The Britons, we learn, made their table on the ground, on which they
spread the skins of wolves and dogs. The guests sat round, the food was
placed before them, and each took his part. They were waited upon by the
youth of both sexes. They who had not skins were contented with a little
hay, which was laid under them; they ate very little bread, but much
meat, boiled, or broiled upon coals, or roasted upon spits, before fires
kindled as gipsies do in these days. The best living appears to have
been in South Britain, where venison, oxen, sheep, and goats were eaten;
and ale or mead was the common drink. The whole family attended upon the
visitors, and the master and mistress went round, and did not eat
anything till their guests had finished their meal.
The Romans made little use of cattle as food; and the fattening of
cattle for this specific purpose was unknown to them. Neither can we
find evidence that beef and mutton were eaten by the Roman people
generally. Pliny mentions the use of beef, roasted, or in the shape of
broth, as a medicine, but not as food. Plautus speaks of beef and mutton
as sold in the markets; but, amidst the immense variety of fish, flesh,
and fowl, we hear little of the above meats in the Roman larder. Fish
and game, poultry, venison, and pork, are often mentioned as elements of
a luxurious banquet; but undoubtedly the common food of all classes was
vegetable, flavoured with lard or bacon. Among the Romans the hare was
held in great estimation. Alexander Severus had a hare daily served at
his table; yet Cæsar says that in his time the Britons did not eat the
flesh of hare.
"The Romans, after their colonization of Britain, must have enjoyed its
great supplies of fish; with them its fine oysters were celebrities.
They were fattened in pits and ponds by the Romans, who obtained the
finest oysters from Ruterpiæ, now Sandwich, in Kent. The Roman epicures
iced their oysters before eating them; the ladies used the calcined
shell as a cosmetic and depilatory. Apicius is said to have supplied
Trajan with fresh oysters at all seasons of the year. The Romans,
according to Pliny, made _Ostrearii_, or loaves of bread baked with
oysters. There is one secret we may well desire to learn from the
Romans; namely, the manner of preserving oysters alive in any journey,
however long or distant. The possession of this secret is the more
extraordinary, as it is well known that a shower of rain will kill
oysters subjected to its influence, or the smallest grain of quick-lime
destroy their vitality."[19] Pliny records that one gentleman, Asinius
Celer, gave 8,000 nummi (between 64_l_. and 65_l_. sterling) for one
mullet, such as may now be bought in good seasons in London for
sixpence! How the Anglo-Roman epicure must have enjoyed the mullet from
our western coast! The lamprey was also with the Romans a pet fish: it
is now rare. The celebrated Roman garum must here have been made in
perfection. A Roman supper is thus described by the officer of the
household of Theodosius:--"For the first course there were
sea-hedgehogs, raw oysters, and asparagus; for the second, a fat fowl,
with another plate of oysters and shell-fish; several species of dates,
fig-peckers, roebuck, and wild boar, fowls encrusted with paste, and the
purple shell-fish, then esteemed so great a delicacy. The third course
was composed of a wild-boar's head, of ducks, of a _compôte_ of
river-birds, of leverets, roast-fowls, Ancona-cakes, called _panes
picandi_," which must have somewhat resembled Yorkshire pudding. The old
Romans had their fancy bread as well as the moderns, as loaves baked
with oysters, cakes like our rolls, and others. A sort, of nearly the
same quality as our middle sort of wheaten bread, was sold, according to
the calculation of antiquaries, at 3_s_. 2_d_. the peck-loaf, present
money.
Before the arrival of the Romans, _mead_, that is, honey diluted with
water, and fermented, was probably the only strong liquor known to the
Britons; and it continued to be their favourite drink long after they
had become acquainted with other liquors. Its manufacture was an
important art; for the mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity in
the courts of the ancient princes of Wales, and took precedence of the
physician.
Of Saxon living we have many details. The Saxons were noted for their
hospitality. On the arrival of a stranger he was welcomed, and water was
brought him to wash his hands; his feet were also washed in warm water.
A curious law was enforced at this period respecting _host and guest_;
if any one entertained a guest in his house three days, and the guest
committed any crime during that period, his host was either to bring him
to justice, or answer for it himself; and by another law, a guest, after
two nights' residence, was considered one of the family, and his
entertainer was to be responsible for all his actions.
The meal now assumed more regularity; the parties sat at large square
tables, on long benches, according to rank; and by a subsequent law of
Canute, a person sitting out of his proper place, was to be pelted from
it with bones, at the discretion of the company, without the privilege
of taking offence! The mistress of the house sat at the head of the
table, upon a raised platform, beneath a canopy, and helped the
provisions to the guests; whence came the modern title of _lady_, being
softened from the Saxon _lief-dien_, or the server of bread. The tables
were covered with fine cloths, some very costly; a cup of horn, silver,
silver-gilt, or gold, was presented to each person; other vessels were
of wood, inlaid with gold; dishes, bowls, and basins were of silver,
gold, and brass, engraven; the benches and seats were carved and covered
with embroidery; and some of the tables were of silver. All tables were
square at this period; they were displaced by the old oaken table, of
long boards upon tressels.
