Part 4

Besides what has been already mentioned, there are worthy of notice here two bathing-rooms, ceiled and wainscoted with looking-glass; the chamber in which Henry VI. was born; Queen Elizabeth’s bedchamber, where is a table of red marble with white streaks; a gallery everywhere ornamented with emblems and figures; a chamber in which are the royal beds of Henry VII. and his Queen, of Edward VI., of Henry VIII., and of Anne Boleyn, all of them eleven feet square, and covered with quilts shining with gold and silver; Queen Elizabeth’s bed, with curious coverings of embroidery, but not quite so long or large as the others; a piece of tapestry, in which is represented Clovis, King of France, with an angel presenting to him the _fleurs-de-lis_ to be borne in his arms; for before his time the Kings of France bore three toads in their shield, instead of which they afterwards placed three _fleurs-de-lis_ on a blue field; this antique tapestry is said to have been taken from a King of France, while the English were masters there. We were shown here, among other things, the horn of a unicorn, of above eight spans and a half in length, valued at above £10,000; the bird of paradise, three spans long, three fingers broad, having a blue bill of the length of half an inch, the upper part of its head yellow, the nether part of a . . . colour; {73} a little lower from either side of its throat stick out some reddish feathers, as well as from its back and the rest of its body; its wings, of a yellow colour, are twice as long as the bird itself; from its back grow out lengthways two fibres or nerves, bigger at their ends, but like a pretty strong thread, of a leaden colour, inclining to black, with which, as it has not feet, it is said to fasten itself to trees when it wants to rest; a cushion most curiously wrought by Queen Elizabeth’s own hands.

In the precincts of Windsor, on the other side the Thames, both whose banks are joined by a bridge of wood, is Eton, a well-built College, and famous school for polite letters, founded by Henry VI.; where, besides a master, eight fellows and chanters, sixty boys are maintained gratis. They are taught grammar, and remain in the school till, upon trial made of their genius and progress in study, they are sent to the University of Cambridge.

As we were returning to our inn, we happened to meet some country people _celebrating their harvest home_; their last load of corn they crown with flowers, having besides an image richly dressed, by which, perhaps, they would signify Ceres; this they keep moving about, while men and women, men and maid servants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout as loud as they can till they arrive at the barn. The farmers here do not bind up their corn in sheaves, as they do with us, but directly as they have reaped or mowed it, put it into carts, and convey it into their barns.

We went through the town of Staines.

Hampton Court, a Royal Palace, magnificently built with brick by Cardinal Wolsey in ostentation of his wealth, where he enclosed five very ample courts, consisting of noble edifices in very beautiful work. Over the gate in the second area is the Queen’s device, a golden Rose, with this motto, “DIEU ET MON DROIT:” on the inward side of this gate are the effigies of the twelve Roman Emperors in plaster. The chief area is paved with square stone; in its centre is a fountain that throws up water, covered with a gilt crown, on the top of which is a statue of Justice, supported by columns of black and white marble. The chapel of this palace is most splendid, in which the Queen’s closet is quite transparent, having its window of crystal. We were led into two chambers, called the presence, or chambers of audience, which shone with tapestry of gold and silver and silk of different colours: under the canopy of state are these words embroidered in pearl, “_Vivat Henricus Octavus_.” Here is besides a small chapel richly hung with tapestry, where the Queen performs her devotions. In her bedchamber the bed was covered with very costly coverlids of silk: at no great distance from this room we were shown a bed, the tester of which was worked by Anne Boleyn, and presented by her to her husband Henry VIII. All the other rooms, being very numerous, are adorned with tapestry of gold, silver, and velvet, in some of which were woven history pieces; in others, Turkish and American dresses, all extremely natural.

