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courtiers. Serlo, a Norman bishop, acquired great honour by a sermon which he preached before Henry I., A.D. 1104, against long and curled hair, and which so affected the King and his courtiers that they consented to resign their flowing ringlets, of which they had been so vain. The prudent prelate gave them no time to change their minds, but immediately pulled a pair of shears out of his sleeve, and performed the operation with his own hand.

The Normans had as great an aversion to beards as they had a fondness for long hair; among them, to allow the beard to grow was an indication of the deepest distress and misery. They not only shaved their beards themselves, but, when they had authority, they obliged others to imitate their example. It is mentioned by some of our ancient historians, as one of the most wanton acts of tyranny in William the Conqueror, that he compelled the English (who had been accustomed to allow the hair of their upper lips to grow) to shave their whole beards. This was so disagreeable to some of the people, that they chose rather to abandon their country than resign their whiskers.

The vestments of the Normans-as may be seen from our engravings-were, at the time of the Conquest, and for some time after, simple, convenient, and even graceful; before the end of this period, however, they degenerated not a little from their simplicity, and became fantastical enough in some particulars. The bonnets of kings, earls, and barons-especially those which they used at public solemnities-were of the finest cloths or richest furs, and adorned with pearls and precious stones. The shirts of all persons of rank and fortune, and even of the great body of the people, were of linen. The Jews were obliged to wear square caps of yellow colour, to distinguish them from other people.

Doublets or circoats were worn next the shirt, and made to fit the shape of the body. This vestment appears to have been used shorter or longer at different times, and even at the same time by persons of different ranks. For awhile the circoats of kings, and persons of quality, reached almost to their feet; those of the common people reached no lower than the middle of the thigh, that they might not incommode them in labouring. The sleeves of these doublets reached to the wrists. They were put on over the head, like a shirt, and made fast about the waist with a belt or girdle. The girdles of kings were commonly embroidered with gold, and set with precious stones.

The shoes of the Normans, when they settled in England, seem to have had nothing remarkable in their make; but in the time of William Rufus, a foolish fashion was introduced by one Robert, surnamed the Horned, from the shape of his shoes. He was a great beau in the Court of that Prince, and used shoes with long sharp points, stuffed with tow, and twisted like a ram's horn. This ridiculous fashion was admired as a happy invention, and adopted by almost all the nobility.

It is supposed, however correctly we know not, that the art of cookery was improved by the introduction of feudal tenures; for by them the office of cook in great families became hereditary, and had an estate annexed to it, which naturally engaged fathers to instruct their sons with care in the knowledge of an art to which they were destined by their birth. We even meet with estates held by the tenure of dressing one particular dish of meat.

People of rank and fortune had, as early as this period, several kinds of bread. That which is called in Latin panis piperatus, was made of the finest flour, mixed with spices. Simnel and wastel cakes were also made of the finest flour, and were

seldom seen, except at the tables of kings, prelates, barons, or monks. When the King of Scotland resided in the Court of England, he was, by charter, allowed twelve of the king's wastel cakes, and twelve of his simnel cakes every day for his table. But the most common bread used by persons in comfortable circumstances was made of the whole flour, coarse and fine, the price of which was very early settled by law, in proportion to the price of wheat. The common people had bread made of the meal of rye, barley, or oats.

Hunting among the men, and hawking among the women, were the favourite amusements of this age; and, indeed, the English ladies of this period applied so much to hawking, that they excelled the gentlemen in that art, which John of Salisbury very unpolitely produces as a proof that hawking was a trifling and frivolous amusement.

Chess, and several games at dice, were much studied and practised by persons of rank at this period; and the knowledge of such games was considered necessary to every gentleman who aspired to the honour of knighthood.

The well-known skill of the English ladies in embroidery has been already referred to. The most curious piece of work that has been preserved is the celebrated Bayeux tapestry. It is the work of Matilda, the wife of William, and is worked with different-coloured worsteds upon white cloth, to which time has given the tinge of brown holland. The drawing of the figures is rude and barbarous, and no attention has been paid to correctness of colour in the objects depicted; but for all that it is an interesting relic. There is a border at the top and bottom of the tapestry, consisting of some few of the fables of Esop-birds, animals, and other objects; and in that part where the battle of Hastings is represented, the dead bodies supply the border. It is still in existence at Caen, in the Museum.

Some idea may be formed of the labour such a product required, and of the industry of the Queen, when the reader is told that this piece of tapestry is 225 feet, or 75 yards in length, and about twenty inches in width. It represents, in regular succession, the events which preceded the Conquest, and the principal circumstances connected with it; and many learned persons, who have examined this elaborate work, consider that it embraces many events of which no other record now exists.

