With an old frieze coat, to cover his worshipful trunk hose,
And a cup of old sherry to comfort his copper nose;
Like an old Courtier of the Queen's,

And the Queen's old Courtier.

V.

With a good old fashion, when Christmas was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good cheer enough to furnish every old room,
And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and man dumb,
Like an old Courtier of the Queen's,

And the Queen's old Courtier.

VI.

With an old falconer, huntsman, and a kennel of hounds,
That never hawk'd nor hunted but in his own grounds,
Who like a wise man kept himself within his own bounds,
And when he died gave every child a thousand good pounds,
Like an old Courtier of the Queen's,

And the Queen's old Courtier.

VII.

But to his eldest son his house and land he assign'd,
Charging him in his will to keep the old bountiful mind,
To be good to his old tenants, and to his neighbours kind,
But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he was inclin'd,
Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

The young Courtier.

VIII.

Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land,
Who keeps a couple of painted Madams at his command,

And takes up a thousand pounds upon his father's land,

And gets drunk in a tavern till he can neither go nor stand,
Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

IX.

With a new fangl'd lady that is dainty, nice, and spare,
Who never knew what belong'd to good housekeeping and care,
Who buys gawdy-colour'd fans, to play with wanton air,

And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair,
Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

X.

With a new fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood,

Hung round with new pictures that do the poor no good,
With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coals nor wood,
And a new smooth shovel-board, whereon no victuals e'er stood,

Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

XI.

With a study stuff'd full of pamphlets and plays,
And a new Chaplain that swears faster than he prays,
With a new buttery hatch that opens once in four days,
And a French cook to devise fine kickshaws and toys,
Like a young Courtier of the King's,
And the King's young Courtier.

XII.

With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,

On a new journey to London straight we all must be gone,
And leave none to keep house but our new Porter John,

Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone,
Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

XIII.

With a new Gentleman Usher, whose carriage is complete,
With a new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry up the meat,
With a waiting gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat,

Who, when her lady has din'd, lets the servants not eat,

Like a young Courtier of the King's,

And the King's young Courtier.

XIV.

With new titles of honor, bought with his father's old gold,
For which sundry of his ancestors' old manors were sold,
And this is the course most of our new gallants hold,
Which makes that good housekeeping is now grown so cold,
Amongst the young Courtiers of the King's,

And the King's young Courtiers.

Now though the above ditty may seem to refer to Courtiers, it is evident that the Country resi-dent, or Country 'Squire, was the chief character in view; and from a contemporary historian, Hollinshed, it appears that towards the close of the XVIth century, there was a great jealousy excited, in regard to the habits and manners of the English Gentry, who were supposed to be in danger of contamination, from the introduction of French follies and frivolities, as may be seen in the following extract.

"Neither was it merrier with England than when an Englishman was knowne abroad by his owne cloth, and contented himselfe at home with

his fine carsie hosen, and a meane slop: his coat, gowne, and cloak of browne, blue, or puke, with some pretie furniture of velvet or furre, and a doublet of sad tawnie, or blacke velvet, or other comelie silke, without such cuts and gawrish colours, as are worne in these daies, and never brought in but by consent of the French, who think themselves the gaiest men, when they have most diversities of jagges and change of colours about them."

But the too great resort of the English Gentry to the Metropolis, of their neglect of rural hospitalities, and contempt of rural manners, appear to have particularly engaged the attention of our English Solomon, James the First, and the contemplative Bishop Hall, in the course of the XVIIth century. Let us first hear what the King says, in his Address to the Council of the Star Chamber.

"One of the greatest causes," says his Majesty, " of all Gentlemen's desire that have no calling or errand to dwell in London, is apparently the pride of the women; for if they be wives, then their husbands, if they be maids, then their fathers, must bring them up to London, because the new fashion is to be had nowhere

but in London: and here, if they be unmarried, they mar their marriages; and if they be married, they lose their reputations, and rob their husband's purses. It is the fashion of Italy—that all the Gentry dwell in the principal towns, and so the whole country is empty: even so now in England, all the country is gotten into London, so as with time England will be only London, and the whole country be left waste: for as we now do imitate the French in fashion of clothes, and lacquies to follow every man, so have we got up the Italian fashion, in living miserably in our houses, and dwelling all in the city but let us in God's name, leave these idle foreign toys, and keep the old fashion of England; and therefore, as every fish lives in his own place, some in the fresh, some in the salt, some in the mud, so let every one live in his own place, some at Court, some in the city, some in the country: specially at festival times, as Christmas and Easter, and the rest."

Lord Bacon, in his Apothegms, tells us, that King James" was wont to be very earnest with the Country Gentlemen to go from London to their country houses: sometimes saying to them, Gentlemen, at London you are like ships at sea,