LONDON SATURDAY JOURNAL. CONDUCTED BY JOHN TIMBS, THIRTEEN YEARS EDITOR OF "THE MIRROR," AND "LITERARY WORLD." there cannot be anything more erroneous than the magnificent ideas formed of the Roast Beef of Old England." Probably, this national dish is not older than the time of Charles II., when a roast chine of beef was a favourite supper viand; although this inference is from better authority than the anecdote of Charles knighting a loin of beef (Sir-loin), upon an oak table lately shown at Friday Hill House, Chingford, Essex.-Popular Errors, Part III. Varieties. The Ladies of Bogata wear neither shoes nor stockings; their feet are quite bare, and particularly well washed and clean. They are said to dislike shoeing, as much as a horse which has run wild till he is five or six years old. reckoned a competent estate for a gentleman; at least, the lord of a single manor would seldom have enjoyed more. A knight who possessed £150 per annum, passed for extremely rich. Yet this was not equal in command over commodities to £4000 at present. But this income was comparatively free from taxation, and its expenditure lightened by the services of his villeins. Such a person, however, must have been among the most opulent of the country gentlemen. Sir John Fortescue speaks of five pounds a-year as "a fair living for a yeoman." So when Sir William Drury, one of the richest men in Suffolk, bequeaths, in 1493, fifty marks to each of his daughters, we must not imagine that this was of greater value than four or five hundred pounds of this day; but remark the family pride, and want of ready money, which induced country gentlemen to leave their younger children in poverty. Or, if we read that the expense of a scholar at the university, in 1514, was but five pounds annually, we should err in supposing that he had the liberal accommodation which the present age deems indispensable; but consider how much could be afforded for about sixty pounds, which would be not far from the proportion. And what would a modern lawyer say to the following entry in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Margaret, Westminster, for 1476: The Author of Waverley.-Mrs. Murray Keith, a venerable "Also paid to Roger Tylpott, learned in the law, for his Scotch lady, from whom Sir Walter Scott derived many of the counsel-giving, 3s. 8d. with fourpence for his dinner." traditionary stories and anecdotes wrought up in his admirThough fifteen times the fee might not seem altogether inade-able fictions, taxed him one day with the authorship, which quate at present, five shillings would hardly furnish the table he, as usual, stoutly denied. "What!" exclaimed the old of a barrister, even if the fastidiousness of our manners would lady, "d'ye think I dinna ken my ain groats among other admit of his accepting such a dole.|| folk's kail?" : It is the vulgar idea that Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour breakfasted on beef-steaks and ale, and that wine was such a rarity as to be sold only by apothecaries as a cordial. The science of good living was as well understood in those days as it is now, though the fashion might be somewhat different the nobility had French cooks; and among the dishes enumerated, we find "not only beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, rabbit, capon, pig;" but also red, or fallow deer, and a great variety of fish and wild fowl, with pastry and creams, Italian confections, and preserved fruits, and sweetmeats from Portugal; nay, we are even told of cherries served up at twenty shillings a pound. The variety of wines can hardly be exceeded at present: for a writer of Elizabeth's time mentions fifty-six different kinds of French wine, and thirty-six Spanish and Italian wine, imported into England. "THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND." In the Notes to Hume's History of England, vol. i., SS, are some extracts from the Household Book of the establishment of the fifth earl of Northumberland, begun in 1512; and no baron's family lived on a more splendid scale. Yet they lived mostly upon salted meat. Thus: "Six hundred and forty-seven sheep are allowed, at twenty-pence apiece; and these seem to be all eat salted, except between Lammas and Michaelmas, p. 5. Only twenty-five hogs are allowed, at two shillings apiece; twenty-eight veals at twenty-pence; forty lambs at tenpence or a shilling, p. 7. These seem to be reserved for my lord's table, or that of the upper servants, called the knights' table. The other servants, as they ate salted meat almost throughout the whole year, and with few or no vegetables, had a very bad and unhealthy diet: so that * Macpherson, Annals, p. 424. from Matt. Paris. + Difference of Limited and Absolute Monarchy, p. 133. Hist. of Hawsted, p. 141. Nichols's Illustrations, p. 2. One fact of this class did, I bwn, stagger me. The great Earl of Warwick writes to a private gentleman, Sir Thomas Tuddenham, begging the loan of twenty pounds, to make up a sum he had to pay. Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 84. What way shall we make this commensurate to the present value of money? But an ingenious friend suggested, what I do not question is the case, that this was one of many letters addressed to the adherents of Warwick, in order to raise, by their contributions, a considerable sum. It is curious, in this light, as an illustration of man ners. || Hallam, Hist. Mid. Ages, vol. iii. pp. 451-453. Emeralds.