On which Sir W. Scott remarks, “The bed-chamber of the queen was constructed of wooden boards or shingles, of which one could easily be removed.” This will explain the line which occurs below, 2106, “He stod, and totede in at a bord.”
[2092.] Aboute the middel, &c. In the French, a person is placed by the Seneschal to watch, who first discovers the light.
[2132.] Bi the pappes he leyen naked. “From the latter end of the 13th to near the 16th century, all ranks, and both sexes, were universally in the habit of sleeping quite naked. This custom is often alluded to by Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and all our ancient writers.” Ellis, Spec. Metr. Rom. V. I. p. 324, 4th Ed. In the Squyr of Lowe Degre is a remarkable instance of this fact:
How she rose, that lady dere,
To take her leue of that squyer;
Al so naked as she was borne
She stod her chambre-dore beforne.
—l. 671.
The custom subsisted both in England and France to a very recent period, and hence probably was derived the phrase naked-bed, illustrated so copiously by Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary.
[2192.] Cf. the French, l. 843.