Taylors feast contayning twenty-seaven dishes of meate, without bread, drinke, meate, fruite, flesh, fish, sawce, sallats, or sweet-meats, only a good stomacke, &c. Being full of variety and witty mirth. By John Taylor.

16. Twelve Woodcockes in a Dish.

ABout sixe or seaven new mol∣ded Gallants, (whose out∣sides were silke and slashes, and their insides jeeres and flashes) were invited to a worthy Citti∣zens House to dinner, where a∣mongst a great deale of other good cheare, there was brought to the Board a Jury of Wood∣cockes in one Dish, laid Head to Head in the center of the platter, as fantastick Travailers and their Wives doe lie feete to feet in the great Bed of Ware, sometimes by dozens. These Guests (beeing loath to conceale their small Tal∣lents

of wit) had an especiall Art to breake ten good jeasts of other mens, before they were able to make one good one of their own: they began to jybe at the Wood∣cockes, and said they were a Jury Empanell'd; another sayd, it was hard to judge whether they were a petty, or a Grand-Jury: a third said, that he thought that those twelve were an Embleme of the twelve Companies. The Citi∣zen (being a Gentleman of place and eminence) not thinking their eering worthy of his anger, would not set his gravity against their foppery; yet thus mildly he answered them. You are wel∣come Gentlemen, and I do wish that my entertainment were bet∣ter for you: I see there is one dish that distastes you, but it shall be taken away; for I do assure you, that I never had so many Wood∣cockes

at my Table at one time in all my life; but I thinke the fault is not in my Cater, for here are at least halfe a dozen more then he provided. So hee com∣maunded one that waited on, to take away the roasted Wood∣cockes from the rest.