… I was wrong, it is in Volume I of the Garner, by John Taylor, the “water poet”, The Carriers’ Cosmography: or A Brief Relation of The Inns, Ordinaries, Hosteleries and other lodgings in and near London; where Carriers, Waggons, Foot-posts and Higglers do usually come from any parts, towns shires and countries of the Kingdoms”. (Dated 1637.)

I obviously wasn’t awake when posting this morning, and hardly am now, after playing squash at 11am: too early! If you saw someone yawning broadly in the BL this afternoon, that was me.

As well as the carriers Taylor’s text also has “certain directions for to find out Ships, Barks, Hoys and Passage Boats that do come to London, from the most parts and places by sea, within the King’s dominions; either of England, Scotland or Ireland”. (p.245)

That’s what the heading says, although the text adds that:
“From most parts of Holland or Zealand, pinks or shipping may be had at the brewhouses in Saint Katherine’s.”

None of my reference books explain the “pinks”: any suggestions?

For his more lyrical works, a small sample is found here.

… at which inn?

A useful website (via the 18th-century list) about routes out of London.

It sent me off to one of my favourite browse-reads, The English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature, Edward Arber, 1879, 8 vols, in which I’m sure I’ve read one of the sources for these routes, although it seems not in Vols I-III or VIII, the ones I own. (I’m trying to collect the rest.)

Who says speculative history is a new idea? I’ve just been checking out Sir Walter Raleigh’s view on “Could the Romans have resisted Alexander? The Englishman a better warrior than either Macedonian or Roman,” from his History of the World.

He concludes that he would “prefer that army, which followed not only PHILIP and ALEXANDER but also ALEXANDER’S princes after him, in the greatest dangers of all sorts of war; before any that Rome either had or, in long time after, did send forth”. (Vol I, p. 67)

But, of course, an Englishman is certainly a better warrior than either: “For it will soon appear to any that shall examine the noble acts of out Nation in war, that they were performed to no advantage of weapon; against no savage or unmanly people; the enemy being far superior unto us in number and all needful provision; yea, as well trained as we, or commonly better, in the exercise of war.”(p. 68)

I suppose that was probably true at the time (the Garner dates this to “before 1611”), although certainly not in the three centuries after!

Was browsing Ebay this morning for some cycling gloves, and somehow by “accident” ended up in the antiquarian history books section, again.

A reference to Dorothy Osborne and an apparently 17th-century book led me off to find an entire copy of her love letters on the web. Anyone who’s got here by accident shouldn’t be overexcited now — this was the 17th-century, but the real affection between her and her swain shines through nonetheless:

“I humbly thank you for your offer of your head; but if you were an emperor, I should not be so bold with you as to claim your promise; you might find twenty better employments for’t. Only with your gracious leave, I think I should be a little exalted with remembering that you had been once my friend; ‘twould more endanger my growing proud than being Sir Justinian’s mistress, and yet he thought me pretty well inclin’d to’t then. Lord ! what would I give that I had a Latin letter of his for you, that he writ to a great friend at Oxford, where he gives him a long and learned character of me; ‘twould serve you to laugh at this seven year.”

LETTERS from DOROTHY OSBORNE to SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE (1652-54)

The Hon. John Erskine of Carnock was in his early 20s when he wrote his diary, covering his time in Scotland in the final years of Charles II, his flight to Holland, his time with the Earl of Argyll’s invasion force and a little after.

His editor notes that in exile “to him the most remarkable feature … was the freedom to hear preaching every Lord’s day. The sad record ‘I heard no preaching,’ which studs the earlier portion of the diary disappears; and there is ample choice of ministers, both Scotch and English …” (p. xxii)

The young John really was a bit of a prig, complaining, however, that in Holland medical teachers did dissections on the Lord’s Day “… not only did they continue the dissection but explained those parts of a man’s body which might occasion greatest laughter and disturbance among young men, yea, to all, very unsuitable thoughts for the Lord’s day”. (p. 167)

Nice to know some aspects of human nature (or at least adolescent nature) haven’t changed then.

Journal of the Hon. John Erskine of Carnock, 1683-1687, W. Macleod Ed., Edinburgh, 1893, Scottish History Society.

I made a lovely little discovery in the BL today, although it didn’t cover the subject I requested it for.

The Delights of Holland, or Three Months Travel About That and the Other Provinces, by William Mountague Esq, John Sturton, London 1696. He was definitely a storyteller, e.g. He’s in Helvoetflyice, which I gather is near Briel, and …

“We had little to remarque here … only a pleasant Adventure, of a parcel of English Gentlemen that had never been abroad before, when they first came on shore here, they went to the best House and Accomodation, and immediately fell to kissing and feeling the Maids, which is not customary here, as at home, the Servants would not come near ’em but splutter’d in Dutch, which they understood not, the Mistress did so too, the mad English Sparks they swore and hust, they’d be gone out of the House, which they did … [only to find no one else would take them in] … we told them these Frolicks would not go down in this country.”(p. 3-4)

(Original spelling and punctuation, except I’ve modernised the long Ss)

The rest of the book looked just as colourful, altho’ I didn’t have time to read it all. I’d recommend it as preparatory reading for anyone heading that way.

Thompson also has a chapter on the sale of wives, which was obviously a hot topic in academia at his time of writing the essay. (There are several pages of heated self-defence that make a fascinating little study of the sociology of the ivory tower.)

The procedure involved the woman being publicly displayed with a rope halter and the conduct of a public auction (although the ‘winner’ was usually pre-decided), which in some lower-class quarters was considered to make the transaction, effectively a divorce, perfectly legal.

Thompson says that while some wives were undoubtedly abused victims, in many other cases the wife connived at, or even drove, the event. He quotes (among others) a case in Wenlock market in the 1830s:

“When he husband got to ‘market-place ‘e turned shy, and tried to get out of the business, but Mattie mad’ un stick to it. ‘Er flipt her apern in ‘er guide man’s face and said, ‘Let be, yer rogue. I wull be sold. I wants a change.'” (p. 462)

(Apologies to any ESL readers – if you pronounce it aloud it is easier to understand the dialect.)

Of course someone has also done it on eBay, as the BBC reports. Legal notes and some good cross-refs here and here.