Mrs. Jack became a widow, and after she had laid aside her weeds she is described as coming one day out of the kitchen “in a fair train gown stuck full of silver pins, having a white cap on her head, with cuts of curious needlework under the same, and an apron before her as white as driven snow.”
The ordinary costume for men of the upper ranks in the time of Henry VIII. was a full-skirted jacket or doublet, with large sleeves to the wrists, over which was hung a short cloak or coat, with loose hanging sleeves and a broad, rolling collar of fur. To these articles of dress was added a brimmed cap, jewelled and bordered with ostrich feathers; stockings and square-toed shoes.
A sumptuary law was passed in 1533, limiting the use of certain expensive stuffs and valuable personal ornaments to certain classes. Common people and serving men, for example, were confined to the use of cloth of a fixed price, and lamb’s fur only, and they were forbidden to wear any ornaments or even buttons of gold, silver, or gilt work, excepting the badge of their lord or master.
The apprentices of London wore blue cloaks in summer, and in winter gowns of the same colour. Blue cloaks or gowns were a mark of servitude.
Fourteen years before the beginning of Henry VIII.’s reign wages were settled by Act of Parliament. A free mason, master carpenter, rough mason, bricklayer, master tiler, plumber, glazier, carver or joiner, was allowed from Easter to Michaelmas to take 6d. a day, without meat or drink. Suppose he had meat and drink, he could only charge 4d. A master having under him six men was allowed a penny a day extra. From Michaelmas to Easter a penny a day was taken off these prices. Wages, however, gradually rose all through the sixteenth century.
In 1511, in the household of the Earl of Northumberland, the principal priest of the chapel had £5 a year; a chaplain graduate £3 6s. 8d.; a chaplain not a graduate, £2; a minstrel, £4; a serving boy, 13s. 4d. These payments were over and above food and lodging.
When wages and salaries were so low, compared with those of our own day, we must expect to find a corresponding difference in prices. In 1541 a hundred eggs sold for 1s. 2d., a dozen pigeons cost 10d., a good fat goose cost 8d., and you could buy a fat sheep for from 2s. 4d. to 4s., and an ox for about £2. In 1533 an Act was passed by which the price of beef and pork was fixed at ½d. a pound, and veal at ¾d.
Of the state of learning, in the houses at any rate of the upper classes, much is to be said that reflects credit on our ancestors. The royal court of Henry VIII., whatever might be its faults, did not neglect study. In the case of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI., devotion to his books no doubt had an injurious effect on his health, and there is no saying what might have been the result to England had he had less learning and more exercise. Bishop Burnet tells us that he was so forward in his education that “before he was eight years old he wrote Latin letters to his father, who was a prince of that stern severity that one can hardly think that those about his son durst cheat him by making letters for him.”
Mary had a good knowledge of classic authors, and wrote good Latin letters. Elizabeth began every day with an hour’s reading in the Greek Testament, the tragedies of Sophocles, and the orations of Isocrates and Demosthenes. She also was a good Latin scholar, spoke French and Italian as fluently as English, had a smattering of Dutch and German, and was a devourer of works on history.
These two princesses were the highest in station of the accomplished women of the time, but there were many who equalled, and some who surpassed, them in learning. The most remarkable of all for accomplishments was certainly Lady Jane Grey, afterwards the unfortunate queen of a ten-days’ reign. Lady Jane took so kindly to study that she became the marvel of the age for her acquirements. She excelled in needlework and in music, and, aided by her tutor, Dr. Elmer, or Aylmer, afterwards Bishop of London, had thoroughly mastered Latin, Greek, French, and Italian, and knew something of at least three Oriental tongues—Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic.