Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/273

 and Sentiments. 253 little light, or, as it is expreffed in the original, "none, where nothing but a lamp was burning, — in a chamber En la chambre lum'iere n'ot^ Hots d'un mortier quiluec ardott. Point de clarte ne lor rendo'it. [n the accompanying cut (No. 179), taken from an illumination in a manufcript of the fourteenth century, in the National. Library in Paris No. 179. A Bedroom Chamber Scene. (No. 6988), a nun, apparently, is arranging her lamp before going to bed. The lamp here conlifts of a little bafin of oil, in which, no doubt, the wick floated ; but the ufe of the Hand under it is not eafily explained. Lamps were ufed where a light was wanted in a room for a long time, becaufe they lafted longer without requiring fnuffing. The lamps of the middle ages were made ufually on the plan of thofe of the Romans, conlifting, as in the foregoing example, of a fmall velfel of earthenware or metal, which was filled with oil, and a wick placed in it. This lamp was placed on a fland, or was fometimes fufpended on a beam, or perch, or againft the wall. We have an example of this in the preceding cut (No. 179), which explains the term mortier (mortar) of the fabliau, it