In the hall are these curiosities:

A very clear looking-glass, ornamented with columns and little images of alabaster; a portrait of Edward VI., brother to Queen Elizabeth; the true portrait of Lucretia; a picture of the battle of Pavia; the history of Christ’s passion, carved in mother-of-pearl; the portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, who was beheaded, and her daughter; {76} the picture of Ferdinand, Prince of Spain, and of Philip his son; that of Henry VIII.—under it was placed the Bible curiously written upon parchment; an artificial sphere; several musical instruments; in the tapestry are represented negroes riding upon elephants. The bed in which Edward VI. is said to have been born, and where his mother Jane Seymour died in child-bed. In one chamber were several excessively rich tapestries, which are hung up when the Queen gives audience to foreign ambassadors; there were numbers of cushions ornamented with gold and silver; many counterpanes and coverlids of beds lined with ermine: in short, all the walls of the palace shine with gold and silver. Here is besides a certain cabinet called Paradise, where besides that everything glitters so with silver, gold, and jewels, as to dazzle one’s eyes, there is a musical instrument made all of glass, except the strings. Afterwards we were led into the gardens, which are most pleasant; here we saw rosemary so planted and nailed to the walls as to cover them entirely, which is a method exceeding common in England.

Kingston, a market town.

Nonesuch, a royal retreat, in a place formerly called Cuddington, a very healthful situation, chosen by King Henry VIII. for his pleasure and retirement, and built by him with an excess of magnificence and elegance, even to ostentation: one would imagine everything that architecture can perform to have been employed in this one work. There are everywhere so many statues that seem to breathe so many miracles of consummate art, so many casts that rival even the perfection of Roman antiquity, that it may well claim and justify its name of Nonesuch, being without an equal; or as the post sung—

“This, which no equal has in art or fame, Britons deservedly do _Nonesuch_ name.”

The palace itself is so encompassed with parks full of deer, delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets of verdure, and walks so embrowned by trees, that it seems to be a place pitched upon by Pleasure herself, to dwell in along with Health.

In the pleasure and artificial gardens are many columns and pyramids of marble, two fountains that spout water one round the other like a pyramid, upon which are perched small birds that stream water out of their bills. In the Grove of Diana is a very agreeable fountain, with Actæon turned into a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her nymphs, with inscriptions.

There is besides another pyramid of marble full of concealed pipes, which spurt upon all who come within their reach.

Returned from hence to London.

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND.

BRITAIN, consisting of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, is the largest island in the world, encompassed by the ocean, the German and French seas. The largest and southern part of it is England, so named from the Angli, who quitting the little territory yet called Angel in the kingdom of Denmark, took possession here. It is governed by its own King, who owns no superior but God. It is divided into thirty-nine counties, to which thirteen in Wales were added by Henry VIII., the first who distributed that principality into counties; over each of these, in times of danger, a lord lieutenant, nominated by the King, presides with an unlimited power. Every year some gentleman, an inhabitant of the place, is appointed sheriff; his office is to collect the public moneys, to raise fines, or to make seizures, and account for it to the Treasury; to attend upon the judges, and put their sentence in execution; to empanel the jury, who sit upon facts, and return their verdict to the judges (who in England are only such of the law, and not of the fact); to convey the condemned to execution, and to dertermine in lesser causes, for the greater are tried by the judges, formerly called travelling judges of assize; these go their circuits through the counties twice every year to hear causes, and pronounce sentence upon prisoners.

As to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, after the Popes had assigned a church and parish to every priest, Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, about the year 636, began to divide England in the same manner into parishes: as it has two Provinces, so it has two Archbishops: the one of Canterbury, Primate and Metropolitan of all England; the other of York: subject to these are twenty-five bishops, viz., twenty-two to Canterbury, the remaining three to York.

