SIMPLE INTEREST. (1) What is the interest on £125 8s. 9d. for 8 months at 6 per cent.? (2) What is the interest on £840 for 10 months at 3 per cent.? (3) What is the interest on £115 5s. for 220 days at 4 per cent.? (4) Find the interest on £500 for 26 weeks 5 days at 4 per cent. (5) What is the interest on £362 12s. 9d. from July 7th to Nov. 28th following at 5 per cent.? (6) What is the interest on £1,000 at 4 per cent. for 21 weeks 3 days? (7) What will £5,250 amount to at 6 per cent. from October 5th to January 31st following? THE manners of the people still continued coarse and barbarous, as we may learn from their amusements. Besides pitching the bar, shooting the broad arrow, playing at racket, quoits, nine holes, and leaping hedges and ditches, their most favourite diversions were baiting different animals. Hentzner, after describing the baiting of bulls and bears, adds-To this entertainment there follows that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five or six men, standing circularly with whips, which they exercise on him without mercy, as he cannot escape from them, because of his chain. He defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing down those that come within his reach, and are not active enough to get out of it; and tearing their whips out of their hands, and breaking them. At this spectacle and everywhere else,' he adds, 'the English are constantly smoking tobacco.' A more harmless but not more rational recreation is recorded by the same writer. They are 'vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannons, drums, &c., so that it is common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads, to go up some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise. The queen was equally attached to noise and uproar. She used to listen, during her meals, to twelve trumpets and two kettle-drums, which, together with fifes, cornets, and sidedrums, made the hall ring for half an hour together.' Jousting in the lists, pageants and shows, hunting, hawking, &c., formed the chief diversions of the more polished ranks in society. Plays were just getting into vogue, and regular dramatic pieces had superseded the mysteries and moralities founded on Scripture subjects. The earliest patent for acting comedies, tragedies, &c., is dated 1574; and such was the rapid progress of this rational amusement, that, early in the next century, at least fifteen licensed theatres were open to the inhabitants of London. The best plays, especially those of Shakespeare, were acted chiefly at the Blackfriars Theatre, or at the Globe, on the south side of the Thames. A flag was hoisted on the front of each theatre; the price of admission to the best place a shilling, to the inferior ones a penny or twopence. The critics sat on the stage, and were furnished with pipes and tobacco. The curtain drew not up, but was drawn back on each side. From the raillery of Sir Philip Sydney, it is doubtful whether there was a change of scenes. It is probable this deficiency was supplied by the names of places being written in large characters on the stage; stating, for instance, that this was a wood, a garden, Thebes, Rome, or Alexandria, as the case might be. The stage was lighted with branches like those hung in churches. Before the exhibition began, three flourishes, soundings, of pieces of music were played, and music was likewise played between the acts. The instruments chiefly used were trumpets, cornets, and hautboys. Perukes and masques formed part of the stage paraphernalia; and the female parts, for the first hundred years, were performed by young men. One dramatic piece composed the whole entertainment, and the hours of acting began about one in the afternoon, and lasted generally about two hours. The audience before the performance began amused themselves with reading and playing at cards; others drank ale or smoked tobacco. For some time plays were acted on Sundays only; after 1579, they were acted on Sundays and other days indiscriminately. Such was the state of the stage at the commencement of the seventeenth century; having for its foes the Puritans, a race of men stern, inflexible, and unforgiving, it flourished with difficulty, and by increasing obloquy and reproach was first pursued into unpopularity, and at length to annihilation. It did not revive until the Restoration, when Charles II. licensed two companies, Killegrew's and Sir William Davenant's. Luxury in dress made great progress. The pocket-handkerchiefs of the ladies were frequently wrought with gold and silver, and their shifts were richly embroidered. The chopine is sometimes mentioned; it was an Italian shoe, with a heel ridiculously high. The fly-cap was in great vogue. Aldermen's wives had bonnets of velvet, large and showy; chains and bracelets were ornaments used mostly by women of rank. The ruffs made of lawn and cambric, stiffened with yellow starch, were immoderately large; the poking of these gracefully behind was considered to be a most important attainment. The waist became enormously long, the bodice or stays finished with a most extended point in front at bottom; and to render the appearance still more inconvenient and grotesque, the upper part of the gown, near the shoulders, was considerably enlarged by wool and other stuffing. The fardingdale, a Spanish petticoat, bulky over the hips, now went out of fashion; it was introduced by Philip and Mary. Heywoode thus humorously sings the death of the fardingdale : Alas! poor vardingales must lie i' th' streete; year, she When Paul Hentzner saw Elizabeth, then in her 67th had in her ears two pearls with very rich drops. She wore false hair, and that was red; her bosom was uncovered, 'as all the English ladies,' says Hentzner, 'have till they marry.' She was dressed in white silk, bordered with pearls of the size of beans; and over it a mantle of black silk, shot with silver threads, and instead of a chain, she had an oblong collar of gold and jewels. The same writer adds, that wherever she turned her face, every one fell down upon his knees. Henry VIII. had been treated with similar servility. Petitions