The Times: 1660-1702
The monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the throne.
The episcopacy of the bishops and the Book of Common Prayer were
restored. This book retained all its ceremonies, despite opposition by
the Presbyterians. The confiscated Royalist, church, and Crown lands
were ordered to be restored, and most were. Charles II was presented
with the traditional rights of choosing his own Privy Council,
ministers of state, and justices; making foreign policy; controlling
the armed forces; and approving statutes. He was also presented with
the power to call and dismiss Parliament, but later, in 1694, a statute
required that Parliament be held at least once every three years, to
avoid royal schemes of non-parliamentary government. The House of Lords
was reestablished and there were again bishops in it, though fewer than
before - about 1/8 instead of about 1/3. There were 160 peers for the
next century. The House of Commons was elected in the usual way, but
without a king's writ. The Commons was composed mostly of royalist
established church members. Its leaders were important members of the
King's Privy Council.
The feudal tenures of the crown, such as knights' service, were
converted into free socage. They were discharged of homage, reliefs,
escuage, and aids. Charles relinquished purveyance, wardships, and
forfeitures of marriage. In return, Parliament granted him a fixed
yearly income of 100,000 pounds from excise tax on beer, cider, and tea.
Several hundreds of dissenter ministers and school teachers
were ejected from their positions, but later those who were not
Baptists were returned by statute of Parliament because Baptists did
not believe in an established church.
Charles II was an easygoing and kindly man and hard to ruffle.
He had a weariness in the folly of men and a cynical disbelief in human
virtue. His wit and great sense of humor softened many a potentially
tense situation. His restoration to the throne brought in a time of
enjoyment of life in reaction to the Puritanism of before. At his
succession, the elected Parliament was oriented toward royalty and the
established church. He was voted an income of 1,200,000 pounds a year.
He also sold many of the last crown lands. But he always had great
debts, which he described as a "desperate but not serious" situation.
This was in part due to his generous maintenance of several successive
mistresses and more than about a dozen illegitimate children. His
entourage also included physicians, surgeons, a librarian, a poet
laureate, chaplains, painters, an historiographer, musicians, a royal
composer, and an astronomer. Charles even joked on his deathbed that "I
am sorry gentlemen, for being such an unconscionable time a-dying."
The day of Charles II's restoration and birthday was designated
as a day of thanksgiving when all were to participate in prayers and
the singing of psalms at some church or other suitable public place.
Charles initiated the return of Sunday afternoon wrestling,
archery, music, and dancing. Theaters reopened with actresses playing
women's parts, an audience only in front of the stage instead of around
it, a drop curtain, and painted two-dimensional scenery. Actresses were
allowed pursuant to royal proclamation so that plays should become
"useful and instructive representations of human life" rather than
"harmless delights". Charles went to plays regularly. Actresses were
assumed to be mistresses of patrons in return for their jobs, but one
fourth were actually chaste women married to actors. Comedies were the
preferred plays. Courtesans were sympathetically and even admirably
treated in plays, which mocked all restraints and glorified immorality
with the exception of pornography, which was banned. Bad actors were
hissed off the stage. Henry Purcell wrote religious music for churches,
ceremonial music for the English court, and theater music for English
opera. Opera made music a vehicle for human emotions. The gentry sang
to the lute and danced to string instruments. Many owned and played
musical instruments. Humble people had folksongs and instruments like
the pipe and tabor for dancing. Singing in parts was popular in town
and country. In 1672 John Banister started the first regular series of
public concerts in his house. There were lovely formal gardens in which
to walk, to see fireworks, and to buy the new ice cream. Charles did
much garden and park planning and let the public enjoy the royal St.
James Park. He loved hunting too and had the royal forests replenished
with deer after poaching during the Cromwell era had greatly reduced
their numbers.
Charles II introduced sailing and yacht racing for pleasure. He
also participated in and promoted horse racing. The breeding of
thoroughbred horses began with breeding to Arab mares. Gelding horses
were now preferred over stallions. There were trotters, cart horses,
and some "fast" race horses. Boxing (with no gloves nor ring) was a
national sport. Ice skating with iron blades was popular. Valentine's
day was celebrated. Italian puppet shows played in London.
Dress returned to elaborateness. Gentlemen wore Cavalier-style
long wigs with curls, despite the church's dislike of wigs. This could
hide the short hair of a former Puritan Roundhead. In 1666, Charles
introduced a new mode of inexpensive court dress which was made
entirely from English textiles. This gave rise to gentlemen's weskits
to below the knee with a coat of the same length and full sleeves.
Stockings and shoes replaced the long fitted boots. Charles set a court
tradition of men wearing a scarf tied around the neck. Ladies often
wore their hair in masses of ringlets with little corkscrew curls on
each side of their heads, and later piled their hair up elaborately on
their heads. They wore satin or silk dresses fitted at the waist with a
pointed bodice, and full skirt. The shoulder line was low and the
sleeves full and open at the front with fastenings of jeweled clasps.
The only fast colors were reds, blues, purple, and yellow, but not
green. They kept their hands warm in muffs. Women wore perfume, rouge,
and face patches. Some women put on a lot of make-up. Many men dressed
effeminately with rouge, face patches, heavily scented clothing, muffs,
and many ribbons of many colors. The facial beauty patches were in
shapes such as stars, crescent moons, and hearts; they diverted
attention from the common smallpox scars. There were Oxford shoes,
which laced up the front through eyelets. The members of the House of
Commons dressed like the gentry and assumed their manners. There was
exaggeration in all complimentary and ceremonial language.
The gentry were beginning to be thought of as a "squirearchy".
They owned about half the land of the country.
The population according to class was as follows: N: Number of
Households. T: Titles, Degrees. Social Ranks, H: Household Size, and Y:
Household Yearly Income in Pounds.
___N_______________T______________________________S___________Y__16
Temporal lords 40 3,200
26 Spiritual lords 20 1,300
800 Baronets 16 880
600 Knights 13 650
3,000 Esquires 10 450
12,000 Gentlemen 8 280
5,000 Persons in greater offices and places 8 240
5,000 Persons in lesser offices and places 6 120
2,000 Eminent merchants and traders by sea 8 400
8,000 Lesser merchants and traders by sea 6 198
10,000 Persons in the law 7 154 2,000
Eminent clergymen 6 72
8,000 Lesser clergymen 5 50
40,000 Freeholders of the better sort 7 91
120,000 Freeholders of the lesser sort 5.5 55
150,000 Farmers 5 42.5
15,000 Persons in liberal arts and sciences 5 60
50,000 Shopkeepers and tradesmen 4.5 45
60,000 Artisans and handicrafts 4 38
5,000 Naval officers 4 80
4,000 Military officers 4 60
50,000 Common seamen 3 20
364,000 Laboring people and out-servants 3.5 15
400,000 Cottagers and paupers 3.25 6.5
35,000 Common soldiers 2 14
25,000 Vagrants, as gypsies, thieves, beggars
As can be seen, agriculture is still the most common occupation.
