a
third on its superior furmity, or tansey-pudding. Beer and home-made
wines, especially mead, were more largely consumed. Vegetables were less
plentiful and less various. Potatoes were used, but not so abundantly as
now; and there was an idea that they were to be eaten only with roast
meat. They were novelties to a tenant's wife who was entertained at
Steventon Parsonage, certainly less than a hundred years ago; and when
Mrs. Austen advised her to plant them in her own garden, she replied,
'No, no; they are very well for you gentry, but they must be terribly
_costly to rear_.'

But a still greater difference would be found in the furniture of the
rooms, which would appear to us lamentably scanty. There was a general
deficiency of carpeting in sitting-rooms, bed-rooms, and passages. A
pianoforte, or rather a spinnet or harpsichord, was by no means a
necessary appendage. It was to be found only where there was a decided
taste for music, not so common then as now, or in such great houses as
would probably contain a billiard-table. There would often be but one
sofa in the house, and that a stiff, angular, uncomfortable article.
There were no deep easy-chairs, nor other appliances for lounging; for to
lie down, or even to lean back, was a luxury permitted only to old
persons or invalids. It was said of a nobleman, a personal friend of
George III. and a model gentleman of his day, that he would have made the
tour of Europe without ever touching the back of his travelling carriage.
But perhaps we should be most struck with the total absence of those
elegant little articles which now embellish and encumber our drawing-room
tables. We should miss the sliding bookcases and picture-stands, the
letter-weighing machines and envelope cases, the periodicals and
illustrated newspapers--above all, the countless swarm of photograph
books which now threaten to swallow up all space. A small writing-desk,
with a smaller work-box, or netting-case, was all that each young lady
contributed to occupy the table; for the large family work-basket, though
often produced in the parlour, lived in the closet.

There must have been more dancing throughout the country in those days
than there is now: and it seems to have sprung up more spontaneously, as
if it were a natural production, with less fastidiousness as to the
quality of music, lights, and floor. Many country towns had a monthly
ball throughout the winter, in some of which the sa