her heart, was careful not to speak more with him than with another;
but their eyes delighted to reveal to the heart what was the thing on
earth that they loved best. And now the time came that he thought he
could take arms if he were knighted; and this he greatly desired,
thinking that he would do such things that, if he lived, his mistress
should esteem him."[10]

Life in a Norman castle was at best hard and comfortless. In summer it
was enlivened by hunting and hawking, by tournaments and pageantry. The
gardens which usually surrounded a castle formed a resource for the
female portion of the inhabitants, who are often represented in the
illuminations of the time as occupied in tending the flowers or in
making garlands. But in winter there were few comforts to lessen the
suffering, and few resources to vary the monotony of life. The passages
in the romances which hail the return of spring, are full of
thankfulness and delight. Chess, dice, and cards, as well as many
frolicsome games, served, with the aid of the minstrels, to afford
amusement. The women had their occupations of spinning, sewing, and
embroidery, while some of the accomplishments they cultivated may be
inferred from the following passage in the folio of old Sir Joshua
Barnes: "And now the ladies themselves, with many noble virgins, were
meditating the various measures their skilful feet were to make, the
pleasant aires their sweet voices should warble, and those soft
divisions their tender fingers should strike on the yielding
strings."[11] Life was lacking in physical comforts, and still more in
refinement. The dining-hall became at night the sleeping place of a
promiscuous crowd of retainers. There was a very imperfect separation
of the sexes at any time. Men and women ate with their fingers, and
threw the refuse of their meal on the table, or amidst the straw on the
floor, to be devoured by the cats and dogs which swarmed about. Read