[214] Till the year 1627, it was customary in these two counties to have but one sheriff.
[215] Charles Sackville was the direct descendant of the great Thomas Lord Buckhurst. Of his youth it is disgraceful enough to say, that he was the companion of Rochester and Sedley; but his mature life, like that of Sedley, was illustrated by public spirit, and his fortune enabled him to be a beneficent friend to men of genius. He attended the Duke of York as a volunteer in the Dutch war, and finished his well-known song, “To all you ladies now at land,” on the day before the sea-fight in which Opdam, the Dutch admiral, was blown up with all his crew:—
“To all you ladies now at land,
We men at sea indite;
But first would have you understand,
How hard it is to write;
The Muses now, and Neptune too,
We must implore to write to you.
With a fa, la, la, la, la.
“Should foggy Opdam chance to know
Our sad and dismal story;
The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe,
And quit their fort at Goree;
For what resistance can they find
From men who’ve left their hearts behind!
With a fa, la, la, la, la.”
—Campbell’s British Poets, p. 316.
[216] Peck’s Curiosa.
[217] Ibid.
[218] Opus citatum in Pict. Hist. Engl., book vii. chap. vi. p. 629.
[219] It was fortunate that, while the aristocracy were thus becoming more vitiated, the common people had become more temperate than formerly; but to this assertion Stow adds—“It was not from abstinence but necessity; ale and beer being small, and wines in price above their reach.” During the period of the Commonwealth, greater temperance in eating and drinking naturally prevailed, from the ascendancy of Puritan principles, which recommended simplicity and self-denial.—Manners and Customs, Pict. Hist.
[220] Something like the court-suit of Prince Esterhazy.
[221] Pictor. Hist. Engl., cit. Winwood, book vi. chap. vi. p. 630.