Lamps were used where a light was wanted in a room for a long time, because they lasted longer without requiring snuffing. The lamps of the middle ages were made usually on the plan of those of the Romans, consisting, as in the foregoing example, of a small vessel of earthenware or metal, which was filled with oil, and a wick placed in it. This lamp was placed on a stand, or was sometimes suspended on a beam, or perch, or against the wall. We have an example of this in the preceding cut (No. 179), which explains the term _mortier_ (mortar) of the fabliau, it was a wick swinging in oil in a basin. Our cut No. 180, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the British Museum (MS. Harl., No. 1227), represents a row of lamps of rather curious form, made to be suspended. In our next cut (No. 181), from a manuscript of the same date (MS. Reg. 2 B. vii.), we have lamps of a somewhat similar form, made to be carried in the hand. [Illustration: _No. 180. Mediæval Lamps._] [Illustration: _No. 181. Men carrying Lamps._] Torches were used at greater festivals, and for occasions where it was necessary to give light to very large halls full of company. They were usually held in the hand by servants, but were sometimes placed against the wall in holds made to receive them. Torches were not unfrequently used to give light to the chamber also. In one of the stories of the “Seven Sages,” a man, bringing a person in secret to the king’s chamber, “blewe out the torche,” in order to cause perfect darkness (Weber, iii. 63); and in the early English romance of “Sir Degrevant” (Weber, iii. 213), where light is wanted in a lady’s chamber, it is obtained by means of the torches. There were other means of giving light, on a still greater scale, which I shall describe in a subsequent chapter, when treating of the fifteenth century. CHAPTER XII. THE BED AND ITS FURNITURE.--THE TOILETTE; BATHING.--CHESTS AND COFFERS IN THE CHAMBER.--THE HUTCH.--USES OF RINGS.--COMPOSITION OF THE FAMILY.--FREEDOM OF MANNERS.--SOCIAL SENTIMENTS, AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.