Page images
PDF
EPUB

and jugglers tumbled in the noisy hall, the monk in the quiet Scriptorium 11 compiled chronicles of passing events, copied valuable manuscripts, and painted rich borders and brilliant initials on every page. These 'illuminations form a valuable set of materials for our pictures of life in the Middle Ages. Monasteries served many useful purposes at the time of which I write. Besides their 'manifest value as centres of study and literary work, they gave alms to the poor, a supper and a bed to travellers; their tenants were better off and better treated than the tenants of the nobles; the monks could store grain, grow apples, and cultivate their flower-beds with little risk of injury from war, because they had spiritual thunders at their call, which awed even the most reckless of the soldiery into a respect for sacred property.

Splendid structures those monasteries generally were, since that vivid taste for architecture which the Norman possessed in a high degree, and which could not find room for its display in the naked strength of the solid keep, 'lavished its entire energy and grace upon buildings lying in the safe shadow of the Cross. Nor was architectural taste the only reason for their magnificence. Since they were nearly all erected as offerings to Heaven, the religion of the age impelled the pious builders to spare no cost in decorating the exterior with fret-work and sculpture of Caen stone,12 the interior with gilded cornices and windows of painted glass.

As schools, too, the monasteries did no trifling service to society in the Middle Ages. In addition to their influence as great centres of learning, English law had enjoined every mass-priest to keep a school in his parish church, where all the young committed to his care might be instructed. This custom continued long after the Norman Conquest. In the Trinity College Psalter we have a picture of a Norman school, where the pupils sit in a circular row around the master as he lectures to them from a long roll of manuscript. Two writers sit by the desk, busy with copies resembling that which the teacher holds.

The 'aris

The youth of the middle classes, 'destined for the cloister or the merchant's stall, chiefly thronged these schools. tocracy cared little for book-learning. Very few indeed of the barons could read or write. But all could ride, fence, tilt, play, and carve extremely well; for to these accomplishments many years of pagehood and squirehood were given.

The only Norman coin we have is the silver penny. Round halfpence and farthings were probably issued. As in Old English

days, the gold was foreign. In the reign of the Conqueror, and for some time afterwards, tax-collectors and merchants 'reckoned money after the English fashion.

[blocks in formation]

W. F. COLLIER.

reck'oned, cal'culated. rejoiced, glo'ried. resound'ed, ech'oed. retain ers, adheʼrents. rib'ald, vulgar.

scientific, systematic. snatch'ing, seiz'ing. suspend ́ed, up-hung. tem perance, ab'stinence. ten'ements, lands and houses.

tournament, tilt.

van'ished, disappeared'.

had to avoid being knocked off his horse by the bag of sand which then swung round to his back.

1 1 Keep, the tall square tower forming | he was laughed at: and if he hit it, he the strongest and securest part of the castle; called also the donjon, or mastertower. [Lat. dominio, from dominus, a lord.] The und und part of the donion was used as a prison; hence dungeon.

2 Portcullis, a huge gate of crossed timbers hung in the gateway of a castle, where it could be let down suddenly to bar the entrance.

3

3 O'riel, a large projecting window forming a recess in the room, usually richly decorated, and filled with stained glass. Oriel means literally a portico, and was applied originally to a recess at the end of a Gothic hall.

4 Franklin, a freeholder. [Fr. franc, Ger. frank, free.]

5 Jesses, short straps.

6 The author of "Ivanhoe," Sir Walter Scott.-Ivanhoe, one of his most fascinating romances, is a story of the times of Richard I., the Lion Heart.

Quintain, an ancient tilt-board, consisting of a cross-bar turning upon an upright post, and having a broad board at the one end, and a bag full of sand at the other. If the horseman missed the board, |

|

Joust (joost), mellay. The former was tilting in sport; the latter was tilting in earnest. Both are French words, as nearly all the words in the language of chivalry are. "Joust" is from jouster, jouter, to come together; whence Eng. jostle. "Mellay" is from mélée (may-lay), a confused crowd, from méler, to mix.

Lickers, that is, gluttons. [Old Fr. lescheur, Ger. lecken, to lick; whence Eng. lickerish, dainty, nice in food.]

10

Juggler, that is lit., joker. [Fr. jongleur, fun; Lat. jocus, a joke or jest.]

11 Scriptorium, that is, writing-room. From Lat. scriptor, a writer; scribere, to write.

12 Caen stone, a fine white stone found near Caen in Normandy, which is built of it. The stone is exported to great distances on account of its beauty. Caen was at one time the capital of the dukedom of Normandy in France; and there William the Conqueror and his Queen are buried.

QUESTIONS.-What did the structure of Norman castles betoken? How were they protected from attacks? What was the oath of feälty? How was a Norman keep furnished? In what out-door sports did the Normans engage? On what occasions were tournaments held? What was the difference between a joust and a mellay? What social fact underlies the distinction between ox, sheep, &c., and beef, mutton, &c.? Who were the jugglers? What useful purposes did monasteries serve in those times? What is the difference in architecture between the castles and the monasteries? How is this to be explained? What classes of society were taught in the schools of the Middle Ages? Why not the aristocracy? What is the only Norman coin we have? How was money reckoned after the Norman Conquest?

