It is four hundred and thirty years since the first Tudor began to reign. The period, known to history as the Tudor period, begins with Henry VII in 1485 and ends with Queen Elizabeth in 1603. During this interval a whole family reigned in turn, Henry VII, his son Henry VIII, and his three grandchildren Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth.

What was life in England like during these five reigns? We must first imagine a country without many of those modern comforts which to-day we look upon as necessaries. To begin with, there were no trains, no motors, no cabs, no steamers or bicycles. Thus people had to ride on horseback or walk or row on the rivers to get from one place to another. There was no electric light or gas; so the Tudors had either to go to bed with the sun, or work by means of candles and lamps. There were no pavements or shops till Elizabeth's reign; the people bought and sold on market-days in the open market or made what they needed at home.

There were no libraries; books were expensive even for the rich; many of the poor people were taught by the religious orders and the clergy were largely recruited from the ranks of the labouring classes. There were no letters or newspapers or post-offices or pillar-boxes. Letters and messages were carried from place to place by men on horseback, and no telegraph or telephone wires disfigured the country.

Then again they had no tea or coffee to drink. All the people (from monarch to peasant) drank beer; they drank beer for breakfast, beer for dinner and beer for supper at six. They had no potatoes, no cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots or lettuces; they had no strawberries or rhubarb, no currants or lemons. Neither had they tobacco to smoke, or soap to wash with, or pencils to write with, or pianos to play.

And yet, without these things, which play so large a part in our lives to-day, it was a "Merrie England" in the days of the Tudors, except when insurrections and religious persecution brought misery to many homes. The monarchs delighted in the rich display of pomp, in royal journeys through the land, in tournaments, and in Christmas revels, when England rang with mirth from end to end. "Sports and fooleries, feasts and frolics, games and revels filled the joyous days from All Hallows' Eve to the Feast of Pentecost."

The beating of drums, the shrill blast of trumpets, the ringing of many bells were as music in their ears. And when we read that the musicians of Queen Elizabeth's household included eighteen trumpeters, seven violinists, six men who played flutes and six who played sackbuts, we feel there must have been some want of refinement in this matter.

But the people were light-hearted. Dancing was a very favourite amusement; every one danced, from the kings and queens to the milkmaids; even grown men and women danced round the May-pole every May Day.

They had not learnt to take pity on the suffering in those early days; so they saw no horrors in their favourite amusement of bear-baiting, and the pain of animals filled them with no pity. They were familiar with public executions, which were performed by the local butcher on market-days, and they could look at martyrs burning at the stake without shrinking. It was an age when different religious opinions were not tolerated, an age of torture by the horrible rack and thumbscrew, an age of human agony unrelieved by sympathy. "This is how we punish traitors in England," Queen Elizabeth once informed a stranger, who had counted three hundred heads hanging piked on London Bridge.

To impress their subjects with a due respect for their power, the Tudor sovereigns spent enormous sums of money on display. Their clothes were magnificent, with their costly splendour and brightness of colour. No King of England ever rivaled Henry VIII's magnificence at the Field of the Cloth of, Gold. No monarch, ever surpassed Queen Elizabeth in the splendour and glory of her yearly progresses, or journeys, through the home counties from country house to country house.

This extravagance in dress was copied; by the nobles of England. The gorgeous clothes of Wolsey rivaled those of his king. He wore crimson silks and satins, a tippet of costly sables, red silk gloves, a scarlet hat, and silver gilt shoes inlaid with pearls and diamonds! Men in those Tudor times were as particular about their dress as women. Their wardrobes were full of furs, frills, ruffs and feathers; they wore doublets, or stuffed garments, of gold-coloured cloth, coats of crimson satin, long hose, fur-lined hoods, rings, brooches, chains, jewelled caps and broad-toed shoes with Tudor ribbon roses on the instep. A pointed beard and a large ruff marked the courtier of the sixteenth century. Ruffs were also worn by women during the reign of Elizabeth—their whole dress was stiff and unnatural. They wore large round petticoats stiffened with whalebone, so large round the hips that a sort of table was formed on which the arms could rest, while the upper part of the figure was squeezed into a stiff pointed bodice with low neck and full sleeves. Equally elaborate were the head-dresses of the Tudor ladies, for they all wore wigs and dyed their hair in imitation of the queen.

Neither were their houses and palaces less elaborate. Hampton Court, built by Wolsey and given by him to Henry VIII, was typical of Tudor glory, containing rich tapestries, cushions embroidered with gold and silver, counterpanes lined with ermine. At Whitehall, famous for its library, books were bound in velvet studded with precious stones and clasped with clasps of gold. There was no simplicity anywhere.

Large four-post beds were a feature of the age; these were made with massive pillars bearing a weight of heavy curtains edged with gold and silver lace. Small panes of glass were now used for the first time for the windows of the Tudor palaces. Gardens too were laid out in front of the palaces—gardens with stately terraces, broad flights of steps, vases and fountains and yew hedges cut into strange shapes A great improvement which now became common was the use of chimneys to carry off the smoke. As much care was bestowed on the chimneys and gables as on the rest of the building, so as to ensure a pleasing effect.