will judge the contrary. Dr. Borde was an ingenious man, and knew how to humour and please his patients, readers, and auditors. In his travells and visits, he often appeared and spoke in public; and would often frequent markets and fairs where a conflux of people used to get together, to whom he prescribed; and to induce them to flock thither the more readily, he would make humorous speeches, couched in such language as caused mirth, and wonderfully propagated his fame and 'twas for the same end that he made use of such expressions in his Books, as would otherwise (the circumstances not considered) be very justly pronounced bombast. As he was versed in antiquity, he had words at command from old writers with which to amuse his hearers, which could not fail of pleasing, provided he added at the same time some remarkable explication. For instance, if he told them that Aekadŋs was an old brass medal among the Greeks, the oddness of the word, would, without doubt, gain attention; tho nothing near so much, as if withall he signified, that 'twas a brass medal a little bigger than an Obolus, that used to be put in the mouths of persons that were dead. And withall, 'twould affect them the more, if when he spoke of such a brass medal, he signified to them, that brass was in old time looked upon as more honourable than other metals, which he might safely enough do, from Homer and his scholiast. Homer's words are, &c. A passage, which without doubt HIERONYMUS MAGIUS would have taken notice of in the fourteenth chapter of his Book DE TINTINNABUlis, had it occurred to his memory when in prison he was writing, without the help of books before him, that curious Discourse. 'Twas from the Doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs, that in aftertimes, those that imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were styled MERRY ANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our stages." He is supposed to have compiled or composed the MERRY TALES of the mad men of Gotham, which, as we are told by Wood, "in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and after, was accounted a book full of wit and mirth by scholars and gentlemen." This piece, which probably was not without its temporary ridicule, and which yet maintains a popularity in the nursery, was, I think, first printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Hearne was of opinion, that these idle pranks of the men of Gotham, a town in Lincolnshire, bore a reference to some customary law-tenures belonging to that place or its neighbourhood, now grown obsolete; and that Blount might have enriched his book on ANTIENT TENURES with these ludicrous stories. He is speaking of the political design of REYNARD THE Fox, printed by Caxton. "It was an admirable Thing. And the design, being political, and to represent a wise government, was equally good. So little reason is there to look upon this as a poor fat. Hearne's Benedict. Abb. tom. i. Præp. 50. edit. Oxon. 1735. f Ath. Oxon. i. 74. There is an edition in duodecimo by Henry Wikes, with out date, but about 1568, entitled, MERIE TALES of the madmen of Gotam, gathered together by A. B. of physicke doctour. The oldest I have seen, is London, 1630, 12mo. despicable book. Nor is there more reason to esteem the MERRY TALES OF THE Mad Men of GOTHAM (which was much valued and cried up in Henry the eighth's time tho now sold at ballad-singers stalls) as altogether a romance: a certain skillfull person having told me more than once, that he was assured by one of Gotham, that they formerly held lands there, by such Sports and Customs as are touched upon in this book. For which reason, I think particular notice should have been taken of it in Blount's TENURES, as I do not doubt but there would, had that otherwise curious author been apprised of the matter. But 'tis strange to see the changes that have been made in the book of REYNARD THE Fox, from the original editions"!" Borde's chief poetical work is entitled, "The first Boke of the INTRODUCTION OF Knowledge, the which doth teach a man to speake parte of al maner of languages, and to knowe the usage and fashion of al maner of countryes: and for to knowe the most parte of al maner of coynes of money, the whych is currant in every region. Made by Andrew Borde of phisyk doctor." It was printed by the Coplands, and is dedicated to the king's daughter the princess Mary. The dedication is dated from Montpelier, in the year 1542. The book, containing thirty-nine chapters, is partly in verse and partly in prose; with wooden cuts prefixed to each chapter. The first is a satire, as it appears, on the fickle nature of an Englishman: the symbolical