The town houses had usually been no higher than two stories, but later went up to three or four stories in height. They often had gardens about them. They were built of stone, brick, or wood, sometimes having a cellar of stone while the upper part was wood. They were thatched with straw, but often tiles were used. Thin horn, talc, and canvas were placed across windows, but glass was coming into more common use, so that many houses had glass in their windows. The rooms were lighted by candles, sometimes torches were used, the candles being set in standing or hanging candlesticks of iron, wood, or latten. The heating was done by a fire built in the center of the hall, the smoke escaping through an opening in the roof, or there was a fireplace in the corner or the side of the room. The fuel used was wood, charcoal, ling, peat, or coal.

In the hall the furniture consisted of tables, seats, and a cupboard. In the chamber was a bedstead with curtains around it and the bedding consisted of a straw mattress, a feather bed, bolster, pillows, sheets, and blankets. There were chairs in the room, a table, and a clothes chest. The walls were painted or hung with tapestry. The floors were bare or strewn with rushes or straw, some floors being of tiles, and carpets came into use late in the period.

"The influence of Christianity tended at once to elevate and to narrow the position of women. It elevated her position, for, while the pagan ideal of life is essentially masculine, the Christian ideal is in part feminine. Justice, energy, strength, are the pre-eminent qualities of the pagan ideal; and mercy, love, gentleness, and humility, of the Christian. The coincidence of the characteristics of Christianity with the characteristics of the female heart resulted in the elevation of woman. This result was also achieved in other ways. In the realm of the emotions, and especially of the religious emotions, woman is superior to man. If she is inferior to him in her power of apprehending a system of truth, she is his superior in respect to her loyalty to individuals. Christianity demanded personal loyalty to a personal Christ as the first and comprehensive condition of admission to its church. Thus the influence of Christianity ennobled the position of woman. This increased power was manifest in various ways. Women flocked to the Church in large numbers, and were important factors in the conversion of the Empire. They embraced martyrdom with unflagging zeal and fortitude. Although not usually admitted to the priesthood, they performed ecclesiastical functions of minor importance. As deaconesses—an order for which may justly be claimed apostolic sanction—they were of peculiar usefulness in the great and arduous work of charity and of philanthropy. Of the asceticism which so early sprang up they were ardent defenders. In their households, their influence was more pervasive than in the Church. For the conversion of their husbands and sons and daughters they labored with constancy, if not always with wisdom, and often with success. The wife of Theodosius the Great was one of the most distinguished defenders of the faith. Augustine writes of the influence of his mother in the formation of his Christian character. The mother of Constantine bore an important part in the conversion of her royal son. In dignity and in useful influence, in social rights and family prestige, Christianity tended to elevate the place of woman. For force or passion as the basis of marriage—elements which when exercised degrade the husband more than the wife—was substituted love. The New Testament teaching was the foundation of practice.

"But in one respect the position of the married woman was narrowed by Christianity. It has been already noticed, that in the civil marriage of the period of the later Republic and Empire, the wife remained in the guardianship of her own family. She did not pass into the control of her husband. The consequence of this method was that the power of her guardian became less and less, and that the power of her husband did not increase. She, therefore, came to occupy a situation of great independence as to both person and property. Against the loose marital bond of the civil marriage, which was indeed a mere species of wedlock, the Church uttered its protest. It was contrary to the teachings of the New Testament; it was opposed to Christian practice. In their repudiation of the civil marriage, the Christian moralists also repudiated that liberty and independence of the wife which were among its essential elements. Thus the legal position of the married woman was narrowed by the Church."205

Among the early Germans, women were greatly respected. Woman was considered man's inferior only in physical nature and this very physical weakness was the one great cause of her being so well respected. The wife was not thought inferior to the husband in morality, courage, prudence, and wisdom, but his equal. Although this was somewhat changed by contact with the Romans, yet it appears to be the basis for the building of the high honor paid to women in chivalry. During the time of feudalism the wife tended to become the husband's peer and companion. In the age of chivalry women were held in high esteem, or at least women of the noble class, and they were subjects of great devotion by the knights and squires.

During the Middle Ages many women possessed property and because of this they had a social standing they would not otherwise have had. But riches brought disadvantages as well, as heiresses were in danger of being carried off and compelled to marry their captors or to give them large sums of money. If single a woman's property was more or less under the control of her guardian and when married her husband had control of her belongings. On the other hand, the wife had a certain right in her husband's possessions and upon his death she had her portion as dower.

