GlassJAfM? Book W°l£ A HISTORY OF DOMESTIC MANNERS AND SENTIMENTS IN ENGLAND During tfje iftUfcfcle gges. By THOMAS WRIGHT, Es<^., M.A., F.S.A., Hon. M.R,S.L.,&c; Correfponding Member of the Imperial Injlitute of France (slcade'mie des Injcriptions et Bella Lettres). SSUustrattortS from tijc BhitmnationS tn (fontrmjuirarii iHamtfrript* anO a\\)tx ^mirtrjS, DRAWN & ENGRAVED by F. W. FAIRHOLT, Esq., F.S.A. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY 1862. \ LONDON : PRINTED BY JAMES S. VIRTUE, CITY ROAD. ' TO THE LADY LONDESBOROUGH, THIS AS A TESTIMONY OF VERY SINCERE RESPECT, THE AUTHOR To the LADY LONDESBOROUGH. Dear Lady Loi 'esborough, The object of the following pages is to fupply what appeared to be a want in our popular literature. We have hiftories of England, and hiftories of the Middle Ages, but none of them give us a fufficient picture of the domeftic manners and fentiments of our forefathers at different periods, a knowledge of which, I need hardly infill, is neceffary to enable us to appreciate rightly the motives with which people afted, and the fpirit which guided them. The fubjecl:, too, muft have an interelt for .any claffes of readers, who will be glad to learn fomething of the manners of former days, if it were only to fee the contrail with thofe of our own time, and to difcover in them the origin of many of the characteriftics of modern fociety. Copious and valuable books have been published in our language on the hiftory of coftume, on that of domeftic architecture, on military antiquities, on the hiftory of religious rites and ceremonies, and on other kindred fubjecls, which enable the artift to clothe his perfonages correcllyj but thefe would form, after all, but the disjointed lkeleton of a piclure, without that further, and perhaps more important, fort of information which is furniftied in the following pages, and which will enable him to give life to his compolition. I have not attempted to compofe a very learned or very elaborate book. The fubjecl: is an immenfely wide one as regards the materials, during a large portion of the period which I include ; and to treat it completely would require the clofe ftudy of the whole mafs of the mediaeval literature of Weftern Europe, edited or inedited, and of the whole mafs of the monuments of mediaeval art. But my aim has been to bring together a fufficienl number Dedicatiojj. number of plain facts, in a popular form, to enable the general reader to form a correct view of Engliih manners and fentiments in the middle ages, and I can venture to claim for my book at leaft the merit of being the remit of original refearch. It is not a compilation from writers who have written on the Subject before. There are at leaft two ways of arranging a work like this. I might have taken each particular divifton of the fubje6t, one after the other, and traced it feparately through the period of hiftory which this volume embraces ; or the whole Subject might be divided into historical periods, in each of which all the different phafes of focial hiftory for that period are included. Each of thefe plans has its advantages and defects. In the firft, the reader would perhaps obtain a clearer notion of the hiftory of any particular divifion of the Subject, as of the hiftory of the table and of diet, or of games and amufements, or the like, but at the fame time it would have required a certain effort of companion and Study to arrive at a clear view of the general queftion at a particular period. The fecond furnithes this general view, but entails a certain amount of what might almoft be called repetition. I have chofen the latter plan, becaufe I think this repetition will be found to be only apparent, and it feems to me the beft arrangement for a popular book. The divifion of periods, too, is, on the whole, natural, and not arbitrary. During the Anglo-Saxon period, the focial lyftem, however developed or modified from time to time, was Strictly that of our own Anglo-Saxon forefathers, and was the undoubted groundwork of our own. The Norman conqueft brought in foreign focial manners and fentiments totally different from thole of the Anglo-Saxons, which for a time predominated, but became gradually incorporated with the Anglo- Saxon manners and fpirit, until, towards the end of the twelfth century, they formed the Englifh of the middle ages. The Anglo-Norman period, therefore, may he considered as an age of tranfition — it may perhaps he defcribed as that of the ftruggle between the fpirit of Anglo- Saxon fociety and feudalifm. The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may he considered in regard to fociety as the Engliih middle ages — the age of feudalifm in its Engliih form — ami therefore hold properly the largefi Dedication. largeft fpace in this volume. The fifteenth century forms again a diftincl period in the hiftory of fociety — it was that of the decline and breaking up of feudalifm, the clofe of the middle ages. At the Reformation, we come to a new tranfition period — the transition from mediaeval to modern fociety. This, for feveral reafons, I regard rather as a eonclufion, than as an integral part, of the hiftory contained in the following pages, and I therefore give only a flight iketch of it, noticing fome of its prominent characteriftics. The materials, at this late period, become fo extenfive, and fo full of intereft, that its hiftory admits of feveral divifions, each of which is fufficient for an important book, and I leave them to future refearches. One period, that of the Englilh Commonwealth, is perhaps of greater intereft to us at the prefent time than any other, becaufe it was that which totally overthrew the traditions of the middle ages, and inaugurated Englifh fociety as it now exifts. I know that the hiflory of fociety at that period has been ftudied moft profoundly by a friend who is, in all refpecfs, far more capable of treating it than myfelf, Mr. Hep worth Dixon, and from whom I truft we may look forward to a work on the fubjecf, which will be a moft valuable addition to the hiftorical literature of our time. Knowing that he has been working on this interefting fubjecf, I have treated this period very flightly. I ihould be forry to let my weeds grow upon his flowers. A portion of the matter contained in this volume has already appeared in a feries of papers in the Art-Journal, but this portion has not only been carefully reviled and partly re-written, but fo much addition has been made, that I believe that more than half the prefent volume is entirely new, and the whole may fairly be confidered as a new book. I ought to add that one chapter, that on mediaeval cookery (chapter xvi.) and the brief notices of the hiftory of the horfe in the middle ages, firft appeared in papers contributed by the author to the London Review. It muft be ftated, too, that the illuftrations to my chapter on mediaeval minftrelfies were originally engraved for a feries of papers on the min- ftrels, by the Rev. E. L. Cutts, published in the Art-Journal, and that I have to thank that gentleman for the ready willingnels with which he has allowed me to ufe them. b In Dedication. In concluiion, dear Lady Londeiborough, I need hardly fay that the ftudy of the hiftories of the people (inftead of that of their rulers) has always been a favourite ftudy with me ; and that in thefe refearches on mediaeval focial manners and hiftory, I have always received the warm fympathy and encouragement of the late Lcrd Londeiborough and of your Ladylhip. In his Lordlhip I have loft a refpecled and valued friend, to whofe learned appreciation of the fubject of mediaeval manners and mediaeval art I could always have recourfe with truft and fatisfaftion, with whom I have often converfed on the fubjecls treated of in the prefent volume, and whole extenfive and invaluable collection of objects of art of the mediaeval period, and of that of the renaiftance, furniihed a never- ending fource of information and pleafure. It is therefore with feelings of great perfonal gratification that I profit by your kind permillion to dedicate this volume to your Ladyihip. I have the honour to be, dear Lady Londeiborough, Your Ladylhip's very obedient fervant, THOMAS ^TxIGHT. 14, Sydney Street, Brompton, London, November 10, 1861. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Introductory — the Anglo-Saxons before their conversion — general ARRANGEMENT OE A SaXON HOUSE CHAPTER II. In-door life among the Anglo-Saxons — the hall and its hospitality — the Saxon meal — provisions and cookery — after-dinner occu- pations — DRUNKEN BRAWLS 18 CHAPTER III. THE CHAMBER AND ITS FURNITURE — BEDS AND BED-ROOMS — INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXONS— CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF the Anglo-Saxon ladies — their cruelty to their servants — their amusements — the garden ; love of the anglo-saxons for flowers — Anglo-Saxon punishments — almsgiving .... CHAPTER IV. Out-of-door amusements of the Anglo-Saxons — hunting and hawk- ing — horses and carriages — travelling — money-dealings 40 G3 8iTflIn--$arman !|pcrirrtf. CHAPTER V. Toe early Norman period — luxuriousness of the Normans — advance in domestic architecture — the kitchen am; iii f. hall — provisions and cookery — bees — the dairy — meal-timfs and divisions of the day — furniture — the faldestoi- — chaiks and other seats . . so Contents. CHAPTER VI. PAGR The Noeman hall — social sentiments under the Anglo-Noemans — domestic amusements— candles and lanteens — fuenitube — beds — out-of-door recreations — hunting — aechebt — convivial inter- course and hospitality — travelling — punishments— the stocks — a Norman school — education 93 CHAPTER VII. Early English houses — their general eorm and distribution . .120 CHAPTER VIII. The old English hall— the kitchen, and its circumstances — the dinner-table — minstrelsy 141 CHAPTER IX. The minstrel — his position under the Anglo-Saxons — the Noeman trouylre, menestbel, and jougleur — their condition — i! i i 1. bet f — different musical insteuments in use among the minstrels — the Beverley minstrels 175 CHAPTER X. Amusements apteb DiNprasB— gambling — the game or chess — its his- TOEl DII E -1 ABLES DB w &HTS 19 i CHAPTER XL DOMESTK AMUSEMENTS Mill; DINNEB -THE (II AMBER AND ITS FURNITIRF — PET ANIMALS — OCCUPATIONS AND MANNEBS OP Till. LADIES- SUPPEB ■ i.i.i S, LAMPS, AND LAN! I RNS 326 CHAPTER XII. The BED ami [TS PUBNITUBJ iiii COILETTE; BATHING— CHESTS USD COFPEBS IN THE CHAMBEB THE HUTCB OSES OP EINGS COMPOSITION OP Tin. I \miia PEEEDOW "i MANNEES SOCIA1 SENTIMENTS, AND DOMESTIC BJBLATION8 256 Contents. CHAPTER XIII. PAGE Occupations out of doors — the pleasure-garden — the love of flowers, and the fashion of making garlands — formalities of the pro- menade — gardening in the middle ages 283 ..CHAPTER XIV. Amusements — performing bears — hawking and hunting — riding — carriages —travelling inns and taverns — hospitality . . . 304 CHAPTER XV. Education — literary men and scribes — punishments ; the stocks ; the gallows 338 CHAPTER XVI. Old English cookery — history of " gourmandise " — English cookery of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — bills of fare — great feasts 347 CIjc dTtftecntlj Centurg. CHAPTER XVII. Slow progress of society in the fifteenth century — enlargement of the houses— the hall and its furniture — arrangement of the table for meals — absence of cleanliness — manners at table — the parlour 359 CHAPTER XVIII. In-door life and conversation — pet animals — the dance — rere- SUPPERS — ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE "NaNCy" TAPESTRY . . . 379 CHAPTER XIX. The chamber and its furniture and uses — beds— hutches and cof- fers TIIK TOILETTE ; MMHfOItS 399 Co?itents. CHAPTER XX. PAGE State of society — the female character — greediness en eating — character of the medi.eval servants — daily occupations in the household: spinning and weaving ; painting — the garden and its uses — games out of doors ; hawking, etc. — travelling, and more frequent use of carriages — taverns ; frequented by women — education and literary occupations ; spectacles .... 415 (£ncrIano after tlje information. CHAPTER XXL Changes in English domestic manners during the period between the reformation and the commonwealth — the country gentle- man's house — its hall — the fireplace and fire — utensils — cookery — usual hours for meals — breakfast — dinner, and its forms and customs — the banquet — custom of drinking healths . ill CHAPTER XXII. Household furniture— the parlour — the chamber 171 CHAPTER XXIII. Occupations of the ladies — games and enjoyments— boughness of English sports at this period — the hot-houses, or baths — the ordinaries — domestic pets — treatment of children — methods of locomotion — conclusion 483 HISTORT DOMESTIC MANNERS AND SENTIMENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE ANGLO-SAXONS ] GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OI EFORE THEIR CONVERSION. A SAXON HOUSE. MUCH has been written at different times on the coftume and lbme other circumftances connected with the condition of our forefathers in paft times, but no one has undertaken with much fuccefs to treat generally of the domeftic manners of the middle ages. The hiftory of domeftic manners, indeed, is a fubjecf, the materials of which are exceedingly varied, widely fcattered, and not eafily brought together ; they, of courfe, vary in character with the periods to which they relate, and at certain periods are much rarer than at others. But the intereft of the fubject muft be felt by every one who appreciates art ; tor what avails our knowledge of coftume unlefs we know the manners, the mode of living, the houfes, the furniture, the utenlils, of thofe whom we have learnt how to clothe ? and, without this latter knowledge, hiftory itfelf can be but imperfectly understood. In England, as in molt other countries of weftern Europe, at the period of the middle ages when we firft become intimately acquainted with them, the manners and cuftoms of their inhabitants were a mixture of thofe of the barbarian fettlers themfelves, and of thole which they found among the conquered Romans ; the latter prevailing to a greater or lefs extent, according to the peculiar circumftances of the country. is This Hijiory of Domeftic Marnier s This was certainly the cafe in England among our Saxon forefathers ; and it becomes a matter of interelr. to afcertain what were really the types which belonged to the Saxon race, and to diftinguifh them from thofe which they derived from the Roman inhabitants of our illand. We have only one record of the manners of the Saxons before they fettled in Britain, and that is neither perfect, nor altogether unaltered — it is the romance of Beowulf, a poem in pure Anglo-Saxon, which con- tains internal marks of having been compofed before the people who fpoke that language had quitted their fettlements on the Continent. Yet we can hardly perufe it without fufpecting that fome of its por- traitures are defcriptive rather of what was feen in England than of what exifted in the north of Germany. Thus we might almofr. imagine that the " ftreet variegated with ftones" (Jircet woes ftan-fah), along which the hero Beowulf and his followers proceeded from the more to the royal refidence of Hrothgar, was a pidrare of a Roman road as found in Britain. It came into the mind of Hrothgar, we are told, that he would caufe to be built a houfe, "a great mead-hall," which was to be his chief palace, or metropolis. The hall-gate, we are informed, rofe aloft, "high and curved with pinnacles" (hedh and horn-gedp). It is elfewhere defcribed as a "lofty houfe 5" the hall was high j it was "fait within and without, with iron bonds, forged cunningly;" it appears that there were fteps to it, and the roof is defcribed as being variegated with gold ; the walls were covered with tapeftry (web after wagum), which alio was "variegated with gold," and prefented to the view " many a wondrous light to every one that looketh upon Inch." The walls appear to have been of wood ; we are n peatedly told that the root" was carved and lofty : the floor is defcribed as being variegated (probably a teflelated pave- ment) ; and the feats wire benches arranged round it, with the exception of Hrothgar's chair or throne. In the vicinity of the hall ftood the chambers or bowers, in whirl, there were beds (bed cefter Utrum). Thefe few epithets and allutions, fcattered through the poem, give us a tolerable notion of what tin- houfe of a Saxon chieftain mult have been in the country from whence our ancestors came, as well as afterwards in that a?id Sentiments. that where they finally fettled. The romantic ftory is taken up more with imaginary combats with monfters, than with domeftic fcenes, but it contains a few incidents of private life. The hall of king Hrothgar was vifited by a monfter named Grendel, who came at night to prey upon its inhabitants} and it was Beowulf's million to free them from this noc- turnal fcourge. By direction of the primeval coaft-guards, he and his men proceeded by the " ftreet" already mentioned to the hall of Hroth- gar, at the entrance to which they laid afide their armour and left their weapons. Beowulf found the chief and his followers drinking their ale and mead, and made known the object of his journey. "Then," fays the poem, "there was for the fons of the Geats (Beowulf and his followers), altogether, a bench cleared in the beer-hall ; there the bold of fpirit, free from quarrel, went to fit ; the thane obferved his office, he that in his hand bare the twilled ale-cup ; he poured the bright fweet liquor ; meanwhile the poet fang ferene in Heorot (the name of Hroth- gar' s palace), there was joy of heroes." Thus the company palled their time, lillening to the bard, boalling of their exploits, and telling their ftories, until Wealtheow, Hrothgar's queen, entered and "greeted the men in the hall." She now ferved the liquor, offering the cup firfl to her hufband, and then to the reft of the guefts, after which fhe feated herfelf by Hrothgar, and the feftivities continued till it was time to retire to bed. Beowulf and his followers were left to fleep in the hall — " the wine-hall, the treafure-houfe of men, variegated with veifels" (feet turn fdhne). Grendel came in the night, and after a dreadful combat received his death-wound from Beowulf. The noife in the hall was great ; " a fearful terror fell on the North Danes, on each of thofe who from the walls heard the outcry." Thefe were the watchmen ftationed on the wall forming the chieftain's palace, that enclofed the whole mafs of buildings (of weallc). As far as we can judge by the defcription given in the poem, Hrothgar and his houfehold in their bowers or bed-chambers had heard little of the tumult, but they went early in the morning to the hall to rejoice in Beowulf's viftory. There was great fcafting again in the hall that day, and Beowulf and his followers were rewarded with rich gifts. Alter dinner Hiftory of ' Domejiic Manners dinner the minflrel again took up the harp, and fang fome of the favourite hiftories of their tribe. "The lay was fung, the fong of the gleeman, the joke rofe again, the noife from the benches grew loud, cup- bearers gave the wine from wondrous veffels." Then the queen, "under a golden crown," again ferved the cup to Hrothgar and Beowulf. She afterwards went as before to her feat, and " there "was the coftliefl of feafts, the men drank wine," until bed-time arrived a fecond time. While their leader appears to have been accommodated with a chamber, Beowulf's men again occupied the hall. " They bared the bench- planks j it was fpread all over with beds and bolfters ; at their heads they fet their war-rims, the bright fhield-wood ; there, on the bench, might eafily be feen, above the warrior, his helmet lofty in war, the ringed mail-ihirt, and the folid fhield; it was their cuftom ever to be ready for war, both in houfe and in field." Grendel had a mother (it was the primitive form of the legend of the devil and his dam), and this fecond night fhe came unexpectedly to avenge her fon, and flew one of Hrothgar's favourite counfellors and nobles, who muft therefore have alfo flept in the hall. Beowulf and his warriors next day went in fearch of this new marauder, and fucceeded in deftroying her, after which exploit they returned to their own home laden with rich prefents. Thefe iketches of early manners, flight as they may be, are invaluable to us, in the abfence of all other documentary record during feveral ages, until after the Anglo-Saxons had been converted to Chriftianity. During this long period we have, however, one fource of invaluable information, though of a reftri&ed kind — the barrows or graves of our primeval fore- fathers, which contain almofl; every defcription of article that they ufed when alive. In thai folitary document, the poem of Beowulf, we are told of the arms which the Saxons ufed, of the drefles in which they were clad; ot" the rings, and bracelets, and ornaments, of which they wen- proud ', of the " folid cup, the valuable drinking-veflel," from which they quaffed the mc.nl, or the vafes from which they poured it: but we can obtain no notions of the form or character ot" thefe articles. From the graves, on the contrary, \\c obtain a perfect knowledge of the term and and Sentiments. and deiign of all thefe various articles, without deriving any knowledge as to the manner in which they were ufed. The fubje£t now becomes a more extenfive one ; and in the Anglo-Saxon barrows in England, we find a mixture, in thefe articles, of Anglo-Saxon and Roman, which furnithes a remarkable illuftration of the mixture of the races. "We are all perfectly well acquainted with Roman types ; and in the few examples which can be here given of articles found in early Anglo-Saxon barrows, I lhall only introduce fuch as will enable us to judge what claffes of the fubfequent mediaeval types were really derived from pure Saxon or Teutonic originals. It is curious enough that the poet who compofed the romance of Beowulf enumerates among the treafures in the ancient barrow, guarded Anglo-Saxon Drinking GlaJJ'c. by the dragon who was finally ilain by his hero, " the dear, or precious drinking-cup" {dryncftct dedre). Drinking-cups are frequently found in the Saxon barrows or graves in England. A group, representing the more ufual forms, is given in our cut, No. i, found chiefly in barrows in Kent, and preferved in the collections of lord Londefborough and Mr. Rolfe, the latter of which is now in the poffeffion of Mr. Mayer, of Liverpool. The example to the left no doubt reprefents the "twifted" pattern, fo often mentioned in Beowulf, and evidently the favourite ornament Hijiory of Dome (lie Manners ornament among the early Saxons. All thefe cups are of glafs ; they are ib formed that it is evident they could not Hand upright, lb that it was neceffary to empty them at a draught. This charaiSteriftic of the old drinking-cups is faid to have given rife to the modern name of tumblers. That thefe glafs drinking-cups — or, if we like to ufe the term, thefe glaffes — were implements peculiar to the Germanic race to which the Saxons belonged, and not derived from the Romans, we have corrobo- rative evidence in difcoveries made on the Continent. I will only take examples from fome graves of the fame early period, difcovered at Sel- zen, in Rhenifh Heffe, an interefting account of which was publifhed at Maintz, in 1848, by the brothers W. and L. Lindenfchmit. In thefe graves feveral drinking-cups were found, alio of glafs, and refembling in character the two middle figures in oar cut, No. 1. Three fpecimens are given in the cut Xo. 2. In our cut, No. 5, (fee page 8), is one of the cup-fhaped glaffes, alfo found in thefe Heffian graves, which clofely refembles that given in die cut No. 1. None of the cups of the cham- pagne-glafs form, like thofe found in England, occur in thefe foreign barrows. We fhall find alfo that the pottery of the later Anglo-Saxon period prefented a mixture of forms, partly derived from thofe which had be- longed to the Saxon race in their primitive condition, and partly copied or imitated from thofe of' the Romans. In fact, in our Anglo-Saxon graves we find much purely Roman pottery intermingled with earthen veflels of Saxon manufacture; and this is alfo the call' in Germany. As Roman forms are known to every one, we need only give the pure Saxon types. Our (in. No. 3, represents five examples, ami will give a fufficienl notion of their general character. The two to the left were taken, with a large quantity No. 2. Ge Drinking GlaJJe. and Sentiments. quantity more, of fimilar character, from a Saxon cemetery at Kingfton, near Derby; the veffel in the middle, and the upper one to the right, No. 3. Anglo-Saxon Pottery. are from Kent ; and the lower one to the right is alio from the cemetery at Kingfton. Several of thefe were ufually confidered as types of ancient No. 4. (7, Saxon Pottery. Britilh pottery, until their real character was recently demonftrated, and it is corroborated by the difcovery of fimilar pottery in what I will term the Hifiory of Dome/lie Manners No. 5. Germane- Saxon Pottery and Glajs. the Germano-Saxon graves. Four examples from the cemetery at Selzen, are given in the cut No. 4. We have here not only the rude-formed vefTels with lumps on the fide, but alio the characteristic ornament of croffes in circles. The next cut, No. 5, reprefents two earthen veffels of another defcription, found in the graves at Selzen. The one to the right is evidently the prototype of our modern pitcher. I am informed there is, in the Mufeum at Dover, a fpecimen of pottery of this ihape, taken from an Anglo-Saxon barrow in that neighbourhood ; and Mr. Roach Smith took fragments of another from an Anglo-Saxon tu- mulus near the fame place. The other variation of the pitcher here given is remarkable, not on account of fimilar fpecimens having been found, as far as I know, in graves in England, but becaufe veffels of a limilar form are found rather commonly in the Anglo-Saxon illuminated manufcripts. One of thefe is given in the group No. 6, which reprefents three types of the later Anglo-Saxon pottery, felefted from a large num- ber copied by Strut t from Anglo- Saxon manufcripts. The figure to the left, in this group, is a later Saxon form of the pitcher; perhaps the lingular form of the handle may have originated in an error of the draughtsman. Anion';- the numerous articles of all kinds found in the early Anglo- Saxon graves, are bowls of metal (generally bronze or copper), often very thickly gilt, and of elegant forms; they are, perhaps, borrowed from the Romans. Three examples are given in the cul No. -. all found in (Cent. They were probably intended for the fervice of the table. Another claft of No. 6. jlnglo-Stixon Pottery. and Sentiments. m^s^'^'&l '.-Sjx.n B oiv Is. of utenfils found rather commonly in the Anglo-Saxon barrows are buckets. The firft of thole reprefented in onr cut, No. 8, was found in a Saxon barrow near Marlborough, in Wiltshire ; the other was found on the Chatham lines. As far as my own experience goes, I believe thefe buckets are ufually found with male ikeletons, and from this circum- ftance, and the fa6t of their being ufually ornamented, I am inclined to think they ferved fome purpofes con- ne6ted with the festivities of the hall ; probably they were ufed to carry the ale or mead. The Anglo-Saxon tranilation of the Book of Judges (ch. vii. ver. 20), rendered hydrias confregijjent by to-lrcecon tha hucas, " they broke the buckets." A common name for this implement, which was properly hue, was cefcen, which fig- nified literally a veffel made of alh, the favourite wood of the Anglo- Saxons. Our cut, No. 9, reprefents a bucket of wood with very deli- cately-formed bronze hoops and han- dle, found in a barrow in Bourne Park, near Canterbury. The wood was entirely decayed; but the hoops and handle are in the collection of lord Londef borough. Such buckets have, alfo, been found under fimilar circumftances on the Continent. The clofe refemblance between the weapons and other inftruments found in the Englifh barrows and in thofe at Selzen, may be illuftrated by a companion of the two axes reprefented in the cut, No. 10. The upper one was found at Selzen j the lower one is in the Mufeum of Mr. Rolfe, and was obtained from a barrow in the Ille of Thanet. The fame fimilarity is obferved between the knives, which is the more remarkable, as the later Anglo-Saxon knives were quite of a Anglo-Saxon Buckets. different IO Hijlory of Domejiic Manners different form. The example, cut No. u, taken from a grave at Selzen, is the only inftance I know of a knife of this early period of Saxon his- tory with the handle preferved ; it has been beautifully enamelled. This may be taken as the type of the primitive Anglo-Saxon knife. Having given thefe few examples of the general forms of the imple- ments in ufe among the Saxons before their converfion to Chriftianity, as No. 9. Anglo-Saxon Buciet. No. 10. Anglo-Saxon Axes. much to illuhrate their manners as defcribed by Beowulf, as to fhow what claffes of types were originally Saxon, we will proceed to treat of their domeftic manners as we learn them from the more numerous and No, 1 1 . Gcrmano-Saxon Knife. more definite documents of a later period. We (ball find it convenient to confider the fubjeel feparately as it regards in-door life and out-door life, and it will be proper firft that we mould form fome definite notion of an Anglo-Saxon houfe. We can already form fome notion of the primeval Saxon manfion from our bri< f review of the poem of Beowulf; and we (hall find thai it continued and Sentiments. i i continued nearly the fame down to a late period. The moll important part of the building was the hall, on which was bellowed all the orna- mentation of which the builders and decorators of that early period were capable. Halls built of Hone are alluded to in a religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter book ; yet, in the earlier period at leaft, there can be little doubt that the materials of building were chiefly wood. Around, or near this hall, flood, in feparate buildings, the bed-chambers, or bowers (lur), of which the latter name is only now preferved as applied to a fummer-houfe in a garden ; but the reader of old Englilh poetry will remember well the common phrafe of a bird in lure, a lady in her bower or chamber. Thele buildings, and the houfehold offices, were all grouped within an inclofure, or outward wall, which, I imagine, was generally of earth, for the Anglo-Saxon word, weall, was applied to an earthen rampart, as well as to mafonry. What is termed in the poem of Judith, wealles gedt, the gate of the wall, was the entrance through this inclofure or rampart. I am convinced that many of the earth-works, which are often looked upon as ancient camps, are nothing more than the remains of the inclofures of Anglo-Saxon refldences. In Beowulf, the fleeping-rooms of Hrothgar and his court feem to have been fo completely detached from the hall, that tbejr inmates did not hear the combat that was going on in the latter building at night. In fmaller houfes the fleeping-rooms were fewer, or none, until we arrive at the Ample room in which the inmates had board and lodging together, with a mere hedge for its inclofure, the prototype of our ordinary cottage and garden. The wall ferved for a defence againft robbers and enemies, while, in times of peace and tranquillity, it was a protection from in- difcreet intruders, for the doors of the hall and chambers feem to have been generally left open. Beggars aflembled round the door of the wall — the ojiium domus — to wait for alms. The vocabularies of the Anglo-Saxon period furnifh us with the names of moft of the parts of the ordinary dwellings. The entrance through the outer wall into the court, the flrength of which is alluded to in early writers, was properly the gate (gedt). The whole mill's inclofed within this wall conftituted the lurk (burgh), or tun, and the inclofed court 12 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners court itfelf feems to have been defignated as the eqfer-lun, or inburh. The wall of the hall, or of the internal buildings in general, was called a wag, or zuah, a distinctive word which remained in ufe till a late period in the Englifh language, and feems to have been loft partly through the fimilarity of found.* The entrance to the hall, or to the other buildings in the interior, was the duru, or door, which was thus diltinguiihed from the gate. Another kind of door mentioned in the vocabularies was a hlid-gata, literally a gate with a lid or cover, which was perhaps, how- ever, a word merely invented to reprefent the Latin valva, which is given as its equivalent. The door is defcribed in Beowulf as being " fattened with fire-bands" (fyr-bendumjieji, 1. 1448), which mutt mean iron bars.f Either before the door of the hall, or between the door and the interior apartment, was fometimes zfelde, literally a ihed, but perhaps we might now call it a portico. The different parts of the architectural ttructure of the hall enumerated in the vocabularies are Jiapul, a pott or log fet in the ground ; Jiipere, a pillar ; beam, a beam 3 rcefter, a rafter ; Iceta, a lath j fiver, a column. The columns fupported bigels, an arch or vault, or fyrji, the interior of the roof, the ceiling. The hrqf, or roof, was called alio thecal, or thcecen, a word derived from the verb theccan, to cover ; but although this is the original of our modern word thatch, our readers mufl not fuppofe that the Anglo-Saxon thcecen meant what we call a thatched roof, for we have the Anglo-Saxon word thcec-tigel, a thatch-tile, as well as hrqf-tigel, a roof-tile. There was fometimes one ftory above the ground-floor, for which the vocabularies give the Latin word folarium, the origin of the later mediaeval word, foler ; but it is evident that this * The distinction between the ivag/ie and walk continued to a comparatively late period. Halliweli, "Dictionary of Archaic aiul Provincial Words," \. quotes the following lines from a manuscript or the fifteenth century — So hedoufcly that Jlorme ganne fallc, Thatfondir it brafte hot he waj f It appears not, however, to have been customary to lock the doors during the absence of the family, but merely to leave some one to take care of the house. This, at least, was the case in Winchester, as we leain from the mil St. Swithun, by the monk Lantfred. and Sentiments. i 3 was not common to Anglo-Saxon houfes, and the only name for it was i/ji-Jlar, an upper floor. It was approached by ajlasger, fo named from the verb Jiigari, to afcend, and the origin of our modern word Jlair. There were windows to the hall, which were probably improvements upon the ruder primitive Saxon buildings, for the only Anglo-Saxon words for a window are eag-thyrl, an eye-hole, and eag-duru, an eye-door. We have unfortunately no fpecial defcriptions of Anglo-Saxon houfes, but fcattered incidents in the Anglo-Saxon hiftorians ihow us that this general arrangement of the houfe lafted down to the latere, period of their monarchy.. Thus, in the year 755, Cynewulf, king of the Weft Saxons, was murdered at Merton by the atheling Cyneard. The circumftances of the ftory are but imperfectly underftood, unlefs we bear in mind the above defcription of a houfe. Cynewulf had gone to Merton privately, to vifit a lady there, who feems to have been his miftrefs, and he only took a fmall party of his followers with him. Cyneard, having received information of this vifit, affembled a body of men, entered the inclofure of the houfe unperceived (as appears by the context), and furrounded the detached chamber (htir) in which was the king with the lady. The king, taken by furprife, rulhed to the door (on tha dura code), and was there flain fighting. The king's attendants, although certainly within the inclofure of the houfe, were out of hearing of this fudden fray (they were probably in the hall), but they were roufed by the woman's fcreams, rallied to the fpot, and fought till, overwhelmed by the numbers of their enemies, they alio were all flain. The murderers now took poifellion of the houfe, and ihut the entrance gate of the wall of inclofure, to protect themfelves againft the body of the king's followers who had been left ai a diftance. Thefe, next day, when they heard what had happened, haftened to the fpot, attacked the houfe, and continued fighting around the gate (ymb ihd gatu) until they made their way in, ami flew all the men who were there. Again, we are told, in the Ramfey Chronicle published by Gale, of a rich man in the Danilh period, who was oppres- fivc to his people, and, therefore, fufpicious of them. He accordingly had four watchmen every night, chofen alternately from his houfehold, who kept guard at the outfide ot" his hall, evidently tor the purpofe of imv\ enting 14 Hiftory of Dome/lie Manners preventing his enemies from being admitted into the inclofure by treachery. He lay in his chamber, or bower. One night, the watch- men having drunk more than ufual, were unguarded in their fpeech, and talked together of a plot into which they had entered againft the life of their lord. He, happening to be awake, heard their converfation from his chamber, and defeated their project. We fee here the chamber of the lord of the manfion lb little fubftantial in its conftruction that its inmates could hear what was going on out of doors. At a Hill later period, a Northumbrian noble, whom Hereward vifited in his youth, had a building for wild beafts within his houfe or inclofure. One day a bear broke loofe, and immediately made for the chamber or bower of the lady of the houfehold, in which ihe had taken fhelter with her women, and whither, no doubt, the lavage animal was attracted by their cries. We gather from the context that this afylum would not have availed them, had not young Hereward llain the bear before it reached them. In fact, the lady's chamber was ftill only a detached room, probably with a very weak door, which was not capable of withftanding any force. The Harleian Manufcript, No. 603 (in the Britifh Mufeum), contains feveral illuftrations of Anglo-Saxon domeftic architecture, molt of which are rather iketchy and indefinite; but there is one picture (fol. 57, \ .) which illuftrates, in a very interefting manner, the diftribution of the houfe. Of this, an exact copy is given in the accompanying cut, No. 12."* The manufcript is, perhaps, as old as the ninth century, and the picture here given illuftrates Pfalm cxi., in the Vulgate verlion, the defcription of the juft and righteous chieftain : the beggars are admitted within the inclofure (where the fcene is laid), to receive the alms of the lord ; and he and his lady are occupied in diftributing bread to them, while his fervants are bringing out of one of the bowers raiment to clothe the naked. The larger building behind, ending in a fort of round tower * Strutt has engraved, without indicating the manuscript from which it is taken, a small Saxon house, consisting of one hall or place for living in, with a chamber attached, exactly like the domestic chapel and its attached chamber in our cut, No. 12. This seems to have been the usual shape of small houses in the Anglo- Saxon period. with and Sentiments. !5 ith a cupola, is evidently the hall — the flag's head feems to mark its character. The buildings to the left are chambers or bowers; to the rteht 1 6 Hiftory of Dome ft ic Manners right is the domeftic chapel, and the little room attached is perhaps the chamber of the chaplain. It is evidently the intention in this picture to reprefent the walls of the rooms as being formed, in the lower part, of mafonry, with timber walls above, and all the windows are in the timber walls. If we make allowance for want of perfpective and proportion in the drawing, it is probable that only a fmall portion of the elevation was mafonry, and that the wooden walls (parietes) were raifed above it, as is very commonly the cafe in old timber-houfes ftill exifting. The greater portion of the Saxon houfes were certainly of timber ; in Alfric's colloquy, it is the carpenter, or worker in wood (fe trec-iryrhta), who builds houfes ; and the very word to exprefs the operation of building, timbrian, getimbrian, Signified literally to conftruct of timber. We obferve in the above reprefenta- tion of a houfe, that none of the buildings have more than a ground- floor, and this feems to have been a chara&eriftic of the houfes of all claffes. The Saxon word flor is generally ufed in the early writers to reprefent the Latin pavimentum. Thus the "variegated floor" (on Jag re flor) of the hall mentioned in Beowulf (1. 1454) was a paved floor, perhaps a teffellated pavement ; as the road fpoken of in an earlier part of the poem (flrcet ivccs ftdn-fdk, the flreet was ftone-variegated, 1. 644) defcribes a paved Roman road. The term upper-floor occurs once or twice, but only I think in translating from foreign Latin writers. The only inflance that occurs to my memory of an upper-floor in an Anglo- Saxon houfe, is the ftory of Dunftan's council at Calne in 978, when, according to the Saxon Chronicle, the witan, or council, fell from an upper-floor (of ane Hp-Jioran), while Dunftan himfelf avoided their fate by fupporting himfelf on a beam (uppon anwm beame). The buildings in the above pi6ture are all roofed with tiles of differenl forms, evidently copied from the older Roman roof-tiles. Perhaps the flatnefs of thefe roofs is onlj to be considered as a proof of the draughtsman's ignorance of perspective. One of Alfric's homilies applies the epithet ,//<ar iveras drince'X, where men drink, fr colic fyrd-fceorp. a goodly ivar-iiejl. — Exeter Book, p. 395. We have no allufion in Anglo-Saxon writers to chimneys, or fire- places, in our modern acceptation of the term. When necellarv, the fire feems to have been made on the floor, in the place moll convenient. We find inftances in the early faints' legends where the hall was burnt by incautioufly lighting the fire too near the wall. Hence it teems to have been uliiully placed in the middle, and there can be little doubt that there was an opening, or, as it was called in later times, a louver, in the roof above, for the efcape of the (moke. The biftorian Bede defcribes a Northumbrian king, in the middle of the feventh century, as having, on his return from hunting, entered the hall with his attendants, and all ftanding round the fire to warm themfelves. A fomewhat (imilar fcene, but in more bumble life, is reprefented in the accompanying cut, taken from and Sentiments. from a manufcript calendar of the beginning of the eleventh century (MS. Cotton. Julius, A. iv.). The material for feeding the fire is wood, which the man to the left is bringing from a heap, while his ^ 13. A Party at the Fire. companion is administering to the fire with a pair of Saxon tongs (Jtangan). The vocabularies give tange, tongs, and lylig, bellows 5 and they fpeak of col, coal (ex- plained by the Latin carlo), and fynder, a cinder {fcorium). As all thefe are Saxon words, and not derived from the Latin, we may fuppofe that they reprefent things known to the Anglo-Saxon race from an early period ; and as charcoal does not produce fcorium, or cinder, it is perhaps not going too far to fuppofe that the Anglo-Saxons were acquainted with the ufe of mineral coal. We know nothing of any other fire utenhls, except that the Anglo-Saxons ufed a fyr-fcqfl, or fire-lhovel. The place in which the fire was made was the heorth, or hearth. The furniture of the hall appears to have been very fimple, for it confirled chiefly of benches. Thefe had carpets and cufhions ; the former are often mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon wills. The Anglo-Saxon poems fpeak of the hall as being "adorned with treafnres," from which we are perhaps j unified in believing that it was cuftomary to difplay there in fome manner or other the richer and more ornamental of the houfehold veffels. Perhaps one end of the hall was raifed higher than the reft for the lord of the houfehold, like the dais of later times, as Anglo-Saxon writers fpeak of the heah-fctl, or high feat. The table can hardly be confidered as furniture, in the ordinary fenfe of the word : it was literally, according to its Anglo-Saxon name lord, a board that was brought out for the occafion, and placed upon treffels, and taken away as foon as the meal was ended. Among the inedited Latin mnigmata, or riddles, of the Anglo-Saxon writer Tahtwin, who flourifhed at the beginning of the eighth century, is one on a tabic, which is curious enough to be given here, from the manufcript in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 12, C. xxiii.). The 22 Hijiory of Domeflic Manners The table, fpeaking in its own perfon, fays that it is in the habit of feeding people with all forts of viands; that while fo doing it is a quad- ruped, and is adorned with handfome clothing; that afterwards it is robbed of all it poifeffes, and when it has been thus robbed it lofes its legs :— ' DE MENSA. Multiferis omnes dapibus fat ur are folefco, Quadrupedem hinc felix ditem mejanxerit atas, EJfe tamen pulchrh fathn dum -veftibus orner, Ccrtatim me prccdcnes fpoliare folefcunt, Rapth nudata exwviis mox membra rellnquur.t. In the illuminated manufcripts, wherever dinner fcenes are repre- fented, the table is always covered with what is evidently intended for a handfome table-cloth, the myfe-hrcegel or hord-clath. The grand pre- paration for dinner was laying the board; and it is from this original character of the table that we derive our ordinary expreffion of receiving any one "to board and lodging." The hall was peculiarly the place for eating — and for drinking. The Anglo-Saxons had three meals in the day, — the breaking of their faft (breakfaft), at the third hour of the day, which anfwered to nine o'clock in the morning, according to our reckoning; the ge-reordung (repair), or non-mete (noon-meat) or dinner, which is frated to have been held at the canonical hour of noon, or three o'clock in the afternoon ; and the cefen-gereord (evening repair), cefen-gyfl (evening food), cefen-mete (even- ing meat), cefen-thenung (evening refreshment), or fupper, the hour of which is uncertain. It is probable, from many circumltances, that the latter was a meal not originally in ufe among our Saxon forefatheis: perhaps their only meal at an earlier period was the dinner, which was always their principal repaftj and we may, perhaps, confider noon as midday, and not as meaning the canonical hour. As I have obferved before, the table, from the royal hall down to the molt humble of thofe who could afford it, was not refufed to ft V. hen they came to the hall-door, the guefls were required to leave their anus in the care of a porter or attendant, and then, whether known or not, and Sentiments. 2 3 not, they took their place at the tables. One of the laws of king Cnut directs, that if, in the meantime, any one took the weapon thus depo- fited, and did hurt with it, the owner fhould be compelled to clear himfelf of fufpicion of being cognifant of the ufe to be made of his arms when he laid them down. Hiftory affords us feveral remarkable inftances of the facility of approach even to the tables of kings during the Saxon period. It was this circumfiance that led to the murder of king Edmund in 946. On St. Auguftin's day, the king was dining at his manor of Pucklechurch, in Gloucefterfhire ; a bandit named Leofa, whom the king had banifhed for his crimes, and who had returned without leave from exile, had the effrontery to place himfelf at the royal table, by the fide of one of the principal nobles of the court ; the king alone recognifed him, rofe from his feat to expel him from the hall, and received his death-wound in the flruggle. In the eleventh century, when Hereward went in difguife as a fpy to the court of a Cornilh chieftain, he entered No. 1 4. An Anglo-Saxon Dinner-Party Pledging. the hall while they were feafling, took his place among the guefls, and was but flightly queftioned as to who he was and whence he came. In the early illuminated manufcripts, dinner fcenes are by no means uncommon. The cut, No. 14 (taken from Alfric's verfion of Genefis, MS. Cotton. 2 4 Hijiory of Domejiic Manm MS. Cotton. Claudius, B. iv., fol. 36, v°), reprefents Abraham's feafl on the birth of his child. The guefts are fitting at an ordinary long hall table, ladies and gentlemen being mixed together without any apparent fpecial arrangement. This manufcript is probably of the beginning of the eleventh century. The cut, No. 1^, reprefents another dinner fcene, from a manufcript probably of the tenth century (Tiberius, C. vi., fol. 5, v°), and prefents feveral peculiarities. The party here is a very fmall No. 15. Anglo-Saxons at Dinner. one, and they fit at a round table. The attendants feem to be ferving them, in a very remarkable manner, with roaft meats, which they bring to table on the fpits (fpitu) as they were roafted. Another feftive fcene is reprefented in the cut, No. 16, taken from a manufcript of the Pfycho- machia of the poet Prudentius (MS. Cotton. Cleopatra, C. viii., fol. 15, r°). The table is again a round one, at which Luxury and her companions are feated at fupper (feo Gaines at kyre . the table or in the hands of the drinkers in more £T> % ^~}j r?) than one of our cuts. In the will of one Vii'-'M^^^Xi^ Saxon lady, two buffalo-horns are mentioned) No. 23. Ankles of 'Value, three horns worked with gold and filver are men- tioned in one inventory ; and we find four horns enumerated among the effects of a monaftic houfe. The Mercian king Witlaf, with fomewhat of the fentiment of the lady Ethelgiva, gave to the abbey of Croyland the horn of his table, " that the elder monks may drink from it on feflivals, and in their benedictions remember fome- times the foul of the donor." The liquors drunk by the Saxons were chiefly ale and mead ; the immenfe quantity of honey that was then produced in this country, as we learn from Domefday-book and other records, fliows us how great mult * " Duos ciphos argenteos .... ad serviendum fratiibus in refectorio, qua- tenus, dum in eis potusedentibus fratiibus ministratur, memoria mci eorum cordibus arctius inculcetur." — Hist. Kamesicnsis, in Gale, p. 406. have and Sentiments. 33 have been the confumption of the latter article. Welih ale is efpecially fpoken of. Wine was alfo in ufe, though it was an expenfive article, and was in a great meafure reftri&ed to perfons above the common rank. According to Alfric's Colloquy, the merchant brought from foreign countries wine and oil ; and when the fcholar is afked why he does not drink wine, he fays he is not rich enough to buy it, " and wine is not the drink of children or fools, but of elders and wife men." There were, however, vineyards in England in the times of the Saxons, and wine was made from them ; but they were probably rare, and chiefly attached to the monaftic eftablifhments. William of Malmefbury fpeaks of a vine- yard attached to his monaftery, which was firft planted at the beginning of the eleventh century by a Greek monk who fettled there, and who fpent all his time in cultivating it. In their drinking, the Anglo-Saxons had various feftive ceremonies, one of which is made known to us by the popular ftory of the lady Rowena and the Britifh king. When the ale or wine was firft ferved, the drinkers pledged each other, with certain phrafes of wilhing health, not much unlike the mode in which we ftill take wine with each other at table, or as people of the lefs refined claffes continue to drink the firft glafs to the health of the company ; but among the Saxons the ceremony was accompanied with a kifs. In our cut, No. 14, the party appear to be pledging each other. The Anglo-Saxon potations were accompanied with various kinds of amufements. One of thefe was telling ftories, and recounting the exploits of themfelves or of their friends. Another was finging their national poetry, to which the Saxons were much attached. In the lefs elevated clafs, where profefled minllrels were not retained, each gueft was minftrel in his turn. Caedmon, as his ftory is related by Bede, became a poet through the emulation thus excited. One of the eccle- fiaftical canons enacted under king Edgar enjoins " that no prieft be a minftrel at the ale (ealu-fcdp), nor in any wife a6t the gleeman (gliwige), with himfelf or with other men." In the account of the murder of king Ethelbert in Herefordihire, by the treachery of Oll'a's wicked queen (,\. i). 792), we are told that the royal party, after dinner, " (pen! the p whole 34 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners whole day with mufic and dancing in great glee." The cut, No. 24 (taken from the Harl. MS., No. 603), is a perfecf illuftration of this incident of Saxon ftory. The cup-bearer is ferving the gueft with wine from a veffel which is evidently a Saxon imitation of the Roman amphora; it is perhaps the Anglo-Saxon fefler or J after ; a word, no No. 24. Drinking and Minjireljy. doubt, taken from the Latin fextarius, and carrying with it, in general, the notion of a certain meafure. In Saxon tranflations from the Latin, amphora is often rendered by fefier. We have here a choice party of minftrels and gleemen. Two are occupied with the harp, which appears, from a comparifon of Beowulf with the later writers, to have been the national inurnment. It is not clear from the picfure whether the two men are playing both on the fame harp, or whether one is merely holding the inftru- ment for the other. Another is perhaps intended to reprefent the Anglo-Saxon fithelere, playing on the fithele (the modern Englilh words fiddler and fiddle) ; but his inftrument appears rather to be the cittern, which was played with the fingers, not with the bow. Another reprefentation of this performer, from the fame manufcript, is given in 1 he cut No. 25, where the inftrument is better defined. The other two minftrels, in No. 24, an' playing en the horn, or on the Saxon pip, <>r pipe. The two dancers are evidently a man and a woman, and another lady to the extreme right teems Nu. 25. An Anglo-Sa. F'tthelart. and Sentiments. 35 feems preparing to join in the fame exercife. We know little of the Anglo-Saxon mode of dancing, but to judge by the words ufed to exprefs this amufement, hoppan (to hop), faltian and Jtcllan (to leap), and tumliau (to tumble), it muft have been accompanied with violent movements. Our cut No. 26 (from the Cottonian MS., Cleopatra, C. viii. fol. 16, v°), reprefents another party of minftrels, one of whom, a female, is dancing, while the other two are playing on a kind of cithara and on the Roman double flute. The Anglo-Saxon names for the different kinds of mufi- No. 26. Anglo-Saxon Minjlrch. cians moft frequently fpoken of were hearpere, the harper ; lymere, the trumpeter 5 pipere, the player on the pipe or flute ; Jithelere, the fiddler; and horn-blawere, the horn-blower. The gligman, or gleeman, was the fame who, at a later period, was called, in Latin, joculator, and, in French, a jongleur ; and another performer, called truth, is interpreted as a ftage player, but was probably fome performer akin to the gleeman. The harp feems to have flood in the higheft rank, or, at leafl, in the higheft popularity, of mufical inftruments; it was termed poetically the gle6-beam, or the glee-wood. Although it was confidered a very fafhionable accomplifhment among the Anglo-Saxons to be a good finger of verfes and a good player on the harp, yet the profelfed minrtrel, who went about to every fort of joyous aflemblage, 36 Hiftory of Domefiic Ma?i?iers aiTemblage, from the feftive hall to the village wake, was a perfon not efteemed refpe&able. He was beneath conlideration in any other light than as affording amufement, and as fuch he was admitted everywhere, without examination. It was for this reafon that Alfred, and fubfe- quently Athelftan, found fuch eafy accefs in this garb to the camps of their enemies ; and it appears to have been a common difguife for fuch purpofes. The group given in the laft cut (No. 26) are intended to repre- fent the perfons characterifed in the text (of Prudentius) by the Latin word ganeones (vagabonds, ribalds), which is there glofled by the Saxon term gleemen (ganeonum, gliwig-manna) . Befides mufic and dancing, they feem to have performed a variety of tricks and jokes, to while away the tedioufnefs of a Saxon afternoon, or excite the coarfe mirth of the peafant. That fuch performers, refembling in many refpecfs the Norman jougleur, were ufually employed by Anglo-Saxons of wealth and rank, is evident from various allufions to them. Gaimar has preferred a curious Saxon ftory of the murder of king Edward by his ftepmother (a.d. 978), in which the queen is reprefented as having in her fervice a dwarf minftrel, who is employed to draw the young king alone to her houfe. According to the Anglo-Norman relator of this ftory, the dwarf was ikilled in various modes of dancing and tumbling, characferifed by words of which we can hardly now point out the exacf diftin&ion, " and could play many other games." Wolflanet un naim a-vclt, Ki baler c trefcher faveit ; Si fa-veit failler e t umber, E altres gius plufurs juer. In a Saxon manufcript in the Britilh Muleum (MS. Cotton. Tiberius. C. vi.), among the minftrels attendant on king David (reprefented in our cut, No. 27), we fee a gleeman, who is throwing up and catching knives and balls, a common performance of the later Norman jougleurs, as well as of our modern mountebanks. Some of the tricks and geftures of thefe performers wire of the coarfetl defcription, filch as could he only tolerated in a rude liate of fociety. An example will he found in a ftory told by William of Malmefbury of wandering minftrels, whom he had feen performing and Sentiments. 37 performing at a feftival at that monaftery when he was a child, and which we can hardly venture to give even under the veil of the original Latin. No. 27. Anglo-Saxon Minftrels and Gleeman. A poem in the Exeter manufcript defcribes the wandering character of the Saxon minftrels. He tells us : — fiva fcrVpcnde gefccapum hiveorfa^S gleo-men gumma geond grunda fela, \>earfe fecga^S , ^one-word fprcca\>, fimlejuct o\i\>e norlS Jumne gcmctdft gydda glea-wne, gcofum unhncaivnc. Thus roving •with their lays go the gleemen of men over many lands, Jlate their •wants, utter words of thank, ahvays fouth or north, they find one knowing in Jongs, •who is liberal of gifts. — Exctoi- Book, 3 8 Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners We are not to fuppofe that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers remained at table, merely drinking and liftening. On the contrary, the performance of the minftrels appears to have been only introduced at intervals, between which the guefts talked, joked, propounded and anfwered riddles, boafied of their own exploits, dilparaged thofe of others, and, as the liquor took efFecf, became noify and quarrelfome. The moral poems often allude to the quarrels and ilaughters i n which feafts ended. One of thefe poems, enumerating the various endowments of men, fays : — Jum bf& wreed taf e ; one is expert at dice ; jum btci gewittig one is ivitty at win-\>ege, at ivine-bibbing, beor-hyrde god. a good beer-drinker. — Exeter Book, p. 297. A "Monitory Poem," in th s fame collection, thus defcribes the manners of the guefts in hall : — \>onne mon'ige becfS but many are ma]>el-hergendra, lovers official con-veije, ivlonce wig-fmVpas, haughty warriors, •win-burgum in, in plea/ant cities, fitta\> at Jymble they Jit at thefeajl, fi/8-gied wrecafS, tales recount, •wordum •wrixla^S, in ivords converfe, •wit an fundia'Ci Jlri-ve to knenv hiuylc aesc-ftede •who the battle place, inne in rwcede •within the houfe, mid ivcrum •wunigc ; -will with men abide ; \>onne ivin /nveteft then wine •wets beornes breofl-fefan, the man's breajl-paffions, breahtme Jiigfft fuddenly rifes cirm on cor\>re, clamour in the company, civide-fcral leta\> an outcry they fend forth mijfcnlice. •various. — Exeter Book, p. 314. In a poem on the various fortunes of men, and the different ways in which they come by death, we are told : — Jumum mcces ecg from one the fivord^s edge on mcodu-bcnce, on the mead-bench, yrrum calo-wofan, angry with ale, caldor o\>\>ringc% , life Jball expel, •were toln-iadum. a wine-fated nun:. — Exeter Book, p. 330. Aiul and Sentiments. 39 And in the metrical legend of St. Juliana, the evil one boafts : — fume ic larum getea/i, fome I by iviles have drawn, te gefllte fremede, to ftrife prepared, \>at hyfevringa that they fuddenly eald-af\>onean old grudges edniivedan, have renewed, beore druncne ; drunken with beer ; ic him byrlade I to them poured nvreht of ivege, difcord from the cup, \>wt hi in ivin-fale fo that they in the facial hall i>urh fweord-gripe through gripe offiuord faivle for let an the foul let forth of jlmsc-homan. from the body. — Exeter Book, p. 271. There were other amufements for the long evenings befides thofe which belonged efpecially to the hall, for every day was not a feaft-day. The hall was then left to the houfehold retainers and their occupations. But we mull now leave this part of the domellic eftabliihment. The ladies appear not to have remained at table long after dinner — it was fomewhat as in modern times — they proceeded to their own fpecial part of the houfe — the chamber — and thither it will be my duty to accom- pany them in the next chapter. I have defcribed all the ordinary fcenes that took place in the Anglo-Saxon hall. 4fl-ftan, a table- Jione, would fuit either interpretation ; but another, tcefl-mon, a table-7??ara, would feem to indicate a game refembling our chefs.* The writers immediately after the conquer!: fpeak of the Saxons as playing at chefs, and pretend that they learnt the game from the Danes. Gaimar, who gives us an interefting ftory relating to the deceit praclifed upon king Edgar (a.d. 973) by Ethelwold, when fent to vifit the beautiful Elfthrida, daughter of Orgar of Devonihire, defcribes the young lady and her noble father as palling the day at chefs. Orgar jouout a un efc/ies, Un giu k'll aprlji des Daneis . Od lui jouout Eljlruet la bele. Benches, on which feveral The Ramfey hiftory, published by Gale, defcribing a bilhop's vifit to court late at night, fays that be found the king amufing himfelf with fimilar games.f An ecclefiaftical canon, enacled under king Edgar, enjoined that a prieft ihould not be a tceflere, or gambler. It was not ufual, in the middle ages, to poffefs much furniture, for in thofe times of infecurity, anything moveable, which could not eafily be concealed, was never fafe from plunderers, perfons could fit together, and a ftool or a chair for a gueft of more confideration, were the only feats. Our word chair is Anglo- Norman, and the adoption of the name from that language would feem to indicate that the moveable to which it was applied was unknown to the great mafs of the Anglo-Saxon population of the iiland. The Anglo-Saxon name for it was fell, a feat, or J'tol; the latter preferved in the modern word ftool. We find chairs of different forms in the illuminations of Anglo-Saxon manufcripts, but Anglo-Saxon Cic * We shall return to this subject in a subsequent chapter, t Regem adhuc tesserarum vel scaccarumludo longioris tsedia noctis relevanrem lvenit. g they 4 2 Hifiory of Dome ft ic Manners they are always reprefented as the feats of perfons of high rank and dignity, ufually of kings. The two examples given in the accompanying cut (No. 28), are taken from the Harleian MS., No. 603, fol. 54, v°., already referred to in our preceding chapters. It will be obferved that, although very fimple in form, they are both furnimed with cufhions. The chair in our cut No. 29, taken from Alfric's tranflation of Genefis No. 29. A King Seated. No. 30. King David. (MS. Cotton. Claudius, B. iv.), on which a king is feated, is of a different and more elegant conftru£tion. We fometimes find, in the manulcripts, chairs of fantaftic form, which were, perhaps, creations of the artift's imagination. Such a one is the Angular throne on which king David is feated with his harp, in our cut No. 30, which is alto taken from the Harleian Manufcript, No. 603 (fol. 68, v°.). In addition to the feat, the ladies in the chamber had a/camel, or footilool. There was a table ufed in the chamber or bower, which differed altogether from that ufed in the hall. It was named myfe, difc (from the Latin difcus), and heod; all words which convey the idea of its being round — leodas (in the plural) was the term applied to the leak- of a balance. The Latin phrafe, of the 127th Pfalm, /'// circuitu menfee tucv, which was evidently underftood by the Anglo-Saxon tranflators as refi rring to and Sentiments. 43 to a round table, is tranilated by one, on ymbhwyrfte myfan thine, and by another, in ymbhwyrfte beodes thincs. If we refer back to the preceding chapter, we ihall fee, in the fubjects which appear to exhibit a fmall domeftic party (fee cuts No. 15, 19, and 24), that the table is round ; and this was evidently the ufual form given among the Anglo-Saxons to the table ufed in the chamber or private room. This form has been preferred as a favourite one in England down to a very recent period, as that of the parlour-table among the clafs of fociety moft likely to retain Anglo-Saxon taftes and fentiments. In the pictures, the round table is generally reprefented as fupported on three or four legs, though there are inftances in which it was reprefented with one. In the latter cafe, the board of the table probably turned up on a hinge, as in our old parlour tea-tables ; and in the former it was perhaps capable of being taken off* the legs ; for there is reafon for believing that it was only laid out when wanted, and that, when no longer in ufe, it was put away on one fide of the room or in a clofet, in the fmalleft pollible compafs. We have no information to explain to us how the bower or chamber was warmed. In the hall, it is probable that the fire gave warmth and light at the fame time, although, in the fragment of the Anglo-Saxon poem relating to the fight at Finnefburg, there is an indiftinct intimation that the hall was fometimes lighted with horns, or crelfets 5 but, in the chamber, during the long evenings of winter, it was neceffary to have an artificial light to enable its occupants to read, or work, or play. The Anglo-Saxon name for this article, fo neceffary for domeftic comfort, was can del or condel (our candle) ; and, fo general was the application of this term, that it was even ufed figuratively as we now ufe the word lamp. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon poets fpoke of the fun as rodores candel (the candle of the firmament), woruld-candel (the candle of the world), heofon- condel (the candle of heaven), wyn-condel (the candle of glory). The candle was, no doubt, originally a mere mafs of fat plaftered round a wick (candel-weoc), and ftuck upon an upright flick. Hence the inftru- ment on which it was afterwards fupported received the name of candcl- flicca or candel-Jiccf, a candleftick ; and the original idea was preferred even when the candle fupporter had many branches, it being then called a 44 Hi/lory of Domejiic Mcnviers a candel-treow, or candle-tree. The original arrangement of the flick was alio preferved ; for, down to a very recent period, the candle was not inferted in a focket in the candleftick as at prefent, but it was ftuck upon a lpike. The Anglo-Saxon writers fpeak of candel-fnytels, or fnufters. Other names lefs ufed, for a candle or fome article for giving light, were blacern or blcecern, which is explained in gloffaries by the Latin lucerna, and thcecela, the latter fignifying merely a light. It was ufual, alio, among our Saxon forefathers, as among ourfelves, to fpeak of the inftru- ment for illumination as merely leoht, a light — " bring me a light." A candleftick and candle are reprefented in one of the cuts in our laft chapter (cut No. 19). The Anglo-Saxons, no doubt, derived the ufe of lamps from the Romans 3 and they were fo utterly at a lofs for a word to defcribe this mode of illumination, that they always called it \Qf leoht-fat, a light-vat, or veffel of light. In our cut (No. 51) we have an Anglo-Saxon lamp, placed on a candelabrum or ftand, exactly in the Roman manner. It will be remem- = bered that Affer, a writer of fomewhat doubtful authenticity, f aicribes to king Alfred the invention of lanterns, as a pro- | tecfion to the candle, to prevent it from fwealing in conle- quence of the wind entering through the crevices of the 4 apartments — not a very bright picture of the comforts of an No. 31. Anglo-Saxon chamber. The candles were made of wax as Startd?" well as tallow. The candleftick was of different materials. In one inftance we find it termed, in Anglo-Saxon, a teoht- ifern, literally a light-iron : perhaps this was the term ufed for the lamp- ftand, as figured in our laft cut. In the inventories we have mention of ge-lonene candel-Jliccan (candlefticks of bone), of lilver-gilt candlefticks, and of ornamented candlefticks. A bed was a ufual article of furniture in the bower or chamber; though there were, no doubt, in large manfions, chambers let apart as bedrooms, as well as chambers in which there was no bed, or in which a bed could be made for the occafion. The account given by Gaimar, as quoted above 3 of the vifil of king Ofbert to Beorn's lady, feems to imply that the chamber in which the lady gave the king his meal had a bed and Sentiments. 45 bed in it. The bed itfelf feems ufually to have confifted merely of a fack (fceccing) filled with ftraw, and laid on a bench or board. Hence words ufed commonly to fignify the bed itfelf were Icence (a bench), and Jireow (ftraw) : and even in king Alfred's tranilation of Bede, the ftate- ment, " he ordered to prepare a bed for him/' is expreiled in Anglo- Saxon by, he heht him Jireowne ge-gearwian, literally, he ordered to prepare ftraw for him. All, in fadt, that had to be done when a bed was wanted, was to take the bed-fack out of the cyft, or cheft, fill it with freih ftraw, and lay it on the bench. In ordinary houfes it is probable No. 32. Anglo-Saxon Beds. that the bench for the bed was placed in a recefs at the fide of the room, in the manner we ftill fee in Scotland ; and hence the- bed itfelf was called, among other names, cota, a cot ; cryb, a crib or ftall 3 and clif or clyf, a recefs or clofet. From the fame circumftance a bedroom was called bed-clyfa or led-cleofa, and ied-cnjh, a bed-clofet or bed-cove. Our cut (No. 32), taken from Alfric's verfion of Genefis (Claudius, B. i\ . >, reprefents beds of this defcription. Benches are evidently placed in recefles at the fide of the chamber, with the beds laid upon them, and the recefles are feparated from the reft of the apartment by a curtain, bed-war ft or hri/J'U: The modern word bedftead means, literally, no more 4 6 Hijiory of "Domeftic Manners more than "a place for a bed 3" and it is probable that what we call bedfteads were then rare, and only poffeffed by people of rank. Two examples are given in the annexed cut (No. 33), taken from the Har- leian MS., No. 603. Under the head were placed a loljiar and a pyle (pillow), which were probably alfo fluffed •\j with ftraw. The clothes with which the fleeper was covered, and which appear in the pictures fcanty enough, were fcyte, a fheet, bed-felt, a coverlet, which was generally of fome thicker material, and hed-reqf, bed- clothes. We know from a multitude of authorities, that it was the general cuftom of the middle ages to go into bed quite naked. The fketchy character of the Anglo- Saxon drawings renders it difficult fometimes to judge of minute details ; but, from the accompanying cuts, it appears that an Anglo- No. 33. Anglo-Saxon Beds. . . . , , , „ . j n . • & Saxon going into bed, having ltnpped ail his or her clothes off, firft wrapped round his body a fheet, and then drew over him the coverlet. Sharon Turner has given a lift of the articles connected with the bed, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon wills and in- ventories. In the will of a man we find bed-clothes (ted-reafes), with a curtain {hyrfte), and fheet (hopp-fcytan), and all that thereto belongs ; and he gives to his fon the bed-reqfe, or bed-cloth, and all its appur- tenances. An Anglo-Saxon lady gives to one of her children two chefts and their contents, her beft bed-curtain, linen, and all the clothes belonging to it. To another child ihe leaves two chefts, and " all the bed-clothes that to one bed belong." On another occafion we read of pulvinar 1/111/ m de palleo: not a pillow of ftraw, as Sharon Turner very erroneoufly tranilates it, but a pillow of a fort of rich cloth made in the middle ages. A goat-lkin bed-covering was lent to an Anglo-Saxon abbot ; and bear-lkins are fometimes noticed, as if a part of bed furniture. The bed-room, or chamber, and the fitting-room were uliiallv identical •. for we mull bear in mind that in the domeftic manners of the middle and Sentiments. 47 ages die fame idea of privacy was not connected with the fleeping-room as at the prefent day. Gaimar has preferred an anecdote of Anglo- Saxon times curiouily illuftrative of this point. King Edgar — a fecond David in this refpett — married the widow of Ethelwold, whom he had murdered in order to clear his way to her bed. The king and queen were fleeping in their bed, which is defcribed as furrounded by a rich curtain, made of a fluff which we cannot eafily explain, when Dunftan, uninvited, but unhindered, entered the chamber to expoftulate with them on their wickednefs, and came to the king's bedilde, where he Hood over them, and entered into converfation — A Londres ert Edgar li reis ; En Jen lit jut e la raine, Entur els out une curtine Delge, d^un faille ejearhnan. EJte--vus V arccvejque Dunjlan Ties par matin mint en la chambrt Sur un pecul de •vermail lambre S'eft apue eel arce-vejque. King Edgar ivas at London ; He lay in A is bed ivith the queen, Round them ivas a curtain Spread, made of Jcarlet paille. Behold archbijhop Dunjlan Came into the chamber very early On a bed-poft of red plank The archbijhop leaned. In the account of the murder of king Ethelbert by the inftrumentality of the queen of king Offa, as it is told by Roger of Wendover, we fee the queen ordering to be prepared for the royal gueff, a chamber, which was adorned for the occafion with fumptuous furniture, as his bed-room. " Near the king's bed fhe caufed a feat to be prepared, magnificently decked, and furrounded with curtains ; and underneath it the wicked woman caufed a deep pit to be dug." Into this pit the king was pre- cipitated the moment he trufted himfelf on the treacherous feat. It is clear from the context that the chamber thus prepared for the king was a building apart, and that it had only a ground-floor. It was in the chamber that the child, while an infant, was brought up by its mother. We have few contemporary notices of the treatment children at this early age by the Anglo-Saxons, but probably it differed little from the general praclice of a later period. Towards the clofe of the thirteenth century, an Engliihman named Walter de Bibblefworth, who wrote, as a great proportion of" Englilh writers at that day did, in French Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners French verfe — French as it was then fpoken and written in England — has left us a very curious metrical vocabulary, compiled in French with interlinear explanations of the words in Englifh, which commences with man's infancy. "As foon as the child is born," fays the author, "it muft be fwathed ; lay it to fleep in its cradle, and you mull have a nurfe to rock it to fleep." Kaunt le emfhfera ne'es, Lors deyt ejire may/olez, En foun berz Fenfaunt c/wc/iet, De une bercere itus puwoyet, Oil par fa norice feyt berce. This was the manner in which the new-born infant was treated in all grades of fociety. If we turn to one of the more ferious romances, we find it pracufed among princes and feudal chiefs equally as among the poor. Thus, when the princefs Parife, wandering in the wild woods, is delivered in the open air, fhe firft wraps her child in a piece of feudal, torn apparently from her rich robe, and then binds, or fwathels, it with a white cloth : — La dame le conroie a un pan de cendex, Puis a pris un blanc drap y Ji a fesjians bendess. — Parise la Duchesse, p. 76. When the robbers carry away the child by night, thinking they had gained fome rich booty, they find that they have fiolen a newly-born infant, "all fwatheled." Lai trcverent Fanffant, trejlot anmalote. — Ibid. p. 80. This cuftom of fvvatheling children in their infancy, though evidently injurious as well as ridiculous, has preTailed from a very early period, and is frill pracYifed in fome parts of Europe. We can hardly doubt that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers fwatheled their children, although the practice is not very clearly defcribed by any of their writers. We derive the word itfelf from the Anglo-Saxon language, in which befwethan means to fwathe or bincL, fuethe fignifies a band or fwathe, and fwethel or fwcethiL, a fwaddling-band. Thefe words appear, however, to have been ufed in a more extenfive fenfe among the Anglo-Saxons than their reprefentatives and Sentiments, 49 in more recent times, and as I have not met with them applied in this reftrkted fenfe in Anglo-Saxon writers, I ihould not haftily aflume from them that our early Teutonic forefathers did fwathe their new-born children. In an Anglo-Saxon poem on the birth of Chrift, contained in the Exeter Book (p. 45), the poet fpeaks of — Bearnes gebyrda, \>a he in binne %uas in cildes hho cla\>um bizuunden. The child's birth, ivhen he in the bin ivas in a child's form 'with cloths 'wound round. Thefe words refer clearly to the practice of fwaddling ; and, though the Anglo-Saxon artift has not here portrayed his object very diltin&ly, we can hardly doubt that, in our cut (No. 34), taken from the Anglo-Saxon manuicript of Caedmon, the child, which its mother is reprefented as holding, is intended to be fwathed. The word lin, ufed in the lines of the Anglo-Saxon poem juft quoted, which means a hutch or a mansrer, has reference, of courfe, to the cir- No. 34. Anglo-Saxon Mother and Child. cumftances of the birth of the Saviour, and is not here employed to fignify a cradle. This laft word is itfelf Anglo-Saxon, and has (tood its ground in our language fuccc Is fully againft the influence of the Anglo- 11 Norman, 50 Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners Norman, in which it was called a bers or berfel, from the latter of which is derived the modem French bergeau. Another name for a cradle was crib ; a poem in the Exeter Book (p. 87) fpeaks of cild geong on crybbe (a young child in a cradle). Our cut No. 35, alfo taken from the manu- No. 35. Anglo-Saxon Child in its Cradle. fcript of Csedmon, reprefents an Anglo-Saxon cradle of rather rude con- ftruction. The illuminators of a later period often reprefent the cradle of elegant form and richly ornamented. The Anglo-Saxon child appears here alfo to be fwaddled, but it is ftill drawn too inaccurately to be decifive on this point. The latter illuminators were more particular and correct in their delineations, and leave no doubt of the univerfal practice of fwaddling infants. A good example is given in our cut No. 36, taken from an illuminated manufcript of the fourteenth century, of which a copy is given in the large work of the late M. du Sommerard. There is a very curious paragraph relating to infants in the Poeniten- tiale of Theodore, archbifhop of Canterbury, which furniihes us with a lingular picture of early Anglo-Saxon domellic life, for Theodore rlouriihed in the latter half of the feventh century. It may be perhaps right to explain that a Poenitentiale was a code of eccletiafiical laws directing the proportional degrees of penance for each particular clafi and degree of crimes and offences againft public and private morals, and thai thefe laws penetrate and Sentiments. 5i penetrate to the innermoft recedes of domeftic life. The Pocnitentiale of archbilhop Theodore dire&s that " if a woman place her infant by the hearth, and the man put water in the cauldron, and it boil over, and the child be fcalded to death, the woman mull do penance for her negligence, 36. Mother and Child. but the man is acquitted of blame."* As this accident mull have been of very frequent occurrence to require a particular direction in a code of laws, it implies great negligence in the Anglo-Saxon mothers, and feems to fhow that, commonly, at leaf! at this early period, they had no cradles for their children, but laid them, fwaddled as they were, on the ground clofe by the fire, no doubt to keep them warm, and that they left them in this fituation. We are not informed if there were any fixed period during which the infant was kept in fwaddling-cloths, but probably when it was thought no longer neceflary to keep it in the arms or in the cradle, it was relieved from its bands, and allowed to crawl about the floor and take care of itfelf. Walter de Eibblefworth, the Anglo-Norman writer of the thir- teenth century already quoted, tells us briefly that a child is left to creep about before it has learnt to go on its feet : — Le cnfaunt coixnt de chatouncr A-vaunt ke jache a fees ahr. * Mater, si juxta focum inlantem suum posuerit, et homo aquam in caldarium miserit, et ebullita aqua infans supeifusus mortuus fueritj pro negligentia mater poeniteat, ct ille homo securus sit. When 52 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners When the Anglo-Saxon youth, if a boy, had pafled his infancy, he entered that age which was called cnithad (knighthood), which lafted from about eight years of age until manhood. It is very rare that we can catch in hiStory a glimpfe of the internal economy of the Anglo-Saxon household. Enough, however, is told to mow us that the Saxon woman in every clafs of fociety pofferfed thofe characteristics which are Still considered to be the beft traits of the character of Englishwomen ; me was the attentive houfewife, the tender companion, the comforter and confoler of her hufband and family, the virtuous and noble matron. Home was her efpecial place ; for we are told in a poem in the Exeter Book (p. 337) that, "It befeems a damfel to be at her board (table) 5 a rambling woman fcatters words, She is often charged with faults, a man thinks of her with contempt, oft her cheek fmites." In all ranks, from the queen to the peafant, we find the lady of the houfehold attending to her domeftic duties. In 686, John of Beverley performed a fuppofed miraculous cure on the lady of a Yorkfhire earl 5 and the man who narrated the miracle to Bede the hiftorian, and who dined with John of Beverley at the earl's houfe after the cure, Said, " She prefented the cup to the biShop (John) and to me, and continued Serving us with drink as She had begun, till dinner was over." Domeftic duties of this kind were never considered as degrading, and they were performed with a Simplicity peculiarly characteristic of the age. Bede relates another Story of a miraculous cure performed on an earl's wife by St. Cuthbert, in the fequel of which we find the lady going forth from her houfe to meet her huSband's visitor, holding the reins while he dismounts, and conducting him in. The wicked and ambitious queen Elfthrida, when her Step-Son king Edward approached her residence, went out in perfon to attend upon him, and invite him to enter, and, on his refuSal, She Served him with the cup herSelf, and it was while Stooping to take it that he was treacherously Stabbed by one of her attendants. In their chamber, betides Spinning and weaving, the ladies were employed in needlework and embroidery, and the Saxon ladies were fo Skilful in this art, that their work, under the name ot EngliSh work (opus Anglicum), was celebrated on the continent. We read and Sentiments. 