print prefixed to this chapter, exhibiting a naked man, with a pair of shears in one hand and a roll of cloth in the other, not determined what sort of a coat he shall order to be made, has more humour than any of the verses which followh. Nor is the poetry destitute of humour only; but of every embellishment, both of metrical arrangement and of expression. Borde has all the baldness of allusion, and barbarity of versification, belonging to Skelton, without his strokes of satire and severity. The following lines, part of the Englishman's speech, will not prejudice the reader in his favour. What do I care, if all the world me faile? I will have a garment reach to my taile. Then am I a minion*, for I weare the new guise, The next yeare after I hope to be wise, Not only in wearing my gorgeous aray, For I will go to learning a whole summers day. Hearne's Not. et Spicileg. ad Gul. Neubrig. vol. iii. p. 744. See also Benedict. Abb. ut supr. p. 54. h Harrison, in his Description of England, having mentioned this work by Borde, adds, "Suche is our mutabilitie, that to daie there is none [equal] to the Spanish guise, to morrow the French toies are most fine and delectable, yer [ere] long no such apparel as that which is after the Almaine fashion: by and by the Turkish maner otherwise the Morisco gowns, the Barbarian sleves, the mandilion worne to Collie Weston ward, and the shorte French breeches," &c. B. ii. ch. 9. p. 172. See [A young fashionable courtier. a print of French mignons in Montfaucon's Antiquities.-ASHBY.] In the seventh chapter, he gives a fantastic account of his travels', and owns, that his metre deserves no higher appellation than ryme dogrell. But this delineation of the fickle Englishman is perhaps to be restricted to the circumstances of the author's age, without a respect to the national character; and, as Borde was a rigid catholic, there is a probability, notwithstanding in other places he treats of natural dispositions, that a satire is designed on the laxity of principle, and revolutions of opinion, which prevailed at the reformation, and the easy compliance of many of his changeable countrymen with a new religion for lucrative purposes. I transcribe the character of the Welshman, chiefly because he speaks of his harp. I am a Welshman, and do dwel in Wales, I have loved to serche budgets, and looke in males: Syth all hys [is] fysshe that cometh to the net. I am a gentylman, and come of Brutes blood, For my harpe is made of a good mare's skyn, The strynges be of horse heare, it maketh a good dyn. i Prefixed to which, is a wooden cut of the author Borde, standing in a sort of pew or stall, under a canopy, habited in an academical gown, a laurel-crown on his head, with a book before him on a desk. That is, toasted cheese, next mentioned. Ch. ii. In the prose description of Wales he says, there are many beautiful and strong castles standing yet. "The castels and the countre of Wales, and the people of Wales, be much lyke to the castels and the country of the people of Castyle and Biscayn." In describing Gascony, he says, that at Bordeaux, "in the cathedrall church of Saint Andrews, is the fairest and the greatest payre of orgyns [organs] in al Chrystendome, in the which orgins be many instrumentes and vyces [devices] as gians [giants] heads and starres, the which doth move and wagge with their jawes and eis [eyes] as fast as the player playeth." ch. xxiii. I have before mentioned "A ryght pleasant and merry History of the MYLNER OF ABINGTON, with his wife and his faire daughter, and of two poor scholars of Cambridge," a meagre epitome of Chaucer's MILLER'S TALE. In a blank leaf of the Bodleian copy, this tale is said by Thomas Newton of Cheshire, an elegant Latin epigrammatist of the reign of queen Elisabeth, to have been written by Borde". He is also supposed to have published a collection of silly stories called SCOGIN'S JESTS, sixty in number. Perhaps Shakspeare took his idea from this jest-book, that Scogan was a mere buffoon, where he says that Falstaffe, as a juvenile exploit, "broke Scogan's head at the court-gate"." Nor have we any better authority, than this publication by Borde, that Scogan was a graduate in the university, and a jester to a king. Hearne, at the end of Benedictus Abbas, has printed Borde's ITINERARY, as it may be called; which is little more than a string of names, but is quoted by Norden in his SPECULUM BRITANNIE. Borde's circulatory peregrinations, in the quality of a quack-doctor, might have furnished more ample materials for an English topography. Beside the BREVIARY OF HEALTH, mentioned above, and which was approved by the university of Oxford, Borde