The food of the period consisted of meat and vegetables, and the tables
were plentifully but plainly supplied. There were oxen, sheep, fowls,
deer, goats, and hares, but hogs yielded a principal part of the
provision. On this account, swine were allowed by charter to run and
feed in the royal forests. All sorts of fish now taken, were eaten at
the above time; herrings were preferred. The porpoise, now no longer
eaten, was then preferred. Bread was made of barley; wheaten bread was a
delicacy. Baking was understood, as well as cookery; and if a person ate
anything half-dressed, ignorantly, he was to fast three days; and four,
if he knew it. Roasted meat was a luxury; but boiling was general, and
broiling and stewing were in use. Honey was used in most of the meals of
this period, on which account, added to that of sugar not being brought
to England until the fifteenth century, the wild honey found in the
English woods became an article of importance in the forest charter.
Fruit, beans, and herbs were commonly eaten; the only vegetable was
kale-wort; peppered broths and soups, and a kind of _bouilli_, were
esteemed; buttermilk or whey was used in the monasteries; and salt was
employed in great quantities, both for preserving and seasoning all
sorts of provisions.
In representations of Anglo-Saxon feasts, the men and women are seated
apart at table; a person is cutting a piece of meat off the spit into a
plate, held underneath by a servant; and cakes of bread, with oblong,
square, and round dishes are on the table. Festivals were given to
people on religious accounts; they kept it up the whole day on state
occasions, and the feast was accompanied with music. The company sat on
forms, the chief visitors seated in the middle, and the next in rank on
the right and left. A dish on the table was set apart for alms for the
poor; and when our Anglo-Saxon kings dined, the poor sat in the streets,
expecting the broken victuals. At private parties, two persons eating
out of the same dish was a peculiar mark of friendship. Forks were not
invented, and our ancestors made use of their fingers; but, for the sake
of cleanliness, each person was provided with a small silver ewer
containing water, and two flowered napkins, of the finest linen. The
dessert consisted of grapes, figs, nuts, apples, pears, and almonds.
In early baking the use of ovens was unknown; and when the _lady_ had
kneaded the dough, it was toasted either upon a warm hearth, or
bake-stone, as it was called, when later it was made of some metal. In
Wales, bread is, or was, lately baked upon an iron plate, called a
griddle. The earliest bakers were probably the monks, since bakehouses
were commonly appended to monasteries; and the host, or consecrated
bread, was baked by the monks with great ceremony. In a charge to the
clergy, date 994, we find:--"And we charge you that the oblation (_i.e._
the bread in the Eucharist), which ye offer to God in that holy mystery,
be either baked by yourselves, or your servants in your presence."
Bakehouses were also appended to the churches; for, on taking down some
part of the church at Crickhowell, county Brecon, a small room with an
oven in it was discovered, which had long been shut up. Although the
monks were early bakers, they do not appear to have fared much more
sumptuously than the people on bread; for the Anglo-Saxon monks of the
Abbey of St. Edmund, in the eighth century, ate barley bread, because
the income of the establishment would not admit of the feeding twice or
thrice a day on wheaten bread.
Elecampane, now known as the sweetmeat of childhood, was esteemed for
ages in the domestic herbal. The leaves are aromatic and bitter, but the
root is much more so. The former were used by the Romans as pot-herbs;
and appear to have been held in no mean repute in after times, from the
monkish line,--"_Elena campana reddit præcordia sana._" When preserved,
it is still eaten as a cordial by Eastern nations; and the root is used
in England to flavour the small sugar-cakes, which bear its name. It is
tonic and stimulant.
Of the manufacture of Ale and Beer we have a record of the fifth
century, directing it to be made without hops, instead of which various
bitters were used. Ale is next mentioned in the laws of Ina, King of
Wessex, who ascended, the throne about the year 680. It was the
favourite drink of the Saxons and Danes; and so attentive were the
Saxons to its quality, that in their time it was a custom in the city of
Chester to place any person who brewed bad ale in a ducking-chair, to be
plunged into a pool of muddy water, or be fined 4_s_. In the Saxon
Dialogues, in the Cotton Library, a boy, in answer to the question, what
he drank, replies, "Ale, if I have it; or water, if I have it not." He
adds, that wine is the drink of the elders and the wise. Ale was sold
to the people at this time, in houses of entertainment; but a priest was
forbidden by law to eat or drink at places where ale was sold. About the
middle of the eleventh century, ale was one of the articles of a royal
banquet provided for Edward the Confessor. At this time the best ale
could be bought for 8_d_. the gallon. This was spiced, and double the
price of common ale, and mead was double the price of spiced ale. One of
the vessels out of which ale was drunk was the Saxon _nap_, now the
_neap_, or _nip_, out of which we drink Burton ale. The Saxons had also
cups of wood, ornamented with gold, besides the peg tankards introduced
by King Edgar, to check excessive drinking. In Northamptonshire--a
famous ale county--a small public-house is to this day called an
_ale-hus_, the original Saxon _hus_ being retained.[20]
As the monasteries were in ancient times reputed for ale, which the
monks brewed for themselves with such remarkable care, so colleges,
which rose upon the Dissolution, became famous for ale, and their
celebrity continues to this day. Warton, poet-laureate in 1748, has left
a panegyric on Oxford ale (which he dearly loved), and thus
apostrophises:--
"Balm of my cares, sweet solace of my toils,
Hail, juice benignant!
