[43] It was not till the reign of William III. that coal became our staple fuel.
[44] See Popular Errors Explained. New edit. p. 42. 1858. The old custom of ringing the curfew-bell is retained in several villages and towns. (See Mr. Syer Cuming's paper in the Journal of the British Archæological Association, vol. iv. p. 153. Also, Notes and Queries, vols. ii. iii. iv. vi. vii. viii.) In proof that the custom cannot justly be considered an evidence of an unworthy state of subjection, is the fact that the obligation to extinguish fires and lights at a certain hour was imposed upon his subjects by David I. King of Scotland, in his Leges Burgarum; and in this case no one ever imagined that it conveyed any sign of infamy or servitude. Curfew-ringing is common in the south of Scotland, at Kelso, and other towns in Roxburghshire, which appears to prove that it cannot have originated with the Norman Conqueror.
[46] In the Office of the Board of Green Cloth, at St. James's Palace, are preserved the following Rules of the House of the Duchess of York the mother of Richard the Third:—
"Upon eating dayes. At dinner by eleven of the clocke.
"Upon fasting dayes. At dinner by twelve of the clocke.
"At supper upon eating dayes; for the officers at four of the clocke.
"My lady and the household at five of the clocke at supper.
"Livery of fires and candles, from the feast of All-Hallows, unto Good Friday—then expireth the time of fire and candle."
[47] From the Builder, 1864, with additions.