Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, Taken from Original SourcesAshton, John
History
Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, Taken from Original Sources
Ashton, John
Great Britain -- History -- Anne, 1702-1714; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
'By another Gentleman, who, about Eight Years ago, went out of meer
Curiosity to see their Club, and has since furnish'd me with the
following Papers; I was inform'd that it was kept in no fix'd House,
but that they remov'd as they saw convenient; that the place they met
in when he was with 'em, was a blind Ally, about _Morefields_;[327]
that the Company wholly consisted of _Independents_ and _Anabaptists_
(I am glad for the Honour of the _Presbyterians_ to set down this
Remark); that the Famous _Jerry White_, formerly Chaplain to _Oliver
Cromwell_, who, no doubt on't, came to sanctify with his Pious
Exhortations, the Ribbaldry of the Day, said Grace; that after the
Table Cloth was removed, the Anniversary _Anthem_, as they impiously
call'd it, was sung, and a Calves Scull filled with Wine or other
Liquor, and then a Brimmer went about to the Pious Memory of those
worthy Patriots that had kill'd the Tyrant, and deliver'd their
Country from his Arbitrary Sway; and lastly, a Collection made for the
Mercenary Scribler, to which every Man contributed according to his
Zeal for the Cause, or the Ability of his Purse.'
[Footnote 327: In the ninth ed., 1714, after 'Morefields' it
goes on: 'Where an Axe hung up in the _Club Room_, and was
reverenced as a principal Symbol in this Diabolical
Sacrament. Their Bill of Fare was a large Dish of
_Calves-Heads_, dressed several ways, by which they
represented the King and his Friends, who had suffer'd in
his Cause; a large _Pike_ with a small one in his Mouth, as
an Emblem of Tyranny; a large _Cod's Head_, by which they
pretended to represent the Person of the King singly; a
_Boar's Head_ with an Apple in its Mouth, to represent the
King, by this, as Beastial, as by their other Hieroglyphicks
they had done Foolish and Tyrannical. After the Repast was
over, one of their Elders presented an _Ikon Basilike_,
which was with great Solemnity burn'd upon the Table, whilst
the _Anthems_ were singing. After this, another produc'd
_Milton's Defensio Populi Anglicani_, upon which all laid
their Hands, and made a Protestation in the form of an Oath,
for ever to stand by, and maintain the same;' then the text
goes on as above.]
The following 'Anthem,' if not the most refined of the series, is, at
least, the most spirited and characteristic:--
_An Anthem on the 30th of_ January 1696.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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