Women entered into industrial affairs, as they engaged in the manufacture and sale of many articles. They occupied themselves in spinning and weaving, in making ribbons and laces, in making shoes and candles, and other articles; they sold fruit, bread, fish, poultry, and wares of different kind; they were employed in farm work and in unskilled labor such as carrying clay and water, gathering moss and heath, and waiting on thatchers and masons. Women carried on foreign commerce, in England exporting goods to France, Spain, and other countries. They were permitted to become members of guilds, although they did not take a very prominent part in them.

Among the Germans, and likewise other northern nations of earlier Europe, monogamy was prevalent and almost the universal practice. There was a kind of purchase of the wife, as the man in the presence of her parents offered a dowry to the bride, which if accepted sealed the match. The parties to the contract both had to be mature people, the bridegroom having to be old enough to be invested with arms and to become a member of the state. Before the woman could marry she had to have the consent of her father or nearest relative, and if a widow, having been purchased, she had to have the approval of the relatives of her deceased husband.

"Marriage ceremonies (among Anglo-Saxons) consisted in the assemblage of friends, the consuming of the great loaf (made by the bride as an introduction into house-keeping, and the ancestor of our wedding-cake); some special barrels of beer were brewed—the 'bride ale,' hence our modern 'bridal.' This beer was drunk to her health and to that of the bridegroom (originally brydgumma, bridesman). The Anglo-Saxons paid a regular sum, agreed upon beforehand, to the father before the wedding; the consent of the lady being obtained, the bridegroom then gave his promise and his 'wed.' 'Nor,' adds Sharon Turner, 'was this promise trusted to his honor merely, or to his own interest. The female sex was so much under the protection of the law that the bridegroom was compelled to produce friends who became security for his due observance of the covenant.' In this we have the origin of 'groomsman,' or 'best man,' of our time. The parties being betrothed, the next step to take was to settle by whom the fosten-léan, or money requisite for the care of the children, was to be supplied. The bridegroom pledged himself to do this; his friends became security for him. These preliminaries being arranged, he had to signify what he meant to give her for choosing to be his wife, and what he should give her in case she survived him. This was the morgen gifu, being given by the Anglo-Saxon husbands to their wives on the morning after the wedding.206 The old law says that it is right that she should halve the property, or the whole of it should become hers if she had children, unless she married again. The friends of the bridegroom became surety for his conduct and those of the bride for hers. A priest—when Christianity was introduced—blessed the union; and after many points of law had been settled for the protection of the wife under all circumstances, 'her relations wedded her to him.' But in all these instances no mention is made of the wedding-ring, which came later. The English, regarding the wife in her capacity of ruler of the household, placed a ring upon her finger as a badge, not of servitude, but of authority, as in the case of the consort of Ethelred the Second, who before receiving the crown was anointed and distinguished by this symbolic act of adornment."207

There was a time during the Middle Ages when betrothal and even marriage took place at a very early age, even between quite young children. In England boys could be married at fourteen and girls at twelve, but these ages were sometimes disregarded and children were married at even younger ages. Betrothals were made by parents or guardians for children of very young age, one such case is on record as having been entered into when the little girl was but four years of age, the child having been given in charge to her future father-in-law. This custom was by far most common among the upper classes, for, as a rule, the men and women of the middle classes did not enter upon marriage till of more mature age. These early marriages or betrothals were probably the result of guardians having under their charge children who were heirs and so they arranged the marriage to their own advantage or sold their rights for a sum of money, and even parents were known to have sold the marriage of their children to gain money.

The idea of the early Christians that marriage should not be civil but religious gradually prevailed till not only was the ceremony performed by the church alone, but also breaches of marriage vows were punished not by the state but by the church. But this did not prevent marriage from becoming a business affair, where the material advantages to be gained were closely looked into and the amount of property or money to be gained on either or both sides was the most important and chief consideration. Nor did this prevent informal marriages, for men and women did join themselves together without priest or religious ceremony by a simple declaration that they would take each other as husband and wife. This was not accepted by the church nor always recognized by the state, but such unions did take place nevertheless.

