There can be no doubt that all this must have made an extremely dirty floor. Another rather _naïve_ direction shows that no more attention was paid to the cleanliness of the benches and seats; it is considered necessary to tell the scholar always to look at his seat before he sits down at table, to a assure himself that there is nothing dirty upon it!-- _Enfant, prens de regarder peine_ _Sur le siege où tu te sierras,_ _Se aucune chose y verras_ _Qui soit deshonneste ou vilaine._ The fireplace at the side of the hall, with hearth and chimney, were now in general use. An example is given in our last cut; another will be seen in our cut No. 239, and here, though evidently in the hall, and a monastic hall too, the process of cooking is pursued at it. The monks appear to be taking a joyous repast, not quite in keeping with the strict rule of their order, and the way in which they are conducting themselves towards the women who have been introduced into the monastery does not speak in favour of monastic continence. This picture is from a manuscript bible, of the fifteenth century, in the National Library at Paris (No. 6829). Manners at table appear to have been losing some of the strictness and stiffness of their ceremonial, while they retained their rudeness. The bowl of water was carried round to the guests, and each washed his hands before dinner, but the washing after dinner appears now to have been commonly omitted. In one of the directions for table already quoted, the scholar is told that he must wash himself when he rises from bed in the morning, once at dinner, and once at supper, in all thrice a day:-- _Enfant, d’honneur lave tes mains_ _A ton lever, à ton disner,_ _Et puis au soupper, sans finer;_ _Ce sont trois foys à tout le moins._ And again, in another similar code,-- _Lave tes mains devant disner,_ _Et aussi quant vouldras soupper._ [Illustration: _No. 239. A Monastic Feast._] Still people put their victuals to their mouth with their fingers, for, though forks were certainly known in the previous century, they were not used for conveying the food to the mouth. It was considered, nevertheless, bad manners to carry the victuals to the mouth with the knife-- _Ne faiz pas ton morsel conduire_ _A ton coustel qui te peult nuire._