DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

on ntielees a Tha, g ie pak eee tae ( 35) not six or seven years’ rent laying by him, besides a fair garnish of pewter on his cupboard, with so much more in old vessels going about the house, three or four feather- beds, so many coverlids and carpets of tapestry, a silver salt, a bowl of wine, and a dozen spoons to furnish up the suit.’ We can date from this period, as the chronicler’s quaint account indicates, the rise of a conception which seems to us now a peculiarly English one— the conception of domestic comfort. The chimney- corner, so closely associated with family life, came into existence with the general introduction of chimneys—a feature rare in the ordinary houses at the beginning of this reign. The use of glass on an extensive scale became a marked feature in the domestic architecture of the time, and exercised an influence on the general health that ean hardly be over-estimated. Long lines of windows now stretched over the fronts of the new manor-halls, admitting light, air, and sun- shine. If Elizabeth could be said to love anything, she loved England and its people. At all times, whether in days of distress and danger or of peace, Elizabeth mingled freely among and was easy of approach to the humblest of her subjects. Few English monarchs took a deeper interest in the social con- dition of the operative classes and farmers of the realm, who all came to her joyfully and without