82 THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH 



the relative scarcity of produce, which was caused by the increased 



consumption consequent on revived prosperity, by a higher standard 



of Hving, and by a growing poj)ulation. The necessary spur of 



profit was thus appHed to farming energies. Leaseholders for a 



long term or for hves, and copyholders at fixed quit-rents had their 



golden opportunity, and many of them used it to become wealthy. 



Of the general prosperity of the landowning and land-renting 



portion of the rural community, there is sufficient evidence. Every 



man, says Harrison,^ turned builder, " pulled downe the old house 



and set up a new after his owne devise." In ten years more oak 



was used for building than had been used in the previous hundred. 



Country manor-houses were built not of timber, but of brick or 



stone, and they were furnished with " great provision of tapistrie, 



Turkic work, pewter, brasse, fine Hnen and . . . costlie cupbords 



of plate." Ordinary diet had become less simple. " White-meats," 



— milk, butter, eggs, and cheese, — were despised by the wealthy, who 



preferred butcher's-meat, fish, and a " diversitie of wild and tame 



foules." The usual fare of the country gentleman was abundant, 



if not profuse. The dinner which Justice Shallow ordered for 



Falstaff might be quoted as an illustration. But more direct 



evidence may be produced. Harrison says that the everyday 



dinner of a country gentleman was " foure, five, or six dishes, when 



they have but small resort." Gervase Markham in his English 



Housewife gives directions for a " great feast," and for " a more 



humble feast, or an ordinary proportion which any good man may 



keep in his family, for the entertainment of his true and worthy 



friend." The " humble feast " includes " sixteen dishes of meat 



that are of substance and not emptie, or for shew." To these 



" sixteen full dishes," he adds " sallets, fricases, quelque choses, and 



devised paste, as many dishes more, which make the full service 



no lesse then two-and-thirtie dishes." In dress, also, the country 



gentry were growing more expensive, imitating the " diversities 



of jagges and changes of colours " of the Frenchman. Already, too, 



as Bishop Hall has described in his Satires, they were in the habit 



of deserting their country-houses for the gaiety of towns, and the 



" unthankful swallow " " built her circled nest " in 



" The towered chimnies which should be 

 The windpipes of good hospitaHtie." 



Of the yeomen, who included not only farming owners, but 



^ Harrison, Description of England (1577), bk. ii. cc. vi. xii. xxii. 