"It is sometimes thought that in the Middle Ages men were always obliged to hold to their wives for better or worse to their lives' end. There are some grounds for this opinion, but it is not quite correct. The Church did not allow divorce in the modern sense of the word; that is to say, she taught that a valid marriage could not be dissolved; but marriages could be, and often were, annulled on the ground that some impediment existed which rendered them invalid."208

There was no regular marriage among the serfs of the earliest times. As marriage became more a church ceremony, this institution established, about the twelfth century, the legality of this ceremony among the serfs. This, of course, caused difficulties when the serf of one lord married the serf of another, and especially so when such parties had children. Sometimes money satisfied this, sometimes other marriages, and even sometimes the children were divided among the two estates.

The early Britons used a mantle that covered the whole body, which was fastened in front with a clasp or with a belt about the waist. These mantles were of skins of animals, the hair being left on for the outside of the garment. Sometimes also they wore a woolen jacket. Their shoes were made of coarse skins, the hair being left for the outside as with the mantle. The women wore chains and rings and bracelets, and their hair was left loose upon the shoulders without braiding or tying.

The Anglo-Saxons had a linen undergarment over which they wore a linen or woolen tunic, reaching to the knees, with long, close sleeves, the tunic being fastened at the waist with a belt. Over these garments they wore a short cloak, fastened with clasps. They wrapped bands of cloth, linen, or leather about the leg from the ankle to the knee, and their shoes opened down the instep and were fastened with a thong. The women wore a long, loose garment, like a tunic, reaching to the ground, and over this a mantle. They wrapped about the head and neck a kind of veil made of a long piece of silk or linen. The men wore the hair and beard long.

The Normans made quite a display in dress. They wore a long, close gown, reaching to the feet, often embroidered with gold at the bottom, and fastened at the waist with an ornamental girdle. Over this they wore a cloak with a hood, fastened across the breast by a gold or silver brooch. The women wore a loose dress, trailing on the ground, with girdle round the waist, and a cloak over the dress. The men wore their hair long, sometimes curling it like women, but they wore no beard, shaving the face clean.

During the Middle Ages dress was a distinguishing mark of very great importance. The king needed to be arrayed in gorgeous robes of rich texture and color, as his dignity require such; the city officers, in keeping with the pride of the city, must be clothed in brilliant attire; the sign of power and greatness of the nobles was displayed in the showy livery of their retainers; and the uniform of the craft-guilds was a badge of their importance in the life of the people and of the nation. During the most of this period there was great luxury in dress among the noble and wealthy. Silks, satins, velvets, scarlet cloths, fine cloths of gold and silver, and rich furs were used in the apparel of both sexes, and not only was the finest and best of their own land used, but also fine materials were brought in from other countries. Not only was the clothing very costly, but also there was a striving for a large amount, so that the expenditure for dress was very great.

The men dressed as fanciful and elaborately as did the women and the styles changed quite as often and as differently. At one time they wore a close-fitting tunic with tight or short sleeves and a short cloak; at a later time they wore a long gown with long, full sleeves, and again their clothing was padded, the shoulders being made as broad as possible. Sometimes the colors of the garments would be of one hue or well matched, and again there would be one garment of one color and another of an entirely different color, and even the parts of the same garment would not be of the same color. "A dandy of the fourteenth century is thus described: 'He wore long pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold or silver chains; hose of one color on one leg, and of another color on the other. Short breeches, not reaching to the middle of the thigh; a coat, one-half white, and the other half black or blue; a long beard, a silk band buttoned under his chin, embroidered with grotesque figures of animals, dancing men, etc., and sometimes ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones.'"209

The women wore long dresses reaching to the ground and sometimes with long trains. At times the bodices fit closely and were low in the neck, while in another time the body was encased in whalebone to the hips and the shoulders supported an enormous ruff, as much as three feet or more in width. Men also wore the ruff. The ladies used paint on their faces and adorned them with black patches as "beauty spots."

Men and women of the working classes dressed more simply than the upper classes, usually wearing short tunics with small sleeves and with hoods for outdoors. But they, too, dressed up for special occasions and at times they were arrayed in highly-colored and costly garments and even at times vied with the upper classes, in spite of laws passed to prevent people from dressing above their stations.

Children were clothed in about the same manner and the same styles as their elders, there being no great distinguishing marks in the dress of the younger and older people.

The girdles, which were so necessarily an important part of the dress, were often highly ornamental and very costly. They were sometimes made of silk, lined with fine leather, and ornamented with gold and silver and precious stones. The garments of both men and women were at times embroidered, having armorial devices, mottoes, initials of the owners, and other designs. They were also lined and trimmed with fur, many kinds of fur being used.

