m

In one gift, seven setl hrægel, or seat coverings, occur. Wynfleda bequeaths three setl hrægl. Their footstools appear to have been much ornamented. Ingulf mentions two great pedalia with lions interwoven, and two smaller ones sprinkled with flowers." Some of their seats or benches represented in the drawings, have animals' heads and legs at their extremities." Their seats seem to have been benches and stools.

Their tables are sometimes very costly: we read of two tables made of silver and gold. Ethelwold, in Edgar's reign, is said to have made a silver table worth three hundred pounds. We also read of a wooden table for an altar, which was adorned with ample and solid plates of silver, and with gems various in colour and species.

Candlesticks of various sorts are mentioned; two large candlesticks of bone (gebonede candelsticcan,) and six smaller of the same kind, are enumerated, as are also two silver candelabra, gilt,' and two candelabra well and honourably made." Bede once mentions that two candles were lighted."

Hand-bells also appear. At one time twelve are stated to have been used in a monastery." A disciple of Bede sends to Lullus, in France, "the bell which I have at my hand." A silver mirror

is also once mentioned.

Of bed-furniture, we find in an Anglo-Saxon's will bed-clothes (beddreafes,) with a curtain (hryfte,) and sheet (hoppscytan,) and all that thereto belongs; to his son he gives the bedreafe and all the clothes that appertain to it." An Anglo-Saxon lady gives to one of her children two chests and their contents, her best bedcurtain, linen, and all the clothes belonging to it. To another child she leaves two chests, and "all the bed-clothes that to one bed belong." She also mentions her red tenta (giteld.) On another occasion we read of a pillow of straw. A goatskin bedcovering was sent to an Anglo-Saxon abbot. In Judith we read of the gilded fly-net hung about the leader's bed. Bearskins are sometimes noticed as if a part of the bed-furniture. There is a drawing of a Saxon bed and a curtain in Claud. B. 4, which may be seen in Strutt, Horda Angelcynn, pl. xiii. fig. 2. The head and the bottom of the bed seem to be both boarded, and the pillows look as if made of platted straw. Not to go into a bed, but to lie on the floor, was occasionally enjoined as a penance.e For their food and conviviality they used many expensive arti

cles. It was indeed in these that their abundant use of the precious metals principally appeared. We perpetually read of silver cups, and sometimes of silver gilt. Byrhtric, in his will, bequeaths three silver cups. Wulfur bequeaths four cups, two of which he describes as of four pounds' value. Wynfleda gives, besides four silver cups, a cup with a fringed edge, a wooden cup variegated with gold, a wooden knobbed cup, and two smicere scencing cuppan, or very handsome drinking cups. In other places we read of a golden cup, with a wooden dish; a gold cup of immense weight; a dish adorned with gold, and another with Grecian workmanship. A lady gave a golden cup, weighing four marks and a half. The king of Kent sent to Boniface, the Anglo-Saxon missionary in Germany, a silver bason, gilt within, weighing three pounds and a half." On another occasion, a

great silver dish of excellent workmanship, and of great value, is noticed." Two silver cups, weighing twelve marks, were used by the monks in a refectory, to serve their drink. Two silver basons were given by a lady to a monastery.P A king, in 833, gave his gilt cup, engraved without with vine-dressers fighting dragons, which he called his cross-bowl, because it had a cross marked within, and it had four angels projecting like a similar figure; two silver cups, with covers, in one place; five silver cups in another; and such like notices, sufficiently prove to us that the rich and great among the Anglo-Saxons had no want of plate. At other times we meet with cups of bone, brazen dishes," and a coffer made of bones. We may infer that the less affluent used vessels of wood and horn. A council ordered that no cup or dish made of horn should be used in the sacred offices."

Horns were much used at table. Two buffalo horns are in Wynfleda's will. Four horns are noticed in the list of a monastery's effects. Three horns worked with gold and silver occur;2 and the Mercian king gave to Croyland monastery the horn of his table," that the elder monks may drink thereout on festivals, and in their benedictions remember sometimes the soul of the donor, Witlaf." The curiously carved horn which is still preserved in York cathedral was made in the Anglo-Saxon times, and deserves the notice of the inquisitive, for its magnitude and workmanship.

Glass vessels, which are among the most valuable of our present comforts, were little used in the time of Bede and Boniface.

A disciple of Bede asked Lullus, in France, if there were any man in his parish who could make glass vessels well; if such a man lived there, he desired that he might be persuaded to come to England, because, adds he, "we are ignorant and helpless in this art." "Bede mentions lamps of glass, and vessels for many uses. Glass became more used in the conveniences of domestic life towards the period of the Norman conquest.

Gold and silver were also applied to adorn their sword-hilts, their saddles and bridles, and their banners. Their gold rings contained gems; and even their garments, saddles, and bridles, were sometimes jewelled.

The presents which the father of Alfred took with him to Rome deserve enumeration, from their value, and because they show the supply of the precious metals which the Anglo-Saxons possessed; we derive the knowledge of them from Anastasius, a contemporary: a crown of the purest gold, weighing four pounds; two basons of the purest gold, weighing * * * * * * pounds; a sword, bound with purest gold; two small images of the purest gold; four dishes of silver gilt; two palls of silk, with golden clasps; with other silk dresses, and gold clasps, and hangings. To the bishops, priests, deacons, and other clergy, and to the great at Rome, he distributed gold, and among the people, small silver. A few years afterwards, we learn from the same author, that the English then at Rome presented to the oratory in the pontifical palace, at Frascati, a silver table, weighing several pounds. In the age before this, we read of gold and silver vessels sent presents to Rome.h

Gold and silver roods, or crosses and crucifixes, are frequently mentioned; also a silver graphium, or pen. The crown of the Anglo-Saxon kings is described by the contemporary biographer of Dunstan, as made of gold and silver, and set with various gems. They used iron very commonly, and often tin.