Great houses now had a central dining chamber for dining, with
sets of suites, usually for couples, around it. Each suite had an
ante-chamber and/or drawing room, and then a bedchamber, off of which
there was a servant's room and a closet [cabinet]. No longer did
personal servants bed down in the drawing room or outside their
master's door or in a truckle bed at his feet. The servant's room was
connected to a back staircase for use by servants. Secret guests also
used it. The csbinet room was the innermost sanctum for privacy and
gave its name to the later cabinet of the government.
There were fewer servants and they were of a lower social
status than before. They were often sons of merchants, clergymen, and
army officers. Gentlemen no longer advanced by service to a great man,
but instead through grammar school and university education, commerce,
the law, or the armed services. This change came about because the
state now maintained reasonable law and order. There were more female
servants, who were paid less to cook and to clean as well as do laundry
and nursing. Servants were kept more in the background, preferably out
of sight. The elaborate ceremonial ritual with sewer, carver, and
cupbearer was gone. A butler replaced the yeomen of the buttery, ewery,
and pantry, and footmen began to wait on the table at which the lord,
his lady, and other couples sat. Servants no longer had meals in the
hall, which now had a grand staircase up to the dining chamber. The
highest servants, the officers: clerk of the kitchen, clerk of the
check [comptroller], head cook, butler, and groom of the chambers, and
female housekeeper ate in the gentleman-of the-horse's room, although
at a separate table. The kitchen staff ate in the kitchen. The footmen,
underbutler, porters, coachmen, grooms, stable-boys, gardeners, maids
ate in a servants' room. The steward was no longer the chief household
officer, but had a room near the kitchen. The bulk of the servants
slept in the basement or subordinate wings of the house.
Great houses of nobles had more rooms, such as a chapel,
library, parlors, dressings rooms, and galleries; there was a variety
of architectural floor plans. The structure of a noble household of an
earl was as follows: The chief official was the receiver general. He
had financial responsibility for the household and prepared accounts
for the household and for the tenants' estates. These were checked by
an auditor. The receiver general was often the son of a country
gentleman and had a salary of 50 pounds raised to 100 pounds with
longevity. He had a servant and an assistant. If married, he had a
house on the property. There was perhaps an attorney on retainer who
were paid for a certain number of hours per week or month. The
gentleman of the privy purse kept the accounts of the family and bought
them apparel and toiletries. He was in close personal attendance upon
the earl. His salary was 20 pounds a year. Besides the receiver general
and the gentleman of the chamber, the tutor and chaplain had the
closest personal contact with the family. The lady had a gentlewoman
with a maid servant. The receiver general supervised most of the staff.
There was a steward of 40 pounds a year. He supervised a clerk of the
kitchen and a house bailiff of 20 pounds a year. The bailiff had
responsibility for the produce of the estate, e.g. the gardens, the
deer park, and the fish ponds. Under the clerk of the kitchen was the
cook man and kitchen boys, the latter of whom were clothed and fed, but
not paid. The steward also supervised the 4 pound yearly porters, who
kept the gates; the watchmen outside; and the head housekeeper, usually
a woman of 2 to 6 pounds yearly. She supervised the laundry maid and
general maids, who spent much of their time sewing. The steward was
also responsible for the wine cellar. A dozen footmen belonged partly
to the house and partly to the stables and received 2 to 6 pounds
yearly. They waited on the lord and lady in the house and accompanied
them in travels and did errands for them. The gentleman of the horse
supervised the stables, coach, dogs, kennels, and 16 pound yearly
huntsman. Boy pages also worked partly in the house and partly in the
stables. They were clothed and fed, but not paid. The head gardener
received 80 pounds for tending the flowers, vegetables, and fruit
trees. He had casual workers as needed to assist him. The steward was
also responsible for the London house. Here there was a housekeeper, a
watchman, and a 40 pound a year gardener, all there permanently. When
the lord was there, bargemen were employed for his barge. The salaries
for the family estate totaled about 600 pounds a year. Sometimes
married sons' or daughters' families stayed for months at the family
estate; then they would pay for their part of the food.
Well-to-do people drank imported tea and coffee, sometimes from
porcelain ware, and usually after dinner or supper. Most tea leaves
were brewed first for the family and guests and a second time for the
servants; then they were given to the servants' relatives or friends.
Queen Mary encouraged the fashion of collecting Chinese porcelain. The
rich had red or black and gilt lacquered cabinets and cupboards. Oak
gave way to walnut, with its variegated surfaces. There were
grandfather clocks. Some fireplaces now had cast-iron firebacks.
Stuffing began to be upholstered to woodwork benches. Chairs were
taller in the back. Ladies did needlework to cover them and also made
patchwork quilts. Cane seats came into fashion.
From the spring of 1665 to the end of 1666 there was a Great
Plague, mostly in London. It was the last and worst plague since the
Black Death of 1348. It lasted over a year and about one-third died
from it. Households with a plague victim were walled up with its
residents inside to reduce contagion, and then marked with a red cross.
Church bells tolling their requiems clanged in ceaseless discord. The
mournful cry "bring out your dead" echoed in deserted streets. At night
groups of people shoveled the corpses into open graves. To prepare for
this revolting task, they often first became drunk out of their senses.
People acquired wild beliefs in hope of avoiding the plague. For
instance, at one time it was thought that syphilis would prevent it, so
maddened hordes stormed the brothels. At another time, it was rumored
that the plague could be burned out of the air, and all one day
bonfires blazed outside every door and people sweltered in the heat.
Other localities posted sentries on the road to keep Londoners out of
their areas to prevent the plague from spreading there. Since sneezing
was thought to be the first sign of a person getting the plague, it
became common to ask God to bless a person who sneezed. In London,
statistics were collected on the number of plague victims and their
places of death to try to determine the cause of the plague by
correlation, a new method. This was a natural sequent to merchant John
Gaunt's 1662 book "Natural and Political Observations Made upon the
Bills of Mortality", which compiled yearly vital statistics from which
to analyze, for instance, causes of death due to particular diseases.
It reached conclusions such as that fall was the most unhealthy season;
females had longer life spans than males; and infant mortality was very
high.
In 1666 a fire destroyed three-fourths of the City of London.
The blazing buildings were so hot that people with leather buckets of
water, hand squirts, and manually operated water-pumping machines could
not get near them. There was a lot of noise from falling buildings.
Panic and desperation were widespread. There was a lot of crying out
and running about distractedly. People saved some of their possessions
by burying them or removing them from the fire's path as they moved to
different lodgings. The streets were full of carts piled high with
furniture and merchandise. The Thames River was thick with heavily
laden barges. Melting lead from St. Paul's church ran down the streets
in a stream. The Tower of London, upwind of the fire, was saved by
blowing up surrounding buildings. Eventually the wind abated and the
fire was put out. A Fire Court with royal justices was created to offer
settlement terms about property that were free, fair, fast, and final.
Army tents and supplies, and soup kitchens sustained the citizens in
the fields.
