Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/177

 and Sentiments. ^57 for this purpofe there were lavours, or lavatories, in the hall itfelf, or fometimes outfide. The fignal for walliing was then given bj the blowing of trumpets, or by the mufic of the minflrels. Thus, in the Englilh metrical romance of Richard Cceur de Lion, ^t noon a laver the ivaytes bkive, meaning, of courfe, the canonical hour oi noire. Grace was alfo faid at the commencement, or at the end, of the meal, but this part of the cere- mony is but Ihghtly alluded to in the old writers. Having walhed, the guefts feated themfelves at table. Then the attendants fpread the cloths over the tables ; they then placed on them the falt-cellars and the knives j and next the bread, and the wine in drinking cups. All this is duly defcribed in the following lines of an old romance : — S^uant lave orent,Ji pajlftrent, Et liferjant les napes mijlrent^ Dejus les dobliers hlans et iiax, Les Jailers et les coutiax, Apres lou pain^ puis lo •vin Et copes d' argent et d'' or fin. Spoons were alfo ufually placed on the table, but there were no forks, the guefts ufing their fingers inftead, which was the reafon they were fo particular in walliing before and after meat. The tables being thus arranged, it remained for the cooks to ferve up the various prepared diflies. At table the guefts were not only placed in couples, but they alio eat in couples, two being ferved with the fame food and in the fame plate. This praftice is frequently alluded to in the early romances and fabhaux. In general the arrangement of the couples was not left to mere chance, but individuals who were known to be attached to each other, or who were near relatives, were placed together. In the poem of La Mule fanz Frain, the lady of the caftle makes Sir Gawain fit by her fide, and eat out of the fame plate with her, as an aft of friendly courtefy. In the fabliau of Trubert, a woman, taken into the houfehold of a duke, is feated at table befide the duke's daughter, and eats out of the fame plate with her.