The men wore their hair long and then again very short; it was cut off short at the forehead and at another time allowed to grow long till it almost fell into the eyes. Sometimes they wore a full beard and sometimes they were clean shaved. At a late time in the period wigs came into use, and they were thought to be indispensable by every man of social standing. They wore hoods and then caps and hats of various styles. The women wore their hair loose down the back or braided and coiled and put into a net of gold wire. At one time great headdresses were the fashion, one style rising up horn-like from the head, another being like a steeple, running to a high point. There were also heart-shaped erections, turban-shaped, crescent-shaped, one like an inverted lamp-shade, and still another shaped like a butterfly.

Shoes were of various styles, one style having very sharp-pointed toes and even projecting far beyond the foot and then turned up and fastened to the knee with a silver or gold chain. Then the shoes were changed from length to breadth, till Parliament passed a law limiting the width of the toes to six inches. There was one kind made of fine, soft leather cut into beautiful designs and worn over bright-colored stockings that showed through the openings.

Jewelry was used quite a great deal. Caps and girdles and other garments were sometimes decorated with precious stones. They wore chains about the neck with pendants in the shape of crosses, medallions, and the like. Reliquaries (little cases containing relics) were also sometimes hung on neck-chains. There were beads of gold and silver and ivory. Brooches and clasps and rings of gold and silver studded with jewels were quite common and other jewelry was worn.

"Very extraordinary ideas were current as to the properties of jewels; talismanic and medicinal powers were attributed to many of them—it was thought that the jaspar, agate, and toad-stone neutralized or detected poisons, that pearls dissolved in powder cured stomachic complaints, and that coral acted as a charm. Great importance was attached to engraving, because it was held that if a gem were engraved by a skilful person under the right planetary influence its virtue was greatly increased. If, for example, an engraving depicting Ophinclius, the constellation which had the power of resisting poison, were cut on an agate its efficiency would be doubled. Even substances which had in themselves no talismanic qualities could acquire them if they were inscribed with words or symbols possessing them, and consequently sacred names and mystic signs were frequently placed not only upon gems, but also upon all kinds of jewelry, and sometimes upon other things, such as drinking cups, as well."210

As artificial light was hard to get, the meals were usually partaken of during daylight. The cooks of the time showed great skill in the preparation of foods and in decorating their dishes, being fond of coloring all kinds of food and displaying branches and flowers about the food and table. The table was covered with a cloth and each guest furnished with a napkin, knife, and spoon but no fork, the fingers being used instead. Good manners prohibited the putting of the knife into the mouth, but it was all right to dip sops or morsels into soups or sauces, and it was a mark of good breeding to be able to carry such to the mouth without letting any drops fall upon the tablecloth or the person.

There were many different kinds of bread; among the meats were beef and pork, poultry and game of all sorts, among such eaten being peacocks, gulls, swans, herons, and cranes; many varieties of fish were to be had; there were many different kinds of fruits and vegetables used, among the fruits being quinces, pears, cherries, strawberries, apples, peaches, plums, and grapes, and of the vegetables, peas, leeks, cabbages, onions, turnips, parsnips, and beets. Soups and broths were very common, and the mixing of ingredients in dishes was much in use, as, meat was cut up into small pieces, boiled, ground in a mortar, passed through a strainer, and then mixed with spice, salt, sugar or honey, almonds, dates, raisins, and grated bread, all being blended together with the yolk of eggs.

