Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/188

 i68 Hiftory of Domejlic Manners It would appear from various accounts that it was not, unlets perhaps at an early period, the cuftom in France to fit long after dinner at table drinking wine, as it certainly was in England, where, no doubt, the pra6tice was derived from the Anglo-Saxons. Numerous allulions might be pointed out, which Ihow how much our Anglo-Saxon forefathers were addided to this praftice of fitting in their halls and drinking during the latter part of their dayj and it was then that they liftened to the minfl:rers fong, told fl:ories of their own feats and adventures, and made proof of their powers in hard drinking. From fome of thefe allufions. 20. Htiod and Hcroduu. which we have quoted in an earlier chapter, it is equally clear, that thefe drinking-bouts often ended in fanguinary, and not unfrequently in fatal, brawls. Such fcenes of difcord in the hall occur alfo in the early French metrical romances, but they take place ufually at the beginning of dinner, when the guetls are taking their places, or during the meal. In " Parife la Ducheffe," a fcene of this defcription occurs, in which the great feudal barons and knights fight with the provifions which had been ferved at the tables: "There," fays the poet, "you might fee them throw cheefes, and quartern-loaves, and great pieces of flefli, and great fteel knives" — Ld ■veijjicz jcter frontages et car tiers, Et gratia pieces de char, et gran% cotiawz deader — Roman de Purise, p. 173. In