[251] In variety of wines, and the copious use of them, the wealthier classes of England in this age were not a whit behind their ancestors. The arrival of the Danish King and his courtiers in the reign of James, had greatly increased the national thirst; insomuch that it was observed, “The Danes have again conquered England!” In the reign of Charles the First the Cavaliers were as little famed for temperance as the Courtiers of King James. The English followed also, very scrupulously, the Danish custom of drinking healths; and foreigners were astonished to find that when a company amounted to some twenty or thirty, it was still expected that every guest should drink the health of each in rotation. Such festivals, of course, inflamed the love of quarrel. Toasts were given which produced discussion, or refusal to drink them; and if the overheated parties did not immediately come to blows, still duels and bloodshed were the usual consequences. Sometimes, when a lady or an absent patron was toasted, the company pledged the toast upon their knees. Among other disgusting modes of drinking healths at this period, the toper sometimes mingled his own blood with the wine.—“Manners and Customs of England.”
[252] Apophthegm 25, Bayly, p. 52.
[253] Nothing can be more wondered at than that the King should amuse himself about forming a new army in counties which had been already vexed and worn by his own troops, and the licence of those governors whom he had put over them; and not have immediately repaired into the west, where he had an army already formed, and a people generally well devoted to his service; whither all his broken troops, and General Gerrard, might have transported themselves, before Fairfax could have given them any interruption.—Clarendon.
[254] The branch of the Morgan family here mentioned, like that of Worcester, were devoted to the royal cause, and on all occasions evinced that unshrinking loyalty which added lustre to their descent. In the halls of Tredegar, as in Raglan Castle, Charles found an asylum—the only asylum, perhaps, that could then be a sure guarantee for his personal safety. The Morgan family was descended from the ancient princes of South Wales, and as much distinguished by its hospitality as its antiquity.
[255] Sir Henry Ellis’s Orig. Lett., vol. iii. p. 310.
[256] Grandfather of the famous Dean of St. Patrick’s.
[257] Apophthegms.—See the former note.
[258] Among what are called “The King’s Pamphlets,” in the British Museum, the collection of which, begun by a Mr. George Thomason, and continued by order of King Charles the First, there is a single folio sheet printed at London, containing “Verses lately written by Thomas Earle of Strafford.”—Sir Henry Ellis’s “Original Letters” illustrative of English History, vol. iii. p. 238.
[259] Of this disastrous event a sympathising French poet writes:—
Tel qu’un lion forcé de repaire en repaire,
En dépit des chasseurs regagne sa tanière.
Mais Charles, en cet asile investi sans sécours,
Ne pouvait s’y flatter que d’un frêle recours—
Trop déplorable objet de tant de trahisons,
Indigné, trainé de prisons en prisons,
L’imfortuné Monarque, abreuvé de misères,
Finit sur le billot ses destins sanguinaires.