Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/39

 and Sentme?2ts, 1 9 way made by the Saxon pofleffor. Houfes in thole times were feldora of long duration ; we learn from the domeftic anecdotes given in faints' legends and other writings^ that they were very frequently buint by accidental fires ; thus the main part of the houfe, the timber- work, was deftroyed ; and as ground was then not valuable, and there was no want of fpace, it was much eafier to build a new houfe in another fpot, and leave the old foundations till they were buried in rubbilli and earth, than to clear them away in order to rebuild on the fame fite. Earth foon accumulated under fuch circumftances ; and this accounts for our finding, even in towns, fo much of the remains of the houfes of an early period undifturbed at a confiderable depth under the prefent furface of the ground. It has already been obferved that the moft important part of the Saxon houfe was the hall. It was the place where the houfehold (hired) collefted round their lord and protestor, and where the vifitor or llranger was firft received, — the fcene of hofpitality. The houfeholder there held open-houfe, for the hall was the public apartment, the doors of which were never fhut againft thofe who, whether known or unknown, appeared worthy of entrance. The reader of Saxon hiftory will remember the beautiful comparifon made by one of king Edwin's chieftains in the difcuflion on the reception to be given to the mifiionary Paulinus. "The prefent life of man, O king, feems to me, in comparilbn of that time which is unknown to us, like to the fwift flight of a fparrow through the hall where you fit at your meal in winter, with your chiefs and attendants, warmed by a fire made in the middle of the hall, whiHl fi:orms of rain or fnow prevail without ; the fparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilfl: he is vifible is fafe from the wintry ftorm, but after this fliort fpace of fair weather, he immediately vaniflies out of your fight, into the dark winter from which he had emerged." Dining in private was always confidered difgraceful, and is mentioned as a blot in a man's character. Internally, the walls of the hall were covered v/ith hangings or tapeftry, which were called in Anglo-Saxon wah-hrccgel, or wah-rift, wall-clothing. Thefe appear fometimes to have been mere plain cloths, but