more convenient
dress, than the garb of the Normans, whose under garment was a long doublet, so
loose as to resemble a shirt or waggoner's frock, covered by a cloak of scanty
dimensions, neither fit to defend the wearer from cold nor from rain, and the
only purpose of which appeared to be to display as much fur, embroidery, and
jewellery work, as the ingenuity of the tailor could contrive to lay upon it.
The Emperor Charlemagne, in whose reign they were first introduced, seems to
have been very sensible of the inconveniences arising from the fashion of this
garment. »In Heaven's name,« said he, »to what purpose serve these abridged
cloaks? If we are in bed they are no cover, on horseback they are no protection
from the wind and rain, and when seated, they do not guard our legs from the
damp or the frost.«
    Nevertheless, spite of this imperial objurgation, the short cloaks continued
in fashion down to the time of which we treat, and particularly among the
princes of the House of Anjou. They were therefore in universal use among Prince
John's courtiers; and the long mantle, which formed the upper garment of the
Saxons, was held in proportional derision.
    The guests were seated at a table which groaned under the quantity of good
cheer. The numerous cooks who attended on the Prince's progress, having exerted
all their art in varying the forms in which the ordinary provisions were served
up, had succeeded almost as well as the modern professors of the culinary art in
rendering them perfectly unlike their natural appearance. Besides these dishes
of domestic origin, there were various delicacies, brought from foreign parts,
and a quantity of rich pastry, as well as of the simnel bread and wastel cakes,
which were only used at the tables of the highest nobility. The banquet was
crowned with the richest wines, both foreign and domestic.
    But, though luxurious, the Norman nobles were not, generally speaking, an
intemperate race. While indulging themselves in the pleasures of the table, they
aimed at delicacy but avoided excess, and were apt to attribute gluttony and
drunkenness to the vanquished Saxons, as vices peculiar to their inferior
station. Prince John, indeed, and those who courted his pleasure by imitating
his foibles, were apt to indulge to excess in the pleasures of the trencher and
the goblet; and indeed it is well known that his death was occasioned by a
surfeit upon peaches and new ale. His conduct, however, was an exception to the
general manners of his countrymen.
    With sly gravity,