Oh lord just imagine how much those women sweated in those tight corsets they wore. And all those layers of their dress. That part you know I'm talking about would have been a sewage plant.
I suppose there's also the idea that all peasants and sometimes even the nobles were all a bunch of morons. Umm, it's a nice thought to believe that we're just naturally smarter now, but aside from being less educatated, the people were no less intelligent. And considering some of the comments you see on the internet in the modern age ... dear oh dear, we've not come all that far after all.