53 read of a Saxon lady, named Ethelfwitha, who retired with her maidens to a houfe near Ely, where her mother was buried, and employed herfelf and them in making a rich chafuble for the monks. The four princeifes, the fitters of king Ethelftan, were celebrated for their ikill in {pinning, weaving, and embroidering ; William of Malmefbury tells us that their father, king Edward, had educated them "in fuch wife, that in child- hood they gave their whole attention to letters, and afterwards employed themfelves in the labours of the diftaff and the needle." The reader will remember in the ftory of the Saxon queen Olburgha, the mother of the great Alfred, how fhe fat in her chamber, furrounded by her children, and encouraging them in a tafte for literature. The ladies, when thus occupied, were not inacceiiible to their friends of either fex. When Dunftan was a youth, he appears to have been always a welcome vifitor to the ladies in their "bowers," on account of his ikill in mufic and in the arts. His contemporary biographer tells us of a noble lady, named Ethelwynn, who, knowing his ikill in drawing and defigns, obtained his afliftance for the ornaments of a handibme Hole which ilie and her women were embroidering. Dunftan is reprefented as bringing his harp with him into the apartment of the ladies, and hanging it up againft the wall, that he might have it ready to play to them in the intervals of their work. Editha, the queen of Edward the Confeffor, was well-known as a ikilful needle-woman, and as extenfively verfed in literature. Ingulfs ftory of his fchoolboy-days, if it be true (for there is confiderable doubt of the authenticity of Ingulfs "Hiftory"), and of his interviews with queen Edith, gives us a curious picture of the fim- plicity of an Anglo-Saxon court, even at the lateft period of their monarchy. " I often met her," he fays, " as I came from fchool, and then fhe queftioned me about my ftudies and my verfes; and willingly paffing from grammar to logic, fhe would catch me in the fubtleties of argument. She always gave me two or three pieces of money, which were counted to me by her handmaiden, and then fent me to the royal larder to refreih myfelf. Several circumftances arifing out of certain rivalries of focial infli- tutions render it fomewhat difficult to form an eftimate of the moral charadter 54 Hijlory of Domejiic Manners character of the Anglo-Saxons. In the firft place, before the introduction of Chriftianity, marriage was a mere civil institution, confifted chiefly in a bargain between the father of the lady and the man who fought her, and was completed with few formalities, except thofe of feafting and rejoicing. After the young lady was out of the control of her parents, the two fexes were on a footing of equality to each other, and the marriage tie was fo little binding, that, in cafe of difagreement, it was at the will of either of the married couple to feparate, in which cafe the relatives or friends of each party interfered, to fee that right was done in the proportional repayment, of marriage money, dowry, &c, and after the feparation each party was at liberty to marry again. This ftate of things is well illuftrated in the Icelandic flory of the Burnt Njal, recently tranilated by Dr. Daient, and it was not abolifhed by the fecular laws, after the converfion of the Anglo-Saxons to Chriftianity, marriage ftill continuing to be, in fact, a civil inftitution. But the higher clergy, at leaft, who were thofe who were raoft ftrongly infpired with the Romifh fentiments, difapproved entirely of this view of the marriage ftate, and, although the Saxon priefls appear not to have hefitated in being prefent at the fecond marriages after fuch feparations, they were apparently forbidden by the eccleliaftical laws from giving their blefting to them.* With fuch views of the con- jugal relations, we cannot be furprifed if the alfociating together of a man and woman, without the ceremonies of marriage, was looked upon without difguft ; in fact, this was the cafe throughout weftern Europe during the middle ages, in fpite of the docfrines of the church, and the offspring was hardly considered as difpoffeffed of legal rights. It would be eafy to point out examples illuftrating this ftate of things. Again, the priefthood among the unconverted Saxons was probably, as it appears among the Icelanders in the ftory of the Burnt Njal juft alluded to, a * This, I suppose, is the meaning of the canon of Alfric (No. 9), which allows a layman to marry, with a dispensation, a second time, "if his wife desert him" (gyf &" w'f at fy l '^)i but the priest was not allowed to give his blessing to the marriage, because it was a case in which the church enjoined a penance, the per- formance of which it would he his duty to require. But the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical laws on this subject is rather obscure. fort and Senti?ne?its. 55 fort of family polfeflion,* the priefts themfelves being what we Should call family men 5 fo that when the Anglo-Saxon people were Chriftians, and no longer pagans, the mafs of the clergy, whatever may have been their fincerity as Chriftians, could not understand, or, at leaft, were unwilling to accept, the new Romith doctrine which required their celibacy. In both thefe cafes, the Anglo-Saxon ecclefiaftical writers, who are our chief authority on this fubject, and were the molt bigoted of the Romifh party, fpeak in terms of exaggerated virulence, on the fcore of morality, againft practices which the Anglo-Saxon people had not been ufed to confider as immoral at all. Thus, we fhould be led to believe, from the accounts of thefe ecclefiaftical moralifts, that the Anglo- Saxon clergy were infamous for their incontinence, whereas their decla- mations probably mean only that the Anglo-Saxon priefts perfifted in having wives and families. The fecular laws contain frequent allufions to the continuance of principles relating to the marriage ftate, which were derived from the older period of paganifm, and fome of thefe are extremely curious. Thus, the laws of king Ethelred provide that a man who feduces another man's wife, Shall make reparation, not only as in modern times, by paying pecuniary damages, but alio by procuring him another wife ! or, in the words of the original, " If a freeman have been familiar with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his wer-gild (the money compensation for the killing of a man), and provide another wife with his own money, and bring her home to the other." By a law of king Ine, " if any man buy a wife (that is, if the bargain with her fa! her * This fact of family priesthood may perhaps explain a circumstance in the early history of Northumbria, which has much puzzled some antiquaries; I mean the story, given by Bede, of the conversion of king Edwin, and of the part acted on that occasion by the Northumbrian priest Coifi. The place where the priesthood was held, and where the temple stood, was called Godmundingaham, a name which it has preserved, slightly modified, to the present day. This name has been the victim of" the most absurd attempts at derivation, which are not worth repeating here, because every one who knows the Anglo-Saxon language, and anything of Anglo-Saxon antiquities, is aware that it can only have one meaning— the home, or head residence, of the Godmundings, or descendants of Godmund. Perhaps the priesthood was at this time in the family of the Godmundings, and Coifi may have been then the head of the family. has >> 56 Hiftory of ' Domeftic Manners has been completed), and the marriage take not place," he was required to pay the money, betides other compenfation. And again, by one of Alfred's laws, it was provided, " If any one deceive an unbetrothed woman, and Sleep with her, let him pay for her, and have her afterwards to wife ; but if the father of the woman will not give her, let him pay money according to her dowry." Regulations relating to the buying of a wife, are found in the Anglo-Saxon laws. We learn nothing in the facts of hiftory to the difcredit of the Anglo- Saxon character in general. As in other countries, in the fame condition of fociety, they appear capable of great crimes, and of equally great acts of goodnefs and virtue. Generally fpeaking, their leaft amiable trait was the treatment of their fervants or Haves ; for this clafs among the Anglo-Saxons were in a ftate of abfolute fervitude, might be bought and fold, and had no protection in the law againil their mailers and miftrefles, who, in fact, had power of life and death over them. We gather from the ecclefiaftical canons that, at leaft in the earlier periods of Anglo-Saxon hiftory, it was not unufual for fervants to be fcourged to death by or by order of their miftrefles. Some of the collections of local miracles, fuch as thofe of St. Swithun, at Winchester (of the tenth century), furnifh us with horrible pictures of the cruel treatment to which female Slaves efpecially were Subjected. For comparatively flight offences they were loaded with gyves and fetters, and Subjected to all kinds of tortures. Several of thefe are curioufly illuftrative of domeftic manners. On one occafion, the maid- fervant of Teothic the bell-maker (campanarius) , of Winchefter, was, for "a flight offence," placed in iron fetters, and chained up by the feet and hands all night. Next morning lhe was taken out to be frightfully beaten, and fhe was put again into her bonds 5 but in the enfuing night flie contrived to make her efcape, and fled to the church to feek Sanctuary at the tomb of St. Swithun, for being in a ftate of fervitude there was no legal protection for her. On another occaiion, a female Servant had been ftolen from a former matter, and had pafled into the pofleflion of another mailer in Winchefter. One day her former mailer came to Winchefter, and the girl, hearing of it, went to Speak to him. When her miftrefe heard that lhe had been Seen to talk with a man from and Sentiments. 57 a dillant province, ihe ordered her to be thrown into fetters, and treated very cruelly. Next day, while the miftrefs had gone out on feme buii- nefs, leaving her iervant at home in fetters, the latter made her eicape fimilarly to the fandtuary of the church. Another fervant-girl in Win- chefter, taking her mailer's clothes to warn in the river, was fet upon by thieves, who robbed her of them. Her mailer, afcribing the milhap to her own negligence, beat her very feverely, and then put her in fetters, from which me made her efcape like the others. The interemng fcene ^H No. 37. Wafting and Scourging. reprefented in our cut, No. 37, taken from the Harleian MS., No. 603, fol. 14, v°., may be regarded as mowing us the fcourging of a Have. In a pidture in Alfric's verfion of Generis, the man fcourged, initead of being tied by the feet, is fixed by the body in a cloven poft, in a rather lingular manner. The aptnefs with which the Saxon ladies made life oJ the fcourge is illustrated by one of William of Malmefbury's anecdotes, who tells us that, when king Ethelred was a childj he oner fo irritated 1 his 58 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners his mother, that not having a whip, fhe beat him with fome candles, which were the firft thing that fell under her hand, until he was almoft infenfible. " On this account he dreaded candles during the reft of his life, to fuch a degree that he would never fuffer the light of them to be introduced in his pre fence !" The cruelty of the Anglo-Saxon ladies to their fervants offers a con- trail to the generally mild character of the punifhments inflicted by the Anglo-Saxon laws. The laws of Ethelred contain the following injunction, fhowing how contrary capital punilhment is to the fpirit of Anglo-Saxon legiflation : — "And the ordinance of our lord, and of his witan (parliament), is, that Chriftian men for all too little be not condemned to death ; but in general let mild punilhment be decreed, for the people's need ; and let not for a little God's handywork and his own purchafe be deftroyed, which he dearly bought." This injunction is repeated in the laws of Canute. It appears that the ufual method of inflicting death upon criminals was by hanging. Our cut, No. 38, taken from the illuminations to Alfric's verflon of Genefis, reprefents an Anglo-Saxon gallows {galga), and the rather primitive method of carrying the laft penalty of the law into effect. The early illuminated manufcripts give us few reprefentations of popular punifhments. The Anglo-Saxon vocabularies enumerate the following implements of punilhment, befides the galga, or gallows : fetters (fceter, cops), diftinguiihed into foot-fetters and hand-fetters ; fhackles {fcacul, or fccacul), which appear to have been ufed fpecially for the neck ; a fwipa, or fcourge 3 ofiig gi/rd, a knotted rod ; tindig, explained by the Latin Jcorpio, and meaning apparently a whip with knots or plummets at the end of thongs, like thole ufed by the charioteers in the cuts in our next chapter; and an inftrument of torture called a threpel, which is explained by the Latin equuleus and Sentiments. 59 equuleus. The following cut, No. 39, from the Harleian MS., No. 603 (fo often quoted), ihows us the flocks, generally placed by the fide of the public road at the entrance to the town. Two other offenders are attached to the columns of the public building, perhaps a court-houfe, by apparently a rope and a chain. The Anglo- Saxon laws prefcribe few corporal punilhments, but fubftitute for them the payment of fines, or compenfa- tion-money, and thefe are propor- tioned to the offences with very extraordinary minutenefs. Thus, to fele£t a few examples from the very Pumftmients. numerous lift of injuries which may be done to a man's perfon, — if any one ftruck off an ear, he was to pay twelve lhillings, and, if an eye, fifty fhillings; if the nofe were cut through, the payment was nine lhillings. " For each of the four front teeth, fix fhillings ; for the tooth which ftands next to them, four fhillings ; for that which follows, three fhillings ; and for all the others, a fhilling each." If a thumb were ftruck off, it was valued at twenty fhillings. "If the fhooting finger were ftruck off" (a term which fhows how incorreclly it has been affumed that the Anglo- Saxons were not accuftomed to the bow), the compenfation was eight fhillings ; for the middle finger, four fhillings ; for the ring-finger, fix fhillings ; and for the little finger eleven fhillings. The thumb-nail was valued at three fhillings ; and the finger-nails at one fhilling each. We have little information on the fecrets of the toilette of the Anglo- Saxons. We know from many fources that wafliing and bathing Mere frequent practices among them. The ufe of hot baths they probably derived from the Romans. The vocabularies give thermce as the Latin equivalent. They are not unfrequently mentioned in the ecclefiaftical laws, and in the canons paffed in the reign of king Edgar, warm baths and foft beds are profcribed as domeftic luxuries which tended t<> effeminacy. If thefe were really the thermce of the Romans, it is perhaps the hoftility of the afcetic part of the Romifh clergy which 60 Hijiory of Domejiic Mariners caufed them to be difcontinued and forgotten. Our cut No. 37 repre- fents a party at their ablutions. We conftantly find among the articles in the graves of Anglo-Saxon ladies tweezers, which were evidently intended for eradicating fuperfluous hairs, a circumftance which con- tributes to mow that they paid fpecial attention to hair-drefling. To judge from the colour of the hair in fome of the illuminations, we might be led to fuppofe that fometimes they ftained it. The young men feem to have been more foppiih and vain of their perfons than the ladies, and fome of the old chronicles, fuch as the Ely hiftory, tell us (which we mould hardly have expecled) that this was efpecially a characferiftic of the Daniih invaders, who, we are told, "following the cuftom of their country, ufed to comb their hair every day, bathed every Saturday, often changed their clothes, and ufed many other fuch frivolous means of fetting off the beauty of their perfons."* There is every reafon for believing that the Anglo-Saxon ladies were fond of gardens and flowers, and many alluvions in the writings of that period intimate a warm appreciation of the beauties of nature. The poets not unfrequently take their companions from flowers. Thus, in a poem in the Exeter Book, a pleafant fmell is defcribed as being — Sivccca fwctafl, Of odours fwectef, fivylce on fumeres tid fuch as in fummer^s tide Jlincaft onfowmn, fragrance fend forth in places, jla\>elum fcejte , f oft in their ftaticns, ivynnum cefter luongum, 3°y ou fly °^ er f ^ ie plains, ivyrta geblowene bloivn plants hunig-foivende. honey-foiving, — Exeter Book, p. 178. And one of the poetical riddles in the fame collection contains the lines — Ic eom on fence I am in odour frengre \>onne riccls, ftrongcr than incenfe f o\>\>e rofajy, or the rofe is } on eor\>an tyrf which on eartlCs turf •wynlic ivcaxc% ; pleafant grows ; '* Hahebant etiam ex consuetudine patriae unoquoque die comam pectere, sabbatis balneare, saepe etiam vestituram mutare, et formam corporis multis talibus frivolis adjuvare. — Hist. Eliensis ap. Gale, p. 547. and Sentiments. 6 1 ic eom wrajlre ]>onne hco. I am more delicate than it. \>eah \>a liliefy Though that the lily be leof mon-cynnc, dear to mankind, beorht on blojtman, bright in its blofl'om, ic eom betre \>onne heo. I am better than it. — Exeter Book, p. 423. So in another of thefe poems we read — - Fager fugla rcord, Sweet -was the Jong of birds, folde gebloivcn, the earth tuas covered ivith flowers, geacas gear budon. cuckoos announced the year. — Ibid. p. 146. Before we quit entirely the Saxon ball, and its feftivities and cere- monies, we mufl mention one circumftance connected with them. The laws and cuftoms of the Anglo-Saxons earnefily enjoined the duty of almlgiving, and a multitude of perfons partook of the hofpitality of the rich man's manfion, who were not worthy to be admitted to his tables. Thefe affembled at meal-times outride the gate of his houfe, and it was a cuftom to lay afide a portion of the provilions to be diftributed among them, with the fragments from the table. In Alfric's homily for the fecond Sunday after Pentecoft, the preacher, after dwelling on the ftory of Lazarus, who was fpurned from the rich man's table, appeals to his Anglo-Saxon audience — " many Lazarufes ye have now lying at your gates, begging for your fuperfluity." Bede tells us of the good king Ofwald, that when he was once fitting at dinner, on Eafter-day, with his bilhop, having a filver difli full of dainties before him, as they were jufi. ready to blels the bread, the fervant whofe duty it was to relieve the poor, came in on a fudden and told the king that a great multitude of needy perfons from all parts were fitting in the flxeets begging fome alms of the king. The latter immediately ordered the provilions let before him to be carried to the poor, and the dilh to be cut in pieces and divided among them. In the picture of a Saxon houfe given in our firft chapter (p. 15), we fee the lord of the houfehold on a fort of throne at the entrance to his hall, prefiding over the distribution of his charity. This feat, generally under an arch or canopy, is often represented in the Saxon manufcripts, and the chief or lord feated under it, diltributing juftice or charity. In the accompanying cut, No. 40, taken from the Anglo-Saxon manufcript 62 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners manufcript of Prudentius, the lady Wifdom is reprefented feated on fuch a throne. It was, perhaps, the lurli-geat-fetl, or feat at the burh-gate, mentioned as characferiftic of the rank of the thane in the following extracf from a treatife on ranks in fociety, printed with the Anglo-Saxon No. 40. Wifdom on her Throne. laws : "And if a eeorl thrived, fo that he had fully five hides of his own land, church (or perhaps private chapel), and kitchen (kycenan), bell- houfe, and burh-gate-feat, and fpecial duty in the king's hall, then was he thenceforth worthy of the dignity of thane." and Sentiments. 63 CHAPTER IV. OUT OF DOOR AMUSEMENTS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. HUNTING AND HAWKING. HORSES AND CARRIAGES. TRAVELLING. MONEY- DEALINGS. THE progrefs of fociety from its firft formation to the full develop- ment of civilization, has been compared not inaptly to the life of man. In the childhood and youth of fociety, when the population was not numerous, and a fervile clafs performed the chief part of the labour neceffary for adminilrering to the wants or luxuries of life, people had a far greater proportion of time on their hands to till up with amufements than at a later period, and many that are now confidered frivolous, or are only indulged in at rare intervals of relaxation, then formed the principal occupations of men's lives. We have glanced at the in-door amufements of the Anglo-Saxons in a previous chapter ; but their out-door recreations, although we have little information refpecting them, were certainly much more numerous. The multitude of followers who, in Saxon times, attended on each lord or rich man as their military chief, or as their domeitic fupporter, had generally no ferious occupation during the greater part of the day; and this abundance of unemployed time was not con- fined to one clafs of fociety, for the artifan had to work lefs to gain his fubfiftence, and both citizen and peafant were excufed from work alto- gether during the numerous holidays of the year. That the Anglo-Saxons were univerfally fond of play (plega) is proved by the frequent ufe of the word in a metaphorical fenfe. They even applied it to fighting and battle, which, in the language of the poets, were plega-gares (play of darts), eefc-plega (play of flfields), and kand- plega 64. Hijiory of Domejiic Marnier s plega (play of hands).* In the gloflaries, plegere (a player), and plega- man (a playman), are ufed to reprefent the Roman gladiator; and plega-hus (a playhoufe), and plega-flow (a play-place), exprefs a theatre, or more probably an amphitheatre. Recent difcoveries have fhown that there was a theatre of considerable dimensions in the Roman town of Verulamium (near St. Alban's) 5 and old writers tell us there was one at the Silurian Ifca (Caerleon), though thefe buildings were doubtlefs of rare occurrence ; but every Roman town of any importance in the ifland had its amphitheatre outride the walls for gladiatorial and other exhi- bitions. The refult of modern refearches feems to prove that moft of the Roman towns continued to exift after the Saxon fettlement of the iiland, and we can have no doubt that the amphitheatres, at leaft for awhile, continued to be devoted to their original purpofes, although the perform- ances were modified in character. Some of them (like that at Rich- borough, in Kent, lately examined), were certainly furrounded by walls, while others probably were merely cut in the ground, and furrounded by a low embankment formed of the material thrown out. The firft of thefe, the Saxons would naturally call a play-houfe, while the other would receive the no lefs appropriate appellation of a play-flow, or place for playing. Among the illuftrations of the Anglo-Saxon manufcript of the Pfalms (MS. Harl., No. 603), to which we have fo often had occa- lion to refer, there is a very curious picture, evidently intended to repre- fent an amphitheatre outflde a town. It is copied in our cut No. 41. The rude Anglo-Saxon draughtfman has evidently intended to reprefent an embankment, occupied by the Spectators, around the fpot where the performances take place. The fpectator to the left is exprefling his approbation by clapping with his hands. The performances themfelves are lingular: we have a party of minftrels, one of them playing on the Roman double pipes, fo often reprefented in Anglo-Saxon manufcripts, while another is dancing to him, and the third is performing with a tame bear, which is at the moment of the reprefentation Simulating fleep. * It is curious that the modern English words play (/" , 'f- J )> and game (jramen), are both derived from the Anglo-Saxon, which perhaps shows that they represent sentiments we have derived from our Saxon forefathers. Games and Sentiments. 65 Games of this kind with animals, fucceeded no doubt among the Saxons to the Roman gladiatorial fights, but few have imagined that the popular Engliih exhibition of the dancing bear dated from fo remote a period. The manufcripts Ihow that the double pipe was in ufe among the Anglo- Saxons 3 with a little modification, and a bag of bellows to fupply the No. 4 1 . Games of the Amphitheatre, place of the human lungs, this inftrument was transformed into a bag- pipe. Not the leaft curious part of this picture is the (own in the back- ground, with its entrance gateway, and public buildings. The Anglo- Saxon draughtfmen were imperfectly acquainted with perfpe&ive, and k paid 66 Hijiory of "Domefiic Manners paid little attention to proportion in their reprefentations of towns and houfes, a circumftance. which is fully illuftrated in this picture. As the artift was unable from this circumftance to reprefent the buildings and Itreets of a town in their relative pofition, he put in a houfe to reprefent a multitude of houfes, and here he has hmilarly given one building within the walls to reprefent all the public buildings of the town. An exactly fimilar characteriftic will be obferved in our cut No. 42, taken from the fame manufcript, where one temple reprefents the town. Here again No. 42. A Tenon. we have a party of citizens outride the walls, amufing themfelves as well as they can 5 fome, for want of other employment, are laying themfelves down liftlerTly on the ground. The national fentiments and cuftoms of the Anglo-Saxons would, however, lead to the felecYion of other places for the fcenes of their games, and thus the Roman amphitheatres became neglefted. Each village had its arena — its play-place — where perfons of all ages' and fexes affembled and Sentiments. 67 aifembled on their holidays to be players or lookers on 5 and this appears to have been uiually chofen near a fountain, or ibrae object hallowed by the popular creed, for cuftoms of this kind were generally aifociated with religious feelings which tended to confecrate and protect them. Thefe holiday games, which appear to have been very common among our Saxon forefathers, were the originals of our village wakes. Wandering minftrels, like thofe reprefented in our cut No. 41, repaired to them to exhibit their lkill, and were always welcome. The young men exerted themfelves in running, or leaping, or wreftling. Thefe games attracted merchants, and gradually became the centres of extenfive fairs. Such was the cafe with one of the raoft celebrated in England during the middle ages, that of Barnwell, near Cambridge. It was a large open place, between the town and the banks of the river, well fuited for fuch fefti- vities as thofe of which we are fpeaking. A fpring in the middle of this plain, we are told in the early chartulary of Barnwell Abbey, was called Beornawyl (the well of the youths), becaufe every year, on the eve of the Nativity of St. John the Baptift, the boys and youths of the neigh- bourhood affembled there, and, " after the manners of the Englifh, prac- tifed wreftling and other boyiih games, and mutually applauded one another with fongs and mufical inftruments ; whence, on account of the multitude of boys and girls who gathered together there, it grew a cuftom for a crowd of fellers and buyers to aflemble there on the fame day for the purpofe of commerce."* This is a curious and a rather rare allufion to an Anglo-Saxon wake. One of the great recreations of the Anglo-Saxons was hunting, for which the immenfe forefts, which then covered a great portion of this ifland, gave a wide fcope. The moft auftere and pious, as well as the moft warlike, of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs, were pallionately attached to the pleafures of the chafe. According to the writer who has alfumed * Pueri et adolesce rites, . . . illic convenientes, more Anglorum luctamina et alia hulicra exercebant puerilia, et cantilenis et musicis instruments sibi invicem applaudebant, unde propter turbam puerorum et puellarum illic concurrentium, mos inolevit ut in eodem die illic conveniret negotiandi gratia turba vendentium et ementium. — MS. Harl. No. 3601, f'ol. 12, v°. the 68 Hiftory of Domejlic Manners the name of After, the great Alfred was fo attached to this amufement, that he condefcended to teach his "falconers, hawkers, and dog-keepers" himfelf. His grandfon, king Ethelftan, as we learn from William of Malmefbury, exacted from the Welfh princes, among other articles of tribute, "as many dogs as he might choofe, which, from their fagacious fcent, could difcover the retreats and hiding-places of wild beafts ; and birds trained to make prey of others in the air." The fame writer tells us of the fainted Edward the Confeflbr, that "there was one earthly enjoyment in which he chiefly delighted, which was, hunting with fleet hounds, whofe opening in the woods he ufed with pleafure to encourage ; and again, with the pouncing of birds, whofe nature it is to prey on their kindred fpecies. In thefe exercifes, after hearing divine fervice in the morning, he employed himfelf whole days." It is evident from the ecclefiaftical laws, that it was difficult to reftrain even the clergy from this diveriion. One of the eccleliaftical canons paffed in the reign of king Edgar, enjoins " that no prieft be a hunter, or fowler, or player at tables, but let him play on his books, as becometh his calling." When the king hunted, it appears that men were employed to beat up the game, while others were placed at different avenues of the foreft to hinder the deer from taking a direction contrary to the willies of the hunter. Several provifions relating to the employment of men in this way, occur in the Domefday furvey. A contemporary writer of the Life of Dunftan gives the following defcription of the hunting of king Edmund the Elder, at Ceoddri (Chedder). "When they reached the foreft," he fays, " they took various directions along the woody avenues, and the varied noife of the horns, and the barking of the dogs, aroufed many flags. From thefe, the king with his pack of hounds chofe one for his own hunting, and purfued it long, through devious ways with great agility on his horfe, with the hounds following. In the vicinity of Ceoddri were feveral fleep and lofty precipices hanging over deep decli- vities. To one of thefe the flag came in his flight, and dallied headlong to his deftruction down the immense depth, all the dogs following and perifhing with him." The king with difficulty held in his horfe. The dogs (hundas), ufed for the chafe among the Anglo-Saxons, were valuable. and Sentiments. 6 9 No. 43. Anglo-Saxon valuable, and were bred with great care. Every noble or great land- owner had his hund-wealh, or dog-keeper. The accompanying cut (No. 43), taken from the Harleian MS. No. 603, reprefents a dog-keeper, with his couple of hounds — they feem to have hunted in couples. The Anglo-Saxon name for a hunting-dog was ren-hund, a dog of chafe, which is interpreted by greyhound ; and this appears, from the cut, to have been tlie favourite dog of our Saxon fore- fathers. It appears by an allufion given above, that the Saxons obtained hunting dogs from Wales 3 yet the antiquary will be at once ftruck with the total diffimilarity of the dogs pictured in the Anglo-Saxon manu- fcripts, from the Britifh dogs reprefented on the Romano-Britifh pottery. The dogs were ufed to find the game, and follow it by the fcent ; the hunters killed it with fpears, or with bows and arrows, or drove it into nets. In the Colloquy of Alfric, a hunter (hunta) of one of the royal forefts gives a curious account of his profeflion. When aiked how he praftifes his " craft," he replies, " I braid nets, and fet them in a con- venient place, and fet on my hounds, that they may purfue the beads of chafe, until they come unexpectedly to the nets, and fo become intangled in them, and I flay them in the nets." He is then alked if he cannot hunt without nets, to which he replies, " Yes, I purfue the wild animals with fwift hounds." He next enumerates the different kinds of game which the Saxon hunter ufually hunted — "I take harts, and boars, and deer, and roes, and fometimes hares." "Yefterday," he continues, "I took two harts and a boar, . . . the harts with nets, and [ flew the boar with my weapon." "How were you fo hardy as to flay a boar?" " My hounds drove him to me, and I, there facing him, fuddenly •ftruck him down." "You were very bold then." "A hunter mull not be timid, for various wild beads dwell in tin 1 woods." It would feem by this, that boar-hunting was not uncommon in the more extenfive forefts ' of 7° Hiftory of Domejiic Manners of this iiland ; but Sharon Turner has made a Angular miftake, in fup- pofing, from a pidmre in the Anglo-Saxon calendar, that boar-hunting was the ordinary occupation of the month of September. The fcene which he has thus miftaken — or at leall, a portion of it — is given in our cut No. 44 (from the Cottonian MS. Claudius, C. viii.) j it reprefents No. 44. Swine-Herds. fwineherds driving their fwine into the forefts to feed upon acorns, which one of the herdfmen is making from the trees with his hand. The herdfmen were necefTarily armed to protecf the herds under their charge from robbers. The Anglo-Saxons, as we have feen, were no lefs attached to hawking than hunting. The fame Colloquy already quoted contains the following dialogue relating to the fowler (fugelere). To the queftion, " How doll thou catch birds?" he replies, "I catch them in many ways ; fome times with nets, fometimes with fnares, fometimes with bird-lime, fometimes with whiffling, fometimes with a hawk, fometimes with a trap." "Haft thou a hawk?" "I have." " Canft thou tame them?" "Yes, I can ; of what ufe would they be to me unlets I could tame them? " "Give me a hawk." "I will give one willingly in exchange for a fwift hound. What kind of hawk will you have, the greater or the leifer?" . . . "How feeder! thou thy hawks?" "They feed themfelves and me in winter, and in fpring I let them fly to the wood, and I catch young ones in autumn and tame them." A party of hawkers is represented in our cut No. 43, taken from the manufcript lali quoted, where it illuftrates the and Sentiments. the month of Oftober. The rude attempt at depicting a landfcape is intended to represent a river running from the diftant hills into a lake, and the hawkers are hunting cranes and other water-fowl. Prefents of hawks and falcons are not unfrequently mentioned in Anglo-Saxon No. 45. Anglo-Saxons Haivking. writers 3 and in a will, an Anglo-Saxon leaves to his natural lord " two hawks and all his flag-hounds." The Saxon youths were proud of their ikill in horfemanfhip. Bede relates an anecdote of the youthful days of Herebald, abbot of Tyne- mouth, when he attended upon bifhop John of Beverley, from Herebald's own words — "It happened one day," the latter faid, "that as we were travelling with him (the bifhop), we came into a plain and open road, well adapted for galloping our horfes. The young men that were with him, and particularly thofe of the laity, began to entreat the bifhop to give them leave to gallop, and make trial of the goodnefs of their horfes When they had feveral times galloped back- wards and forwards, the bifhop and I looking on, my wanton humour prevailed, and I could no longer refri but, though he forbade me, I ftruck in among them, ami began to No. 46. Slnglo-Saxons on a Journey. 7 2 Hi/lory of Dome flic Manners No. 47. An Anglo-Saxon Horfeman. at full fpeed." Horfes were ufed chiefly by the upper claffes of fociety in travelling. Two of a party of Saxon travellers are reprefented in our cut No. 46 (from MS. Cotton. Claudius, B. iv\). The lady, it will be obferved, rides fideways, as in modern times, and the illumi- nated manufcripts of different periods furnifh us with examples enough to fhow that fuch was always the practice 5 yet an old writer has afcribed the introduc- tion of fide-faddles into this country to Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard II., and the ftatement has been repeated by writers on coftume, who too often blindly compile from one another without examining carefully the original fources of information.* The next cut, No. 47 (taken from MS. Harl. No. 603), reprefents a horfeman with his arms, the fpear, and the round fhield, with its bofs, which reminds us of thofe frequently found in the early Anglo-Saxon graves. The horfe furniture is tolerably well defined in thefe figures. The forms of the fpur (fpura) and the ftirrup (called in Anglo- Saxon ftirap and hlypa) are very peculiar. Moft of the furniture of the horfe was then, as now, of leather, and was made by the fhoemaker * This erroneous statement is repeated by most of our writers on such subjects, and will be found in Mr. Planchd's " History of British Costume." Statements of this kind made by old writers are seldom to be depended upon ; people were led by political bias or personal partiality, to ascribe the introduction of customs that were odious, to persons who were unpopular, or whom they disliked, while the)' ascribed everything of a contrary character to persons who were beloved. No. 48. Anglo-Saxon Horfe Fittings. and Sentiments. 73 (fe fceowyrhta), who feems to have been the general manufacturer of articles in this material. Alfric's Colloquy enumerates among the articles made by the Ihoemaker, bridle-thongs (Iridel-thwancgas) , harneifes (gerceda), fpur-leathers (fpur-letkera), and halters (hcelfra). The form of the faddle is mown in the reprefentation of a horfe without a rider, given, from the manufcript laft quoted, in our cut No. 48. In the Anglo-Saxon church hiltories, we meet with frequent inftances of perfons, who were unable to walk from ficknefs or other caufe, being carried in carts or cars, but in molt cafes thefe feem to have been nothing but the common agricultural carts adapted temporarily to this ufage. A horfe-litter is oa one occafion ufed for the fame purpofe. It is certain, No. 49. A Chariot. however, that the Anglo-Saxons had chariots for travelling. The ufual names of all vehicles of this kind were wcegn or ween (from which, our waggon) and crat or crest (which appears to be the origin of the Englilli word cart). Thefe two terms appear to have been ufed lynonymoully, for the words of the 18th Pfalm, hi in curribus, are tranllated in one Anglo-Saxon verlion by on wcenum, and in another by in crcetum. The Anglo-Saxon manufcripts give us various reprcfentations of vehicles for travelling. The one reprefented in the cut No. 49 is taken from the Anglo-Saxon manufcript of Prudentius. It feems to have been a Inn- baric "improvement" upon the Roman I'lgn, and is not much unlike our l modern 74 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners modern market-carts. The whip ufed by the lady who is driving fo furioully, is of the fame form as that ufed by the horfewoman in our cut No. 46. The artift has not mown the wcegne-thixl, or fhaft. A four- wheeled carriage, of rather a lingular conftruclion, is found often repeated, with fome variations, in the illuminations of the manufcript of Alfric's tranflation of the Pentateuch. One of them is given in our cut No. 50. It is quite evident that a good deal of the minor detail of conftruclion has been omitted by the draughts- man. Anglo-Saxon gloffes give the word rad to reprefent the Latin quadriga. From the fame fource we learn that the compound word ivcen-fcer, waggon-going, was ufed to exprefs journeying in chariots. Riding in chariots mull have been rare among the Anglo-Saxons. Horfes were only ufed by the better claffes of fociety ; and we learn from Bede and other writers that pious ecclefiaftics, fuch as biihops Aidan, Ceadda, and Cuthbert, thought it more confiftent with the humility of their facred character to journey on foot. The pedeftrian carried either a fpear or a ftarf; the rider had almoft always a fpear. It is noted of Cuthbert, in Bede's life of that faint, that one day when he came to Mailros (Melrofe), and would enter the church to pray, having leaped from his horfe, he " gave the latter and his travelling fpear to the care of a fervant, for he had not yet refigned the drefs and habits of a layman." The weapon was, no doubt, neceflary for perfonal fafety. There is a very curious claufe in the Anglo-Saxon laws of king Alfred, relating to an accident ariling from the carrying the fpear, which we can hardly underftand, although to require a fpecial law it mull have been of frequent occurrence ; this law provides that " if a man have a fpear over his moulder, and any man flake him/elf upon it," the carrier of the fpear incurred fevere punilh- ment, "if the point be three fingers higher than the hindmolt. part of the No. 50. An Anglo-Saxon Carriage, and Sentiments. y$ the ihaft." He was not confidered blameable if he held the fpear quite horizontally. The traveller always wore a covering for his head, which, though of various fhapes, none of which refembled our modern hat, was characterifed by the general term of licet. He feems to have been further protected againft the inclemency of the weather by a cloak or mantle (mentel). One would be led to fuppofe that this outer garment was more varied in form and material than any other part of the drefs, from the great number of names which we find applied to it, fuch as lafing, hcecce, hceccla, or hacela, pcell, pylca, fcyccels, wcefels, tkc. The writings which remain throw no light upon the provifions made by travellers againft rain ; for the dictionary-makers who give fcur-fcead (fhower-ihade) as fignifying an umbrella, are certainly mistaken.* Yet that umbrellas were known to the Anglo-Saxons is proved beyond a doubt by a figure in the Harleian manufcript, No. 603, which is given in our cut No. 51. A fervant or attendant is holding an umbrella over the head of a man who appears to be covered at „ < ^/vT^\ the fame time with the cloak or mantle. Travelling to any diftance muft have been ren- dered more uncomfortable, efpecially when palling through wild diftricfs where there were no inns. The word inn is itfelf Saxon, and fignified a lodging, but it appears to have been more ufually applied to houfes of this kind in towns. A tavern was alfo called a gefl-hus or gejl-bur, a houfe or chamber for guefts, and cumena-hus, a houfe of comers. Gueft-houfes, like caravanferais in the Eaft, appear to have been eftablilhed in different parts of Saxon England, near the high roads, for the recep- * The word occurs in the reflections of" our first parents on their nakedness, in the poem attributed to Casdmon. Adam says that when the inclement weather arrives (cym& /iaglafcur—the hail shower will come) they had nothing before them to serve for a defence or shade against the storm — " Nys unc ivu/it bcfci to f cur Cceadc." \ j 6 Hifiory of Domejiic Manners tion of travellers. A traveller in Bede arrives at a kofpitium in the north of England, which was kept by a paterfamilias (or father of a family) and his houfehold. In the Northumbrian glofs on the Pfalms, printed by the Surtees Society, the Latin words of Pfalm liv., in hofpitiis eorum, are rendered by in gejl-hufum heara. This mows that Bede's hofpitium was really a gueft-houfe : thefe gueft-houfes were kept up in various parts of England until Norman times ; and Walter Mapes, in his treatife de Nugis Curialium, has preferved a flory relating to one of William the Conqueror's Saxon opponents, Edric the Wild, which tells how, returning from hunting in the foreft of Dean, and accompanied only with a page, he came to a large houfe, "like the drinking houfes of which the Englifh have one in every parifh, called in Englifh gild-houfes," perhaps an error for gueft-houfes (quales Anglici in Jingulis Jingulas habehant diocejibus bibitorias, ghildhus Anglice diSias). It feems not improbable, alfo, that the ruins of Roman villas and fmall ftations, which flood by the fides of roads, were often roughly repaired or modified, fo as to furnifh a temporary ihelter for travellers who carried provifions, &c, with them, and could therefore lodge themfelves without depending upon the aflift- ance of others. A fhelter of this kind — from its eonfifting of bare walls, a mere fhelter againft the inclemency of the ftorm — might be termed a ceald-hereberga (cold harbour), and this would account for the great number of places in different parts of England, which bear this name, and which are almoft always on Roman fites and near old roads. The explanation is fupported by the circumftance that the name is found among the Teutonic nations on the continent — the German Kalten-her- berg — borne by fome inns at the prefent day. The deficiency of fuch comforts for travellers in Anglo-Saxon times was compenfated by the extenfive practice of hofpitality, a virtue which was effectually inculcated by the cuftoms of the people as well as by the civil and ecclefiaftical laws. When a ftranger prefented himfelf at a Saxon door, and afked for board and lodging, the man who refufed them was looked upon with contempt by his countrymen. In the feventh century, as we learn from the Poenitentiale of archbithop Theodore, the refufal to give lodging to a ftranger (quicunque hofpitem non receperit in domum and Sentiments. yy domum fuam) was confidered worthy of eccleiiaftical cenfure. And in the Eccleiiaftical Inftitutes, drawn up at a later period, and printed in the collection of Anglo-Saxon laws, it is ftated that "It is alio very needful to every mafT-prieft, that he diligently exhort and teach his parilhioners that they be hofpitable, and not refufe their houfes to any wayfaring man, but do for his comfort, for love of God, what they then will or can 5 . . . . but let thofe who, for love of God, receive every ftranger, defire not any worldly reward." Bede defcribes as the firft aft of " the cuftom of hospitality" (trios hofpitalitatis) the waihing of the ftranger' s feet and hands ; they then offered him refreshment, and he was allowed to remain two nights without being questioned, after which period the hoft became anfwerable for his character. The eccleiiaftical laws limited the hofpitality to be fhown to a prieft to one night, becaufe if he remained longer it was a proof that he was neglecting his duties. Taverns of an ordinary description, where there was probably no accommodation for travellers, feem to have been common enough under the Anglo-Saxons ; and it mull be confelTed that there feems to be too much reafon for believing that people fpent a great deal of their leifure time in them ; even the clergy appear to have been tempted to frequent them. In the Eccleiiaftical Inftitutes, quoted above, maif-priefts are forbidden to eat or drink at ale-houfes (cet ceap-ealothelum). And it is ftated in the fame curious record that, " It is a very bad cuftom that many men practife, both on Sundays and alfo other mail-days 3 that is, that ftraightways at early morn they defire to hear mafs, and immediately after the mafs, from early morn the whole day over, in drunkennefs and feafting they minifter to their belly, not to God." Merchant travellers feem, in general, to have congregated together in parties or fmall caravans, both for companionfhip and as a meafure of mutual defence againft robbers. In fuch cafes they probably carried tents with them, and formed little encampments at night, like the pedlars and itinerant dealers in later times. Men who travelled alone were expoied to other dangers befides that of robbery 5 for a folitary wanderer was always looked upon with fufpicion, and he was in danger hirnfelf of b< ing taken for a thief. He was compelled, therefore, by his own interefi and bv 7 8 Hijlory of Domeftic Manners by the law of the land, to fhow that he had no whh to avoid obfervation ; one of the earlier Anglo-Saxon codes of laws, that of king Wihtraed, directed that " if a man come from afar, or a ftranger go out of the high way, and he then neither fhout nor blow a horn, he is to be accounted a thief, either to be flain, or to be redeemed." So prevalent, indeed, was theft and unfair dealing among our Anglo- Saxon forefathers, and fo much litigation and unjuft perfecution arofe from difputed claims to property which had been, or was pretended to have been, purchafed, that it was made illegal to buy or fell without witneffes. It would be eafy to multiply examples of robbery and plunder from Anglo-Saxon writers ; bat I will only ftate that, according to the Ely hiftory, fome merchants from Ireland, having come to Cambridge in the time of king Edgar, to offer their wares for fale, perhaps at the No. 52. Taking Toll. annual feftivities of the Beorna-wyl, mentioned above, a priejl of the place was guilty of Healing a part of their merchandife. We know but little of the trades and forms of commercial dealings of the Anglo-Saxons ; but we may take our leave of the period of which we have been hitherto treating, with a few figures relating to money matters, from the Anglo- Saxon manufcript of the Pfalms (MS. Harl. No. 603). The cut No. 52 reprefents, apparently, a man in the market, or at the gates of a city, taking and Sentiments. 79 taking toll for merchandife. The fcales are for weighing, not the mer- chandife, but the money. The word pund, or pound, implies that the money was reckoned by weight ; and the word mancus, another term for a certain fum of money, is alfo confidered to have been a weight. Anglo- Saxon writings frequently fpeak of money as given by weight. Our cut No. 53 is a reprefentation of the merchant, or the toll-taker, feated before his account book, with his fcales hanging to the deik. In the firft of thefe cuts, a man holds the bag or purfe, in which the money received for toll or merchandife is deposited. The cut No. 54 reprefents the No. 53. A Money Taker. No. 54. Putting Treajure by. receiver pouring the money out of his bag into the cyjl, or cheft, in which it is to be locked up and kept in his treafury. It is hardly neeeflary to fay that there were no banking-houfes among the Anglo-Saxons. The cheft, or coffer, in which people kept their money and other valuables, appears to have formed part of the furniture of the chamber, as being the moft private apartment ; and it may be remarked that a rich man's wealth ufually contifted much more in jewels and valuable plate than in money. We cannot but remark how little change the manners and the fenti- ments of our Saxon forefathers underwent during the long period that we are in any way acquainted with them. During the reign of Edward the Confeffor, Norman faihions were introduced at court, but their influence on the nation at large appears to have been very trifling. Even after the Norman conqueft the Engliih manners and faihions retained their hold on the people, and at later periods they continually re-appear to aflerl their natural rights among the defendants of the Anglo-Saxons. Hijlory of ' Domeftic Manners CHAPTER V. THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD. LUXURIOUSNESS OF THE NORMANS. ADVANCE IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. THE KITCHEN AND THE HALL. PROVISIONS AND COOKERY. BEES. THE DAIRY. MEAL- TIMES AND DIVISIONS OF THE DAY. FURNITURE. THE FALDESTOL. CHAIRS AND OTHER SEATS. A GREAT change was wrought in this country by the entrance of the Normans. From what we have feen, in the courfe of the preceding chapters, fociety feems for a long time to have been at a ftand- ftill among the Anglo-Saxons, as though it had progreffed as far as its own fimple vitality would carry it, and wanted fome new impulfe to move it onwards. By the entrance of the Normans, the Saxon ariftocracy was deftroyed ; but the lower and, in a great meafure^ the middle claffes were left untouched in their manners and cufloms, which they appear to have preferred for a confiderable length of time without any material change. The Norman hiftorians, who write with prejudice when they fpeak of the Saxons, defcribe their nobility as having become luxurious without refinement} and they tell us that the Normans introduced greater fobriety, accompanied with more oftentation. "The nobility," fays William of Malmefbury, " was given up to luxury and wantonnefs. .... Drinking in parties was an univerfal practice, in which occupation they pa{fed entire nights as well as days. They confumed their whole fubftance in mean and defpicable houfesj unlike the Normans and French, who, in noble and fplendid manfions, lived with frugality. The vices attendant on drunkennefs, which enervate the human mind, fol- lowed. ... In fine, the Englifh at that time (under king Harold) wore fhort garments, reaching to the mid-knee ; they had their hair cropped, their beards fhaven, their arms laden with golden bracelets, their lkin adorned and Sentiments. adorned with punctured defigns ; they were accuftomed to eat till they became furfeited, and to drink till they were fick. Thefe latter qualities they imparted to their conquerors ; whofe manners, in other refpects, they adopted." Whatever moderation the Normans may have brought with them, or however they may have been reftrained by the firil Anglo-Norman monarch, it difappeared entirely under his fon and fuccellbr : "when/' in the words of William of Malmefbury, "everything was ib changed, that there was no man rich except the money-changer, and no clerks but lawyers. . . . The courtiers then preyed upon the property of the country people, and confumed their fubftance, taking the very meat from their mouths. Then was there flowing hair and extravagant drefs ; and then was invented the faihion of ihoes with curved points ; then the model for young men was to rival women in delicacy of perfon, to mince their gait, to walk with loofe gefture, and half naked." This increaiing diffo- lutenefs of manners appears to have received no effectual check under the reign of the firft Henry ; in the twenty-ninth year of which, the writer juft quoted tells us that "a circumftance occurred in England, which may feem furpriling to our long-haired gallants, who, forgetting what they were born, transform themfelves into the faihion of females, by the length of their locks. A certain Englilh knight, who prided hiin- felf on the luxuriance of his treffes, being confcience-flung on the fubject, teemed to feel in a dream as though fome perfon ftrangled him with his ringlets. Awaking in a fright, he immediately cut off all his iuperfluous hair. The example fpread throughout England ; and, as recent puniih- ment is apt to affect the mind, almoft all the barons allowed their hair to be cropped in a proper manner, without reluctance. But this decency was not of long continuance ; for fcarcely had a year expired, before all thofe who thought themlelves courtly, relapfed into their former vice ; they vied with women in length of locks, and wherever thefe were wanting, put on falfe treffes ; forgetful, or rather ignorant, of the faying of the Apoflle, 'If a man nurture his hair, it is a fhame to him.' " Public and private manners were gradually running into the terrible law lelliu-ls of the reign of king Stephen. m William Hiftory of Domeflic Manners William of Malmefbury points out as one of the more remarkable circumftauces which diftinguifhed the Normans from the Saxons, the magnitude and folidity of their domeflic buildings. The Anglo-Saxons feem, indeed, to have preferred the old national prejudice of their race againft confining themfelves within ftone walls, while the Normans and Franks, who were more influenced by Roman traditions, had become great builders. We have fcarcely any information relative to the pro- gress of domeflic architecture under William the Conqueror, but the Norman chiefs feem from the firft to have built themfelves houfes of a much more fubflantial character than thofe which they found in exiftence. The refidence of the Conqueror, while engaged in his operations againft the infurgents in the ifle "of Ely, is imperfectly defcribed by the anony- mous author of the life of Hereward. It confifted of the hall, kitchen, and other buildings, which were inclofed by hedges and fofles (per fepes et foveas), and it had an interior and exterior court. Towards the end of the Conqueror's reign, and in that of his fon, were raifed thofe early Norman baronial caftles, the mafonry of which has withftood the ravages of fo many centuries. Under William and his fons, few ordinary man- fions and dwelling houfes feem to have been built fubftantially of flone ; I am not aware that there are any known remains of a flone manfion in this country older than the reign of Henry II. The miracles of St. Cuth- bert, related by Reginald of Durham, contain one or two allufions to the private houfes of the earlier part of the twelfth century. Thus a parifhioner of Kellow, near Durham, in the time of bifhop Walter Rufus (1133 — 1 140), is defcribed as pafling the evening drinking with the parilh priefl • returning home late, he was purfued by dogs, and reaching his own houfe in great terror, contrived to flint the door (oftiuni domus) upon them. He then went up to what, from the context, appears to have been the window of an upper floor or garret (ad fenejlram parietis), which he opened in order to look down with fafety on his perfecutors. He was fuddenly feized with madnefs, and his family being roufed, feized him, carried him down into the court (in area), and bound him to the feats (ad fedilia). The fame writer tells the flory of a blind woman in the city of Durham, who ufed to run her head againft the and Sentiments. 8 3 the projecting windows of the houles (ad fenefirarum dependentia foris laque ;ria). We trace in the illuminations of the earlier Norman period the cufrom of placing the principal apartment at an elevation from the ground. The fimple plan of the ftone-built houfe of the latter part of this century, confided of a fquare room on the ground floor, often vaulted, and of one room above it, which was the principal apartment, and the ileeping-room. This was approached by a ftaircafe, fometimes external and fometimes internal, and it had a fire-place (cheminee), though this was not always the cafe in the room below. The lower room was -the hall, and the upper apartment was called a folar, or foller (folariiim), a word which has been fuppofed to be derived fromybZ, the fun, which was more felt in this upper room than in the lower, inafmuch as it was better lighted — it was the funny room. Yet, even here, the windows were fmall, and without glafs. We learn from Joscelin de Brakelonde that, in the year 1182, Samfon, abbot of Bury, while lodging in a grange, or manor-houfe, belonging to his abbey, narrowly efcaped being burnt with the houfe, becaufe the only door of the upper ftory in which he was lodged happened to be locked, and the windows were too narrow to admit of his paffing through them. In the early Englilh "Ancren Riewle," or rule of nuns, publifhed by the Camden Society, there are feveral allufions to the windows of the parlour, or private room, which fhow that they were not glazed, but ufually covered with a cloth, or blind, which allowed fufficient light to pafs, and that they had fhutters on hinges which clofed them entirely. In talking of the clanger of indulging the eyes, the writer of this treatife (p. 50) fays, " My dear fillers, love your windows" — they are called in the original text thurles, holes through the wall — " as little as you may, and let them be fmall, and the parlour's leaf! and narrower! 3 let the cloth in them be twofould, black cloth, the crofs white within and without." The writer goes on to moralise on the white crofs upon a black ground. In another part of the book (p. 97), the author fuppofes that men may come and feek to converfe with the nuns through the window, and goes on to fay, "If any man become fo mad and unreafonable that he put. forth his hand towards the window- cloth 84 Hiftory ofDomefiic Manners cloth (the t hurl-cloth), fhut the window quickly and leave him." Under the hall,, when it was raifed above the level of the ground, there was often another vaulted room, which was the cellar, and which feems to have been ufually entered from the infide of the building. In the accompanying cut (No. 55), taken from the celebrated tapeftry of Bayeux, are feen Harold and his companions caroufing in an apartment thus fituated, and approached by a ftaircafe from without. The object of this was, perhaps, partly to be more private, for the ordinary public hall at dinner times feems to have been invaded by troops of hungry hangers on, who ate up or carried away the provisions which were taken from the Caroujal. table, and became fo bold that they feem to have often feized or tried to feize the provifions from the cooks as they carried them to the table. William Rufus eftablifhed ufhers of the hall and kitchen, whofe duty it was to protect the guefts and the cooks from this rude rabble. Gai mar's defcription of that king's grand feaft at Weftminfter, contains fome curious alluvions to this practice. After telling us that three hundred ufhers (ujjers, i.e. huifjiers), or doorkeepers, were appointed to occupy the entrance paffages (us), who were to ftand with rods to protect the guefts as they mounted the fteps from the importunity of the garfons — Cil and Sentiments. 85 Cil cunduaicnt les barons Par les degrez, pur les gardens ,- Od les -verges k\*s mains teneient As barons vale fefaient, Ke ja gar con nefaprcmajl, Si a/con d'e/s ne /' comandaji — he adds, that thofe who carried the provifions and liquor to the table No. 56. The Norman Butler in hh Office. were alfo attended by thefe ufhers, that the "lecheurs" might not fnatcb from them, or fpoil, or break, the veflels in which they carried them : — Enfcmcnt tut rc-venaicnt par els Cil ki aportouent les mis De la quifine e des mejlers, E li bevercs e li mangers, Icil uffier les cunduaient, Pur la iJiffiele dunt fervaicnt , Ke lecheur ne les cfc/iecajl, Ne malmeiji, ne defrujjiijf . — Galmar, Estoric des Englfes, 1. r>985. In the cut from the Bayeux tapcihy, the f railing-room is approached 86 Uijiory of Domeftic Manners by what is evidently a flaircafe of ftone. In our cut No. 56, taken from a manufcript of the earlier half of the twelfth century in the Cottonian library (Nero, C. iv.), and illuftrating the ftory of the marriage feaft at Cana, the ftaircafe is apparently of wood, little better than a ladder, and the fervants who are carrying up the wine affift themfelves in mounting by means of a rope. It is a picnire which at the fame time exhibits feveral characteriftics of domemc life — the wine veifels, the cupboard in which they are kept, and the well in the court-yard, the latter being indicated by the tree. The butler, finding wine run fhort, fends the fervant to draw water from the well. It may be remarked that this appears to have been the common machinery of the draw-well among our forefathers in the middle ages — a rude lever, formed by the attach- ^. ment of a heavy weight, perhaps of lead, at one - , end of the beam, which was fufficient to raife the No. 57. A Draw-Well other end, and thus draw up the bucket. It occurs in illuminations in manufcripts of various periods ; our example in cut No. 57 is taken from MS. Harl. No. 1257, of the fourteenth century. 58. Norman Cooks and Whatever truth there may be in William of Malmetbury's account of the fobriety of the Normans, there can be no doubt that the kitchen and the and Sentiments. 87 the cooks formed with them a very important part of the houfehold. According to the Bayeux tapeftry, duke William brought with him from Normandy a complete kitchen eftabliihment, and a compartment of that intereffing monument, of which we here give a diminiihed copy, ihows that when he landed he found no difficulty in providing a dinner. On the left two cooks are boiling the meat — for this ltill was the general way of cooking it, as it was ufually eaten falted. Above them, on a ihelf, are fowls, and other forts of imall viands, fpitted ready for roafting. Another cook is engaged at a portable ilove, preparing fmall cakes, parties, &c, which he takes from the ftove with a Angularly formed fork to place them on the dim. Others are carrying to the table the roafted meats, on the fpits. It will be obferved that having no "board" with them to form a table, the Norman knights make ufe of their lhields inftead. The reader of the life of Hereward will remember the fcene in which the hero in diiguife is taken into king William's kitchen, to entertain the cooks. After dinner the wine and ale were diftributed freely, and the remit was a violent quarrel between the cooks and Hereward ; the former ufed the tridents and forks for weapons {cum tridentihus et funis), while he took the fpit from the fire (defoco haftile) as a ftill more formidable the Attendants serving at Table. weapon of defence. In the early Chanfon de Roland, Charlemagne is defcribed alfo carrying Lis cooks with him to the war, as William the Conqueror Conqueror is pictured in the Bayeux tapeftry, and they held fo im- portant a pofition in his houfehold, that, when one of his moft powerful barons, Guenelon, was accufed of treafon, Charlemagne is made to deliver him in cuftody to the charge of his cooks, who place him under the guard of a hundred of the "kitchen companions," and thefe treat him much in the fame way as king William's cooks fought to treat Here- ward, by cutting or plucking out his beard and whilkers. Li reis fait prendre le cunte Guenelun, Si V cumandat as cous de fa maifun, Tut li plus maiftre en apelct Befgun : '•Ben le me guarde,Ji cume tel felon, De ma maifnee ad fait e traifun.' 1 Cil le receit,Ji met c. cumpaignons De la qidjine, des mieh e des pejurs ; Icil li peilent la barbe e les gernuns. — Chanson de Roland, p. 11. Alexander Neckam, in his Diclionarius (written in the latter part of the twelfth century), begins with the kitchen, as though he conftdered it as the moft important part of a manfion, and defcribes its furniture rather minutely. There is good reafon, however, for believing that the cooking was very commonly performed in the court of the houfe in the open air and perhaps it was intended to be reprefented fo in the fcene given above from the Bayeux tapeftry. The cooks are there delivering the food through a door into the hall. The Norman dinner-table, as fhown in the Bayeux tapeftry, differs not much from that of the Anglo-Saxons. A few difhes and bafins contain viands which are not eafy to be recognifed, except the fifh and the fowls. Moft of the fmaller articles feem to have been given by the cooks into the hands of the guefts from the fpits on which they had been roafted. Another dinner fcene is reprefented in our cut No. 59, taken from the Cottonian manufcript already mentioned (Nero, C. iv.). We fee again limilarly formed veffels to thofe ufed at table by the Anglo- Saxons. The bread is ftill made in round flat cakes, and is marked with a crofs, and with a flower in the middle. The guefts ufe no forks ; their knives are different and more varied in their forms than under the Anglo- Saxons and Sentiments. Saxons. Sometimes, indeed, the fhape of the knives is almofi: grotefque. The one reprefented below, in our cut No. 60, is taken from a group in the fame manufcript which furnilhed the preceding cut ; it is very Angularly notched at the point. We fee in thefe dinner fcenes that the Anglo-Normans ufed horns and cups for drinking, as the Anglo-Saxons did 3 but the ufe of the horn No. 59. An Angh-Sa. - Party. No. 60. A Knife is becoming rare, and the bowl-fhaped vefiels appear to have been now the ufual drinking cup. Among the wealthy thefe cups feem to have been made of glafs. Reginald of Durham defcribes one of the monks as bringing water for a fick man to drink in a glafs cup (vqfe vitreo), which was accidentally broken. In a fplendidly illuminated manufcript of the Pfalms, of the earlier half of the twelfth century, written by Eadwine, one of the monks of Canterbury, and which will afford much illuftration for this period,* we find a figure of a fervant * This valuable MS. is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is a very remarkable circumstance, which has not hitherto been noticed, that the illuminations are in general copies from those of the Harleian MS. No. 603, except that the costume and other circumstances are altered, so that we may take them as correct representatives of the manners of the Anglo-Normans. n giving 9° Hi/lory of Domefttc Manners giving to drink, who holds one of the fame defcription of drinking cups which were fo popular at an earlier period among the Anglo-Saxons (fee our cut No. 61). He holds in the left hand the jug, which had now become the ufual veffel for carrying the liquor in any quantity. In cur cut No. 61. A Cup-bear No. 62. The Servant in the Cellar, No. 61, furnilhed by the fame manufcript as the preceding, the fervant is taking the jug of liquor from the barrel. Our next cut, No. 63, alfo taken from the Cambridge MS., reprefents feveral forms of veifels for the table. Some of thefe are new to us ; and they are on the whole more elegant than moft of the forms we meet with in common pictures. Wine appears to have been now more frequently ufed than among the Anglo- Saxons. Neckam, in the latter part of the twelfth century, has given us a rather play- ful enumeration of the qualities of good wine j "which he fays mould be as clear as the tears of a penitent, fo that a man may fee dift.in6t.ly to the bottom of his glafs ; its colour " ihould reprefent the greennefs of a buffalo's horn ; when drunk, it ihould defcend impetuously like thunder, fweet-tafted as an almond, creeping like a fquirrel, leaping like a roe- buck, throng like the building of a Ciflercian monaftery, glittering like a fpark of fire, fubtle as the logic of the fchools of Paris, delicate as fine filk: Anglo-Norman Pottery. and Sentiments. 9 1 filk, and colder than cryftal." Yet Hill ale and mead continued to be the ufual drinks. The innumerable entries in Domefday Book ihow us how large a proportion of the productions of the country, in the reign of William the Conqueror, ftill confifted in honey, which was ufed chiefly for the manufacture of mead. The manu- fcript in Trinity College Library, gives us a A^jj?/ y \ %2-^Y. r ' p-roun of bee-hives (cut No. 6a). with nea- /J^rf/jI-LfJ it' group of bee-hives (cut No. 6a), with pea- ZJ^7rAl iJ - f ~- fants attending to them ; and is chiefly l>T~r//\ , curious for the extraordinary forms which the artift, evidently no naturalift, has given to the bees. We have hardly any information on the ^ Angh . Norman Bee . keefers , cookery during the period we are now defcribing. It is clear that numerous delicacies were ferved to the tables of the noble and wealthy, but their culinary receipts are not preferved. We read in William of Malmeibury, incidentally, that a great prince ate garlick with a goofe, from which we are led to fuppofe that the Normans were fond of highly-feafoned dimes. Neckam tells us that pork, roafted or broiled on red embers, required no other fauce than fait or garlick ; that a capon done in gobbets mould be well peppered ; that a goofe, roafted on the fpit, required a ftrong garlick-fauce, mixed with wine or "the green juice of grapes or crabs ;" that a hen, if boiled, fhould be cut up and feafoned with cummin, but, if roafted, it ihould be bafted with lard, and might be feafoned with garlick-fauce, though it would be more favoury with fimple fauce ; that fifh fhould be cooked in a fauce compofed of wine and water, and that they fhould afterwards be ferved with a fauce compofed of fage, parfley, colt, ditany, wild thyme, and garlick, with pepper and fait. We learn from other incidental allufions of contemporary, or nearly contemporary, writers, that bread, butter, and cheefe, were the ordinary food of the common people, probably with little elfe befides vegetables. It is interefting to remark that the three articles juft mentioned, have preferved their Anglo-Saxon names to the prefent times, while all kinds of meat, beef, veal, mutton, pork, even bacon, have retained only the names given to them by the Normans, which 9 2 Hifiory of Domejiic Manners which feerns to imply that nefh-meat was not in general ule for food among the lower clalfes of fociety. Bread feems almoft always to have been formed in cakes, like our buns, round in the earlier pictures, and in later ones (as in our cut No. 63), fhaped more fancifully. We fee it generally marked with a crofs, perhaps a fuperftitious precaution of the baker. The bread feems to have been in general made for the occanon, and eaten freih, perhaps warm. In one of Reginald of Durham's ftories, we are told of a prieft in the foreft of Arden, who, having nothing but a peck of corn left, and receiving a large number of vilitors on a facred feftival, gave it out to be baked to provide for them. The corn was immediately ground, perhaps with querns, and having been mixed with "dewy" water, in the ufual manner, was made into twelve loaves, and immediately placed in the hot oven.* Cheefe and butter feem alio to have been tolerably abundant. An illuminator of the Cambridge MS., given in our cut No. 65, reprefents a man No. 65. Anglo-Normans Milking and Churning. milking and another churning ; he who churns appears, to ufe a vulgar phrafe, to be " taking it at his eafe." The milking-pail, too, is rather extraordinary in its form. "We have not any diftincf account of the hours at which our Norman * " Quod, mola detritum, et aqua rorante perfusum, more usitato, in camino sestuante est depositum." Reg. Dunelm, p. 128. He owns they were so small that they hardly deserved the name of loaves. " Vix enim bis seni panes erant numero, qui tamen minores adeo quantitate fuerant quod indignum videretur panum eos censeri vocabulo." anceftors and Sentiments. 93 ancestors took their meals, but they appear to have begun their day early. In the Carlovingian romances, everybody, not excepting the emperor and his court, riles at daybreak ; and in Huon de Bordeaux (p. 270), one of the chief heroes is accufed of lazinefs, becaufe he was in bed after the cock had crowed. In the romance of Doon de Mayence, the feudal lord of that great city and territory is introduced exhorting his fon to rife betimes, for, he fays, " he who fleeps too long in the morning, becomes thin and lazy, and lofes his day, if he does not amend himfelf." Qui trcp dort au maun, maigre dcvknt et las, Et fa journ/e en pert, J y nen amende pas — boon de Mayence, p. "G. In the fame romance, two of the heroes, Doon and Baudouin, alio rile with the fun, and drefs and wafh, and then fay their prayers 5 after which their attendant, Vaudri, " placed between them two a very large parly, on a white napkin, and brought them wine, and then laid to them in fair words, like a man of fenfe, ' Sirs, you mail eat, if it pleafe you j for eating early in the morning brings great health, and gives one greater courage and fpiritj and drink a little of this choice wine, which will make you ftrong and fierce in fight.' . . . And when Doon law it, he laughed, and began to eat and drink, and they breakfafted very pleafantly and peacefully." John of Bromyard, who wrote at a later period, has handed down a ftory of a man who defpaired of overcoming the difficulty he found in keeping the fafts, until he fucceeded in the following manner: at the hour of matins (three o'clock in the morning), when he was accuftomed to break his faft, and was greatly tempted to eat, he faid to himfelf, " I will faft until tierce (nine o'clock), for the love of God ;" and when tierce came, he faid he would fait unto fext (the hour of noon), and fo again he put off eating until none (three o'clock in the afternoon) ; and fo he gradually learnt to fall all day. We may perhaps conclude that, at the time when this ftory was made, nine o'clock was the ordinary hour of dinner. This laft-mentioned meal was certainly ferved early in the day, and was often followed by recreations in the open air. In the romance of Iluon de Bordeaux (p. 252), the Christian chiefs, after their dinner, go to 94 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners to amufe themfelves on the fea-fhore. In Doon de Mayence (p. 245), they play at chefs and dice after dinner; and on another occafion, in the fame romance (p. 314), the barons, after their dinner, ring and dance together ; while in Fierabras (p. 185), Charlemagne and his court ride out on horfeback, and fet up a quintain, at which they jufted all day (tout le jour — which would imply that they began early), until vefpers (probably feven o'clock), when they returned into the palace to refrefh themfelves, and afterwards to go to bed. Supper was certainly ferved in the evening, and in thefe romances people are fpoken of as going to bed immediately after it. On one occafion, in Doon de Mayence (p. 303), Charlemagne's barons take no fupper, but, after their beds are prepared, they are ferved plentifully with fruits and wine. In the fame romance (p. 16), the guards of a came go out, becaufe it was a warm evening in fummer, and have their fupper laid out on a table in the field, where they remain long amufing themfelves. In Fierabras (p. 68), the barons take a hot bath after dinner. Of the articles of houfehold furniture during the period of which we are now writing, we cannot give many examples. We have every reafon to believe that they were anything but numerous. A board laid upon trefiels formed the ufual dining table, and an ordinary bench or form the feat. In the French Carlovingian romances, the earlier of which may be confidered as reprefenting fociety in the twelfth cen- tury, even princes and great barons lit ordinarily upon benches. Thus, in the romance of Huon de Bordeaux (pp. 33, 36), Charlemagne invites the young chieftain, Huon, who had come to vifit him in his palace, to fit on the bench and drink his wine ; and in the fame romance (p. 263), when Huon was received in the abbey of St. Maurice, near Bordeaux, he and the abbot fit together on a bench. Chairs belonged to great people. Our cut No. 66, taken from the Trinity College Pfalter, reprefents No. 66. A Faldejiol. and Sentiments. 95 reprefents a chair of ftate, with its covering of drapery thrown over it. In fome infrances the culhion appears placed upon the drapery. This feat was the faldejhl, a word which has been transformed in modern French to fauteuil (translated in Englilh by elbow-chair). We read in the Chanfon de Roland of the faldejhl which was placed for princes, and of the covering of white " palie' 1 (a rich flurf) which was fpread over it. That of Charlemagne was of gold — Unfaldefloed i unt fait tut a" or mer : Lafet li reis qui duke France tient. — Chanfon de Roland, p. 0. The faldejhl of the Saracen king of Spain was covered with a " palie" of Alexandrian manufacture, — Un faldejloet out fuz r timbre d"un fin, Envohtpet Jut d^un palie Alexandrin ; La fut li reis ki tute Ejpaigne tint. — lb. p. 17- The infidel emir from Egypt, when he arrives in Spain, is feated in the midft of his hoft, on a faldeflol of ivory. Sur Verbe -verte getent un palie blanc, Un faldejloed i unt mis d^olifan ; Defuzf'ajiet li paien Baligant. — lb. p. 102. The faldeflol was not always made of fuch rich materials. In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux, Charlemagne is reprefented as fitting in a faldeflol made of elm. Karles monta ens el falais plcnitr ; II ejl ajis u faudejluef d^ormier. Iluon de Bordeaux, p. 2S6. The mouldings of the faldeflol in the cut No. 66 will be recognifed as exaclly the fame which are found on old furniture of a much more recent period, and which, in fa6t, are thofe which offer themfelves moll readily to ordinary turners. The fame ornamenl is feen on the chair reprefents No. 67. Two Chiefs Seated. in our cut No. 6j, tak< n 9 6 Hiflory of Domeftic Manners from the fame manufcript as the laft, in which two men are feated, in a very lingular manner. It was not uncommon, however, to have feats which held feveral perfons together, fuch as the one reprefented in an Anglo-Saxon illumination given in a former chapter (p. 31), and fuch as are itill to be feen in country public-houfes, where they have preferved the Anglo-Saxon name of fettle. One of thefe is reprefented in our cut No. 68. The perfons feated in it, in this cafe, are learned men, and the crofs above feems to mow that they are monks. One has a table-book, and two of the others have rolls of parchment, which are all evidently the fubjecf of anxious difcuffion. Chairs, and even ftools, were, as has been already obferved, by no means abundant in thefe early times, and we can eafily fuppofe that it No. 68. An Anglo-No. Settle. would be a difficult thing to accommodate numerous vifitors with feats. To remedy this, when houfes were built of Hone, it was ufual to make, in the public apartments, feats, like benches, in receffes in the wall, or projecting from it, which would accommodate a number of perfons at the fame time. We find fuch feats ufually in the cloifters of monafteries, as well as in the chapter-houfes of our cathedral churches. In the latter they generally run round the room, and are divided by arches into feats which were evidently intended to accommodate two perfons each, for the convenience and Sentiments. 97 convenience of converfation. This practice is illuftrated by our cut No. 69, taken, like the preceding one, from the Cambridge Manufcriptj No. 69. Seats in the Wall. it reprefents a group of feats of this kind, in which monks (apparently) are feated and converting two and two. Hiftory of "Domejiic Manners CHAPTER VI. THE NORMAN HALL. SOCIAL SENTIMENTS UNDER THE ANGLO-NOR- MANS. DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS. CANDLES AND LANTERNS. FURNI- TURE. BEDS. OUT-OF-DOOR RECREATIONS. HUNTING. ARCHERY. CONVIVIAL INTERCOURSE AND HOSPITALITY. TRAVELLING. PUNISHMENTS. THE STOCKS. — A NORMAN SCHOOL. EDUCATION. ALEXANDER NECK AM has left us a fufficiently clear defcription - of the Norman hall. He fays that it had a veftibule or fcreen (veftihulum), and was entered through a porch (portions), and that it had a court, the Latin name of which (atrium) he pretends was derived from ater (black), " becaufe the kitchens ufed to be placed by the fide of the itreets, in order that the paffers-by might perceive the fmell of cooking." This explanation is fo myflericus, that we may fuppofe the paffage to be corrupt, but the coqidnce of which Neckam is fpeaking are evidently cook's fhops. In the interior of the hall, he fays, there were pofts (or columns) placed at regular diftances. The few examples of Norman halls which remain are divided internally by two rows of columns. Neckam enumerates the materials required in the conftruction of the hall, which feem to fhow that he is fpeaking of a timber building. A fine example of a timber hall, though of a later period, is, or was recently, Handing in the city of Gloucester, with its internal "potts" as here defcribed. There appears alfo to have been an inner court-yard, in which Neckam intimates that poultry were kept. The whole building, and the two court-yards, were no doubt furrounded by a wall, outride of which were the garden and orchard. The Normans appear to have had a tafte for gardens, which formed a very important adjunct to the maniion, and to the cattle, and are not unfrequently alluded to in mediaeval writers, even as far back as the twelfth century. Giraldus Cambrenfis, fpeaking of and Sentiments. 