The Anglo-Saxons seem to have been acquainted with the precious stones. In the MSS. Tib. A. 3, twelve sorts of them are thus described:

"The first gem kind is black and green, which are both mingled together; and this is called giaspis. The other is saphyrus; this is like the sun, and in it appear like golden stars. The third is calcedonius; this is like a burning candle. Smaragdus is very green. Sardonix is likest blood. Onichinus is brown and yellow. Sardius is like clear blood. Berillus is like water.

b 16 Mag. Bib. 88.

c Bede, p. 295.

d Dugd. Mon. 266. ib. 24. Bede, iii. 11. Aldhelm de Laud. Virg. 307. Eddius, 60, 62. 3 Gale Script. 494. Dugd.

Mon. 24.

Anastasius Bibliot. de Vit. Pontif. p. 403. ed. Rom. 1718.

Ibid. 418.

i Wulf. Will. ap. Hickes Diss. Ep. 54. j Mag. Bib. xvi. p. 51.

VOL. II.

h Bede, iv. c. 1.

Crisoprassus is like a green leek, and green stars seem to shine from it. Topazius is like gold; and carbunculus is like burning fire."

The odoriferous productions of India, and the East, were known to our ancestors, and highly valued. They frequently formed part of their presents. Boniface sent to an abbess a little frankincense, pepper, and cinnamon,' to another person, some storax and cinnamon. So he received from an archdeacon cinnamon, pepper, and costus." A deacon at Rome once sent him four ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of costus, two pounds of pepper, and one pound of cozombri.

m

The Anglo-Saxons used the luxury of hot baths. Their use seems to have been common; for a nun is mentioned, who, as an act of voluntary mortification, washed in them only on festivals.P Not to go to warm baths, nor to a soft bed, was a part of a severe penance. The general practice of this kind of bath may be also inferred, from its being urged by the canons, as a charitable duty, to give the poor, meat, mund, fire, fodder, bed, bathing, and clothes. But while warm bathing was in this use and estimation we find cold bathing so little valued as to be mentioned as a penitentiary punishment.

The washing of the feet in warm water, especially after travelling, is often mentioned. It was a part of indispensable hospitality to offer this refreshment to a visiter; and this politeness will lead us to suppose, that shoes and stockings, though worn in social life were little used in travelling. The custom of walking without these coverings in the country, and of putting them on when the traveller approached towns, has existed among the commonalty in North Britain even in the present reign. Among the gifts of Boniface to an Anglo-Saxon prelate, was a shaggy or woolly present, to dry the feet after being washed." To wash the feet of the poor was one of the acts of penance to be performed by the rich.

Mag. Bib. xvi. p. 50.

Ibid. 120. Costus, a kind of shrub growing in Arabia and Persia, and having a

root of a pleasant spicy smell.

P Bede, iv. c. 19.

r Wilk. Leg. Anglo-Sax. p. 94.

t Bede, 234, 251, 257.

▾ Wilk. Leg. Anglo-Sax. 97.

CHAPTER VII.

Their Conviviality and Amusements.

In the ruder states of society, melancholy is the prevailing feature of the mind; the stern or dismal countenances of savages are everywhere remarkable. Usually the prey of want or passion, they are seldom cheerful till they can riot in excess. Their mirth is then violent and transient; and they soon relapse into their habitual gloom.

As the agricultural state advances, and the comforts of civilization accumulate, provident industry secures regular supplies; the removal of want diminishes care, and introduces leisure; the softer affections then appear with increasing fervour; the human temper is rendered milder; mirth and joy become habitual; mankind are delighted to indulge their social feelings, and a large portion of time is devoted to amusement.

The Anglo-Saxons were in this happy state of social improvement; they loved the pleasures of the table, but they had the wisdom to unite with them more intellectual diversions. At their cheerful meetings it was the practice for all to sing in turn; and Bede mentions an instance in which, for this purpose, the harp was sent round. The musicians of the day, the wild flowers of their poetry, and the ludicrous jokes and tricks of their buffas, were such essential additions to their conviviality, that the council of Cloveshoe, which thought that more solemn manners were better suited to the ecclesiastic, forbade the monks to suffer their mansions to be the receptacle of the "sportive arts; that is, of poets, harpers, musicians, and buffoons." A previous council, aiming to produce the same effect, had decreed, that no ecclesiastic should have harpers, or any music, nor should permit any jokes or plays in their presence. In Edgar's speech on the expulsion of the clergy, the histriones, or gleemen, are noticed as frequenting the monasteries: "There are the dice, there are dancing and singing, even to the very middle of the night." Among u the canons made in the same king's reign, a priest was forbidden to be an eala-scop, or an ale-poet, or to any wise gliwege, or play the gleeman with himself, or with others. Strutt has given some

Bede, lib. iv. p. 170. a Ethel. Ab. Riev. p. 360.

Spel. Concil. 256.

c Spel. Concil. 159. • Ibid. 455.