In truth, the poor lady was
marvellously thin, and as sallow and gaunt as she was thin. Some old
lady who had stood for her at the font, in the reign of Charles the
Second, had, at her death, left her all her clothes, and these had been
sent to Dymock's tower in several large chests. Mrs. Margaret was
accordingly provided for, for life, with the addition of a little
homespun linen, and stockings of her own knitting; but, as she held it
a mighty piece of extravagance to alter a handsome dress, she wore her
godmother's clothes in the fashion in which she found them, and prided
herself not a little in having silks for every season of the year. Large
hoops were worn in those days, and long ruffles, and sacks short and
long, and stomachers, and hoods, and sundry other conceits, now never
thought of; but Mrs. Margaret thought that all these things had a
genteel appearance, and showed that those who bought them and those who
inherited them had not come of nothing.
Mrs. Margaret, however, never put any of these fine things on, till she
had performed her household duties, looked into every hole and corner in
the offices, overlooked the stores, visited the larder, scullery and
hen-yard, weighed what her three maids had spun the day before, skimmed
the milk with her own hands, gathered up the candle ends, and cut the
cabbage for the brose; all which being done, and the servants' dinner
seen to, and it must be confessed, it was seldom that they had a very
sumptuous regale, she dressed herself as a lady should be dressed, and
sate down to her darning, which was her principal work, in the oval
window in the chief room in the castle.
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