Before this puritanical revolution took place, barley-breake was a common theme with the amatory bards of the day, and allusions to it were frequent in their songs, madrigals, and ballets. With one of these, written about 1600, we shall present the reader, as a pleasing specimen of the light poetry of the age:—
There were two modes of playing at barley-breake, and of these one was rather more complex than the other. Mr. Gifford, in a note on the Virgin-Martyr of Massinger, where this game, in its more elaborate form, is referred to, remarks, that "with respect to the amusement of barley-break, allusions to it occur repeatedly in our old writers; and their commentators have piled one parallel passage upon another, without advancing a single step towards explaining what this celebrated pastime really was. It was played by six people (three of each sex), who were coupled by lot. A piece of ground was then chosen, and divided into three compartments, of which the middle one was called hell. It was the object of the couple condemned to this division, to catch the others, who advanced from the two extremities; in which case a change of situation took place, and hell was filled by the couple who were excluded by pre-occupation, from the other places. In this "catching," however, there was some difficulty, as, by the regulations of the game, the middle couple were not to separate before they had succeeded, while the others might break hands whenever they found themselves hard pressed. When all had been taken in turn, the last couple was said to be in hell, and the game ended."[310:B]
That this description, explanatory of the passage in Massinger,
is accurate and full, will derive corroboration from a scarce pamphlet entitled "Barley-breake, or a Warning for Wantons," published in 1607, and which contains a curious representation of this amusement.
The simpler mode of conducting this pastime, as it was practised in Scotland, has been detailed by Dr. Jamieson, who tells us, that it was "a game generally played by young people in a corn-yard. One stack is fixed on as the dule, or goal; and one person is appointed to catch the rest of the company, who run out from the dule. He does not leave it till they are all out of his sight. Then he sets off to catch them. Any one who is taken cannot run out again with his former associates, being accounted a prisoner; but is obliged to assist his captor in pursuing the rest. When all are taken, the game is finished; and he who was first taken is bound to act as catcher in the next game."[312:A] It is evident, from our old poetry, that this style of playing at barley-breake was also common in England, and especially among the lower orders in the country.
It may be proper to add, at the close of this chapter, that a species of public diversion was, during the Elizabethan period, supported by each parish, for the purpose of innocently employing the peasantry upon a failure of work from weather or other causes. To this singular though laudable custom Shakspeare alludes in the Twelfth Night, where Sir Toby says, "He's a coward, and a coystril, that will not drink to my niece, 'till his brains turn o' the toe like a [312:B]parish-top." "This," says Mr. Steevens, "is one of the customs now laid aside;" and he adds, in explanation, that "a large top was kept in every village, to be whipped in frosty weather, that the peasants might be kept warm by exercise, and out of mischief, while they could not work;" a diversion to which Fletcher likewise refers in his Night-Walker, and which has given rise to the proverbial expression of sleeping like a town-top.
From this rapid sketch of the diversions of the country, as they existed in Shakspeare's time, it will be immediately perceived that not many have become obsolete, and of those which have undergone some change, the variations have not been such as materially to obscure their origin or previous constitution. The object of this chapter being, therefore, only to mark what was peculiar in rural pastime to the age under consideration, and not to notice what had suffered little or no modification, its articles, especially if we consider the nature of the immediately preceding section, (and that nearly all amusements common to both town and country were referred to a future part,) could not be either very numerous, or require any very extended elucidation.
What might be necessary in the minute and isolated task of the commentator, would be tedious and superfluous in a design which professes, while it gives a distinct and broad outline of the complexion of the times, to preserve among its parts an unrelaxed attention to unity and compression.
FOOTNOTES:
[247:A] MS. Harl. Libr., No. 2057, apud Strutt's Customs, &c.
[247:B] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 8th edit. fol. 1676. p. 169, 170.
[247:C] Ibid. p. 172.
[247:D] Ibid. p. 174.
[247:E] Ibid. p. 172.
[248:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 22. note 6.
[249:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 21, 22. 25, 26.
[249:B] Pope's Preface to his edition of Shakspeare, vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 183.
[249:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 25, note 3.
[250:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 26, note.
[250:B] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 130, 131.
[250:C] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 131. note 7.
[250:D] Poetaster, 1601, vide Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. of 1640, vol. i. p. 267.
[251:A] Apology for Actors, 1612.
[251:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 307.
[251:C] Vide Malone's note in Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 307.
[251:D] By the statute of the 39 Eliz. any baron of the realm might license a company of players; but by the statute of first James I. "it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth no authority given, or to be given or made, by any baron of this realm, or any other honourable personage of greater degree, unto any interlude players, minstrels, jugglers, bearward, or any other idle person or persons whatsoever, using any unlawful games or plays, to play or act, should be available to free or discharge the said persons, or any of them, from the pains and punishments of rogues, of vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, in the said statutes (those of Eliz.) mentioned."
