Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/425

 and Sentiments. 405 ftramcntum, which is interpreted by the Enghfli word "htterj" but feather-beds were certainly in general ull- during the whole of the fifteenth century. In the latter part of the fourteenth century, Chaucer (Dreme, v. 250) thus defcribed a very rich bed : — Of doivne of pure doms ivkite I ivol ye-ue him a fethir bed, Ray'id ivith gold, and right ivell cled In fine blacke fatt'in d''outremere. And many a piloive, and e'very here (pillow covei) Of clothe of Raines to Jlefe on Jofte ; Him thare (need) not to turnen ofte. Agnes Hubbard, a lady of Bury, in Suftolk, who made her will in 1418, left among other things, " one feather-bed" {unitni letium dc plumis). A rich townfman of the fame place bequeathed, in 1463, to his niece, " certeyne ftutie of ofiilment," among which he enumerates "my grene hanggyd bedde fteynyd with my armys therin, that hanggith in the chambyr ovir kechene, with the curt}iiez, the grene keveryng longgyng therto ; another coverlyte, ij. blanketts, ij. peyre of good Ihetes, the trampfoun, the cofterys of that chambyr and of the drawgth chambyr next, tho that be of the fame foort, a grete pilve {pillow) and a fmal pilve ; the fethirbeed is hire owne that hire maiftreffe gaf hire at London." After enumerating other articles of ditferent kinds, the teftator proceeds — " And I geve hire the felour and the fteynyd clooth of the coronacion of Our Lady, uith the clothes of myn that long to the bedde that llie hath loyen (lain) in, and the beddyng in the draught chamber for hire fer- vaunth to lyn in ; and a banker of grene and red lying in hire chambyr with the longe chayer {a fettle, prohally) ; and a ft(jndyng cotfre and a long coftre in the drawth chambyr." William Honyboorn, alfo of Bury, bequeathed to his wife in 1493, "my beft ifether bedde with the traun- fome, a whyte felour and a tetlour theron, with iij. white curteyns therto, a coverlight white and blewe lyeng on the fame bedde, with the blan- kettes." The fame man leaves to his daughter, " a tfether bedde next the beft, a materas lyeng under the fame, iiij. peyr llietys, iij. pelowes, a peyr blankettes." John Coote, who made his will at Bury in 1502, left to his wife, for term of her life, " alle niy plate, bralfe, pewter, hanggynges, celers.