Note 219 — RAGLAN CASTLE, Monmouthshire.

It was fortunate that, while the aristocracy were thus becoming more vitiated, the common people had become more temperate than formerly; but to this assertion Stow adds—“It was not from abstinence but necessity; ale and beer being small, and wines in price above their reach.” During the period of the Commonwealth, greater temperance in eating and drinking naturally prevailed, from the ascendancy of Puritan principles, which recommended simplicity and self-denial.—Manners and Customs, Pict. Hist.