| Citation |
RAG.779.139
25 Nov 1779:21 (230)
From the London Chronicle.
To persons unacquainted with the unpolished manner, of this
country in ancient times, accounts of the rude sports and
low buffoonery formerly relished, and even rewarded, by
people in high rank, seem hardly credible; nevertheless,
ancient records irrefragibly prove, that lands were held by
royal charters under such conditions, and by such feats, as
would now be reckoned low even in St. Giles's, Billingsgate,
Wapping, or Rag-Fair.
A striking instance of these rude manners occurs in a very
curious and authentic manuscript, a copy of which is in the
possession of Thomas Astle, Esq; containing, among other
things, the private expences of King Edward II, wherein it
appears, that cross and pile, or tossing up heads or tails
(as it is now called) was a royal diversion; that the King
travelled in a returned barge, . . . and was not only highly
delighted with the coarse humours of a buffoon dancing on a
table, and another falling from his horse, but also deemed
them worthy of a reward. . . [Expenses listed by the King]
The 11th day of March, Item, paid to James de Saint
Alban's, the King's painter, who danced before the King upon
a table, and made him laugh heartily, being a gift by the
King's own hands, to aid him, his wife and children, 1l. 1s.
. .
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