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VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS

528. Dress. In the time of Charles II and his successors the dress of the wealthy and fashionable classes was most elaborate and costly. Gentlemen wore their hair long, in ringlets, with an abundance of gold lace and ruffles, and carried long, slender swords, known as rapiers. Sometimes indeed they outshone the ladies in the splendor of their costume, and in one instance the bride at a wedding burst into tears because her gorgeously dressed husband looked so much handsomer than she did that all eyes were fixed on him alone. Later on, large flowing wigs came into fashion, and no man of any social standing thought of appearing without one.

In Queen Anne's reign both ladies and gentlemen powdered their hair. The ladies also painted their faces and ornamented them with minute black patches, which served not only for "beauty spots," but showed, by their arrangement, with which political party they sympathized.

529. Coffeehouses. Up to the middle of the seventeenth century ale and beer were the common drink of all classes; but about that time coffee was introduced, and coffeehouses became fashionable resorts for gentlemen and for all who wished to learn the news of the day. Tea had not yet come into use; but, in 1660, Pepys says in his diary: "Sept. 25. I did send for a cup of tee, a China drink, of which I never had drank before."

530. The Streets of London. No efficient police existed in London; at night the streets were infested with brutal ruffians, and, as late as Queen Anne's time, by bands of "fine gentlemen not less brutal, who amused themselves by overturning sedan chairs, rolling women downhill in barrels, and compelling men to dance jigs, under the stimulus of repeated pricks from a circle of sword points, until the victims fell fainting from exhaustion. Duels were frequent, on the slightest provocation. Highwaymen abounded both in the city and without, and, unless one went well armed, it was often dangerous to travel any distance in the country.

531. Brutal Laws. Hanging was the common punishment for theft and many other crimes. The public whipping of both men and women through the streets was frequent. Debtors were shut up in prison, and left to beg from the passers-by or starve; and ordinary offenders were fastened in a wooden frame called the "pillory" and exposed on a high platform, where they were pelted by the mob with mud, rotten eggs, and other unsavory missiles. In some cases their bones were broken with clubs and brickbats. The pillory continued in use until the accession of Victoria in 1837.

TENTH PERIOD1

The history of England is emphatically the history of progress. It is the history of a constant movement of the public mind, of a constant change in the institutions of a great society.” — MACAULAY.

INDIA GAINED; AMERICA LOST — PARLIAMENTARY REFORM - GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER (1714) TO THE PRESENT TIME

532. Accession of George I. As Queen Anne died without leaving an heir to the throne (§ 515), George, Elector of Hanover, in accordance with the Act of Settlement (§ 497), now came into possession of the English crown. (See Genealogical Table opposite.) The new King had no desire whatever to go to England.

As he owed his new position to Whig legislation (§ 479), he naturally favored that party and turned his back on the Tories ($479), who, deprived of the sunshine of royal favor, were as unhappy as their rivals were jubilant. The triumphant Whigs denounced "the shameful Peace of Utrecht" (§ 512). Next, they impeached the three fallen Tory leaders,2 of whom Harley was the

1 REFERENCE BOOKS on this Period will be found in the CLASSIFIED List of Books in the Appendix. The pronunciation of names will be found in the Index. THE LEADING DATES stand unenclosed; all others are in parentheses.

2 The three Tory leaders were Harley, now Earl of Oxford (§ 510), St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke), and Butler (Duke of Ormonde). Bolingbroke and Ormonde fled to France, where the first entered the service of the "Pretender," but he was ultimately permitted to return to England. Ormonde never came back. Harley, as stated above, was sent to the Tower; while there he secretly wrote to the "Pretender" (§ 490), and offered him his services.

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chief (§ 510), on a charge of treason. The indictment accused them of having given back to Louis XIV, in the late war, more captured territory than was necessary. Furthermore, they were said to be guilty of having intrigued to restore the House of Stuart with the design of making the "Pretender" King (§§ 490, 491). Harley was sent to the Tower of London for a time; he was then acquitted and released. Meanwhile his two indicted associates had fled to France.

Later, the Whigs repealed two harsh religious statutes (§ 511) directed against Dissenters (§ 472), which the Tories and the High Churchmen had enacted in the previous reign for the purpose of keeping themselves in power.

