Dryden to Durfey, ministered to the popular licentiousness. The most
shameless indecency polluted their pages. The theatre and the brothel
were in strict unison. The Church winked at the vice which opposed
itself to the austere morality or hypocrisy of Puritanism. The superior
clergy, with a few noble exceptions, were self-seekers and courtiers; the
inferior were idle, ignorant hangerson upon blaspheming squires and
knights of the shire. The domestic chaplain, of all men living, held the
most unenviable position. "If he was permitted to dine with the family,
he was expected to content himself with the plainest fare. He might fill
himself with the corned beef and carrots; but as soon as the tarts and
cheese-cakes made their appearance he quitted his seat, and stood aloof
till he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a great part
of which he had been excluded."

Beyond the Trent the country seems at this period to have been in a state
of barbarism. The parishes kept bloodhounds for the purpose of hunting
freebooters. The farm-houses were fortified and guarded. So dangerous
was the country that persons about travelling thither made their wills.
Judges and lawyers only ventured therein, escorted by a strong guard of
armed men.

The natural resources of the island were undeveloped. The tin mines of
Cornwall, which two thousand years before attracted the ships of the
merchant princes of Tyre beyond the Pillars of Hercules, were indeed
worked to a considerable extent; but the copper mines, which now yield
annually fifteen thousand tons, were entirely neglected. Rock salt was
known to exist, but was not used to any considerable extent; and only a
partial supply of salt by evaporation was obtained. The coal and iron of
England are at this time the stable foundations of her industrial and
commercial greatness. But in 1685 the great part of the iron used was