Anonymous

ENGLISH AND NORMAN ARCHITECTURE AND CUSTOMS.

Saxon Architecture; Theories about it—Documentary Evidence—Ancient Churches—Characters of the Saxon Style—Illustrations from an Anglo-Saxon Calendar—Old Manuscripts—English Scholarship—Music and the Minstrels—Musical Instruments—Games and Sports—Costume—The Table—Household Furniture—Material Condition of the People—Norman Costumes—Condition of Learning and the Arts—Refinement of the Normans—The Bayeux Tapestry.

Few subjects in mediÆval art have led to so much controversy as that of English architecture; one party of writers claiming for it a place as a distinct and separate style, and another totally denying its very existence.

It was usual for writers on architecture before Rickman's time to denominate all buildings in which the semicircular arch or the zigzag moulding prevailed as "Saxon," no matter how highly finished or how richly carved they might be; and, consequently, all our fine Norman churches are in their works described as Saxon.

When this designation was proved to be incorrect, a reaction took place, and some of our writers went so far as to deny the existence of any building of a date anterior to the Conquest. It was argued by these writers that the English built with wood only, and that, consequently, all their erections had long since perished. But though it is true there is evidence to show that the usual material for building was wood, and that it was sometimes overlaid with lead and other metals, yet we find, on the other hand, in the works of early writers, indubitable proofs to show that stone was also used, particularly in rebuilding the churches and monasteries which had been destroyed by the Danes. Alfred set aside a sixth part of his income for this purpose, and we are told by Asser that "he built the houses majestic and good, beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical contrivances."

THE GATEWAY, BATTLE ABBEY.

It was first pointed out by Rickman that there were a number of churches in different parts of the kingdom which could be proved to be of very early date, while they did not agree in character either with the Roman remains, or with the earliest of the Norman churches; and that, in some instances, early Norman work had been built upon portions of these early buildings, thus affording conclusive evidence that these edifices must be of a prior date to that of the earliest Norman buildings.

Strong confirmatory evidence is also offered when we find it stated, in a contemporary manuscript, that a church was built on a certain spot by some well-known ecclesiastic at a given time, and still find standing on this spot a building, or portions of a building, of a style which cannot be referred to that of any subsequent period. We are justified in considering this the building so mentioned; and when we find all these buildings agreeing in certain general features, we are also justified in considering these as constituting the style of the period.

Of this documentary evidence, the following are examples. The venerable Bede, mentions the building of a monastery at Jarrow by Benedict Biscop in 681, and we now find standing on the spot a church, of which the chancel is of the rudest construction, and evidently of earlier date than the tower, which, from its style, cannot be much subsequent to the Conquest, and in which portions of the earlier building are built into the walls. The east window is of later date, but the side windows of the church (now blocked up) are of the rudest possible construction—round-headed, with the heads formed of a single stone. These are undoubtedly the work of Benedict.

The church of Monkwearmouth is also mentioned by Bede as having been built by the same Benedict, in 676. This church still stands, and bears indubitable proofs of its early date. The windows are divided by balusters, and have other features peculiar to the period.

A convent existed at Repton, in Derbyshire, in the seventh century, and was destroyed by the Danes in 875. The church was afterwards rebuilt, and such portions as had not perished were built into the new erection, and they may still be distinguished by the peculiarities of their style. The original crypt under the church still remains in a tolerably perfect state, and is a very remarkable specimen of the style.

Curious crypts of this date also exist under the Cathedral of Ripon, and at Hexham. The latter is particularly interesting, from its having been constructed of materials taken from the Roman road, which passes within a short distance of the place, and Roman inscribed slabs have been used in forming its roof.

In the Old English MSS. in the British Museum and the library of Salisbury Cathedral, and particularly in the paraphrase of CÆdmon, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, buildings of stone are distinctly shown in the illuminations, and these buildings exhibit "the long and short work" and other distinctive features of existing remains. This, therefore, may be taken as conclusive evidence that these buildings are of English origin.

The characteristics of this style are as follow:—

Towers.—These are without buttresses, generally of the same dimensions from the foundation to the top, but sometimes diminishing by stages. They are usually built of rubble, the stones being very irregular in size, with quoins at the angles, which are formed of long stones set perpendicularly, and shorter ones laid horizontally alternately with them. This is termed "long and short work". They are sometimes divided into stages, and the surface is intersected by upright projecting ribs of stone, as if the builder had before him for a model a tower constructed of timber and plaster, and had endeavoured to imitate this in stone. The finest example which we have of this kind of ornament is the tower of Earl's Barton Church, Northamptonshire; other examples also occur at Barton-on-Humber, and at Barnack.

