lar, or a pauper, did not reach, paterfamilias, or materfamilias,
became "carver and gilder" to the household, and made their own
matches. In one case I find the Royston Parish Authorities setting up
one of the paupers with a supply of wood "to make skewers and matches
to sell."

[Illustration: TINDER-BOX, FLINT, STEEL, AND MATCHES.]

The tinder-box, like other household requisites in all ages, was
sometimes very homely, sometimes of "superior" make. The above
illustration is of one rather out of the common, and the artist has
brought the different parts together rather than showing the process,
for the lid would have to be removed before the tinder beneath could be
fired. The most common form of tinder-box was an oblong wooden box, of
two compartments, one for the tinder and the other for flint and {75}
steel. At Elbrook House, Ashwell, is one, in the possession of Edward
Snow Fordham, Esq., said to be two hundred years old. The process of
getting a light by means of the tinder-box involved a little manual
dexterity and mental philosophy--if the fugitive spark from the
striking of the flint and steel set alight to the tinder, well; you
then had simply to light your clumsy sulphur-tipped skewer-like
"match," and there you were! If the tinder happened to be damp, as it
sometimes was, and the spark wouldn't lay hold, you were not one bit
nearer quieting the baby, or meeting whatever might be the demand for a
light in the night time, than was an ancient Briton ages ago! When the
modern match was first introduced as the "Congreve" the cost was 2s.
6d. for fifty, or about 1/2d. each, and when, a few years later, the
lucifer match was introduced, they were sold at four a penny! Now you
can get more than four well-filled boxes for a penny!

In the first quarter of the century the supply of fuel was very
different from now. By slow and difficult means did coal arrive.
Cambridge was the nearest centre for this district, and thence the coal
used in Royston was obtained. Tedious and troublesome was the process
of dragging it along bad roads, and between Cambridge and Royston this
made a difference of about 7s. per ton in the price. Farm labourers,
when agreeing for their harvest month, generally obtained, either by
bargain or by custom, the right of the use of one of their master's
horses and carts after harvest for a day to fetch coals from Cambridge.
Another concession made by the farmer to the men was that each man