Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/152

132 women as sisters, with equal rights with the men: they could wear the livery, take apprentices, and sit at the election feasts; they belonged to the Drapers' Company, the Brewers' Company, the Fishmongers, Weavers, Grocers, and Stationers. Neither do they seem to have abused this right in the Middle Ages. For any fraud they took their place with the men in the stocks; for any insubordination they were apparently still beaten by their husbands. Again, women and noblewomen of position and property could be Marshals, High Constables, Sheriffs, patrons of livings, peeresses in their own right, and as such liable to be called to Parliament in person; they might be burgesses—in fact, they had full municipal and parliamentary rights. Thus the spirit and letter of Magna Charta were carried out simply and naturally by our medieval ancestors: "To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay the right of justice.'

This inclusion of women in the public life of the nation did not preclude women from taking their part in household matters. They were the family nurses and doctors: they knew what herbs to use in cases of cut fingers, bruises, and small ailments; they could all spin and embroider and