OCCUPATIONS OF THE LADIES.--GAMES AND ENJOYMENTS.--ROUGHNESS OF
ENGLISH SPORTS AT THIS PERIOD.--THE HOT-HOUSES, OR BATHS.--THE
ORDINARIES.--DOMESTIC PETS.--TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.--METHODS OF
LOCOMOTION.--CONCLUSION.
[Illustration: _No. 306. Ladies at Work._]
During the period at which we are now arrived, almost all the
relations of domestic life underwent a great change, and nothing
hardly could produce a wider difference than that between the manners
and sentiments of the reign of Henry VII., and those of Charles II.
This was especially observable in the occupations of the female sex,
which were becoming more and more frivolous. At the earlier portion
of the period referred to, women in general were confined closely to
their domestic labours, in spinning, weaving, embroidering, and other
work of a similar kind. A hand-loom was almost a necessary article of
furniture in a well regulated household, and spinning was so universal
an occupation, that we read sometimes of an apartment in the house
set apart for it--a family spinning room. Even to this present day,
in legal language, the only occupation acknowledged, as that of an
unmarried woman, is that of a spinster. Our cut (No. 306) represents a
party of ladies at their domestic labours; it is taken from Israel van
Mechelin’s print of “The Virgin Ascending the Steps of the Temple,”
where this domestic scene is introduced in a side compartment. Two are
engaged at the distaff, the old poetical emblem of the sex. Another
is cutting out the cloth for working, with a pair of shears of very
antiquated form. The shape of the three-cornered joined chair in this
group is worthy of remark. The female in our cut No. 307 is also seated
in a chair of rather peculiar construction, though it has occurred
before at an earlier period (cut No. 245, p. 375), and we meet with
it again in our next cut (No. 308). It is what was sometimes called a
folding chair. This cut is taken from one of the illustrations to the
English edition of Erasmus’s “Praise of Folly,” printed in 1676, but it
is a copy of the earlier originals. The great weaving establishments
in England appear to have commenced in the sixteenth century, with the
Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands.
[Illustration: _No. 307. A Lady at the Loom._]
The old domestic games continued to be practised in the middle and
upper classes of society, although they were rather extensively
superseded by the pernicious rage for gambling which now prevailed
throughout English society. This practice had been extending itself
ever since the beginning of the fifteenth century, and had been
accompanied with another evil practice among the ladies, that of
drinking. It need hardly be observed that these two vices furnished
constant themes to the dramatists and satirists of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries; the example set by the court under James I.
caused them to increase greatly, and they rose to the highest pitch of
extravagance under Charles II. Barclay’s “Ship of Fools” (the early
English edition) has furnished us with the group of female gamesters,
represented in our cut No. 308. It will be seen that the ladies are
playing with cards and dice, and that the ale jug is introduced as an
accompaniment. In fact we must look upon it as a tavern party, and the
round table, as far as we can judge, appears to be fixed in the ground.
The same book furnishes us with an illustration (cut No. 309), in which
two gamblers are quarrelling over a game at backgammon. A child is here
the jug-bearer or guardian of the liquor. Our cut No. 310 represents
a gambling scene of a rather later period, taken from Whitney’s
“Emblems,” printed in 1586; dice are here the implements of play.
[Illustration: _No. 308. A Party of Ladies._]
[Illustration: _No. 309. A Gamblers’ Dispute._]
[Illustration: _No. 310. A Party at Dice._]
A very curious piece of painted glass, now in the possession of Mr.
Fairholt, of German manufacture, and forming part, apparently, of a
series illustrative of the history of the Prodigal Son, represents
a party of gamblers, of the earlier part of the sixteenth century,
in which they are playing with two dice. It is copied in our cut No.
311. The original bears the inscription, “_Jan Van Hassell Tryngen sin
hausfrau_,” with a merchant’s mark, and the date, 1532. Three dice,
however, continued to be used long after this, and are, from time to
time, alluded to during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
I have, in a former chapter, traced the history of playing-cards down
to the latter half of the fifteenth century. After that time, they are
frequently mentioned. They formed the common amusement in the courts of
Scotland and England under the reigns of Henry VII. and James IV.; and
it is recorded that when the latter monarch paid his first visit to his
affianced bride, the young princess Margaret of England, “he founde the
quene playing at the cardes.”
[Illustration: _No. 311. A Gambling Party of the Sixteenth Century._]
In Germany at this time card-playing was carried to an extravagant
degree, and it became an object of attack and satire to the reformers
among the clergy. Our cut No. 312 represents a German card-party in
a tavern, taken from an early painted coffer in the Museum of Old
German Art at Nuremberg. The design of the cards is that of packs
of fancifully ornamented cards made in Germany at the close of the
fifteenth century. The German satirists of that age complain that the
rage for gambling had taken possession of all classes of society, and
levelled all ranks, ages, and sexes; that the noble gambled with the
commoner, and the clergy with the laity. Some of the clerical reformers
declared that card-playing as well as dice was a deadly sin, and others
complained that this love of gambling had caused people to forget all
honourable pursuits.
