We have recently found some journal logs written by Elizabeth Stuart, from the 1600’s. There are 5 journal logs that we have below. They piece together what a typical day would have been for an English women back then. The first journal topic talks about sanitation around England:
20th October 1660
“Today, I was walking from my house to downtown, I had to go talk to the priest. I realized now that the streets are covered with animals feces. With the number of dead dogs and cats around town, I'm surprised they even have time to produce that amount of waste. Everyone in the family is doing good, My husband Edward has recently been promoted. Our three children are still very young, only 4,6, and 8, but Edward holds them to high expectations. With 5 people living in one house, using only one toilet can get overwhelming. The “excrement hole” smells worse now than ever, I need someone to come and empty it for us. I send my boys out twice a week to go to the local market and by water for the rest of the week. The rubbish gets emptied once a week as well. I assign my boys chores once a week based on how they behave. If they behave poorly, I penalize them with extra chores, and some other stuff…” 
The next journal log we have found was written two years later. This one talked about medicine and her experience through surgery on her foot:
4th May 1662
“I have been almost a week into my recovery of a foot operation. The doctors didn't think they would be able to fix my shattered foot, but somehow they pulled it off. When i was walking the the market, a horse and carriage ran over my foot. I am sure I will celebrate this once a year for the rest of my life. I experienced the greatest pain I have ever experienced, and ever hope to experience. After my surgery, the surgeon sent me to a physician, Dr. Smith, who told me told me what drug to get from the apothecary. I went to the apothecary, Mr.Snow, who gave me some painkillers. I had to pay some money for the drugs and the advice, but I felt it was worth it, I feel a little bit better as each day comes by. I'm glad, I was able to get operated on, instead of getting sent to a hospital, and maybe not even getting in considering the amount of available space. Anyways, my youngest has caught some kind of disease, I need to take him to be blood-let, I just hope he doesn't have anything serious...”
In the next journal, Elizabeth talks about sex around England. She mentions things like prostitution and disease. She mentions one very interesting way to have safe sex, something that I had never even thought of:
18th August 1667
“We learned today that my oldest son, Henry has recently caught syphilis. It was heartbreaking news, but it was bound to happen. I hope my younger ones learn something from this. They shouldn't be fooling around with women until they are much older and know everything there is to know about sex. My husband has told Henry all the ways to have safe sex including tying a piece of animal gut, or linen, to his penis. We are currently waiting for him to decide if he wants to be treated for the disease or not. The treatment involves mercury, and is extremely dangerous, it could end up killing the patient before the disease did. Although the rate of unwanted birth in England remain low, it still happens. Prostitution is common, although I wish it wasn't…”
In the next journal, Elizabeth talks about entertainment and the options you had to stay entertained. Back then they didn't have TV’s and cellphones. They were forced to go outside and be active, or go to the theater and watch people perform. In this journal, it is assumed that she is still recovering from her surgery:
13th October 1667
I saw my surgeon today for a check-up, and he said that I should go on long walks once or twice a day to get the best results I could. I walked through the park to a theater and saw a wonderful play. While I was enjoying myself at the theater, my husband took my children to see the execution of a local man. Afterwards, they went to the coffee house and later came home. The first words that came out of my mouth were “good afternoon, dinner will be ready shortly, now please, go change every piece of clothing on you.”
In the last journal entry we have, Elizabeth talked about the typical outfits for men and women, and cosmetics. If you have ever wondered what the stuff was called that women put on their face to make their skin whiter, she talks about that too. Elizabeth talks about the importance of makeup, and looking your best, and ways you could overall, improve the way you look:
27th March 1669
This morning, I was getting ready for the day, and I realized how interesting appearance would be to write about. To me, it seems like everywhere you go, someone has nits, lice or body odor. Although it might not stand out in portraits, there is probably more of it than people who are clean. I remember helping my youngest, Michael, put on his suit when he was about 2 years old. There were three different pieces, the knee breeches, the waistcoat, and the long jacket. Anyways, that memory made me smile. I was putting my long skirt over my corsets this morning when i realized my face was all wrinkled and cracked. I looked closer and closer in the mirror until i realized that it was just the ceruse that I used to make my face become lighter. It was really handy when my son, Robert, had gotten small-pox. I couldn't let my son go out in the world with red dots all over his skin, I covered his face, arms and toes and made sure that the rest of him was covered by clothing. After I redid my ceruse, I put two patched on, one went on the side of my neck, and the other one went above my left eyebrow. Right as I was putting the patches on, I realized that my eyebrows were not looking good today. So I tried to hide as much as I could with bits of mouse skin. 
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