war and of the chase, and there were at each corner folding doors which
gave access to the other parts of the extensive building.

"The other appointments of the mansion partook of the rude simplicity of
the Saxon period, which Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining. The floor
was composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard substance, such
as is often employed in flooring our modern barns. For about one quarter
of the length of the apartment, the floor was raised by a step, and this
space, which was called the daïs, was occupied only by the principal
members of the family and visitors of distinction. For this purpose a
table richly covered with scarlet cloth was placed transversely across the
platform, from the middle of which ran the longer and lower board, at
which the domestics and inferior persons fed, down towards the bottom of
the hall. The whole resembled the form of the letter T, or some of
those ancient dinner tables which, arranged on the same principles, may
still be seen in the ancient colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. Massive
chairs and settles of carved oak were placed upon the daïs, and over these
seats and the elevated table was fastened a canopy of cloth, which served
in some degree to protect the dignitaries who occupied that distinguished
station from the weather, and especially from the rain, which in some
places found its way through the ill-constructed roof. The walls of this
upper end of the hall, as far as the daïs extended, were covered with
hangings or curtains, and upon the floor there was a carpet, both of
which were adorned with some attempts at tapestry or embroidery, executed
with brilliant or rather gaudy colouring. Over the lower range of table
the roof had no covering, the rough plastered walls were left bare, the
rude earthen floor was uncarpeted, the board was uncovered by a cloth, and
rude massive benches supplied the place of chairs. In the centre of the
upper table were placed two chairs more elevated than the rest, for the
master and mistress of the family. To each of these was added a footstool