Blackguard

In the second vol. of B. Jonson's works by Gifford, page 169., there is the following note on this word:— "In all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean, dirty dependants, whose office it was to attend the wool-yard, sculleries, &c.; of these the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, the people in derision gave the name of *black*-guards" I find also the following in Butlerts *Hudibras*, part 3.…