Merrie England In The Olden Time, Vol. 1 (of 2)

and abroad, the man of business or the beau, the Cockney is the same whimsical original, baffling imitation, and keeping description in full cry. See him sally forth on a fine Sunday

s, not forgetting that glorious cupola dedicated to the metropolitan saint, which points out the local

ico Path, and the

of the citizens in t

Jame

he ceremony of lunch commenced, and, with that habitual foresight which marks his character, the all-important meal that is to follow, duly catered for. The interval for rural adventure arrives; he takes a stroll; the modest heath-bell and t

ks a

favouri

it to the account of his smart sayings, and is loudest in the chorus; for when the ball

reasonable. Without considering the different manners and customs of foreign parts, he bends to nobody, yet takes it as an affront if everybody bend not to him! His baggage is subjected to rigorous search. The infernal parlez-vous!-nothing like this ever happens in old England! His passport is inspected, and his person identified. The inquisitors!-to take the length and breadth of a man, his complexion and calling! The barriers are closed, and he must bivouac in the Diligence the live-long night. Monstrous tyranny! Every rogue enjoys free ingress and egress in a land of liberty! He calls for the bill of fare, the "carte," and in his selection puts the cart before the horse! Of course there is a horrible conspiracy to poison him! The wines, too, are sophisticated. The champagne is gooseberry; the Burgundy, Pontac; and the vin ordinaire neither better

ho are homeless by

e for one place than

ame person one wh

ts attachments are

ir remembrance is t

e sp

and condition; bachelors become Benedicks, and widows wives, for three guineas a-week, more or less! It furnishes an extensive assortment of acquaintance, such as nowhere else can be found domiciled under the same roof. Each finds

portrait. If you unbutton his native consequence a little, and throw a jocu

gentleman, who lolled in an arm-chair opposite to an adjoining window, taki

fy is not an individual, but a species,-a slight

! That'

en

world. Would, for all the world's sake,

hy char

trangely familiar,-impertinent too, perhaps. But that portrait, so graphical and complete, was a spell as powerful as Odin's to break silence. Besides, I detest your exclusives,-sen

aintance, at the same time drawing his chair nearer, and presenting a handsomely embossed card, on wh

looked like

riously his flaming top-knot glistens in the setting sun! Wouldn't give a fig for the best view in the world,

gallows as hi

like antipat

I-would-if-I-could-but-I-can't cottages ornée-ornée?-horney!-the cows popping in their head

ge pair of antlers that were fixed against the wall, under which innumerable Johnny New-comes had been sworn, according to ancient custom, at the Hor

hout was heard to trol

hat tirra-li

hey! the thru

ongs for me

e tumbling

the bottom, descended à plomb, was up again before we had recovered from our surprise, and introduced a middle-aged, rosy-faced gentleman, "more fat than bard beseems," with a perforating

ired us at first sight. There was the humorist, with a dash of the antiquary, heightened with a legible expression that nature sometimes stamps on her higher o

, who had called for a pint of ale and six glasses, having discuss

bonds and sturdy beggars is in full force, seeing that you carol in broad daylight, and on the

in my henting the stile with the merry Autolycus? Vagabonds! The order is both ancient and honourable. Collect th

ept of t

rom Mercury downwar

can steal. Better lose my purse than my patience. Thou, scapegrace

, sir?" addressing ourselves to the midd

erry! Ge

er tha

r men's

pockets be so low, that you might dance a jig in one of them without breaking your shins against a halfpenny; while from the other you might be puzzled to extract as much coin as would pa

nabs and c

Beggars'

rld look

happy a k

owning of

ver dance

e nation l

merry a

ace, or

libert

Harmanbcc

ffinquiers

our ease

ds we are n

subsidy's

ot a pen

e called

ubled wit

l any g

eggar fo

happines

we unto h

als that belong to

most fantastic. H

om, and, coming ne

old!" Some are exce

ngs, fashioned out

hers will do nothin

and so sullen, both

mall company in a

he servants, throug

which is commonly

The "Upright Man" (

g and those "o' th'

ble enemy to the fa

r T

akspeare spiritua

he part of Edg

old St. Paul's was

gg

Church, b

ye have me

writ th

are an

sea and

eming bur

e one half

beg With a

ight-cap on

Beggar

lery. Jovial

s Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth, is admonished to apply the raw material of his trade to an exterior use; * and the tatterdemalions of the Beggar's Opera no longer enjoy the privileges that belonged to their ancestor

