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Cries Ho, my Masters! what d'ye speak,
D'ye call for drink in Heathen Greek?
Give me some good old Ale or Beer,
Or else I will not drink I swear.

That these houses soon became places of general resort is very evident:

Of all some and all conditions,

Even Vintners, Surgeons, and Physicians,
The Blind, the Deaf, and aged Cripple,
Do here resort, and Coffee tipple.

I shall conclude this account with one line, which carries back the liquor farther than is generally known :

Spic'd Punch (in bowls) the Indians quaff."

Let us come now to tea with eggs. (Sir Kenelm Digby's Book of Receipts, Lond. 1669, 8vo. p. 155.)

The Jesuite that came from China, ann. 1664, told Mr. Waller, that there they use it sometimes in this manner: "To near a pint of the infusion, take two yolks of new-laid eggs, and beat them very well with as much fine sugar as is sufficient for this quantity of liquor; when they are very well incorporated, pour your tea upon the eggs and sugar, and stir them well together. So drink it hot. This is when you come home from attending business abroad, and are very hungry, and yet have not conveniency to eat presently a competent meal. This presently discusseth and satisfieth all rawness and indigestion of the stomach, flyeth suddenly over the whole body and into the veins, and strengtheneth exceedingly, and preserves one a good while from necessity of eating. Mr. Waller findeth all those effects of it thus with eggs."

It is certain that it was a favourite liquor with this poet, as we may infer from his verses on it:

The Muse's friend, Tea, does our fancy aid;
Repress those vapours which the head invade;

And keeps that palace of the soul serene.

King William, it has been said, was fond of this beverage; and from the same authority of report, in his time it was three pounds a pound.

1785, Jan,

Yours, &c.

B.

CI. A Query whether MIMICIS REGIS be not an error for INIMICIS REGIS, with an Answer.

MR. URBAN,

IN the first volume of Warton's History of English Poetry, I find the following passage: "Nicola, Uxor Gerardi de Canvill, reddit computum de centum marcis pro maritanda Matildi filia sua cuicunque voluerit exceptis Mimicis Regis.” "Nicola, wife of Gerard of Canville, accounts to the King for 100 Marks for the Privilege of marrying her Daughter Maud to whatever person she pleases, the King's Mimics excepted."-Whether or no Mimici Regis are here a sort of players kept in the king's household for diverting the court at stated seasons, at least with performances of mimicry, I cannot indeed determine; yet we may remark an error, not unlikely to be made from the similarity of the I to the strokes that form the N, M, and U, in manuscripts of that date. If so the mistake must have arisen by reading mimicis instead of inimicis regis; and the king's enemies were the persons excepted.

1785, Jan.

MR. URBAN,

Y. Z.

I LOOK upon the emendation of your friend Y. Z. in sub1 stituting inimicis for mimicis, to be so certain and indubitable as to want no confirmation. For the satisfaction, however, or rather the gratification of your correspondent, I shall briefly observe, 1st, that, though we currently use the word mimic, the Glossaries do not acknowledge the Latin mimicus.

2dly. That there is no reason why Nicola should be debarred from marrying her daughter to a mimic, as Maud, the daughter, was a great heiress, and the mother neither likely to think of disposing of her so meanly, nor the king to trouble himself about any such disposal of his ward, should the mother think proper to adopt it.

3dly. But what weighs most with me, and will with you, as I conceive, Mr. Urban, is, that I find a like clause in an old lease of the abbot and convent of Beauchief, A. D. 1641, where the demise is to the lessé and "such his assigns as to the same Abbot and Convent, and their successors, have not been enemies, nor hurtfull;" a case exactly parallel; the king being in the situation of the abbot and convent, and Nicola in that of the lessé.

1785, June.

Yours, &c.

T.Row.

CII. Midwives formerly baptized Infants.

MR. URBAN,

MIDWIVES, heretofore, frequently performed the office of baptizing infants in cases of necessity. The following process, relative to that custom, is entered in the Consistorial Acts of the diocese of Rochester, and if you are of opinion that it may be a curious anecdote to the readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, you will be pleased to favour them with the perusal of it.

W. and D.

"1523, Oct. 14.-Eliz. Gaynsford, obstetrix, examinat dicit in vim juramenti sui sub hac forma verborum—“ I, the aforesaid Elizabeth, seeing the childe of Tho. Everey, late born in jeapardy of life, by the authorite of my office, then beyng midwyfe, dyd christen the same childe under this manner, In the name of the Fader, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I christen thee Denys, iffundend' meram aquam super caput infantul'.-Interrogata erat, Whether the childe was born and delivered from the wyfe of the said Thomas; whereto she answereth and saith, that the childe was not born, for she saw nothing of the childe but the hedde, and for perell the childe was in, and in that tyme of nede, she christened as is aforesaid, and cast water with her hand on the childe's hede. After which so done, the childe was born, and was had to the churche, where the Priest gave to it that chrystynden that takkyd, and the childe is yet alyf."

