It was possible for a woman-covert to be seized of land in fee
simple or in tail general or special to her separate use, free
from control or intermeddling of her husband.
Houses were warmed in winter by burning coal. Furniture was still
sparse. Moderate homes had tent-beds in use, with which cloth was
hung on all four sides of the bed from a light iron framework
above the bed. The beds were warmed with a warming pan heated in a
fire before use. There were often bed bugs and fleas. Everyone
wore nightcaps to bed. Pewter tableware was used, but the poor
used tinware instead. Copper, brass, and iron pots and pans were
increasingly common.
Most towns had a regular market once or twice a week. In them,
street cleaning was still a responsibility of individual
householders. Water was still obtained from wells and pumps. There
was no municipal government as such. Public works were done by
special commissions set up for particular purposes, such as
lighting, cleaning and paving the streets, night watchmen, traffic
regulation, removing nuisances, and improving local amenities.
Large towns had hospitals for the poor. In the larger
manufacturing towns, there were literary and philosophical
societies for debates and discussions. These put together
libraries for use of their members. Also in these large towns,
there were booksellers' shops, printing houses, weekly newspapers,
playhouses, concerts, and horseracing courses, the latter of which
was mostly patronized by gentlemen.
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