99 of the cattle of Manorbeer (his birthplace), near Pembroke, laid that it had under its walls, betides a fine fifh-pond, " a beautiful garden, inclofed on one fide by a vineyard, and on the other by a wood, remarkable for the projection of its rocks, and the height of its hazel-trees." In the twelfth century, vineyards were not uncommon in England. A new characteriftic was introduced into the Norman houfes, and especially into the caftles, the maflive walls of which allowed chimney- flues to be carried up in their thicknefs. The piled-up fire in the middle of the hall was Hill retained, but in the more private apartments, and even fometimes in the hall itfelf, the fire was made on a hearth beneath a fire-place built againft the fide wall of the room. An illumination, in the Cottonian MS. Nero, C. iv., which we have already had occa- fion to refer to more than once, reprefents a man warming himfelf at a fireplace of this defcription. It appears, from a comparifon of this (No. 70) with fimilar figures of a later period, that it was a ufual practice to fit at the fire bare-legged and bare-foot, with the object of imbibing the heat without the interme- diation of fhoes or ftockings. in Worcefter Cathedral, reprefented in our cut No. 71 which belongs to a later date (the Ar „ 1 ' ° v J\o. 70. A Man warming himjclf. latter part of the fourteenth century), and the fcene of which is evidently intimated to be in the winter feafon, a man, while occupied in attending to the culinary operations, has taken off his fhoes in order to warm himfelf in this manner. The winter provifions, two flitches of bacon, are fufpended to the left of him, and on the other fide the faithful dog feems to enjoy the fire equally with his matter. From a flory related by Reginald of Durham, it appears to have been a practice among the ladies to warm themfelves by fitting over hot water, as well as by the fire.* In fome of the illuminations of mediaeval manufcripts, * Quod si super aquas sen ad ignem se calefactura sedisset. — Reg. Dunelm., c. 124. ladies IOO Hiftory of "Dome ft ic Manners ladies are reprefented as warming themfelves, even in the prefence of the other fex, in a very free and eafy manner. The fuel chiefly employed was no doubt ftill wood, but the remark of Giraldus Cambreniis that the name of Colefliulle (in Flintshire) fignified the hill of coals (carlonum collis) implies that mineral coals were then known. It is hardly neceflary to remark that, in the change in the mode of living which had fuddenly taken place in this country, a form of fociety had alfo been introduced abruptly which differed entirely from that of the Anglo-Saxons. On the continent, throughout the now disjointed empire which had once been ruled by Charlemagne, there had arifen, during the No. 71. Indications of Cold Weather. tenth century, amid frightful mifgovernment and the favage invafions of the northmen, a new form of fociety, which received the name of feudalifm, becaufe each landholder held, either direcf from the crown or from a Superior baron, by a feudal tenure, or fee ( feodum , feudum) , which obliged him to military fervice. Each baron had fovereignty over all thofe who held under him, and, in turn, acknowledged the nominal fovereignty of a fuperior baron or of the crown, which the latter practically was only fome- times able to enforce. One great principle of this fyftem was the right of private warfare ; and, as not only did the great barons obtain land in feudal tenure and Sentbnents. 101 tenure in different countries under different independent princes, but the leffer holders of lub-fees obtained fuch tenures under more than one fuperior lord, and as thefe, when they quarrelled with one fuperior, made war upon him, and threw themfelves upon the protection of another who felt bound to defend his feudatory, war became the normal ftate of feudal fociety, and peace and tranquillity were the exceptions. One effecl: of feudalifm was to divide the population of the country into two diftinct claffes — the landholders, or fighting-men, who alone were free, and the agricultural population, who had no political rights whatever, and were little better than flaves attached to the land. The towns alone, by their own innate force, preferved their independence, but in France the influence of feudalifm extended even over them, and the combined hoftility of the crown and the ariftocracy finally overthrew their municipal independence. Feudalifm was brought into England by the Normans, but it was never eftablifhed here fo completely or fo fully as on the continent. The towns here never loft their independence, but they fided fometimes with the ariftocracy, and fometimes with the crown, until finally they allifted greatly in the overthrow of feudalifm itfelf. Yet the whole territory of England was now diftributed in great fees, and in fub-feesj amid which a few of the old Saxon gentry retained their pofition, and many of the Norman intruders married the. Saxon heireffes, in order, as they thought, to ftrengthen the right of conqueft ; but the mafs of the agricultural population were confounded under the one comprehensive name of villains (villani), and reduced to a much more wretched condition than under the Anglo-Saxon conftitution. The light in which the villain was regarded in the twelfth century in England is well illuftrated in a ftory told in the Englilh " Rule of Nuns," printed by the Camden Society. A knight, who had cruelly plundered his poor villains, was complimented by one of his flatterers, who laid, "Ah, fir! truly thou doft well. For men ought always to pluck and pillage the churl, who is like the willow — it fprouteth out the better for being often cropped." The power and wealth of the great Norman baron were immenfe, and before; him, during a great part of the period of which we are now [peaking, 102 Hiflory of Domejiic Manners fpeaking, the law of the land was a mere nominal institution. He was in general proud, very tyrannical, and often barbaroufly cruel. A type of the feudal baron in his worft point of view is prefented to us in the character of the celebrated Robert de Belefme, who fucceeded his father Roger de Montgomery in the earldom of Shropfhire, and of whom Henry of Huntingdon, who lived in his time, tells us, "He was a very Pluto, Megsera, Cerberus, or anything that you can conceive frill more horrible. He preferred the Slaughter of his captives to their ranfom. He tore out the eyes of his own children, when in fport they hid their faces under his cloak. He impaled perfons of both fexes on flakes. To butcher men in the moft horrible manner was to him an agreeable feafl." Of a contemporary feudal chieftain in France, the fame writer tells us, " When any one, by fraud or force, fell into his hands, the captive might truly fay, ' The pains of hell compaiTed me round.' Homicide was his paffion and his glory. He imprifoned his own countefs, an unheard-of outrage ; and, cruel and lewd at once, while he fubjected her to fetters and torture by day, to extort money, he forced her to cohabit with him by night, in order to mock her. Each night his brutal followers dragged her from her prifon to his bed, each morning they carried her from his chamber back to her prifon. Amicably addreffing any one who approached him, he would plunge a fword into his fide, laughing the while 5 and for this purpofe he carried his fword naked under his cloak more frequently than fheathed. Men feared him, bowed down to him, and worfhipped him." Women of rank are met with in the hiftories of this period who equalled thefe barons in violence and cruelty ; and the relations between the fexes were marked by little delicacy or courtefy. William the Conqueror beat his wife even before they were married. The ariftocratic clafs in general lived a life of idlenefs, which would have been infupportable without fome fcenes of extraordinary excitement, and they not only indulged eagerly in hunting, but they continually fallied forth in parties to plunder. They looked upon the mercantile clafs efpecially as objects of homhty ; and, as they could feldom overcome them in their towns, they waylaid them on the public roads, deprived them of their goods and money, and carried them to their caftles, where they tortured and Sentiments. i o 3 tortured them in order to force them to pay heavy ranlbms. The young nobles ibmetimes joined together to plunder a fair or market. On the other hand, men who could not claim the protection of ariftocratic blood for their evil deeds, eftabliihed themfelves under that of the wild forefte, and ilTued forth no lei's eagerly to plunder the country, and to perpetrate every defcription of outrage on the perfons of its inhabitants, of whatever clafs they might be, who fell into their power. The purity of woman- hood was no longer prized, where it was liable to be outraged with impunity ; and immorality fpread widely through all claffes and ranks of fociety. The declamations of the ecclefiaftics and the fatires of the moralifts of the twelfth century may give highly-painted pictures, but they lead us to the conclufion that the manners and fentiments of the female lex during the Norman period were very corrupt. Neverthelefs, feudalifm did boaft of certain dignified and generous principles, and there were noble examples of both fexes, who ihine forth more brightly through the general prevalence of vice and of felriihnefs and injuftice. It was in the walls of the feudal cattle, amid the familiar intercourfe which the want of amufement caufed among its inmates, that the principle, or practice, arofe, which we in modern times call gallantry, and which, though at firft it only led to refinement in the forms of focial manners, ended in producing refinement of fentiments. It was among the feudal ariftocracy, too, that originated the fentiment we term chivalry, which has varied confiderably in its meaning at different periods, and which, in its beft fenfe, exifled more in romance than in reality. After the poffeflion of perfonal ftrength and courage, the quality which the feudal baron admired molt, was what was termed generality, but which meant lavifh expenditure and extravagance ; it was the contrail between the baron, who fpent his money, and the burgher or merchant, who gained it, and laid it up in his coffers. " Noblemen and gentlemen," fays the " Rule of Nuns," already quoted, "do not carry packs, nor go about truffed with bundles, nor with purfes; it belongs to beggars to bear bag on back, and to burgeffes to bear purfes." In fact, it was the principle of the feudal ariftocracy to extort their gains from all who laboured and trafficked, in order to fquander them on thofe who lived in idlenefs, violence, and \ ice. 1 04 Htjiory of Domejiic Manners vice. Under fuch circumflances, a new clafs had arifen which was peculiar to feudal fociety, who lived entirely upon the extravagance of the ariftocracy, and who had fo completely abandoned every fentiment of morality or fhame, that, in return for the protection of the nobles, they were the ready inftruments of any bafe work. They were called, among various other names, ribalds (ribaldi) and letchers (leccatores) ; the origin of the firft of thefe words is not known, but the latter is equivalent to difh-lickers, and did not convey the fenfe now given to the word, but was applied to them on account of their gluttony. We have already feen how, in the crowd which attended the feafts of the princes and nobles, the letchers (lecheurs) were not content with waiting for what was fent away from table, but feized upon the dimes as they were carried from the kitchen to the hall, and how it was found neceffary to make a new office, that of ufliers of the hall, to reprefs the diforder. " In thofe great courts," fays the author of the "Rule of Nans," " they are called letchers who have fo loft fhame, that they are afliamed of nothing, but feek how they may work the greateft villany." This clafs fpread through fociety like a great fore, and from the terms ufed in fpeaking of them we derive a great part of the opprobrious words which mil exift in the Engliih language. The early metrical romances of the Carlovingian cycle give us an infight into what were confidered as the praife worthy features in the character of the feudal knight. In Doon of Mayence, for example, when (p. 74) the aged count Guy fends his young fon Doon into the world, he counfels him thus : " You fhall always aik queftions of good men, and you fhall never put your truft in a ftranger. Every day, fair fon, you fhall hear the holy mafs, and give to the poor whenever you have money, for God will repay you double. Be liberal in gifts to all ; for the more you give, the more honour you will acquire, and the richer you will be ; for a gentleman who is too fparing will lofe all in the end, and die in wretchednefs and difgrace ; but give without promifing wherever you can. Salute all people when you meet them, and if you owe anything, pay it willingly, but if you cannot pay, aik for a refpite. When you come to the hoftelry, don't ftand fquabbling, but enter glad and joyoufly. When you enter the houfe, cough very loud, for there may be fomething doing a?id Sentiments. 105 doing which you ought not to fee, and it will cod: you nothing to give this notice of your approach, while thofe who happen to be there will love you the better for it. Do not quarrel with your neighbour, and avoid dilputing with him before other people ; for if he know anything againft you, he will let it out, and you will have the fhame of it. When you are at court, play at tables, and if you have any good points of behaviour (depors), fhow them ; you will be the more prized, and gain the more advantage. Never make a noife or joke in church ; this is only done by unbelievers, whom God loves not. Honour all the clergy, and fpeak fairly to them, but leave them as little of your goods as you can ; the more they get from you, the mere you will be laughed at ; you will never profit by enriching them. And if you wifh to fave your honour undiminished, meddle with nothing you do not underfiand, and don't pretend to be a proficient in what you have never learnt. And if you have a valet, take care not to feat him at the table by you, or take him to bed with you ; for the more honour you do to a low fellow, the more will he defpife you. If you fhould know anything that you would wifh to conceal, tell it by no means to your wife, if you have one ; for if you let her know it, you will repent of it the firft time you difpleafe her." The eftimate of the female character at this period, even when given in the romances of chivalry, is by no means flattering. With thefe counfels of a father, we may compare thofe of a mother to her fon. In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux (p. 18), when the youthful hero leaves his home to repair to the court of Charlemagne, the duchefs addreffes her fon as follows: "My child," ihe laid, "you are going to be a courtier; I require you, for God's love, have nothing to do with a treacherous flatterer; make the acquaintance of wife men. Attend regularly at the fervice of holy church, and fhow honour and love to the clergy. Give your goods willingly to the poor; be courteous, and fpend freely, and you will be the more loved and cherifhed." On the whole, higher fentiments are placed in the mouth of the lady than in that of the baron. We muft, however, return to the outward, and there- fore more apparent, characteriftics of focial life during the Norman period. p The io6 Hiftory of Domeftic Manners The in-door amufements of the ordinary claffes of fociety appear not to have undergone much change during the earlier Norman period, but the higher claffes lived more fplendidly and more riotoufly ; and, as far as we can judge, they feem to have been coarfer in manners and feelings. The writer of the life of Hereward has left us a curious picture of Norman revelry. When the Saxon hero returned to Brunne, to the home of his fathers, and found that it had been taken poffemon of by a Norman intruder, he fecretly took his lodging in the cottage of a villager clofe by. In the night he was roufed from his pillow by loud founds of minflrelfy, accompanied with boiflerous indications of merriment, which iffued from his father's hall, and he was told that the new occupants were at their evening cups. He proceeded to the hall, and entered the doorftead unobferved, from whence he obtained a view of the interior of the hall. The new lord of Brunne was furrounded by his knights, who were fcattered about helplefs from the extent of their potations, and reclining in the laps of their women. In the midfl of them flood a jougleur, or minftrel, alternately ringing and exciting their mirth with coarfe and brutal jefts. It is a firft rough fketch of a part of mediaeval manners, which we fhall find more fully developed at a fomewhat later period. The brutality of manners exhibited in the fcene which I have but imperfectly defcribed, and which is confirmed by the ftatements of writers of the following century, foon degenerated into heartlefs ferocity, and when we reach the period of the civil wars of Stephen's reign, we find the amufements of the hall varied with the torture of captive enemies. In his more private hours of relaxation, the Norman knight ammed himfelf with games of fkill or hazard. Among thefe, the game of chefs became now very popular, and many of the rudely carved cheffmen of the twelfth century have been found in our ifland, chiefly in the north, where they appear to have been manufactured. They are ufually made of the tufk of the walrus, the native ivory of Weftern Europe, which was known popularly as whale's bone. The whalebone of the middle ages is always defcribed as white, and it was a common object of companion among the early Englifh poets, who, when they would defcribe the delicate complexion of a lady, ufually faid that fhe was " white as whale's bone." and Sentiments. 107 bone." Thefe, as well as dice, which were now in common ufe, were alio made of horn and bone, and the manufa£mre of fuch articles feems to have been a very extenfive one. Even in the little town of Kirkcud- bright, on the Scottifh border, there was, in the middle of the twelfth century, a maker of combs, draughtfmen, chelfmen, dice, fpigots, and other fuch articles, of bone and horn, and Hag's horn appears to have been a favourite material.* In the Chanfon de Roland, Charlemagne and his knights are repre- fented, after the capture of Cordova from the Saracens, as fitting in a ihady garden, fome of them playing at tables, and others at chefs. Sur palies blancs fiedent cil ccvalers, As tables juent pur els cjbaneier, E as efchecs li plus fai-ve e l\ -veill, E efcretni£'cnt cil bacheler leger. Chefs, as the higher game, is here defcribed as the amufement of the chiefs, the old, and the wife ; the knights play at tables, or draughts ; but the young bachelors are admitted to neither of thefe games, they amufe themfelves with bodily exercifes — fham fights. Although fuch games were not unufually played by day, they were more efpecially the amufements which employed the long evenings of winter, and candles appear at this time to have been more generally ufed than at a former period. They ftill continued to be fixed on candlefticks, and not in them, and fpikes appear fometimes to have been attached to tables or other articles of furniture, to hold them. Thus, in one of the pretended miracles told by Reginald of Durham, a facriftan, occupied in committing the facred veftments to the fafety of a cupboard, fixed his candle on a ftick or fpike of wood on one fide (candelam...in qffere collaterali confixit), and forgetting to take away the candle, locked the cupboard door, and only difcovered his negligence when he found the whole cupboard in flames. Another eccleiiaftic, reading in bed, fixed his * Quidam de villula in confinio posita, artificiosus m nister, sub c iurno tempore studiosus advenit CUJ us negotiations opus in pectinibus conformand s, tabulatis et scaccariis, tali*, s pini :eris, et ceteris tali bus, de corm III 111 V el sol diori ossuum materia procreant is e studium irtfentionis effulsit.- -Reg Dun« Im, c. SS. candle io8 Hiflory of Domejiic Manners candle on the top of one of the fides (fpondilia) of his bed. Another individual bought two fmall candles (candelas modicas) for an oholns, but the value of the coin thus named is not very exactly known. The candle appears to have been ufually placed at night in or on the chimney, or fire-place, with which the chamber was now furnifhed. In Fierabras (p. 93), a thief, having obtained admifhon in the night to the chamber of the princefs Floripas, takes a candle from the chimney, and lights it at the fire, from which we J — J . 1 111 .1, are led to fuppofe that it was ufual to keep the fire alight all night. IJnelement et toft -vient a la ceminee, Une chandelle a prinfe, aufu Va alume'e. On another occafion (p. 67), a fire is lit in the chimney of A Norman Floripas's chamber, and afterwards a table is laid there, and dinner ferved. Lanterns were now alfo in general ufe. The earlieft figure of a lantern that I remember to have met with in an Englifh manufcript is one furnifhed by MS. Cotton. Nero, C. iv., which No. 73. Occupations of the Ladies. is reprefented in our cut (No. 72). It differs but little from the fame article as ufed in modern times ; the fides are probably of horn, with a fmall door through which to put the candle, and the domed cover is pierced with holes for the egrefs of the fmoke. We and Sentiments. 109 We begin now to be a little better acquainted with the domeftic occupations of the ladies, but we ihall be able to treat more fully of thefe in a fubfequent chapter. Not the leaft ufual of thefe was weaving, an art which appears to have been pracfifed very extenfively by the female portion of the larger houfeholds. The manufcript Pfalter in Trinity College, Cambridge, furniihes us with the very curious group of female weavers given in our cut No. 73. It explains itfelf, as much, at leaft, as it can eafily be explained, and I will only obferve that the fciffors here employed are of the form common to the Romans, to the Saxons, and to the earlier Normans 3 they are the Saxon fcear, and this name, as well as the form, is ftill preferved in that of the "fhears" of the modern clothiers. Mufic was alfo a favourite occupation, and the number No. 74. A Norman Organ. of mufical inftruments appears to be confiderably increafed. Some of thefe feem to have been elaborately conftrucled. The manufcript lalt mentioned furniihes us with the accompanying figure of a large organ, "I laborious though rather clumfy workmanlhip. ■ In the dwellings of the nobles and gentry, there was more ihmv of fur- niture I IO Hijiory of Domeftic Manners niture under the Normans than under the Saxons. Cupboards [armaria, armoires) were more numerous, and were filled with veffels of earthen- ware, wood, or metal, as well as with other things. Chefls and coffers were adorned with elaborate carving, and were fometimes inlaid with metal, and even with enamel. The fmaller ones were made of ivory, or bone, carved with hiftorical fubjecfs. Rich ornamentation generally began with ecclefiaftics, and we find by the fubjecfs carved upon them that the earlier ivory coffers or catkets belonged to churchmen. When they were made for lords and ladies, they were ufually ornamented with fubjecfs from romance, or from the current literature of the day. The No. 75. A Norman Bed. beds, alfo, were more ornamental, and affumed novel forms. Our cut No. 75, taken from MS. Cotton. Nero, C. iv., differs little from fome of the Anglo-Saxon figures of beds. But the tefter bed, or bed with a roof at the head, and hangings, was now introduced. In Reginald of Durham, we are told of a facriftan who was accuftomed to fit in his bed and read at night. One night, having fixed his candle upon one of the fides of the bed (fupra fpondilia ledhuli fuprema), he fell accidentally afleep. The fire communicated itfelf from the candle to the bed, which, being filled with ftraw, was foon enveloped in flame, and this communi- cated and Sentiments. 1 1 1 cated itfelf with no lefs rapidity to the combination of arches and planks of which the frame of the bed was compofed (ligna materies archarum et aJJ'erum copiofa). Above the bed was a wooden frame (qucedam tabularia ftratura), on which he was accuftomed to pile the curtains, dorfals, and other fimilar furniture of the church. Neckam, in the latter part of the twelfth century, defcribes the chamber as having its walls covered with a curtain, or tapeftry. Befides the bed, he fays, there mould be a chair, and at the foot of the bed a bench. On the bed was placed a quilt (culcitra) of feathers (plumalis), to which is joined a pillow ; and this is covered with a pointed (punctata) or ftripecl (Jiragulata) quilt, and a culhion is placed upon this, on which to lay the head. Then came fheets (lintheamina, linceuls), made fometimes of rich filks, but more commonly of linen, and thefe were covered with a coverlet made of green fay, or of cloth made of the hair of the badger, cat, beaver, or fable. On one fide of the chamber was a perche, or pole, projecting from the wall, for the falcons, and in another place a fimilar perch for hanging articles of drefs. It was not unufual to have only one chamber in the houfe, in which there were, or could be made, feveral beds, fo that all the company, even if of different fexes, flept in the fame room. Servants and perfons of lower degree might fleep unceremoniouily in the hall. In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux (p. 270), Huon, his wife, and his brother, when lodged in a great abbey, fleep in three different beds in the fame room, no doubt in the gueff-houfe. Among the Anglo-Nor- mans, the chamber feems to have frequently, if not generally, occupied an upper floor, fo that it was approached by flairs. The out-of-doors amufements of this period appear in general to have been rude and boifterous. The girls and women feem to have been paflionately fond of the dance, which was their common amufemcnt at all public feftivals. The young men applied themfelves to gymnaftic cxercifes, fuch as wreftling, and running, and boxing; and they had bull- baitings, and fometimes bear-baitings. On Roman fites, the ancient amphitheatres feem Hill to have been ufed for fuch exhibitions; and the Roman amphitheatre at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, was known by the title of "The Bull-ring" down to a very late period. The higher ranks among 1 1 2 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners among the Normans were extraordinarily addicted to the chace, to fecure which they adopted fevere meafures for preferving the woods and the beafts which inhabited them. Every reader of Engliih hiftory knows the ftory of the New Foreft, and of the fate which there befell the great patron of hunting — William Rufus. The Saxon Chronicle, in fumming up the character of William the Conqueror, tells us that he "made large forefts for the deer, and enacted laws therewith, fo that whoever killed a hart or a hind, fhould be blinded. As he forbade killing the deer, fo alfo the boars j and he loved the tall flags as if he were their father. He alfo appointed concerning the hares, that they fhould go free." The paflion of the ariftocracy for hunting was a bane to the rural population in more ways than one. Not only did they ride over the cultivated lands, and deflroy the crops, but wherever they came they lived at free quarter on the unfortunate population, ill-treating the men, and even outraging the females, at will. John of Salifbury complains bitterly of the cruelty with which the country-people were treated, if they happened to be fhort of provisions when the hunters came to their houfes. " If one of thefe hunters come acrofs your land," he fays, "immediately and humbly lay before him everything you have in your houfe, and go and buy of your neighbours whatever you are deficient of, or you may be plundered and thrown into prifon for your difrefpect to your betters." The weapons generally ufed in hunting the flag were bows and arrows. It was a barbed arrow which pierced the breaft of the fecond William, when he was hunting the flag in the wilds of the New Forefl. Our cut (No. 76), from the Trinity College Pfalter, reprefents a horfeman hunting the flag. The noble animal is cloiely followed by a brace of hounds, and juft as he is turning up a hill, the huntfman aims an arrow at him. As far as we can gather from the few authorities in which it is alluded to, the Saxon peafantry were not unpractifed hands at the bow. We find them enjoying the character of good archers very foon after the Norman conqueft, under circumftances which feem to preclude the notion that they derived their knowledge of this arm from the invaders. In the miracles of St. Bega, printed by Mr. G. C. Tomlinfon, in 1842, there is a ftory which fhows the fkill of the young men of Cumberland in archery and Sentiments. archery very foon after the entrance of the Normans ; and the original writer, who lived perhaps not much after the middle of the twelfth century, allures us that the Hibernian Scots, and the men of Galloway, who were the ufual enemies of the men of Cumberland, ''feared thefe fort of arms more than any others, and called an arrow, proverbially, a flying devil." We learn from this and other accounts, that the arrows of this period were barbed and fledged, or furnilhed with feathers. It may be obferved, in fupport of the affertion that the ufe of bows and arrows No. 76. A Stag- Aunt. was derived from the Saxons, that the names bow (l-oga) and arrow (arewe), by which they have always been known, are taken directly from their language 5 whereas, if the practice of archery had been introduced by the Normans, it is probable we mould have called them arcs and fletches, After the entrance of the Normans, we begin to find more frequent alluhons to the convivial meetings of the middle and lower orders in ordinary inns or private houfes. Thus, we have a ftory in Reginald of Durham, of a party of the parifhioners of Kellow, who went to a drinking party at the prieft's, and palled in this manner a great portion of the night.* This occurred in the time of bifhop Geoffrey Rufus, between 1133 and 1 140. A youth and his monaftic teacher are reprefented on another occafion as going to a tavern, and palling the whole of the night * Quklam Walteius .... qui ad domum sacerdotis villulre prredictne cum hospitibus potaturus accessit. Cum igitur noctis spacium etfluxisser, Sec— Reg. Dunelm, c. 17. 1 1 4 Hiftory of Domeflic Manners in drinking, till one of them becomes inebriated, and cannot be prevailed on to return home. Another of Reginald's ftories defcribes a party in a private houfe, fitting and drinking round the fire. We are obliged thus to collecf together flight and often trivial allufions to the manners of a period during which we have fo few detailed defcriptions. Hofpitality was at this time exercifed among all claffes freely and liberally; the mifery of the age made people meet together with . more kindlinefs. The monafteries had their open gueft-houfes, and the unknown traveller was feldom refuted a place at the table of the yeoman. In towns, moil; of the burgeffes or citizens were in the habit of receiving flrangers as private lodgers, in addition to the accommodation afforded in the regular hofpitia or taverns. Travelling, indeed, was more ufual under the Normans than it had been under the Saxons, for it was facilitated by the more extenfive ufe of horfes. But this alfo brought ferious evils upon the country ; for troops of followers and rude retainers who attended on the proud and tyrannical arifrocracy, were in the habit of taking up their lodgings at will and difcretion, and living upon the unfortunate houfe- holders without pay. It had been, even during the Anglo-Saxon period, a matter of pride and oftentation among men of rank — efpecially the king's officers — to travel about accompanied with a great multitude of followers,* and this practice certainly did not diminifh under the Nor- mans. But, whether in great numbers or in fmall, the travellers of the twelfth century fought the means of amufing themfelves during their journey, and thefe amufements refembled fome of thofe which were employed at the dinner-table — they told ftories, or repeated epifodes from romances, or fung, and they fometimes had minfirels to accompany them. In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux, Huon, on his journey from his native city to Paris, afks his brother Gerard to fing, to enliven them on the road, — Cante, biaufrere, pour nos cors esjoir. — Huon de Bordeaux, p. 18. * Lantfridus, in his collection of the miracles of St. Swithun, MS. Reg. 15, C. vii., fol. 41, v°., tells us how — "quidam consul regis, in caducis praeporens rebus, cum ingenti comitatu, sicut mos est Anglo-Saxonum, properater equitabat ad quendam vicum in quo grandis apparatus ad necessarios convivandi usus erat illi opipare constructus," &c. But and Sentiments. "5 But Gerard declines, becaufe a difagreeable dream of the preceding night has made his heart forrowful. When we turn from romance to fober hiitory, we learn from Giraldus Cambrenfis how Gilbert de Clare, journeying from England to his great poffemons in Cardiganshire, was preceded by a minftrel and a finging-man, who played and fang alter- nately, and how the noife they made gave notice of his approach to the Welfhmen who lay in ambufh to kill him. A group of Norman travellers is here given from the Cottonian MS. Nero, C. iv. It is intended to reprefent Jofeph and the Virgin Mary travelling into Egypt. The Virgin on the afs, or mule, is another example No. 77. Norman Travellers. of the continued practice among ladies of riding fideways. Mules appear to have been the animals on which ladies ufually rode at this period. In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux (p. 60), when Huon, immediately after his marriage, proceeds on his journey homeward, he mounts his young duchefs on a mule 5 fo alfo, in the romance of Gaufrey (p. 62), the princefs Flordefpine is mounted on "a rich mule," the trappings of which are rather minutely defcribed. "The faddle was of ivory, inlet with gold ; on the bridle there was a gem of fuch power that it gave light in the darknefs of night, and whoever bore it was prefcrved from all difeafe ; the n6 Hijiory of Domeflic Manners the faddle-cloth (famine) was wonderfully made ; flie had thirty little bells behind the cnirie, which., when the mule ambled, made fo great a melody that harp or viol were worth nothing in companion." The Anglo-Norman hiftorian, Ordericus Vitalis, has preferved a legend of a / vifion of purgatory, in which the prieff. who is fuppofed to have feen it defcribes, among other fuffering perfons, " a crowd of women who feemed to him to be innumerable. They were mounted on horfeback, riding in female fafhion, with women's faddles In this company the prieft recognifed feveral noble ladies, and beheld the palfreys and mules, with the women's litters, of others who were full alive." The Trinity College Pfalter furnifhes us with the two figures of cars given in our cut No. 783 but they are fo fanciful in fhape, that we can hardly help con- cluding they muft have been mere rude and grotefque attempts at imitating claffical forms. The manufcript lafr. mentioned affords us two other curious illuflrations of the manners of the earlier half of the twelfth century. The firfl of No. 78. Ca No. 79. The Stocks. thefe (No. 79) reprefents two men in the flocks, one held by one leg only, the other by both. The men to the left are hooting and infulting them. The fecond, reprefented in our cut No. 80, is the interior of a Norman fchool. We give only a portion of the original, where the bench, on which the fcholars are feated, forms a complete circle. The two writers, the and Sentiments. 117 the teacher, who feems to be lecturing viva voce, and his feat and delk, are all worthy of notice. We have very little information on the forms and methods of teaching in fchools at this period, but fchools feem to have been numerous in all parts of the country. We have more than one allufion to them in the naive ftories of Reginald of Durham. From one of thefe we learn that a fchool, according to a cuftom " now common enough," was kept in the church of No rh am, on the Tweed, the parifh prieft being the teacher. One of the boys, named Aldene, had incurred No. 80. A Norman School. the danger of correction, to efcape which he took the key of the church door, which appears to have been in his cuftody, and threw it into a deep pool in the river Tweed, then called Padduwel, and now Pedwel or Peddle, a place well known as a fifhing ftation. He hoped by this means to efcape further fcholaftic difcipline, from the circumftance that the fcholars would be fliut out by the impollibility of opening the church door. Accordingly, when the time of vefpers came, and the prieft arrived, the key of the door was milling, and the boy declared thai ln- did Hi /lory of "Domeftic Manners did not know where it was. The lock was too ftrong and ponderous to be broken or forced, and, after a vain effort to open the door, the evening was allowed to pafs without divine fervice. The ftory goes on to fay, that in the night St. Cuthbert appeared to the prieft, and inquired wherefore he had neglected his fervice. On hearing the explanation, the faint ordered him to go next morning to the fifliing ftation at Padduwel, and buy the firft net of fifh that was drawn out of the river. The prieft obeyed, and in the net was a falmon of extraordinary magnitude, in the throat of which was found the loft key of Norham church. Among the ariftocracy of the land, the education of the boy took what was confidered at that time a very practical turn — he was inftrucled in behaviour, in manly exercifes and the ufe of arms, in carving at table — then looked upon as a moft important accomplifhment among gentlemen — and in fome other branches of learning which we fliould hardly appre- ciate at prefent ; but fchool learning was no mediaeval gentleman's accomplishment, and was, in that light, quite an exception, unlefs perhaps to a certain degree among the ladies. In the hiftorical romances of the middle ages, a prince or a baron is fometimes able to read, but it is the refult of accidental circumftances. Thus, in the romance of the "Mort de Garin," when the emprefs of the Franks writes fecret news from Paris to duke Garin, the head of the family of the Loherains, it is remarked, as an unufual circumftance, that the latter was able to read, and that he could thus communicate the fecret information of the emprefs to his friends without the afliftance of a fcholar or fecretary, which was a great advantage, as it prevented one fource of danger of the betrayal of the correfpondence. " Garin the Loherain," fays the narrator, " was acquainted with letters, for in his infancy he was put to fchool until he had learned both Roman (French) and Latin." De letres Jot li Loherens Gar ins ; Car enfenfancefu a ejcole mis, Tant que il Jot et Roman et Latin. — Mort de Garin, p. 105. Education of this kind was beftowed more generally on the hourgeoi/ie — on the middle and even the lower claifes ; and to thefe fchool- education and Sentiments. 1 1 9 education was much more generally accellible than we are accuftomed to imagine. From Anglo-Saxon times, indeed, every pariih church had been a public fchool. The Ecclefiaftical Inftitutes (p. 475, in the folio edition of the Laws, by Thorpe) directs that " MaiT-priefts ought always to have at their houfes a fchool of difciples ; and if any one defire to commit his little ones (lytlingas) to them for inftruction, they ought very gladly to receive them, and kindly teach them." It is added that "they ought not, however, for that inftru&ion, to defire anything from their relatives, except what they fhall be willing to do for them of their own accord." In the Ecclefiaftical Canons, publifhed under king Edgar, there is an enactment which would lead us to fuppofe that the clergy performed their fcholaftic duties with fome zeal, and that priefts were in the habit of feducing their fcholars from each other, for this enact- ment (p. 3g6) enjoins " that no prieft receive another's fcholar without leave of him whom he previously followed." This fyftem of teaching was kept up during at leaft feveral generations after the Norman conqueft. 2o Hijlory of Domejiic Manners CHAPTER VII. EARLY ENGLISH HOUSES. THEIR GENERAL FORM AND DISTRIBUTION. AFTER the middle of the twelfth century, we begin to be better acquainted with the domeftic manners of our forefathers, and from that period to the end of the fourteenth century the change was very gradual, and in many refpefts they remained nearly the fame. In the middle claries, efpecially in the towns, there had been a gradual fufion of Norman and Saxon manners, while the Norman fafhions and the Norman language prevailed in the higher claifes, and the manners of the lower claifes remained, probably, nearly the fame as before the Conqueft. We now obtain a more perfect notion of the houfes of all claifes, not only from more frequent and exact defcriptions, but from exifting remains. The principal part of the building was ftill the hall, or, according to the Norman word, the salle, but its old Saxon character feems to have been fo univerfally acknowledged, that the firft or Saxon name prevailed over the other. The name now ufually given to the whole dwelling-houfe was the Norman word manoir or manor, and we find this applied popu- larly to the houfes of all claffes, excepting only the cottages of labouring people. In houfes of the twelfth century, the hall, ftanding on the ground floor, and open to the roof, ftill formed the principal feature of the building. The chamber generally adjoined to it at one end, and at the other was ufually a ftable (croiche). The whole building ftood within a fmall enclofure, confifting of a yard or court in front, called in Norman aire (area), and a garden, which was furrounded ufually with a hedge and ditch. - In front, the houfe had ufually one door, which was the main entrance into the hall. From this latter apartment there was a door and Sentiments. 1 2 door into the chamber at one end, and one into the croiche or ftable at the other end, and a back door into the garden. The chamber had alio frequently a door which opened alfo into the garden ; the ftable, as a matter of courfe, would have a large door or outlet into the yard. The chief windows were thofe of the hall. Thefe, in common houfes, appear to have been merely openings, which might be clofed with wooden mutters ; and in other parts of the building they were nothing but holes (pertuis) ; there appears to have been ufually one of thefe holes in the partition wall between the chamber and the hall, and another between the hall and the ftable. There was alfo an outer window, or pertuis, to the chamber. In the popular French and Anglo-Norman fabliaux, or tales in verfe, which belong moftly to the thirteenth century, we meet with many incidents illuftrating this diftribution of the apartments of the houfe, which no doubt continued eflentially the fame during that and the following century. Thus in a fabliau publilhed by M. Jubinal, an old woman of mean condition in life, dame Auberee, is defcribed as viiiting a burgher's wife, who, with characteriftic vanity, takes her into the chamber adjoining (en une chambre ilueques pres), to fhow her her handlbme bed. When the lady afterwards takes refuge with dame Auberee, flie alio ihows her out of the hall into a chamber clofe adjoining (en une chambre iluec de jqfle). In a fabliau entitled Du prejire crucifie, published by Moon, a man returning home at night, fees what is going on in the hall through a pertuis, or hole made through the wall for a window, before he opens the door (par un pertuis les a veuz). In another fabliau publilhed in the larger collection of Barbazan, a lady in her chamber fees what is palling in the hall par un pertuis. In the fabliau of Le povre clerc (or fcholar), the clerc, having aiked for a night's lodging at the houfe of a miller during the miller's abfence, is driven away by the wife, who expects a vilit from her lover the prieft, and is unwilling to have an intruder. The clerc, as he is going away, meets the miller, who, angry at the inhofpitable conduct of his dame, takes him back to the houfe. The prieft in the meantime had arrived, and is fitting in the hull with the good wife, who, hearing a knock at the door, makes her lover hide him- K Tell' 122 Hijlory of Domeftic Manners felf in the ftable (croiche). From the ftable the priefl watches the company in the hall through a window (fenejire), which is evidently only another name for the pertuis. In one fabliau the gallant comes through the court or garden, and is let into the hall by the back door; in another a woman is introduced into the chamber by a back door, or, as it is called in the text, a falfe door (par unfax huis), while the hall is occupied by company. The arrangements of an ordinary houfe in the country are illuftrated in the fabliau De Barat et de Hairnet, printed in the collection of Bar- bazan. Two thieves undertake to rob a third of " a bacon," which he (Travers) had hung on the beam or rafter of his houfe, or hall :— Travers Pavoit a une hart Au tref de fa meson fendu. The thieves make a hole in the wall, by which one enters without waking Travers or his wife, although they were fleeping with the door of their chamber open. The bacon is thus ftolen and carried away. Travers, roufed by the noife of their departure, rifes from his bed, follows the thieves, and ultimately recaptures his bacon. He refolves now to cook the bacon, and eat fome of it, and for this purpofe a fire is made, and a cauldron full of water hung over it. This appears to be performed in the middle of the hall. The thieves return, and, approaching the door, one of them looked through the pertuis, and faw the bacon boiling : — Bar as mifl fan oeil au pertuis, Et voit que la chaudiere bout. The thieves then climb the roof, uncover a fmall fpace at the top filently, and attempt to draw up the bacon with a hook. From the unlkilfulnefs of the mediaeval artifts in reprefenting details where any knowledge of perfpecf ive was required, we have not fo much information as might be expected from the illuminated manufcripts relating to the arrangements of houfes. But a fine illuminated copy of the romances of the San Graal and the Round Table, executed at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and now preferred in the Britiih Mufeum and Sentiments. 123 Mufeum (MS. Addit. Nos. 10,292—10,294), furnifhes us with one or two rather interefting illufixations of this fubje&. The romances them- felves were compoied in Anglo-Norman, in the latter half of the twelfth century. The firfl cut which we lhall felecf from this manufcript is a No. 81. An Anglo- Norman Houfe complete view of a houfe ; it belongs to a chapter entitled Enjl que Lancelot ront les fers aVunc fenejire, et Ji entre dedens pour ge/ir avoec la royne. The queen has informed Lancelot that the head of her bed lies near the window of her chamber, and that he may come by night to the window, which is defended by an iron grating, to talk with her, and fhe tells him that the wall of the adjacent hall is in one part weak and dilapidated enough to allow of his obtaining an entrance through it 5 but Lancelot prefers breaking open the grating in order to enter directly into the chamber, to palling through the hall. The grating of the chamber window appears to have been common in the houfes of the rich and noble ; in the records of the thirteenth century, the grating of the chamber windows of the queen is often mentioned. The window behind Lancelot in our cut is that of the hall, and is diftinguifhed by architectural ornamentation. The ornamental hinges of the door, with the lock and the knocker, are alio curious. Our next cut (No. 82), taken from this fame manufcripl , 124 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners manufcript, reprefents part of the houfe of a knight, whofe wife has an intrigue with one of the heroes of thefe romances, king Claudas. The knight lay in wait to take the king, as he was in the lady's chamber at night, but the king, ^//AV^V-TW'V De ' n o ma de aware of his danger, efcaped by aj/v/^\j >f the chamber- window, while the knight ex- pected to catch him by entering at the hall door. The juxtapofition of hall and chamber is here mown very plainly. In another chapter of the fame romances, the king takes Lancelot into a chamber to talk with him apart, while his knights wait for them in the hall ; this is picrorially reprefented in an illumination copied in the accompanying cut (No. 83), which mows exactly the rela- tive pofition of the hall and chamber. The door here is probably intended for that which led from the hall into the chamber. No. 82. The Hall and Chamber. No. 83. The Knights In ivaiting We fee from continual allufions that an ordinary houfe, even among men of wealth, had ufually only one chamber, which ferved as his fleeping-room, and as the fpecial apartment of the female portion of the houfehold and Sentiments. 125 houfehold — the lady and her maids, while the hall was employed indis- criminately for cooking, eating and drinking, receiving vifitors, and a variety of other purpofes, and at night it was ufed as a common fleeping- room. Thefe arrangements, and the conftrucfion of the houfe, varied according to the circumftances of the locality and the rank of the occupiers. Among the rich, a ftable did not form part of the houfe, but its lite was often occupied by the kitchen, which was almoft always placed clofe to the hall. Among the higher claffes other chambers were built, adjacent to the chief chamber, or to the hall, though in larger manfions they fometimes occupied a tower or feparate building adjacent. The form, however, which the manor-houfe generally took was a fimple oblong fquare. A feal of the thirteenth century, attached to a deed by which, in June, 1272, William Moraunt grants to Peter Picard an acre of land in the parifh of Otteford in Kent, fur- nilhes us with a reprefentation of William Moraunt's manor-houfe. It is a fimple fquare building, with a high-pitched roof, as appears always to have been the cafe in the early Englifh houfes, and a chimney. The hall door, it will be obferved, opens outwardly, as is the cafe in the preceding cuts, which was the ancient Roman manner of opening of the outer door of the houfe; it may be added that it was the cuftom to leave the hall door or huis (oftium) always open by day, as a fign of hofpitality. It will alfo be obferved that there is a curious coincidence in the form of chimney with the cuts from the illuminated manufcript. We muft not overlook another circumftance in thefe delineations, — the pofition of the chimney, which is ufually over the chamber, and not over the hall. Fireplaces in the wall and chimneys were firft introduced in the chamber. As the grouping together of feveral apartments on the ground-floor rendered the whole building lefs compact and lefs defenhble, the practice foon rofe, efpecially in the better manoirs, of making apartments above. This 84. Seal of JV. Moraunt. 126 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners This upper apartment was called a foler (folarium, a word fuppofed to be derived from fol, the fun, as being, by its pofition, nearer to that luminary, or as receiving more light from it). It was at firft, and in the leffer manfions, but a fmall apartment raifed above the chamber, and approached by a flight of fteps outfide, though (but more rarely) the ftaircafe was fometimes internal. In our firft cut from the Mufeum manu- fcript (No. 81), there is a foler over the chamber, to which the approach appears to be from the infide. In the early metrical tales the foler, and its exterior ftaircafe, are often alluded to. Thus, in the fabliau D ' Efiourmi, in Barbazan, a burgher and his wife deceive three monks of a neigh- bouring abbey who make love to the lady ; fhe conceals her hufband in the foler above, to which he afcends by a flight of fteps : — Tejiea, vous montere% la Jus En eel Jolier tout co'iement. The monk, before he enters the houfe, paffes through the court (cortil), in which there is a lheepcot (hercil), or perhaps a ftable. The hufband from the foler above looks through a lattice or grate and fees all that paffes in the hall — Par la tre'iUie le porlingne. The ftairs feem, therefore, to have been outfide the hall, with a latticed window looking into it from the top. The monk appears to have entered the hall by the back door, and the chamber is adjacent to the hall (as in houfes which had no foler), on the fide oppofite to that on which were the ftairs. When another monk comes, the hufband hides himfelf under the ftairs (fouz le degre). The bodies of the monks (who are killed by the hufband) are carried out parmi unefauffe poferne which leads into the fields (aus charts). In the fabliau of La Sainereffe, a woman who performs the operation of bleeding comes to the houfe of a burgher, and finds the man and his wife feated on a bench in the yard before the hall — En mi Paire de fa mefen. The lady fays fhe wants bleeding, and takes her upftairs into the foler : — Montc% la Jus en eel Jolier, II rnejluet de vojlre mcftier. They and Sentiments. 1 27 They enter, and cloie the door. The apartment on the foler, although there W3s a bed in it, is not called a chamber, but a room or laloon (perrin):— Si fe defcendent del perrln t Contrcval les degrez enjin Vmdrent errant en la ma: Jon. The expreffion that they came down the flairs, and into the houfe, fhows that the ftaircafe was outfide. In another fabliau, De la lorgoife d'Orliens, a burgher comes to his wife in the difguife of her gallant, and the lady, difcovering the fraud, locks him up in the foler, pretending he is to wait there till the houie- hold is in bed — jfe -vous metrai prive'ement En un folier dont 'fat la clef. She then goes to meet her ami, and they come from the garden (vergier) direct into the chamber without entering the hall. Here lhe tells him to wait while fhe goes in there (Id dedans), to give her people their flipper, and fhe leaves him while fhe gees into the hall. The lady after- wards fends her fervants to beat her huiband, pretending him to be an importunate fiiitor whom fhe wifhes to punifh ! " he waits for me up there in that room :" — La Jus nTatcnt en ce per in. Nefiujfrez pas que il en iJJ'e, Ain% Faciieillier al folier haut. They beat him as he defcends the ftairs, and purfue him into the garden, all which paffes without entering the lower apartments of the houfe. The foler, or upper part of the houfe, appears to have been conlidered the place of greateft fecurity — in facl: it could only be entered by one door, which was approached by a flight of fteps, and was therefore more eafily defended than the ground floor. In the beautiful ftory De I'ermite qui s ' acompaigna a I'ange, the hermit and his companion feek a night's lodging at the houfe of a rich but miferly ufurer, who refufes them admittance into the houfe, and will only permit them to fleep under the ftaircafe, in what the ftory terms an (invent or fhed. The next morning 128 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners the hermit's young companion goes upftairs into the foler to find the ufurer, who appears to have flept there for fecurity — Le -vallet les degrez went a, El filler fon hofte tro-va. It was in the thirteenth century a proverbial chara&eriftic of an avaricious and inhofpitable perfon, to fhut his hall door and live in the foler. In a poem of this period, in which the various vices of the age are placed under the ban of excommunication, the mifer is thus pointed out : — Encor efcommeni-je plus Riche homme qui ferme fon huh, Et 38 Hijiory of Domeft'ic Ma?iners another copy of the fame work, preferred in the fame great collection (No. 7210), but of the fifteenth century, gives a ftill more perfect repre- fentation of the perche, fupporting, as in the laft example, a helmet, a No. 04. Another Perche. lhield, and coats of mail. In the foreground, a queen is depofiting the ftaff and fcrip of a hermit in a cheft, for greater fecurity. This fubjecl is reprefented in our cut No. 9^. Furniture of every kind continued to be rare, and chairs were by no No. 95. Scene in a Chamber. means common articles in ordinary houfes. In the chambers, feats were made in the mafonry by the fide of the windows, as reprefented in our cut and Sentiments. 39 cut No. 88, and fometimes along the walls. Common benches were the ufual feats, and thefe were often formed by merely laying a plank upon two treftles. Such a bench is probably reprefented in the accompanying cut (No. 96), taken from a manufcript of the romance of Triftan, of the No. 96. A Bench on TreJIL fourteenth century, preferved in the National Library at Paris (No. 7178). Tables were made in the fame manner. We now, however, find not un- frequent mention of a table dormant in the hall, which was of courfe a table fixed to the fpot, and which was not taken away like the others : it was probably the great table of the dais, or upper end of the hall. To "begin No. 97. A Table on Treftles. the table dormant" was a popular phrafe, apparently equivalent to taking the firft place at the feaft. Chaucer, in the prologue to the Canterbury Tales, defcribing the profufe hofpitality of (he Frankeleyn, fays — His table dormant in his halle ahv<:y Stood rcdy covered al the longe day. Yel 140 Hijiory of Dome ft ic Manners Yet, during the whole of this period, it continued to be the common practice to make the table for a meal, by merely laying a board upon treftles. The fecond cut on the preceding page (No. 97) is a very curious reprefentation of fuch a table, from a manufcript of the thirteenth cen- tury, preferved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (MS. Arch. A. 154). It muft be underftood that the objects which are ranged alternately with the drinking-veffels are loaves of bread, not plates. and Sentiments. CHAPTER VIII. THE OLD ENGLISH HALL. THE KITCHEN, AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES. THE DINNER-TABLE. MINSTRELSY. AS I have already ftated, the hall continued to be the raoft important • part of the houfej and in large manlions it was made of pro- portional dimensions. It was a general place of rendezvous for the houfehold, efpecially for the retainers and followers, and in the evening it feems ufually to have been left entirely to them, and they made their beds and paffed the night in it. Strangers or vifitors were brought into the hall. In the curious old poem edited by Mr. Halliwell, entitled "The Boke of Curtafye," we find efpecial directions on this fubject. When a gentleman or yeoman came to the houfe of another, he was directed to leave his weapons with the porter at the outward gate or wicket, before he entered. It appears to have been the etiquette that if the perfon thus prefenting himfelf were of higher rank than the perfon he vifited, the latter fhould go out to receive him at the gate ; if the contrary, the vifitor was admitted through the gate, and proceeded to theihall. Whanne thou comes to a lordh gate, The porter thou Jhalle fynde t her ate ; Take (give) hym thoiv /halt thy ivcjyn tho (then)i And ajke hym leve in to go. . . . yf he be of log h (low) degr Than hym fallcs to come to the. At the hall door the vifitor was to take off his hood and gloves — When thoiv come tho halle dor to, Do of thy hode, thy gloves a/Jo. If, when he entered the hall, the vifitor found the family a1 meat, he ftood 14.2 Hijlory of Dome flic Manners flood at the bottom of the apartment in a refpe&ful attitude, till the lord of the houfe lent a fervant to lead him to a place where he was to lit at table. As you defcended lower in fociety, fuch ceremonies were lefs obferved ; and the clergy in general feem to have been allowed a much greater licence than the laity. In the Sompneres Tale, in Chaucer, when the friar, who has received an infult from an inferior inhabitant, goes " to the court" to complain to the lord of the village, he finds the latter in his hall at the dinner table— This fr ere com, as he ivere in a rage, Wher that this lord fat etyng at his bord.— Chaucer's Cant. Tales, ]. 7748. The lord, furprifed at the agitation in the countenance of the friar, who had come in without any fort of introduction, invites him to lit down, and inquires into his bulinels. There is a fcene in the early Engliih metrical romance of Ipomydon, in which this hero and his preceptor Tholoman go to the relidence of the heirefs of Calabria. At the caftle gate they were flopped by the porter, whom they afk to. announce them in the hall :— The porter to theyme they gan calk, And prayd hym, ' Go into the hallc, And fay thy lady gent and f re, That come ar men offerre contre', And, if it plefe hyr, ive ivold liyr prey That ive myght ete -with hyr to-day. — -Wcter, Metr. Rom. ii. 2'JO. The porter " courteoufly" undertook the meffage, and, at the immediate order of the lady, who was fitting at her meat, he went back, iook charge of their horfes and pages, and introduced them into the hall. Then they afked to be taken into the lady's fervice, who accepted their offer, and invited them to take their place at the dinner : — He thankid the lady cortefly, She comandyth hym to the mete; But, or he fatte in any fete, He faluted theym grate and fmalle, As a gentille man Jhuld in halle. — Weber, ii. 292. Perhaps, before entering the mediaeval hall, we fhall do well to give a glance at the kitchen. It is an opinion, which has not unfrequently been and Sentiments. 143 been entertained, that living in the middle ages was coarfe and not elaborate ; and that old Engliih fare conflfled chiefly in road: beef and plum-pudding. That nothing, however, could be more incorrect, is fully proved by the rather numerous mediaeval cookery books which are dill preferved, and which contain chiefly directions for made diflies, many of them very complicated, and, to appearance, extremely delicate. The office of cook, indeed, was one of great importance, and was well paid ; and the kitchens of the ariftocracy were very extenfive, and were fur- nilhed with a confiderable variety of implements of cookery. On account, no doubt, of this importance, Alexander Neckam, although an ecclefiaftic, commences his vocabulary (or, as it is commonly entitled, Liber de Utenfilibus), compiled in the latter part of the twelfth century, with an account of the kitchen and its furniture. He enumerates, among other objefts, a table for chopping and mincing herbs and vegetables ; pots, trivets or tripods, an axe, a mortar and peftle, a mover, or pot-flick, for ftirring, a crook or pot-hook (uncus), a caldron, a frying-pan, a grid- iron, a pofhet or faucepan, a dilh, a platter, a faucer, or veflel for mixing fauce, a hand-mill, a pepper-mill, a mier, or inflrument for reducing bread to crumbs. John de Garlande, in his "Dicfionarius," compofed towards the middle of the thirteenth century, gives a fimilar enumeration ; and a companion of the vocabularies of the fifteenth century, ihows that the arrangements of the kitchen had undergone little change during the intervening period. From thefe vocabularies the following lirt of kitchen utenfils is gathered: — a brandreth, or iron tripod, for fupporting the caldron over the tire 5 a caldron, a drefling-board and dretiing-knife, a brafs-pot, a pofnet, a frying-pan, a gridiron, or, as it is fometimes called, a roafting-iron ; a lpit, a " gobard," explained in the MS. by ipegurgium ; a mier, a flefh-hook, a fcummer, a ladle, a pot-flick, a dice for turning- meat in the frying-pan, a pot-hook, a mortar and peftle, a pepperrquern, a platter, a faucer. The older illuminated manufcripts are rarely l<> elaborate as to furnifti us with reprefentations of all thefe kitchen implements ; and, in fact, it is not in the more elaborately illuminated manufcripts that kitchen fcenes are often found. But we meet with reprefentations of" tome of them in artiftic 144 Hijlory of Domeftic Manners artiftic iketches of a lefs elaborate character, though thefe are generally conne&ed with the lefs refined proceffes of cookery. The mediaeval landlords were obliged to confume the produce of the land on their own eftates, and, for this and other very cogent reafons, a large proportion of the provifions in ordinary ufe confifted of falted meat, which was laid up in ftore in vaft quantities in the baronial larders. Hence boiling was a much more common method of cooking meat than roafting, for which, indeed, the mediaeval fire, placed on the ground, was much lefs con- venient ; it is, no doubt, for this reafon that the cook is mod frequently reprefented in the mediaeval drawings with the caldron on the fire. In fome inftances, chiefly of the fifteenth century, the caldron is fupported from above by a pot-hook, but more ufually it ftands over the fire upon three legs of its own, or upon a three-legged frame. A manufcript in the Britilh Mufeum of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. to, E. iv.), belonging formerly to the monaftery of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, contains a feries of fuch illuftrations, from which the following are felecled. In the firft of thefe (No. 98) it is evidently a three-legged caldron which ftands over the fire, to increafe the heat of which the cook makes ufe of a pair of bel- lows, which bears a remarkably clofe refemblance to the fimilar articles made in modern times. No. 98. Makin? the Pot boil. „ ,, • i • * Bellows were certainly in common ufe in Anglo-Saxon times, for the name is Anglo-Saxon, Icelg, Icelig, and lylig ; but as the original meaning of this word was merely a lag, it is probable that the early Anglo-Saxon bellows was of very rude character : it was fometimes diftinguiihed by the compound name, llaji-lcelg, a blaft- bag, or bellows. Our fecond example from this MS. (cut No. 99) is one of a feries of defigns belonging to fome mediaeval ftory or legend, with which I am not acquainted. A young man carrying the veflel for the holy water, and the afperfoir with which it was fprinkled over the people, and who may therefore be fuppofed to be the holy-water clerc, is making and Sentiments. H5 making acquaintance with the female cook. The latter feems to have been interrupted in the act of taking fome object out of the caldron with a flefh-hook. The caldron here again is three-legged. In the fequel, No. 99. The Holy-Water Clerc and the Cook. the acquaintance between the cook and the holy-water clerc appears to have ripened into love ; but we may prefume from the manner in which it was reprefented (No. 100), that this love was not of a very dilintereiled No. 1 00. Intcrejlcd Fr'undfhtp. chara£ter on the part of the clerc, for he is taking advantage of her affection to Ileal the animal which ihe is boiling in the caldron. The u conventional Hijlory of Domejitc Manners conventional manner in which the animal feems to be drawn, renders it difficult to decide what that animal is. The mediaeval artifts fhow a tafte for playful delineations of this kind, which occur not unfrequently in oi . A Kitchen Scene. illuminated manufcripts, and in carvings and fculptures. One of the flails in Hereford cathedral, copied in the accompanying cut (No. 101), reprefents a fcene of this defcrip- tion. A man is attempting to take liberties with the cook, who has in return thrown a platter at his head. In our next cut (No. 102), taken from another MS. in the Britifh Mufeum, alfo of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 16, E. viii.), the objecf cooked in the caldron is a boar's head, which the cook, an ill-favoured and hump-backed man, is placing on a difh to be carried to the table. The caldron, in this inftance, appears to be intended to have been of more ornamental character than the others. It 02. The Boards Head. and Sentiments. 47 It will have been remarked that in moll of thele pictures the procefs of cookery appears to have been carried on in the open air, for, in one inftance, a tree Hands not far from the caldron. This appears, indeed, to have been frequently the cafe, and there can be no doubt that it was intended to be lb reprelented in our next cut (No. 103), taken from the well-known manufcript of the romance of " Alexander," in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. We have here the two procelfes of boiling and 7/0.103. Bailing and Roafting. roafting, but the latter is only employed for fowls (geefe in this cafe). While the cook is bailing them, the quiftron, or kitchen-boy, is turning the fpit, which is fupported in a very curious manner on one leg of the tripod or trivet, on whirl) the caldron is here fupporlcd. The building to the right is QlOWD by the lign to be .111 inn, and uv are, probably, to fuppofe, that this out-of-door cooking is required by fome unufual feftivity. All hough 148 Hi [lory of Domejiic Manners Although meat was, doubtlefs, fometimes roafted, this procefs feems to have been much more commonly applied to poultry and game, and even frefh meat was very ufually boiled. One caufe of this may, perhaps, have been, that it feems to have been a common practice to eat the meat, and even game, frefh killed — the beef or mutton feems to have been often killed for the occafion on the day it was eaten. In the old fabliau of the "Bouchier d' Abbeville" (Barbazan, torn. iv. p. 6), the butcher, having come to Bailueil late in the evening, and obtained a night's lodging at the prieft's, kills his fheep for the fupper. The moulders were to be roafted, the reft, as it appears, was recommended to be boiled. The butchers, indeed, feem ufually to have done their work in the kitchen, and to have killed and cut up the animals for the occafion. There is a curious ftory in the Englifh Gefta Romanorum (edited by Sir Frederic Madden), which illuftrates this practice. " Caefar was em- peror of Rome, that had a foreft, in the which he had planted vines and other divers trees many ; and he ordained over his foreft a fteward, whofe name was Jonatas, bidding him, upon pain, to keep the vines and the plants. It fell, after this ordinance of the emperor, that Jonatas took the care of the foreft ; and upon a day a fwine came into the foreft, the new plants he rooted up. When Jonatas faw the fwine enter, he cut off his tail, and the fwine made a cry, and went out. Nevertheless, he entered again, and did much harm in the foreft. When Jonatas faw that, he cut off his left ear; and the hog made a great cry, and went out. Notwithstanding this, he entered again the third day ; and Jonatas faw him, and cut off his right ear, and with a horrible cry he went out. Yet the fourth day the fwine re-entered the foreft, and did much damage. When Jonatas faw that the hog would not be warned, he fmote him through with his fpear, and flew him, and delivered the body to the cook for to array the next day to the emperor's meat. But when the emperor was ferved of this fwine, he afked of his fervants, < Where is the heart of this fwine ?'— becaufe the emperor loved the heart beft of any beaft, and more than all the beaft. The fervants afked the cook where the heart of the fwine was, for the lord inquired after it. The cook, when he had arrayed the heart, faw it was good and fat, and eat it ; and Sentiments. 149 it j and he laid to the fervants, ' Say to the emperor that the hog had no heart.' The emperor faid, 'It may not be ; and therefore lay to him, upon pain of death, that he fend me the heart of the fwine, for there is no beaft in all the world without a heart.' The fervants went to the cook with the emperor's orders ; and he replied, ' Say to my lord, but if I prove mightily by clear reafons that the fwine had no heart, I put me fully to his will, to do with me as he likes.' The emperor, when he heard this, afligned him a day to anfwer. When the day was come, the cook, with a high voice, faid before all men, ' My lord, this is the day of my anfwer. Firft I fhall lhow you that the fwine had no heart ; this is the reafon. Every thought cometh from the heart, therefore every man or beaft feeleth good or evil j it followeth of neceflity that by this the heart thinketh.' The emperor faid, 'That is truth.' 'Then,' faid the cook, 'now lhall I lhow by reafons that the fwine had no heart. Firft he entered the foreft, and the fteward cut oft' his tail ; if he had had a heart, he lhould have thought on his tail that was loft, but he thought not thereupon, for afterwards he entered the foreft, and the forefter cut off his left ear. If he had had a heart, he ihould have thought on his left ear, but he thought not, for the third time he entered the foreft. That faw the forefter, and cut off his right ear ; where, if he had had a heart, he fhould have thought that he had loft his tail and both his ears, and never fhould have gone again where he had fo many evils. But yet the fourth time he entered the foreft, and the fteward faw that, and Hew him, and delivered him to me to array to your meat. Here may ye fee, my lord, that I have fliown, by worthy reafons. thai the fwine had no heart.' And thus efcaped the cook." The ftory which follows this in the Gefta, tells of an emperor named " Alexaundre," "who of great need ordained for a law, that no man fhould turn the plaice in his difh, but that he lhould only eat the white fide, and in no wife the black fide ; and if any man did the contrary, lie fhould die!" It is hardly necelfary to remark, that iilh was a great article of confumption in the middle ages, and efpecially among the ecclefiaftics and monks. The accompanying cut on the following page (No. 104), from a manufcript of the fourteenth century in the British Mufeum 5° Hiftory of Dome/lie Manners Mufeum (MS. Harl. No. 1527), reprefents probably the fteward of a monastery receiving a prefent of Mi. In large houfes, and on great occafions, the various meats and dimes were carried from the kitchen to the hall with extraordinary ceremony by the fervants of the kitchen, who delivered them at the entrance of the hall to other attendants of a higher clafs, who alone were allowed to approach the tables. Our cut No. io£ from MS. Reg. 10, E. iv., repre- fents one of thefe fervants carrying a pot and platter, or ftand for the pot, No. 104. A Prefent of Fijh. 05. A Pot and Platter. which, perhaps, contained gravy or foup. The roafts appear to have been ufually carried into the hall on the fpits, which, among people of great rank, were fometimes made of filver 5 and the guefts at table feem to have torn, or cut, from the fpit what they wanted. Several early illuminations reprefent this practice of people helping themfelves from the fpits, and it is alluded to, not very unfrequently, in the mediaeval writers. In the romance of " Parife la Ducheffe," when the fervants enter the hall with the meats for the table, one is defcribed as carrying a roafted peacock on a fpit : — At ant e% les ferjanz qui portent le mangier ; Li uns forte .i. paon roti en un afiier. — Rumani de Parise, p. 172. In the romance of " Garin le Loherain," on an occafion when a quarrel began in the hall at the beginning of the dinner, the duke Begon, for and Sentiments. I5 1 for want of other weapons, fnatched from the hands of one of the attend- ants a long fpit " full of plovers, which were hot and roafted :" — Li dus a-voit un grant haftier faiji, Plain de plo-viers, qui chaut junt et rojli -Romans do Gai But the moft curious illuftration of the univerfality of this practice is found in a Latin ftory, probably of the thirteenth century, in which we are told of a man who had a glutton for his wife. One day he roafted for their dinner a fowl, and when they had fat down at the table, the wife faid, " Give me a wing?" The hufband gave her the wing ; and. No. 1 06. Bringing the Dinner into Hall. at her demand, all the other members in fucceftion, until ihe had devoured the whole fowl herfelf, at which, no longer able to contain his anger, ho faid, " Lo, you have eaten the whole fowl yourfelf, and nothing remains but the fpit, which it is but right that you fhould tafte alio." And thereupon he took the fpit, and beat her feverely with it. Our cut (No. 106), taken from a large illumination, given from a manufcript of the fifteenth century by the late M. du Sommerard, in his great work on mediaeval art, reprefents the Tenants of the hall, headed by the fteward, or mattre d' hotel, with his rod of office, bringing the diflies Hiftory of Domejlic Manners dilhes to the table in formal proceffion. Their approach and arrival were ufually announced by the founding of trumpets and mufic. The fervants were often preceded by mufic, as we fee in our cut No. 107, taken from a very fine MS. of the early part of the fourteenth century, in the Britiih Mufeum (MS. Reg. 2, B. vii.). A reprefentation of a fimilar fcene occurs at the foot of the large Flemifh brafs of Robert Braunche and his two wives at St. Margaret's Church, Lynn, which is intended as a delineation of a feaft given by the corporation of Lynn to king Edward III. Servants from both fides of the picture are bringing in that famous difli of chivalry, the peacock with his tail difplayed ; and two bands of minftrels are ufhering in the banquet with their {trains 5 the .ZVe. 1 07. Serving date of the brafs is about 1364 a.d. • Thofe who ferved at the table itfelf, whofe bufinefs was chiefly to carve and prefent the wine, were of fiill higher rank — never lefs than efquires — and often, in the halls of princes and great chiefs, nobles and barons. The meal itfelf was con- dueled with the fame degree of ceremony, of which a vivid picture may be drawn from the directions given in the work called the " Menagier de Paris," compofed about the year 1393. When it was announced that the dinner was ready, the guefts advanced to the hall, led ceremonioufly by two maitres d'hotel, who fhowed them their places, and ferved them with water to walh their hands before they began. They found the tables fpread with fine table-cloths, and covered with a profufion of richly-ornamented plate, confiding of lalt-cellars, goblets, pots or cups for drinking, and Sentiments. 53 drinking, fpoons, &rc. At the high table, the meats were eaten from flices of bread, called trenchers {tranchoirs) , which, after the meats were eaten, were thrown into veflels called couloueres. In a confpieuous part of the hall flood the dreifer or cupboard, which was covered with veflels of plate, which two efquires carried thence to the table, to replace thofe which were emptied. Two other efquires were occupied in bringing wine to the drefler, from whence it was ferved to the guefls at the tables. The dilhes, forming a number of courfes, varying according to the occa- fion, were brought in by valets, led by two efquires. An affeeur, or placer, took the diflies from the hands of the valets, and arranged them in their places on the table. After thefe courfes, frelh table-cloths were laid, and the entremets were brought, confifting of fweets, jellies, &c, many of them moulded into elegant or fantaftic forms ; and, in the middle of the table, raifed above the reft, were placed a fwan, peacocks, or pheafants, drefled up in their feathers, with their beaks and feet gilt. In lefs fumptuous entertainments the expenfive courfe of entremets was ufually omitted. Laft of all came the deflert, confifting of cheefe, con- fedtionaries, fruit, &c, concluded by what was called the i/Jue (departure from table), confifting ufually of a draught of hypocras, and the boute-hors (turn out), wine and fpices ferved round, which terminated the repaft. The guefts then wafhed their hands, and repaired into another room, where they were ferved with wine and fvveetmeats, and, after a lhort time, feparated. The dinner, ferved ftowly and ceremoniouily, mull have occupied a confiderable length of time. After the guefts had left the hall, the fervers and attendants took their places at the tables. The furniture of the hall was fimple, and confifted of but a few articles. In large refidences, the floor at the upper end of the hall was raifed, and was called the dais. On this the chief table was placed, ftretching lengthways acrofs the hall. The fubordinate tables were arranged below, down each fide of the hall. In the middle was generally the fire, fometimes in an iron grate. At the upper end of the hall there was often a cup-board or a drefler lor the plate, &c. The tables were ftill merely boards placed on treflels, though the table dor- mant, or ftationary table, began to be more common. Perhaps the large x table '54 Hiftory of Dome fit c Manners table on the dais was generally a table dormant. The feats were merely benches or forms, except the principal feat againft the wall on the dais, which was often in the form of a fettle, with back and elbows. Such a feat is reprefented in our cut No. 108, taken from a manufcript of the romance of Meliadus, in the National Library at Paris, No. 6961. On No. 10B. The Seat on the Dais. fpecial occafions, the hall was hung round with tapeftry, or curtains, which were kept for that purpofe, and one of thefe curtains feems com- monly to have been fufpended againft the wall behind the dais. A carpet was fometimes laid on the floor, which, however, was more ufually fpread with rufhes. Sometimes, in the illuminations, the floor appears to be paved with ornamental tiles, without carpet or rallies. It was and Sentiments. 1 5 5 was alio not unufual to bring a chair into the hall as a mark of particular refpe6t. Thus, in the Englifh metrical romance of Sir Ifumbras : — The riche qivene in haulle ivas fctt, Knyghttes hir fcr-ves to handes and fete, Were clede in robis of palle ; In the flour e a clothe ivas layde, " This poore palmere" the fteivarde fayde, " Salle jy tie aboivene yoiv alle." Mete and drynke ivas fort he broghte, Sir If am brace fctt and ete nog/ite, Bot luked aboivte in the haulle. So lange he fatt and ete nog/ite, That the lady grete tuondir thoghte, And tille a knyghte ganefaye, " Bryng a chayere and a qivyfchenc (cushion), And fett yone poore palmere therin." A riche chayere than ivas t her fett, This poore palmere therin ivas fctt, He tolde hir of his laye. Until comparatively a very recent date, the hour of dinner, even among the higher!: claffes of fociety, was ten o'clock in the forenoon. There was an old proverb which defined the divifions of the domeftic day as follows : — Lever a fix, difner a dix, Souper a fix, coucher a dix. Which is preferved in a iiill older and more complete form as follows : — Lever a cinq, diner a neuf, Souper a cinq, coucher a ncuf, Fait vivre d^ans nonante ct ncuf. Five o'clock was the well-known hour of the afternoon meal ; and nine feems formerly to have been an ordinary hour for dinner. In the tinu- of Chaucer, the hour of prime appears to have been the ufual dinner hour, which perhaps meant nine o'clock. At leaft the monk, in the Schipmannes Tale, calls for dinner at prime : — " Goth noiv your ivay,'"'' quod he, " al ftille and fofte, And let us dyne as f one as ye may, For by my chilindre it is prime of day. " And 156 Hijlory of Domejiic Manners And the lady to whom this is addrefled, in reply, exprefles impatience, left they fhould pafs the hour. The dinner appears to have been ufually announced by the blowing of horns. In the romance of Richard Cceur de Lion, on the arrival of vifitors, the tables were laid out for dinner — They fette trejieks, and layde a horde ; Trumpes begonne for to bloive. — Weber, ii. 7. Before the meal, each gueft was ferved with water to wafh. It was the bufinefs of the ewer to ferve the guefts with water for this purpofe, which he did with a jug and bafin, while another attendant ftood by with a towel. Our cut No. 109, reprefents this procefs ; it is taken from Wajh'mg before Dinner. a fine manufcript of the " Livre de la Vie Humaine," preferred in the National Library in Paris, No. 6988. In the originals of this group, the jug and bafin are reprefented as of gold. In the copy of the Seven Sages, printed by Weber (p. 148), the preparations for a dinner are thus defcribed : — Thai fet treftes, and hordes on layd ; Thai fp red clathes, and fait on ft, And made redy unto the mete ; Thai fet forth water and toivelk. The company, however, fometimes wafhed before going to the table, and for and Sentiments. 