The poorer classes sometimes fared badly, but usually in England the peasants had sufficient food, although often of the cheaper sort and not of great variety. "The methods of preparing the raw material for baking differed in various parts of this island. For a very long period it was imperative on the manorial populations in both England and Scotland that they should take their corn to be ground at the lord's mill. But when this regulation fell into disuse, all sorts of contrivances for grinding crept in. The most primitive was undoubtedly that of the Highland peasant. The first process was the separation of the grain from the ear. This was not threshed, but graddaned—that is to say, it was burned out of the ear in much the same fashion as the parched corn of Boaz. Either whole sheaves or several ears were fired on the cottage floor. Though the burning of the entire sheaf was the most expeditious process, it was a sad waste of manure and thatch. Sometimes oats were beaten out of the straw with a rude mallet, and kiln-dried. But usually both they and barley underwent the burning treatment. The housewife knelt before the fire, holding a few stalks in her left hand. Setting the ears alight, she deftly beat out the grain with a stick, just when the husk was quite consumed. The grains, blackened like coal, were picked off the floor with the hand and placed in the quern. This consisted of two stones, 1½ ft. in diameter, the lower slightly convex, the upper slightly concave. In the middle of each was a round hole, and on one side of it a long handle. The Scotch housewife shed the grain into the hole with one hand, and worked the handle round with the other. The corn slid down the convexity of the lower stone, and by the motion of the upper one was ground in the passage."211 "Hasty pudding was a great favorite among the poorer sort. Indeed, all spoon meat of a sweet description was popular, as Houghton proves by a delightful little anecdote. Two Norfolk boys once were overheard discussing the kind of treat in which either of them would indulge if he became King of England. The one decided that he would have pudding every day for dinner; the other burst into tears, because his comrade's wish had left him nothing good from which to choose."212

"The early British matron, even of the highest rank, always nursed her infants, and would have resented in the greatest degree the delegation of this parental office to another woman. We know little of the bringing up of the children. There is a story of Solinus to the effect that his first morsel of food was put into the infant's mouth on the point of the father's sword, with a prayer that he might prove a great and brave warrior and die on the field of battle. This seems more likely to apply to the races who succeeded them and the Roman occupation than to the veritable Britons. ... The Ancient Britons were accustomed almost from infancy to handle arms and to sing the glorious actions of their ancestors. The young were thus inspired to feats of strength and to be engaged in war. As they advanced in years they were, while being instructed in martial exercises, also taught that everything in life depended on their valor—the praises of the bards, the favor of the great, and the applause of the people, and that happiness after death was the reward only of those who were daring in war. It may be considered certain that the youth of Britain at this period were not delicately nurtured; a rough and hardy people would not educate their children in a manner unfitting for their surroundings and way of life, and doubtless—as in Germany—the families of the nobler sort were brought up with no more delicacy or tenderness than the common people. Tacitus says of the Germans, 'In every house you see the little boys, the sons of lords and peasants, equally sordid and ill-clothed, lying and playing promiscuously together on the ground and among the cattle, without any visible distinction. In this manner they grow up to that prodigious strength which we behold with admiration.' The sons of the ancient Germans, Gauls, and Britains of all ranks were allowed to run, wrestle, jump, swim, climb, and to engage in vigorous exercises at their will and without restraint until they approached manhood. To this continued exercise, together with the simplicity of their diet, is ascribed by Caesar the great strength of body and boldness of spirit to which these nations attained. Caesar says that when the youth of Germany, Gaul, and Britain began to approach the manly age, some more attention seems to have been paid to them by the public and their parents than previously, for when the son was younger it was accounted a shame for a father to be seen in his company. Children who were designed for the priestly order were then put under the direction of the Druids for their instruction in the sciences and in the principles of law, morality, and religion, while those who were intended for a warlike life—according to Caesar—had arms put into their hands by their fathers, or nearest kinsmen, in a public assembly of the warriors of the state or clan. Some vestiges of this custom continued till later times—especially with respect to the eldest sons of the lairds or chieftains—in some parts of the Highlands and western isles of Scotland."213

It was held, at least in England, that all able-bodied men should work and to that end they should be trained as boys, so that when grown up they would be able to work at a trade or farming and thereby earn their own living and not become a burden upon the state. During the sixteenth century it became a law that every child should have such training as would fit him for business or a calling. Some were apprenticed to trades and some to agriculture. If a parent could prove that he was able to furnish a maintenance for his children they were not apprenticed, but otherwise, if the children were found to be growing up in idleness, the authorities had the power to apprentice them.

There was a fee charged for apprenticeship to a trade, sometimes only an entrance fee and again an annual due, but not very large in either case. The term of service varied, in France being from three to thirteen years, while in England it generally lasted seven years. The apprentice probably secured no pay at any time, but was cared for by the master in the way of food, lodging, clothing, and other needs. After he had completed his years of service, the apprentice became a journeyman and then entered regularly into the trade, receiving wages for his labor. In the earlier times the journeyman could easily become a master, but later when capital began to be amassed and the carrying on of the manufacture of goods required much capital, the journeyman did not have very good opportunity for becoming a master. In the early days master, journeyman, and apprentice all lived and worked together and were in the same guild, and so there was not any great separation among them. But later when a large amount of capital was required to carry on business and a large number of men used, there became a wide difference between master and workmen and strife grew up between them and journeymen formed guilds for themselves alone, which guilds were sometimes suppressed by the authorities. Such a guild came in time to prohibit aliens from becoming apprentices, and thus from learning the trade, and even to restricting apprenticeship to the children and relatives of its members who were working in the trade.