After the fire, buildings had to be brick or stone rather than
wood, except for doors and windows. Also, more plaster and tile was
used. All roofs had to be of tile or slate, rather than thatch. There
was a general use of tile for roofing. About 1714, came slate for
roofings. All buildings had to be at least two stories high, with flat
facades rather than overhanging upper floors. They had to have wide
brick walls around them to avoid the spread of fires. Many streets,
squares, and alleys were professionally planned, after the example of
Inigo Jones, who had continued his town planning with Lincoln's Inn
field's open square surrounded by houses with iron balconies. Another
example was Leiscester Square. Main streets had to be wide enough to
stop a fire. The street selling that had caused so much congestion was
removed to new market places. The massive rebuilding of London ended
the monopoly of the building trade claimed by the Mason's Company.
Astronomer and geometrician Christopher Wren designed and built a new
St. Paul's Cathedral and many churches in London, thus becoming
England's first architect. He worked up from a square base through all
sorts of shapes to a circular double dome on top. The fire put an end
to Whitehall as a royal residence and St. James Palace was used
instead. But at least one fire hazard remained: the practice of
lighting new fires by taking buckets of hot coals from one room or
house to another. This was faster than the several minutes it took to
use a tinder box to start a flame, i.e. striking a piece of flint upon
a piece of steel making a spark which was dropped onto tinder and then
blown upon. Matches were invented in this period, but expensive and
unsafe.
Nicholas Barbon began fire insurance in the 1670s. If fire
broke out on an insured premises, the insurance company's firemen would
come with leather buckets and grappling irons, and later small hand
pumps. Barbon also redeveloped many districts in London, tearing down
old buildings without hesitation. He started the system of selling off
leases to individual builders, who hoped to recover their building
costs by selling their houses before they were completed and before
substantial payments on the lease became due. Entrepreneurial
master-builders subcontracted work to craftsmen and took a large profit
or a large loss and debt. Aristocrats bought large parcels of land on
which they built their own mansions surrounded by lots to be rented to
building contractors and speculators like Barbon. The houses built on
these lots were sold and the underlying land rented. These rentals of
land made the mansions self-supporting. Barbon built rows of identical
townhouses. Sometimes houses were built on all the lots around a
square, which had gardens reserved for the use of those who lived on
the square. Most of the new building was beyond the old City walls.
Marine insurance for storms, shipwreck, piracy, mutiny, and enemy
action was also initiated. Before the fire, e.g. in Tudor times, the
writing of risks had been carried on as a sideline by merchants,
bankers, and even money lenders in their private offices and was a
private transaction between individuals.
London was residential and commercial. Around the outside were
tenements of the poor. From 1520 to 1690, London's population had risen
tenfold, while the nation's had only doubled. London went from 2% to
11% of the nation's population. In 1690, London's population was about
half a million. After 1690, London's population grew at the same rate
as the nation's. The first directory of addresses in London was
published in 1677. Business began to follow the clock more strictly and
many people thought of their watches as a necessity.
London coffee houses, which also sold wine, liquors, and meals,
became specialty meeting places. They were quieter and cheaper than
taverns; for a penny, one could sip a cup of coffee by the fire, read
the newspapers, and engage in conversation. Merchants, stock jobbers,
politician groups, soldiers, doctors and clergymen, scholars, and
literary men all had special coffee house meeting places. Notices and
letters of general interest were posted therein. Many merchants,
brokers, and underwriters, especially those whose houses had been
burned in the fire, conducted their business at their coffee house and
used it as their business address. Men in marine insurance and shipping
met at Lloyd's Coffeehouse, which was run by Edward Lloyd who
established it for this purpose in 1687. Lloyd provided reliable
shipping news with a network of correspondents in the principal ports
at home and on the continent and circulated a handwritten sheet of
lists of vessels and their latest movements at his coffeehouse. The
patrons cheered safe arrivals and shared their grief over ships lost.
They insured their own risks at one moment and underwrote those of
their friends the next. Auctions of goods and of ships and ship
materials which had been advertised in the newspapers were conducted
from a pulpit in the coffeehouse.
French wine was consumed less because of heavy taxation and
spirits and beer were consumed more. The streets were alive with
taverns, coffee houses, eating houses, and hackney coaches past 9 p.m.
at night. Coffee houses were suppressed by royal proclamation in 1675
because "malicious and scandalous reports" defaming his majesty's
government were spread there, which disturbed the peace and quiet of
the realm. But this provoked such an uproar that it was reduced to a
responsibility of the owner to prevent scandalous papers and libels
from being read and hindering any declarations any false and scandalous
reports against the government or its ministers.
London air was filthy with smoke from coal burning. In 1684 the
streets were lit with improved lights which combined oil lamps with
lenses and reflectors. Groups of householders combined to hire lighting
contractors to fulfill their statutory responsibility to hang candles
or lights in some part of their houses near the street to light it for
passengers until 9:00 p.m., and later to midnight. In 1694 a monopoly
was sold to one lighting company. In 1663 a body of paid watchmen was
established in London. An office of magistrate was created and filled
with tradesmen and craftsmen, who could make a living from the fines
and fees. This was to supplement the unpaid Justices of the Peace. The
public was encouraged to assist in crime prevention, such as being
witnesses, but most policing was left to the parishes. Crowds punished
those who transgressed community moral standards, threatened their
economic or social interests, or offended their religious or patriotic
beliefs. Often a crowd would react before the call of "stop thief" or
the hue and cry from the local constable. Pickpockets would be drenched
under a pump. Cheats would be beaten up. Dishonest shops and brothels
would be ransacked or destroyed. The most common targets were
promiscuous women and pregnant servants.
There were many highway robberies and mob actions in London.
Mobs in the thousands would turn out against the Catholics, especially
at times of unemployment and trade depression. Working people still saw
demonstrations and violence as the best way to achieve their economic
goals, since strikes didn't work. For example, the silk workers used
street violence to get protective legislation against imports and
mechanization in 1675. The manufacture of silk material had been
brought to England by French workers driven from France. In 1697, three
thousand London silk weavers demonstrated outside the Commons and East
India House against the importation of raw silks by the East India Co.,
and a couple months later, they attacked a house in the city owned by a
gentleman of the company. In 1701, heavy duties were imposed on the
import of Indian silks and wearing of Indian silks was prohibited by
statute. Sometimes mobs would break open the prisons to release fellow
rioters or take action against strike breakers or informers. Parish
constables elected by their neighbors could not control the mobs and
stayed within their parishes. Dueling was still prevalent, even though
against the law.
In London and Westminster, it was hard to enforce the
requirement that inhabitants keep the street in front of their house
clean and store the filth until the daily raker or scavenger came with
cart and dung pot. So a commission was made responsible for paving and
keeping clean the streets, making and repairing vaults, sewers, drains,
and gutters, and removing encroachments. It compensated those with
encroachments of over 30 years. It assessed inhabitants of such streets
16d. per square yard from the front of their building to the center of
the street. Women continued to empty their pails and pans outside their
doors and did their washing on stools in the streets. There was a
penalty of 5d. for throwing filth in front of one's house, and 20d. for
throwing it elsewhere in the streets. Scavengers and rakers could lodge
their coal ashes, dust, dirt, and other filth in such vacant public
places as the commission deemed convenient for accommodating country
carts returning otherwise empty after their loads were sold.
