Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/97

 and Sentiments. 77 domumfuam) was coiifidered worthy of ecclefiaftical cenfure. And in the Ecclefiaftical Inftitutes, drawn up at a later period^ and printed in the colle6tion of Anglo-Saxon laws, it is ftated that " It is alfo very needful to every malf-prieft, that he diligently exhort and teach his parilliioners that they be holpitable, and not refute their houfes to any wayfaring- man, but do for his comfort, for love of God, what they then will or can ; . ., . but let thofe who, for love of God, receive every ftranger, defire not any worldly reward." Bede defcribes as the firfi: a6t of "the cuftom of hofpitality" {mos hofpitalitatis) the wafliing of the ftranger's feet and hands ; they then offered him refrefliment, and he was allowed to remain two nights without being queftioned, after which period the hofl became anfwerable for his chara6ler. The ecclefiaftical laws limited the hofpitality to be fliown to a priefl: to one night, becaufe if he remained longer it was a proof that he was negleding his duties. Taverns of an ordinary defcription, where there was probably no accommodation for travellers, feem to have been common enough under the Anglo-Saxons J and it muft be confelTed that there feems to be too much reafon for believing that people fpent a great deal of their leifure time in them j even the clergy appear to have been tempted to frequent them. In the Ecclefiaftical Inftitutes, quoted above, malT-priefts are forbidden to eat or drink at ale-houfes {cet ceap-ealothelum) . And it is ftated in the fame curious record that, " It is a very bad cuftom that many men praftife, both on Sundays and alfo other mafl-daysj that is, that ftraightways at early morn they defire to hear mafs, and immediately after the mafs, from early morn the whole day over, in drunkennefs and feafting they minifter to their belly, not to God." Merchant travellers feem, in general, to have congregated together in parties or fmall caravans, both for companionfliip and as a meafure of mutual defence againft robbers. In fuch cafes they probably carried tents with them, and formed little encampments at night, like the pedlars and itinerant dealers in later times. Men who travelled alone were expofed to other dangers befides that of robbery; for a folitary wanderer was always looked upon with fufpicion, and he was in danger himfelf of being taken for a thief. He was compelled, therefore, by his own intereft and by