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BRISTOL.* BRISTOL in the seventeenth century was not onlythe second city in the kingdom ; it was still the city of enterprise and romande: Though in the year of the Armada Bristol, Bridgwater, and Minehea,d between them only mustered ten ships, the pins= perity of Bristol increased so rapidly that by 1626 she got leave of the Government to fit out sixty vessels with letters of marque. From Bristol it was that Martin Pringe, induced by Richard Hakluyt, set sail in 1603; it was the honour of Bristol that the "Angel Gabriel" sustained against the Spaniards. And all the while Bristol was a typical English town, with a life of its own, with opinions of its own, with com- merce of its own. Charitable, careless, adventurous, untidy, it was much the same three hundred years ago as it is to- day, and Mr:: Latimer's admirable history is marked by a familiar humdur which you will vainly look for in more porn- pOus compilations. , The first thins that strikes us in Mr. Latimer's records is the tyranny of the ancient Corporations. The restraint which they iniposed, upon trades and handicrafts was far severer than anything devised by the modern Unions. No " foreigners,"" alit- they called those who were not citizens of Bristol, -Were-Permitted to enter the precincts of the city, nor might any manufactured article be introduced from without. Again, the trades were keptrigidly apart, and each was governed by a law of narrow specialism. No shopkeepers, for in. stance, could deal in goods made by men of another trade ; no carpenter could work as a joiner ; nor could a butcher sell cooked meat. Even more, a tailor might only make the one garment to whose fashioning he had been trained ; and again and again you will find protests made and fines inflicted at the breach ot these ordinances. But the interest of records is various, and there is-no side of life that is not touched in Mr. Latimer's book. In 1606, for instance, yosi may know that some illumination was deemed necessary in the streets, for in Novemb& of :.that year half a crown was paid the bellman "for giving Warning to hang out candle light," arid as early as 1607 we find the explOsIon' of the Gunpowder Plot already celebrated as" England's holiday." But the recital of these base facts is relieved by imposing ceremonies and Royal progresses. In 1613 Anne of Denmark, James L's Queen, visited the loyal city of Bristol, and although she had already claimed. from the city five thousand two hundred gallons of wine, and compelled it to pay 2360 for sugar and other groceries, 294 for spices, and 29 6s. 8d. for pepper, she was received with extravagant enthusiasm. But first of all the streets had to be cleansed, dung-heaps had to be removed, and the roads, furrowed with ruts, to be repaired. While the maces and swords of state were regilded, "drummers and phifers " were hired and gaily apparelled. The Queen, moreover, was not only presented with a purse of gold, she was invited to witness such a spectacle as never had been seen in the city. "After enter- taining the Court to dinner at his own house," says Mr. Latimer, "the Mayor conducted her Majesty to Canon's Marsh near the confluence of the Avon and Froom, where a bower of oak boughs, garnished with roses and plentifully sprinkled with perfumes, was prepared for her reception. An imposing sham fight then commenced, an English ship being attacked by two Turkish galleys, the crews of which strove to board, but were finally repulsed with great slaughter, six bladders of blood being at hand to pour out of the scupper holes." It is not surprising that after this ingenious display the Queen declared "she never knew she was a Queen until she came to Bristol."
If you would know the life and state of an old Bristol mer-
chant, the career of John Whitson will serve as well as another. This Whitson was apprenticed in 1570 to one Cutt, wine merchant, and Cutt dying in 1580, Whitson continued in the service of his widow. John Aubrey has sketched for us the life of the wealthy merchant. "He kept a noble house," says the antiquary, "and did entertain the peers and great persons that came to the city. He kept his hawks. I remember five youths that had been bred up under him, but not one of them came to good ; they lived so luxuriously.
• The Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century. By John Latimer. Bristol: W11Ihun George's Bons. [13e. 6d.I
He was charitable iii. the breeding up of young soho]ars.
He had a fair house in St. Nicholas Streets where is the stateliest dining-room in the city." It is a- pleasant enough picture, and doubtless the Bristol merchants of the seventeenth century lived with as fine an ease and splendour as Alderman Six of Amsterdam, or as "the solier, wealthy merchants of London," with whom Samuel Pepys was f' mightily pleased" to compare them.
But Bristol, like many another city, suffered from the hardships imposed by the Civil War. The city was divided in its allegiance, but King and Parliament alike required money, and at the very moment when commerce decreased large subsidies had to be found for this party or for that. For a time, then, the history of Bristol is a history of battles and sieges, which differ little from the battles and sieges of other towns. But not all the citizens were disposed to accept the King's government, and we hear of the 'Mary Rose' setting sail for New England packed with sturdy emigrants. A little later Blake's victory over the Dutch is loudly acclaimed, and money is generously collected for the wounded. Or the luxury of the times is reproved by the King's chaplain, who warns the ladies of Bristol that the black patches wherewith they adorned their faces were but the forerunners of blacker and more deadly spots ; and sure enough presently the plague', broke out and claimed three thousand victims. And despite its religious fervour and its political zeal, Bristol was always guilty of kidnapping. We often read of children snatched from their parents and sold as slaves across the sea. This crime, properly described as one of "great villainy," is constantly discussed, and ordinances are devised which shall prevent it. It is noteworthy, indeed, that Judge Jeffreys makes it, after the dirt, the principal count in his indictment of Bristol. He complains that the very Magistrates are quarrelling among themselves. "Yet they can agree for their interest, or if there be a kid in the case : for I hear the trade of kidnapping is in much request. They can discharge a felon or a traitor, provided they will go to Mr. Alderman's plantation at the West Indies. Come, come, I find you stink for want of rubbing." But Bristol survived even the insolent hate of Jeffreys. It has gone on its own way ; it has kept its own old-fashioned counsel ; and it is a point of interest in Mr. Latimer's book that the Bristol of to-day does not differ very much for good or evil from the Bristol of the seventeenth century.
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