merce was in wool, lead, tin, and slaves. A writer of
that time says he used to see long trains of young men and women tied
together, offered for sale, "for men were not ashamed," he adds, "to
sell their nearest relatives, and even their own children."

VI. Mode of Life, Manners, and Customs

103. The Town.

The first Saxon settlements were quite generally on the line of the
old Roman roads. They were surrounded by a rampart of earth set with
a thick hedge or with rows of sharp stakes. Outside this was a deep
ditch. These places were called towns,[1] from "tun," meaning a fence
or hedge. The chief fortified towns were called "burghs" or
boroughs. Later on, this class of towns generally had a corporate
form of government, and eventually they sent representatives to
Parliament (S213).

[1] One or more houses might constitute a town. A single farmhouse is
still so called in Scotland.

104. The Hall.

The buildings in these towns were of wood. Those of the lords or
chief men were called "halls," from the fact that they consisted
mainly of a hall, or large room, used as a sitting, eating, and often
as a sleeping room,--a bundle of straw or some skins thrown on the
floor serving for beds. There were no chimneys, but a hole in the
roof let out the smoke. If the owner was rich, the walls would be
decorated with bright-colored tapestry, and with suits of armor and
shields hanging from pegs.

105. Life in the Hall.

Here in the evening the master supped on a raised platform at one end
of the "hall," while his followers ate at a lower table.

The Saxons were hard drinkers as well as hard fighters. After the
meal, while horns of ale and mead were circulating, the minstrels,
taking their harps, would sing songs of battle and ballads of wild
adventure.

Outside the "hall" were the "bowers," or chambers for the master and
his family, and, perhaps, an upper chamber for a guest, called later
by the Normans a sollar, or sunny room.

If a stranger approached a town, he was obliged to blow a horn;
otherwise he might be slain as an outlaw.

Here in the midst of rude plenty the Saxons, or Early English, lived a
life of sturdy independence. They were rough, strong, outspoken, and
fearless. Theirs was not the nimble brain, for that was to come with
another people (the Normans), though a people originally of the same
race. The mission of the Saxons was to lay the foundation; or, in
other words, to furnish the musc