 escaped by the proper vent. The constant vapour which this
occasioned, had polished the rafters and beams of the low-browed hall, by
encrusting them with a black varnish of soot. On the sides of the apartment hung
implements of war and of the chase, and there were at each corner folding doors,
which gave access to other parts of the extensive building.
    The other appointments of the mansion partook of the rude simplicity of the
Saxon period, which Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining. The floor was
composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard substance, such as is
often employed in flooring our modern barns. For about one quarter of the length
of the apartment, the floor was raised by a step, and this space, which was
called the dais, was occupied only by the principal members of the family, and
visitors of distinction. For this purpose, a table richly covered with scarlet
cloth was placed transversely across the platform, from the middle of which ran
the longer and lower board, at which the domestics and inferior persons fed,
down towards the bottom of the hall. The whole resembled the form of the letter
T, or some of those ancient dinner-tables, which, arranged on the same
principles, may be still seen in the antique colleges of Oxford or Cambridge.
Massive chairs and settles of carved oak were placed upon the dais, and over
these seats and the more elevated table was fastened a canopy of cloth, which
served in some degree to protect the dignitaries who occupied that distinguished
station from the weather, and especially from the rain, which in some places
found its way through the ill-constructed roof.
    The walls of this upper end of the hall, as far as the dais extended, were
covered with hangings or curtains, and upon the floor there was a carpet, both
of which were adorned with some attempts at tapestry, or embroidery, executed
with brilliant or rather gaudy colouring. Over the lower range of table, the
roof, as we have noticed, had no covering; the rough plastered walls were left
bare, and the rude earthen floor was uncarpeted; the board was uncovered by a
cloth, and rude massive benches supplied the place of chairs.
    In the centre of the upper table were placed two chairs more elevated than
the rest, for the master and mistress of the family, who presided over the scene
of hospitality, and from doing so derived their Saxon title of honour, which
signifies »the Dividers of Bread.«
    To each of these chairs was added a footstool, curiously carved and inlaid
with ivory, which