157 for this purpofe there were lavours, or lavatories, in the hall itfelf, or fometimes outfide. The fignal for wafliing was then given by the blowing of trumpets, or by the mafic of the minfirels. Thus, in the Englifh metrical romance of Richard Cceur de Lion, At noon a la-ver the ivaytes blewe, meaning, of courfe, the canonical hour of ?to?ie. Grace was alio laid at the commencement, or at the end, of the meal, but this part of the cere- mony is but flightly alluded to in the old writers. Having wafhed, the guefts feated themfelves at table. Then the attendants fpread the cloths over the tables ; they then placed on them the falt-cellars and the knives ; and next the bread, and the wine in drinking cups. All this is duly defcribed in the following lines of an old romance : — Quant la-ve ' orent t Ji f 'afijlrcnt , Et li ferjant les napes mijlrent, Defus les dobliers blans et biax, Les f alien et les coutiax; Apres lou pain, puis lo -vin Et copes tf 'argent et a" or fin. Spoons were alfo ufually placed on the table, but there were no forks, the guefts ufing their fingers inftead, which was the reafon they were fo particular in wafliing before and after meat. The tables being thus arranged, it remained for the cooks to ferve up the various prepared difhes. At table the guefts were not only placed in couples, but they alfo eat in couples, two being ferved with the fame food and in the lame plate. This practice is frequently alluded to in the early romances and fabliaux. In general the arrangement of the couples was not left to mere chance, but individuals who were known to be attached to each other, or who were near relatives, were placed together. In the poem of La Mule lanz Frain, the lady of the caftle makes Sir Gawain (it by her fide, and eat out of the fame plate with her, as an aft of friendly courteiy. In the fabliau of Trubert, a woman, taken into the houfehold of a duke, is feated at table befide the duke's daughter, and eats out of the fame plate with her, 158 Hi/lory of Dome/lie Manners her, becaufe the young lady had conceived an affectionate feeling for the vifltor. So, again, in the ftory of the provoft of Aquilee, the provoft's lady, receiving a vifitor fent by her hulband (who was abfent), placed him at table betide her, to eat with her, and the reft of the party were fimilarly feated, " tw^and two : " — La dame premiere p aftift, Son hofte le% luijeoirfift, Car mengier voloit avec lui ; Li autre fuivnt dui et dui. — M6on Fabliaux, ii. 102. In one of the ftories in the early Englifh Gefta Romanorum, an earl and his fon, who dine at the emperor's table, are feated together, and are ferved with one plate, a fifh, between them. The practice was, indeed, fo general, that the phrafe " to eat in the fame difh" {manger dans la meme ecuelle), became proverbial for intimate friendfhip between two perfons. There was another practice relating to the table which muft not be overlooked. It muft have been remarked that, in the illuminations of contemporary manufcripts which reprefent dinner fcenes, the guefts are rarely reprefented as eating on plates. In fact, only certain articles were ferved in plates. Loaves were made of a fecondary quality of flour, and thefe were firft pared, and then cut into thick llices, which were called, in French, tranchoirs, and, in Englifh, trenchers, becaufe they were to be carved upon. The portions of meat were ferved to the guefts on thefe tranchoirs, and they cut it upon them as they eat it. The gravy, of courfe, went into the bread, which the gueft fometimes, perhaps always at an earlier period, eat after the meat, but in later times, and at the tables of the great, it appears to have been more frequently fent away to the alms-bafket, from which the leavings of the table were diftributed to the poor at the gate. All the bread ufed at table feems to have been pared, before it was cut, and the parings were thrown into the alms-dilh. Walter de Bibblefworth, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, among other directions for the laying out of the table, fays, " Cut the bread which is pared, and let the parings be given to the alms" — Tayllet le payn ke eft pare'e, Let bijeaus a Pamoyne foyt done'. The and Sentiments. 159 The practice is alluded to in the romance of Sir Triftrem (fytte i. ft. I.) — The kyng no fey d no more, Bot iucfche and yede (went) to mete ; Bred thai fard and /chare (cut), Ynough thai hadde at ete. It was the duty of the almoner to fay grace. The following directions are given in the Boke of Curtafye (p. 30) : — The aumenere by this hat lie fayde grace, And the almef-dvfjhe haje fett in place ; Therin the kar-ver a lofe jchalle fette } Tofer-ve God fyrji ivithouten lette ; Thefe othere lofes he parys aboute, Lays hit myd (with) dyj/he, ivithouten dotite. The ufe of the tranchoir, which Froiifart calls a tail loir, is not unfre- quently alluded to in the older French writers. That writer tells the 0. 1 10. A Dinner Scene. ftory-of a prince who, having received poiJjbn in :) powder, and fufpe&ing it, put it on a tailloir of bread, and thus gave it to a dog to eat. One of the French poets of the fifteenth century, Martial de Paris, (peaking againft the extravagant tables kept by the bilhops a< that time, exclaims, "Alas! what have the poor? They have only the tranchoirs of bread which i6o Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners which remain on the table." An ordinance of the dauphin Humbert II., of the date of 1336, orders that there mould be ferved to him at table every day " loaves of white bread for the mouth, and four fmall loaves to ferve for tranchoirs" (pro inciforio faciendo). For great people, a filver platter was often put under the tranchoir, and it was probable from the extenfion of that practice that the tranchoirs became ultimately aban- doned, and the platters took their place. We give three examples of dinner-fcenes, from manufcripts of the four- teenth century. The rirft, cut No. no (on the laft page), is taken from a manufcript belonging to the National Library in Paris, No. 7210, containing No. A Kino- at Dinner. the " Pelerinage de la Vie Humaine." The party are eating nfh, or rather have been eating them, for the bones and remnants are ftrewed over the table. We have, in addition to thefe, the bread, knives, falt-cellars, and cups j and on the ground a remarkable collection of jugs for holding the liquors. Our fecond example, cut No. 111, is taken from an illuminated manufcript of the romance of Meliadus, preferved in the Britifh Mufeum (Additional MS., No. 12,228). We have here the curtain or tapeftry hung behind the fingle table. The man to the left is probably the fteward, or the fuperior of the hall 5 next to him is the cup-bearer ferving the d Sentiments. the liquor j further to the right we have the carver cutting the meat ; and laft of all the cook bringing in another diih. The table is laid much in the fame manner in our third example, cut No. 112. We have again the cups and the bread, the latter in round cakes ; in our fecond example they are marked with erodes, as in the Anglo-Saxon illuminations; but there are no forks, or even fpoons, which, of courie, were ufed for pottage and foups, and were perhaps brought on and taken off with them. All the guefts feem to be ready to ufe their fingers. There was much formality and ceremony obferved in filling and pre- fenting the cup, and it required long inftruction to make the young cup- No. 112. A Royal Fcajl. bearer perfeft in his duties. In our cut No. ill, it will be obferved that the carver holds the meat with his fingers while he cuts it. This is in exa£t accordance with the rules given in the ancient " Boke of Kervyng," where this officer is told, "Set never on fylhe, flefche, beeft, ne fowle, more than two fyngers and a thombe." It will be obferved alio that in none of thefe pictures have the guefts any plates; they feem to have eaten with their hands, and thrown the refufe on the table. "We know alio that they often threw the fragments on the floor, where they were eaten up by cats and dogs, which were admitted into the hall without Y nliiHtinn 1 62 Hiftory of Dome ft ic Manners reftriciion of number. In the " Boke of Curtafye," already mentioned, it is blamed as a mark of bad breeding to play with the cats and dogs while feated at table — Wherejo thoujitt at mete in horde (at table), A-voide the cat at on bare tuorde, For yf thou Jiroke cat other dogge, Thou art lyke an ape teyghed with a clogge. Some of thefe directions for behaviour are very droll, and mow no great refinement of manners. A gueft at table is recommended to keep his nails clean, for fear his fellow next him fhould be dilgufted — Loke thy naylys ben dene in blythe, Left thy felaghe lothe therivyth. He is cautioned againft fpitting on the table — If thou /pit on the horde or elks opone, Thoujhalle be holden an uncurtayfe mon. When he blows his nofe with his hand (handkerchiefs were not, it appears, in ufe), he is told to wipe his hand on his lkirt or on his tippet — Tf thy nofe thou clenfe, as may hefalle, Loke thy honde thou clenfe ivithalle, Pri-vely ivith fkyrt do hit aivay, Or ellis thurgh thi tepet that is Jo gay. He is not to pick his teeth with his knife, or with a ftraw or flick, nor to clean them with the table-cloth ; and, if he fits by a gentleman, he is to take care he does not put his knee under the other's thigh ! The cleanlinefs of the white table-cloth feems to have been a matter of pride j and to judge by the illuminations great care feems to have been taken to place it neatly and fmoothly on the table, and to arrange taftefully the part which hung down at the fides. Generally fpeaking, the fervice on the table in thefe illuminations appears to be very fimple, confifling of the cups, ftands for the diihes of meat (merles, as they were called) brought by the cook, the knives, fometimes fpoons for foup and liquids, and bread. Oftentatious ornament is not often introduced, and it and Sentiments. 163 it was perhaps only ufed at the tables of princes and of the more powerful nobles. Of thefe ornaments, one of the moft remarkable was the nef, or ihip — a veffel, generally of filver, which contained the falt-cellar, towel, &c., of the prince, or great lord, on whole table it was brought with great ceremony. It was in the form of a fhip, raifed on a ftand, and on one end it had fome figure, fuch as a ferpent, or cattle, perhaps an emblem or badge chofen by its poiTelTor. Our cut No. 113, taken from a manufcript in the French National Library, reprefents the nef placed on the table. The badge or emblem at the end appears to be a bird. Our forefathers feem to have remained a tolerably long time at table, the plea- fures of which were by no means defpifed. Indeed, to judge by the fermons and fatires of the middle ages, gluttony feems to have been a very prevalent vice among the clergy as well as the laity ; and however miferably the lower claffes lived, the tables of the rich were loaded with every delicacy that could be procured. The monks were proverbially Ions vivants ; and their failings in this refpect are not unfre- quently fatirifed in the illuminated orna- ments of the mediaeval manuscripts. We have an example in our cut No. 114, taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth cen- tury in the Arundel Collection in the Britiih Mufeum (No. 91)5 a monk is regaling himfelf on the fly, apparently upon dainty tarts or patties, while the diih is held up by a little cloven-footed imp who feems to enjoy the fpirit of the thing, quite as much as the other enjoys the fubftance. < >ur next cut (No. 115) is taken from another manufcript in the Britiih Mufeum of the fame date (MS. Sloane, No. 24,35), and forms an appropriate com- panion The Nef. No. 114. Gluttony. 164 Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners panion to the other. The monk here holds the office of cellarer, and is taking advantage of it to confole himfelf on the fly. When the laft courfe of the dinner had been ferved, the ewer and his companion again carried round the water and towel, and each gueft wafhed. The tables were then cleared and the cloths withdrawn, but the drinking continued. The minftrels were now introduced. To judge by the illuminations, the moft common mufical attendant on fuch occalions was a harper, who repeated romances and told fiories, accom- panying them with his inftrument. In one of our cuts of a dinner party (No. 112), given in a former page, we fee the harper, apparently a blind man, led by his dog, introduced into the hall while the guefts are ftill occupied with their repair. We frequently find a harper thus introduced, who is fometimes reprefented as fitting upon the floor, as in the accompanying illuflration (No. it6) from the MS. Reg. 2 B. vii. fol. 71, v°. Another fimilar reprefentation occurs at folio 203, v° of the fame MS. No. 115. Monajiic Devotions. 6. The Harper in the Hall. The barons and knights themfelves, and their ladies, did not difdain to learn the harper's craft; and Gower, in his " Confeffio Amantis," defcribes a fcene in which a princefs plays the harp at table. Appolinus and Se?itime?its. 1 6 5 is dining in the hall of king Pentapolin, with the king and queen and their fair daughter, and all his lords, when, reminded by the fcene of the royal eftate from which he is fallen, he furrowed and took no meat ; therefore the king, fympathifing with him, bade his daughter take her harp and do all that fhe could to enliven that "furry man :" — And fhe to don her fader es hefie, Her harpe fette, and in the f eft e Upon a chair e ivhich the) fette, Her fel-ve next to this man fhe fette. Appolinus in turn takes the harp, and proves himfelf a wonderful proficient, and When he hath harped alle hh file, The kingh heft tofulflle, Aivaie goth difhe, aivaie goth cup, Doun goth the horde, the cloth ivas up, Thei rifen and gone out of the halle. The minftrels, or juugleurs, formed a very impurtant clafs uf fuciety in the middle ages, and no feftival was confidered as cumplete without their prefence. They travelled fingly ur in parties, nut unly from houfe to houfe, but from country to country, and they generally brought with them, to amufe and pleafe their hearers, the laft new fong, or the laft new tale. When any great feftival was announced, there was fure to be a general gathering of minftrels from all quarters, and as they potfelfed many methods of entertaining, for they joined the profeflion of mounte- bank, pofture-mafter, and conjurer with that uf mulic and ftory-telling, they were always welcome. No fooner, therefore, was the bufinefs of eating done, than the jougleur or jongleurs were brought forward, and fometimes, when the guefts were in a more ferious humour, the}' chanted the old romances of chivalry ; at other times they repeated fatirical poems, or party fongs, according to the feelings or humour of thole who were liftening tu them, ur tuld luve tales ur fcandalous anecdutes, or drolleries, accumpanying them with afting, and intermingling them with performances of variuus kinds. The hall was proverbially the place for mirth, and as merriment of a coarfe defcriptiun tinted the medieval tafte, i lu- xuries and performances of the jongleurs were often of an obfeene cha- racter, i66 Hiflory of Domejiic Manners rafter, even in the prefence of the ladies. In the illuminated manufcripts, the minftrel is moft commonly a harper, perhaps becaufe thefe illumina- tions are ufually found in the old romances of chivalry where the harper" generally a<5ts an important part, for the minftrels were not unfrequently employed in meifages and intrigues. In general the harp is wrapped in fome fort of drapery, as reprefented in our cut No. 117, taken from a MS. in the National Library of Paris, which was per- haps the bag in which the minftrel carried it, and may have been attached to the bottom of the inftrument. The accompanying fcene of min- ftrelfy is taken from a manufcript of the romance of Guyron le Courtois in the French National Library, No. 6976. The dinner was always accompanied by mufic, and itinerant minftrels, mountebanks, and performers of all defcriptions, were allowed free accefs to the hall to amufe the guefts by their per- formances. Thefe were intermixed with dancing and tumbling, and •^ fa irn o tr No. 1 1 8. Minftrelfy. often with exhibitions of a very grofs character, which, however, amid the loofenefs of mediaeval manners, appear to have excited no difguft. Thefe practices are curioufly illuftrated in fome of the mediaeval illu- minations. and Sentiments. i6 7 ruinations. In the account of the death of John the Baptift, as given in the gofpels (Matthew xiv. 6, and Mark vi. 21), we are told, that at the feaft given by Herod on his birthday, his daughter Herodias came into the feaiting-hall, and (according to our Engliih verfion) danced before him and his guefts. The Latin vulgate has faltqffet, which is equivalent to the Engliih word ; but the mediaeval writers took the lady's perform- ances to be thofe of a regular wandering jougleur; and in two illu- minated manufcripts of the early part of the fourteenth century, in the Britiih Mufeunx, the is pictured as performing tricks very fimilar to No. 1 19. King Herod and his Daughter Herodias. thofe exhibited by the modern beggar-boys in our ttreets. In the riiii of thefe (No. 119), taken from MS. Reg. 2 B. vii., the princefi is (im- porting heri'elf upon her hands with her legs in the air, to the evident admiration of the king, though the guefts feem to be paying lefi attention to her feats of activity. In the fecond (No. 120), from the Harleian MS. No. 1527, the is reprelented in a iimilar polition, but more evidently making a fomerfault. She is here accompanied by a female attendant, who exprefles no lefs delight at ber Ihill than the king and his guefts. It i68 HiJIory of Dome/lie Manners It would appear from various accounts that it was not, unlefs perhaps at an early period, the cuftom in France to fit long after dinner at table drinking wine, as it certainly was in England, where, no doubt, the practice was derived from the Anglo-Saxons. Numerous allufions might be pointed out, which fhow how much our Anglo-Saxon forefathers were addicted to this practice of fitting in their halls and drinking during the latter part of their day ; and it was then that they liftened to the minftrel's fong, told ftories of their own feats and adventures, and made proof of their powers in hard drinking. From fome of thefe allufions, No. 120. Herod and Hcrodias. which we have quoted in an earlier chapter, it is equally clear, that thefe drinking-bouts often ended in fanguinary, and not unfrequently in fatal, brawls. Such fcenes of difcord in the hall occur alfo in the early French metrical romances, but they take place ufually at the beginning of dinner, when the guefts are taking their places, or during the meal. In " Parife la Ducheffe," a fcene of this defcription occurs, in which the great feudal barons and knights fight with the provifions which had been ferved at the tables: "There," fays the poet, "you might fee them throw cheefes, and quartern-loaves, and great pieces of nefh, and great fieel knives" — Ld •veijjicz Jeter frontages et car tiers, Et granz pieces de char, et granz cotiauz deader — Roman de Parise, p. 173. In and Sentiments. 169 In "Garin le Loherain" (vol. ii. p. 17), at a feaft at which the emperor and his emprefs were prefent, a right commences between the two great baronial parties who were their guefts, by a chief of one party ftriking one of the other party with a goblet ; the cooks are brought out or the kitchen to take part in it, with their peftles, ladles, and pot-hooks, led by duke Begon, who had feized a fpit, full of birds, as the w r eapon which came firft to hand ; and the conteft is not appealed until many are killed and wounded. The preceding remarks, of courfe, apply chiefly to the tables of the prince, the noble, and the wealthy gentleman, where alone this degree of profufion and of ceremony reigned ; and to thole of the monaftic houfes and of the higher clergy, where, if poffible, the luxury even of princes was overpaffed. The examples of clerical and monaftic extrava- gance in feafting are fo numerous, that I will not venture on this occafion to enter upon them any further. All recorded facls would lead us to conclude, that the ordinary courfe of living of the monks was much more luxurious than that of the clerical lords of the land, who, indeed, feem to have lived, on ordinary occasions, with fome degree of Simplicity, except that the great number of people who dined at their expenfe, required a very large quantity of provisions. Even men of rank, when dining alone, or haftily, are defcribed as being Satisfied with a very limited variety of food. In the romance of " Garin," when Rigaud, one of the barons of " Garin's" party, arrives at court with important news, and very hungry, the emprefs orders him to be ferved with a large veflel of wine (explained by a various reading to be equivalent to a pot), four loaves (the loaves appear ufually to have been final]), and a roafted peacock — On li aporte plain un barns de -vin, Et quatre pains, et un paon rofti. — Garin lc Loherain, vol. ii. p. 2H7. In a pane of painted glafs in the poffefiion of Dr. Henry Johnlbn, of Shrewsbury, of FlemHh workmanfhip of about the beginning of the fixteenth century, and reprefenting the ftory of the Prodigal Son, the Prodigal is feated al table with a party of dillblute women, feafting upon a pally. It is reproduced in our cut No. 121. They appear 1>> have x, only 170 Hiftory ofDomefiic Manners only one drinking-cup among them, but the wine is ferved from a very- rich goblet. We cannot, however, always judge the character of a feaft by the articles placed on the table by the mediaeval illuminators, for they were in the conftant habit of drawing things conventionally, and they feem to have found a difficulty — perhaps in confequence of their ignorance No. 121. Feafting on a Pafty. of perfpefitive — in reprefenting a crowded table. Our cut No. 122, on the following page, taken from MS. Reg. 10 E. iv., in which we recognize again our old friend the holy-water clerc, reprefents a table which is certainly very fparingly furnifhed, although the perfons feated at it feem to belong to a refpe&able clafs in fociety. Some cooked articles, perhaps meat, on a ftand, bread, a fingle knife to cut the pro- visions, and one pot, probably of ale, from which they feem to have drunk without the intervention of a glafs, form the whole fervice. We find allufions from time to time to the ftyle of living of the clafs in the country anfwering to our yeomanry, and of the l-ourgeoifie in the towns, which appears to have been fufficiently plain. In the romance of "Berte" (p. 78), when Berte finds fhelter at the houfe of the farmer Symon, and Sentiments. 7* Symon, they give her, for refrefhment, a chicken and wine. In the fabliau of the " ViUi'in mire" (Barbazan, vol. iii. p. 3), the farmer, who had faved money, and become tolerably rich, had no fuch luxuries as A Dinner tete-a-tete. falmon or partridge, but his provifions confifted only of bread and wine, and fried eggs, and cheefe in abundance — N^orent pas faunton ne pertris, Pain et -vin orent, et oe'sfris, Et dufromage a grant plente. The franklin, in Chaucer, is put forward as an example of great liberality in the articles of provifions : — An houfeholdere, and that a gret, was he, Seynt Julian he ivas in his countre', His breed, his ale, ivas alivay after oon ; A bet t re envy tied man ivas noivher noon. Withoute bake mete ivas never his hous, Ofjieijj'ch andfif'eh, and that Jo plenty vous, It jncived in his hous of mete and drynke, Of all e deyntecs that men coivde thynke. Aftur the fondry jefouns of the yeer, He chaunged hem at mete and at toper. Ful many a fat partrich had he in mezve, And many a bran and many a luce in ftciue (li>li pond), Woo j 2 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners Woo ivas his cook, but if his fauce ivere Poynant andjcharp, and redy al his gere ; His table dormant in his halle airway Stood redy covered al the longe day. — Chaucer's Cant. Tales, 1. 341. A ftory in the celebrated collection of the Cent. Nouvelles Nouvelles (Nouv. 83), compofed foon after the middle of the fifteenth century, gives us fome notion of the ftore of provifions in the houfe of an ordinary burgher. A worthy and pious demoifelle — that is, a woman of the refpecl- able clafs of lourgeo'ijie, who was, in this cafe, a widow — invited a monk to dine with her, out of charity. They dined without other company, and were ferved by a ckambriere or maid-fervant, and a man-fervant or valet. The courfe of meat, which was firft placed on the table, confifted of poree, or foup, bacon, pork tripes, and a roafted ox's tongue. But the demoifelle had mifcalculated the voracity of her gueft, for, before the had made much progrefs in her poree, he had devoured everything on the table, and left nothing but empty difhes. On feeing this, his hoftefs ordered her fervants to put on the table a piece of good fait beef, and a large piece of choice mutton ; but he ate thefe alfo, to her no little aftonifhment, and {lie was obliged to fend for a fine ham, which had been cooked the day before, and which appears to have been all the meat left in the houfe. The monk devoured this, and left nothing but the bone. The courfe which would have followed the firfi: fervice was then laid on the table, confuting of a "very fine fat cheefe," and a difh well furnifhed with tarts, apples, and cheefe, which alfo quickly followed the meat. It appears from this ftory that the ordinary dinner of a refpecfable burgher confifted of a foup, and two or three plain diflies of meat, followed by cheefe, paftry, and fruit. An illumination, illuftrative of another tale in this collection, in the unique manufcript preferved in the Hunterian Library, at Glafgow, and copied in the annexed cut (No. 123), reprefents a dinner-table of an ordinary perfon of this clafs of fociety, which is not over largely furnifhed. We fee only bread in the middle, what appears to be intended for a ham at one end, and at the other a difh, perhaps of cakes or tarts. The lower claffes lived, of courfe, much more meanly than the others ; but we have fewer allufions to them in the and Sentiments. 73 the earlier mediaeval literature, as they were looked upon as a clafs hardly worth defcribing. This clafs was, no doubt, much more miterable in France than in England. A French moral poem of the fourteenth No. 123. A Frugal Repaji. century, entitled " Le Chemin de Pauvrete et de Bicheffe" reprefents the poor labourers as having no other food than bread, garlic, and fait, with water to drink : — Ny otjl grant nefi petit SZui ne preift grant appetit Enfainfec,enaux, e tenfel, Ne il ne mengoit riens en el, Mouton, buef, oye, ne poucin ; Et puis prcnoicnt le iacin, A deux maim, plain d'eaue, et bwvoicnt. As I have laid, the dreffer (dreffbir) or cupboard was the only impor- tant article of furniture in the hall, befides the tables and benches. Ii was a mere cupboard for the plate, and had generally fteps to enable the fervants to reach the articles that were placed high up in it, but it is rarely reprefented in pictured manufcripts before the fifteenth century, when the illuminators began to introduce more detail into their works. The 1 74 Hi ft or y of Domeftic Manners The reader may form a notion of its contents, from the lift of the fervice of plate given by Edward I. of England to his daughter Margaret, after her marriage with the duke of Brabant ; it confifted of forty-fix filver cups with feet, for drinking ; fix wine pitchers, four ewers for water, four banns with gilt efcutcheons, fix great filver diihes for entremets ; one hundred and twenty fmaller difhes ; a hundred and twenty falts ; one gilt fait, for her own ufe ; feventy-two fpoons ; and three filver fpice- plates with a fpice-fpoon. The drefler, as well as all the furniture of the hall, was in the care of the groom ; it was his bufinefs to lay them out, and to take them away again. It appears to have been the ufual cuftom to take away the boards and treffels (forming the tables) at the fame time as the cloth. The company remained feated on the benches, and the drinking-cups were handed round to them. So tells us the " Boke of Curtafye" — Whenne they have ivajjben, and grace isfayde, Aivay he takes at a brayde (at once), Avoydes the horde into the fiore, Tafe aivay the treftles that been foftore. and Sentiments. 175 CHAPTER IX. THE MINSTREL. HIS POSITION UNDER THE ANGLO-SAXONS. THE NORMAN TROUVERE, MENESTREL, AND JOUGLEUR. THEIR CON- DITION. RUTEBEUF. DIFFERENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN USE AMONG THE MINSTRELS. THE BEVERLEY MINSTRELS. THE minftrel a6led fo very prominent a part in the household and domeflic arrangements during the middle ages, that a volume on the hiftory of domeftic manners would be incomplete without fome more detailed account of his profeflion than the ilight and occafional notices given in the preceding pages. Our information relating to the Anglo-Saxon minftrel is very im- perfect. He had two names — -fcop, which meant literally a " maker," and belonged probably to the primitive bard or poet ; and glig-man, or gleo- man, the modern gleeman, which fignifies literally a man who furniihed joy or pleafure, and appears to have had a more compreheniive appli- cation, which included all profeffional performers for other people's amufement. In Beowulf (1. 180), the "long of the bard" (fang /copes) is accompanied by the found of the harp [hearpan fweg) ; and it is probable that the harp was the fpecial innrument of the old Saxon bard, who chanted the mythic and heroic poems of the race. The gleemcn played on a variety of inftruments, and they alio exhibited a variety of other performances for the amufement of the hearers or fpectators. In our engraving from an Anglo-Saxon illumination (p. 37), one of the gleemen is toiling knives and balls, which feems to have been conlidered a favourite exhibition of ikill down to a much later period. The early Englifh Rule of Nuns (printed by the Camden Society) lavs of the wrathful man, that " he ikirmilhes before the devil with knives, ami he is his knife-toller, and plays with fwords, and balances them upon his tongue 176 Hifiory of Domejiic Manners tongue by the fharp point." In the Life of Hereward, the gleeman (whofe name is there tranflated by joculator) is reprefented as conciliating the favour of the new Norman lords by mimicking the unrefined manners of the Saxons, and throwing upon them indecent jefts and reproaches. But, in the later Anglo-Saxon period at leaft, the words fcop and gleoman appear to have been confidered as equivalent ; for, in another hall-fcene in Beowulf, where the fcop performs his craft, we are told that — Ledft ivas ajungen, The lay ivasjung, gleomannes gyd, the gleeman s recital, gamen eft aftah, pajlime began again, beorhtode benc-ftveg. tlie bench-noife became loud. — Beowulf, 1. 2323. There is here evidently an intimation of merrier fongs than thofe fung by the fcop, and whatever his performances were, they drew a louder welcome. And in a fragment of another romance which has come down to us, the gleeman Widfeth bears witnefs to the wandering character of his clafs, and enumerates in a long lift the various courts of different chiefs and peoples which he had vifited. We learn, alio, that among the Anglo-Saxons there were gleemen attached to the courts or houfe- holds of the kings and great chieftains. Under Edward the Confeftbr, as we learn from the Domefday Survey, Berdic, the king's joculator, pofleiTed three villas in Gloucefterlhire. On the continent, when we firft become acquainted with the hiftory of the popular literature, we find the minftrels, the reprefentatives of the ancient bards, appearing as the compofers and chanters of the poems which told the ftories of the old heroes of romance, and they feem alio to have been accompanied ufually with the harp, or with fome other ftringed inftrument. They fpeak of themfelves, in thefe poems, as wandering about from caftle to caftle, wherever any feafting was going on, as being everywhere welcome, and as depending upon the liberality either of the lord of the feaft, or of the guefts, for their living. Occa- fional complaints would lead us to fuppofe that this liberality was not always great, and the poems themfelves contain formules of begging appeals, which are not very dignified cr delicate. Thus, in the romance of" Gui de Bourgogne," the minftrel interrupts his narrative, to inform his hearers and Sentiments. 177 hearers that " Whoever willies to hear any more of this poem, muft make hafte to open his purfe, for it is now high time that he give me fomething" — Qui or -voldra chancon o't'r et efcouter, Si -voift ifnelemcnt fa bourffe dcsfermer, Qjfil eft hui mes bien tans quil me dole doner. — f!ui rie Bnurgngne, 1. 4136. In like manner, in the romance of " Huon de Bordeaux," the minftrel, after having recited nearly five thoufand lines, makes his excufe for difcontinuing until another day. He reminds his auditors that it is near veipers, and that he is weary, and invites them to return next day after dinner, begging each of them to bring with him a maille, or halfpenny, and complaining of the meannefs of thofe who were accuftomed to give lb fmall a coin as the poitivine " to the courteous minftrel." The minftrel feems to have calculated that this hint might not be fufficient, and that they would require being reminded of it, for, after fome two or three hundred lines of the next day's recital, he introduces another formule of appeal to the purfes of his hearers. "Take notice," he goes on to fay, "as may God give me health, I will immediately put a Hop to my fong ; . . . . and I at once excommunicate all thofe who lliall not vilit their purfes in order to give fomething to my wife" — Mais fade's bien, fe Dix me doi rift f ante, Ma can con toft -vous ferai define r ; Tons chiaus cfcumenie . . . S^ui niront a lour bourfcs pour ma feme donner. — Iluon do Bordeaux, 1. 5482. Thefe minftrels, too, difplay great jealoufy of one another, and efpecially of what they term the new minftrels, exclaiming againfl the decadence of the profeffion. It would appear, indeed, that thefe French minftrels, the poets by profeflion, who now become known to us by the name of trouvires, or inventors (in the language of the fouth of France, trobadors), held a pofition towards the jongleurs, or joglcurs* (from the Latin joculatores, * The old literary antiquaries, through mistaking the u of the manuscripts for an n, and not attending to the derivation, have < reated a meaningless word— jongleur — which never existed, and ought now to be entirely abandoned. a a and 178 Hi ft or y of Domefiic Maimers and this again from jocus, game), which the Anglo-Saxon fcop held towards the gleeman. Though the mafs of the minftrels did get their living as itinerant fongfters, they might be refpeclable, and fometimes there was a man of high rank who became a minftrel for his pleafure ; but the jougleurs, as a body, belonged to the loweft and moft degraded clafs of mediaeval fociety, that of the ribalds or letchers, and the more refpectable minftrels of former days were probably falling gradually into their ranks. It was the clafs which abandoned itfelf without referve to the mere amufement and pleafure of the ariftocracy, and it feems to have been greatly increafed by the Crufades, when the jougleurs of the weft were brought into relations with thoie of the eaft, and learnt a multitude of new ways of exciting attention and making mirth, of which they were previoully ignorant. The jougleurs had now become, in addition to their older accompliihments, magicians and conjurers, and wonderfully ikilled in every deicription of fleight of hand, and it is from thefe qualities that we have derived the modern fignification of the word juggler. They had alio adopted the profeffion of the eaftern ftory-tellers, as well as their ftories, which, however, they turned into verfe 5 and they brought into the weft many other exhibitions which did not tend to raife the ftandard of weftern morals. The character of the minftrels, or jougleurs, their wandering life, and the eafe with which they were admitted everywhere, caufed them to be employed extenftvely as fpies, and as bearers of fecret news, and led people to adopt the difguife of a minftrel, as one which enabled them to pafs through difficulties unobferved and unchallenged. In the ftory of Euftace the monk, when Euftace fought to efcape from England, to avoid the purfuit of king John, he took a fiddle and a bow (a fiddleftick), and dreffed himfelf as a minftrel, and in this garb he arrived at the coaft, and, finding a merchant ready to fail, entered the fhip with him. But the fteerfman, who did not recognife the minftrel as one of the paifengers, ordered him oat. Euftace expoftulated, reprefented that he was a min- ftrel, and, after fome difpute, the fteerfman, who feems to have had fome fufpicions either of his difguife or of his ikill, concluded by putting the queftion, " At all events, if thou knoweft any fong, friend, let us have it." The and Sentiments. 1 79 The monk was not fkilled in ringing, but he replied boldly, "■ Know I one ? Yea ! of Agoulant, and Aymon, or of Blonchadin, or of Florence of Rome (thefe were all early metrical romances) ; there is not a long in the whole world but I know it. I ihould be delighted, no doubt, to afford you amufementj but, in truth, the fea frightens me lb much at preferit, that I could not ling a fong worth hearing." He was allowed to pafs. Some of thofe who adopted the difguife of the jongleur were better able to fuftain it, and minftrelfy became conlidercd as a polite accomplilhment, perhaps partly on account of its utility. There is, in the hiftory of the Fitz-Warines, a remarkable character of this delcription named John de Raunpaygne. Fulke Fitz-Warine had formed a delign againft his great enemy, Moris Fitz-Roger, and he eftablilhed himfelf, with his fellow outlaws, in the foreft near Whittington, in Shroplhire, to watch him. Fulke then called to him John de Raunpaygne. "John," faid he, "you know enough of minftrelfy and joglery ; dare you go to Whittington, and play before Moris Fitz-Roger, and fpy how things are going on?" " Yea," faid John. He crulhed a herb, and put it in his mouth, and his face began immediately to fwell, and became lb dif- coloured, that his own companions hardly knew him ; and he drefll-d himfelf in poor clothes, and " took his box with his inftruments of joglery and a great ftalf in his hand;" and thus he went to Whittington, and prefented himfelf at the cattle, and faid that he was a jogeleur. The porter carried him to Sir Moris, who received him well, inquired in the firft place for news, and receiving intelligence which pleated him (it was delignedly falfe), he gave the minftrel a valuable lilver cup as a reward. Now, " John de Raunpaygne was very ill-favoured in face and body, ami on this account the ribalds of the houfehold made game of him, ami treated him roughly, and pulled him by his hair and by his feet. John railed his ftaff, and ftruck a ribald on the head, that his brain Hew into the middle of the place. 'Wretched ribald,' laid the lord, 'what hali thou doner' ' Sir,' laid he, 'for God's mercy, I cannol help it ; 1 have a difeafe which is very grievous, which you may fee by my fwollen face. And this difeafe takes entire poffeffion of me at certain hours of the day, when I have no power to govern myfelf.' Moris (wore a great oath, that i8o Hi/lory of Domejlic Manners that if it were not for the news he had brought, he would have his head cut off immediately. The jogeleur haftened his departure, for the time he remained there feemed very long." The refult of this adventure was the attack upon and flaughter of Moris Fitz-Roger by Fulk Fitz-Warine. Some time after this, Fulk Fitz-Warine, having recovered his caftle of Whittington, was lamenting over the lofs of his friend, Sir Audulf de Bracy, who had fallen into the hands of king John's emiffaries, and was a prifoner in Shrewfbury caftle, where king John had come to make his temporary refidence, and again aiked the aid of John de Raunpaygne, who promifed to make a viut to the king. "John de Raunpaygne knew enough of tabor, harp, fiddle, citole, and joglery ; and he attired himfelf very richly, like an earl or baron, and he caufed his hair and ali his body to be entirely dyed as black as jet, lb that nothing was white except his teeth. And he hung round his neck a very handfome tabor, and then, mounting a handfome palfrey, rode through the town of Shrewfbury to the gate of the caftle ; and by many a one was he looked at. John came before the king, and placed himfelf on his knees, and faluted the king very courteoully. The king returned his falutation, and alked him whence he came. ' Sire,' faid he, 'lam an Ethiopian minftrel, born in Ethiopia.' Said the king, 'Are all the people in your land of your colour?' ' Yea, my lord, man and woman.' .... John, during the day, made great minftrelfy of tabor and other inftruments. When the king was gone to bed, Sir Henry de Audeley fent for the black minftrel, and led him into his chamber. And they made great melody ; and when Sir Henry had drunk well, then he faid to a valet, ' Go and fetch Sir Audulf de Bracy, whom the king will put to death to-morrow 3 for he lhall have a good night of it before his death.' The valet foon brought Sir Audulf into the chamber. Then they talked and played. John commenced a fong which Sir Audulf ufed to ling ; Sir Audulf railed his head, looked at him full in the face, and with great difficulty recognifed him. Sir Henry aiked for fome drink 5 John was very ferviceable, jumped nimbly on his feet, and ferved the cup before them all. John was ily, he threw a powder into the cup, which nobody perceived, for he was a good jogeleur, and all who drunk became lb fleepy that, foon after drinking:, and Sentiments. 1 3 1 drinking, they lay down and fell alleep. John de Raunpaygne and Sir Andulf de Bracy took the opportunity for making their efcape. We have here a myflerious intimation of the fa£t that the minftrel was employed alio in dark deeds of poiibning. Still later on in the ftory of Fulk Fitz-Warine, the hero himfelf goes to a tournament in France in difguife, and John de Raunpaygne relumes his old character of a jongleur. "John," fays the narrative, "was very richly attired, and well mounted, and he had a very rich tabor, and he ftruck the tabor at the entry to the lifts, that the hills and valleys rebounded, and the horfes became joyful." All thefe anecdotes reveal to us minftrels who were perfectly free, and wandered from place to place at will ; but there were others who were retained by and in the regular employ of individuals. The king had his minftrels, and fo moft of the barons had their houfehold min- ftrels. In one of the mediseval Latin ftories, current in this country probably as early as the thirteenth century, we are told that a jougleur (mimus he is called in the Latin, a word ufed at this time as fynonymous with joculator) prefented himfelf at the gate of a certain lord to enter the hall and eat (for the table in thofe days was rarely refufed to a min- ftrel), but he was flopped by the porter, who alked him to what lord he was attached, evidently thinking, as was thought fome three centuries later, that the treatment merited by the fervant depended on the quality of the mailer. The minftrel replied that his mafter was God. When the porter communicated this refponfe to his churlilh lord, or equally churliih fteward, they replied that if he had no other lord, he fhould not be admitted there. When the jougleur heard this, he laid that he was the devil's own fervant 5 whereupon he was received joyfully, "becaufe he was a good fellow" (quia bonus focius era/). The records of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contain many entries of payments to the king's minftrels, and the names of fome of them are preferved. On great feftivals at the king's court, minftrels came to feck employment from every part of the world which acknowledged the reign of feudalifm. Four hundred and twenty-fix minftrels were patent at the marriage feftivities of the princefs Margaret, daughter of Edward I.; and feveral hundred Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners hundred played before the fame monarch at the Whitfuntide of 1306. This affluence of minftrels gave rife to the practice of building a large muhc-gallery at one end of the mediaeval hall, which feems to have been introduced in the fourteenth century. At this time minftrels were fome- times employed for very lingular purpofes, fuch as for foothing the king when undergoing a difagreeable operation. We learn from the ward- robe accounts that, in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Edward I. (a.d. 1297) twenty fhillings, or about fifteen pounds in modern money, was given to the minftrel of Sir John Maltravers as a reward for perform- ing before the king while he was bled. The king's minftrels, and thofe of the great lords, were very well paid, but the great mafs of the profeflion, who depended only on what they obtained in gifts at each particular feaft, which they reckleflly fquandered away as foon as they got it, lived a hard as it was a vagabond life. The king's minftrels, in the fourteenth century in England, received from fixpence to fevenpence halfpenny a day, that is from feven {hillings and fixpence to nine fhillings and fourpence halfpenny, during the whole year. On the other hand, Colin Mufet, one of the beft of the French fong-writers of the thirteenth century, complains of the want of liberality fhown to him by the great baron before whom he had played on the viol in his hoftel, and who had given him nothing, not even his wages : — Sire quens, fai mele De-vant -vos en -vojire oflcl ; Si ne rna've% riens donns, Ne men gages acquiter. And he laments that he is obliged to go home in poverty, becaufe his wife always received him ill when he returned to her with an empty purfe, whereas, when he carried back his malle well fluffed, he was covered with careffes by his whole family. The French poet Rutebeuf, whofe works have been collected and publifhed by M. Jubinal, may be considered as the type of the better clafs of minftrels at this period, and he has become an object of efpecial intereft to us in confequence of the number of his fhorter effufions which defcribe his own polition in life. The and Sentiments. i 8 3 The firft piece in the collection has for its fubject his own poverty. He complains of being reduced to fuch diftrefs, that he had been obliged for fome time to live upon the generality of his friends ; that people no longer Ihowed any liberality to poor minftrels; that he was perifhing with cold and hunger ; and that he had no other bed but the bare ftraw. In another poem, entitled Rutebeuf's Marriage, he informs us that his privations were made more painful by the circumftance of his having a fhrew for his wife. In a third he laments over the lofs of the light of his right eye, and informs us that, among other misfortunes, his wife had juft been delivered of a child, and his horfe had broke its leg, lb that, while he had no means of fupporting a nurfe for the former, the latter accident had deprived him of the power of going to any diftance to exer- cife his minftrelfy craft. Rutebeuf repeats his laments on his extreme poverty in feveral other pieces, and they have an echo in thole of other minftrels of his age. We find, in fact, in the verfe-writers of the latter half of the thirteenth century, and in fome of thofe of the fourteenth, a general complaint of the neglect of the minftrels, and of the degeneracy of minftrelfy. In a poem againft the growing tafte for the tabor, printed in M. Jubinal's volume, entitled " Jougleurs et Trouveres," the low ftate into which the minftrels' art had fallen is afcribed to a growing love for inftruments of an undignified character, fuch as the tabor, which is laid to have been brought to us from the Arabs, and the pipe. If an ignorant ihepherd from the field, fays the writer of this poem, but play on the tabor and pipe, he becomes more popular than the man who plays on the viol ever fo well — S^uar J' 'uns bergiers de chain tabore ct chahmth, Pius tojl eji apde que cil qui bicn vide. Everybody followed the tabor, he fays, and the good minftrels were no longer in vogue, though their fiddles were fo much fnperior to the flutes, and flajolets (flajols), and tabors of the others. He conloles himfelf, however, with the reflection that the holy Virgin Mary never Loved the tabor, and that no fuch vulgar inftrument was admitted al her wedding; while (he had in various ways fliown her favour i<> the jougleurs. " 1 pray God," our minftrel continues, " thai he will fend mifchief to him w ho 1 84 Hiftory of Dome/lie Manners who firft made a tabor, for it is an inftrument which ought to pleafe nobody. No rich man ought to love the found of a tabor, which is bad for people's heads ; for, if ftretched tight, and ftruck hard, it may be heard at half a league's diftance :"— Qui primes fift tabor , Diex li en-voit contraire ! Que e'eftrument i eft qu 1 a nului ne doit plaire, Nus riches horn ne doit Jon de tabour amcr. Quant il eft bien tendu et on le vent hurter, De demie grant lieue le puet-on efcouter ; Ci a trap mawues fon porfon chief comforter . The mufical inftruments ufed by the mediaeval gleemen and min- ftrels form in themfelves a not uninterefting fubject. Thofe enumerated in the Anglo-Saxon vocabularies are the harp (hearpe, cithara), the lyme, or trumpet, the pipe, "or whiffle," the fithele, viol, or fiddle, the horn, and the trumpet, the latter of which was called in Anglo-Saxon truth and fcerga. To thefe we muft certainly add a few others, for the drum or tabor feems to have been in ufe among* them under fome form, as well as the cymbal, hand-bells, lyre ftruck by a plectrum, and the organ, which latter was already the favourite church inftrument. A portable organ was in ufe in the middle ages, of which we give a figure (No. 124), from a manufcript in the Britilh Mufeum of the earlier part of the fourteenth cen- tury (MS. Reg. 14 E. iii.). This hand-organ was known alfo by the name of the dulcimer. It occurs again in the following group (No. 12,5), taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth century in the Britilh Mufeum (MS. Addit. No. 10,293), where the per- former on the dulcimer is accompanied by two other minftrels, one play- ing on the bagpipe, the other on the viol or fiddle. Each of the figures in this group is drefled in a coftume fo dif- ferent from the others that one might almoft fuppofe them engaged No. 124. An Organ Player. and Sentiments. 85 in a malquerade 3 and they leem to difcountenance the notion that the minftrels were in the habit of wearing any drels peculiar to their clais. No. 125. A Group of Minftrels. In this relpe£t, their teftimony feems to be confirmed by the circumftance that minftrels are mentioned fometimes as wearing the drefles which No. 126. David and his Muftcians. have been given them, among other gilts, as a reward for their perform- ances. The illuminated letter here introduced (No. 126), which is taken b is from i86 Hijiory of Domeftic Manners from a manufcript of the thirteenth century in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Harl. No. 5102), reprefents king David tinging his pfalms to the harp, while three muficians accompany him. The firft, who fits befide him, is playing on the fhalm or pfaltery, which is frequently figured in the illuminations of manufcripts. One of the two upper figures is playing on bells, which alfo is a defcription of mufic often reprefented in the illuminations of different periods 3 and the other is blowing the horn. Thefe are all inftruments of folemn and ecclefiaftical mufic. Jn the next cut (No. 127), taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), the fhalm is placed in the hands of a nun, while a friar is performing on a rather Angularly fhaped cittern, or lute. In other manufcripts we find the ordinary mufical inftruments placed 27. Muficians of the Cloifter. in the hands of the angels ; as in the early fourteenth century MS. Reg. 2 B. vii v in a reprefentation (copied in our cut No. 128) of the creation with the morning ftars finging together, and all the fons of God fhouting for joy, an angelic choir are making melody on the trumpet, fiddle, cittern, fhalm, and harp. There is another choir of angels at p. 168 of the fame MS., with two citterns and two fhalms, a fiddle and a trumpet. Similar reprefentations occur in the choirs of churches. In the boffes of the ceiling of Tewkefbury abbey church we fee angels playing the cittern (with a plectrum), the harp (with its cover feen enveloping the lower half of the inftrument), and the cymbals. In the choir of Lincoln cathedral, and Sentiments. s? No. 128. The Angelic Choir. arcades, and which have given to it the name of the angel choir, are playing inftruments, fuch as the trumpet, double pipe, pipe and tabret, dul- cimer, viol and harp, as if to reprefent the heavenly choir attuning their praifes in harmony with the human choir below: — "therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name." We will introduce here another drawing of an angelic minftrel (No. 129), playing a fhalm, from the Royal MS. 14 E. iii. ; others occur at folio 1 of the fame MS. It has been fuggefted that the band of village muficians with flute, violin, clarionet, and baff-viol, whom mod of us have feen occupying the ringing-gallery of fome country church, are probably not inaccurate reprefenta- tives of the band of minftrels who occupied the rood-lofts in mediaeval times. In this period of the middle ages, indeed, mufic feems to have had a great charm for all clafles of fociety, and each clafs appears in turn in the minftrel character in the illuminations of the manufcripts. Even the fhepherds, throughout the middle ages, feem to have been mufical, like the fwains of Theocritus or Virgil; for we constantly find them reprefented playing upon inftruments; and in confirmation we give a couple of goatnei (No. (No. 130), from MS. Reg. 2 B. vii. fol. 83, of early fourteenth century date : they are playing on the pipe and horn. But, betides thefe inftru- No. 130. A Group of Shepherds. No. 131. A Bagpiper. ments, the bagpipe was alfo a ruftic inftrument : there is a fhepherd playing upon one on folio 112 of the fame MS. (given in our cut No. 131) : and again, in the early fourteenth century MS. Reg. 2 B. vi., on the reverfe of folio 8, is a group of fhepherds, one of whom plays a fmall pipe, and another the bagpipes. Chaucer (in the " Houfe of Fame") mentions — Pipes made of grene come, As han thife lytel herde gromes, That kepen beftis in the bromes. It is curious to find that even at fo late a period as No. 132. The Lady and the reign of queen Mary, they Hill officiated at weddings and other merrymakings in their villages, and even fo me times excited the jealoufy of the profeffors of the joyous fcience, as we have feen in the early French poem againft the taborers. I give next (cut No. 132) a reprefentation of a female minftrel playing the tambourine ; it is alfo taken from a MS. of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii. fol. 182). The earlieft inftance yet met with of the modern- fhaped drum is contained in the Coronation Book of Richard II., preferved in the Chapter-houfe, Weftminfier, and is repre- fented and Sentiments. 189 fented in the annexed cut (No. 133). This mediaeval drummer is clearly- intended to be playing on two drums at once ; and, in confidering their forms and pofition, we muft make fome allowance for the mediaeval negleft of perfpective. In the mediaeval vocabularies we find feveral lifts of mufical inftru- ments then beft known. Thus John de Garlande, in the middle of the thirteenth century, enumerates, as the minftrels who were to be feen in the houfes of the wealthy, individuals who performed on the inftruments which he terms in Latin, lyra (meaning the harp), tibia (the flute), cornu (the horn), vidula (the fiddle), Jiftru m (the drum), giga (the gittern), Jymphonia (a fymphony), pfalterium (the pfaltery), chorus, citola (the 34. Bloving the Trumpet and Playing on the Cymbals. cittern), tympanum (the tabor), and cymbala (cymbals). The Englilh glos- faries of the fifteenth century add to thefe the trumpet, the ribibe (a fort of fiddle), organs, and the crowd. The forms of thefe inftruments of various periods will be found in the illuftrations which have been given in the courfe of the prefent chapter. It will be well perhaps to enumerate again the moft common j they are the harp, fiddle, cittern or lute, hand-organ or dulcimer, the fhalm or pfaltery, the pipe and tabor, pipes of various fizes played like clarionets, but called flutes, the double pipe, hand-bells, trumpets and horns, bagpipes, tambourine, tabret, drum, and cymbals. We give two further groups of figures in illuftration of thefe inftruments, both taken from the Royal MS. fo often quoted, 2 B. vii. In the hist (No. [34) we 190 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners have a boy (apparently) playing the cymbals 3 and in the fecond (No. No. 135. The Dulcimer and Double Flute. 135) an example of the double flute, which we have already feen in No. 136. Mujical Inftruments. Anglo-Saxon manufcripts (fee before, pp. 35 and 65), and which appears to have and Sentiments. 1 9 have been one of the mufical inftruments borrowed immediately from the Romans. In conclufion of this fubjecl we give a group of mufical inftru- ments (No. 136) from one of the illuftrations of the celebrated book entitled "DerWeife Konig," a work of the clofe of the fifteenth century. The early commentator on the Di6tionarius, or Vocabulary, of John de Garlande, calls the mufical inftruments 'uiftrumenta leccatorum, (inftru- ments of the letchers or ribalds), and I have already ftated that the minftrels, or jougleurs, were confidered as belonging generally to that degraded clafs of fociety. In the vocabularies of the fifteenth century, they are generally claffed under the head of reprehenfihle or difgracetul profellions, along with ribalds, heretics, harlots, and fo forth. It was the fame character which led them, a little later, to be profcribed in acts of parliament, under the titles of rogues and vagabonds. In the older poetry, too, they are often joined with difgraceful epithets. There is a curious early metrical ftory, or fabliau, which was made, no doubt, to be recited by the minftrels themfelves, although it throws ridicule on their profeliion ; it is entitled Les deux Troveors rilauz, " the two ribald trou- veres," and confifts in a ludicrous difpute between them on their qualifi- cations as minftrels. My readers muft not fuppofe that at this time the reciters of poetry were a different or better clafs than thofe who per- formed jugglery and low buffoonery — for, in this poem, either of the two claimants to fuperiority boafts of his ikill equally in polfelling in his memory completely, and being able to recite well, the early Chanfons de Gefte, or Carlovingian romances, the later romances of chivalry, and the fabliaus or metrical ftories; in playing upon the moft faihionable mufical inftruments, fuch as the citole, the fiddle, and the gigue (gittern) ; in performing extraordinary feats and in fleight of hand ; and even in making chaplets of flowers, and in acting as a fpy or as a go-between in love intrigues. No doubt there were minftrels who kept themfelves more refpectable, but they were exceptions to the general character of the clafs, and were chiefly men in the fervice of the king or of tin- greal barons. There appears alfo to have been, for a long time, a continued attempt to raife minftrelfy to a refpectable pofition, and oul of this attempt arofe, in different places, companies and guilds. Of thefe, the in. ft 192 Hiftory of Domejtic Manners raoft remarkable of which we have any knowledge in this country, was the ancient fraternity of minftrels of Beverley, in Yorkshire. "When this company originated is not known ; but it was of fome confideration and wealth in the reign of Henry VI., when the church of St. Mary's, in that town, was built ; for the minftrels gave a pillar to it, on the capital of which a band of minftrels were fculptured. The cut below (No. 137) No. 137. The Minfir eh of Beverley. is copied from the engraving of this group, given in Carter's "Ancient Painting and Sculpture." The oldeft exifling document of the fraternity is a copy of laws of the time of Philip and Mary, fimilar to thofe by which all trade guilds were governed : their officers were an alderman and two ftewards or feers (i. e. fearchers) ; and the only items in their laws which throw any light upon the hiftory or condition of the minftrels are — one which requires that they fhould not take " any new brother except he be mynftrell to fome man of honour or worihip, or waite of fome towne corporate or other ancient town, or elfe of fuch honeftye and conyng (knoivledge) as ihall be thought laudable and pleafant to the hearers there 5" and another, to the effect that " no mylner, ihepherd, or of other occupation, or hufbandman, or huibandman fervant, playing upon pype or other inftrument, fhall fue (follow) any wedding, or other thing that pertaineth to the faid fcience, except in his own pariih." Inftitutions like thefe, however, had little effect in counteracting the natural and Sentiments. 1 9 3 natural decline of minftrelfy, for the ftate of fociety in which it exifted was palling away. It would be curious to trace the changes in its hiftory by the inllruments which became efpecially characferiftic of the popular jougleur. The harp had given way to the fiddle, and already, towards the end of the thirteenth century, the fiddle was yielding its place to the tabor. In the Anglo-Norman romance of Horn, of the thirteenth century, we are told of a ribald "who goes to marriages to play on the tabor " — A li piert quil eft las un lechur Ki a ces nocces went pur jucr od tabur ; and the curious fabliau of the king of England and the jougleur of Ely defcribes the latter as carrying his tabor fwung to his neck — Entour Jon col porta Joun tabour. 194 Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners CHAPTER X. AMUSEMENTS AFTER DINNER. GAMBLING. THE GAME OF CHESS. ITS HISTORY. DICE. TABLES. DRAUGHTS. THE dinner hour, even among the higheft ranks of fociety, was, as I have ftated, early in the forenoon ; and, except in the cafe of great feafts, it appears not to have been cuftomary to fit long after dinner. Thus a great part of the day was left on people's hands, to fill up with fome defcription of amufement or occupation. After the dinner was taken away, and the ceremony of wafhing had been gone through, the wine cup appears to have been at leaf! once paffed round, before they all role from table. The Camden Society has recently publifhed an early French metrical romance (" Blonde of Oxford," by Philippe de Reimes), which gives us a very interefting picture of the manners of the thirteenth century. Jean of Dammartin is reprefented as the fon of a noble family in France, who comes to England to feek his fortune, and enters the fervice of an earl of Oxford, as one of the efquires in his houfehold. There his duty is to attend upon the earl's daughter, the lady Blonde, and to ferve her at tables "After the meal, they wafh their hands and then go to play, as each likes befl, either in forefts or on rivers (i.e. hunt- ing or hawking), or in amufements of other kinds. Jean goes to which of them he likes, and, when he returns, he often goes to play in the chambers of the countefs, with the ladies, who oblige him to teach them French." Jean does his beft to pleafe them, for which he was qualified by his education, " For he was very well acquainted with chamber games, fuch as chefs, tables, and dice, with which he entertains his damfel and Sentiments. 195 damfel (Blonde) ; he often fays 'check' and ' mate' to her, and he taught her to play many a game :" — De jus de cambrcs feut ajje's, D'ejchcs, de tables, et de de's, Dont Ufa damoifele ejbat ; Sou-vent li diji cjchek et mat ,• De maint jeu a juer Paprifl. — Blonde of Oxford, 1. Z'M. This is a correft picture of the ufual occupations of the after-part of the day among the fuperior claffes of fociety in the feudal ages 5 and fcenes in accordance with it are often found in the illuminations of the mediaeval manufcripts. One of thefe is reprefented in the engraving (No. 138) on the following page, taken from a manufcript of the fifteenth century, containing the romance of the " Quatre Fils d'Aymon," and preferved in the Library of the Arfenal, in Paris. In the chamber in front a nobleman and one of the great ladies of his houfehold are engaged at chefs, while in the background we fee other ladies enjoying themfelves in the garden, which is ihown to us with its fummer-houfe and its flower-beds furrounded with fences of lattice-work. It may be remarked, that the attention of the cheff-players is withdrawn fuddenly from their game by the entrance of an armed knight, who appears in another compartment of the illumination in the manufcript. Of the chamber games enumerated in the foregoing extract from the romance of " Blonde of Oxford," that of chefs was no doubt looked upon as by far the mod; diftinguifhed. To play well at chefs was confiden d as a very important part of an ariftocratic education. Thus, in the " Chanfon de Gefte" (metrical romance) of Parife la Duchefle, the ion of the heroine, who was brought up by the king in his palace, had no fooner reached his fifteenth year, than "he was taught firll his letters, until he had made fufficient progrefs in them, and then he learnt to play at tables and chefs," and learnt thefe games lb well, " that no man in this world was able to mate him : " — Qjiant Panfcs ot x-v. anz et complix et pajfe-z, Premiers aprljl a let t res, tant quil en Jot ajjez ; Puis aprijl-il as tables et a efc/ias joier, It na ome an ccft mondc qui Pen pctijl mater. — Parlse la Ducbesse, p. 86. In 196 Hiftory of Domeftic Manners In this numerous cycle of romances, fcenes in which kings and princes, as well as nobles, are reprefented as occupying their leifure with the game of chefs, occur very frequently, and fometimes the game forms an impor- No. 13S. A Mediaval after-dinner Scene. tant incident in the ftory. In " Garin le Loherain," a meffenger hurries to Bordeaux, and finds count Thiebaut playing at chefs with Berengier d'Autri. Thiebaut is fo much excited by his news, that he puihes the chelf-board and Sentiments. 197 cheil-board violently from him, and fcatters the chefl^men about the place — Thiebaus r- *5 2 - Ornamental Dice. Roman dice or the lame form are known. It is Angular that the fame idea mould have prefented itfelf at a much later period, and, as far as we can judge, without any room for fuppofing that it was by imitation. Our fecond example, which is larger than the other, and carved in box-wood, is of German work, and appa- rently as old as the beginning of the fixteenth century. Both arc now in the fine and extenfive collection of the late lord Londefborough. The fimple throwing of the dice was rather an excitement than an amufement ; and at an early period people fought the latter by a com- bination of the dice-throwing with fome other ijlieni of movements or F F calculations. 2l8 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners calculations. In this way, no doubt, originated the different games enumerated by John of Salifbury, the moft popular of which was that of tables {tabula or tahdce). This game was in ufe among the Romans, and was in all probability borrowed from them by the Anglo- Saxons, among whom it was in great favour, and who called the game tcefel (evidently a mere adoption of the Latin name), and the dice teofelas and tcefel-Jtanas. The former evidently reprefents the Latin tejfellce, little cubes 3 and the latter feems to mow that the Anglo-Saxon dice were ufually made of ftones. At a later period, the game of tables, ufed nearly always in the plural, is continually mentioned along with chefs, as the two moft fafhionable and ariftocratic games in ufe. An early and richly illuminated manufcript in the Eritiih Mufeum — perhaps of the beginning of the fourteenth century (MS. Harl. No. 1257) — furnifhes us with the figures of players at tables repre- fented in our cut No. 153. The table, or board, with bars or points, is here clearly delineated, and we fee that the players ufe both dice and men, or pieces — the latter round difcs, like our modern draughtfmen. In another manu- fcript, belonging to a rather later period of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 13 A. xviii. fol. 157, v°), we have a diagram which fhows the board as compofed of two tables, reprefented in our cut No. 154. It was probably this conftruclion which caufed the name to be ufed in the plural; and as the Anglo-Saxons always ufed the name in the Angular, as is the cafe alfo with John of Salifbury in the twelfth century, while the plural is always ufed by the writers of a later date, we feem juftified in concluding that the board ufed by the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo- Normans confifted of one table, like that reprefented in our cut No. 153, and that this was afterwards fuperfeded by the double board. It is hardly neceffary to point out to our readers that thefe two pictures of the boards fhow us clearly that the mediaeval game of tables was identical with our modern No. 153. A Party at Tables. and Sentiments. modern backgammon, or rather, we ihould perhaps fay, that the game of backgammon, as now played, is one of the games played on the tables. In the manufcript laft quoted (MS. Reg. 13 A. xviii.) the figure of the board is given to illuftrate a very curious treatife on the game of tables, \AAAA/V vVvVvV /WYW No. 154. A Table-Board (Backgammon) of the Fourteenth Century. written in Latin, in the fourteenth, or even perhaps in the thirteenth, century. The writer begins by informing us, that " there are many games at tables with dice, of which the firft is the long game, and is the game of the Englifh, and it is common, and played as follows" (multi funt ludi ad tabulas cum taxillis, quorum primus eft longus ludus, et eft ludus Anglicorum, et eji communis, et eft talis naturce), meaning, I prefume, that it was the game ufually played in England. From the directions given for playing it, this game feems to have had a clofe general refemblance to backgammon. The writer of the treatife fays that it was played with three dice, or with two dice, in which latter cafe they counted fix at each throw for the third dice. In fome of the other games defcribed here, two dice only were ufed. We learn from this treatife the Englifh terms for two modes of winning at the " long game" of tables — the one being called " lympoldyng," the other "lurchyngj" and a perfon lofing by the former was laid to be " lvmpoldcd." '1 he 22o Hiftory of Domeftic Manners writer of this traft gives directions for playing at feveral other games of tables, and names fome of them — fuch as " paume carie," the Lombard's game (ludus Lovib ardor urn) , the "imperial/' the "provincial/' "baralie," and "faylys." This game continued long to exift in England under its old name of tables. Thus Shakefpeare : — This is the ape of form, monfieur the nice, That, when he flays at tables, chides the dice. — Love's Labour's Lost, Act v. Sc. 2. The game appears at this time to have been a favourite one in the taverns and ordinaries. Thus, in a fatirical tract in verfe, printed in 1600, we are told of— An honeji wicker, and a kind confort, That to the alehouje friendly would refort, To ha-ue a game at tables noiv and than, Or drinke his pot asfoone as any man. — Letting of Humours Blood, 1600. And one of the mofl popular of the fatirical writers of that period, Dekker, in his " Lanthorne and Candle-Light," printed in 1620, fays, punningly, — "And knowing that your moft fele6ted gallants are the onelye table-men that are plaid withal at ordinaries, into an ordinarye did he moft gentleman-like convay himfelfe in ftate." We learn from another trad of the fame author, the " Gul's Hornbooke," that the table- men at this time were ufually painted. We hardly perceive how the name of tables difappeared. It feems probable that at this time the game of tables meant limply what we now call backgammon, a word the oldeft mention of which, fo far as I have been able to difcover, occurs in Howell's " Familiar Letters," firft printed in 1646. It is there written baggamon. In the " Compleat Gamefter," 1674, backgammon and ticktack occur as two diftincl: games at what would have formerly been called tables ; and another fimilar game was called Irilh. Curioufly enough, in the earlier part of the laft century the game of backgammon was moft celebrated as a favourite game among country parfons. Another game exifting in the middle ages, but much more rarely alluded to, was called dames, or ladies, and has ftill preferved that name in and Sentiments. 22 in French. In Engliih, it was changed for that of draughts, derived no doubt from the circumftance of drawing the men from one fquare to another. Our cut No. 155, taken from a manufcript in the Britilh Mufeum of the beginning of the fourteenth century, known commonly as Queen Mary's Pfalter (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), represents a lady and 55. A Game at Draughts. gentleman playing at dames, or draughts, differing only from the cha- racter of the game at the prefent day in the circumliance that the draughtfmen are evidently fquare. The mediaeval games were gradually fuperfeded by a new contrivance, that of playing-cards, which were introduced into Weltern Europe in the courfe of the fourteenth century. It has been fuggefted that the idea of playing-cards was taken from chefs — in facl, that they are the game of chefs transferred to paper, and without a board, and they are generally underilood to have been derived from the Eaff Cards, while they poffeffed fome of the characterises of chefs, prefented the fame mixture of chance and lkill which diftinguiihed the game of tables. An Italian writer, probably of the latter part of the fifteenth century, named Cavel- luzzo, author of a hiftory of Viterbo, ftates that " in the year 1 379 was brought into Viterbo the game of cards, which conns from the country of the Saracens, and is with them called naib." Cards are ftill in Spaniih called 222 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners called naipes, which is faid to be derived from the Arabic : but they were certainly known in the well of Europe before the date given by Cavelluzzo. Our cut No. 156 is taken from a very fine manufcript of the romance of " Meliadus," in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Addit. 12,228, fol. 313, v°), which was written apparently in the fouth of France between the years 1330 and 1350 ; it reprefents a royal party playing at cards, which was therefore confidered at that time as the amufement of the higheft claffes of fociety. They are, however, fnft diftin6tly alluded to in No. 156. Cards in the Fourteenth Century. hiftory in the year 1393. In that year Charles VI. of P'rance was labouring under a vifitation of infanity; and we find in the accounts of his treafurer, Charles Poupart, an entry to the following effecf : — " Given to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards, gilt and diverfly coloured, and ornamented with feveral devices, to deliver to the lord the king for his amufement, fifty-fix fols of Paris." It is clear from this entry that the game of cards was then tolerably well known in France, and Sentiments. 223 France, and that it was by no means new, though it was evident])' not a common game, and the cards had to be made by a painter — that is, as I fuppofe, an illuminator of manufcripts. We rind as yet no allulion to them in England ; and it is remarkable that neither Chaucer, nor any of the numerous writers of his and the following age, ever fpeak of them. An illuminated manufcript of apparently the earlier part of the fifteenth century, perhaps of Flemilh workmanihip (it contains a copy of Raoul de Prefle's French tranflation of St. Augufline's " Civitas Dei"), prefents us with another card-party, which we give in our cut No. 157. Three No. 157. Cards in the Fifteenth Century. perfons are here engaged in the game, two of whom are ladies. After the date at which three packs of cards were made for the amufement of the lunatic king, the game of cards feems foon to have become common in France; for lefs than four years later — on the 22nd of January, 1397 — the provoft of Paris confidered it neceffary to publiih an edict, forbidding working people to play at tennis, bowls, dice, cards, or ninepins, on working days. By one of the aels of the fynod of Langres, in 1404, the clergy 224 Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners clergy were expreffly forbidden to play at cards. Thefe had now made their way into Germany, and had become fo popular there, that early in the fifteenth century card-making had become a regular trade. In England, in the third year of the reign of Edward IV. (1463), the importation of playing-cards, probably from Germany, was forbidden, among other things, by a£t of parliament ; and as that act is underftood to have been called for by the Englifh manufacturers, who fuffered by the foreign trade, it can hardly be doubted that cards were then manufactured in England on a rather extenfive fcale. Cards had then, indeed, evidently become very popular in England ; and only twenty years afterwards they are fpoken of as the common Chriftmas game, for Margery Pafton wrote as follows to her hufband, John Pafton, on the 24th of December in 1483 : — " Pleafe it you to weet (know) that I fent your eldeft fon John to my lady Morley, to have knowledge of what fports were ufed in her houfe in the Chriftmas next following after the deceafe of my lord her hufband; and fhe faid that there were none difguifings, nor harpings, nor luting, nor finging, nor none loud difports, but playing at the tables, and the chefs, and cards — fuch difports fhe gave her folks leave to play, and none other I fent your younger fon to the lady Stapleton, and fhe faid according to my lady Morley's faying in that, and as fhe had feen ufed in places of worfhip {gentlemen s houfes) there as fhe had been." From this time the mention of cards becomes frequent. They formed the common amufement in the courts of England and Scotland under the reigns of Henry VII. and James IV. ; and it is recorded that when the latter monarch paid his firft vifit to his affianced bride, the young princefs Margaret of England, " he founde the quene playing at the cardes." It muft not be forgotten that it is partly to the ufe of playing cards that we owe the invention which has been juftly regarded as one of the greateft benefits granted to mankind. The firft cards, as we have feen, were painted with the hand. They were fubfequently made more rapidly by a procefs called ftencilling — that is, by cutting the rude forms through a piece of pafteboard, parchment, or thin metal, which, placed on and Sentiments. 225 on the cardboard intended to receive the impreflion, was bruflied over with ink or colour, which palled through the cut out lines, and imparted the figure to the material beneath. A further improvement was made by cutting the figures on blocks of wood, and literally printing them on the cards. Thefe card-blocks are fuppofed to have given the firfl idea of wood-engraving. When people faw the effects of cutting the figures of the cards upon blocks, they began to cut figures of faints on blocks in the fame manner, and then applied the method to other fubjects, cutting in like manner the few words of neceflary explanation. This practice further expanded itfelf into what are called block-books, confifting of pictorial fubje£ts, with copious explanatory text. Some one at length hit upon the idea of cutting the pages of a regular book on fo many blocks of wood, and taking imprelfions on paper or vellum, inftead of writing the manufcript ; and this plan was foon further improved by cutting letters or words on feparate pieces of wood, and fetting them up together to form pages. The wood was fubfequently fuperfeded by metal. And thus originated the noble art of Printing. 226 Hijlory of Domefiic Manners CHAPTER XI. DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS AFTER DINNER. THE CHAMBER AND ITS FURNITURE. PET ANIMALS. OCCUPATIONS AND MANNERS OF THE LADIES. SUPPER. CANDLES, LAMPS, AND LANTERNS. WHEN the dinner was over, and hands wafhed, a drink was ferved round, and then the ladies left the table, and went to their chambers or to the garden or fields, to feek their own amufements, which confifted frequently of dancing, in which they were often joined by the younger of the male portion of the houfehold, while the others remained drinking. They feem often to have gone to drink in another apartment, or fecondary hall, perhaps in the parlour. In the romance of " La Violette" (p. 159), we read of the father of a family going to fleep after dinner. In the fame romance (p. 152), the young ladies and gentlemen of a noble houfehold are defcribed as fpreading themfelves over the cattle, to amufe themfelves, attended by minftrels with mufic. From other romances we find that this amufement confined often in dancing, and that the ladies fometimes fang for themfelves, inftead of having minitrels. We find thefe amufements alluded to in the fabliaux and romances of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In one of the fabliaux, a knight having been received hofpitably at a feudal cattle, after dinner they wafh, and drink round, and then they go to dance — Ses mains Lai/a, et puis P 'autre gent toute, Et puis fe burent tout a route, Et por Pamor dou chevalier Se . 25. In the romance of "Sir Degrevant," when the lady Myldore has lint for her lover to come privately to her chamber at night, ihe orders her maiden to prepare a fire, and place fagots of fir-wood to keep it burning — Damefcle, loke ther be A fuyre in the chymene'; Fagattus of fyrc-tre^ That fctchyd ivas yare ( formerly ).- A board is placed on treftles to form a table, and a dainty (upper is ferved, which the lady carves for her lover, and ihe further treats him with rich wines. In the romance of "Queen Berthe" (p. 102), three perKms, holding a fecret confultation in the chamber of one of their party, iii on carpets 246 Hi ft or y of Domeftic Manners carpets {fur les tapis) ; but thefe were no doubt embroidered cloths thrown over the feats. Floor-carpets were fometimes ufed in the chambers, but this was uncommon, and they feem to have been more ufually, like the hall, flrewed with rufhes. It appears that fometimes, as a refinement in gaiety, flowers were mixed with the rufhes. In a fabliau in Meon (i. 75), a lady who expects her lover, lights a fire in the chamber, and fpreads rufhes and flowers on the floor — Vient a Poftel, lo feu efclaire, Jons etjlors efpandre par Va'ire, There was an efcrin, or cabinet, which flood againft the wall, which was often fo large that a man might conceal himfelf behind it. The plot of feveral mediaeval flories turns upon this circumftance. Chefls and coffers were alfo kept in the chamber 5 and it contained generally a fmall table, or at leaft the board and treflles for making one, which the lord or lady of the houfe ufed when they would dine or tup in private. The practice of thus dining or flipping privately in the chamber is not unfrequently alluded to in the old flories and romances. Supper, however, being the fecond meal in the day at which the whole houfehold met together, was generally a more public one, and was held, like the dinner, in the hall, and with much the fame forms and fervices. It was preceded and clofed by the fame wafhing of hands, and the table was almoft as plentifully covered with viands. After having wafhed, the company drank round, and it feems to have been the ufual cuftom, on leaving the flipper-table, to go immediately to bed, for people in general kept early hours. Thus, in one of the pious flories printed by Meon, in defcribing a royal fupper-party, we are told that, "when they had eaten and wafhed, they drunk, and then went to bed" — Slant orent mengie\fi la-verent, Puis burent, et couchier alerent. And in another ftory in the fame collection, the lady receives a ftranger to fupper in a very hofpitable manner — " when they had eaten leifurely, then it was time to go to bed" — Qant orent mengie par loijir, Si fu heme dealer gejir. Sometimes, and Sentiments. 