Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/64

 44 Hijiory of Domeftic Manners a candel-trcoiv, or candle-tree. The original arrangement of the ftick was alfo preferved ; for, down to a very recent period, the candle was not inferted in a focket in the candleftick as at prefent, but it was ftack upon a fpike. The Anglo-Saxon writers fpeak of candel-fnyteh, or fnufFers. Other names lefs ufed, for a candle or fome article for giving light, were blacern or llcecern, which is explained in gloffaries by the Latin lucerna, and thcecela, the latter fignifying merely a light. It was ufual, alfo, among our Saxon forefathers, as among ourfelves, to fpeak of the intlru- ment for illumination as merely leolit, a light — "bring me a light." A candleftick and candle are reprefented in one of the cuts in our laft chapter (cut No. 19). The Anglo-Saxons, no doubt, derived the ufe of lamps from the Romans 3 and they were fo utterly at a lofs for a word to defcribe this mode of illumination, that they always called it leoht-f(st, a light-vat, or velTel of light. In our cut (No. 31) we have an Anglo-Saxon lamp, placed on a candelabrum or fland, exactly in the Roman manner. It will be remem- bered that Alfer, a writer of fomewhat doubtful authenticity, afcribes to king Alfred the invention of lanterns, as a pro- teftion to the candle, to prevent it from fwealing in confe- quence of the wind entering through the crevices of the apartments — not a very bright pi6ture of the comforts of an Anglo-Saxon chamber. The candles were made of wax as well as tallow. The candleftick was of different materials. 16/ 4. No. 31. A Lamp and Stand. In one inftance we lind it termed, in Anglo-Saxon, a leolit- ifern, literally a light-iron : perhaps this was the term ufed for the lamp- ftand, as figured in our laft cut. In the inventories we have mention of ge-lo7wne candel-fticcan (candlefticks of bone), of filver-gilt candlefticks, and of ornamented candlefticks. A bed was a ufual article of furniture in the bower or chamber 5 though there were, no doubt, in large manfions, chambers fet apart as bedrooms, as well as chambers in which there was no bed, or in which a bed could be made for the occafion. The account given by Gaimar, as quoted above, of the vifit of king Otbert to Beorn's lady, feems to imply that the chamber in which the lady gave the king his meal had a bed