raziers, butchers, tanners, sheep-masters, and woodmen. Harrison also
notes the absorption of lands by the rich; the decay of houses in the
country, which comes of the eating up of the poor by the rich; the
increase of poverty; the difficulty a poor man had to live on an acre of
ground; his forced contentment with bread made of oats and barley, and
the divers places that formerly had good tenants and now were vacant,
hop-yards and gardens.

Harrison says it is not for him to describe the palaces of Queen
Elizabeth; he dare hardly peep in at her gates. Her houses are of brick
and stone, neat and well situated, but in good masonry not to be compared
to those of Henry VIII's building; they are rather curious to the eye,
like paper-works, than substantial for continuance. Her court is more
magnificent than any other in Europe, whether you regard the rich and
infinite furniture of the household, the number of officers, or the
sumptuous entertainments. And the honest chronicler is so struck with
admiration of the virtuous beauty of the maids of honor that he cannot
tell whether to award preeminence to their amiable countenances or to
their costliness of attire, between which there is daily conflict and
contention. The courtiers of both sexes have the use of sundry languages
and an excellent vein of writing. Would to God the rest of their lives
and conversation corresponded with these gifts! But the courtiers, the
most learned, are the worst men when they come abroad that any man shall
hear or read of. Many of the gentlewomen have sound knowledge of Greek
and Latin, and are skillful in Spanish, Italian, and French; and the
noblemen even surpass them. The old ladies of the court avoid idleness by
needlework, spinning of silk, or continual reading of the Holy Scriptures
or of histories, and writing diverse volumes of their own, or translating
foreign works into English or Latin; and the young ladies, when they are
not waiting on her majesty, "in the mean time apply their lutes,
citherns, pricksong, and all kinds of music." The elders are skillful in
surgery and the distillation of waters, and sundry other artificial
practices pertaining to the ornature and commendation of their bodies;
and when they are at home they go into the kitchen and supply a number of
delicate dishes of their own devising, mostly after Portuguese receipts;
and they prepare bills of fare (a trick lately taken up) to give a brief
rehearsal of all the dishes