-----“I left him (Henry VIII.) at Primero
With the duke of Suffolk.”—­Henry VIII.

So Decker:  “Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have plaid at Primero.”—­Gul’s Horne-booke, 1609. 37.

Among the Marquis of Worcester’s celebrated “Century of Inventions,” 12mo, 1663, is one “so contrived without suspicion, that playing at Primero at cards, one may, without clogging his memory, keep reckoning of all sixes, sevens, and aces, which he hath discarded.”—­No. 87.]

[Footnote 24:  “Enquire out those tauernes which are best customd, whose maisters are oftenest drunk, for that confirmes their taste, and that they choose wholesome wines.”—­Decker’s Gul’s Horne-booke, 1609.]

[Footnote 25:  his, 1st edit.]

[Footnote 26:  The editor of the edition in 1732, has altered canary to “sherry,” for what reason I am at a loss to discover, and have consequently restored the reading of the first edition.  Venner gives the following description of this favourite liquor.  “Canarie-wine, which beareth the name of the islands from whence it is brought, is of some termed a sacke, with this adjunct, sweete; but yet very improperly, for it differeth not only from sacke in sweetness and pleasantness of taste, but also in colour and consistence, for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance; wherefore it is more nutritive than sack, and less penetrative.”—­Via recta ad Vitam longam, 4to, 1622.  In Howell’s time, Canary wine was much adulterated.  “I think,” says he, in one of his Letters, “there is more Canary brought into England than to all the world besides; I think also, there is a hundred times more drunk under the name of Canary wine, than there is brought in; for Sherries and Malagas, well mingled, pass for Canaries in most taverns.  When Sacks and Canaries,” he continues, “were brought in first amongst us, they were used to be drunk in aqua vitae measures, and ’twas held fit only for those to drink who were used to carry their legs in their hands, their eyes upon their noses, and an almanack in their bones; but now they go down every one’s throat, both young and old, like milk.”—­Howell, Letter to the lord Cliff, dated Oct. 7, 1634.]

[Footnote 27:  We learn from Harrison’s Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed, that eleven o’clock was the usual time for dinner during the reign of Elizabeth.  “With vs the nobilitie, gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go to dinner at eleuen before noone, and to supper at fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone” (vol. i. page 171, edit. 1587).  The alteration in manners at this time is rather singularly evinced, from a passage immediately following the above quotation, where we find that merchants and husbandmen dined and supped at a later hour than the nobility.]

[Footnote 28:  Alluding to the public dinners given by the sheriff at particular seasons of the year.  So in The Widow, a comedy, 4to, 1652.