LAW Lawyers were no more popular than today. Note this contemporary poem: A fox may steal your hens, sir, A whore your health and pence, sir, Your daughter rob your chest, sir, Your wife may steal your rest, sir, A thief your goods and plate. But this is but picking, With rest, pence, chest and chicken; It ever was decreed, sir, If lawyer’s hand is fee’d, sir, He steals your whole estate.

Nevertheless, law was considered a good profession for the younger sons of the gentry. Attorneys handled wills, civil litigation and mortgages and a few banking and brokerage services, most being in London. Law was regulated by registration, with some minimum qualifications. The Lawyer's Coat of Arms, with motto "Dum Vivo Thrivo" and with verses: "The Golden Fee alone is his delight".

Attorneys were seen as lower in class than barristers who argued criminal cases in court. These were few in number and had not to pass any examination. They had to wait for a place at the Bar, limited to some 400. Admittance was recognised with the right and requirement to dine at the Inns of Court once a day.

The recent TV drama, ‘Garrow’s Law’ does something to bring to life the plight of the legal profession in the 18 th Century.

MEDICINE Unlike today, 18th century medical sciences were not as advanced in scientific knowledge because the body and its functions were still a mystery. They thought that the ills of the human body were due to maladjustment of the bodies system. Doctors based their diagnosis of illness on the ancient beliefs of "humors", bodily "tension", or other cruder doctrinaire dogmas. The practice of "bleeding" with leeches to cure illness was common during the 18th century.

In fact, the practice of medicine caused more harm than good. Doctors did not sterilize their hands, or instruments. The Doctors Surgery by Thomas Rowlandson from Comforts of Bath. Etching and aquatint. Victoria Art Gallery The medicines prescribed for ailments were just as bad. In Europe anything and everything was used in the mixing and making of drugs.

In America, the more, common sense approach to medicine prevailed. In fact, lay healers were better doctors than learned physicians were. During the 18th century America, the most commonly used medicines were botanical. In fact, the most widely read material were the "herbals" catalogues, which explained where and how healing herbs grew. In addition, these materials explained their uses. Mark Catesby, persuaded by two eminent English physicians to undertake his travels, in , found many therapeutic plants, including the May apple, snakeroot, ginseng, and witch-hazel,

There were improvements in the 18th century. For instance, public health and hygiene received more attention. Population statistics were beginning to be kept and suggestions arose concerning health legislation. The use of vaccination began in the 18th century. The smallpox was the main target for this type of therapy, a disfiguring and often, fatal disease. In fact, at times it was an epidemic, which ravaged the cities and countries in Europe.

Conditions for sailors also improved during this century. Scurvy was the major disease that the 18th century sailor faced. The use of fruits and vegetables improved their health. As family historians we might consider the following:  How much impact on your ancestors lives had the medicine of the time?  Did any of your relatives use herbal remedies?  Do you have anyone in your tree who lived to a very old age? How did they survive?  Are there examples in your research of people dying very young or during an epidemic?

THE CHURCH The Church of England has been considered at its lowest point in this century. Often the least able son would enter into the ministry, usually following the older sons who would have had preferment into the Navy or legal professions. The church had undergone enormous upheaval in the previous century including the conflict between catholic and puritan influences that led the nation into civil war.

The church was embroiled at the centre of all debates over the nature and place of the monarchy and so it was divided by the rivalries of the political movements of the Whigs and Tories. In addition to all these social questions there were ongoing moral debates including religious liberty for Catholics and Non- Conconformists, and the issue of the slave trade.

Local clergy were often lazy and barely able to practice their profession due to debt, greed, drunkenness and ignorance. Those most committed were under pressure from the contemporary religious and philosophical thinkers of the enlightenment. These included deists who believed God had created the universe, set it in motion and then no longer intervened at all.

Such clerics were therefore focusing their attentions on the sciences in order to understand the God-given laws that now governed the universe. Better understanding of these would bring us closer to the mind of God and the betterment of the human condition. This led to a more rationalist approach to religion which in turn tended to distance Anglicans from Catholics and Nonconformists alike, who treaded them as virtually Atheist in profession.

Questions for the family historian include the following:  how might these changes in religion have affected your ancestors?  when they moved from rural to town what kind of church might they have looked for?  Do you have Catholic or Nonconformists in your family tree?  How do you think these changing ideas might have affected the lives of your family forebears?

Resources: _18thc./England_18thc.html tml