Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775

In 1653 there were separation agreements between spouses as to property, e.g. support and maintenance.

Cromwell had bad experiences with Parliaments. The Rump Parliament was a remnant of the Long Parliament. The army and then Cromwell, although a member, came to believe that its members were self- interested, preoccupied with perpetuating themselves in seats of power, and corrupt. They thought that their own hopes of reform in the law, in the church, and in public finances were being deliberately frustrated. Cromwell came to doubt that it would ever give the people adequate government and protection. He started to believe that one man as chief executive could do this better. Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament in 1653. A new constitution created a Puritan "Parliament of Saints". These men were nominated in various ways, such as by church parishes, and selected by Cromwell. This one-house Parliament of Saints in 1653 made Cromwell Lord Protector for life with executive power of the state, with responsibility for making peace and establishing order after a decade of civil strife and political chaos. He was to administer the government and be the chief magistrate. It also provided for triennial Parliaments (consisting of one house), and religious freedom for all except Roman Catholics and adherents of the formerly established Church of England. Cromwell did not tolerate the ritual of the formerly established English church nor allow any of its adherents to have any office under him. His was a purely Puritan government. He did not sell offices. The Parliament of Saints challenged many vested interests in property such as sales of delinquents' and Papists' lands. It clashed severely over the continuation of tithes to the church. It became disorderly when some declared the Parliament dissolved and left. Others remained in their seats. To avoid a Parliamentary crisis, Cromwell had soldiers close the Parliament of Saints and lock its doors. The people supported this action because they were dissatisfied with the state of public affairs. The next Parliament that was tried was elected on a new constitutional basis of men with 200 pounds, but these men voted to make Parliament sovereign without a chief executive, thereby abolishing the protectorate. Cromwell was distressed that this Parliament had also voted themselves to be the sole determinors of atheism and blasphemy instead of advancing liberty of religious conscience and religious toleration as Cromwell had advocated. He dissolved this Parliament, declaring that it was not acting for the public good. A last Parliament was also dissolved by Cromwell for tending to loosen the bonds of government and thereby threatening the peace of the nation.

Cromwell had first ruled as a democratic leader who did not believe in force, but preferred to persuade with reason. He initially believed that people would do the right thing according to their consciences, but was disillusioned and then became autocratic. He came to rule as a military dictator. Payment of taxes was enforced by distraint. After 1654, he issued about 100 proclamations covering public amusements, roads, finances, the condition of prisons, the imprisonment of debtors, banning of dueling and cockfighting, law reform, control of religion and education, and reorganization of the army. The singing of ballads was banned. The Court of Chancery was reformed by proclamation. The established church was reformed and the power to interfere with different faiths was denied to it. Each parish could choose its form of service, whether Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, or any other seen as fundamental by the Puritans. No one was compelled to attend any particular church or to accept the discipline of any particular minister. But the Book of Common Prayer was forbidden. There was freedom of worship for Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, and Jews (who had secretly migrated to England to avoid persecution on the continent), but not Prelatists (those favoring government of the church by bishops).

In 1655, Cromwell placed major generals in charge of eleven newly- established provinces. As their Governors, they had authority to levy troops, exact taxes imposed by the Protector, disarm Royalists and Catholics, examine into the conduct of the clergy and schoolmasters, arrest dangerous and suspicious persons, and prevent unlawful assemblies, and to enforce the existing laws against immorality and blasphemy. The only appeal was to the Protector. Since they were Puritans, they ordered public ale houses to close as dusk, banned idlers, minstrels, and actors, forbade exercising of horses on Sunday and the holding of markets on Saturday as well as Sunday, censored the press, and proscribed newspapers. Horse races, which meetings were used for seditious purposes, were closed. Theaters were closed. Dancing was discontinued. Organs and choirs in churches prohibited. Court masks continued because they provided soothing music. After a year, Cromwell withdrew the major-generals. From this time, men of property hated the idea of a standing army.

In 1657, the officers of a new Parliament modified the constitution and Cromwell approved it, to secure liberties of the people as they never before had. Under the modified constitution, there were again two houses. The Commons regained its old right of exclusively deciding on the qualification of its members. Parliamentary restrictions were imposed on the choice of members of the Council, officers of state, and officers of the army. A fixed revenue was voted to the Protector. No moneys were to be raised except by consent of Parliament. Liberty of worship was guaranteed to all except Papists, Prelatists, Socinians (who denied the divinity of Jesus), for those who denied the inspiration of the Scriptures. Liberty of conscience was secured for all. In 1658, Cromwell tried another Parliament, but dissolved it because it wrangled without resolution.

After Cromwell died, the people demanded the return of a genuine and free Parliament. The old constitution was restored and a new House of Commons was elected. It called Charles II to return to be king if he promised religious freedom and backpay to the army, which had not recently been paid. When Cromwell's Puritan soldiers were disbanded, they did not drift into thievery as royalists soldiers had before, but took up honest work such as baker, mason, brewer, baker, or haberdasher. Puritanism now made itself felt not by the sword, but in literature and politics. It affected the character of the English, who tend to be stoics, and imbued capitalists with a hard-working attitude.

The Law

After the civil wars, the law against enclosure was not enforced.

What was passed in Parliament in Cromwell's time were called statutes, but after Cromwell's time, these statutes were not recognized as legitimate.

"whereas Public Sports do not well agree with Public Calamities, not Public Stage-plays with the Seasons of Humiliation, this being an Exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and the other being Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth and Levity ... Public Stage Plays shall cease, and be forborne instead of which are recommended to the People of this Land the profitable and seasonable considerations of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Peace with God, ..."

No book or pamphlet may be printed, bound, stitched, or sold or imported unless licensed and entered into the Register Book of the Company of Stationers. Officials of this company and of Parliament may search all places which they shall think meet for all unlicensed printing presses and all suspected printing houses, warehouses, and shops and other places for unlicensed books and pamphlets and papers and seize them and apprehend all authors, printers, and other involved people and bring them before Parliament or the Committee on Examinations for punishment. Justices of the peace and other officers may order doors and locks broken for this purpose. The fine is ten pounds for authors, five pounds for printers, two pounds for booksellers, and one pound for buyers who conceal a book bought. One half of each fine shall go to the person who discovers and prosecutes the offender, and the other half shall go to the poor. This law suppressed royalist newspapers but was enforced only with great difficulty.

All shall observe Sunday and days of Thanksgiving in their "duties of Piety and true Religion publicly and privately" and none may sell wares or goods, including fruit or herbs upon pain of forfeiture of such. None may, without reasonable cause, travel, carry burdens, or do any worldly labors or work whatsoever or pay a fine of 10s. This work shall include grinding grain, fulling in mills, burning turf or earth, gathering taxes, melting wax for candles, brewing, baking, butchering cattle, tailors fitting or carrying clothes, barbers trimming hair, being present at fairs or markets, or washing, whiting, or drying clothes. Nor may any one maintain or be present at wrestlings, shooting, bowling, ringing of bells for pleasure or pastime, masks, wake, church-ale, dancing, games, sport or, for those over 14, forfeit 5s., and for those having care or education of a child under 14, 12d. Maypoles, a "Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness", shall be taken down by officers or else forfeit 5s. per week. If any offender can't pay his fine, he shall be put in the stocks for three hours. However meat maybe dressed in private families, and victual sold in inns and victualing houses in a moderate way, and milk sold before 9a.m. or after 4p.m.