[Illustration: _No. 312. Cards early in the Sixteenth Century._]
A similar outcry was raised in our own country; and a few years later
it arose equally loud. A short anonymous poem on the ruin of the
realm, belonging apparently to the earlier part of the reign of Henry
VIII. (MS. Harl. No. 2252, fol. 25, v^o), complains of the nobles and
gentry:--
_Before thys tyme they lovyd for to juste,_
_And in shotynge chefely they sett ther mynde,_
_And ther landys and possessyons now sett they moste,_
_And at cardes and dyce ye may them ffynde._
“Cardes and dyce” are from this time forward spoken of as the great
blot on contemporary manners; and they seem for a long time to have
driven most other games out of use. Roy, in his remarkable satire
against cardinal Wolsey, complains that the bishops themselves were
addicted to gambling:--
_To play at the cardes and dyce_
_Some of theym are no thynge nyce,_
_Both at hasard and mom-chaunce._
The rage for cards and dice prevailed equally in Scotland. Sir David
Lindsay’s popish parson, in 1535, boasts of his skill in these games:--
_Thoch I preich nocht, I can play at the caiche;_
_I wot there is nocht ane amang yow all_
_Mair ferylie can play at the fute-ball;_
_And for the cartis, the tabels, and the dyse,_
_Above all parsouns I may beir the pryse._
The same celebrated writer, in a poem against cardinal Beaton,
represents that prelate as a great gambler:--
_In banketting, playing at cartis and dyce,_
_Into sic wysedome I was haldin wyse,_
_And spairit nocht to play with king nor knicht_
_Thre thousand crownes of golde upon ane night._
Though gardening and horticulture in general, as arts, were undergoing
considerable improvement during this period, the garden itself appears
to have been much more neglected, except as far as it was the scene
of other pastimes. A bowling-green was the most important part of the
pleasure garden in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and bowls,
and exercises of a similar character, were the favourite amusements of
all classes. The gardens themselves, which were apart from the house,
and made more retired by lofty walls enclosing them, were usually
adorned with alcoves and summer-houses, or, as they were then more
usually termed, garden-houses, but these were chiefly celebrated,
especially in the seventeenth century, as places of intrigue. There
are continual allusions to this usage in the popular writers of the
time. Thus, one of the personages in Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Woman
Hater” exclaims, “This is no garden-house: in my conscience she went
forth with no dishonest intent.” And, in the play of the “Mayor of
Quinsborough,”--
_Poor soul, she’s entic’d forth by her own sex_
_To be betray’d to man, who in some garden-house,_
_Or remote walk, taking his lustful time,_
_Binds darkness on her eyes, surprises her._
A character in another old play, “The London Prodigal,” seeking
employment of a rather equivocal character, says, “Now God thank you,
sweet lady, if you have any friend, or garden-house, where you may
employ a poor gentleman as your friend, I am yours to command in all
secret service.”
Amid the gaiety which was so especially characteristic of this age, a
spirit of vulgar barbarity had arisen and spread itself very widely,
and the popular games most practised were in general coarse and cruel.
A foreign writer already quoted, but one who was evidently a very
unprejudiced observer, has left us some rather amusing remarks on this
subject which are worthy of being repeated. “The English,” he says,
“have games which are peculiar to them, or at least, which they affect
and practise more than people do elsewhere. To see cocks fight is a
royal pleasure in England. Their combats of bulls and dogs, of bears
and dogs, and sometimes of bulls and bears, are not combats to the
last gasp, like those of cocks. Everything that is called fighting
is a delicious thing to an Englishman. If two little boys quarrel
in a street, the passers stop, make in a moment a ring round them,
and encourage them to settle it by blows of the fist. If it comes to
fighting, each takes off his cravat and his jacket, and gives them in
charge to one of the company; then begin the blows of the fist, in the
face if possible, the blows of the foot on their shins, the pulling of
one another by the hair, &c. The one who has knocked the other down,
may give him one blow or two when he is down, but no more, and every
time the one who is down will rise, the other must return to the combat
as long as he pleases. During the combat, the circle of spectators
encourage the combatants to the great joy of their hearts, and never
separate them, so long as things are done according to rule. And these
spectators are not only other children, and street porters, but all
sorts of respectable people, some of whom make their way through the
crowd to see nearer, others mount upon the shops, and all would pay
for places, if stages could be built up in a moment. The fathers and
mothers of the little boys who are fighting look on like the others,
and encourage the one who gives way, or is wanting in strength. These
kind of combats are less frequent among grown-up men than among
children, but they are not uncommon. If the driver of a hackney-coach
has a dispute about his fare, with a gentleman whom he has carried, and
the gentleman offers to settle the dispute by fighting, the coachman
agrees to it willingly. The gentleman takes off his sword, disposes of
it in some shop with his walking-stick, his gloves, and his cravat, and
fights in the manner I have described. If the coachman is well beaten,
which is almost always the case, he is considered as paid; but if he
beats, he who is beaten must pay the sum that was in question, and that
which caused the quarrel. I once saw the late duke of Grafton fighting
in the open street in the middle of the Strand with a coachman, whom he
thrashed in a terrible manner. In France, we treat such kind of people
with blows of a stick or, sometimes, of the flat of the sword; but in
England that is never done; they never use a sword or stick against
those who are not similarly armed; and if any unlucky foreigner (for
it would never come into the mind of an Englishman) should strike with
the sword any one who had not got one, it is certain that in an instant
a hundred persons would fall upon him, and perhaps beat him so that he
would never recover. Wrestling is also one of the diversions of the
English, especially in the northern provinces. Ringing the bells is one
of their great pleasures, especially in the country; there is a way
of doing it, but their peal is quite different from those of Holland
and the Low Countries. In winter football is a useful and charming
exercise; it is a ball of leather, as large as a man’s head, and filled
with wind; it is tossed with the feet in the streets. To expose a cock
in a place, and kill it at a distance of forty or fifty paces with a
stick, is also a very diverting thing; but this pleasure only belongs
to a certain season. This also is the case with the dances of the
milkwomen, with the throwing at one another of tennis-balls by girls,
and with divers other little exercises.” Such was the rude character of
the amusement of all classes of our population during the seventeenth
century.
