A History of the Cries of London, Ancient and ModernHindley, Charles
History
A History of the Cries of London, Ancient and Modern
Hindley, Charles
Cries -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
From "Deuteromelia: or, the Second Part of Pleasant Roundelayes; K. H.
Mirth, or Freeman's Songs, and such delightful Catches. London, printed
for Thomas Adams, dwelling in Paul's Church-yard, at the sign of the White
Lion, 1609."
Who liveth so merry in all this land
As doth the poor widdow that selleth the sand?
And ever shee singeth as I can guesse,
Will you buy any sand, any sand, mistress?
The broom-man maketh his living most sweet,
With carrying of brooms from street to street;
Who would desire a pleasanter thing,
Then all the day long to doe nothing but sing.
The chimney-sweeper all the long day,
He singeth and sweepeth the soote away;
Yet when he comes home altho' he be weary,
With his sweet wife he maketh full merry.
* * * * *
Who liveth so merry and maketh such sport
As those that be of the poorest sort?
The poorest sort wheresoever they be,
They gather together by one, two, three.
And every man will spend his penny
What makes such a shot among a great many?
Thomas Morely, a musical composer, set music of four, six, eight and ten
parts, to the cries in his time, among them are some used by the
milliners' girls in the New Exchange, which was on the south side of the
Strand, opposite the now Adelphi Theatre, it was built in the reign of
James I., and pulled down towards the end of the last century; among
others are "_Italian falling Bands_," "_French Garters_," "_Robatos_," a
kind of ruff then fashionable, "_Nun's Thread_," _&c._
The effeminacy and coxcombry of a man's ruff and band are well ridiculed
by many of our dramatic writers. There is a small tract bearing the
following title--"A Merrie Dialogue between Band, Cuffe and Ruffe. Done by
an excellent Wit, and lately acted in a Shew in the Famous Universitie of
Cambridge. London, printed by W. Stansby for Miles Partrich, and are to be
sold at his shop neere Saint Dunstone's Church-yard in Fleet Street,
1615." This _brochure_ is a _bonne-bouche_ of the period, written in
dramatic dialogue form, and full of puns as any modern comedy or farcical
sketch from the pen of the greatest word-twister of the day--Henry J.
Byron (who, on _Cyril's Success_, _Married in Haste_, _Our Boys_, and _The
Girls_,)--and is of considerable value as an illustration of the history
of the costume of the period. The band, as an article of ornament for the
neck, was the common wear of gentlemen, though now exclusively retained by
the clergy and lawyers; the cuff, as a fold at the end of a sleeve, or the
part of the sleeve turned back from the hand, was made highly fantastical
by means of "cut work;" the ruff, as a female neck ornament, made of
plaited lawn, or other material, is well-known, but it was formerly worn
by both sexes.
In a Roxburghe Ballad entitled "The Batchelor's Feast," &c., we have:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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