so entirely was it taken up with meat and vegetables and herbs and wine and bread and cheese and sweets and dishes and cups and saucers and mugs and utensils and pots and pans and linens and and cotton and leather and polish and washtubs and soap and water and brooms and mops and dustbins and garbage and trash and compost and commodes that he had to doubt whether any room was left for the most elementary explanations of things , let alone for doctrine and religious belief .