of a noble dame of the
period, where the extreme of etiquette may be expected to prevail. The
hunting horn having announced that the meal awaits the guests, squires
or pages bear to them scented water for the customary ablutions. This
is served in delicately wrought ewers, placed in silver basins. A
further touch of delicacy to the repast is often provided by perfumed
herbs scattered over the rich damask tablecloth. The guests are not
inconvenienced by the crowding of decorative vessels on the board. The
numerous courses are well served, for a superior domestic is charged
with this duty, and he is assisted by two varlets. At the sideboard
is a squire or page whose sole duty is to serve the wines and drinking
vessels; he too is assisted by a varlet, who places them before the
several guests. None of these attendants are required to leave the
hall, to which the officers of the kitchen and the cellar bring the
dishes and the wines. During the meal the gallery is occupied by
the musicians, who, it is to be presumed, will serve to enliven the
formalities attendant on the scene. The parlor was a more pretentious
room than the hall, and was ornamented with more care. While it was a
usual feature of town houses of the period, it had been introduced so
comparatively late that its final position in the plan of the house
had not become fixed; sometimes it was upon the ground floor, and
sometimes upon the floor above, while the larger houses had several
such apartments. It had open recesses with fixed seats on each side
of the window, and the fireplace was smaller and more comforting than
those of the hall. When carpets came into use, the parlor was the
first room to be treated to the luxury, and it had the additional
distinction of being the only room that contained a cupboard. An
inventory of the furniture of the parlor of a fifteenth-century
house includes the following: a hanging of worsted, red and green; a
cupboard of ash boards; a table and a pair of trestles; a branch of
latten, with four lights; a pair of andirons; a pair of tongs; a form
to sit upon, and a chair. It will be seen from this list that the
furnishings for a parlor were not numerous, but they are suggestive
of a degree of comfort greatly in advance of that of prior centuries.
This paucity of household furniture did not arise so much from the
inability to procure it as from the insecurity of the times. Margaret
Paston, in a letter to her husband, written in the