, who being desired

mproved upon the pr

ed Mynheer, "I drink

e leg wit

well- known mendicants of St. Paul's churchyard, Waithman's c

Carew Made a

as a terri

, in thei

vered the

hought it prud

the nobs of

was all co

et they

nded

nts all b

city

prowess

the bold Aj

histle a

is fidd

scraper cock

's to be had

go a-beggin

s and gr

constabl

our port,

bold heroes

fine morse

y merr

b's doub

occupation

e rods for their backs, till the very stones they once swept are ready to rise and

forth, and levy contribution! I am in a valiant humour to cry 'stand!' to a too powerfully re

r rogues, shalt be condemned to live by thine own! Thou 'gibier de potence!' Thou a prigger! Why thou art only a simple prig, turned out by thy tailor! Steal if th

ity shop, thy brain, some pageant of the ancient brethren of Bull-Feathers-Hall.

d gentleman, Mr. Bosky "rosined," (swallowed a bu

ou have not said

Bosky, must no

hing h

l Genera

brave; pa

the Pers

d rocks pe

ntal an

ly potat

en, Miss Mad

walk there,

at potatoes

u please, Benjamin Bo

ously fu

your peeper

your jaze

f yeast o

u next morni

' your casem

y a copper a

t, Miss Case

atured eye that

hew of mine hath as many ballads in his budget as Sancho Panza had pro

bent upon cruelly cracki

ull of mirth and pastime." And Mr. Bosky beg

OF THE

e was married, t

bachelor laid

Pigtails that sm

done me, and

lodgings in De

for ever! ala

Burton shall wa

joyments are ni

famine, my fram

quarter the

an ail me? I o

erground let this

d Bailey, despa

cut of boil'd bu

t sniff in thos

t sigh over car

porter, and tak

irking, in curls

cream'd! 'twas m

eens, carrots, and

rue love!' she cu

widow, but h

the bucket last

ose-bud, all cov

ine speeches, a

madam, I mea

s a bolus to ph

a widow! would f

mongers' that sleep among the dull of ancient days; but save me from that dolefu

is a description

in 1582. See "Repo

f M. Campion,

n, call in thy

alates are to

st, and mende t

ose thou hast

lly cannot c

toys, blaspheme

oho. Henceforth be the Magnus Apollo of thy native Little Britain, and divide the crown with Th

ch smal

's food for

in poetical matters, thou hast the maw o

to catch

thou triton of

her! Uncle Timothy

ot be f

e world'

thy memory. Onc

out thy jockeyship. I will not ride double. 'Tis an idle tale, gentleme

a fragrant pinch his sa

THE BULL-FEATHERS TO

verything handsome about them.' Their place of rendezvous was the Chequer-Yard in Whitechapel, every Tuesday and Thursday at seven o

hip had declined a

following extract

"A balade declaryng

s gone. Imprinted

(Circ

one fynde a

tande in ty

rte now, the

des, but fal

d nor lou

g now is fl

the comuted sceptre and sword. The brethren drank out of horn-cups, and made oath upon a book of statutes bound in horn. Their revenues were derived from a toll upon all the gravel carried up Highgate Hill and Hornsey;-Cow-lane; and beyond sea, Crook-horn; Leg-horn; and Ox-mantown paying them yearly tribute! On

