Loveing brother: I hope these lines will finde you and yours and all our friends in
the country well, as (blessed be God) I am and all my family so long as God
pleases. For we have a crasie sickly time att London.
Now knowing young persons are most apt to take infection, thought good to
give you an accompt of it to have your advice about Cosen John, to know your
mind whether you do not desire him home again.
—John Moore,London, to Charles Moore at Little Appleby,
Leicestershire, June 18 , 1665A Country Servant
In the crowds milling around the city, Gervase Jacques might be seen look-
ing over girls’ and women’s gowns in the shops of the Royal Exchange or
stopping at a haberdasher’s or tailor’s shop to inquire about making up boys’
clothes. To a casual observer, these activities might have looked like routine
errands for a middle-income London household. But Gervase Jacques was
no ordinary house servant.
As a highly skilled employee of Lucy Hastings, the countess of Hunting-
don of Donnington Park manor in Leicestershire, Jacques earned an annual
income far above that of the 20 percent of London’s population who worked
as servants or apprentices. The best-paid waiting woman or chief male ser-
vant might earn ten pounds a year in the capital. A scullery maid or footboy,
clinging to their yearly two pounds plus clothes, lodging, and meals, could
scarcely imagine the security and prestige of someone like Jacques.
Jacques had a confident air as he shopped around Cheapside and the other
main streets, which were monopolized by London’s wealthiest merchants.
Fleeing or Staying?
[75]4