Then followed a woman of equal stature, and not inferior in elegance to those which preceded; she had a watch at her side as large as a warming-pan, and her head and breast richly decorated with jewels; her eyes and head turned very naturally; and as she moved along she frequently danced, and not inelegantly.
“Thus,” says its describer, “ended the Cow-mass, a show scarce exceeded by any in the known world.”[225]
Midsummer Wrestling.
In the church of Bradmore, Nottinghamshire, is a monument for sir Thomas Parkyns, who is represented standing in a posture for wrestling, and in another part he appears thrown by Time, with the following lines, written by Dr. Friend:—
“Quem modo stravisti longo in certamine, Tempus,
Hic recubat Britonum clarus in orbe pugil.
Jam primum stratus; præter te vicerat omnes;
De te etiam victor, quando resurget, erit.”
Which may be thus translated:—
Here lies, O Time! the victim of thy hand,
The noblest boxer on the British strand:
His nervous arm each bold opposer quell’d,
In feats of strength by none but thee excell’d:
Till, springing up, at the last trumpet’s call,
He conquers thee, who wilt have conquer’d all.
The inscription underneath takes notice of his wife’s fortune, and the estates he purchased; that he rebuilt his farm-houses, was skilled in architecture and medicine, and that he wrote a book on wrestling, called “The Cornish Hug Wrestler.”
This gentleman was remarkable for his skill in that exercise; he trained many of his servants and neighbours to it, and when those manly (though now thought unpolished) diversions were in fashion, he exhibited his pupils in public with no small éclat.