Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Edited by Peter Cunningham, p. 176. Published by the Shakspere Society.
A comedy intended to display the evil consequences of dicing and card-playing was performed before the Emperor Maximilian II at Vienna, on New Year's Day, 1570.—See the Collectanea of Johannes a Munster, appended to the Alea of Pascasius Justus, edit. 1617.
[147] A Briefe Apologie of Poetrie, 1591. Quoted by Mr. P. Cunningham, in his notes to Extracts from Accounts of the Revels, p. 223. In dramatic representations of the game of cards we seem to have preceded the French. In 1676, a comedy by Thomas Corneille, called 'Le Triomphe des Dames,' was acted at Paris, in the theatre of the Hôtel de Guegenaud, and the ballet of the Game of Piquet was one of the interludes. "The four Knaves first made their appearance with their halberts, in order to clear the way. The Kings came in succession, giving their hands to the Queens, whose trains were borne up by four Slaves, the first of whom represented Tennis, the second Billiards, the third Dice, and the fourth Backgammon."—Historical Essays upon Paris. Translated from the French of Mons. de Saintfoix, vol. i, p. 229. Edit. 1766.
[148] In an engraving of St. Peter denying Christ, after a painting by Teniers, two soldiers are seen playing at cards in the hall of the high priest; and, from the chalks on the table, the game appears to be Put.
[149] See Mr. Battle's Opinions on Whist, in Essays by Elia (Charles Lamb).
[150] "The Anatomie of Abuses, containing A Discoverie, or breife summarie of such notable vices and corruptions as now raigne in many Christian countreyes of the world; but especially in the countrey of Ailgna: [Anglia, England.] Together with the most fearefull examples of God's judgements executed upon the wicked for the same, as well in Ailgna of late, as in other places elsewhere. Made Dialogue-wise by Philip Stubs," p. 112. Edit. printed by Richard Jones, 1583.—The Jew's supposition that a thunder-storm was evidence of the divine displeasure at his being about to indulge in a rasher of bacon, is nothing compared with Master Stubbes's announcement of the wrath of heaven against those who indulge in starched collars, fine linen shirts, and velvet breeches.
[151] A Discourse of the most illustrious Prince, Henry, late Prince of Wales. Written in 1626 by Sir Charles Cornwallis. Reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany.
[152] 'Tom Tell-troath: or a free Discourse touching the manners of the time.' Reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany. The king's "forraygn children" mentioned in this pamphlet are his daughter Elizabeth and her family. Elizabeth was married to Frederick, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the competitor of the Emperor Ferdinand II for the crown of Bohemia.
[153] "The King of Spain, or Gondemar, his ambassador."
[154] This engraving is preserved in a collection of Proclamations, Ballads, &c., formed by the late Joseph Ames, and now in the library of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. For the part played by Bethlem Gabor in the affairs of Europe, between 1618 and 1628, the reader is referred to Schiller's History of the Thirty-Years' War.