of interest upon princ.i.p.al so detached and widely dispersed, must have been attended with difficulty. The princ.i.p.al itself must have incurred risk of diminution; but the convenience of the Three per Cents. was then unknown, and eight per cent. was the interest upon these loans. This practice of lending money in small sums must formerly have been more general than at the present day: there were then few modes of employing money so as to realize fair interest; it was often h.o.a.rded by "making a stocking," and various modes of concealment.

Some of Mrs. Jefferies's entries respecting those who do not repay loans are curious. Thus, M. Garnons, an occasional suitor for relief, she styles "an unthrifty gentleman;" amuses herself in setting down a small bad debt; and, after recording the name of the borrower, and the trifling sum lent, adds, in a note by way of antic.i.p.ation, "which he will never pay." In another case, that of a legal transaction, in which a person had agreed to surrender certain premises to her use, and she had herself paid for drawing the instrument upon which he was to have acted, she observes, "but he never did, and I lost my money." In all matters she exhibits a gentle and generous mind. It was natural enough that she should describe the Parliamentary folks who pulled down her house as "fearful soldiers."

Here is a slight sketch of the personal appearance of Mrs. Jefferies in a specimen or two of her dress, among many that occur in her book of accounts. Her style of dress was such as became a gentlewoman of her condition. In 1638, in her palmy days, she wore a tawny camlet coat and kirtle, which, with all the requisite appendages, tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, and making, scrupulously set down, cost 10_l_. 17_s_. 5_d_. She had, at the same time, a black silk calimanco loose gown, petticoat, and bodice, and these, with the making, came to 18_l_. 1_s_. 8_d_. Next month, a Polonia coat and kirtle cost in all 5_l_. 1_s_. 4_d_. Tailors were then the dressmakers: she employed those in Hereford, Worcester, and London; and, strange to say, sometimes the dresses were so badly made in London that they had to be altered by a country tailor. She had, about the same period, a head-dress of black tiffany, wore ruff-stocks, and a beaver hat with a black silk band, and adopted worsted hose of different colours--blue, and sometimes gra.s.s-green. Among the articles of her toilet were false curls, and curling-irons; she had Cordovan (Spanish leather) gloves, sweet gloves, and gold embroidered gloves. She wore diamond and cornelian rings, used spectacles, and carried a whistle for a little dog, suspended at her girdle by a yard of black loop lace. A cipress (Cyprus?) cat, given to her by a Herefords.h.i.+re friend, was, no doubt, a favourite; and she kept a throstle in a twiggen cage.

A young lady who resided with her was dressed at her expense in a manner more suited to her earlier time of life: for instance, she had a green silk gown, with a blue satin petticoat. At Easter, she went to a christening arrayed in a double cobweb lawn, and had a m.u.f.f. Next, she was dressed in a woollen gown, "spun by the coock's wife, Whooper,"

liver-coloured, and made up splendidly with a stomacher laced with twisted silver cord. Another article of this young lady's wardrobe was a gown of musk-coloured cloth; and when she rode out she was decked in a scarlet safeguard coat and hood, laced with red, blue, and yellow lace; but none of her dresses were made by female hands.