-The curé of Moufra, where the finest emeralds in the world are found, has a waistcoat with small emerald buttons, the greater part of which have been found in the crops of fowls and turkeys, picked up by them in their rambles, to digest their food. Among the crown jewels of Spain, is an emerald so large as to be used for a paper-weight. Union of Literary Compositions. At a large literary party in Edinburgh, a short time ago, in the course of conversation it was mentioned that a certain well-known literary character had written two poems, one called "The Pebble," the other "The Ocean;" that he was offering them to the booksellers, who, however, would not accede to his terms of publication, and that the worthy author was therefore puzzled not a little as to what he should do with his productions. "Why," remarked a sarcastic gentleman who was present, "I think the doctor could not do better than throw the one into the other." How to mount a Horse.-In Peru, a knot is tied in the horse's tail, into which the lady introduces her foot, as into a stirrup. Do you smoke, sir?" Do you smoke, sir?" said a London sharper to a country gentleman, whom he met with in a coffec-house, and with whom he wished to scrape an acquaintance. "Yes," said the other, with a cool, steady eye," any one who has a design upon me." Double Letters.-A pretty little maid of Erin presented herself at the post office the other day, and handing in a letter, modestly asked how much was to pay, as she said the letter was to her mother, and she wished to pay in advance. The clerk, on receiving it asked the usual question, "single or double?" When she replied with the most bewitching naïveté, at the same time blushing up to the eyes, "Double, sir! I was married last week." Hang Together.-Richard Penn, one of the proprietors, and of all the governors of Pensylvania, probably the most deservedly popular, in the commencement of the revolution, (his brother John being at that time governor,) was on the most familiar and intimate terms with a number of the most decided and influential Whigs: and, on a certain occasion, being in company with several of them, a member of Congress observed that such was the crisis, "they must all hang together." "If you do not, gentlemen," said Mr. Penn, "I can tell you that you will be very apt to hang separately." Receipt for the Ladies.-Cream may be frozen b putting it into a glass vessel, and then placing an old bachelor's bosom. LONDON SATURDAY JOURNAL. CONDUCTED BY JOHN TIMBS, THIRTEEN YEARS EDITOR OF "THE MIRROR," AND "LITERARY WORLD." there cannot be anything more erroneous than the magnifi cent ideas formed of the Roast Beef of Old England." Probably, this national dish is not older than the time of Charles II., when a roast chine of beef was a favourite supper viand; although this inference is from better authority than the anecdote of Charles knighting a loin of beef (Sir-loin), upon an oak table lately shown at Friday Hill House, Chingford, Essex.-Popular Errors, Part III. Varieties. The Ladies of Bogata wear neither shoes nor stockings; their feet are quite bare, and particularly well washed and clean. They are said to dislike shoeing, as much as a horse which has run wild till he is five or six years old. reckoned a competent estate for a gentleman; at least, the lord of a single manor would seldom have enjoyed more. A knight who possessed £150 per annum, passed for extremely rich. Yet this was not equal in command over commodities to £4000 at present. But this income was comparatively free from taxation, and its expenditure lightened by the services of his villeins. Such a person, however, must have been among the most opulent of the country gentlemen. Sir John Fortescue speaks of five pounds a-year as "a fair living for a yeoman." So when Sir William Drury, one of the richest men in Suffolk, bequeaths, in 1493, fifty marks to each of his daughters, we must not imagine that this was of greater value than four or five hundred pounds of this day; but remark the family pride, and want of ready money, which induced country gentlemen to leave their younger children in poverty. Or, if we read that the expense of a scholar at the university, in 1514, was but five pounds annually, we should err in supposing that he had the liberal accommodation which the present are deems indispensable; but consider how much could be afforded for about sixty pounds, which would be not far from the proportion. And what would a modern lawyer say to the following entry in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Margaret, Westminster, for 1476: The Author of Waverley.-Mrs. Murray Keith, a venerable "Also paid to Roger Tylpott, learned in the law, for his Scotch lady, from whom Sir Walter Scott derived many of the counsel-giving, 38. 