Books and Bookmen [11]
both Dutch soldiers; one
killed the other drinking brandy." But who slew the slayer? The
register is silent; but "often eating a shoulder of mutton or a peck
of hasty pudding at a time caused the death of James Parsons," at
Teddington, in Middlesex, 1743. Parsons had resisted the effects of
shoulders of mutton and hasty pudding till the age of thirty-six.
And so the registers run on. Sometimes they tell of the death of a
glutton, sometimes of a GRACE WYFE (grosse femme). Now the bell
tolls for the decease of a duke, now of a "dog-whipper."
"Lutenists" and "Saltpetremen"--the skeleton of the old German
allegory whispers to each and twitches him by the sleeve. "Ellis
Thompson, insipiens," leaves Chester-le-Street, where he had gabbled
and scrabbled on the doors, and follows "William, foole to my Lady
Jerningham," and "Edward Errington, the Towne's Fooll" (Newcastle-
on-Tyne) down the way to dusty death. Edward Errington died "of the
pest," and another idiot took his place and office, for Newcastle
had her regular town fools before she acquired her singularly
advanced modern representatives. The "aquavity man" dies (in
Cripplegate), and the "dumb-man who was a fortune-teller" (Stepney,
1628), and the "King's Falkner," and Mr. Gregory Isham, who combined
the professions, not frequently united, of "attorney and
husbandman," in Barwell, Leicestershire (1655). "The lame chimney-
sweeper," and the "King of the gypsies," and Alexander Willis, "qui
calographiam docuit," the linguist, and the Tom o' Bedlam, the
comfit-maker, and the panyer-man, and the tack-maker, and the
suicide, they all found death; or, if they sought him, the
churchyard where they were "hurled into a grave" was interdicted,
and purified, after a fortnight, with "frankincense and sweet
perfumes, and herbs."
Sometimes people died wholesale of pestilence, and the Longborough
register mentions a fresh way of death, "the swat called New
Acquaintance, alias Stoupe Knave, and know thy master." Another
malady was 'the posting swet, that posted from towne to towne
through England.' The plague of 1591 was imported in bales of cloth
from the Levant, just as British commerce still patriotically tries
to introduce cholera in cargoes of Egyptian rags. The register of
Malpas, in Cheshire (Aug. 24, 1625), has this strange story of the
plague:-
"Richard Dawson being sicke of the plague, and perceiving he must
die at yt time, arose out of his bed, and made his grave, and caused
his nefew, John Dawson, to cast strawe into the grave which was not
farre from the house, and went and lay'd him down in the say'd
grave, and caused clothes to be lay'd uppon and so dep'ted out of
this world; this he did because he was a strong man, and heavier
than his said nefew and another wench were able to bury."
And John Dawson died, and Rose Smyth, the "wench" already spoken of,
died, the last of the household.
Old customs survive in the parish registers. Scolding wives were
ducked, and in Kingston-on-Thames, 1572, the register tells how the
sexton's wife "was sett on a new cukking-stoole, and brought to
Temes brydge, and there had three duckings over head and eres,
because she was a common scold and fighter." The cucking-stool, a
very elaborate engine of the law, cost 1L. 3S. 4D. Men were ducked
for beating their wives, and if that custom were revived the
profession of cucking-stool maker would become busy and lucrative.
Penances of a graver sort are on record in the registers. Margaret
Sherioux, in Croydon (1597), was ordered to stand three market days
in the town, and three Sundays in the church, in a white sheet. The
sin imputed to her was a dreadful one. "She stood one Saturday, and
one Sunday, and died the next." Innocent or guilty, this world was
no longer a fit abiding-place for Margaret Sherioux. Occasionally
the keeper of the register entered any event which seemed out of the
common. Thus the register of St. Nicholas, Durham (1568), has this
contribution to natural history:-
"A certaine Italian
killed the other drinking brandy." But who slew the slayer? The
register is silent; but "often eating a shoulder of mutton or a peck
of hasty pudding at a time caused the death of James Parsons," at
Teddington, in Middlesex, 1743. Parsons had resisted the effects of
shoulders of mutton and hasty pudding till the age of thirty-six.
And so the registers run on. Sometimes they tell of the death of a
glutton, sometimes of a GRACE WYFE (grosse femme). Now the bell
tolls for the decease of a duke, now of a "dog-whipper."
"Lutenists" and "Saltpetremen"--the skeleton of the old German
allegory whispers to each and twitches him by the sleeve. "Ellis
Thompson, insipiens," leaves Chester-le-Street, where he had gabbled
and scrabbled on the doors, and follows "William, foole to my Lady
Jerningham," and "Edward Errington, the Towne's Fooll" (Newcastle-
on-Tyne) down the way to dusty death. Edward Errington died "of the
pest," and another idiot took his place and office, for Newcastle
had her regular town fools before she acquired her singularly
advanced modern representatives. The "aquavity man" dies (in
Cripplegate), and the "dumb-man who was a fortune-teller" (Stepney,
1628), and the "King's Falkner," and Mr. Gregory Isham, who combined
the professions, not frequently united, of "attorney and
husbandman," in Barwell, Leicestershire (1655). "The lame chimney-
sweeper," and the "King of the gypsies," and Alexander Willis, "qui
calographiam docuit," the linguist, and the Tom o' Bedlam, the
comfit-maker, and the panyer-man, and the tack-maker, and the
suicide, they all found death; or, if they sought him, the
churchyard where they were "hurled into a grave" was interdicted,
and purified, after a fortnight, with "frankincense and sweet
perfumes, and herbs."
Sometimes people died wholesale of pestilence, and the Longborough
register mentions a fresh way of death, "the swat called New
Acquaintance, alias Stoupe Knave, and know thy master." Another
malady was 'the posting swet, that posted from towne to towne
through England.' The plague of 1591 was imported in bales of cloth
from the Levant, just as British commerce still patriotically tries
to introduce cholera in cargoes of Egyptian rags. The register of
Malpas, in Cheshire (Aug. 24, 1625), has this strange story of the
plague:-
"Richard Dawson being sicke of the plague, and perceiving he must
die at yt time, arose out of his bed, and made his grave, and caused
his nefew, John Dawson, to cast strawe into the grave which was not
farre from the house, and went and lay'd him down in the say'd
grave, and caused clothes to be lay'd uppon and so dep'ted out of
this world; this he did because he was a strong man, and heavier
than his said nefew and another wench were able to bury."
And John Dawson died, and Rose Smyth, the "wench" already spoken of,
died, the last of the household.
Old customs survive in the parish registers. Scolding wives were
ducked, and in Kingston-on-Thames, 1572, the register tells how the
sexton's wife "was sett on a new cukking-stoole, and brought to
Temes brydge, and there had three duckings over head and eres,
because she was a common scold and fighter." The cucking-stool, a
very elaborate engine of the law, cost 1L. 3S. 4D. Men were ducked
for beating their wives, and if that custom were revived the
profession of cucking-stool maker would become busy and lucrative.
Penances of a graver sort are on record in the registers. Margaret
Sherioux, in Croydon (1597), was ordered to stand three market days
in the town, and three Sundays in the church, in a white sheet. The
sin imputed to her was a dreadful one. "She stood one Saturday, and
one Sunday, and died the next." Innocent or guilty, this world was
no longer a fit abiding-place for Margaret Sherioux. Occasionally
the keeper of the register entered any event which seemed out of the
common. Thus the register of St. Nicholas, Durham (1568), has this
contribution to natural history:-
"A certaine Italian