Haue noo pleasure in lyeng for the vse ther off is naught. Ecl. 7.
Though hungrie meales be put in pot
Yet conscience cleare keept wthout spot
Doth keepe ye corpes in quiet rest
Than hee that thousandes hathe in cchest.
With out faith yt is vnpossible to please God. Hebrew the. 11."
It must be admitted that these uncourtly rhymes seem ill deserving to be designated as "posies." They are of the same doggrel character as various others communicated from time to time to Mr. Urban, amongst which may be mentioned a roundel formerly in the possession of Ives, the historian of Burgh castle, and described by him as a trencher for cheese or sweetmeats. These roundels have, however, been considered by some antiquaries as intended to be used in some social game, like modern conversation cards: their proper use appears to be sufficiently proved by the chapter on "posies" in the "Art of English Poesie," published in 1589[1], which contains the following statement. "There be also another like epigrams that were sent usually for new yeare's gifts, or to be printed or put upon banketting dishes of sugar plate, or of March paines, &c., they were called Nenia or Apophoreta, and never contained above one verse, or two at the most, but the shorter the better. We call them poesies, and do paint them now-a-dayes upon the back sides of our fruit-trenchers of wood, or use them as devises in ringes and armes."
It was the usage in olden times to close the banquet with "confettes, sugar plate, fertes with other subtilties, with Ipo- crass," served to the guests as they stood at the board, after grace was said[2]. The period has not been stated at which the fashion of desserts and long sittings after the principal meal in the day became an established custom. It was, doubtless, at the time when that repast, which during the reign of Elizabeth had been at eleven before noon, amongst the higher classes in England, took the place of the supper, usually served at five, or between five and six, at that period[3]. The prolonged revelry, once known as the "reare supper," may have led to the custom of following up the dinner with a sumptuous dessert. Be this as it may, there can be little question that the concluding service of the social meal, composed, as Harrison, who wrote about the year 1579, informs us, of "fruit and conceits of all