The greatest pastime of the nobility was that of war, and the joust and the tournament were the most attractive amusements because they most resembled war. The young men engaged in a sport known as tilting at quintain, which was designed to prepare them for warfare. The figure of a Saracen with a saber or club in its right hand and a shield on the left arm was hung up so that it would turn about very readily. A young man on horseback with a lance or something similar, as in a joust, would ride at the figure and strive to strike it between the eyes or on the nose, for if some other part was struck the figure would be turned round so as to give the rider a blow on the back with the saber or club, which not only brought a laugh at his expense, but also helped to teach the young candidate for knighthood to aim accurately another time. This was practiced on other objects, as, tilting at a tree or post or at a ring. Another military exercise was throwing the spear or javelin, which might be at the quintain or some other object or to throw it to the greatest distance. Learning to throw with the sling was also another military exercise. Another great sport in the early times of this period was that of archery. Foot-races took place and likewise wrestling.

Hunting has ever been a great sport in England. The ancient Britons were hunters, as were the Saxons and also the Danes in England. But it remained for the Normans to bring hunting to a system, for they were not content to hunt in an open country, but took up thousands of acres and enclosed them in parks and stocked them with game and prohibited the common people from hunting within them, passing severe laws against such. There was a form of hunting that is most striking and became a great rage, which was hawking or falconry. This was greatly indulged in by both men and women and the birds they used for taking the other birds were highly trained and brought great prices. This was the sport of the gentility and common people were not at all allowed to partake of it. Fishing was another sport, as was horse-racing and bull-baiting and cock-fighting. Throwing at cocks was another brutal amusement, wherein a heavy stick was thrown at a bird and if knocked over it belonged to the thrower if he could run and catch it before it could get to its feet.

The people managed so as to get quite a bit of pleasure out of their religion. One pastime was the wakes. On an evening preceding a saint's day the people went with lighted candles to the church, which was originally for the purpose of worship, but later it came to be a time for dancing and singing and eating, hawkers and peddlers congregating about the church to serve the crowd. Another church affair was the church ales. The church officials would brew a large quantity of ale before a holiday when there would be gatherings of people who bought and drank the ale, the profits being used for the good of the church. Another amusement was hocking, which took place on the Monday or Tuesday following the second Sunday after Easter. Men would hold a rope across a road and take toll of every woman passing or else women would have charge of the rope and collect toll off the men, the receipts going into the church treasury. The miracle and morality plays and the like, too, though intended as a means of instruction, became really a form of amusement for the masses.

Christmas was a great time for merry-making. One of the affairs at the time was mumming. Masks were used and disguises put on so as to impersonate all kinds of people and even animals. These mummers would make calls on people and sometimes even on high personages, making their entrances and exits without saying anything. May-day was a great occasion. Upon this day the houses would be decorated with flowers and branches from trees. There would be the dance about the May-pole and many games and plays. There were fair days, when people came together for traffic and for sports. There were sack races for the young men and smock races for the young women. Also there were wheelbarrow races and other kinds of races and contests. One such contest was the grinning match, where each person in the contest would thrust his head through a horse's collar and they would then vie with one another in grinning. In the yawning match, they would wait till late at night when all were tired and sleepy and then each would try to yawn the greatest. The one that yawned the widest and the most naturally and would thereby cause the most yawns from all present would win the prize.

It was a custom during this period for kings and great nobles to have Fools, who were the butt of all and who made all the butt of their jokes. They also kept minstrels in their households. Sometimes these minstrels played on different kinds of musical instruments and formed a musical band. Among the musical instruments were the ruible (a two-stringed instrument played with a bow), the veille (an instrument somewhat like a violin), the gitern (a kind of guitar), the harp, bagpipe, trumpet, pipe, lute, dulcimer, tambourine, and cymbals. There were a number of other kinds of entertainers, as, acrobats, rope-walkers, jugglers, contortionists, and conjurers. There was wire-dancing, rope-dancing, ballet-dancing, and sword-dancing. There were dancing bears and trained monkeys. There were entertainers who disguised themselves as birds and other animals and imitated their actions and cries. Dancing was, also, an amusement of the middle ages and it was indulged in by the nobility and all classes of the people.