Persons of the trinity, angels, or saints shall be demolished. Altar and communion tables must not be raised but leveled. There may be no copes, surplices, superstitious vestments, or holy water fonts. There may be no crosses, crucifixes, pictures of the trinity, angels or saints on plates. All organs must be taken away.

The fine for using the Book of Common Prayer is five pounds for the first offense, ten pounds for the second offense, and one year imprisonment without bail for the third offense. The penalty for writing or preaching against the Directory for Public Worship is five to fifty pounds.

Blasphemies and heresies such as teaching or writing or printing that there is no God, that God is not almighty, that Jesus was not divine, that the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, that the Bible is not the word of God, or that there is no judgment day after death, are felony without benefit of clergy. If such an offender recants, he shall stay in gaol until he obtains two sureties. If he offends again after recantation, it is felony without benefit of clergy.

In 1650 adultery was declared to be a felony, except for a wife whose husband had been beyond the seas for three years or had been reputed to be dead. Incest was also declared to be a felony. It was defined as marrying or having carnal knowledge of one's grandparent, parent, sibling, mother's brother or sister, father's wife, mother's husband, son's wife, daughter's husband, wife's mother or daughter, or husband's father or son. Fornication was given a punishment of three months imprisonment and until security was obtained for one year for good behavior. It was defined as carnal knowledge of a virgin, unmarried woman, or widow. A common bawd or one keeping a brothel or bawdy house was to be whipped, set in the pillory, marked in the forehead by a hot iron with the letter: B, and then imprisoned for three years without bail and until there were sureties for good behavior for life. The second offense was felony without benefit of clergy. There was to be no corruption of the blood. However, juries were reluctant to convict for adultery and incest.

There shall be no profane swearing or cursing of forfeit by a lord 30s., a baronet or knight 20s., an esquire 10s., a gentleman 6s.8d., and all others 3s.4d.There is a double fine for the second offense. For the tenth offense, the offender shall be bound by sureties for good behavior for three years.

A person equating himself or another with God or not believing in God shall be imprisoned for six months without bail. For the second offense, he shall be banished from the nation.

No longer shall people be punished for nonattendance at church on Sunday or days of Thanksgiving, but may be at some other place of prayer, preaching, reading, or the scriptures.

Hawkers and ballad singers have been libelous, so are to be whipped as common rogues and then dismissed. Also, their ballads and pamphlets are to be confiscated. Vagrant, idle, loose, dissolute and disorderly persons and fiddlers in inns, alehouses, and taverns are to be punished as rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, that is, whipped.

In 1649, treason against Parliament was defined as writing, printing, or declaring that the government is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful; or that Parliament is not the supreme authority of the nation; or plot, contrive, or endeavor to stir up or raise force against the government. Attainder for such would not work corruption of the blood.

Treason to the Protector was defined the same as it was to the King.

Army deserters are to be corporally punished or executed.

Fellable wood and underwood, but no timber trees, may be cut within 60 miles of London because fuel is needed, especially by the poor. This will be supervised by overseers appointed by Parliament.

No one may import foreign hats or hatbands to relieve that industry in England.

As of 1656, certain food could not be exported when the prices of such exceeded a stated amount. For instance, 5 pounds for a 36 gallon barrel of beef, 6d. for a pound of bacon, 4 pounds and 10s. for a 224 gallon barrel of butter, and 24s. for 64 pounds of rye, pease, or beans. The customs for such items was more for foreigners than for natives, for instance 3s. for natives and 5s. for foreigners for a barrel of beef.

Butter for sale must not be corrupt and be properly weighed.

One must obtain a license to buy wheat or other grain and put it to sale in meal or flour or else forfeit three times the value.

All books of the law, writs, pleadings, and patents shall be in English or else forfeit 20 pounds.

No deer may be killed or else forfeit 15 pounds, half to the informer and half to the poor.

Interest may not exceed 6 pounds for a loan of 100 pounds yearly as of 1651.

No goods are to be imported from America, Asia, or Africa except in English ships or else forfeit all goods and the ship, one half of which goes to the one who seizes the goods and prosecutes. None may be imported from Europe except in English ships or ships from the country of origin of the goods. No salt fish may be imported or exported but in English vessels.

There is a 10 pound reward for discovery of highwaymen and burglars or persons who break and enter into houses and there use violence.

No cart or wagon or carriage on the road may be drawn by more than five horses or six oxen and a horse except for military vehicles.

Notice of intended marriages shall be published once a week for three weeks in a public meeting place called church or a public market place next to church. Exceptions to the marriage shall be noted by the Register and considered by the Justice of the Peace before the marriage is performed. The words used shall be: "...promise to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband..." and "promise to be unto thee a loving, faithful, and obedient wife...".

There shall be no cock-fighting because it disturbs the peace and usually is accompanied by gaming, drinking, swearing, and quarreling.

Anyone challenging or accepting a challenge to duel shall be imprisoned for six months without bail, and must acquire two sureties for a year. Anyone fighting a duel in which death ensues, shall be banished for life.

Horse races were forbidden in 1654 for six months to discourage mischievous plots and designs by enemies of the state. The penalty was forfeiting the horse. Attendees were to be brought to justice.

As of 1657, a house or building built within ten miles of the walls of the City of London not having at least four acres had to pay a fine of one year's rent. All houses within London or Westminster or the suburbs must be brick or stone, and built straight up without protruding into the street or else forfeit 100 pounds.

As of 1657 persons living extravagantly without visible estate or calling may be made by Justices of the Peace to acquire sureties for good behavior or go to gaol. They would also be sent to the house of correction to work for three months for the first offense and for a time specified by the Justice of the Peace for the second offense.

Anyone winning at betting or playing at cards, dice, tennis, and horse races shall forfeit double his winnings.

Excluded from pardon were buggery with man [sodomy] or animal [bestiality], carnal ravishment of women, and bigamy.

Drunkenness was much punished.

Husbands were responsible for their wives' oaths and fathers for their daughters'.

Judicial Procedure

The Protector is the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, with power to pardon all crimes, except murder and treason.

Parliament was no longer a court.

Use of the torture was proscribed in 1649.

In 1652, the justices were given a salary of 1,000 pounds and forbidden to take fees or rewards. They also got tenure, thus freeing them from government pressure. Now civil justice was honestly dispensed and justices were learned and honest.

The jurisdiction of Admiralty court was defined to include: ships and vessels with tackle, apparel and furniture thereof; repairing, victualing, and furnishing provisions of ships and vessels for sea; all cases of bottomry [ship-owner indemnified if the vessel were lost, but paid over a substantial share of the profits if it reached its destination safely], contracts beyond the seas concerning shipping or navigation; charter, parties, contracts for freight; bills of lading; mariners wages; damage of goods on board ships; and damage by one ship to another including by anchors or want of laying buoys. It did not include contracts between merchants.

