New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-03

The people drank water beer and cluer' any
nothing else The beer must have been queer
stuff, for hops were not used in brewing un'-
long afterward. Horehound and other oi''er
herbs were put in it, and it must one IaTo''s >,
have tasted unpleasantly like physlc pun,
it was nasty it was pure, though sSe oiii w.
century publicans cheated their cus'o'n'io ~
giving them short measures trick "Dicn see'ns
never to have been lost or to have P$sSeu ouV VI
practice like several other arts
The tired laborer could not have MS pipo
with his pot then. for tobacco had no' o'o"
introduced Tea and coffee OF course "ere un-
known, wine was for the sick, anu % VIZ
spirits, which latter indeed were only uSe~
under the name of cordials,' and rarely HOUSE
wives made and kept them for medicinal pur-
noses chiefly. and it was salutary custom to
steep various herbs in them until they ABSORBED
divers uncanny favors As for tho dress OF
the working classes says Dr.. Jessopp' : lt was
hardly dress at all / doubt whether the great
mass of the laborers in Norfolk had more IMAM
q single garments kind of tunic leaving inc
arms and LEGS bare, with girdle Oh rope Ok
leather around the waist, in which mans Knlio
WAS stuck. to use sometimes for hacking his oreau'
sometimes for stabbing an enemy IN Quarrel
AS for cotton goods, they had never been urennu'
of. and suspect that no more people IN NorlonH
wore linen habitually than now wear BIN.
Naturally the people were very unclean IN tnelr
persons. Probably they never washed themselves
with malice aforethought. Neither did they
change their clothes. Consequently All Klnus VI
skin diseases and even true leprosy were coui-
mon. en- eoumons that modern finds it difficult
70 realize the filthy and diseased condition OF the
majority Of those Door ancestors of ours They
were savage, quarrelsome lot moreover, ana
,avIessness prevailed among them almost as much
as among their social bctters, the lords OF the
manors. 1t was period when forbearance' CON
sideration, what we call humanity were scarcely
knsyn or understood. When a man was do"n
he was everybody's prey, and this was even
more the rule where a woman was msrei TVip a
chattel. TO be seized and held and dealt WIN o.
pleasure by the strongest Truth TO say our p'oss
genitors in Old England were so near the STATUS o.
sayages that one finds difficulty IN denhIhk N.Y.
claims 10 be considered anything higher IN ule
scale of development Crime was rampant IN onoso
days and justice was ferocous In slngle ye,.'
the year 2s5 in the hundred OF Norm t caaos Of
crime is so CHASTITY as positively TO stasger 1no
Without taking any account oil what ia ul9Se w. ~
must have been looked upon as QulegI i UNI" trand
fences-such as simple THEFT sheepsteaIng. Tauu,
extortion or harboring felons-thefe were eiet ~.
men and five women put upon tner alIai ,, rv
burglary; eight men and four women W. Taen and
two women being killed in the trays; anu, shuuesO
of ali there were five cases OF suicide a9ng Ily
two women, Que of whom hanged herseMy Tn.t o
the other cut her throat with razor we nave
in the roll recording these horrors very Inn .
particulars of the several cases. ana We Know, wy,
that not many months before the ron was uIaYsn i
mn at least eleven desperate wretcnes had oeeI
hanged for various offences and one had been torn
10 pieces by horses for the crime OF debaslng tno
Kings coin" 1t is indeed, as Dr. Jess9pR oO
serves impossible for US TO realize the mucous
feroeitv Of such a state OF society as this tne
women were as bad as the men, furious Oel1aines,
dangerous as wild beasts, without ply WlInouS
shame without remOrse; and finding NE 50 chsyi-
less SO hopeless so very very dark and miseranle'
that when there was nothing 10 be gained Dy Kill
ing any one else they killed themselves
Or. Jessopp can find little evidence OF the Pee,
n,c;s ,ecreafiens He doubts whether they had
anv more amusement than the swine OF the COWS
had" Getting drunk and fighting Win KNIVES
nerhapS constituted their fav0rlte eAcltemehts
Now and then wandering minstrel cams by or
somebody brought a new batch OF songs LOT tho
most part scurrilous and coarse from one OF snc
towns Then there were the sessions OF uie cou-.s
held three or four times year, and the VlslUauohs
OF the archdeaconS and the rural dean, ana tne
gossip about these occasions afforded some nysh-
ness but it must have been generally dun nIe,
varied more by dangers and mlstortuneS Ioan
pleasures of any kind. DR.. Jessopp has two papers
on the Black Death in East Anglia. which are fuii
of dismal suggestiveness. The rolls and munl-
meas sno 0f t Ss psPas Whole Families were ex
tinuIished. Hundreds of the clergy were swept
away. Sometimes every member OF a ,Jenglouis
house would be extermlnated. Inc deans w.
SO frequent that burial became mere form, ana tho
fostering corpses covered with but an inch OF SO OF
soil poisoned the air far round tne chufcn-
wards The records show that in enc small Village
of aboua fifty families twenty-onc famnes were
absolutely obliterated in SIX months IN uhe year
l349 in another case, OF suit for when sixteen
witnesses had been summoned eleven OF the SIX
teen were dead when the case came on Tor trlaL
Again, these suits were set for certain dave'
When it arrived, the defendant in one case, he
plaintilf In the second, both plaintln ana. De
The clergy suffered terribly. In n single year
upward OF 500 parishes lost their parsons, eighty
/ three of them twice, and ten of them three mme,
in few months DR.. Jessopp concludes from All
the evidence that during the year ending March,
1850, more than half the population Of Hast
Anglia was swept away by the Black Dea,n'
and he adds: III any one should Suggest that
many more than half died, should NOT be dis
| posed to quarrel with him.
The monaSteries became centres OF contaglOn
The people fled to them from the cities, and brought
| the plague with them. DR.. Jessopp believes that
| the monaStic institutions never recovered from
| this blow: that they never were again what
| they had been" OF course there was an In
| crease Of crime following the Black Death. but
on the whole the people took the scourge with
surprising courage and cheerfulness, and showed q
| buoyancy and power Of recuperatiOn which h9;
never been surpassed. We cannot follow DR.
JessopPs interesting inquiry into the strange sect
| Of thes Afug glctonians, which concludes his eX
tremely interesting volume. But we may heartily
recommend these essays TO all who take an in
telhgent interest in the past, and especially x
| such as are attracted by the development and de
cline Of medieval monastcism. more fruitful
and enlightening series of historical studies ha,
| not appeared Tor many years. and there is a charm
| IN Dr. Jessopps style which would lend interest
TO far dryer subjects than those upon which h,
| writes.