These towers seem always to have been coated with plaster between the ribs of stone, and this gives them a still more timber-like appearance.

Some towers have not this ornament, and are quite plain. The kind of masonry called "herringbone" is frequently used, and Roman bricks taken from the ruins of earlier buildings are of frequent occurrence.

The upper portion of these Saxon towers has been destroyed, and replaced by later parapets; so that it is not easy to say in what manner they terminated. But the very remarkable tower of Sompting, in Sussex, offers a valuable solution of the difficulty. In this tower each side terminates in an acutely pointed gable, from which the roof is carried up, and, meeting in a point, forms a sort of short square spire, such as we still see in some of the churches in Germany. All these towers are without staircases, the different storeys being only to be reached by ladders. The circular or newel stair turret seems not to have been introduced till the twelfth century.

Windows.—These are either round-headed or triangular-headed, and are frequently surrounded by a sort of framework of projecting stone. They are usually—but not always—deeply recessed on the outside as well as in the inside, the narrowest part of the window being in the centre of the wall. When the window is of two lights, it is divided by a small baluster or shaft, set in the middle of the wall; this supports an impost, which is generally one stone reaching through the entire thickness of the wall. Sometimes the heads of both single and double-light windows, instead of being arched, are made of two straight stones, meeting at the point, and forming a triangular head. The single lights are often little more than mere openings in the wall, frequently without ornament of any kind, the whole window being cut out of a single stone, as at Caversfield, and the jambs are often inclined, making the opening wider at the bottom than at the top. Ornament is seldom attempted, but at Deerhurst the shaft and jambs are adorned with a rude kind of fluting, and the imposts are cut into a series of simple square-edged mouldings. Roman bricks are sometimes used both for the jambs and for turning the arch, as at Brixworth. All these varieties of windows are very characteristic, and are not to be found in the later styles.

Doorways.—These, like the windows, are either round or triangular-headed. The arches are generally turned of plain stones, without any moulding or ornament whatever—sometimes simple, and sometimes recessed; but the projecting framework of plain stone is not unfrequent, as may be seen at Earl's Barton, Stanton Lacy, &c. The imposts are as a rule plain, but sometimes ornamented with a series of singular mouldings, usually square-edged and plain, as at Barnack, or with a kind of fluting, as at Earl's Barton. At Sompting it is ornamented with a kind of scroll-work, though sculpture is seldom attempted. A cross is sometimes introduced above the door, as at Stanton Lacy, and it is remarkable that whenever the cross is used it is of the Greek form—that is, with the limbs of equal length in contradistinction to the Latin type, in which the lower member is the longest. The triangular heads of the doorways are formed either by two stones placed diagonally, and resting one upon the other, or partly by horizontal stones cut obliquely. Both these varieties may be seen at Barnack. Doorways are also sometimes built of tiles, taken from Roman buildings, as at Brixworth.

Mouldings and Sculptures.—There are very few mouldings belonging to this style, the strings and other members being mostly square-edged and plain, though, as at Dunham Magna, they are sometimes alternately notched on the edges. The capitals and bases of the shafts and balusters, which divide the windows, are moulded chiefly with round and square moulding. The sculptures are few, and very rude, as at St. Benet's, Cambridge, where two lions are sculptured at the spring of the tower arch.

Capitals.—The abacus seems in all cases to be a plain, square-edged, flat member, without chamfer (in which it differs from the Norman). The bell of the capital is either globular, as at Jarrow, or moulded, as before mentioned, or cut into a rude imitation of foliage, or of the Corinthian volute, as at Sompting.

It is curious to observe the evident imitation of Roman work in these capitals. The beautiful capital of the Corinthian order appears to have attracted the attention of the rude English workman, and his first attempt at sculpture seems to have been to copy it. Its delicate and complicated foliage was too difficult for his hand, but he could make an imitation of its more prominent feature, the volute. This partiality for the volute was continued in the next century, through the early and late Norman, until, in the transition to the Early English, it produced those magnificent capitals of which we have a few examples in England, and so many on the Continent.