Fire-places appear to have been introduced about 1200, and only one chimney was allowed in a manor-house, one in a religious house, and one in the great hall of a castle, or a lord's house. Other houses had only the rede dosse, a sort of raised - hearth, where the inmates dressed their food, without any passage for the smoke.

Although coals were known to the Britons before the arrival of the Romans, and though they were known to, and partly used by, the Anglo-Saxons, they are not mentioned under the Danish usurpation, nor under the Norman rule. So much for the rude barbaric splendour of the conquerors. Saxon home-life comforts and joys sank slowly, but surely, under their sway; and with a mighty, rushing, irresistible force, the new comers bore all before them, leaving the nation scarcely time to feel the full force of the mighty change that was being effected by their instrumentality over the whole body of the people. A change! Yes, verily! But for good or for evil? Decide, dear reader. We dare not.

M. S. R.

AMONGST THE AMERICANS.

BY F. GERSTACKER.

PART II.

THE Oceanic rushes with terrible velocity through the water, and the sailor is well aware that all argument is now useless. He goes down to the woman, and tries to console her with a sorrowful face; but she runs back, shrieking and complaining to her children, and laments over the loss of her husband.

It would be, probably, not out of place here to give a short description of American steamers, as they differ materially, in every respect, from ours, and their internal arrangements may not be familiar to all our readers.

The American seeks, in all his undertakings and labours, to earn the largest possible sum in the shortest possible time; and, starting on this principle, arranges everything accordingly. The building of his steamers is a proof of this.

To be able to employ the hull of the vessel solely for freightage, and not to lose the space where he can accommodate a great number of passengers, he brings his engine on deck, and builds over it a storey which is kept for the convenience of the cabin passengers and officers of the vessel.

The centre of the deck is occupied by the engine, of which the smaller vessels have one or two, the larger from three to eight, which stand in a row close together, the boiler being forward. The Oceanic had five boilers. Very frequently, vessels may be seen with two engines, which either each work a paddle-wheel, or turn one together, which is placed at the stern of the vessel, and is called the "stern" wheel; the latter, however, is never very large. Behind the engine, and occupying about one-third of the deck, is the room arranged for the transport of between-deck passengers; and, as we shall be obliged to descend thither several times, we will take a closer look at it beforehand.

Towards the front, or, rather, at the centre of the boat, this room is open, and on both sides run rows of berths, roughly made of planks, three together, one above the other, and broad enough to accommodate two persons, if necessary, while the single bunks are divided from each other by short cross-boards. In the centre of this deck is an immense stove, employed for cooking, as the 'tween-deck passengers are not boarded. When many passengers are on board, this is always surrounded by cooks, whose labours raise the temperature of the deck, especially during the summer months, to an insupportable heat. Here, too, the 'tween-deck passengers have their boxes and trunks, and can do just exactly as they please.

On the larboard side of the vessel is usually the galley, with a larder attached, in which is an immense stove, to cook for the 100 and more deck passengers, as well as the officers.

Above all is the cabin, to which small ladders lead up on either side. A large dining-room forms the centre of it, and on both sides are little sleeping-cabins with glass doors, and each provided with two beds close together. Towards the centre of the vessel are several little apartments for the captain, mates, pilots, engineers, and the book-keeper, near which there is usually a little "bar-room," which, on board the Oceanic, was elegantly decorated; and between the cut glasses and bottles, filled with different coloured liqueurs and adorned with gay vignettes, were piled

up lemons, oranges, and pine-apples. In the middle of this little spirituous sanctuary-the whole was not more t. an eight feet broad and six feet high-was a piece of paper, framed and glazed, n which the words "No credit," in colossal letters, saved the passengers any useless inquiries on this subject.

The bar, as well as the dining-room, was decorated with a very elegant paperhanging, and some engravings representing events in Napoleon's campaigns, and portraits of first-rate steamers, among which, of course, was one of the Oceanic.

Immediately in the rear, and only separated by a very large glass door, hung with red curtains, was the ladies' cabin, arranged in a similar way to the diningcabin, with sleeping-cots on both sides; but the latter were decorated with tasteful drapery, while several rocking-chairs, for the convenience of the ladies, rendered it very comfortable. A little placard, however, over the door, with the expressive words "No admittance," prevented the entry of any gentlemen unless they received the special permission of the ladies.