There were plays acted in the castles and the towns and the colleges and the schools and even in the churches in the way of mysteries and moralities. There were strolling bands of players that attended wakes and fairs and played in barns and taverns and even in the farmhouse kitchen, wherever they might find place. "I shall transcribe out of Hall a description of a play which was acted by the boys of St. Paul's School, in 1527, at Greenwich. The occasion was the despatch of a French embassy to England, when Europe was outraged by the Duke of Bourbon's capture of Rome, when the children of Francis I. were prisoners in Spain, and Henry, with the full energy of his fiery nature, was flinging himself into a quarrel with Charles V. as the champion of the Holy See.

"At the conclusion of a magnificent supper 'the king led the ambassadors into the great chamber of disguisings; and in the end of the same chamber was a fountain, and on one side was a hawthorne tree, all of silk, with white flowers, and on the other side was a mulberry tree full of fair berries, all of silk. On the top of the hawthorne were the arms of England, compassed with the collar of the order of St. Michael, and in the top of the mulberry tree stood the arms of France within a garter. The fountain was all of white marble, graven and chased; the bases of the same were balls of gold, supported by ramping beasts wound in leaves of gold. In the first work were gargoylles of gold, fiercely faced, with spouts running. The second conceit of this fountain was environed with winged serpents, all of gold, which griped it; and on the summit of the same was a fair lady, out of whose breasts ran abundantly water of marvellous delicious savour. About this fountain were benches of rosemary, fretted in braydes laid on gold, all the sides set with roses, on branches as they were growing about this fountain. On the benches sate eight fair ladies in strange attire, and so richly apparelled in cloth of gold, embroidered and cut over silver, that I cannot express the cunning workmanship thereof. Then when the king and queen were set, there was played before them, by children, in the Latin tongue, a manner of tragedy, the effect whereof was that the pope was in captivity and the church brought under foot. Whereupon St. Peter appeared and put the cardinal (Wolsey) in authority to bring the pope to his liberty, and to set up the church again. And so the cardinal made intercession with the kings of England and France that they took part together, and by their means the pope was delivered. Then in came the French king's children, and complained to the cardinal how the emperour kept them as hostages, and would not come to reasonable point with their father, whereupon they desired the cardinal to help for their deliverance; which wrought so with the king his master and the French king that he brought the emperour to a peace, and caused the young princess to be delivered.'"216

The game of dice was found in England from an early period, as the Saxons, Danes, and Normans were much given to it, and during the Middle Ages dice were in great force and much used in gambling. There were also chess and draughts and domino and backgammon. Cards came into use late in this period, perhaps not earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century, and seem not to have been much used in England before the middle of the fifteenth century. Gambling was very common among all classes, so much so that one of the restrictions in the indenture of apprentices was that they should keep from places where gambling was carried on. Some of the guilds had to pass laws that no help would be given a member who got into trouble or fell into poverty through playing dice.

Ball-playing was engaged in during the Middle Ages, just as in all ages and in all countries. The ball was, perhaps, more of a favorite in England than in any other country in Europe. They had club-ball, one player throwing the ball and another striking it with a straight club; cambuc or bandy-ball was probably a kind of golf, as the ball was struck on the ground with a curved club, called a bandy; pall-mall must have been a kind of croquet, as a wooden ball was used which was struck with a mallet and driven through arches of iron, there being an arch at each end of the grounds; in hand-ball the ball was struck with the palms of the hands against a wall or over something, being somewhat like tennis without a racket, and then later tennis with net and racket came to be played; there was foot-ball, the ball being kicked about by the foot.

Tip cat was a game played with a piece of wood called a cat, pointed at each end much like a double cone, which was laid on the ground in the center of a large ring; the player would strike one end of the cat with a stick, causing it to fly upward, which he then tried to strike to knock it out of the ring. There was bowling, many villages having bowling-greens. They also played quoits, fox and geese, and other kinds of outdoor games.

Young people played in the games and indulged in the sports mentioned in the foregoing and children played many of them, and also they had many other sports, such as spinning tops, catching butterflies and beetles, playing blind man's buff, and the like.