The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-01-22

| We talk glibly, in these present times, OF the
slight manner 10 which houses are run up IN
London. In the most Furnishing period Of
these dear Middle Ages, it was the duty of II
London alderman to be provided with Il hook
and chain, that he might be ready to pull
down any house that sinned against existing
regulations
Travelling over the twelfth century. and a
step farther over the days of of COeur de Lion,
and John, and Magma Charta, We do not find
that there was much improvement in the
houses of the people. Let us see what sort of
house the King inhabited Ii will help liz to
test the amount of comfort enjoyed by Mr.
Bull
The King shouses at Remington, Woodstock
Portsmouth, and Southampton were all built
after one fashion There was the great hall
with Il high-ptched roof and very muddy
floor Uttered with PUSHES The house had a
door large enough for wagons to pass through
and window-holes unglazed, with badly fitting
wooden shutters; these windows being placed
high, that the wind rushing through them
might be kept rs near the ceiling as possible.
The walls were whtewashed, and the great hall
| altogether, very much resembled large barn.
| Where the hall was too broad for roof to
cover it, in single span pillars were raised of
wood or stone SO halls, sometimes, were diy-
ded into three aisles like IA church. Out of the
hall. door at one end led into a small stone
chamber on the same hoor-the cellar. AT any
rate (say you) they kept a cellar. Yes, and
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 sanctum, the
loft in which his Majesty reposcd. British
housemad OF this age would refuse to sleep I'm
such place There was clay floor, win
t.- ,~:ii7 ,v~-lnr s51ttcr that let IN tive wind
Is5I-5v-' ~ ;te thinks Ian ey--- ct,-".sa was
made 10 his Majesty, at Remington, NOR 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 u
chimney. TO complete the picture of the roy
al cabinet at this period we may as well put
in the furniture There were something's hang
ings on the wall There was a bed; that is to
say there was a bench fixed in the ground,
upon which were placed a mattress and bolster
of rich stuff; so that his Majesty's sleeping ac-
commodation may be likened, very fairly, to
that sort of bed which is, now and then, in our
own day, improvised by housewives for a SUI
pernuMerary male guest on the sofa. In addi-
ton to this bed, the Kings chamber contained
|
| ground--a movable 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 a 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-hoor; having
been originally elevated probably out of a 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 lardcr and n
sewery, opened by doors into the great hall. In
the sewery were kept household stores, and so
forth. What a 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
|
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 were often fixed round the
hall porch, to keep out cattle. We must add
, the idea of separate shed used rs "A chapel
, SO lived the King and so lived English Gen
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 a staircase, general
ly external The hall furniture was very SIM
pie consisting of long table, sometimes OF
boards laid upon tresses, 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
1.-The marsh" I'm 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 Ministries
and romancers had well stocked themselves
with ribald tales based on the results of this
arrangement
In towns, the desire which men had 10 reside
within the protection of their walls made space
second stories The houses were here and
there of stone, but in the great majority of
cases, of wood and mud clay matched, perhaps
plastered-certainly whitewashed, both inside
{ and out 1t was considered "only proper" ~
"A precaution against fire, "that before every
house there should be IA tub full of water
We are now in the good time of the Ed
, wards; to which Harrison. the author Of a De
scription of Brttaine," written in Queen Eliza
. beths 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 COW
| cred with buildings Several halls were rass-
D 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 Toasted on the day of the coro-
nation, and during fifteen days thereafter
D AL poor and rich, who came 10 the soemnIty,
e were to be welcome to the feast. "And lnnu-
' merable kitchens, also, were built within the
. said enclosure, for the preparation OF viands
, against the same soemnity And lest those
D kitchens should not be sufficient, there were
4 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 80 that all
, manner of smoke might escape No one can
describe the other utensils necessary for the
I sustentation Of 80 great court no one can tell
3 the number of barrels of wine which were pre-
pared for it." Yes certainly the antiquary
, san There were three hundred barrels of rin
. ordina're, Of which one hundred and sixteen
, were emptied on the coronation day. They
cost six hundred and forty-three hounds fifteen