"From the time of Jack Cade," says he, "to Lord George Gordon, and down
to the present day, neither your _grave_ or _gay_ authorities on the
subject of _bundling_ and _tarrying_ are worthy of criticism. There is a
littleness in noticing, in the _London Quarterly Review_, a work which
heretofore has been distinguished for its taste, chasteness and
celebrity, the observation of travelers who, if men of truth, could only
mean to mention customs (if they were customs) of the most vulgar and
ignorant, which at any rate are now as little known as are the operation
of the blue laws of Connecticut, or part of the penal code enacted to
keep in slavery and subjection the sister kingdom.[26]
"Englishmen, examine your own cottages, particularly in the north, and
on the borders, and extend your view to the western extremity of your
island. Pray, what term will you give to that promiscuous bundling of
the father, mother, children, sons and daughters-in-law, cousins, and
inmates who call to _tarry_, and not unfrequently stretch themselves in
one common bed of straw on the hovel's floor?[27]
"Nay, even, in some parts of your empire, the hogs and the cows join the
group, and form a most audible respiration from their noses, getting
vent through the hole in the roof intended for a chimney, or spreading
throughout the clay built edifice with odorific sweetness, though
perhaps not so fragrant and refreshing as was the precious oil poured on
the venerable head of Aaron, which Sternhold and Hopkins tell us filled
the room with pleasure.
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