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able, to divert themfelves in the woods and meadows with Maygames, diverfions not confined to the lower clafs, but equally the entertainment of perfons of the higheft rank; a remarkable inftance of which is inferted in Hall's Chronicle, under the year 1515, when that author obferves, that king Henry VIII. and queen Catharine, accompanied by many lords and ladies, rode a maying from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's-hill, where, as they paffed along, they faw a company of 200 tall yeomen, all cloathed in green, with green hoods and bows and arrows. One, who was their chief tain, was called Robin Hood, and defired the king and all his company to ftay and fee his men fhoot; to which the king agreeing, he whistled, and all the two hundred difcharged their arrows at once, which they repeated on his whistling again. Their arrows had fomething placed in the heads of them that made them whiftle as they flew, and all together, made a loud and very uncommon noise, at which the king and queen were greatly delighted. The gentleman who affumed the character of Robin Hood then defired the king and queen, with their retinue, to enter the green wood, where, in arbours made with boughs intermixed with flowers, they were plentifully ferved with venifon and wine, by Robin Hood and his

men.

About two years after an event happened, which occafioned the epithet of Evil to be added to this day of rejoicing. The citizens being extremely exafperated at the encouragement given to foreigners, a prieft, named Bell, was perfuaded to preach against them at the Spital;

and, in a very inflaming fermon, he incited the people to oppofe all ftrangers; this occafioned frequent quarrels in the streets, for which fome Englishmen were committed to prison.

Suddenly a rumour arose, that on May-day all the foreigners would be affaffinated, and several strangers fled; this coming to the knowledge of the king's council, cardinal Wolfey fent for the lord mayor and feveral of the city council, told them what he had heard, and exhorted them to preferve the peace. Upon this affair a court of common council was affembled at Guildhall, on the evening before May-day, in which it was refolved to order every man to fhut up his doors, and keep his fervants at home; and this advice being immediately communi cated to the cardinal, met with his approbation.

Upon this every alderman fent to inform his ward, that no man should ftir out of his houfe after nine o' clock, but keep his doors fhut, and his fervants within till nine in the morning. This order had not been long given, when one of the alder men, returning from his ward, ob. ferved two young men at play in Cheapfide, and many others looking at them. He would have fent them to the Compter, but they were foon refcued, and the cry raised of" "Prentices! 'Prentices! Clubs! Clubs !" Inftantly the people arose; by eleven o'clock they amounted to fix or feven hundred; and, the croud ftill increafing, they rescued from Newgate and the Compter the prifoners committed for abufing the foreigners; while the mayor and fheriffs, who were prefent, made proclamation in the king's name;

but,

but, inftead of obeying it, they broke open the houfes of many Frenchmen and other foreigners, and continued plundering them till three in the morning, when, beginning to difperfe, the mayor and his attend ants took 300 of them, and com mitted them to the feveral prifons. While this riot lafted, the lieutenant of the Tower discharged feveral pieces of ordnance against the city, but without doing much mifchief; and about five in the morning feveral of the nobility marched thither, with all the forces they could af femble.

On the 4th of May the lord mayor, the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Surry, and others, fat upon the trial of the offenders at Guildhall, the duke of Norfolk entering the city with 1300 men. That day feveral were indicted, and on the next 13 were fentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; for the execution of whom ten gallowfes were fet up in feveral parts of the city, upon wheels, to be removed from street to ftreet, and from door to door..

On the 7th of May feveral others were found guilty, and received the fame fentence as the former, and foon after were drawn upon hurdles to the standard in Cheapfide; but, when one was executed, and the reft about to be turned off, a refpite came, and they were remanded back to prison.

After this, the foldiers who had kept watch in the city were with drawn, which making the citizens flatter themselves that the king's difpleasure against them was not fo great as they had imagined, the lord mayor, recorder, and feveral aldermen, went in mourning gowns to wait upon the king at Greenwich, when, having attended for fome

5

time at the privy chamber-door, his majefty, with feveral of the nobility, came forth; upon which, all of them falling upon their knees, the recorder, in the name of the reft, in the most humble and fubmiffive terms, begged that he would have mercy on them for their negligence, and compaflion on the offenders, whom he reprefented as a small number of light perfons. His majefty let them know that he was really dif pleafed, and that they ought to wail and be forry for it: for, as they had not attempted to fight with those whom they pretended were fo fmall a number of light persons, they must have winked at the matter; he therefore ordered them to repair to the lord chancellor, who would give them an anfwer. Upon which they retired, deeply mortified.

Being informed that the king was to be at Westminster-hall on the zzd of May, they refolved to repair thither, which they did with the confent of cardinal Wolfey, lord highchancellor. The king fat at the upper end of Westminster-hall, under a cloth of ftate, with the cardinal and feveral of the nobility; and the lord mayor, aldermen, recorder, and feveral of the common council attended; the prifoners, who then amounted to about 400, were brought in their fhirts, bound together with cords, and with halters about their necks, and among these were eleven women. The cardinal having fharply rebuked the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty for their negligence, told the prifoners, that, for their offences against the laws of the realm and againft his majefty's crown and dignity, they had deferved death; upon which they all fet up a piteous cry, of "Mercy, gracious "lord, mercy!" which fo moved

the

the king, that, at the earneft intreaty of the lords, he pronounced them pardoned; upon which, giving a great fhout, they threw up their halters towards the top of the hall, crying, "God fave the king!" After this affair,the May games were not fo commonly used as before.

Hiftorical remarks on drefs. Prefixed to a collection of the dresses of different nations, ancient and modern.

HE origin of drefs, confider

ventions which took place after he ceafed to be as God had created him, upright.