has left the DIETARIE OF Health, reprinted in 1576, the PROMPTUARIE OF MEDICINE, the DOCTRINE OF URINES, and the PRINCIPLES OF ASTRONOMICAL PROGNOSTICATIONS': which are proofs of attention to his profession, and show that he could sometimes be serious". But Borde's name would not have been now remembered, had he wrote only profound systems in medicine and astronomy. He is known to posterity as a buffoon, not as a philosopher. Yet, I think, some of his astronomical tracts have been epitomised and bound up with Erra Pater's Almanacs. Of Borde's numerous books, the only one that can afford any degree of entertainment to the modern reader, is the DIETARIE OF HELTHE; where, giving directions as a physician, concerning the choice of Regarded and rewarded, which few poets See Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, vol. v. An Ac- The Princyples of Astronamye the whiche diligently perscrutyd is in a maner a prognosticacyon to the worldes ende. In thirteen chapters. For R. Copland, without date, 12mo. It is among bishop More's collection at Cambridge, with some other of Borde's books. See Ames, Hist. Print. p. 152. Pits. p. 735. houses, diet, and apparel, and not suspecting how little he should instruct, and how much he might amuse, a curious posterity, he has preserved many anecdotes of the private life, customs, and arts, of our ancestors'. This work is dedicated to Thomas duke of Norfolk, lord treasurer under Henry the Eighth. In the dedication, he speaks of his being called in as a physician to sir John Drury, the year when cardinal Wolsey was promoted to York; but that he did not choose to prescribe without consulting doctor Buttes, the king's physician. He apologises to the duke, for not writing in the ornate phraseology now generally affected. He also hopes to be excused, for using in his writings so many wordes of mirth: but this, he says, was only to make your grace merrie, and because mirth has ever been esteemed the best medicine. Borde must have had no small share of vanity, who could think thus highly of his own pleasantry. And to what a degree of taste and refinement must our ancient dukes and lords treasurers have arrived, who could be exhilarated by the witticisms and the lively language of this facetious philosopher? John Bale, a tolerable Latin classic, and an eminent biographer, before his conversion from popery, and his advancement to the bishoprick of Ossory by king Edward the Sixth, composed many scriptural interludes, chiefly from incidents of the New Testament. They are, the life of Saint John the Baptist, written in 1538*. Christ in his twelfth year. Baptism and Temptation. The Resurrection of Lazarus. The Council of the High-priests. Simon the Leper. Our Lord's Supper, and the Washing of the feet of his Disciples. Christ's Burial and Resurrection. The Passion of Christ. The Comedie of the three Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, corrupted by the Sodomites, Pharisees, and Papists, printed by Nicholas Bamburg in 1538; and so popular, that it was reprinted by Colwell in 1562". God's Promises to Man". Our author, in his Vocacyon to the Bishoprick of Ossory, informs us, that his COMEDY of John the Baptist, and his TRAGEDY of God's Promises, were acted by the youths upon a Sunday, at the market cross of t In his rules for building or planning a House, he supposes a quadrangle. The Gate-house, or Tower, to be exactly opposite to the Portico of the Hall. The Privy Chamber to be annexed to the Chamber of State. A Parlour joining to the Buttery, and Pantry at the lower end of the Hall. The Pastry-house and Larder annexed to the Kitchen. Many of the chambers to have a view into the Chapel. In the outer quadrangle to be a stable, but only for horses of pleasure. The stables, dairy, and slaughter-house, to be a quarter of a mile from the house. The Moat to have a spring falling into it, and to be often scowered. An Orchard of sundry fruits is convenient; but he rather recommends a Garden filled with aromatic herbs. In the Garden a Pool or two, for fish. A Park filled with deer and conies. "A Dove-house also is a necessary thyng about a mansyon-place. And, among other thynges, a Payre of Buttes is a decent thynge about a mansyon. And otherwhyle, for a great man necessary it is for to passe his tyme with bowles in an aly, when al this is finished, and the mansyon replenished with implemens." Ch. iv. Sign. C. ii. Dedication dated 1542 [7]. • [See Harleian Miscell. vol. i.-PARK.] "Both in quarto. At the end is A song of Benedictus, compiled by Johan Bale. This was written in 1538; and first printed under the name of a Tragedie or Interlude, by Charlewood, 1577. 4to. |