[252:A] A character in Gammar Gurtons Needle, says Mr. Strutt, a comedy supposed to have been written A. D. 1517, declares he will go "and travel with young Goose, the motion-man, for a puppet-player."[252:E] This reference, however, is inaccurate, for after a diligent perusal of the comedy in question, no such passage is to be found.
[252:B] Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. 1640, vol. ii. p. 77. act v. sc. 4.
[252:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 112.
[252:D] Vide Malone on the Chronological Order of Shakspeare's Plays. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. 2. p. 304.
[252:E] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 150, note b.
[253:A] Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 323, note s.
[253:B] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 20.
[253:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 304, and Chalmers's Apology, p. 324, note.
[254:A] Athenæ Oxon. vol. ii. p. 812.
[254:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 124.
[254:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 16.
[254:D] They were given him by Endymion Porter, the King's servant.
[254:E] Biographical History of England, vol. ii. p. 399, 8vo. edit. of 1775.
[255:A] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 20, and Heath's Description of Cornwall, 1750.
[255:B] "About the year 750, Winifrid, or Boniface, a native of England, and archbishop of Mons, acquaints Ethelbald, a king of Kent, that he has sent him, one hawk, two falcons and two shields. And Hedilbert, a king of the Mercians, requests the same archbishop Winifrid to send him two falcons which have been trained to kill cranes. See Epistol. Winifrid. (Bonifac.) Mogunt. 1605. 1629. And in Bibl. Patr. tom. vi., and tom. xiii. p. 70."—Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221.
[256:A] Jonson's Works, fol. vol. i. p. 6. act i. sc. 1.
[256:B] Brathwait's English Gentleman, 2d edit. 1633. p. 220.
[257:A] "The Booke of Faulconrie, or Hawking, for the onely delight and pleasure of all Noblemen and Gentlemen: collected out of the best aucthors, as wel Italians as Frenchmen, and some English practises withall concernyng Faulconrie, the contentes whereof are to be seene in the next page folowyng. By Geo. Turbervile, Gentleman. Nocet empta dolore voluptas. Imprinted at London for Chr. Barker, at the signe of the Grashoper in Paules Church-yarde, 1575." To this was added, the "Noble Arte of Venerie or Hunting;" and a re-impression of both, "newly revived, corrected, and augmented with many additions proper to these present times," was published by Thomas Purfoot, in 1611.
Gervase Markham published in 1595 the edition of Dame Julyana Barne's Treatise on Hawking and Hunting, which we have formerly noticed, and which was first printed by Caxton, and afterwards by Winkin De Worde; and in 1615, the first edition of his Country Contentments, which contains a treatise on Hawking; a work so popular, that it reached thirteen or fourteen editions.
Edmund Best, who trained and sold hawks, printed a treatise on Hawks and Hawking in 1619.
[259:A] Brathwait's English Gentleman, 2d edit. 1633. p. 201-203.
[259:B] Henry Peacham, who remarks of Hawking, that it is a recreation "very commendable and befitting a Noble or Gentleman to exercise," adds, that "by the Canon Law, Hawking was forbidden unto Clergie." The Compleat Gentleman, 2d. edit. p. 212, 213.
[260:A] Vide Quaternio, or a Fourefold Way to a Happie Life, set forth in a Dialogue betweene a Countryman and a Citizen, a Divine and a Lawyer. Per Tho. Nash, Philopolitean, 1633.
[260:B] English Gentleman, p. 200.
[262:A] Quaternio, 1633. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add, that the writer of this work must not be confounded with Thos. Nash the author of Pierce Penniless, who died before 1606.
[262:B] To bind with is to tire or seize.—Gentleman's Recreation.
[263:A] To cancelier. "Canceller is when a high-flown hawk in her stooping, turneth two or three times upon the wing, to recover herself before she seizeth her prey."—Gentleman's Recreation.
[263:B] Gifford's Massinger, vol. iv. p. 136, 137.—The Guardian, from which this passage is taken, was licensed in October 1633.
[264:A] Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 57, 58.
[264:B] Hall's Life of Henry VIII. sub an. xvj.
[265:A] Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
[265:B] Anonymous MS., entitled "Merry Passages and Jeasts." Bibl. Harl. 6395. Art. cccliv.
[265:C] Merry Passages and Jeasts, art. ccxxiii.
[266:A] The Falconer was sometimes denominated the Ostringer or Sperviter: "they be called Ostringers," says Markham, "which are the keepers of Goshawkes or Tercelles, and those which keepe Sparrow-hawkes or Muskets are called Sperviters, and those which keepe any other kinde of hawke being long-winged are termed Falconers." Gentleman's Academie or Booke of S. Alban's, fol. 8.