Some bounds however have been put to the licentiousness of fancy in forming and changing the drefs, by various prohibitions and ordonnances after men had been formed into civil fociety: by fome it was intended to keep up a vifible di tinction between the different clas fes of people, as noble or mean, ecclefiaftical or lay, magiftrate or private perfons; the defign of others was to diftinguifh the two fexes,

and many

the body, is too generally known to need a differtation: but that covering which was produced jointly by weakness and guilt, to defend the wearer from the inclemency of the weather, and to conceal thofe parts which the loss of innocence had made fhameful, is but a very inconfiderable part of what has been long included under the name of drefs. To trace the modern dress back to the fimplicity of the first skins and leaves and feathers that were worn by mankind in the primitive ages, if it were poffible, would be almoft endless; the fashion has been often changed, while the materials remained the fame; the materials have been different as they were gradually produced by fucceffive arts that converted a raw hide into leather, the wool of the fheep into cloth, the web of the worm into filk, and flax and cotton into linen of various kinds. One garment has also been added to another, and ornaments have been multiplied upon ornaments with a variety almoft infinite, produced by the caprices of human vanity, or the new neceffities to which man rendered himself subject by those many in VOL. IV.

penfive fuperfluities, which were at once productive of poverty, dependance, and effeminacy; fome of these regulations still fubfift, and the fexes have by a kind of common confent been diftinguished at all times, and in all civilized countries, by fome difference in their drefs. At prefent indeed the Europeans are so much at liberty to follow their own fancy in the figure and materials of their drefs, that the habit is become a kind of index to the mind, and the character is in fome particulars as eafily discovered by a man's drefs as by his converfation. Of the dreffes of Europe in general it may be obferved that they are now gothic; that of the men is military, for the garments are all fhort, and the dress is confidered as incomplete without a weapon. So that even the phyfician, who fpends the day in going from the chamber of one fick perfon to another, is not completely dreffed without a fword. The old Civic habits were long, and are ftill ufed on particular occafions. The merchant and trader when he appears as a citizen wears a gown and hood, and there are long garments

N

peculiar

peculiar to the profeffors of phyfick and law, to the great officers of state, and the peers of every denomination: but all these characters, except upon public occafions, wear the fhort coat and fword, which is the military drefs, that the inroads of the Goths, whose trade was war, made general.

As to the dreffes of the women, they have never been military, and therefore have never been fhort; but befides the alterations that convenience and caprice have introduced in the female habit, there are feveral which have had a more latent and lefs innocent caufe. The dress of women has been long confidered as a decoration of beauty, and an incitement to defire; and in this view it has been the object of much thought, ingenuity, and folicitude; but it does not appear that thofe who intended to multiply or fecure their conquefts by drefs, always knew how best to exert that power which the choice of their drefs put into their hands. When the British lady thinks fit to dress fo as to difcover the whole breast, the British gentleman foon looks upon it with as much indifference, as the naked Indians look upon all the reft; but if the covers it with a handkerchief, and contrives this covering fo that it shall accidentally discover what it appears intended to hide, the glimpfe that is thus cafually given, immediately and forcibly feizes the imagination, and every motion is watched in hopes that it will be repeated; fo if by any accident a lady discover half her leg, the fancy is inftantly alarmed, though when the actress appears in breeches and difcovers the whole, fhe is the object of indifference, if not of difguft: for the fame rea

fon the figure of a naked Venus produces lefs effect than that of a dreffed figure with the petticoat raised fo as to difcover the garter. It follows therefore, that if the dreffes most immodeftly, who dresses so as most to excite licentious defires, the does not drefs most immodeftly who uncovers most of her person, but the who covers it so that it may be accidentally feen. And upon this principle it was that the Grecian legiflator, when he obferved that many of the youth lived unmarried, directed the women to wear long garments which covered the whole perfon from the fhoulders to the feet, inftead of discovering all the breast and half the leg; and ordered that the robe should be cut in flashes from the hip to the knee, so that when they stood or fat still, the two fides of the opening fhould fall together, but fhould by dividing, when they walked or used any other motion, cafually difcover the parts which at other times were concealed.

Many changes of female drefs, that may be traced in this collection, will be found to proceed from unfkilful attempts to allure, by difcovering more and more of the perfon, and from the disappointment which fucceeded the experiment, and at laft induced a fudden tranfition to a close drefs, by which the whole perfon was covered. As to the changes of habit, which were the effects of mere caprice and wantonnefs of fancy, it is impoffible to trace them in other countries, and difficult in our own: the following particulars, however, may ferve to gratify the curious, and excite them to a more critical examination.

Party

Party-coloured coats were firft worn in England in the time of Henry I. chaplets or wreaths of artificial flowers in the time of Edward III. hoods and fhort coats without fleeves, called taberts, in the time of Henry IV. hats in the the time of Henry VII. ruffs in the reign of Edward VI. and it is faid that they were firft invented by a Spanish or Italian lady of quality to hide a wen which grew on her neck. Wrought caps or bonnets were firft ufed here in the time of queen Elizabeth. Judge Finch, in the time of James I. introduced the band. French hoods, bibs, and gorgets, were laid afide by the queen of Charles I. and the commode or tower was introduced in 1687. Shoes of the present fashion were

firft worn in 1633. Breeches were introduced inftead of trunk hofe in 1654, and perukes were firft worn foon after the restoration.

As to the stage dreffes, it is only neceffary to remark, that they are at once elegant and characteristic : and among many other regulations of more importance, for which the public is obliged to the genius and the judgment of the prefent manager of our principal theatre, is that of the dreffes, which are no longer the heterogeneous and abfurd mixtures of foreign and ancient modes, which formerly debased our tragedies, by reprefenting a Roman general in a full bottomed peruke, and the fovereign of an Eaftern empire in trunk hose.

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