His dress was a tunic of forest green, furred at the throat and
cuffs with what was called minever; a kind of fur inferior in
quality to ermine, and formed, it is believed, of the skin of the
grey squirrel. This doublet hung unbuttoned over a close dress of
scarlet which sat tight to his body; he had breeches of the same,
but they did not reach below the lower part of the thigh, leaving
the knee exposed. His feet had sandals of the same fashion with the
peasants, but of finer materials, and secured in the front with
golden clasps. He had bracelets of gold upon his arms, and a broad
collar of the same precious metal around his neck. About his waist
he wore a richly-studded belt, in which was stuck a short straight
two-edged sword, with a sharp point, so disposed as to hang almost
perpendicularly by his side. Behind his seat was hung a scarlet
cloth cloak lined with fur, and a cap of the same materials richly
embroidered, which completed the dress of the opulent landholder
when he chose to go forth. A short boar-spear, with a broad and
bright steel head, also reclined against the back of his chair,
which served him, when he walked abroad, for the purposes of a staff
or of a weapon, as chance might require.Several domestics, whose dress held various proportions betwixt the
richness of their master's, and the coarse and simple attire of Gurth the swine-herd, watched the looks and waited the commands of
the Saxon dignitary. Two or three servants of a superior order stood
behind their master upon the dais; the rest occupied the lower part
of the hall. Other attendants there were of a different description;
two or three large and shaggy greyhounds, such as were then employed
in hunting the stag and wolf; as many slow-hounds of a large bony
breed, with thick necks, large heads, and long ears; and one or two
of the smaller dogs, now called terriers, which waited with
impatience the arrival of the supper; but, with the sagacious
knowledge of physiognomy peculiar to their race, forbore to intrude
upon the moody silence of their master, apprehensive probably of a
small white truncheon which lay by Cedric's trencher, for the
purpose of repelling the advances of his four-legged dependants. One
grisly old wolf-dog alone, with the liberty of an indulged favourite,
had planted himself close by the chair of state, and occasionally
ventured to solicit notice by putting his large hairy head upon his
master's knee, or pushing his nose into his hand. Even he was
repelled by the stern command, "Down, Balder, down! I am not in the
humour for foolery."
In fact, Cedric, as we have observed, was in no very placid state of
mind. The Lady Rowena, who had been absent to attend an evening mass
at a distant church, had but just returned, and was changing her
garments, which had been wetted by the storm. There were as yet no
tidings of Gurth and his charge, which should long since have been
driven home from the forest and such was the insecurity of the
period, as to render it probable that the delay might be explained
by some depreciation of the outlaws, with whom the adjacent forest
abounded, or by the violence of some neighbouring baron, whose
consciousness of strength made him equally negligent of the laws of
property. The matter was of consequence, for great part of the
domestic wealth of the Saxon proprietors consisted in numerous herds
of swine, especially in forest-land, where those animals easily
found their food.
Besides these subjects of anxiety, the Saxon thane was impatient for
the presence of his favourite clown Wamba, whose jests, such as they
were, served for a sort of seasoning to his evening meal, and to the
deep draughts of ale and wine with which he was in the habit of
accompanying it. Add to all this, Cedric had fasted since noon, and
his usual supper hour was long past, a cause of irritation common to
country squires, both in ancient and modern times. His displeasure
was expressed in broken sentences, partly muttered to himself,
partly addressed to the domestics who stood around; and particularly
to his cupbearer, who offered him from time to time, as a sedative,
a silver goblet filled with wine ---"Why tarries the Lady Rowena?"
"She is but changing her head-gear," replied a female attendant,
with as much confidence as the favourite lady's-maid usually answers
the master of a modern family; "you would not wish her to sit down
to the banquet in her hood and kirtle? and no lady within the shire
can be quicker in arraying herself than my mistress."
This undeniable argument produced a sort of acquiescent umph! on the
part of the Saxon, with the addition, "I wish her devotion may
choose fair weather for the next visit to St John's Kirk; ---but
what, in the name of ten devils," continued he, turning to the
cupbearer, and raising his voice as if happy to have found a channel
into which he might divert his indignation without fear or
control---"what, in the name of ten devils, keeps Gurth so long
afield? I suppose we shall have an evil account of the herd; he was
wont to be a faithful and cautious drudge, and I had destined him
for something better; perchance I might even have made him one of my
warders."*
* The original has "Cnichts", by which the Saxons seem to * have
designated a class of military attendants, sometimes * free,
sometimes bondsmen, but always ranking above an * ordinary domestic,
whether in the royal household or in * those of the aldermen and
thanes. But the term cnicht, * now spelt knight, having been
received into the English * language as equivalent to the Norman
word chevalier, I * have avoided using it in its more ancient sense,
to * prevent confusion. L. T.
Oswald the cupbearer modestly suggested, "that it was scarce an hour
since the tolling of the curfew;" an ill-chosen apology, since it
turned upon a topic so harsh to Saxon ears.
"The foul fiend," exclaimed Cedric, "take the curfew-bell, and the
tyrannical bastard by whom it was devised, and the heartless slave
who names it with a Saxon tongue to a Saxon ear! The curfew!" he
added, pausing, "ay, the curfew; which compels true men to
extinguish their lights, that thieves and robbers may work their
deeds in darkness!--- Ay, the curfew;---Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and
Philip de Malvoisin know the use of the curfew as well as William
the Bastard himself, or e'er a Norman adventurer that fought at
Hastings. I shall hear, I guess, that my property has been swept off
to save from starving the hungry banditti, whom they cannot support
but by theft and robbery. My faithful slave is murdered, and my
goods are taken for a prey --and Wamba---where is Wamba? Said not
some one he had gone forth with Gurth?"
Oswald replied in the affirmative.
"Ay? why this is better and better! he is carried off too, the Saxon
fool, to serve the Norman lord. Fools are we all indeed that serve
them, and fitter subjects for their scorn and laughter, than if we
were born with but half our wits. But I will be avenged," he added,
starting from his chair in impatience at the supposed injury, and
catching hold of his boar-spear; "I will go with my complaint to the
great council; I have friends, I have followers---man to man will I
appeal the Norman to the lists; let him come in his plate and his
mail, and all that can render cowardice bold; I have sent such a
javelin as this through a stronger fence than three of their war
shields!---Haply they think me old; but they shall find, alone and
childless as I am, the blood of Hereward is in the veins of
Cedric.---Ah, Wilfred, Wilfred!" he exclaimed in a lower tone,
"couldst thou have ruled thine unreasonable passion, thy father had
not been left in his age like the solitary oak that throws out its
shattered and unprotected branches against the full sweep of the
tempest!" The reflection seemed to conjure into sadness his
irritated feelings. Replacing his javelin, he resumed his seat, bent
his looks downward, and appeared to be absorbed in melancholy
reflection.
From his musing, Cedric was suddenly awakened by the blast of a
horn, which was replied to by the clamorous yells and barking of all
the dogs in the hall, and some twenty or thirty which were quartered
in other parts of the building. It cost some exercise of the white
truncheon, well seconded by the exertions of the domestics, to
silence this canine clamour.
"To the gate, knaves!" said the Saxon, hastily, as soon as the
tumult was so much appeased that the dependants could hear his
voice. "See what tidings that horn tells us of---to announce, I ween,
some hership and robbery which has been done upon my lands." |