[266:B] Satyrical Essayes, Characters, &c., by John Stephens, 1615, 16mo. 1st edit.
[267:A] "All hawks," says Markham, "generally are manned after one manner, that is to say, by watching and keeping them from sleep, by a continuall carrying them upon your fist, and by a most familiar stroaking and playing with them, with the wing of a dead fowl, or such like, and by often gazing and looking them in the face, with a loving and gentle countenance, and so making them acquainted with the man.
"After your hawks are manned, you shall bring them to the Lure[267:D] by easie degrees, as first, making them jump unto the fist, after fall upon the lure, then come to the voice, and lastly, to know the voice and lure so perfectly, that either upon the sound of the one, sight of the other, she will presently come in, and be most obedient; which may easily be performed, by giving her reward when she doth your pleasure, and making her fast when she disobeyeth: short wing'd hawks shall be called to the fist only, and not to the lure; neither shall you use unto them the loudnesse and variety of voice, which you do to the long winged hawks, but only bring them to the fist by chiriping your lips together, or else by the whistle." Countrey Contentments, 11th edit. p. 30.
[267:B] Country Contentments, p. 29.
[267:C] Though it sometimes appears that the jesses were made of silk.
[267:D] An object stuffed like that kind of bird which the hawk was designed to pursue. The use of the lure was to tempt him back after he had flown.—Steevens.
[268:A] "These observations are taken from 'The Boke of Saint Albans;' a subsequent edition says, 'at least a note under.'"[268:D]
[268:B] "I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal, when the bells are cast, adds much to the sweetness of the sound; and hence probably the allusion of Shakspeare, when he says,
[268:C] Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 28.
[268:D] This subsequent edition, to which Mr. Strutt alludes, is probably that by Gervase Markham, who tells us under the head of "Hawkes belles:" "The bells which your hawke shal weare, looke in any wise that they be not too heavy, whereby they overloade hir, neither that one be heavier than an other, but both of like weight: looke also, that they be well sounding and shrill, yet not both of one sound, but one at least a note under the other." He adds "of spar-hawkes belles there is choice enough, and the charge little, by reason that the store thereof is great. But for goshawks sometimes belles of Millaine were supposed to bee the best, and undoubtedly they be excellent, for that they are sounded with silver, and the price of them is thereafter, but there be now," he observes, "used belles out of the lowe Countries which are approoved to be passing good, for they are principally sorted, they are well sounded, and sweet of ringing, with a pleasant shrilnesse, and excellently well lasting." Gentleman's Academie, fol. 13.
[269:A] These technical terms may admit of some explanation, from the following passage in Markham's edition of the Booke of St. Alban's, 1595, where speaking of the fowl being found in a river or pit, he adds, "if shee (the hawk) nyme or take the further side of the river or pit from you, then she slaieth the foule at fere juttie: but if she kill it on that side that you are on yourselfe; as many times it chanceth, then you shall say shee killed the foule at the jutty ferry: if your hawke nime the foule aloft, you shal say she tooke it at the mount. If you see store of mallards separate from the river and feeding in the fielde, if your hawke flee covertly under hedges, or close by the ground, by which means she nymeth one of them before they can rise, you shall say, that foule was killed at the querre." Gentleman's Academie, fol. 12.
[270:A] Ancient British Drama, vol. ii. p. 436.
[270:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 387. Act iii. sc. 3.
[270:C] Ibid., vol. v. p. 339. Act iii. sc. 1.
[270:D] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, fol. 8th edit. p. 152.
[271:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 135. Act iv. sc. 1.
[271:B] Ibid. vol. xx. p. 147. Act iii. sc. 2.
[271:C] Ibid. p. 93. Act ii. sc. 2.
[271:D] Ibid. vol. v. p. 126. Act iii. sc. 3.
[271:E] Fairy Queen, book i. cant. 11. stan. 34. "Eyes, or nias," says Mr. Douce, "is a term borrowed from the French niais, which means any young bird in the nest, avis in nido. It is the first of five several names by which a falcon is called during its first year." Illustrations, vol. i. p. 74.
[272:A] Censura Literaria, vol. x. p. 231.
[273:A] Complete Gentleman, 2nd edit., p. 212, 213.
[273:B] Dekkar's Villanies discovered by lanthorne and candle-light, &c. 1616.
[274:A] Vide Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221. note.
[274:B] MS. Cotton Library, Vespasianus, B. 12.
[274:C] MS. Digb. 182. Bibl. Bodl. Warton, vol. ii. p. 221. note m.
[275:A] The substance of this account is taken from The Maistre of the Game, written for the use of Prince Henry.
[276:A] Vide Censura Literaria, vol. x. p. 237, 238.
[276:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 173. Act iii. sc. 5.
