Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

INTROD UCTION
XV
farmer in the vicinity, and in consequence of the
marriage a change seems to have taken place in his
fortunes. This union not only brought him prosperity
and wealth, but it seems to have advanced his political
standing, and we find him in 1568 the High Bailiff,
or Mayor, of Stratford.
It is difficult to appreciate the social conditions of
those days. The one-roomed farmhouse from which
Mary Arden came was such a one as would be considered
to-day better suited to animals than to men.
There were no pictures, although their place was supplied
by a few painted cloths, on which scenes from
the Bible were rudely depicted. A book, unless a copy
of the catechism or a prayer-book, was never seen
within that house. There was no crockery, forks had
not yet been introduced into England, and table-knives
and spoons were very scarce. The conditions in Stratford
were probably a little better; the house to which
John Shakespeare brought his bride was divided into
several rooms, was well lighted, and was comparatively
comfortable. Yet so poor was the drainage in this
town, that here, as in the cities, the plague made frequent
and fearful ravages. If in the homes of the
nobility and in the queen's palace there was more of
wealth and display, it cannot be said that even there
the ordinary conveniences of existence were any greater
than in the houses of the townspeople.