It must not be expected that all these peculiarities will be found in one building; but wherever any of them occur, there is reasonable presumption that the building is of early date and deserving of further investigation.

Illustrations drawn from ancient calendars are among the best documents one can consult for obtaining a knowledge of former manners and customs. The twelve designs which follow, and which may conveniently serve as an introduction to an account of English customs, are taken from an Anglo-Saxon calendar composed some time before the Norman Conquest, and preserved in the Cottonian Library. Some explanatory notes are added.

Anglo-Saxon Calendar.

January.—The heathen English called this month "Wolf-monath," because the wolves were then most ravenous. It was also called "Aefter-Yula," that is, After-Christmas. In the woodcut, four oxen are laboriously drawing the plough. At that time they did not use horses for field labour; and oxen are employed, even at the present day, in some localities.

February.—Here they are cutting down trees for firewood. The English called February "Sprout-kele." Kele meant "kelewurt," and was most extensively used at this time for making broth. The well-known custom of making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is a remnant of an old superstition, and certainly one of the most pleasing that has come down to us.

March was dedicated by the English to the goddess Rhoeda, and hence called "Rhede-monath." It was called also "Illyd-monath," or the stormy-month. In the woodcut they are digging, hoeing, and sowing with much ardour. After the introduction of Christianity, March was held in great reverence, as the month in which Lent began.

April was "Oster-monath" because the wind generally blew from the east during this month. The woodcut appears to represent three thegns celebrating a feast by quaffing ale from their drinking-horns. On the right is an armed guard with a long spear, and on the left are two servitors. The bench on which the three worthy thegns are seated is adorned with two sculptures of formidable-looking animals. The use of chairs or sofas was then entirely unknown. They called the benches placed in the festal halls "mede benc," or "eale benc"—mead or ale benches.

May was called "Trimilki," because then they began to milk the kine three times in the day. In this woodcut shepherds are watching over the ewes and lambs. May-day was the great rural festival of the English, and was celebrated with pomp and rejoicing. This festival will soon be numbered amongst the things that were.

June.—To June different names were given: "Weyd-monath," according to some, "because then the cattle began to weyd"—that is, feed in the meadows, which at that time were usually marshes. According to others, it was called "Midsummer month." This was the time of the year at which the English commenced their long voyages, and they are represented in the woodcut in the act of cutting down and dressing trees, in order to fit out their ships.

July was called by the English "Heu-monath," or foliage-month; also "Hey-monath," or hay-month, being the month in which they mowed and made hay, in which operations they are represented in the woodcut as being engaged. They also called it "Lida-aftera." meaning the second lida, or second month after the sun's descent.

August was by the English called "Arn-monath," or "Barn-monath," meaning harvest-month. The instruments which appear in the woodcut do not seem to differ much from those used at the present day. To the left appears a man sounding a horn, with a spear in his right hand. Whether he is superintending the labourers, or is one of a hunting party entering the field, it is hard to decide. The sheaves are being lifted by a fork into a cart, or wagon, of tolerably good construction.

September was called "Gerst-monath"—barley-month; so named from the liquor called "beerlegh" made in that month, and hence "barley." The subject of the woodcut is a boar-hunt.

October was called the "Cold-monath," or "Wyn-monath"—wine-month. The vine was extensively cultivated in England in olden times. The woodcut represents a hawking scene.

November was called "Wint-monath," or wind-month, as this was the season of the year when the cold storms commenced, which were generally considered to last till March. It was the custom to light great fires in the open air in honour of the gods, and as a means of driving away evil spirits. The men are here seen approaching one of these fires to warm themselves.

December was called "Aerra Geola," because the sun then "turns his glorious course;" and after the introduction of Christianity, "Heilig-monath," or holy-month. December was, among the English, above all things, a month of festivity. Before the introduction of Christianity, Christmas was the feast of Thor, and the wassail bowl circulated as briskly in honour of the heathen god as it has done since at the Christian festival. The figures in the woodcut are engaged in threshing the corn, winnowing it with a fan, and carrying it away.

The foregoing designs afford, probably, as good an idea as can now be obtained of the occupations and amusements of our English forefathers, and of their daily life in time of peace.