The soil is fruitful, and abounds with cattle, which inclines the inhabitants rather to feeding than ploughing, so that near a third part of the land is left uncultivated for grazing. The climate is most temperate at all times, and the air never heavy, consequently maladies are scarcer, and less physic is used there than anywhere else. There are but few rivers; though the soil is productive, it bears no wine; but that want is supplied from abroad by the best kinds, as of Orleans, Gascon, Rhenish, and Spanish. The general drink is beer, which is prepared from barley, and is excellently well tasted, but strong, and what soon fuddles. There are many hills without one tree, or any spring, which produce a very short and tender grass, and supply plenty of food to sheep; upon these wander numerous flocks, extremely white, and whether from the temperature of the air, or goodness of the earth, bearing softer and finer fleeces than those of any other country: this is the true Golden Fleece, in which consist the chief riches of the inhabitants, great sums of money being brought into the island by merchants, chiefly for that article of trade. The dogs here are particularly good. It has mines of gold, silver, and tin (of which all manner of table utensils are made, in brightness equal to silver, and used all over Europe), of lead, and of iron, but not much of the latter. The horses are small but swift. Glasshouses are in plenty here.

OF THE MANNERS OF THE ENGLISH.

The English are serious, like the Germans; lovers of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of servants, who wear their masters’ arms in silver, fastened to their left arms, a ridicule they deservedly lie under. They excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, though of a thicker make than the French; they cut their hair close on the middle of the head, letting it grow on either side; they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous and thievish; above three hundred are said to be hanged annually at London; beheading with them is less infamous than hanging; they give the wall as the place of honour; hawking is the general sport of the gentry; they are more polite in eating than the French, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection; they put a great deal of sugar in their drink; their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers; they are often molested with the scurvy, said to have first crept into England with the Norman Conquest; their houses are commonly of two storeys, except in London, where they are of three and four, though but seldom of four; they are built of wood, those of the richer sort with bricks; their roofs are low, and, where the owner has money, covered with lead.

They are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells, so that it is common for a number of them, that have got a glass in their heads, to go up into the belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise. If they see a foreigner very well made, or particularly handsome, they will say, “It is a pity he is not an Englishman!”

THE ILLUSTRIOUS FAMILIES OF ENGLAND

Thomas Howard, † {84} Duke of Norfolk, hereditary Marshal of England: the duchy is extinct for rebellion, the last duke being beheaded.

Grey, † Duke of Suffolk, attainted under Queen Mary.

Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel in his mother’s right, and of Surrey by his father, son of the abovementioned Duke of Norfolk, he himself condemned for high treason, and his titles forfeited.

Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, hereditary Chamberlain of England.

Percy, Earl of Northumberland, descended from the Dukes of Brabant.

Charles Nevill, † Earl of Westmoreland, banished into Holland, and deprived of his fortunes and dignities for rebellion.

Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.

Grey, Earl of Kent, has but a small estate.

Stanley, Earl of Derby, and King of Man.

Manners, Earl of Rutland.

Somerset, Earl of Worcester, descended from a bastard of the Somerset family, which itself is of the royal family of the Plantagenets.

Clifford, Earl of Cumberland.

Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex.

Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, of the line of York, by the mother’s side.

Bourchier, Earl of Bath.

Ambrose Sutton, † alias Dudley, Earl of Warwick, died a few years since, childless.

Wriothesly, Earl of Southampton.

Russell, Earl of Bedford.

Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.

Edward Seymour, † Earl of Hertford, son of the Duke of Somerset, who was beheaded in the reign of Edward VI.

Robert Sutton, † or Dudley, Earl of Leicester, brother of the Earl of Warwick, died a few years ago.

Robert d’Evereux, Earl of Essex, and of Ewe in Normandy, created hereditary Marshal of England in 1598.

Charles Howard, of the Norfolk family, created Earl of Nottingham, 1597, Lord High Admiral of England, and Privy Counsellor.

Fynes, Earl of Lincoln.

Brown, Viscount Montacute.

Howard, of the Norfolk family, Viscount Bindon.

Nevill, Baron Abergavenny; this barony is controverted.

Touchet, Baron Audley.

Zouch, Baron Zouch.

Peregrine Bertie, Baron Willoughby of Eresby and Brooke, Governor of Berwick.

Berkley, Baron Berkley, of the ancient family of the Kings of Denmark.

Parker, Baron Morley.

Dacre, † Baron Dacre of Gyllesland: this barony is vacant.

