ant connexion with the deceased,
but all passengers whatsoever, were invited to partake. The wealth and
consequence of the deceased Athelstane, occasioned this custom to be
observed in the fullest extent.

Numerous parties, therefore, were seen ascending and descending the hill
on which the castle was situated; and when the King and his attendants
entered the open and unguarded gates of the external barrier, the space
within presented a scene not easily reconciled with the cause of the
assemblage. In one place cooks were toiling to roast huge oxen, and fat
sheep; in another, hogsheads of ale were set abroach, to be drained at
the freedom of all comers. Groups of every description were to be seen
devouring the food and swallowing the liquor thus abandoned to
their discretion. The naked Saxon serf was drowning the sense of
his half-year's hunger and thirst, in one day of gluttony and
drunkenness--the more pampered burgess and guild-brother was eating his
morsel with gust, or curiously criticising the quantity of the malt and
the skill of the brewer. Some few of the poorer Norman gentry might also
be seen, distinguished by their shaven chins and short cloaks, and not
less so by their keeping together, and looking with great scorn on the
whole solemnity, even while condescending to avail themselves of the
good cheer which was so liberally supplied.

Mendicants were of course assembled by the score, together with
strolling soldiers returned from Palestine, (according to their own
account at least,) pedlars were displaying their wares, travelling
mechanics were enquiring after employment, and wandering palmers,
hedge-priests, Saxon minstrels, and Welsh bards, were muttering prayers,
and extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes. [58]

One sent forth the praises of Athelstane in a doleful panegyric;
another, in a Saxon genealogical poem, rehearsed the uncouth and harsh
names of his noble ancestry. Jesters and jugglers were not awanting,
nor was the occasion of the assembly supposed to render the exercise of
their profession indecorous or improper. Indeed the ideas of the Saxons
on these occasions were as natural as they were rude. If sorrow was
thirsty, there was drink--if hungry, there was food--if it sunk down
upon and saddened the heart, here were the means supplied of mirth, or
at least of amusement. Nor did the assistants scorn to avail themselves
of those means of consolation, although, every now a