Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/162

 142 Hiftory of T)omeflic Manners flood at the bottom of the apartment in a refpeftful attitude^ till the lord of the houfe lent a lervant to lead him to a place where he was to fit at table. As you defcended lower in fociety, fuch ceremonies were lefs obferved 3 and the clergy in general feem to have been allowed a much greater licence than the laity. In the Sompneres Tale, in Chaucer, when the friar, who has received an infult from an inferior inhabitant, goes " to the court" to complain to the lord of the village, he finds the latter in his hall at the dinner table — Thh frere com, as he icere in a rage, JVher that thh lord fat etyng at his bord. — Chaucer's Cant. Ta'es, 1. IliH. The lord, furprifed at the agitation in the countenance of the friar, who had come in without any fort of introduftion, invites him to fit down, and inquires into his bufinels. There is a fcene in the early Englilli metrical romance of Ipomydon, in which this hero and his preceptor Tholoman go to the relidence of the heirefs of Calabria. At the caflle gate they were flopped by the porter, whom they alk to announce them in the hall : — The porter to thcyme they gan calk. And prayd hym, ' Go into the halle. And jay thy lady gent and f re. That come ar men of ferre contre. And, if it plefe hyr, ive ivold hyr prey That ive myght ete ivith hyr to-day. — VVeber^ Metr. Roiii. ii. 29U. The porter " courteoufly" undertook the meffage, and, at the immediate order of the lady, who was fitting at her meat, he went back, took charge of their horfes and pages, and introduced them into the hall. Then they alked to be taken into the lady's fervice, who accepted their offer, and invited them to take their place at the dinner : — He thankid the lady cortejly. She comandyth hym to the mete; But, or he fatte in any fete. He faluted theym grate and f malic. As a gentille man fhuld in halle. — Weber, ii. 292. Perhaps, before entering the mediaeval hall, we Ihall do well to give a glance at the kitchen. It is an opinion, which has not unfrequently been