533. Character of the New King. The new sovereign was a selfish, coarse old man, who in private life would, as Lady Montagu said, have passed for an honest blockhead. He neither knew anything about England, nor did he desire to know anything of it. He could not speak a word of the language of the country he was

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER, also called BRUNSWICK AND GUELF

* Elector-Palatine: a prince ruling over the territory called the Palatinate in western Germany, on the Rhine.

† Elector of Hanover: a prince ruling over the province of Hanover, a part of the German Empire, lying on the North Sea. The elector received his title from the fact that he was one of a certain number of princes who had the right of electing the German Emperor.

called to govern, and he made no attempt to learn it; even the coronation service had to be explained to him as best it might, in such broken Latin as the ministers could muster.

Laboring under these disadvantages he wisely declined to take any active part in the affairs of the nation. He trusted everything to his Whig friends (§ 532) and let them, with Sir Robert Walpole at their head, manage the country in their own way.

Fortunately, the great body of the English people were abundantly able to take care of themselves. A noted French writer said of them that they resembled a barrel of their own beer, froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, but thoroughly sound and wholesome in the middle. It was this middle class, with their solid, practical good sense, that kept the nation right.

They were by no means enthusiastic worshipers of the German King who had come to reign over them, but they saw that he had three good qualities: he was no hypocrite, he did not waste the people's money, and he was a man of unquestioned courage. But they also saw more than this, for they realized that though George I might be as heavy, dull, and wooden as the figurehead of an old-fashioned ship, yet, like that figurehead, he stood for something greater and better than himself, for he represented Protestantism, with civil and religious liberty, and so the people gave him their allegiance.

534. Rise of Cabinet Government; the First Prime Minister. The present method of Cabinet Government dates in great part from this reign. From the earliest period of English history the sovereign was accustomed to have a permanent council composed of some of the chief men of the realm, whom he consulted on all matters of importance (§§ 144, 145). Charles II, either because he found this body inconveniently large for the rapid transaction of business, or because he believed it inexpedient to discuss his plans with so many, selected a small confidential committee from it (§ 476). This committee met to consult with the King in his cabinet, or private room, and so came to be called "the Cabinet Council," or briefly, "the Cabinet," a name which it has ever since retained.

During Charles II's reign and that of his immediate successors the King continued to choose this special council from those whom

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he believed to be friendly to his measures, often without much regard to party lines, and he was always present at their meetings. With the accession of George I, however, a great change took place. His want of acquaintance with prominent men made it difficult for him to select a Cabinet himself, and his ignorance of English rendered his presence at its meetings wholly useless. For these reasons the new King adopted the expedient of appointing a chief adviser, or Prime Minister, who personally chose his own Cabinet from men of the political party to which he belonged.

Sir Robert Walpole, who held this office of chief adviser for more than twenty years (1721-1742), is commonly considered to have been the first actual Prime Minister, and the founder of that system of Cabinet Government which prevails in England to-day. He was a master hand at managing his fellow ministers in the Cabinet, and when one of them, named Townshend, aspired to share the leadership, Walpole said to him, "The firm must be Walpole and Townshend, not Townshend and Walpole." But later (1741) a minority in the Lords protested "that a sole or even First Minister is an officer unknown to the law of Britain, inconsistent with the Constitution of this country, and destructive of liberty in any government whatsover." Then Walpole thought it expedient to disclaim the title; but many years later the younger Pitt declared (1803) that there ought to be "an avowed minister possessing the chief weight in the Council" or Cabinet, and that view eventually prevailed.1 The Cabinet, or "Government,” as it is usually called,2 generally consists of twelve or fifteen persons chosen by the Prime Minister, or Premier, from the leading members of both houses of Parliament, but whose political views agree in the main with the majority of the House of Commons.

4

1 Feilden's "Constitutional History of England," Taswell-Langmead's "English Constitutional History," and A. L. Lowell's "The Government of England," 2 vols. 2 "The Cabinet, the body to which, in common use, we have latterly come to give the name of Government." Encyclopædia Britannica (10th edition, VIII, 297). 3" Premier": from the French premier, first or chief.

4 The existence of the Cabinet depends on custom, not law. Its three essential characteristics are generally considered to be: (1) Practical unanimity of party; (2) Practical unity of action under the leadership of the Prime Minister; (3) Collective responsibility to the party in the House of Commons which represents the political majority of the nation. Its members are never officially made known