The houses were mostly built of wattling, plastered over with clay; and the beds were only straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow.

In this respect, even the king fared no better than his subjects; for, in Henry the Eighth's time, we find directions, 'to examine every night the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed therein.' A writer in 1577, speaking of the progress of luxury, mentions three things especially, that were 'marvellously altered for the worse in England;' the multitude of chimneys lately erected, the increase of lodgings, and the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver and tin; and he complains bitterly that oak instead of willow was employed in the building of houses."-- REV.

ROYAL ROBBINS: _Outlines of History_, p.

377.
24.

Shakspeare appeared in the reign of Elizabeth; outlived her thirteen years; and died in 1616 aged 52.