Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-01-20

they put into it terrible quantity Of uin ordi.
mare supplied by the wine-merchants Of Bor-
deaux. Over the stone cellar was built a
wooden chamber, also small, which was called
the "solar!" This was the royal sanetum, the
loft in which his Majesty reposed A British
housemaid of this age would refuse to sleep in
such place. There was a clay floor, win
dow with a wooden shutter that let in the wind
through all its chinks, ian extra charge was
made to his Majesty at Remington for max
ing the windows shut better than usual, ~ and
there was clumsy lath-and- plaster cone pro-
jecting from one wall, to serve the purpose of q
chimney. To complete the picture of the roy
al cabinet at this period, we may as well put
in the furniture. There were sometimes hang
ings on tho wall. There was bed; that is to
say, there was q bench fixed in the ground,
upon which were placed q mattress and bolster
Of rich stuff 30 that his Majestys sleeping ac-
eommodation may be likened, very fairly, to
that sort Of bed which is, now and then, in our
own day, improvised by housewives for su-
pernumerary male guest on the sofa In addi-
tion to this bed, the Kings chamber contained
also chair, with its legs rammed into the
ground-a moyeable chair being special lux
ury, occasionally ordered Nothing else was
contained in the Kings apartment, except his
box, in which he kept his clothes. This bed
room for a single gentleman had to be shared
by the Queen and it was not only bedroom
by night, but it was parlor by day, when
their Majesties had desire for privacy, or
when any state business of private nature had
to be transacted. In 1887, Edward the First
and Queen Eleanor were sitting on their bed
side, attended by the ladies of the court, when
they narrowly escaped death by lightning
The solar, generally, was the only portion of
the building not on the ground-foor; having
been originally elevated probably out of de-
sire, on some Kings part to escape ague and
rheumatism. It was reached by stairs from
the hall, or, perhaps oftener, by an external
staircase; in which last case his Majesty had
to go out of doors to climb into his cockloft.
These external staircases frequently were cover
ed. Two other little chambers q larder and
sewery, opened by doors into the great hall. In
the sewery were kept household stores, and so
forth. What larder is, we know. But in
the great days Of feasting, was there not kitch-
en-? Why, sometimes there was door which
led from temporary shed or lean-to on the
outer wall or there were two or three wooden
enclosures without roofs in the court yard or,
quite as frequently, the cooking took place in
the courtyard in the open air. There were
two courts, with pigs and fowls in one of them
| and fence or wall outside all, with moat
Posts and chains We're often fixed round the
hall porch, to keep out cattle. We must add
| the idea Of separate shed, used as chapel.
So lived the King, and SO lived English Cen
tlemen, in the days of Magma Charta. Some
houses, however, were at that time raised; be-
ing the habitable part, all placed on the second
story, and approached by staircase, general
ly external The hall furniture was very SIM
ple consisting of long table sometimes of
boards laid upon tressels, with the legs rammed
well into the ground, and forms fixed into the
ground in the same manner-now and then
having backs. The floor was covered with dry
rushes in the winter, and with green fodder in
the summer. The lower part of the hall, be-
low the dais, sloppy enough, was often called
The marsh" In this hall, guests and do
mestics of both sexes slept upon the forms or
upon the fodder. And for centuries the prac-
tice continued, after the itinerant minstrels
and romancers had well stocked themselves
with rbald tales, based on the results of this
arrangement.
| In towns, the desire which men had to reside
within the protection of their walls made space
valuable, and led to the frequent erection of
second stories. The houses were here and
there of stone, but in the great majority of
cases, of wood and mud clay, thatched, perhaps
plastered-certainly whitewashed both inside
and out 1t was considered "only proper" as
a precaution against fire, "that before every
house there should be a tub full of water"
We are now in the good time of the Ed
| wards; to which Harrison, the author of De-
scription of Brittaine," written in Queen Eliza
beth's days, looked back with much regret as
the real good old times of his time At the
time of the coronation of Edward the First,
| there were two halls in Westminster, greater
| and less. But, furthermore on that occa-
| sion, all the vacant ground within the enclosure
| Of the palace at Westminster was entirely cov-
cred with buildings. Several halls were rails
ed on the south side of the old palace, in which
| 'tables, firmly fixed in the ground were set
up, whereon the magnates and princes and no
| bles were to be feasted on the day of the coro-
nation, and during fifteen days thereafter"
All, poor and rich, who came to the solemnity
were to be welcome to the feast. "And innu-
merable Kitchens also, were built within the
said enclosure, for the preparation Of viands
against the same solemnity. And lest those
kitchens should not be sufficient, there were
numberless leaden caldrons placed outside
them, for the cooking of meats. And it is to
be remembered, that the great kitchen, in
which fowls and other things were to be cook
ed, was wholly uncovered at the top, SO that all
manner of smoke might escape. No one can
describe the other utensils necessary for the
sustentation of so great court: no one can tell
the number of barrels of wine which were pre-
pared for it." Yes certainly the antiquary
can There were three hundred barrels of uin
ordindire of which one hundred and sixteen
were emptied on the coronation day. They
cost six hundred and forty-three pounds fifteen
shilings and fourpence; which sum you must
multiply by fifteen to bring it to the value of
money at the present day. A shilling in the
days Of the Edwards corresponds to fifteen shil-
lings in the days of Victoria.
The Kitchens as we have said were merely !