With Marlborough to Malplaquet Part 15

12. DRESS

Among the gentry the influence of the magnificent court of Louis XIV began to make itself felt in the matter of dress, and both gentlemen and ladies affected gay attire. The hoop-petticoat came into fas.h.i.+on, and the dress was looped up at intervals to show the richly-coloured skirt below. The gentlemen wore knee-breeches and silk stockings, the former ornamented with knots of ribbon; the scarf was very full and rich, and often fell in folds over the front of the waistcoat; the coat was usually gaily coloured. Swords were worn by the gallants, and the periwig was seen everywhere in high society. The dress of the lower ranks was of sober colour, and of stout but coa.r.s.e texture. The women wore homespun, and sometimes home-woven linsey-woolsies. The use of linen and silk was coming in among those in better circ.u.mstances.

13. FOOD AND DRINK

Tea was only just beginning to be known, and was a luxury for the rich. In London the coffee-houses were everywhere, playing a great part in the life of the capital, at least among those whom we should now call clubmen. The common drink was still beer, and, among the farm hands, milk. Port, till the Methuen treaty, was almost unknown in England. Even the gentry, as a rule, did not drink wine at ordinary times. The poorer cla.s.ses rarely tasted flesh meat, except bacon, which latter cottagers in the country were generally able to command, every cottage having its pig. The best white wheaten bread was used by the richer folk only, the poorer eating coa.r.s.e and dark bread, of whole-meal, of rye, or even of barley. Pewter was the ware in common use, except among the labourer cla.s.s, who had wooden trenchers, or a coa.r.s.e unglazed delft.

14. INDUSTRIES

The main occupation of the country was still farming, with fis.h.i.+ng, s.h.i.+pbuilding, and seafaring on the coast. The manufacture of silk, woollen, and linen goods, now occupying so many millions of folk in the North and the Midlands, was then carried on mainly in the small towns and villages, or even in the lonely wayside or moorland cottage.

The great manufacturing towns, such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Sheffield are now, were nowhere to be found in the England of Queen Anne; but their day was coming. London was the great centre of the silk trade, and after it came Norwich, Coventry, Derby, and Nottingham. The cotton industry of Manchester and the surrounding towns in South Lancas.h.i.+re was making a start, while Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax, in the West Riding of Yorks.h.i.+re, were just beginning to give their attention to the cloth trade on a larger scale. The trade with other countries was growing rapidly, Bristol being, next to London, the chief port. Hull, Liverpool, Southampton, and Newcastle were still small places. It is to be noted that the earliest notions of what we now call _free trade_ are to be traced back to the days of the later Stuart sovereigns. Bolingbroke made certain proposals in that direction, but his plans were rejected by the Whigs.

Stage-coaches began to run, the earliest being those between London and York, and between London and Exeter. A vast improvement in the high-roads soon came in consequence. The first General Post Office for the whole kingdom dates back to the reign of Queen Anne.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINc.i.p.aL EVENTS

1702 (February 20). Queen's Accession, on the death of William III.

War of the Spanish Succession begun (May). England, Holland, and the Empire against France and Spain: to determine the succession to the Crown of Spain.

Two claimants, Philip, grandson of Louis XIV, and Archduke Charles of Austria, the latter supported by England and her allies.

Duke of Marlborough, in command of allied forces, took the strongholds of Venloo, Ruremonde, and Liege; France cut off from Holland and Lower Rhine.

Marlborough made a duke.

Spanish fleet at Vigo captured by Sir George Rooke.

G.o.dolphin appointed Lord Treasurer, and Nottingham a Secretary of State.

Louis of Baden defeated by French at Friedlingen.

Battle of Cremona: French stopped by Eugene of Savoy from entering the Tyrol.

1703 Second Grand Alliance. (First Grand Alliance in 1689.) Nearly all Germany, and Savoy join the coalition against the French.

French marching in the direction of Vienna.

Methuen Treaty; Portugal joined the Alliance.

Marlborough hampered by the Dutch Government and unable to follow the French.

Marlborough took Bonn; giving command of Upper Rhine.

1704 Battle of Donauworth. Eugene joined Marlborough.

(August 4). Gibraltar taken by Sir George Rooke, Sir George Byng, and Sir Cloudesley Shovel.

(August 13). Blenheim. Marlborough and Eugene defeated French and Bavarians under Marshals Tallard and Marsin. Vienna saved: Marlborough received Woodstock Manor as a reward.

Act of Security pa.s.sed by Scotch Parliament.

1705 Marlborough opposed by Allies, and prevented from marching into France.

Barcelona taken by Lord Peterborough; the Catalan district of Spain won for the Archduke Charles.

Coalition between the more moderate Tories and the Whigs.

1706 Ramillies (May 12), won by Marlborough against Villeroy:

Allies occupied Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, a line of fortresses cutting off French from Holland.

Turin besieged by French: siege raised by Prince Eugene.

1707 Capitulation of Milan signed by Louis: Milan and Naples secured to Archduke Charles.

Minorca captured by General Stanhope.

Battle of Almanza (Spain): English under Lord Galway surrendered.

Ghent and Bruges retaken by French.

Whig resolution not to make peace so long as a Bourbon ruled in Spain.

Union with Scotland (October 23): Scotland to send sixteen peers and forty-five Commoners to United Houses of Parliament: Law and Church of Scotland left untouched: privileges of trade and coinage to be the same for both countries.

1708 Harley and St. John dismissed: Whigs came into power (July 11). Oudenarde: Marlborough and Eugene defeated Vendome: Lille secured. Bruges and Ghent retaken by Allies.

Attempted landing in Scotland by the Pretender prevented.

1709 Peace Conference at the Hague. Louis declined to remove his grandson from the throne of Spain.

(September 11). Malplaquet: Marlborough and Eugene defeated Villars.

Mons taken by the Allies.

Quarrel between the Queen and the d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough.