Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-11-09
life among our Ancestors.

The customs manners, literature, archltec
ure. history, everything in fine pertaining to
England, previous to the seventeenth century,
nav be regarded as the common ancestral
u,oDertv of all John Bulls progeny, wher-
l"St pUf scattered over the world To large ma
;nr;,v Of our readers, therefore, whatever
,brows light upon the olden times Of Great
Retain can never cease to be of interest. =
The October New England Farmer, noticing
resent publication, "Our English Homes, ?"
s,tracts and comments as follows:
The whale was eaten by the SaxonS and
uben men were lucky enough to get it, it ap-
neared at table late in the fifteenth century,
In l246 Henry Ill directed the sheriff of Lon
don 10 purchase one hundred pieces OF whale
for his table. Whales found on the coast were
perouisites of royalty; they were cut up and
ept to the kings kitchen in carts. Edward
II gave reward OF twenty shillings to three
mariners who caught whale near London
bridge. Those found on the banks OF the
Thames were claimed by the Lord Mayor, and
added TO the civic least. Pieces OF whale were
often purchased in the thirteenth century
for the table of the Countess of Leicester. =
England was supplied with this choice dainty
by the fishermen of Normandy, who made 1t
40 article of commerce. The Normans had
various ways of cooking it; sometimes 1t was
roasted and brought to the table on spit; but
the usual way was to boil it and serve 1t with
peas. Epcures looked out for slice from the
tongue or the tail. The grampus or sea-wof
was also highly esteemed; but OF all the blub-
ber dainties the porpoise was deemed the most
savory. The Saxons called it sea swine, and
the ecclesiastics Of the middle ages porco ma
ID tQ HE
Of Henry III n l246.
In the reign OF Henry IL. the whole stock
Of a carpenters tools was valued at one sEil-
ling. and consisted Of broad-axe, an adze,
square and spoke shave "There were very
few chimneys the fire was laid to the wall,
aud the smoke issued out at the roof or door,
or window, and the furniture and utensils
we're of wood. The people slept on straw
pallets, with log of wood for pillow. =
Even as late as the time Of Elizabeth, 1858, 1t
is stated that apologies were made to visitors if
they could not DC accommodated In rooms pro-
Vided with chimneys. They had few glass
windows, aud when glass was introduced, 1t
was for a long time so scarce that when people
went away they would order the windows taken
out and laid up in safety
In the fourteenth century, none but the
clergy wore linen. The household furniture,
among the wealthy, consisted of an occa-
sional, brass pot, brass cup, grldlron
and rug or two, and perhaps towel. vi
chairs and tables we hear nothing. Even
the nobility sat upon the chests in which they
kept their clothes. If man in seven years
alter marriage could purchase flock bed
and sack OF chaf to rest his head upon, he
thought himself as we'll lodged as the lord of
the town.
In addition to this poverty Of what seems
to US absolute necessities, the houses and che
people were exceedingly dirty Erasmus, q
celebrated scholar of Holland, who visited
England, complains that the naStiness OF
the people was the cause OF the frequent
plaques which destroyed them - and he says
their floors are commonly of clay, strewed
with rushes, under which lie unmolested a
collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones,
Splttle, excrements of dogs and cats and OF
everything that is nauseouS.
Their tables were as misreably supplied as
their dwellings. They had little fresh meat,
but salted most Of their cattle and swine IN
November, upon which they mostly depended
through the winter. Very few vegetables OF
any kind came upon their tables. 1t is stated
that in the early part of the reign OF Henry
WI, not cabbage, turnip, carrot or other
edible root grew in England.
0e The average duration OF human lite was,
at that period, not one half as long as at the
present day. The constant use OF salted meat,
and few or no vegetables, contributed to the
shortening of lite, to say nothing of the large
number swept away BY pestilence and famine.