ABSTRACT
The Germans of good middle-class society remained in principle ignorant of worldly pleasures. Until the end of the seventeenth century, the majority of German towns were still experiencing the effects of the Thirty Years War. In Germany, with its immense forests, it would be reasonable to expect that fireplaces were in current usage. ‘The Germans’, writes Jordan, ‘usually have a single fireplace in their houses, in the kitchen, which they do not use because they have stoves which warm the living-rooms.’ Lady Wortley-Montagu refers to the filth which was to be found everywhere in Germany, even in the royal houses where an attempt was made to disguise it under a veneer of opulence. A German humorist, Borne, maintained that his companions exaggerated their love of method to the point of studying chemistry before removing a stain from their clothing. The German housewife played a humble and self-effacing role in the family.
