Lord Strange, Bellman’s Verses, Flea-Tormentors and more!

It's that time again!!!
Welcome to Tudor Trivia Tuesday!!!

1) The Grocer’s Company of the City of London lent £7555 to Queen Mary in 1558.

2) In 1579, Lord Strange's players performed in the town of Stratford-on-Avon. On the 11th of February they were paid 5s. for their performance out of the funds of the Corporation of Stratford for theatrical performances.

3) The famous cry of London shopkeepers (and presumably those from other cites) as pedestrians passed along the streets was “What d'ye lack?—What d'ye lack?”

 4) As Christmas approached, the bellman of each London precinct presented " A Copy of Verses," to each householder in his district.  In exchange this he expected a  small gratuity from each. The execrable character of the poetry led to the phrase “bellman's verses,” by London wits, for doggerel.

5) One of the most famous cries of the vendors on the streets of London, during Tudor and Stuart times, was “Buy a very fine mouse—trap, or a tormentor for your Fleas.”  No one has yet to figure out what was the “tormentor” in question.  History seems not to have preserved the answer.

Stop by.  Check it out.

6) Parliament passed a statute under Henry VII [11 H. VII. c. 2. ] that reduced the penalty for vagabonds to three nights in the stocks, a punishment which was afterwards [19 H. VII. c. 12.] limited to a day and a night.

7) About 1592, John Royle was appointed master of the free grammar school of Liverpool. Money at that time was somewhat scarce, as, in addition to being the schoolmaster he was required to act also as the “clerk and ringer of the curfew,” at the reduced stipend of £7 14s. 8d. The school, which was for “poore chyldren y^t have no socour” was afterwards held in the disused chapel of St. Mary's del Key.

8) During Christmas, 1603, "Sir Walter Ralegh, Knighte, and two servants,” were lodged in the Fleet prison “for two weekes and a halfe, at v^li. the weeke, xii^li. x^s."

9) The building of the Fleet Street "Standard" [aquaduct] was begun in 1439, by Sir William Estfielde, late Mayor, and finished by his executors in 1471, " without coste and charge to the citie."  In order to receive the overflow of the ''Standard," a cistern was made at Fleet Bridge, in 1478, "by the men of Fleet Streete".  What happened to the overflow before the cistern is unclear.

10) At great dinners or feasts the company was usually arranged into fours, which were called messes, and were served together, the word came to mean a set of four in a general way. [Nares]  Thus, in Love’s Labours Lost IV.iii.220, Shakespeare writes:

Berowne.  That you three fooles, lackt mee foole, to make up the messe.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• The Fascinating Itinerary of the Gelosi Troupe, 1576.  June 10, 2019.  “The Spanish soldiers had not been paid and unpaid soldiers tend to rob and loot.  The citizens were prepared to give them a fight.  Violent flare ups were occurring everywhere.”
• A Thousand Years of English Terms.  June 2, 2019.  ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”.    There was no clock to be o’.  But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’
• A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Stratford Shakespeare’s Undersized Grave.  July 22, 2018.  “Mr. Coll’s considers this evidence to support an old rumor that Shakspere’s head had been stolen in 1794.  But I submit that he is merely making his observation based upon a coincidence.”
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.