However, this system did not work because people would not pay
their assessments. So there was a return to the former system of
requiring citizens to sweep and clean the streets in front of their
buildings twice a week and keep the filth until a scavenger or raker
came. The penalty for not doing so was 3s.4d., later raised to 10s. Any
one throwing coal ashes, dust, dirt, rubbish, or dung onto the streets
or lanes incurred a fine of 5s. There was a fine of 20s. for hooping or
washing any pipes or barrels in any lane or open passage or repairing
coaches, sawing wood, or chiseling stones in the streets. Pigs kept in
or about one's house had to be forfeited.
One way that people traveled was to be carried in sedan chairs
held up by two horizontal poles with one man at the front ends and
another man in back. There were so many sedan chairs and coaches for
hire in London that the watermen lost business. All hackney coaches in
London or Westminster were required to be licensed and marked with
their owner's distinctive mark so that complaints could be made. Their
maximum rate was 10s. for a 12 hour day, and 18d. for the first hour
and 12d. for every hour thereafter. Licensed coachmen were not allowed
to practice any other trade. The coaches paid the commission 5 pounds
yearly. Hay sold along the road brought 6d. per load, and straw 2d. per
load, to the commission. There had to by paid 3d. for every cart load
of hay sold at the hay market and 1d. for every cart of straw, to go
towards paving and repairing the hay market street.
Overall, agriculture improved. Fields that would have been left fallow
were planted with new crops which restored indispensable chemical
elements to the soil. At the same time, they supplied winter food for
stock. The size and weight of animals for slaughter grew. There was so
much stock breeding that it was more economical for a family to buy
meat, milk, and eggs, than to maintain its own animals. There was an
explosion in the growing of beans, peas, lettuce, asparagus,
artichokes, and clover. The demand for food in London and other urban
areas made enclosure for crop cultivation even more profitable than for
sheep grazing. The government made no more attempts to curtail the
enclosure of farm lands. The number of enclosures grew because
copyholders were not successful in obtaining the legal security of
tenure. But most land was not enclosed.
In 1661 in the county of Essex, the wages for mowing one acre
of grass were 1s.10d.; for reaping, shearing, binding one acre of wheat
4s.; and for threshing a quarter of wheat or rye 1s.
Wives participated with their husbands in general agricultural
chores and did the dairy work including making cheese. Every
householder kept chickens because egg production was cheap, their
market price being only 1s. for a hundred. Wives also took care of the
gardening work and traditionally kept for their own the cash that came
in from garden, dairy, and poultry products. A wife made jellies and
preserves when the fruit trees, bushes, and vines were bearing.
Imported sugar enabled fruit to be preserved as jam in jars sealed with
a layer of mutton fat to make them airtight. She was likely to concoct
medications from her herbs. Meat had to be smoked or salted when there
was not enough fodder to keep animals alive through the winter. She saw
to it that the soap was boiled and the candles molded. She cooked the
daily meals, did the washing, produced cloth for the family's use, and
sewed the family's clothing.
Women had less work and lower pay than men. Since most cottages
had a spinning wheel, spinning work was readily available to wives. In
the 1670s, a female weaver or spinner was paid 2-4d. per day. A
domestic servant, who was usually female, was paid 40-80s. a year. Men
in the trades objected to competition from lower-paid women.
Aristocratic ladies actively managed their family's household and
estates. The only work available to a high middle- class woman who was
waiting to get married was to be a governess in another household or a
lady-in-waiting to a gentlewoman. Children often worked; this was
recommended so that they were under the direct supervision of their
parents rather than getting into mischief in the village. The mother
typically mingled severity with gentleness, but the father did not dare
to err on the side of leniency. Discipline was by whipping. Children
were treated as little adults. The lack of a conception of childhood
innocence even extended to the practice of adults to tell bawdy jokes
in their presence or play with their children's genitals.
About 1660, the Royal Society of London for the Promotion of
Natural Knowledge was founded by Charles II, who became its patron. It
was formed from discussion groups of the new experimental philosophy.
It included the Baconians formerly at Oxford and Cambridge, who were
ejected at the Restoration, and a group of Gresham professors of
geometry and astronomy. The Royal Society met at Gresham College. Its
goal was to compare ideas in mathematics and science and identify
specific aims of science. It published scientific reports to make its
findings generally known. This was a great improvement over the private
correspondence among scientists, which was limited by the use of
various languages. Charles himself had his own laboratory and dabbled
in chemistry and anatomy. Similar societies were formed in many places
in the world. Theologicians warned that scientific research was
dangerous. But it's advances improved agriculture, manufactures,
medicine, surgery, navigation, naval architecture, gunnery, and
engineering.
Issac Newton was a genius, who in his childhood designed and
built model windmills, water wheels, water clocks, sundials, and kites.
He came from a family which had risen from the yeomen ranks to the
gentry. For a few years after graduating from Cambridge University in
1665, he secluded himself in the countryside to study. Here, using the
work of John Wallis, he formulated the binomial theorem that expands
(A+B) raised to the nth exponent power, where n is an integer. He also
worked with numbers that had exponents that were fractions, unending
decimals, or negative numbers. Certain patterns of numbers, such as the
sum of doubling each number in a series as in: 1+2+4+8+...never
terminates; the series is infinite. He then developed the notion of a
number being the limit of the summation of an infinite converging
series of a pattern of numbers, such as the limit of
1+(1/2)+(1/4)+(1/8)...= 2. By considering the state of motion of a
mass-point in an infinitely short time under the influence of an
external force, he developed rules for finding areas under algebraic
curves [integration], such as the hyperbola, and finding tangents to
algebraic curves [differentiation], which he recognized as inverse
processes. That is, differentiating the integral of a function results
in a return to that function.
Newton discovered that colors arose from the separation, rather
than a modification, of white light, that is natural sunlight. He did
this using a prism to dissect the white light into its spectrum of
constituent colors and then using a prism and lens to recombine the
colors to reconstitute white light. The spectrum was the same as that
of a rainbow. He determined the angle of refraction of each color by
beaming white light through a prism, and then through a hole in a board
which isolated one color, to another prism. When he discovered that all
colors reflect from a mirror at the same angle, he invented and built
the reflecting telescope, which used a parabolic concave mirror and a
flat mirror instead of a convex lens, thereby eliminating the
distortions and rainbow coloring around the edges that resulted from
the refraction of different colors at different angles. He deemed a ray
of light to consist of a rapidly moving stream of atomic particles,
rather than Robert Hooke's pulses or Christian Huygens' waves, because
shadows showed a sharp boundary between the light and the absence of
light. He reasoned that if light was made up of pulses or waves, it
could spread around obstacles or corners as sound seemed to do. He
approximated the speed of sound by timing echoes in corridors of
various lengths.
Newton was methodical and combined the inductive and deductive
methods of inquiry, first making observations, and then generalizing
them into a theory, and finally deducing consequences from the theory
which could be tested by experimentation. This was the first clear
expression of the basis of the "scientific method". He carried
mathematization of data from experiments as far as possible.
