Prolix Narratives, whether jocose or serious, had not yet ceased to be the entertainment of polite companies and rules for telling a tale with grace, now found a place in a book of general rhetoric P. In treating In treating of pleafaunt fporte made rebearfyng of a whole matter, he says, "Thei that can liuely tell pleasaunt tales "and mery dedes doen, and fet them out as wel with gefture as "with voice, leauing nothing behinde that maie serue for beautifying of their matter, are moft mete for this purpose,

"ther fall aflepe, or els bid you farewell.
"The multitude must nedes be made mer-
ry; and the more foolish your talke is,
"the more wife will thei compt it to be.
"And yet it is no foolishnes but rather
"wisdome to win men, by telling of fa
"bles to heare Gods goodnes." fol. 101.
Much to
the fame purpofe he fays, "Euen in this
our tyme, fome offende muche in te-
"dioufneffe, whofe parte it were to com-
"fort all men with cherefulneffe.
"the preachers of God mind fo muche
"edifiyng of foules, that thei often for-

a.

66

See alfo fol. 52. a. .69. a.

Yea,

gette we have any bodies. And there"fore, fome doe not fo muche good with

tellyng the truthe, as thei doe harme "with dullyng the hearers; beyng fo "farre gone in their matters, that often"times thei cannot tell when to make an "ende." fol. 70. a. Yet ftill he allows "much praife to the preachers in ge"neral of his age. "Yea, what tell I "nowe of fuche leffons, feeyng God hath "raised fuche worthy preachers in this "our tyme, that their godlie and learned

doynges maie be a moft iufte example "for all other to followe." fol. 55. b. By the way, although a zealous gofpeller, in another place he obliquely cenfures the rapacity with which the reformation was conducted under Edward the fixth. [See fupr. vol. ii. p. 452.] "I had rather, "faid one, make my child a cobler than 66 a preacher, a tankard-bearer than a scho"ler. For what fhall my fonne seke for "learnyng, when he fhall neuer get thereby any livyng? Set my fonne to that whereby he maie get fomewhat. Doe you not fee, how euery one catcheth and "pulleth

"whereof affuredly ther are but fewe. And whatsoeuer he is, "that can aptlie tell his tale, and with countenaunce, voice, and

gefture, fo temper his reporte, that the hearers may ftill take "delite, hym coompte I a man worthie to be highlie eftemed. "For vndoubtedly no man can doe any fuch thing excepte that "thei haue a greate mother witte, and by experience confirmed "fuche their comelineffe, whervnto by nature thei were most "apte. Manie a man readeth hiftories, heareth fables, feeth "worthie actes doen, euen in this our age; but few can fet "them out accordinglie, and tell them liuelie, as the matter "felfe requireth to be tolde. The kyndes of delityng in this "fort are diuers: whereof I will fet forth many.-Sporte moued by tellyng of olde tales. If there be any olde tale or straunge "hiftorie, well and wittelie applied to fome man liuyng, all "menne loue to heare it of life. As if one were called Ar"thure, fome good felowe that were wel acquainted with KYNG "ARTHURES BOOKE and the Knightes of his Rounde Table, "would want no matter to make good fport, and for a nede "would dubbe him knight of the Rounde Table, or els proue

จ

hym to be one of his kynne, or else (which were muche) 66 proue him to be Arthur himself. And fo likewife of other names, merie panions would make madde pastyme. Often66 tymes the deformitie of a mannes body giueth matter enough "to be right merie, or elles a picture in flape like another "manne will make some to laugh right hartelye', &c." This is no unpleafing image of the arts and accomplishments, which seasoned the mirth, and enlivened the converfations of our forefathers. Their wit feems to have chiefly confifted in mimicry '.

finging children and chorifters, as he or his deputy shall think "good'." And again, in the following year, the mafter of the king's chapel, that is, the mafter of the king's finging-boys, has licence to take up from time to time as many children [boys] "to serve in the king's chapel as he fhall think fit"." Under the year 1454, there is a commiffion of the fame fort from king Henry the fixth, De miniftrallis propter folatium regis providendis, for procuring minstrels, even by force, for the folace or entertainment of the king and it is required, that the minstrels fo procured, should be not only skilled in arte minftrallatus, in the art of minstrelfy, but membris naturalibus elegantes, handsome and elegantly shaped ". As the word Minstrel is of an extenfive fignification, and is applied as a general term to every character of that species of men whose business it was to entertain, either with oral recitation, mufic, gefticulation, and finging, or with a mixture of all these arts united, it is certainly difficult to determine, whether fingers only, more particularly fingers for the royal chapel, were here intended. The last clause may perhaps more immediately feem to point out tumblers or posture-masters °. But in the regifter of the capitulary acts of York cathedral, it is ordered as an indifpenfable qualification, that the chorister who is annually to be elected the boy-bishop, fhould be competenter corpore formofus. I will tranfcribe an article of the register, relating to that ridiculous ceremony. "Dec. 2. 1367. Joannes

"the queen and cardinal [Pole] looking

on; whereat she was obferved to laugh "heartily, &c." Strype's ECCL. MEм. iii. p. 312. ch. xxxix. Mr. Aftle has a roll of fome private expences of king Edward the fecond among which it appears, that fifty fhillings were paid to a perfon who danced before the king on a table, et "lui fift tres grandement rire." And that twenty fhillings were allowed to another, who rode before his majesty, and often fell from his horse, at which his majefty laughed heartily, de queux roi rya grantement. The laughter of kings was thought worthy to be recorded.

