we have yet seen, which has reference to the mysteries and
sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus. It is a precious vase, made of one
single piece of onyx, from the cabinet of the Duke of Brunswick,
and of the size represented in the engraving. It was published, and
learnedly explained, in 1682, by Jean Henry Eggeling, and printed
in the same year. This vase is of a singular form; has one handle,
and on the other side a spout, which begins at the bottom, and
finishes by a bend towards the top, to pour out the liquor.
Eggeling believes that this vase is of the number of those the
ancients called _guttus_, because the liquor came out drop by drop:
he comes to that conclusion from a passage of Varro--“_Quo vinum
dabant, ut minutatim funderent, a guttis guttum appellarunt_.” The
vase is divided in three parts by two bands of gold, by which it is
girdled: that of the middle, which forms the largest space,
contains also a larger number of figures. The third diminishes
towards the foot, and has figures also, all of which represent the
mysteries and sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus.
The reader will probably feel interested how this vase came into
the possession of the Duke of Brunswick. It was in the cabinet of
the Duke of Mantua. When that city was taken and sacked, in 1629, a
soldier, who had possession of the vase, offered it to Francis
Albert, Duke of Lower Saxony, his commander, who gave him a hundred
ducats as a reward. This prince left it by will to the Princess
Christina Marguerite of Mecklenburg, his wife, who left it in the
same way to her sister, the Princess Sophia, Duchess of Brunswick.
She also gave it by will to her son, Ferdinand Albert, Duke of
Brunswick. The lapidaries thought so much of it, that they offered,
in turn, from sixty to ninety thousand imperials. In the inventory
of the Princess Sophia it was valued at one hundred and fifty
thousand imperials.[T]
[Illustration: DUKE OF BRUNSWICK’S VASE.]
The municipal bodies adopted them. At the entrance of Charles VII. into
Paris, one of this kind was seen in the Rue St. Denis:--“One of the
tubes spouted milk, another vermilion-coloured wine, another white wine,
and another pure water; and persons stood all round with silver cups to
give drink to the passers-by.”
In the 17th century playing fountains were still used at
repasts.[XXXI-34]
XXXII.
THE TABLE.
It is pretended, says Athenæus, that in the Homeric times each guest had
a table to himself,[XXXII-1] on which he was served with “a saddle-back
of beef, or a whole sheep or goat.” It was the custom among the heroes,
all men of high lineage, and tolerably aristocratic in their tastes. The
burghers of those warlike times and the villeins of the epoch eat their
dinner, without form or ceremony, on a heap of grass, which also served
them as a seat or couch.[XXXII-2]
Wooden tables--at first very clumsy ones, no doubt--only came into use
when the development of human industry had enabled men to understand
that they might be preferable to a truss of hay.[XXXII-3] A passage in
Homer would seem to show that they were very much like ours.[XXXII-4]
Perhaps the circular form was generally preferred.[XXXII-5]
Luxury soon called for the most precious materials, and the Greeks had,
at a very early period, tables of bronze,[XXXII-6] and even of fine
silver.[XXXII-7] The isle of Rhenea produced magnificent ones,[XXXII-8]
and an expensive fashion caused those luxurious pieces of furniture to
be prized when they presented delicate incrustations of silver, bronze,
or ivory, and rested on lions’ claws or leopards’ feet.[XXXII-9]
Cneus Manlius introduced these rarities into Rome after the conquest of
Asia.[XXXII-10] He was also the originator of tables veneered with
plates of gold,[XXXII-11] which ere long adorned the dining-rooms of
princes and senators, and the excessive price of which was only
surpassed by that of tables made of precious woods from distant
countries.[XXXII-12] The maple, the whitten, and a species of African
lemon-tree occupied the first rank,[XXXII-13] and the prodigious skill
of the workmen gave them a value superior to gold and silver.[XXXII-14]
The most beautiful of these tables were spotted or veined to imitate the
tiger’s or panther’s skin; but they acquired an exorbitant claim upon
the admiration of connoisseurs when they bore the marvellous design of a
peacock’s tail. This fantastic play of nature commanded a boundless
price.[XXXII-15]
An artist of unrivalled talent, Carvilius Pollio, was the first,
according to Pliny,[XXXII-16] who enriched these magnificent woods with
buhl-work of ivory and shell in the acme of perfection.[XXXII-17] Under
the reign of Nero, the Romans dyed this shell, and thought to increase
its primitive value by giving it the tints and accidental shades of the
cedar, the maple, and the lemon tree.[XXXII-18]
These splendid pieces of furniture were at first square;[XXXII-19] then
round;[XXXII-20] then in the form of a half-circle or half-moon, and
this horseshoe-shaped table they called a _sigma_, from the name of that
Greek letter, which resembled our C.[XXXII-21] The guests whom any
person wished to honour most were placed at the extremities of this
hemicycle,[XXXII-22] overlaid with magnificent covers, which replaced
the skins of beasts, formerly used for their adornment; and, in
addition, they were spread with tissues of fine linen and rich stuffs
elaborately worked.[XXXII-23]
The tables were changed at each course.[XXXII-24] The Greeks cleaned
them with sponge;[XXXII-25] the Latins used a sort of thick, plushed,
linen cloth.[XXXII-26]
The opulent citizens possessed a great number of tables; some were of
ivory,[XXXII-27] others of maple wood, cedar of Mount Atlas,[XXXII-28]
or lemon.[XXXII-29][U] Cicero had one of this latter kind of wood which
cost him 200,000 sesterces--about £1,480.[XXXII-30] They rested on one,
two, or three feet,[XXXII-31] and were called monopedes, bipedes, and
tripedes.