The deck, which runs over these cabins, is covered all down the centre by a species of case, which is made of glass and lets in the light of day, and, at the same time, forms the flooring of the third, or hurricane-deck, which is covered with a sort of coarse sand, that it may not catch fire through the continual sparks that fall on it from the chimney. In fine weather this forms the promenade for the 'tween-deck passengers, as they must not stop on or before the first cabin.

Upon this, and quite in front, almost between the two immense iron chimneys, is the pilot's little wheel-house, which is encased in glass, to guard the steersman from rough weather, and, at the same time, allow him a free prospect in every direction, to immediately perceive and avoid every threatening drift or every dangerous "snag." Ropes run down from this wheel-house into the lower deck, and along its roof to the rudder. These ropes have lately been exchanged for wire on most of the boats, as the vessel, in case of fire, could not be steered by aid of the common ropes, which so rapidly caught the conflagration.

Having carefully examined the vessel, let us now go up into the cabin, to take a glance at our fellow-passengers. The number of male travellers might be about twenty, and the greater part of them were collected in the front of the cabin-deck —which furnished free passage for the cool river breeze-and were admiring the landscape and the splendid plantations that flew past them.

The Mississippi planter, however, who had been to New Orleans to sell his cotton, sat, without noticing the beautiful scenery-which he had seen Heaven knows how often-with his legs stretched out over the balcony that surrounded the deck, and was reading the Brother Jonathan. Near him, with his feet also on the balustrade, but with his hands comfortably folded on his round paunch, and regarding the cotton and sugar plantations with a satisfied smile, sat a little, portly man, who also possessed a plantation on the Atchafalaya, in Louisiana, but was now going up to St. Louis on business. He was talking with a tall young man, in a plain brown surtout, who was leaning against one of the pillars, and frequently smiled at the little man's dry jokes; but still there was something melancholy in his glances, which his neighbour's conversation might, perhaps, momentarily dissipate, but not banish.

He was a Virginian, and his open, honest glance, his lofty forehead, shadowed with dark hair, and the sharply-delineated brows, which arched boldly over his dark eyes, formed a marked contrast to the pale face and downcast eyes of his neighbour

to the right-a tall, thin man, whose features revealed deep, earnest reflection, and who sat biting his nails, and only raised his eyes at intervals to look timidly at those around him.

"No! deuce take it, sir!-what's your name though?" The little man again turned to the Virginian after one of his usual jokes. "My name is Simmonsand yours?"

"Gray," the young man in the brown coat replied, with a polite bow.

"Well then, Mr. Gray," Simmons continued, "you may say what you like, but you can't be angry with those confounded Irish, in spite of all their mistakes and nonsense."

"But, Mr. Simmons," Gray answered, "in that respect I do not at all contradict you. I never found more humour, more sound sense, more sharp, pointed wit, than among these Irish.”

"Just listen to what happened to me the night before last, in New Orleans," said Simmons. "I was in company with some friends, and we had drunk a good drop, and the sweet pine-apple punch did not at all agree with me-in short, I took my hat and went down into the street to cool myself. Well, the fresh air did me good, and I felt quite well again after I had walked up and down a couple of streets. I was then going to return to my friends, but, deuce take it! the streets are all so much alike that I could not find the house where they were. The infernal French name I had also forgotten; and I therefore determined, as it must be past midnight, to return to my hotel, the St. Charles. But, as I did not know the way there perfectly-for I was out almost in the third municipality-I went up to the first watchman I saw, and offered him a dollar if he would take me to the St. Charles.

"Jist come along, honey!' he said, with such a brogue that I could not mistake the Irishman. I therefore lounged along quietly by his side, until he suddenly stopped before a small house with green jalousies, and nodded to me to go in.

"But, good friend,' I said to him, that's not the house where I live. I want to go to St. Charles's Hotel.'

"And is it you that has to say where he'll go?' my hitherto leader asked in a loud voice. 'Isn't this the watch-house? and has not my mother's son brought you here?'

"But, hang it! what crime have I committed, that I must pass the night in the calebouse?' I asked, half angry, half laughing.

"Arrah, ochone!' the fellow now exclaimed, in the highest degree of astonishment at my audacity. Committed no crime? Didn't ye want to bribe me, sur ?'

"That was too much, and I began laughing tremendously; he, however, was very angry at it, and pushed me, before I could recover myself, into the open door, where I was immediately received by a couple of others, and handed on.

"I was beginning to protest in all seriousness, and to explain the matter to the inspector; but, unluckily, at the same moment, a whole swarm of noisy drunkards was brought in.

"I've no time to listen to every prisoner,' he said sharply. 'Take him away. And in a few minutes I sat on a hard bench behind an iron door, in the amiable society of rogues, drunkards, and thieves.

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