Dacre, † Baron Dacre of the South: he died four years since, and the barony devolved to his daughter.

Brook, Baron Cobham, Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Stafford, Baron Stafford, reduced to want; he is heir to the family of the Dukes of Buckingham, who were hereditary Constables of England.

Gray, Baron Gray of Wilton.

Scroop, Baron Scroop of Boulton.

Sutton, Baron Dudley.

Stourton, Baron Stourton.

Nevill, † Baron Latimer, died some years since without heirs male; the title controverted.

Lumley, Baron Lumley.

Blunt, Baron Montjoy.

Ogle, Baron Ogle.

Darcy, Baron Darcy.

Parker, Baron Montegle, son and heir of Baron Morley; he has this barony in right of his mother, of the family of Stanley.

Sandys, Baron Sandys.

Vaux, Baron Vaux.

Windsor, Baron Windsor.

Wentworth, Baron Wentworth.

Borough, Baron Borough, reduced to want.

Baron Mordaunt. Baron Eure.

Baron Rich. Baron Sheffield.

Baron North, Privy Counsellor, and Treasurer of the Household.

Baron Hunsdon, Privy Counsellor, and Lord Chamberlain.

Sackville, Baron Buckhurst, Privy Counsellor.

Thomas Cecil, Baron Burleigh, son of the Treasurer.

Cecil, Lord Roos, grandson of the Treasurer, yet a child: he holds the barony in right of his mother, daughter to the Earl of Rutland.

Howard † of Maltravers, son of the Earl of Arundel, not yet restored in blood.

Baron Cheyny. †

Baron Cromwell. Baron Wharton.

Baron Willoughby of Parham.

Baron Pagett, † in exile, attainted.

Baron Chandois. Baron St. John.

Baron Delaware: his ancestors took the King of France prisoner.

Baron Compton, has squandered almost all his substance.

Baron Norris.

Thomas Howard, second son of the Duke of Norfolk, Baron Audley of Saffronwalden, in his mother’s right.

William, † third son of the Duke of Norfolk, is neither a baron, nor yet restored in blood.

Thus far of noble families.

* * * * *

We set out from London in a boat, and fell down the river, leaving Greenwich, which we have spoken of before, on the right hand.

Barking, a town in sight on the left.

Gravesend, a small town, famous for the convenience of its port; the largest Dutch ships usually call here. As we were to proceed farther from hence by water, we took our last leave here of the noble Bohemian David Strziela, and his tutor Tobias Salander, our constant fellow-travellers through France and England, they designing to return home through Holland, we on a second tour into France; but it pleased Heaven to put a stop to their design, for the worthy Strziela was seized with a diarrhoea a few days before our departure, and, as we afterwards learned by letters from Salander, died in a few days of a violent fever in London.

Queenborough: we left the castle on our right; a little farther we saw the fishing of oysters out of the sea, which are nowhere in greater plenty or perfection; witness Ortelius in his Epitome, &c.

Whitstable; here we went ashore.

Canterbury; we came to it on foot; this is the seat of the Archbishop, Primate of all England, a very ancient town, and, without doubt, of note in the time of the Romans.

Here are two monasteries almost contiguous, namely of Christ and St. Augustine, both of them once filled with Benedictine Monks: the former was afterwards dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, the name of Christ being obliterated; it stands almost in the middle of the town, and with so much majesty lifts itself, and its two towers, to a stupendous height, that, as Erasmus says, it strikes even those who only see it at a distance with awe.

In the choir, which is shut up with iron rails, are the following monuments:—

King Henry IV., with his wife Joan of Navarre, of white marble.

Nicholas Wootton, Privy Counsellor to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, Kings and Queens of England.

Of Prince Edward, Duke of Aquitaine and Cornwall, and Earl of Chester.

Reginald Pole, with this inscription:

“The remains of Reginald Pole, Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Cardinal Chatillon.