The ladies still had their household pets, though they varied sometimes
in their character, which perhaps arose in some measure from the
circumstance that the discovery of or increased communication with
distant countries, brought the knowledge of animals and birds which
were not so well known before. Thus, in the sixteenth century, monkeys
appear to have been much in fashion as domestic favourites, and we not
unfrequently find them in prints in attendance upon ladies. Since the
discovery of the West Indies, and the voyages of the Portuguese to the
coast of Africa, parrots had become much more common than formerly. In
pictures of the period of which we are speaking, we often find these,
as well as smaller domestic birds, in cages of various forms. In our
cut No. 313, taken from Whitney’s “Emblems” (printed in 1585), we have
a parrot in its cage, and a small bird (perhaps meant for a canary),
the latter of which is drawing up its water to drink in a manner which
has been practised in modern times, and supposed to be a novelty. It
is very unsafe indeed to assume that any ingenious contrivances of
this kind are modern, for we often meet with them unexpectedly at a
comparatively early date.
[Illustration: _No. 313. Birds and Birdcage._]
With the multiplicity of new fashions in dress now introduced, the work
of the toilette became much greater and more varied, and many customs
were introduced from France, from Italy, and from the East. Among
customs derived from the latter quarter, was the introduction of the
eastern hot and sweating baths, which became for a considerable period
common in England. They were usually known by the plain English name
of _hothouses_, but their eastern origin was also sometimes indicated
by the preservation of their Persian name of _hummums_. This name
is still retained by the two modern hotels which occupy the sites
of establishments of this description in Covent Garden. Sweating in
hothouses is spoken of by Ben Jonson; and a character in the old play
of “The Puritan,” speaking of a laborious undertaking, says, “Marry,
it will take me much sweat; I were better go to sixteen _hothouses_.”
They seem to have been mostly frequented by women, and became, as in
the East, favourite places of rendezvous for gossip and company. They
were soon used to such an extent for illicit intrigues, that the name
of a hothouse or bagnio became equivalent to that of a brothel; and
this circumstance probably led eventually to their disuse. A very
rare and curious broadside woodcut of the reign of James I., entitled
“Tittle-tattle, or the several branches of gossipping,” which in
different compartments represents pictorially the way in which the
women of that age idled away their time, gives in one part a sketch
of the interior of a hothouse, which is copied in our cut No. 314. In
one division of the hothouse the ladies are bathing in tubs, while
they are indulging themselves with an abundance of very substantial
dainties; in the other, they appear to be still more busily engaged in
gossip. The whole broadside is a singularly interesting illustration
of contemporary manners. A copy of it will be found in the print-room
of the British Museum; and it may be remarked (which I think has not
been observed before), that it is copied from a large French etching of
about the same period, a copy of which is in the print department of
the Imperial Library in Paris.
[Illustration: _No. 314. A Hothouse._]
This is sufficient to show the close resemblance at this time between
manners in France and in England. In the former country, the resort of
women in company to the hot-baths is not unfrequently alluded to, and
their behaviour and conversation there are described in terms of satire
which cannot always be transferred to our modern pages. In these
popular satires, the bathers are sometimes _chambrières_, and at others
good _bourgeoises_. The pic-nics, which had formerly taken place at
the tavern, were now transferred to the hot-bath, each of a party of
bathers carrying some contribution to the feast, which they shared in
common. Thus, in the popular piece entitled “Le Banquet des Chambrières
fait aux Estuves,” printed in 1541, it is the chamber-maidens who go to
the bath, and they begin immediately to produce their contributions,
one exclaiming--
----_j’ay du porc frais,_
_Une andouille et quatre saulcices._
To which a second adds,--
----_j’aye une cottelette,_
_Qui le ventre quasi m’eschaulde._
And a third,--
_Moy, un pasté à sauce chaulde._
The women are seen eating their pic-nic feast in one compartment of
our cut. This practice soon passed from the servant maids of the
bourgeoisie to their mistresses, and from the burghers’ wives to
ladies of higher condition. Our word pic-nic, representing the French
_piquenique_, the origin or derivation of which word seems not to be
clearly known, appears to have come into use at the latter end of the
last century, when people of rank formed evening parties at which
they joined in such pic-nic suppers, to which each brought his or her
contribution. The term is now applied almost solely to such collations
in the fields, or in the open air.
We have already seen how, at an earlier period, men of a superior rank
in London, and probably in at least the larger country towns, lived
much in the taverns and cooks’ shops or eating-houses. This practice
continued, and underwent various modifications, the principal of which
was the establishment of houses where a public table was served at
fixed hours, at which a gentleman could take his place on payment of
a certain sum, much in the same style as our modern _tables d’hôte_.
Gradually these establishments became gambling-houses, and men settled
down after dinner to cards, dice, and other games. They were called
ordinaries, and in the reign of Elizabeth they had become an important
part of the social system. It was here that people went to hear the
news of the day, or the talk of the town, and to frequent the ordinary
became gradually considered as a necessary part of the education of
a gentleman of fashion. At the beginning of the seventeenth century,
the usual price of an ordinary appears to have been two shillings;
but there were ordinaries at eighteen-pence, and at some fashionable
ordinaries the price was much higher.
