holy vestments of the abbey, to adorn the actors. The more gross amusements of the Norman nobility, in the pantomime style, have been mentioned in a former note by John of Salisbury, who, though a severe, was a tolerably candid, critic on the times he lived in.

Diversions of the Common People.

THE common people were not without their diversions: bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and horseracing were known to the men of London: the sports on the Thames, the skaiting, and the various exercises of the twelfth century, are accurately, and even elegantly, painted by Fitzstephens in his description of London.

Characteristic Traits and Degeneracy of the Normans, Customs, &c.

THE Normans were sober and delicate at their meals when they first invaded England: it was not long, however, before they equalled their predecessors in feasting, and even added costly epicurism to brutal gluttony*. Yet two meals each day supplied the place of the Anglo-Saxon four;

* Their baggage horses are loaded,' (says Peter de Blois, describing the barons and knights going to war,) not with weapons, but wine; not with lances, but luncheons; not with battle-axes, but bottles; not with spears, but spits. All the sorts of beasts that roam on the land, of fishes that swim in the water, and of birds that fly in the air,' were collected for the table of William de Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, says one of his contemporaries.-Benedict. Abbas.

and Robert de Mellart, prime minister and favourite of Henry Beauclerc, strove hard to reduce those two to one.-W. Malmsb.

Among the most despotic barons there was a kind of gross hospitality and indiscriminate charity*, which caused their tyranny to be overlooked.

The dinner was held at nine in the morning, the supper at five in the afternoon. Besides the common meats, many dishes were used with the composition of which we are not now acquainted. As to liquors, they had several kinds, compounded of honey, of spices, and mulberry juice, such as hypocras, pigment, claret, perry, and ale.

Various kinds of bread were in use. The' panis peperatis' was a sort of gingerbread. Wassel cakes and lemuel cakes, as they were part of the royalallowance of the king of Scots when in England, were probably made of the finest meal.-Rym. Fœdera.

There was great inconsistency in the general and

* As, for instance, that of Sir William Fitz-William, who lived about 1117, and who inscribed on a cross, in Sprotsborough Highstreet, the following verses, which (together with the cross) were destroyed in 1520 :--

'Whoso is hungry, and list will eate,

Let him come to Sprotsborough for his meate,

And for a night, and for a daye,

His horse shall have both corne and haye,

And no man shall ask him when he goeth awaye.'

M. S. apud Collins.

national character of the Anglo-Normans: they were at the same time acutely discerning and grossly credulous*, honourably brave, and atro ciously cruel; respectful to the fair sex, even to adoration, yet brutally licentious in their conduct to individuals; effeminate in their dress and manners, yet patient of almost intolerable fatigues.

During more than one hundred years, the Normans in England shaved their faces. W. de Perey (who accompanied Duke Robert, in 1096, to Palestine) was styled, on account of his singularity as to this point, William Algernons,' or William with the whiskers+..

Dress of the Anglo-Normans.

THE dress of the Anglo-Normans in the eleventh century was simple, if not elegant. The great worè a long and loose gown, which reached down to their heels, and had its bottom frequently embroidered with gold. Over this hung an equally long cloak, which was generally buckled over the breast. When riding or walking abroad, a hood always hung behind the cloak. The close gown was put over the hood like a sheet, and fastened round the waist by a girdle, which was often embroidered and set with precious stones.-Strutt, from Ant. Painting.

They wore breeches and stockings made of fine

* As witness their entire belief in astrology.

+ From this old French name springs Algernon,' a favourite appellation in the noble family of Percy.---Coll. Peerage.

C

cloth, and sometimes very costly. The absurd long-toed shoes came in with William Rufus. The queen and the women of fashion wore loose gowns trailing on the ground, and girt round the waist. The married women had an additional robe over the gown, hanging down before, not unlike a sacerdotal garment. To the girdle a large purse or pouch was suspended. The men wore their hair long, except sometimes when suddenly wrought on by fanaticism.

In the intervening centuries we find strange variations from this simplicity of habit. The crusades indeed seem to have introduced to northern Europe, among other vices, luxury and effeminacy in dress to a degree which a modern man of fashion would blush to imitate*. The umbrella was in use as early as the reign of king Stephen.Strutt.

The tournament shone in its highest lustre during the thirteenth and fourteenth ages. The rival monarchs of England and France had found the energetic valour of their nobility depended greatly on the prevalence of this institution; and it was proportionately encouraged. The effect was considerable in a military light; but its expences were vast, its dangers great; and when the ladies

* Consult the curious engravings in Strutt's Regal Antiquities. Hollingshed asserts, that Sir John Arundel, when setting out on an expedition against the coast of France, at a period little later than this, had fifty-two new suits of apparel of cloth of gold or tissue.

began to take delight in pursuing exhibitions of this kind from one end of the realm to the other*, it certainly neither increased the delicacy nor the humanity of the sex. The chase, and, in general, the sports of the field, were still eagerly followed by those of the highest ranks.-Froissart, passim. Amusements of the Anglo-Saxons.-Mysteries and Miracles. Passion for Feasting.-People of Fashion, &c. between the 13th and 14th Centuries. THE amusements of the people continued nearly the same as in the ages immediately preceding. They received, indeed, from a proclamation of Edward II. in 1363, an admonition, that it would redound much more to their credit if they would, 'like those of former times, apply themselves to archery, instead of spending their time in throwing stones,

* The picture of the fair rantipoles of England, at a period when the pride of glory and conquest had exhilarated the hearts of both sexes almost to insanity, as drawn by a contemporary, is too curious to be omitted in this place. "These tournaments are attended by many ladies, of the first rank and greatest beauty, but not always of the most untainted reputation. These ladies are dressed in party-coloured tunics, one half being of one colour, and the other half of another. Their lirripes (or tippets) are very short, their caps remarkably little, and wrapt about their heads with cords; their girdles are ornamented with gold and silver, and they wear short swords (like daggers) before them, which hang across the stomach. They are mounted on the finest horses, with the richest für- › niture: thus equipped, they ride from place to place in quest of tournaments; by which they dissipate their fortunes, and not unfrequently ruin their reputation.---Knighton apud Henry.