The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1865-06-20

Irsm 10 tofuhiu N.safipc
SO rapidly we're the English grow.
ing Ia the luxuries and vices OF other
lands, while they retained their native
vigor and coarse habits that the play
wtighls constantly alluded 10 the in.
congruity oi the fashions displayed
in the dress Of dandies, 10 their lan-
guage mixed Of all the dialects 10 Eu
rope, to their aptitude ioG every Kind
OF dissipation. TO their skill m the
sports OF all nations, and to the decay
of antique severity. "We have rob.
bed Greece Of gluttony," says Ste.
phen Gasson, "Spain Of pride, France
OF deceit, and Dutehland OF quafIing."
But thes aifeetations were only kind
OF varnish on the surface OF society.
The incidents of court gossip show
how savage was the life beneath.
Queen Elizabeth spat one day in the
midst Of her mobiles, a. gen
tleman who had displeased her. She
struck Lord Essex on the check
Burleigh often cried at her i'll treat.
ment. The lords wrangled and even
drew swords in her presence. Once
Leicester took her handkerchief from
her lap 10 wipe his face at tennis.
Lady Jane Gray was starved and
beaten by her parents, and exposed TO
such indignities that she wearied Of
life yet they made her one Of the
best Greek scholars Of the day. Her
etics were burned in every town. Sir
Henry Sidney, as we learn from pa
per recently published by Mr.. Froude,
when sent TO quell the Irish rebels,
first proclaimed the Queens sover-
eighty and then allowed no mercy to
the rescuants. He put man, woman
and child TO the sword" while his SER
geant-majors balanced the advantages
OF pillaging OF /" having some killing"
with a preference for the latter when
they felt themselves in humor for the
chase.
The belief in witches everywhere
prevailed, nor was it an uncommon
village sport to drown old women in
the ponds, and TO rack suspected wiz
ards till for very anguish they con-
fessed ficticious crimes. Country
folks con nducted their revels with Ii
cinse that would shock our modern
ears. The Lord Of Misrule led out
his motley train, and ladies went a
maying with their lovers to the woods
The Feasts of Asses and of Fools
profaned the sanctuaries nor were
the sports of Christmas SO well suited
to celebrate a Christian festival as to
recall the rites of Wooden and of
Freya. Men and women who read
Plato and discussed the beauties OF
Petrarcl's poetry, allowed the coars-
est practical jokes and used the gross
est language. They sold farms and
forests, and wore their acres in the
form of gems and gold lace on their
backs. But their spendid clothes and
jewels did not prevent them from in.
dulging in the most untidy habits
They would lie upon the rushes which
concealed the fragments of old feasts
and they burned perfumes to sweeten
chambers musty with bad air. The
church itself was not respected. The
nave Of st. Pauls became rendez-
vous of thieves and prostitutes. Fine
gentlemen paid sums of money for
the privilege Of clanking up and down
its aisles in service time dancers and
masquers, crowding from the square
outside in all their fnery, often took
the sacrament and then ran out 10 re-
commence their sports. Men were
Papists and Protastants according to
the time Of day hearing mass in the
morning and sermon in the afternoon.
Trere was no end TO the extravaganza
and incongruity of elements which
then prevailed in England. Yet in
the midst of this confusion rose cava-
liers like Sidney, philosophers like
Bacon, poets like Spenser; in whom
all that is pnre, elevated, subtle, ten
der, wise, delicate, and learned in our
modern civilization displayed itself.
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