247 Sometimes, however, there were dancing and other amufements between tapper and bed-time. Thus, in the romance of " Sir Degrevant," — Ble-ve (quickly) to foper they dyght, Both fquiere and knyght ; They daunfed and re-volide that nyght, In hert 'were they blythe. In a fabliau published by Barbazan, on the arrival in a nobleman's caftle of a knight who is treated with efpecial courtefy, the knights and ladies dance after fupper, and then, at bed-time, they conducl; the vifitor into his bed-chamber, and drink with him there before they leave him : — Apres mengier, chafcuns comence De faire caroles et dance, Tant quilfu houre de couchier ; Puis anmainment le chevalier En fa chambre oil fait fu fon lit, Et la burent par grant delit ; Puis prinrent congie. Fruit was ufually eaten after fupper. In a fabliau of the thirteenth century, a noble vifitor having been received in the houfe of a knight, they go immediately to fnpper. "After they had done eating, they enjoyed themfelves in converfation, and then they had fruit," and it was only after this that they wafhed — Aprcs mengier fe font deduit De paroles, puisfi ont fruit. In the lay of the "Chevalier a I'EfpeV' Sir Gauwain takes, inftead of fupper, fruit and wine before he goes to bed. The cuftom of keeping early hours ftill prevailed, ami is very frequentl) alluded to. People are generally defcribed as riling with the fun. Such was the cafe with the king, in the romance of " Pa rife la Ducheffe" — Liir.dcmain par matin, quand folaus fu I Vi , Se leva li rots Hugues.-Pa.risi), ed. P. Paris, |>. 219. It was the cuftom, after riling, to attend fervice either in the church or in the private chapel. In the- hiftory of Fulke Fitz-Warine, Jofe de Dj ii.in. 248 Hljlory of Domejiic Manners Dynan, in his caftle of Ludlow, rofe early in the morning, heard fervice in the chapel, after which he mounted to the top of the loftieft tower, to take a view of the country around, then defcended and " caufed the hern to be founded for warning." This was no doubt the fignal for the houfe- hold to affemble for breakfaft. In Chaucer's " Squyeres Tale," the king's guefts, after great feafting and caroufing at night, fleep till " prime large" in the morning, that is till fix o'clock, which is fpoken of in a manner which evidently intimates that they had considerably overilept themfelves. The princefs Canace had left her bed long before, and was walking with her maidens in the park. In the " Schipmannes Tale," too, the lady rifes very early in the morning, and takes her walk in the garden. In the curious "Book" of the Chevalier de la Tour Landry, we are told of a very pious dame whom he knew, whofe daily life was as follows : — She rofe early in the morning, had two friars and two or three chaplains in attendance to chant matins while fhe was rifing ; as foon as fhe left her chamber fhe went to her chapel, and remained in devotion in her oratory while they faid matins and one mafs, and then fhe went and dreffed and arrayed herfelf, after which fhe went to recreate herfelf in the garden or about the houfe 3 fhe then attended divine fervice again, and after it went to dinner ; and during the afternoon fhe vifited the fick, and in due time fupped, and after fupper fhe called her maitre d 'hotel, and made her houfehold arrangements for the following day. The hour of breakfaft is very uncertain, and appears not to have been fixed. The hour of dinner was, as already ftated, nine o'clock in the morning, or fometimes ten. In the lay of the "Mantel Mautaille," king Arthur is introduced on a grand feftival day refufing, according to his cuftom, to begin the dinner till fome "adventure" occurs, and the guefts wait till near " nonne," when the grand fenefchal, Sir Keux, takes upon himfelf to expoftulate, and reprefents that dinner had been ready a long time (piegd). Nonne is here probably meant for midday, or noon. The queen was in her chamber, greatly diftreffed at having to wait lb long for dinner. The regular hour of fupper appears to have been five o'clock in the afternoon, but when private it feems not to have been fixed to any particular hour. In fummer, at leaft, people appear ufually to have gone to and Sentiments. 249 to bed when darknefs approached 5 and this was the time at which guetts ordinarily took their leave. Thus, at January's wedding-fealt, in Chaucer, we are told that — Night, ivit/i his mantel, that is dark and rude, Gan o-uerfprede themefperie aboute ,• For which departed is the lujli route Fro January, ivith thank on every fide, Hoom to her houfes lujlily thay ryde. — Cant. Tales, 1. 9GV2. We mull: not forget that thefe remaiks apply to the feafons of the year when days were long, for the fcenes of moll of thefe romances and tales are laid in the fpring and fummer months, and efpecially in May. We have much lefs information on the domeflic relations during winter. One reafon for keeping early hours was that candles and lamps were too expenfive to be ufed in profufion by people in general. Various methods of giving artificial light at night are mentioned, moft of which feem to have been confidered more or lefs as luxuries. At grand feftivals the light was often given by men hold- ing torches. In general, candles were ufed at fupper. The accompanying cut (No. 176), taken from the manufcript of the St. Graal already mentioned, reprefents a perfon lapping by No - *7 6 ' -A Supper. candlelight. In the fabliau of " La Borgoife d'Orliens," a lady, receiving her lover into her chamber, fpreads a table for him, and lights a great wax candle (grojj'e chandoile cle cire). Lighting in the middle ages was, indeed, erfe&ed, in a manner more or lefs refined, by means of torches, lamps, and candles. The candle, which was the moll; portable of them all, was employed in fmall and private evening parties; and, from an early period, it was ufed in the bed-chamber. For the table very handfome candlellicks were made, which were employed by people of rank, and wax-candles (cierges) were ufed on them. They were formed with an upright (pike (brocke), on which the candle was Hack, not, as now, placed in a focket. Tims, in a fcene in one of the fabliaux printed by J5arba/an, a good bourgeois has on k k his 250 Hiftory of Dome/lie Manners his fupper-table two candlefticks of filver, "very fair and handfome," with wax-candles — Defor la table ot deus broifim, Ou il a-voit cierges, Sargent, Molt efioient bel et gent. — Barbazan, vol. iv. p. Hi, So in the romance of "La Violette," when the count Lifiart arrives at the caftle of duke Gerart, on the approach of bedtime, two men-fervants make their appearance, each carrying a lighted cierge, or wax-candle, and thus they lead him to his chamber — At ant lor -vinrent doi Jergant, Chafcuns tenolt j. cerge ardant ; he conte menerent couchhr. — La Violette, p. 30. This, however, appears to have been done as a mark of honour to the gueft, for, even in ducal catties common candles appear to have been in ordinary ufe. In a bedroom fcene in a fabliau printed by Meon (torn. i. p. 268), in which the younger ladies of the duke's family and their female attendants flept all in beds in one room, they have but one candle (chandoile) , and that is attached to the wood of the bed of the duke's daughter, fo that it would appear to have had no candleftick. One of the damfels, who was a ftranger, and lefs familiar than the others, was unwilling to take off her chemife until the light was extinguiihed, for it mufi be remembered that it was the general cuflora to fleep in bed quite naked, and the daughter of the duke, whofe bedfellow fhe was to be, blew the candle out — Rofehe tantojl la soufla, Qua pejponde ejioit atachie. Blowing out the candle was the ordinary manner of extinguilhing it. In the "Menagier de Paris," or inftru&ions for the management of a gen- tleman's houfehold, compiled in the latter half of the fourteenth century, the lady of the houfe is told, after having each night afcertained that the houfe is properly clofed and all the fires covered, to fee all the fervants to bed, and to take care that each had a candle in a " fiat-bottomed candle- flick," at fome diftance from the bed, "and to teach them prudently to extinguifh and Sentiments. 2 5 extinguifh their candles before they go into their bed with the mouth, or with the hand, and not with their chemife," i. e., they were to blow their candle out, or put it out with their fingers, not to extinguifh it by throwing their fhifts upon it — another allufion to the practice of fleeping naked.* Extinguilhers had not yet come into general ufe. People went to bed with a candle placed in a candleftick of a different defcription from that ufed at table ; and we learn from a ftory in the " Menagier de Paris" that it was cuftomary for the fervant or fervants who had charge of the candles, to accompany them into their bedroom, remain with them till they were in bed, and then carry the candles away. Candles were, however, ufually left in the chamber or bedroom all night ; and there was frequently a fpike, or candleftick, attached to the chimney ; 77. The Cellarer in a Panic. as iii the fabliau juft quoted there was, no doubt, a fimilar (pike attached to the wood-work of the bed. The ftick, whether fixed or movable, was made for convenience in placing the candle in the chamber, and not for the purpofe of carrying it about; for the latter purpofe, it appears to have been generally taken oil' the Hick, and carried in the hand. Our cut No. 177, taken from one of the caned lialls of * Et aycz fait adviser par avant, qu'ils aient chascun loing de son lit chandelier a platine pour mettre sa chandelle, et les aiez fait introduire sagement de I'esraindre a la bouche 011 ;i la main avant qu'ils entrent en leur lit, et nun mie 3 la chemise. — (Menagier de Paris, ii. 71.) the 2 5 2 Hi/lory of Domejiic Ma?2ners the chapel of Winchefter fchool, reprefents an individual, perhaps the cellarer or fteward, who has gone into the cellar with a candle, which he carries in this manner, and is there terrified by the appearance of hob- goblins. In the fabliau of the " Chevalier a la Corbeille," an old duena, employed to watch over her young mifirefs, being difturbed in the night, is obliged to take her candle, and go into the kitchen to light it ; from whence we may fuppofe that it was the cuftom to keep the kitchen fire in all night. An old poem on the troubles of houfekeeping, printed by M. Jubinal in his " Nouveau Recueil de Contes," enumerates candles and a lantern among the neceffaries of a houfe- hold— Orfaut chandeles et lanterne. No. 178. Man ivith Lantern. A manufcript of the thirteenth century in the French National Library (No. 6g$6) contains an illumination, which has furnifhed us with the accompanying cut (No. 178), reprefenting a man holding a lantern of the form then in ufe, and lanterns are not unfrequently mentioned in old writers. It appears to have been a common cuftom, at leaft among the better clafles of fociety, to keep a lamp in the chamber to give light during the night. In one of the fabliaux printed in Meon, a man entering the chamber of a knight's lady, finds it lit by a lamp which was ufually left burning in it — Une lampe avo'it en la chambre, Par cojiume ardoir ifiaut. In the Englifh romance of •' Sir Eglamour," feveral lamps are defcribed as burning in a lady's chamber — Aftur fopur, as y yoiv telle, He ivendyd to chaumbur ivith Cryflyabelle , There laumpus ivere brennyng bryght. We may fuppofe, notwithstanding thefe words, that a lamp gave but a dim light ; and accordingly we are told in another fabliau that there was little and Sentiments. 2 53 little light, or, as it is expreffed in the original, ' none," in a chamber where noth ing but a lamp was burning, — En la chambre lumiere not, Hors cfun mortier qu'duec ardok, Point de clarte ne lor rendoit. In the accompan) manufcript of the ing cut (No. 179), taken from an fourteenth century, in the Nationa 1 illumination Library in in a Paris No. 179. A Bedroom Chamber Scene. (No. 6988), a nun, apparently, is arranging her lamp before going to bed. The lamp here confifts of a little bafin of oil, in which, no doubt, the wick floated ; but the ufe of the Hand under it is not eafily explained. Lamps were ufed where a light was wanted in a room for a long time, becaufe they lafted longer without requiring (huffing. The lamps of the middle ages were made ufually on the plan of tholi- of' the Romans, confifting, as in the foregoing example, of a imall vefie] of" earthenware or metal, which was filled with oil, and a wick placed in it. This lamp was placed on a (land, or was fometimes fufpended on a beam, or perch, or againft the wall. We have an example of this in the preceding cul (No. 1 79), which explains the term mortier (mortar) of the fabliau, it was 2 54 Hifiory of Domejiic Manners was a wick fwinging in oil in a bafin. Our cut No. 180, taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth century in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Harl., No. 1227), reprefents a row of lamps of rather curious form, made to be fufpended. In our next cut (No. 181), from a manufcript of the fame 80. Mediaval Lamps. date (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), we have lamps of a fomewhat iimilar form, made to be carried in the hand. Torches were ufed at greater feffivals, and for occafions where it was neceflary to give light to very large halls full of company. They were Men carrying Lamps, ufually held in the hand by fervants, but were fometimes placed againft the wall in holds made to receive them. Torches were not unfrequently ufed to give light to the chamber alio. In one of the llories of the " Seven Sages," a man, bringing a perfon in fecret to the king's chamber, " blewe and Sentiments. 255 "blewe out the torche," in order to cauie perfect darknefs (Weber, iii. 63)5 and in the early Englifh romance of " Sir Degrevant" (Weber, iii. 213), where light is wanted in a lady's chamber, it is obtained by means of the torches. There were other means of giving light, on a ftill greater fcale, which I ihall defcribe in a fubiequent chapter, when treating of the fifteenth century. 256 Hi/lory of Domeftic Manners CHAPTER XII. THE BED AND ITS FURNITURE. THE TOILETTE ; BATHING. CHESTS AND COFFERS IN THE CHAMBER. THE HUTCH. USES OF RINGS. COMPOSITION OF THE FAMILY. FREEDOM OF MANNERS. SOCIAL SENTIMENTS, AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS. IT was now a matter of pride to have the bed furnifhed with handibme curtains and coverings. Curtains to beds were fo common, that being "under the curtain" was ufed as an ordinary periphrahs for being in bed 3 but thefe curtains appear to have been fufpended to the ceiling of the chamber, with the bedftead behind them. With regard to the bed itfelf, there was now much more refinement than when it was limply fluffed with ftraw. Beds among the rich were made with down (duvet) ; in the " Roman de la Violette" we are told of a bed made of bofu — perhaps of flocks. From the vocabulary compofed by Alexander Neckam early in the thirteenth century, we learn that the bed was covered much in the fame way as at prefent. Firft, a "quilte" was fpread over the bed ; on this the bolfter was placed ; over this was laid a " quilte poynte " or "raye" (courtepointe, or counterpane) ; and on this, at the head of the bed, was placed the pillow. The iheets were then thrown over it, and the whole was covered with a coverlet, the common material of which, according to Neckam, was green fay, though richer materials, and even valuable furs, were ufed for this purpofe. In the "Lai del Defire," we are told of a quilt (coilte), made in checker-wife, of pieces of two different forts of rich fluff, which feems to have been con- fidered as fomething extremely magnificent — Sur on bon lit pert apuiie ; La coilte fu a efchckers De deus p allies benjaiz e chers. Among all claffes the appearance of the bed feems to have been a fubject and Sentiments. 257 iubjeft of conliderable pride, no doubt from the circumftance of the bed- room being a place for receiving vifitors. There were fometimes two or more beds in the fame room, and vifitors flept in the fame chamber with the hoft and hoflefs. Beds were alfo made for the occafion, without bedfteads, fometimes in the hall, at others In the chamber befide the ordinary bed, or in fome other room. The plots of many mediaeval ftories turn on thefe circumftances. People therefore kept extra materials for making the beds. In the " Roman du Meunier d'Arleux," when a maiden comes as an unexpected vifitor, a place is chofen for her by the fide of the fire, and a foft bed is laid down, with very expenfive (heels, and a coverlet " warm and furred " — Kicute mole, linchex molt elder, Et cover toir chaut etforre". One cuftom continued to prevail during the whole of this period, — that of lleeping in bed entirely naked. So many allufions to this practice occur in the old writers, that it is hardly neceflary to fay more than ftate the fa6t. Not unfrequently this cuftom is ftill more ftrongly exprefied by ftating that people went to bed as naked as they were born ; as in fome moral lines in the " Reliquiae Antiquae" (ii. 15), againft the pride of the ladies, who are told that, however gay may be their clothing during the day, they will lie in bed at night as naked as they were born. It is true that in fome inftances in the illuminations perfons are feen in bed with fome kind of clothing on, but this was certainly an exception to the rule, and there is generally fome particular reafon for it. Thus, in the " Roman de la Violette" (p. 31), the lady Oriant excites the furprife of her duefia by going to bed in a chemife, and is obliged to explain her reafon for fo Angular a practice, namely, her defire to conceal a mark on her body. Our cut No. 182, taken from the romance of the St. Graal, in the Britifti Mufeum (MS. Addit. No. 10,292, fol. 21, v°), reprefents a king and queen in bed, both naked. The crowns on their heads are a mere con- ventional method of ftating their rank: kings and queens were not in the habit of lleeping in bed with their crowns on their heads. In the next cut (No. 183), taken from a manufcript of the romance of the 1. 1. "Quniiv 258 Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners "Quatre Fils d'Aymon," of the latter part of the fourteenth century, in the National Library in Paris (No. 6970), there is mil lefs room left for No. 182. King and Queen in Bed. doubt on the fubjecl. The people ieem to be fleeping in a public hoftelry, where the beds are made in receffes, not unlike the berths in a No. 183. Night Scene in a Hojtelry. modern fteamer ; the man on liorfeback is fuppofed to be outride, and his and Sentiments. 259 his arrival has given alarm to a man who was in bed, and who is efcaping without any kind of clothing. In the Englilh romance of " Sir Ifumbras," the caflle of Ifumbras is burnt to the ground in the night, and his lady and three children efcaped from their beds 3 when he hurried to the (pot, he found them without clothing or fhelter — A dolefulle fyghte the knyghte gane fee Of his ivyfe and his childir three, That fro the fyre iverefede; Alle als nakede als thay lucre borne Stode togedir undir a thorne, Braydcde O'zvte of thaire bedd. Curioufly enough, while fo little care was taken to cover the body, the head was carefully covered at night, not with a nightcap, but with a kerchief (couvrechief) , which was wrapped round it. The practice of warm-bathing prevailed very generally in all clafles of fociety, and is frequently alluded to in the mediaeval romances and ttories. For this purpofe a large bathing-tub was ufed, the ordinary form of which is reprefented in the annexed cut (No. 184), taken from the 84. A Lady Bathing. manufcript of the St. Graal, of the thirteenth century, in the Britith Mufeum (MS. Addit. No. 10,292, fol. 266). People fometimes bathed immediately after rifing in the morning; and we find the bath ufed after dinner, and before going to bed. A bath was alio often prepared for a \ ifitor 260 Hi/lory of "Domejiic Manners No. 185. Lady at her Toilette. vifitor on his arrival from a journey 5 and, what feems mil more lingular, in the numerous ftories of amorous intrigues, the two lovers ufually begin their interviews by bathing together. Our cut No. 185, from another volume of the manufcript lafl quoted (MS. Addit. No. 10,293, fol. 266), reprefents a lady at her toilette. It is a fubjecf on which our information at this period is not very abundant. The round mirror of metal which the is em- ploying was the common form during the middle ages, and was no doubt derived from the ancients. The details of the ladies' toilette are not often defcribed, but the contemporary moralifts and fatirifts condemn, in rather general terms, and evidently with more bitternefs than was called for, the pains taken by the ladies to adorn their perfons. They are accufed of turning their bodies from their natural form by artificial means, alluding to the ufe of Hays, which appear to have been firfr. employed by the Anglo-Norman ladies in the twelfth century. They are further accufed of plucking out fuperfluous hairs from their faces and eyebrows, of dyeing their hair, and of painting their faces. The chevalier de la Tour-Landry (chap. 76) tells his daughters that the whole intrigue between king David and the wife of Uriah arofe out of the circumftance of the lady combing her hair at an open window where fhe could be feen from without, and fays that it was a punifhment for the too great attention fhe gave to the adornment of her head. The toilette of the day feems to have been completed at the firft riling from bed in the morning. There are fome picturefque lines in the Englifh metrical romance of " Alifaunder," which defcribe the morning thus: — - In a moretyde (morrow-tide) hit Schefctt hym on hur beddysfyde, And ludcomyd home thet knyght. Again, in a fabliau printed by Meon, a woman of a lower grade, wifhing to make a private communication to a man, invites him into her chamber, and they fit on the bed to converfe — En tine chanbre andui en vent, Defor un lit ajls fe font. And in the fabliau of " Guillaume au Faucon," printed by Barbazan, Guillaume, vifiting the lady of a knight in her chamber, finds her leated No. 186. Converfation in the Chamber. on the bed, and he immediately takes a feat by her fide to converfe with her. In the illuminated manufcripts, fcenes of this kind occur fre- quently; but in the fourteenth century, inllead of being feated on the bed, the perfons thus converfing fit on a bench which runs along the fide of the bed, and feems to belong to the bedftead. A fcene of this kind is reprefented 262 Hiftory of "Domejiic Manners reprefented in our cut No. 186 (taken from a manufcript of the romance of " Meliadus," in the Britifh Mufeum, MS. Addit. No. 12,228, fol. 312), which is a good reprefentation of a bed of the fourteenth century. A lady has introduced a king into her chamber, and they are converging privately, feated on the bench of the bed. In fome of thefe illumina- tions, the perfons converting are feated on the bed, with their feet on the bench. The illuminators had not yet learned the art of reprefenting things in detail, and they (till too often give us mere conventional reprefentations of beds, yet we fee enough to convince us that the bedfteads were already No. 187. Taking Clothes from the Chef. made much more elaborately than formerly. Betides the bench at the fide, we find them now with a hutch (huche) or locker at the foot, in which the poffeffor was accuflomed to lock up his money and other valuables. This hutch at the foot of the bed is often mentioned in the fabliaux and romances. Thus, in the fabliau "Du chevalier a la Robe Vermeille," a man, when he goes to bed, places his robe on a hutch at the toot of the bed — Sur une huche aus fiez du lit A cil toute fa robe mife. Another, and Sentiments. 263 Another, having extorted fome money from a prieft, immediately puts it in the hutch — Lcs deniers a mis en la huche. The hutch was indeed one of the moft important articles of furniture in the mediaeval chamber. All portable objects of intrinfic value or utility were kept in boxes, becaufe they were thus ready for moving and taking away in cafe of danger, and becaufe in travelling people carried much of their movables of this defcription about with them. Hence the ufes of the hutch or cheft were very numerous and diverfified. It was ufual to keep clothes of every defcription in a cheft, and illuftrations of this practice are met with not uncommonly in the illuminated manuscripts. One of them is given in our cut No. 187, taken from an illumination in a manufcript of the fourteenth century, given by "Willemin. Jewels, plate, perfonal ornaments of all kinds, and all defcriptions of " treafure," were fimi- larly locked up in chefts. In our cut No. 188, taken alfo from a manufcript in the Britilh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii., of the beginning of the fourteenth cen- tury), a man appears in the a6t of deposit- ing in a cheft fibulae or brooches, rings, buttons, and other objects, and a large veflel probably of filver. Our cut No. 189, from a manufcript in the National Library in Paris (No. 6956), reprefents a mifer examining the money in his hutch, which is here detached from a bed ; but in fome other illuminations, a hutch of much the fame form appears attached to the bed foot. In Anglo-Saxon the coffer was called a he, whence our word Inciter is derived ; or a cyjie, our cheft; or an arc: from the Anglo-Normans we derive the words hutch (huche) and coffer (cqffre). The Anglo-Saxons, as we have fhown in a former chapter (p. 79), like our forefathers of a later period, kepi their treafures in lockers or hutches. In the "Legend of St. Juliana," an Anglo-Saxon poem 88. The Treafure Cheft. 264 Hiflory of Domejiic Manners poem in the Exeter Book, it is remarked in proof of the richnefs of a chieftain : — ■ Although he riches in his treafure-lockers, jeiveh innumerable, fojfejfed upon earth. — Exeter Bonk, p. 245. \>eah \>e feoh-gejirt under hord-locan, hyrfta unrim, ahte ofer eor\>an. Among the Anglo-Saxons the lady of the houfehold had the charge of the coffers. In one of the laws of Cnut relating to robberies, it is declared that " if any man bring a ftolen thing home to his cot, and he be detected, it is juft that the owner have what he went for ; and unlefs it has been brought under his wife's key-lockers {cceg-locan) , let her be clear ; for it is her duty to keep the keys of them, namely, her ftorehoufe A Mifer and his Hoard. (hord-ern), and her cheft (cyjle), and her box (tege)." (Cnut's Laws, No. 180.) In the old metrical romances, when a town is taken and lacked, the plunderers are defcribed as hurrying to the chambers, to rifle the chefts and coffers, which were kept there. Thus, in the romance of the " Mort de Garin," when Fromont's town is taken by the followers of the hero of the romance, "the Lorrains," we are told, "haflened to deftroy the town ; there you might fee many a chamber broken open, and many a hutch burft and torn, where they found robes, and filver, and glittering gold" — Lohere?i and Sentiments. 265 Loheren poignent por It bore defrocl La ■veijjie% mainte chambre brijier, Et mainte huche effondrer et pereier, Et trcvent robes, et argent, et or mier. — Mort de Garin, p. 168. So in the romance of" Garin/' of which that jufl quoted is the fequel, on a fimilar occafion, " there you might fee them rob the great halls, and break open the chambers, and force the coffers (efcr'uis)," — La 've'ijjie% les grans falles rober ; Chambres brifier, et les cfcrins forcier. — Garin le Loherain, torn. i. p. 197. Further on, in the fame romance, the fair Beatrix, addreffing her hulband, the duke Begues, tells him that he has gold and lilver in his coders, — Or et argent a-vez en -vos efcrins. — lb., torn. ii. p. 218. Money was, indeed, commonly kept in the huche or coffer. In the fabliau of " Conftant Duhamel," when Conftant is threatened by the No. 190. Jofcph buying up the Corn. forefter, who had detained his oxen on the pretence that they had been found trefpaJling, he tells him that he was ready to redeem them, as he had a hundred fols of money in his hutch by his bed — yd en ma huche Icz mon lit, Cent fols de deniers a -vojlre ocs. — Barbazan, iii. 307. In the accompanying cut (No. 190), from a manufcripl oi the four- Mi m teenth 266 Hi/lory of Dome/lie Manners teenth century in the Britiih Mufeum (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), Jofeph is reprefented counting out the money from his huche, to buy up the corn of Egypt, during the years of plenty. The chefts were kept in the chambers, as being the moll retired and fecure part of the houfe, and, from the terms in which the breaking open of the chambers is fpoken of in the foregoing extracts, we are led to fuppofe that the chambers themfelves were ufually locked. The ordinary place for the chefts or hutches, or, at leaft, of the principal cheft, was by the tide, or more ufually at the foot, of the bed. We have juft feen that this was the place in which Conftant Duhamel kept his huche. Under thefe circumftances it was very commonly ufed for a feat, and is often introduced as fuch, both in the literature of the middle ages, and in the illuminations of the manufcripts. In the romance of " Garin" (torn. i. p. 214), the king's meffenger finds the count of Flanders, Fromont, in a tent, according to one manufcript, feated on a coffer (for un coffre ou fe Jiji). So, alfo, in the " Roman de la Violette," p. 25, the heroine and her treacherous gueft are reprefented as feated upon "a coffer banded with copper" (for j. coffre bende de coivre). Our cut No. 191, taken from one of the engravings in the No - I91 " Sitti * great work of Willemin, reprefents a fcribe thus feated on a coffer or huche, and engaged apparently in writing a letter. Our next cut (No. 192), taken from a manufcript of the four- teenth century in the Britiih Mufeum (MS. Reg. 15 E. vi.), reprefents a lady and gentleman, feated on apparently a coffer, the former of whom is prefenting a ring to the other. This latter object, the ring, acts alfo a very frequent and very impor- tant part in the focial hiftory of the middle ages. A ring was often given as a token of affection between lovers, as may perhaps be intended by the fubject of our laft cut, or between relatives or friends. In the romance of " Widukind," torn. ii. p. 20, the queen gives her ring to her lover in a and Sentiments. 267 a fecret interview in her tent. So, in the romance of " Horn," the lady Rigmel gave her lover, Horn, a ring as a token. It was often, moreover, given not merely as a token of remembrance, but as a means of recog- nition. In the well-known early Engliih romance of " Sir Triilram," the mother of the hero, dying in childbirth of him after his father had No. 192. The Token of the Ring. been flain, gives a ring to the knight to whole care fhe entrufted the infant, as a token by which his parentage fhould be known when he grew up : — A ring of riche heive Than hadde that Icvcdi (lady) j re; Sc/ie toke (gave) it Rouhand trciue, Mr fotie fchc bad it be ; Mi brother tve/e it kneive^ Mi fader yaf it me. This ring leads fubfequently to the : king Mark. In the romance of Romances," vol. ii. p. $$$), the her jognhion of Trilbani by his uncle, Iponndon" (Weber's "Metrical limihirlv receives from his mother a ring, which was to be a token of recognition to his illegitimate brother. So, in the romance, Horn makes himfelf known in the fequel to Rigmel, by dropping the ring fhe had given him into the drinking-horn which (he was ferving round at a feaft. Rings were often given to meflengers as credentials, or were ufed for the fame purpofe as letters of ininHlinii.ui. In the romance of " Floire and Blanceflor" (p. 55), the young hero, "ii his 268 Hiftory of Domeftic Maimers his way to Babylon, arrives at a bridge, the keeper of which has a brother in the great city, to whofe hofpitality he withes to recommend Floire, and for that purpofe he gives him his ring. "Take this ring to him," he fays, "and tell him from me to receive yon in his beft manner." The meflage was attended with complete fuccefs. In our cut No. 193, taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth century in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), the meiTenger arrives with the letter of which he is the bearer, and at the fame time exhibits a ring in the place of credentials. There was another circumftance which gave value and importance to rings in the middle ages. Not only might rings be charmed by the No. 193. The Deli-very of the Ring. power of the magician, but it was an article of general belief that the engraved ftones of the ancients, which were found commonly enough on old fites, and even the precious ftones in general, without any engraving, pofletTed extraordinary virtues, the benefit of which was imparted to thofe who carried them on their perfons. In the romance of "Melufine" (p. 357), the heroine, when about to leave the houfe of her hutband, gives him two rings, and fays, " My fweet love, you fee here two rings of gold, which have both the fame virtue ; and know well for truth, that fo long as you poiTefs them, or one of them, you fhall never be overcome in pleading nor in battle, if your caufe be rightful ; and neither you nor others who may poflefs them, fhall ever die by any weapons." In a ftory among and Seyittments. 269 among the collection of the " Gefta Romanorum," edited by fir Frederic Madden for the Roxburghe Club (p. 150), a father is made, on his death- bed, to give to his fon a ring, " the virtue of which was, that whofoever lhould bear it upon him, mould have the love of all men." The ring given by the princefs Rigmel to Horn poffeffed virtues of an equally remarkable defcription — "Whoever bore it upon him could notperifh; he need not fear to die either in fire or water, or in field of battle, or in the contention of the tournament." So, in the romance of "Floire and Blanceflor" (p. 42), the queen gives her fon a ring which would protecl: him againft all danger, and allure to him the eventual attainment of every object of his wifhes. Nor was the ring of fir Perceval of Galles (Thornton Romances, p. 71) at all lefs remarkable in its properties, of which the rhymer fays — Sic he a -vertue es in the ft an e, In alle this iverlde ivote I none Siche flone in a rynge ; A mane that had it in ivere (war) One his body for to here, There fcholde no dyntys (blows) hym dere (injure), Ne to dethe brynge. The confideration of the houfe and its parts and furniture, and of the outward forms of domeftic life, leads us naturally to that of the conftitu- tion of the family. It was the chief pride of the ariftocratic clafs to live very extravagantly, and to fupport a great houfehold, with an immenfe number of perfonal attendants of different clafles. In the firft place the old fyftem of foftering, which was kept up to a comparatively late period, added to the number of the lord's or knight's family. As might was literally right in the middle ages, each man of worth fought to ftrengthen himfelf by the alliances which were formed by finding powerful fofter- fathers for his fons, and the perfonal attachment and fidelity between the chief of the family and his follcr-child was often greater even than that between the father and his own fon. In addition to the toiler children, gentlemen fent their fons to take an honourable kind of fervice in the families of men of higher rank or greater wealth, where the manners and accomplifhments of gentlemen were to be learnt in greater perfection than at home ; and the younger fons of great families (ought limil.it- fen iee 270 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners fervice with a view to their advancement in the world. Thefe two claries were the young fquires, who ferved at table, and performed a great number of what we fhould now call menial offices to the lord and ladies of the houfehold, in all the amufements and recreations of which they took part, and at the fame time were inftrufted in gentlemanly manners and exercifes — it was a fort of apprenticefhip introductory to knighthood. In the fame manner the knightly families fent their daughters to ferve under the ladies of the greater or leffer feudal chieftains, and they formed that clafs who, in the French romances and fabliaux, are called the chambrieres, or chamber attendants, and in the Engliih texts, fimply the maidens, of the eftablifhment. The ladies of rank prided themfelves upon having a very great number of thefe chambrieres, or maidens, for they were not only a means of oftentation, but they were profitable, inafmuch as befides attending on the perfonal wants of their miftrelfes, they were conftantly employed in {pinning, weaving, and the various proceffes of producing cloth, in millinery and drefT-making, in embroidery, and in a great number of fimilar labours, which were not only required for furnifhing the large number of perfons who depended upon their lord for their liveries, &c, but which were fometimes fold to obtain money, which was always a fcarce thing in the country. The beauty of the pucelles, as they are often termed in the French text, or maidens, is alfo fpoken of as a fubjecl: of pride. In a metrical ftory printed by Meon (ii. 38), a great lady receiving a female ftranger into her houfehold, became fo much attached to her, " that fhe made more of her than of all her maidens, of whom," it is added, " there were hand- fome ones in her chambers" — v De li la dame fet grant Jejle, Plus que de totes Jes puceles, Dont en Jes chambres a de heles. And fo, in the romance of "Blonde of Oxford" (p. 50), when the countefs went with her maidens to vifit John, the remark is made that among them there were plenty of beauties : — Et la contejfe et Jes puceks, Dont ele a'voit ajfc's de bdes. The and Sentiments. 27: The ufual age for fending a boy to fofter appears to have been fev< n years. That was the age at which Fulke Fitz-Warine was fent to Joce de Dynan in Ludlow Caftle. "The lady," the narrative tells us, " became with child ; when fhe was delivered, at the time ordained by God, they called the child Fulke. And when the child was feveri years old, they fent it to Joce de Dynan to teach and nourilh ; for Joce was a knight of good accompli fhment. Joce received him with great honour and great affection, and educated him in his chambers with his own children." Fulke the younger, in the next generation, was taken as his fofter-child by the king (Henry II.), and was nourished and educated with the young princes, of whom John, in the fequel, proved a bad fofter- brother. The great barons fought to form alliances of this kind with the king, as well as with his great minifters and other men of power. In the romance of" Garin le Loherain" (vol. i. p. 62), king Pepin gives the two orphan fons of Hervis of Metz, Garin and Begon, as fofter-children to the count Hardres, and they thus become feverally the fofter-brothers, or, as they are termed in the old French, compains (companions), of his two fons, Begon being the fofter-brother of Guillaume of Montclin, and Garin of Fromont. Although they belong to rival families, and are each other's enemies through the turbulent fcenes which form the fubjecl of the ftory, the fentiment of the relationship by foftering often fhows itfelf. This yearning after fomething beyond mere ordinary friendship feems to have been often felt in the middle ages, and led to various charatterillie practices, among which one of the moft remarkable was that of fworn brotherhood. Two men — they are generally knights — who felt a fuffi- ciently ftrong fentiment towards each other, engaged, under the moft folemn oaths, in a bond of fraternity for life, implying a conftant and faithful friendihip to each other. This practice enters largely into the plot of feveral of the mediaeval romances, as in that of "Amis and Amiloun," and in the curious Englifh metrical romance of " King Athelfton," printed in the " Reliquiae Antiquae." The defire for this true friendihip was not unnaturally increafed by the general prevalence of treacherous falfehood and hateful feuds. There is a beautiful paffage in the romance of "Garin," jtift quoted, which illuftrates this fentiment, while 272 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners while it furnifhes an interefting picture of domeftic life. " One day," we are told, "Begues was in his came of Belin, and betide him fat the beautiful Beatris. The duke kiffed her both on the mouth and on the cheeks, and very fweetly the duchefs fmiled. In the middle of the hall fhe faw her two fons, the elder! of whom was Garin, and the youngeft was named Hernaudin ; their ages were reflectively twelve years, and ten. Along with them were fix damoifels (gentlemen's fons) of worth, and they were running and leaping together, and playing, and laughing, and making game. The duke looked at them, and began to ugh 5 which was obferved by the lady, who queftioned him — 'Ah! rich duke! why have you forrowful thoughts ? You have gold and filver in your coffers, falcons in plenty on your perches, and rich cloths, buildings, and mules, and palfreys, and baggage-horfes ; and you have crufhed all your enemies. You have no neighbour within fix days' journey powerful enough to refufe to come to your fervice if you fend for him.' ' Lady,' faid the duke, ' what ycu fay is true ; but in one thing you have made a great oversight. Wealth confifts neither in rich cloths, nor in money, nor in buildings, nor in horfes ; but it is made of kinfmen and friends : the heart of one man is worth all the gold in a country.' " — Dift It dus, "Dame, merit es anjez dit ; Mais a"une choje i avez moult mejpris. N^eft pas richoife ne de i>air ne de gris, Ne de deniers, de murs } ne de roncins, Mais eft richoife de parens et d^amins ; Li cuers d^un homme vaut tout Por d^un pa Loherain, ii. 218. The incident of the younger, or even at times the elder, fons of feudal lords or landholders going to feek fervice is the groundwork of the romance of " Blonde of Oxford," and of the ftory of " Courtois d' Arras," printed by Meon in his collection of fabliaux and flories. The latter tale is a mediaeval verfion of the fcriptural ftory of the Prodigal Son. Youths of good family eanly found fervice in this manner, and the fervice itfelf was not confidered diihonourable, becaufe lords and gentlemen admitted nobody to immediate attendance on their perfons but fons of gentlemen — perfons of as good blood as themfelves. To be a good fervant was a gentlemanly and Sentiments. 273 gentlemanly accomplifhment, and the payment thefe gentlemanly fervants received confifted ordinarily in their clothing and gifts of various kinds, rarely in money. I have already hinted that the intercourfe between the male and female portions of the houfehold was on a footing of familiarity and freedom, and at the fame time on a tone of gallantry which could hardly produce a high degree of morality, but the details on this lubjecl, though very abundant, are in great part of a defcription which cannot here be entered upon. This intercourfe extended to what we ihould now call the privacy of the bed-chamber. It was ufual, indeed, for the ladies to receive vifits from the gentlemen, tSte-a-tete, in their chamber. In the fabliau of " Guillaume au Faucon," printed in Barbazan, the young "damoifel," as the noble youth was ufually termed, having fallen in love with the beautiful wife of the lord in whole fervice he was, took an opportunity of vifiting her in her chamber, when he knew that all her maidens were employed in another part of the building. Without knocking, he opened the door gently, and found the huh' fitting alone on her bed. The lady faulted him with "a fweet (mile/ 1 and told him to come in and (it on the bed by her lide, and there "he laughed, and talked, and plaid with her, and the lady did the fame " — Rit et parole et joe a //, Et la dame tot autreji. In the midft of thefe familiarities, Guillaume made his declaration of love, and was rejected, but his purfuit was ultimately (uccefsful. In another fabliau of the thirteenth century, that of" Gamier d'Aupais/' it is the daughter of his lord and lady with whom the voting "damoifel" falls in love, and he takes the opportunity one morning, while the two latter are at church, to pay a vilit to the young lady in her chamber. Although in bed on account of illncts — and it has been already bated how people went to bed without any clothing — the lady is not furprifed by Gautier's \ilit, but invites him to lit on her bed, and tell her foraething to amufe her, and he finds the opportunity of making his lose with more fuccefs than the hero of the other tale. In the fame manner, the ladies are continually defcribed as vifiting the gentlemen in their chambers, \ \ both 274 Hiftory of "Domejiic Manners both by day and by night. In " Blonde of Oxford," a fafhionable romance compofed for the entertainment of the beft fociety, Blonde thus leaves her bed, throwing only a mantle over her perfon, to pafs whole nights with Jean of Dammartin, and their interviews are defcribed in language which would not be allowed in any refpecfable book at the prefent day. The chevalier de la Tour-Landry, in his moral inftruftions to his daughters, tells them a ftory to illuftrate the ill remits of a quarrel- fome temper. There was a young lady, he fays, the daughter of " a very gentle knight," who quarrelled at the game of tables with a gentle- man who had no better temper than herfelf, and who, provoked by the irritating language fhe ufed towards him, told her that ihe was known to be in the habit of going by night into the men's chambers, and kiffing and embracing them in their beds without candle ; and this is told, not in reproof of conduct which was unufually bad, but to {how that people who fpeak ill of others run the riik of having their own failings expofed. Examples of this intercourfe of perfons of different fexes in their chambers, and of the remits which frequently followed, from the mediaeval romances and ftories, might be multiplied to almoft any extent. In thefe ftories, the ladies in general fliow no great degree of delicacy, but, on the contrary, they are commonly very forward. It is ufual with them to fall in love with the other fex, and, fo far from attempting to conceal their paffion, they often become fuitors, and make their advances with more warmth and lefs delicacy than is fhown by the gentlemen in a fimilar pofition. Not only are their manners diffolute, but their language and converfation are loofe beyond anything that thofe who have not read thefe interefting records of mediaeval life can eafily conceive, which was a common failing with both fexes. The author of the " Menagier de Paris " (ii. 60), in recommending to his daughters fome degree of modefty on this point, makes ufe of words which his modern editor, although printing a text in obfolete language, thought it advifable to fupprefs. It might be argued that the ufe of fuch language is evidence rather of the coarfenefs than of the immorality of the age, but, unfortunately, the latter inter- pretation is fupported by the whole tenor of contemporary literature and anecdote, and Sentiments. 2-75 anecdote, which leave no doubt that mediaeval Ibciety was profoundly immoral and licentious. On the other hand, the gallantry and refinement of feeling which the gentleman is made to {how towards the other fex, is but a conventional politenefs; for the ladies are toe often treated with great brutality. Men beating their wives, and even women with whom they quarrel who are not their wives, is a common incident in the tales and romances. The chevalier de la Tour-Landry tells his daughters the ftory of a woman who was in the habit of contradicting her huiband in public, and replying to him ungracioufly, for which, after the huiband had expostulated in vain, he one day raifed his fifl and knocked her down, and kicked her in the face while fhe was down, and broke her note. "And lb," lays the knightly inftructor, " lhe was disfigured for life, and thus, through her ill behaviour and bad temper, lhe had her nofe fpoiled, which was a great misfortune to her. It would have been better for her to be filent and fubmilhve, for it is only right that words of authority fhould belong to her lord, and the wife's honour requires that fhe fhould liften in peace and obedience." The good "chevalier" makes no remark on the hufband's brutality, as though it were by no means an unufual occurrence. A trouvere of the thirteenth century, named Robert de Blois, com- piled a code of inftruclions in good manners for young ladies in French verfe, under the title of the " Chaflifement des Dames," which is printed by Barbazan, and forms a curious illuflration of feudal domeflic manners. It was unbecoming in a lady, according to Robert de Blois, to talk too much ; fhe ought efpecially to refrain from boafting of the attentions paid to her by the other fex ; and fhe was recommended not to fhow too much freedom in her games and amufements, left the men lhould be encou- raged to libertinifm. In going to church, lhe was not to "trot or run," but to walk ferioufly, not going in advance of her company, and look- ing ftraight before her, and not to this fide or the other, but to falute " debonairely" all perfons lhe met. She is recommended not to Lei men put their hands into her breafts, or kit's her on the mouth, as it might had to greater familiarities. She was not to look at a man too much, unless he were her acknowledged lover; and when me had a lover, lhe was not to 276 Hi/lory of Domejlic Manners to boaft or talk too much of him. She was not to expofe her body uncovered out of vanity, as her breaft, or her legs, or her fides, nor to undrefs in the prefence of men. She was not to be too ready in accepting prefents from the other fex. The ladies are particularly warned againfl: fcolding and difputing, againfl: fwearing, againfl; eating and drinking too freely at table, and againfl getting drunk, the latter being a practice from which much miichief might arife. A lady was not to cover her face when fhe went in public, as a handfome face was made to be feen, and it was not good manners to remain with the face covered before a gentleman of rank. An exception, however, is made in the cafe of ugly or deformed faces, which might be covered. There was another exception to the counfel juft mentioned. " A lady who is pale-faced, or who has not a good fmell, ought to breakfaft early in the morning; for good wine gives a very good colour; and fhe who eats and drinks well mud heighten her colour." One who has bad breath is recommended to eat anifeed, fennel, and cumin to her breakfaft, and to avoid breathing in people's faces. A lady is to be very attentive to her behaviour in church, rules for which are given. If fhe could fing, fhe was to do fo when afked, and not require too much prefling. Ladies are further recommended to keep their hands clean, to cut their nails often, and not to fufier them to grow beyond the finger, or to harbour dirt. In palling other people's houfes, ladies were not to look into them ; " for a perfon often does things privately in his houfe, which he would not with to be feen, if any one fhould come before his door." For this realbn, too, when a lady went into another perfon's houfe, fhe is recommended to cough at the entrance, or to fpeak out loud, fo that the inmates might not be taken by furprife. The directions for a lady's behaviour at table are very particular. " In eating, you muft avoid much laughing or talking. If you eat with another (i. e., in the fame plate, or of the fame mefs), turn the niceft bits to him, and do not go picking out the fineft and largeft for yourfelf, which is not courteous. Moreover, no one fhould eat greedily a choice bit which is too large or too hot, for fear of choking or burning herfelf. .... Each time you drink, wipe your mouth well, that no greafe may go into the wine, which is very unpleafant to the perfon who drinks after you. mid Sentiments. 277 you. But when you wipe your mouth for drinking, do not wipe your eyes or note with the table-cloth, and avoid {pilling from your mouth, or greafing your hands too much." The lady is further, and particularly, recommended not to utter falfehoods. The remainder of the poem conlift of directions in making love and receiving the addreffes of fuitors. The "Book" of the chevalier de la Tour-Landry contains inftructions for young ladies, in fubftance very much like thefe, but illuftrated by ftories and examples. The chamber-maidens alfo went abroad, like the young fons of gentlemen ; but female fervants who came as ftrangers appear not in general to have been well regarded, and they probably were, or were conlidered as, a lower clafs. The circumftance of their having left the country where they were known, was looked upon as prima facie evidence that their conduct had brought them into difcredit there. The author of the " Menagier de Paris" advifes his daughter never to take any Inch chamlrieres, without having firfl: fent to make ftricl inquiries about them in the parts from whence they came. This fame early writer on domeftic economy divides the fervants, who, in a large houfehold, were very numerous, into three claffes : thofe who were employed on a hidden, and only for a certain work, with regard to whom the principal caution given is to bargain with them for the price of their labour before they begin ; thofe who were employed for a certain time in a particular defcription of work, as tailors, fhoemakers, butchers, and others, who always came to work in the houfe on materials belonging to the mailer of the houfe, or harveft-men, ike, in the country; and domeftic fervants who were hired by the year. Thefe latter were expected to pay an abfolute paffive obedience to the lord and lady of the houfehold, and to thole fel in authority by them. The lady of the houfe had the efpecial charge of the female fervants, and the "Menagier" contains rather minute directions as to her houfekeeping duties. She was to require of the maid-fen ants, " that early in the morning the entrance to your hoftel, that is, the hall, and the other places by which people enter ami flop in the hoftel to converfe, be fwept and made clean, and thai the footftools and covers oJ the benches and forms be dulled and lliaken, and after this that the other 273 Hiflory of Domeflic Manners other chambers be in like manner cleaned and arranged for the day." They were next to attend to and feed all the "chamber animals," fuch as pet dogs, cage birds, &c. The next thing to be done was to portion out to each fervant her or his work for the day. At midday the fervants were to have their firft meal, when they were to be fed plentifully, but " only of one meat, and not of feveral or of any delicacies ; and give them one only kind of drink, nouriihing but not heady, whether wine or other ; and admonilh them to eat heartily, and to drink well and plen- tifully, for it is right that they ihould eat all at once, without fitting too long, and at one breath, without repofing on their meal, or halting, or leaning with their elbows on the table ; and as foon as they begin to talk, or to reft on their elbows, make them rife, and remove the table." After their "fecond labour," and on feaft-days, the fervants were to have another, apparently a lighter, repaft, and laftly, in the evening (au vefpre), they were to have another abundant meal, like their dinner, and then, " if the feafon required it," they were to be " warmed and made com- fortable." The lady of the houfe was then, by herfelf or a deputy on whom flie could depend, to fee that the houfe was clofed, and to take charge of the keys, that nobody could go out or come in ; and then to have all the fires carefully "covered," and fend all the fervants to bed, taking care that they put out their candles properly, to prevent the rifk of fire. In the Englifh poem of the " Seven Sages," printed by Weber, the emperor is defcribed as going to his chamber, after the time of locking windows and gates — Whan men leke ivindoive and gate, Themparour com to chambre late. — Weber, iii. 60. And it appears from a tale in the fame collection, that the doors and windows were unlocked at daybreak — Tho (when) the day daiven gan, Aioai ftal the yonge man ,■ Men unlek dore and ivindoive. — lb., p. S7. There was another duty performed by the ladies in the mediaeval houfehold, which was a very important one in an age of turbulence, and muft not be overlooked — they were both nurfes and doctors. Medical men and Sentiments. 279 men were not then at hand to be coniulted, and the lick or wounded man was handed over to the care of the miftrefs of the houfe and her maidens. The reader of Chaucer will remember the medicinal know- ledge difplayed by dame Pertelot in the " Nonne-Preftes Tale." Medi- cinal herbs were grown in every garden, and were dried or made into decoctions, and kept for ufe. In the early romances we often meet with ladies who poffetfed plants and other objects which poffeffed the power of miraculous cures, and which they had obtained in forae myfterious manner. Thus, in the Carlovingian romance of " Gaufrey," when Robaftre was fo dangeroufly wounded that there remained no hope of his life, the good wife of the traitor Grifon undertook to cure him. "And fhe went to a coffer and opened it, and took out of it a herb which has fo great virtue that whoever takes it will be relieved from all harm. She pounded and mixed it in a mortar, and then came to Robaftre and gave it him. It had no fooner paiTed his throat than he was as found as an apple" ("Gaufrey," p. 119). So in "Fierabras" (p. 67), the Saracen princefs Floripas had in her chamber the powerful "mandeglore" (man- drake), which fhe applied to the wounds of Oliver, and they were inftantly healed. In the " Roman de la Violette" (p. 104), when Gerart, defperately wounded, is carried into the caftle, the maiden who was lady of it took him into a chamber, and there took off his armour, undreffed him, and put him to bed. They examined all his wounds, and applied to them ointments of great efficacy, and under this treatment he foon recovered. In the Englifh romance of "Amis and Amiloun," when fir Amiloun is difcovered ftruck with leprofy, the wife of his friend Amis takes him into her chamber, ftrips him of all his clothing, bathes him herfelf, and then puts him to bed — Into hir chaumbcr fhe can him lede, And kcjl of al his pever ivede (poor clollics), And bathed his bodi al bare ; And to a bedde fiuithe (quickly) him brought, With clothes riche and ivclc yior ought ,• Ful blithe of him thai ivarc.- — Weber, ii. 159. To the knowledge of medicines was too often added another knowledge, that of poifons — a fcience which was carried to a greal degree of per- feftion 280 Hiftory of Domejiic Maimers feclion in the middle ages, and of which there were regular profeffors. The practice of poifoning was, indeed, carried on to a frightful extent, and it appears, from a variety of evidence, that women were commonly agents in it. A great part of the foregoing remarks apply exclufively to the arifto- cratic portion of fociety, which included all thofe who had the right to become knights. Through the whole extent of this portion of fociety one blood was believed to run, which was diftinguiihed from that of all other clafles by the title of "gentle blood." The pride of gentle blood, which was one of the diftinguiihing characteriftics of feudalifm, was very great in the middle ages. It was believed that the mark of this blood could never difappear ; and many of the mediaeval ftories turn upon the circumftance of a child of gentle blood having been ftolen or abandoned in its earlier infancy, and bred up, without any knowledge of its origin, as a peafant among peafants, or as a burgher among burghers, but dif- playing, as it grew towards manhood, by its conduct, the unmiftakable proofs of its gentle origin, in fpite of education and example. The burgher clafs — the merchant or trade (man, or the manufacturer — appear always as money-getting and money-faving people, and individuals often became very rich. This circumftance became a temptation, on the one hand, to the ariftocrat, whofe tendency was ufually, through his prodigality, to become poor, and, on the other, to the rich man of no blood, who fought to buy ariftocratic alliances by his wealth, and intermarriages between the two clafles were not very unfrequent. In moft cafes, at leaf! in the romances and ftories, it was an ariftocratic young lady who became united with a wealthy merchant, and it was ufually a ftroke of felfiih policy on the part of the lady's father. In the fabliau of the " Vilain Mire" (Barbazan, ii. 1) — the origin of Moliere's " Medecin malgre lui," — and in one or two other old ftories, the ariftocratic young lady is married to an agriculturift. Marriages of this defcription are reprefented as being never happy ; the hulband has no fympathy for his wife's gentility, and, according to the code of "chivalry," the lady was perfectly juftified in being unfaithful to her hulband as often as flie liked, efpecially if flie finned with men who were fuperior to him in blood. It and Sentiments. 281 It was common for the burgher clafs to ape gentility, even among people of a lower order ; for the great merchant was often fuperior in education and in intelligence, as he was in wealth, to the great majority of the ariftocratic clafs. In Chaucer, even the wife of the miller afpired to the ariftocratic title of madame — Titer durfle no ivight clepe (call) hir but madame. — Cant. Tales 1. 3954. And in fpeaking of the wives of various burghers who joined in the pilgrimage, the poet remarks — It is right fair for to be clept (called) madame. — Ibid., 1. 3<8. The burghers alio cheriihed a number of fervants and followers in their houfehold, or me/hie. In the fabliau of "La Borgoife d'Orliens," the mefnie of the burgher, who is not reprefented as a perfon of wealth or distinction, confifts of two nephews, a lad who carried water, three chamber-maidens, a niece, two pautoniers, and a ribald, and thefe were all harboured in the hall. The pautonier was only another name for the ribald, or perhaps it was a fub-clafs or divifton of the infamous clafs who lived parafitically upon the fociety of the middle ages. Even the ordinary agriculturift had his mefnie. What I have faid of the great diflblutenefs and immorality of the ariftocratic clafs applies more efpecially to the houfeholds of the greater barons, though the fame fpirit muft have fpread itfelf far through the whole clafs. The ariftocratic clafs was itfelf divided into two chillis, or rather two ranks, — the great barons, and the knights and lefler landholders, and the divifion between thefe two clalfes became wider, and the latter more absolutely independent, as the power of feudalifm declined. Thefe latter were the origin of that clafs which in more modern times has been known by the title of the old country gentleman. As far as we can judge from what we know of them, I am led to think that this clafs was the moft truly dignified, and in general the moil moral, portion of mediaeval fociety. There is abundant evidence thai the tone of morality in the burgher and agricultural clalfes was not high; and the whole tenor of mediaeval popular ami hiftorical literature can leave no doubt on o o our 282 Hiftory of Domefiic Manners our minds that in the middle ages the clergy were the great corrupters of domeftic virtue among both thefe claries. The character of the women, as defcribed in the old fatirifts and ftory-tellers, as well as in records of a ftill more ftridtly truthful character, was very low, and, in the towns efpecially, they are defcribed as fpending much of their time in the taverns, drinking and goffiping. Of courfe there were everywhere — and, it is to be trufted, not a few— bright exceptions to this general character. I and Senti?ne?2ts. 283 CHAPTER XIII. OCCUPATIONS OUT OF DOORS. THE PLEASURE-GARDEN. THE LOVE OF FLOWERS, AND THE FASHION OF MAKING GARLANDS. FOR- MALITIES OF THE PROMENADE. GARDENING IN THE MIDDLE AGES. HUMBOLDT, iii his " Coimos," has dwelt on the tafte for the beauties of nature which has prevailed among various peoples, and at different periods of the world's hiftory, but he appears to me to have by no means appreciated or done juftice to the force of this fentiment among our forefathers in the middle ages, and, perhaps I may fay, efpecially in England. In our ancient popular poetry, the mention of the feafon of the year at which an event happens generally draws from the poet fome allufion to the charms of nature peculiar to it, to the fweetnefs of the flowers, the richnefs of the fruit, or the harmony of the fong of birds. In fome of the early romances, each new divifion of the poem is introduced by an allufion of this kind. Thus, at the opening of what the editor calls the firft chapter of the fecond part of the romance of " Richard Cceur de Lion," the poet tells us how it— Merye is in the tyme of May , Whenne foulis fynge in her lay ; Flourcs on appyl-trees and per ye (pear-tree) ,• Smale foules fynge mcrye. Ladycs Jirotve here boures (chambers) With rede rofcs and lylye fozures ; G ret joy e is in frith (;, r ro-vo) and lake. — Webor, ii. 1 19. Such interruptions of the narrative are frequent in the long romance of "Alexander" (Alexander the Great), and are always expreffive. Thus, on one occafion the poet tells us, abruptly enough, how — Whan corn ripcth in every Jlcode (place), Mury (pleasant) it is in fid and hyde (meadow). — [bid., i. 24. Ami 284 Hiflory of Dome ft ic Manners And again, introduced equally abruptly, we are informed — ■ In tyme of hervejl mery it is ynough ; Peres and apples hongeth on bough. The hayivard bloiveth mery his home ; In every che (every) felde ripe is come; The grapes hongen on the . 110. So, and Sentiments. 2 93 So, in the romance of" La Violette," at the feltivitics given by the king, the guefts " diftributed themfelves in couples in the hall (i e. a gentleman with a lady), one taking the other by the finger, and lb they arranged themfelves two and two " — Quant il orent ajfe's deduit, Par la fale f acoinfent tuit ; Li uns prent I' 'autre par le dot, Si farangierent doi et doi. — Roman de la Violette, p. lP Preaching. on the ground, and apparently in the open air, are Liftening to the admo- nitions of an epifcopal preacher. As I have introduced the fubjecl of the love of our forefathers for trees and flowers, fome account of gardening in the middle ages will not be 294 Hiflory of Domejiic Manners be out of place, efpecially as what has hitherto been written on the hiftory of gardening in England during this early period, has been very imperfecf and incorrect We have no direct information relating to the gardens of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers — in fa6t, our knowledge is limited to a few words gathered from the old vocabularies. The ordinary names for a garden, wyrt-tun and wyrt-geard, a plant-inclofure and a plant-yard, are entirely indefinite, for the word wyrt was applied to all plants whatever, and perhaps they indicate what we mould call the kitchen-garden. The latter word, which was fometimes fpelt ort-geard, orc-geard, and orcyrd, was the origin of our modern orchard, which is now limited to an inclofure of fruit-trees. Flowers were probably cultivated in the inclofed fpace round the houfes. It would appear that the Saxons, before they became acquainted with the Romans, cultivated very few plants, if we may judge from the circumftance that throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the names by which thefe were known were nearly all derived from the Latin. The leek appears to have been the principal table vegetable among the Anglo-Saxons, as it was among the Welih ; its name, leac, or leah, is pure Anglo-Saxon, and its importance was confidered fo much above that of any other vegetable, that leac-tun, the leek-garden, became the common name for the kitchen-garden, and leac-weard, a leek-keeper, was ufed to defignate the gardener. The other alliaceous plants were confidered as fo many varieties of the leek, and were known by fuch names as enne-leac, or ynne-leac, fuppofed to be the onion, and gar-leac, or garlic. Bean is alio an Anglo-Saxon word ; but, Angularly enough, the Anglo-Saxons feem not to have been originally acquainted with peas, for the only name they had for them was the Latin pifa, and pyfe. Even for the cabbage tribe, the only Anglo-Saxon name we know is fimply the Latin brajjica ; and the colewort, which was named cawl, and cawl-wyrt, was derived from the Latin caulis. So the turnip was called ncepe, from the Latin napus ; and rcedic, or radifh, is perhaps from raphanus* Garden creifes, parfley, mint, fage, rue, * To show the extreme ignorance which has prevailed on the history of English udening in the middle ages, it need only be mentioned that Loudon, " Encyclo- and and Sentiments. 295 and other herbs,* were in ufe, but moitly, except the crefles, with Latin names. We have long lifts of flowering plants in the Anglo-Saxon vocabu- laries, but as they are often difficult to identity, and, being chiefly enumerated for their medicinal qualities, are moitly wild plants, they throw little light on the character of the flower-garden. For the garden rofe and the lily they ufed the Roman names rofe and lilie; the latter appears to have been an efpecially favourite flower among the Anglo- Saxons. Among other plants, evidently belonging to the garden, are futhernwood, futherne-wude, the turnfole or funflower, called JigeUhwerfe (the gem-turned) or folfcece (which is merely the Latin folfequium), the violet (clcefre), the marigold, called read-clcefre, the gilliflower, hwit- c/cej're, the periwinkle, pervincce, the honeyfuckle, hunig-fucle, the piony, for which the Anglo-Saxons had only the Latin word pionia, the daily, dceges-eage, and the laur-leam, which was perhaps the bay-tree rather than the laurel. The chief fruit of the Anglo-Saxons was undoubtedly the apple, the name of which, ceppd, belongs to their language. The tree was called an apulder, and the only varieties mentioned are the Jurmel/i apulder, or louring apple-tree, and the fwite apulder, or fweeting apple-tree. The Anglo-Saxons had orchards containing only apple-trees, to which they gave the name of an apulder-tun, or apple-tree garden; of tin- frail of which they made what they called, and we ftill call, cider, and which they alfo called ccppel-ivin, or apple-wine. They appear to have received the pear from the Romans, as its name pera, a pear, and piriga, a pear-tree, was evidently taken from pints. They had alfo derived from the Roman gardens, no doubt, the cherry-tree (cyrf-treow, or ciris-beam, paedia of Gardening" (edition of 1S50), was not aware that the leek had been cultivated in England before the time of Tusser, the latter half of" the sixteenth century (p. 854); and states that garlic "has been cultivated in this country since 1548" (p. 855); and that the radish is "an annual, a native of China, and was mentioned by Gerard in 1584" (p. 846). * Loudon (p. 887) was not aware that the cultivation of sage dated Farther back than the time of Gerard, who wrote in 1597, and he could trace back to no older date the cultivation of rue. the 296 Hi [lory of Domeftic Manners from the Latin cerafm), the peach (pei'foc-treow, from perjicarius) , the mulberry (mor-heam, from morus), the cheftnut {cyften, cyjl, or cyftcl-beam, from cqftaneus)* perhaps the almond {magdala-treoiv, from amigdalus), the fig (Jic-beam, from Jicus), and the pine (pin-treow, from pinus). The fmall kernels of the pine were ufed very extenfively in the middle ages, in the fame way as olives. We muft add to thefe the plum (plum-lreow), the name of which is Anglo-Saxon ; the medlar, which was known in Anglo-Saxon by a very unexplainable name, but one which was preferred to a comparatively recent period ; the quince, which was called a cod-ceple, or bag-apple ; the nut (hnutu), and the hazel-nut (hcefel-hnutu) . They called the olive an oil-tree (ale-beam), which would feem to prove that they considered its principal utility to be for making oil. The vine was well-known to the Anglo-Saxons 5 they called it the ivin-treow, or wine- tree, its fruit, winberige, or wine berries, and a bunch of grapes, geclyflre, a clufter. We find no Anglo-Saxon words for goofeberries or currants 5 but our forefathers were well acquainted with the ftrawberry (Jirea-berige) and the rafpberry, which they called hynd-berige. Perhaps thefe laft-men- tioned fruits, which are known to be natives of Britain, were known only in their wild ftate.f The earliefi: account of an Engliih garden is given by Alexander Neckham, who flourilhed in the latter half of the twelfth century, in the fixty-fixth chapter of the fecond book of his treatife, De riaturis rerum, * Our word chestnut is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyste-knutu, the nut of the cyste-tree. I may remark, on these names of fruits, that Loudon imagined that the peach was "introduced into England about the middle of the sixteenth century" (" Encyclopaedia of Ga^ening," p. 912) ; and that of the fig, the " first trees were brought over from Italy by Cardinal Pole, in 1525. " He seems to think that quinces and mulberries came into this country also in the course of the sixteenth century. t There is, however, an Anglo-Saxon name of a tree which I suspect has been misinterpreted. The glossaries give " ramnus, befe-l^om," and our lexicographers, taking the old sense of the word rhamnus, interpret it, the dog-rose. But in a very curious glossary of names of plants of the middle of the thirteenth century, printed in my "Volume of Glossaries,'" in which the meaning of the Latin word is given- in Anglo-Norman and in English, we have "Ramni, grosiler, befe-hom " (p. i4i). I have no doubt that the thefe-thorn was the gooseberry. In the dialect of Norfolk, gooseberries are still called theabes. which and Sentiments, 297 which exifts only in m3nufcripts (I quote from one in the Britiih Mufeum, MS. Reg. 12 G. xi.). He introduces at leaft one plant, the mandrake, which was fabulous, and gives feveral names which I lhall be obliged to leave in his original Latin, as, perhaps through corruption of the text, I cannot interpret them, but there can be little doubt that it is in general a corre6t enumeration of the plants and trees cultivated in a complete Englifh garden of the period. "A garden," he fays, "fhould be adorned on this part with rofes, lilies, the marigold, molls, and mandrakes, and on that part with parfley, coft, fennel, fouthernwood, coriander, fage, favery, hyffop, mint, rue, dittany, fmallage, pellitory, lettuce, creffes, ortulano, and the piony. Let there alfo be beds (arece) enriched with onions, leeks, garlic, melons, and fcallions (hlnnuilis). The garden is alfo ennobled by the cucumber which creeps on its belly, and by the foporiferous poppy, as well as by the daffodil and the acanthus. Nor let pot-herbs be wanting, if you can help it, fuch as beets, herb mercury, orache, the acedula, (forrel?) and the mallow. It is ufeful alfo to the gardener to have anife, muftard, white pepper, and wormwood." Neckam then goes on to the fruit-trees. "A noble garden," he fays, "will give you medlars, quinces, the pear- main (volema), peaches, pears of St. Regie, pomegranates, citrons (or lemons), oranges, almonds, dates, and figs." When Neckam fpeaks of a "noble garden," he 1 of courfe fpeaks of that of a great baron or prince, and enumerates fruits of choice, and moftly above the common range. Medlars and quinces were formerly held in great efteem, and much ufed. I have ventured to interpret volema as meaning the pearmain, which was confidered one of the choicer!: apples, as the apple is not mentioned in the lift, and as in one of the early gloffaries that meaning is attached to the word. Peaches were, as we have feen, known to the Anglo-Saxons ; and in 1276 we find flips of peach-trees mentioned in an official record as planted in the king's garden at Weftminfter. The pear of St. Regie was one of the choice kinds of pears brought from France, and it and feveral other kinds of pears are enumerated in the accounts of the earl of Lincoln's garden in Holbom (London) in 1296. It is rather furprifing that Mr. Hudfon Turner, in his very valuable volume on domeftic archi- tecture, where he fuppofes that mala aurea in Neckam's liil were intended a a for Hifiory of Domeflic Manners for the golden apples of the Hefperides, ftiould not have known that the malum, auream of the middle ages was the orange. Pomegranates, citrons, oranges, almonds, dates, and figs, are known to have been cultivated in England at different periods, but it is not probable .that the fruit came often to perfection. It may be remarked that Neckam gives a feparate chapter to the cultivation of the vine, which belonged to the vineyard, and not to the garden. After an enumeration of plants which were not grown in Weftern Europe, Neckam gives a lift of others, known for their medicinal qualities, fome of which can hardly have been planted in a garden, unlefs it belonged to a phyfician; although it appears to have been the cuftom to devote a corner of the garden to the medicinal plants moft in ufe, in order that they might be ready at hand when wanted. The gardener's tools in the twelfth century, as enumerated by Neckam in his treatife Be Utenjilibus, were few and Ample ; he had an axe, or twibill, a knife for grafting, a fpade, and a pruning-hook. John de Garlande lived during the firft half of the thirteenth century. He was an Englishman, but had eftablilhed himfelf as a fcholar in the univeriity of Paris, fo that the defcription of his garden which he gives in his "Di6tionarius" may be confidered as that of a garden in the neigh- bourhood of Paris, which, however, probably hardly differed from a garden in England. It may be confidered as the garden of a refpeftable burgher, " In matter John's garden are thefe plants, fage, pariley, dittany, hyffop, celandine, fennel, pellitory, the rofe, the lily, and the violet ; and at the fide (i. e. in the hedge), the nettle, the thiftie, and foxgloves. His garden alio contains medicinal herbs, namely, mercury and the mallow, agrimony, with nightfhade, and the marigold." Mafter John's gardener had alfo a garden for his potherbs, in which grew borage, leeks, garlic, muftard, onions, cibols, and fcallions ; and in his fhrubbery grew pimpernel, moufeare, felfheal, buglos, adderftongue, and "other herbs good for men's bodies."* Mafter John had in his fruit-garden, cherry-trees, pear-trees, apple-trees, plum-trees, quinces, medlars, peaches, cheftnuts, nuts, wall- * It may be well to remark, once for all, that it is almost impossible to identify some of these mediasval names of plants. nuts, and Sentiments. 299 nuts, figs, and grapes. Walter de Bibblefworth, writing in England towards the clofe of the thirteenth century, enumerates as the principal fruit-trees in a common garden, apples, pears, and cherries — Pomere, perere, e cerccer ; and adds the plum-tree (primer), and the quince-tree [coingner). The cherry, indeed, appears to have been one of the moft popular of fruits in England, during the mediaeval period. The records of the time contain purchafes of cherry-trees for the king's garden in Weftminfter in 1238 and 1277, and cherries and cherry-trees are enumerated in all the gloflaries from the times of the Anglo-Saxons to the fixteenth century. The earl of Lincoln had cherry-trees in his garden in Holborn towards the clofe of the thirteenth century, and during the fame century we have allufions to the cultivation of the cherry in other parts of the kingdom. The allufions to cherries in the early poetry are not at all unfrequent, and they were clofely mixed up with popular manners and feelings. It appears to have been the cuftom, from a rather early period, to have lairs or feafts, probably in the cherry orchards, during the period that the fruit was ripe, which were called cherry-fairs, and fometimes cherry-feafts ; and thefe are remembered, if they do not ftill exift, in our great cherry diftricls, fuch as Worcefterfhire and Kent. They were brief moments of great gaiety and enjoyment, and the poets loved to quote them as emblems of the tranfitory character of all worldly things. In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the poet Gower, {peaking of the teachers of religion and morality, fays : — They prechen us in audience That no man jchalle his joule empeyre (impair), For alle is but a chcrye-fayre. And the fame writer again : — Sumtyme I drawe into memoyre, Hoivforotv may not ever lajle, And fo cometh hope in at Lijic, Whan I non other foode knozve ; Jlnd that endureth but a throive, Ryght as it were a cAery-fefie. So again, under the reign of Henry IV., about the year 14.II, < >ccleve, in In- Hijiory of Do?neJiic Manners his poem " De regimine principum," recently printed for the Roxburgh Club, fays (p. 47), — Thy lyfe, my fine, is tut a chery-felre. During the reft of the fifteenth century, the allufions to the cherry- fairs are very frequent.