lities were yet established, (and to which the king himself was not enough inclined,) but all doors open to every person, which the ambassador finding, he made himself a domestic, came to the king at all hours, and spoke to him when and as long as he would, without any ceremony, or desiring an audience according to the old custom; but came into the bed-chamber while the king was dressing himself, and mingled in all his discourses with the same freedom he would use in his own. From this never-heard-of license, introduced by the French, and the Spaniard at this time without any dislike in the king, though not permitted in any court in Christendom, many inconveniences broke in, which never after could be shut out."* Some idea may be formed of the troubles arising from this circumstance. In the year 1661 there was a regular conflict in Cheapside, between the French and Spanish ambassadors about precedence, which was, no doubt, premeditated, and was so severely carried on, that the military was obliged to be called out. In anticipation of the affray, the Spaniard had cunningly lined the coach-harness with iron, so that it could not be cut; he had also an armed guard on each horse, so he gained the victory: much blood-shed was the consequence, and the crowd huzzaed at the fallen victory; but so would they have done if it had been the other party. When ambassadors thus belaboured each other, it was not to be expected that their persons were very sacred; accordingly, in 1683, when the national feelings were raised against the United Provinces, the Dutch ambassador's carriage was attacked, a volley of stones was discharged, with squibs and firebrands, by which his lady was dangerously wounded. RETINUE. ""Tis a rare thing to find an honest servant; we are scarce." PAUL HEUTZNER, (a German,) who visited England, says, in his "Itinerary," written 1598: "The English are serious, like the Germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of servants, who wear their masters' arms in silver. When Sir William Holles attended the coronation of Edward VI., his retinue was fifty retainers, with blue coats and badges. * Clarendon's Life. The retinue or domestic attendance was still great, though greatly reduced from the feudal period. The father of the celebrated John Evelyn, when he was High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, had a hundred and sixteen servants in liveries of green satin doublets, besides several gentlemen and persons of quality who waited upon him, dressed in the same costume. Perhaps the largest establishment of these reigns was that of the lord treasurer, the Earl of Dorset; it consisted of two hundred and twenty servants, besides numbers usually hired on particular occasions. These servants of the nobility were the younger sons of respectable families, who attached themselves to the fortunes of these powerful patrons, and served them at court, on embassies, or in military affairs; and they were allowed seperate horses and retinues according to their condition, with gratuities in money and promotion, as their services deserved. But nearly all wore the liveries and other pompous costumes of their lords. There was a land and a house steward; (these had a velvet jacket, and a golden chain about their neck;) a carver; then a clerk of the kitchen, and a variety of cooks, both male and female, foreign and domestic; then there was the butler, and sometimes a chief butler game-keepers, park-keepers, pages, waiting-men, and last, though by no means the least, several gardeners, and each of these had their subordinates. If we now go to the stables, here we find another battalion of grooms, coachmen, footmen, huntsmen, whippers-in, stable-boys, and trainers. In the farmyard establishment, here is a bailiff with all his supernumeraries. I have not noticed the females, so that the number of two hundred and twenty will soon be found when the inviting turret dinner-bell calls them to the "half-uncurtained servant's hall," where the pious family chaplain dines with them, observes due order, and says the grace. This gentleman was a very important functionary in these large establishments. In 1592 Haryngton, who was high sheriff for the County of Somerset, put forth "twenty-one rules for the better ordering of household servants." 66 Imprimis, That no servant be absent from praire, at morning or even service, without lawful excuse; to pay for every tyme two pence." The whole are of the best description, and the finis is, "all which sommes shall be paide eache quarter-daie out of theire wages, and be bestowed on the poore of the village or other God-like purposes.' This gentleman, the clergyman or priest, was not the usual parish vicar or rector, but one or more, according to the rank of the nobleman, at each house where there was a private chapel, and he was considered the domestic chaplain. "According to a statute of Henry VIII., the persons vested with power of retaining chaplains, together with the number each is allowed to qualify, are as follows: An archbishop, eight; a duke or bishop, six; marquis or earl, five; a viscount, four; a baron, knight of the garter, or lord chancellor, three; a duchess, marchioness, countess, baroness, the treasurer or controller of the king's house, clerk of the closet, the king's secretary, dean of the chapel, almoner, and master of the rolls, each two; the chief justice of the King's Bench, and warden of the cinque ports, each one."