The Pennyles Pilgrimage
Or The Money-lesse Perambulation of John Taylor (2024)

[Pgi]

THE

PILGRIMAGE,

OR

The Money-lesse perambulation,

of John Taylor, Alias
the Kings Majesties
Water-Poet.

HOW HE TRAVAILEDON FOOT

from London to Edenborough in Scotland,not carrying
any Money to or fro, neither Begging, Borrowing,
or Asking Meate, drinke or
Lodging.

With hisDescription of his Entertainment

in all places of his Journey, and a true Report
of the unmatchable Hunting in the Brea
of Marre and Badenoch in
Scotland.

With other Observations, some serious and
worthy of Memory, and some merry
and not hurtfull to be Remembred.

Lastly that (which is Rare in a Travailer)
all is true.

LONDON

Printed by Edw: Allde, at the charges of the
[Pgii]Author. 1618

To the Truly
Noble and Right
Honorable Lord GEORGE MARQUIS
of Buckingham, Viscount Villiers, Baron of
Whaddon, Justice in Eyre of all his Majesty's
Forests, Parks, and Chases beyond Trent, Master
of the Horse to his Majesty, and one of the Gentlemen
of his Highness Royal Bed-Chamber, Knight
of the most Noble Order of the Garter, and
one of his Majesty's most Honorable
Privy Council of both the
Kingdoms of England
and Scotland.

ight Honorable, and worthy honoured Lord, as in my Travels, Iwas entertained, welcomed, and relieved by many Honourable Lords,Worshipful Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen, and others both inEngland and Scotland. So now your Lordship's inclination hathincited, or invited my poor muse to shelter herself under theshadow of your honorable patronage, not that there is any worthat all in my sterile invention, but in all humility I acknowledgethat it is only your Lordship's acceptance, that is able to makethis nothing, something, and withal engage me ever.

Your Honors,

In allobservance,

JOHN TAYLOR. [Pgiii]

TO ALL MY LOVING ADVENTURERS,
BY WHAT NAME OR TITLE SOEVER,
MY GENERAL SALUTATION.

eader, these Travels of mine into Scotland, were notundertaken, neither in imitation, or emulation of any man, butonly devised by myself, on purpose to make trial of my friendsboth in this Kingdom of England, and that of Scotland,and because I would be an eye-witness of divers things which Ihad heard of that Country; and whereas many shallow-brainedCritics, do lay an aspersion on me, that I was set on by others,or that I did undergo this project, either in malice, or mockageof Master Benjamin Jonson, I vow by the faith of aChristian, that their imaginations are all wide, for he is agentleman, to whom I am so much obliged for many undeservedcourtesies that I have received from him, and from others by hisfavour, that I durst never to be so impudent or ungrateful, aseither to suffer any man's persuasions, or mine own instigation,to incite me, to make so bad a requital, for so[Pg iv] muchgoodness formerly received; so much for that, and now Reader, ifyou expect

That I should write of cities'situations,
Or that of countries I should make relations:
Of brooks, crooks, nooks; of rivers, bournes and rills,
Of mountains, fountains, castles, towers and hills,
Of shires, and piers, and memorable things,
Of lives and deaths of great commanding kings,
I touch not those, they not belong to me;
But if such things as these you long to see,
Lay down my book, and but vouchsafe to read
The learned Camden, or laborious Speed.

And so God speedyou and me, whilst I rest

Yours in allthankfulness:

JohnTaylor.

TAYLOR'S
PENNILESS PILGRIMAGE.

ist Lordlings, list (if you havelust to list)

I write not here a tale of had I wist:

But you shall hear of travels, and relations,

Descriptions of strange (yet English) fashions.

And he that not believes what here is writ,

Let him (as I have done) make proof of it.

The year of grace, accounted (as I ween)

One thousand twice three hundred and eighteen,

And to relate all things in order duly,

'Twas Tuesday last, the fourteenth day of July,

Saint

Revels

day, the almanack will tell ye

The sign in

Virgo

was, or near the belly:

The moon full three days old, the wind full south;

At these times I began this trick of youth.

I speak not of the tide, for understand,

My legs I made my oars, and rowed by land,

Though in the morning I began to go

Good fellows trooping, flocked me so,

That make what haste I could, the sun was set,

E're from the gates of

London

I could get.

At last I took my latest leave thus late,

At the Bell Inn, that's

extra Aldersgate

.

There stood a horse that my provant

should carry,

From that place to the end of my fegary,

My horse no horse, or mare, but gelded nag,

That with good understanding bore my bag:

And of good carriage he himself did show,

These things are excellent in a beast you know.

There in my knapsack, (to pay hunger's fees)

I had good bacon, biscuit, neat's-tongue, cheese

With roses, barberries, of each conserves,

And mithridate, that vigorous health perserves:

And I entreat you take these words for no-lies,

I had good

Aqua vitæ, Rosa

so-lies:

With sweet

Ambrosia

, (the gods' own drink)

Most excellent gear for mortals, as I think,

Besides, I had both vinegar and oil,

That could a daring saucy stomach foil.

This foresaid Tuesday night 'twixt eight and nine,

Well rigged and ballasted, both with beer and wine,

I stumbling forward, thus my jaunt begun,

And went that night as far as

Islington

.

There did I find (I dare affirm it bold)

A Maidenhead of twenty-five years old,

But surely it was painted, like a whor*,

And for a sign, or wonder, hanged at door,

Which shows a Maidenhead, that's kept so long,

May be hanged up, and yet sustain no wrong.

There did my loving friendly host begin

To entertain me freely to his inn:

And there my friends, and good associates,

Each one to mirth himself accommodates.

At Well-head

both for welcome, and for cheer,

Having a good

New ton

, of good stale beer:

There did we

Trundle

[3] down health, after health,

(Which oftentimes impairs both health and wealth.)

Till everyone had filled his mortal trunk,

And only

No-body

was three parts drunk.

The morrow next, Wednesday Saint

Swithin's

day,

From ancient

Islington

I took my way.

At

Holywell

I was enforced carouse,

Ale high, and mighty, at the Blindman's House.

But there's a help to make amends for all,

That though the ale be great, the pots be small.

At

Highgate

Hill to a strange house I went,

And saw the people were to eating bent,

In either borrowed, craved, asked, begged, or bought,

But most laborious with my teeth I wrought.

I did not this, 'cause meat or drink was scant,

But I did practise thus before my want;

Like to a Tilter that would win the prize,

Before the day he'll often exercise.

So I began to put in use, at first

These principles 'gainst hunger, 'gainst thirst.

Close to the Gate,

there dwelt a worthy man,

That well could take his whiff, and quaff his can,

Right Robin Good-fellow, but humours evil,

Do call him

Robin Pluto

, or the devil.

But finding him a devil, freely hearted,

With friendly farewells I took leave and parted,

And as alongst I did my journey take,

I drank at

Broom's well

, for pure fashion's sake,

Two miles I travelled then without a bait,

The Saracen's Head at

Whetstone

entering straight,

I found an host, that might lead an host of men,

Exceeding fat, yet named

Lean

, and

Fen

.

And though we make small reckoning of him here,

He's known to be a very great man there.

There I took leave of all my company,

Bade all farewell, yet spake to

No-body

.

Good reader think not strange, what I compile,

For

No-body

was with me all this while.

And

No-body

did drink, and, wink, and scink,

And on occasion freely spent his chink.

If anyone desire to know the man,

Walk, stumble,

Trundle

, but in

Barbican

.

There's as good beer and ale as ever twang'd,

And in that street kind

No-body

is hanged.

But leaving him unto his matchless fame,

I to St.

Albans

in the evening came,

Where Master

Taylor

, at the Saracen's Head,

Unasked (unpaid for) me both lodged and fed.

The tapsters, hostlers, chamberlains, and all,

Saved me a labour, that I need not call,

The jugs were filled and filled, the cups went round,

And in a word great kindness there I found,

For which both to my cousin, and his men,

I'll still be thankful in word, deed, and pen.

Till Thursday morning there I made my stay,

And then I went plain

Dunstable

highway.

My very heart with drought methought did shrink,

I went twelve miles, and no one bade me drink.

Which made me call to mind, that instant time,

That drunkenness was a most sinful crime.

When

Puddle-hill

I footed down, and past

A mile from thence, I found a hedge at last.

There stroke we sail, our bacon, cheese, and bread,

We drew like fiddlers, and like farmers fed.

And whilst two hours we there did take our ease,

My nag made shift to mump green pulse

and peas.

Thus we our hungry stomachs did supply,

And drank the water of a brook hard by.

Away toward

Hockley

in the Hole, we make,

When straight a horseman did me overtake,

Who knew me, and would fain have given me coin,

I said, my bonds did me from coin enjoin,

I thanked and prayed him to put up his chink,

And willingly I wished it drowned in drink.

Away rode he, but like an honest man,

I found at

Hockley

standing at the Swan,

A formal tapster, with a jug and glass,

Who did arrest me: I most willing was

To try the action, and straight put in bail,

My fees were paid before, with sixpence ale,

To quit this kindness, I most willing am,

The man that paid for all, his name is

Dam

,

At the Green Dragon, against

Grays-Inn

gate,

He lives in good repute, and honest state.

I forward went in this my roving race,

To

Stony Stratford

I toward night did pace,

My mind was fixed through the town to pass,

To find some lodging in the hay or grass,

But at the

Queen's Arms

, from the window there,

A comfortable voice I chanced to hear,

Call

Taylor, Taylor

, and be hanged come hither,

I looked for small entreaty and went thither,

There were some friends, which I was glad to see,

Who knew my journey; lodged, and boarded me.

