Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/267

 a7id Sentiments. 247 Sometimes, however, there were dancing and other amufements between fupper and bed-time. Thus, in the romance of " Sir Degrevant," — Bk-ve (quickly) to foper they dyght, Both fquierc and knyght ; They daunfed and rcvdide that nyght. In hert loere they hlythe. In a fabhau pubhlhed by Barbazan, on the arrival in a nobleman's caftle of a knight who is treated with efpecial courtefy, the knights and ladies dance after fupper, and then, at bed-time, they conduct the vilitor into his bed-chamber, and drink with him there before they leave him : — Jlprh mengie> chajcuns comcnce De fa'ire caroles et dance ^ Tant qu'il fu houre de couchier ,• Puis anmainment le che-valier En fa chambre ou fah fu Jon lit, Et lu burent par grant delit ; Puis prinrent congie'. Fruit was ufually eaten after fupper. In a fabliau of the thirteenth century, a noble vifitor having been received in the houfe of a knight, they go immediately to fupper. "After they had done eating, they enjoyed themfelves in converfation, and then they had fruit," and it was only after this that they walhed — Apres mengier fe font deduit De paroles, puisji ont fruit. In the lay of the "Chevalier a I'Efpee," Sir Gauwain takes, inllead of lupper, fruit and wine before he goes to bed. The cuftom of keeping early hours ftill prevailed, and is very frequently alluded to. People are generally defcribed as rifing with the fun. Such was the cafe with the king, in the romance of " Parife la Ducheffe" — Lar.demain par matin, quand folaus fu levcz, Se leva li rois Hugues. — Parnc, ed. P. Pai-is, p. i;U). It was the cullom, after rifing, to attend fervice either in the church or in the private chapel. In the hiftory of Fulke Fitz-Warine, Jofe de Dvnan,