the singular attractions of her youthful presence, had originally led them to make her the ideal representative of the power and influence of womanly grace, and the imperial supremacy of those attainments to which men of high perceptive faculty must ever yield reverence and loyal obedience.

The style of living in the time of Elizabeth was profuse; the fashion of dress among the higher classes was sumptuous and expensive. Laws were passed forbidding the London apprentices to wear costly apparel, or those ornaments and decorations which distinguished noblemen and gentlemen. But the London apprentices had already become an important body, and their cudgels and staves, when dexterously handled, as they knew how to handle them, were a match for what appeared to be more deadly weapons. No rules could have been effectual in preventing them from regarding themselves as an important part of the community, not only ready, but willing, to resent any insult or interference from members of the Court; and the cry of "Clubs! Clubs!" would raise a turbulent but organised assembly of youths, who, at the given signal, would leave shop and stall and join the main body against any attempted infringement of what they conceived to be their rights and privileges. The great body of City apprentices had long been a force to be reckoned with in any attempt to suppress the liberty of the subject between Temple Bar and the Tower.

Plainly as those dressed who were in a condition of servitude, Fleet Street, with its numerous shops, its

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SHOWS IN FLEET STREET.

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lively taverns, its gaudy signs swinging from the overhanging fronts of the gabled houses, was full of colour and movement. It was now not only the Highway of Letters, to which men of wit and learning resorted, and where they met for the interchange of news, and talk about books and the latest new poem or stage play, but it was also a highway for shows of curious and amusing objects, and for performances of various kinds.

Bankes, with his horse Marocco, who could show as much intelligence in his tricks as the learned animals of later times; Dick Tarleton, the famous jester and improvisatore, and other attractive entertainers, were to be seen there. The great inn yards, with their surrounding galleries, on which the upper rooms opened, were the scenes of performances similar to, if not identical with, the dramas which now began to find their way to two theatres on Bankside, Southwark. There the proprietors of the Stage Play-house and the Bear-garden took it in turns to give their afternoon performances, and Thames watermen did a busy trade in taking visitors across the river from the landing-stages at the Temple, Whitefriars, Puddledock, Queenhithe, or Dowgate.

Most conspicuous for the inn-yard entertainments in this locality of Fleet Street, was the Belle Savage Inn, about which, and the derivation of its title, and how the Bell, or Belle, came to be prefixed to the family name of Savage, so much has been written. The subject does not seem to have excited much attention till Steele, or Addison, took it up in the "Spectator,"

at which time the inn was called the "Old Bell (or Belly) Savage." The latest addition to speculation as to the origin of the name is that of the writer of these lines, who suggests that it was the Savage family inn,

adjoining the Bail, or Bailey (outwork, or boundary) of New Gate, and was called the "Bail," or "Bailey" Savage, and afterwards the "Old Bailey Savage" Inn.

The fashion of male attire was as various as that of the ladies. The "trunk hose" had the upper portion, or breeches, either coming straight to the knee, or

stuffed out to an inordinate size, so that the seats and benches of Parliament, or of halls and places of assembly, had to be widened to make room for them; the doublets had slashed sleeves, and were embroidered with silk and pearls; men wore velvet cloaks, jewelled buttons, and rows of gems for the neck, or as ornaments to hats, which were made of silk, velvet, beaver, or taffety; the starched ruffs were but a size or two smaller than those of the ladies, who carried great

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FLEET STREET IN THE FASHION.

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fans of feathers, and mirrors hanging from their girdles, and abroad or at assemblies sometimes wore masks of black velvet, with glass eyes. In the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, perfumed silken or linen gloves, embroidered with gold or silver, and stockings of knitted silk, were worn, the first pair of such stockings having been presented to the Queen, as a New Year's gift, to supersede the fine, but clumsy, stockings made of thin cloth. In the morning Fleet Street was full of life and colour, talk and laughter. The dinner, taken at midday, was the principal repast, and at the Court, and in the houses of noblemen and gentry, was a stately affair; the tables covered with fine napery, and the dishes mostly of silver. The wines were numerous, but stood upon a sideboard, each guest calling for a flask, or flagon, of that which he preferred. The gentlemen wore their plumed and jewelled hats on all occasions, except in exchanging courtesies, giving or acknowledging a toast, and in the presence of persons of much superior rank.

Ordinarily the courses of dinner were beef, mutton, venison, pork, poultry, and fish, but there was no fresh beef for more than half the year. The vegetables were usually salads of boiled coleworts, lettuce, cress, endive, angelica, and various herbs. The drink was mostly ale, claret, and sack or canary-sack being neither more nor less than sherry, or sometimes what we should call sherry "negus," sweetened with Muscovado sugar.

The common people, of course, fared more plainly, but ale was the ordinary drink, and was always taken