220 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



them a small weekly allowance, and gave them little 

 extras in time of sickness. Hence in these " accounts " 

 of the eighteenth century we often meet with such 

 entries as these : — " Leather breeches, 2s. 6d. ; " "a 

 pair of pattens;" "a handkerchief for Geo. Glinn, 

 IS. ; " " bodying a gown ; " " round frocks ; " " caps for 

 Sundays ; " " stays and hat for ye Wd. White." But 

 the most frequent entry, in the way of clothing for the 

 paupers, is of stuff called " Dowlas," which in 1764 

 cost IS. 2d. an ell. We imagine that few people will 

 know what "dowlas" is, and yet the word occurs in 

 Shakespeare. In the scene at the Boar's Head Tavern, 

 Eastcheap (i Hemy IV.y iii. 3), between Sir John 

 Falstaff and Mistress Quickly, the latter says, " I 

 know you, Sir John ; you owe me money, Sir John ; 

 and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it; I 

 bought you a dozen of shirts to your back." "Dowlas," 

 cries Falstaff, "filthy dowlas; I have given them away 

 to bakers' wives, and they have made them bolters 

 (sieves) of them." " Now, as I am a true woman," 

 replies the hostess, " holland of eight shillings an ell." 

 This dowlas was a coarse sort of sacking, and was 

 bought in large quantities by the churchwardens to 

 make " shifts " and underclothing for the paupers 

 under their care. 



In times of sickness the paupers seem to have been 

 treated with every consideration. Such entries as 

 the following frequently occur : " Wine and beer for 

 Dydemus when ill ; " "a fowl in her sickness ; " "a 

 piece of veal ; " " wine and spirits for Clery when sick ; " 

 "a fowl for sick paupers;" "tea and sugar for the 

 sick in Poorhouse." In the early part of the eighteenth 

 century we find among the paupers an aged French- 

 man, who, in all probability, was originally a prisoner 



