Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/174

 54 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners table on the dais was generally a table dormant. The feats were merely benches or forms, except the principal feat againfi: the wall on the dais, which was often in the form of a fettle, with back and elbows. Such a feat is reprefented in our cut No. io8, taken from a manufcript of the romance of Meliadus, in the National Library at Paris, No. 6961. On The Scat on the Dais. fpecial occafions, the hall was hung round with tapeftry, or curtains, which were kept for that purpofe, and one of thefe curtains feems com- monly to have been fufpended againft the wall behind the dais. A carpet was fometimes laid on the floor, which, however, was more ufaally fpread with ruflies. Sometimes, in the illuminations, the floor appears to be paved with ornamental tiles, without carpet or ruflies. It was