The Romans often changed tables only twice during the repast. Fish and
flesh appeared on the first, and the fruit was served on the
second.[XXXII-32] The same custom was common to the Greeks and the
oriental nations. The Hebrews had also two tables in their solemn feasts
and sacrificial banquets; on one was served the flesh of the victim, and
on the other they placed the cup of benediction, which passed round from
one to another, and was called “the cup of praise.”[XXXII-33]
The luxury of Rome seemed to revive after she had become extinct. Saint
Rémi, Bishop of Rheims, left to his heirs a silver table, embellished
with figures.[XXXII-34] Charlemagne had three made of the same
metal--the first represented the ancient capital of the world; the
second, Constantinople; the third, every known region of the
earth.[XXXII-35] Aymar, Viscount of Limoges, found on his estate a
treasure, which consisted of a table, round which were seated an
emperor, his wife, and several children--all as large as life, and of
massive gold. Richard Cœur-de-Lion pretended that the treasure
belonged to him as Lord of Limousin, and went to lay siege to the castle
of Chalons, to which Aymar had retired, where the king received a wound,
of which he died the 6th of April, 1199.[XXXII-36]
Silver tables still existed in the 17th century. Madame de Sévigné
(1689), speaking of persons who, following the example of Louis XIV.,
sent their plate to the mint, says: “Madame de Chaulnes has sent her
table, two _guéridons_, and her beautiful toilet of silver gilt.”
At some distance from the sigma, on a slightly raised platform, were
three kinds of elegant _crédences_ for the cups, wines, and
vases.[XXXII-37] The major-domo himself, generally attended to this part
of the service.
A very curious old book, cited by Strutt, “_The Booke of
Kervynge,_”[XXXII-38] contains the following instructions as to the
manner of laying the cloth for the King of England:--
“Serve your Soverayne with wafers and ypocras. Also loke your composte
be fayre and clene, and your ale fyve dayes olde before men drynke it,
and be curtays of answere to eche persone; and whan ye laye the clothe,
wype the borde clene with a cloute (_cloth_); then lay a couch
(_cloth_), take your feluwe, that one ende, and holde you the other
ende, then drawe the clothe straught, the bought on the utter edge, take
the utter parte and hange it even, then take the thyrde clothe, and laye
it bought on the inner edge, and laye estat with the upper parte halfe a
fote brode, then cover thy cupborde and thyne ewery with the towel of
dyaper; than take thy towell about thy necke, and laye that on syde of
the towel upon thy lefte arme, and thereon laye your soveraynes napkyn,
and on thyn arme seven loves of brede, with thre or foure trenchour
loves, with the ende of the towel, in the lefte hande as the maner is;
then take thy salte seller in thy lefte hande, and take the ende of the
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVII.
No. 1. Etruscan flat vase, of terra cotta, with a cover, to hold a
particular drink (warm, perhaps).
No. 2. A marble vase, ornamented, for water.
No. 3. A metal vase, to fill the cups of the guests.
