Then (sad relief!) from the bleak coast that hears

The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong,

And yellow hair'd, the blue-eyed Saxon came.

Thomson's Liberty

In a hall, the height of which was greatly disproportioned to its

extreme length and width, a long oaken table, formed of planks

rough-hewn from the forest, and which had scarcely received any polish,

stood ready prepared for the evening meal of Cedric the Saxon. The roof,

composed of beams and rafters, had nothing to divide the apartment from

the sky excepting the planking and thatch; there was a huge fireplace at

either end of the hall, but as the chimneys were constructed in a very

clumsy manner, at least as much of the smoke found its way into the

apartment as escaped by the proper vent. The constant vapour which this

occasioned, had polished the rafters and beams of the low-browed hall,

by encrusting them with a black varnish of soot. On the sides of the

apartment hung implements of war and of the chase, and there were at

each corner folding doors, which gave access to other parts of the

extensive building.

The other appointments of the mansion partook of the rude simplicity

of the Saxon period, which Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining.

The floor was composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard

substance, such as is often employed in flooring our modern barns. For

about one quarter of the length of the apartment, the floor was raised

by a step, and this space, which was called the dais, was occupied only

by the principal members of the family, and visitors of distinction.

For this purpose, a table richly covered with scarlet cloth was placed

transversely across the platform, from the middle of which ran the

longer and lower board, at which the domestics and inferior persons fed,

down towards the bottom of the hall. The whole resembled the form of the

letter T, or some of those ancient dinner-tables, which, arranged on the

same principles, may be still seen in the antique Colleges of Oxford or

Cambridge. Massive chairs and settles of carved oak were placed upon the

dais, and over these seats and the more elevated table was fastened a

canopy of cloth, which served in some degree to protect the dignitaries

who occupied that distinguished station from the weather, and

especially from the rain, which in some places found its way through the

ill-constructed roof.

The walls of this upper end of the hall, as far as the dais extended,

were covered with hangings or curtains, and upon the floor there was a

carpet, both of which were adorned with some attempts at tapestry, or

embroidery, executed with brilliant or rather gaudy colouring. Over the

lower range of table, the roof, as we have noticed, had no covering;

the rough plastered walls were left bare, and the rude earthen floor was

uncarpeted; the board was uncovered by a cloth, and rude massive benches

supplied the place of chairs.




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