Dr. Doran’s Popular Works
Monarchs Retired From Business
“Emphatically a book that will please all classes.”
—Gentleman’s Magazine.
LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER.
“Indicates the wealth and variety of the Author’s collections, and the electric readiness with which they are put to use.”—Athenæum.
KNIGHTS AND THEIR DAYS.
“Satirical, anecdotical, quizzical—full of most wise conceits and ridiculous stories—a book of knights of the stage and knights of the thimble—of mock knights and smock knights—of royal knights and knights of the road,—it is very laughable and very provoking. There is only one word to be said about it—read it.”—Athenæum.
HABITS AND MEN;
WITH REMNANTS OF RECORDS TOUCHING THE MAKERS OF BOTH.
“Never was a book written more after the model of an after-dinner conversation, where the feast has been partaken by three or four gentlemen full of anecdote. That such a book is easy reading follows from its very nature. Nearly every page contains something amusing. Dr. Doran’s book is not only amusing, but full of strange information that every one would like to possess. It is the note-book of an intelligent, educated, and studious man, enabling the reader by skimming over pages to obtain, almost without a thought, an amount of knowledge for which the author has ransacked libraries.”—Times.
TABLE TRAITS AND SOMETHING ON THEM.
“It is rare to meet with a volume so well worth reading as this. The subject includes almost everything connected with the pleasures of the table. Dr. Doran is a man of very wide reading, of very agreeable wit, and very refined scholarship. Of anecdotes, both collected from his reading, and picked up in many a lively chat between the courses, or over the walnuts and the wine, he has a wonderful store.”—Manchester Times.
Footnotes
A ‘Geschichte der Hof-Narren.’
B A similar story is told of Triboulet.
C See Somner’s ‘Canterbury,’ edited by Batteley, p. 39, where the donation is thus recorded:—“Anno Domini MII., Villæ de Chertham et Walworth concessa et confirmata fuerunt per sanctum Edwardum, cum maneriis jam habitis et multis libertatibus concessis. Predictam villam Walworth Edmundus Rex dedit cuidam joculatori suo, nomine Hitardo. Tempore tandem Regis Edwardi idem Hitardus, volens limina Apostolorum Romæ visitare, venit ad Ecclesiam Christi in Dorobernia, et per consensum et concessionem Regis Edwardi, dedit eandem villam eidem Ecclesiæ Christi, chartam quoque ejusdem terræ posuit super altare Christi,” etc.
D See also Dugdale, Mon. Ang. vol. ii. p. 166.
E Father of Harry Jermyn, first Earl of St. Alban’s.
F “Trunchman.” In ‘Revels at Court,’ p. 126, in an account of a “Maske of Amasones” (A.D. 1577), appears a “Troocheman” among the characters represented. At p. 140 we read of a payment made “To Patrochius Ubaldinus, by the Commandment of the Lord Chamberlain, for the translating of certain speeches into Italian, to be used in the mask.” I therefore take the “trunchman” of Archie, to mean Dragoman, or Interpreter. In Pepys’s time the word was written “Druggerman.”
G There can be no doubt, I think, that the Danish writer alludes to our old friend, Tom Derry.
H In the ‘Scout’s Discovery’ it is said that Archie himself pleaded before the Star Chamber his privileges of coat. “For,” said he, “if neither fool nor wise man may escape this court, I will be neither.”
I Dr. Binder, ‘Allgemeine Realencyclopädie,’ vol. v.
J The above is related on the authority of Flögel, who follows Fugger. The Flemish Chroniclers give an entirely opposite version, as far as regards Maximilian, declaring that he repeatedly attempted to escape. In the third volume of the Chronicles, page 74, the Flemish writer says:—“Soo dat Maximiliaen, op verscheyde tyden, sig selven begonde te verkleeden in verscheyde verworpe kleedern, nu als eene vrouw, dan als een godsgewyde, weederom als een heerenknecht, om behendelyk zyne langdurige gevangenis te ontloopen; maer alles was te vergeefs. Hy was te well bekent, ende syne bewaerders hadden grooter sorge als hy meynde.” Literally,—“So that Maximilian, at different times, began to disguise himself in different cast-off suits,—now as a woman, then as a fool, again as a nobleman’s follower, that at last he might escape from his tedious captivity; but all was in vain. He was too well known, and his guards had greater care of him than he thought for.”
Note
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.