No. 4. A Greek Etruscan drinking vase, of terra cotta, in form of a
seated Bacchanal.--“_Hercul._”
[Illustration: _Pl. 27._]
towell in your ryght hand, to bear in spones and knyves; than set your
salte on the ryght syde, where your soverayne shall sytte, and on the
lefte syde the salte set your trenchoures; than laye your knyves, and
set your brede one lofe by another; your spones, and your napkyns, fayre
folder besyde your brede, than over your brede, and trenchours, spones,
and knyves, and at every ende of the table set a salte seller, with two
trenchour loves, and yf ye wyll wrappe youre soverayne’s brede stately,
ye must square and proporcyon your brede, and see that no lofe be more
than another; and than shall ye make your wrapper manerly; than take a
towell of reynes, of two yerdes and an halfe, and take the towell by the
endes double, and laye it on the table; than take the ende of the bought
a handfull in your hande, and wrape it harde, and laye the ende so
wrapped betwene two towells, upon that ende so wrapped laye your brede,
bottom to bottom, syx or seven loves; than set your brede manerly in
fourm, and whan your soverayne’s table is thus arrayed, cover all other
bordes with salt, trenchours, and cuppes; and se thyn ewery be arrayed
with basyns and ewers, and water, hote and colde; and se ye have
napkins, cuppes and spones; and se your pottes for wyne and ale be made
clene, and to the surnape make curtesy, with a clothe, under a fayre
double napry; than take the towelle’s ende next you, and the utter ende
of the clothe, on the utter syde of the table, and holde these three
endes at ones, and folde them at ones, that a plyte passe not a fote
brode; than laye it as it should lye: and after mete wasshe with that,
that is at the ryghte ende of the table, ye must guyde it out, and the
marshall must convey it; and loke on eche clothe, the ryghte syde be
outwarde, and draw it streygthe; than must ye reyse the upper parte of
the towell, and laye it without ony grouyng, and at every ende of the
towell, ye must convey halfe a yarde that the sewer may make reverently
and let it be. And whan your soverayne hath washen, drawe the surnape
even; than bere the surnape to the myddes of the borde, and take it up
before your soverayne, and bere it into the ewery agayne; and whan your
soverayne is set, loke your towell be aboute your necke; then make your
soverayne curtesy; than uncover your brede, and set it by the salt, and
laye your napkyn, knyfe, and spone, afore hym; than knele on your knee
till the purpayne passe eyght loves; and loke ye set at your endes of
the table foure loves at a messe; and se that every persone have napkyn
and spone, and wayte well to the server, how many dysshes be covered,
that so many cuppes cover ye; than serve ye forth the table manerly,
that every man may speke your curtesy.”
THE TABLE SEATS.
The Jews originally sat down to their meals; but when they became
subject to Persia they laid on couches at their repasts, like their
conquerors, and other oriental nations, from whom the Greeks and Romans
borrowed their custom.[XXXII-39] The most distinguished place was at the
head of the table, at the extremity of the room, near the wall. Saul sat
in this place of honour.[XXXII-40] Under the reign of Solomon, the
Hebrews still used seats.[XXXII-41] The Egyptians were early acquainted
with the effeminate sumptuousness of table couches. They often placed on
them the venerated images of Jupiter, Juno, and their king
himself.[XXXII-42]
Before they had adopted this refinement of oriental luxury, the Greeks
sat at their repasts on chairs, more or less costly, but all very
elegant, similar to those which adorn our drawing-rooms, and which have
been modelled from theirs.[XXXII-43]
Homer’s heroes sat down to table,[XXXII-44] and Alexander the Great
appears to have preserved the custom. That prince giving a repast to ten
thousand persons, caused all to be seated in silver arm-chairs, covered
with purple.[XXXII-45] However, Hegesander assures us that, among the
Macedonians, he who had succeeded in killing a wild boar, reclined at
full length, whilst the other guests remained seated.[XXXII-46]
Italy always imitated Greece, and, like her, had table couches, which at
first, were only used by men: a feeling of propriety interdicted their
use by women.[XXXII-47] But the relaxation of morals, seconded by
fashion, soon banished this seeming reserve, and the two sexes could
only eat in a reclining posture.[XXXII-48]
A round, low table, made of common wood, and resting on three legs, was
placed in the dining-room of persons in humble life; the rich had it
made of lemon or maple wood, and supported by a single ivory
foot.[XXXII-49] Three couches at most were arranged round this table
(_triclinium_);[XXXII-50] sometimes two, which Plautus names
_biclinium_;[XXXII-51] and these they covered with purple or other
magnificent stuffs.[XXXII-52] Before they placed themselves, the guests
performed their ablutions and threw off their togas, to substitute the
“dinner robe.”[XXXII-53] They then took off their sandals,[XXXII-54]
and lay down, three or four on each couch.[XXXII-55] The rules of good
society did not allow that number to be exceeded.
