Some of theym are no thynge nyce.
Both at hajard and mom-chaunce.
The rage for cards and dice prevailed equally in Scotland. Sir David Lindfay's popiſh parſon, in 1535, boaſts of his ſkill in theſe games:—
I wot there is nocht ane amang yow all
Ma'tr ſerylie can play at the fute-ball;
And for the earth, the tabels, and the dyſe,
A bo-ve all parſouns I may be'ir the pryſe.
The ſame celebrated writer, in a poem againſt cardinal Beaton, repreſents that prelate as a great gambler:—
Into ſic wyſedome I was haldin wyſe,
And ſpairit nocht to play with king nor knicht
Thire thouſand croivnes of golde upon ane night.
Though gardening and horticulture in general, as arts, were undergoing conſiderable improvement during this period, the garden itſelf appears to have been much more neglected, except as far as it was the ſcene of other paſtimes. A bowling-green was the moſt important part of the pleaſure garden in the ſixteenth and ſeventeenth centuries; and bowls, and exerciſes of a ſimilar character, were the favourite amuſements of all clalſes. The gardens themſelves, which were apart from the houſe, and made more retired by lofty walls encloſing them, were uſually adorned with alcoves and ſummer-houſes, or, as they were then more uſually termed, garden-houſes, but theſe were chiefly celebrated, eſpecially in the ſeventeenth century, as places of intrigue. There are continual alluſions to this uſage in the popular writers of the time. Thus, one of the perſonages in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Woman Hater" exclaims, " This is no garden-houſe: in my conſcience ſhe went forth with no diſhoneſt intent." And, in the play of the " Mayor of Quinſborough,"—
To be betrayed to man, who in ſome garden-houſe.
Or remote walk, taking his luſtul time.
Binds darknefs on her eyes, ſurprifes her.
