The Merry Past 



King's bread, meeting in the market-house on the 

 loth of June, drank the Pretender's health, and pro- 

 claimed him King. And I hear you had your oaken 

 boughs and white roses, G — d d — n you. There are 

 but three honest men in the town, by G — d ; which 

 are, Tom Bailey, Dr. Lewis, and Mr. Biron." 



In those days the aristocracy, in a great measure, 

 dominated the country, nevertheless there would 

 appear to have been less class hatred than to-day, 

 when a directly opposite state of affairs exists. 



The great land-owning class, which then lived much 

 upon their estates, were, as a rule, popular, unlike the 

 noblesse across the Channel, which was in many in- 

 stances despised and loathed. 



In the early part of the eighteenth century gentle- 

 men of rank and fortune lived mostly upon their own 

 estates in the country ; they had little intercourse 

 with the capital, but drew whatever supplies they 

 wanted from tradesmen who lived in the nearest city 

 or market town. This intercourse carried the trades- 

 men frequently to the houses of the great, where, 

 when their business was done, they received the hos- 

 pitality of the steward's room, or other part of the 

 establishment that was consistent with their own 

 rank. In this way a certain degree of intimacy was 

 kept up between inhabitants in the towns and residents 

 in the country. 



Most of the old French nobility before the Revolu- 

 tion saw little of their tenantry, and made but inter- 

 mittent visits to their chateaux. These houses, 

 generally in a ruinous state and badly furnished, were 



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