23. A family dinner. From the MS. Addit. 28162, in the British Museum, fol. 10 _b_, early fourteenth century; French. Note the carver, the cup-bearer, the musicians, the marshal of the hall, whose mission it is to expel objectionable intruders, whether men or dogs. In the present case, while this officer is expelling a very objectionable lazar, come under pretence of sprinkling the diners with holy water, a little further a dog seizes his opportunity, and gets hold of a fish on the table. The carver grasps the meat with his left hand; forks then were unknown, but good breeding was, nevertheless, not neglected, and it consisted in the server’s touching the meat only with the _left_ hand. Writing later than the time we speak of, John Russell, marshal of the hall to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester (fifteenth century), adds one refinement more, that is to use only three fingers of the left hand. This was, in his mind, the acme of fine breeding: “Sett never on fysche nor flesche, nor fowle trewly, Moore than ij fyngurs and a thombe, for that is curtesie. Touche never with youre right hande no maner mete surely.” “Boke of Nurture” (Furnivall, 1868, p. 137). It may be seen from our picture that part of these niceties was unknown yet to carvers in the first half of the fourteenth century. The whole of the left hand is used to grasp the meat • 109 24. “A cooke thei hadde . . . To boyle chiknes and the mary bones.” From the illumination in the Ellesmere MS. of the “Canterbury Tales.” The pot-hooks with three prongs, which he carries, were the distinctive attribute of cooks and cookmaids, and appear on all representations of such people: several are to be found in the Louterell psalter; see “Vetusta Monumenta,” vol. vi., the Roy. MS. 10 E. IV., _passim_, &c. They used it to turn the meat and take it out of the deep round-bellied pots, standing on three legs over the fire, which were then in common use • 116 25. The new habits of luxury; a gentleman, helped by two attendants, dressing before the fire in his bedroom. From the MS. 2 B. vii., in the British Museum, fol. 72 _b_, English, early fourteenth century • 127 Of this luxury, of the spread of the use of chimneys, &c., Langland, as a satirist, complains; and this, as a marshal of the hall, John Russell a little later recommends as the proper method of dressing for a gentleman. He then thus addresses the attendant: “Than knele down on youre kne, and thus to youre soverayn ye say: ‘Syr, what robe or govn pleseth it yow to were today?’” &c. “Boke of Nurture” (Furnivall, 1868, p. 178). 26. An English inn of the fourteenth century. From the Louterell psalter • 129 27. The New Inn, Gloucester, originally built for pilgrims, middle of the fifteenth century, still in use • 131 28. On the roadside; the alehouse. From the MS. 10 E. IV., in the British Museum, fol. 114 _b_; English, fourteenth century • 133