V] HERTFORD: MY HOME-LIFE 77 



mentioned, shows that there cannot have been much difference 

 of price to the retail buyer, who was then usually one or two 

 steps nearer to the actual corn-grower than he is now. Meat 

 also was cheaper than now. The price of the best beef was 

 sixpence to sevenpence a pound ; while mutton was seven- 

 pence to eightpence for the best joints, but for ordinary 

 parts much less. In the country gleaning was a universal 

 practice, and numbers of cottagers thus got a portion of their 

 bread ; while a much larger proportion than now lived in the 

 country and had large gardens or a few acres of land. My 

 mother often took me with her when visiting such poor 

 cottagers as were known to her, and my impression is that 

 there was very little difference in the kind and degree of the 

 rural poverty of that day and this ; and a few years later, as 

 I shall show, the same may be said of the skilled mechanic. 

 As a prime factor in this question, it must always be re- 

 membered that rent, both in villages and towns, was in most 

 cases less than half what it is at present, and this more than 

 compensated for the few cheaper articles of food and clothing 

 to-day. 



My father and mother were old-fashioned religious people 

 belonging to the Church of England, and, as a rule, we all 

 went to church twice on Sundays, usually in the morning and 

 evening. We also had to learn a collect every Sunday morn- 

 ing, and were periodically examined in our catechism. On 

 very wet evenings my father read us a chapter from the Bible 

 and a sermon instead of the usual service. Among our friends, 

 however, were some Dissenters, and a good many Quakers, 

 who were very numerous in Hertford ; and on rare occasions 

 we were taken to one of their chapels instead of to church, 

 and the variety alone made this quite a treat. We were 

 generally advised when some ■ friend " was expected to speak, 

 and it was on such occasions that we visited the Friends' 

 Meeting House, though I remember one occasion when, during 

 the whole time of the meeting, there was complete silence. 

 And when any brother or sister was " moved to speak," it 

 was usually very dull and wearisome ; and after having attended 

 two or three times, and witnessed the novelty of the men and 



