" These skirmishes also took place in London itself. In
Shadwell's play of _The Scowrers,_ an old rake thus boasts of his
early exploits:--"I knew the Hectors, and before them the Muns, and
the Tityretu's; they were brave fellows indeed! In these days, a man
could not go from the Rose Garden to the Piazza once, but he must
venture his life twice, my dear Sir Willie." But it appears that the
affrays, which, in the Scottish capital, arose out of hereditary
quarrels and ancient feuds, were in London the growth of the
licentiousness and arrogance of young debauchees.
Note XII. p. 144.--FRENCH COOKERY
The exertion of French ingenuity mentioned in the text is noticed by
some authorities of the period; the siege of Leith was also
distinguished by the protracted obstinacy of the besieged, in which
was displayed all that the age possessed of defensive war, so that
Brantome records that those who witnessed this siege, had, from that
very circumstance, a degree of consequence yielded to their persons
and opinions. He tells a story of Strozzi himself, from which it
appears that his jests lay a good deal in the line of the cuisine. He
caused a mule to be stolen from one Brusquet, on whom he wished to
play a trick, and served up the flesh of that unclean animal so well
disguised, that it passed with Brusquet for venison.
Note XIII. p. 145.--CUCKOO'S NEST
The quarrel in this chapter between the pretended captain and the
citizen of London, is taken from a burlesque poem called The Counter
Scuffle, that is, the Scuffle in the Prison at Wood street, so called.
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