OF THEIR HOSPITALITY AND LIBERALITY
NO one of this nation ever begs, for the houses of all are common to all;
and they consider liberality and hospitality amongst the first virtues.
So much does hospitality here rejoice in communication, that it is
neither offered nor requested by travellers, who, on entering any house,
only deliver up their arms. When water is offered to them, if they
suffer their feet to be washed, they are received as guests; for the
offer of water to wash the feet is with this nation an hospitable
invitation. But if they refuse the proffered service, they only wish for
morning refreshment, not lodging. The young men move about in troops and
families under the direction of a chosen leader. Attached only to arms
and ease, and ever ready to stand forth in defence of their country, they
have free admittance into every house as if it were their own.
Those who arrive in the morning are entertained till evening with the
conversation of young women, and the music of the harp; for each house
has its young women and harps allotted to this purpose. Two
circumstances here deserve notice: that as no nation labours more under
the vice of jealousy than the Irish, so none is more free from it than
the Welsh: and in each family the art of playing on the harp is held
preferable to any other learning. In the evening, when no more guests
are expected, the meal is prepared according to the number and dignity of
the persons assembled, and according to the wealth of the family who
entertains. The kitchen does not supply many dishes, nor high-seasoned
incitements to eating. The house is not furnished with tables, cloths,
or napkins. They study nature more than splendour, for which reason, the
guests being seated in threes, instead of couples as elsewhere, {169a}
they place the dishes before them all at once upon rushes and fresh
grass, in large platters or trenchers. They also make use of a thin and
broad cake of bread, baked every day, such as in old writings was called
_lagana_; {169b} and they sometimes add chopped meat, with broth. Such a
repast was formerly used by the noble youth, from whom this nation boasts
its descent, and whose manners it still partly imitates, according to the
word of the poet:
“Heu! mensas consumimus, inquit Iulus.”
While the family is engaged in waiting on the guests, the host and
hostess stand up, paying unremitting attention to everything, and take no
food till all the company are satisfied; that in case of any deficiency,
it may fall upon them. A bed made of rushes, and covered with a coarse
kind of cloth manufactured in the country, called _brychan_, {170} is
then placed along the side of the room, and they all in common lie down
to sleep; nor is their dress at night different from that by day, for at
all seasons they defend themselves from the cold only by a thin cloak and
tunic. The fire continues to burn by night as well as by day, at their
feet, and they receive much comfort from the natural heat of the persons
lying near them; but when the under side begins to be tired with the
hardness of the bed, or the upper one to suffer from cold, they
immediately leap up, and go to the fire, which soon relieves them from
both inconveniences; and then returning to their couch, they expose
alternately their sides to the cold, and to the hardness of the bed.