Specifically for the wealthy in society; they would have done their business in a chamber pot, but what then? Did they use newspaper, rags, or just have streaky laundry? (odd question I know, but prompted by a scene in Master & Commander [the book, not movie] where a distinguished gentleman takes out a chamber pot in the drawing room in the middle of a group conversation, sits down for his business, then puts the chamber pot back in its cupboard with no mention of cleaning; was he sitting down to pee in order to be polite in front of guests or what?) Thanks!
I'd just like to add as a tack-on question to this, if there is a person knowledgeable on toilet paper throughout the ages (or substitutes thereof), I'd be interested in the evolution and cultural variance throughout whatever time-frame is appropriate to that contributor's knowledge base.
EDIT - I actually just found this in the FAQ section: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/health#wiki_toilet_hygiene
In France, since the Ancien Regime, the aristocracy and high bourgeoisie would use fine linens to wipe after using the chamber pot. These would turn be carted of by their domestic servants to be washed for future usage. The lower you would go in society, the coarser the material of the cloth would be, until you would get too the poor, who used either rags, or their hands.
The chamber pot would then be taken to the window (facing the street or courtyard) by the servants and dumped. The feces would then be eaten by pigs that roamed the streets for that express purpose (to eat poop and other biological trash like food scraps)
That being said, modern toilets had begun to become fashionable, with Marie Antoinette having one installed for herself at Versailles (which for all its rooms still has a terrible deficit in restrooms).