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pounds six shillings and eight pence." The bays mentioned in this and the succeeding article was hung round the bottom of the frame, and extended to the ground, or near it, to conceal the bearers. "For making anew the merchant mount, as it aunciently was, with a ship to turn round, the hiring of the bays, and five men to carry it, four pounds." The ship and new dressing it, is charged at five shillings; it was probably made with pasteboard, which seems to have been a principal article in the manufacturing of both the moveable mountains; it was turned by means of a swivel attached to an iron handle underneath the frame. In the bill of charges for "the merchant's mount," is an entry of twenty pence paid to a joyner for cutting the pasteboard into several images. "For making anew the elephant and caste!!, and a Cupid," with his bow and arrows, "suitable to it," the castle wns covered with tinfoil, and the Cupid with skins, so as to appear to be naked, "and also for two men to carry them, one pound sixteen shillings and eight-pence. For making anew the four beastes called the unicorne, the antelop, the flower-de-luce, and the camell, one pound sixteen shillings and fourpence apiece, and for eight men to carry them, sixteen shillings. For four hobbyhorses, six shillings and eight-pence apiece; and for four boys to carry them, four shillings. For hance-staves, garlands, and balls, for the attendants upon the mayor and sheriffs, one pound nineteen shillings. For makinge anew the dragon, and for six naked boys to beat at it, one pound sixteen shillings. For six morris-dancers, with a pipe and tabret, twenty shillings."

The sports exhibited on occasions of solemnity did not termM nate with the pageants and processions: the evening was/ generally concluded with festivity and diversions of various' kinds to please the populace. These amusements are well dej scribed in a few lines by an early dramatic poet, whose name is not known; his performance is entitled A pleasant and stately Morall of the Three Lordes of London, black letter, no date:

-Let nothing that's magnifical.

Or that may tend to London's graceful state,
Be unperformed, as showes and solemne feasts,
Watches in armour, triumphes, cresset lights,
Bonefires, belles, and peales of ordinaunce
And pleasure. See that plaits be published,
Mai-games and maskes, with mirthe and minstreUie.
Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-pUics.

1 (i snick's Collection of Old Plays.

The " cresset light" was a large lanthor n placed upon a long pole, and carried upon men's shoulders. There is extant a copy of a letter from Henry VII. to the mayor and aldermen of London, commanding them to make bonfires, and to show other marks of rejoicing in the city, when the contract was ratified for the marriage of his daughter Mary with the prince of Castile.1

XXVI.—PUBLIC SHOWS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. These motley displays of pomp and absurdity, proper only for the amusement of children, or to excite the admiration of the populace, were, however, highly relished by the nobility, and repeatedly exhibited by them, on extraordinary occasions. One would think, indeed, that the repetitions would have been intolerable; on the contrary, for want of more rational entertainments, they maintained for ages their popularity, and do not appear to have lost the smallest portion of their attraction by the frequency of representation. Shows of this kind were never more fashionable than in the sixteenth century, when they were generally encouraged by persons of the highest rank, and exhibited with very little essential variation; and especially during the reign of Henry VIII.2 His daughter Elizabeth ap

1 pears to have been equally pleased with this speciesof pageantry;

L-»nd therefore it was constantly provided for her amusement, by tfie nobility whom she visited from time to time, in her progresses or excursions to various parts of the kingdom.3 I shall simply give the outlines of a succession of entertainments contrived to divert her when she visited the earl of Leicester at Kenelworth castle, and this shall serve as a specimen for the rest.

XXVII.—QUEEN ELIZABETH AT KENELWORTH.

Her majesty came thither on Saturday the ninth of July, 1575;4 she was met near the castle by a fictitious Sibyl, who promised peace and prosperity to the country during her reign. Over the first gate of the castle there stood six gigantic figures with trumpets, real trumpeters being stationed behind them, who sounded as the queen approached. This pageautwas childish enough, but not more so than the reason for its being placed there. "By this dumb show," says ray author, "it was meant that in the daies of king Arthur, men were of that stature; so that the castle of Kenelworth should seem still to be kept by kino- Arthur's heirs and their servants." Laneham says these figures were eight feet high. Upon her majesty entering the gateway, the porter, in the character of Hercules, made an oration, and presented to her the keys. Being come into the base court, a lady " came all over the pool, being so conveyed, that it seemed she had gone upon the water; she was attended by two water nymphs, and calling herself the Lady of the Lake, she addressed her majesty with a speech prepared for the purpose." The queen then proceeded to the inner court, and passed the bridge, which was railled on both sides, and the tops of the posts were adorned with "sundry presents and gifts," as of wine, corn, fruits, fishes, fowls, instruments of music, and weapons of war. Laneham calls the adorned posts "well-proportioned pillars turned:" he tells us there were fourteen of them, seven on each side of the bridge; on the first pair were birds of various kinds alive in cages, said to be the presents of the god Silvanus; on the next pair were different sorts of fruits in silver bowls, the gift of the goddess Pomona; on the third pair were different kinds of grain in silver bowls, the gift of Ceres; on the fourth, in silvered pots, were red and white wine with clusters of grapes in a silver bowl, the gift of Bacchus; on the fifth were fishes of various kinds in trays, the donation of Neptune; on the sixth were weapons of war, the gift of Mars; and on the seventh, various musical instruments, the presents of Apollo. The meaning of these emblematical decorations was explained in a Latin speech delivered by the author of it. Then an excellent band of music began to play as her majesty entered the inner court, where she alighted from her horse, and went up stairs to the apartments prepared for her.