Newton theorized that the same gravity force that pulled an
apple down from a tree extended out to the moon to hold it in its orbit
around the earth. He saw a connection between these movements by
imagining a cannon on a mountain shooting a series of cannonballs
parallel to the earth's surface. The first shot has only a tiny charge
of explosive, and the cannonball barely makes it out of the muzzle
before falling to the ground. The second shot is propelled by a larger
charge, and follows a parabolic arc as it falls. The next shots, fired
with increasingly more propellant, eventually disappear over the
horizon as they fall. Lastly, with enough gunpowder, a speeding
cannonball would completely circle the earth without hitting it. By
extrapolating from these ever faster projectiles, he opined that the
moon was held in its orbit by the same earth force that operated on the
projectiles. He correlated the moon's orbit with the measured
acceleration of gravity on the surface of the earth. He put various
substances with different masses and weights into the shell of a
pendulum and observed that the pendulum had the same period [time for
one oscillation] and fell at the same rate as free-falling objects.
Then he formulated the idea that the ultimate agent of nature was a
force acting between bodies rather than a moving body itself. Gravity
did not act in proportion to the surfaces of bodies, but in proportion
to quantity of matter. Gravity penetrated to the very center of all
bodies without diminution by the body. Gravity's force extended to
immense distances and decreased in exact proportion to the square of
the distance.
Newton opined that an object moves because of external forces
on it rather than by forces internal to the object. These are his three
laws of motion. 1) He connected the concepts of force and acceleration
with a new concept, that of mass. Mass is a quantity intrinsic to an
object that determines how it responds to forces, such as the force of
gravity. The greater the mass of a body, the stronger the force of
gravity on it, and the more difficult it is to get it moving. He found
that the acceleration of a body by a force is inversely proportional to
its mass, and formulated the equation that force equals mass multiplied
by acceleration. So if a force acts on a planet, it produces a change
in velocity that is proportional to the force and in the same direction
as the force.2) His law of inertia is that any body, persists in its
state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless affected
by an outside force. 3) His next law is that when a body A exerts a
force on a body B, then B also exerts a force on A which is equal in
amount but opposite in direction. This means that forces that operate
between different parts of a planet produce no net force upon the whole
planet, so that the mass of a planet can be treated as if it is
concentrated at a point.
His law of gravitation explains how the whole universe is held
together. This law holds that every object in the universe attracts
every other object with a single gravitational force that is directly
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional
to the square of the distance between their centers. Newton had at
first accepted the Cartesian system of celestial vortices of aether
that swirled the planets and comets around their orbits. He determined
that Kepler's law that areas were swept out in equal times implied that
gravity acts in the direction of a line between the planet and the sun.
The gross features of the universe and Kepler's observations led to his
recognition that the attraction between two bodies decreases inversely
in proportion to the square of the distance between them. Only one kind
of force would satisfy Kepler's requirement that the sun was a focus of
an ellipse and still be consistent with Kepler's law that the square of
a planet's period was proportional to the cube of its mean distance
from the sun; that was the inverse square law. Then he came to accept
Robert Hooke's hypothesis that planets are kept in their orbits by the
combination of an attractive power of the sun and of motion in a
straight line that was tangential to their orbits. From astronomical
data, he calculated this centripetal acceleration of each planet
towards the sun to be proportional to the inverse square of its
distance from the sun. He also calculated the "centrifugal"
accelerations in a straight line. His experiments showed that the
centripetal force in a circular orbit was equal to the mass of the body
multiplied by the square of its velocity, all divided by the radius of
the circular path. He used calculus and differential equations to
determine centripetal forces of elliptical orbits, where the distance
from the sun, the velocity, and the acceleration were variables.
Newton showed that his single gravitational force could account
for the way free-falling objects descend to the ground, the parabolic
trajectory of projectiles, the path of the moon in its orbit around the
earth, the course of the tides every twelve hours, the lower densities
of the earth's atmosphere at greater heights, the paths of Jupiter's
moons, the paths of comets, and the elliptical paths of the planets in
their orbits around the sun. This determination discredited the
previous belief that invisible angels moved the planets. Newton proved
from his law of gravitation and his three laws of motion the truth of
Kepler's laws of elliptical planetary motion. Newton demonstrated from
data collected from the comet of 1680 that comets moved according to
his law of gravitation. He showed that the path of a body traveling
within the gravitational force of the sun is a circle, an ellipse, a
parabola, or a hyperbola. He used the concept of a common center of
gravity as a reference point for other motions. The fact that the
center of gravity of the solar system was within the body of the sun
verified that the sun was indeed at the center of the solar system.
Newton deduced that the tides were created by the rotation of
the earth with bulges of water on the earth's surfaces that were
closest and farthest from the moon. The moon "pulled" the water nearest
to it with a greater force than average. It "pulled" the water farthest
from it with a force weaker than average. These two moving bulges
created two tides a day.
Newton's "Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis", was
published in 1687. The established church denounced it as being against
the scripture of the Bible. Newton did not agree with the established
church on many points, such as the trinity, and was considered a
heretic. He had his own interpretations of the Bible and doubted the
divinity of Jesus. But it was accepted for dissenters like Newton to
qualify for full civil rights by maintaining an outward conformity and
taking the sacrament in the established church once a year. Newton was
given a royal dispensation from taking holy orders as prescribed by the
rules for tenure of fellows of his college at Cambridge University. He
did believe in a God who created the universe and who had a ubiquitous
presence in all space. When Catholic King James II tried to have a
Catholic monk admitted to the degree of a Master of Arts at Cambridge
University without taking the oath of adherence to the established
Protestant church, so that he could participate in the business of the
university, Newton was active in the opposition that defeated this
attempt. As a result, he was elected to Parliament by Cambridge.
When Olaus Roemer, a Danish astronomer, was applying Newton's
laws to the paths of the moons of Jupiter to make a table of eclipses
of Jupiter's moons for use in determining one's longitude, he noticed
that the eclipses were five hundred seconds ahead of average time at
that time of year when the earth and Jupiter were on the same side of
the sun, and five hundred seconds behind average time six months later,
when Jupiter was on the other side of the sun. He reasoned that this
difference was due to the light from Jupiter's moons taking more time
to reach the earth when Jupiter was farther from the earth, i.e. on the
other side of the sun. He concluded that light does not travel
instantaneously, but at a certain speed. From the fact that it took
1000 seconds for light to travel the diameter of the earth's orbit, he
calculated its speed in 1676.
In 1668, Christian Huygens formulated the law of conservation
of momentum [mass multiplied by velocity], which held that when objects
collide, they may each change direction, but the sum of all their
momenta will remain the same. Huygens also recognized the conservation
of what was later called "kinetic energy", which is associated with
movement. He developed laws of centrifugal force for uniform motion in
a circle. He derived the formula for computing the oscillations of a
simple pendulum. In 1690, he posited the theory that light consists of
a series of waves. It states that all points of a wave front of light
in a vacuum may be regarded as new sources of wavelets that expand in
every at a rate depending on their velocities. He thought this a better
explanation of bending and interference of light than Newton's particle
theory.