[276:C] In a work entitled "A Briefe Discourse of the true (but neglected) use of Charact'ring the degrees by their perfection, imperfection, and diminution, in measurable musicke, against the common practice and custome of these times. Examples whereof are exprest in the harmony of 4 voyces, concerning the pleasure of 5 usuall Recreations. 1. Hunting. 2. Hawking. 3. Dauncing. 4. Drinking. 5. Enamouring. By Thomas Ravenscroft, Bachelar of Musicke. London, printed by Edw. Allde for Tho. Adams, 1614. Cum privilegio Regali, 4to."
Puttenham refers to one Gray as the author of this ballad, who was in good estimation, he says, with King Henry, "and afterwards with the Duke of Sommerset Protectour, for making certaine merry ballades, whereof one chiefly was, The hunte it (is) up, the hunte is up." P. 12.
Ritson refers to another ballad, as the prototype of Shakspeare's line, which, he says, is very old, and commences thus:—
Remarks critical and illustrative, &c., 1783, p. 183.
[278:A] Of the language formerly used by the huntsman to his dogs, a very curious description is given by Markham, in his modernised edition of the Booke of St. Albans, 1595.
"When the Huntsman," says he, "commeth to the kennell in the morning to couple up his hounds, and shall jubet once or twice to awake the dogs: opening the kennell doore, the Huntsman useth some gentle rating, lest in their hasty comming forth they should hurt one another: to which the Frenchman useth this worde, Arere, Arere, and we, sost, ho ho ho ho, once or twice redoubling the same, coupling them as they come out of the kennell. And being come into the field, and having uncoupled, the Frenchman useth, hors de couple avant avant, onse or twise with soho three times together: wee use to jubet once or twice to the dogges, crying, a traile a traile, there dogges there, and the rather to make the dogs in trailing to hold close together striking uppon some Brake crie soho. And if the hounds have had rest, and being over lustie, doe beginne to fling away, the Frenchmen use to crie, swef ames swef, redoubling the same, with Arere ames ho: nowe we to the same purpose use to say, sost ho, heere againe ho, doubling the same, sometimes calling them backe againe with jubet or hallow: poynting with your hunting staffe upon the ground, saying soho.
"And if some one of the hounds light upon a pure scent, so that by the manner of his eager spending you perceive it is very good, yet shall the same hounds crying, there, now there: and to put the rest of the crie in to him, you shall crie, ho avant avant, list a Talbot, list list there. To which the French man useth, Oyes a Talbot le vailant oyes oyes, trove le coward, in the same manner with little difference. And if you find by your hounds where a Hare hath beene at relefe, if it be in the time of greene corne, and if your hounds spend uppon the troile merily, and make a goodly crie, then shall the Huntsman blow three motes with his horne, which hee may sundry times use with discretion, when he seeth the houndes have made away: A double, and make on towards the seate; now if it be within some field or pasture where the Hare hath beene at relefe, let the Huntsman cast a ring with his houndes to finde where she hath gone out, which if the houndes light uppon, he shall crie, There boyes there, that tat tat, hoe hicke, hicke, hicke avant, list to him list, and if they chance by their brain sicknesse to overshoote it, he shall call to his hounds, ho againe ho, doubling the same twice. And if undertaking it againe, and making it good, hee shall cheare his hounds: there, to him there, thats he, that tat tat, blowing a mote. And note, that this word soho is generally used at the view of any beast of Chase or Venerie: but indeede the word is properly saho, and not soho, but for the better pronuntiation and fulnes of the same we say soho not saho. Now the hounds running in full chase, the Frenchman useth to say, ho ho, or swef alieu douce alieu, and wee imitating them say, There boies, there avant there, to him there, which termes are in deede derived from their language."—Gentleman's Academie, fol. 32, 33. These appear to be the terms in use at the close of the sixteenth century; for he afterwards mentions that the "olde and antient Huntsmen had divers termes" which were not in his time "very needefull."
[280:A] Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 164.
[280:B] Antiquarian Repertory, vol. i. p. 27.
[280:C] To take the assay or say, was to draw the knife along the belly of the deer, in order to ascertain how fat he was, and the operation was begun at the brisket.
[281:A] Chaloner's Prayze of Follie, 1577. The whole process of "undoing the Hart," may be seen in Markham's "Gentlemans Academie," fol. 35.
[281:B] Jonson apud Whalley, act i. sc. 6.
[281:C] Alluding to the Book of St. Albans, republished, under this title, in 1595, by Gervase Markham.
[283:A] Satyrical Essayes, &c. by John Stephens, 1615.
[284:A] Countrey Contentments, 1615.—11th edit. 1683, p. 7-9.
[284:B] Flews, the large chaps of a hound.
[284:C] Sanded, that is, of a sandy colour, the true denotement of a blood-hound.