ithout a good and politic
view, because they look a foot taller, and a foot and a half {61}
broader: besides, that the cap leaves the face expanded, and
consequently more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance of
palaces.

"This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this manner, and
his cheeks would be no larger than mine were he in a hat as I am. He
was the last man that won a prize in the Tilt-Yard (which is now a
common street before Whitehall). You see the broken lance that lies
there by his right foot; he shivered that lance of his adversary all to
pieces; and bearing himself, look you, sir, in this manner, at the same
time he came within the target of the gentleman who rode against him,
and taking him with incredible force before him on the pommel of his
saddle, he in that manner rid the tournament over, with an air that
showed he did it rather to perform the rule of the lists, than expose
his enemy; however, it appeared he knew how to make use of a victory,
and with a gentle trot he marched up to a gallery where their mistress
sat (for they were rivals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and
pardonable insolence. I don't know but it might be exactly where the
coffee-house is now.

"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a military genius,
but fit also for the arts of peace, for he played on the base-viol as
well as any gentleman at court; you see where his viol hangs by his
basket-hilt sword. The action at the Tilt-Yard you may be sure won the
fair lady, who was a maid-of-honour, and the greatest beauty of her
time; here she stands, the next picture. You see, sir, my
great-great-great-grandmother has on the new-fashioned petticoat,
except that the {62} modern is gathered at the waist; my grandmother
appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as
if they were in a go-cart. For all this lady was bred at court, she
became an excellent country-wife, she brought ten children, and when I
show you the library, you shall see in her own hand (allowing for the
difference of the language) the best receipt now in England both for an
hasty pudding and a whitepot.

"If you please to fall back a little, because it is necessary to look
at the three next pictures at one view; these are three sisters. She
on the right hand, who is so very beautiful, died a maid; the next to
her, still handsomer, had the same fate, against her will; this homely
thing in the middle h