The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-06-23
ENGLAND IN QUEEN ELIZA.
BETH'S DAY.

So rapidly were the English growing
while they retained their native vigor
and coarse habits, that the playwrights
constantly alluded to the incongruity of
the fashions displayed in the dress of
dandies; to their language, mixed of
all the dialects in Europe; to their apti-
tude for every kind of dissipation; to
their skill in the sports of all nations
and to the decay of antique severity.
1--WE have robbed Greece of gluttony,"
says Stephen Gasson, "Spain of pride,
France of deceit, and Dutchland of quaf-
ting." But these affections were only q
kind of varnish on the surface of socie-
ty. The incidents of court gossip show
how savage was the life beneath. Queen
Elizabeth spat one day, in the midst of
her mobiles, at gentleman who dis
pleased her. She struck Lord Essex on
the cheek. Burleigh often cried at her
ill-treatment. The lords wrangled, and
even drew swords in her presence. Once
Leicester took her handkerchief from
her lap to wipe his face, at tennis. Lady
Jane Grey was starved and beaten by
her parents, and exposed to such indig-
mites that she wearied of life; yet they
made her one of the best Greek scholars
of the day. Heretics were burned in
every town. Sir Henry Sidney, as we
learn from Il paper recently published
| by Mr.. Froude, when sent to quell the
Irish rebels, first proclaimed the Queens
sovereignty, and then allowed no mercy
to the recusants. He "put man, wo-
man, and child to the sword" while his
sergeant-majOrs balanced the advantages
of pillaging, or having some killing"
with preference for the latter when
they felt themselves in humor for the
chase.
The belief in witches everywhere pre-
vailed, nor was it an uncommon village
sport to drown old women in the ponds,
and to rack suspected wizards till for
every anguish they confessed fictitious
crimes. County folks conducted their
revels with Il license that would shock
our modern ears. The lord of misruIe
led out his motley train, and ladies went
a-maying with their lovers to the woods.
The feasts of asses and fools profaned
the sanctuaries; nor were the sports of
Christmas so well suited to celebrate
Christian festival as to recall the rites
of Wooden and Freva. Men and women
who read Plato and discussed the beau
fins nf atr,r rah,., nlInp,nI
coarsest practical jokes and used the
grossest language. They sold farms and
forests, and wore their acres in the form
of gems and gold lace on their backs.
But their splendid clothes and jewels
did not prevent them from indulging in
the most untidy habits. They would
lie upon the rushcS which concealed the
fragments of old feasts; and they burn
ed perfumes to sWccten chambers musty
with bad air. The church itself was not
respected. The nave of st. Paul's be-
came a rendezvous of thieves and pros
titutes. Fine gentlemen paid sums of
money for the privilege of clanking up
and down its aisles in service time;
uuilCclS anu HliS'luelS tToWueu lTOill tile
square outside in all their finery, often
took the sacrament, and then ran out to
recommcnce their sports. Men were
Papists and ProteStants according to the
time Of day; hearing mass in the morn
ing and sermon in the afternoon. There
was no end to the extravaganza and in
congruity Of elements which then pre-
vailed in England. Yet in the midst of
this confusion rose cavaliers like Sidney,
philosophers like Bacon, poets like Spcn-
Ger; in whom all that is pure, elevated,
subtle, tender, wise, delicate, and learned
in our modern civilization displayed it.
self.