ENGLISH HISTORY. Two pages. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, AND MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS, FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE DEATH OF RICHARD III. In the preceding pages of this portion of English History repeated notice has been taken of matters connected with the laws, general polity, and military affairs. Some particulars connected with the manners and customs, and other subjects, require further notice. In the first place, we may refer to BUILDINGS. The period which has been under consideration in this portion of the History of England, namely, from 1066 to 1485, is one of deep interest. It exhibits the country in a progressive state of advancement; and to this period may be traced the germ or origin of most of those discoveries, and of those arts and sciences, which have had the greatest influence in later times. Some of these we proceed to consider. Among the various circumstances which influence the human character and habits, those connected with our dwellings are especially important, more so than might at first be considered. It is true that much of the progress of architecture is the result of progress in OCTOBER, 1838. Porter. civilization, but the influence is reciprocal; and even in the most fertile lands, and the most favoured climates, where the accommodation and structure of habitations are rude and imperfect, mankind will be found proportionably in a state of barbarism. Among the Saxons there was little improvement in domestic architecture. Indolent, and indulging in gross sencared for the rudeness of his dwelling, sualities, neither the lord nor the serf if the gratification of appetite could be secured. All ranks delighted in an abundance of food, and this procured for their nation the appellation of "Saxon swine;" but they cared not for elegance or convenience in their houses, which were, in many respects, scarcely better than those they constructed for their favourite animals. When the Romans left Britain, the use of brick was laid aside: as stone could only be obtained in certain districts, the generality of dwellings were constructed of timber, with plaster or concrete occasionally added. The increasing desire to have magnificent structures for the purposes of religion, led to the erection of some more durable piles, conventual or episcopal, some of which yet remain; but these were not numerous, and the materials of which they were constructed were mostly furnished from FF the ruins of ancient Roman buildings. | In many of our towns, if the remains of the earliest buildings, and even those of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, are examined, it will be found that they were built of masses of rough stones, and Roman bricks, covered over with a cement or facing; where this has disappeared, the rude materials are shown that composed these structures, once elegant in outward form, and still interesting in their ruined state. At the time when William seized the British sceptre, the buildings throughout England were chiefly masses of timber, and there were few or no castles or fortified dwellings to interrupt the progress of his soldiery. To this, among other causes, the rapid subjugation of England may be ascribed; and this fact, besides the general discontent evinced under their yoke, speedily led the Normans to feel the importance of securing their conquests by the erection of permanent places of defence. These were originally on the general plan adopted even in the times of the Romans, and presented a lofty tower, placed in a commanding situation, with thick walls, carefully secured from the entrance of a foe, by the absence of outlets, or even apertures, in the lower stories. Such is Coninsburgh Castle in Yorkshire, the walls of which still remain, and which, it is supposed, existed even before the Conquest, though it is with more probability considered as an erection of the Normans. "The Anglo-Saxon nobles," says an early historian, "squandered away their ample revenues in low and mean houses; but the French and Norman barons are very different from them, living at less expense, but in great and magnificent palaces. "William," says another writer, "excelled all his predecessors in building castles, and greatly harassed his subjects and vassals with those works." All his earls, barons, and even prelates, followed his example, and it became the first care of every one to whom an estate was given, to build a castle upon it. The dispute about succession, in the following reigns, kept up the spirit for building castles. In the turbulent reign of Stephen, it is stated, every one that was able built a castle; so that the poor people were worn out with the toil of these buildings, and the whole kingdom was covered with castles." As already mentioned, 1115 castles were erected during the nineteen years of this king's reign. The Norman barons, who were then the land-owners of England, having no interest in common with their vassals, found such structures needful for their security against the Saxon natives, and also against their own rapacious countrymen. Among these predatory adventurers, as we have seen, every man's hand was almost literally against his brother; and whenever the king was a weak or despised character, the land was filled with violence, and the words of the prophet were applicable :"They proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother," Jer. ix. 3, 4. During the period now under consideration, the ecclesiastical structures, especially the monasteries, were brought to what may be called their most perfect state, as the erection of them was supposed to be an effectual means of obtaining the pardon of sin and the favour of God. In the long reign of Henry III., we are told that 157 abbeys and other religious edifices were founded. The cathedrals of York, Salisbury, Litchfield, Gloucester, Ely, Winchester, and many others, were built during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and give an idea of the style of sacred architecture which