Sovereigns who affected great munificence had buffets of metal; there were three—one for silver, one for silver-gilt, and one for gold. At the banquet which the King of France, Charles V., gave to the Emperor Charles IV., his uncle, each of the three buffets was of the same metal as the plate it supported.[XXXI_21]
After the birth of a child, ladies, when they received visits, had a dresser placed in their room. Those of countesses and great ladies had three shelves; those of the wives of the younger sons of baronets had two; women well-connected but not titled could have no shelf. Those who enjoyed the honours of the court placed by the side of the buffet a little table, covered with a white cloth, destined for the hippocrass and spiced wine they offered their visitors,[XXXI_22] and which they drank in hanaps, or a kind of chalice of earthenware, gold, or silver. Those of crystal were much esteemed. Charles the Bald gave to the Abbey of St. Denis a hanap, said to have belonged to Solomon. “It was of pure gold, fine emeralds, fine garnets, and the work so marvellous that in all the kingdoms of the world never was there anything so perfect.”[XXXI_23]
The great lords also indulged in metal dressers,[XXXI_24] to which the 16th century gave the name of “buffets.” Under Henry II. of France the court called them crédence, from an Italian word bearing the same meaning,[XXXI_25] and which they have retained.
The Hebrews probably knew nothing of chimneys. When King Jehoiakim burned the book which Jeremiah had written, “he sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.”[XXXI_26]
When, among the Greeks or Romans, they wanted to warm the dining-room, they also had recourse to braziers or bronze furnaces of the dimension of a middling-sized table, resting on lion’s claws. Foliage in copper, bronze, and silver, was artistically incrusted round the edge. The bottom was a very thick iron grating. Above and beneath, brick-work prevented the coal from touching the upper part, or escaping through the interstices.[XXXI_27]
They also made use of two kinds of stoves to warm the dining-room—the one was concealed under ground in the massive wall, and little pipes extended from its orifice to the apartment; the other, portative and light, disappeared whenever it was judged expedient.[XXXI_28]
Among the pagans, the dining-room was lighted by torches made of a resinous wood,[XXXI_29] or tallow candles.[XXXI_30] The rich had lamps, candelabra,[XXXI_31] or magnificent lustres suspended from the ceiling.[XXXI_32] They even knew the luxury of wax candles.[XXXI_33]
In the middle ages, the sovereigns and the great lords had, in the middle of their dining-rooms, fountains playing, which poured fourth wine, hippocrass, and other liquors. Some gave rose-water and divers odoriferous liquids to perfume the banqueting-hall.
Rubruquis found in Tartary a Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Boucher, who had settled under the sway of the Khan, and had made him one of those fountains.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI B.