Before Houses were Numbered.
Before houses were numbered it was a common practice with tradesmen not much known, when they advertised, to mention the color of their next neighbor's door, balcony or lamp, of which custom the following copy of a hand-bill presents a curious instance:—
"Next to the Golden Door, opposite Great Suffolk street, near Pall Mall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person, Robert Barker, who has found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs; his prices are 2s. 6d. for each bob, and 3s. for every tye wigg and pig-tail, ready money."
Monkish Prayers.
The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven times in twenty-four hours—
1st. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning).
2d. Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
3d. Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon.
5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
7th. Compline, soon after 7.
Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject—
"For all our prayers the Almighty does regard
The judgment of the balance, not the yard;
He loves not words, but matter; 't is His pleasure
To buy His wares by weight, and not by measure."
A Mammoth Feast.
Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his installation, in the reign of Edward IV. There were disposed of—300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1000 sheep, 104 oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2000 geese, 1000 capons, 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 1500 hot vension pasties, 4000 cold ones, 5000 custards, hot and cold.