* "The extraordinary stupidity of the peasants in countries from which the ceremonies of faith have been withdrawn, or where they are deprived of religious worship and the exercises of prayers and meditations, arises from their not perceiving that it is religion acting through this medium which civilizes men. There can be no doctrine and precept of manners, unless by means of the public worship of religion. The positive precepts of religion inspire politeness." The following is the retinue of the fleet which went to Spain in 1632, to bring back the prince from his sweet-hearting: Prince Royal-Prince on board; the Earl of Rut-) Tuns. Guns. land, admiral; Sir H. Mainwaring, 1200 captain, Saint Andrew, Lord Morley, vice admiral, Sir Henry Palmer, Rainbow, 55 225 898 42 700 42 700 40 674 40 650 34 450 34 140 14 140 14 Captain Harris, It will readily be conceived that, during the greater part of these reigns, while the manners of high life were so frivolous and depraved, and so indifferent to peaceful domestic happiness, much the same would be the conduct of their domestics when in attendance in London. While the gentleman was fooling away his time, and squandering his money in the gaming-house, the liveried lackey who attended him played away his wages on the stairs of the dens where they met; and, while a fashionable debauch was going on in the tavern, the valets were drinking and carousing in the kitchen or at the bar. When people went to the park, they * Bucke. + Mores Catholici. were obliged to leave their attendants outside at the gates. Here commenced a pretty scene; the harlequinaded tribe amused themselves with boxing and wrestling, or else they were detailing all the scandal and eccentricities of their respective establishments, and telling everything that was said or done at home, by which means the coquetry, and the privacy, and the peace of every family got dispersed abroad.* There were also a great deal of "high life below stairs," dishonesty, waste, and prodigality among the servants, who, at their several meetings and junketings, not only assumed the titles of their masters, but used the choicest wines, viands, and deserts; and often a smart lackey, when an opportunity offered, dressed himself in his lord's apparel and sallied forth to the theatre, or ball-room, or masquerade ; "The dreadful masquerader, thus equip'd, in which he often out-did the out-and-out doings of his master. These, and still worse excesses, are copiously alluded to by the essayists of the times; and they originated from the greedy, but outrageously foolish, new custom of putting servants on board wages, in which, when all things were considered, there was no saving. The servants were forbidden, by an order of the lord chamberlain in 1701, to wear swords; and servants' vails were discontinued in gentlemen's houses about 1760. While complaints were justly made of the arrogance and dishonesty, the laziness and luxury of valets, footmen, and other male attendants, the charges against female servants were equally loud and numerous; and the character of the pert, mercenary, intriguing abigail is familiarized to us by many of the dramatists of the period. When the country damsel first came to town, which was by some country broad-wheeled wagon, drawn by eight horses, fresh in innocence and inexperienced, and entered into her new service determined to do her duty, a coterie of the town menials soon took her under their lawless charge, and taught her the most approved methods of obtaining the highest wages for the smallest amount of work, and the best way to pick up waifs, strays, vails, and perquisites. In this way she soon learned enough to assume the cast-off airs with the cast-off gowns of her mistress; so that in a short time, among her † A present. * Vanbrugh's Journey to London. other town accomplishments, she could drink tea, take snuff, and carry herself as high as the rest.*—“ A Trip through the Town." Nor was it much better with the servants of the middle classes, "for evil communications corrupt good manners. "Women servants are now so scarce," says an anonymous writer, "that, from 30 to 40s. a year, their wages are increased to six, seven, and eight pounds; insomuch that an ordinary tradesman cannot well keep one, but his wife, who might be useful in his shop or business, must do the drudgery of household affairs; and all this because our servant wenches are so puffed up with pride now-a-days that they never think they go fine enough. It is a hard matter to know the mistress from the maid by their dress, nay, very often the maid shall be much the finer of the two." MERCHANTS, SHOP-KEEPERS, AND 'PRENTICES. "In gospel phrase, their chapmen they betray, Their shops are dens, the buyer is their prey." DRYDEN. DURING these reigns "the aristocracy looked down upon trafficking with disdain, and elbowed it from the wall; and a fashionable comedy was not thought racy enough, unless some vulgar flat-cap was introduced, to be robbed of his daughter and his ducats by some needy and profligate adventurer. "But, in spite of the ridicule of the court and theatre, the merchants and the shop-keepers went on and prospered. The town shops were still little better than booths or cellars, generally without doors or windows."-Pepys' Diary. In lieu of gilded signs and tempting show-glasses, the master took short turns before his door, crying, "What d'ye lack, sir?" "What d'ye lack, madam?" and then he rehearsed a list of the commodities he dealt in. When he became weary, this task was assumed by his apprentice, and thus a London street was a Babel of strange sounds, by which the wayfarer * Iu poor Richard's Almanac for 1758, the following old adage is quoted: -Many estates are spent in the getting, " Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, Spectator, No. 364 How much this is like Torbole, in Italy, as described by Goethe, 1786 Isaac Walton's (the angler) first shop at the Royal Exchange was only seven and a half feet long and five feet wide. |