The monasteries were the schools of the Middle Ages, in which all secular knowledge, as well as religious doctrine, was cultivated. Previous to the invention of printing, books were transcribed with great pains and labour. Not only was the mere task of copying a book by hand a work of considerable time, but the illuminations or embellishments with which the more valuable manuscripts were adorned, were executed with a degree of care and finish demanding infinite skill and industry. The annexed engravings are copied with scrupulous fidelity from various MSS. still extant, and serve to show some of the different kinds of writing which are found in those documents. Many of the MSS. also contain on each page paintings representing scenes either connected with the narrative in the text or otherwise. Sometimes they are ornamented with portraits of saints, kings, or other great men. These figures, as well as the other ornamental portions of the work, are brilliantly coloured, and are often represented on a gold ground.

The parchment used was of various kinds; that which was the finest and whitest being employed for the most valuable manuscripts. For gilding upon parchment, our ancestors employed both gold powder and leaf gold, which was fixed upon a white embossment, generally supposed to be a calcareous preparation. The subjects of the paintings were taken from sacred or profane history, but the artist invariably represented the costume and customs of his own time, and to these illuminations we owe most of the knowledge we possess of those customs. The English displayed proficiency in this branch of painting at an early period; and though it is not easy to trace the rise and progress of the art, there is evidence of its flourishing condition from the eighth to the eleventh centuries, in the numerous manuscripts of that date, which fortunately still remain both in England and in the collections on the Continent.

Previous to the introduction of Christianity, the English possessed no literature worthy of the name. It is not, however, to be supposed that the people were destitute of intellectual power; for when our forefathers began to apply themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, the progress of literature was remarkably rapid. Within one hundred years after the light of knowledge dawned upon the English, Bede appeared, with other men, whose abilities and teaching exerted a marked influence upon the spread of English learning.

The English scholars, though defective in actual knowledge, had just conceptions of the objects of philosophy. Alcuin defines it to be the study of natural things, and the knowledge of divine and human affairs. All the subjects comprised by Alcuin in physics are arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. That larger field of science to which we now give the name of physics had not yet been discovered, nor had chemistry, mineralogy, and the other analogous sciences.

A fair idea of the condition of mental and moral science previous to the Norman conquest, may be obtained from an extant dialogue between Alcuin and Pepin, the son of Charles the Great. Some of the questions, with the answers, are subjoined:—

"What is life?—The gladness of the blessed; the sorrow of the wretched; the expectation of death.

"What is death?—The inevitable event; the uncertain pilgrimage; the tears of the living; the confirmation of our testament; the thief of man.

"What is sleep?—The image of death.

"What is man's liberty?—Innocence.

"What is the brain?—The preserver of the memory.

"What is the sun?—The splendour of the world; the beauty of heaven; the honour of day; the distributor of the hours.

"What is the moon?—The eye of night; the giver of dew; the prophetess of the weather.

"What is rain?—The earth's conception; the mother of corn.

"What is the earth?—The nurse of the living; the store-house of life; the devourer of all things.

"What is the sea?—The path of audacity; the divider of regions; the fountain of showers.

"What is a ship?—A wandering house; a perpetual inn; a traveller without footsteps.

"What makes bitter things sweet?—Hunger.

"What makes men never weary?—Gain.

"What gives sleep to the watching?—Hope.

"Who is he that will rise higher if you take away his head?—Look in your bed, and you will find him there."

The following account, taken from William of Malmesbury, of the social condition of the English people at the time of the Conquest, indicates a decline of literature and the arts at that period. The picture may probably be overdrawn, but the main facts are correct. "In process of time, the desire after literature and religion had decayed, for several years before the arrival of the Normans. The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of learning, could scarcely stammer out the words of the sacraments, and a person who understood grammar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The nobility were given up to luxury and wantonness. The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes, either by seizing on their property or by selling their persons into foreign countries; although it be an innate quality of this people to be more inclined to revelling than to the accumulation of wealth. Drinking was a universal practice, in which they passed entire nights, as well as days. They consumed their substance in mean and despicable houses, unlike the Normans and French, who, in noble and splendid mansions, lived with frugality."

Music was cultivated by our ancestors from a very remote period. Among the English the music on which most attention was bestowed was that employed in the services of religion. Singing in churches is said to have been introduced into England in the fourth century.

