The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-05-19
OUR ANCESTORS.
Curious Facts i'm Regard TO Their LiV-
ing and DOingS.

The customs, manrers, literature, archi-
lecture. history. in fine everything pertain
Ing to Englahd previous to the seventeenth
century, may be regarded as the common
ancestral property of all John Bulbs pro-
geny, wherever scattered ever the world.
To large majority of our readers, there
fore, whatever throws light upon the olden
times OF Great Britain can never cease to be
of interest. The October New England
Faymer, noticing recent publication, ''Our
English Homes" extracts and comments as
follows:
The whale was eaten by the Saxons, and
when men were luckey enough 10 get it, it
appeared at table late in the fifteenth CEN
tury. In 124B Henry III directed the
Sheriff of London to purchase one hundred
pieces Of whale for his table. Whales found
Oh the coast were perquizites of royalty
they were caught and sent to the Kings
kitchen in carts. Edward II gave reward
of thirty 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 feast. Pieces of whale were often
purchased in the thirteenth century for the
table of the Countess of Leicester. Eng
land was often supplied with this choice
dainty by the fishermen of Normandy, who
made it an article of commerce. The Nor
mans had various ways Of cooking it
sometimes it was roasted and brought to
the table OF a spit; but the usual way was
to boil it and serve it with peas. Epicures
looked ont for a slice from the tongue or
tail. The grampus or the sea wolf was also
highly esteemed but of the blubber danties
the porpoise was deemed the most savorv
The Saxons called it sea-swine, and the
Gcclesiastics of the middle ages porco ma
rion. Porpoises were purchased for the table
of Henry III in 1916
In the reigu of Henry II the whole stock
OF carpenters tools was valued at one
shilling. and consisted of a broad-axe, adze,
a square and a spoke-shave There were
very few chimneys the fire was laid in
the wall, aud the smoke issued out of the
roof or door. or window, and the furniture
and utensils were of wood. The people
slept on straw pallets, with log Of wood
for pillow. Even as late as the time of
Elizabeth, 1853, it is stated that apologies
were made to visitors if Lney could not be
accommodated in rooms provided with
ch;mneys. They had few glass windows,
and when glass was introduced, it was for
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 furni-
ture, among the wealthy. consisted of an
occasional brass pot. brass cup, grid
iron, and rug or two, and perhaps towel.
OF chairs and tables we hear nothing Even
the nobility sat upon chests in which they
kept their clothes. If mar in seven years
after marriage could purchase a flock bed
and a sack Of chaff to rest his head upon he
thought himself as well lodged as the lord
Of the town
In addition to the poverty of what seem
to us absolute necessities. the houses and
people were exceedingly dirty. Erasmus, a
celebrated scholar of Holland, who visited
England, complains that "the nasiiness of
the people was the cause Of the frequent
plaques which destroyed them; and he saws
their floors were commonly of clay. strewed
With rusbes, under which lie upmolested a
collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones.
spittle, excrements Of dogs and cats, and
everything that is nauseous.,
Their tables were miserably supplied
as their dwellings. They had little fresh
meat, bat 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 ta-
bles. 1t is stated that in the early part of
the reign of Henry VIII not a cabbage, tur-
nip. carrot, or other edible root, grew in
England.
The average duration of human life was,
at that time. not one-half as long as that of
the present day. The constant use of salted
meat and few or no vegetables, contributed
to the shortening of life, to say nothing of
the large number swept away by pestilence
and famine.