_Thai set trestes, and bordes on layd;_ _Thai spred clathes and salt on set,_ _And made redy unto the mete;_ _Thai set forth water and towelle._ The company, however, sometimes washed before going to the table, and for this purpose there were lavours, or lavatories, in the hall itself, or sometimes outside. The signal for washing was then given by the blowing of trumpets, or by the music of the minstrels. Thus, in the English metrical romance of Richard Cœur de Lion, _At noon à laver the waytes blewe_, meaning, of course, the canonical hour of _none_. Grace was also said at the commencement, or at the end, of the meal, but this part of the ceremony is but slightly alluded to in the old writers. Having washed, the guests seated themselves at table. Then the attendants spread the cloths over the tables; they then placed on them the salt-cellars and the knives; and next the bread, and the wine in drinking cups. All this is duly described in the following lines of an old romance:-- _Quant lavé orent, si s’asistrent,_ _Et li serjant les napes mistrent,_ _Desus les dobliers blans et biax,_ _Les saliers et les coutiax,_ _Après lou pain, puis lo vin_ _Et copes d’argent et d’or fin._ Spoons were also usually placed on the table, but there were no forks, the guests using their fingers instead, which was the reason they were so particular in washing before and after meat. The tables being thus arranged, it remained for the cooks to serve up the various prepared dishes. At table the guests were not only placed in couples, but they also eat in couples, two being served with the same food and in the same plate. This practice is frequently alluded to in the early romances and fabliaux. In general the arrangement of the couples was not left to mere chance, but individuals who were known to be attached to each other, or who were near relatives, were placed together. In the poem of La Mule sanz Frain, the lady of the castle makes Sir Gawain sit by her side, and eat out of the same plate with her, as an act of friendly courtesy. In the fabliau of Trubert, a woman, taken into the household of a duke, is seated at table beside the duke’s daughter, and eats out of the same plate with her, because the young lady had conceived an affectionate feeling for the visitor. So, again, in the story of the provost of Aquilée, the provost’s lady, receiving a visitor sent by her husband (who was absent), placed him at table beside her, to eat with her, and the rest of the party were similarly seated, “two and two:”-- _La dame première s’assist,_ _Son hoste lez lui seoir fist,_ _Car mengier voloit avec lui;_ _Li autre furent dui et dui._ --Méon Fabliaux, ii. 192.