In 1661, Robert Boyle, called the father of modern chemistry,
defined an element as a substance that cannot be further decomposed. He
distinguished an element from both a mixture, which is easily
separable, and a compound, which is not easily separable. He used an
air pump he developed and a glass jar to create a confined vacuum space
for experiments to find the properties of heat, light, and sound. He
noted that burning objects such as candles and coal, when placed in the
receiver of his air pump, went out after a time although air was still
present. He opined that animals were dependent upon a fresh supply of
air to live. He studied the relationship between the volume, density,
and pressure of air and gases. He proved by experiment that the volume
of a gas at a constant temperature varies in inverse proportion to the
pressure applied to the gas. Since gas is compressible, he opined that
gases must be composed of discrete particles separated by void, and
also that basic physical properties were due to motions of particles,
or atoms, which was an ancient Greek conjecture. This cast doubt on the
long-held belief that everything was composed from four basic elements:
air, water, fire, and earth. Boyle's laboratory at Oxford was denounced
by the Oxford clergy as destroying religion. In 1679, the steam
pressure cooker was invented by Denis Papin from France. He invented
the atmospheric engine in 1690.
Robert Hooke helped Boyle build his air pump. Hooke was
thirteen when his father, a minister, died. Hooke was a genius with
innate mechanical skill and was an able mathematician. He applied a
spiral spring to regulate the balance of watches. A lord financed him
as a Gresham lecturer of geometry for 50 pounds a year. In 1666, he
used a pendulum to measure the force of gravity and showed that the
center of gravity of the earth and moon is a point describing an
ellipse around the sun. In 1667, he explained the twinkling of the
stars by irregular atmospheric refractions. He formulated the theory
that light is composed of pulses. Hooke's Law states that the amount an
elastic body such as a spring stretches out of shape is in direct
proportion to the force acting on it: its tension. He invented the
odometer, a wheel to measure distances. He constructed an arithmetical
machine. He invented the universal joint, which can move in many
angles. His book of drawings of microscopic animals is a classic. He
proposed that fossils can be used as a source of information about the
earth's history. Hooke became rich from his inventions, but this was
not known until his death, when thousands of pounds were found in his
iron chest.
In 1668, Wallis postulated the correct theory of impacts of
inelastic bodies, based on the principle of conservation of momentum.
In 1685, he introduced the first graphical representation of complex
numbers.
Royal astronomer and genius Edmond Halley, the son of a soap
maker, studied tides, magnetism, and the paths of comets and stars. He
went on voyages to study the heavens from different positions, thereby
laying the foundations of physical geography. He showed that the stars
change in position in relation to each other. With Newton's help, he
calculated the orbit of a comet he saw in 1682 to be elliptical rather
than parabolic and then proved it was the same comet that had appeared
in 1531 and 1607, indicating it's regularity; it was then named
"Halley's comet". However, the Church of England still embraced the
idea that comets and eclipses were evidence of God's wrath. Greenwich
Observatory was built in 1675. Halley used a barometer to measure the
density of the atmosphere and related its readings to elevations into
the atmosphere and to weather. He determined that the cause of the
tropical trade winds was the sun warming the tropical air at the
equator, causing it to rise and move north as it was replaced by cooler
air from the north. This body of air was deflected by the rotation of
the earth. He illustrated the tropical winds with the first
meteorological map. He made a descent in a diving bell, which was used
to try to reach wrecked treasure ships. He studied fossils and
perceived them as remnants of living beings that had died long ago, and
imagined a succession of living things. Halley surveyed the tides and
coasts of the British Channel for the king in 1701.
In 1675, apothecary Nicolas Lemery divided substances into
mineral, vegetable, and animal. He wrote a dictionary of
pharmaceuticals.
John Ray and Francis Willoughby were friends who traveled
together to study plants and animals respectively. John Ray started the
science of zoology with his edition of Francis Willoughby's
"Ornithology" on birds and his own "History of Fishes". He also
attempted the first scientific classification of animals in his
"Synopsis of Quadrupeds". Ray compared anatomies and experimented on
movements of plants and the ascent of sap. He knew that fossils were
remnants of old animals. Ray first suggested the concept of species in
classification of animals and plants. He opined that the goodness and
wisdom of God was shown not only by the usefulness of animals to man's
uses as taught by the church, but also by the adaptation of animals to
their own lives and surroundings. The vast array and dispersal of
animals found by world explorers all over the world cast doubt on the
biblical story of Noah putting two of every kind of animal on an ark.
The science of botany began with Ray's "History of Plants" and the
researches of Robert Morrison, who was Charles' physician and keeper of
his gardens.
Nicholaus Steno, a Danish physician, diagrammed six levels of
stratification on the earth's surface and demonstrated in 1669 that
layers of strata of rock are always deposited with the oldest layers on
the bottom and the youngest layers on the top. This began the science
of geology. He argued that shifts in the earth's strata caused the
formation of mountains. He identified fossils as ancient creatures. The
idea that fossils were remnants of dead animals existing before man
conflicted with the religious idea that Adam's fall began sin and
caused death. The idea from fossils that existing species of animals
were modifications of predecessor animals conflicted with the religious
belief that Noah's ark had preserved all the varieties of animals. John
Aubrey described Stonehenge, thus founding prehistoric archaeology. He
thought it to be a Druid temple.
The telescope and compound microscope, which has an objective
lens and an eyepiece lens for producing a wide range of magnifications,
were further developed. The cellular basis of life was discovered and
described by Robert Hooke. Nehemia Grew, the son of a grammar school
master who became a physician, observed and drew plant anatomy,
including leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, ovules, pollen grains, and
stamens. He was the first to observe the existence of plant sexuality.
Italian Marcello Malpighi, a physician, used the new compound
microscope to study human skin, spleen, kidneys, and liver and also
compared the livers of several types of animals. He discovered
capillaries linking the arterial and venous circulation in the lungs.
Dutchman Anton van Leeuwenhock, a cloth manufacturer who made
microscopes to inspect the quality of cloth, turned them to use in
understanding the life cycles of mites, lice, and fleas. He correctly
described human blood cells. When he found what he described as tiny
animals (bacteria, protozoa, and rotifers), he sent clear descriptions
of them to the Royal Society in London as proof against the theory of
spontaneous generation, which held that lower forms of life could arise
from nonliving matter. This started the science of bacteriology. With
the discovery of the egg in the female reproductive system, the status
of women was lifted.
Physician Thomas Willis, son of a farmer, dissected brains of
men and animals to study the anatomical relations of nerves and
arteries. Excess urine had been associated with a wasting disease.
Willis identified diabetes mellitus with excess of urine that was
sweet. Physician Thomas Sydenham, son of a gentleman, observed epidemic
diseases of London over successive years, thus founding epidemiology.
He also furthered clinical medicine by emphasizing detailed
observations of patients and maintaining accurate records. He wrote a
treatise on gout and identified scarlet fever. He introduced a cooling
method of treating smallpox. But he still relied on the big three
treatments: bloodletting, purging, and sweating. Bloodletting was to
draw off bad blood so that it could be replaced by a better fluid.
