Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-01-21
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
From Dicltens's Household Words
Mr.. Bull at Home I'm the Middle Ages.

MIR. Bull at Home I'm the Middle Ages.
[coScIupEDl
In the matter Of fre-places, it must be OBJ
served, that marble mantelpieces, carved or
painted, were in use at this period One of the
cosy notions Of King Henry the Third was,
that certain mantel- piece should be painted
over with blue-nosed personifcation Of win
ter--an old man with contorted body by way
OF contrast to the comfortable blaze. So Egyp-
tan ladies had the head Of demon to adorn
the handles Of their looking-glasses, and to
cheer their hearts by the suggestion of a con-
trast These mantel- pieces did not always
border fiues. In many remains of this period
no trace OF chimney is perceptible, because it
was common custom to attach it to the wall
in the form Of light-plastered structures
mere cobweb, which, of course, time would
have busted off.
We have mentioned the stairs, often exter-
nal, which led to the solar chamber. Some
times these stairs communicated with trap
door. 1t was though trap-door that Henry
the Third descended from his chamber to his
chapel at Clarendon SO the said chamber had
another quality pertaining to a cockloft In
Rochester Castle, the chapel of the same King
was above the chamber, and his Majesty or
dered the construction of an outer stair, because
he had been worried by the number Of people
passing up to chapel through his bedroom
Deal wainscoting painted, especially painted
green, and starred with gold or decorated with
pictures, began now to be adopted by the high
and mighty. It was probably not carried
higher than five or six feet. Hangings were
not generally applied to private rooms, though
they were used abundantly in churches on
festival also, the outsides Of houses in towns
were covered with drapery on great occasions,
SO that the streets were on each side thoroughly
be-curtained.
In the reign of Henry the Third, the first at
tempts were made at underground drainage
The refuse and dirty water from the royal
kitchens had long been carried through the
great hall at Westminster; but the foul odors
were said seriously to affect the peoples health.
An underground drain was devised, therefore
to carry the offensive matter to the Thames
Furniture, at this more advanced period
still had to be made for its owner on the premi-
ses. In 1249, Henry the Third sent writ
to one of his bailiffs, authorizing him to obtain
by gift or purchase great beech tree for the
purpose of making tables for the royal kitchens.
1t was to be sent by water to London imme-
diately. There were fixed tables and forms
in the great hall the royal seat, sometimes of
stoHC, uoluB cldDOTituely CdTVeu anu ptllHIeu.
In the private chamber, forms and chairs were
fastened round the WALL SO the King and
Queen and their attendants must have made
rather stiff party when they sat together.
There were some moveable chairs the Corona
tion chair, in westminster Abbey, being one
of them. Eleanor Of CASTLE introduced for
her own use carpets, to the scandal of the
Londoners. Carpets, however, as church fur
niture, had long been known. Eleanor's fash
ion was not followed, even by Kings, until the
succeeding century. The private chamber,
when large, was sometimes divided into boxes
by thin partitions, which kept the royal person
more secluded The bed of the King was
clumsy sofa, to which by this time a canopy
had come to be added. The Kings mattresses
holsters, and pillows, were covered with silk or
velvet. Sheets and counterpanes were used
even by men quite in the middle class, and the
royal outlay for table-linen leads one to sup
pose that at the royal feasts clean table-cloths
were spread even before the poor Upon the
CLOTH the mighty salt-cellar was the chief table
ornament; the King feasted from silver but
the people ate and drank from wooden bowls
and platters. Gourds, horns and occoa-nut
shells, were also put in valuable settings, and
employed as cups.
People ate with their fingers, or used spoons
The cook is often represented in the pictures
of the period, bringing his meat upon the spit
and offering it in that way to each guest who
cuts off with his knife, and removes with his
fingers, what he wants, and suffers the cook
then to pass on. and present the spit to his
neighbor. Among very great people, these
spits we're usually made of silver Forks were
scorned by Mr.. Bull, long after this period,
when they were known in England. 1t was
a mark of good breeding to keep the hand as
little greasy as possible 1t is. recorded OF
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. from
1853, to 1490 that he was very accomplished
in this respect. His contemporary biographer
says that at that time, in Hungary, forks were
not used at table, as they were IN many parts
of Italy but that at meals each person laid
hold Of the meat with his fingers, and on that
account Hungarian fingers were always found
to be much stained with saffron, which was
then put into sauces and soup. The biogra-
pher praises the King for eating without a
fork, yet conversing at the same time, and
never dirtying his clothes.
Now, as to Che aspect of the country
tits well known that every county in England
contained, at the time of which we speak,
forests or woods, abounding in game, and not
deficient in wolves-four footed and two-footed.
For to these forests fled great numbers Of
lawless men, who lurked behind the bushes,
and had little mercy upon wayfarers For
better protection against such marauders, it
was enacted, in 1885, that the highways
leading from one market town to another
should be widened, so that there should be no
bushes, woods, or dikes, within two hundred feet
on each side of the road; and those proprietors
who refused to cut down underwoods abutting
on high-roads were to be held responsible for
all felonies that might be committed by per-
sons lurking in their covert Next to London,
the old Anglo-Saxon capital, was
the chief town of England in those days. At
Winchester there was held yearly great fair !;
and upon traders journeying to this fair with