clothes had to be washed with
cow-dung, hemlock, nettles, and refuse soap, than which, in Harrison's
opinion, 'there is none more unkindly savor.'"

A Dutch traveller, who in 1560 visited England and recorded his
impressions of the English home, introduces us to a pleasant picture
of the home life of the times, in the following words: "The neat
cleanliness, the exquisite fineness, the pleasant and delightful
furniture in every point for household, wonderfully rejoiced me; their
chambers and parlors strawed over with sweet herbs, refreshed me;
their nosegays, finely intermingled with sundry sorts of fragrant
flowers in their bedchambers and privy rooms, with comfortable smell
cheered me up." The parlors were freshened with green boughs and fresh
herbs throughout the summer, and with evergreens during the winter.

During the reign of Elizabeth, the hours for meals were the same as in
the fifteenth century, although between the first meal and dinner it
was customary to have a small luncheon, mostly composed of beverages,
and called a _bever_. A character in one of Middleton's plays
says: "We drink, that's mouth-hour; at eleven, lay about us
for victuals--that's hand-hour; at twelve, go to dinner--that's
eating-hour." Dinner was the most substantial meal of the day, and its
hearty character was commented upon by foreign travellers in England.
It was preceded by the same ceremony of washing the hands as in
former times, and the ewers and basins used for the purpose were often
elaborate and showy. It must be remembered that at table persons of
all ranks used their fingers instead of forks, and the laving of the
hands during the meals was important for comfort and cleanliness.
After the introduction of forks, the washing of hands during the meal,
though no longer so necessary as before, was continued as a polite
form for a while, although the after-meal washing appears to have
been discontinued. The pageantry and splendor which attended feasting
reached their greatest height in the first half of the sixteenth
century. The tables were arranged around the side of the hall, some
for the guests, and others to hold the tankards, the ewers, and the
dishes of food; for it had not yet become the practice to put anything
on the table in setting it other than the plates, the drinking
vessels, the saltcellars, and the napkins. The dresser, or the
cupboard, was the greatest display article of furniture in the hall of
the houses of the