Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/201

Rh Fryday after dinner, on paine of forfeyture 3d." These fines were deducted from quarter-day wages and bestowed on the poor. Perhaps it is no wonder that England was called by foreigners "a paradise for women, a prison for servants, and a purgatory for horses." A paradise for women when compared with other countries it undoubtedly was. "Wives in England," says an Antwerp merchant who lived long in this country, "are entirely in the hands of their husbands, their lives only excepted. Therefore, when they marry, they give up the surname of their father and take that of their husband &hellip; yet they are not so strictly kept as they are in Spain and elsewhere. Nor are they shut up, but they have the management of the house or housekeeping &hellip; they go to market to buy what they like best to eat &hellip; they are well dressed &hellip; and commonly leave the drudgery to their servants &hellip; they sit before their doors decked out in fine clothes, in order to see and be seen by the passers by. In all banquets and feasts they are shown the greatest honour: they are placed at the upper end of the table, where they are first served. All the rest of their time they employ in walking and riding, in playing at cards &hellip; in visiting their