Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/461

 a?id Senthnents. 441 CHAPTER XXI. CHANGES IN ENGLISH DOMESTIC MANNERS DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE REFORMATION AND THE COMMONWEALTH. THE COUNTRY gentleman's HOUSE. ITS HALL. THE FIREPLACE AND FIRE. UTENSILS. COOKERY. USUAL HOURS FOR MEALS. BREAK- FAST. DINNER, AND ITS FORMS AND CUSTOMS. THE BANftUET. CUSTOM OF DRINKING HEALTHS. THE Reformation brought with it, or at all events it was coeval with, a general revolution in fociety. Although the nobility ftill kept up much of their ancient ftate, feudalifm was dellroyed during the reigns of the firft two Tudors, while the lower and middle clafles of the population were rifing in condition and in the confcioufnefs of their own importance, and with this rife came an increafe of domeftic comforts and focial development. It was on the ruins of the monaftic property, confifcated by Henry VIII., that the Englilli gentlemen gained their highefl pofition, and, by their independence of the old ariftocracy, they aliifted in finally breaking its power, and thus gave a new charader to Englilli fociety, which at the fame time was experiencing influences that came fuc- ceffively from without. Till the reign of Elizabeth, and after her accef- fion to the throne, there was a clofe connexion with the Netherlands and Germany, and we imported moft of our novelties and fafliions from our Proteflant neighbours on the continent ; whiltl, from Elizabeth's reign onwards, and with little intermillion to the prefent time, France has been our principal model for imitation. This is a point which is the more neceflary to be obferved in treating of this fubjecl;, becaufe during the period between the Reformation and the Commonwealth, the art ot engraving in this country had been carried to little perfection, and was comparatively rarely prattifed, and we are obliged to look for our pidorial illuftrations of manners to the works of foreign artifts. 3 L In