Among the northern nations the Scalds were at once the poets and musicians. Like the bards of the Britons, they celebrated the deeds of the great and brave in heroic poems, which were sung to the sounds of the lyre or the harp. After the conquest of Britain by the English, these minstrels remained in high favour among the people, and were received with respect and veneration in the courts of kings and the halls of the nobles. In the English language they were known by two appellations, the one equivalent to the English word gleemen, or merry-makers, and the other harpers, derived from the instrument on which they usually played.

The gleemen were jugglers and pantomimists, as well as minstrels, and they were accustomed to associate themselves in companies, and amuse the spectators with feats of strength and agility, dancing, and sleight-of-hand tricks.

Among the minstrels who came into England with William the Conqueror was one named Taillefer, of whom it is related that he was present at the battle of Hastings, and took his place at the head of the Norman army, inspiriting the soldiers by his songs. Before the battle commenced he advanced on horseback towards the English lines, and casting his spear three times into the air, he caught it each time by the iron head and threw it among his enemies, one of whom he wounded. He then drew his sword and threw it into the air, catching it, as he had done the spear, with such dexterity, that the English who saw him believed that he was gifted with the power of enchantment.

The term minstrel, or, in Norman-French, ministraulx, came into use in England soon after the Conquest, at which time it is believed that the class of minstrels and jesters grew much more numerous. The general language of France in the ninth century was the langue d'Oc, which closely resembled the dialects of the Catalonian. The language of the north, or langue d'Oil, varied but little from it. At this period the flowing accents of the southern tongue were wedded to music by minstrels, who were called troubadours in the southern provinces, and trouveres in the north.

These poets became known throughout Europe for their songs of love and war, in which they celebrated the beauty of women and the achievements of the brave. The minstrels enjoyed many privileges, and travelled from place to place, in time of war as well as of peace, in perfect safety. Their persons were held sacred, and they were received wherever they went with the warmest welcome and hospitality.

In England the professors of the minstrel's art were of various classes, which were distinguished by the several names of singers, relaters of heroic actions, jesters, balancers, jugglers, and story-tellers. At this period every great baron kept a jester as a part of his household establishment.

The word jester, in its original sense, did not necessarily mean joker, or buffoon, but teller of tales, which might be of a kind to excite either laughter or pity. The jesters, however, were usually employed at feasts and in the hours of conviviality, and they found the tales of merriment so much more popular at such times, that it is probable the more serious part of their vocation fell into disuse. In later times the jesters and japers became mere merry-andrews, whose business it was to excite mirth by jokes and ludicrous gesticulations.

In olden times the number of musical instruments was considerable, but their names were still more numerous, because they were derived from the form and character of instruments which varied according to the caprice of the maker or the musician. Each nation had its peculiar instruments of music, and as these were described in each language by names appropriate to their qualities, the same instrument was frequently known by many names, while the same names sometimes applied to several instruments. The Romans, after their conquests, were in the habit of carrying back with them the music and the instruments which they found among the conquered nations, and thus it happened that, at a certain epoch, all the musical instruments of the known world were collected in the capital of the empire. At the fall of Rome, many of these fell into disuse and were forgotten; they were no longer needed to celebrate the festivals of pagan deities, or to add gaiety to the ovations to the emperors in the capitol. A letter of St. Jerome to Dardanus (de diversis generibus musicorum instrumentorum) gives an account of those instruments which remained in existence in the fifth century. St. Jerome enumerates the organ, various kinds of trumpets, the cithara, in the form of a Greek delta ([Greek: D]), with twenty-four strings; the psalterium, a small harp of a square form, with ten strings; the tympanum, or hand-drum, and several others.

These seem to have been almost the only musical instruments in use in the fifth century. A nomenclature of a similar kind appears in the ninth century, in a manuscript life of Charles the Great, by Aymeric de Peyra,[1] from which we find the number of instruments to have been nearly doubled in the course of four centuries, and their forms during this period had continually varied.

The flute is the most ancient of all instruments of music, and in the Middle Ages was found in many varieties. Among these was the double flute of the classic form, having two stems. The stem held in the left hand (sinistra) was for the high notes, and that held in the right hand (dextra) for the low notes. The two stems were sometimes held together, sometimes separate.

About the year 951, there was made for the church at Winchester an organ which, in size and construction, surpassed any that had hitherto been seen. This organ was divided into two parts, each having its bellows, its key-board, and its player; twelve bellows above and fourteen below were set in motion by sixty-six strong men, and the wind was passed along forty valves into four hundred pipes, arranged in groups of ten, and to each of these groups corresponded one of the twenty-four keys of each key-board. In spite of the great size of this organ, we can hardly believe that its sound was heard over the whole town (undique per urbem), as we are told by a contemporary poet.

