XIII. Lenten and other Church fasts savoured of superstition in the esteem of the Puritans; but, by the latter, seasons of national humiliation were as solemnly observed as they were frequently enjoined. The Directory defined a fast as requiring total abstinence, not only from food, but also from worldly labour, discourses, and thoughts, and from all bodily delights and rich apparel; still much more from what is scandalous and offensive, such as "gaudish attire, lascivious habits and gestures, and other vanities of either sex;" but abstinence in the last particulars certainly was not meant to be represented as peculiar to days of public repentance. Much time on these occasions was ordered to be spent in reading, hearing, and singing in such manner so "as to quicken suitable affections, especially in prayer;" for which latter exercise the Assembly of Divines had been careful—as in reference to all other kinds of worship—to provide appropriate subjects. Nor were themes proper for the pulpit at such seasons, left unmentioned by those spiritual counsellors. Similar directions, the difference of the object being taken into account, were also given for public thanksgivings. And, not only when governments ordered fasts for the sins of the people, or festivals for victories and deliverances, but at other times, on account both of private sorrows and private joys, did Puritan households devote whole days to the worship of God. Scattered up and down the quaint biographies of that era are instances of hours spent in solitary devotion; of lengthened preparations for the sacrament; of family groups gathered upon their knees, bewailing lukewarmness, declension and backsliding; of services at home akin to those at church, bewailing the low estate of Christendom; of sorrowful commemorations of public and domestic calamities, and of intense spiritual enjoyments experienced alone in the closet, or shared by all the inmates of a dwelling; whilst texts and psalms, religious anecdotes and pious meditations, set their mark on the anniversaries of births, marriages, and special interventions of providence.
Recreations.
XIV. Certain recreations were rigorously forbidden. No wonder the theatre incurred denunciation, after the character given of it by Ben Jonson. Parliament prohibited stage exhibitions; but, in despite of the law, they were covertly continued in certain private mansions, much to the annoyance of the Puritan class. A company of actors in Golding Lane were frequently complained of, who, notwithstanding all complaints, still persevered in their forbidden art; but they were at length seized in the middle of a performance, when, as it was remarked, comedy was turned into tragedy. They were put under a strong guard of pikes and muskets, "plundered of all the richest of their clothes," and left "nothing but necessaries, now"—adds the newspaper which reports the occurrence—"to act and to learn a better life."[432]
The festivities of New Year and of Shrovetide, of May and Michaelmas, also shared in receiving reprehension;[433] the picturesqueness of ancient customs being overlooked amidst the cruelties and the immoralities, with which they had become associated. Wakes were dropped; maypoles were pulled down; cock-fights and bear-baitings came to an end.[434] No doubt actual wickedness and temptations to vice thus met with a decided check, and a surface morality for a while appeared; but certain other prohibitions of a different nature—for which, however, occasion had been given in part, by the circumstance of such amusements as we have just mentioned having become connected with the observance of the seasons prohibited—shocked the sensibilities of many truly pious people. The Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide festivals, with other holydays, were abolished by the ordinance of 1647.[435] This touched the conscience of devout Episcopalians, who loved to commemorate at special seasons the great events of Christianity, and cut deep into the heart of certain social enjoyments, which had come to depend very much upon the associations formed between them and the festivals of the Church. Such unreasonable interferences produced popular tumults. For example, the Mayor of Canterbury would have a market held on Christmas day; and people who at that season desired to attend divine worship in the Cathedral were roughly handled. The discontent which was thus produced burst out into open revolt, and the military were called in to put an end to the uproar,—in consequence of which several people were committed to prison. Puritans, however, had their periods of rest and amusement. The Ordinance for abolishing holidays provided that there should be allotted to scholars, apprentices, and other servants, for recreation, on every second Tuesday of the month, such time as the masters could conveniently spare. The determination of its length would be a matter of difficulty when servant and master were of different minds; to meet which circumstance, this awkward piece of legislation provided, that the next Justice of the Peace should "have power to order and reconcile the same." "Public holidays," therefore, must be considered as having been entirely suspended during the Commonwealth,—a most injudicious proceeding, which led to the worst results at the Restoration.
Recreations.
Ladies had their sober and stinted diversions in the parlour and the garden; and gentlemen had theirs at home and in the field—all measured out sparingly, and by scripture line and rule. The Word of God, said the Puritan licensers, permitted shooting, (2 Samuel i. 18), musical consort, (Nehemiah vii. 67), putting forth riddles, (Judges xiv. 12), hunting of wild beasts (Canticles ii. 15), searching out, or the contemplation of the works of God, (I Kings iv. 33). This enumeration of amusements allowed by Scripture seemed to sanction certain old English field sports, to concede the pleasures of the chase, and to permit ladies from the manor-house and the castle to ride out a-hawking over hill and dale.[436]
XV. It is a mistake to suppose that the Independents of the Commonwealth were very ascetic. Even the habits of the Presbyterians in this respect have been considerably exaggerated. They were by no means so rigid and demure as prejudiced writers are wont to represent. They did not look so melancholy, nor dress in such ridiculous garbs, nor act in such absurd ways, as believers in Hudibras imagine. Many were gentlemen of graceful bearing, polite demeanour, and genial sympathies. They had amongst them some of the noblest blood of England, and they included large numbers of genteel descent. Such persons, with multitudes of yeomen of ruddy countenances, would crack a joke, and ring an honest laugh, as they walked through trim flower gardens or rode out to their field sports. But the Independents, perhaps, advanced still further in conformity to the outward world.[437]
Social Life of the Independents.
Country life in the old mansions and manor houses, with the exception of certain "superstitions," remained much the same as in the days before the wars. And city life in the main ran on as it did before the fall of monarchy; merchants and tradesmen lived as of yore; and mayors and corporations feasted as they had ever done in guildhalls. Wives were handed by wealthy husbands, and maidens by ambitious lovers, up staircases of polished oak, to drawing rooms, profusely carved, and full of furniture curiously fashioned. The dining-room wore an air of enticing comfort, and the hearth blazed, as family and friends sat down to a well-spread table after a long grace. Probably the feast did not break up until a godly minister had expounded a chapter and offered a prayer. And if the guests did not quaff as much sack as some of their royalist friends, and although they did abstain from drinking healths, they were not more addicted to asceticism than excess; all this it would be idle to mention, but for the preposterous notions so widely prevalent, that the Independents and other "sects" of the Commonwealth were an exceptional order of beings, living somewhere quite beyond the outskirts of civilized life. If their connexion with Cromwell's Court somewhat affected the social habits of Independents, and spread amongst them rather more of indulgence in luxury than might be witnessed in other Puritan dwellings, it should be stated, that before any such influence existed, even amidst the early controversies between Presbyterians and Independents, the latter were charged with worldly conformity. They were reproached for riding about in coaches and four on the Lord's Day, and so acting the gallant, that they might have been taken "for roarers and ruffians, rather than saints." They wore cuffs and silver spurs, and gold upon their clothes. Their houses were furnished like those of noblemen and peers. More plate was in their cupboards than in the palaces of grandees. Their fare was delicious, set out with "such curiosity of cookery," and all sorts of wines and delicacies.[438] This picture is connected with accusations of unkind conduct towards those of "the presbyter way," which clearly prove the animus of the writer, and justify us in toning down considerably the colours in which he has painted the Independents. But, after due abatement, enough remains to shew that they were less precise in their habits, and more conformed to the fashion of the age in dress, equipage, and entertainments, than some of their Puritan contemporaries.