On Friday morn, as I would take my way,

My friendly host entreated me to stay,

Because it rained, he told me I should have

Meat, drink, and horse-meat and not pay or crave.

I thanked him, and for his love remain his debtor,

But if I live, I will requite him better.

(From

Stony Stratford

) the way hard with stones,

Did founder me, and vex me to the bones.

In blustering weather, both for wind and rain,

Through

Towcester

I trotted with much pain,

Two miles from thence, we sat us down anddined,

Well bulwarked by a hedge, from rain and wind.

We having fed, away incontinent,

With weary pace toward

Daventry

we went.

Four miles short of it, one o'ertook me there,

And told me he would leave a jug of beer,

At

Daventry

at the Horse-shoe for my use.

I thought it no good manners to refuse,

But thanked him, for his kind unasked gift,

Whilst I was lame as scarce a leg could lift,

Came limping after to that stony town,

Whose hard streets made me almost halt right down.

There had my friend performed the words he said,

And at the door a jug of liquor staid,

The folks were all informed, before I came,

How, and wherefore my journey I did frame,

Which caused mine hostess from her door come out,

(Having a great wart rampant on her snout.)

The tapsters, hostlers, one another call,

The chamberlains with admiration all,

Were filled with wonder, more than wonderful,

As if some monster sent from the

Mogul

,

Some elephant from

Africa

, I had been,

Or some strange beast from the

Amazonian

Queen.

As buzzards, widgeons, woodco*cks, and such fowl,

Do gaze and wonder at the broad-faced owl,

So did these brainless asses, all amazed,

With admirable

Nonsense

talked and gazed,

They knew my state (although not told by me)

That I could scarcely go, they all could see,

They drank of my beer, that to me was given,

But gave me not a drop to make all even,

And that which in my mind was most amiss,

My hostess she stood by and saw all this,

Had she but said, come near the house my friend,

For this day here shall be your journey's end.

Then had she done the thing which [she] did not,

And I in kinder words had paid the shot.

I do entreat my friends, (as I have some)

If they to

Daventry

do chance to come,

That they will baulk that inn; or if by chance,

Or accident into that house they glance,

Kind gentlemen, as they by you reap profit,

My hostess care of me, pray tell her of it,

Yet do not neither; lodge there when you will,

You for your money shall be welcome still.

From thence that night, although my bones were sore,

I made a shift to hobble seven miles more:

The way to

Dunchurch

, foul with dirt and mire,

Able, I think, both man and horse to tire.

On

Dunsmoor

Heath, a hedge doth there enclose

Grounds, on the right hand, there I did repose.

Wit's whetstone, Want, there made us quicklylearn,

With knives to cut down rushes, and green fern,

Of which we made a field-bed in the field,

Which sleep, and rest, and much content did yield.

There with my mother earth, I thought it fit

To lodge, and yet no incest did commit:

My bed was curtained with good wholesome airs,

And being weary, I went up no stairs:

The sky my canopy, bright

Phœbe

shined

Sweet bawling

Zephyrus

breathed gentle wind,

In heaven's star-chamber I did lodge that night,

Ten thousand stars, me to my bed did light;

There barricadoed with a bank lay we

Below the lofty branches of a tree,

There my bed-fellows and companions were,

My man, my horse, a bull, four cows, two steer:

But yet for all this most confused rout,

We had no bed-staves, yet we fell not out.

Thus nature, like an ancient free upholster,

Did furnish us with bedstead, bed, and bolster;

And the kind skies, (for which high heaven be thanked,)

Allowed us a large covering and a blanket;

Auroras

face 'gan light our lodging dark,

We arose and mounted, with the mounting lark,

Through plashes, puddles, thick, thin, wet and dry,

I travelled to the city

Coventry

.

There Master Doctor

Holland

caused me stay

The day of

Saturn

and the Sabbath day.

Most friendly welcome, he me did afford,

I was so entertained at bed and board,

Which as I dare not brag how much it was,

I dare not be ingrate and let it pass,

But with thanks many I remember it,

(Instead of his good deeds) in words and writ,

He used me like his son, more than a friend,

And he on Monday his commends did send

To

Newhall

, where a gentleman did dwell,

Who by his name is hight

Sacheverell

.

The Tuesday

July's

one and twentieth day,

I to the city

Lichfield

took my way,

At

Sutton Coldfield

with some friends I met,

And much ado I had from thence to get,

There I was almost put unto my trumps,

My horse's shoes were worn as thin as pumps;

But noble

Vulcan

, a mad smuggy smith,

All reparations me did furnish with.

The shoes were well removed, my palfrey shod,

And he referred the payment unto God.

I found a friend, when I to

Lichfield

came,

A joiner, and

John Piddock

is his name.

He made me welcome, for he knew my jaunt,

And he did furnish me with good provant:

He offered me some money, I refused it,

And so I took my leave, with thanks excused it,

That Wednesday, I a weary way did pass,

Rain, wind, stones, dirt, and dabbling dewy grass,

With here and there a pelting scattered village,

Which yielded me no charity, or pillage:

For all the day, nor yet the night that followed.

One drop of drink I'm sure my gullet swallowed.

At night I came to a stony town called

Stone

.

Where I knew none, nor was I known of none:

I therefore through the streets held on my pace,

Some two miles farther to some resting place:

At last I spied a meadow newly mowed,

The hay was rotten, the ground half o'erflowed:

We made a breach, and entered horse and man,

There our pavilion, we to pitch began,

Which we erected with green broom and hay,

To expel the cold, and keep the rain away;

The sky all muffled in a cloud 'gan lower,

And presently there fell a mighty shower,

Which without intermission down did pour,

From ten a night, until the morning's four.

We all that time close in our couch did lie,

Which being well compacted kept us dry.

The worst was, we did neither sup nor sleep,

And so a temperate diet we did keep.

The morning all enrobed in drifting fogs,

We being as ready as we had been dogs:

We need not stand upon long ready making,

But gaping, stretching, and our ears well shaking:

And for I found my host and hostess kind,

I like a true man left my sheets behind.

That Thursday morn, my weary course I framed,

Unto a town that is

Newcastle

named.

(Not that

Newcastle

standing upon

Tyne

)

But this town situation doth confine

Near

Cheshire

, in the famous county

Stafford

,

And for their love, I owe them not a straw for't;

But now my versing muse cravessome repose,

And whilst she sleeps I'll spouta little prose.

In this town of Newcastle,I overtook an hostler, and I asked him what the next town wascalled, that was in my way toward Lancaster, he holdingthe end of a riding rod in his mouth, as if it had been a flute,piped me this answer, and said, Talk-on-the-Hill; I askedhim again what he said Talk-on-the-Hill: I demanded thethird time, and the third time he answered me as he did before,Talk-on-the-Hill. I began to grow choleric, and asked himwhy he could not talk, or tell me my way as well there as on thehill; at last I was resolved, that the next town was four milesoff me, and that the[Pg 14] name of it was,Talk-on-the-Hill: I had not travelled above two milesfarther: but my last night's supper (which was as much asnothing) my mind being informed of it by my stomach. I made avirtue of necessity, and went to breakfast in the Sun: I havefared better at three Suns many times before now, inAldersgate Street, Cripplegate, and new FishStreet; but here is the odds, at those Suns they will comeupon a man with a tavern bill as sharp cutting as a tailor's billof items: a watchman's-bill, or a welsh-hook falls not half soheavy upon a man; besides, most of the vintners have the law intheir own hands, and have all their actions, cases, bills ofdebt, and such reckonings tried at their own bars; from whencethere is no appeal. But leaving these impertinences, in thematerial Sunshine, we eat a substantial dinner, and likemiserable guests we did budget up the reversions.