then prevailed, and of the expense in time, labour, and money bestowed on these fabrics. The popes, as may be imagined, favoured the erection and endowment of churches and convents, and in different ways, sought to increase their numbers. A detailed account of the various parts of a monastic building was given in the "Visitor" for January, 1837, to which the reader may refer. When the castle became less necessary for safety or defence, mansions were erected as residences for the nobility and gentry; but these retained many characteristics of the stronghold. They generally consisted of a series of apartments, built round one or more courts; while the lofty corner turrets, garden walls, and a moat, rendered them in some degree defensible. Many of these yet remain, though improved by later addi tions and alterations. During the fifteenth century little progress was made. The people of England were at that period employed rather in destroying than in building. Many cas tles were demolished during the civil wars, but very few were erected. We can form some idea of the desolating wars of these times, when we read that | kitchen, pantry, and various offices. no fewer than sixty villages, within Chimneys were unknown, except, pertwelve miles of Warwick, some of them haps, a vent bearing that appearance in large and populous, were, with their the kitchen. If fires were kindled in churches and manor-houses, destroyed other rooms, the wood smoke was left to and abandoned. In such circumstances, escape at the various crannies and impervery few improvements in architecture fect closures of the roof, windows, and could be made. The taste for founding doors. An old proverb said, that no monasteries and churches also had re- house was wholesome where a dog could ceived a check this was owing partly to not creep in under the door, nor a bird the unhappy state of the country, and fly in through the closed windows! Inpartly to the diffusion of Wickliff's opi- difference to cleanliness, and to the renions, which raised doubts in many moving of various offensive substances, minds concerning the merit of these often rendered this constant stream of erections. Some beautiful structures, fresh air absolutely necessary; and our however, were erected in this period; ancestors sought for warmth rather by among them we may notice King's- increasing their clothing, than by heatcollege chapel, at Cambridge. ing the air in their apartments. The middle classes of gentry usually had their houses constructed upon one plan, although varying in their materials. In different parts of the kingdom, their dwellings were framed of timber, the intervals filled with plaster, or rough work of stones and mortar. Many of these still remain, and though some belong to a later date, they are very similar to those previously built. A passage extended from the front to the back of the dwelling; on one side was the hall with a parlour adjoining, above were chambers; on the opposite side were the 757 Coals are first mentioned in a charter granted to Newcastle, by Henry 11., in 1234. They gradually came into use in London and the southern counties, but through the whole of the period under our consideration, wood was preferred; and we read that the "nice dames" of London would not enter a room where sea-coal was burned, nor eat food dressed by any excepting wood fires. One of the most ancient private buildings of the middle class yet remaining, is Winwall House, in Norfolk, represented in this engraving. Winwall House, Norfolk. The roof and some other portions are of later date than the main part of the structure. In public or more important structures, walls were painted and ornamented, and the windows filled with coloured glass. Many specimens of those remains rival the productions of the present day, excepting as to the more improved state of the arts of design. The perspective of these scenes was always defective, and the figures miserably proportioned; but the colouring was brilliant, and the ornaments rich. FURNITURE. The furniture was still ruder than the dwelling. The tables were generally heavy planks laid upon tressels; benches and stools served for seats; the beds were usually stuffed with straw or chaff. In some cases there were testers and drapery, and even curtains sliding upon rings. The bed-clothes were rough and coarse; but in a wealthy family, the drapery and coverlids of the principal beds were made of expensive materials, or richly worked. The walls of the chambers were rough and unfinished, but in the principal apartments they were covered with hangings of tapestry often very costly in houses of less pretension the hangings were of cloth or canvas, painted with scenery of various descriptions; hunting-parties, battles, legends of saints, heraldic ornaments, and an endless variety of subjects suggested themselves to the artists. The following inventory of furniture, and list of the rooms in the house of "Roger the dyer," an inhabitant of Colchester, as late as the reign of Edward I., proves how little our ancestors possessed, compared with what a family of the same rank would now desire. This list was set down when the articles were valued to ascertain his proportion of a tax in the reign of Edward I., and shows that humble were the possessions of men of business. It is as follows: Roger the dyer had on Michaelmas day last, in his treasury or cupboard, one silver buckle, price 18d., one cup of mazer, (or maple,) price 18d. In his chamber, two gowns, price 20s., two beds, price half a mark, one napkin, and one towel, price 2s. In his house, one ewer with a basin, (probably of pewter,) price 14d., one andiron, price 8d. In his kitchen, one brass pot, price 20d., one brass skillet, price 6d., one brass pipkin, price 8d., one trivet, price 4d. In his brew-house, one quarter of oats, price 2s. woad ashes, price half a mark, one great fat for dyeing, price 2s. 6d. He had other property on his premises: item, one cow, price 5s., one calf, price 2s., two pigs, price 2s.