[Illustration: _No. 315. Swaddling a Child._]
The general treatment of children, their costume, and their amusements,
remained much as formerly, and closely resembled those of France and
Germany as they were then, and as they have existed in some parts even
to our own days. The pernicious practice of swathing or swaddling the
child as soon as it was born prevailed everywhere, and the infant was
kept in this condition until it became necessary to teach it the use of
its limbs. The process of swaddling is shown in our cut No. 315, taken
from one of the prints by Bosse, published in 1633, which furnish such
abundant illustration of contemporary manners. The period during which
boys were kept in petticoats was very short, for at a very early age
they were dressed in the same dress as up-grown people, like little
miniature men. Our only representatives of the appearance of little
boys in the sixteenth century, is found in one or two educational
establishments, such as the Blue-Coat School in London. The costume of
a child during the short transition period between his swathes and his
breeches is represented in our cut No. 316, of a boy riding upon his
wooden horse. It is taken from a German woodcut of the date of 1549.
[Illustration: No. 316. _A Boy a-cock-horse._]
In the sixteenth century little improvement had taken place in the
means of locomotion, which was still performed generally on horseback.
Coaches, by that name, are said to have been introduced into England
only towards the middle of the sixteenth century. They were made in
various forms and sizes, according to fashion or caprice, and towards
the end of the century they were divided into two classes, known by the
foreign names of _coaches_ and _caroches_. The latter appear to have
been larger and clumsier than the former, but to have been considered
more stately; and from the old play of “Tu Quoque,” by Green (a drama
of Elizabeth’s reign), we learn that it was considered more appropriate
to the town (and probably to the court), while the _coach_ was left to
the country:--
_Nay, for a need, out of his easy nature,_
_May’st draw him to the keeping of a coach_
_For country, and carroch for London._
Ben Jonson, in his comedy of “The Devil is an Ass,” gives us a great
notion of the bustle attending a _caroch_:--
_Have with them for the great caroch, six horses,_
_And the two coachmen, with my ambler bare,_
_And my three women._
Coaches of any kind, however, were evidently not in very common use
until after the beginning of the seventeenth century. Women in general,
at least those who were not skilful horsewomen, when the distance
or any other circumstance precluded their going on foot, rode on a
pillion or side-saddle behind a man, one of her relatives or friends,
or sometimes a servant. The accompanying cut (No. 317) represents
a couple thus mounted, the lady holding in her hand the kind of fan
which was used at the period. From a comparison of the figure of the
Anglo-Saxon ladies on horseback, who were evidently seated in the
saddle as in a chair, sideways to the horse, we are led to suppose that
the Anglo-Saxon lady’s saddle, and probably the saddle for females in
general during the middle ages, was the same as that which was known
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, by the name of a pillion.
The rider placed her feet usually on a narrow board, which was called
in French the _planchette_. It is evident that a woman could not be
very solidly seated in this manner, and not only did she want the
command over the horse which would enable her to take part in any very
active exercises, but it was considered almost necessary to place a
man on a saddle before her. We have, accordingly, seen that, from a
very early period, when engaged in hunting and in any sort of active
riding, the lady used a saddle, as at present, in which she raised one
leg over a part of the saddle-bow, made for that purpose, and placed
the other foot in the stirrup, by which she obtained a firm seat, and
a command over the horse. Different writers have ascribed, without any
reason, the introduction of this mode of riding for ladies to various
individuals, and Brantôme seems to have thought that this practice
was first brought into fashion by Catherine de Medicis. The last cut
is taken from a drawing in the curious Album of Charles de Bousy,
containing dates from 1608 to 1638, and now preserved among the Sloane
manuscripts (No. 3415) in the British Museum; and the same manuscript
has also furnished us with the annexed cut (No. 318) of a lady of rank
carried in her chair, with her chair-bearers and attendants. Ladies,
and especially persons suffering from illness, were often carried in
horse-litters, and there are instances of chairs mounted somewhat like
the one here represented, and carried by horses. The first attempt
towards the modern gig or cabriolet appears to have been a chair fixed
in a cart, something in the style of that represented in our cut No.
319, which in its ornamentation has a very mediæval character, although
it is given as from a manuscript in the Imperial Library in Paris (No.
6808), of the beginning of the sixteenth century.
[Illustration: _No. 317. Riding on a Pillion._]
[Illustration: _No. 318. A Lady carried in her Chair._]
The close of the period of which we are here speaking introduces
us to one in which the manners and customs of our forefathers were
less widely different from those of our own days; and the history
of domestic manners since that time, characterised less by broad
outline of the general features in its revolutions than by a gradual
succession of minute changes, and fashions which must be traced from
day to day, is less capable of being treated in the comprehensive style
of these pages. Having now, therefore, brought down our sketch of the
History of the Domestic Manners of our forefathers to the middle of
the seventeenth century, we shall here, for the reason just stated,
conclude it, and leave to some worthier labourer, or to some future
occasion, the task of tracing more minutely the history of domestic
manners and sentiments during the period which followed the middle ages.
[Illustration: _No. 319. A Mediæval Cabriolet._]
INDEX.
A.
Adulteration of food, 394.
Ale, 32.
Alehouse, road-side, 320, 321.
Ale-stake, 321.
Almsgiving, 61, 158.
Amphitheatres, Roman, continued in use among the Anglo-Saxons, 64;
and Anglo-Normans, 111.
Amusements after dinner, 33, 38, 106, 194-225, 226-236.
Amusements out of doors, 111-113, 432.
Animals, domestic, 239-244, 384-386, 490.
Apple, the chief fruit of the Anglo-Saxons, 295.
