School Reading by Grades: Sixth Year Part 9

Squatted around the door or on the stair leading to the Norman dining hall, was a crowd of beggars or lickers, who grew so insolent in the days of Rufus, that ushers, armed with rods, were posted outside to beat back the noisy throng, who thought little of s.n.a.t.c.hing the dishes as the cooks carried them to table!

The juggler, who under the Normans filled the place of the English gleeman, tumbled, sang, and balanced knives in the hall; or out in the bailey of an afternoon displayed the acquirements of his trained monkey or bear. The fool, too, clad in colored patchwork, cracked his ribald jokes and shook his cap and bells at the elbow of roaring barons, when the board was spread and the circles of the wine began.

While knights hunted in the greenwood or tilted in the lists, and jugglers tumbled in the noisy hall, the monk in the quiet scriptorium compiled chronicles of pa.s.sing events, copied valuable ma.n.u.scripts, and painted rich borders and brilliant initials on every page. These illuminations form a valuable set of materials for our pictures of life in the Middle Ages.

Monasteries served many useful purposes at the time of which I write.

Besides their manifest value as centers of study and literary work, they gave alms to the poor, a supper and a bed to travelers; their tenants were better off and better treated than the tenants of the n.o.bles; the monks could store grain, grow apples, and cultivate their flower beds with little risk of injury from war, because they had spiritual thunders at their call, which awed even the most reckless of the soldiery into a respect for sacred property.

Splendid structures those monasteries generally were, since that vivid taste for architecture which the Norman possessed in a high degree, and which could not find room for its display in the naked strength of the solid keep, lavished its entire energy and grace upon buildings lying in the safe shadow of the Cross. Nor was architectural taste the only reason for their magnificence. Since they were nearly all erected as offerings to Heaven, the religion of the age impelled the pious builders to spare no cost in decorating the exterior with fretwork and sculpture of Caen stone, the interior with gilded cornices and windows of painted gla.s.s.

As schools, too, the monasteries did no trifling service to society in the Middle Ages. In addition to their influence as great centers of learning, English law had enjoined every ma.s.s priest to keep a school in his parish church, where all the young committed to his care might be instructed. This custom continued long after the Norman Conquest.

In the Trinity College Psalter we have a picture of a Norman school, where the pupils sit in a circular row around the master as he lectures to them from a long roll of ma.n.u.script. Two writers sit by the desk, busy with copies resembling that which the teacher holds.

The youth of the middle cla.s.ses, destined for the cloister or the merchant's stall, chiefly thronged these schools. The aristocracy cared little for book-learning. Very few indeed of the barons could read or write. But all could ride, fence, tilt, play, and carve extremely well; for to these accomplishments many years of pagehood and squirehood were given.

The foregoing description of manners and customs during the age of feudalism has been adapted from a popular "History of England," by W.

F. Collier. A much fuller description may be found in Knight's "History of England," and in Green's "Short History of the English People." The period described was in many respects the most romantic in the history of the world, and many delightful and instructive books have been written concerning it. Read Scott's "Ivanhoe" and "The Talisman." Reference may also be had to Pauli's "Pictures of Old England," and Jusserand's "English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages."

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Elizabeth Barrett Browning.]

"So the dreams depart, So the fading phantoms flee, And the sharp reality Now must act its part."

--_Westwood's "Beads from a Rosary."_

I.

Little Ellie sits alone 'Mid the beeches of a meadow, By a stream side on the gra.s.s, And the trees are showering down Doubles of their leaves in shadow, On her shining hair and face.

II.

She has thrown her bonnet by, And her feet she has been dipping In the shallow water's flow; Now she holds them nakedly In her hands, all sleek and dripping, While she rocketh to and fro.

III.

Little Ellie sits alone, And the smile she softly uses Fills the silence like a speech, While she thinks what shall be done, And the sweetest pleasure chooses For her future within reach.

IV.

Little Ellie in her smile Chooses, "I will have a lover, Riding on a steed of steeds: He shall love me without guile, And to _him_ I will discover The swan's nest among the reeds.

V.

"And the steed shall be red roan, And the lover shall be n.o.ble, With an eye that takes the breath.

And the lute he plays upon Shall strike ladies into trouble, As his sword strikes men to death.

VI.

"And the steed it shall be shod All in silver, housed in azure; And the mane shall swim the wind; And the hoofs along the sod Shall flash onward, and keep measure, Till the shepherds look behind.

VII.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in, When he gazes in my face.

He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes Build the shrine my soul abides in, And I kneel here for thy grace!'

VIII.

"Then, aye, then he shall kneel low, With the red-roan steed anear him, Which shall seem to understand, Till I answer, 'Rise and go!

For the world must love and fear him Whom I gift with heart and hand.'

IX.

"Then he will arise so pale, I shall feel my own lips tremble With a _yes_ I must not say: Nathless maiden brave, 'Farewell,'

I will utter, and dissemble-- 'Light to-morrow with to-day!'

X.

"Then he'll ride among the hills To the wide world past the river, There to put away all wrong, To make straight distorted wills, And to empty the broad quiver Which the wicked bear along.

XI.

"Three times shall a young foot page Swim the stream, and climb the mountain, And kneel down beside my feet: 'Lo! my master sends this gage, Lady, for thy pity's counting.

What wilt thou exchange for it?'

XII.

"And the first time I will send A white rosebud for a guerdon-- And the second time, a glove; But the third time--I may bend From my pride, and answer--'Pardon, If he comes to take my love.'

XIII.