tion of the state of the French people, and then by a description
of the state of the English. His words, words that, as I transcribe them,
make my cheeks burn with shame, are as follows: "Besides all this, the
inhabitants of France give every year to their King the _fourth part_ of
all their _wines_, the growth of that year, every vintner gives the fourth
penny of what he makes of his wine by sale. And all the towns and boroughs
pay to the King yearly great sums of money, which are assessed upon them,
for the expenses of his men at arms. So that the King's troops, which are
always considerable, are substituted and paid yearly by those common
people, who live in the villages, boroughs, and cities. Another grievance
is, every village constantly finds and maintains two _cross-bow-men_, at
the least; some find more, well arrayed in all their accoutrements, to
serve the King in his wars, as often as he pleaseth to call them out,
which is frequently done. Without any consideration had of these things,
other very heavy taxes are assessed yearly upon every village within the
kingdom, for the King's service; _neither is there ever any intermission
or abatement of taxes_. Exposed to these and other calamities, the
peasants live in great hardship and misery. Their _constant drink is
water_, neither do they taste, throughout the year, any other liquor,
unless upon some extraordinary times, or festival days. Their clothing
consists of _frocks_, or little short _jerkins_, made of canvass, no
better than common _sackcloth_; they _do not wear any woollens_, except of
the _coarsest sort_; and that only in the garment under their frocks; nor
do they wear any trowse, but from the knees upwards; their legs being
exposed and naked. The women go barefoot, except on holidays. They do _not
eat flesh_, except it be the fat of bacon, and _that in very small
quantities_, with which they make _a soup_. Of other sorts, either boiled
or roasted, _they do not so much as taste_, unless it be of the inwards
and offals of sheep and bullocks, and the like which are killed, for the
use of the better sort of people, _and the merchants_; for whom also
quails, _partridges_, _hares_, and the like, _are reserved, upon pain of
the gallies_; as for their poultry, _the soldiers consume them_, so that
scarce the eggs, slight as they are, are indulged them, by way of a
dainty. And if it happen that a man is observed to thrive in the world,
and become rich, he is _pre