Archery, a favourite amusement of the ladies, 310;
practised generally, 433.
Arms suspended in the hall among the Anglo-Saxons, 20;
at a later period, 452.
Axes, Anglo-Saxon, 9, 10.
B.
Backgammon, the game of, 219, 220, 484.
Bagpipe, 184, 185, 188.
Ball, game of, 235.
Banquet, the 387-395;
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 466, 467.
Barons, feudal, their power and cruelty, 102.
Baths, and bathing, 59, 259, 491, 492.
Bear, dancing, 64, 65, 304; baiting, 305.
Beds, among the Anglo-Saxons, 44-47;
among the Anglo-Normans, 110, 111;
the bed and its furniture among the English, 256-259, 403-408, 477-481.
Bedsteads, 262, 404.
Bees, 91.
Beggars, in the middle ages, 327, 328.
Bells, attached to the caparisons of horses, 314.
Bellows, 144.
Benches, 139.
Bever, the name of a meal, 395, 456.
Beverley, the minstrels of, 192.
Birds, kept in cages, 239-242, 384, 385, 491.
Blindman’s-buff, game of, 229, 230.
Boar’s head, the, 146.
Bourgeoisie, the, their mode of living, 170-173.
Bower, chamber, or sleeping-room, Anglo-Saxon, 11.
Bowls, vessels found in Anglo-Saxon graves, 8.
Box-iron, ornamental, 447.
Bread, and baking, 92, 161.
Breakfasts of the Percy family, 421.
Brewhouses, places for selling beer, 335.
Buckets, Anglo-Saxon, supposed to be for carrying liquor, 9, 25.
Buffet, or cupboard, 362, 379. See _Cupboard_.
Bull-baiting, 304.
C.
Cabinets, 246.
Cabriolet, 497, 498.
Caldron, forms of the, 144-147.
Candles, 43, 107, 249-252, 375, 376.
Candle-beam, 376.
Candlesticks, 376, 378, 475;
attached to the walls of halls, 378, 455.
Caquets de l’accouchée, 481.
Cards, history of the game of, 221-225, 386, 484-488.
Caroches, 495.
Carole, the name of a dance, 228.
Carpets, 245, 371, 402.
Carriages, among the Anglo-Saxons, 73;
among the English, 116, 434, 435, 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 fifteenth century, 381, 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, 287.
Chessmen, ancient, 202-206.
Chests, 110, 138, 262-268, 477.
Chestnut, meaning of the word, 296.
Children, treatment of, 47-51, 494.
Chimneys, 99, 245.
Churning, 92.
Cittern, the musical instrument, 186, 187.
Clergy, Anglo-Saxon, addicted to hunting, 68;
corruptors of domestic morals in the middle ages, 282.
_Cnithad_ (boyhood), period of among the Anglo-Saxons, 52.
Coaches, 495.
Coal, mineral, used among the Anglo-Saxons, 21.
Coffers, 110, 263-268.
Cold-harbour, origin of the term, 76.
Cooks, 87, 88.
Cookery, among the Anglo Saxons, 26, 27;
English, 91, 148-150, 347-356, 395;
in the fifteenth century, 381.
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.
D.
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 English, 227-229, 285;
in the fifteenth century, 387, 419, 426, 427.
Day, divisions and different occupations of the, 92-94, 246, 247, 396,
424-426.
Dice, the game of, 214-217, 485, 486.
Dinner, among the Anglo-Saxons, 22-24;
among the Anglo-Normans, 88-90;
forms and ceremonies attending the mediæval dinner, 150-153, 156-163;
dinner in the fifteenth century, 389, 396;
after the Reformation, 458-466.
Dinner, number of courses at, 349, 463.
Dogs, Anglo-Saxon, 68, 69;
pets and house-dogs, 242, 243;
dogs used in hawking, 307.
Draught chamber, or drawing-room, 408.
Draughts, the game of, 221.
Dresser, or cupboard, 173, 379, 393, 450, 461, 462.
Drinking, among the Anglo-Saxons, 3, 4, 30, 31;
among the Anglo-Normans, 113;
among the English, 168.
Drinking 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 seventeenth 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-Normans, 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, 415, 441.
Fiddle, the, 34, 184, 185, 193.
Fighting, love of the English for, 489.
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 the Anglo-Saxons, 60;
among the English, 289.
what, cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, 295;
by the English, 297, 298, 300, 301.
Food, Anglo-Saxon, 26, 28;
Anglo-Norman, 91.
See _Cookery_.
Fool, court or domestic, 390.
Forfeits, games of, 233.
Forks for 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 of John de Garlande, 298.
G.
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, 284-290, 397, 429-432, 488.
Garden-houses, 488.
Gardening, 60;
history of English gardening, 293-303.
Gardening, early English 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 fifteenth century, 362;
furniture of the, 364, 365;
after the Reformation, 443-445, 450-455.
Hanging, as a punishment, 58, 346.
Harlots, the name of a class in mediæval society, 407.
Harp, 35, 36, 164, 166, 175, 193.
Hawking, among the Anglo-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, 187, 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, 247.
Hour of rising, 93, 155, 247, 248, 395, 425, 437.
---- of breakfast, 93, 248, 424, 455.
---- of dinner, 93, 155, 248, 425, 455, 456.
---- of supper, 94, 155, 425, 455, 456.
---- of going to bed, 94, 155, 246, 425.
House, the, among the Anglo-Saxons, 2, 11-17;
among the Anglo-Normans, 82, 83;
the early English, 120-136;
in the fifteenth century, 359-362;
after the Reformation, 442.