-each 12d., one sow, price 15d., billet wood and fagots for firing, price 1 mark. Total sum 71s. 5d. The fifteenth of that, (the amount of the tax,) 4s. 9d." This sum would be far more difficult for him to pay than twenty times the amount in the present day to a person of similar situation in life. a striking contrast to the inventories of our time, and the case was similar in the highest ranks. The earls of Northumberland and other wealthy nobles, who owned several castles and country residences, usually passed a part of the year at each, in order to consume the produce of their estates, for it was easier then for the proprietor to remove, than for him to bring his corn and cattle to his principal residence, or to obtain money by sending it to market. Yet the furniture possessed by one of these great families did not more than suffice for a single dwelling, and when the lord removed, his tables, beds, and plate, and other articles were carted with him. When we remember that roads, in our acceptation of the term, did not then exist, excepting upon the few lines constructed by the Romans, we may well conceive that the articles of furniture must have been strongly made to endure such carting; and that glasses and the elegant fragile articles of a modern lady's boudoir could not have existed. The figures represented in the tombs of Egypt show that the furniture and ornamental fittings of houses in that country, more than two thousand years before the period treated of in these pages, far exceeded those used by our ancestors whose history is now under consideration, and were very superior, not only in form but in quantity and variety. The scarcity of articles of furniture makes We now proceed to articles of dress. Many volumes have been expressly written upon this subject, and the numerous plates of costumes which have been copied from illuminated manuscripts, monumental effigies, and other sources, fully show the appearance of our ancestors during every reign. The materials generally used for clothing were leather or woollen; linen was confined to the higher and middle ranks; silk was scarcely known; that inestimable blessing, the fabric of cotton, belongs to a much later period; furs were worn by all who could afford to purchase them. The common articles of dress were shirts covered by cassocks or tunics, or jackets, with petticoats, trowsers, or tightly fitting garments called hose. As for the variety of forms which these assumed, it is useless here to attempt a detail of particulars. Suits of apparel have been changeable in every age of the world, and the absurdities of fashion have ever presented a subject for the reprehension of the divine and moralist, from the days of the prophets. Thus Isaiah notices "the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples; and the fine linen and the hoods, and the veils;" also Jeremiah inquires, "When thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold." A few of the fantastic forms in which our ancestors disguised themselves, are represented in the engravings, on pages 361 and 364. If they appear displeasing to us, we may be assured that the dress of our modern fashionables would not have been less so to them. The colours of the dresses of the wealthy were more glaring than those hues which are most approved now, when most of our male population may be said to be clothed only in various shades of black and blue. Gold and silver ornaments, and jewels also, were constant appendages of rank and wealth in both sexes. A robe of Richard II. is spoken of as having cost thirty thousand crowns. In that reign, probably, foppery reached its height, and the description of a fashionable by Chaucer's " 'person" or clergyman, enters into some particulars. Speaking of the superfluous expense, he describes it as proceeding from "the cost of embroidering, disguised indenting, barring, crowding, paling, winding, or bending, and semblable waste of cloth in vanity. Also the costly furring in gowns, so much pouncing of chisel to make holes, so much dagging of shears, with superfluity in length of the gowns, trailing in the mire, on horse as also on foot, as well of man as of woman." He describes the hose, or lower garments of the men, rebuking "the horrible disordinate scantness" in very strong language, and "they part their hosen in colours, as white and blue, white and black, black and red, and so forth." He further notices the "outrageous array of women.' We must not say much for the becoming form of modern garments, or their convenience, although they are not quite so unseemly as in the days of Chaucer; but the cleanliness which their materials admit and require, may well reconcile us to the disappearance of the shabby and dirty finery of the more picturesque dress of our ancestors. And that the greater part of their apparel would be of this description, is evident, when we consider their original costliness, and the durability of the materials. FOOD. The Food next requires attention. main articles of nourishment always will remain the same, but the pampered appetite of man often refuses it in the simple and most wholesome forms, and craves the excitements of novelty and stimulating additions. The national taste of England, through the whole period now under consideration, and even to the present day, has been that of our Saxon ancestors: plain joints of animal food, with bread and other preparations from corn, have formed the main articles of sustenance to those who could afford to procure this diet, and who were not under the influence of foreign fashions. After the Conquest, these innovations became more frequent, though the Normans were not averse to the enjoyments of the table, and to a certain extent adopted the profusion as to meals, customary in the land they invaded. The reign of Richard II. probably afforded more scope for the display of "the art" of cookery than any other. It is recorded, that at one time two thousand persons were employed in his kitchen in the various branches of the culinary office; and a singular document has been preserved, which records the results of their talents |