were presented to her as she went along, which as she received graciously, the people cried out 'God save Queen Elizabeth,' to which she answered: 'I thancke ye, my goode peuple.' The presence chamber was strewed with hay; and Hentzner gives a particular account of the tastings, and genuflexions made on entering the queen's room, though her majesty was not present. Needles and pins were now in common use; the making of the former was commenced in 1556 by Gröuse, a German. Pins were known in Henry VIII.'s reign, and afforded the ladies a convenient substitute for ribbons, loop-holes, tags, clasps, and skewers made of wood, brass, silver and gold. The introduction of silk and worsted hose was a great improvement. Mrs. Montague, Elizabeth's silk-woman, in her third year, presented her majesty a pair of black knit silk stockings, which pleased the queen so much, that she never afterwards wore cloth hose. Soon after, Thomas Burdet, an ingenious apprentice, living opposite St. Magnus' Church, presented Lord Pembroke a pair of worsted stockings, the first knit in this country. The beard was on the wane in this reign. In the reign of Mary it throve luxuriantly; those of Bishop Gardiner and Cardinal Pole in their portraits are represented as of an uncommon size; it gradually dwindled down into the mustachios or whiskers. The hair was cut close on the top of the head, and grew long on the sides. Showy young men wore jewels in the ears, and sometimes ribbons. The hat had superseded the woollen cap and hood: the crown of the hat was made high, narrowed towards the top, and had sometimes a rich hatband, adorned with goldsmith's work and precious stones, which, with a feather and scarlet cloak, marked the man of distinction. Coaches or caroches are both mentioned as being in use. They were first introduced by the Earl of Arundel: before that time the queen, on public occasions, rode behind her chamberlain. The novelty and convenience of the plan soon brought them into general practice by people of fortune. Hackney coaches were not known till fifty years afterwards. Spoons aud knives were as old as Edward the Confessor; but the fork was not yet discovered, and at every meal the fingers were used to keep the meat steady, and convey it to the mouth. Tablecloths were made of very valuable linen. Mr. Otter, in Ben Jonson's 'Silent Woman,' mentions a damask tablecloth which cost eighteen pounds; the good man of the house sat at the upper end of the board 'with a fayre napkyn layde before him on the table, lyke a master.' Among the customs of the sixteenth century, it must not be omitted to mention that of smoking, or as it was then called, taking tobacco. It was first introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, and reached England in 1586, imported by Sir Walter Raleigh's settlers in Virginia. Sir Walter himself was one of its first admirers, but preserved great secrecy in his attachment. Owing to a ridiculous accident the foible was discovered, and it then became general. Sir Walter, as the story is related, was enjoying his pipe in solitude, forgetful that he had ordered his servant to attend him with a goblet of ale. The faithful domestic suddenly entering his study, and finding, as he thought, his master's brains on fire, and evaporating in smoke and flame through his nostrils, did his utmost to extinguish the conflagration, by emptying the goblet on Sir Walter's head. When, many years after, the gallant knight's fate drew near, he smoked two pipes publicly on the scaffold. Stowe, a few years after the introduction of tobacco, wrote of it; he calls it that 'stinking weed,' and says it was commonly used by most men and many women. The style of living had much improved. Lamb, and a great variety of delicate meats, mark the luxury of Elizabeth's reign. There were several courses, and every dish had its appropriate sauce. Beef began to be deemed too gross; brawn, however, was a favourite. A dessert of fruit, spices, and jellies was not unusual. Breakfast was little liked. If anything was taken it was a glass of ale and a slice of bread. Rural life may be learned from Tasser's Pointes of Husbandrie.' The farmer and family's diet is fixed to be red herrings and salt fish in Lent, and at other times fresh beef, pork, &c. At Christmas ‘good drinke, a good fire in the hall, brawne, pudding, and souse, and mustard withal, capon, turkey, cheese, apples, nuts, with jolie gamboles.' The prudent housewife is advised to make her own candles, servants are directed to go to bed at ten in the summer and nine in the winter, and to rise at five in winter and four in summer. The holidays throughout the year are appointed for working men. The gayest of these festivals seems to have been the wake-day or vigil of the parish saint, when every wanton maie danse at her wille.' The hour of dinner with people of fortune was eleven before noon, and of supper between five and six in the afternoon; while the merchants took each of their meals an hour later, and the husbandman one hour later than the merchant. Thus the fashion is entirely changed; the opulent and leisure classes taking their meals later than the industrious orders. Why the meals became later as the times became more refined, is a curious fact. The chief cause seems to be, as Hume intimates, that in rude ages men have few amusements or occupation, but what daylight allows; whereas in ages of refinement, reading, study, and conversation afford employment which can as conveniently be pursued in the night as the day. SIMPLE INTEREST. (1) Find the interest on £852 for 6 weeks 4 days at 23 per cent. per annum. (2) What is the interest on £376 14s. 8d. for 3 years 34 weeks 2 days at 21 per cent.? (3) What will £859 13s. amount to in 6 years 60 days at 2 per cent.? (4) What is the interest on £9,864 17s. 9d. for 10 years 7 weeks 4 days at £4 7s. 6d. per cent.? (5) Required the amount of £493 10s. for 3 years 6 weeks 4 days at 21 per cent. (6) What sum must I invest to produce £6 13s. 8d. in 8 weeks days at per cent. ? (7) How long must £140 10s. be at interest at 5 per cent. to produce £1 9s. 3d.? |