And now with sleep my muse hatheased her brain
I'll turn my style from prose, to verse again.
That which we could not have, we freely spared,
And wanting drink, most soberly we fared.
We had great store of fowl (but 'twas foul way)
And kindly every step entreats me stay,
The clammy clay sometimes my heels would trip,
One foot went forward, the other back would slip,
This weary day, when I had almost past,
[Pg15]I came unto Sir Urian Leigh's at last,
At Adlington, near Macclesfield he dothdwell,
Beloved, respected, and reputed well.
Through his great love, my stay with him was fixed,
From Thursday night, till noon on Monday next,
At his own table I did daily eat,
Whereat may be supposed, did want no meat,
He would have given me gold or silver either,
But I, with many thanks, received neither,
And thus much without flattery I dare swear,
He is a knight beloved far and near,
First he's beloved of his God above,
(Which love he loves to keep, beyond all love)
Next with a wife and children he is blest,
Each having God's fear planted in their breast.
With fair demaines, revenue of good lands,
He's fairly blessed by the Almighty's hands,
And as he's happy in these outward things,
So from his inward mind continual springs
Fruits of devotion, deeds of piety,
Good hospitable works of charity,
Just in his actions, constant in his word,
And one that won his honour with the sword,
He's no carranto, cap'ring, carpet knight,
But he knows when, and how to speak or fight,
I cannot flatter him, say what I can,
He's every way a complete gentleman.
I write not this, for what he did to me,
[Pg16]But what mine ears, and eyes did hear andsee,
Nor do I pen this to enlarge his fame
But to make others imitate the same,
For like a trumpet were I pleased to blow,
I would his worthy worth more amply show,
But I already fear have been too bold,
And crave his pardon, me excused to hold.
Thanks to his sons and servants every one,
Both males and females all, excepting none.
To bear a letter he did me require,
Near Manchester, unto a good Esquire:
His kinsman Edmund Prestwitch, he ordained,
That I was at Manchester entertained
Two nights, and one day, ere we thence could pass,
For men and horse, roast, boiled, and oats, and grass;
This gentleman not only gave harbour,
But in the morning sent me to his barber,
Who laved, and shaved me, still I spared my purse,
Yet sure he left me many a hair the worse.
But in conclusion, when his work was ended,
His glass informed, my face was much amended.
And for the kindness he to me did show,
God grant his customers beards faster grow,
That though the time of year be dear or cheap,
From fruitful faces he may mow and reap.
Then came a smith, with shoes, and tooth and nail,
[Pg17]He searched my horse's hoofs, mending what didfail,
Yet this I note, my nag, through stones and dirt,
Did shift shoes twice, ere I did shift one shirt:
Can these kind things be in oblivion hid?
No, Master Prestwitch, this and much more did,
His friendship did command and freely gave
All before writ, and more than I durst crave.
But leaving him a little, I must tell,
How men of Manchester did use me well,
Their loves they on the tenter-hooks did rack,
Roast, boiled, baked, too—too—much, white, claret,sack,
Nothing they thought too heavy or too hot,
Can followed can, and pot succeeded pot,
That what they could do, all they thought too little,
Striving in love the traveller to whittle.
We went into the house of one John Pinners,
(A man that lives amongst a crew of sinners)
And there eight several sorts of ale we had,
All able to make one stark drunk or mad.
But I with courage bravely flinched not,
And gave the town leave to discharge the shot.
We had at one time set upon the table,
Good ale of hyssop, 'twas no Æsop-fable:
Then had we ale of sage, and ale of malt,
And ale of wormwood, that could make one halt,
With ale of rosemary, and betony,
And two ales more, or else I needs must lie.
[Pg18]But to conclude this drinking aley-tale,
We had a sort of ale, called scurvy ale.
Thus all these men, at their own charge and cost,
Did strive whose love should be expressed most,
And farther to declare their boundless loves,
They saw I wanted, and they gave me gloves,
In deed, and very deed, their loves were such,
That in their praise I cannot write too much;
They merit more than I have here compiled,
I lodged at the Eagle and the Child,
Whereas my hostess, (a good ancient woman)
Did entertain me with respect, not common.
She caused my linen, shirts, and bands be washed,
And on my way she caused me be refreshed,
She gave me twelve silk points, she gave me bacon,
Which by me much refused, at last was taken,
In troth she proved a mother unto me,
For which, I evermore will thankful be.
But when to mind these kindnesses I call,
Kind Master Prestwitch author is of all,
And yet Sir Urian Leigh's good commendation,
Was the main ground of this my recreation.
From both of them, there what I had, I had,
Or else my entertainment had been bad.
O all you worthy men of Manchester,
(True bred bloods of the County Lancaster)
When I forget what you to me have done,
Then let me headlong to confusion run.
[Pg19]To noble Master Prestwitch I must give
Thanks, upon thanks, as long as I do live,
His love was such, I ne'er can pay the score,
He far surpassed all that went before,
A horse and man he sent, with boundless bounty,
To bring me quite through Lancaster's large county,
Which I well know is fifty miles at large,
And he defrayed all the cost and charge.
This unlooked pleasure, was to me such pleasure,
That I can ne'er express my thanks with measure.
So Mistress Saracoal, hostess kind,
And Manchester with thanks I left behind.
The Wednesday being July's twenty nine,
My journey I to Preston did confine,
All the day long it rained but one shower,
Which from the morning to the evening did pour,
And I, before to Preston I could get,
Was soused, and pickled both with rain and sweat,
But there I was supplied with fire and food,
And anything I wanted sweet and good.
There, at the Hind, kind Master Hind mine host,
Kept a good table, baked and boiled, and roast,
There Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I did stay,
And hardly got from thence on Saturday.
Unto my lodging often did repair,
Kind Master Thomas Banister, the Mayor,
Who is of worship, and of good respect,
[Pg20]And in his charge discreet and circ*mspect.
For I protest to God I never saw,
A town more wisely governed by the law.
They told me when my Sovereign there was last,
That one man's rashness seemed to give distaste.
It grieved them all, but when at last they found,
His Majesty was pleased, their joys were crowned.
He knew, the fairest garden hath some weeds,
He did accept their kind intents, for deeds:
One man there was, that with his zeal too hot,
And furious haste, himself much overshot.
But what man is so foolish, that desires
To get good fruit from thistles, thorns and briars?
Thus much I thought good to demonstrate here,
Because I saw how much they grieved were;
That any way, the least part of offence,
Should make them seem offensive to their Prince.
Thus three nights was I staid and lodged in Preston,
And saw nothing ridiculous to jest on,
Much cost and charge the Mayor upon me spent,
And on my way two miles, with me he went,
There (by good chance) I did more friendship get,
The under Sheriff of Lancashire we met,
A gentleman that loved, and knew me well,
And one whose bounteous mind doth bear the bell.
There, as if I had been a noted thief,
The Mayor delivered me unto the Sheriff.
The Sheriff's authority did much prevail,
[Pg21]He sent me unto one that kept the jail.
Thus I perambuling, poor John Taylor,
Was given from Mayor to Sheriff, from Sheriff to Jailor.
The Jailor kept an inn, good beds, good cheer,
Where paying nothing, I found nothing dear,
For the under-Sheriff kind Master Covill named,
(A man for house-keeping renowed and famed)
Did cause the town of Lancashire afford
Me welcome, as if I had been a lord.
And 'tis reported, that for daily bounty,
His mate can scarce be found in all that county.
The extremes of miser, or of prodigal,
He shuns, and lives discreet and liberal,
His wife's mind, and his own are one, so fixed,
That Argus eyes could see no odds betwixt,
And sure the difference, (if there difference be)
Is who shall do most good, or he, or she.
Poor folks report, that for relieving them,
He and his wife, are each of them a gem;
At the inn, and at his house two nights I staid,
And what was to be paid, I know he paid:
If nothing of their kindness I had wrote,
Ungrateful me the world might justly note:
Had I declared all I did hear, and see,
For a great flatterer then I deemed should be,
Him and his wife, and modest daughter Bess,
With earth, and heaven's felicity, God bless.
Two days a man of his, at his command,
[Pg22]Did guide me to the midst ofWestmoreland,
And my conductor with a liberal fist,
To keep me moist, scarce any alehouse missed.
The fourth of August (weary, halt, and lame)
We in the dark, to a town called Sedbergh came,
There Master Borrowed, my kind honest host,
Upon me did bestowed unasked cost.
The next day I held on my journey still,
Six miles unto a place called Carling hill,
Where Master Edmund Branthwaite[10] doth reside,
Who made me welcome, with my man and guide.
Our entertainment, and our fare were such,
It might have satisfied our betters much;
Yet all too little was, his kind heart thought,
And five miles on my way himself me brought,
At Orton he, I, and my man did dine,
With Master Corney a good true Divine,
And surely Master Branthwaite's well beloved,
His firm integrity is much approved:
His good effects, do make him still affected
Of God and good men, (with regard) respected.
He sent his man with me, o'er dale and down,
[Pg23]Who lodged, and boarded me at Penrithtown,
And such good cheer, and bedding there I had,
That nothing, (but my weary self) was bad;
There a fresh man, (I know not for whose sake)
With me a journey would to Carlisle make:
But from that city, about two miles wide,
Good Sir John Dalston lodged me and my guide.
Of all the gentlemen in England's bounds
His house is nearest to the Scottish grounds,
And fame proclaims him, far and near, aloud,
He's free from being covetous, or proud;
His son, Sir George, most affable, and kind,
His father's image, both in form and mind,
On Saturday to Carlisle both did ride,
Where (by their loves and leaves) I did abide,
Where of good entertainment I found store,
From one that was the mayor the year before,
His name is Master Adam Robinson,
I the last English friendship with him won.
He (gratis) found a guide to bring me through,
My thanks to Sir John and Sir Geo.Dalston, with Sir Henry Curwin.From Carlisle to the cityEdinburgh:
This was a help, that was a help alone,
Of all my helps inferior unto none.
Eight miles from Carlisle runs a little river,
Which England's bounds, from Scotland's groundsdoth sever.
Without horse, bridge, or boat, I o'er did get
Over Esk I waded.[Pg 24]On foot, I went, yetscarce my shoes did wet.
I being come to this long-looked-for land,
Did mark, remark, note, renote, viewed, and scanned;
And I saw nothing that could change my will,
But that I thought myself in England still.
The kingdoms are so nearly joined and fixed,
There scarcely went a pair of shears betwixt;
There I saw sky above, and earth below,
And as in England, there the sun did show;
The hills with sheep replete, with corn the dale,
The afore-named knights had given moneyto my guide, of which he left some part at everyale-house.And many a cottage yielded goodScottish ale;
This county (Avondale) in former times,
Was the cursed climate of rebellious crimes:
For Cumberland and it, both kingdoms borders,
Were ever ordered, by their own disorders,
Some sharking, shifting, cutting throats, and thieving,
Each taking pleasure in the other's grieving;
And many times he that had wealth to-night,
Was by the morrow morning beggared quite:
Too many years this pell-mell fury lasted,
That all these borders were quite spoiled and wasted,
Confusion, hurly-burly reigned and revelled,
The churches with the lowly ground were levelled;
All memorable monuments defaced,
All places of defence o'erthrown and razed.
That whoso then did in the borders dwell,
Lived little happier than those in hell.
But since the all-disposing God of heaven,
[Pg25]Hath these two kingdoms to one monarch given,
Blest peace, and plenty on them both have showered,
Exile, and hanging hath the thieves devoured,
That now each subject may securely sleep,
His sheep and neat, the black the white doth keep,
For now those crowns are both in one combined,
Those former borders, that each one confine,
Appears to me (as I do understand)
To be almost the centre of the land,
This was a blessed heaven expounded riddle,
To thrust great kingdoms skirts into the middle.
Long may the instrumental cause survive.
From him and his, succession still derive
True heirs unto his virtues, and his throne,
That these two kingdoms ever may be one;
This county of all Scotland is most poor,
By reason of the outrages before,
Yet mighty store of corn I saw there grow,
And as good grass as ever man did mow:
And as that day I twenty miles did pass,
I saw eleven hundred neat at grass,
By which may be conjectured at the least,
That there was sustenance for man and beast.
And in the kingdom I have truly scanned,
There's many worser parts, are better manned,
For in the time that thieving was in ure,
The gentles fled to places more secure.
And left the poorer sort, to abide the pain,
[Pg26]Whilst they could ne'er find time to turnagain.
The shire of gentlemen is scarce and dainty,
Yet there's relief in great abundance plenty,
Twixt it and England, little odds I see,
They eat, and live, and strong and able be,
So much in verse, and now I'll change my style,
And seriously I'll write in prose awhile.

