of so large an amount of white lead must have been felt and
shown most deleteriously upon the complexion of the user of this
disagreeable compound.

"Ipswitch balls"--also the mode--were more pleasing:

"Take a pound of fine White Castill Sope; shave it thin in a pinte
of Rose water, and let it stand two or three dayes, then pour all
the water from it, and put to it a halfe a pinte of fresh water,
and so let it stand one whole day, then pour out that, and put to
it halfe a pinte more and let it stand a night more, then put to it
halfe an ounce of powder called sweet Marjoram, a quarter of an
ounce of Winter Savory, two or three drops of the Oil of Spike and
the Oil of Cloves, three grains of musk, and as much Ambergreese,
work all these together in a fair Mortar with the powder of an
Almond Cake dryed and beaten as small as fine flowre, so rowl it
round in your hands in Rose water."

The favorite soap, if one can judge from importations, was "Brown or
Gray Bristol Sope," but this was not used by many in the community. The
manufacture of home-made soap, of soft soap, was one of the universal,
most important, and most trying of all the household industries. The
refuse grease of the family cooking was stowed away in an unsavory mass
till early spring, and the wood ashes from the fireplaces were also
stored. When the soap-making took place, the ashes were placed in a
leach tub out of doors. This tub was sometimes made from the section of
the bark of a birch tree; it was set loosely in a circular groove in a
base of wood, or preferably of stone. Water was poured on the ashes, and
the lye trickled from an outlet cut in the groove. The boiling of the
lye and grease was an ill-smelling process, which was also carried on
out of doors, and required an enormous amount of labor and patience. It
was judged that when the compound was strong enough to hold up an egg,
the soap was done. This strong soft soap was kept in a wooden "soap box"
in the kitchen, and used for toilet as well as household purposes.

Dearly did the English and the New English love perfumes. They made
little rolls of sweet-scented powders and gums and oils, "as large as
pease," that they placed between rose-leaves and burned on coals in
skillets or in little perfume-holders to scent the room. They burned on
their open hearths mint and rose-leaves with sugar. They took the "maste
of sweet Apple trees gather