The upper part of the body was supported by the left elbow; the lower
part was extended. The head was slightly raised, and downy little
cushions supported the back.[XXXII-56] When several persons occupied the
same couch, the first placed himself at the head, in such a manner that
his feet nearly reached the shoulders of the second guest, whose head
was before the middle of the body of the preceding one, from whom he was
separated by a cushion; and his feet descended to the back of the third
guest, who followed the same order with respect to the fourth.[XXXII-57]
When a couch contained three persons, the one in the middle occupied the
place of honour; when there were four, that distinction belonged to the
second. The place at the head of the couch was only offered to the most
worthy, when not more than two persons were on the couch.[XXXII-58]
Among the Persians, the middle place was reserved for the king. Cyrus
placed on his left the guest to whom he wished to do the most honour,
the next on his right, the third on the left, the fourth on the right,
and so on, down to the last.[XXXII-59] In Greece, the most distinguished
personage occupied the head of the table.[XXXII-60]
The voluptuous Heliogabalus only made use of couches stuffed with hares’
down or partridges’ feathers.[XXXII-61] The Emperor Œlius Verus
introduced a more exquisite novelty: he had his filled with lily and
rose leaves.[XXXII-62] The first of these princes--a cruel monarch, or
capricious child, according to his strange whims--amused himself,
sometimes, by placing on a couch, round the sigma, at one time eight
bald men; at another, eight gouty men; one day, eight grey-headed old
men; another day, eight very fat men, who were so crowded together that
it was almost impossible for them to raise their hands to the mouth. And
the brainless dolt shook with laughter at their efforts and their
contortions.[XXXII-63] One of his favourite diversions consisted in
filling a leathern table-couch with air, instead of wool; and while the
guests were engaged in drinking, a tap, concealed under the carpet, was
opened, unknown to them; the couch sank, and the drinkers rolled
pell-mell under the sigma, to the great delight of the beardless
emperor, who enjoyed greatly his _espiéglerie_.[XXXII-64]
The Celts seated themselves at their repasts on hay, before very low
tables;[XXXII-65] the Belgians reclined on a kind of couch;[XXXII-66]
the Gauls on the skins of dogs or wolves.[XXXII-67] These different
authorities are easily reconciled; for they relate to different cantons
of Gaul.
The use of couches was not unknown in the middle ages; we find the proof
of it in the _fabliaux_ of the 13th century. We have also the
description of a magnificent repast given by a bishop to two great
officers of Charlemagne, at which the prelate was seated, or lying, on
feather cushions.[XXXII-68] But this fashion was unsuccessful, and
people preferred wooden seats and stools, covered with carpet. When they
gave a great feast, they seated the guests on benches--_bancs_--whence
comes the word “banquet.”[XXXII-69] Henry III. of France introduced
arm-chairs for himself, and folding stools for his suite.[XXXII-70]
Sometimes people eat on the floor. St. Arnold, Bishop of Soissons, took
his repast in that manner on the day of the dedication of a church,
after having had carpets spread on the ground.[XXXII-71] In winter the
banqueting place was spread with straw or hay, and in summer with grass
and leaves. Publicans and tavern-keepers decorated their rooms in like
manner.[XXXII-72]
The gallantry of the middle ages had led to the adoption of a rather
singular custom, which consisted in placing the guests two and two, man
and woman, and serving for each couple one common dish, which they
called “eating in the same porringer.” Neither had they more than one
cup. In families the same goblet served for all. Saint Berlanda was
disinherited by her father, who was exasperated because, under pretext
that he was leprous, she had washed his goblet before making use of it
for herself.[XXXII-73]
A passage in Martial would seem to imply that the guests, among the
Romans, laid the cloth themselves;[XXXII-74] that is to say, they spread
on the sigma the stuff, more or less precious, with which it was to be
adorned.
A somewhat whimsical custom was established in the middle ages of
chivalry. When it was intended to affront any one, a herald, or
king-at-arms, was sent to cut the cloth before him, and turn his bread
upside down. That was called “cutting away the cloth,” and was practised
in reference to cowards and faithless vassals. It is thought that
Bertrand Duguesclin was the originator of this custom.[XXXII-75]
Mention is made of table-cloths in the life of St. Eloi. They were in
use on common tables; but the costly ones were not covered. These cloths
were plushed and shaggy, as we find by the description of Nigellus, the
author of a poem on Louis-le-Débonnaire. They were of vast dimensions.
