Schlangenbad, a short distance from Mayence: the effect of the Schlangenbad waters on the skin is really wonderful; it seems like exaggeration or fancy on the part of those who have described them already, to say that one quarter of an hour’s luxurious lying under their clear soft surface, should be able to produce such an impression. Yet so it is, in sober earnest. I think it was two days at least before the effect of even one bath went off; and when, forgetting what manner of man or woman we had become in it, we afterwards happened to pass our hands over our foreheads, either for want of thought, or in search of some stray thought that had made its escape, the agreeable contact waked us suddenly to the sense of the soothing, softening influence of the waters. ❦ [Sidenote: Traditions.] In the thirteenth century the two chief meals were dinner and supper, the first at nine in the morning, the supper at five in the afternoon. The greatest luxury and magnificence were displayed at those repasts, and the side tables were highly ornamented, and covered with various fermented liquors, as mead, ale, beer, and, above all, rich wines of English growth. At the celebration in London of the marriage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and Cincia, daughter of Redmond, Earl of Provence (A. D. 1243), there were above thirty thousand dishes served at the marriage dinner. An unlimited hospitality reigned in the castles of great barons: their gates were ever open to strangers of condition, as well as their own vassals, friends, and followers. It is evident that the immense halls to be seen in the remains of ancient structures, were built to accommodate vast numbers of guests of all ranks; and the little window above, opening from a recess of the state apartment, was evidently intended in order that the guests should be seen assembling, before the lord of the mansion and persons of dignity went down to the common repast. In the middle of each table stood a large salt-cellar, and it was a mark of distinction whether a person sat above or below the salt. Particular care was taken to place the guests according to their rank. ❦ [Sidenote: Serenades.] It has been wittily said of the Sicilians, that no person could pass for a man of gallantry who had not got a _cold_, and was sure never to succeed with his mistress unless he made love in a _hoarse voice_. This arose from the custom of serenading the object of preference during the hours of the night, by the execution of vocal and instrumental music under their balconies. The Sicilians are a nation of poets; and the lover who cannot celebrate his mistress’s charms in verse, would be thought unworthy of her attention. ❦ [Sidenote: Ancient Poetry.]