An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Part 47

The English edition of the _Janua Linguarum_ of Comenius, represents the fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after the meal to leave room for the dancers. Old Capulet's hall was prepared thus:

"A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls!

More light, ye knaves, and turn the table up."

The head of the table, where the princ.i.p.al person sat, was called the "board-end;" and as one long table was now used instead of several smaller ones, the guests of higher and lower degree were divided by the ma.s.sive saltcellar, placed in the centre of the table. Thus, in Ben Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "He never drinks below the salt." The waiters, after settling the cloth, placed the spoons, knives, forks, bread, and napkins beside the trenchers. The butler served out the drink from the cupboard, the origin of our modern sideboard. The "cobbord," erroneously supposed to have been like our modern cupboard, is specially mentioned amongst Lord Grey's effects. Lord Fairfax, in his directions to his servants, written about the middle of the seventeenth century, says: "No man must fill beer or wine the cupboard keeper," and he should know which of his "cups for beer and which for wine, for it were a foul thing to mix them together." There was another reason, however, for this arrangement--much "idle tippling" was cut off thereby; for as the draught of beer or wine had to be asked for when it was needed, demand was not likely to be so quick as if it were always at hand. There were also cups of "a.s.saye,"

from which the cupbearer was obliged to drink before his master, to prove that there was no poison in the liquor which he used. The cupboard was covered with a carpet, of which Lord Grey had two. These carpets, or tablecovers, were more or less costly, according to the rank and state of the owner. His Lordship had also "two chares, two fformes, and two stooles." Chairs were decidedly a luxury at that day. Although the name is of Anglo-Norman origin, they did not come into general use until a late period; and it was considered a mark of disrespect to superiors, for young persons to sit in their presence on anything but hard benches or stools. The Anglo-Saxons called their seats _sett_ and _stol_, a name which we still preserve in the modern stool. The hall was ornamented with rich hangings, and there was generally a _traves_, which could be used as a curtain or screen to form a temporary part.i.tion. The floor was strewn with rushes, which were not removed quite so frequently as would have been desirable, considering that they were made the repository of the refuse of the table. Perfumes were consequently much used, and we are not surprised to find "a casting bottel, dooble gilte, for rose-water," in the effects of a Viceroy of the sixteenth century. Such things were more matters of necessity than of luxury at even a later period. Meat and pudding were the staple diet of the upper cla.s.ses in 1698. Wright[536] gives a long and amusing extract from a work published by a foreigner who had been much in England at this period, and who appears to have marvelled equally at the amount of solid meat consumed, the love of pudding, and the neglect of fruit at dessert.

We are able, fortunately, to give a description of the fare used during the same period in Ireland, at least by the upper cla.s.ses, who could afford to procure it. Captain Bodley, a younger brother of the founder of the famous Bodleian Library in Oxford, has left an account of a journey into Lecale, in Ulster, in 1603, and of the proceedings of his companions-in-arms, and the entertainment they met with. His "tour" is full of that gossiping, chatty, general information, which gives an admirable idea of the state of society. This is his description of a dinner: "There was a large and beautiful collar of brawn, with its accompaniments, to wit, mustard and Muscatel wine; there were well-stuffed geese (such as the Lord Bishop is wont to eat at Ardbraccan), the legs of which Captain Caulfield always laid hold of for himself; there were pies of venison and various kinds of game; pasties also, some of marrow, with innumerable plums; others of it with coagulated milk, such as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London almost always have at their feasts; others, which they call tarts, of divers shapes, materials, and colours, made of beef, mutton, and veal." Then he relates the amus.e.m.e.nts. After dinner they rode, and in the evening they played cards, and had, "amongst other things, that Indian tobacco of which I shall never be able to make sufficient mention." Later in the evening "maskers" came to entertain them; and on one occasion, their host gave them up his own "good and soft bed, and threw himself upon a pallet in the same chamber."[537]

The large stand-bed, or four-post, was then coming into use, and was, probably, the "good and soft bed" which the host resigned to the use of the officers, and which, if we may judge by the ill.u.s.tration of this piece of furniture, would conveniently hold a considerable number of persons. The pallet was placed on the truckle-bed, which rolled under the large bed, and was generally used by a servant, who slept in his master's room. The reader will remember the speech of Mine Host of the Garter, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," who says of Falstaff's room: "There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and truckle-bed."

