Thieves and robbers infested the city, assaulting and robbing any one they chanced to meet. The drunken and cowardly watchmen would or could give no protection. Shakespeare undoubtedly found in the streets of London the models for his watchmen in "Much Ado about Nothing," and there is probably as much truth as burlesque in his delineations.

Superstition flourished as vigorously as in the Middle Ages. Almost every old mansion in England was still ghost-haunted, and every parish was tormented by a witch. James I. had a personal quarrel with the whole race of witches, for during his matrimonial voyage to Denmark they had baptized a cat, by which they had raised a storm that almost wrecked his ship. He wrote, reasoned, and declaimed against witchcraft, and during his whole reign persecuted helpless old women who were supposed to be witches. Nor did his death cool the zeal which his folly had kindled. The persecution became still more rampant under the Long Parliament and Puritan supremacy, for it is estimated that more than three thousand persons were put to death for witchcraft between the year 1640 and the Restoration.

As money became more abundant through the increase of trade, the science of gastronomy was carefully cultivated. Cookery became an all-important study, but the artificial taste of the period produced the most villanous compounds. Butter, cream, marrow, ambergris, sugar, dried fruits, oranges, lemons, and all kinds of spices entered largely into the composition of almost every dish. On some occasions a coarse and clownish dish was a pleasing variety. In the year 1661 there was a great feast at Newcastle, and each guest was required to furnish his own dish of meat. Of course there was a great deal of competition for pre-eminence, but the specimen of Sir George Goring was pronounced a masterpiece. It consisted of four huge pigs, bitted and harnessed with ropes of sausage, all tied to a monstrous bag pudding!

Greater temperance in eating and drinking prevailed during the Commonwealth, from the ascendency of Puritan principles, which were rigid and austere to a high degree. Music, dancing, festivals, and all sports and games were condemned by this rigid sect as unworthy of Christians. They knew, however, that men must have some social excitement, even though they should only meet to groan, and they endeavored to extract from religious meetings a compensation for their proscription of all ordinary amusements. Nothing that Shakespeare ever penned was equal in their eyes to a long sermon that plunged into the deepest abysms of theology. This was their feast of fat things. Sometimes the preacher, when he meant to give a very vigorous sermon, prepared for action by throwing off his cloak, after which he laid about him. like a thresher. This was called "taking pains." The extreme sternness and sourness of the Puritans may be attributed to the spirit of contradiction excited by the levity and recklessness of their opponents, the Cavaliers, who on their part were driven to extremes by their disgust at the demureness and, as they deemed it, hypocritical sanctimoniousness of the Puritans. The Cavaliers dressed in gay clothing and were devoted to the curling of their love-locks; the Puritans cut their hair so close to the skull that their ears stood out in bold and painful relief and gave them a grim and ghastly appearance. Their clothing was dull in color and homely in cut. Upon the same principle of separation from the worldlings the Puritans affected a slowness of speech and a solemnity of tone that often degenerated into a snuffle or nasal twang, and their talk, even upon the most ordinary occasions, was liberally interlarded with texts of Scripture. These unfortunate peculiarities of manner obscured the noble moral qualities which the Puritans unquestionably possessed, and the masses of the people became heartily tired of the gloom and constraint of the Commonwealth. The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was hailed

with an absolute national frenzy. In this temper of the public mind the Restoration brought with it a tide of levity and licentiousness. The upper classes, encouraged by the royal example, resumed with fresh ardor the frivolity and profligacy which Puritanism had held in check. The country gentlemen were at this period rough and poorly educated. Seldom leaving their native county, they spent their time in hunting, attending fairs, and drinking. Drunkenness became an alarmingly common vice among this class. But beneath their roughness lay some sterling qualities, and in the present day the rural gentry form a polished and important class in English society.

The table in the baronial hall was still laden with the old festive hospitality, and the huge sirloins of beef and mighty plum-puddings seemed to laugh to scorn the innovations of the French cooks in London.

Four-fifths of the laboring classes were employed in agriculture. The highest wages they received averaged five shillings a week. The chief food of the poor was rye, barley, or oats. An enormous percentage of the population-no less than one-fifth the community-were paupers, but with the progress of trade and the increase of manufactures the wages of the poorer classes were increased, and the circumstances of the masses gradually improved.

IO