"My sober evening let the tankard bless,
With toast embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught.
What though me sore ills
Oppress, dire want of chill-dispelling coals
Or cheerful candle, save the make-weight's gleam
Haply remaining, heart-rejoicing ale
Cheers the sad scene, and every want supplies.
"Be mine each morn, with eager appetite
And hunger undissembled, to repair
To friendly buttery; there on smoking crust
And foaming ale to banquet unrestrain'd,
Material breakfast. Thus, in ancient days
Our ancestors, robust with liberal cups
Usher'd the morn, unlike the squeamish sons
Of modern times; nor ever had the might
Of Britons brave decay'd, had thus they fed,
With British ale improving British worth."
They who recollect the ale of Magdalen and Queen's will acknowledge that
Oxford well maintains its character for our national drink.
The brewers were formerly women, and those who sold the ale were
_ale-wives_, one of whom, "Eleanor Rumming, the famous ale-wife of
England," is commemorated by another poet-laureate, Skelton. Of her
ale-house, at Leatherhead, there are some remains, and she lives in the
rude woodcut portrait (1571), with this inscription:--
"When Skelton wore the laurel crown,
My ale put all the ale-wives down."
The introduction of foreign wines by the Normans did not altogether
supersede the wines of our own country. The vine had been cultivated
here long before. Vines are mentioned in the laws of Alfred, and Edgar
makes a gift of a vineyard, with the vine-dressers. In a Saxon Calendar,
preserved in the British Museum, there is a series of rude drawings
representing the different operations of the rural economy of the year;
that prefixed to February showing husbandmen pruning what are supposed
to be vines. At the time of the Norman Conquest, new plantations appear
to have been made in the village of Westminster; at Chenetone, in
Middlesex; at Ware, in Hertfordshire, and other places. Of ancient
wine-cellars we find some curious particulars, and drinking-glasses have
been found in Roman-British barrows.
The Danes, in their visits to this country, added much to the gross
hospitalities, against the consequences of which Saxon laws were
enacted. They were accustomed to sing and play on the harp in turn; and
to be entertained by the gleemen, ale-poets, dancers, harpers, jugglers,
and tumblers, who frequented the earliest taverns, called guest-houses,
ale-shops, wine-houses, &c. And it may be regarded as indicative of the
reckless manners of the times, that the last of the Danish kings of
England died suddenly at a marriage-feast; his death being imputed by
some to poison, but, with more likelihood of truth, to his being then
intoxicated.
We have now reached the period at which the Danes arrived in this
country; but they so neglected the arts essential to life as to have
little claim upon our respect. Their neglect of husbandry was great. The
other arts were abandoned to the women, who spun wool for their
clothing. Rude carving with the knife seems to have been the principal
and natural talent of the Danes. Their houses were mostly erected near a
spring, a wood, or an open field, at a distance from any others. The
best of their dwellings were only thick, heavy pillars, united by
boards, and covered with turf; though there sometimes existed a pride in
having them of great extent, and with lofty towers.
In a late volume of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, we find this interesting
page of research upon the names of provisions, which throw some light
upon the mode of living among the higher and lower classes of our
population. "Bread, with the common productions of the garden, such as
pease, beans, eggs, and some other articles which might be produced in
the cottage-garden or yard, retain their Saxon names, and evidently
formed the chief nourishment of the Saxon portion of the population. Of
meat, though the word is Saxon, they ate probably little; for it is one
of the most curious circumstances connected with the English language,
that while the living animals are called by Anglo-Saxon names, as oxen,
calves, sheep, pigs, deer, the flesh of those animals when prepared for
the table is called by names which are all Anglo-Norman--beef, veal,
mutton, pork, venison. The butcher who killed them is himself known by
an Anglo Norman name. Even fowls when killed receive the Norman name of
poultry. This can only be explained by the circumstance that the Saxon
population in general was only acquainted with the living animals, while
their flesh was carried off to the castle and table of the Norman
possessors of the land, who gave it names taken from their own language.
Fresh meat, salted, was hoarded up in immense quantities in the Norman
castles, and was distributed lavishly to the household and idle
followers of the feudal possessors. Almost the only meat obtained by the
peasantry, unless, if we believe old popular songs, by stealth, was
_bacon_, and that also is still called by an Anglo-Norman name."