* Yet in face of all this, and ftill more, abundant evidence, Loudon (" Encyclopaedia of Gardening," edition of i8jo) fays, " Some fuppofe that the cherries introduced by the Romans into Britain were loft, and that they were re-introduced in the time of Henry VIII. by Richard Haines (it lhould be Harris), the fruiterer to that monarch. But though we have no proof that cherries were in England at the time of the Norman conqueft, or for fome centuries after it, yet Warton has proved, by a quotation from Lidgate, a poet who wrote about or before 141^, that the hawkers in London were wont to expofe cherries for fale, . in the fame manner as is now done early in the feafon." To turn from the fruit-garden to the flower-garden, modern writers have fallen into many fimilar miftakes as to the fuppofed recent date of the introduction of various plants into this country. Loudon, for inftance, fays that we owe the introduction of the gilliflower, or clove-pink (dian- thus caryophyllus), to the Flemings, who took refuge on our fhores from the favage perfecutions of the duke of Alva, in the latter half of the fixteenth century ; whereas this flower was certainly well known, under the name of gillofres, ages before. Rofes, lilies, violets, and periwinkles, feem to have continued to be the favourite garden-flowers. A manufcript of the fifteenth century in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Sloane, No. 1201) furnilhes us with a lift of plants then confidered neceffary for a garden, arranged firft alphabetically, and then in claffes, of which I will here give verbatim the latter part, as the beft illuftration of the mediaeval notion of a garden, and as being, at the fame time, a very complete lift. After the alphabetical lift, the manufcript goes on : — Of the fame herles for potage. Borage, langdebefe (1), vyolettes, malowes, marcury, daundelyoun, avence, * For many references, the reader is referred to HalliwelPs " Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words," under the word Cherry-Fair. (1) Buglos. myntes, and Sentiments. myntes, sauge, parcely, goldes (2), mageroum (3), fFenelle, carawey, red nettylle, oculus Cbristi (4), daysys, chervelle, lckez, colewortes, rapez, tyme, cyves, betes, alysaundre, letyse, betayne, columbyne, allia, astralogya rotunda, astralogia longa, basillicam (5), dylle, deteyne, hertestong, radiche, white pyper, cabagez, sedewale, spynache, coliaundre, ffoothistylle (6), orage, cartabus, lympens, nepte, clarey, pacience. Of the fame heries for fauce. Hertestonge, sorelle, pelytory, pelytory of spayne, deteyne, vyolettes, parcely, myntes. Alfo of the fame herlezfor the coppe. Cost, costmary, sauge, isope, rose mary, gyllofre, goldez, clarey, mageroum, rue. Alfo of the fame heries for afalade. Buddus of .stanmarche (7), vyolette flourez, parcely, red myntes, syves (8), cresse of Boleyne, purselane, ramsons, calamyntes, primerose buddus, dayses, rapounses, daundelyoun, rokette, red nettelle, borage flourez, croppus of red ffenelle, selbes- tryve, chykynvvede. Alfo herlez tofylle (diftill). Endyve, rede rose, rose mary, dragans (9), skabiose, ewfrace (10), wermode, mog wede, beteyne, wylde tansey, sauge, isope, ersesmart. Alfo heries for favour and leaute. Gyllofre gentyle, mageroum gentyle, brasyle, palma Christ!, stycadose, meloncez, arcachaffe, scalacely (11), philyppendula (12), popy royalle, germaundre, cowsloppus of Jerusalem, verveyne, dylle, seynt Mare, garlek. Alfo rotys (roots) for a gardyne. Parsenepez, turnepez, radyche, karettes, galyngale, eryngez (13), saffYone. Alfo for an her I ere. Vynes, rosers, Kyle's, thewberies (14), almondez, bay- trees, gourdes, date-trese, peche-trese, pyneappulle, pyany romain, rose campy, cartabus, seliane, columbyne gentyle, elabre. The proceffes of gardening were fimple and eafy, and I he gardener's lkill confifted chiefly in the knowledge of the fealbns for lowing and (2) The corn-marigold. (3) Marjoram. (4) Clary. (5) Basil. (6) Probably sowthistle, although it is placed under the letter F in the alphabetical list. (7) The plant Alexander. (8) Cives. (9) The herb serpentine. (10) Eyebrighr. (11) Better known as Solomon's seal. (12) Dropwort. (13) Eringoes. (14) Goose- berries ? See before, p. 296. planting 302 Hiftory ofDomefiic Manners planting different herbs and trees, and of the aftrological circumftances under which thefe proceffes could be performed raoft advantageoufly. The great ambition of the mediaeval horticultural: was to excel in the various myfteries of grafting, and he entertained theories on this fubject of the moft vifionary character, many of which were founded on the writings of the ancients ; for the mediaeval theorifts were accuftomed to felect from the doctrines of antiquity that which was mod vihonary, and it ufually became ftill more vifionary in their hands. Two Englilh treatifes on gardening were current in the fifteenth century, one founded upon the Latin treatife of Palladius, and entitled " Godfrey upon Palladie de Agricultura," the other by Nicholas Bollarde, a monk of Weftminfter — ■ the monks were great gardeners. Tbefe treatifes occur not unfrequently in manufcripts, and both are found in the Britifh Mufeum, in the Sloane MS., No. 7. An abridgment of them was edited by Mr. Halliwell, from the Porkington manufcript, in a collection of " Early Englilh Mif- cellanies," printed for the Warton Club. In thefe treatifes, cherry-trees appear to have been more than any others the fubjects of experiment, and to have been favourite flocks for grafting. Among the receipts given in thefe treatifes we may mention thofe for making cherries grow without Hones, and other fruit without cores ; for making the fruit of trees bear any colour you like ; for making old trees young 5 for making four fruit fweet ; and " to have grapes ripe as foon as pears or cherries." This was to be brought about by grafting the vine on a cherry-tree, accord- ing to the following directions, the fpelling of which I modernife : — " Set a vine by a cherry till it grow, and at the beginning of February when time is, make a hole through the cherry-tree at what height thou wilt, and draw through the vine branch fo that it fill the hole, and fliave away the old bark of the vine as much as fhall be in the hole, and put it in fo that the part fhaven fill the hole full, and let it ftand a year till they be tbuded' together, then cut away the root end of the vine, and lap it with clay round about, and keep it fo after other graftings aforefaid." This is from Nicholas Bollarde. Godfrey upon Palladius tells us how " to have many rofes. Take the hard pepins that be right ripe, and fow them in February or March, and when they fpring, water them well, and after and Sentiments. 3 o 3 after a year complete thou maylt tranfplant them ; and if thou wilt have timely (early) roles, delve about the roots one or two handbreadths, and water their fcions with warm water ; and for to keep them long, put them in honeycombs." According to the receipts edited by Mr. Ilalli- well, " If thou wilt that in the ftone of a peach-apple (this was the ordinary name for a peach) be found a nut-kernel, graft a fpring (iprout) of a peach-tree on the ftock of a nut-tree. Alfo a peach-tree mail bring forth pomegranates, if it be fprong (fprinkled) oft times with goat's milk three days when it beginneth to flower. Alfo the apples of a peach-tree lhall wax red, if its fcion be grafted on a playne tree." Such were the intellectual vagaries of " fuperftitious eld." Peaches are frequently mentioned among the fruit of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; but nectarines or apricots are not met with before the fifteenth century. The latter were called in old Englilh by their French name of alricots, and fubfequently, and ftill more frequently, apricocks. 3°4 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners CHAPTER XIV. AMUSEMENTS. PERFORMING BEARS. HAWKING AND HUNTING. RIDING. CARRIAGES. TRAVELLING. INNS AND TAVERNS. — HOSPITALITY. DURING the period of which we are treating, the fame rough fports were in vogue among the uneducated claffes that had exifted for ages before, and which continued for ages after. Many of thefe were trials of ftrength, fuch as wreftling and throwing weights, with archery, and other exercifes of that defcription ; others were of a lefs civilifed character, fuch as cocknghting and bear and bull-baiting. Thefe latter were favourite amufements, and there was fcarcely a town or village of any magnitude which had not its bull-ring. It was a municipal enact- ment in all towns and cities that no butcher mould be allowed to kill a bull until it had been baited. The bear was an animal in great favour in the middle ages, and was not only ufed for baiting, but was tamed and taught various performances. I have already, in a former chapter, given an example of a dancing bear under the Anglo-Saxons ; the accompanying cut (No. 199) is another, taken from a manufcript of the beginning of the thir- teenth century, in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Arundel. No. 91). I fear the fact cannot be con- cealed that the ladies of former No. 199. A Dancing- Bear. days almted not unfrequently at thefe rough and unfeminine paftimes. There can be no doubt that they were cuftomary fpe&ators of the baiting of bulls and bears. Henry VIII. 's two and Sentiments. 3°5 two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, witneffed this coarl'e amufement, as we are allured by contemporary writers, with great fatisfa&ion. The fcene reprefented in our cut No. 200, which is copied from one of the carved feats, of the fourteenth century, in Gloucefler cathedral, is chiefly No. 200. Baiting the Bear. remarkable for the fmall degree of energy — the quiet dignity, in fa<5t — difplayed by the aclors in it. Hawking and hunting, efpecially the former, were the favourite recreations of the upper claffes. Hawking was confidered fo honourable an occupation, that people were in the cuftom of carrying the hawk on their fills when they walked or rode out, when they vifited or went to public alfemblies, and even in church, as a mark of their gentility. In the illuminations we not unfrequently fee ladies and gentlemen feated in converfation, bearing their hawks on their hands. There was generally a perche in the chamber expreffly fet afide for the favourite bird, on which he was placed at night, or by day when the other occupations of its polTeffor rendered it inconvenient to carry it on the hand. Such a perche, with the hawk upon it, is reprefented in our cut No. 201, taken from a manufcript of the romance of "Meliadus," of the fourteenth century (MS. Addit. in the Britilh Mufeum, No. 12,224). Hawking was in fome refpecTs a complicated fciencej numerous treatifes were written to explain and elucidate it, and it was fubmitted to Uriel: laws. Much knowledge and lkill were ihown in choofing the hawks, and in breeding and training them, and the value of a well-chofen and well-trained bird was considerable. When carried about by its mailer or R u miliivk 3 o6 Uiftory of Domefiic Manners miftrefs, the hawk was held to the hand by a fixap of leather or filk, called ajejft, which was fitted to the legs of the bird, and paffed between the fingers of the hand. Small bells were alfo attached to their legs, one on each. The accompanying cut (No. 202), from a manufcript in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (No. 6956), reprefents the falconer or keeper of the hawks holding in one hand what appears to be the jeffe ; he has a bird in his right hand, while another is perched on a fhort poll, which is often alluded to in the directions for breeding hawks. The falconer wears hawks' gloves, which were made expreflly to protect: the hands againit the bird's talons. No. 202. Hawks and their Keeper. Hawking was a favourite recreation with the ladies, and in the illuminated manufcripts they often figure in fcenes of this kind. Sometimes they are on foot, as in the group reprefented in our cut No. 203, taken from a manufcript in the Britiih Mufeum (MS. No. 203. Ladies Hawking Reg. 2 B. vii.) . One lady has let go her hawk, which is in the act of ftriking a heron ; the other retains her hawk on her hand. The latter, a?id Sentiments. 3°7 as will be feen, is hooded. Each of the ladies who poifefs hawks has one glove only — the hawk's glove ; the other hand is without gloves. They took with them, as fhown here, dogs in couples to ftart the game. The dogs ufed for this purpofe were fpaniels, and the old treatife on domeftic affairs entitled " Le Menagier de Paris," gives particular directions for choofing them. In the illuminations, hawking parties are more frequently reprefented on horfeback than on foot ; and often there is a mixture of riders and pedeftrians. The treatife jufl referred to directs that the horfe for hawking ihould be a low one, eafy to mount and dilmount, and very quiet, that he may go flowly, and ihow no reftivenefs. Hawking appears to have commenced at the beginning of Auguft ; and until the middle of that month it was confined almoft entirely to partridges. Quails, we are told, came in in the middle of Auguft, and from that time forward everything feems to have been confidered game that came to hand, for when other birds fail, the ladies are told that they may hunt fieldfares, and even jays and magpies. September and Oftober were the bufieft hawking months. Hawking was, indeed, a favourite diverfion with the ladies, and they not only accompanied the gentlemen to this fport, but frequently engaged in it alone. The hawking of the ladies, however, appears to have been efpecially that of herons and water-fowl ; and this was called going to the river {aller en riviere), and was very commonly purfued on foot. It may be mentioned that the fondnefs of the ladies for the diverfion of haw king- is alluded to in the twelfth century by John of Salilbury. The haw king on the river, indeed, feems to have been that particular branch of the fport which gave moil pleafure to all claries, and it is that which is efpecially reprefented in the drawings in the Anglo-Saxon manufcripts. Dogs were commonly ufed in hawking to route the game in the fame manner as at the prefent day, but in hawking on the river, where dogs were of courfe lefs effective, other means were adopted. In a manufcript already quoted in the prefent chapter (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), of the beginning of the fourteenth century, a group of Ladies haw king on the banks of a river are accompanied by a man, perhaps the falconer, who makes a noife to route the water-fowl. Our cut No. 204 is taken from 3°< Hiftory of Domejlic Manners a very interefting manufcript of the fourteenth century, made for the monaftery of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, and now preferred in the library of the Britilh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.) 5 it is part of a fcene No. 204. Roufmg Game. in which ladies are hawking on a river, and a female is routing the water- fowl with a tabor. The fountain is one of thofe conventional objects by which the mediseval artift indicated a fpring, or running ftream. This No. 205. Following the Haivk. feems to have been a very common method of routing the game ; and it is reprefented in one of the carved feats, or mifereres (as they have been termed technically), in Gloucefter cathedral, which is copied in our cut No. 205. No. 205. This fcene is rather curioufly illuftrated by an anecdote told by an old chronicler, Ralph de Diceto, of a man who went to the river to hunt teal with his hawk, and roufed them with "what is called by the river-hawkers a tabor."* The tending of the hawks ufed in thefe diver- lions was no flight occupation in the mediaeval houfehold, and was the fubject of no little ftudy; they were cherifhed with the utmoft care, and carried about familiarly on the wrift in all places and under all forts of circumftances. It was a common pra&ice, indeed, to go to church with the hawk on the wrift. One of the early French poets, Gaces de la Buigne, who wrote a metrical treatife on hunting in the middle of the fourteenth century, advifes his readers to carry their hawks with them wherever there were affemblies of people, whether in churches or elfe- where — La ou les gens font amajfes, Soit en Peglife, ou autre part. This is explained more fully by the author of the " Menagier de Paris" (vol. ii. p. 296), who wrote efpecially for the inftruclion of the female members of his family. "At this point of falconry," he laws, "it is advifable more than ever to hold the hawk on the wrift, anil to carry it to the pleadings (courts of juftice), and among people to the churches, and in other affemblies, and in the ftreets, and to hold it day and night as continually as poflible, and fometimes to perch it in l he Greets, that it may fee people, horfes, carts, dogs, and become acquainted witli all things And fometimes, in the houfe, let it be perched on the dogs, that the dogs may fee it, and it them." It was thus that the practice of carrying a hawk on the wrift became a diftinfition of people of gentle blood. The annexed engraving (No. 206), taken from the * Quklam juvenis de domo domini Lundoniensis episcopi, spiritum habens in avibus coeli ludere, nisum suum docuit cercellas affectare propensius. Itaque juxta sonitum illius instrument quod a ripatoribus vooatur tabur, subito cercella qu;vdam alarum remigio pernicitur evolavit. Nisus autem illusus lupum quendam nantem in locis sub undis crispantibus intercepit, invasif, et cepir, et super spatium sicut visum est xl. pedum se cum nova prxda recepit. — Kad. de Diceto, ap, Decern Striptores, col. 666. fame 3 io Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners fame manufcript laft quoted (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), reprefents a lady- tending her hawks, which are feated on their " perche." The author of the "Menagier de Paris/' a little farther on than the place laft quoted (p. 3 it), goes on to fay, "At the end of the month of September, and after, when hawking of quails and partridges is over, and even in winter, you may hawk at magpies, at jackdaws, at teal, which are in river, or others, ... at black- birds, thrufhes, jays, and woodcocks ; and for this purpofe you may carry a bow and a bolt, in order that, when the blackbird takes fhelter in a bufh, and dare not quit it for the hawk which hovers over and watches it, the lady or damfel who knows how to fhoot may kill it with the bolt." The manufcript which has furnifhed us with the preceding illuftrations gives us the accompanying {ketch (No. 207) of a lady mooting with her bolt, or boujon (as it was termed in No. 206. A Lady and her Haivks. No. 207. Ladies Shooting Rabbits. French), — an arrow with a large head, for ftriking birds ; but in this inftance the is aiming not at birds , but at rabbits. Archery was alio a favourite recreation wi th the ladies in the middle ages, and it no doubt is in and Sentiments. 3 11 in itfelf an extremely good exercife, in a gymnaftic point of view. The fair mooters feem to have employed bolts more frequently than the fharp-headed arrows ; but there is no want of examples in the illuminated manufcripts in which females are reprefented as ufing the fharp-headed arrow, and fometimes they are feen (hooting at deer. This cuftom pre- vailed during a long period, and is alluded to not unfrequently at fo late a date as the fixteenth century. We learn from Leland's " Col- leftanea" (vol. iv. p. 278), that when the princefs Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., was on her way to Scotland, a hunting-party was got up for her in the park at Alnwick, and that me killed a buck with an arrow. Similar feats were at times performed by queen Elizabeth ; but me feems to have preferred the croff-bow to the long-bow. The fcene reprefented in our cut No. 208 is from the fame manufcript ; the relative proportions No. 208. The Lady at the Rabbit-Warren. of the dog and the rabbit feem to imply a fatirical aim. Our next cut (No. 209), taken from MS. Reg. 2 B. vii., reprefents ladies hunting the flag. One, on horfeback, is winding the horn and flart'mg the game, in which the other plants her arrow moll ikilfully and fcientifically. The dog ufed on this occafion is intended to be a greyhound. It mull be remarked that, in all the illuminations of the period we arc defcribing, which reprefent ladies engaged in hunting or hawking, when on horfeback they are invariably and unmiftakeablv reprefented riding ailride. This is evidently the cafe in this group (No. 209). It has been already mown, in former chapters, that from a very early period it was a ufual cuftom with the ladies to ride tideways, or with (ide-faddles. Molt of the mediaeval art ills were lb entirely ignorant of perspective, and thej 312 Hijiory of Dome flic Manners they were fo much tied to conventional modes of reprefenting things, that when, no doubt, they intended to reprefent ladies riding tideways, the latter feem often as if they were riding aftride. But in many inftances, and efpecially in the fcenes of hunting and hawking, there can be no doubt that they were riding in the latter fafhion ; and it is probable that they were taught to ride both ways, the fide-faddle being confidered the No. 209. Ladies Hunting the Stag. molt courtly, while it was confidered fafer to fit aftride in the chafe. A paffage has been often quoted from Gower's " Confeflio Amantis," in which a troop of ladies is defcribed, all mounted en fair white ambling horfes, with iplendid faddles, and it is added that " everichone {every one) ride on fide," which probably means that this was the moft falhionable ftyle of riding. But, as fliown in a former chapter (p. 72), it has been rather haftily aflumed that this is a proof that it was altogether a new fafhion. Our next cut (No. 210), taken from a manufcript in the French National Library (No. 7178), of the fourteenth century, reprefents two ladies riding in the modern fafhion, except that the left leg appears to be raifed very awkwardly ; but this appearance we muft perhaps afcribe only to the bad drawing. It muft be obferved alfo that thefe ladies are feated on the wrong fide of the horfe, which is probably an error of the draughtfman. Perhaps there was a different arrangement of the drefs for the two modes of riding, although there was fo little of what we now call delicacy in the mediaeval manners, that this would be by no means neceffary. and Sentiments. 3n neceiTary. Chaucer defcribes the Wife of Bath as wearing (purs, and as enveloped in a "foot-mantle :" — Uppon an amblere efely fc/ie fat, TVymplid ful ivel, and on hire heed an hat As brood as is a bocler, or a targe ; A foot-mantel about e hire hupes (hips) large, And on hire feet a paire of f pores f char pe. — Cant. Tales, 1. 4 71. Travelling on horfeback was now more common than at an earlier period, and this was not unfrequently a fubject of popular complaint. In No. 210. Ladies Riding. facf, men who rode on horfeback coniidered themfelves much above the pedeftrians; they often went in companies, and were generally accom- panied with grooms, and other riotous followers, who committed all forts of depredations and violence on the peafantry in their way. A fatirical fong of the latter end of the reign of Edward I., reprefents our Saviour as difcouraging the practice of riding. "While God was on earth," fays the writer. " and wandered wide, what was the reafon he would not ride ? Becaufe he would not have a groom to go 1 (or dilcontent) of any gadling to jaw or to cl Whil God was on erthe And ivondredc ivyde, JVhet ives the rcfoun Why he nolde rydc ? i\' his iicle, nor ll ud> For 3H Hijiory of Dome flic Manners For he nolde no groom To go by hysfyde, Ne grucchyng of no gedelyng To chaule ne to chyde. Liften to me, horfe men," continues this fatirift, " and I will tell you news — that ye mall hang, and be lodged in hell :"— Herkneth hideivard, norfmen } A t'tdyng ich ou telle. That ye Jhulen hongen, Ant herbareiven in kelle ! The clergy were great riders, and abbots and monks are not unfrequently figured on horfeback. Oar cut No. 211 (from MS. Cotton, Nero, D. vii.) repre- fents an abbot riding, with a hat over his hood ; he is giving his benediction in return to the falute of fome palling traveller. The knight ftill carried his fpear with him in travelling, as the foot- man carried his ftaff. In our cut No. 212, from a manufcript of the fourteenth century in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (No. 6963), the rider, though not armed, carries his fpear with him. The faddle in this inftance is Angularly and rather rudely formed. It was a great point of vanity in the \ middle ages in England to hang the caparifons of the horfe with fmall bells, 212. A Knight and his Steed. Whlch made * J in S lin §' noife - In the romance of " Richard Cceur de Lion" (Weber ii. 60), a meffenger coming to king Richard has no lefs than five hundred fuch bells fufpended to his horfe— No. 211. An Abbot travelling. His trappy s iver off tuely fylke, With five hundred belles rygande. And and Sentiments. 315 And again, in the fame romance (vol. ii. p. 223), we are told, in fpeaking of the fultan of " Damas," that his horfe was well furnilhed in this * Hys crouper heeng al fulle off belles , And hys peytrel, and hys arfoun ; Three myle myglite men here the foun. The bridle, however, was the part of the harnefs ufnally loaded with bells, and, according to Chaucer, it was a vanity efpecially affected by the monks 5 for the poet tells us of his monk, that — Whan he rood, men might his bridel heere Gyngle in a ivhijllyng ivynd Jo cleere, And eek as loivde as doth the chapel belle. — Cant. Talcs, 1. 169. The rider is feldom furnilhed with a whip, becaufe he urged his fteed forward with his fpursj but female riders and perfons of lower degree ve often whips, which generally confift of feveral lathes, each having ufually a knob at the end. Such a whip is feen in our cut No. 213, taken] from a manufcript of the thir- teenth century in the Britilh Mufeum (MS. Arundel. No. 91), which repre- fents a countryman driving a horfe of burthen ; and he not only ufes ' the whip, but he tries further to urge him on by twitting his tail. A whip with one lalh — rather an unufual example — is in the hand of the woman driving the cart in our cut No. 214, which is taken from a manufcript of the romance of " Meliadus/' in the French National Library (No. 6961), belonging to the fourteenth century. The lady here is alio evidently riding altride. The cart in which {he is carrying home the wounded knight is of a fimple and rude conftruction. As yet, indeed, carriages for travelling were very little in life ; and to judge by the illuminations, they were only employed for kings and very powerful nobles in ceremonial proceffions. The No. 21 3. A Horftwhip. 3 i6 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners The horfe was, after a man's own limbs, his primary agent of loco- motion. Perhaps no animal is fo intimately mixed up with the hiflory of mankind as the horfe — certainly none more fo. Our Anglo-Saxon fore- fathers travelled much on foot, and, as far as we know, the great impor- tance in which the horfe was held in the middle ages in this part of the Lady and Cart. world, began with feudalifm, and the beft and moft celebrated breed of horfes in Europe, from the earlieft ages of chivalry, was brought from the Eaft. The heroes of early romance and poetry are generally mounted on Arab fteeds, and thefe have often the additional merit of having been won by conqueft from the Saracens. In the thirteenth century they were obtained from Turkey and Greece ; and at a later period from Barbary. France, alfo, had its native breed, which enjoyed a high repu- tation for many valuable qualities, and efpecially for its fiercenefs in war; Gafcony, and, on the other fide of the Spanifh frontier, Caftile and Aquitaine, were much celebrated for their horfes. The Gafcons prided themfelves much on their horfes, and they dilplayed this pride fometimes in a very Angular manner. In J 172, Raymond de Venous, count of Touloufe, held a grand cour pleyiiere, and, as a diiplay of orientation, caufed thirty of his horfes to be burnt in prefence of the aflembly. It was a fine example of the barbarity of feudalifm. At the provincial fynod of Auch, held in 1303, it was ordered that archdeacons, when they made their diocefan circuits, fhould not go with more than five horfes, which fhows that the Gafcon clergy were in the habit of making a great diiplay and Sentiments. 317 difplay of cavalry. It appears that at this early period the bell horfes were imported into England from Bordeanx. It may be mentioned, in palling, that the male horfe only was ridden by knights or people of any diilin6tion, and that to ride a mare was always looked upon as a degradation. This feems to have been an old Teutonic prejudice, perhaps a religious fuperftition. The kinds of horfes moft commonly mentioned in the feudal ages are named in French (which was the language of feudalifm), the palefroi, or palfrey, the dcxtricr, the roncin, and the fommier. The dextrier, or de/lrier, was the ordinary war-horfe ; the roncin belonged efpecially to the fervants and attendants ; and the fom inier carried the luggage. Ladies efpecially rode the palfrey. The Orkney iilands appear to have been celebrated for their dextriers. The Ille of Man feems alio to have pro- duced a celebrated breed of horfes. Brittany was celebrated for its palfreys. The haquenee, or hackney, of the middle ages, appears to have been efpecially referved for females. England feems not to have been cele- brated for its horfes in the middle ages, and the horfes of value poffclfed by the Englilh kings and great nobles were, in almoft all cafes, imported from the Continent. The ordinary prices of horfes in England in the reign of Edward I., was from one to ten pounds, but choice animals were valued much higher. When St. Louis returned to France from his captivity, the abbot of Cluny prefented to the king and the queen each a horfe, the value of which Joinville eftimates at five hundred livres, equivalent to about four hundred pounds of our prefent Englilli money. Thefe muff have been horfes which polfelfed fome very extraordinary qualities, as the price is quite out of proportion to that of other hoiks at the fame period. In the charters publilhed by M. Gu£rard, horfes arc valued at forty fols, and at three pounds at various periods during the eleventh century. In 1202, two roncins are valued at thirty fols each, another at forty, two at fifty each, and two at lixtv ; the roncin of an arbalefter at fixty fols ; a fommier, or baggage-horfe, at forty fols; and three horfes, of which the kind is nol fpecifiedj at fix pounds each. Thefe appear to have been the ordinary prices at that period; for, though prices of horfes are mentioned as high as thirty-four, thirty-five, and forty pounds, 3 1 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners pounds, thefe were only poffeffed or given as prefents by kings. The value of horfes went on riling through the thirteenth century, until Philippe le Hardi found it necelfary to fix it by an ordonnance, which limited the price which any man, whether lay or clergy, however rich, might give for a palfrey, to fixty pounds tournois, and that to be given by a fquire for a roncin to twenty pounds. The prices of horfes appear not to have varied much from this during the fourteenth century. In the middle of the century following the prices rofe much higher. ■ Of the colours of horfes, in the middle ages, white feems to have been prized moft highly, and after that dapple-gray and bay or cheftnut. The fame colours were in favour among the Arabs. One of the poets of the thirteenth century, Jean Bodel, defcribes a choice Gafcon horfe as follows : — " His hair," he fays, " was more finning than the plumage of a peacock ; his head was lean, his eye gray like a falcon, his breaft large and fquare, his crupper broad, his thigh round, and his rump tight. They who faw it faid that they had never feen a handfomer animal." The food given to horfes in the middle ages feems to have been much the fame as at the prefent day. In 1435 the queen of Navarre gave carrots to her horfes. Although the mediaeval knight refembled the Arab in his love for his horfe, yet the latter was often treated hardly and even cruelly, and the practice of horfemanihip was painful to the rider and to the horfe. To be a ikilful rider was a firft-rate accomplilhment. One of the feats of horfemanihip pracfifed ordinarily was to jump into the faddle, in full armour :• — ■ No foot Fityames in Jlirrup flaid, No grafp upon the faddle laid ; But ivrtatlid his left hand in the mane, And lightly bounded from the plain. Though horfe-races are mentioned in two of the earlieft of the French metrical romances, thofe of ec Renaud de Montauban," and of " Aiol," they feem never to have been pra6tifed in France until very recently, when they were introduced in imitation of the Englilh falhion. Poil- horfes were firft introduced in France during the reign of Henry II., that is, in the middle of the fixteenth century. Great and Se?7timents. 3 1 9 Great importance was placed in the breeding of horfes in the middle ages. Charlemagne, in the regulations for the adminiftration of his private domains, gives particular directions for the care of his brood-mares and ftallions. Normandy appears to have been famous for its fluds of horfes in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and documents {how that the monks took good care rigorouily to exact the tithes of their produce to frock the monaftic ftables. Traces of the exiftence of limilar ftuds are found alio in other parts of France. At this time a horle was confidered the handfomeft prefent that could be made by a king or a great lord, and horfes were often given as bribes. Thus, in 1227, the monks of the abbey of Troarn obtained from Guillaume de Tilli the ratification of a grant made to them by his father in coniideration of a gift to him of a mark of filver and a palfrey ; and the monks of St. Evroul, in 1165, purchafed a favour of the Englilh earl of Gloucefter by prefenting to him two palfreys eftimated to be worth twenty pounds of money of Anjou. Kings frequently received horfes as prefents from their (objects. The widow of Herbert du Mefnil gave king John of England a palfrey to obtain the wardlhip of her children; and one Geoffrey Fitz-Richard gave the fame monarch a palfrey for a conceffion in the foreft of Beaulieu. In 1 1 72, Raimond, count of St. Gilles, having become the vaffal of the king of England, engaged to pay him an annual tribute of a hundred marks of filver, or ten dextriers, worth at leaft ten marks each. The Englilh ftuds appear already in the thirteenth century to have become remarkable for their excellence. Travelling, in the middle ages, was allilted by t'ew, it any, con- veniences, and was dangerous as well as difficult. The infecurity of the roads made it neceffary for travellers to affoeiate together for protection, as well as for company, for their journeys were Qow and dull ; and as they were often obliged to halt for the night where there was little or no accommodation, they had to carry a good deal of luggage. An inn was often the place of rendezvous for travellers ftarting upon the fame journey. It is thus that Chaucer reprefents himfelf as having taken up his quarters at the Tabard, in Southwark, preparatory to undertaking the journey to Canterbury; and at night there arrived a company of travellers benl to the 3 2 o Hijiory ofDomejilc Manners the fame destination, who had gathered together as they came along the road :— At night was come into that hoftelrie Wei nyne and twenty in a companye, Of Jondry folk, by aventure ifalle In felafchipe. — Cant. Tales, 1. 23. Chaucer obtains the confent of the reft to his joining their fellowihip, which, as he defcribes it, confifted of perfons moft diffimilar in clafs and character. The hoft of the Tabard joins the party alfo, and it is agreed that, to enliven the journey, each, in his turn, lhall tell a ftory on the way. They then fup at a common table, drink wine, and go to bed ■ and at daybreak they ftart on their journey. They travelled evidently at a flow pace ; and at Boughton-under-Blee — a village a few miles from Canterbury — a canon and his yeoman, after fome hard riding, overtake them, and obtain permiffion to join the company. It would feem that the company had paifed a night fomewhere on the road, probably at Rochefter, — and we fliould, perhaps, have had an account of their reception and departure, had the collection of the " Canterbury Tales" been completed by their author, — and that the canon fent his yeoman to watch for any company of travellers who fliould halt at the hoftelry, that he might join them, but he had been too late to ftart with them, and had, therefore, ridden hard to overtake them : — His yeman eek wasful of curtefye, Andfeid, "Sires, now in the morive tyde Out of your oftelry I faugh you ryde, A nd warned heer my lord and foverayn, Which that to ryden with yow is ful fayn, For his difport ; he loveth daliaunce.'" — Cant. Tales, 1. 12,515. A little further on, on the road, the Pardoner is called upon to tell his tale. He replies — "Itfchal be doon" quod he, "and that anoon. But fir ft,'''' quod he, " here, at this ale-flake, I will both drynke and byten on a cake.'''' — Ibid., 1. 13,735. The road-fide ale-houfe, where drink was fold to travellers, and to the country-people of the neighbourhood, was fcattered over the more populous and Sentiments. 3 2 populous and frequented parts of the country from an early period, and is not unfrequently alluded to in popular writers. It was indicated by a ftake projecting from the houfe, on which fome object was hung for a 5. A Pilgrim at the Ale-Stake. fign, and is fometimes reprefented in the illuminations of manufcripts. Our cut No. 215, taken from a manufcript of the fourteenth century, in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), reprefents one of thofe ale- houfes, at which a pilgrim is halting to take refrefhment. The keeper of the ale-houfe, in this inftance, is a woman, the ale-wife, and the ftake appears to be a befom. In another (No. 216), taken from a manufcript copy of the " Moralization of Chefs," by Jacques de Ceflbles, of the earlier part of the fifteenth century (MS. Reg. 19 C. xi.), a round fign is fufpended on the ftake, with a figure in the middle, which may poffibly be intended to re- prefent a bull). A garland was not unfrequently hung upon the ftake 5 "fbmpnour," lays : — A garland had he jet upon his heed, As grct as it were for an ale-Hake. — Cant. Talcs, I. 688. A bufh was ftill more common, and gave rife to the proverb thai "good T T wine th No. 216. The Road-fide Inn. i Chaucer, defcnbmg Ins 3 22 Hiftory of Dome flic Manners wine needs no bufh," that is, it will be eafily found out without any fign to direct people to it. A buih fufpended to the fign of a tavern will be feen in our cut (No. 224) to the prefent chapter. Lydgate compofed his poem of the " Storie of Thebes," as a con- tinuation of Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," and in the prologue he defcribes himfelf as arriving in Canterbury, while the pilgrims were No. 21 7. The Canterbury Pilgrims. there, and accidentally taking up his lodging at the fame inn. He thus feeks and obtains permiffion to be one of the fellowfhip, and returns from Canterbury in their company. Our cut No. 217, taken from a fine manufcript of Lydgate's poem (MS. Reg. 18 D. ii.), reprefents the pil- grims leaving Canterbury, and is not only a good illuftration of the practice of travelling in companies, but it furnifhes us with a chara&eriftic picfure of a mediaeval town. This readinefs of travellers to join company with each other was not confined and Sentiments. 3 2 3 confined to any clalS of fociety, but was general among them all, and not unfrequently led to the formation of friendihips and alliances between thofe who had previouily been ftrangers to one another. In the interefting romance of "Blonde of Oxford/' compofed in the thirteenth century, when Jean of Dammartin came to leek his fortune in England, and was riding from Dover to London, attended by a faithful fervant, he overtook the earl of Oxford, who was on his way to London, with a numerous retinue of armed followers. Jean, having learnt from the earl's followers who he was, introduced himfelf to him, and was finally taken into his fervice. Subfequently, in the fame romance, Jean of Dammartin, return- ing to England, takes up his lodging in a handfome hotel in London, and while his man Robin puts the hories in the ftable, he walks out into the ftreet, and fees a large company who had juft arrived, confitfing of fquires, fervants, knights, clerks, priefts, ferving-lads {gar$ons), and men who attended the baggage horfes (Jbmmiers). Jean aiked one of the efquires who they all were, what was their bufinefs, and where they were going; and was informed that it was the earl of Gloucefler, who had come to London about fome bufinefs, and was going on the morrow to Oxford, to be married to the lady Blonde, the obje£t of Jean's affections. Next morning the earl began his journey at daybreak, and Jean and his fervant, who were mounted ready, joined the company. There was fo little unufual in this, that the intruders feem, for a while, not to have been noticed, until, at length, the earl obferved Jean, and began to interrogate him: "Friend," laid he, "you are welcome ; what is your name ?" — Amis, bienjujics wne, Content fu -vojlrc non pclc? — Romanco of Blonde, 1. 2,627. Jean gave him an aifumed name, laid he was a merchant, and offered to fell the earl his horle, but they could not agree upon the terms. They continued converfing together during the reft of the journey. As they proceeded they encountered a fhower of rain, which wetted the carl, who was falhionably and thinly clothed. Jean fmiled at the impatieuce with which he feemed to bear this milhap, and when aiked to tell the caufe of his mirth, laid, "If I were a rich man, like you, 1 fhould always carrj 324 Hi/lory of Domejiic Maimers a houfe with me, fo that I could go into it when the rain came, and not get my clothes dirtied and wet." The earl and his followers fet Jean down for a fool, and looked forward to be made merry by him. Soon afterwards they came to the banks of a river, into which the earl rode, without firft afcertaining if it were fordable, and he was carried away by the ftream, and only laved from drowning by a fiiherman in a boat. The reft of the company found a ford, where they paffed the river without danger. The earl's clothes had now been completely foaked in the water, and, as his baggage-horfes were too far in the rear, he made one of his knights ftrip, and give him his dry clothes, and left him to make the beft of his wet ones. " If I were as rich, and had fo many men, as you," faid Jean, laughing again, "I would not be expofed to misfortunes of this kind, for I would carry a bridge with me." The earl and his retinue were merry again, at what they fuppofed to be the folly of their travelling companion. They were now near Oxford, and Jean took his leave of the earl of Gloucefter. We learn, in the courfe of the ftory, that all that Jean meant by the houfe, was that the earl ought to have had at hand a good cloak and cape to cover his fine clothes in cafe of rain ; and that, by the bridge, he intended to intimate that he ought to have fent fome of his men to afcertain the depth of the river before he went into it ! Thefe illuftrations of the manner and inconveniences of travelling- apply more efpecially to thofe who could travel on horfeback ; but the difficulties were ftill greater for the numerous clafs of people who were obliged to travel on foot, and who could rarely make fure of reaching, at the end of each day's journey, a place where they could obtain a lodging. They, moreover, had alfo to take with them a certain quantity of baggage. Foot-travellers feem to have had fometimes a mule or a donkey, to carry luggage, or for the weak women and children. Every one will remember the mediaeval fable of the old man and his afs, in which a father and his fon have the one afs between them. In mediaeval illuminations reprefenting the flight into Egypt, Jofeph is often repre- fented as walking, while the Virgin and Child ride upon an afs which he is leading. The party of foot- travellers in our cut No. 218, taken from a manufcript and Sentiments. 3 2 5 manufcript of the beginning of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), forms part of a group reprefenting the relatives of Thomas Beckett driven into exile by king Henry [I. ; they are making their way to the fea-lhore on foot, perhaps to fhow that they were not of very high condi- tion in life. In Chaucer, it is a matter of turpi little luggage that he carried only a male, or portmanteau, on his horfe's crupper, and even that was doubled up (tweyfold) on account of its empti- nefs : — ife that th noun" had ll> **C^-- No. 21 8. Travellers ui. male tiveyfold on his c roper lay, Itfeemed that he carted lit el array, Ai light for fomer rood this ivorthy man. —Cant. Tales, 1. 12,494. On the contrary, in the romance of _= "Berte," when the heroine is left to ~ wander in the folitary forefl, the writer laments that fhe had " neither pack-horfe laden with coffers, nor clothes folded up in males," which were the ordinary accompaniments of travellers of any confequence : — 2V7 ot fommicr a coffres ne dras troujfe's en male. — It man do Berte, p. 42. A traveller, indeed, had many things to carry wit li him. He took pro- visions with him, or was obliged, at times, to reckon on what he could kill, or obtain undrefled, and hence he was obliged to cany cooking apparatus with him. He carried flint and fteel to ftrike a light, and be able to make a lire, as he might have to bivouac in a folitary place, or in the midft of a forefl. In the romance of" Garin le Loherain," when the count Begues of Belin finds himfelf benighted in the forefl, he prepares for palling the night comfortably, and, as a matter of COUrfe, draws out his flint {J'iiJII), and lights a fire :— Et li quens eft dejous Varbrt rame'; Prcntjonfufd,j\, It fu alumi, Grant et plotter, mcrveillcus cmbrafc'. —Garin lo Loherain, ii., p. 231. The 326 Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners The traveller alfo often carried materials for laying a bed, if benighted on the road 5 and he had, above all, to take fufficient money with him in fpecie. He fometimes alfo carried a portable tent with him, or materials for making one. In the Englim romance of "Ipomydon" (Weber, ii. 343), the maiden meffenger of the heirefs of Calabria carries her tent with her, and ufually lodges at night under it — A.% they rode by the ivay } The mayde to the divarfe gan faye, " Undo my tente, and Jet te it fajle, For here a ivhyle I iville me ryfie" Mete and drynke bothe they had, That ivas fro home 'with them lad. It may be remarked that in this ftory the firft thought of every gallant knight who paffes is to treat the lady with violence. All thefe incum- 'f\6h , ■/■■ -i--)' mm f^ No. 219. Plundering a Traveller. brances, combined with the badnefs of the roads, rendered travelling flow — of which we might quote abundant examples. At the end of the twelfth century, it took Giraldus Cambrenfis four days to travel from Powiiland to Haughmond Abbey, near Shrewsbury. The roads, too, were infefted with robbers and banditti, and travellers were only fafe in their numbers, and in being fufficiently well armed to repel attacks. In the accompanying cut (No. 219), from a manufcript of the fourteenth century and Sentiments. 327 century (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), a traveller is taking his repofe under a tree, — it is, perhaps, intended to be underftood that he is palling the night in a wood, — while he is plundered by robbers, who are here jokingly reprefented in the forms of monkeys. While one is emptying his " male" or box, the other is carrying off his girdle, with the large pouch attached to it, in which, no doubt, the traveller carried his money, and perhaps his eatables. The infecurity of the roads in the middle ages was, indeed, very great, for not only were the forefts rilled with bands of out- laws, who ftripped all who fell into their hands, but the knights and landed gentry, and even noblemen, took to the highways not unfrequently, and robbed unfcrupulouily. Moreover, they built their caflles near difficult paffes, or by a river where there was a bridge or ford, and where, there- fore, they commanded it, and there they levied arbitrary taxes on all who paffed, and, on the ilighteft attempt at refiftance, plundered the traveller of his property, and put him to death or threw him into their dungeons. Incidents of this kind are common in the mediaeval romances and ftories. Piers de Bruville, in the hiftory of Fulke Fitz-Warine, may be mentioned as an example of this clafs of marauders. "At that time," fays the ftory, " there was a knight in the country who was called Piers de Bruville. This Piers ufed to collect all the fons of gentlemen of the country who were wild, and other ribald people, and ufed to go about the country, and flew and robbed loyal people, merchants, and others." In the fabliau of the " Chevalier au Barizel," we are told of a great baron who iffued con- tinually from his ftrong caftle to plunder the country around. " He watched fo clofely the roads, that he flew all the pilgrims, and plundered the merchants; many of them he brought to milhap. He (pared neither clergy nor monk, reclufe, hermit, or canon ; and the nuns and lay-lifters he caufed to live in open fhame, when he had them in his power ; and he fpared neither dames nor maids, of whatever rank or clafs, whether poor or rich, or well educated or fimple, but he put them all to open fhame" (Barbazan, i. 209). The roads, in the middle ages, appear alio to have been infilled with beggars of all defcriptions, many of whom were cripples, and perfons mutilated in the molt revolting manner, the refult of feudal wantonnefs, and 328 Hijiory of Dome die Manners and of feudal vengeance. Our cut No. 220, alio furnilhed by a manufcript of the fourteenth century, reprefents a very deformed cripple, whofe means of locomotion are rather curious. The beggar and the cripple, too, were often only robbers in dilguife, who waited their opportunity to attack tingle paffengers, or who watched to give notice to comrades of the approach of richer convoys. The mediaeval popular flories give abundant inftances of robbers and others difguiling themfelves as beggars and cripples. Blindnefs, alfo, was common among thefe objects of com- miferation in the middle ages ; often, as in the cafe of mutilation of other kinds, the refult of deliberate violence. The fame manufcript No, 220. A Cripple. No. 221. A Blind Man and Dog. I have fo often quoted (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), has furniihed our cut No. 221, reprefenting a blind man and his dog. It will be eafily underftood, that when travelling was befet with fo many inconveniences, private hofpitality would be looked upon as one of the firft of virtues, for people were often obliged to have recourfe to it, and and Sentiments. 3 2 9 and it was feldom refilled. In the country every man's door was open to the ftranger who came from a diftance, unlets his appearance were fufpicious or threatening. In this there was a mutual advantage ; for the guefl generally brought with him news and information which was highly valued at a time when communication between one place and another was fo flow and uncertain. Hence the flrft queftions put to a -ftranger were, whence he had come, and what news he had brought with him. The old romances and tales furniih us with an abundance of examples of the widefpread feeling of hofpitality that prevailed during the middle ages. Even in the middle and lower claffes, people were always ready to fhare their meals with the ftranger who aiked for a lodging. The denial of fuch hofpitality was looked upon as exceptional and difgraceful, and was only met with from , mifers and others who were regarded as almoft without the pale of fociety. The early metrical ftory of " The Hermit," the foundation of Parnell's poem, gives us examples of the different forts of hofpitality with which travellers met. The hermit and his companion began their travels in a wild country, and at the end of their flrft day's journey, they were obliged to take up their lodgings with another hermit, who gave them the belt welcome he could, and fhared his provifions with them. The next evening they came to a city, where everybody fhut his door againft them, becaufe they were poor, till at length, weary and wet with rain, they fat down on the ftone fteps of a great manfion ; but the holt was an ufurer, and refufed to receive into his houfe men who promifed him fo little profit. Yet at length, to efcape their importunities, he allowed them to enter the yard, and ileep under a ftaircafe, where his maid threw them fome ftraw to lie upon, but neither offered them refrefhment, except fome of the refute of the table, nor allowed them to go to a fire to dry their clothes. The next evening they fought their lodging in a large abbey, where the monks received them with great hofpitality, and gave them plenty to eat and drink. On the fourth day they came to another town, where they went to the houfe of a rich and honeft burgher, who alio received them with all the marks of hofpitality. Their hoft walhcd their feet, and gave them plenty to eat and drink, and they were comfortably lodged tor the night. u u li 330 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners It would not be difficult to illuftrate all the incidents of this ftory by anecdotes of mediaeval life. The traveller who fought a lodging, without money to pay for it, even in private houfes, was not always well received. In the fabliau of the "Butcher of Abbeville" (Barbazan, iv. i), the butcher, returning from the market of Oifemont, is overtaken by night at the fmall town of Bailleuil. He determined to ftop for the night there, and, feeing a poor woman at her door, at the entrance of the town, he inquired where he could afk for a night's lodging, and the recommended him to the prieft, as the only perfon in the town who had wine in his cellar. The butcher accordingly repaired to the prieft's houfe, where he found that ecclefiaftic fitting on the fill of his door, and afked him to give him a lodging for the fake of charity. The prieft, who thought that there was nothing to be gained from him, refufed, telling him he would find plenty of people in the town who could give him a bed. As the butcher was leaving the town, irritated by his inhofpitable reception, he encountered a flock of fheep, which he learnt were the property of the prieft ; whereupon, felecfing the fatteft of them, he dextroufly ftole it away unperceived, and, returning with it into the town, he went to the prieft's door, found him juft clofing his houfe, for it was nightfall, and again alked him for lodging. The prieft afked him who he was, and whence he came. He replied that he had been to the market at Oifemont, and bought a fheep ; that he was overtaken by night, and fought a lodging ; and that, as it was no great confideration to him, he intended to kill his fheep, and fhare it with his hoft. The temptation was too great for the greedy prieft, and he now received the butcher into his houfe, treated him with great refpecf, and had a bed made for him in his hall. Now the prieft had — as was common with the Catholic prieft- hood — a concubine and a maid-fervant, and they all regaled themfelves on the butcher's fheep. Before the gueft left next morning, he contrived to fell the fheep's fkin and wool for certain confiderations feverally to the concubine and to the maid, and, after his departure, their rival claims led to a quarrel, and even to a battle. While the prieft, on his return from the fervice of matins, was labouring to appeafe the combatants, his fhep- herd entered, with the information that his beft fheep had been ftolen from and Sentiments. 33 from his flock, and an examination of the lkin led to the difcovery of the trick which had been played upon him — a punilhment, as we air told, which he well merited by his inhofpitable conduct. A Latin ftory of the thirteenth century may be coupled with the foregoing anecdote. There was an abbot who was very miferly and inhofpitable, and he took care to give all the offices in the abbey to men of his own character. This was efpecially the cafe with the monk who had the direction of the kofpitium, or gueft-boufe. One day came a minftrel to aik for a lodging, but he met with an unfriendly reception, was treated only with black bread and water to drink, and was fhown to a hard bed of flraw. Minftrels were not ufually treated in this inhofpitable manner, and our gueft refolved to be revenged. He left the abbey next morning, and a little way on his journey he met the abbot, who was returning home from a fliort abfence. "God blefs you, good abbot!" he laid, "for the noble hofpitality which has been fhown to me this night by your monks. The mafter of your gueft-houfe treated me with the choicefl wines, and placed rich difhes on the table for me in fuch numbers, that I would not attempt to count them; and when I came away this morning, he gave me a pair of lhoes, a girdle, and a knife." The abbot hurried home in a furious rage, fum- moned the offending brother before a chapter, accufed him of fquandering away the property of the monaftery, caufed him to be flogged and dif- miffed from his office, and appointed in his place another, in whole inhofpitable temper he could place entire confidence. Thefe cafes of want of hofpitality were, however, exceptions to the general rule. A ftranger was ufually received with great kindnefs, each clafs of fociety, of courfe, more or lefs by its own clafs, though, under fuch circum fiances, much lefs diftinfton of clafs was made than we might fuppofe. The ariftocratic clafs, which included what we lhould now call the gentry, fought hofpitality in the nearer! cattle ; for a cattle, as :i matter of pride and oftentation, was, more or lets, like an abbey, a place of hofpitality for everybody. Among the richer and more refined clattes, great care was taken to fhow proper courtefy to Grangers, according to their rank. In the cafe of a knight, the lord of the houfe and his lady, with their damfels, led him into a private room, took off his armour, and often 33 2 Hiflory of Domeftic Manners often his clothes, and gave him a change of apparel, after careful ablution. A fcene of this kind is reprefented in the accompanying cut (No. 222), taken from a manufcript of the romance of " Lancelot," of the fourteenth century, in the National Library in Paris (No. 6956). The hofi or his lady fometimes walhed the ftranger's feet themfelves. Thus, in the fabliau quoted above, when the hermit and his companion fought a lodging at the houfe of a bourgeois, they were received without queffion, and their hofts walhed their feet, and then gave them plenty to eat and drink, and a bed : — Li hojie orent leur pie% lave%, Bien Jont feu et abrevie% ; Jujqu' aujor a eje fe jur ent ; We might eafily multiply extracts illuftrative of this hofpitable feeling, as it exifted and was pracfifed from the twelfth century to the fifteenth. l M^ No. 222. Receiving a Stranger. No. 223. Receiving a Guefl. Our cut No. 223, taken from a manufcript of the earlier part of the fourteenth century (MS. Harl. No. 1527), is another reprefentation of the reception of a ftranger in this hofpitable manner. In the " Roman de la Violette" (p. 233), when its hero, Gerard, fought a lodging at a caftle, he was received with the greater!; hofpitality ; the lord of the caftle led him into the great hall, and there difarmed him, furnifhed him with a rich mantle, and caufed him to be bathed and waihed. In the fame romance (p. 237), when Gerard arrives at the little town of Mouzon, he goes to the houfe of a widow to aik for a night's lodging, and is received with and Sentiments, 333 with the fame welcome. His horfe is taken into a liable, and carefully attended to, while the lady labours to keep him in conversation until fupper is ready, after which a good bed is made for him, and they all retire to reft. The comforts, however, which could be offered to the vifitor, confided often chiefly in eating and drinking. People had few fpare chambers, efpecially furnilhed ones, and, in the fimplicity of mediaeval manners, the guefts were obliged to fleep either in the fame room as the family, or, more ufually, in the hall, where beds were made for them on the floor or on the benches. "Making a bed" was a phrafe true in its literal fenfe, and the bed made conlifted Hill of a heap of ftraw, with a fheet or two thrown over it. The hoft, indeed, could often furnifh no more than a room of bare walls and floor as a protection from the weather, and the gueft had to rely as much upon his own refources for his perfonal comforts, as if he had had to pafs the night in the midll of a wild wood. Moreover the guefts, however numerous and though llrangers to each other, were commonly obliged to fleep together indifcriminately in the fame room. The old Anglo-Saxon feeling, that the duration of the chance vifit of a ftranger fhould be limited to the third day, feems Hill to have prevailed. A Latin rhyme, printed in the " Reliquiae Antiquse" (i. 91), tells us, — Verum dixit anus, quod pijeis olet tr'iduanus ; Ejus dc more fimili fcetet hofpes odore. In towns the hofpitality of the burghers was not always given gratis, for it was a common cuftom, even among the richer merchants, to make a profit by receiving guefls. Thefe letters of lodgings were diftinguilhed from the inn-keepers, or hoflelers, by the title of herbergeors, or people who gave harbour to ftrangers, and in the larger towns they were fub- mitted to municipal regulations. The great barons and knights were in the cuftom of taking up their lodgings with thefe herbergeors, rather than going to the public hoftels ; and thus a fort of relationfhip was formed between particular nobles or kings and particular burghers, on tin- ftrength of which the latter adopted the arms of their habitual lodgers as their figns. Thefe herbergeors praclifed great extortions upon their acciclent.il guefls, 334 Hiftory of "Domefiic Manners guefts, and they appear to have adopted various artifices to allure them to their houfes. Thefe extortions are the fubje£t of a very curious Latin poem of the thirteenth century, entitled " Peregrinus" (the Traveller), the author of which defcribes the arts employed to allure the traveller, and the extortions to which he was fubjected. It appears that perfons were employed to look out for the arrival of ftrangers, and that they entered into converfation with them, pretended to difcover that they came from the fame part of the country, and then, as taking efpecial intereft in their fellow-countrymen, recommended them to lodgings. Thefe tricks of the burghers who let their lodgings for hire are alluded to in other mediaeval writers. It appears, alfo, that both in thefe lodging-houfes and in the public inns, it was not an unufual practice to draw people into contracting heavy bills, which they had not the money to pay, and then to feize their baggage and even their clothes, to feveral times the amount of the debt. No. 224. A Hojlelry at night. Our cut No. 224, taken from an illumination in the unique manufcript of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (fifteenth century), in the Hunterian Library and Sentiments. 335 Library at Glafgow, reprefents the exterior and the interior of a public hoftel or inn. Without, we fee the fign, and the buih fufpended to it, and a company of travellers arriving ; within, the bed-chambers are reprefented, and they illuftrate not only the practice of lodging a number of perfons in the fame bedroom, but alfo that of ileeping in a ftate of perfect nudity. Our next cut (No. 225) is a picture of a mediaeval tapfterj it is taken from one of the carved feats, or mifereres, in the fine pariih church of Ludlow, in Shropshire. It will, probably, be remarked that the fize of the tapfler's jug is rather difproportionate to that of his barrel ; hut mediaeval artifts often fet perfpective and relative proportions at defiance. The tavern in the middle ages feems to have been the ufual fcene of a large portion of the ordinary life of the lower clafs of fociety, and even partially of the middle clafs, and its influence was certainly very injurious on the manners and character of the people. Even the women, as we learn from a number of contemporary fongs and ftories, fpent much of their time drinking and gofliping in taverns, where great latitude was afforded for carrying on low intrigues. The tavern was, in fact, the general rendezvous of thofe who fought amufement, of whatever kind. In the "Milleres Tale," in Chaucer, Abfolon, "that joly was and gay," and who excelled as a mufician, frequented the taverns and " brewhoufes," meaning apparently the letter public-houfes where they only fold ale, to exhibit his fkill — No. 225. A Media-val Tapper. In al the toitn nas breiuhous ne taverne That he ne -vifited ivit/i his fo/as, Ther as that any gaylard tapjler ■was — Cant. Titles, 1. 3,334. And Chaucer's friar was well acquainted with all the taverns in tin' towns he vifited— He knew ivel the tavcrnes in every toun, And every ojteller or gay tapftcrc. — [bid., I. 240. The 336 Hijiory of Domeftic Manners The tavern w.as especially the haunt of gamblers, who were encouraged by the " tapfter," becaufe they brought him his moll profitable cuftomers. As I have faid before, when his cuftomers had no money, the taverner took their articles of drefs for payment, and in doing this he added the profits of the money-lender to thofe of the taverner. In the fabliau of "Gautier d'Aupais," the young prodigal Gautier, hungry and pennilefs, arrives towards evening at a tavern, where he finds a number of guefts enjoying themfelves. His horfe is taken to the flable, and he joins the guefts, but when the moment comes for paying, and the taverner demands three fols, he is induced in his defperation to try his luck at the dice. Inftead, however, of retrieving his fortunes, he lofes his horfe and his robe, and is obliged to return to his father's houfe on foot, and in his lhirt— Si a perdu fa robe etfon cor ant deftrier ; En pure fa chemife Pen convint reperier. The ftory of Cortois d' Arras, in the fabliau in "Barbazan" (i. 35$), is fomewhat fimilar. Young Cortois, alfo a prodigal, obtains from his father a large fum of money as a compenfation for all his claims on the paternal property, and with this throws himfelf upon the world. As he proceeded, he heard the tavern-boy calling out from the door, " Here is good wine of Soiflbns, acceptable to everybody ! here credit is given to everybody, and no pledges taken!" with much more in the fame ftyle. Cortois determined to flop at the tavern. " Hoft," faid he, "how much do you fell your wine the feptier (a meafure of two gallons) ? and when was it tapped?" He was told that it had been frefh tapped that morning, and that the price was fix deniers. The hoft then goes on to difplay his accommodations. " Within are all forts of comforts ; painted chambers, and foft beds, raifed high with white ftraw, and made foft with feathers 3 here within is hoftel for love affairs, and when bed-time comes you will have pillows of violets to hold your head more foftly ; and, finally, you will have electuaries and rofe-water, to wafh your mouth and your face." Cortois orders a gallon of wine, and immediately after- wards a belle demoifelle makes her appearance, for fuch were in thefe times reckoned among the attractions of the tavern. It is foon arranged between and Sentiments. 337 between the lady and the landlord that ihe is to be Cortois' chamber- companion, and they all begin drinking together, the taverner perfuading his gueft that he owes this choice wine to the lady's love. They then go to caroufe in the garden, and they finifh by plundering him of his money, and he is obliged to leave his clothes in pledge for the payment of his tavern expenfes. The ale-wife was efpecially looked upon as a model of extortion and deceit, for lhe cheated unblufhingly, both in money and No. 226. The Ale-Wife' 1 End. meafure, and the is pointed out in popular literature as an objecl of hatred and of fatire. Our cut No. 226, alfo furnilhed by one of the carved mifereres in Ludlow Church, reprefents a fcene from Doom Ilia v : a demon is bearing away the deceitful ale-wife, who carries nothing with her but her gay head-drefs and her falfe meafure ; he is going to throw her into "hell-mouth," while another demon is reading her offences as entered in his roll, and a third is playing on the bagpipes, by way of welcome. 338 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners CHAPTER XV. EDUCATION. LITERARY MEN AND SCRIBES. PUNISHMENTS; THE STOCKS; THE GALLOWS. I PUT together in a fhort chapter two parts of my fubjecl which may at the firft glance feem fomewhat difcordant, but which, I think, on further conlideration, will be found to be rather clofely related — they are, education and puniihment for offences againft the law. It can hardly be doubted, indeed, that, as education becomes more general and better regulated, if the neceffity of puniihment is not entirely taken away, its cruelty is greatly diminifhed. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, there was certainly a general feeling of the neceffity of extending and improving education. It was during this period that our great univerfities rofe into exiftence, and flourifhed, and thefe fchools, which provided for the higher develop- ment of the mind, had their thoufands of ftudents, inftead of the hundreds who frequent them at the prefent day. But the need of fome provision for education was felt moil in regard to that lefs elevated degree of inflruction which was required for the more youthful mind, — in fa6l, it was long before the people of the middle ages could be perfuaded that literary education was of any ufe at all, except for thofe who were to be made great fcholars ; the clergy itfelf, unfortunately, did not fee the neceffity of popular education, and although the fchools in parifh churches were long continued, they appear to have been conducted more and more with negligence. It was the mercantile clafs in the towns which made the firft ftep in advance, by the eftablilhment of thofe foundations which have continued to the prefent time under the name of grammar fchools. Thefe fchools are traced back to the thirteenth century, when the mer- chant and Sentiments. 339 chant guilds, by whom they were founded, began to aflume a greater degree of importance, and they were ufually intended for the general benefit of the town, but were combined with an ecclefiaSlical eltabliih- ment for performing fervices for the fouls of the members of the guilds, in confequence of which, at the Reformation, they became involved in the fuperStitious ufes, and were diffolved and refounded in the reign of Edward VI., fo that they are now generally known as king Edward's foundations. The great object of thefe Schools was to give the instruction neceflary for admiffion into the universities; and they were in fome degree the anfwer to an appeal which came deeply from the mafs of the people, — for there was at this time a great fpontaneous eagernefs for learning, both for the fake of the learning itfelf, and becaufe it was a road to high distinction, which was not open to the malfes in any other direction. It was a very common practice for poor youths to go about the country during vacation time, to beg money to keep them at fchool during term. In Piers Ploughman, among the objects of legitimate charity, the writer enumerates money given to — Sette fcolers to fcole, Or to font othere crajtes. — Piers Ploughman, Vis., 1. 4,525. And in the popular complaints of the burden of taxation, involuntary and voluntary, the alms given to poor fcholars are often enumerated. Independent, however, of what may be confidered more especially as feholarlhip, a confiden.ble amount of instruction began now to be fpread abroad. Reading and writing were becoming much more general accomplishments, especially among ladies. Among the amufements of leifure hours, indeed, reading began now to occupy a much larger place than had been given to it in former ages. Even Hill, popular literature — in the Shape of tales, and ballads and Songs — was, in a great meafure, communicated orally. But much had been done during the fourteenth century towards Spreading a tafte for literature and knowledge; books were multiplied, and were extenfively read ; and wants were already arifing which loon led the way to that mod important of modern dis- coveries, the art of printing. Molt gentlemen had now a few books, and men 340 Hijlory of Domejlic Manners men of wealth had considerable libraries. The wills of this period, ftill preferved, often enumerate the books poffeifed by the teftator, and mow the high value which was fet upon them. Many of the illumi- nations of the fourteenth century prefent us with ingenious, and fome- times fantaftic, forms of book-cafes and book-ftands. In our cut No. 227, from a manufcript of metrical relations of miracles of the Virgin Mary, now preferved in the library of the city of Soiffons in France, we have a monk reading, feated before a book-ftand, the table of which moves up and down on a fcrew. Upon this table is the inkftand, and below it apparently the inkbottle ; and the table has in itfelf receptacles for books No. 227. A Monk at his Studies. and paper or parchment. In the wall of the room are cupboards, alfo for the reception of books, as we fee by one lying loofe in them. The man is here feated on a ftool ; but in our cut No. 228, taken from a manu- fcript in the National Library in Paris (No. 6985), he is feated in a chair, with a writing-deik attached to it. The fcribe holds in his hand a pen, with which he is writing, and a knife to fcratch the parchment where anything may need erafion. The table here is alfo of a curious con- ftrucfion, and it is covered with books. Other examples are found, which mow a?id Sentiments. 341 {how that conliderable ingenuity was employed in varying the forms of fuch library tables. The next cut (No. 229) is taken from one of the illuminations to a manufcript of the " Moralization of Chefs," by Jacques de Celfoles (MS. No. T.7.%. A Med'ueval Writer. Reg. 19 C. xi.), and is intended as a fort of figurative reprefentation of the induftrial clafs of fociety. It is curious becaufe the figure is made to carry fome of the principal implements of the chief trades or manufactures, and thus gives us their ordinary forms. We need only repeat the enumeration of thefe from the text. It is, we are told, a man who holds in his right hand a pair of {hears (tines forces) j in his left hand he has a great knife (un grant coujiel) ; "and he muft have at his girdle an midland (une efcriptoire) , and on his ear a pen for writing (et fur I'oreille une pome d efcripre)." Accordingly we fee the ink-pot and the cafe for writing implements fufpended at the girdle, but by accident the pen does not appear on the car in our engraving. It is curious through how great a length of time the practice of placing the pen beh tinned in ufe. 342 Hijlory of Domeflic Manners The punifhments of the middle ages are remarkable, flill more fo in other countries than in England, for a mixture of a fmall amount of feeling of ftricf juftice with a very large proportion of the mere feeling of vengeance. Savage ferocity in the commiflion of crime led to no lefs favage cruelty in retaliation. We have feen, in a former chapter, that this was not the fentiment of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, but that their criminal laws were extremely mild ; but after the Norman conqueft, more barbarous feelings on this fubject were brought over from the Con- tinent. Imprifonment itfelf, even before trial, was made frightfully cruel ; the dungeons into which the accufed were thrown were often filthy holes, fometimes with water running through them, and, as a refinement in cruelty, loathfome reptiles were bred in them, and the prifoners were not only allowed infufHcient food, but they were fome- times ftripped naked, and thrown into prifon in that condition. In the early Englifh romance of the " Seven Sages" (the text printed by Weber), when the emperor was perfuaded by his wife to order her ftep-fon for execution, he commanded that he fhould be taken, ftripped naked of his clothes, and then hanged aloft — Quik he het (commanded) his /one take, And [port him of clothes nake, And bet en him ivith Jcourges jlronge, And afterward him hegge (high) anhonge. — Weber, iii. 21. At the interceifion of one of the wife men, the youth is refpited and thrown into prifon, but without his clothing ; and when, on a fubfequent occafion, he was brought out of prifon for judgment, he remained ftill naked. Our three cuts which follow illuftrate the fubjeft of mediaeval punifh- ments for crimes and offences. The firft (No. 230) is taken from a well- known manufcript, in the Britifh Mufeum, of the fourteenth century (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), and reprefents a monk and a lady, whofe career has brought them into the flocks, an inftrument of punifhment which has figured in fome of our former chapters. It is a very old mode of punilhing offenders, and appears, under the Latin name of cippus, in early records of the middle ages. An old Englifh poem, quoted by Mr. Halliwell in his and Sentiments. 343 his Dictionary, from a manufeript at leaft as old as the fifteenth century, recounting the punifhments to which fome rnifdoers were condemned, (ays : — And tioenty of t/ies oder ay in a f>ytt, Injickkes and feturs for tofytt. The flocks are frequently referred to in writers of the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries, and they have not yet become entirely oblblete. No. 230. A Party in the Stocks. The Leeds Mercury for April 14, i860, informs us that, "A notorious character, named John Gambles, of Stanningley (Pudfey), having been convicted fome months ago for Sunday gambling, and fentenced to (it in the flocks for fix hoars, left the locality, returned lately, and fuffered his punifhment by fitting in the flocks from two till eight o'clock onThurfday laft." They were formerly employed alio, in place of fetters, in the infide of prifons — no doubt in order to caufe differing by irkibme reftraint ; and this was fo common that the Latin term cippus, and the French ceps, were commonly ufed to defignate the prifon itfelf, It may be remarked of thefe flocks, that they prefent a peculiarity which we may perhaps call a primitive character. They are not fupported on polls, or fixed in any way to the fpot, but evidently hold the people who are placed in them in confinement merely by their weight, and by the impollibility of walking with them on the legs, efpecially when more perfons than one arc ecu- fined in them. This is probably the way in which they were ufed in prifons. 344 Hijlory of Domejlic Manners A material part of the punifhment of the flocks, when employed in the open air, confifted, of courfe, in the public difgrace to which the victim was expofed. We might fuppofe that the fhame of fuch expofure was keenly felt in the middle ages, from the frequency with which it was employed. This expofure before the public was, we know, originally, the chief characteristic of the cucking-ftool, for the procefs of ducking the victim in the water feems to have been only added to it at a later period. Our cut No. 231, taken from an illumination in the unique manufcript of No. 231. An Offender Expofed to Public Shame. the " Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles," in the Hunterian Library, at Glafgow, reprefents a perfon thus expofed to the fcorn and derifion of the populace in the executioner's cart, which is drawn through the ftreets of a town. To be carried about in a cart was always considered as efpecially dif- grace ful, probably becaufe it was thus that malefactors were ufually con- ducted to the gallows. In the early romances of the cycle of king Arthur we have an incident which forms an apt illuftration of the preva- lence of this feeling. Sir Lancelot, when hastening to refcue his lady, queen and Sentiments 345 queen Guenever, has the misfortune to lofe his horfe, and, meeting with a carter, he feizes his cart as the only means of conveyance, for the weight of his armour prevented him from walking. Queen Guenever and her ladies, from a bay window of the cattle of fir Meliagraunce, faw him approach, and one of the latter exclaimed, " See, madam, where as rideth in a cart a goodly armed knight ! I fuppofe that he rideth to hanging." Guenever, however, faw by his fhield that it was fir Lancelot. "'Ah, moft noble knight,' fhe faid, when the faw him in this condition, ' I fee well that thou haft been hard befted, when thou rideft in a cart.' Then the rebuked that lady that compared him to one riding in a cart to hanging. ' It was foul mouthed,' faid the queen, ' and evil compared, fo to compare the moft noble knight of the world in fuch a fliameful death. Oh Jhefu! defend him and keep him,' faid the queen, 'from all mif- chievous end.' " Our next cut (No. 232) is taken from the fame manufcript in the Britiih Mufeum which furnifhed us with No. 230. The playful draughtf- ^/S^g/C^C No. 232. A Criminal drawn to the Gallows. man has reprefented a fcene from the world " upfb-down," in which the rabbits (or perhaps hares) are hading to execution their old enemy the dog. y y The 346 Hijiory of Dome flic Manners The gallows and the wheel were inftruments of execution of fuch common ufe in the middle ages that they were continually before people's eyes. Every town, every abbey, and almoft every large manorial lord, had the right of hanging, and a gallows or tree with a man hanging upon it was fo frequent an object in the country that it feems to have been No. 23^. Mediaval Ornaments of the Landfcape. almoft a natural ornament of a landfcape, and it is thus introduced by no means uncommonly in mediaeval manufcripts. The two examples given in our cut No. 233 are taken from the illuminations in the manufcript of the romance of the " Chevalereux comte d'Artois," in the manufcript from which this romance was printed by M. Barrois. and Sentiments. 347 CHAPTER XVI. OLD ENGLISH COOKERY. HISTORY OF " GOURMANDISE." ENGLISH COOKERY OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. BILLS OF FARE. GREAT FEASTS. I HAVE fpoken of the ceremonious forms of the fervice of the mediaeval table, but we are juft now arrived at the period when we begin to have full information on the compofition of the culinary dilhes in which our anceftors indulged, and it will perhaps be well to give a brief fummary of that information as illuftrative both of the period we have now been conlidering, and of that which follows. There is a part of the human frame, not very noble in itfelf, which, nevertheless, many people are laid to worfhip, and which has even exer- cifed at times a conliderable influence over man's deftinies. Gaftrolatry, indeed, is a worthip which, at one time or other, has prevailed in different forms over all parts of the world — its hiftory takes an extenfive range, and is not altogether without intereft. One of the firft objeds of fearch in a man who has juft rifen from favage life to civilization is rather naturally refinement in his food, and this defire more than keeps pace with the advance of general refinement, until cookery becomes one of the moll important of fecial inftitutions. During all periods of which we read in hillory, great public a6ts, of whatever kind, even to the confecration of a church, have been accompanied with feafting ; and the lame rule holds good throughout all the different phafes of our fecial relations. The materials for the hiftory of eating are, indeed, abundant, and the held is extenfive. William of Malmelbury, as we have feen before, tells us thai the Anglo-Saxons indulged in great feafting, and lived in very mean boufes ; whereas the Normans eat with moderation, but built for themfelves magnificent manfions. Various allufiona in old writers Leave little room for 348 Hiflory of JDomeJiic Manners for doubt that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers indulged in much eating ; but, as far as we can gather, for our information is very imperfect, this indulgence confifted more in the quantity than in the quality of the food, for their cookery feems to have been in general what we call "plain." Refinement in cookery appears to have come in with the Normans ; and from the twelfth century to the fixteenth we can trace the love of the table continually increafing. The monks, whofe inftitution had, to a certain degree, feparated them from the reft of the world, and who ufually, and from the circumftances perhaps naturally, fought fenfual gratifications, fell foon into the fin of gluttony, and they feem to have led the way in refinement in the variety and elaborate character of their difhes. Giraldus Cambrenfis, an ecclefiaftic himfelf, complains in very indignant terms of the luxurious table kept by the monks of Canterbury in the latter half of the twelfth century ; and he relates an anecdote which fhows how far at that time the clergy were, in this refpect, in advance of the laity. One day, when Henry II. paid a vifit to Win- chefter, the prior and monks of St. S with in met him, and fell on their knees before him to complain of the tyranny of their bifhop. When the king afked what was their grievance, they faid that their table had been curtailed of three difhes. The king, fomewhat furprifed at this com- plaint, and imagining, no doubt, that the bifhop had not left them enough to eat, inquired how many difhes he had left them. They replied, ten; at which the king, in a fit of indignation, told them that he himfelf had no more than three difhes to his table, and uttered an imprecation againft the bifhop, unlefs he reduced them to the fame number. But although we have abundant evidence of the general fact that our Norman and Englifli forefathers loved the table, we have but imperfect information on the character of their cookery until the latter half of the fourteenth century, when the rules and receipts for cooking appear to have been very generally committed to writing, and a certain number of cookery-books belonging to this period and to the following century remain in manufcript, forming very curious records of the domeftic life of our forefathers. From thefe I will give a few illuftrations of this fubject. and Sentiments. 