Many other entertainments might be cited to illustrate the direction which popular taste took in these matters; but to multiply instances would be as tedious to the reader as (one cannot help thinking) the shows themselves were to the Queen and her attendants. This, at any rate, becomes clear—that the favourite themes, personages, and allusions were of classic origin; the thoughts were clothed in pedantic language; verses were freely written and hung up for passers-by to read, and the Latin tongue was employed in preference to the English, where it was not absolutely necessary that the points should be understanded of the people. The accounts that have been handed down of these interludes are, it is true, somewhat tedious reading, but under the genial satire of Shakespeare they lose their dulness and become amusing. We do not tire of Holofernes and his party in their presentation of the Nine Worthies, nor of Bottom and his company in their great classical interlude of "the tedious brief scene of young Pyramus and his love Thisbe," nor of Orlando and his verses, which he hung on every tree.
It was no small matter to entertain royalty in those days. Even in the present day, when facilities for moving about and for obtaining provisions are so vastly greater, and when the mode of life in the Court is so much simpler, it requires a large house and a well-filled purse. But in the sixteenth century the undertaking was more like providing for a small army, and it is not surprising to find that outside the wealthier owners of great mansions, there was a disposition to evade the honour. Lady Anne Askewe wrote to Sir Christopher Hatton, about the year 1581, to know if she might be excused on account of the shortness of the notice and her "unfurnished house."[18] The officials of the Court so far sympathized with this feeling that we find one of them writing to a friend who was threatened with the honour, Mr. More, of Loseley, to say what a "great trouble and hindrance" it would be, and to advise him to "come and declare unto my lord of Leicester your estate that majesty might not come unto your house."[19] It is not clear whether these representations were actually made, and if made whether they were successful or not; but, however that may be, the same gentleman (he was now knighted) received an intimation in August, 1583, from Sir Christopher Hatton that the Queen intended in about ten or twelve days to visit Loseley, and to remain there some four or five days, and that he had better see everything well ordered and the "house kept sweet and clean to receive her highness." Three weeks later Sir William More had another letter from Sir Christopher to say that on the third day thence the Queen intended to go to bed at Loseley for one night only, and that he should see that the house was "sweet and meet to receive her majesty," and should send his family away. These involuntary hosts were not always consulted beforehand, for one of them wrote to Sir William More in July, 1577, to say that he found the lists were issued for a progress into his county, and his house was one of those to be visited; accordingly he wrote to his loving friend, Sir William, to beg him, for the sake of old acquaintance and friendship, to say what order was taken by the Queen's officers in respect of provisions when her Majesty visited Loseley, as the writer was altogether unacquainted with the order of procedure. The lists of places to be visited, or "gests," as they were called, were carefully prepared beforehand, and gave the names of the houses and their owners, the number of nights the Court intended to stay, and the distance between one stopping-place and the next: this distance was on the average about ten miles, but it varied, according to circumstances, from five to fourteen, the latter being the longest journey attempted.
[18]Sir Nicholas Harris's Memorials of Sir Ch. Hatton, p. 223.
[19]Loseley MSS., p. 266.
To entertain the Sovereign and the Court the houses were necessarily large, indeed we shall not be far wrong in attributing the enormous size of the largest—such places as Holdenby, Theobalds, and Audley End—to the express intention of providing suitable accommodation for Elizabeth and James. Sir Christopher Hatton, in a letter to Sir Thomas Heneage, in 1580, talks of Holdenby being dedicated to "that holy Saint," meaning the Queen; and Lord Burghley, in writing to Hatton about Holdenby and Theobalds, says "God send us both long to enjoy Her, for whom we both meant to exceed our purses in these."[20] In another letter (August 14th, 1585) he says, "My house at Theobalds was begun by me with a mean measure, but increased by occasions of her Majesty's often coming."[21] These mansions may be regarded almost in the light of large hotels, with certain common apartments for the guests, a large kitchen department, and a vast number of rooms arranged in groups of two or three.
[20]Memorials of Holdenby, by Miss Hartshorne, p. 16.
[21]England as seen by Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I., by W. B. Rye, p. 213.
Although notice of the sovereign's intended visit was usually given, it was not considered necessary for less exalted people to send word. When James's queen was journeying towards London from Scotland, a certain Lady Anne Clifford hurried with her mother to meet her. The lady describes her journey, and how they went without notice to a large house in Bedfordshire.[22] She says that having killed three horses that day—it was midsummer—with extreme heat, they came to Wrest, my Lord of Kent's house, "where we found the doors shut, and none in the house but one servant, who only had the keys of the hall, so that we were enforced to lie in the hall all night, till towards morning, at which time came a man and let us into the higher rooms, where we slept three or four hours." This artless account quite casually illustrates the relation of the hall to the rest of the house. It was the room first entered from the outside, and was shut off by doors from all the rest of the house. The servant who let the travellers in probably slept either in the buttery or a "lodging" attached to it, and beyond those two apartments and the hall neither he nor they could go until the "man" came who had the keys which gave access to the stairs and the higher rooms.
[22]Nichols' Progresses of King James I., Vol. I., p. 174.
The Manner of Decorating Rooms.