To the purpose then: my firstnight's lodging in Scotland was at a place calledMoffat, which they say, is thirty miles fromCarlisle, but I suppose them to be longer than forty ofsuch miles as are betwixt London and Saint Albans,(but indeed the Scots do allow almost as large measure of theirmiles, as they do of their drink, for an English gallon either ofale or wine, is but their quart, and one Scottish mile (now andthen, may well stand for a mile and a half or two English) buthowsoever short or long, I found that day's journey the weariestthat ever I footed; and at night, being come to the town, I foundgood ordinary country entertainment: my fare and my lodging wassweet and good, and might have served a far better man thanmyself, although myself have had many times better: but this isto be noted, that though it rained not all the day, yet it was myfortune to be well wet twice, for I waded over a great rivercalled Esk in the morning, somewhat more than four milesdistance from Carlisle in England, and at nightwithin two miles of my[Pg 27] lodging, I was fain to wade over theriver of Annan in Scotland, from which river thecounty of Annandale, hath its name. And whilst I waded onfoot, my man was mounted on horseback, like the Georgewithout the Dragon. But the next morning, I arose and leftMoffat behind me, and that day I travelled twenty-onemiles to a sorry village called Blythe, but I was blithemyself to come to any place of harbour or succour, for since Iwas born, I never was so weary, or so near being dead withextreme travel: I was foundered and refoundered of all four, andfor my better comfort, I came so late, that I must lodge withoutdoors all night, or else in a poor house where the good wife layin child-bed, her husband being from home, her own servant maidbeing her nurse. A creature naturally compacted, and artificiallyadorned with an incomparable homeliness: but as things were Imust either take or leave, and necessity made me enter, where wegot eggs and ale by measure and by tail. At last to bed I went,my man lying on the floor by me, where in the night there werepigeons did very bountifully mute in his face: the day being nosooner come, and having but fifteen miles to Edinburgh,mounted upon my ten toes, and began first to hobble, and after toamble, and so being warm, I fell to pace by degrees; all the waypassing through a fertile country for corn and cattle: and abouttwo of the clock in the[Pg 28] afternoon that Wednesday, beingthe thirteenth of August, and the day of Clare the Virgin(the sign being in Virgo) the moon four days old, the windat west, I came to take rest, at the wished, long expected,ancient famous city of Edinburgh, which I entered likePierce Penniless,[11] altogether moneyless, but I thank God, notfriendless; for being there, for the time of my stay, I mightborrow, (if any man would lend) spend if I could get, beg if Ihad the impudence, and steal, if I durst adventure the price of ahanging, but my purpose was to house my horse, and to suffer himand my apparel to lie in durance, or lavender instead of litter,till such time as I could meet with some valiant friend, thatwould desperately disburse.

Walking thus down the street, (mybody being tired with travel, and my mind attired with moody,muddy, Moor-ditch melancholy) my contemplation did devotely pray,that I might meet one or other to prey upon, being willing totake any slender acquaintance of any map whatsoever, viewing, andcircumviewing every man's face I met, as if I meant to draw hispicture, but all my acquaintance was Non est inventus,(pardon me, reader, that Latin is none of my own, I swear byPriscian's Pericranium, an oath which I have ignorantlybroken many times.) [Pg 29]At last I resolved, that the nextgentleman that I meet withal, should be acquaintance whether hewould or no: and presently fixing mine eyes upon a gentleman-likeobject, I looked on him, as if I would survey something throughhim, and make him my perspective: and he much musing at mygazing, and I much gazing at his musing, at last he crossed theway and made toward me, and then I made down the street from him,leaving to encounter with any man, who came after me leading myhorse, whom he thus accosted. My friend (quoth he) doth yondergentleman, (meaning me) know me, that he looks so wistly on me?Truly sir, said my man, I think not, but my master is a strangercome from London, and would gladly meet some acquaintanceto direct him where he may have lodging and horse-meat. Presentlythe gentleman, (being of a generous disposition) overtook me withunexpected and undeserved courtesy, brought me to a lodging, andcaused my horse to be put into his own stable, whilst wediscoursing over a pint of Spanish, I relate as much English tohim, as made him lend me ten shillings, (his name was MasterJohn Maxwell) which money I am sure was the first that Ihandled after I came from out the walls of London: buthaving rested two hours and refreshed myself, the gentleman and Iwalked to see the City and[Pg 30] the Castle, which as my poorunable and unworthy pen can, I will truly describe.

The Castle on a lofty rock is sostrongly grounded, bounded, and founded, that by force of man itcan never be confounded; the foundation and walls areunpenetrable, the rampiers impregnable, the bulwarks invincible,no way but one it is or can be possible to be made passable. In aword, I have seen many straits and fortresses, in Germany,the Netherlands, Spain and England, but theymust all give place to this unconquered Castle, both for strengthand situation.

Amongst the many memorable thingswhich I was shewed there, I noted especially a great piece ofordnance of iron, it is not for battery, but it will serve todefend a breach, or to toss balls of wild-fire against any thatshould assail or assault the Castle; it lies nowdismounted.[12] And it is so great within, that it was toldme that a child was once gotten there: but I, to make trial creptinto it, lying on my back, and I am sure there was room enoughand spare for a greater than myself.

So leaving the Castle, as it isboth defensive against my opposition, and magnific for lodgingand receite,[13] I descended lower to the City, wherein Iobserved the fairest and goodliest street that ever [Pg 31]mineeyes beheld, for I did never see or hear of a street of thatlength, (which is half an English mile from the Castle to a fairport which they call the Nether-Bow) and from that port,the street which they call the Kenny-gate is one quarterof a mile more, down to the King's Palace, calledHoly-rood-House, the buildings on each side of the waybeing all of squared stone, five, six, and seven stories high,and many bye-lanes and closes on each side of the way, whereinare gentlemen's houses, much fairer than the buildings in theHigh Street, for in the High Street the merchants and tradesmendo dwell, but the gentlemen's mansions and goodliest houses areobscurely founded in the aforesaid lanes: the walls are eight orten foot thick, exceeding strong, not built for a day, a week, ora month, or a year; but from antiquity to posterity, for manyages; there I found entertainment beyond my expectation or merit,and there is fish, flesh, bread and fruit, in such variety, thatI think I may offenceless call it superfluity, or satiety. Theworst was, that wine and ale was so scarce, and the people theresuch misers of it, that every night before I went to bed, if anyman had asked me a civil question, all the wit in my head couldnot have made him a sober answer.

I was at his Majesty's Palace, astately and princely seat, wherein I saw a sumptuous chapel, mostrichly adorned with all appurtenances belong[Pg 32]ing toso sacred a place, or so royal an owner. In the inner court I sawthe King's arms cunningly carved in stone, and fixed over a dooraloft on the wall, the red lion being in the crest, over whichwas written this inscription in Latin,

Nobis hæc invicta miserunt, 106 proavi.

I enquired what the English of it was? it was told me asfolloweth, which I thought worthy to be recorded.

106, forefathers have left this to usunconquered.

This is a worthy and memorable motto, and I think few kingdomsor none in the world can truly write the like, thatnotwithstanding so many inroads, incursions, attempts, assaults,civil wars, and foreign hostilities, bloody battles, and mightyfoughten fields, that maugre the strength and policy of enemies,that royal crown and sceptre hath from one hundred and sevendescents, kept still unconquered, and by the power of the King ofKings (through the grace of the Prince of Peace) is now leftpeacefully to our peaceful king, whom long in blessed peace, theGod of peace defend and govern.