However interesting the subject may be, there is not s.p.a.ce to go into further details. The inventory of Lord Grey's personal effects can scarcely be given as a picture of costume in this century, for even a few years produced as considerable changes in fashion then as now.

Dekker, in his _Seven Deadly Sinnes of London_, describes an Englishman's suit as being like a traitor's body that had been hanged, drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places; and says: "We that mock every nation for keeping one fashion, yet steal patches from every one of them to piece out our pride, and are now laughing-stocks to them.

The block for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fit him, and hereupon we are called in scorn block-heads." The courtiers of Charles II. compensated themselves for the stern restraints of Puritanism, by giving way to the wildest excesses in dress and manners. Enormous periwigs were introduced, and it became the fashion for a man of _ton_ to be seen combing them on the Mall or at the theatre. The hat was worn with a broad brim, ornamented with feathers; a falling band of the richest lace adorned the neck; the short cloak was edged deeply with gold lace; the doublet was ornamented in a similar manner--it was long, and swelled out from the waist; but the "petticoat breeches" were the glory of the outer man, and sums of money were spent on ribbon and lace to add to their attractions.

The ladies' costume was more simple, at least at this period; they compensated themselves, however, for any plainness in dress, by additional extravagances in their head-dresses, and wore "heart-breakers," or artificial curls, which were set out on wires at the sides of the face. Patching and painting soon became common, and many a nonconformist divine lifted up his voice in vain against these vanities. Pepys has left ample details of the dress in this century; and, if we may judge from the entry under the 30th of October, 1663, either he was very liberal in his own expenditure, and very parsimonious towards his wife, or ladies' attire was much less costly than gentlemen's, for he murmurs over his outlay of about 12 for Mrs. Pepys and 55 for himself. The country people, however, were attired more plainly and less expensively, while many, probably--

"Shook their heads at folks in London,"

and wondered at the follies of their superiors.

The arms and military accoutrements of the period have already been mentioned incidentally, and are ill.u.s.trated by the different costumes in our engravings, which Mr. Doyle has rendered with the minutest accuracy of detail. This subject, if treated at all, would require s.p.a.ce which we cannot afford to give it. The Life Guards were embodied by Charles II, in 1681, in imitation of the French "Gardes des Corps." The Coldstream were embodied by General Monk, in 1660, at the town from whence they obtained their name.

From an account in the Hamilton MSS., published in the _Ulster_ _Archaeological Journal_, it would appear that it was usual, or, at least not uncommon, for young men of rank to go abroad for some time, attended by a tutor, to perfect themselves in continental languages. It need scarcely be said that travelling was equally tedious and expensive. A journey from Dublin to Cork occupied several days; postchaises are a comparatively modern invention; and Sir William Petty astonished the good people of Dublin, in the seventeenth century, by inventing some kind of carriage which could be drawn by horses. With his description of the condition of the lower cla.s.ses in Ireland at this period, I shall conclude this chapter. The accompanying figure represents the costume of the Irish peasant about the fifteenth century. The dress was found on the body of a male skeleton, in the year 1824, which was preserved so perfectly, that a coroner was called to hold an inquest on it. The remains were taken from a bog in the parish of Killery, co. Sligo. The cloak was composed of soft brown cloth; the coat of the same material, but of finer texture. The b.u.t.tons are ingeniously formed of the cloth.

The trowsers consists of two distinct parts, of different colours and textures; the upper part is thick, coa.r.s.e, yellowish-brown cloth; the lower, a brown and yellow plaid.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"The diet of these people is milk, sweet and sour, thick and thin; but tobacco, taken in short pipes seldom burned, seems the pleasure of their lives. Their food is bread in cakes, whereof a penny serves a week for each; potatoes from August till May; muscles, c.o.c.kles, and oysters, near the sea; eggs and b.u.t.ter, made very rancid by keeping in bogs. As for flesh they seldom eat it. Their fuel is turf in most places." The potatoe, which has brought so many national calamities on the country, had been then some years in the country, but its use was not yet as general as it has become since, as we find from the mention of "bread in cakes" being an edible during a considerable part of the year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.]

FOOTNOTES:

[512] _Language_--A proclamation in Irish, issued by Tyrone in 1601, is still extant, with a contemporary English translation.--_See Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. vi. p. 57.

[513] _Pope_.--He rhymes spirit and merit; fit and yet; civil and devil; obey and tea.