We were then shown the chair in which the bishops are placed when they are installed. In the vestibule of the church, on the south side, stand the statues of three men armed, cut in stone, who slew Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, made a saint for this martyrdom; their names are adjoined—

TUSCI, FUSCI, BERRI. {91}

Being tired with walking, we refreshed ourselves here with a mouthful of bread and some ale, and immediately mounted post-horses, and arrived about two or three o’clock in the morning at Dover. In our way to it, which was rough and dangerous enough, the following accident happened to us: our guide, or postillion, a youth, was before with two of our company, about the distance of a musketshot; we, by not following quick enough, had lost sight of our friends; we came afterwards to where the road divided; on the right it was down-hill and marshy, on the left was a small hill: whilst we stopped here in doubt, and consulted which of the roads we should take, we saw all on a sudden on our right hand some horsemen, their stature, dress, and horses exactly resembling those of our friends; glad of having found them again, we determined to set on after them; but it happened, through God’s mercy, that though we called to them, they did not answer us, but kept on down the marshy road at such a rate, that their horses’ feet struck fire at every stretch, which made us, with reason, begin to suspect they were thieves, having had warning of such; or rather, that they were nocturnal spectres, who, as we were afterwards told, are frequently seen in those places: there were likewise a great many Jack-a-lanterns, so that we were quite seized with horror and amazement! But, fortunately for us, our guide soon after sounded his horn, and we, following the noise, turned down the left-hand road, and arrived safe to our companions; who, when we had asked them if they had not seen the horsemen who had gone by us, answered, not a soul. Our opinions, according to custom, were various upon this matter; but whatever the thing was, we were, without doubt, in imminent danger, from which that we escaped, the glory is to be ascribed to God alone.

Dover, situated among cliffs (standing where the port itself was originally, as may be gathered from anchors and parts of vessels dug up there), is more famous for the convenience of its port, which indeed is now much decayed, and its passage to France, than for either its elegance or populousness: this passage, the most used and the shortest, is of thirty miles, which, with a favourable wind, may be run over in five or six hours’ time, as we ourselves experienced; some reckon it only eighteen to Calais, and to Boulogne sixteen English miles, which, as Ortelius says in his “Theatrum,” are longer than the Italian.

Here was a church dedicated to St. Martin by Victred, King of Kent, and a house belonging to the Knights Templars; of either there are now no remains. It is the seat of a suffragan to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, when the Archbishop is employed upon business of more consequence, manages the ordinary affairs, but does not interfere with the archiepiscopal jurisdiction. Upon a hill, or rather rock, which on its right side is almost everywhere a precipice, a very extensive castle rises to a surprising height, in size like a little city, extremely well fortified, and thick-set with towers, and seems to threaten the sea beneath. Matthew Paris calls it the door and key of England; the ordinary people have taken into their heads that it was built by Julius Cæsar; it is likely it might by the Romans, from those British bricks in the chapel which they made use of in their foundations. See Camden’s “Britannia.”

After we had dined, we took leave of England.

FRAGMENTA REGALIA;

_Or_, _Observations on the late Queen Elizabeth_, _her Times_, _and Favourites_. _Written by_ SIR ROBERT NAUNTON, _Master of the Court of Wards_. A.D. 1641.

To take her in the original, she was the daughter of King Henry VIII. by Anne Boleyn, the second of six wives which he had, and one of the maids of honour to the divorced Queen, Katharine of Austria (or, as the now styled, Infanta of Spain), and from thence taken to the royal bed.

That she was of a most noble and royal extract by her father will not fall into question, for on that side was disembogued into her veins, by a confluency of blood, the very abstract of all the greatest houses in Christendom: and remarkable it is, considering that violent desertion of the Royal House of the Britons by the intrusion of the Saxons, and afterwards by the conquest of the Normans, that, through vicissitude of times, and after a discontinuance almost of a thousand years, the sceptre should fall again and be brought back into the old regal line and true current of the British blood, in the person of her renowned grandfather, King Henry VII., together with whatsoever the German, Norman, Burgundian, Castilian, and French achievements, with their intermarriages, which eight hundred years had acquired, could add of glory thereunto.