"de

"de Quixly confirmatur Epifcopus Puerorum, et Capitulum "ordinavit, quod electio epifcopi Puerorum in ecclefia Ebora"cenfi de cetero fieret de Eo, qui diutius et magis in dicta " ecclefia laboraverit, et magis idoneus repertus fuerit, dum "tamen competenter fit corpore formofus, et quod aliter facta "electio non valebit"." It is certainly a matter of no confequence, whether we understand these Minstrels of Henry the fixth to have been fingers, pipers, players, or posture-masters. From the known character of that king, I should rather suppose them performers for his chapel. In any fenfe, this is an instance of the fame oppreffive and arbitrary privilege that was practised on our poet.

Our author Tuffer wrote, during his refidence at Ratwood in Suffex, a work in rhyme entitled FIVE HUNDRED POINTES OF GOOD HUSBANDRIE, which was printed at London in 1557 o. But it was soon afterwards reprinted, with additions and improvements, under the following title, "Five hundreth pointes of good Husbandrie as well for the Champion or open countric, "as alfo for the Woodland or Severall, mixed in euerie moneth "with Huswiferie, ouer and befides the booke of Hus

WIFERIE. Corrected, better ordered, and newlie augmented "a fourth part more, with diuers other leffons, as a diet for "the farmer, of the properties of windes, planets, hops, herbs, "bees, and approved remedies for the fheepe and cattell, with

Registr. Archiv. Ecclef. Ebor. MSS.

In the Salisbury-miffal, in the office of EPISCOPUS PUERORUM, among the fuffrages we read," Corpore enim formofus

es O fili, et diffufa eft gratia in labiis "tuis, &c." In further proof of the folemnity with which this farce was conducted, I will cite another extract from the chapter-registers at York. " xj febr. 66 1370. In Scriptoria capituli Ebor. "dominus Johannes Giffon, magister cho"riftarum ecclefiæ Eboracenfis, liberavit "Roberto de Holme choriftæ, qui tunc "ultimo fuerat epifcopus puerorum, iij libras, xvs. id. ob. de perquifitis ipfius VOL. III.

"manie other matters both profitabell and not vnpleasant for the "Reader. Alfo a table of HUSBANDRIE at the beginning of "this booke, and another of HUSWIFERIE at the end, &c. "Newlie fet foorth by THOMAS TUSSER gentleman "."

It must be acknowledged, that this old English georgic has much more of the fimplicity of Hefiod, than of the elegance of Virgil: and a modern reader would fufpect, that many of its falutary maxims originally decorated the margins, and illuftrated the calendars, of an antient almanac. It is without invocations, digreffions, and descriptions: no pleafing pictures of rural imagery are drawn from meadows covered with flocks and fields waving with corn, nor are Pan and Ceres once named. Yet it is valuable, as a genuine picture of the agriculture, the rural arts, and the domeftic economy and cuftoms, of our induftrious ancestors.

I must begin my examination of this work with the apology of Virgil on a fimilar subject,

Poffum multa tibi veterum præcepta referre,

Ni refugis, tenuefque piget cognofcere curas.

I first produce a specimen of his directions for cultivating a hop-garden, which may, perhaps not unprofitably, be compared with the modern practice.

Whom fanfie perfwadeth, among other crops,
To haue for his spending, fufficient of hops,

The oldeft edition with this title which I have feen is in quarto, dated 1586, and printed at London, " in the now dwelling

houfe of Henrie Denham in Alderfgate "ftreete at the figne of the ftarre." In black letter, containing 164 pages. The next edition is for H. Yardley, London 1593. Bl. Lett. 4to. Again at London, printed by Peter Short, 1597. Bl. Lett. 4to. The laf I have feen is dated 1610. 4to.

In the Regifter of the Stationers, a receipt of T. Hackett is entered for licence for printing" A dialoge of wyvynge and

66

"thryvynge of Tusfhers with ij leffons for "olde and yonge," in 1562 or 1563. REGISTR. STAT, COMP. LOND. notat. A. fol. 74. b. I find licenced to Alde in 1565, "An hundreth poyntes of evell hufwyfraye," I fuppofe a fatire on Tusser. Ibid. fol. 131. b. În 1561, Richard Tottell was to print " A booke intituled one "hundreth good poyntes of hufboundry "lately maryed unto a hundreth good "poyntes of Hufwiffry newly corrected "and amplyfyed." Ibid. fol. 74. a. GEORGIC. i. 176.

Muft