In the inventory of certain effects in the monastery of Fontenelle, in
the 9th century, we read of four table-cloths, each of which measured
twelve yards and a-half by two and a-half; another, twelve and a-half by
three and three-quarters; and thirteen, three yards and three-quarters
wide.
In the 12th and 13th centuries table-cloths were called, in France,
_doubliers_, doubtless because they were folded in two. This practice
was eventually given up; and instead of a doubled cloth, the first was
covered by a smaller one, and removed at the last course. Henry III.
required this dessert cloth to be artistically plaited, so as to present
pleasing designs.[XXXII-76]
Napkins were much used in Greece and Italy. In the time of Augustus, and
many years after, each guest brought his own, as we bring our
pocket-handkerchiefs. Catullus complains of a certain Asinius, who had
stolen his. Martial brings a similar accusation against a parasite named
Hermogenes.[XXXII-77]
Napkins were sometimes made of asbestos, and they were thrown into a
brazier to clean them.[XXXII-78] But these rarities were seldom
possessed by any but princes, for asbestos was as expensive as
jewels.[XXXII-79]
The constitution of St. Ansegisius for the monastery of Fontenelle
mentions plush napkins to wipe the hands, but they were only used before
and after the repast. The town of Rheims was renowned in the middle ages
for the manufacture of table linen. When Charles VII. made his entrance
there they presented him with napkins, “very rich and curious by reason
of the beautiful flowered work.”
XXXIII.
THE SERVANTS.
All the opulent families had a great number of servants, or slaves,
whose low extraction,[XXXIII-1] the chances of war,[XXXIII-2] or the
parental will,[XXXIII-3] subjected to the caprices of the rich as a mere
thing possessed, a right, a property (_res_).
They were known, like the slaves of the Jews[XXXIII-4] in former times,
by their ears, which were pierced with an awl;[XXXIII-5] an ineffaceable
stigma, which always reminded the freed-man of his former humiliation.
The slave was also often marked with a hot iron on the back, the hands,
the cheeks, or the forehead; and the characters thus imprinted served
the master as an evidence against his fugitive servant in whatsoever
place he might find him.[XXXIII-6] It is, perhaps, to similar marks that
the prophet Zechariah makes allusion, when he says: “What are these
wounds in thine hands?”[XXXIII-7] Plautus, whose comic vein respects
neither the power of the Gods nor the sanctity of misfortune, calls
these unfortunate creatures “lettered slaves” (_servos
literatos_).[XXXIII-8]
A house of any note could not do without a crowd of servants, to whom
the steward (_dispensator_) apportioned the labour, the food, and the
chastisements.[XXXIII-9]
In a lodge near the vestibule was the porter (_ostiarius_),[XXXIII-10]
whose watchful eye observed every one who went in or out by day or
night. They made sure of his vigilance by chaining him to his
place.[XXXIII-11]
The hall (_atrium_) was guarded by an intelligent and confidential
servant, whose functions raised him above the other slaves.[XXXIII-12]
The _atriensis_--such was his designation--had the care of the arms,
trophies, precious furniture, and books, which adorned this apartment.
He had also to take extreme care of the paintings and wax figures there
preserved from motives of vanity or by a sentiment of respect; and it
was he who carried those images of venerated ancestors before the
funeral procession of the head of the family when, in his turn, death
had numbered him with his progenitors.[XXXIII-13]
The _obsonator_ bought in the markets the meat, fruit, and delicacies
necessary for the repasts.[XXXIII-14]
The _vocatores_ carried the invitations, received the guests, and placed
them at table according to their rank.[XXXIII-15] These functions
required a peculiar kind of urbanity and long experience on the part of
the individual who fulfilled them.
The arrangement, the keeping in order, and adornment of the
table-couches belonged exclusively to the _cubicularii_
(valets).[XXXIII-16] These servants are mentioned in Suetonius and other
ancient authors. The Cæsars had a great number of _cubicularii_ who
obeyed one particular chief.[XXXIII-17]
The _dapiferi_ brought the dishes into the dining-room,[XXXIII-18] and
the nomenclators (_nomenculatores_) immediately informed the guests of
the names and qualities of the things with which they were going to be
served.[XXXIII-19]