ys. Both sexes dressed in gaudy colors and delighted in strange
fashions, so that, {497} is Roger Ascham said, "he thought himself most
brave that was most monstrous in misorder." For women the fashion of
decollete was just coming in, as so many fashions do, from the
demi-monde. To Catharine de' Medici is attributed the invention of the
corset, an atrocity to be excused only by her own urgent need of one.

[Sidenote: Food]

The day began at five in summer and at seven in winter. A heavy
breakfast was followed by a heavier dinner at ten, and supper at five,
and there were between times two or three other tiffins or "drinkings."
The staple food was meat and cereal; very few of our vegetables were
known, though some were just beginning to be cultivated. [Sidenote:
1585-6] The most valuable article of food introduced from the new
world was the potato. Another importation that did not become
thoroughly acclimatized in Europe was the turkey. Even now they are
rare, but there are several interesting allusions to them in the
literature of that time, one of the year 1533 in Luther's table talk.
Poultry of other sorts was common, as were eggs, game and fish. The
cooking relied for its highest effects on sugar and spices. The
ordinary fruits--apples, cherries and oranges--furnished a wholesome
and pleasing variety to the table. Knives and spoons were used in
eating, but forks were unknown, at least in northern Europe.

[Sidenote: Drink]

All the victuals were washed down with copious potations. A
water-drinker, like Sir Thomas More, was the rarest of exceptions. The
poor drank chiefly beer and ale; the mildest sort, known as "small
beer," was recommended to the man suffering from too strong drink of
the night before. Wine was more prized, and there were a number of
varieties. There being no champagne, Burgundy was held in high esteem,
as were some of the strong, sweet, Spanish and Portuguese {498} wines.
The most harmless drinks were claret and Rhine wine. There were some
"mixed drinks," such as sack or hippocras, in which beer or wine was
sophisticated with eggs, spices and sugar. The quantities habitually
drunk were large. Roger Ascham records that Charles V drank the best
he ever saw, never less than a quart at a draft. The breakfast table
of an English nobleman was set out with a quart of wine and a quart of
beer, liquor then taking the place of tea, coffee, chocolate and all
the "soft" beverages that no