, constables and officers of the wards were ordered, "on pain of
death," to see all streets and yards kept clear of dung and rubbish and all
other filthy and corrupt things. Carts went round every Monday, Wednesday,
and Saturday, to carry off the litter from the houses, and on each of those
days twelve buckets of water were drawn for "every person," and used in
cleaning their rooms and passages.

Particular pains were taken to keep the Thames clean, and at the mouth of
every sewer or watercourse there was a strong iron grating two feet
deep.--_Guildhall MSS. Journal_ 15.

[60] And not in England alone, but throughout Europe.

[61] 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 25.

[62] Ibid.

[63] Ibid.

[64] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 4; 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 5.

[65] _Statut. Winton._ 13 Edw. I. cap. 6.

[66] 12 Rich. II. cap. 6: 11 Hen. IV. cap. 4.

[67] ELLIS'S _Original Letters_, first series, vol. i. p. 226.

[68] It has been stated again and again that the policy of Henry the Eighth
was to make the crown despotic by destroying the remnants of the feudal
power of the nobility. How is such a theory to be reconciled with statutes
the only object of which was the arming and training of the country
population, whose natural leaders were the peers, knights, and gentlemen?
We have heard too much of this random declamation.

[69] 33 Hen. VIII. cap. 9.

[70] From my experience of modern archery I found difficulty in believing
that these figures were accurately given. Few living men could send the
lightest arrow 220 yards, even with the greatest elevation, and for
effective use it must be delivered nearly point blank. A passage in
HOLINSHED'S _Description of Britain_, however, prevents me from doubting
that the words of the statute are correct. In his own time, he says that
the strength of the English archers had so notoriously declined that the
French soldiers were in the habit of disrespectfully turning their backs,
at long range, "bidding them shoot," whereas, says Holinshed, "had the
archers been what they were wont to be, these fellows would have had their
breeches nailed unto their buttocks." In an order for bowstaves, in the
reign of Henry the Eighth, I find this direction: "Each bowstave ought to
be _three fingers thick_ and squared, and _seven feet long_: to be got up
well polished and without knots."--Butler to Bullinger: _Zurich Letters_.

[71] Page 735, quarto edition.

[72] The Personages, Dresses, and Properties of a Mystery Play,