[227-4] Poesias Castellanas anteriores al Siglo XV; Tom. I, 347, 327. Roscher, loc. cit. J. Voight, in Raumer's historischem Taschenbuche, 1831, 290; 1835, 324, seq. Thus, one of Henry VIII's wives, in order to get salad, had first to send for a gardener from Flanders; while at the time, a single ship imported into England from 3,000 to 4,000 pieces of clothing in gold brocade, satin or silk. (Anderson, a. 1509, 1524, 4; Henry VIII, c. 6.)
[227-5] Irish linen, worth from 30 to 35 shillings, is often provided with a label which cost 5 shillings. (Kotelmann, Statistische Uebersicht der landwirthschaftl. und industriellen Verhältnisse von Oestereich und dem Zollverein, 215.)
[227-6] Compare Kohl, Reise in Deutschland, II, 18, 250. Roscher, in the Göttinger Studien, 1845, II, 403, ff. About 1777, Büsch described the difference of goods manufactured in England "for the continent and home consumption," as being just the same as the difference now between goods for Africa and goods for Europe. (Darstellung der Handlung, Zusatz, 89.)
HISTORY OF LUXURY IN HIGHLY CIVILIZED TIMES.
The direction which luxury takes in times when civilization is advanced, is towards the real, healthy and tasteful enjoyment of life, rather than an inconvenient display. This tendency is exceedingly well expressed by the English word comfort, and it is in modern England that the luxury of the second period has found it happiest development. It is found side by side with frugality; and it frequently even looks like a return to the unaffected love of nature.[228-1]
Thus, since Rousseau's time,[228-2] the so-called English gardens have dropped the former Versailles-Harlem style. Thus, too, modern fashion despises the awkward long wig, powdering etc.[228-3] Instead of garments embroidered, or faced with fur or lace, and instead of the galloon hat worn under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., the French revolution has introduced the simple citizen frock-coat and the round silk hat. The "exquisite" may even with these outshine others by the form he selects, the material he wears, or by frequent change, but much less strikingly than before.[228-4] Since every one, in the purchase of household furniture, etc., looks more to its use than to the honor of being sole possessor of an article or having something in advance of everybody else, it becomes possible for industry to manufacture its products in much larger quantities, and after the same model, and thus to furnish a much better article for the same price.[228-5] Besides, more recent industry has produced a multitude of cheap substitutes for costly objects of luxury: plated silver-leafing, cotton-velvet goods, etc.;[228-6] besides the many steel engravings, lithographs etc., which have exerted so beneficent an influence on æsthetic education.
In the England of our days, the houses are comparatively small, but convenient and attractive, and the salutary luxury of spending the pleasant season in the country very general.[228-7] The country-roads are narrow but kept in excellent order and provided with good inns.[228-8] More value is here attached to fine linen cloth than to lace;[228-9] to a few but nourishing meat-dishes than to any number of sauces and confections of continental kitchens.[228-10] Especially is the luxury of cleanliness, with its morally and intellectually beneficial results found only in well-to-do and highly cultured nations. As formerly in Holland, so now in England, it is carried to the highest point of development. In the latter country, the tax on soap is considered a tax on an indispensable article.[228-11] The reverse is the case in North America, if we can believe the most unprejudiced and friendly observers.[228-12] The person who lives in a log-house must, to feel at ease within his four walls, first satisfy a number of necessary wants.[228-13]
[228-1] The reformation of the sixteenth century had a remarkable tendency towards natural and manful fashions, as contradistinguished from the immediately preceding and the immediately following periods. Compare J. Falke, Deutsche Trachten und Modenwelt, II, 1858.
[228-2] J. J. Rousseau, N. Héloise, II, L. 11. Compare Keysler, Reise, I, 695.