Chapter 17

The Times: 1660-1702

The monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the throne. The episcopacy of the bishops and the Book of Common Prayer were restored. This book retained all its ceremonies, despite opposition by the Presbyterians. The confiscated Royalist, church, and Crown lands were ordered to be restored, and most were. Charles II was presented with the traditional rights of choosing his own Privy Council, ministers of state, and justices; making foreign policy; controlling the armed forces; and approving statutes. He was also presented with the power to call and dismiss Parliament, but later, in 1694, a statute required that Parliament be held at least once every three years, to avoid royal schemes of non-parliamentary government. The House of Lords was reestablished and there were again bishops in it, though fewer than before (about 1/8 instead of about 1/3). There were 160 peers for the next century. The House of Commons was elected in the usual way, but without a king's writ. The Commons was composed mostly of royalist established church members. Its leaders were important members of the King's Privy Council.

The feudal tenures of the crown, such as knights' service, were converted into free socage. They were discharged of homage, reliefs, escuage, and aids. Charles relinquished purveyance, wardships, and forfeitures of marriage. In return, Parliament granted him a fixed yearly income of 100,000 pounds from excise tax on beer, cider, and tea.

Several hundreds of dissenter ministers and school teachers were ejected from their positions, but later those who were not Baptists were returned by statute of Parliament. (Baptists did not believe in an established church.)

Charles II was an easygoing and kindly man and hard to ruffle. He had a weariness in the folly of men and a cynical disbelief in human virtue. His wit and great sense of humor softened many a potentially tense situation. His restoration to the throne brought in a time of enjoyment of life in reaction to the Puritanism of before. At his succession, the elected Parliament was oriented toward royalty and the established church. He was voted an income of 1,200,000 pounds a year. He also sold many of the last crown lands. But he always had great debts, which he described as a "desperate but not serious" situation. This was in part due to his generous maintenance of several successive mistresses and more than about a dozen illegitimate children. His entourage also included physicians, surgeons, a librarian, a poet laureate, chaplains, painters, an historiographer, musicians, a royal composer, and an astronomer. Charles even joked on his deathbed that "I am sorry gentlemen, for being such an unconscionable time a-dying."

The day of Charles II's restoration and birthday was designated as a day of thanksgiving when all were to participate in prayers and the singing of psalms at some church or other suitable public place.

Charles initiated the return of Sunday afternoon wrestling, archery, music, and dancing. Theaters reopened with actresses playing women's parts, an audience only in front of the stage instead of around it, a drop curtain, and painted two-dimensional scenery. Actresses were allowed pursuant to royal proclamation so that plays should become "useful and instructive representations of human life" rather than "harmless delights". Charles went to plays regularly. Actresses were assumed to be mistresses of patrons in return for their jobs, but one fourth were actually chaste women married to actors. Comedies were the preferred plays. Courtesans were sympathetically and even admirably treated in plays, which mocked all restraints and glorified immorality with the exception of pornography, which was banned. Bad actors were hissed off the stage. Henry Purcell wrote religious music for churches, ceremonial music for the English court, and theater music for English opera. Opera made music a vehicle for human emotions. The gentry sang to the lute and danced to string instruments. Many owned and played musical instruments. Humble people had folksongs and instruments like the pipe and tabor for dancing. Singing in parts was popular in town and country. In 1672 John Banister started the first regular series of public concerts in his house. There were lovely formal gardens in which to walk, to see fireworks, and to buy the new ice cream. Charles did much garden and park planning and let the public enjoy the royal St. James Park. He loved hunting too and had the royal forests replenished with deer after poaching during the Cromwell era had greatly reduced their numbers.

Charles II introduced sailing and yacht racing for pleasure. He also participated in and promoted horse racing. The breeding of thoroughbred horses began with breeding to Arab mares. Gelding horses were now preferred over stallions. There were trotters, cart horses, and some "fast" race horses. Boxing (with no gloves nor ring) was a national sport. Ice skating with iron blades was popular. Valentine's day was celebrated. Italian puppet shows played in London.

Dress returned to elaborateness. Gentlemen wore Cavalier-style long wigs with curls, despite the church's dislike of wigs. This could hide the short hair of a former Puritan Roundhead. In 1666, Charles introduced a new mode of inexpensive court dress which was made entirely from English textiles. This gave rise to gentlemen's weskits to below the knee with a coat of the same length and full sleeves. Stockings and shoes replaced the long fitted boots. Charles set a court tradition of men wearing a scarf tied around the neck. Ladies often wore their hair in masses of ringlets with little corkscrew curls on each side of their heads, and later piled their hair up elaborately on their heads. They wore satin or silk dresses fitted at the waist with a pointed bodice, and full skirt. The shoulder line was low and the sleeves full and open at the front with fastenings of jeweled clasps. The only fast colors were reds, blues, purple, and yellow, but not green. They kept their hands warm in muffs. Women wore perfume, rouge, and face patches. Some women put on a lot of make-up. Many men dressed effeminately with rouge, face patches, heavily scented clothing, muffs, and many ribbons of many colors. The facial beauty patches were in shapes such as stars, crescent moons, and hearts; they diverted attention from the common smallpox scars. There were Oxford shoes, which laced up the front through eyelets. The members of the House of Commons dressed like the gentry and assumed their manners. There was exaggeration in all complimentary and ceremonial language.

The gentry were beginning to be thought of as a "squirearchy". They owned about half the land of the country.

The population according to class was as follows:

As can be seen, agriculture is still the most common occupation.

Great houses now had a central dining chamber [saloon] for dining, with sets of lodgings [suites], usually for couples, around it. Each lodging had an ante-chamber and/or drawing room, and then a bedchamber, off of which there was a servant's room and a closet [cabinet]. No longer did personal servants bed down in the drawing room or outside their master's door or in a truckle bed at his feet. The servant's room was connected to a back staircase for use by servants. Secret guests also used it. The closet room was the innermost sanctum for privacy and gave its name to the later cabinet of the government.

There were fewer servants and they were of a lower social status than before. They were often sons of merchants, clergymen, and army officers. Gentlemen no longer advanced by service to a great man, but instead through grammar school and university education, commerce, the law, or the armed services. This change came about because the state now maintained reasonable law and order. There were more female servants, who were paid less to cook and to clean as well as doing laundry and nursing. Servants were kept more in the background, preferably out of sight. The elaborate ceremonial ritual with sewer, carver, and cupbearer was gone. A butler replaced the yeomen of the buttery, ewery, and pantry, and footmen began to wait on the table at which the lord, his lady, and other couples sat. Servants no longer had meals in the hall, which now had a grand staircase up to the dining chamber. The highest servants, the officers: clerk of the kitchen, clerk of the check [comptroller], head cook, butler, and groom of the chambers, and female housekeeper ate in the gentleman-of the-horse's room, although at a separate table. The kitchen staff ate in the kitchen. The footmen, underbutler, porters, coachmen, grooms, stable-boys, gardeners, maids ate in a servant's room. The steward was no longer the chief household officer, but had a room near the kitchen. The bulk of the servants slept in the basement or subordinate wings of the house.