8d. with fourpence for his dinner." traditionary stories and anecdotes wrought up in his admirThough fifteen times the fee might not seem altogether inade-able fictions, taxed him one day with the authorship, which quate at present, five shillings would hardly furnish the table of a barrister, even if the fastidiousness of our manners would admit of his accepting such a dole-|| : It is the vulgar idea that Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour breakfasted on beef-steaks and ale, and that wine was such a rarity as to be sold only by apothecaries as a cordial. The science of good living was as well understood in those days as it is now, though the fashion might be somewhat different the nobility had French cooks; and among the dishes enumerated, we find "not only beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, rabbit, capon, pig;" but also red, or fallow deer, and a great variety of fish and wild fowl, with pastry and creams, Italian confections, and preserved fruits, and sweetmeats from Portugal; nay, we are even told of cherries served up at twenty shillings a pound. The variety of wines can hardly be exceeded at present: for a writer of Elizabeth's time mentions fifty-six different kinds of French wine, and thirty-six Spanish and Italian wine, imported into England. "THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND." In the Notes to Hume's History of England, vol. i., SS, are some extracts from the Household Book of the establishment of the fifth earl of Northumberland, begun in 1512; and no baron's family lived on a more splendid scale. Yet they lived mostly upon salted meat. Thus: "Six hundred and forty-seven sheep are allowed, at twenty-pence apiece; and these seem to be all eat salted, except between Lammas and Michaelmas, p. 5. Only twenty five hogs are allowed, at two shillings apiece; twenty-eight veals at twenty-pence; forty lambs at tenpence or a shilling, p. 7. These seem to be reserved for my lord's table, or that of the upper servants, called the knights' table. The other servants, as they ate salted meat almost throughout the whole year, and with few or no vegetables, had a very bad and unhealthy diet: so that * Macpherson, Annals, p. 424. from Matt. Paris. + Difference of Limited and Absolute Monarchy, p. 133. Hist. of Hawsted, p. 141. Nichols's Illustrations, p. 2. One fact of this class did, I Bwn, stagger me. The great Earl of Warwick writes to a private gentleman, Sir Thomas Tuddenham, begging the loan of twenty pounds, to make up a sum he had to pay. Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 84. What way shall we make this commensurate to the present value of money? But an ingenious friend suggested, what I do not question is the case, that this was one of many letters addressed to the adherents of Warwick, in order to raise, by their contributions, a considerable sum. It is curious, in this light, as an illustration of man ners. Hallam, Hist. Mid. Ages, vol. iii. pp. 451–453. Emeralds.-The curé of Moufra, where the finest emeralds in the world are found, has a waistcoat with small emerald buttons, the greater part of which have been found in the crops of fowls and turkeys, picked up by them in their rambles, to digest their food. Among the crown jewels of Spain, is an emerald so large as to be used for a paper-weight. "What!" exclaimed the old lady, "d'ye think I dinna ken my ain groats among other he, as usual, stoutly denied. folk's kail?" Union of Literary Compositions. At a large literary party in Edinburgh, a short time ago, in the course of con versation it was mentioned that a certain well-known literary character had written two poems, one called "The Pebble," the other "The Ocean;" that he was offering them to the booksellers, who, however, would not accede to his terms of publication, and that the worthy author was therefore puzzled not a little as to what he should do with his productions. "Why," remarked a sarcastic gentleman who was present, "I think the doctor could not do better than throw the one into the other." How to mount a Horse.-In Peru, a knot is tied in the horse's tail, into which the lady introduces her foot, as into a stirrup. Do you smoke, sir?" Do you smoke, sir?" said a London sharper to a country gentleman, whom he met with in a coffee-house, and with whom he wished to scrape an acquaint"Yes," said the other, with a cool, steady eye," any one who has a design upon me." ance. Double Letters.-A pretty little maid of Erin presented herself at the post office the other day, and handing in a letter, modestly asked how much was to pay, as she said the letter was to her mother, and she wished to pay in advance. The clerk, on receiving it asked the usual question, "single or double?" When she replied with the most bewitching naïveté, at the same time blushing up to the eyes, “Double, sir! I was married last week." Hang Together.-Richard Penn, one of the proprietors, and of all the governors of Pensylvania, probably the most deservedly popular, in the commencement of the revolution, (his brother John being at that time governor,) was on the most familiar and intimate terms with a number of the most decided and influential Whigs: and, on a certain occasion, being in company with several of them, a member of Congress observed that such was the crisis, "they must all hang together." "If you do not, gentlemen," said Mr. Penn, “I can tell you that you will be very apt to hang separately." Receipt for the Ladies.-Cream may be frozen by simply putting it into a glass vessel, and then placing the whole in an old bachelor's bosom. London: Published for the Proprietors, by W. BRITTAIN, Paternoster Row. Edinburgh: JOHN MENZIES. Glas gow: D. BRYCE. Printed by J. Rider, 14, Bartholomew Close. |