Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/268

248 sometimes as many as two hundred rings being given away at a cost of one pound each. To the chief mourners and near relations whole suits of mourning were presented; physicians, apothecaries, servants, &c., were all recipients of black garments. And, indeed, the mourning of these days did not stop here. Our ancestors put their whole beds into mourning, as well as their tables and chairs; they hung their halls with black baize, and covered their cushions with black. We hear of a country gentleman mourning in two black taffety night clothes, a black nightcap, a black brush and comb, two black spice-bags, and slippers of black velvet; besides these, he had black cloth doublets, black breeches and cloak, black bands for his black hats, some "old black taffety garters and new black ribbon roses." "I have a new black beaver hat for you," writes a father to his younger son on the death of a brother, "which I will send you in a little deal box, with a black crape hat-band, black mourning gloves and stockings and shoe-buckles, and three pairs of black buttons for wrist and neck. Funerals were preceded and followed by a good deal of drinking; often wine boiled with sugar and cinnamon was served out to the guests on