Strutt has judiciously observed, that though “luxury and grandeur were so much affected, and appearances of state and splendour carried to such lengths, we may conclude that their household furniture and domestic necessaries were also carefully attended to; on passing through their houses, we may expect to be surprised at the neatness, elegance, and superb appearance of each room, and the suitableness of every ornament; but herein we may be deceived.  The taste of elegance amongst our ancestors was very different from the present, and however we may find them extravagant in their apparel, excessive in their banquets, and expensive in their trains of attendants; yet, follow them home, and within their houses you shall find their furniture is plain and homely; no great choice, but what was useful, rather than any for ornament or show.”

Erasmus, as quoted by Jortin, confirms this account, and makes it worse; he gives a curious account of English dirtiness; he ascribes the plague, from which England was hardly ever free, and the sweating-sickness, partly to the incommodious form, and bad exposition of the houses, to the filthiness of the streets, and to the sluttishness within doors.  “The floors,” says he, “are commonly of clay, strewed with rushes; under which lies, unmolested, an ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrement of dogs and cats, and everything that is nasty."[18] And NOW, certainly we are the cleanest nation in Europe, and the word COMFORTABLE expresses so peculiar an idea, that it has been adopted by foreigners to describe a sensation experienced nowhere but in England.

I shall give a sketch of the domestic life of a nobleman in the reign of Charles the First, from the “Life of the Duke of Newcastle,” written by his Duchess, whom I have already noticed.  It might have been impertinent at the time of its publication; it will now please those who are curious about English manners.

“Of his Habit.

“He accoutres his person according to the fashion, if it be one that is not troublesome and uneasy for men of heroic exercises and actions.  He is neat and cleanly; which makes him to be somewhat long in dressing, though not so long as many effeminate persons are.  He shifts ordinarily once a day, and every time when he uses exercise, or his temper is more hot than ordinary.

“Of his Diet.

“In his diet he is so sparing and temperate, that he never eats nor drinks beyond his set proportion, so as to satisfy only his natural appetite; he makes but one meal a day, at which he drinks two good glasses of small beer, one about the beginning, the other at the end thereof, and a little glass of sack in the middle of his dinner; which glass of sack he also uses in the morning for his breakfast, with a morsel of bread.  His supper consists of an egg and a draught of small beer.  And by this temperance he finds himself very healthful, and may yet live many years, he being now of the age of seventy-three.