In the romance of “Sir Degrevant,” when the lady Myldore has sent for her lover to come privately to her chamber at night, she orders her maiden to prepare a fire, and place fagots of fir-wood to keep it burning-- _Damesele, loke ther be_ _A fuyre in the chymené;_ _Fagattus of fyre-tre,_ _That fetchyd was yare_ (formerly). --Thornton Romances, p. 234. A board is placed on trestles to form a table, and a dainty supper is served, which the lady carves for her lover, and she further treats him with rich wines. In the romance of “Queen Berthe” (p. 102), three persons, holding a secret consultation in the chamber of one of their party, sit on carpets (_sur les tapis_); but these were no doubt embroidered cloths thrown over the seats. Floor-carpets were sometimes used in the chambers, but this was uncommon, and they seem to have been more usually, like the hall, strewed with rushes. It appears that sometimes, as a refinement in gaiety, flowers were mixed with the rushes. In a fabliau in Meon (i. 75), a lady who expects her lover, lights a fire in the chamber, and spreads rushes and flowers on the floor-- _Vient à l’ostel, lo feu esclaire,_ _Jons et flors espandre par l’aire._ There was an _escrin_, or cabinet, which stood against the wall, which was often so large that a man might conceal himself behind it. The plot of several mediæval stories turns upon this circumstance. Chests and coffers were also kept in the chamber; and it contained generally a small table, or at least the board and trestles for making one, which the lord or lady of the house used when they would dine or sup in private. The practice of thus dining or supping privately in the chamber is not unfrequently alluded to in the old stories and romances. Supper, however, being the second meal in the day at which the whole household met together, was generally a more public one, and was held, like the dinner, in the hall, and with much the same forms and services. It was preceded and closed by the same washing of hands, and the table was almost as plentifully covered with viands. After having washed, the company drank round, and it seems to have been the usual custom, on leaving the supper-table, to go immediately to bed, for people in general kept early hours. Thus, in one of the pious stories printed by Meon, in describing a royal supper-party, we are told that, “when they had eaten and washed, they drunk, and then went to bed”-- _Qant orent mengié, si laverent,_ _Puis burent, et couchier alerent._ And in another story in the same collection, the lady receives a stranger to supper in a very hospitable manner--“when they had eaten leisurely, then it was time to go to bed”-- _Qant orent mengié par loisir,_ _Si su heure d’aler gesir._ Sometimes, however, there were dancing and other amusements between supper and bed-time. Thus, in the romance of “Sir Degrevant,”--