The syrinx, which was, in fact, the Pandean pipe, was composed usually of seven tubes of unequal length, forming a straight line at the top for the mouth of the player.

Trumpets were much in use among the English, and were employed in the chase and in the tourney, as well as in sounding the charge in battle. They were also used at feasts, public assemblies, and as signals by which one man could communicate with another at a distance beyond the reach of the voice.

The lyre, which was the principal stringed instrument of the Greeks and the Romans, preserved its primitive form until the tenth century. The number of cords varied from three to eight. The lyre of the North—which was unquestionably the origin of the violin, and which already presented the shape of that instrument—had a bridge in the middle of the sound-board.

The psalterium, which must not be confounded with the psalterion of the thirteenth century, was a little portable harp, played either with one or both hands. After the fifth century its shape varied, and was sometimes square or triangular, and sometimes round. In the tenth century the psalterium gave place to the cithara, a name by which various stringed instruments had at first been vaguely described.

The English harp was at first only a triangular cithara, but that of the ninth century appears to have differed little from the modern instrument of that name, and the simplicity and elegance of its form had arrived nearly at perfection. The English gleemen usually sang to the harp, and this instrument was also in common use among persons who did not follow the profession of minstrels. Bede tells us that, as early as the seventh century, it was customary at convivial meetings to hand a harp from one person to another; and that every one present played upon it in turn, singing a song to the music. This may be presumed to have been the case when the professional harper, whose business it was to amuse the company, was not present.

Games and exercises of strength and agility were common among the Anglo-Saxons. St. Cuthbert is stated by Bede to have excelled in running, wrestling, and other athletic sports. Feats of juggling were performed by the gleemen, who were the most important characters in the festivals and other popular gatherings. Some of the gleemen seem to have performed tricks, gambols, and feats of all kinds, while others were harpers, or bards, and ballad-singers.

The in-door sports were various, and suitable to different ranks. The games of chess and backgammon were both known, or at least games very similar to them. Backgammon is said to have been invented in the tenth century.

The English and other German nations, as well as the Normans, were strongly attached to the sports of the field. At an early period we find that hunting was considered a necessary part of the education of every man of gentle blood. Alfred the Great, before he was twelve years of age, is represented to have "excelled in all the branches of that most noble art, to which he applied with incessant labour." We are told also that Edward the Confessor, though unlike his illustrious ancestor in most respects, delighted to follow a pack of hounds.

Hawking was a recreation in high favour among the nobles of the Middle Ages, and was practised also by the clergy and by ladies. In the Bayeux tapestry Harold is represented with his hounds by his side, and a hawk in his hand, when brought before William of Normandy. Such a mode of travelling was common among the noblemen of this period. Persons of high rank rarely appeared without their hawks, and sometimes even carried them into battle. These birds were considered as the symbols of nobility, and a man who gave up his hawk was regarded as disgraced and dishonoured. The birds were trained and tended with the greatest care. To prevent them from seeing, their heads were covered with a little cap fastened behind with straps, and adorned with a plume. The falcons of princes and great nobles were known by these plumes, being of the feathers of the bird of paradise. Thus armed, the birds were carried to the chase in a cage, and when it rained were covered with an umbrella, similar to that represented in the illustration.

When the falcon became accustomed to his master, it was necessary to familiarise him to the noise of dogs and men; and to prevent the risk of his flying away, he was trained by means of the lure, which was an imitation of a bird. On the lure was placed a small piece of warm flesh of fowl, and the falcon was taught to come and eat at the voice of the falconer. A cord was attached to the bird's leg, and the person holding the cord retired to some paces' distance, while another lifted the bird's cap, and set him at liberty. The falconer then called the bird, showing the lure.

These details, with the accompanying engravings, are taken from the "Livre du Roy Modus," the most ancient of all the works on Hawking.

The tournament, which was the principal amusement of the Norman nobility at the time of the Conquest, was not introduced into England until the reign of Stephen. Various military exercises were, however, in existence, among which was the quintain. A staff, from which a shield was hung, was fixed in the ground, and the performer, on horseback, rode full tilt at the mark, endeavouring to strike the shield with his lance. Sometimes the quintain was the figure of a Turk or Saracen, which was placed on a pivot in such a manner that, if the horseman failed to strike it in the face, he received a severe blow from the other end of the quintain, which turned round with great velocity.