But once more, a word or two ofEdinburgh, although I have scarcely given it that duewhich belongs unto it, for their lofty and stately buildings, andfor their fair and spacious street, yet my mind persuades me thatthey in former ages that first founded that city did not so wellin that they built it[Pg 33] in so discommodious a place; for thesea, and all navigable rivers being the chief means for theenriching of towns and cities, by the reason of traffic withforeign nations, with exportation, transportation, and receite ofvariety of merchandizing; so this city had it been built but onemile lower on the seaside, I doubt not but it had long beforethis been comparable to many a one of our greatest towns andcities in Europe, both for spaciousness of bounds, port,state, and riches. It is said, that King James the fifth(of famous memory) did graciously offer to purchase for them, andto bestow upon them freely, certain low and pleasant grounds amile from them on the seashore, with these conditions, that theyshould pull down their city, and build it in that more commodiousplace, but the citizens refused it; and so now it is like (forme), to stand where it doth, for I doubt such another proffer ofremoval will not be presented to them, till two days after thefair.

Now have with you forLeith, whereto I no sooner came, but I was wellentertained by Master Barnard Lindsay, one of the groomsof his Majesties bed-chamber, he knew my estate was not guilty,because I brought guilt with me (more than my sins, and theywould not pass for current there) he therefore did replenish thevaustity[14] of my empty[Pg34]purse, and discharged a piece at me with twobullets of gold, each being in value worth eleven shillings whitemoney; and I was creditably informed, that within the compass ofone year, there was shipped away from that only port ofLeith, fourscore thousand boles of wheat, oats, and barleyinto Spain, France, and other foreign parts, andevery bole contains the measure of four English bushels, so thatfrom Leith only hath been transported three hundred andtwenty thousand bushels of corn; besides some hath been shippedaway from Saint Andrews, from Dundee,Aberdeen, Dysart, Kirkaldy, Kinghorn,Burntisland, Dunbar, and other portable towns,which makes me to wonder that a kingdom so populous as it is,should nevertheless sell so much bread-corn beyond the seas, andyet to have more than sufficient for themselves.

So I having viewed the haven andtown of Leith, took a passage boat to see the new wondrousWell,[15] to which many a onethat is not well, comes far and near in hope to be made well:indeed I did hear that it had done much good, and that it hath arare operation to expel or kill divers maladies; as to provokeappetite, to help much for the avoiding of the gravel in thebladder, to cure sore eyes, and old ulcers, with many othervirtues which it hath, but I (through the mercy of God, havingno[Pg35] need of it, did make no great inquisition what ithad done, but for novelty I drank of it, and I found the taste tobe more pleasant than any other water, sweet almost as milk, yetas clear as crystal, and I did observe that though a man diddrink a quart, a pottle, or as much as his belly could contain,yet it never offended or lay heavy upon the stomach, no more thanif one had drank but a pint or a small quantity.

I went two miles from it to a towncalled Burntisland, where I found many of my especial goodfriends, as Master Robert Hay, one of the Grooms of hisMajesty's Bed-chamber, Master David Drummond, one of hisGentlemens-Pensioners, Master James Acmootye, one of theGrooms of the Privy Chamber, Captain Murray, Sir HenryWitherington Knight, Captain Tyrie, and divers others:and there Master Hay, Master Drummond, and the goodold Captain Murray did very bountifully furnish me withgold for my expenses, but I being at dinner with those aforesaidgentlemen, as we were discoursing, there befel a strangeaccident, which I think worth the relating.

I know not upon what occasion theybegan to talk of being at sea in former times, and I (amongst therest) said, I was at the taking of Cadiz; whereto anEnglish gentleman replied, that he was the next good voyage afterat the Islands: I answered him[Pg 36] that I was there also.He demanded in what ship I was? I told him in the Rainbow of theQueens: why (quoth he) do you not know me? I was in the sameship, and my name is Witherington.

Sir, said I, I do remember thename well, but by reason that it is near two and twenty yearssince I saw you, I may well forget the knowledge of you. Wellsaid he, if you were in that ship, I pray you tell me someremarkable token that happened in the voyage, whereupon I toldhim two or three tokens; which he did know to be true. Nay then,said I, I will tell you another which (perhaps) you have notforgotten; as our ship and the rest of the fleet did ride atanchor at the Isle of Flores (one of the Isles of theAzores) there were some fourteen men and boys of our ship,that for novelty would go ashore, and see what fruit the islanddid bear, and what entertainment it would yield us; so beinglanded, we went up and down and could find nothing but stones,heath and moss, and we expected oranges, lemons, figs,muskmellions, and potatoes; inthe mean space the wind did blow so stiff, and the sea was soextreme rough, that our ship-boat could not come to the land tofetch us, for fear she should be beaten in pieces against therocks; this continued five days, so that we were almost famishedfor want of food: but at last (I squandering up and down) by theprovidence[Pg 37] of God I happened into a cave orpoor habitation, where I found fifteen loaves of bread, each ofthe quantity of a penny loaf in England, I having avaliant stomach of the age of almost of a hundred and twentyhours breeding, fell to, and ate two loaves and never said grace:and as I was about to make a horse-loaf of the third loaf, I didput twelve of them into my breeches, and my sleeves, and so wentmumbling out of the cave, leaning my back against a tree, whenupon the sudden a gentleman came to me, and said, "Friend, whatare you eating?" "Bread," (quoth I,) "For God's sake," said he,"give me some." With that, I put my hand into my breech, (beingmy best pantry) and I gave him a loaf, which he received withmany thanks, and said, that if ever he could requit it, hewould.

I had no sooner told this tale,but Sir Henry Witherington did acknowledge himself to bethe man that I had given the loaf unto two and twenty yearsbefore, where I found the proverb true, that men have moreprivilege than mountains in meeting.

In what great measure he didrequite so small a courtesy, I will relate in this followingdiscourse in my return through Northumberland: so leavingmy man at the town of Burntisland, I told him, I would butgo to Stirling, and see the Castle there, and withal tosee my honourable friends the Earl of[Pg 38]Mar, and Sir William Murray Knight, Lord ofAbercairney, and that I would return within two days atthe most: but it fell out quite contrary; for it was and five andthirty days before I could get back again out of these noblemen's company. The whole progress of my travel with them, and thecause of my stay I cannot with gratefulness omit; and thus itwas.

A worthy gentleman named MasterJohn Fenton, did bring me on my way six miles toDunfermline, where I was well entertained, and lodged atMaster John Gibb his house, one of the Grooms of hisMajesty's Bed-chamber, and I think the oldest servant the Kinghath: withal, I was well entertained there by MasterCrighton at his own house, who went with me, and shewed methe Queens Palace; (a delicate and Princely Mansion) withal I sawthe ruins of an ancient and stately built Abbey, with fairgardens, orchards, meadows belonging to the Palace: all whichwith fair and goodly revenues by the suppression of the Abbey,were annexed to the crown. There also I saw a very fair church,which though it be now very large and spacious, yet it hath informer times been much larger. But I taking my leave ofDunfermline, would needs go and see the truly noble KnightSir George Bruce, at a town called the Culross:there he made me right welcome, both with variety of fare, andafter[Pg39] all, he commanded three of his men to direct me tosee his most admirable coal mines; which (if man can or couldwork wonders) is a wonder; for myself neither in any travels thatI have been in, nor any history that I have read, or anydiscourse that I have heard, did never see, read, or hear of anywork of man that might parallel or be equivalent with thisunfellowed and unmatchable work: and though all I can say of it,cannot describe it according to the worthiness of his vigilantindustry, that was both the occasion, inventor, and maintainer ofit: yet rather than the memory of so rare an enterprise, and soaccomplished a profit to the commonwealth shall be raked andsmothered in the dust of oblivion, I will give a little touch atthe description of it, although I amongst writers, am like hethat worse may hold the candle.

The mine hath two ways into it,the one by sea and the other by land; but a man may go into it byland, and return the same way if he please, and so he may enterinto it by sea, and by sea he may come forth of it: but I forvariety's sake went in by sea, and out by land. Now men mayobject, how can a man go into a mine, the entrance of it beinginto the sea, but that the sea will follow him, and so drown themine? To which objection thus I answer, that at low water mark,the sea being ebbed away, and a great part of the sand bare; uponthis[Pg40]

same sand (being mixed with rocks and crags) did the master ofthis great work build a round circular frame of stone, verythick, strong, and joined together with glutinous or bituminousmatter, so high withal that the sea at the highest flood, or thegreatest rage of storm or tempest, can neither dissolve thestones so well compacted in the building or yet overflow theheight of it. Within this round frame, (at all adventures) he didset workmen to dig with mattocks, pickaxes, and other instrumentsfit for such purposes. They did dig forty feet down right intoand through a rock. At last they found that which they expected,which was sea coal, they following the vein of the mine, did digforward still: so that in the space of eight and twenty, or nineand twenty years, they have digged morethan an English mile under the sea, so that when men are at workbelow, an hundred of the greatest ships in

Britain

mansail over their heads. Besides, the mine is most artificially cutlike an arch or a vault, all that great length, with many nooksand bye-ways: and it is so made, that a man may walk upright inthe most places, both in and out. Many poor people are there seton work, which otherwise through the want of employment wouldperish. But when I had seen the mine, and was come forth of itagain; after my thanks given to Sir

George Bruce

, I toldhim, that if the plotters of the

[Pg41]

Powder Treason in England had seen this mine, that they (perhaps)would have attempted to have left the Parliament House, and haveundermined the Thames, and so to have blown up the barges andwherries, wherein the King, and all the estates of our kingdomwere. Moreover, I said, that I couldafford to turn tapster at

London

, so that I had but

one quarter of a mile of his mineto make me

a cellar, to keep beer andbottled ale

in. But leaving these jestsin

prose, I will relate afew

verses that Imade

merrily of this

mine.

that have wasted, months, weeks,days, and hours

In viewing kingdoms, countries, towns, and towers,

Without all measure, measuring many paces,

And with my pen describing many places,

With few additions of mine own devising,

(Because I have a smack of

Coryatizing

)

Our

Mandeville

,

Primaleon

,

DonQuixote

,

Great

Amadis

, or

Huon

, travelled not

As I have done, or been where I have been,

Or heard and seen, what I have heard and seen;

Nor Britain's

Odcombe

(

Zany

brave

Ulysses

)

In all his ambling, saw the like as this is.