349 fubjeft. Thefe cookery-books fometimes contain plans for dinners of different defcriptions, or, as we lhould now fay, bills of fare, which enable us, by comparing the names of the dillies with the receipts for making them, to form a tolerably diftinct notion of the manner in which our forefathers fared at table from four to five hundred years ago. The firft example we ihall give is furniihed by a manufcript of the beginning of the fifteenth century, and belongs to the latter part of the century pre- ceding ; that is, to the reign of Richard II., a period remarkable for the falhion for luxurious living : it gives us the following bill of fare for the ordinary table of a gentleman, which I will arrange in the form of a bill of fare of the prefent day, modernizing the language, except in the cafe of obfolete words. Firft Courfe. Boar's head enarmed {larded), and " bruce," for pottage. Beef. Mutton. Pestles (legs) of Pork. Swan. Roasted Rabbit. Tart. Second Courfe. Drope and Rose, for pottage. ard. Pheasant. Chickens, " farsed" and roasted. " Malachis," baked. Third Courfe. Ivfal Conings (rabbits), in gravy, and hare, in " brase," for pottage. Teals, roasted. Woodcocks. Snipes. " Raffyolys," baked. " Flampoyntes.'" It may be well to make the general remark, that the ordinary number of courfes at dinner was three. To begin, then, with the iirlt di(h, boar's- head was a favourite article at table, and needs no explanation. The pottage which follows, under the name of bruce, was made as follows, according to a receipt in the fame cookery-book which has furnifhed the bill of fare:— Take the umbles of a swine, and parboil them (boil them Jlowly), and cut them small, and put them in a pot, with some good broth; then take the whites of leeks, and slit them, and cut them small, and put them in, with minced onions, ami let it all boil ; next take bread steeped in broth, and "draw it up" with blood and vinegar, and put it into a pot, with pepper and cloves, and let it boil ; and serve all this together. In o$o Hijiory oj Domeflic Manners In the fecond courfe, drope is probably an error for drore, a pottage, which, according to the fame cookery-book, was made as follows : — Take almonds, and blanch and grind them, and mix them with good meat broth, and seethe this in a pot ; then mince onions, and fry them in fresh " grease," and put them to the almonds; take small birds, and parboil them, and throw them into the pottage, with cinnamon and cloves and a little " fair grease," and boil the whole. Rofe was made as follows : — Take powdered rice, and boil it in almond-milk till it be thick, and take the brawn of capons and hens, beat it in a mortar, and mix it with the preceding, and put the whole into a pot, with powdered cinnamon and cloves, and whole mace, and colour it with saunders (fandal-ioood). It may be neceffary to explain that almond-milk confifted limply of almonds ground and mixed with milk or broth. The farfure, or fluffing, for chickens was made thus : — Take fresh pork, seethe it, chop it small, and grind it well ; put to it hard yolks of eggs, well mixed together, with dried currants, powder of cinnamon and maces, cubebs, and cloves whole, and roast it. I am unable to explain the meaning of malachis, the dilh which concludes this courfe. The firfl dilh in the third courfe, coneys, or rabbits, in gravy, was made as follows : — Take rabbits, and parboil them, and chop them in "gobbets," and seethe them in a pot with good broth ; then grind almonds, " dress them up" with beef broth, and boil this in a pot ; and, after passing it through a strainer, put it to the rabbits, adding to the whole cloves, maces, pines (the kernels of the fine cone), and sugar ; colour it with sandal-wood, saffron, bastard or other wine, and cinnamon powder mixed together, and add a little vinegar. Not lefs complicated was the boar in hrafe, or brafey : — Take the ribs of a boar, while they are fresh, and parboil them till they are half boiled ; then roast them, and, when they are roasted, chop them, and put them in a pot with good fresh beef broth and wine, and add cloves, maces, pines, currants, and powdered pepper; then put chopped onions in a pan, with fresh grease, fry them first and then boil them; next, take bread, steeped in broth, " draw it up" and put it to the onions, and colour it with sandal-wood and saffron, and as it settles, put a little vinegar mixed with powdered cinnamon to it ; then take ahd Se?itiments. 3 5 1 take brawn, and cut it into slices two inches long, and throw it into the pot with the foregoing, and serve it all up together. RajTyolys were a fort of patties, made as follows : — Take swine's flesh, seethe it, chop it small, add to it yolks of eggs, and mix them well together,- put to this a little minced lard, grated cheese, powdered ginger, and cinnamon ; make of this balls of the size of an apple, and wrap them up in the cawl of the swine, each ball by itself ; make a raised crust of dough, and put the ball in it, and bake it 5 when they are baked, take yolks of eggs well beaten, with sugar and pepper, coloured with saffron, and pour this mixture over them. Flampoyntes were made thus : — Take good "interlarded" pork, seethe it, and chop it, and grind it small 5 put to it good fat cheese grated, and sugar and pepper ; put this in raised paste like the preceding; then make a thin leaf of dough, out of which cut small "points," fry these in grease, and then stick them in the foregoing mixture after it has been put in the crust, and bake it. Such was a tolerably refpeclable dinner at the end of the fourteenth century; but the fame treatife gives us the following bill of fare, for a larger dinnerpthough ftill arranged in three courfes : — Firjl Courfe. Browet farsed, and charlet, for pottage. Baked mallard. Teals. Small birds. Almond milk served with them. Capon roasted with the syrup. Roasted veal. Pig roasted "'endored,' and served with the yolk on his neck over gilt." Herons. A "leche." A tart of flesh. Second Courfe. Browet of Almayne and Viaunde rial for pottage. Mallard. Roasted rabbits. Pheasant. Venison. Jelly. A leche. Urchynnes (hedgehogs). Pome de orynge. Third Courfe. Boar in egurdouce, and Mawmene, for pottage. Cranes. Kid. Curlew. Partridge. (All roasted.) A leche. A crusfade. A peacock endored and roasted, and served with the skin. Cockagris. Flaumpoyntes. Daryoles. Pears in syrup. The 352 Hijlory of Dome/lie Manners The receipt for making farfed browet, or Irowet farfyn, is literally as follows : — Take almonds and pound them, and mix with beef broth, so as to make it thick, and put it in a pot with cloves, maces, and figs, currants, and minced ginger, and let all this seethe ; take bread, and steep it in sweet wine, and "draw it up," and put it to the almonds with sugar; then take conyngs {rabbits), or rabbettes {young rabbits), or squirrels, and first parboil and then fry them, and partridges parboiled ; fry them whole for a lord, but otherwise chop them into gobbets; and when they are almost fried, cast them in a pot, and let them boil altogether, and colour with sandal-wood and saffron; then add vinegar and powdered cinnamon strained with wine, and give it a boil; then take it from the fire, and see that the pottage is thin, and throw in a good quantity of powdered ginger. It is repeated, at the end of this receipt, that, for a lord, a coney, rabbit, fquirrel, or partridge, lhould be ferved whole in this manner. The other pottage in this courfe, charlet, was lefs complex, and was made thus : — Take sweet cow's milk, put it in a pan, throw into it the yolks and white of eggs, and boiled pork, pounded, and sage ; let it boil till it curds, and colour it with saffron. The following was the fyrup for a capon : — Take almonds, and pound them, and mix them with wine, till they make a thick "milk,'" and colour it with saffron, and put it in a saucepan, and put into it a good quantity of figs and currants, and add ground ginger, cloves, galingale {a ffice much ujed in the middle ages), and cinnamon ; let all this boil ; add sugar, and pour it over your capon or pheasant. The leche in this firfl courfe was, perhaps, the dim which is called in the receipts a leche lumbarde, which was made thus : — Take raw pork, and pull off the skin, and pick out the skin sinews, and pound the pork in a mortar with raw eggs ; add to it sugar, salt, raisins, currants, minced dates, powdered pepper, and cloves; put it in a bladder, and let it seethe till it be done enough, and then cut it into slips of the form of peas-cods : grind raisins in a mortar, mix them with red wine, and put to them almond-milk, coloured with sandal- wood and saffron, and add pepper and cloves, and then boil the whole; when it is boiled, mix cinnamon and ginger with wine and pour on it, and so serve it. Browet of Almayne, which comes in with the fecond courfe of this dinner, and Sentiments. 353 dinner, was a rather celebrated pottage. It was made in the following manner : — Take coneys, and parboil them, and chop them in gobbets, anc J p U t them with ribs of pork or kid into a pot, and seethe it; then take ground almonds, and mix them with beef broth, and put this in a pot with cloves, maces, pines, minced ginger, and currants, and with onions, and boil it, and colour it with saffron, and when this is boiled, take the flesh out from the broth, and put it in it; and take alkanet" {alkanet is explained in the dictionaries as the name of a plant, tuild buglos ; it appears to ha-ue been used in cookery to give colour), and fry it, and press it into the pot through a strainer, and finally add a little vinegar and ground ginger mixed together. The compofition of viande royale was as follows : — Take Greek wine, or Rhenish wine, and clarified honey, and mix them well with ground rice, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, saffron, sugar, mulberries, and sandal-wood ; boil the mixture, and salt it, and take care that it be thick. Pome de oringe was quite a different thing to what we mould expect from the name. It was made as follows : — Take pork liver, pound it well raw, and put to it ground pepper, doves, cin- namon, saffron, and currants ; make of this balls like apples, and wet them well in the white of eggs, and then put them in boiling water, and let them seethe, and when they have seethed a while, take them out, and put them on a spit, and roast them well ; then take parsley, and grind it, and wring it up with eggs through a strainer, and put a little flour to it, and with this " endore" the balls while roasting, and, if you will, you may take saffron, sandal-wood, or indigo, to colour them. Endore was the technical term of the kitchen for waihing over an article of cookery with yolks of eggs, or any other liquid, to give a lhiny appearance to its exterior when cooked. Both the pottages in the third courfe are rather elaborate ones. The following was the procefs of making boar in egurdouce, or egredouce, a word which of courfe means " four-fweet : " — Take dates, washed clean, and currants, and boil them, and pound them together, and in pounding put cloves to them, and mix them up with vinegar, or clarey, or other sweet wine, and put it in a fair pot, and boil it well ; and then put to it half a quartern of sugar, or else honey, and half an ounce of cinnamon in powder, and in the "setting down" take a little vinegar and mix with it, and half an ounce of ground ginger, and a little sandal-wood and saffron; ami in the boiling put minced ginger to it; next, take fresh brawn, and seethe it, and then cut z z it 354 Hi (lory of Dome/lie Manners it in thin slices, and lay three in a dish, and then take half a pound of pines, and fry them in fresh grease, and throw the pines into it ; and when they are thoroughly hot take them out with a skimmer, and let them dry, and cast them into the same pot; and then put the syrup above the brawn in the dishes, and serve it." Mawmene was made according to the following receipt : — Take almonds and blanch them and pound them, and mix them with water or wine, and take the brawn of capons or pheasants, and pound it small, and mix it with the other, and add ground rice, and put it in a pot and let it boil ; and add powder of ginger and cloves, and cinnamon and sugar; and take rice, and parboil it and grind it, and add it to them, and colour it with sandal-wood, and pour it out in dishes; and take the grains of pomegranates and stick in it, or almonds or pines fried in grease, and strew sugar over it. The following was the manner of making the crujlade, mentioned in the third courfe of this bill of fare : — Take chickens, and pigeons, and small birds, and make them clean, and chop them to pieces, and stew them altogether in a good broth made of fair grease and ground pepper and cloves, and add verjus to it, and colour it with saffron ; then make raised crusts, and pinch them and lay the flesh therein, and put to it currants, and ground ginger, and cinnamon ; and take raw eggs, and break them, and strain them through a strainer into the pottage of the stew, and stir it well together, and pour it into the raised crusts, above the flesh, and then place the covers on them and serve them. The procefs of ferving a peacock "with the ikin" alfo requires fome explanation. The fkin was firft ftripped off, with the feathers, tail, and neck and head, and it was fpread on a table and ftrewed with ground cummin ; then the peacock was taken and roafted, and " endored" with raw yolks of eggs ; and when roafted, and after it had been allowed to cool a little, it was fewn into the ikin, and thus ferved on the table, always with the laft courfe, when it looked as though the bird were alive. To make cokagrys, you muft Take an old cock and pull him, and wash him, and skin him all but the legs, and fill him full of the stuffing made for the pome de oringe; and also take a pig and skin him from the middle downwards, and fill him full of the same stuff- ing, and sew them fast together, and seethe them; and when they have seethed a good while, take them up and put them on a spit, and roast them well, and endore them with yolks of eggs mixed with saffron; and when they are roasted, before placing them on the table, lay gold and silver foil on them. Flampoyntes and Sentiments. 355 Flampoyntes have been already explained. Pears in fyrup were merely boiled in wine, and feafoned with iligar and fpices. In thefe bills of fare, our readers who believe in the prevalence of "old Engliih roafl beef," will find that belief Angularly dillipated, for our anceftors feem to have indulged in all forts of elaborately made dilhes, in which immenfe quantities of fpices were employed. The number of receipts in thefe early cookery-books is wonderfully great, and it is e\ ident that people fought variety almoft above all other things. Among the Sloane manufcripts in the library of the Britiih Mufeum, there is a very complete cookery-book (MS. No. 1201) belonging to the latter part of the fifteenth century, which gives feven bills of fare of feven dinners, each to differ entirely in the dilhes compofing it from the other, with the object, of courfe, of giving a different dinner every day during feven conlecutive days. In the foregoing bills of fare, we have feen that on flefh-davs no fifh was introduced on the table, but filh is introduced along with flelh in the feven dinners juft alluded to, which are, moreover, curious for the number of articles, chiefly birds, introduced in them, which we are not now accuftomed to eat. The firft of thefe bills of fare, which are all limited to two courfes, runs as follows : — Firji Courfe, of Eleven Dijlies. Nowmbles (umbles) of an harte. Vyand ryalle. The syde of an hert rostede. Swanne with ohauderoun. Fesaunt rostede. Bytore {bittern) rostede. Pyke, and grete gurnarde. Haggesse of Almayne. Blaunche cusrade. A sotelte, a blake bore enarmede with golde. Second Courfe, of Eleven Diflies. Geld. Cream of almonds. Kyud kydde. Fillets of an herte endored. Squyrelle rost. Chykons (c/iickem) ylarded. Partriche and lark rost. Perche and porpoys rost. Fry tours Lumbard. Payne puffe (puff-bread). A soteltc, a castelle of sylver with fanes (-vanes or fags) of gold. It appears that at this time it was confidered mine abfolutely neceflary than at an earlier period, that each courfe at table [hould be accompanied with a fubtilty, or ornamental device in paftry, reprefenting groups oi various 356 Hi/lory of Domeftic Manners various defcriptions, as here a black boar and a caftle. We have here the porpoife eaten among fifties, and the fquirrel among animals ; we have before feen hedgehogs ferved at table. In the " Menagier de Paris," a French compilation, made in the year 1393, a hedgehog is directed to have its throat cut, and to be Ikinned and emptied, and then to be arranged as a chicken, and preffed and well dried in a towel ; after this it was to be roafted and eaten with " cameline," a word the exact mean- ing of which feems not to be known ; or in pafhy, with duckling fauce. Squirrels were to be treated as rabbits. The fame book gives directions for cooking magpies, rooks, and jackdaws. The fecond of the feven bills of fare given in the Sloane Manufcript contains turtles (the bird) and throttles, roafted 5 in the third we have roafted egrets (a fpecies of heron), ftarlings, and linnets ; in the fourth, " martinettes ;" in the fifth, barnacles, "molette," fparrows, and, among fifties, minnows ; and in the fixth, roafted cormorants, heathcocks, iheldrakes, dotterels, and thrufties. The feventh bill of fare runs thus : — Firjl Courfe, of Nine Di/lies. Long wortes (vegetables). An hen in dnbate. Shuldres of motoun. Wylde goos. Wode doves. Fresh laumprey. Grete codlynge. Bonsomers. Tortons, in paste. Second Courfe, of Ten Difhes. Pynnonade (a confection of almonds and pines). Malardes of the rivere. Cotes, rost, and dampettes. Quayles, and goldefynche. Ele reversed. Breme de mere. Frypours ryalle. Viande en feast. Quarters of lambe. The bills of fare I have thus given are intended for dinners of mode- rate fize, but I might eafily have given much larger ones, though we fhould have learnt nothing more by them than by the fmaller ones, from which the reader will be able to form a very good judgment of the general ftyle of eating among our forefathers, when they lived well. The fifteenth and Sentiments. 357 fifteenth century, efpecially, was celebrated for its great feafts, at which the confumption of provifions was enormous. The bills of expenfes of fome of them have been preferved. In the fixth year of the reign of Edward IV. (a.d. 1466), George Nevile was made archbiihop of York, and the account of the expenditure for the feaft on that occaiion contains the following articles : — Three hundred quarters of wheat, three hundred tuns of ale, one hundred tuns of wine, one pint of hypocras, a hundred and four oxen, fix wild bulls, a thoufand fheep, three hundred and four calves, the fame number of fwine, four hundred fwans, two thoufand geefe, a thoufand capons, two thoufand pigs, four hundred plovers, a hundred dozen of quails, two hundred dozen of the birds called " rees," a hundred and four peacocks, four thoufand mallards and teals, two hundred and four cranes, two hundred and four kids, two thoufand chickens, four thoufand pigeons, four thoufand crays, two hundred and four bitterns, four hundred herons, two hundred pheafants, five hundred partridges, four hundred woodcocks, one hundred curlews, a thoufand egrettes, more than five hundred flags, bucks, and roes, four thoufand cold venifon parties, a thoufand "parted" dimes of jelly, three thoufand plain dilhes of jelly, four thoufand cold baked tarts, fifteen hundred hot venifon parties, two thoufand hot cuftards, fix hundred and eight pikes and breams, twelve porpoifes and feals, with a proportionate quantity of Ibices, fugared delicacies, and wafers or cakes. On the inthronation of William Warham as archbiihop of Canterbury in 1 504, the twentieth year of the reign of Henry VII., a feaft was given for which the following provifions were purchafed : — Fifty-four quarters of wheat, twenty {hillings' worth of fine flour for making wafers, iix Inns or pipes of red wine, four of claret wine, one of choice white wine, and one of white wine for the kitchen, one butt of malmfey, one pipe of wine of Ofey, two tierces of Rhenilh wine, four tuns of London ale, iix of Kentifh ale, and twenty of Engliih beer, thirty-three pounds' worth of fpices, three hundred lings, fix hundred codfifih, feven barrels of faked falmon, forty frefh falmon, fourteen barrels of white herrings, twenty cades of red herrings (each cade containing fix hundred herrings, which would make a total of twelve thoufand), five barrels of falted fturgeons, two 358 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners two barrels of faked eels, fix hundred frefh eels, eight thoufand whelks, five hundred pikes, four hundred tenches, a hundred carps, eight hundred breams, two barrels of falted lampreys, eighty frefh lampreys, fourteen hundred frefh lamperns, a hundred and twenty-four falted congers, two hundred great roaches, a quantity of feals and porpoifes, with a confider- able quantity of other fifh. It will be underftood at once that this feaft took place on a fifh day. This habit of profufe and luxurious living feems to have gradually declined during the fixteenth and firft part of the feventeenth century, until it was extinguifhed in the great convulfion which produced the interregnum. After the Reftoration, we find that the table, among all claffes, was furnifhed more foberly, and with plainer and more fubftantial difhes. and Sentiments. 359 CHAPTER XVII. SLOW PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. ENLARGE- MENT OF THE HOUSES. THE HALL AND ITS FURNITURE. ARRANGE- MENT OF THE TABLE FOR MEALS. ABSENCE OF CLEANLINESS. MANNERS AT TABLE. THE PARLOUR. THE progrefs of fociety in the two countries which were moll clofely allied in this refpect, England and France, was flow during the fifteenth century. Both countries were engaged either in mutual hof- tility or in defolating civil wars, which fo utterly checked all fpirit of improvement, that the afpect of fociety differed little between the begin- ning and the end of the century in anything but drefs. At the clofe of the fourteenth century, the middle claffes in England had made great advance in wealth and in independence, and the wars of the rofes, which were fo destructive to the nobility, as well as the tendency of the crown to fet the gentry up as a balance to the power of the feudal barons, helped to make that advance more certain and rapid. This increafe of wealth appears in the multiplication of furniture and of other houfehold implements, efpecially thofe of a more valuable defcription. We are furprifed, in running our eye through the wills and inventories during this period, at the quantity of plate which was ufually poflefled by country gentlemen and refpe&able burghers. There was alio a great increafe both in the number and magnitude of the houfes which intervened between the caftle and the cottage. Inftead of having one or two bed- rooms, and turning people into the hall to ileep at night, we now find whole fuits of chambers ; while, where before, the family lived chiefly in the hall, privacy was fought by the addition of parlours, of which there were often more than one in an ordinary fized houfe. The hall was in fact already beginning to diminilh in importance in companion with the reli of 3 6 ° Hi/lory of Domejlic Manners of the houfe. Whether in town or country, houfes of any magnitude were now generally built round an interior court, into which the rooms almofl invariably looked, only fmall and unimportant windows looking towards the ftreet or country. This arrangement of courfe originated in the neceility of ftudying fecurity, a neceffity which was never felt more No. 234. Court of a Houfe of the Fifteenth Century. than in the fifteenth century. We have lefs need to feek our illuftrations from manufcripts during this period, on account of the numerous examples of buildings which hull remain in a greater or lefs ftate of perfection, but ftill an illumination now and then prefents us with an interesting picture of and Sentiments. 361 of the architectural arrangements of a dwelling-houfe in the fifteenth century, which may be advantageouily compared with the buildings thai ftill exift. One of thefe is reprefented in our cut No. 234, taken from an illuminated copy of the French tranflation of Valerius Maximus (MS. No. 6984, in the National Library at Paris). The building to the left is probably the ftaircafe turret of the gateway ; that before us is the mats of the houfehold apartments. We are fuppofed to be Handing within the court. At the foot of the turret is the well, a very important object within the court, where it was always placed in houfes of this defcription, as in the troubles of thofe days the houfehold might be obliged to (hut themfelves up for a day or two and depend for their iupply of water entirely on what they could get within their walls. The cut here given (No. 234) is a remarkably good and perfect repre- fentation of the exterior, looking towards the court, of the domeftic buildings. The door on the ground floor to the right is probably, to judge by the pofition of the windows, the entrance to the hall. The fteps leading to the firft floor are outride the wall, an arrangement which is not uncommon in the exifting examples of houfes of this period in England. We have alfo here the open gallery round the chambers on the firft floor, which is fo frequently met with in our houfes of the fifteenth century. It is probable that within the door at the top of the external flight of fteps, as here reprefented, a fhort ftaircafe led up to the floor on which the chambers were fituated. Perhaps ii may have been a ftaircafe into the gal- lery, as the opening round the corner to the right feems to be a door from the gallery into the chambers. In another illumination in the fame manufcripl (cut No. 235), a knight is reprefented knocking at the door of a houfe into which he feeks admittance. The plain knocker and the ring 3 a will ,/ Knight r at the Door. 362 Hijlory of "Domefiic Manners will be recognifed at once by all who have been accuftomed to examine the original doors ft'dl remaining in fo many of our old buildings, but why the perfon who thus fignifies his wilh to enter fhould hold the ring with his right hand, and the knocker with his left, is not very clear. The knocker, inftead of being plain, as in this cut, was often very ornamental. This is, of courfe, the outer door of the houfe, and our readers will not overlook the loophole and the fmall window through which the perfon who knocked might be examined, and, if neceffary, interrogated, before the door was opened to him. Let us now pafs through the door on the ground floor, always open by day, into the hall. This was ftill the moft fpacious apartment in the houfe, and it was ftill alio the public room, open to all who were admitted within the precincts. The hall continued to be fcantily furniflied. The permanent furniture confided chiefly in benches, and in a feat with a back to it for the fuperior members of the family. The head table at leaft was now generally a permanent one, and there were in general more permanent tables, or tables dormant, than formerly, but ftill the greater part of the tables in the hall were made for each meal by placing boards upon treftles. Cufhions, with ornamental cloths, called hankers and dorfers, for placing over the benches and backs of the feats of the better perfons at the table, were now alfo in general ufe. Tapeftry was fuf- pended on the walls of the hall on fpecial occafions, but it does not appear to have been of common ufe. Another article of furniture had now become common— the buffet, or ftand on which the plate and other veffels were arranged. Thefe articles appear to have been generally in the keeping of the butler, and only to have been brought into the hall and arranged on the buffet at meal times, for fhow as much as for ufe. The dinner party in our cut No. 236, taken from an illumination of a manufcript of the romance of the " Comte d'Artois," formerly in the pcffeffion of M. Barrois, a diftinguifhed and well-known collector in Paris, reprefents a royal party dining at a table with much fimplicity. The ornamental veffel on the table is probably the falt-cellar, which was a very important article at the feaft. Beiides the general utility of fait, it was regarded with profoundly fuperftitious feelings, and it was confidered definable and Sentiments. 3 6 3 defirable that it ihould be the firit article placed on the table. We haw ftill a feeling of fuperftition with regard to the fpilling of fait. A metrical code for the behaviour of fervants, written in the fifteenth century, direcls that in preparing the table for meals, the table-cloth was firil to be fpread, No. 236. A Dinner Scene at Court. and then, invariably and in all places, the fait was to be placed upon it ; next were to be arranged fucccllively, the knives, the bread, the wine, and then the meat, after which the waiter was to bring other thing-;, when each was called for : — Tu dois mcttre prem'ierement En tous lieux et en tout hojiel La nappe, ct apres le Jcl ; Couftcaulx, pain, -via, et puis viande, Puis apportcr ce quon demande. In our laft cut (No. 236) it will be feen that the "nappe" is duly laid, and upon it are feen the falt-cellar, the bread (round cakes), and the cups for wine. Knives are wanting, and the plates feldom appear on the table 3 6 4 Hijiory ofDomefiic Manners table in thefe dinner fcenes of the fifteenth century, any more than in the previous period. This, no doubt, arofe from the common practice at that time, of people carrying their own knives with them in a fheath attached to the girdle. We find, moreover, few knives enumerated in our inventories of houfehold goods and chattels. In the Englifh metrical " Stans Puer ad Menfam," or rules for behaviour at table, written by Lydgate, the gueft is told to " bring no knyves unikoured to the table," which can only mean that he is to keep his own knife that he carries with him clean. The two fervants are here duly equipped for duty, with the towel thrown over the fhoulder. The table appears to be placed on two board-lhaped treftles, but the artift has forgotten to indicate the feats. But in our next cut (No. 237), a very private party, taken from a manu- No. 2,37. A Private Dinner. fcript of the early French tranilation of the Decameron (in the National Library at Paris, No. 6887), are placed in a feat with a back to it, although the table is frill evidently a board placed upon treftles. It may be remarked that in dinner fcenes of this century, the gentlemen at table are almoft always reprefented with their hats on their heads. As we have already hinted, the inventories of this period give us curious information on the furniture of houfes of different defcriptions. We learn from one of thefe, made in 1446, that there were at that time belonging to the hall of the priory of Durham, one dorfal or dorfer, embroidered with the birds of St. Cuthbert and the arms of the church, five pieces of red cloth (three embroidered and two plain), no doubt for the and Sentiments. 365 the fame purpofe of throwing over the feats ; fix cuihions ; three bafins of brafs ; and three wafhing-bafins. A gentleman at Northallerton, in Yorkihire, who made his will in 1444, had in his hall, thirteen jugs or pots of brafs, four bafins, and two ewers (of eourfe, for walhing the hands), three candlefticks, five (metal) dilhes, three kettles, nine veflels of lead and pewter, "utenfils of iron belonging to the hall," valued at two fhillings — probably the fire-irons, one dorfer and one banker. An inventory of a gentleman's goods in the year 1463, apparently in the fouthern part of England (printed in the "New Retrofpettive Review"), gives, as the contents of the hall, — a Handing fpear, a hanging of fiained work, a mappa-mundi (a map of the world) of parchment — a curious article for the hall, a fide-table, one "dormond" table (a permanent table), a beam with fix candlefticks. A vocabulary of the fifteenth century ("Volume of Vocabularies," p. 197) enumerates, as the ordinary furniture of the hall, a board, a treftle, a banker, a dorfer, a natte (table-cloth), a table dormant, a bafin, a laver, fire on a hearth, a brand or torch, a yule-block, an andiron, tongs, a pair of bellows, wood for the fire, a long fettle, a chair, a bench, a ftool, a cuihion, and a fcreen. The permanent or dormant table, is ihown in the fcene given in our cut No. 238, taken from the beautifully illu- minated manufcript of the " Roman de la Violette," at Paris, fome fac- fimiles from which were privately diftributed by the comte de Baftard, from whom I had the honour of receiving a copy. We have here alio the feat with its back, and the buffet with its jugs and dilhes. In our cut No. 236, we had the waits or trumpeters, who were always attached to the halls of great people to announce the commencement of the dinner. Only perfons of a certain rank were allowed this piece oi orientation; but everybody had minftrelfy to dinner who could obtain it, and when it was at hand. The wandering minftrel was welcome in every hall, and for this very reafon the clafs of ambulatory muficians was very numerous. In the fcene given in this cut (No. 238), the wandering minftrel, or, according to the ftory, a nobleman in that difguife, has jufl arrived, and he is allowed, without ceremony or fufpicion, to leal himfelf at the fire, apparently on a ftool, befide the two individuals at dinner. The 366 Hijiory of Domejiic Marnier s The floor of the hall was ufually paved with tiles, or with flag ftones, and very little care appears to have been fhown to cleanlinefs, as far as it was concerned, except that it was ufual to ftrew it with rulhes. Among the various French metrical " Contenances de Table," or directions for No. 238. Reception of the Minjirel. behaviour at table, of the fifteenth century, the perfon inftrucfed is told that he rauft not /pit upon the table at dinner time — Ne craiche par dejfus la table, Car c^ejl chofe dejcon-venable, which is neceflarily an intimation that he muft ipit upon the floor. In another of tbefe pieces he is told that when he walhes his mouth at table, he muft not rejecf the water into the bafin — Quant ta bouche tu laveras, Ou bacin point ne cracheras. The reafon for this rule was evidently the circumftance that one bafin might and Sentiments. 367 might ferve for all the company ; but the alternative again was of courfe to fpit the water out upon the floor. Again, in one of thefe codes, the learner is told that when he makes fops in his wine, he muft either drink all the wine in the glafs, or throw what remains on the floor : — Enfant, fe tu fa'i-x, en ton verre Souppes dc -vin aucunement , Boy tout le nj'm enticrement, Ou autrement le geSle a terrc. Or, as it is expreffed in another fimilar code more briefly — Se tu fan fouppes en ton verre, Boy le win ou le gette a terre. There can be no doubt that all this muft have made an extremely dirty floor. Another rather naive direction fhows that no more attention was paid to the cleanlinefs of the benches and feats ; it is considered neceffary to tell the fcholar always to look at his feat before he fits down at table, to affure himfelf that there is nothing dirty upon it ! — Enfant, prens de regarder peine Sur kfiege ou tu teferras, Se aucune chofe y -verras Qtiifoit dejbonnefte ou -vilaine. The fireplace at the fide of the hall, with hearth and chimney, were now in general ufe. An example is given in our laft cut; another will be feen in our cut No. 239, and here, though evidently in the hall, and a monaftic hall too, the procefs of cooking is purfued at it. The monks appear to be taking a joyous repaft, not quite in keeping with the firki rule of their order, and the way in which they are conducting themfelves towards the women who have been introduced into the monafterv dors not fpeak in favour of monaftic continence. This picture is from a manufcript bible, of the fifteenth century, in the National Library at Paris (No. 6829). Manners at table appear to have been Lofing fome of the ftrictnefs ami (tiiliii'ls of their ceremonial, while they retained their rudenefs. The bowl of water was carried round to the guefts, and each wafhed his hands before 3 68 Hijiory of Domeftic Manners before dinner, but the wafhing after dinner appears now to have been commonly omitted. In one of the directions for table already quoted, No. 2.39. A Monaftlc Ftaft. the fcholar is told that he muft warn himfelf when he rifes from bed in the morning, once at dinner, and once at fupper, in all thrice a day : — Enfant, cThonneur lave tes mains A ton lever, a ton dijner, Et puis au foupper, fans finer ; Cefont troisfoys a tout le mains. And again, in another fimilar code, — Lave tes mains devant dijner, Et aufii quant vouldras foupper. Still people put their victuals to their mouth with their fingers, for, though forks were certainly known in the previous century, they were not ufed for conveying the food to the mouth. It was confidered, never- thelefs, bad manners to carry the victuals to the mouth with the knife — Ne fai% pas ton morfel conduit- e A ton couflcl qui te peult nuire. Another and Sentiments. 369 Another practice ftrictly forbidden in thefe rules was picking your teeth with your knife while at table. From the ufe thus made of the hand, in the abfence of forks, it may be fuppofed that we ihould have directions for keeping it clean during the procefs of eating. One of thefe appears droll enough to us at the prefent day. It is directed that a perfon fitting at table in company is not to blow his nofe with the hand, with which he takes his meat. Handkerchiefs were not yet in ufe, and the alternative of courfe was that, if any one felt the need of performing the operation in queftion, he was to lay down his knife, and to do it with the hand which held it. In one of the French codes this direction is given rather covertly, as follows : — Ne touche ton nez a main nue Dont ta -viande eft tenue. But in another it is enunciated more crudely, thus : — Enfant, fe ton nez eft morveux, Ne le torche de la mam nue De quoy ta viande eft tenue ,• Le fait eft -vilain et honteux. All thefe circumftances fliow a ftate of manners which was very far from refined. Among other directions for table, you are told not to leave your fpoon in your platter; not to return back to your plate the food you have put in your mouth ; not to dip your meat in the falt-cellar to fait it, but to take a little fait on your knife and put it on the meat; not to drink from a cup with a dirty mouth ; not to offer to another perfon the remains of your pottage ; not to eat much cheefe ; to take only two or three nuts, when they are placed before you ; not to play with your knife ; not to roll your napkin into a cord, or tie it in knots; and not to get intoxicated during dinner-time ! Our next cut (No. 240) reprefents one of the backed feats, after a pattern of this century, ft is taken from a manufcripl of the romance of Launcelot du Lac, in the National Library at Paris (No. ^94). It is probable that this feat belonged to the parlour, or, as the name fignifies, 3 b converfation 37° Hiftory of Dome ft ic Manners converfation room. The cuftom frill continued of making feats with divisions, fo that each perfon fat in a feparate compartment. A triple No. 240. A Domeftic Scene. feat of this kind is reprefented in our cut No. 241, taken from a manu- fcript of the French Boccaccio in the National Library at Paris. No. 241. A Triple Seat. The parlour feems to have been ornamented with more care, and to have and Sentiments. 371 have been better furnifhed than the hall. This apartment appears to have been placed fometimes on the ground floor, and fometimes on the floor above, and large houfes had ufually two or three parlours. It had often windows in recelTes, with fixed feats on each fide ; and the fireplace was fmaller and more comfortable than that of the hall. As carpets came into more general ufe, the parlour was one of the firft rooms to receive this luxury. In the inventory I have already quoted from the "New Retrofpe6tive Review," the following articles of furniture are defcribed as being in the parlour — A hanging of ivorfted, red and green. A cupboard of ajb-boards. A table, and a pair of treftles. A branch of latten, tuith four lights. A pair of andirons. A pair of tongs. A form to fit upon. And a chair. This will give us a very good idea of what was the ufual furniture of the parlour in the fifteenth century. The only movable feats are a tingle bench, and one chair — perhaps a feat with a back like that fhown above. The table was even here formed by laying a board upon treftles. The cupboard was peculiar to this part of the houfe ; many of my readers will probably remember the parlour cupboards in our old country houfes, the branched candleftick of metal, fufpended from the ceiling, and the tongs and andirons for the fire. The principal articles of furniture in the parlour are all exhibited in illuminations in manufcripts of the fame period. The " hanging of worried" was, of courfe, a piece of tapefiry for the wall, or for lbme part of the wall, for the room was in many, perhaps in moll, cafes, only partially covered. Sometimes, indeed, it appears only to have been hung up on occasions, perhaps for company, when it feems to have been placed behind the chief feat.* The wall itfelf was frequently adorned with * A Bury will, of the date 1522, mentioned a little further on, enumerates among the household furniture " the steynyd clothes hangyng abowte the parlour behynde the halle chemny." paintings. 37- Hiflory of Dome/lie Manners paintings, in common houfes rude and merely ornamental, while in others of a better clafs they reprefented hiftories, fcenes from romances, and religious fubjects, much like thofe exhibited on the tapeftries themfelves. In the cut annexed (No. 242), taken from a beautifully illuminated manufcript of the romance of " Lancelot," in the National Library at Paris, No. 6784, we have a reprefentation of a parlour with wall paintings of this kind. Morgan le Fay is mowing king Arthur the adventures of Lancelot, which fhe had caufed to be painted in a room in her palace. No, 242. Morgan le Fay jhoivlng king Arthur the Paintings of the Ad-ventures of Lancelot. Paintings of this kind are very often alluded to in the old writers, efpe- cially in the poets, as every one knows who has read the "Romance of the Rofe," the works of Chaucer, or that fingular and curious poem, the "Paftyme of Pleafure," by Stephen Hawes. Chaucer, in his "Dream," fpeaks of — A chamber faint Full of ftories old and divers, More than I can as novo reherfe. There was in the caftle of Dover an apartment called Arthur's Hall, and another named Guenevra's Chamber, which have been fuppofed to be fo and Sentiments. 373 fo called from the fubjects of the paintings with which they were deco- rated; and a ftill more curious illuftration of the foregoing drawing is tur- niihed by an old houfe of this period ftill exifting in New Street, Salilbury, a room in which preferves its painting in diftemper, occupying the upper part of the wall, like the ftory of Lancelot in the pictures of the room of Morgan le Fay. We give a fketch of the fide of this room occupied by the painting in the accompanying cut (No. 243). It occupies the fpace No. 243. IVall-F aintlngs jtill remaining in a Houfe at Salijbury. above the fireplace, and the windows looking into the ftreet, but it has been much damaged by modern alterations in the houfe. The liibjcct, as will at once be fcen, was of a lacred character — the offering of the three kings. The window to the left of the fireplace, which is one of the original windows of this houfe, has a deep fill, or feat, which was intended as one of the accommodations for fitting down. This was not unfrequentlv made with a recefs in the middle, fo as to form a feat on each fide, on which two perfons might fit face to face, and which was thus more con- venient both for conversation, and for looking through the window at what was going on without. This appears to have been a favourite feal w ith 374 Hijiory of Domeftic Manners with the female part of the houfehold when employed in needlework and other fedentary occupations. There is an allufion to this ufe of the window fill in the curious old poem of the "Lady Beffy," which is pro- bably fomewhat obfcured by the alterations of the modern copyifi ; when the young princefs kneels before her father, he takes her up and feats her in the window : — I came before my father the king, A nd kneeled doivn upon my knee ; I defired him lowly of his blejfing, jind full foon he gave it unto me. And in his arms he could me thring, And Jet me in a ivindoivfo high. The words of our inventory, "a form to fit upon, and a chair," defcribe well the fcanty furnilhing of the rooms of a houfe at this period. The caufe of this poverty in movables, which arofe more from the general infecurity of property than the inability to procure it, is curioufly illuftrated by a palfage from a letter of Margaret Pafton to her hufband, written early in the reign of Edward IV. " Alfo," fays the lady to her fpoufe, " if ye be at home this Chriftmas, it were well done ye fhould do purvey a garniih or twain of pewter veffeL two bafins and two ewers, and twelve candlefticks, for ye have too few of any of thefe to ferve this place ; I am afraid to purvey much fluff in this place, till we be furer thereof." As yet, a form or bench continued to be the ufual feat, which could be occupied by feveral perfons at once. One chair, as in the inventory juft mentioned, was confidered enough for a room, and was no doubt pre- ferred for the perfon of moft dignity, perhaps for the lady of the houfe- hold. Towards the latter end of this period, however, chairs, made in a Ampler form, and ftools, the latter very commonly three-legged, became more abundant. Yet in a will dated fo late as 1522 (printed in the "Bury Wills" of the Camden Society), an inhabitant of Bury in Suffolk, who feems to have poffeffed a large houfe and a confiderable quantity of houfehold furniture for the time, had, of tables and chairs, only "a tabyll of waynlkott with to (two) joynyd treftelles, ij. joynyd ftolys of the beft, a gret joynyd cheyre at the deyfe in the halle — the gretteft clofe cheyre, ij. fote ftoles — a rounde tabyll of waynlkott with lok and key, the fecunde joynyd and Sentiments. 375 joynyd cheyer, ij. joynyd ftolys." The ordinary forms of chairs and ltools at the latter end of the fifteenth century are fhown in our cut No. 244, taken from a very curious fculpture in alto-relievo on one of the columns No. 244. Sculpture from the HotcI-de-Ville, Brujfeh. of the Hotel-de-Ville at Bruflels. At this time we begin to find examples of chairs ingeniouily conftructed, for folding up or taking to pieces, fo as to be eafily laid afide or carried away. Some of thefe referable exactly our modern camp-ftools. A curious bed- room chair of this conftruftion is repre- fented in our cut No. 245, taken from a fine illuminated manufcript of the romance of the " Comte d'Artois," of the fifteenth century, in the collection of M. Barrois of Paris, but now, I believe, in the library of lord Alhburnham. The conftruction of this chair is too evident to need explanation. It explains the phrafe, ufed in fome of our old writers, of unfolding a chair. At this time much greater ufe ap- pears to have been made of candles than No - 2 4S- A Bedroom Chair. formerly, and they feem to have been conftrudted of different fubftances and qualities. Candlefiicks, made ufually of the mixed metal called I. ) 37 6 Hiftory of "Domejiic Manners laton or latten (an alloy of brafs), were found in all houfes; they appear to have been ftill moftly made with a fpike on which the candle was track, and fometimes they were ornamented, and furnifhed with mottoes. John Baret, who made his will at Bury, in 1463, poffeffed a " candyl- fiykke of laten with a pyke," two " lowe candylftikkez of a forth," (i.e. to match), and three " candelftykkes of laton whereupon is wretyn grace me governed A teftament dated in 1493 enumerates " a lowe candil- ftyke of laton, oon of my candelftykes, and ij. high candilftykes of laton." In the will of Agas Herte of Bury, in 1522, "ij. belle canftykes and a leffer canflyke," occurs twice, fo that they feem to have formed two fets, and there is a third mention of "ij. bell canftykes." We alfo find mention at this time of double candlefticks, which were probably intended to be placed in an elevated pofition to give light to the whole apartment. Our inventory of the contents of the parlour contains " a branch of latten, with four lights," which was no doubt intended for this purpofe of lighting the whole room (a fort of chandelier), and appears to have been identical with the candlebeam, not unfrequently mentioned in the old inventories. A widow of Bury, named Agnes Ridges, who made her will in 1492, mentions " my candylbeme that hangyth in my hall with vj. bellys of laton ftandyng thereon," i. e. fix cups in which the candles were placed. Our cat No. 246 reprefents a candlebeam with four lights. It is flung round a fimple pulley in the ceiling, by a firing which was fixed to the ground. It is taken from a manufcript of the "Traite des Tournois" (treatife of tournaments), by king Rene, in the National Library at Paris, No. 8352 ; and as the fcene is reprefented as taking place in a princely hall, which is fitted up for a feftive entertainment, we may take it as a curious proof of the rudenefs which was ftill mixed up with the magnificence of the fifteenth century. In a fine illumination in a manu- fcript No. 246. A Chandelier. and Sentiments. 377 fcript of FroiiTart in the Britifh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 18 E. 2), reprefenting the fatal mafque at the court of Charles VI. of France, in 139.3, in which feveral of the courtiers were burnt to death, we have, in the king's palace, a chandelier exactly like that in our laft cut, except that each candleftick on the beam contains two candles — a "double candleftick." This manufcript is of the latter part of the fifteenth century. It had been the cuftom, on feftive occafions, or in ceremonies where large apart- . 247. Candle and Torch-holders ments required to be lighted, to do this by means of torches which fervants held in their hands. This cuftom was very common, and is frequently fpoken of or alluded to in the mediaeval writers. Neverthelefs, the inconvenience and even danger attending it, led to various plans for fuperfeding it. One of thefe was, to fix up againll the walls of the mom frames for holding the torches, of which an example is given in the accompanying cut (No. 247), reprefenting a torch -frame, Hill preferred in 3 c the 378 Hijiory of Dome flic Manners the Palazzo Strozzi at Florence. One of the group, it will be obferved, has a long fpike, intended to hold a large candle. Candleflicks fixed to the wall in various manners are feen in manufcripts of the fifteenth century j and an example is given in our cut No. 248, taken from a part No. 248. Ladies Seated. of the fame illumination of Froiflart mentioned before. The candle is here placed before a little image, on the upper part of the fireplace, but whether this was for a religious purpofe or not, is not clear. In this cut, the three princeffes are feated on the large chair or fettle, which is turned with its back to the fire. This important article of furniture is now found in the parlour as well as in the hall. and Sentiments. 379 CHAPTER XVIII. IN-DOOR LIFE AND CONVERSATION. PET ANIMALS. THE DAXCE. RERE-SUPPERS. ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE "NANCY " TAPESTRY. AS people began to have lei's tafte for the publicity of the old hall, they gradually withdrew from it into the parlours for many of the purpofes to which the hall was originally devoted, and thus the latter loft much of its former character. The parlour was now the place commonly ufed for the family meals. In a curious little treatife on the " moft vyle and deteftable ufe of dyce play," compofed near the beginning of the lixteenth century, one of the interlocutors is made to fay, "So down we came again," i.e. from the chambers above, "into the parlour, and found there divers gentlemen, all ftrangers to me 5 and what ihould I fay more, but to dinner we went." The dinner hour, we learn from this fame tra£t, was then at the hour of noon ; " the table," we are told, "was fair fpread with diaper cloths, the cupboard garniihed with much goodly plate." The cupboard feems now to have been confidered a necelTary article of furniture in the parlour ; it had originally belonged to the hall, and was of fimple conftruction. One of the great objefts of oftentation in a rich man's houfe was his plate ; which, at dinner time, he brought forth, and caufed to be fpread on a table in light of his gueftsj afterwards, to exhibit the plate to more advantage, the table was made with {helves, or fteps, on which the different articles could In- arranged in rows one above another. It was called in French and Anglo- Norman a biiffet, or a dreffbir (drefler), the latter name, it is laid, being given to it becaufe on it the different articles were drejfis, or arranged. The Engliih had, in their own language, no fpecial name for this article of furniture, fo that they called it literally a cup-board, or board for the cups. In courfe of time, and efpecially when it was removed from the hall 3 8o Hijiory of Domeftic Manners hall into the parlour, this article was made more elaborately, and doors were added to it, for fhutting up the plate when not in ufe. It thus became equivalent to our modern fideboard. We have feen a figure of No. 249. A Sick R a cupboard of this more complicated ftrudfure in a cut in our laft chapter ; and we fliall have others of different forms in our next. Our cut No. 249 is a good reprefentation of the interior of a parlour furniihed and Sentime?its. 3 8 1 furnilhed with the large feat, or fettle, and with rather an elaborate and elegant cupboard. The latter, however, does not belong to the picture itfelf, having been introduced from, another in the fame manufcript by- Mr. Shaw, in his beautiful work the "Dreffes and Decorations of the Middle Ages," from which it is here taken. It is found in a fine manu- fcript in the Britilh Mufeum (MS. Reg. 15 D. 1), containing the French translation of the " Hiftoria Scholaftica" of Peter Comeftor, and written in the year 1470. The fubjefit of this illumination is taken from the Scrip- tural ftory of Tobit, who here lies fick and blind on the fettle, having juft defpatched his fon Tobias on his journey to the city of Rages. The lady cooking is no doubt intended for his wife Anna ; it will be obferved that flie is following the directions of a book. Cookery books and books of medicinal receipts were now common. The kettle is fufpended over the fire by a jack of a conftrufition that occurs not unfrequently in the raami- fcripts of this period. The fettle is placed with its back to the window, which is covered with a large curtain. As the parlours faved the domefiic arrangements of the houfehold from the too great publicity of the hall, fo on the other hand they relieved the bedchambers from much of what had previouily been tranfa filed in them, and thus rendered them more private. In the poem of the "Lady Beifie," when the earl of Derby and Humphrey Brereton vifit the young princefs, they are introduced to her in her bower, or chamber, but the immediately conducts the latter into the parlour, in order to converfe with him : — She took him in her arms, and kiJJ'cd him times three ; " Welcome ," Jhe /aid, "Humphrey Brereton $ Hoiu haft thou fpedd in the ivcft countrey ? I fray thee tell me quickly and anon." Into a parlour they went from thence, There ivere no more but hee and Jhce. The female part of the family now palled in the parlour much of the time which had been formerly palled in their chambers. It was often their place of work. Young ladies, even of great families, were brought up not only Unfitly, but even tyrannically, by their mothers, who kept them conftantly at work, exafited from them almofl ihvilh deference and refpect, 382 Hiftory of Domejlic Manners refpecf, and even counted upon their earnings. The parental authority was indeed carried to an almoft extravagant extent. There are fome curious inftances of this in the correfpondence of the Pafton family. Agnes Pafton, the wife of fir William Pafton, the judge, appears to have been a very harih mother. At the end of June 1454, Elizabeth Clere, a kinfwoman who appears to have lived in great intimacy with the family, fent to John Pafton, the lady's eldeft fon, the following account of the treatment of his fifter Elizabeth, who was of marriageable age, and for whom a man of the name of Scroope had been propofed as a hufband. "Therefore, coufin," writes Jane Clere, " mefeemeth he were good for my coufin your fifter, without that ye might get her a better ; and if ye can get a better, I would advife you to labour it in as fhort time as ye may goodly, for fhe was never in fo great a forrow as fhe is now-a-days, for the may not fpeak with no man, whofoever come, nor even may fee nor fpeak with my man, nor with fervants of her mother's, but that fhe beareth her on hand otherwife than fhe meaneth ; and fhe hath fince Eafter the moft part been beaten once in the week, or twice, and fome- times twice in a day, and her head broken in two or three places. Wherefore, coufin, fhe hath fent to me by friar Newton in great counfel, and prayeth me that I would fend to you a letter of her heavinefs, and pray you to be her good brother, as her truft is in you." In fpite of her anxiety to be married, Elizabeth Pafton did not fucceed at this time, but flie was foon afterwards transferred from her paternal roof to the houfehold of the lady Pole. It was ftill the cuftom to fend young ladies of family to the houfes of the great to learn manners, and it was not only a matter of pride and oftentation to be thus furrounded by a numerous train, but the noble lady whom they ferved did not difdain to receive payment for their board as well as employing them in profitable work. In a memorandum of errands to London, written by Agnes Pafton on the 28th of January, 1457, one is a meffage to "Elizabeth Pafton that fhe muft ufe herfelf to work readily, as other gentlewomen do, and fomewhat to help herfelf therewith. Item, to pay the lady Pole twenty-fix (hillings and eightpence for her board." Margaret Pafton, the wife of John Pafton, juft mentioned, and daughter-in-law of Agnes, feems and Sentiments. 383 feems to have been equally ftricl with her daughters. At the beginning of the reign of Edward IV., ihe wrote to her fon John concerning his lifter Anne, who had been placed in the houfe of a kinfman of the name of Calthorpe. " Since ye departed," fhe fays, "my coufin Calthorpe fent me a letter complaining in his writing that forafmuch as he cannot be paid of his tenants as he hath been before this time, he propofeth to leffen his houfehold, and to live the ftraitlier, wherefore he defireth me to purvey for your lifter Anne ; he faith Ihe waxeth high (grows tall), and it were time to purvey her a marriage. I marvel what caufeth him to write fo now, either lhe hath difpleafed him, or elfe he hath taken her with default ; therefore I pray you commune with my coufin Clare at London, and weet (learn) how he is difpofed to her-ward, and fend me word, for I lhall be fain to fend for her, and with me lhe ihall but lofe her time, and without Ihe will be the better occupied the ihall oftentimes move (vex) me and put me in great inquietnefs ; remember what labour I had with your lifter, therefore do your part to help her forth, that may be to your worlhip and mine." There certainly appears here no great affection between mother and daughter. Among other leflbns, the ladies appear to have been taught to be very demure and formal in their behaviour in company. Our cut No. 250 reprefents a party of ladies and gentlemen in the parlour engaged in converfation. It is taken from an illumination in the manufcript of the romance of the " Comte d'Artois," formerly in the polTe ffion of M. Barrois. They are all apparently feated on benches, which feem in this inftance to be made like long chefts, and placed along the fides of the wall as it' they ferved alfo for lockers. Thefe appear to be the only articles of furniture in the room. There is a certain conventional pofitiotl in molt of the ladies of the party which has evidently been taught, even to the holding" of the hands croffed. The four ladies with the gentleman between them are no doubt intended to be the attendants on the lady of the houfe, holding towards her the polition of Elizabeth and Anne Pafton. We have precifely the fame conventional forms in the next cut (No. 251), which is taken from an illumination in a manufcript of the "Legenda Aurea," in the National Library in Paris (No. 6889). We fee here the fame 3«4 Hiftory of Domejlic Manners fame demurenefs and formal croiiing of the hands among the young ladies, in prefence of their dame. It may be obferved that, in almofl: all ^ \ 1 \ \ X X No. 250. A Convey jatlon Scene, the contemporary pictures of domeftic fcenes, the men, reprefented as vifitors, keep their hats on their heads. No. 251. A Social Group of the Fifteenth Century. One of the mod curious features in the firft of thefe fcenes is that of the a?id Se?iti??ients. 385 the cages, eipecially that of the iquinvl, which is evidently made to turn round with the animal's motion, like fquirrel-cages of the prefent day. We have now frequent allufions to the keeping of birds in cao-es, and parrots, magpies, jays, and various tinging birds, are often mentioned among domeftic pets. During the earlier half of the century of which we are now more eipecially fpeaking, the poems of Lydgate furnifh us with feveral examples. Thus, in that entitled "The Chorle and the Bird," we are told — The chorle (countryman) was gladde that he this birdde hadde take, Mery of chere, of looke, and of -vifagc, And in al hafte he caft for to make Within his houfe a pratie litelle cage, And with hirfonge to rejoife his cor age. And in another of Lydgate's minor poems, it is laid of Spring, — Whiche fejoiin prykethe (stirs up)fref/he corages, Rejoijfethe beaftys ivalkyng in tier pafturc, Caufith briddys to fyngen in ther cages, Whan blood reneivyth in e-very creature. Among thefe, we find birds mentioned which are not now ulually kept in cages. Thus, in a manufcript of the time of Edward IV., we find a receipt for food for that favourite bird of the mediaeval poets, the night- ingale.* Small animals of various kinds were alio tamed and kept in the houfe, either loofe or in cages. The plot of fome of the earlier fabliaux turns upon the practice of taming fquirrels as pets, and keeping them in cages ; and this animal continued long to be an efpecial favourite, for its livelinefs and activity. In one of the compartments of the curious tapeftry of Nancy, of the fifteenth century, which has been engraved by * This receipt is curious enough to be given here; it is as follows ; — " Fyrst, take and geve hyin yelow antes, otherwyse called pysmerys, as nere as ye may, and the white ante or pysmers egges be best bothe wynter and somer, ij. tymes of the day an handful of bothe. Also, geve hym of these sowes that crepe with many fete, and falle oute of howce rovys. Also, geve hym whyte wormes that breede betwene the barke and the tre." — Reliquiae Antiquas, vol. i. p. 203. 3 d M. Achille 386 Hiftory of Domejlic Manners M. Achille Jubinal, we fee a lady with a tame fquirrel in her hand, which fhe holds by a firing, as reprefented in our cut No. 252. The parlour was now the room where the domeftic amufements were introduced. The gueft in the early trad on " Dyce Play," quoted in a former page, tells us, " and, after the table was removed, in came one of the waiters with a fair filver bowl, full of dice and cards. Now, matters, quoth the goodman, who is fo difpofed, fall too." Gambling was carried to a great height during the fifteenth century, and was feverely con- demned by the moralifts,. but without much fuccefs. Dice were the older implements of play, and tables (or backgammon). A religious poem on faints' days, in a manufcript written about the year 1460, warning againft idle amufements, fays — Alfo ufe not to pley at the dice ne at the tablis, Ne none maner gamys, uppon the holida'u ; Ufe no tavernys ivhere be jejlis and jab lis, Syngyng of leivde ba/ettes, rondekttes, or -virolais. I ^f / After the middle of the fifteenth century, No. 252. Lady and Squirrel. . . , , - , , ,, • cards came into very general uie ; and at the beginning of the following century, there was fuch a rage for card- playing, that an attempt was made early in the reign of Henry VIII. to reftricl their ufe by law to the period of Chrifimas. When, however, people fat down to dinner at noon, and had no other occupation for the reft of the day, they needed amufement of fome fort to pafs the time ; and a poet of the fifteenth century obferves truly, — A man may dryfe for the the day that long tyme divellis With harpy ng and pipyng, and other mery Jpellis, With gle, and 'ivyth game. Such amufements as thefe mentioned, with games of different kinds in which the ladies took part, and dancing, generally occupied the afternoon, from dinner to fupper, the hour of which latter meal feems ufually to have and Sentiments. 337 have been fix o'clock. The favourite amufement was dancing. A family party at the dance is reprefented in our cut No. 253, from M. Barrens' manufcript of the " Comte d'Artois." The numerous dances which were now in vogue feem to have completely eclipfed the old carole, or round dance, and the latter word, which was a more general one, had difplaced No. 253. A Dance. the former. The couple here on their legs are fuppofed to be performing one of the new and tafteful fafhionable dances, which were much more lively than thofe of the earlier period ; fome of them were fo much fo as to fcandalife greatly the fage moralifts of the time. The after-dinner amufements were refumed after fupper ; and a practice had now efta- blilhed itfelf of prolonging the day's enjoyment to a late hour, and taking a fecond, or, as it was called, a rere-fupper (arricre fouper), which was called the banquet in France, where the three great meals were now the dinner, the fupper, and the banquet, and dinner appears to have been confidered as the leafl meal of the three. It was thus, probably, that, in courfe of time, dinner took the place of fupper, and fupper that ot banquet. We have a very curious illustration of the extravagant living at table of the latter half of the fifteenth century, in the curious allegorical tapeftry long preferved at Nancy, in Lorrain, and faid by tradition, probably with 2 8 8 Hijiory of Domeflic Manner \r with truth, to have been the ornament of the tent of Charles le Teme- raire, duke of Burgundy, when he laid fiege to Nancy in 1477, and was defeated and ilain. It is of Flemiih workmanfhip, and no doubt pictures the manners of the Burgundian nobles and gentry, but at that time the court of Burgundy was the model of the faihionable life of weftern Europe. It happens, curioufly enough, that a few years later a rather obfcure French writer, named Nicole de La Chefnaye, compiling one of thofe allegorical dramas then fo popular under the title of " Moralities," took the ftory of this tapeftry as his fubjecL and has thus left us the full explanation of what might otherwife have been not eafny underftood. The title of this morality is " La Nef de Sante" (the ihip of health), and a fecond title is "La condamnacion des bancquetz" (the condemnation of banquets) ; and its objecf is to fhow the unhappy confequences of the extravagance in eating and drinking, which then prevailed. It opens with a converfation between three allegorical perfonages named Dinner, Supper, and Banquet, who declare their intention to lead joyous life evening and morning, and they refolve on imitating Paffe-Temps (paftime) and Bonne-Compagnie (good company). At this moment Bonne- Compagnie herfelf, who is defcribed as a dafhing damfel (gorriere damoifelle), enters with all her people, namely, Gourmandize (greedinefs), Friandize (daintinefs), PafTe-Temps, already mentioned, Je-Boy-a-Vous (I drink to you), Je-Pleige-d'Autant (I pledge the fame), and Acouftu- mance (cuftom). Each names what he prefers in good cheer, and Bonne- Compagnie, to begin the day, orders a collation, at which, among other things, are ferved damfons {prunes de Damas), which appear at this time to have been considered as delicacies. There is here a marginal direction to the purport that, if the morality mould be performed in the feafon when real damfons could not be had, the performers muft have fome made of wax to look like real ones. They now take their places at table, and, while they are eating, Je-Boy-a-Vous calls the attention of the com- pany to the circumftance that Gourmandize, in his hafte to eat the damfons, had fwallowed a fnail. Paffe-Temps next propofes a dance, and choofes for his partner the lady Friandize, comparing her to Helen, and telling her that he was Paris. She, in reply, compares herfelf to Medea, and and Sentiments. 389 and her partner to Jafon. Then the muficians, "placed on a ftage or fome higher place," are to play a meafure " pretty fhort." Dinner, Supper, and Banquet next make their appearance, and, addreffing Bonne- Compagnie, make their apology for entering without being invited ; but the lady receives them well, alks their names, and, in return, tells them thofe of her people. Dinner, to ihow his gratitude for this friendly reception, invites the whole party to go to his feaft, which is juft ready ; m \ m «PP" r&L bonqnst — ■ — f-^> WUftevmnt ~| No. 254. A Dinner Party in grand ceremony. and Supper invites them to a fecond repaft, and Banquet to a third. They accept the invitation of Dinner, and are ferved with friture, brouet, potage, gros pales, &c. Meanwhile Supper and Banquet look upon the party from "fome high window," and converfe on the confequences likely 39° Hiflory of Domejiic Manners likely to follow their exceffes. This fcene is reprefented in the firfl com- partment of the tapeftry, as it now exifts (for it has undergone consider- able mutilation), and is reprefented in our cut No. 254. It is a good picture of a feignorial repaft of the fifteenth century. There are people at table, betides thofe enumerated in the morality, who are here indicated by their names : Paffe-Temps at one end of the table, a lady to his left, and after her Je-Boy-a-Vous, who has Bonne-Compagnie by his fide, and to her left Dinner, the hoft. To the right of Paife-Temps fits the lady Gourmandize, and to her right Je-Vous-Pleige (I pledge you), and next to him Friandize. The cups in which they are drinking are flat-fhaped, and appear, by the colours in the original, to be of glafs, with the brims, and other parts in fome, gilt. The minftrels, in the gallery, are playing with trumpets. Among the attendants, we fee the court fool, with his bauble, who had now become an ordinary, and almoft a necefiary, per- fonage in the houfehold of the rich ; it was the refult of an increafing tafte for the coarfe buffoonery which characterifed an unrefined fiate of fociety. The court fool was licenfed to utter with impunity whatever came to his thought, however mordant or however indecent. Befide him are two valets with dogs, which appear to have been ufually admitted to the hall, and to have eaten the refufe on the fpot. A window above gives us a view of the country, with buildings in the diftance, and Supper and Banquet looking in upon the company. An infcription in the upper corner to the right tells us how thefe two perfonages came flyly to look at the affembly, and how through envy they confpired to take vengeance upon the feaflers — Soupper et Bancquet Vindrent Vajfemblie advifer, Dont par en ■rnvmrsf. No. 257. The Nurfing Chamber. The large chair by the bed-fide is of very elegant delign ; and the fettle, which is open at the back, is ornamented with carved panels. Our aexl cut (No. 257), taken from a manufeript of Lydgate's metrical Life of St. Edmund (MS. Harl. No. 2278), reprefents the birth of that faint. 3 F This A.Q2 Hiftory of ' Domefiic Manners This room is more elaborately furnifhed than the former. The fittings of the bed are richer 3 the chimney is more ornamental in its character, and is curious as having three little receffes for holding candlefticks, cups, and other articles ; and we have a well-fupplied cupboard, though of fimple form. From the colours in the manufcript, all the veffels appear to be of gold, or of filver-gilt. The feat before the fire in this cut (No. 257) feems to be the hutch, or cheft, which in Nos. 261 and 262 we ihall fee placed at the foot of the bed, from which it is here moved to ferve the occafion. The lady feated on this cheft appears to be wrapping up the new-born infant in fwaddling-clothes ; a cuftom which, as I have remarked on a former occafion, and as we ihall fee again further on, prevailed univerfally till a comparatively recent period. Infants thus wrapped up are fre- quently feen in the illuminated manufcriptsj and their appearance is certainly anything but picfurefque. We have an exception in one of the No. 258. A Cradle. fculptures on the columns of the Hotel de Ville at Bruffels (reprefented in our cut No. 258), which alfo furnifhes us with a curious example of a cradle of the latter part of the fifteenth century. It will, no doubt, have been remarked that in thefe cuts we obferve no traces of carpets on the floor. In our cut No. 256, the floor is evidently boarded 5 but more generally, as in our cuts Nos. 257, 260, and 261, it appears and Sentiments. 403 appears chequered, or laid out in fmall fquares, which may be intended to reprefent tiles, or perhaps parquetry. There is more evidence of tapeftried or painted walls ; although this kind of ornamentation is only ufed partially, and chiefly in the dwellings of the richer clalfes. The walls in the chamber in cut No. 257 appear to be painted. In the fame cut we have an example of an ornamental mat. The moft important article of furniture in the chamber was the bed, which began now to be made much more ornamental than in previous times. We have feen in the former period the introduction of the canopy and its curtains, under which the head of the bed was placed. The celure, or roof, of the canopy, was now often enlarged, fo as to extend over the whole bed ; and it, as well as the tefter, or back, was often adorned with the arms of the pofleflbr, with religious emblems, with flowers, or with fome other ornament. There were alfo fometimes coffers, or ornamental cloths for the fides of the bed. The curtains, fometimes called by the French word ridels, were attached edgeways to the teller, and were fufpended fometimes by rings, fo as to draw backwards and forwards along a pole 5 but more frequently, to judge by the illuminations, they were fixed to the celure |n the fame manner as to the tefter, and were drawn up with cords. At the two corners of the celure portions of curtain were left hanging down like bags. The curtains which draw up are reprefented in our cuts Nos. 259 and 260. Thole in cuts Nos. 261 and 262, if not in Nos. 256 and 257, are evidently drawn along poles with rings. The latter method is thus alluded to in the old metrical romance of " Sir Degrevant :" — That was a mer-velle thyngc, To jc the riddels hynge, With many red golde rynge That thame up bare. The celure and tefter were fixed to the wall and ceiling of the apart- ment, and were not in any way attached to the bed itfelf ; for the large fcur-poft bedfteads were introduced in the fixteenth century. In fome illuminations the bed is feen placed within a fquare compartment fepa- ratcd from the room by curtains which feem to be fufpended from the roof. 4 04 Hiftory of "Domefitc Manners roof. This appears to have been the hrft ftep towards the more modern four-pott bedfteads. In one of the plates to D'Agincourt's " Hiftoire de l'Art" (Peinture, pi. 109), taken from a Greek frefco of the twelfth or thirteenth century in a church at Florence, we have the curtains arranged thus in a fquare tent in the room, where the cords are not fufpended from the roof, but fupported by four corner-pofts. The bed is placed within, totally detached from the furrounding pofts and curtains. The fpace thus left between the bed and the curtains was perhaps what was originally called in French the ruelle (literally, the "little flreet") of the bed, a term which was afterwards given to the fpace between the curtains of the bed and the wall, which held rather an important place in old French chamber life, and efpecially in the flories of chamber intrigue. The bedhead itfelf was Hill a very fimple itru6ture of wood, as fhown in our cut No. 2^9, which reprefents the bed of a countefs. It is taken No. 259. A Bed of the Fifteenth Century. from the manufcript of the romance of the " Comte d'Artois," which has already furnifhed mbjefits for our previous chapters on the manners of the fifteenth century. The lady's footftool is no lefs rude than the bedftead. The bed here evidently confifls of a hard mattrefs. It was ftill often made of ftraw, and the bed is fpoken of in the gloffaries as placed upon a Jiramentum, and Sentiments. 405 firamcntum, which is interpreted by the Engliih word " litter ;" but feather-beds were certainly in general ufe during the whole of the fifteenth century. In the latter part of the fourteenth century, Chaucer (Dreme, v. 250) thus defcribed a very rich bed : — Of doiune of pure dcvis -white I "wol ye-ve him a fethir bed, Rayid -with gold, and right ivell cled In fine blacke fat tin d^outremere, And many a piloiue, and e-very bere (pillow cover) Of clothe of Raines to Jlepe on fofte ; Him thare (need) not to turnen ofte. Agnes Hubbard, a lady of Bury, in Suffolk, who made her will in 141 8, left among other things, "one feather-bed" (unum leSium de plumis). A rich townfman of the fame place bequeathed, in 1463, to his niece, " certeyne ftuffe of oftilment," among which he enumerates "my grene hanggyd bedde fteynyd with my armys therin, that hanggith in the chambyr ovir kechene, with the curtynez, the grene keveryng longgyng therto ; another coverlyte, ij. blanketts, ij. peyre of good ihetes, the trampfoun, the cofierys of that chambyr and of the drawgth chambyr next, tho that be of the fame foort, a grete pilve (pillow) and a final pilve 5 the fethirbeed is hire owne that hire maiftreffe gaf hire at London." After enumerating other articles of different kinds, the teftator proceeds — "And I geve hire the felour and the fteynyd clooth of the coronacion of Our Lady, with the clothes of myn that long to the bedde that fhe hath loyen (lain) in, and the beddyng in the draught chamber for hire fer- vaunth to lyn in ; and a banker of grene and red lying in hire chambyr with the longe chayer (a fettle, probably) ; and a ftondyng coffre and a long coffre in the drawth chambyr." William Honyboorn, alio of Bury, bequeathed to his wife in 149.3, " my beft ffether bedde with the traun- fome, a whyte felour and a teftour theron, with iij. white curteyns therto, a coverlight white and blewe lyeng on the fame bedde, with the blan- kettes." The fame man leaves to his daughter, "a ffether bedde oext the beft, a materas lyeng under the lame, iiij. peyr lhetys, iij. pelowes, a peyr blankettes." John Coote, who made his will at Bury in 1,02, left to his wife, for term of her life, " alle my plate, bralfe, pewter, hangg celers, 406 Hi (lory of Domefiic Manners celers, tefters, fetherbeddes, traunfoms, coverlytes, blankettes, fhetes, pelows, and all other Huff of huflbld (houfehold) ■" and afterwards be- queaths thefe articles feparately to his fon and daughter, after their mother's death : — " I will that William Coote have my befte hanged bede, celer, teftor, and curteyns longgyng to the fame, the befte fether- bede, the befte coverlyght, the befte peyer of blankettes, the befte peyer ihetes ; and Alys Coote to have the next hanged bede, celer, and teftour, wyth the ij de fetherbede, blankettes, and the ij de peyer fhetes." In the will of Anne Barett, of Bury, dated in 1504, we read, " Item, I bequeth to Avyfe my fervaunte x. marc, a ffether bed, a traunfom, a payre ihetes, a payre blankettes, a coverlyght." Laftly, the will of Agar Herte, a widow of the fame town, made in 1^22, contains the following items : — - " Item, I bequethe to Richard Jaxfon, my fon, a ffetherbed, ij. trawnfoms, a matras, ij. pelowes, iiij. payer of fchetes, a payer of blankettes, and a coveryng of araffe, and a fecunde coverlyght, a felour and a teftour fteynyd with fflowers, and iij. curteyns ;"..." Item, I bequethe to Jone Jaxfon, my dowghter, a fetherbed, a matras, a bolfter, ij. pelowes, iiij. payer of fchetes, a payer of blankettes, a coverlyght with fflowre de lyce, a felour and a teftour fteynyd with Seynt Kateryn at the hed and the crufifix on the felour, ... a fecunde coverlyght, ij. pelow-beris {pillow-covers), the fteynyd clothes abowte the chamber where I ly 5" . . . " Item, I bequethe to Fraunces Wrethe a rfetherbed, a bolfter, a payer of blankettes, my beft carpet, a new coverlyght with fflowers, ij. payer of fchetes, ij. pelows with the berys." Thefe extracts from only one fet of wills are fufficient to mow the great advance which our forefathers had made during the fourteenth century in the comfort and richnefs of their beds, and how cautious we ought to be in receiving general obfervations on the condition of previous ages by thofe who write at a fubfequent period. I make this obfervation in allufion to the account fo often quoted from Harrifon, who, in the defcription of England written in Eflex during the reign of Elizabeth, and inferted in Holinfhed's "Chronicles," informs us that "our fathers (yea, and we our felves alfo) have lien full oft upon ftraw pallets, on rough mats, covered onelie with a flieet, under coverlets made of dag- fwain, and Sentiments. 