Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/82

68 lady, was equally abundant, having dined and supped, be it remembered, "first two manchetts, a loaf of household bread, a gallon of beer, and a quart of wine," which was warmed and spiced. Though we cannot suppose them to have got through half this provision, the whole account of the age shows that it was addicted to profusely good living. The tables at dinner were loaded with huge pewter dishes filled with salted beef, mutton, and butcher's meat of all kinds; venison, poultry, sea-fowls, wild boar, wild fowls, game, fish, &c., and they were luxurious in pies and baked meats of many sorts. The side-boards were plentifully furnished with ale, beer, and wines of Spain and France, which were handed to the guests as called for, in silver, pewter, or wooden cups, by the marshals, grooms, yeomen, and waiters of the chamber, ranged in regular order. Yet amid all this state the guests used their fingers instead of forks, which were not yet invented. Though they sat down to dinner at ten in the forenoon, they did not rise till one, thus spending three of the best hours of the day in gormandising. Meantime they were entertained by the songs and harps of the minstrels, the jests of the fool, the tricks of jugglers, and the tumbling and capering of dancers. After each course came in what they called suttleties—figures in pastry of men, women, beasts, birds, &c., set on the table to be admired, but not touched, and each had a label attached, containing some witty or wise saying; whence their name.



The monks and secular clergy are reported to have been especial lovers of the table. The monks in rich monasteries lived even more fully and richly than any order of men in the kingdom. The cook was one of the brethren who was elevated to that office for his genius in that department, and was held in high honour. The historian of Croyland speaks in raptures of brother Lawrence Chateres, the cook of that monastery, who, "prompted by the love of God, and zeal for religion, had given £40 (£400 of our money) for the recreation of the convent with the milk of almonds on fish days." Almonds, milk of almonds, sugar, honey, and spices, appear to have been plentiful in these sacred styes, and these dainties were much adorned with gold-leaf, powder of gold, and brilliant pigments.

The secular clergy celebrated in the churches five times in the year what they plainly called glutton-masses. Early in the morning the people flocked in, bringing all sorts of roast and boiled meats and substantial viands, and strong drinks; and, as soon as the mass was ended, they all fell to in right earnest, and finished the day in unbounded riot and intemperance. The clergy and people of different parishes vied in the endeavour to have the greatest glutton-mass, and to devour the greatest quantity of meat and drink in honour of the Holy Virgin!



The sports and pastimes of this age were very much the same as those of the preceding one. Besides jousts and tournaments, they were keen pursuers of the sports of the field. They were accustomed to sit hours, and even successive days, over what appear to us very dull plays, both sacred and profane, called mysteries, moralities, and miracle-plays. They had also all sorts of public pageants, attended by every species of minstrels, jugglers, mummers, rope-dancers, and mountebanks. Their more simple and healthy sports were foot-ball, trap-ball, and hand-ball, at which the aristocracy played on horseback, as well as on foot, for large sums. They had a large kind of leather ball, probably filled with air, which they propelled sometimes by bats and sometimes merely with the hand. In Scotland, when James I. was anxious to introduce archery, he forbade foot-ball, quoits, and similar popular games, as well as a game which was called "cloish, kayles, half-bowl, handin-handout, and quickeaborde." Card-playing was still checked by the high price of a pack of cards, which was 18s. 8d. at Paris, or upwards of £9 of our present money. In 1463 the English card-makers obtained an Act of Parliament to exclude foreign cards. The cause of their high price lay in their richly-gilded and painted figures.



The age was extravagant in dress. The long-toed shoos gave way a good deal from the reigns of Henry IV. to Henry VI. In 1463, two years after the accession of