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"Let the Devil wear black, I'll have a suit of sables." THIS strange speech of Hamlet may, perhaps, receive some elucidation from part of a statute of Brazen Nose College, Oxford, which was shewn to me in MS. by a deceased friend. The statutes bear date primo die Februarii, anno Regis Henrici Octavi tertio-decimo, A. D. 1522. should seem that sables were reckoned finery in those days, and had nothing to do with mourning." Statuimus præte rea, quod omnes et singuli prædicti togis longis in parte

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anteriore consutis infra universitatem utantur, et quod nul lus eorum pelluris pretiosis ut sumptuosis, vulgariter dictis sabills, sive matrons, pannove de velvet, damasco, sattin, aut chamblet, in suis vestibus, internis sive externis, aut earum fimbriis sive extremitatibus, vel in eorum liripipiis in universitate quoquo modo utatur."-Let the Devil moura for me, I'll dress gaily, is Hamlet's meaning, and I think this interpretation is countenanced by the quotation. A picture of Richard Gardiner, some time rector of Whitechapel, hangs in the vestry-room there. It was painted in 1617, the 15th of James I. and is a hard, poor picture. Gardiner is represented with sables, which occupy the place at this day filled with the scarf. He was 48 years rector of the parish, and his name appears in the list of benefactors to it.

1786, May.

Yours, &c.

D. N.

CIV. On the Antiquity and Name of the Jew's Harp, ·

MR. URBAN,

THE Jew-trump, or Jew's-harp, as it is often called, (and indeed it has more of the tone of a wire-strung harp than of a trumpet,) is now a boy's instrument, bought at fairs; it however was, it seems, an ancient instrument; for Mr. Pennant informs us (Tour to Scotland, p. 195,) that one made of gilt brass was found in Norway, deposited in an urn. The Scotch also have it as well as we. There is an evident allusion in the name to the inhabitants of Judea*; and I observe, that in Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. IV. p. 171, Quick calls the usurer, on account of his Jewish avarice, a notable Jew's trump. In the plate, however, of Jewish musical instruments, presented to us by Calmet, in his Dictionary, nothing of this kind occurs; so that I much suspect that there is a corruption here of Jeu-trompe, a play-thing or Playtromp, as it is now only used by boys for that purpose.

1786, Aug.

Yours, &c.

T. Row.

* [Jew's harp is probably a corruption of Jaw's harp, from the circumstance of its being placed between the teeth when played. E.]

CV. Extract from Whitechapel Registers.

MR. URBAN,

THE extravagancies of the last age in regard to dropping the word saint, &c. and the solemnization of marriage before or by a justice of the peace, will receive some little elucidation, if you insert the following extracts from the register of St. Mary's, Whitechapel, in your valuable and entertaining Miscellany.

Publications and Marriages in December 1653.

"26. Julius Wood of Nightingale-lane in this parish, mariner, and Martha Waggdon, of the same, widdow, were published in the market-place at Leaden-hall three severall market days in three severall weeks (viz.) on the 16th day, on the 19th day, and on the 26th day of December, 1653; and the said Julius Wood and Martha Waggdon were married by me Richard Loton, esq. and justice of peace in the county of Middlesex, on the 26th day of December, 1653. Edward Callis, and Tobias Harborough, witnesses present."

Publications and Marriages in December 1654.

"Robert Allison of the parish of Botolph, Aldgate, gunsmith, and Ellinor Hathaway, of the parish of White Chappell, spinster, aged 22 years, were published three several Lord's Days, at the close of the morning exercise at the publique meeting-place, commonly called Mary Whitechapel church, in the county of Middlesex, viz. on the 10th, 17th, and 24th days of December, 1654, and the said Robert Allison and Ellinor Hathaway were married before Richard Loton, esq. and one of the justices of the peace for the county of Middlesex, on the 25th day December 1654.-Witnesses present were Thomas Prichard, and Richard Woodcock, and others."

One Richard Digglis was appointed registrar, being sworn into office and approved by Loton, and he it was who made publication in the market. In the year 1660, at the Restoration, the old forms and appellations immediately appear in the register.

Yours, &c.

1786, Sept.

D. N.

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