ANCIENT MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 199 



Chairs were not known, but their place was supplied by 

 moveable benches and stools. The beds, which were few in 

 number, and fastened to the walls, were large and roomy, and 

 several of the guests usually slept together often, indeed, with 

 the host himself. This was even the case with people of princely 

 rank. It was only in the churches that wax candles were 

 used. The rich burnt tallow candles, and the poorer Torrved- 

 stickor that is, dry wood split into the form of laths. 



The dinner hour was ten in the forenoon ; that of supper, 

 five in the evening. Each guest was expected to come provided 

 with knife, fork, and spoon. Plates were scarce, and let the 

 number of dishes be ever so numerous and various, they 

 were never changed. At nine or ten o'clock people went 

 to bed, and in consequence rose so much the earlier in the 

 morning. 



Clothing was made chiefly of wool; linen was so scarce 

 as seldom to be used excepting as under-garments ; holiday- 

 dresses were composed of strong but costly materials. A 

 petticoat often served, in succession, grandmother, mother, 

 and child. The women wore their hair combed upwards; 

 their gowns, which were long, and fitted tight to the body, 

 had high-pointed collars. The men were attired in Spanish 

 dresses. At first they wore their hair long, and their beards 

 close-shaven ; but this fashion, excepting by the clergy, was 

 soon exchanged for bushy beards and close-cropped heads. 



Watches were then so little known, that when about this 

 period the heir-apparent to the throne of Russia received one 

 as a present from the King of Denmark, he believed it to be 

 an enchanted animal (Trolldoms-djur) sent for the purpose 

 of ruining himself and his people ; and he therefore with all 

 possible dispatch returned it to that monarch ! 