Another treatment used was cupping, whereby a vacuum was created by
heated glass cups to draw blood to the surface of the skin. John Locke
performed one of the first successful operations draining a kind of
abscess of a man's liver. It was common for people who felt ill to take
a laxative and rest at home.
In 1690, physicians opened the first dispensaries, which gave
treatment and medicine together, to take business away from their
rivals: the apothecaries. London's apothecaries were released in 1694
from jury service and service as constable, scavenger, or other parish
or ward office because it was necessary that they be available to
attend the sick at all times. Peruvian bark which had quinine as its
alkaloid had been introduced as a proven cure for the ague, a fever
with chills usually due to malaria, in 1653. The English ceased to
believe in holy wells, but went to spas such as Bath for treatment of
disease.
There was more bathing because private homes in towns now had indoor
baths. The public baths came into disuse.
For childbirth, only rich women were attended by physicians. Most
physicians used talismen such as the eagle stone at deliveries.
Caesarian section almost always led to the death of the mother.
Midwives were licensed by the church and could baptize babies. Jane
Sharp wrote "The Midwives Book" with anatomical illustrations.
Women over thirty had fewer children and the last child born was at an
earlier age than before. This was in part due to birth control such as
coitus-interruptus, long breast-feeding of a current child and/or the
taboo against sex if the wife was still breast-feeding. Rich women
often employed wet-nurses to breast- feed their babies. Babies seldom
thrived, or even survived, without out a regular supply of breast milk.
John Locke, an Oxford don, physician, and son of an attorney, expressed
a view that the monarchy was not based on divine right, but rather on a
contractual relationship with the people, who were reasonable, free,
and equal by nature. This idea was first adopted by revolutionists and
then became accepted as orthodoxy. Also, he articulated the right of
resistance, the supremacy of legislative assemblies, and the
responsibility of rulers to answer to their subjects. He theorized that
men turn to forming a civil government when there is a need to protect
accumulated property from some unreasonable men. This, along with the
protection of life and liberty, was the primary function of government,
before royal pleasure, national pride, or foreign conquest. He wrote
theories on the interaction of supply, demand, interest rates, rents,
coinage, and foreign exchange rates. He believed that interest rates
should be the natural ones determined by market forces rather than by
the legislature, especially if there was an attempt to lower interest
rates below their natural rate, which was not only undesirable but
easily circumvented. He thought that attempting to legislate contrary
to natural economic laws, e.g. prices, was doomed to failure from
unexpected consequences. He agreed with most mercantilists that by
maintaining a large inflow of precious metals through consistent export
of surpluses in foreign trade would lead to low interest rates,
increased trade, increased capital stock, high employment, and high
prices, and therefore a healthy economy and enrichment of the nation.
Locke thought that knowledge comes primarily from experience,
i.e. sensation and reflection, rather than from innate ideas placed in
the mind by God, so that observation and experimentation are necessary
to find truth. He theorized that propositions of truth have probability
rather than certainty. Probable propositions included opinion, belief,
and revelation. His "Thoughts on Education" was a great book on the
formation of character. Locke also advocated the use of a large field
for inventing labor-saving and economic devices for agriculture. He
espoused freedom of thought in "Letters on Toleration" and wrote "An
Essay Concerning Human Understanding", which described how the mind
functions in learning about the world and which attempted to reconcile
science and Christianity. He was a great admirer and friend of Newton
and they shared religious views. He was also a member of the Royal
Society.
At Oxford and Cambridge Universities, there were the most
enlightened theologians, classicists, orientalists, philologists,
mathematicians, chemists, architects, and musicians. There were
professors of Anglo-Saxon, Hebrew, and Arabic. John Locke's influence
caused modern philosophy to supercede traditional scholasticism. There
were no more disputations to qualify for degrees. Some of the students
were the sons of noblemen and sat at meals with the heads, tutors, and
fellows of the colleges. Most students were the sons of landowners,
clergymen, professional men, or prosperous men of business. They were
known as the gentlemen commoner students. The few poor students were
known as servitors and paid for their education by menial work.
Corporal punishment ceased. Instead there were fines, suspension, and
expulsion. Fellows of colleges had common rooms for drinking and
smoking together as they had done in taverns outside college walls. The
king had authority to grant licenses in sell or give land in
perpetuity, to encourage founding and augmenting colleges and schools.
The two universities were vested with the presentation of benefices
that had belonged to Papists.
English nonconformists such as Presbyterians were excluded from
Oxford and Cambridge Universities, so they were educated at Glasgow in
Scotland.
Grammar schools were blamed for the past civil war by educating
too many people above their station, so ecclesiastical control now
stifled them. A few dissenting schools were established. Charity was
given to schools for children of the poor for placement as apprentices,
but not to educate them above their stations.
In the 1670s, about 70% of males in London were literate. By
1680, illiteracy was a special characteristic of the poor instead of a
characteristic of the vast majority of common people as in 1580.
Fountain pens came into use.
Many books written tended to be about the author's experiences,
for instance Samuel Pepys' "Diary", Gilbert Burnet's "History of my own
Times", John Evelyn's lifelong diary with vivid descriptions of
striking events of the day, and nonconformist Celia Fiennes'
description of her tour of England on horseback. There were many
political biographies. Historians did not yet study history as a
continuous process, but narrated self-contained stories to instruct by
example. William Fleetwood wrote about economic history in "Chronicon
Preciogum". George Hicks put together a "Thesaurus" of the northern
languages. Thomas Hyde wrote on ancient Persian religion. John Spenser
compared Jewish rites with those of other Semitic people, thus starting
comparative religion. Richard Bentley, William's librarian, wrote a
"Dissertation" on the ancient Greeks. He compared the ancient Greek
life with modern life. He also confuted atheism on the Newtonian
system. A translated version of "Critical History of Old Testament" by
Frenchman Richard Simon identified the old testament as history instead
of divine revelation. John Milton wrote "Paradise Lost", which retells
the Biblical story of the Creation and the fall of Adam and Eve against
the backdrop of Satan's rebellion and expulsion from heaven and
emphasized God's justice in spite of everything. The poem deals with
the puritan struggling against evil and the problem of sin and
redemption. It has a cold and severe conception of moral virtue and
stoical self-repression in its characters. There is no sympathy with
the human condition. Reading this book made the English more serious,
earnest, and sober in life and conduct and more firm in the love of
freedom. John Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim's Progress" in which a tinker takes
a journey to find the Everlasting City of heaven and on the way meets
people who try to harm him. But he derives strength from his
adversities. The journey is a metaphor for the Christian soul trying to
find salvation. It is Puritan in its sympathies and has insights into
human nature. John Dryden wrote on large social, political, and
humanistic issues, often by political satire. William Congreve wrote
plays such as a comedy on manners. William Wycherley wrote cynical
satires and portrayed folly, affection, and vice. John Vanbrugh wrote
plays satirizing London high society and social institutions. John
Toland wrote "Christianity and Mysterious" on deism. "Puss in Boots",
"Red Ridinghood", and "Cinderella" became available in print. There
were many female poets, bookwriters, and playwrights. Anne Finch, later
Vicountess Conway, wrote the philosophical book: "Principle of the Most
Ancient and Modern Philosophy" to reconcile the new science with
Christian belief. In it every creature had a body and a spirit. Mrs.
