Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/480

 460 Hijiory of Domejlic Manners the lower end of the table. And in a contemporary writer, it is delcribed as a mark of prefumption in an inferior member of the houfehold " to fit above the fait." Our cut No. 290, taken from an engraving by the French artift, Abraham BoiTe, publillied in 1633, reprefcnts one of the No. 290. Laying out the D'nincr-table, 1 63 3. firfi: fteps in the laying out of the dinner-table. The plates, it will be feen, are laid, and the falt-cellar is duly placed in the middle of the table. The fervant is now placing the napkins — The pages fprcd a table out of hand. And brought forth nap'' ry rich, and plate more rich. — Harrington's Ariosto, Jxii. 71. The earlier half of the fixteenth century was the period when the pageantry of feafting was carried to its greateft degree of fplendour. In the houfes of the noble and wealthy, the dinner itfelf was laid out with great pomp, was almoft always accompanied with mufic, and was not unfrequently interrupted with dances, mummings, and mafquerades. A pifture of a grand feaft carried on in this manner is given in one of the illuftrations to the German work on the exploits of the emperor Maxi- milian, publilhed at the time under the title of "Der Weifs Kunig." An abridged copy of this engraving is given in our cut No. 291. The table profufely furnilhed, the rich dilplay of plate on the cupboards, the band in front, and the mummers entering the hall, are all ftrikingly cha- rafteriftic