1 Cotton MS. Titus, B. i.

s See the account of the court ludi iu the chapter on Theatrical Exhibitions.

3 The reader may find accounts of most of these excursions in a work entitled Tho Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, in two volumes 4to. published by Mr. Nichols.

'This account is chiefly taken from a small pamphlet called Princely Pleasures at Kenelworth Castle. Progresses, vol. i.

On Sunday evening she was entertained with a grand display of fireworKs, as well in the air as upon the water.

On Monday, after a great hunting, she was met on her return by Gascoigne the poet, so disguised as to represent a savage man, who paid her many high-flown compliments m a kind of dialogue between himself and an echo.

On Tuesday she was diverted with music, dancing, and an interlude upon the water.

On Wednesday was another grand hunting.

On Thursday she was amused with a grand bear-beating, to which were added tumbling and fire-works. Bear-beating and bull-baiting were fashionable at this period, and considered as proper pastimes for the amusement of ladies of the highest rank. Elizabeth, though a woman, possessed a masculine mind, and preferred, or affected to prefer, the exercises of the chace and other recreations pursued by men, rather than those usually appropriated to her sex.

On Friday, the weather being unfavourable, there were no open shows.

On Saturday there was dancing within the castle, and a country brideale, with running at the quintain in the castle yard, and a pantomimical show called "the Old Coventry Play of Hock Thursday," performed by persons who came from Coventry for that purpose. In the evening a regular play was acted, succeeded by a banquet and a masque.

On the Sunday there was no public spectacle.

On the Monday there was a hunting in the afternoon, and, on the queen's return, she was entertained with another show upon the water, in which appeared a person in the character of Arion, riding upon a dolphin twenty-four feet in length; and he sung an admirable song, accompanied with music performed by six musicians concealed in the belly of the fish. Her majesty, it appears, was much pleased with this exhibition. The person who entertained her majesty in the character of Arion is said to have been Harry Goldingham, of whom the following anecdote is related: "There was a spectacle presented to queen Elizabeth upon the water, and among others, Harry Goldingham was to represent Arion upon the back of a dolphin; but finding his voice to be very hoarse and unpleasant when he came to perform his part, he tears off his disguise, and swears that he was none of Arion, not he, but even honest Harry Goldingham; which blunt discoverie pleased the queen better than if it had gone thorough in the right way. Yet he could order his voice to an instrument exceedingly well."1 This story has been applied to the performance above mentioned, but I trusf mistakenly; it certainly must have happened on some other occasion, for such a circumstance would not have escaped the observation of the facetious Laneham; besides it appears in this instance that the part nf Ariou was performed without defect, and the song well executed.

1 Harl. MS 6395, entitled Merry Passages and Jests, ait 221.

On Tuesday the Coventry play was reoeated, because the queen had not seen the whole of it on Saturday.

On Wednesday, the twentieth of the same month, she departed from Kenelworth. Various other pastimes were prepared upon this occasion; but, for want of time and opportunity, they could not be performed.

XXVIII.—LOVE OF PUBLIC SIGHTS ILLUSTRATED FROM
SHAKSPEARE.

The English are particularised for their partiality to strange sights; uncommon beasts, birds, or fishes, are sure to attract their notice, and especially such of them as are of the monstrous kind; and this propensity of our countrymen is neatly satirised by Shakspeare in the Tempest; where Stephano, seeing Calaban lying upon the stage, and being uncertain whether he was a fish, a beast, or one of the inhabitants of the island, speaks in the following manner: "Were I in England now, as oi>ceI was, and had this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give me a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man: any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."1 Indeed, we may observe that a cow with two heads, a pig with six legs, or any other unnatural production, with propei management, are pretty certain fortunes to the possessors.

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XXIX.—ROPE-DANCING, TUTORED ANIMALS, AND PUPPET-SHOWS.

They also take great delight in seeing men and animals perform such feats as appear to be entirely contrary to their nature; as, men and monkeys dancing upon ropes, or walking upon wires; dogs dancing minuets, pigs arranging letters so as to form words at their master's command; hares beating drums, or birds firing oft" cannons. These exhibitions, for all of them

1 Temptvt, act li. scene n

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