troublesome
question arise--wherefore? even with respect to the most trifling
usages. Everywhere might individuals be found who set themselves with
philosophic independence against these customs, which appeared to them
not to be founded on reason; in many more did there work a deep impulse
to freedom, self-dependence, and a new purport of life, which they held
apart from the multitude and from society, which had the effect of
giving them an appearance of originality. The interiors of the houses
were still undecorated; the ground-floor, with its polished boards, had
no other ornament than the bright colour of the wood, which was
preserved by incessant washing, which made the dwelling at least once a
week damp and uncomfortable. The stairs and entrance-hall were still
frequently strewn with white sand. But they liked to have their rooms
nicely fitted up; the furniture, among which the commode was a new
invention, was carefully worked and beautifully inlaid. Painting was
still uncommon on the walls; but the distempered plaster walls were in
little esteem: papers were preferred. The wealthy liked to have the
stamped leather, which gave the room a particularly comfortable aspect;
leather was also much liked as covers for furniture. Copper and tin
utensils were still the pride of the housewife. They were used on
"state" occasions: this new and significant word had penetrated into
the kitchen. At Nuremberg, for example, there were in wealthy families
state kitchens, which used to be opened to small societies for morning
collations, at which cold meats were served. In such kitchens pewter
and copper glittered all around like bright mirrors; even the wood for
burning, which lay there piled up in great heaps, was covered with
bright tin, all only for show and amusement, as now the kitchen of a
little girl. But porcelain had already begun to be placed alongside the
pewter; in refined Saxony, more especially, the wealthy housewife
seldom failed to have a table set out with china cups, jugs, and little
ornamental figures. And the fashionable pet of the ladies, the pug,
might by a wayward movement produce a crash which endangered the peace
of the house. Just at that time this curious animal stood at the height
of his repute; it had come into the world no one knew from whence, and
it passed away from it again equally unperceived. But the heart of the
housewife was attached to her weaving as well as her pewter and
porcelain. The linen d