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

court attenuanbS Deilg all clOtneu at tle Ming
expense, he was a wholesale purchaser of
diapers goods and, at that period, such
quantities as he required of fur and cloth could
be had only ut the great periodical fairs
Hence the necessity of wardrobes, in which
also were stored, by the by almonds, sugar,
spice, and all things nice which came under
the title of stomatica.
In the year l245, the predecessor of Edward
the First had only one glass cup, which Guy
de Roussillon had given to him. He sent it to
Edward of Westminster, a famous goldsmith
| in his day. with orders to take off the glass
foot, and to mount it on foot of silver gilt to
make handle to it answering to the foot to
surround il. with silyer-gilt hoops and having
done this with all haste, to present it in his
name to the Queen. Glass was first applied to
windows i'm the churches and the inconsistencies
and although the Edwards and some of their
| chief mobiles introduced g AIS into their own
windows also, they did so sparingly, using it as
| 80 rare a luxury, that in the best of palaces,
there was but glass window here and there,
| the other windows having wooden lattices OF
| wooden shutters. The glass in a mans win
| dOws was portion of his personal estate.
The Romans made good glass, and knew
| the use of it in windows. Brittle as glass is,
Roman empire and from the beginning of
| the middle ages, the island of Murano near
| Venice was celebrated for its works in this
material In Italy, church windows were
| glazed in the seventh century The art spread
into France and Germany long before England
practiced it, 1t used to he obtained by us, in
| England from the Flemings, in exchange for
wool some came from Normandy; that being
1 all ohio ,,lass tha trn M
glasses were made in Venice, after patterns
sent out by the English dealers After the
! age of the Edwards. i'll 1886, glass was so
scarce thaL 90 l0cefr rile orokcn mmO,,..s ~
/ N ,,,. =. ,y>...,,,O,u, ,,.sA - IS >
TO one Nicholas Hoppewell, to take a. much
| glass ~ he could find or might be needful for
his purpose, from the counties of Norfolk
Northampton, Leicester and Lincoln. Yet
though scarce, glass was not very dear; and
from this fact we fairly may deduce, that it
was not, on the whole, much cared about
Even in the reign of Edward the First, it cost
but three pence-halfpenny a foot including the
expense of glazing three halfpenny be-
ing, it is remembered, equal to about four shil-
lings and fourpence of our modern currency.
In the matter of ire-places, it must be OBJ
served, that marble mante- pieces, carved or
painted, were in use at this period. One of the
cosy notions of King Henry the Third was,
that certain mantel-pi should be painted
| over with blue-nosed personification 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 fues. In many remains of this period,
no trace of a chimney is perceptible, because it
was a common custom to attach it to the wall
in the form Of a hght-plastered structural
mere cobweb, which, of course, time would
l 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. II was though trsp-door that Henry
| the Third descended from his chamber to his
| chapel at Clarendon so the said chamber had
| another quality pertaining to cockloit 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 witt
pictures, began now to be adopted by the hgf
and mighty. 1t was probably not carried
higher than five or six feet Hangings wer,
not generally applied to private rooms, thougl
they were used abundantly in churches ON 4
festival also, the outsides of houses in towns
were covered with drapery on great occasions
| 30 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 people, 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 l249, Henry the Third sent II writ
to one of his bailifls authorizing him to obtain
| by gift or purchase great beech tree for the
purpose of making tables for the royal kitchens.
| t 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
| stone being deliberately carved and painted.
In the private chamber, forms and chairs were
fastened round the wall 70 the King and
Queen and their attendants must have made
rather IA stiff party when they sat together
iucic WcIc Soiut ihoNctbic Cnhus, liC IoIohh-
ton 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 a
clumsy sofa, to which by this time a canopy
| had come to be added The King 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 saltcellar 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, we're 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 ne wants, and suffers the cook
then TO pass on. and present the spit to his
neighbor. Among very great people, these
spits were usually made OF silver. Forks we're
scorned by Mr.. Bull, long after this period
when they were known in England IL was
a mark Of good breeding TO keep the hand a.
little greasy az possible. 1t is recorded Of
Matthias Corvnus, King Of Hungary, from
1458 10 1890 that he was very accomplished
in this respect. His contemporary b'ographer
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