Great houses of nobles had more rooms, such as a chapel, library, parlors, dressings rooms, and galleries; there was a variety of architectural floor plans. The structure of a noble household of an earl was as follows: The chief official was the receiver general. He had financial responsibility for the household and prepared accounts for the household and for the tenants' estates. These were checked by an auditor. The receiver general was often the son of a country gentleman and had a salary of 50 pounds raised to 100 pounds with longevity. He had a servant and an assistant. If married, he had a house on the property. There was perhaps an attorney on retainer (paid for a certain number of hours per week or month). The gentleman of the chamber [privy purse] kept the accounts of the family and bought them apparel and toiletries. He was in close personal attendance upon the earl. His salary was 20 pounds a year. Besides the receiver general and the gentleman of the chamber, the tutor and chaplain had the closest personal contact with the family. The lady had a gentlewoman with a maid servant. The receiver general supervised most of the staff. There was a steward of 40 pounds a year. He supervised a clerk of the kitchen and a house bailiff of 20 pounds a year. The bailiff had responsibility for the produce of the estate, e.g. the gardens, the deer park, and the fish ponds. Under the clerk of the kitchen was the cook man and kitchen boys, the latter of whom were clothed and fed but not paid. The steward also supervised the 4 pound yearly porters, who kept the gates; the watchmen outside; and the head housekeeper, usually a woman of 2 to 6 pounds yearly. She supervised the laundry maid and general maids, who spent much of their time sewing. The steward was also responsible for the wine cellar. A dozen footmen belonged partly to the house and partly to the stables and received 2 to 6 pounds yearly. They waited on the lord and lady in the house and accompanied them in travels and did errands for them. The gentleman of the horse supervised the stables, coach, dogs, kennels, and 16 pound yearly huntsman. Boy pages also worked partly in the house and partly in the stables. They were clothed and fed, but not paid. The head gardener received 80 pounds for tending the flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. He had casual workers as needed to assist him. The steward was also responsible for the London house. Here there was a housekeeper, a watchman, and a 40 pound a year gardener, all there permanently. When the lord was there, bargemen were employed for his barge. The salaries for the family estate totaled about 600 pounds a year. Sometimes married sons' or daughters' families stayed for months at the family estate; then they would pay for their part of the food.

Well-to-do people drank imported tea and coffee, sometimes from porcelain ware, and usually after dinner or supper. Most tea leaves were brewed first for the family and guests and a second time for the servants; then they were given to the servants' relatives or friends. Queen Mary encouraged the fashion of collecting Chinese porcelain. The rich had red or black and gilt lacquered cabinets and cupboards. Oak gave way to walnut, with its variegated surfaces. There were grandfather clocks. Some fireplaces now had cast-iron firebacks. Stuffing began to be upholstered to woodwork benches. Chairs were taller in the back. Ladies did needlework to cover them and also made patchwork quilts. Cane seats came into fashion.

From the spring of 1665 to the end of 1666 there was a Great Plague, mostly in London. It was the last and worst plague since the Black Death of 1348. It lasted over a year and about one-third died from it. Households with a plague victim were walled up with its residents inside to reduce contagion, and then marked with a red cross. Church bells tolling their requiems clanged in ceaseless discord. The mournful cry "bring out your dead" echoed in deserted streets. At night groups of people shoveled the corpses into open graves. To prepare for this revolting task, they often first became drunk out of their senses. People acquired wild beliefs in hope of avoiding the plague. For instance, at one time it was thought that syphilis would prevent it, so maddened hordes stormed the brothels. At another time, it was rumored that the plague could be burned out of the air, and all one day bonfires blazed outside every door and people sweltered in the heat. Other localities posted sentries on the road to keep Londoners out of their areas to prevent the plague from spreading there. Since sneezing was thought to be the first sign of a person getting the plague, it became common to ask God to bless a person who sneezed. In London, statistics were collected on the number of plague victims and their places of death to try to determine the cause of the plague by correlation, a new method. This was a natural sequent to merchant John Gaunt's 1662 book "Natural and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality", which compiled yearly vital statistics from which to analyze, for instance, causes of death due to particular diseases. It reached conclusions such as that fall was the most unhealthy season; females had longer life spans than males; and infant mortality was very high.

In 1666 a fire destroyed three-fourths of the City of London. The blazing buildings were so hot that people with leather buckets of water, hand squirts, and manually operated water-pumping machines could not get near them. There was a lot of noise from falling buildings. Panic and desperation were widespread. There was a lot of crying out and running about distractedly. People saved some of their possessions by burying them or removing them from the fire's path as they moved to different lodgings. The streets were full of carts piled high with furniture and merchandise. The Thames River was thick with heavily laden barges. Melting lead from St. Paul's church ran down the streets in a stream. The Tower of London, upwind of the fire, was saved by blowing up surrounding buildings. Eventually the wind abated and the fire was put out. A Fire Court with royal justices was created to offer settlement terms about property that were free, fair, fast, and final. Army tents and supplies, and soup kitchens sustained the citizens in the fields.

After the fire, buildings had to be brick or stone rather than wood, except for doors and windows. Also, more plaster and tile was used. All roofs had to be of tile or slate, rather than thatch. There was a general use of tile for roofing. About 1714, came slate for roofings. All buildings had to be at least two stories high, with flat facades rather than overhanging upper floors. They had to have wide brick walls around them to avoid the spread of fires. Many streets, squares, and alleys were professionally planned, after the example of Inigo Jones, who had continued his town planning with Lincoln's Inn field's open square surrounded by houses with iron balconies. Another example was Leiscester Square. Main streets had to be wide enough to stop a fire. The street selling that had caused so much congestion was removed to new market places. The massive rebuilding of London ended the monopoly of the building trade claimed by the Mason's Company. Astronomer and geometrician Christopher Wren designed and built a new St. Paul's Cathedral and many churches in London, thus becoming England's first architect. He worked up from a square base through all sorts of shapes to a circular double dome on top. The fire put an end to Whitehall as a royal residence and St. James Palace was used instead. But at least one fire hazard remained: the practice of lighting new fires by taking buckets of hot coals from one room or house to another. This was faster than the several minutes it took to use a tinder box to start a flame, i.e. striking a piece of flint upon a piece of steel making a spark which was dropped onto tinder and then blown upon. Matches were invented in this period, but expensive and unsafe.

