Note 228-11 — Chapter II
John J. (John Joseph) Lalor translation
The taxed consumption of soap amounted in England in 1801 to 4.84 and in 1845, 9.65 pounds per capita. (Porter, Progress of the Nation, V, 5, 579.) Soap-boiling in London dates from 1520 only. Before that time, all white soap was obtained from the continent. (Howell, Londinopolis, 208.) Erasmus charged that England, in his time, was an exceedingly dirty country. The Italians, on the other hand, were at that time greatly distinguished above northern people, especially the Germans, by their cleanliness. (Buckhardt, Kultur der Renaissance, 295.) The Vienna river-baths after 1870, Nicolai, Reise, III, 17, mentions as something deserving special note. The Leipzig river-baths date from 1774.