ANECDOTES OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF LONDON FROM THE ROMAN INVASION TO THE YEAR 1700; INCLUDING The Origin of British Society, Customs and Manners, With a general Sketch of the State of Religion, Superstition, Dresses, TO WHICH ARE ADDED, Illustrations of the Changes in our Language, Literary Customs, ILLUSTRATED BY EIGHTEEN ENGRAVINGS. BY JAMES PELLER MALCOLM, F. A. S. AUTHOR OF LONDINIUM REDIVIVUM;" AND OF ANECDOTES OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF LONDON THE SECOND EDITION. VOLUME III. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, 1811. CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUM E. VI. Illustrations of the Changes in our Language, Literary Customs, and Im- Decollation of John Baptist.... 446846 .28 UNE OF CHAP. I. AMUSEMENTS. DULL and monotonous would the circle of existence have been, had not the Divinity decreed moments when the mind, fatigued with thought, seeks for relaxation in frivolity. It is of little importance what mode is adopted to employ those moments, provided every immoral and dangerous pursuit is avoided. Many of the Amusements of the aborigines of England would now be considered by their descendants as fatiguing, and almost impossible, particularly those which required strength and energy in the limbs, and long privations of rest. The natural suggestions of the human mind, unassisted by reflection and contrivance, produced dancing: every fortunate event occurring to individuals prompted the joyous leap, the contagious motion. Families thus infected introduced method, to avoid collision; and as some one or other excelled in the gracefulness or agility of their movements, imitation soon effected VOL. III. B |