Nicholas Barbon began fire insurance in the 1670s. If fire broke out on an insured premises, the insurance company's firemen would come with leather buckets and grappling irons, and later small hand pumps. Barbon also redeveloped many districts in London, tearing down old buildings without hesitation. He started the system of selling off leases to individual builders, who hoped to recover their building costs by selling their houses before they were completed and before substantial payments on the lease became due. Entrepreneurial master-builders subcontracted work to craftsmen and took a large profit or a large loss and debt. Aristocrats bought large parcels of land on which they built their own mansions surrounded by lots to be rented to building contractors and speculators like Barbon. The houses built on these lots were sold and the underlying land rented. These rentals of land made the mansions self-supporting. Barbon built rows of identical townhouses. Sometimes houses were built on all the lots around a square, which had gardens reserved for the use of those who lived on the square. Most of the new building was beyond the old City walls. Marine insurance for storms, shipwreck, piracy, mutiny, and enemy action was also initiated. Before the fire, e.g. in Tudor times, the writing of risks had been carried on as a sideline by merchants, bankers, and even money lenders in their private offices and was a private transaction between individuals.

London was residential and commercial. Around the outside were tenements of the poor. From 1520 to 1690, London's population had risen tenfold, while the nation's had only doubled. London went from 2% to 11% of the nation's population. In 1690, London's population was about half a million. After 1690, London's population grew at the same rate as the nation's. The first directory of addresses in London was published in 1677. Business began to follow the clock more strictly and many people thought of their watches as a necessity.

London coffee houses, which also sold wine, liquors, and meals, became specialty meeting places. They were quieter and cheaper than taverns; for a penny, one could sip a cup of coffee by the fire, read the newspapers, and engage in conversation. Merchants, stock jobbers, politician groups, soldiers, doctors and clergymen, scholars, and literary men all had special coffee house meeting places. Notices and letters of general interest were posted therein. Many merchants, brokers, and underwriters, especially those whose houses had been burned in the fire, conducted their business at their coffee house and used it as their business address. Men in marine insurance and shipping met at Lloyd's Coffeehouse, which was run by Edward Lloyd who established it for this purpose in 1687. Lloyd provided reliable shipping news with a network of correspondents in the principal ports at home and on the continent and circulated a handwritten sheet of lists of vessels and their latest movements at his coffeehouse. The patrons cheered safe arrivals and shared their grief over ships lost. They insured their own risks at one moment and underwrote those of their friends the next. Auctions of goods and of ships and ship materials which had been advertised in the newspapers were conducted from a pulpit in the coffeehouse.

French wine was consumed less because of heavy taxation and spirits and beer were consumed more. The streets were alive with taverns, coffee houses, eating houses, and hackney coaches past 9 p.m. at night. Coffee houses were suppressed by royal proclamation in 1675 because "malicious and scandalous reports" defaming his majesty's government were spread there, which disturbed the peace and quiet of the realm. But this provoked such an uproar that it was reduced to a responsibility of the owner to prevent scandalous papers and libels from being read and hindering any declarations any false and scandalous reports against the government or its ministers.

London air was filthy with smoke from coal burning. In 1684 the streets were lit with improved lights which combined oil lamps with lenses and reflectors. Groups of householders combined to hire lighting contractors to fulfill their statutory responsibility to hang candles or lights in some part of their houses near the street to light it for passengers until 9:00 p.m., and later to midnight. In 1694 a monopoly was sold to one lighting company. In 1663 a body of paid watchmen was established in London. An office of magistrate was created and filled with tradesmen and craftsmen, who could make a living from the fines and fees. This was to supplement the unpaid Justices of the Peace. The public was encouraged to assist in crime prevention, such as being witnesses, but most policing was left to the parishes. Crowds punished those who transgressed community moral standards, threatened their economic or social interests, or offended their religious or patriotic beliefs. Often a crowd would react before the call of "stop thief" or the hue and cry from the local constable. Pickpockets would be drenched under a pump. Cheats would be beaten up. Dishonest shops and brothels would be ransacked or destroyed. The most common targets were promiscuous women and pregnant servants.

There were many highway robberies and mob actions in London. Mobs in the thousands would turn out against the Catholics, especially at times of unemployment and trade depression. Working people still saw demonstrations and violence as the best way to achieve their economic goals, since strikes didn't work. For example, the silk workers used street violence to get protective legislation against imports and mechanization in 1675. The manufacture of silk material had been brought to England by French workers driven from France. In 1697, three thousand London silk weavers demonstrated outside the Commons and East India House against the importation of raw silks by the East India Co., and a couple months later, they attacked a house in the city owned by a gentleman of the company. In 1701, heavy duties were imposed on the import of Indian silks and wearing of Indian silks was prohibited by statute. Sometimes mobs would break open the prisons to release fellow rioters or take action against strike breakers or informers. Parish constables elected by their neighbors could not control the mobs and stayed within their parishes. Dueling was still prevalent, even though against the law.

In London and Westminster, it was hard to enforce the requirement that inhabitants keep the street in front of their house clean and store the filth until the daily raker or scavenger came with cart and dung pot. So a commission was made responsible for paving and keeping clean the streets, making and repairing vaults, sewers, drains, and gutters, and removing encroachments. It compensated those with encroachments of over 30 years. It assessed inhabitants of such streets 16d. per square yard from the front of their building to the center of the street. Women continued to empty their pails and pans outside their doors and did their washing on stools in the streets. There was a penalty of 5d. for throwing filth in front of one's house, and 20d. for throwing it elsewhere in the streets. Scavengers and rakers could lodge their coal ashes, dust, dirt, and other filth in such vacant public places as the commission deemed convenient for accommodating country carts returning otherwise empty after their loads were sold.

However, this system did not work because people would not pay their assessments. So there was a return to the former system of requiring citizens to sweep and clean the streets in front of their buildings twice a week and keep the filth until a scavenger or raker came. The penalty for not doing so was 3s.4d., later raised to 10s. Any one throwing coal ashes, dust, dirt, rubbish, or dung onto the streets or lanes incurred a fine of 5s. There was a fine of 20s. for hooping or washing any pipes or barrels in any lane or open passage or repairing coaches, sawing wood, or chiseling stones in the streets. Pigs kept in or about one's house had to be forfeited.

One way that people traveled was to be carried in sedan chairs held up by two horizontal poles with one man at the front ends and another man in back. There were so many sedan chairs and coaches for hire in London that the watermen lost business. All hackney coaches in London or Westminster were required to be licensed and marked with their owner's distinctive mark so that complaints could be made. Their maximum rate was 10s. for a 12 hour day, and 18d. for the first hour and 12d. for every hour thereafter. Licensed coachmen were not allowed to practice any other trade. The coaches paid the commission 5 pounds yearly. Hay sold along the road brought 6d. per load, and straw 2d. per load, to the commission. There had to by paid 3d. for every cart load of hay sold at the hay market and 1d. for every cart of straw, to go towards paving and repairing the hay market street. Overall, agriculture improved. Fields that would have been left fallow were planted with new crops which restored indispensable chemical elements to the soil. At the same time, they supplied winter food for stock. The size and weight of animals for slaughter grew. There was so much stock breeding that it was more economical for a family to buy meat, milk, and eggs, than to maintain its own animals. There was an explosion in the growing of beans, peas, lettuce, asparagus, artichokes, and clover. The demand for food in London and other urban areas made enclosure for crop cultivation even more profitable than for sheep grazing. The government made no more attempts to curtail the enclosure of farm lands. The number of enclosures grew because copyholders were not successful in obtaining the legal security of tenure. But most land was not enclosed.