407 fwain,* or hopharlots (I ufe their owne termes), and a good round log under their heads inftead of a bolder. If it were fo that our fathers, or the good-man of the houfe, had, within feven years after his manage, purchafed a matteres, or flocke bed, and thereto a facke of chaffe to rede his heade upon, he thought himfelfe to be as well lodged as the lord of the towne, lb well were they contented. Pillowes, laid they, were thought meete onelie for women in child-bed. As for tenants, if they had anie fheet above them it was well, for feldom had they anie under their bodies to keepe them from the pricking draws that ran oft through the canvas of the pallet, and rafed their hardened hides." A defcription like this could only apply to the lower clalTes in fociety, who had as yet participated but little in the march of focial improvement. As the privacy of the chamber had become greater, it feems now to have been much lefs common in private manfions for leveral people to ileep No. 260. A Truckle-bed. in the fame room, which appears more rarely to have had more than one * Dagswain was a sort of rough material of which the commoner sort of cover- lets were made. A hap-harlot or hop-harlot, was also a very coarse kind of coverlet. Harlot was the term applied to a low class of vagabonds, the ribalds, who wandered from place to place in search of a living; and the name appears to have been given to this rug as being only fit to be the lot or hap of such people. bed. 40 8 Hi/lory of Domejiic Manners bed. But a bed of a new conftrucfion had now come into ufe, called a truckle or trundle bed. This was a fmaller bed which rolled under the larger bed, and was defigned ufually for a valet, or fervant. The illu- minations in the manufcript of the romance of the " Comte d'Artois," already quoted more than once, furnifh us with the early example of a truckle-bed reprefented in our cut No. 260. The count d'Artois lies in the bed under the canopy, while the truckle-bed is occupied by his valet (in this cafe, his wife in difguife). The truckle-bed is more frequently mentioned in the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries. Every reader will remember the fpeech of mine holt of the Garter, in the "Merry Wives of Windfor" (act iv. fc. 5), who fays of Falftaff's room, "There's his chamber, his houfe, his caftle, his ftanding bed and truckle-bed." It was the place allotted to the fquire, when accompanying the knight on " adventures." So in Hudibras (part ii. canto ii.) — When Hudibras, whom thoughts and aklng 1 'Twixt Jleeping kept all night and waking; Began to rub his drowfy eyes, And from his couch prepared to rife, Rejolving to difpatch the deed He ww 1 d to do, with trufty fpeed ; But frjl, ivith knocking loud and bawling, He roufed the fquire, in truckle lolling. In the Englifh univerfities, the mafter-of-arts had his pupil to fleep in his truckle-bed. The chamber, as the moft private part of the houfe, was flored with chefts and coffers, in which the perfon who occupied it kept his money, his deeds and private papers, and his other valuables. Margaret Pafton, writing from Norwich to her huiband about the year 1459; gi yes a curious account of the preparations for his reception at home. " I have," fhe fays, " taken the meafure in the drawte chamber, there as ye would your coffers and your cowntewery (fuppofed to mean a defk for writing) mould be fet for the while, and there is no fpace befide the bed, though the bed were removed to the door, for to fet both your board (table) and your coffers there, and to have fpace to go and fit befide ; wherefore I have purveyed that ye fhall have the fame drawte chamber Withdrawing room — the and Sentiments. 409 the origin of our name of drawing-room for the fcdon) that ye had before, thereat ye iliall lye to yourfelf 3 and when your gear is removed out of your little houfe, the door {hall be locked, and your bags laid in one of the great coffers, fo that they Iliall be fate, I trull." The hucches (hutches) or chefts, and coffers, in the bed-chamber, are frequently men- tioned in old writings. The large hutch feems to have been ufually placed at the foot of the bed. In one of our preceding cuts (No. 257) we have feen it moved from its place to make a temporary feat before the fire. The cut annexed (No. 261), taken from a manufcript Latin ©©>©©©©© o\ No. 261. A Bedroom Scene. Bible in the National Library in Paris (No. 6829), Ihows us the hutch in its ufual place, and opened fo as to expofe its contents to our view. It is here evidently filled with money, and the perfons who have entered the chamber feem to be plundering it. In a very popular old dory, the fame in fuhftance as that of Macbeth and his daughters, an old man, on the marriage of his daughter, weakly gives up all his property t<> the young married pair, trufting to their filial love for his fuftenance, and 3 g they 41 o H/Jiory of Domefiic Maimers they go on treating him worfe and worfe, until he is laved from actual deftitution by a deception he praftifes upon them. In one verfion of the ftory, given in Englilh verfe in a manufcript of the fifteenth century, the father goes to a friend and borrows a large fum of money in gold, which he places in his coffer, and, having invited them to his dwelling, and perfuaded them to remain all night, he contrives that early in the morning they mall, as by accident, efpy him counting his gold. The unfilial children, who fuppofed that he had given them all he poffefled, were aftoniihed to find him ftill rich, and were induced, by their covetoulhefs, to treat him better during the reft of his life. The poem defcribes the old man leaving his bed to count the gold in his cheft : — But on the morow, at brode daylight, The fadir ros, and, for they Ihulden here What that he d'ide in a boifous manere, Unto his chef, which thre lokkes hadde, He ivent, and therat wrethed he fid fadde, jind whan it 'zvas opened and unfbit, The bagged gold bi the merchaunt hym lent He hath untied, and freight forth with it Unto his beddis feete gone is and ivent, What doth thanne this fel man and prudent But out the gold on a tapit hath /hot, That in the bagges left ther no grot. — MS. Harl. 372, fol. 88, v°. Robbers, or plunderers in time of war, when breaking into a houfe, always made direct for the chamber. Among the letters of the Pafton family, is a paper by a retainer of fir John Faftolf, who had a houfe in South wark, giving an account of his fufferings during the attack upon London by Jack Cade and the commons of Kent in 1450, in which he tells how " the captain (Cade) fent certain of his meny to my chamber in your rents, and there broke up my cheft, and took away one obligation of mine that was due unto me of 3 61. by a prieft of Paul's and one other obligation of one Knight of 10L, and my purfe with five rings of gold, and 17*. 6d. of gold and lilver ; and one harnefs (fuit of armour) com- plete of the touch of Milan ; and one gown of fine perfe blue, furred with martens ; and two gowns, one furred with bogey (budge), and one other lined with frieze." One of John Pafton's correfpondents, writing from and Sentiments. 4 ti from London on the 28th of October, 1455, gives the following (till more pertinent account of the robbing of a man's houfe : — " Alfo there is great variance between the earl of Devonfhire and the lord Bonvile, as hath been many day, and much debate is like to grow thereby ; for on Thurf- day at night laft paft, the earl of Devonlhire's fon and heir came, with fixty men of arms, to Radford's place in Devonfhire, which (Radford) was of counfel with my lord Bonvile; and they fet a houfe on fire at Radford's gate, and cried and made a noife as though they had been forry for the fire ; and by thet caufe Radford's men fet open the gates and yede (went) out to fee the fire ; and forthwith the earl's fon aforefaid entered into the place, and entreated Radford to come down of his chamber to fpeak with them, promifing him that he fhould no bodily harm have ; upon which promife he came down, and fpoke with the faid earl's fon. In the mean time his meny (retinue) rob his chamber, and rifled his hutches, and truffed fuch as they could get together, and carried it away on his own horfes." As foon as this was done, Radford, who was an eminent lawyer refiding at Poghill, near Kyrton, and now aged, was led forth and brutally murdered. In the ftories and novels of the middle ages, the favoured lover who has been admitted fecretly into the chamber of his miftrefs is often concealed in the hutch or cheft. Our cut No. 262, taken from the fame manufcript of the Bible which furnifhed our laft illuftration, reprefents the hutch alfo in its place at the foot of the bed. This lketch is interefiing, both as fhowing more diftinttly than the others the rings of the bed-curtains, and the rods attached to the celure, and as a particularly good illuftration of I he habil which Hill continued in all clafles and ranks of fociety, of ileeping in bed entirely naked. The fame practice is (hown in feveral of our other cuts (fee Nos. l$6, A Lady , 260, 412 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners 260, and 261), and, indeed, in all the illuminated manufcripts of the fifteenth century which contain bedroom fcenes. Wherever this is not the cafe, there is fome evident reafon for the contrary, as in our cut No. 257. During this period we have not fo many pictorial illuftrations of the toilet as might be expected. The ladies' combs were generally coarfe and large in the teeth, but often very elaborately and beautifully ornamented. The mirror was, as at former periods, merely a circular piece of metal or glafs, fet in a cafe, which was carved with figures or ornaments externally. The vocabularies mention the mirror as one ot the ufual obje<5ts with which a chamber fhould be furniihed. Our cut No. 263 is taken from a manufcript (MS. Cotton. Tiberius, A. vii. fol. 93, r°) of the Englifh tranflation of the lingular work of the No. 263. A Dealer in Mercery, French writer, Guillaume de Deguilleville, entitled " Le Pelerinage de la Vie Humaine," a poem which bears a finking refemblance in its general character to the "Pilgrim's Progrefs" of Bunyan. The Englifli verfion, which is in verfe, and entitled fimply the " Pilgrim," has been afcribed to Lydgate. In the courfe of his adventures, the pilgrim comes to the lady Agyographe, who is reprefented a? dealing in " mercerye," but the enumeration of articles embraced under that term is rather lingular : — Quod Sjuodfche, " Geve (if) I Jchal tlte telle, Mercery e I have to felle ; In boyftes (boxes) foote (sweet) oynementis, Therewith to don allegementis (to give relief) To ffolkes ivhiche be not glade, But difcorded and mallade, And hurte ivhh perturlacyouns Off many trybulacyouns. I have knyves, phylletys, callys, At ffeejles to hang upon ivallys ; Kombes mo than nyne or ten, Bothe ffor horfe and eke ffor men ; Merours alfo, large and brode, And ffor the fyght ivonder gode ; Off hem I have fful greet plente', For ffolke that haven volume By /wide hemjtlffe therynne." Our cut reprefents the interior of the houfe of the lady mercer, with the various articles enumerated in the text; the boxes of ointment, the horfe- combs, the men's combs, and the mirrors. She firft offers the pilgrim a mirror, made fo as to flatter people, by reprefenting them . handfomer than they really were, which the pilgrim refules : — " Madame,'''' <}uod I, " yotu not difpleefe, This myroure Jchal do me noon eefe ; Wh.erjo that I leefe or tuynne, I ivole nevere looke thereinne.'''' But ryght anoon myne happe it ivas To loken in another glaffe, In the ivhiche ivithoutcn -zvene (without doubt) Ifaive myjylff ffuule and uncleene, And to byholde ryght hydous, Abhomynabel, and vecyous. That merour and that glas Scheiuyd (showed) to me tuhat I was. In the celebrated " Romance of the Role," one of the heroines, Belacueil, is introduced, adorning her head with a fillet, and with this head-drefs contemplating herfelf in a mirror : — Belacueil fouvent fe remirc, Dedans Jon miroer fe mire, Savoir fil ejlfi bien Jeans. There 4H Hiftory of Do?neJlic Manners There is a reprefentation of this fcene in the beautiful illuminated manu- fcript of the "Romance of the Rofe" in the Britith Mufeum (MS. Harl. No. 4425), in which, fingularly enough, the mirror itfelf, which is evidently of glafs, is reprefented as being convex, though perhaps we mufi. attribute this appearance to the unikilfulnefs of the deiigner, who in his attempt to ihow that the mirror was round, failed in perfpeftive. In our firft cut, from Guillaume de Deguilleville, it will be obferved that the artift, in order to mow that the articles intended to be reprefented are mirrors, and not plates, or any other round implements, has drawn the reflections of faces, although nobody is looking into them. Another pecu- liarity in the illumination of the " Ro- mance of the Rofe," a portion of which is reprefented in our cut No. 264, is that the mirror is fixed againft the wall, inftead of being held in the hand when ufed, as appears to have been more generally the cafe. Standing-mirrors feem not to have been yet in ufe ; but before the end of the fifteenth century, glafs mirrors, which appear to have been invented in Belgium or Germany, came into ufe. No. 264. Lady and Mir, and Sentiments. 4i5 CHAPTER XX. STATE OF SOCIETY. THE FEMALE CHARACTER. GREEDINESS IN EAT- ING. CHARACTER OF THE MEDIAEVAL SERVANTS. DAILY OCCUPA- TIONS IN THE HOUSEHOLD: SPINNING AND WEAVING; PAINTING. THE GARDEN AND ITS USES. GAMES OUT OF DOORS; HAWKING, ETC. TRAVELLING, AND MORE FREQUENT USE OF CARRIAGES. TAVERNS ; FREQ.UENTED BY WOMEN. EDUCATION AND LITERARY OCCUPATIONS 5 SPECTACLES. DURING the fifteenth century, fociety in England was going through a transition which was lefs viiible on the furface than it was great and effectual at the heart. France and England were both torn by revolutionary ftruggles, but with very different refults ; for while in France the political power of the middle clafles was deftroyed, and the country was delivered to the defpotifm of the crown and of the great lords, in our country it was the feudal nobility which was ruined, while the municipal bodies had obtained an increafed importance in the ffate, and the landed gentry gained more independence and power from the decline of that of the great feudal barons. Yet in both countries feudalifm itfelf, in its real character, was rapidly palling away — in France, before the power of the crown 5 in England, before the remodelling and reformation of fociety. While the fubftance of feudalifm was thus perifliing, its outward forms appeared to be more fought than ever, and the pride and oftentalion of rank, and its arrogance too, prevailed during the fifteenth century to a greater degree than at any previous period. The court of Burgundy, itfelf only in origin a feudal principality, had let itfelf up as the model of feudalifm, and there the old romances of chivalry were remodelled and published anew, and were read eagerly as the mirror of feudal doctrines. The court of Burgundy was remarkable for 41 6 Hiflory of Domeflic Manners for its wonderful pomp and magnificence, and for its oftentatious difplay of wealth ; it was confidered the model of lordly courtefy and high breeding, and was the centre of literature and art ; and circumftances had brought the court of England into intimate connection with it, fo that the influence of Burgundian falhions was greater during this period in England than that of the falhions of the court of France. There can be no doubt, too, that the focial character in England and in France were now beginning to diverge widely from each other. The condition of the lower clafs in France was becoming more and more miferable, and the upper claffes were becoming more licentious and immoral ; whereas, in England, though ferfdom or villanage Hill exifted in name, and in law, the peafantry had been largely enfranchifed, and it was gradually difap- pearing as a facf ; and their landlords, the country gentry, lived among them in more kindly and more intimate intercourfe, inftead of treating them with tyrannical cruelty, and dragging them off to be llaughtered in their private wars. Increafed commerce had fpread wealth among the middle claffes, and had brought with it, no doubt, a confiderable increafe of focial comfort. Social manners were ftill very coarfe, but it is quite evident that the efforts of the religious reformers, the Lollards, were improving the moral tone of fociety in the middle and lower claffes. People had, moreover, begun now to difcufs great focial queflions. The example of this had been given in England in the celebrated poem of " Piers Ploughman," in the middle of the fourteenth century, and fuch queflions were mooted very extenfively by the Lollards, who held as a principle the natural equality of man. This was a doctrine which was accepted very flowly, and was certainly difcountenanced by the Roman Catholic preachers, who encouraged the belief that the divifion of fociety into diftinct claffes was a permanent judgment of God, and even invented legends to account for its origin. Long after feudalifm had ceafed, it was difficult to difabufe people of the opinion that the blood which flowed in the veins of a gentleman was of a different kind from that of a peafant, or even from that of a burgher. One of the legendary explanations of thefe divifions of blood is given by a poetical writer of the reign of Henry VII., named Alexander Barclay, who has left us feven and Sentiments. 4 1 7 feven "eclogues," as he calls them, on the focial queflions which agitated men's minds in his day. One day, according to this ftory, while Adam was abfent occupied with his agricultural labours, Eve fat at home on their threihold, with all her children about her, when fuddenly fhe became aware of the approach of the Creator, and, afhamed of the great number of them, and fearful that her produ6tivenefs might be mifinter- preted, fhe hurriedly concealed thofe which were the leaft well-favoured. " Some of them fhe placed under hay, fome under ftraw and chaff, fome in the chimney, and fome in a tub of draff; but fuch as were fair and well made me wifely and cunningly kept with her." God told her that he had come to fee her children, that he might promote them in their different degrees ; upon which fhe prefented them in their order of birth. God then ordained the eldeft to be an emperor, the fecond to be a king, and the third a duke to guide an army ; of the reft he made earls, lords, barons, fquires, knights, and "hardy champions." Some he appointed to be "judges, mayors, and governors, merchants, fheriffs, and protectors, aldermen, and burgeffes." While all this was going on, Eve began to think of her other children, and, unwilling that they fhould lofe their fliare of honours, fhe now produced them from their hiding-places. They appeared with their hair rough, and powdered with chaff", fome full of ftraws, and fome covered with cobwebs and duft, " that anybody might be frightened at the fight of them." They were black with dirt, ill- favoured in countenance, and mifhapen in ftature, and God did not conceal his difguft. "None," he laid, "can make a veffel of filver out of an earthen pitcher, or goodly filk out of a goat's fleece, or a bright fword of a cow's tail; neither will I, though I can, make a noble gentle- man out of a vile villain. You fhall all be ploughmen and tillers of the ground, to keep oxen and hogs, to dig and delve, and hedge and dike, and in thiswise fhall ye live in endlefi fervitude. Even the townlinen fhall laugh you to fcorn ; yet fome of you ihall be allowed to dwell in cities, and fhall be admitted to fuch occupations as thofe of makers ol puddings, butchers, cobblers, tinkers, coftard-mongers, hofflers, or daubers." Such, the teller of the ffory informs us, was the beginning of fervile labour. 2 H A 41 8 Hiftory of Dome ft ic Manners A fong of the fifteenth century, printed in the collection of fongs and carols edited for the Percy Society, the burthen of which is the neceffity of money in all conditions, defcribes the different ranks and their various afpirations in the following order : the yeoman who defires to become a gentleman, the gentleman who feeks to be a fquire, the fquire who would be a knight, the lettered man who feeks diflincfion in the fchools, the merchant who afpired to rife to wealth, and the lawyer who fought promotion at the bar. In the interefting " Recueil de Poefies Francoifes des xv e et xvi e fiecles," by M. de Montaiglon (vol. iii. pp. J38, 147), there are two poems, probably of the latter part of the fifteenth century, entitled Les Souhaitz des Hommes (the wifhes of the men) and Les Souhaitz desFemmes (the withes of the women), in which the various claffes are made to declare that which they defire molt. Thus dukes, counts, and knights defire to be fkilful in warlike accomplifhments ; the prefident in parlia- ment defires the gold chain and" the feat of honour, with wifdom in giving judgment ; the advocate wifhes for eloquence in court, and for a fair bourgeoife or damoifelle at home to make his houfe joyful; the burgher wifhes for a good fire in winter, and a good fupply of fat capons; and the clergy are made to wifh for good cheer and handfome women. The wifhes of the women are on the whole, perhaps, more characferiftic than thofe of the men. Thus, the queen wifhes to be able to love God and the king, and to live in peace ; the duchefs, to have all the enjoy- ments and pleafures of wealth ; the countefs, to have a hufband who was loyal and brave 3 the knight's lady, to hunt the flag in the green woods ; the damoifelle, or lady of gentle blood, alfo loved hunting, and wifhed for a hufband valiant in war; and the chamber-maiden took pleafure in walking in the fair fields by the river-fide ; while the bourgeoife loved above all things a foft bed at night, with a good pillow, and clean white fheets. That part of fociety which now comes chiefly under our notice had fallen into two claffes, that which boafted gentle blood, and the ungentle, or burgher clafs, and this was particularly fhown among the ladies, for the bourgeoife fought continually to imitate the gentlewoman, or damoifelle, who, on her part, looked on thefe encroachments of the other with great jealoufy. M. de Montaiglon has printed in the collection juft quoted and Sentiments. 419 quoted (vol. v. p. 5) a ihort poem entitled, "The Debate between the Damoifelle and the Bourgeoife," in which the exclusive rights of gentle blood are ftrongly claimed and difputed. We have feen the lame ambi- tion of the wives of burghers and yeomen to ape the gentlewoman as far back as the days of Chaucer, and it now often becomes a fubjecl of popular fatire. Yet we muft not forget that this defire to imitate higher fociety aflifted much in refining the manners of the middle claffes. M. de Montaiglon (vol. ii. p. 18) has printed a ihort piece in verfe of the latter part of the fifteenth century, entitled the " Doctrinal des Filles," containing the fentiments which teachers fought to implant in the minds of young ladies, and it will fuit England at that time equally with France. The young ladies are here recommended to be bafhful ; not to be for- ward in falling in love ; to pay proper attention to their drefs, and to courteoufnefs in behaviour 3 and not to be too eager in dancing. From all that we gather from the writers of the time, the love of dancing appears at this period to have been carried to a very great degree of extravagance, and to have often led to great dilfolutenefs in focial manners, and the more zealous moralifts preached againft the dance with much earneftnefs. The author of our " Doctrinal" admonithes the young unmarried girl to dance with moderation when ihe is at the "carol" (the name of the ordinary dance), left people who fee her dancing too eagerly fhould take her for a diftblute woman — Fille, quant fere* en karolle, Danfez gentiment par mefure, Car, quant file je def mefure, Tel la -voit qui la tient four folk. The young lady is next cautioned againft talking fcandal, againft believing in dreams, againft drinking too much wine, and againft being too talkative at table. She was to avoid idlenefs, to refpect the aged, not to allow herfelf to be killed in fecret (killing in public was the ordinary form of falutation), and not to be quarrelfbme. She was efpecially to avoid being alone with a prieft, except at confeffiorij for it was dangerous to let priefts haunt the hcufe where there were young females — Fille, 42 o Hiftory of Dome/lie Manners Filk, hormis confejjlon, Seullette ne parkz d prebjire ; Laijje%-les en leur eglife ejire, Sans ce quih hantent -vos maifons. Thefe lines, written and publiftied in a bigoted Roman Catholic country, by a man who was evidently a ftaunch Romanift, and addreffed to young women as their rule of behaviour, prefent perhaps one of the flrongeft evidences we could have of the evil influence exercifed by the Romifh clergy on focial morals, a fa 61, however, of which there are innumerable other proofs. Whatever may have been the effecf of mch teaching on the better educated claffes, the general character of the women of the middle and lower claffes appears to have been of a defcription little likely to be con- ducive to domeflic happinefs. All the popular materials for focial hiftory reprefent their morals as being very low, and their tempers as overbearing and quarrelfome, the confequence of which was a feparation of domeflic life among the two fexes after marriage, the hufbands, when not engaged at their work or buflnefs, feeking their amufement away from the houfe, and the wives affembling with their " goflips," often at the public taverns, to drink and amufe themfelves. In the old myfteries and morality plays, in which there was a good deal of quiet fatire on the manners of the age in which they were compofed and acfed, Noah's wife appears often as the type of the married woman in the burgher clafs, and her temper feems to have become almoft proverbial. In the "Towneley Myfteries," when Noah acquaints his wife with the approach of the threatened deluge, and of his orders to build the ark, the abufes him fo groffly as a common carrier of ill news, that he is provoked to ftrike her; the returns the blow, and they have a regular battle, in which the huflband has the advantage, but he is glad to efcape from her tongue, and proceed to his work. In the " Chefter Myfteries," Noah's wife will not go into the ark ; and when all is ready, the flood beginning, and the neceflity of taking her in apparent, (lie refutes to enter, unlefs fhe is allowed to take her goflips with her : — Yea,Jir,fette up youer fade, And roive fourth ivlth e-vill hade, For ivithouten fayle and Sentiments. 42 1 / ivill not oute of t/iis towne, But I have my gofippes everyechone (every one) One foote further I ivill not gone (po). They [ball not droiune, by Sante John, And I maye fa-ve ther life ! They Ioveti me full ivel, by Chrtfle ! But thout lett them into they cheife, Elks (otherwise) roive ncnue ivher the leijle (where you like), And gette thee a neive iviffe. It is to be fuppofed that Noah, when he wanted her, had found her with her goflips in the tavern. At laft, Noah's three fons are obliged to drag their mother into the " boat," when a fcene occurs which appears thus briefly indicated in the text, — Noye. Welckome, iviffe, into this botte ! Noye's Wiffe. Have thou that for thy note! [she beats him.] Noye. Ha, ha I marye, this is hotte ! It is good for to be fill. The converfation of thefe " goflips," when they met, was loofe and coarfe in the extreme, and, as defcribed in contemporary writings, the practice even of profane fwearing prevailed generally among both fexes to a degree which, to our ears, would found perfe6tly frightful —it was one of the vices againft which the moralifts preached molt bitterly. Life, indeed, in fpite of its occaflonal refinement in the higher ranks of fociety, was eflentially coarfe at this period, and we can hardly conceive much delicac v of people who dieted as, for inftance, the family of the earl of Northum- berland are reported to have done in the houfehold book, compiled in 1512, which was publiihed by bilhop Percy. I only give the bivakl'ali allowances, which, on flefh-days, were "for my lord and my lady," a loaf of bread "in trenchers," two manchets (loaves of fine meal), one quarl of beer (or, as we lhould now call it, ale), a quart of wine, half a chine of mutton, or a chine of beef boiled ; for " my lord Percy and Mr. Thomas Perc) " 422 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners Percy" (the two elder children), half a loaf of houfehold bread, a man- diet, one pottle of beer (two quarts — they were not yet allowed wine), a chicken, or elfe three mutton bones boiled ; " breakfafls for the nurcery, for my lady Margaret and Mr. Ingram Percy" (who in fa6t were mere children), a manchet, one quart of beer, and three mutton bones boiled ; for my lady's gentlewomen, a loaf of houfehold bread, a pottle of beer, and three mutton bones boiled, or elfe a piece of beef boiled. It will be feen here that the family dined two to a plate, or mefs, as was the ufual cuftom in the middle ages. On nth-days, the breakfaft allowances were as follows : for my lord and my lady, a loaf of bread in trenchers, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, two pieces of fait fifh, fix baked herrings, or a difh of fprats ; for the two elder fons, half a loaf of houfehold bread, a manchet, a pottle of beer, a diih of butter, a piece of fait fifh, a dilh of fprats, or three white (frefh) herrings; for the two children in the nurfery, a manchet, a quart of beer, a dilh of butter, a piece of fait fifh, a difh of fprats, or three white herrings ; and for my lady's gentlewomen, a loaf of bread, a pottle of beer, a piece of fait fifh, or three white herrings. We fhall be inclined, in comparing it with our modern ftyle of living, to confider this as a very fubftantial meal to begin the day with. According to the old moral and fatirical writers, exceflive greedinefs in eating had become one of the prevailing vices of this age. Barclay, in his " Eclogues," gives a ftrange picfure of the bad regulations of the tables at the courts of great people, in the time of Henry VII. He defcribes the tables as ferved in great confufion, and even as covered with dirty table-cloths. The food he reprefents as being bad in itfelf, and often ill-cooked. Everybody, he fays, was obliged to eat in a hurry, unlefs he would lofe his chance of eating at all, and they ferved the worn: diihes firft, fo that when you had fatiated yourfelf with food which was hardly palatable, the dainties made their appearance. This led people to eat more than they wanted. When an attractive difh did make its appearance, it led literally to a fcramble among the guefts : — But if it fortune, as feldome doth befall, That at beginning come dijhes bejl of all, Or and Sentiments. 423 Or (before) thou haft tafted a morjell or tivayne, Thy di(h out of fight is taken foon agayne. Sltrwe be the f erven in ferving in alxoay, But fwifte be they after taking thy meate aivay. Afpeciall cuftome is ufed them among, No good difb to fuffer on borde to be longe. If the dip be plea/aunt, eyther fle/be orf/be, Ten handcs at once fwarme in the dijhe ; And if it bejlejbe, ten knives Jhalt thou fee Mangling thefiefh and in the platter fee ; To put there thy handes is perill ivithout fayle, Without a gauntlet or els a glove of mayle. It would thus feem that the fervers left the guefts, except thofe at the high table, to help themfelves. It appears that in the earlier part of the fifteenth century, the Engliih had gained the character of keeping the moft profufe tables, and being the greater! eaters, in Europe. Afcrap preferved in a manufcript of the reign of Henry VIII., and printed in the " Reliquiae Antiquae" (vol. i. p. 326), offers rather a curious excufe for this character. There was a merchant of England, we are told, who adventured into far countries, and when he had been there a month or more, a great lord invited this Engliih merchant to dinner. And when they were at dinner, the lord wondered that he eat not more of his meat, for, faid he, " Englishmen are called the greateft feeders in the world, and it is reported that one man will eat as much as fix of another nation, and more victuals are confumed there than in any other region." " It is true," the merchant replied, "it is fo, and for three reafonable caufes fo much victual is ferved on the table ; one of which is, for love, another, for phyfic, and the third, for dread. Sir, as concerns the firft, we are accuftomed to have many divers meats for our friends and kinsfolk, becaufe fome love one maimer of meat, and fome another, and we with every man to be Satisfied. Secondly, in regard of phyfic, becaufe for divers maladies which people have, fome men will eal one meat, and fome another, it is delirable that everybody ihonld be fuited. The third caufe is for dread ; for we have fo great abundance and plenty in our realm, of beafts and fowls, that if we mould nol kill and deftroy them, they would deftroy and devour us." It may be remarked that, during this this period, the Englifh merchants and burghers in general feem to have kept very good tables, and that the lower orders, and even the peafantry, appear to have been by no means ill fed. The confufion in ferving at table defcribed by Alexander Barclay was no doubt caufed in a great meafure by the numerous troops of riotous and unruly ferving men and followers, who were kept by the noblemen and greater land-holders, and who formed everywhere one of the curfes of fociety. Within the houfehold, they had become fo unmanageable that their mailers made vain attempts to regulate them ; while abroad they were continually engaged in quarrels, often fanguinary ones, with coun- trymen or townfmen, or with the retainers of other noblemen or gentle- men, in which their matters confidered that it concerned their credit to fupport and protecf them, fo that the quarrels of the fervants became fometimes feuds between their lords. The old writers, of all defcriptions, bear witnefs to the bad conduct of ferving men and fervants in general, and to their riotoufnefs, and efpecially of the gargons, or, as they were called in Englifh, " lads." Cain's garcio, in the " Towneley Myfteries," was intended as a picfure of this clafs, in all their coarfenefs and vulgarity ; and the character of Jak Garcio, in the play of "The Shepherds," in the fame collection, is another type of them. We have feen that the breakfaft in the houfehold of the Percys was a very fubflantial meal, but it feems not to have been generally confidered a regular meal, either as to what was eaten at it, or as to the hour at which it was taken. Perhaps this was left to the convenience, or caprice, of individuals.* We have a curious defcription of the divifion of the occu- pations of the day in a princely houfehold, in an account which has been left us of the houfehold regulations of the duchefs of York, mother of king Edward IV., which, however, were ftrongly influenced by the pious character of that princefs, who fpent much time in religious duties and * At a rather later period, sir Thomas Elyot, in his " Castell of Helth " (printed in 1541), recommends that breakfast should be taken about four hours before dinner, considering it therefore as a light meal, and he advises, in a sanitary view, that not less than six hours should be allowed to elapse between dinner and supper. obfervances. and Sentiments. 425 obfervances. Her ufual hour of riling was feven o'clock, when fhe heard matins; fhe then "made herfelf ready," or dreffed herfelf, for the occu- pations of the day, and when this was done, fhe had a low mafs in her chamber. After this mafs, fhe took fomething " to recreate nature," which was, in fa£t, her breakfaft, though it is afterwards ftated that it was not a regular meal. She then went to chapel, and remained at religious fervice until dinner, which, as we are further told, took place, "upon eating days," at eleven o'clock, with a firft dinner in the time of high mafs for the various officers whofe duty it was to attend at table ; but, on fading days, the dinner hour was twelve o'clock, with a later dinner for carvers and waiters. After dinner, the princefs devoted an hour to give audience to all who had any bufinefs with her; lhe then flept for a quarter of an hour, and then fpent her time in prayer until the firft. peal of even-fong (vefpers), when " lhe drank wine or ale at her pleafure." She went to chapel, and returned thence to fupper, which, on eating days, was ferved at five o'clock, the carvers and fervers at table having fupped at four. The ordinary diet in the houfe of this princefs appears to have been extremely fimple. On Sunday, Tuefday, and Thurfday, the houfehold was ferved at dinner with beef and mutton, and one roaft; at fupper with "leyched" beef and roaft mutton; on Monday and Wednefday, they had boiled beef and mutton at dinner, and at fupper, the fame as on the three other days; on Friday, fait filh and two dilhes of frelh filh; and on Saturday, fait filh, one frefh filh, and butter, for dinner, and fait filh and eggs for fupper. After fupper, the prim-el's "difpofed herfelf to be familiar with her gentlewomen," with "honeft mirth ;" and one hour before going to bed fhe took a cup of wine, went to her privy clofet to pray, and was in bed by eight o'clock. The duchefs of York is of courfe to be looked upon as a model of piety and fobriety, and her hours are not perhaps to be taken as exa&ty thole of other people, and certainly not her occupations. In the French "Debat de la Damoifelle et de la Bourgeoife," the latter accufes the gentlewoman of late riling. " Before you are awake," the fays, " I am dreffed and have attended to my duties; do not therefore be furprifed if we are more diligent than you, linee you Qeep till dinner- 3 1 time." 426 Hijfory of Dome/lie Manners time." "No," replies the damoifelle, "we muft fpend our evening in dancing, and cannot do as you, who go to bed at the fame time as your hens." It has been ftated already that, even in the higheft ranks of fociety, the ladies were ufually employed at home on ufeful, and often on profit- able work. This work embraced the various proceffes in the manufacture of linen and cloth, as well as the making it up into articles of drefs, and embroidery, netting, and other fimilar occupations. The fpinning-wheel was a neceflary implement in every houfehold, from the palace to the cottage. In 1437, John Notyngham, a rich grocer of Bury St. Edmunds, bequeathed to one of his legatees, "j fpynnyng whel et j par carpfarum," meaning probably "a pair of cards," an implement which is ftated in the "Promptorium Parvulorum" to be efpecially a "wommanys inftrument." A few years previoufly, in 141 8, Agnes Stubbard, a refident in the fame town, bequeathed to two of her maids, each, one pair of wool-combs, one " kembyng-ftok" (a combing-ftock, or machine for holding the wool to be combed), one wheel, and one pair of cards j and to another woman a pair of wool-combs, a wheel, and a pair of cards. John Baret, of Bury, in 1463, evidently a rich man with a very large houfe and houfehold, fpeaks in his will of a part of the houfe, or probably a room, which was diftinguilhed as the " fpinning houfe." Our cut No. 265, from an illuminated Bible of the fifteenth century in the Imperial Library at Paris (No. 6829), reprefents a woman of apparently an ordinary clafs of fociety at work with her diftaff under her arm. The next cut (No. 266) is taken from a fine illuminated manu- fcript of the well-known French " Boccace des Nobles Femmes," and illuftrates the ftory of « Cyrille," the wife of king Tarquin. We have here a queen and her maidens employed in the fame kind of domeftic labours. The lady on the left is occupied with her combs, or cards, and her combing-ftock 5 the other fits at her diftaff, alio fupported by a ftock, inftead No. 265. Lady at her Diftaff. a?id Sentiments. 427 inftead of holding it under her arm j and the queen, with her hand on the ihuttle, is performing the final operation of weaving. Some of the more elegant female accomplishments, which were unknown in the earlier ages, were now coming into vogue. Dancing No. 266. A Queen and her Damfels at Work. was, as already Slated, a more favourite amufement than ever, and it received a new eclat from the frequent introduction of new dances, of which fome of the old popular writers give us long lids. Some of thele, too, were of a far more acYive and exciting defcription than formerly. One of the perfonages in the early interlude of "The Four Elements," talks of perfons — That pall both daunce and fpryng, And tome clene above the grounde, With fryfeas and with gambatvdes round, That all the hall frail ryng. Mufic, alfo, was more extensively cultivated as a domeftic accomplish- ment : and it was a more common thing to meet with ladies who indulged in Hifiory of Domeftic Manners in literary purfuits. Sometimes, too, the ladies of the fifteenth century pracf ifed drawing and painting, — arts which, inftead of being, as formerly, reftricted almoft to the clergy, had now paffed into the hands of the laity, and were undergoing rapid improvement. The illuminated manufcript of "Boccace des Nobles Femmes," which furnifhed the fubject of our laft cut, contains feveral pictures of ladies occupied in painting, one of which (illuftrating the chapter on " Marcie Vierge") is reprefented in our cut No. 267. The lady has her palette, her colour-box, and her No. 267. A Lady Artijt. Hone for grinding the colours, much as an artift of the prefent day would have, though fhe is feated before a fomewhat Angularly formed frame- work. She is evidently painting her own portrait, for which purpofe ihe ufes the mirror which hangs over the colour-box. It is rather curious that the tools which lie by the fide of the grinding-ftone are thofe of a fculptor, and not thofe of a painter, fo that it was no doubt intended we fhould fuppofe that fhe combined the two branches of the art. In one of the illuminations of the manufcript of the " Romance of the Rofe,'' which has been quoted before, preferved in the Britifh Mufeum, we have a picture of a male painter, copied in our cut No. 268, and intended to reprefent Apelles, who is working with a palette and eafel, exactly as artifts and Sentiments. 429 artifts do at the preient day: both he and our lady artifl: in the cut are evidently painting on board. We begin now alfo to trace the exigence No. 268. A Painter at his Eafel. of a great number of domeftic fports and paftimes, fome of which ilill remain in ufage, but which we have not here room to enumerate. Out of doors, the garden continued to be the favourite refort of the ladies. It would be eafy to pick out numerous defcriptions of gardens from the writers of the fifteenth century. Lydgate thus defcribes the garden of the rich "churl:" — Whilom thcr ivas in a Jmal -village, As myn autor makethe reherfayle, A chorle, ivhiche hadde luff and a grcte corage Within hymfelf, be diligent travayle, To array his gardeyn tuith notable apparayle, Of lengthe and brede yclicke (equally) Jquare and longe, Hcgged and dyked to make it Jure and ftronge. Alle the aleis ivcre made playne tuith fond (sand), The benches (banks) turned ivith ncive tur-vis grene, Sote herbers (sweet beds of plants), ivith condite (fountain) at the honde, That ivellid up agayne the fonne fchene, Lyke filnjer tlrcmes as any crijla/lc clcne, Tin- 43 o Hi ft or y of 'Dome/lie Manners The burbly •waives (bubbling waves) in up boyling, Rounde as byralle ther beamy s out Jhynynge. Amyddis the gardeyn flode a frejfl? laivrer (laurel), Theron a bird Jyngyng bothe day and nyghte. And at a fomewhat later period, Stephen Hawes, in his Angular poem entitled "The Paftime of Pleafure," defcribes a larger and more magni- ficent garden. Amour arrives at the gate of the garden of La Bel Pucel, and requefis the portrefs to conduct him to her miftrefs — { ' Truly " quod fhe, " in the garden grene Of many a fwete and fundry flowre She maketh a garlonde that is gives us a good reprefentation of the general appearance of houfes in a town at that period. In the country a greater change had taken place in all but the houfes of the peafantry. The older caftles had become obfolete, and, with the increating power and efficiency of the laws, it was no longer neceffary to confult ftrength before convenience. The houfes of the gentry were, however, frill built of confiderable extent, and during the fixteenth century the older domeflic arrangements were only flightly modified. Now, however, inftead of feeking a flrong polition, people chofe fituations that were agreeable and healthful, where they might be protected from inclemency of weather, and where gardens and orchards might be planted advantageoufly. Thus, like the earlier monaific edifices, a gentleman's houfe was built more frequently on low ground than on a hill. In the fixteenth century, the hall continued to hold its pofition as the No. 278. The " Hundred Men's Hall," at St. Crofs, near Winch great public apartment of the houfe, and in its arrangements it frill differed little from thofe of an earlier date ; it was indeed now the only part 444 Hiflory of Domeftic Ma?i?jers part of the houfe which had not been affecfed by the increafing tafte for domeftic privacy. We have many examples of the old Gothic hall in this country, not only as it exifted and was ufed in the fixteenth century, but, in fome cafes, efpecially in colleges, ftill ufed for its original purpofes. One of the fimpleft, and at the fame time beft, examples is found in the Hofpital of St. Crofs, near Winchefter, and a iketch of the interior, as reprefented in our cut No. 278, will ferve to give a general notion of the arrangements of this part of the manfion in former days. As the hall was frequently the fcene of feftivities of every defcription, a gallery for the muficians was confidered one of its neceflary appendages. In fome cafes, as at Madresfield in Worceflerfhire, a gallery ran round two or more fides of the hall j but generally the mulic gallery occupied one end of the hall, oppofite the dais. Under it was a paflage, feparated from the hall by a wooden fcreen, ufually of panel-work, and having on the oppofite fide the kitchen and buttery. In the large halls, the fireplace ftill frequently occu- pied the centre of the hall, where there was a fmall, low platform of ftone. This is diftin&ly feen in the preceding view of the interior of the hall of St. Crofs. In our cut No. 279 we give another example of this kind of fireplace, and Sentiments. 445 fireplace, from the hall at Penfhurft in Kent, where it is llill occupied by the iron dogs, or andirons, that fupported the fuel. It may be obferved that thefe latter, in the north of England and in fome other parts, were called cobirons. The implements attached to the fireplace had hitherto been few in number, and fimple in character, but they now became more numerous. In the inventories previous to the fixteenth century they are feldom mentioned at all, and the gloffaries fpeak only of tongs and bellows. In the will of John Baret of Bury, made in 1463, "a payre of tongys and a payre belwys" are mentioned. John Hedge, a large houfeholder of the fame town in 1504, fpeaks of "fpytts, rakks, cobernys, aundernnys, trevettes, tongs, with all other iryn werkes moveabyll within my houfe longying." This would feem to fhow that cobirons and andirons were not' identical, and it has been fuppofed that the former denomination belonged more particularly to the refts for fupporting the {pit. The fchoolmafter of Bury, in 1552, bequeathed to his hoftefs, "my cobbornes, the fire pany (? pan), and the tonges." If we turn to the north, we find in the collection of wills publifhed by the Surtees Society a more fre- quent enumeration of the fire implements. William Blakefon, pre- bendary of Durham, poffeffed in 1549 only "a payre of cobyrons and one payre of tongys." In 1 551, William Lawfon, of Newcaftle-on-Tyne, had in his hall "one yryn chymney, and a poor, with one paire of tonges," which are valued at the rather high fum of thirty ihillings. This is the firft mention of the iron chimney, or grate, but it occurs continually after the middle of the fixteenth century. In 1557, the "iron chymney" of the parifh clerk of St. Andrew's in Newcaffle was valued at twenty (hillings. The fire implements in the hall of the farm-houfe at Wefl Rundon near Northallerton, in 1,562, were "j. cnifetl, ij. rachyncrokes, j. pair of tonges, one paire off cobyrons, j. fpeitt, one paire off potes." We find the creflet frequently included among the implements attached to the fireplace. The racking-crook was the pothook. In 1564, John Bynley, minor canon of Durham, had in his hall "one iron chimney, with a bake (back), porre (a pnr, or poker), tongs, fier fhoel (ftrejhovel), fpette (/pit), and a littcll rake pertening thereto." The- lire-irons in the hall 446 Hiftory of Dome flic Manners hall of Margaret Cottam, widow, of Gatefhead, in 1564, were " one iron chimney, one porr, one payre of toynges, gibcrokes, rakincroke, and racks." The gibcrokes was probably a fort of pothook or jack. Nearly the fame lift of articles occurs frequently in fubfequent inventories. In No. 280. Ornamental Fire-irons, Sixteenth Century. 1567, a houlekeeper of Durham had among other fuch articles "a gallous (gallows) of iron with iiij. crocks." The gallows was, of courfe, the crofs-bar of iron, which projected acrofs the chimney, and from which the crooks or chains with hooks at the end for fuftaining pots were fufpended 5 and Sentiments. 447 fufpended ; as the gallows turned upon hinges, the pot could be moved over the fire, or from it, at pleafure, without being taken from the hook, and as the crooks, of which there were ufually more than one, were of different lengths, the pot might be placed lower to the fire or higher from it, at will. From the character of fome of thefe adjuncts to the fireplace, it is evident that the hall fire was frequently ufed for cooking. The fixteenth century was the period at which ornamentation was carried to a very high degree in every defcription of houfehold uteniil, and to judge from the valuation of fome of thefe articles in the inventories, they were no doubt of elegant or elaborate work. Numerous examples of ornamental ironwork, fpecially applied to fire-dogs or andirons, will be found in Mr. M. A. Lower's interesting paper on the ironworks of Suffex; and many others, ftill more elaborate, are preferved in fome of our old gentlemen's houfes in different parts of the country ; but this ornamentation was carried to a far higher degree in the great manu- factories on the continent, from whence our countrymen in the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries obtained a large portion of their richer furni- ture. The figure in the middle of the group of fire-irons reprefented in our cut No. 280, is an example of a fire-dog of this elaborate defcription, preferved in the collection of count Bran- caleoni, in Paris, whence alio the other articles in the cut are taken. Moft of them explain themfelves; the implement to the right is a fomewhat Angularly formed pair of tongs ; that immediately beneath the fire-dog is an inftrument for moving the logs of wood which then ferved as fuel. As a further example of the remarkable manner in which almoft every domeftic article was at this period adorned, we may point out a box-iron, for ironing linen, &c. (cut No. 281), which is alio preferved in our of the French collections ; fuch an article was of courfe not made to be expofed to the action of the fire, and this circumftance gave rife u> the contrivance No. 281. A Box-iron, Sixteenth Century. 44§ Hiftory of Dome ft ic Manners contrivance of forming it into a box, with a feparate iron which was to be heated and placed infide. The fire-irons, as we find them enumerated in writings or pictured in engravings, appear to have formed the fame lift, or nearly fo, though of courfe differing in form and ornament according to the varying fafhions of the day, until at a confiderably later period they were reduced to the modern trio of lhovel, poker, and tongs. The fingle pothook, with a contrivance for lengthening it and fhortening it, is fhown in our cut No. 282, taken from one of the remarkable wood engravings in '.' Der Weifs Kunig," — a feries of prints illuftrative of the youthful life of No. 282. Fireplace and Pothook. Maximilian I. of Germany, who afcended the imperial throne in 1493. The engravings are of the fixteenth century, and the form of the fire- place belongs altogether to the age of the Renaiffance. The gallows, with its pothooks or crokes of different lengths, appears in our cut No. 283, taken from Barclay's "Ship of Fools," the edition of 1570, though the defign is fomewhat older. The method of attaching the crooks to one fide of the fireplace, when not in ufe, is exhibited in this engraving, as alfo the mode in which other fmaller utenfils were attached to the walls. In this latter inftance there are no dogs or andirons in the fireplace, and Sentiments. 449 fireplace, but the pot or boiler is (imply placed upon the fire, without other fupport. There were, however, other methods of placing the pot upon the fire; and in one of the curious wooden fculptures in the church of Kirby Thorpe, in Yorkshire, reprefenting a cook cleaning his dilln.s, \ 111 No. 283. The Fireplace and its ufi No. 284. A Cook cleaning his Dific the boiler is placed over the fire in a fort of four-legged frame, as repre- fented in the annexed cut No. 284. Early in the feventeenth century the fireplace had taken nearly its prefent form, although the dogs or andirons had not yet been fup( rfeded by the grate, which, however, had already conic into ule. This later form of the fireplace is fhown in our cut No. &&% taken from one oi an interesting feries of prints, executed by the French artiil, Abraham BofTe, in the year 16,35. It reprefents a domeftic party ining fritters in Lent. One of the dogs is (can at the foot of the opening of the firepla< e. 3 m In 45° Hiflory of Domejiic Manners In the fixteenth century, the articles of furniture in the hall con- tinued to be much the fame as in the century preceding. It continued to be fnrniihed with hangings of tapeftry, but they feem not always to have been in ufe ; and they were frill placed not abfolutely againft the No. 285. Frying Fritters. wall, but apparently at a little diftance from it, fo that people might conceal themfelves behind them. If the hall was not a very large one, a table was placed in the middle, with a long bench on each fide. There was generally a cupboard, or a "hutch," if not more, with fide tables, one or more chairs, and perhaps a fettle, according to the tafte or means of the poffeflbr. We hear now alfo of tables with leaves, and of folding tables, as well as of counters, or deiks, for writing, and dreffers, or fmall cupboards. The two latter articles were evidently, from their names, borrowed from the French. Cufhions were alfo kept in the hall, attd Sentiments. 45 1 hall, for the feats of the principal perfons of the houfehold, or for the females. The furniture of the hall of William Lawibn, of Newcafile- upon-Tyne, in 1551, confifted of one table of wainfcot, valued at twenty {hillings, two double counters, valued together at thirty {hillings, a drawer and two forms, eftimated at five {hillings, two culhions and two chairs, alfo valued at five fhillings, live other culhions, valued at twelve {hillings, two carpet cloths and a cupboard cloth, valued together at ten {hillings, and the hangings in the hall, eftimated to be worth fifty ihillings. This feems to have been a very well furniihed hall ; that of Robert Goodchild, parilh clerk of St. Andrew's in Newcaftle, in 1557, contained an almery (or large cupboard), eftimated at ten Ihillings ; a counter "of the myddell bynde," fix ihillings ; a cupboard, three fhillings and fourpence ; five bafins and fix lavers, eight {hillings; feventeen "powder (pewter) doblers," leventeen fhillings ; fix pewter difhes and a hand-bafin, five ihillings ; fix pewter faucers, eighteen pence; four pottle pots, five ihillings and fourpence, three pint pots and three quart pots, three ihillings; ten can- dlefticks, fix fhillings; a little peftle and a mortar, two ihillings; three old chairs, eighteen pence ; fix old culhions, two ihillings ; and two counter-cloths. Much of the furniture of Engliih houies at this time was imported from Flanders. Jane Lawfon, in the year laft mentioned, had in her hall at Little Burdon in Northumberland, " Flanders counters with their carpets." She had alfo in the hall, a long fide table, three long forms and another form, two chairs, three ftools, fix new culhions and three old culhions, and an almery. The whole furniture of the hall of the rectory houfe of Sedgefield in Durham, which appears to have been a large houfe and well entertained, confifted of a table of plane-tree with joined frame, two tables of fir with frames, two forms, a fettle, and a pair of treftles. The hall of Bertram Anderfon, a rich and diftinguifhed merchant and alderman of Ncwcattle-upon-Tyne, in 1570, was furnillnd with two tables with the carpets (table-covers), three forms, one dozen culhions, half-a-dozen green culhions, one counter with the carpet, two "bafinges" (Icijins), and two covers, one chair, and one little chair. This is a linking proof of the rarity of chairs even at this late date. Bullet ftools, which are fuppoied to be the ftools with a tl.it top ami a hole in the 452 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners the middle through which the hand might be paffed to lift them, are alfo mentioned among the articles of furniture in the hall at this period. The furniture of the hall at the manor-houfe of Croxdale, in the county of Durham, in the year 157 1, confided of one cupboard, one table, two buffet ftools, and one chair ; yet Salvin of Croxdale was looked upon as one of the principal gentry of the Palatinate. In enumerating the furni- ture of the ancient hall, we muft not forget the arms which were ufually difplayed there, efpecially by fuch as had dependent upon them a certain number of men whom it was their duty or their pride to arm. The hall of a rich merchant of Newcaftle, named John Wilkinibn, contained in 157 1, the following furniture: one almery, one table of wainfcot, one counter, one little counter, one dreifer of wainfcot, one " pulk," three chairs, three forms, three buffet ftools, fix cufhions of tapeftry, fix old cufhions of tapeftry, fix green cufhions, two long carpet cloths, two fhort carpet cloths, one fay carpet cloth, the "hyngars" in the hall, on the almery head one bafin and ewer, one great charger, three new " doblers," one little cheft for fugar, and one pair of wainfcot tables ; and of arms, two jacks, three fallets of iron, one bow and two fheaves of arrows, three bills, and two halberts. Some of the entries in thefe inventories are amufing ; and, while fpeaking of arms, it may be flated, that a widow lady of Bury, Mary Chapman, who would appear to have been a warlike dame, making her will in 1649, leaves to one of her fons, among other things, "alfo my mufkett, reft, bandileers, fword, and head- piece, my jacke, a fine paire of fheets, and a hutche." In 1,577, Thomas Liddell, merchant of Newcaftle, had in his hall, " three tables of waynf- coot, fex qwyfhons of tapeftery, a cowborde, three wainfcoot formes, two chayrs, three green table clothes, fower footftoles, fixe quylhons, two candlefticks, a louckinge glaffe, fexe danlke pootts of powther (pewter), two bafings, and two vewers (ewers), a laver and a bafinge, fyve buffatt ftules." It is curious thus to trace the furniture of the hall at different periods, and compare them together; and we cannot but remark from the frequency with which the epithet old is applied to different articles, towards the end of the century that the hall was beginning rapidly to fall into dilute. The caufe of this was no doubt the increafing tafte for domeftic and Sentiments. 453 domeflic retirement, and the with to withdraw from the publicity which had always attended the hall, and it gradually became the mere entrance lobby of the houfe, the place where ftrangers or others were allowed to remain until their pretence had been announced, which is the fenfe in which we commonly ufe the word hall, as part of the houfe, at the prefent day. In the enumeration of the parts of a houfe given in the Engliih edition of Coraenius's "Janua Linguarum," in the middle of the feventeenth century, there is no mention of a hall. "A houfe," we are told in this quaint book, " is divided into inner rooms, fuch as are the entry, the ftove, the kitchen, the buttery, the dining-room, the gallery, the bed-chamber, with a privy made by it 5 baikets are of ufe for carrying things to and fro ; and cherts (which are made faft with a key) for keeping them. The floor is under the roof. In the yard is a well, a ftable, and a bath. Under the houfe is the cellar." No. 286. A Folding Table. It has already been remarked that tables with leaves began to be mentioned frequently after the commencement of the fixteenth century. Andrew 454 Hiftory of ' Domejiic Ma?2ners Andrew Cranewife, of Bury, in 1558, enumerates "one cupborde in the hall, one plaine table with one leafe." He fpeaks further on, in the fame will, of " my beft folte (fold or folding) table in the hall, and two great hutches." In 1556, Richard Claxton, of Old Park, in the county of Durham, fpeaks of a "folden table" in the parlours, which was valued at two millings. Thefe folding tables appear to have been made in a great variety of forms, fome of which were very ingenious. Our cut No. 286 reprefents a very curious folding table of the fixteenfh century, which was long preferred at Flaxton Hall, in Suffolk, but perifhed in the fire when that manfion was burnt a few years ago. As reprefented in the cut, which fhows the table folded up fo as to be laid afide, the legs pull out, and the one to the right fits into the lion's mouth, and is fecured by the pin which hangs befide it. The methods of lighting the hall at night were ftill rather clumfy, and not very perfect. Of courfe, when the apartment was very large, a few candles would produce comparatively little effect, and it was there- fore found neceffary to ufe torches, and inflammable maffes of larger fize. 1 2 No. 287. Crejfet and Moon. One method of fupplying the deficiency was to take a fmall pan, or port- able fireplace, filled with combuflibles, and fufpend it in the place where light was required. Such a receptacle was ufually placed at the top of a pole, for facility of carrying about, and was called a crelfet, from an old French and Sentiments. 455 French word which meant a night-lamp. The creflet is mentioned by Shakeipeare and other writers as though it were chiefly ufed in proceflions at night, and by watchmen and guides. The firft figure in our cut No. 287, taken from Douce's " Illuflxations of Shakeipeare," reprefents one of the crelfets carried by the marching watch of London in the fixteenth century. From the continual mention of the creflet along with the fire-irons of the hall, in the wills publilhed by the Surtees Society, we can hardly doubt its being ufed, at leaft in the north of England, for lighting the hall itfelf. An improvement of the common crelfet con- fifted in enclofing the flame, by whatever material it was fed, in a cafe made of fome tranfparent fubftance, fuch as horn, and thus making it neither more nor lefs than a large lantern fixed on the end of a pole. The form of this implement was generally globular, and, no doubt from its appearance when carried in the night, it was denominated a moon. The "moon" was carried by fervants before the carriages of their matters, to guide them along country lanes, and under other fimilar circumftances. The fecond figure in our cut No. 287 reprefents a "moon" which was formerly preferved at Ightham Moat Houfe, in Kent ; the frame was of brafs, and the covering of horn. To affift in lighting the hall, fometimes candlefticks were fixed to the walls round the hall, and this perhaps will explain the rather large number of candlefticks fometimes enumerated among the articles in that part of the houfe. In our cut No. 282, we have an example of a candleftick placed on a frame, which, turning on a pivot or hinges, may be turned back againft the wall when not in ufe. During the period of which we are now (peaking, almoll everything connected with the table underwent great change. This was leaft the cafe with regard to the hours of meals. The ufual hour of breakfafl was feven o'clock in the morning, and feems fcarcely to haw varied. During the fixteenth century, the hour of dinner was eleven o'clock, or jufl four hours after breakfafl. "With us," fays Ilarriibn in his defcription of England, prefixed to Holinftied's Chronicle, " the nobilitie, gentrie, and fludents (he means the Univerlities), doo ordinarilie go to dinner at eleven before noone, and to (upper at live, or between five and fixe, al afternoone." Before the end of the century, however, the dinner hour appears 456 Hijiory of Dome ft ic Manners appears to have varied between eleven and twelve. In a book entitled the " Haven of Health," written by a phyfician named Cogan, and printed in 1,584, we are told : "When foure houres be paft after breake- faft, a man may fafely take his dinner, and the raoft convenient time for dinner is about eleven of the clocke before noone. The ufual time for dinner in the univerfities is at eleven, or elfe where about noon." In Beaumont and Fletcher, the hour of dinner was ftill eleven ; " I never come into my dining-room," fays Merrythought, in the " Knight of the Burning Peftle," "but at eleven and fix o'clock." "What hour is't, Lollis?" alks a character in the "Changeling," by their contemporary Middleton. " Towards eating-hour, fir." "Dinnertime? thou mean' ft twelve o'clock." And other writers at the beginning of the feventeenth century fpeak of twelve o'clock and feven as the hours of dinner and fupper. This continued to be the ufual hour of dinner at the clofe of the fame century. During the reign of Elizabeth, and afterwards, perfons of both fexes appear to have broken their faft in the fame fubftantial manner as was obferved by the Percies at the beginning of the century, and as defcribed in a previous chapter ; yet, though generally but four hours interpofed between this and the hour of dinner, people feem to have thought it neceffary to take a fmall luncheon in the interval, which, no doubt from its confifling chiefly in drinking, was called a lever. "At ten," fays a character in one of Middleton's plays, " we drink, that's mouth-hour ; at eleven, lay about us for victuals, that's hand-hour 5 at twelve, go to dinner, that's eating-hour." "Your gallants," fays Appetitus, in the old play of " Lingua," "never fup, breakfaft, nor bever without me." The dinner was the largefl and raoft ceremonious meal of the day. The hearty character of this meal is remarked by a foreign traveller in England, who publifhed his"Memoires et Obfervations" in French in 1698. " Les Anglois," he tells us, " mangent beaucoup a diner ; ils man- gent a reprifes, et remplilfent le fac. Leur fouper eft leger. Gloutons a, midi, fort fobres au foir." In the fixteenth century, dinner ftill began with the fame ceremonious warning of hands as formerly ; and there was confiderable oftentation in the ewers and bafins ufed for this purpofe. Our and Sentiments. 457 No. 28 S. A Bafin and Eiver, Sixteenth Century Our cut No. 288 reprefents ornamental articles of this defcription, of the fixteenth century, taken from an engraving in Whitney's "Emblems," printed in 1586. This cuftom was rendered more neceffary by the circumftance that at table people of all ranks ufed their fingers for the purpofes to which we now apply a fork. This article was not ufed in England for the purpofe to which it is now applied, until the reign of James I. It is true that we have inftances of forks even fo far back as the pagan Anglo-Saxon period, but they are often found coupled with lpoons, and on con- fidering all the circumftances, I am led to the conviction that they were in no infrance ufed for feeding, but merely for ferving, as we ftill ferve falad and other articles, taking them out of bafin or dim with a fork and fpoon. In fa£t, to thofe who have not been taught the ufe of it, a fork muft neceffarily be a very awkward and inconvenient inftrument. We know that the ufe of forks came from Italy, the country to which Eng- land owed many of the new fafhions of the beginning of the feventee^ith century. It is curious to read Coryat's account of the ufage of forks at table as he firft faw it in that country in the courfe of his travels. "I obferved," fays he, "a cuftome in all thofe Italian cities and townes through which I paffed, that is not ufed in any other country that I faw in my travels, neither doe I thinke that any other nation of Chriitendome doth ufe it, but only Italy. The Italian, and alio moil ftrangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at their meales ufe a little forke, when they cut their meate. For while with their knife which they hold in one hande they cut the meat out of the diih, they fallen their forke, which they hold in their other hande, upon the fame dill), lb that what- soever he be that fitting in the company of any others at meale, mould unadvifedly touch the dilh of meate with his fingers, from which all at the table do cut, he will give occafion of offence unto the company . as having tranfgreifed the lawes of good manners, infomuch that lor his error .3 n he 45 8 Hijiory of "Domeftic Manners he fliall be at the leaft brow-beaten, if not reprehended in wordes. This forme of feeding I underftand is generally ufed in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the moft part made of yron or fteele, and fome of filver, but thofe' are ufed only by gentlemen. The reafon of this their curiofity is, becaufe the Italian cannot by any means indure to have his diih touched with fingers, feeing all men's fingers are not alike cleane. Here- upon I myfelf thought good to imitate the Italian falhion by this forked cutting of meate, not only while I was in Italy, but alfo in Germany, and oftentimes in England fince I came home ; being once quipped for that frequent uiing of my forke by a certain learned gentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one Mr. Lawrence Whittaker, who in his merry humour doubted not to call me at table furcifer, only for ufing a forke at feeding, but for no other caufe." Furcifer, in Latin, it need hardly be obferved, meant literally one who carries a fork, but its proper fignification was, a villain who deferves the gallows. The ufage of forks thus introduced into England, appears foon to have become common. It is alluded to more than once in Beaumont and Fletcher, and in Ben Jonfon, but always as a foreign falhion. In JonfonV comedy of "The Devil is an Afs," we have the following dialogue : — Meerc. Have I dejerv'd this from you t\ the Dame of a meal, 395, '150. Beverley, the minstrels of, 192. Birds, kept in cages, 239 -242,3 1.385,491. Ulinilinan's-buil', game of, 229, 230. Boar's head, the, 1 16. Bourgeoisie, the, their mode of living, 170— 173. Bower, chamber, or sleeping-room, Anglo- Saxon, 11. Bowls, vessels found in Anglo-Saxon graves, h. Box-lion, ornamental, 447. Bread, and biking, 92, 161. Breakfasts of the Percy family, 421. Bn .'■ h 'ii es, plac for lelling I r, 335. Until el , Anglo-Saxon, supposed to be for carrying liquor, 9, 25. Buffet, or cupboard, 362, 379. See Cupboard. Bull-baiting, 304. Cabinets, 246. Cabriolet, 497, 498. Caldron, forms of the, 144—1 47. Candles, 43, 107, 249—252, 375, 376. Candle-beam, 376. Candlesticks, 376, 37s, 475 ; attached to the walls of halls, 378, 455. Caquets de l'accouchee, 481. Cards, history of the game of, 221—225, 386, 484—488. . 495. Carole, the name of a dance, 228. Carpets, 245, 371, 402. Carriages, among lhe Anglo-Saxons, 73; among the English, 116, 434,4:;5, 495. Cart, riding in, disgraceful, 344. Cats, 243, 244. Cellar, the, 133. Chairs, 41, 42, 94, 155, 244, 374, 375, 378, 401, 473,483. Chairs, for conveyance, 497. Chambers, Anglo-Saxon, 11, 40—47; early English, 132, 244—246, 260—262; in the fif- teenth century, 3sl, 399—402. Chamber-maidens, 270. Chandeliers, 376, 475. Chaplets of flowers, popular in the middle ages, 288. Cherries, cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, 295; and generally in England during the middle ages, 299, 300, 302. Cherry-fairs, 299. Chess, game of, 41, 106; history of the game, 195—214, 286, 2»7. Chessmen, ancient, 202—206. Chests, 110, 138, 262-26S, ITT. Chestnut, meaning of the word, 296. Children, treatment of, 47— 01,494. Chimneys, 99, 245. Churning, 92. ( ittern, the musical instrument, 186, 187. Clergy. Anglo-Saxon, addicted to huntll corrupters of domestic morals in the middle . 282. Cnithad (boyhood), period of among the as, 62. Coaches, 496. Coal, mineral, used among the Anglo- Saxons, 21. Coffers, 110, 263—268. Cold-harbour, origm ol the term, 76. Cooks, ' Cookerj , an the Vnglo Saxons, 26, 27j English, 91, L48— 180, 347— 366, 396 J in lhe fifteenth century, 3M. Couch, the, 474. Counter, or table for writing, 450. Couples, guests placed at table in, 157. Court-cupboards, 474. Cradle, Anglo-Saxon, 49, 50; English, 402. Cressets, implements for giving light, 454, Cupboard, 173, 362, 371, 379, 450, 461, 462. Curtains, bed, 403-411. Curtains of chamber, 244. Cymbals, 189. Dais, the, 30, 139, 153, 154. Dames, the game of, 220. Damsons, considered as delicacies, 388. Dancing, among the Anglo-Saxons, 35 ; among the Anglo-Normans, 111; among the Eng- lish, 227—229, 285 ; in the fifteenth century, 387, 419, 426, 427. Day, divisions and different occupations of the, 92—94, 246, 24 7, 396, 424—426. Dice, the game of, 214—217, 4;-5, 486. Dinner, among the Anglo-Saxons, 22 — 24 ; among the Anglo-Normans, 88—90; forms and ceremonies attending the mediaeval dinner, 150—153, 156—163; dinner in the fifteenth century, 3s9, 396 ; alter the Reformation, 458—466. Dinner, number of courses at, 349, 463. Dogs, Anglo-Saxon, 68, 69; pets and house- dogs, 242, 243; d>gs used in hawking, 307. Drauyht chamber, or drawing-room, 408. Draughts, the game of, 221. Dresser, or cupboard, 173, 379, 393, 450, 4G1, 462. Drinking, among the Anglo-Saxons, 3,4,30, 31 ; among the Anglo-Normans, 113; among the English, 168. Drim ing ceremonies and formalities, 33, 467—470. Drinking-cups, Anglo-Saxon, 5, 6, 31 ; Anglo- Norman, 89, 90; in the fifteenth century, 390; drinking-vessels, 465. Drum, the, 188, 393. Dulcimer, the, 184, 190. E. Eating, greediness in, characteristic of the English, 422, 423; their diet in the seven- teenth century, 465. Education, 118, 338—340, 439. Embroidery, among the Anglo-Saxons, 52 ; among the English, 237, 238. F. Faldestol, the, 95. Fashions, extravagant, among the Anglo-Nor- mans, 81. Feasts, great, 357. Female character, estimate of, 105. Feudal society, its classes and prejudices, 280, 416—418. Feudalism, 100, 101, 103; its barbarity, 316 ; its decline, 4L5, 441. Fiddle, the, 34, 184, 185, 193. Fighting, love of the English for, 4S9. Fire, lighted in the hall among the Anglo- Saxons, 20. 21 ; in the chamber, 245. Fire-irons, 445—448. Fireplace, the, 99, 244, 367, 444, 448—450. Floor, strewed with rushes, 154, 246, 366. Flowers, love of, among (he Anglo-Saxons, 60 ; among the English, 289. Flowers, what, cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, 295 ; by the English, 297, 298, 300, S01. Food, Anglo-Saxon, 26, 28; Anglo-Norman, 91. See Cookery. F.>ol, court or domestic, 390. Forfeits, games of, 233. Forks f<>r eating, not used in the middle ages, 29 ; when first used, 457, 458. Fostering, practice of, and foster-children, 269, 271. Friends, sworn, 271. Friendship, value of, in the middle ages, 271, 272. Frog-in-the-middle, game of, 232, 233. Fruit cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, 295 ; in Neckam's description, of a garden, 297; in that cf John de Garlande, 298. Gambling, propensity of the Teutonic race for, 214. Games, among the Anglo-Saxons, 40; among the Anglo-Normans, 106, 107 ; in the middle ages, 195, 236, 432, 433; at a later period, 483—490. Garden, the, in the middle ages, 2S4— 290, 397, 429—432, 488. Garden-houses, 488. Gardening, 60; history of English gardening, 293-303. Gardening, early Engli-h treatises on, 302. Garlands, very popular, 288—290, 431. Glass vessels, Anglo-Saxon, 89. Gleemen, 33, 35, 36, 175, 176. Godmundingaham, story of, 55. Gossips, their character, 421. Grammar schools, origin of, 338. H. Hall, the Anglo-Saxon, 2, 3, 11, 12, 18, 19, 39: the Anglo-Norman, 84,98; the early English, 141, 153; in the fifieenth century, 362 ; fur- niture of the, 364, 365; after the Reforma- tion, 443—445, 450 — 455. Hanging, as a punishment, 58, 346. Harlots, the name of a class in medireval society, 407. Harp, 35, 36, 164, 166, 175, 193. Hawking, among the Ansdo-Saxons, 70 ; among the English. 305—310, 434. Hedgehogs, how cooked, 356. Herbergeors, 333. Herodias, dancing, 167, 168, 463. Hoodman-blind, game of, 229, 230. Horn, drinking, 32, 89. Horn, the musical instrument, 186, 1S7, 188. Horses, and horsemanship, among the Anglo- Saxons, 71; among the Anglo-Normans, 114; history of the horse in the middle ages, 316-319. Hospitality, and its forms, 22, 23, 76, 328—333. Hot cockles, game of, 230—232. Hothouses (baths), 491—493. Hours, early, kept by our ancestors, 217. Hour of rising, 93, 155, 247, 248, 395, 425, 437. Of breakfast, 93, 248, 424, 455. of dinner, 93, 155, 248, 425, 455, 456. ol'supper, 94, 155, 425, 455, 456. of going to bed, 94, 155, 246, 425. House, the, among the Angl i-Saxons, 2, 11— 17; amoi g the Anglo-Normans, 82, 83; the early English, 120—136; in the fifteenth century, 359—362 ; alter the Reformation, 412. Hummums, 491. Hunting, among the Anglo-Sax ns, 67—70; among the Anglo-Normans, 112; a favourite amusi inent with the ladies, 310—312. Hutch, or Chest, 262—267, 402, 409—411, 450. Ivory, in the middle ages, made of the horn of the walrus, 202. Joined furniture, 374, 375, 472, 473, 483. Jougleurs, 165, 177— 181. K. Kayles, game of, 237. Keys, 135. Kitchen, Anglo-Norman, 84, 86—88; early English, 142—147. Knife-cases, ornamental, 464. Knight, characteristics of the, 104. Knives, Anglo-Saxon, 9, 10, 29, 30; Anglo- Norman, 89. Knives, not furnished to the guests, 363, 364. Knockers to doors, 361. Lamps, 44, 252—254. Lanterns, 1U8, 252. Latten, a mixed metal, 376. Learning, state of, 118. Lechers. See Ribalds. Leek, the favourite vegetable in the middle ages, 294. Lighting, 43, 249, 375—378, 398, 454. Liquors, drunk by the Anglo-Saxons, 32. Londesborough, lord, his collection of ancient plate, 462. Lute, the, 186. M. Magpie, the favourite taking bird, 239—242. Marriage, among the Anglo-Saxons, 54. Masques after dinner, 462. Mead, 32. Meals, Ani;lo-Saxon, 22. Meals, hours of the, 155. See Hours. Meat, how cooked, 148. Medicine, administered by the ladies, 278, 279. M ss, meaning of the word, 464. Milking, 92. Millichope, Norman house at, 129—131. Minstrels, 33—37, 108, 161-167, 175—193, 227, 228, 285, 286, 365,391, 393. Mirrors, 260, 112—414. Money dealings, 7-, 79, 263, 265. M.nks, luxury of the, 348. Monkeys, domesticated, 242, 491. Moon, a contrivance for giving light, 455. Moral character of the Anglo-Saxons, 63 — 58. Molality of Ho- mi Idle ages, 273, 281. Mummings ai.d masquerades at dinner, 160. Music, cultivated as a domestic accomplish- ment, 427. -iruments, 34, 35, 109, 184—192. Music-galleries iu the halls, when introduced, 182, 444. N. Naked, sleeping in bed, 257—259, 335, 411. Nature, beauties of, love of the Anglo-Saxons for, 60; of the English iu the middle ages, 283. Nef, the, an ornamental vessel at the dinner- table, 163. Nigh in-ales, domesticated, and the food for them, 385. Noah's wife, medi:eval character of, 420, 437. Occleve, the poet, his manner of living i youth, 4:;;. Oranges, 297. Ordinaries, 493. Organ, the musical instrument, 184. Painting, as a domestic accomplishment, 428, 429. Paintings, wall, 371—373, 403. Parlour, the, 134,370,371,379— 381,386,475,476. Parrot, domesticated in the middle ages, 239, 242, 491. Pavements, under the Anglo-Saxons, 16. Peaches, known to the Anglo-Saxons, 296; and cultivated in England during the middle ages, 297, 303. Peacock, how served at table, 354. Perche, the, 111, 136— 13", 3U5. Percy family, their diet, 421. Pic-nics, origin of, 438, 493. Pie. See Mat/pie. Pillion, riding on, 495,496. Pine, the kernels of the cone used in the same way as almonds (misprinted dices in the first reference), 296, 350. Pipe, the musical instrument, 188. Pipe, double, musical instrument, 64, 190. Plants, cultivated in gardens, 297, 2 Plate, an article of ostentation In the middle ages, 171; great fashion for in tb century, 161. Play, loudness of the Anglo-Saxons for, 63. I' lisoning In the middle air -s, -j 7 ; > . 431. Pottery, Anglo-Saxon, 6— s ; Anglo-Norman, 85, 90. Priesthood, family, among the unconverted Angles, 65. Printing, origin of the art of, 22 1. Psaltery, the musical instrum nl . 1 96, 1 57. Pudding, the love ofthe English lor, 4tio. P ii and Judy, 433. Punishments, Anglo-Saxon, 58, 69; English, 312—346. Quarrels iu the hall after drinking, 8?. Questions and commands, games of, 232—334. Ragman's Roll, game of 502 Index. Rere-suppers, 387, 393-395, 467. Tabor, the musical instrument, 183, 193, used Ribalds, or lechers, a class of mediaeval society, to rouse game, 308, 309. 85, 104, 178. Tambourine, the, 188. Ridels, 403. Tapestry for the walls of houses, 19, 20, 160, Riding, 115, 311—315, 495, 496. 244, 371, 450, 474. Riding, prejudice against, 313. Taverns, Anglo-Saxon, 75, 77; Anglo-Norman, Rings, their importance in the middle ages, 113; early English, 258, 333—327 ; in the fif- 266—269. teenth century, 436—439. Roads, insecurity of the, 77, 326, 436. Tavern-keepers, their extortions, 215. Robbers, 326, 327. Thane's seat, 62. Roy-qui-ne-ment, game of, 232, 233. Timepieces, 477, 478. Ruelle, of the bed, 404. Toilette, the, among the Anglo-Saxons, 59 ; among the English, 260, 491. S. Top, game of, 235, 236. Torches, use of, 254, 377. Salt, its importance at table, and superstition concerning it, 362 ; customs relating to it, 459. Scholars, begging, 339. Schools, 117—119. Scissors, 109. Seats, among the Anglo-Saxons, 31, 41 ; among Towns, 65, 66. Travelling, among the Anglo-Saxons, 75 — 78; among the Anglo-Normans, 114 — 116; among the English, 319—327. Trencher, the, 158. Truckle-beds, 408. Trumpet, 189. Tumblers, for drinking, origin of the name, 6. the Anglo-Normans, 94—97 ; in the fifteenth century, 369, 370; after the Reformation, 472—474. u. Servants, cruel treatment of, by the Anglo- Saxon ladies, 56, 57. Servants how to be governed, 277 ; how treated, Umbrellas, used by the Anglo-Saxons, 75. 278 ; riotous and ungovernable, 313, 424. V. Service, younggcntlemen going to seek, 269, 272. Settle, the, 97, 401. Shalm, the musical instrument, 186, 187. Side-saddles, used by women, 72, 115,311 — 313. Vessels used at table, 25, 34, 150. Villains, how regarded by the Normans, 101. Vine, the, cultivated in England, 33, 99, 296. Sitting, etiquette in, 293. Soler, of a house, 12, 83, 126—128 Visitors, how received, 141, 142. Spectacles, 439. w. Spense, the, 133. Spinning, an occupation of the ladies, 238, 426, 4s2. Squirrels, domesticated, 384— 3S6, cooked for Waghe, difference between this word and wall, 12. Wakes, village, 67. Walking, rules for behaviour in, 290—293. the table, 355, 356. Stocks, as a punishment, 59, 116, Washing, before and after meals, 156, 367, 368, Weaving, as practised by the ladies, 109, 237, 426, 427, 482, 483. Subtilty, an ornamental device at table, 355, 393. Supernaculum, explanation of the term, 468. Suppers, 246, 247, 391, 395, 397. Well, the, 86, 361. Suprer, rere, 387, 393—395, 467. Whips, 235, 315. Windows, S3, 121, 134. Windows, with seats, 373, 374. Swaddling of babies, 48, 50, 402, 494. Sweetmeats, use of, 467. Wine, 33, 90. T. Woman, her character among the Anglo-Saxons, 52,53. Table, manners at, 161, 162, 363, 364, 366—369. Women, their occupations, 52, 53, 108, 109, 237 Tables, of the Anglo-Saxons, 21, 42 ; of the Nor- —239 ; their want of delicacy in the middle mans, 94 ; Early English, 139 ; in the fifteenth ages, 274 ; treated with rudeness, 275 ; instruc- century, 364, 371, 374 ; of the subsequent period tions to them, 275 ; acted as doctors, 27*, 279 ; 471. poisoners, 279, 431 ; frequenters of taverns, Tables, arrangement of, in the hall, 153. 2b2, 420, 437—439 ; education and employment Tables for books, 340, 341. of gentlewomen, 383, 3*4, 419, 426; their Table dormant, 139, 365. undomestic character, 420 ; addicted to gamb- Tables, lolding, 450, 453, 454. ling and drinking, 483— 4>5 ; their manner of Tables with leaves, 450. riding. See Side-saddle, Pillion. Tables, for writing, 440, 450. Writing, implements of, 96, 117, 266, 340, 341, Tables, game of, 40, 217—220. 439. FI > J I S. JAMES S. VIRTUE, PRIM lili, CITY KOAD, LONDON.