Some military sports are described by Strutt as peculiar to the young men of London in the twelfth century. At this period, also, he tells us that it was common for the young men and maidens of the city to meet for dancing and merry-making after the labours of the day, and that the city damsels played on the citherns, and kept up the dance by the light of the moon (usque imminente lunÂ).

Many other sports were also common at this period, among which may be noticed sword and buckler play, and various games of ball.

The leisure hours of the English women were spent in spinning, or in similar employments; and the lady of the house did not disdain to be among her maids, encouraging and assisting them in their duties. Strutt relates the following account, given by Ingulphus, of Edith, queen to Edward the Confessor:—"I have often seen her," he says, "while I was yet a boy, when my father was at the king's palace; and as I came from school, when I have met her, she would examine me in my learning, and from grammar she would proceed to logic (which she also understood), concluding with me in the most subtle argument; then causing one of her attendant maids to present me with three or four pieces of money, I was dismissed, being sent to the larder, where I was sure to get some eatables." The simplicity of manners here described soon disappeared when the throne of England was occupied by the Norman king.

The English appear to have been exceedingly fond of dress. Ladies of rank wore necklaces, bracelets, and rings, set with precious stones. Mantles, kirtles, and gowns were also in general use; and rouge was not unknown to them.

In the men this taste for finery degenerated into effeminacy. They wore golden collars, and not unfrequently precious stones round the neck; and the wealthy wore costly bracelets and rings. They had silk, linen, and woollen garments. Silk, from its costliness, was used only by the wealthy. The fashion of their garments of course varied. They had large mantles, which were ornamented with gold and gems; close coats or tunics, girded with a belt, which Strutt represents as having been put on over the head like a shirt. Many Englishmen are not aware that the smockfrock of the husbandmen of our own day is a pure piece of old-English costume; and if it were well made, tightened with a broad belt, and worn by a man of good carriage, it would form a much handsomer dress than the unmeaning stiff-cut coats of our time. Socks and stockings, and other covering for the legs, are mentioned by English writers.

The articles of costume were of great variety. A taste for gorgeous finery appears in the dress of the male sex. We read of a king's coronation garment being made of silk woven with gold flowers; and of a cloak studded with gold and gems. The dress of the soldiers and civilians usually consisted of a close coat or tunic, reaching only to the knee, and a short cloak over the left shoulder, which buckled on the right. This cloak was often trimmed with an edging of gold. The kings and nobles also commonly wore a dress very similar to this, only richer and more elegant. In the paintings of the MSS. the women are usually represented in a long loose robe, reaching to the ground, and with loose sleeves, the latter sometimes hanging a yard in length. Upon the head is a hood or veil, which falls down before, and is gathered into folds round the neck and breast. The robe is often ornamented with broad borders of different colours.

Both men and women wore shoes, or rather slippers; the legs of the men being covered half way up with a kind of bandage wound round, or else a straight stocking reaching above the knee. Up to the period of the Conquest, the taste for gold ornaments had increased; and massive bracelets for the arms and neck, rings for the fingers, and chains of gold were common. Among the nobility circlets of gold set with jewels were worn on the head; and belts and girdles were much admired, and were often richly ornamented.

From the paintings of some of the English MSS. a knowledge may be gathered of their customs at table. In the engraving of "The English Dinner Party" given on page 101, the table is of an oval form, and covered with a cloth. Upon it, besides a knife and spoon, there are a bowl with a fish, two other dishes, and some loaves of bread. At each end of the table are two attendants upon their knees, with a dish in one hand, and in the other a spit holding a piece of meat, which they are presenting to the guests. In other drawings of the MSS. the table is of a different form; ladies are shown as present, and the two sexes are arranged apparently without any precise order.

Cups of gold and silver were used, and also of bone and wood. Horns were much in vogue at table. A curiously carved horn of the Old English times is still preserved in York Cathedral. Glass vessels were little known in this country previous to the Norman Conquest. A disciple of Bede applied to Lullus in France, to know if there was any man in that neighbourhood, who could make glass vessels well; "for," said he, "we are ignorant and helpless in this art."

SAXON COSTUMES. (From Strutt.)