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY.

HAVING often received an 'invitation from my friend Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him in the country, I last week accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his country house, where I intend to form several of my 'ensuing speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my humour, lets me rise and go to bed when I please, dine at his own table or in my chamber as I think fit, sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry....

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family, because it consists of sober and staid persons; for as the knight is the best master in the world, he seldom changes his servants; and as he is beloved by all about him, his servants never care for leaving him by this means his 'domestics are all in year, and grown old with their master. You would take his wale de-chambre1 for his brother, his butler is gray-headed, his groo. is one of the gravest men that I have ever seen, and his coachman has the looks of a privy-councillor......

I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure the joy that appeared in the countenances of these ancient domestics, upon my friend's arrival at his country seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the sight of their old master; every one of them pressed forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not employed.

At the same time, the good old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master of the family, 'tempered the inquiries after his own affairs with several kind questions relating to themselves. His humanity and good nature engage everybody to him, so that when he is pleasant upon2 any of them, all his family are in good humour, and none so much so as the person whom he diverts himself with; on the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any 'infirmity of old age, it is easy for a stander-by to observe a secret concern in the looks of all his servants...........

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man, who is ever with Sir Roger, and has lived at his house in the nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman is a person of good sense and some learning, of a very regular life and obliging conversation. He heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the old knight's esteem, so that he lives in the family rather as a relation than as a dependant......

My friend Sir Roger has often told me, with a great deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate he found three parts of his house altogether useless: that the best room in it had the *reputation of being haunted, and by that means was locked up; that noises had been heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a servant to enter it after eight o'clock at night; that the door of one of his chambers was nailed up, because there went a story in the family that a butler had formerly hanged himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a son, or a daughter had died.

[ocr errors]

The knight, seeing his 'habitation reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised3 by his chaplain, who lay in every room, one after another, and by that means 'dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in the family......

My friend Sir Roger, being a good Churchman, has ‘beautified the inside of his church with several texts of his own choosing. He has likewise given a handsome pulpit-cloth, and railed in the communion table at his own expense. He has often told me, that at his coming to his estate he found his parishioners very irregular; and that in order to make them kneel and join in the responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and a Common Prayer Book, and at the same time employed an 'itinerant singing-master to instruct them rightly in the tunes of the psalms, upon which they now very much value themselves.

As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody in it to sleep besides himself; for if by chance he has been surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees anybody else nodding, he either wakes them himself, or sends his servant to them.

Several other of the old knight's particularities break out upon these occasions. Sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singing-psalms, half a minute after the rest of the congregation have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased with the matter of his 'devotion, he pronounces Amen three or four times to the same prayer; and sometimes he stands up when everybody else is kneeling, to count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are missing.

I was yesterday very much surprised to hear. my old friend,

in the midst of the service, calling out to one John Matthews to mind what he was about, and not disturb the congregation. This John Matthews, it seems, is remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was kicking his heels for his 'diversion. The authority of the knight, though exerted in that odd manner which accompanies him in all circumstances of life, has a very good effect upon the parish, who are not polite enough to see anything ridiculous in his behaviour; besides that the general good sense and worthiness of his character make his friends observe these little singularities as foils that rather set off than blemish his good qualities.

As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The knight walks down from his seat in the chancel5 between a double row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each side; and he every now and then 'inquires how such an one's wife, or mother, or son, or father does, whom he does not see at church; which is understood as a secret 'reprimand to the person that is absent.

The chaplain has often told me that, upon a catechising day, when Sir Roger has been pleased with a boy that answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be given him next day for his encouragement; and sometimes accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger has likewise added £5 a year to the clerk's place; and, that he may encourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect in the Church service, has promised, upon the death of the present incumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according to merit.

[blocks in formation]

habita'tion, dwell'ing.
has'sock, kneel'ing-stool.
human'ity, kind'ness.
incumbent, hold'er.
infirm'ity, weak'ness.
inquires, asks.
invita'tion, request'.
itin'erant, travelling.
oblig'ing, courteous.
observe, remark'.
particular'ities, odd'ities.

1 Valet-de-chambre (valley-de-shong-br), | Eng. tin-foil.]

a chamber-servant; a footman.
2 Is pleasant upon, makes fun of.
Exorcised, freed of evil spirits.
Foils that rather set off.-Jewellers
are accustomed to set gold or silver leaf
behind transparent jewels, in order to give
them colour or lustre; this leaf is called
a foil. [Fr. feuille, Lat. folium, a leaf;
(394)

20

JOSEPH ADDISON.()

polite', pol'ished.
pronounç es, repeats'.
rep'rimand, reproof'.
reputa'tion, character.
responses, an'swers.
ridiculous, absurd'.
specula'tions, meditations.
surprised', thrown unex-
pect'edly.

tem pered, miñ'gled.
venerable, rev'erend.

Hence anything used to show another thing to greater advantage is called a foil.

Chan'cel, the principal part of a church, where the altar or communion table is placed.

Clerk, the lay officer who leads the responses of the congregation in the Epis copal service.

« PreviousContinue »