In 1661 in Essex, the wages for mowing one acre of grass were 1s.10d.; for reaping, shearing, binding one acre of wheat 4s.; and for threshing a quarter of wheat or rye 1s.

Wives participated with their husbands in general agricultural chores and did the dairy work including making cheese. Every householder kept chickens because egg production was cheap, their market price being only 1s. for a hundred. Wives also took care of the gardening work and traditionally kept for their own the cash that came in from garden, dairy, and poultry products. A wife made jellies and preserves when the fruit trees, bushes, and vines were bearing. Imported sugar enabled fruit to be preserved as jam in jars sealed with a layer of mutton fat to make them airtight. She was likely to concoct medications from her herbs. Meat had to be smoked or salted when there was not enough fodder to keep animals alive through the winter. She saw to it that the soap was boiled and the candles molded. She cooked the daily meals, did the washing, produced cloth for the family's use, and sewed the family's clothing.

Women had less work and lower pay than men. Since most cottages had a spinning wheel, spinning work was readily available to wives. In the 1670s, a female weaver or spinner was paid 2-4d. per day. A domestic servant, who was usually female, was paid 40-80s. a year. Men in the trades objected to competition from lower-paid women. Aristocratic ladies actively managed their family's household and estates. The only work available to a high middle- class woman who was waiting to get married was to be a governess in another household or a lady-in-waiting to a gentlewoman. Children often worked; this was recommended so that they were under the direct supervision of their parents rather than getting into mischief in the village. The mother typically mingled severity with gentleness, but the father did not dare to err on the side of leniency. Discipline was by whipping. Children were treated as little adults. The lack of a conception of childhood innocence even extended to the practice of adults to tell bawdy jokes in their presence or play with their children's genitals.

About 1660, the Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge was founded by Charles II, who became its patron. It was formed from discussion groups of the new experimental philosophy. It included the Baconians formerly at Oxford and Cambridge, who were ejected at the Restoration, and a group of Gresham professors of geometry and astronomy. The Royal Society met at Gresham College. Its goal was to compare ideas in mathematics and science and identify specific aims of science. It published scientific reports to make its findings generally known. This was a great improvement over the private correspondence among scientists, which was limited by the use of various languages. Charles himself had his own laboratory and dabbled in chemistry and anatomy. Similar societies were formed in many places in the world. Theologicians warned that scientific research was dangerous. But it's advances improved agriculture, manufactures, medicine, surgery, navigation, naval architecture, gunnery, and engineering.

Issac Newton was a genius, who in his childhood designed and built model windmills, water wheels, water clocks, sundials, and kites. He came from a family which had risen from the yeomen ranks to the gentry. For a few years after graduating from Cambridge University in 1665, he secluded himself in the countryside to study. Here, using the work of John Wallis, he formulated the binomial theorem that expands (A+B) raised to the nth exponent power, where n is an integer. He also worked with numbers that had exponents that were fractions, unending decimals, or negative numbers. Certain patterns of numbers, such as the sum of doubling each number in a series as in: 1+2+4+8+...never terminates; the series is infinite. He then developed the notion of a number being the limit of the summation of an infinite converging series of a pattern of numbers, such as the limit of 1+(1/2)+(1/4)+(1/8)...= 2. By considering the state of motion of a mass-point in an infinitely short time under the influence of an external force, he developed rules for finding areas under algebraic curves [integration], such as the hyperbola, and finding tangents to algebraic curves [differentiation], which he recognized as inverse processes. That is, differentiating the integral of a function results in a return to that function.

Newton discovered that colors arose from the separation, rather than a modification, of white light, that is natural sunlight. He did this using a prism to dissect the white light into its spectrum of constituent colors and then using a prism and lens to recombine the colors to reconstitute white light. The spectrum was the same as that of a rainbow. He determined the angle of refraction of each color by beaming white light through a prism, and then through a hole in a board which isolated one color, to another prism. When he discovered that all colors reflect from a mirror at the same angle, he invented and built the reflecting telescope, which used a parabolic concave mirror and a flat mirror instead of a convex lens, thereby eliminating the distortions and rainbow coloring around the edges that resulted from the refraction of different colors at different angles. He deemed a ray of light to consist of a rapidly moving stream of atomic particles, rather than Robert Hooke's pulses or Christian Huygens' waves, because shadows showed a sharp boundary between the light and the absence of light. He reasoned that if light was made up of pulses or waves, it could spread around obstacles or corners as sound seemed to do. He approximated the speed of sound by timing echoes in corridors of various lengths.

Newton was methodical and combined the inductive and deductive methods of inquiry, first making observations, and then generalizing them into a theory, and finally deducing consequences from the theory which could be tested by observation. He carried mathematization of data from experiments as far as possible.

Newton theorized that the same gravity force that pulled an apple down from a tree extended out to the moon to hold it in its orbit around the earth. He saw a connection between these movements by imagining a cannon on a mountain shooting a series of cannonballs parallel to the earth's surface. The first shot has only a tiny charge of explosive, and the cannonball barely makes it out of the muzzle before falling to the ground. The second shot is propelled by a larger charge, and follows a parabolic arc as it falls. The next shots, fired with increasingly more propellant, eventually disappear over the horizon as they fall. Lastly, with enough gunpowder, a speeding cannonball would completely circle the earth without hitting it. By extrapolating from these ever faster projectiles, he opined that the moon was held in its orbit by the same earth force that operated on the projectiles. He correlated the moon's orbit with the measured acceleration of gravity on the surface of the earth. He put various substances with different masses and weights into the shell of a pendulum and observed that the pendulum had the same period [time for one oscillation] and fell at the same rate as free-falling objects. Then he formulated the idea that the ultimate agent of nature was a force acting between bodies rather than a moving body itself. Gravity did not act in proportion to the surfaces of bodies, but in proportion to quantity of matter. Gravity penetrated to the very center of all bodies without diminution by the body. Gravity's force extended to immense distances and decreased in exact proportion to the square of the distance.

Newton opined that an object moves because of external forces on it rather than by forces internal to the object. He connected the concepts of force and acceleration with a new concept, that of mass. Mass is a quantity intrinsic to an object that determines how it responds to forces, such as the force of gravity. The greater the mass of a body, the stronger the force of gravity on it, and the more difficult it is to get it moving. He found that the acceleration of a body by a force is inversely proportional to its mass, and formulated the equation that force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. So if a force acts on a planet, it produces a change in velocity that is proportional to the force and in the same direction as the force. His law of inertia is that any body, persists in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless affected by an outside force. His next law is that when a body A exerts a force on a body B, then B also exerts a force on A which is equal in amount but opposite in direction. This means that forces that operate between different parts of a planet produce no net force upon the whole planet, so that the mass of a planet can be treated as if it is concentrated at a point. These are his three laws of motion.