Hummums, 491.
Hunting, among the Anglo-Saxons, 67-70;
among the Anglo-Normans, 112;
a favourite amusement with the ladies, 310-312.
Hutch, or chest, 262-267, 402, 409-411, 450.
I.
Ivory, in the middle ages, made of the horn of the walrus, 202.
J.
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.
L.
Lamps, 44, 252-254.
Lanterns, 108, 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 talking bird, 239-242.
Marriage, among the Anglo-Saxons, 54.
Masques after dinner, 462.
Mead, 32.
Meals, Anglo-Saxon, 22.
Meals, hours of the, 155. See _Hours_.
Meat, how cooked, 148.
Medicine, administered by the ladies, 278, 279.
Mess, meaning of the word, 464.
Milking, 92.
Millichope, Norman house at, 129-131.
Minstrels, 33-37, 106, 164-167, 175-193, 227, 228, 285, 286, 365,
391, 393.
Mirrors, 260, 412-414.
Money dealings, 78, 79, 263, 265.
Monks, luxury of the, 348.
Monkeys, domesticated, 242, 491.
Moon, a contrivance for giving light, 455.
Moral character of the Anglo-Saxons, 53-58.
Morality of the middle ages, 273, 281.
Mummings and masquerades at dinner, 460.
Music, cultivated as a domestic accomplishment, 427.
Musical instruments, 34, 35, 109, 184-192.
Music-galleries in 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 in the middle ages, 283.
Nef, the, an ornamental vessel at the dinner-table, 163.
Nightingales, domesticated, and the food for them, 385.
Noah’s wife, mediæval character of, 420, 437.
O.
Occleve, the poet, his manner of living in his youth, 437.
Oranges, 297.
Ordinaries, 493.
Organ, the musical instrument, 184.
P.
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, 136-138, 305.
Percy family, their diet, 421.
Pic-nics, origin of, 438, 493.
Pie. See _Magpie_.
Pillion, riding on, 495, 496.
Pine, the kernels of the cone used in the same way as almonds
(misprinted _olives_ in the first reference), 296, 350.
Pipe, the musical instrument, 188.
Pipe, double, musical instrument, 64, 190.
Plants, cultivated in gardens, 297, 298, 300, 301.
Plate, an article of ostentation in the middle ages, 174;
great fashion for in the sixteenth century, 461.
Play, fondness of the Anglo-Saxons for, 63.
Poisoning in the middle ages, 279, 431.
Pottery, Anglo-Saxon, 6-8;
Anglo-Norman, 85, 90.
Priesthood, family, among the unconverted Angles, 55.
Printing, origin of the art of, 224.
Psaltery, the musical instrument, 186, 187.
Pudding, the love of the English for, 466.
Punch and Judy, 433.
Punishments, Anglo-Saxon, 58, 59;
English, 342-346.
Q.
Quarrels in the hall after drinking, 38.
Questions and commands, games of, 232-234.
R.
Ragman’s Roll, game of, 233, 234.
Rere-suppers, 387, 393-395, 467.
Ribalds, or lechers, a class of mediæval society, 85, 104, 178.
Ridels, 403.
Riding, 115, 311-315, 495, 496.
Riding, prejudice against, 313.
Rings, their importance in the middle ages, 266-269.
Roads, insecurity of the, 77, 326, 436.
Robbers, 326, 327.
Roy-qui-ne-ment, game of, 232, 233.
Ruelle, of the bed, 404.
S.
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 the Anglo-Normans, 94-97;
in the fifteenth century, 369, 370;
after the Reformation, 472-474.
Servants, cruel treatment of, by the Anglo-Saxon ladies, 56, 57.
Servants, how to be governed, 277;
how treated, 278;
riotous and ungovernable, 313, 424.
Service, young gentlemen going to seek, 269,272.
Settle, the, 97, 401.
Shalm, the musical instrument, 186, 187.
Side-saddles, used by women, 72, 115, 311-313.
Sitting, etiquette in, 293.
Soler, of a house, 12, 83, 126-128.
Spectacles, 439.
Spense, the, 133.
Spinning, an occupation of the ladies, 238, 426, 482.
Squirrels, domesticated, 384-386;
cooked for the table, 355, 356.
Stocks, as a punishment, 59, 116.
Subtilty, an ornamental device at table, 355, 393.
Supernaculum, explanation of the term, 468.
Suppers, 246, 247, 391, 395, 397.
Supper, rere, 387, 393-395, 467.
Swaddling of babies, 48, 50, 402, 494.
Sweetmeats, use of, 467.
T.
Table, manners at, 161, 162, 363, 364, 366-369.
Tables, of the Anglo-Saxons, 21, 42;
of the Normans, 94;
Early English, 139;
in the fifteenth century, 364, 371, 374;
of the subsequent period 471.
Tables, arrangement of, in the hall, 153.
Tables for books, 340, 341.
Table dormant, 139, 365.
Tables, folding, 450, 453, 454.
Tables with leaves, 450.
Tables, for writing, 440, 450.
Tables, game of, 40, 217-220.
Tabor, the musical instrument, 183, 193, used to rouse game, 308, 309.
Tambourine, the, 188.
Tapestry for the walls of houses, 19, 20, 160, 244, 371, 450, 474.
Taverns, Anglo-Saxon, 75, 77; Anglo-Norman, 113;
early English, 258, 333-337;
in the fifteenth century, 436-439.
Tavern-keepers, their extortions, 215.
Thane’s seat, 62.
Timepieces, 477, 478.