Folly occurs in a

ted places near Lon

ry never saw hut o

ted out in Ogilby

yhe

ing lately opened, t

strolling damsels,

n, tars, butchers, a

kly Journal, 1

ead at the bottom

following alarming announcements:-"

r the protection o

he squares and that

the city will be

s of horse and foot

e along the New Roa

rom the City Road to

d across the Spafie

urs of eigh

ree officers, and attended by the master of the ceremonies, the mace-bearer, the herald at-arms,

being Shrove Tuesd

whole, at the hous

Islington Road, wit

use where the ox w

" Mist's Journa

a West Indian ter

fed with spice, and

an eminent glutt

ortune of fifteen hu

s allude

more than harp

, gods, a whole

being 13th March

ned at the Prospec

be accommodation

ler

e among the many a

or of "Night Thou

e village confided

and healthf

is cheerful

wl'd for on Monday

elds, a pair of Si

at five pins, each

s at three bowls has

, the money each ma

and a pint of beer

f the

pond, and returning to their starting-post, one of the brethren delivered a poetical oration, humorously descriptive of Bull-Feathers-Hall, and expatiating on the antiquity and dignity of horns. The speech being ended, they paraded to the dinner-table, which groaned

tallest, the fou

leanest, the co

heir cronies ar

best to advance

cobbler, a lo

pedlar, a cou

egrees and cond

ys to wear the

er made three ejaculations, upon which the brethren doffed their hats. Then the master of the ceremonies exchanged his own comuted castor for a cap, and administered to his newly elec

e thou shalt e

ur club;-so wel

; or, The Antiquity

so a Descriptio

Revenues belonging t

Bull-Feathers-Hall

f Bull-Feathe

tract produced at

ngs, and at Stret

dious, visit the offence on the Lauréat of Little Britain,

hed, that obedient functionary, who was as neat as his wines, entered, bearing before him what Mr. Bosky facetiously called "a good afternoon," to wit, a brimming bowl, in which whiskey had been judiciously substituted

y push roun

nter nights

ire wrapp'd

g of lamb's

was brew'd b

uiet still

r my Lord i

ing Will on

see it sparkle

t runs me

te monarch

y deservi

the spring and

's stream t

est dew of t

good fello

he heart o

up truth fr

Lord Bishop

the curate

glad spirit s

ns the spl

see a hole th

n the sly t

und the glas

s to whiske

each man, whi

santly ove

hing remark

to nap is

t a blanket

or three sheet

, and lo! it hath inundated us with buffoonery. Sirrah!" shaking the identical plant that Dr. Johnson travelled with through the Heb

con mi escopeta!" w

ebrated Spanish b

s defiance to his half-smiling half-sulky mouth. As a last determined effort, he shook his head at Mr. Bosky, whereup

dearest friend I ever knew! But I owed Uncle Timothy a revenge. Of late he has worn a serious brow, a mournful smile. There has been melancholy in his mirth, and sadness in his song; this, he well knows, cuts me to the quick; and it is not until he is

cifer's tattoo with his right leg, and began fum

Uncle Timothy with nervous impetuosity, "on whose birch-provoking little body

rphan

jamin Bosky! don't-d

ugh sometimes I may too far presume upon his good-nat

or chilblains, * and strewing the inside of my bed with horse-hair to send

heart that I had done aught to displease him! Now, gentlemen, the murder's out; and if for blabbing family secret

tentious, and adopted the bowwow style)-"I cannot but blush, deeply blush for thy morals, or rather, Benjamin Bosky, for thy no-morals, when thou canst thu

earthquake at Lisb

an apprehension of

ertised his pills

hqua

can lavish on our benefactor, is the silent aspiration of the heart, and must not, good Benjamin, be placarded on every wall, like a play-bill, a lottery puff, or thy rigmarole ballads, three yards for a penny! There is not a being, however humble his station,

fe's sweet

body part l

s, murmurs

sigh, an

ng with him than right with anybody else. One more volunteer from the L

enjamin Bosk

ar Uncle Timothy,-shall g

KY'S L'

e rear'd me, how

r lets not my t

le sweet tears of

pray'r for his

his name, though

g bosom, for fear

re angels thei

good, for 'tis t

in full song, and showered forth his wit and eloquence in glorious profusion, beauty following upon beauty. Thus another Attic hour glided imperceptibly away. The midnight chimes at length admonished us to depart