f
the data, conflicting as it is, must lead to the conclusion that the
condition of that class of English society was far from being roseate,
and that, in the main, it would be difficult to overdraw the misery
which existed; but this condition was ameliorated to some extent
by the introduction into rural districts of domestic manufactures,
after the decay of agriculture. The compensation that accrued to the
peasantry by a growth in the clothing trade counterbalanced, in a
measure, their other losses, while it also brought the rural districts
into industrial relation with the towns and aided in bridging the
chasm between the two. The industry was of a nature to enlist the
activities of the women of the households and to bring them into
contact with the commercial life of the nation, in a lesser degree
than their sisters of the craft guilds, it is true, but still in a
way that had an important bearing upon the industrial history of the
country.

The Wars of the Roses, which had been so destructive to the nobility,
and the tendency of the crown to depend upon the gentry as a balance
to the power of the feudal barons, aided in making more certain and
rapid the advance of the middle class. The style of living is a sure
index of the degree of prosperity; there was a great increase in the
number as well as in the size of the houses which ranked in importance
between the castle of the baron and the cottage of the peasant. Also,
we meet with a change for the better in the equipment of such houses.
Instead of a few pieces of furniture, rude and primitive, it is not
unusual in the inventories of this time to find complete suits of
furniture for the various rooms of the house. All of the country
gentlemen and more prosperous burghers possessed quantities of plate.
The custom of having but one bedroom, or two at most, and obliging
guests and servants to sleep in the great hall or in rude shacks
temporarily erected for their accommodation, was no longer common in
this class of society. With the increase of the number of rooms in the
houses, the importance of the hall diminished. Town and country houses
alike were now generally built around an interior court, into which
the rooms looked, and the windows opening upon the street and country
were small and unimportant. This was not simply an architectural
change, but was due to the necessity of studying security on account
of the disturbed state of society. Men were beginning to appreci