But the comparative position of the parochial clergy, as of all other classes of society, at these two periods, and at the present day, depends not only on the amount of money which they received yearly, and on the quantity of things which it would purchase, but also on the style of living at the periods compared. In those times the houses of the smaller gentry were rudely but substantially built of timber, and did not involve frequent repairs. A little carving on the roof timbers of the hall—the one living room—was a permanent decoration, which never needed renewing; a high table of oak, with a great chair for the master, boards and trestles for the other tables, benches to sit upon, and a few stools, were the sufficient furniture; a little tapestry on the walls, a few bankers (cushions on the benches), made quite a luxurious furnishing; and green rushes strewed upon the floor supplied the place of carpets. The furniture of the rest of the house was rude and substantial. Clothing, among all the middle classes, was durable, and was worn for years; one or two better garments, worn only on great occasions, lasted for a lifetime. The whole mode of life of the middle classes was simple and homely to a degree which we can hardly believe. They were early to rise, and lived an outdoor life, the labouring men in field-work, the farmers not only overlooking the work, but putting their hands to it; the squires looking sharply after their own estates, and spending their leisure in field sports. The food was simple but abundant; air and exercise gave hearty appetites for homely fare, and early to bed saved light and firing.
The result was that a much smaller income enabled a man to hold his position in society.[444] In 1253, Henry III. issued an edict that whoever had estates of £15 yearly value should be made knights.[445] In the second year of Henry V. (1415), an Act of Parliament fixed £20 a-year as the income which qualified a man to be a Justice of the Peace.
A country rector, therefore, could hold his position in relation to his farmers, and his squire, and his country neighbours, on an income which seems to us wonderfully small; and the vicar and parish chaplain with £5 a-year did not seem to his neighbours of any degree to be in a condition of degrading poverty.
CHAPTER XXVII.
DOMESTIC CHAPELS.
