[228-3] That a similar transition marked an epoch in the history of Grecian morals was recognized even by Thucydides, I, 6; compare Asios, in Athen., XII, 528.
[228-4] It will always remain a want to own clothes for every day wear and festal occasions. The frock coat satisfies this want in the cheapest way. As soon as people cease to distinguish clothing for festal occasions by the cut, gold-embroidery, fur-facing, etc. will appear again, which would necessarily prove a great hardship to the propertyless classes of the educated, and even to the higher classes.
[228-5] On the striking contrast presented in this respect by the English and French, and even Russian customs, see Storch, Handbuch, II, 179 ff. J. B. Say, Cours pratique, translated into German by Morstadt, I, 435 ff.; Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift, 1853, I, 182.
[228-6] Paper-hangings, instead of costly gobelins and leather hangings, were not known in France until after 1760, nor in the rest of Europe until much later. Busts of plaster were (Martial, IX, 17, and Juvenal, II, 4) usual among those who were less well off.
[228-7] Similarly even in Giov. Villani, XI, 93, the villas of the highly cultured Florentines appear finer than their city houses, while in Germany, at that time, even the richest citizens lived only in the city.
[228-8] Sidewalks in the cities, recommended by J. J. Rousseau, as a popular convenience and as a safeguard against the carriage-aristocracy.
[228-9] In France, the luxury of lace was conquered by Marie Antoinette, but still more effectually by the Revolution. Previous to that time, many Parisians wore four manchettes to each shirt. (Palliser, History of Lace, 1865.)
[228-10] During the middle ages, strongly seasoned food, ragouts, etc., were more in favor than in even France to-day; compare Legrand d'Aussy et Roquefort, Histoire de la Vie priveé des Français, passim. The wine even, at that time, used to be mixed with roots: vin de romarin, clairet, hippocras, (W. Wackernagel, Kl. Schriften I, 86, 7.) The French kitchen became simpler and more natural, only after the middle of the 18th century. (Roquefort, III, 343.)
[228-11] The taxed consumption of soap amounted in England in 1801 to 4.84 and in 1845, 9.65 pounds per capita. (Porter, Progress of the Nation, V, 5, 579.) Soap-boiling in London dates from 1520 only. Before that time, all white soap was obtained from the continent. (Howell, Londinopolis, 208.) Erasmus charged that England, in his time, was an exceedingly dirty country. The Italians, on the other hand, were at that time greatly distinguished above northern people, especially the Germans, by their cleanliness. (Buckhardt, Kultur der Renaissance, 295.) The Vienna river-baths after 1870, Nicolai, Reise, III, 17, mentions as something deserving special note. The Leipzig river-baths date from 1774.
[228-12] Birkbeck, Notes on America, 39. Even in New York, it is not very long since there were no common sewers. Just as characteristic is the uncleanliness of the South African boers (Mauch, in Petermann's Mittheilungen, Ergänz-Heft, XXVII, 23), when compared with the celebrated cleanliness of the old Dutch.