HOUSE KEEPING AND FURNISHING IN THE OLDEN TIMES.. 
A certain halo of romance seems to surround the old 
moated castles and English manor houses of the Middle 
Ages. The readers of •'Ivanhoe." the "Last of the 
Barons." and •‘Kenilworth " are apt to be enthusiastic 
over the "good old days’’ of feudal times. And indeed 
there is something delightfully picturesque in a moated 
castle or castellated mansion, with their macliicolated 
battlements, ivy-clad turrets, and spacious halls: but 
with all this external grandeur there was much poverty, 
much lack of the conveniences and necessaries of life 
within. The indoor surroundings of the great nobles 
of those times were such, that few of the laboring class 
of to-day would endure them. The homes of New 
England mechanics of the present time are far more 
comfortable and cheerful than were the palaces of 
Edward III., or "Good Queen Bess." 
Until the twelfth century, chimneys were unknown 
in England, and even then, they were made the subject 
of legislation, as windows were at a later day. Manor 
houses, castles and religious houses were permitted to 
have but a chimney apiece. As late as the reign of 
Henry VIII., no fire-place was allowed at the University 
of Oxford. In fact, it was not until the beginning of 
the sixteenth century, that the old state of things—a 
fire in the centre of the hall, the smoke escaping through 
the roof—was altered. An examination of the chimneys 
in the great halls of baronial houses, will prove that 
they must have been inserted about this time. 
The principal room of the baronial hall was a large, 
lofty apartment, usually called the hall, at the upper 
end of which was a raised platform or dais, on which 
the lord and his principal guests dined. At one end of 
the dais was a window, and in a corner beliind the bay- 
window was the buffet, where the drinking-horns and 
dishes used at table were kept. Other tables and benches 
were placed on the floor of the hall, which was covered 
by rushes, for the retainers and guests of a lower de¬ 
gree. In the center of the groined roof of oak, was an 
aperture to carry off the smoke from the fire, which 
was placed in the middle of the floor on a raised hearth. 
The walls were covered with tapestry, to about five feet 
from the floor. The principal entrance to the hall was 
at the lower end, where a space was parted off by a 
screen extending the whole length of the room, and 
supporting a gallery in which minstrels played during 
the feast. - 
In the centre of the screen were double doors, commu¬ 
nicating with the kitchen, buttery, etc. Through the 
buttery hatch, the viands passed from the kitchen to the 
hall. The buttery was so-called, because the butts and bot¬ 
tles of wine which were required for the table were kept 
there, not because butter was made there, as absurdly 
stated in one dictionary of architecture. The kitchen 
lay beyond the buttery, pantry, and cellar, and some¬ 
times had two fireplaces, which always blazed merrily 
on festive occasions. Some of these hugh ovens were 
jarge enough to roast an ox whole. Our forefathers 
enjoyed good living, and though their dishes varied 
much from those we are in the habit of eating, their 
mode of cooking did not differ much. Chaucer says— 
"A cook they haddon with them Cor the nonce, 
To boil the chickens and the manic bones; 
And Poudro marehant, tart and galihgale: 
Wei condo lie knotve a draught of London ale. 
Ho couderoste, and set he, and broil and frie, 
Maken morlreeves and wel bak a pie.” 
The grnud staple article was salt herrings, hundreds 
of which were daily consumed at the tables of the no¬ 
bility. Butcher's meat was used in large quantities, and 
this diet was varied occasionally with fowls, geese, 
capons, eels. pigs, and pigeons. Of vegetables little 
mention is made, and of fruits still less. Apples and 
Pears being the principal ones. The quantity of spices 
used was very considerable, but they were employed to 
give flavor to the beer, which was brewed without hops 
and which seems to have been the common beverage 
during the Middle Ages. 
The serving was of the rudest kind. Huge joints of 
meats were brought to the table on the roasting spits. 
The carver held the meat with one hand while he cut it 
with the other, and the guests helped themselves with 
their fingers. After eating what they wished, the rem¬ 
nants were thrown to the dogs and cats under the table. 
There were no forks with which to take up the meat, 
and sometimes no plates to hold it. Huge slices of 
bread answered for plates, and were called trenchers. 
These became soaked with gravy, and were often eaten 
with relish: when left, they were collected into baskets 
and given to the poor tenants. It was the height of 
refinement for two guests to eat from the same trencher. 
The only knife used was the clasp knife, which the male 
guest took unsheathed from his girdle; straw served in¬ 
stead of table napkins, and the company was divided by 
the salt-cellar. 
The furnishing of these immense mansions corres¬ 
ponded with the rudeness. The large, lofty rooms were 
uncarpeted, for my lady of those days thought herself 
lucky if every morning the floors were strewn with fresh 
rushes. Queen Mary Tudor was the first sovereign of 
England who enjoyed the luxury of a carpet. The 
furniture was scanty, indicating little taste in style or 
execution, and the great rooms looked bare and cheer¬ 
less. Indeed, only a few of the rooms were fitted up at 
all, these were for the great folks; the rest were merely 
offices and cabins, in which beds of the coarsest kind 
were provided as occasion required. There was the 
gallery, the chapel, my lord’s chamber, my lady’s closet, 
the nursery, the great chamber, the carved chamber, 
paradise, and the lower house, the hall, the spicery, etc. 
The great barons, owners of vast estates, of armies of 
retainers, and who were accustomed to dress in velvet 
stuff with embroidery and Milan armor embossed with 
gold, had not often furniture enough to set up house¬ 
keeping in more than one of their establishments. In 
Henry VIII. ’s time we read of Algernon Percy, Earl of 
Northumberland, one of the richest peers of the realm, 
who, when removing from Wresil Castle to Locking- 
field Manor, stripped the rooms of hangings and furni¬ 
ture, having thirteen carts filled with household stuff. 
