Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/119

 and Sentiments. 99 of the caftle of Manorbeer (his birthplace), near Pembroke, faid that it had under its walls, befides a fine filli-pond, " a beautiful garden, inclofed on one fide by a vineyard, and on the other by a wood, remarkable for the projeftion of its rocks, and the height of its hazel-trees." In the twelfth century, vineyards were not uncommon in England. A new charafteriftic was introduced into the Norman houfes, and efpecially into the caftles, the maffive walls of which allowed chimney- flues to be carried up in their thicknefs. The piled-up fire in the middle of the hall was ftill retained, but in the more private apartments, and even fometimes in the hall itfelf, the fire was made on a hearth beneath a fire-place built againft the fide wall of the room. An illumination, in the Cottonian MS. Nero, C. iv., which we have already had occa- fion to refer to more than once, reprefents a man warming himfelf at a fireplace of this defcription. It appears, from a comparifon of this (No. 70) with fimilar figures of a later period, that it was a ufual praftice to fit at the fire bare-legged and bare-foot, with the objea of imbibing the heat without the interme- diation of fhoes or ftockings. On a carved ftall in Worcefter Cathedral, reprefented in our cut No. 71, which belongs to a later date (the ^t„ ^^^ ^ Man ivarming himjelf. latter part of the fourteenth century), and the fcene of which is evidently intimated to be in the winter feafon, a man, while occupied in attending to the culinary operations, has taken ofl:' his fhoes in order to warm himfelf in this manner. The winter provifions, two flitches of bacon, are fufpended to the left of him, and on the other fide the faithful dog feems to enjoy the fire equally with his mafter. From a flory related by Reginald of Durham, it appears to have been a praftice among the ladies to warm themfelves by fitting over hot water, as well as by the fire.* In fome of the illuminations of mediaeval manufcripts. Quod si super aquas seu ad ignem se calefactura sedisset.— Reg. Dunelm., c. 124. ladies