[Sca-cooks] The Puritans

[Elizabeth A Heckert]

On Sat, 06 Oct 2001 20:32:07 -0500 Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
writes:

>However, it could be limiting if you do it in an accurate way. I doubt
>the Puritans would be partying or dancing as many wish to do at SCA
>events. Did they make alcohol or drink it?

  Stefan,

     There is a *lovely* book called *The Anatomy of Abuses*  by a man
whose last name is Stubbs, and I believe his first name is Phillip.  In
it he deplores everything that makes life fun, from cosmetics to clothes,
and (I think) food.

    Stubbs was a conservative English Protestant, and the only way I've
been able to find any of this work is in excerpt in other works, as the
only available ILL editions are on microfilm, and the library I use
doesn't have a reader.
<http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/general/html.> has some of his
clothing comments.

    But the thing is, if he had to complain about everyone doing this,
that and the other, that means *of course* Puritans were doing those
things also.  If all your brethern are good, holy and meek, then you
don't need to chastise them.

    If the Puritans refused alcohol, what would they have drunk???  Water
wasn't drunk much, and milk was still more important as cheese and
butter.

    There were bad Puritans, and evil Puritans, but there were good
Puritans as well.  If we succumb to historical stereotypes, we're doing
no good service to the truth of history.

    Elizabeth

PS:

  > Well done. I doubt you can be a Puritan and a pirate too, though.

       But I bet you could be a Puritan and a Privateer--it's a question
of semantics!

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