Toilette, the, among the Anglo-Saxons, 59;
among the English, 260, 491.
Top, game of, 235, 236.
Torches, use of, 254, 377.
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.
U.
Umbrellas, used by the Anglo-Saxons, 75.
V.
Vessels used at table, 25, 34, 150.
Villains, how regarded by the Normans, 101.
Vine, the, cultivated in England, 33, 99, 296.
Visitors, how received, 141, 142.
W.
_Waghe_, difference between this word and _wall_, 12.
Wakes, village, 67.
Walking, rules for behaviour in, 290-293.
Washing, before and after meals, 156, 367, 368,
396, 397.
Weaving, as practised by the ladies, 109, 237, 426, 427, 482, 483.
Well, the, 86, 361.
Whips, 235, 315.
Windows, 83, 121, 134.
Windows, with seats, 373, 374.
Wine, 33, 90.
Woman, her character among the Anglo-Saxons, 52, 53.
Women, their occupations, 52, 53, 108, 109, 237-239;
their want of delicacy in the middle ages, 274;
treated with rudeness, 275;
instructions to them, 275;
acted as doctors, 278, 279;
poisoners, 279, 431;
frequenters of taverns, 282, 420, 437-439;
education and employment of gentlewomen, 383, 384, 419, 426;
their undomestic character, 420;
addicted to gambling and drinking, 483-485;
their manner of riding. See _Side-saddle_, _Pillion_.
Writing, implements of, 96, 117, 266, 340, 341, 439.
FINIS.
JAMES S. VIRTUE, PRINTER, CITY ROAD, LONDON.
_On the First of every Month, Price_ 2s. 6d.,
THE ART-JOURNAL:
A RECORD OF THE FINE ARTS, THE ARTS INDUSTRIAL,
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THE ART-JOURNAL
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE
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LONDON: JAMES S. VIRTUE, CITY ROAD & IVY LANE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The distinction between the _waghe_ and _walle_ continued to a
comparatively late period. Halliwell, “Dictionary of Archaic and
Provincial Words,” v. _waghe_, quotes the following lines from a
manuscript of the fifteenth century--
_So hedousely that storme ganne falle,_
_That sondir it braste bothe waghe and walle._
[2] 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
learn from the miracles of St. Swithun, by the monk Lantfred.
[3] 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.
[4] William of Malmesbury, de Gest. Pontif. printed in Gale, p. 249,
describes the Saxons as cooking their meat _in lebete_, evidently
meaning the sort of vessel figured in the foregoing cuts. The Latin
_lebes_, a cauldron or kettle, is interpreted in the early glossaries
by the Anglo-Saxon _hwer_, or _huer_, from which we derive the English
word _ewer_; _hwær-boll_ or _hwær-cytel_ are interpreted in the
Anglo-Saxon dictionaries as meaning a frying-pan, which is evidently
not correct.
[5] There is one of these knives in the Cambridge Museum, which has
been there rather singularly labelled “a Roman razor!” Mr. Roach
Smith always suspected that these knives were late Saxon, and their
similarity in form to those given in the manuscripts shows that he was
correct.
[6] Post prandium ad pocula, quibus Angli nimis sunt assueti.--Chron.
J. Wallingford, in Gale, p. 542.
[7] “Duos ciphos argenteos ... ad serviendum fratribus in refectorio,
quatenus, dum in eis potus edentibus fratribus ministratur, memoria mei
eorum cordibus arctius inculcetur.”--Hist. Ramesiensis, in Gale, p. 406.
[8] We shall return to this subject in a subsequent chapter.
[9] Regem adhuc tesserarum vel scaccarum ludo longioris tædia noctis
relevantem invenit.
[10] Mater, si juxta focum infantem suum posuerit, et homo aquam in
caldarium miserit, et ebullita aqua infans superfusus mortuus fuerit;
pro negligentia mater pœniteat, et ille homo securus sit.
[11] 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 his wíf ætfylð_) 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 performance of which
it would be his duty to require. But the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon
ecclesiastical laws on this subject is rather obscure.
[12] 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.
[13] Habebant etiam ex consuetudine patriæ unoquoque die comam pectere,
sabbatis balneare, sæpe etiam vestituram mutare, et formam corporis
multis talibus frivolis adjuvare.--Hist. Eliensis ap. Gale, p. 547.
[14] It is curious that the modern English words play (_plega_), and
game (_gamen_), are both derived from the Anglo-Saxon, which perhaps
shows that they represent sentiments we have derived from our Saxon
forefathers.
[15] Pueri et adolescentes, ... illic convenientes, more Anglorum
luctamina et alia ludicra exercebant puerilia, et cantilenis et musicis
instrumentis 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 fol. 12, v^o.
[16] This erroneous statement is repeated by most of our writers on
such subjects, and will be found in Mr. Planché’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 they ascribed
everything of a contrary character to persons who were beloved.
[17] The word occurs in the reflections of our first parents on their
nakedness, in the poem attributed to Cædmon. Adam says that when the
inclement weather arrives (_cymeð hægles scúr_--the hail shower will
come) they had nothing before them to serve for a defence or shade
against the storm--
“_Nys unc wuht beforan_
_to scur sceade._”
[18] 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.
[19] “Quod, mola detritum, et aqua rorante perfusum, more usitato, in
camino æstuante 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.”
[20] Quod si super aquas seu ad ignem se calefactura sedisset.--Reg.
Dunelm., c. 124.
