There were some who did not appreciate the improved carriages, and were alive to the evils that were caused by the change. “Another pretty thing was my Lady Ashly’s speaking of the bad qualities of glass-coaches, among others the flying open of the doors upon any great shake; but another was that my Lady Peterborough being in her glass-coach with the glass up, and seeing a lady pass by in a coach whom she would salute, the glass was so clear that she thought it had been open, and so ran her head through the glass!”[346]
It is a curious instance of the survival of terms in popular language that certain carriages were styled glass-coaches even within living memory.
Although the hours kept by “society” in Charles II.’s reign were considerably earlier than those now adopted, and Pepys often went to bed by daylight,[347] yet people did sit up very late sometimes. On the 9th of May, 1668, the House of Commons sat till five o’clock in the morning to discuss a difference that had arisen between them and the House of Lords. One night Pepys stayed at the office so late that it was nearly two o’clock before he got to bed,[348] and at another time the servant got up at the same hour to do the week’s washing.[349] The watchman perambulated the streets with his bell and called out the hours, so that when Pepys was sitting up to fill up the entries in the “Diary,” he often heard the cry “Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning,”[350] or some similar information.
It is not easy to settle with any great accuracy the respective values of money at that time and at present, as many things were considerably cheaper, but others were dearer. Bab May said that _£_300 per annum was an ample income for a country gentlemen; a remark that was repeated by Marvell, and increased by him to _£_500. The gentry did not like this criticism, but it shows at least that money had a much greater purchasing power then than now. In the winter of 1666–67 the farmers were very unfortunate, and many were forced to become bankrupts, so that property previously bringing in _£_1,000[351] suddenly became worth only _£_500. The wages of a cookmaid were _£_4 a year, which Pepys thought high,[352] and a coach cost _£_53,[353] but a beaver hat was charged as high as _£_4 5_s._[354] Twenty-five pounds was paid for a painted portrait, and _£_30 for a miniature, and _£_80 for a necklace of pearls. Cherries were sold at two shillings a pound,[355] oranges at six shillings a dozen, and dinners at an ordinary varied from seven shillings to a guinea.