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The eighteenth century was dirtier, more dangerous and more intimate with the physical functions of life than our own. This excellent study of England during this era provides a wealth of information for students and interested readers who want to discover the everyday details of living. What does it really mean to read the riot act? Why does Yankee Doodle call his hat macaroni? What's the scoop on pig's face, boiled puddings, powdered wigs, farthings, face patches, and footmen? Find out in this introduction to the work of gouty squires, scurvy sailors, hanged apprentices, and underpaid maids-of-all work.

Illuminating the food, habits, language, behavior, sex lives, childhoods, health care, housing, and attitudes of 18th-century English people, this exploration of the time and place also provides the reader with such detailed information as how people fought, courted, drank, married, traveled, worshipped, shopped, and dressed. Twenty chapters describe and illustrate the century's politics, class structure, family structure, urban and rural environments, architecture and much more. Also offered are recipes, so the reader can recreate an eighteenth-century meal, song lyrics, children's rhymes, rules for eighteenth-century games, an extensive list of salaries for different occupations, the text of the original Riot Act, reproduced cosmetics recipes, and other concrete examples of daily life and language that make the century tangible.