Selected quad for the lemma: city_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A65394
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A perfect description of the people and countrey of Scotland
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Weldon, Anthony, Sir, d. 1649?; Howell, James, 1594?-1666.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing W1277A; ESTC R33573
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4,330
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23
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A PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE AND COUNTREY OF Scotland LONDON Printed for Rich. Lownds 1659. A Perfect Description of SCOTLAND FIrst for the Country I must confess it is good for those that possess it and too bad for others to be at the charge to conquer it The air might be wholsom but for the stinking People that inhabit it The ground might be fruitful had they wit to manure it Their Beasts be generally smal Women only excepted of which sort there are none greater in the whole world There is great store of Fowl too as foul-houses foul-sheets foul-linen foul-dishes and pots foul-trenchers and napkins with which sort we have bin forcaed to say as the children did with their fowl in the wilderness They have good store of fish too and good for those that can eat it raw but if it come once into their hands it is worse than if it were three days old For their Butter and Cheese I will not meddle withal at this time nor no man else at any time that loves his life They have great store of Deer but they are so far from the place where I have been that I had rather believe than go to disprove it I confess all the Deer I met withal was dear Lodgings dear Horse-meat and dear Tobaco and English Beer As for Fruit for their Grandsire Adams sake they never planted any and for other Trees had Christ been betrayed in this Country as doubtless he should had he come as a stranger Judas had sooner found the Grace of Repentance than a Tree to hang himself on They have many Hills wherein they say is much treasure but they shew none of it Nature hath only discovered to them some Mines of Coal to shew to what end he created them I saw little Grass but in their Pottage The Thistle is not given them of nought for it is the fairest flower in their Garden The word Hay is Heathen-Greek unto them neither man nor beast knows what it means Corn is reasonable plenty at this time for since they heard of the Kings comming it hath been as unlawful for the common people to eate Wheat as it was in the old time for any but the Priests to eat shew bread They prayed much for his comming and long fasted for his welfare but in the more plain sense that he might fare the better all his followers were welcome but his guard for those they say are like Paraoh's leane-Kine and threaten dearth wheresoever they come They could perswade the Footmen that oaten-cakes would make them long-winded the children of the Chappel they have brought to eat of them for the maintenance of their voyces They say our Cooks are too sawcy and for Grooms Coachmen they wish them to give to their Horses no worse than they eat themselves they commend the brave minds of the Pentioners and the Gentlemen of the Bed-Chambers which choose rather to go to Taverns than to be alwaies eating of the Kings Provision they likewise do commend the Yeomen of the Buttery and Cellar for their readiness and silence in that they will hear 20 knocks before they will answer one They perswade the Trumpetters that fasting is good for men of that quality for emptiness they say causes wind and wind causes a Trumpet to sound well The bringing of Heraulds they say was a needless charge they all know their pedegrees well enough and the Harbengers might have been spared sitâ—ence they brought so many Beds with them of two evils since the least should be chosen They wish the Beds might remain with them and poor Harbengers keep their places and do their office as they return His Hangings they desire might likewise be left as Reliques to put them in minde of His Majesty and they promise to dispense with the Wooden Images but for those Graven Images in his new beautified Chappel they threaten to pull down soon after his departure and to make of them a burnt-offering to appease the indignation they imagined conceived against them in the Brest of the Almighty for suffering such Idolatry to enter into their Kingdom The Organ I think will find mercy because as they say there is some affinity between them and the Bag-pipes The Shipper that brought the singing men with their Papistical Vestments complains that he hath been much troubled with a strange singing in his head ever since they came aboard his Ship For remedy whereof the Parson of the Parish hath perswaded him to sell that prophane Vessel and to distribute the money among the faithful Brethren For his Majesties entertainment I must needs ingeniously confess he was received into the Parish of Edenburg for a City I cannot call it with great shouts of joy but no shews of charge for Pageants they hold them idolatrous things and not fit to be used in so reformed a place from the Castle they gave him some pieces of Ordinance which surely he gave them since he was King of Engl. and at the entrance of the Town they presented him with a Golden Bason which was carried before him on mens shoulders to his Palace I think from whence it came His Majesty was conveyed by the Younkers of the Town which were about 100 Halberds dearly shall they rue it in regard of the charge to the Cross and so to the high Church where the only Bell they had stood on tip-toe to behold his sweet face where I must intreat you to spare him for an hour I lost him In the mean time to report the Speeches of the people concerning his never exampled entertainment were to make his discourse too tedious unto you as the Sermon was to those that were constrained to endure it After the Preachment he was conducted by the same Halberds unto His Palace of which I forbear to speak because it was a place sanctified by His divine Majesty only I wish it had been better Walled for my friends sake that waited on him Now I will begin briefly to speak of the people according to their degrees and qualities for the Lords Spiritual they may well be termed so indeed for they are neither Fish nor Flesh but what it shall please their earthly God the King to make them Obedience is better than Sacrifice and therefore they make a mock at Martyrdom saying That Christ was to dye for them and not they for him They will rather subscribe than surrender and rather dispence with small things than trouble themselves with great disputation they will rather acknowledge the King to be their head then want wherewith to pamper their bodies They have taken great pains and trouble to compass their Bishopricks and they will not leave them for a trifle for the Deacons whose defects will not lift them up to dignities all their study is to disgrace them that have gotten the least degree above them and because they cannot Bishop they proclaim they never heard of any The Scriptures say they speak of Deacons and Elders but