The guests are seated at a round table, near which stands a cupbearer, who is pouring out some kind of drink from a large vase-shaped vessel, resembling the Roman amphora. In the centre of the picture a man and woman, evidently professionals, are dancing to music, which consists of a harp (played by two men), two trumpet-shaped instruments, apparently buffalo horns, and one of which appears to have stops or keys, and a species of guitar. At one side of the picture is a person (of which sex it is impossible to say) who, it is thought by the author of the work which contains the picture, is about to join the players, but who seems to us to be engaged in recitation.[216] It is not our province to enter further into the amusements which were engaged in during these feasts, but it may be mentioned in passing, that amongst them were gambling with dice, witnessing sleight-of-hand performances, acrobatic exercises, &c. That the feasts very often terminated in deadly strife is certain from the accounts that are still extant. Here is the translation of part of an Anglo-Saxon legend in which the Evil Spirit describes the influence which he exercises over the festive board:— “Some I by wiles have drawn To strife prepared, That they suddenly Old grudges Have renewed, Drunken with beer; I to them poured Discord from the cup, So that in the social hall, Through gripe of sword, The soul let forth From the body.”[217] Women joined the men in their feasts; but it is said that, as in recent times, they retired from the table before the heavy drinking began, and the blood of the company was roused. The lower classes, both men and women, frequented taverns, of which there were many all over the country, and there they were joined by the more dissolute of the clergy, who were always welcome guests at such parties. Inns were very rare, and the result was, that, as in all primitive races or sparsely peopled countries, travellers were received in private and religious houses, and the practice of hospitality was universal. But whilst it is beyond doubt that in Anglo-Saxon times both laity and clergy drank to excess, it is only due to the latter to say that the great preachers denounced drunkenness, and visited it with more or less severe punishment. We have referred to the canons that were framed against it, extracts from a few of which, accompanied by references to the cause of their promulgation, may be found interesting, and will save the necessity of repetition at a later period, for they were promulgated time after time in a modified form by the Councils of the Church.