His law of gravitation explains how the whole universe is held together. This law holds that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a single gravitational force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Newton had first accepted the Cartesian system of celestial vortices of aether that swirled the planets and comets around their orbits. He determined that Kepler's law that areas were swept out in equal times implied that gravity acts in the direction of a line between the planet and the sun. The gross features of the universe and Kepler's observations led to his recognition that the attraction between two bodies decreases inversely in proportion to the square of the distance between them. Only one kind of force would satisfy Kepler's requirement that the sun was a focus of an ellipse and still be consistent with Kepler's law that the square of a planet's period was proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun; that was the inverse square law. Then he came to accept Robert Hooke's hypothesis that planets are kept in their orbits by the combination of an attractive power of the sun and of motion in a straight line that was tangential to their orbits. From astronomical data, he calculated this centripetal acceleration of each planet towards the sun to be proportional to the inverse square of its distance from the sun. He also calculated the "centrifugal" accelerations in a straight line. His experiments showed that the centripetal force in a circular orbit was equal to the mass of the body multiplied by the square of its velocity, all divided by the radius of the circular path. He used calculus and differential equations to determine centripetal forces of elliptical orbits, where the distance from the sun, the velocity, and the acceleration were variables.

Newton showed that his single gravitational force could account for the way free-falling objects descend to the ground, the parabolic trajectory of projectiles, the path of the moon in its orbit around the earth, the course of the tides every twelve hours, the lower densities of the earth's atmosphere at greater heights, the paths of Jupiter's moons, the paths of comets, and the elliptical paths of the planets in their orbits around the sun. This determination discredited the previous belief that invisible angels moved the planets. Newton proved from his law of gravitation and his three laws of motion the truth of Kepler's laws of elliptical planetary motion. Newton demonstrated from data collected from the comet of 1680 that comets moved according to his law of gravitation. He showed that the path of a body traveling within the gravitational force of the sun is a circle, an ellipse, a parabola, or a hyperbola. He used the concept of a common center of gravity as a reference point for other motions. The fact that the center of gravity of the solar system was within the body of the sun verified that the sun was indeed at the center of the solar system.

Newton deduced that the tides were created by the rotation of the earth with bulges of water on the earth's surfaces that were closest and farthest from the moon. The moon "pulled" the water nearest to it with a greater force than average. It "pulled" the water farthest from it with a force weaker than average. These two moving bulges created two tides a day.

Newton's "Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis", was published in 1687. The established church denounced it as being against the scripture of the Bible. Newton did not agree with the established church on many points, such as the trinity, and was considered a heretic. He had his own interpretations of the Bible and doubted the divinity of Jesus. But it was accepted for dissenters like Newton to qualify for full civil rights by maintaining an outward conformity and taking the sacrament in the established church once a year. Newton was given a royal dispensation from taking holy orders as prescribed by the rules for tenure of fellows of his college at Cambridge University. He did believe in a God who created the universe and who had a ubiquitous presence in all space. When Catholic King James II tried to have a Catholic monk admitted to the degree of a Master of Arts at Cambridge University without taking the oath of adherence to the established Protestant church, so that he could participate in the business of the university, Newton was active in the opposition that defeated this attempt. As a result, he was elected to Parliament by Cambridge.

When Olaus Roemer, a Danish astronomer, was applying Newton's laws to the paths of the moons of Jupiter to make a table of eclipses of Jupiter's moons for use in determining one's longitude, he noticed that the eclipses were five hundred seconds ahead of average time at that time of year when the earth and Jupiter were on the same side of the sun, and five hundred seconds behind average time six months later, when Jupiter was on the other side of the sun. He reasoned that this difference was due to the light from Jupiter's moons taking more time to reach the earth when Jupiter was farther from the earth, i.e. on the other side of the sun. He concluded that light does not travel instantaneously, but at a certain speed. From the fact that it took 1000 seconds for light to travel the diameter of the earth's orbit, he calculated its speed in 1676.

In 1668, Christian Huygens formulated the law of conservation of momentum [mass multiplied by velocity], which held that when objects collide, they may each change direction, but the sum of all their momenta will remain the same. Huygens also recognized the conservation of what was later called "kinetic energy", which is associated with movement. He developed laws of centrifugal force for uniform motion in a circle. He derived the formula for computing the oscillations of a simple pendulum. In 1690, he posited the theory that light consists of a series of waves. It states that all points of a wave front of light in a vacuum may be regarded as new sources of wavelets that expand in every at a rate depending on their velocities. He thought this a better explanation of bending and interference of light than Newton's particle theory.

In 1661, Robert Boyle, called the father of modern chemistry, defined an element as a substance that cannot be further decomposed. He distinguished an element from both a mixture, which is easily separable, and a compound, which is not easily separable. He used an air pump he developed and a glass jar to create a confined vacuum space for experiments to find the properties of heat, light, and sound. He noted that burning objects such as candles and coal, when placed in the receiver of his air pump, went out after a time although air was still present. He opined that animals were dependent upon a fresh supply of air to live. He studied the relationship between the volume, density, and pressure of air and gases. He proved by experiment that the volume of a gas at a constant temperature varies in inverse proportion to the pressure applied to the gas. Since gas is compressible, he opined that gases must be composed of discrete particles separated by void, and also that basic physical properties were due to motions of particles, or atoms, which was an ancient Greek conjecture. This cast doubt on the long-held belief that everything was composed from four basic elements: air, water, fire, and earth. Boyle's laboratory at Oxford was denounced by the Oxford clergy as destroying religion. In 1679, the steam pressure cooker was invented by Denis Papin from France. He invented the atmospheric engine in 1690.

Robert Hooke helped Boyle build his air pump. Hooke was thirteen when his father, a minister, died. Hooke was a genius with innate mechanical skill and was an able mathematician. He applied a spiral spring to regulate the balance of watches. A lord financed him as a Gresham lecturer of geometry for 50 pounds a year. In 1666, he used a pendulum to measure the force of gravity and showed that the center of gravity of the earth and moon is a point describing an ellipse around the sun. In 1667, he explained the twinkling of the stars by irregular atmospheric refractions. He formulated the theory that light is composed of pulses. Hooke's Law states that the amount an elastic body such as a spring stretches out of shape is in direct proportion to the force acting on it: its tension. He invented the odometer, a wheel to measure distances. He constructed an arithmetical machine. He invented the universal joint, which can move in many angles. His book of drawings of microscopic animals is a classic. He proposed that fossils can be used as a source of information about the earth's history. Hooke became rich from his inventions, but this was not known until his death, when thousands of pounds were found in his iron chest.

In 1668, Wallis postulated the correct theory of impacts of inelastic bodies, based on the principle of conservation of momentum. In 1685, he introduced the first graphical representation of complex numbers.

