CABBAGES AND TURNIPS 191 



of the English people and its consequences. In old 

 days all the livestock that could be spared was killed 

 and salted at the beginning of winter. From 

 Martinmas to the end of Lent salt flesh, salt fish and 

 pease pudding were the staple food of well-to-do 

 families. Ill-cured flesh and fish, with spoilt grain, 

 were largely consumed by the poor. The only green 

 vegetables for winter use were grown in gardens, and 

 were unattainable by the labourer as late as the 

 sixteenth century. Hence the fatal prevalence of 

 scurvy and leprosy. To this day leprosy is a frequent 

 disease among some few communities which live 

 much upon corrupt fish. In mediaeval Europe there 

 were lepers everywhere, and ninety-five leper-houses 

 have been reckoned up in England alone. The last 

 was founded at Greenside near Edinburgh as late as 

 1591, and the last British leper died in Shetland 

 during the eighteenth century. 



It is impossible to separate the effect of unwhole- 

 some food from the effects of bad lodging and dirty 

 habits. The mediaeval peasant lived in a narrow, ill- 

 built hut, such as could be run up in a few hours. The 

 floor was of earth, the roof of reeds or straw ; there 

 was no chimney, and no glazed window. Upon the 

 ground were strewn heather or straw, which served as 

 a lair both for the family and the livestock, for the 

 house was undivided, and there was no other stall or 

 pen. Soap was dear, and the peasant rarely washed. 

 Bedding was dear, and he slept in his day clothes. 



Three hundred years have wrought a great change 

 for the better. Scurvy, leprosy, and the plague are 

 known among us no more, and for this we have 



