which the morals of the youth were corrupted, and whose venom was
the more insidious because they appeared under honest titles and were
dedicated to virtuous and honorable personages. As there was no public
opinion to censure the reading of the women, or standards to control
their conversation, they did not feel the impropriety of acquainting
themselves with such works and of openly discussing them. Indeed, the
women of the nobility felt themselves freed from all the restraints
which the modest of the sex normally cherish for their protection.

An illustration of the freedom of the manners of the women is found
in the correspondence of Erasmus, who, on coming to England as a young
man, was impressed by the prevalence of the custom of kissing. In a
letter to a friend in Holland, he says, in effect, that the women kiss
you on meeting you, kiss you on taking their leave; when you enter
their homes, you are greeted with kisses, and are sped on your way by
the same osculatory exercises; and he adds, after you have once tasted
the freshness of the lips of the rosy English maidens, you will not
want to leave this delightful country. A further illustration of the
same thing is found in a manual of so-called English conversation,
published in 1589: a traveller on arriving at an inn is instructed
to discourse as follows with the chambermaid, and her conventional
replies are given: "My shee frinde, is my bed made--is it good?" "Yea,
sir, it is a good feder-bed; the scheetes be very cleane." "Pull off
my hosen and warme my bed; drawe the curtines, and pin them with a
pin. My shee frinde, kisse me once, and I shall sleape the better. I
thank you, fayre mayden." This suggestion of the manners obtaining in
the English inns is but an indication of a similar state of freedom
throughout the lower classes of society. For while the glory of the
Elizabethan age was found mostly at the top of society, its coarseness
pervaded all ranks.

The rough manners of the age extended to the countenancing of all
sorts of brawls. There was nothing that would collect a crowd sooner
than two boys whose pugnacity had led them from words to blows; the
passers-by considered such a scene fine sport, and gathered about the
young combatants to encourage them in their fighting. Even the mothers
themselves, far from punishing their children for such conduct,
encouraged it in them. Cock fighting, bear baiting, wrestling, and
sword play were favorite pastimes. T