Royal astronomer and genius Edmond Halley, the son of a soap maker, studied tides, magnetism, and the paths of comets and stars. He went on voyages to study the heavens from different positions, thereby laying the foundations of physical geography. He showed that the stars change in position in relation to each other. With Newton's help, he calculated the orbit of a comet he saw in 1682 to be elliptical rather than parabolic and then proved it was the same comet that had appeared in 1531 and 1607, indicating it's regularity; it was then named "Halley's comet". However, the Church of England still embraced the idea that comets and eclipses were evidence of God's wrath. Greenwich Observatory was built in 1675. Halley used a barometer to measure the density of the atmosphere and related its readings to elevations into the atmosphere and to weather. He determined that the cause of the tropical trade winds was the sun warming the tropical air at the equator, causing it to rise and move north as it was replaced by cooler air from the north. This body of air was deflected by the rotation of the earth. He illustrated the tropical winds with the first meteorological map. He made a descent in a diving bell, which was used to try to reach wrecked treasure ships. He studied fossils and perceived them as remnants of living beings that had died long ago, and imagined a succession of living things. Halley surveyed the tides and coasts of the British Channel for the king in 1701.

In 1675, apothecary Nicolas Lemery divided substances into mineral, vegetable, and animal. He wrote a dictionary of pharmaceuticals.

John Ray and Francis Willoughby were friends who traveled together to study plants and animals respectively. John Ray started the science of zoology with his edition of Francis Willoughby's "Ornithology" on birds and his own "History of Fishes". He also attempted the first scientific classification of animals in his "Synopsis of Quadrupeds". Ray compared anatomies and experimented on movements of plants and the ascent of sap. He knew that fossils were remnants of old animals. Ray first suggested the concept of species in classification of animals and plants. He opined that the goodness and wisdom of God was shown not only by the usefulness of animals to man's uses as taught by the church, but also by the adaptation of animals to their own lives and surroundings. The vast array and dispersal of animals found by world explorers all over the world cast doubt on the biblical story of Noah putting two of every kind of animal on an ark. The science of botany began with Ray's "History of Plants" and the researches of Robert Morrison, who was Charles' physician and keeper of his gardens.

Nicholaus Steno, a Danish physician, diagrammed six levels of stratification on the earth's surface and demonstrated in 1669 that layers of strata of rock are always deposited with the oldest layers on the bottom and the youngest layers on the top. This began the science of geology. He argued that shifts in the earth's strata caused the formation of mountains. He identified fossils as ancient creatures. The idea that fossils were remnants of dead animals existing before man conflicted with the religious idea that Adam's fall began sin and caused death. The idea from fossils that existing species of animals were modifications of predecessor animals conflicted with the religious belief that Noah's ark had preserved all the varieties of animals. John Aubrey described Stonehenge, thus founding prehistoric archaeology. He thought it to be a Druid temple.

The telescope and compound microscope, which has an objective lens and an eyepiece lens for producing a wide range of magnifications, were further developed. The cellular basis of life was discovered and described by Robert Hooke. Nehemia Grew, the son of a grammar school master who became a physician, observed and drew plant anatomy, including leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, ovules, pollen grains, and stamens. He was the first to observe the existence of plant sexuality. Italian Marcello Malpighi, a physician, used the new compound microscope to study human skin, spleen, kidneys, and liver and also compared the livers of several types of animals. He discovered capillaries linking the arterial and venous circulation in the lungs. Dutchman Anton van Leeuwenhock, a cloth manufacturer who made microscopes to inspect the quality of cloth, turned them to use in understanding the life cycles of mites, lice, and fleas. He correctly described human blood cells. When he found what he described as tiny animals (bacteria, protozoa, and rotifers), he sent clear descriptions of them to the Royal Society in London as proof against the theory of spontaneous generation, which held that lower forms of life could arise from nonliving matter. This started the science of bacteriology. With the discovery of the egg in the female reproductive system, the status of women was lifted.

Physician Thomas Willis, son of a farmer, dissected brains of men and animals to study the anatomical relations of nerves and arteries. Excess urine had been associated with a wasting disease. Willis identified diabetes mellitus with excess of urine that was sweet. Physician Thomas Sydenham, son of a gentleman, observed epidemic diseases of London over successive years, thus founding epidemiology. He also furthered clinical medicine by emphasizing detailed observations of patients and maintaining accurate records. He wrote a treatise on gout and identified scarlet fever. He introduced a cooling method of treating smallpox. But he still relied on the big three treatments: bloodletting, purging, and sweating. Bloodletting was to draw off bad blood so that it could be replaced by a better fluid. Another treatment used was cupping, whereby a vacuum was created by heated glass cups to draw blood to the surface of the skin. John Locke performed one of the first successful operations draining a kind of abscess of a man's liver. It was common for people who felt ill to take a laxative and rest at home.

In 1690, physicians opened the first dispensaries, which gave treatment and medicine together, to take business away from their rivals: the apothecaries. London's apothecaries were released in 1694 from jury service and serving as constable, scavenger, or other parish or ward office because it was necessary that they be available to attend the sick at all times. Peruvian bark which had quinine as its alkaloid had been introduced as a proven cure for the ague, a fever with chills usually due to malaria, in 1653. The English ceased to believe in holy wells, but went to spas such as Bath for treatment for disease.

There was more bathing because private homes in towns now had indoor baths. The public baths came into disuse.

For childbirth, only rich women were attended by physicians. Most physicians used talismen such as the eagle stone at deliveries. Caesarian section almost always led to the death of the mother. Midwives were licensed by the church and could baptize babies. Jane Sharp wrote "The Midwives Book" with anatomical illustrations.

Women over thirty had fewer children and the last child born was at an earlier age than before. This was in part due to birth control such as coitus-interruptus, long breast-feeding of a current child and/or the taboo against sex if the wife was still breast-feeding. Rich women often employed wet-nurses to breast- feed their babies. Babies seldom thrived, or even survived, without out a regular supply of breast milk.

John Locke, an Oxford don, physician, and son of an attorney, expressed a view that the monarchy was not based on divine right, but rather on a contractual relationship with the people, who were reasonable, free, and equal by nature. This idea was first adopted by revolutionists and then became accepted as orthodoxy. Also, he articulated the right of resistance, the supremacy of legislative assemblies, and the responsibility of rulers to answer to their subjects. He theorized that men turn to forming a civil government when there is a need to protect accumulated property from some unreasonable men. This, along with the protection of life and liberty, was the primary function of government, before royal pleasure, national pride, or foreign conquest. He wrote theories on the interaction of supply, demand, interest rates, rents, coinage, and foreign exchange rates. He believed that interest rates should be the natural ones determined by market forces rather than by the legislature, especially if there was an attempt to lower interest rates below their natural rate, which was not only undesirable but easily circumvented. He thought that attempting to legislate contrary to natural economic laws, e.g. prices, was doomed to failure from unexpected consequences. He agreed with most mercantilists that by maintaining a large inflow of precious metals through consistent export of surpluses in foreign trade would lead to low interest rates, increased trade, increased capital stock, high employment, and high prices, and therefore a healthy economy and enrichment of the nation.