I was in (would I could describe it well)

A dark, light, pleasant, profitable hell,

And as by water I was wafted in,

I thought that I in

Charon's

boat had been,

But being at the entrance landed thus,

Three men there (instead of

Cerberus

)

Convey'd me in, in each one hand a light

To guide us in that vault of endless night,

There young and old with glim'ring candles burning

Dig, delve, and labour, turning and returning,

Some in a hole with baskets and with bags,

Resembling furies, or infernal hags:

There one like

Tantalus

feeding, and there one,

Like

Sisyphus

he rolls the restless stone.

Yet all I saw was pleasure mixed with profit,

Which proved it to be no tormenting Tophet

For in this honest, worthy, harmless hell,

There ne'er did any damned Devil dwell;

And th' owner of it gains by 't more true glory,

Than

Rome

doth by fantastic Purgatory.

A long mile thus I passed, down, down, steep, steep,

In deepness far more deep, than

Neptunes

deep,

Whilst o'er my head (in fourfold stories high)

Was earth, and sea, and air, and sun, and sky:

That had I died in that

Cimmerian

room,

Four elements had covered o'er my tomb:

Thus farther than the bottom did I go,

(And many Englishmen have not done so;)

Where mounting porpoises, and mountain whales,

And regiments of fish with fins and scales,

'Twixt me and heaven did freely glide and slide,

And where great ships may at an anchor ride:

Thus in by sea, and out by land I past,

And took my leave of good Sir

George

at last.

The sea at certain places dothleak, or soak into the mine, which by the industry of SirGeorge Bruce, is all conveyed to one well near the land;where he hath a device like a horse-mill, that with three horsesand a great chain of iron, going downward many fathoms, withthirty-six buckets fastened [Pg 44]to the chain, of thewhich eighteen go down still to be filled, and eighteen ascend upto be emptied, which do empty themselves (without any man'slabour) into a trough that conveys the water into the sea again;by which means he saves his mine, which otherwise would bedestroyed with the sea, besides he doth make every week ninety ora hundred tons of salt, which doth serve most part ofScotland, some he sends into England, and very muchinto Germany: all which shows the painful industry withGod's blessings to such worthy endeavours: I must with manythanks remember his courtesy to me, and lastly how he sent hisman to guide me ten miles on the way to Stirling, where bythe way I saw the outside of a fair and stately house calledAllaway, belonging to the Earl of Mar which byreason that his honour was not there, I past by and went toStirling, where I was entertained and lodged at one MasterJohn Archibalds, where all my want was that I wanted roomto contain half the good cheer that I might have had there! hehad me into the castle, which in few words I do compare toWindsor for situation, much more than Windsor instrength, and somewhat less in greatness: yet I dare affirm thathis Majesty hath not such another hall to any house that he hathneither in England or Scotland, except WestminsterHall which is now no dwelling hall[Pg 45] for a prince, beinglong since metamorphosed into a house for the law and theprofits.

This goodly hall was built by KingJames the fourth, that married King Henry theEight's sister, and after was slain at Flodden field; butit surpasses all the halls for dwelling houses that ever I saw,for length, breadth, height and strength of building, the castleis built upon a rock very lofty, and much beyond EdinburghCastle in state and magnificence, and not much inferior to it instrength, the rooms of it are lofty, with carved works on theceilings, the doors of each room being so high, that a man mayride upright on horseback into any chamber or lodging. There isalso a goodly fair chapel, with cellars, stables, and all othernecessary offices, all very stately and befitting the majesty ofa king.

From Stirling I rode toSaint Johnstone,[19] a fine town it is, but it is much decayed, byreason of the want of his Majesty's yearly coming to lodge there.There I lodged one night at an inn, the goodman of the house hisname being Patrick Pitcairne, where my entertainment waswith good cheer, good lodging, all too good to a bad weary guest.Mine host told me that the Earl of Mar, and Sir WilliamMurray of Abercairney were gone to the great huntingto the Brae of Mar[20]; but if[Pg 46] I made haste I mightperhaps find them at a town called Brekin, orBrechin, two and thirty miles from Saint Johnstonewhereupon I took a guide to Brechin the next day, butbefore I came, my lord was gone from thence four days.

Then I took another guide, whichbrought me such strange ways over mountains and rocks, that Ithink my horse never went the like; and I am sure I never saw anyways that might fellow them I did go through a country calledGlen Esk, where passing by the side of a hill, so steep asthe ridge of a house, where the way was rocky, and not above ayard broad in some places, so fearful and horrid it was to lookdown into the bottom, for if either horse or man had slipped, hehad fallen without recovery a good miledownright; but I thank God, at night I came to a lodging in theLaird of Edzell's land, where I lay at an Irish house, thefolks not being able to speak scarce any English, but I suppedand went to bed, where I had not laid long, but I was enforced torise, I was so stung with Irish mosquitoes, a creature that hathsix legs, and lives like a monster altogether upon man's flesh,they do inhabit and breed most in slu*ttish houses, and this housewas none of the cleanest, the beast is much like a louse inEngland, both in shape and nature; in a word, they were tome the A. and the Z. the prologue and the epilogue,the[Pg47] first and the last that I had in all my travelsfrom Edinburgh; and had not this Highland Irish househelped me at a pinch, I should have sworn that allScotland had not been so kind as to have bestowed a louseupon me: but with a shift that I had, I shifted off my cannibals,and was never more troubled with them.

The next day I travelled over anexceeding high mountain, called mount Skene, where I foundthe valley very warm before I went up it; but when I came to thetop of it, my teeth began to dance in my head with cold, likeVirginal's jacks;[21] and withal, a most familiar mist embraced meround, that I could not see thrice my length any way: withal, ityielded so friendly a dew, that did moisten through all myclothes: where the old Proverb of a Scottish mist was verified,in wetting me to the skin. Up and down, I think this hill is sixmiles, the way so uneven, stony, and full of bogs, quagmires, andlong heath, that a dog with three legs will out-run a horse withfour; for do what we could, we were four hours before we couldpass it.

Thus with extreme travel,ascending and descending, mounting and alighting, I came at nightto the place where I would be, in the Brae of Mar, whichis a large county, all composed of such mountains, that Shooter'sHill, Gad's Hill, Highgate [Pg 48]Hill, Hampstead Hill,Birdlip Hill, or Malvern's Hills, are but mole-hills incomparison, or like a liver, or a gizardunder a capon's wing, in respect of the altitude of their tops,or perpendicularity of their bottoms. There I saw Mount BenAven, with a furred mist upon his snowy head instead of anight-cap: (for you must understand, that the oldest man alivenever saw but the snow was on the top of divers of those hills,both in summer, as well as in winter.) There did I find the trulyNoble and Right Honourable Lords John Erskine Earl of Mar,James Stuart Earl of Murray, George Gordon Earl ofEnzie, son and heir to the Marquess of Huntly, JamesErskine Earl of Buchan, and John Lord Erskine,son and heir to the Earl of Mar, and their Countesses, with mymuch honoured, and my best assured and approved friend, SirWilliam Murray Knight, of Abercairney, and hundredof others Knights, Esquires, and their followers; all and everyman in general in one habit, as if Lycurgus had beenthere, and made laws of equality: for once in the year, which isthe whole month of August, and sometimes part of September, manyof the nobility and gentry of the kingdom (for their pleasure) docome into these Highland Countries to hunt, where they do conformthemselves to the habit of the Highland men, who for the mostpart speak nothing but Irish;[Pg 49] and in former time werethose people which were called the Red-shanks.[22] Their habit is shoeswith but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose)made of a warm stuff of divers colours, which they call tartan:as for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers never woreany, but a jerkin of the same stuff that their hose is of, theirgarters being bands or wreaths of hay or straw, with a plaidabout their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, ofmuch finer and lighter stuff than their hose, with blue flat capson their heads, a handkerchief knit with two knots about theirneck; and thus are they attired. Now their weapons are long bowsand forked arrows, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets,dirks, and Lochaber axes. With these arms I found many of themarmed for the hunting. As for their attire, any man of whatdegree soever that comes amongst them, must not disdain to wearit; for if they do, then they will disdain to hunt, or willingly,to bring in their dogs: but if men be kind unto them, and be intheir habit; then are they conquered with kindness, and the sportwill be plentiful. This was the reason that I found so[Pg50]many noblemen and gentlemen in those shapes. But toproceed to the hunting.

