The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-05


putations Of those students who were pre-
pairing for their degrees. Dinner in hall
was at ~. and attendance on declama-
tions or disputations, either In the college
chapel or in the schools, followed. Even
ing chapel and supper In hall at concluded
tho working day Of the undergraduate,
who could employ his leisure as he chose
Rules were strictly enforced residence
was kept the whole year, and absence
permitted only for strong reasons. While
in residence, students were vigorously
confined within the walls Of their colleges
and only allowed abroad to attend the
schools. They could go into the town
only by special permission, and no student
below B. A. was suffered to go unac-
companied by his tutor or by an M. A.
In conversation he was required TO use
Latin. Greek or Hebrew. He was for
hidden to frequent taverns or to attend
boxing matches, "skittle playings, dane
ings, bearfghts, cockfights or Stour-
bridge Fair" and he might not loiter In
the street or market. He might not read
irreligious books. nor have such in his
rooms, nor keep dogs, or fierce birds. nor
play cards or dice, except during twelve
days at Christmas. Flogging was prac-
tised, and Milton was both logged and
rtisticated at the age Of fourteen. Az a
visit by King James in 1915, smoking was
forbidden, not only in the streets, but in
st. Mary's, and in the Hall OF Trinity. At
this time. IL appears undergraduates were in
the habit Of wearing new fashioned gowns
OF any color whatsoever, blue, or green,
or red, or MKT, without any uniformity,
but with hanging sleeves, and their other
garments. light and gay, some with boots
and spurs. others with stockings Of diverse
colors, reversed one upon another. and
| round, rustic caps.
We have seen that the university and
college rules contemplated an austere life
for the undergraduate. But Sir Simonds
dives, a Puritan lad, who entered st.
Johns College, Cambridge, in 1920, gives
In his journal Mortified account OF the
manners Of the time as they struck him.
THE main thing he writes, that made
me weary of the college was that swearing.
drinking. rioting and hatred of all piety
and virture under false and adulterate
names did abound there, and generally
in all the university He was greatly
scandalized, too, at the frequent perform
ance of stage plays, both in Latin and
English, which were greatly in fashion
just then, both at the universities and at
the inns of Court.
In a chapter about "The Head of the
Family" we are reminded that In the seven
teenth century a mans family meant,
not his children merely, but all his house
hold, from the chaplain or private secretary
down to the scullion, from my lady's gentle
waiting woman to the goose-girl for the
welfare of all these, spiritual and moral
as we'll as material, the master held him.
self responsible, as commander for his
soldiers or as q father for his children. He
ruled them, at least the lower grade among
them, as children used to be- ruled, by the
rod. Personal chastisement at the hands
of master or mistress was quite common
and involved no degradation on either
side Mrs. Pepys was by no means singu-
lar in bestowing cuffs and slaps upon saucy
or disobedient waiting maids, and we may be
sure such hot-tempered lady as Mrs. Porter
! Iwife Of Endymion Porterl often allowed
her servants TO feel the weight Of her hand.
| Even George Herbert, gentle as no was,
|
hold, recommends that the servant be
ruled by tho rod" Nevertheless, faithful
, ness and long service were the rule rather
| than the exception. Much was expected
of servants apd much was obtained.
! Discipline and humility seemed to tend
! rather to attachment than to rebellion, and
it was not till the evil days of the civil war
that the servant difficulty developed, 1t
| is to be noted that, in spite of the beatings
| and cuttings administered to servants,
| there was no such distinc' class division
| between them and their masters as grew
UP later The servants interests were
bound up with these of the household to
which he belonged; he was in truth as we'll
as in name one Of the family. Then, again,
through q large household the grada-
| tions would be fine and numerous, so that
! almost every one was called servant by
somebody, whether he were esquire, land
steward or footman. Instead Of one class
| in the parlor. and another absolutely dis
| tinct-as though Of another race--in the
! kitchen, there were degrees, and no great
| chasm lay between one and the next The
superior sort OF servants. indeed, were as
well educate ed as their masters, and wrote let
! tiers at least as well as. II not better spelled
| and expressed, than those Of their mis-
! tresses 1t Is well known that the chap
lain's position was somewhat anomalous.
George Herbert in his Country Parson,"
J warns the chaplain in a great house against
| being "too submissive and base to keep
up with the lord and lady Of the house."
Dress played so important part in the
life of both sexes during the seventeenth
century that our author devotes a chapter
to II. There, perhaps, never was an epoch
| in modern times when dress was so beauti-
full as during the reigns Of the first James
and the first Charles. Midway between the
sumptuous arrogance Of the Elizabethan
era and the lax and pseudo classical style
which the Restoration brought over from
the French Court it had the qualities, not
only OF beauty, but also Of dignity modessy
and self-restrsint. The gorgeous brocaded
robes, showing quilted and beaded under
skirts; the long hard bodices stifened
with whalebone, and incrusted with en-
broidery and gold lace; the huge outstand-
! ing rufus of the Van Somers portraits OF
Elizabethan women, have in Vandyck
developed into the sober loneliness Of velvet,
satin, pearls and point lace
The curled lovelocks OF the men have not
yet become exaggerated into the frizzled