[514] _Ta.s.so_.--

"The land fornenst the Greekish sh.o.r.e he held."

Chaucer, too, uses _faute_ for _fault_ in the _Canterbury Tales_.

[515] _Historians_.--Max Muller--_Lectures on the Science of Language_, p. 271--states, that labourers in country parishes in England do not use more than 300 words. A friend of mine, who is an excellent Irish scholar, a.s.sures me the most illiterate Irish-speaking peasant would use at least 500.

[516] _Carew_.--The tradition of the country says that this vengeance was excited by the complaints of a lady, with whom the Lord President had some gallantries, and whose conduct Keating had reproved publicly.

[517] _Scholars_.--We have been favoured with an accurate photograph of this inscription, by William Williams, Esq., of Dungarvan, from which the engraving given above has been made. The view of Tubrid Churchyard is also engraved from a sketch with which he has favoured us. It is hoped that many Irishmen in distant lands will look with no little interest on these beautifully executed engravings, and breathe a blessing on the memory of the good and gifted priest. A Keating Society was established a few years ago, princ.i.p.ally through the exertions of Mr. Williams and the Rev. P. Meany, C.C. A Catechism in Irish has already appeared, and other works will follow in due time.

[518] _Brought us_.--Regal Visitation Book. A.D. 1622, MS., Marsh's Library, Dublin.

[519] _Excluded_.--_History of England_, People's Edition, part ii. p.

156.

[520] _Desired_.--See the Hamilton Ma.n.u.scripts, _Ulster Arch. Jour_.

vol. iii. pp. 155-147. Blair complains also that his patron "would receive the sacrament kneeling."

[521] _England_.--"The diet, housing, and clothing of the 16,000 families above-mentioned [those were the middle cla.s.s] is much the same as in England; nor is the French elegance unknown in many of them, nor the French and Latin tongues. The latter whereof is very frequent among the poorest Irish, and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from Dublin."--_Political Anatomy of Ireland_, Petty, p. 58.

[522] _Antwerp_.--_Descrittione dei Paesi Ba.s.si:_ Anvers, 1567.

[523] _Paid_.--_The Sovereignly of the British Seas:_ London, 1651.

[524] _Little_.--_Hib. Pac_.

[525] _Head_.--The tract ent.i.tled _Killing no Murder_, which had disturbed Cromwell's "peace and rest," and obliged him to live almost as a fugitive in the country over which he had hoped to reign as a sovereign, still left its impression on English society. The miserable example of a royal execution was a precedent which no amount of provocation should have permitted.

[526] _Writer_.--_Merchant's Map of Commerce:_ London, 1677.

[527] _s.e.x_.--_The Interest of Ireland in its Trade and Wealth_, by Colonel Lawrence: Dublin, 1682.

[528] _Tobacco_.--A Table of the Belfast Exports and Imports for the year 1683, has been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p.

194, which fully bears out this statement, and is of immense value in determining the general state of Irish commerce at this period. There are, however, some mistakes in the quotations of statistics, probably misprints.

[529] _March_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 178.

[530] _Faculty._--Doc.u.ment in the State Paper Office, Dublin, ent.i.tled _Smyth's Information for Ireland._

[531] _Aloes._--_Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p. 163.

[532] _Roman Catholics_.--The noisy and violent opposition which was made to a Catholic if he attempted to enter either a trade or a profession, would scarcely be credited at the present day; yet it should be known and remembered by those who wish to estimate the social state of this country accurately and fairly. After the Revolution, the Protestant portion of the Guild of Tailors pet.i.tioned William III. to make their corporation exclusively Protestant, and their request was granted.

[533] _High-street_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 220.

[534] _Vision_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 149.

[535] _Castle_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 69. There is a curious account in the _Quarterly Journal of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society_, July, 1862, p. 165, of a comic playbill, issued for a Kilkenny theatre, in May, 1793. The value of the tickets was to be taken, if required, in candles, bacon, soap, b.u.t.ter, and cheese, and no one was to be admitted into the boxes without shoes and stockings; which leads one to conclude that the form of admission and style of attire were not uncommon, or there would have been no joke in the announcement.

[536] _Wright.--Domestic Manners_, pp. 465, 466: "Oh! what an excellent thing is an English pudding! Make a pudding for an Englishman, and you will regale him, be he where he will."

[537] _Chamber_.--This most interesting and amusing journal is published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii. p. 73, with a translation and notes. The original is in Latin.