coverlets made of a dog's waine or horharriots (to use their own terms), and a good log under their head instead of a bolster. If it were so that the father or good man of the house had a mattress or flock bed, and sheets, a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town. So well were they contented, that pillows (said they) were thought meet only for women in childbed; as for servants, if they had any sheets above them, it was well; for seldom had they any under their bodies to keep them from pricking straws, that ran oft through the canvass and their hardened hides. The third thing they tell of, is the exchange of treene ['wooden] platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver or tin; for so common were all sorts of treene vessels in old times, that a man should hardly find four pieces of pewter (of which was one, peradventure, a salt) in a good farmer's house. Again, in time past, men were contented to dwell in houses built of sallow, willow, &c. so that the use of oak was, in a manner, dedicated wholly unto churches, religious houses, princes' palaces, navigation, &c. But now willow, &c. are rejected, and nothing but oak any where regarded; and, yet, see the change; for when our houses were built of willow, then had we oaken men; but now, when our houses are come to be made of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great many altogether of straw, which is a sore alteration. In these, the courage of the owner was a sufficient defence to keep the house in safety; but now the assurance of the timber must defend the men from robbing. Now have we many chimnies,

and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, -catarrhs, and poses; then had we none but reredoses, and our heads did never ache. For as the smoke in those days was supposed to be a sufficient hardening for the timber of the house, so it was reputed a far better medicine to keep the good man and his family from the quacks or pose; wherewith, as then, very few were acquainted. Again, our pewterers, in time past, employed the use of pewter only upon dishes and pots, and a few other trifles for service; whereas now they are grown into such exquisite cunning, that they can, in a manner, imitate by infusion any form or fashion, of cup, dish, salt, bowl, or goblet, which is made by the goldsmith's craft, though they be ever so curious, and very artificially forged. In some places beyond the sea, a garnish of good flat English pewter (I say flat, because dishes and platters in my time began to be made deep, and like basins, and are, indeed, more convenient both for sauce and keeping the meat warm) is esteemed so precious, as the like number of vessels that are made of fine silver."

Particular instances of luxury in eating, however, might be adduced from an earlier period surpassing even the extravagance of the Romans. Thus, in the tenth year of the reign of Edward IV, 1470, George Nevill, brother to the Earl of Warwick, at his instalment into the archiepiscopal see of York, entertained most of the nobility and principal clergy, when his bill of fare was 300 quarters of wheat, 350 tuns of ale, 104 tuns of wine, a pipe of spiced wine, 80 fat oxen, 6 wild bulls, 1204 wethers, 300 hogs, 300 calves, 3000 geese, 3000 capons, 3000 pigs, 100 peacocks,

200 cranes, 200 kids, 2000 chickens, 4000 pigeons, 4000 rabbits, 204 bitterns, 4000 ducks, 200 pheasants, 500 partridges, 2000 woodcocks, 400 plovers, 100 curlews, 100 quails, 1000 egrets, 200 rees, 400 bucks, does, and roebucks, 1506 hot venison pasties, 4000 cold ditto, 1000 dishes of jelly, parted, 4000 dishes of jelly, plain, 4000 cold custards, 2000 hot custards, 300 pikes, 300 breams, 8 seals, 4 porpusses, 400 tarts. At this feast the Earl of Warwick was steward, the Earl of Bedford treasurer, and Lord Hastings comptroller, with many more noble officers; 1000 servitors, 62 cooks, 515 menial apparitors in the kitchen. But such was the fortune of the man, that, after this extreme prodigality, he died in the most abject but unpitied poverty, vinctus jacuit in summa inopia.

And as to dress, luxury in that article seems to have attained a great height long before Holinshed's time for, in the reign of Edward III, we find no fewer than seven sumptuary laws passed in one session of parliament to restrain it. It was enacted, that men servants of lords, as also of tradesmen and artisans, shall be content with one meal of fish or flesh every day, and the other meals daily shall be of milk, cheese, butter, and the like. Neither shall they use any ornament of gold, silk, or embroidery; nor their wives or daughters any veils above the price of twelve pence. Artisans and yeomans shall not wear cloth above the price of 40s. the whole piece (the finest being about 61. per piece), nor the ornaments before-named. Nor the women any veils of silk, but only those of thread made in England. Gentlemen under

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the degree of knights, not having 100/ yearly in land, shall not wear any cloth above 4 1-2 marks the whole piece. Neither shall they or their females use cloth of gold, silver or embroidery, &c. But esquires, having 2007 per annum or upwards, of rent, may wear cloth of 5 marks the whole piece of cloth, and they and their females may also wear stuff of silk, silver ribbons, girdles, or furs. Merchants or citizen burgers, and artificers of tradesmen, as well of London as elsewhere, who have goods and chattels of the clear value of 500/ and their females, may wear as is allowed to gentlemen and esquires of 100 per annum. And merchant citizens and burgesses, worth above 1000/ in goods and chattels, may (and their females) wear the same as gentlemen of 2007 per annum. Knights of 200 marks yearly may wear cloth of six marks the cloth, but no higher; but no cloth of gold, nor furred with ermine: but all knights and ladies having above 400 marks yearly, up to 1000 per annum, may wear as they please, ermine excepted: and they may wear ornaments of pearl and precious stones for their heads only. Clerks having degrees in cathedrals, colleges, &c. may wear as knights and esquires of the same income. Plowmen, carters, shepherds, and such like, not having 40s value in goods or chattels, shall wear no sort of cloth but blanket and russet lawn of 12d, and shall wear girdles and belts; and they shall only eat and drink suitable to their stations. And whosoever useth any other apparel than is prescribed in the above laws shail forfeit the same:" VOL. III. Τ

THE MISTAKEN DOCTOR.

As

A LADY being visited with a violent disorder, was under the necessity of applying for medical assistance. Her doctor, being a gentleman of great latitude in his religious sentiments, endeavoured, in the course of his attendance, to persuade his patient to adopt his creed as well as to take his medicines. He frequently insisted, with a considerable degree of dogmatism, that repentance and reformation were all that either God or man could require of us, and that consequently there was no necessity for an atonement by the sufferings of the Son of God. this was a doctrine the lady did not believe, she contented herself with following his medical perscriptions without embracing his religious or rather irreligious creed. On her recovery, she forwarded a note to the doctor, desiring the favour of his company to tea, when it suited his convenience, and requested him to make out his bill. In a short time he made his visit, and, the tea table being removed, she addressed him as follows: "My long illness has occasioned you a number of journeys, and I suppose, doctor, you have procured my medicines at considerable expence." The doctor acknowledged that. good drugs were not to be obtained but at a very high price." Upon which she replied, "I am extremely sorry that I have put you to so much labour and expence, and also promise, that on any future indisposition, I will never trouble you again. So you see that I both repent and reform, and that is all you require. The doctor immediately, shrugging up his shoul