My good Lord of Mar havingput me into that shape,[23] I rode with him from his house, where I sawthe ruins of an old castle, called the castle ofKindroghit [Castletown]. It was built by King MalcolmCanmore (for a hunting house) who reigned in Scotlandwhen Edward the Confessor, Harold, and NormanWilliam reigned in England: I speak of it, becauseit was the last house that I saw in those parts; for I was thespace of twelve days after, before I saw either house, cornfield, or habitation for any creature, but deer, wild horses,wolves, and such like creatures, which made me doubt that Ishould never have seen a house again.[24]

Thus the first day we travelledeight miles, where there small cottages built on purpose to lodgein, which they call Lonchards, I thank my good LordErskine, he commanded that I should always be lodged inhis lodging, the kitchen being always on the side of a bank, manykettles and pots boiling, and many spits turning and winding,with great variety of cheer: as venison baked, sodden, roast, andstewed beef, mutton, goats, kid, hares, fresh salmon, pigeons,hens, capons, chickens, partridge, moor-coots, heath-co*cks,capercailzies, and [Pg 51]termagants [ptarmigans]; good ale,sack, white, and claret, tent, (or Alicante) with most potentAquavitæ.

All these, and more than these wehad continually, in superfluous abundance, caught by Falconers,Fowlers, Fishers, and brought by my Lord's tenants and purveyorsto victual our camp, which consisted of fourteen or fifteenhundred men and horses; the manner of the hunting is this: fiveor six hundred men do rise early in the morning, and they dodisperse themselves divers ways, and seven, eight, or ten milescompass, they do bring or chase in the deer in many herds, (two,three, or four hundred in a herd) to such or such a place, as theNobleman shall appoint them; then when day is come, the Lords andgentlemen of their companies, do ride or go to the said places,sometimes wading up to their middles through bournes and rivers:and then: they being come to the place, do lie down on theground, till those foresaid scouts which are called the Tinchel,do bring down the deer: but as the proverb says of a bad cook, sothese Tinchel-men do lick their own fingers; for besides theirbows and arrows, which they carry with them, we can hear now andthen a harquebuss or a musket go off, which they do seldomdischarge in vain: Then after we had stayed there three hours orthereabouts, we might perceive the deer appear on the hills roundabout us, (their heads making a show like[Pg 52] awood) which being followed close by the Tinchel, are chased downinto the valley where we lay; then all the valley on each sidebeing waylaid with a hundred couple of strong Irish greyhounds,they are let loose as the occasion serves upon the herd of deer,so that with dogs, guns, arrows, dirks, and daggers, in the spaceof two hours, fourscore fat deer were slain, which after aredisposed of some one way, and some another, twenty and thirtymiles, and more than enough left for us to make merry withal atour rendezvous. I liked the sport so well, that I made these twosonnets following.

hy should I waste invention toindite,

Ovidian

fictions, or Olympian games?

My misty Muse enlightened with more light,

To a more noble pitch her aim she frames.

I must relate to my great Master

James

,

The Caledonian annual peaceful war;

How noble minds do eternize their fames,

By martial meeting in the Brae of

Mar

:

How thousand gallant spirits came near and far,

With swords and targets, arrows, bows, and guns,

That all the troop to men of judgment, are

The God of Wars great never conquered sons,

The sport is manly, yet none bleed but beasts,

And last the victor on the vanquished feasts.

f sport like this can on themountains be,

Where

Phœbus

flames can never melt the snow;

Then let who list delight in vales below,

Sky-kissing mountains pleasure are for me:

What braver object can man's eyesight see,

Than noble, worshipful, and worthy wights,

As if they were prepared for sundry fights,

Yet all in sweet society agree?

Through heather, moss, 'mongst frogs, and bogs, and fogs,

'Mongst craggy cliffs, and thunder-battered hills,

Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs,

Where two hours hunting fourscore fat deer kills.

Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat,

The Highland games and minds, are high and great.

Being come to our lodgings, therewas such baking, boiling, roasting, and stewing, as if CookRuffian had been there to have scalded the devil in his feathers:and after supper a fire of fir-wood as high as an indifferentMay-pole: for I assure you, that the Earl of Mar will giveany man that is his friend, for thanks, as many fir trees (thatare as good as any ship's masts in England) as are worth if theywere in any place near the Thames, or[Pg 54] anyother portable river) the best earldom in England or Scotlandeither: For I dare affirm, he hath as many growing there, aswould serve for masts (from this time to the end of the world)for all the ships, caracks, hoys, galleys, boats, drumlers,barks, and water-crafts, that are now, or can be in the worldthese forty years.

This sounds like a lie to anunbeliever; but I and many thousands do know that I speak withinthe compass of truth: for indeed (the more is the pity) they dogrow so far from any passage of water, and withal in such rockymountains, that no way to convey them is possible to be passable,either with boat, horse, or cart.

Thus having spent certain days inhunting in the Brae of Mar, we went to the next countycalled Badenoch, belonging to the Earl of Enzie,where having such sport and entertainment as we formerly had;after four or five days pastime, we took leave of hunting forthat year; and took our journey toward a strong house of theEarl's, called Ruthven in Badenoch, where my Lordof Enzie and his noble Countess (being daughter to theEarl of Argyle) did give us most noble welcome threedays.

From thence we went to a placecalled Balloch Castle,[25] a fair and stately house, a worthy gentlemanbeing the owner of it, called the Laird of Grant;[Pg55]his wife being a gentlewoman honourably descendedbeing sister to the right Honourable Earl of Athol, and toSir Patrick Murray Knight; she being both inwardly andoutwardly plentifully adorned with the gifts of grace and nature:so that our cheer was more than sufficient; and yet much lessthan they could afford us. There stayed there four days, fourEarls, one Lord, divers Knights and Gentlemen, and theirservants, footmen and horses; and every meal four long tablesfurnished with all varieties: our first and second course beingthree score dishes at one board; and after that always a banquet:and there if I had not forsworn wine till I came toEdinburgh I think I had there drunk my last.

The fifth day with much ado wegate from thence to Tarnaway, a goodly house of the Earlof Murrays,[26] where that Right Honourable Lord and his Ladydid welcome us four days more. There was good cheer in allvariety, with somewhat more than plenty for advantage: for indeedthe County of Murray is the most pleasantest and plentifulcountry in all Scotland; being plain land, that a coachmay be driven more than four and thirty miles one way in it,alongst by the sea-coast.

From thence I went to Elginin Murray,[27] an ancient City, where there stood a fair andbeautiful church with three steeples, the walls of it and the[Pg56]steeples all yet standing; but the roofs, windows,and many marble monuments and tombs of honourable and worthypersonages all broken and defaced: this was done in the time whenruin bare rule, and Knox knocked down churches.

From Elgin we went to theBishop of Murray his house which is called Spiny,or Spinay: a Reverend Gentleman he is, of the noble nameof Douglas, where we were very well welcomed, as befittedthe honour of himself and his guests.

From thence we departed to theLord Marquess of Huntlys to a sumptuous house of his,named the Bog of Geethe, where our entertainment was likehimself, free, bountiful and honourable. There (after two daysstay) with much entreaty and earnest suit, I gate leave of theLords to depart towards Edinburgh: the Noble Marquess, theEarl of Mar, Murray, Enzie, Buchan,and the Lord Erskine; all these, I thank them, gave megold to defray my charges in my journey.

So after five and thirty dayshunting and travel I returning, past by another stately mansionof the Lord Marquesses, called Stroboggy, and so overCarny mount to Brechin, where a wench that was borndeaf and dumb came into my chamber at midnight (I being asleep)and she opening the bed, would feign have lodged with me: but hadI been a Sardanapalus, or a Heliogabulus, I thinkthat[Pg57] either the great travel over the mountains hadtamed me; or if not, her beauty could never have moved me. Thebest parts of her were, that her breath was as sweet assugar-candian,[28] being very well shouldered beneath the waste;and as my hostess told me the next morning, that she had changedher maiden-head for the price of a bastard not long before. Buthowsoever, she made such a hideous noise, that I started out ofmy sleep, and thought that the Devil had been there: but I nosooner knew who it was, but I arose, and thrust my dumb beast outof my chamber; and for want of a lock or a latch, I staked up mydoor with a great chair.

Thus having escaped one of theseven deadly sins as at Brechin, I departed from thence toa town called Forfor; and from thence to Dundee,and so to Kinghorn, Burntisland, and so toEdinburgh, where I stayed eight days, to recover myself offalls and bruises, which I received in my travel in the Highlandmountainous hunting. Great welcome I had showed me all my stay atEdinburgh, by many worthy gentlemen, namely, old MasterGeorge Todrigg, Master Henry Livingston, MasterJames Henderson, Master John Maxwell, and a numberof others, who suffered me to want no wine or good cheer, as maybe imagined.

[Pg58]

Now the day before I came fromEdinburgh, I went to Leith, where I found my longapproved and assured good friend Master Benjamin Jonson,at one Master John Stuarts house; I thank him for hisgreat kindness towards me: for at my taking leave of him, he gaveme a piece of gold of two and twenty shillings[29] to drink his healthin England. [Pg 59]And withal, willed me to remember hiskind commendations to all his friends: So with a friendlyfarewell, I left him as well, as I hope never to see him in aworse estate: for he is amongst noblemen and gentlemen that knowhis true worth, and their own honours, where, with muchrespective love he is worthily entertained.

So leaving Leith I returnedto Edinburgh, and within the port or gate, called theNether-Bow, I discharged my pockets of all the money Ihad: and as I came pennyless within the walls of that city at myfirst coming thither; so now at my departing from thence, I camemoneyless out of it again; having in company to convey me out,certain gentlemen, amongst the which Master JamesAcherson, Laird of Gasford, a gentleman that broughtme to his [Pg 60]house, where with great entertainmenthe and his good wife did welcome me.

