Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/97

Rh over it to draw away the smoke, which was led to escape through a hole in the wall. Chimneys were rare in the halls of the Middle Ages, which makes the law prohibiting the use of coal quite intelligible. Next to the hall, and hardly second in importance, was the kitchen, for these were days of immoderate use of food and drink. Indeed, the splendour of the baronial dinners is a matter of history. Minstrels and troubadours loved to dwell on the magnificence of these "domestic pageants," where the gross display of food impressed the guests with the wealth of their host.

Ten a.m. was the dinner hour, somewhat akin to the modern breakfast hour in the houses of those who have no need to work. The tables literally glittered with gold and silver, for the accumulation of household plate at this time was equivalent to the modern practice of banking, as it could take the place of money in times of necessity. The most important feature of the table was the salt-cellar, which was sometimes of gold and fashioned in strange devices. It was treated with exceeding reverence and placed midway on the table as a boundary of distinction; all seated between it and the head of the table