[21] Quidam de villula in confinio posita, artificiosus minister,
sub diurno tempore studiosus advenit, cujus negotiationis opus in
pectinibus conformandis, tabulatis et scaccariis, talis, spiniferis, et
cæteris talibus, de cornuum vel solidiori ossuum materia procreandis et
studium intentionis effulsit.--Reg. Dunelm, c. 88.
[22] Quidam Walterus ... qui ad domum sacerdotis villulæ prædictæ cum
hospitibus potaturus accessit. Cum igitur noctis spacium effluxisset,
&c.--Reg. Dunelm, c. 17
[23] Lantfridus, in his collection of the miracles of St. Swithun,
MS. Reg. 15, C. vii., fol. 41, v^o., tells us how--“quidam consul
regis, in caducis præpotens 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.
[24] In the description of a splendid hall, in the English metrical
romance of kyng Alisaunder (Weber, i. 312), the windows are made “of
riche glas.”
[25] The old literary antiquaries, through mistaking the _u_ of the
manuscripts for an _n_, and not attending to the derivation, have
created a meaningless word--_jongleur_--which never existed, and ought
now to be entirely abandoned.
[26] The Latin original of this story is so quaint that it deserves
to be given _ipsissimis verbis_. “_De rustico et simia._ Quidam
aulam cujusdam nobilis intrans, vidensque simiam de secta filiorum
vestitum, quia dorsum ad eum habebat, filium credidit esse domini, cui
cum reverentia qua debuit loqueretur. Invenit esse simiam super eum
cachinnantem, cui ille, ‘Maledicaris!’ inquit, ‘credidi quod fuisses
Jankyn filius domini mei.’”--Latin Stories, p. 122.
[27] _Item_, que par la dicte dame Agnes vous faciez principalment et
diligemment penser de vos bestes de chambre, comme petis chiennés,
oiselets de chambre; et aussi la beguine et vous pensez des autres
oiseauls domeschés, car ils ne pevent parler, et pour ce vous devez
parler et penser pour eulx, se vous en avez.--(Ménagier de Paris, ii.
62.)
[28] Et ayez fait adviser par avant, qu’ils aient chascun loing de
son lit chandelier à platine pour mettre sa chandelle, et les aiez
fait introduire sagement de l’estaindre à la bouche ou à la main avant
qu’ils entrent en leur lit, et non mie à la chemise.--(Ménagier de
Paris, ii. 71.)
[29] To show the extreme ignorance which has prevailed on the history
of English gardening in the middle ages, it need only be mentioned that
Loudon, “Encyclopædia of Gardening” (edition of 1850), 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).
[30] 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.
[31] Our word _chestnut_ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _cyste-hnutu_,
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” (“Encyclopædia of Gardening,” 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.
[32] There is, however, an Anglo-Saxon name of a tree which I suspect
has been misinterpreted. The glossaries give “_ramnus_, þefe-þorn,”
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, þefe-þorn” (p.
141). I have no doubt that the thefe-thorn was the gooseberry. In the
dialect of Norfolk, gooseberries are still called _theabes_.
[33] It may be well to remark, once for all, that it is almost
impossible to identify some of these mediæval names of plants.
[34] For many references, the reader is referred to Halliwell’s
“Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words,” under the word
_Cherry-Fair_.
[35] Buglos.
[36] The corn-marigold.
[37] Marjoram.
[38] Clary.
[39] Basil.
[40] Probably sowthistle, although it is placed under the letter F in
the alphabetical list.
[41] The plant Alexander.
[42] Cives.
[43] The herb serpentine.
[44] Eyebright.
[45] Better known as Solomon’s seal.
[46] Dropwort.
[47] Eringoes.
[48] Gooseberries? See before, p. 296.
[49] Quidam juvenis de domo domini Lundoniensis episcopi, spiritum
habens in avibus cœli ludere, nisum suum docuit cercellas affectare
propensius. Itaque juxta sonitum illius instrumenti quod a ripatoribus
vocatur _tabur_, subito cercella quædam alarum remigio pernicitur
evolavit. Nisus autem illusus lupum quendam nantem in locis sub undis
crispantibus intercepit, invasit, et cepit, et super spatium sicut
visum est xl. pedum se cum nova præda recepit.--Rad. de Diceto, ap.
Decem Striptores, col. 666.
[50] 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.”
[51] This receipt is curious enough to be given here; it is as
follows:--“Fyrst, take and geve hym 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.”--Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i. p. 203.
[52] Dagswain was a sort of rough material of which the commoner sort
of coverlets 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.
[53] 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.
[54] The reader who wishes for further information on the ornamental
plate of the middle ages, and especially of the age of the Renaissance
and succeeding period, may consult with advantage lord Londesborough’s
handsome and valuable volume, the “Miscellanea Graphica,” and the
“Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Antique Silver
Plate formed by Albert, lord Londesborough, now the property of lady
Londesborough,” printed by her ladyship for private distribution; the
latter of which contains no less than a hundred and fourteen examples
of ornamental plate excellently engraved by Mr. Fairholt, among which
are several fine examples of the nef, or ship.
[Transcriber’s Note:
Page 47, “We have few contemporary notices of the treatment children at
this early age” changed to read “We have few contemporary notices of
the treatment of children at this early age”.
Page 192, “the fabliaus or metrical stories;” changed to read “the
fabliaux or metrical stories;”.
Page 297, “The earliest account of an English garden is given by
Alexander Neckham,” changed to read “The earliest account of an English
garden is given by Alexander Neckam,”.
Page 325, “R man de Berte,” changed to read “Roman de Berte,”
Obvious printer errors corrected silently.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]