On the morrow he sent one of hismen to bring me to a place called Adam, to Master JohnAcmootye his house, one of the Grooms of his Majesty'sBed-chamber; where with him and his two brethren, MasterAlexander, and Master James Acmootye, I found bothcheer and welcome, not inferior to any that I had had in anyformer place.

Amongst our viands that we hadthere, I must not forget the Sole and Goose (sic), a mostdelicate fowl, which breeds in great abundance in a little rockcalled the Bass, which stands two miles into the sea. Itis very good flesh, but it is eaten in the form as we eatoysters, standing at a side-board, a little before dinner,unsanctified without grace; and after it is eaten, it must bewell liquored with two or three good rouses[30] of sherry or canarysack. The Lord or owner of the Bass doth profit at theleast two hundred pound yearly by those geese; the Bassitself being of a great height, and near three quarters of a milein compass, all fully replenished with wild fowl, having but onesmall entrance into it, with a house, a garden, and a chapel init; and on the top of it a well of pure fresh water.

From Adam, MasterJohn and Master James Acmootye went to the town ofDunbar with me, [Pg 61]where ten Scottish pints of winewere consumed, and brought to nothing for a farewell: there atMaster James Baylies house I took leave, and MasterJames Acmootye coming for England, said, that if Iwould ride with, that neither I nor my horse should want betwixtthat place and London. Now I having no money nor means fortravel, began at once to examine my manners and my want: at lastmy want persuaded my manners to accept of this worthy gentleman'sundeserved courtesy. So that night he brought me to a placecalled co*ckburnspath, where we lodged at an inn, the likeof which I dare say, is not in any of his Majesty's Dominions.And for to show my thankfulness to Master William Arnotand his wife, the owners thereof, I must explain their bountifulentertainment of guests, which is this:

Suppose ten, fifteen, or twentymen and horses come to lodge at their house, the men shall haveflesh, tame and wild fowl, fish with all variety of good cheer,good lodging, and welcome; and the horses shall want neither hayor provender: and at the morning at their departure the reckoningis just nothing. This is this worthy gentlemen's use, his chiefdelight being only to give strangers entertainment gratis:and I am sure, that in Scotland beyond Edinburgh, Ihave been at houses like[Pg 62] castles for building; the masterof the house his beaver being his blue bonnet, one that will wearno other shirts, but of the flax that grows on his own ground,and of his wife's, daughters', or servants' spinning; that hathhis stockings, hose, and jerkin of the wool of his own sheep'sbacks; that never (by his pride of apparel) caused mercer,draper, silk-man, embroiderer, or haberdasher to break and turnbankrupt: and yet this plain home-spun fellow keeps and maintainsthirty, forty, fifty servants, or perhaps, more, every dayrelieving three or fourscore poor people at his gate; and besidesall this, can give noble entertainment for four or five daystogether to five or six earls and lords, besides knights,gentlemen and their followers, if they be three or four hundredmen, and horse of them, where they shall not only feed but feast,and not feast but banquet, this is a man that desires to knownothing so much, as his duty to God and his King, whose greatestcares are to practise the works of piety, charity, andhospitality: he never studies the consuming art of fashionlessfashions, he never tries his strength to bear four or fivehundred acres on his back at once, his legs are always atliberty, not being fettered with golden garters, and manacledwith artificial roses, whose weight (sometime) is the lastreliques of some decayed Lordship: Many of these[Pg 63]worthy housekeepers there are in Scotland, amongst some ofthem I was entertained; from whence I did truly gather theseaforesaid observations.

So leaving co*ckburnspath,we rode to Berwick, where the worthy old Soldier andancient Knight, Sir William Bowyer, made me welcome, butcontrary to his will, we lodged at an Inn, where Master JamesAcmootye paid all charges: but at Berwick there was agrievous chance happened, which I think not fit the relation tobe omitted.

In the river of Tweed,which runs by Berwick, are taken by fishermen that dwellthere, infinite numbers of fresh salmons, so that many householdsand families are relieved by the profit of that fishing; but (howlong since I know not) there was an order that no man or boywhatsoever should fish upon a Sunday: this order continued longamongst them, till some eight or nine weeks before Michaelmaslast, on a Sunday, the salmons played in such great abundance inthe river, that some of the fishermen (contrary to God's law andtheir own order) took boats and nets and fished, and caught nearthree hundred salmons; but from that time until Michaelmas daythat I was there, which was nine weeks, and heard the report ofit, and saw the poor people's miserable lamentations, they hadnot seen one salmon in the river; and some of them were indespair that they should never see any more there; affirmingit[Pg64] to be God's judgment upon them for the profanationof the Sabbath.

The thirtieth of September we rodefrom Berwick to Belford from Belford toAlnwick, the next day from Alnwick toNewcastle, where I found the noble Knight, Sir HenryWitherington; who, because I would have no gold nor silver,gave me a bay mare, in requital of a loaf of bread that I hadgiven him two and twenty years before, at the Island ofFlores, of the which I have spoken before. I overtook atNewcastle a great many of my worthy friends, which wereall coming for London, namely, Master Robert Hay,and Master David Drummond, where I was welcomed at MasterNicholas Tempests house. From Newcastle I rode withthose gentlemen to Durham, to Darlington, toNorthallerton, and to Topcliffe inYorkshire, where I took my leave of them, and would needstry my pennyless fortunes by myself, and see the city ofYork, where I was lodged at my right worshipful goodfriend, Master Doctor Hudson one of his Majesty'schaplains, who went with me, and shewed me the goodly MinsterChurch there, and the most admirable, rare-wrought,unfellowed[31] chapter house.

From York I rode toDoncaster, where my horses were well fed at the Bear, butmyself found out the honorable Knight, Sir RobertAnstruther at his [Pg 65]father-in-law's, the truly noble SirRobert Swifts house, he being then High Sheriff ofYorkshire, where with their good Ladies, and the rightHonourable the Lord Sanquhar, I was stayed two nights andone day, Sir Robert Anstruther (I thank him) not onlypaying for my two horses' meat, but at my departure, he gave me aletter to Newark upon Trent, twenty eight miles inmy way, where Master George Atkinson mine host made me aswelcome, as if I had been a French Lord, and what was to be paid,as I called for nothing, I paid as much; and left the reckoningwith many thanks to Sir Robert Anstruther.

So leaving Newark, withanother gentleman that overtook me, we came at night toStamford, to the sign of the Virginity (or the Maidenhead)where I delivered a letter from the Lord Sanquhar; whichcaused Master Bates and his wife, being the master andmistress of the house, to make me and the gentleman that was withme great cheer for nothing.

From Stamford the next daywe rode to Huntington, where we lodged at the Postmaster'shouse, at the sign of the Crown; his name is Riggs. He wasinformed who I was, and wherefore I undertook this my pennylessprogress: wherefore he came up to our chamber, and supped withus, and very bountifully called for three quarts of wine andsugar, and four jugs of beer. He did drink and[Pg 66] beginhealths like a horse-leech and swallowed down his cups withoutfeeling, as if he had had the dropsy, or nine pound of sponge inhis maw. In a word, as he is a post, he drank post, striving andcalling by all means to make the reckoning great, or to make usmen of great reckoning. But in his payment he was tired like ajade, leaving the gentleman that was with me to discharge theterrible shot, or else one of my horses must have lain in pawnfor his superfluous calling, and unmannerly intrusion.

But leaving him, I leftHuntington, and rode on the Sunday to Puckeridge,where Master Holland at the Falcon, (mine oldacquaintance) and my loving and ancient host gave me, my friend,my man, and our horses excellent cheer, and welcome, and I paidhim with, not a penny of money.

The next day I came toLondon, and obscurely coming within Moorgate, I went to ahouse and borrowed money: and so I stole back again toIslington, to the sign of the Maidenhead,[32] staying tillWednesday, that my friends came to meet me, who knew no other,but that Wednesday was my [Pg 67]first coming; where with all loveI was entertained with much good cheer: and after supper we had aplay of the Life and Death of Guy of Warwick,[33] played by the RightHonourable the Earl of Derby his men. And so on theThursday morning being the fifteenth of October, I came home tomy house in London.

THE EPILOGUE TO ALL MY ADVENTURERS
AND OTHERS.

hus did I neither spend, or beg,or ask,

By any course, direct or indirectly:

But in each tittle I performed my task,

According to my bill most circ*mspectly.

I vow to God, I have done

Scotland

wrong,

(And (justly) against me it may bring an action)

I have not given it that right which doth belong,

For which I am half guilty of detraction:

Yet had I wrote all things that there I saw,

Misjudging censures would suppose I flatter,

And so my name I should in question draw,

Where asses bray, and prattling pies do chatter:

Yet (armed with truth) I publish with my pen,

That there the Almighty doth his blessings heap,

In such abundant food for beasts and men;

That I ne'er saw more plenty or more cheap.

Thus what mine eyes did see, I do believe;

And what I do believe, I know is true:

And what is true unto your hands I give,

That what I give, may be believed of you.

But as for him that says I lie or dote,

I do return, and turn the lie in's throat.

Thus gentlemen, amongst you takemy ware,

You share my thanks, and I yourmoneys share.

Yours in allobservance and gratefulness,

ever to becommanded,

JohnTaylor.

FINIS.