Aphra Behn wrote "Oroonoko", one of the first novels. Basua Makin,
governess of the little sister of Charles II wrote an essay to revive
the education of women, arguing that women's activity in wartime showed
that they were fit to be educated. Elizabeth Elstob, who studied
Teutonic languages, was one of the founders of women's education. Mary
Astell proposed a college for women. Some women painted portraits.
There were rigid censorship acts from 1662 to 1695. The first
required that no one could print a book without first registering it
with the Company of Stationers of London and having it licensed by
appropriate authority: common law books by the Lord Chancellor or the
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, affairs of state and history books by
the Secretaries of State, heraldry books by the Earl Marshall or Kings
of Arms Garter, university books by the Chancellor or Vice Chancellor
of either of the universities, and all others including divinity,
physics, and philosophy by the Archbishop of Canterbury, or Bishop of
London. Books could be imported only into London and not sold until
approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London after
being opened and viewed by a scholar appointed by these bishops and a
representative of the Company of Stationers. If heretical, seditious,
scandalous, schismatic or otherwise dangerous or offensive, the
importer could be punished. No one could print or import copies of any
books without consent of the owner with right by letters patent. The
penalty for not doing so was to forfeit 6s.9d. for each such book, of
which the king would receive one half and the owner one half. Printers
had to set their own name to the books they printed and also the name
of the author or else forfeit such book. Only freemen of London who
were members of the Company of Stationers could sell books. The Company
of Stationers had the authority accompanied by a constable to search
all houses and shops where they knew or had "probable reason" to
suspect books were being printed. They could search houses of persons
of other trades only by special warrant. They could examine books found
to determine if they were licensed and, if not, to seize them. Justices
could imprison offenders. The first offense by offending printers was
to be punished by suspension from printing for three years, the second
offense by permanent disallowance from printing, fine, imprisonment,
and corporal punishment not extending to life or limb. This statute was
enforced by frequent prosecutions, such as of publishers of
pornographic books.
The only newspapers to appear between 1660 and 1679 were
official government sheets. But in 1695 the requirement to license
publications, including newspapers, was abolished, thereby giving some
freedom to the press. Locke had argued for this freedom, stating "I
know not why a man should not have liberty to print whatever he would
speak and to be answerable for the one just as he is for the other..."
In 1702 the first daily newspaper in the world came into existence in
England. The Stationer's Company monopoly of printing also ended in
1695. Printing was not regulated and no longer criminal just because it
was unauthorized. Printing could now be done in other places than
London, York, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Many successful
merchants and manufacturers bought landed estates and established a
line of country squires or baronets or even peers. The fashion started
in the nobility and the richest mercantile families that their wives
should become ladies of leisure. For workers though, there was constant
underemployment. In periods of economic crisis industrial workers lost
their jobs. Much work was seasonal. Anyone who could work most of the
time was fortunate. Laboring and out- servants, who comprised one
fourth of the population, and cottagers and paupers, who comprised
another fourth of the population, had to spend more than they earned.
The poor rate collected from the parishes for the cottagers and paupers
was 3d. per week. There was an agricultural depression that was deepest
in the 1680s after the collapse of a boom. It was the only bad
depression experienced in peace time. There was famine in 1698.
Any person receiving relief from any parish and his family
members cohabiting with him was required to wear a badge with a "P"
which identified his parish. This was to differentiate them from idle,
sturdy, and disorderly beggars who were not entitled to relief.
There were more poor people and, despite the poor laws, many
became rogues or vagabonds or starved to death. Many went from parish
to parish to build cottages and consumed all the wood there and then
went to another parish. So the parishes were allowed by statute to
remove any person coming to settle in any tenement under the value of
ten pounds who was likely to be chargeable to it. They were then
removed to the last parish were they had resided for at least forty
days. Excepted were people temporarily moving to another parish to work
at harvest time. The overall effect was to decrease the mobility of
people. But a later statute permitted greater movement of poor people
by allowing those who were poor for want of work to go to another
parish where labor was wanted. They had to bring a certificate of their
present parish membership to the new parish, where they could settle if
they rented a tenement worth ten pounds a year or served in a parish
office. Later, settlement had to be given to inhabitants paying its
parish's rates, and unmarried inhabitants hired for one year, and
apprentices bound by indenture. But parishes were displeased with the
requirement to give settlements to these people because they feared
they would become poor and need parish assistance, thereby increasing
the rates to be paid.
Parish poor houses were converted into spinning schools to
obtain an income. Parishes of large towns were combined to set up large
workhouses, where the poor could be set to unskilled manufacture, but
the managers lacked the character and education to make them work.
Because prisoners often died before trial and the poor
prisoners became instructed in the practice of thievery in prison, they
were set to work on materials provided to them at public expense. No
parish was rated at more than 6d. per week for such. The president and
governors of corporations oversaw rogues, vagrants, sturdy beggars, and
idle or disorderly persons working in corporations or workhouses.
Assessments were made for building and repairing gaols in order
to maintain the health and safe custody of the prisoners. Also, gaol
fever, a virulent form of typhus, was so prevalent in the large prisons
for criminals and debtors that it frequently spread through the
adjacent towns. During some assizes, it killed sheriffs, lawyers, and
justices.
In 1692, London lands were taxed for the relief of orphans.
Churchwardens could seize the goods and chattels of putative fathers
and mothers deserting bastard children.
From 1691 to 1740, Societies for the Reformation of Manners
prosecuted poor people for moral offenses.
All hackney coaches and stage coaches in all the realm became
required to be licensed. The turnpike system came into use. Tolls were
paid for road upkeep and repair by private companies. The local
parishes ceased to have this responsibility. John Ogilby wrote the
first road book based on actual surveys of the roads. Stage coaches
cost a shilling for every five miles and went 40-50 miles a day. The
trip from London to Oxford was twelve hours. The company of Coach and
Coach Harness Makers was founded with the consent of the king. The body
of a coach hung from the frame by leather braces. One axle pivoted for
turns. Plate glass was used in the windows. Rivers improved so that
most places were no more distant from navigable waters than a long
day's haul on land.
The several post offices were put under the authority of one
Postmaster General appointed by the king for the purpose of speed and
safety of dispatches, which were carried by horseback. One sheet letter
going less than 80 miles cost 2d., and more than 80 miles, 4d.
When the army was disbanded after the Restoration, its officers
and soldiers were allowed return to their trades and their
apprenticeships without serving the usual seven years. Parishes were
required to provide for poor and maimed officers and soldiers who
served Charles I or Charles II. The Royal Hospital founded by Charles
as a home for veteran soldiers opened in 1692. Greenwich palace was
converted to a hospital for seamen and their widows and children to
encourage men to become seamen: mariner, seaman, waterman, fisherman,
lighterman, bargeman, keelman, or seafaring man in the king's Navy.
Also, children of disabled seamen were to be educated at the expense of
the hospital.