And In Each Family The Art Of Playing
On The Harp Is Held Preferable To Any Other Learning.
In the
evening, when no more guests are expected, the meal is prepared
according to the number and dignity of the persons assembled, and
according to the wealth of the family who entertains.
The kitchen
does not supply many dishes, nor high-seasoned incitements to
eating. The house is not furnished with tables, cloths, or
napkins. They study nature more than splendour, for which reason,
the guests being seated in threes, instead of couples as elsewhere,
(18) they place the dishes before them all at once upon rushes and
fresh grass, in large platters or trenchers. They also make use of
a thin and broad cake of bread, baked every day, such as in old
writings was called LAGANA; (19) and they sometimes add chopped
meat, with broth. Such a repast was formerly used by the noble
youth, from whom this nation boasts its descent, and whose manners
it still partly imitates, according to the word of the poet:
"Heu! mensas consumimus, inquit Iulus."
While the family is engaged in waiting on the guests, the host and
hostess stand up, paying unremitting attention to everything, and
take no food till all the company are satisfied; that in case of
any deficiency, it may fall upon them. A bed made of rushes, and
covered with a coarse kind of cloth manufactured in the country,
called BRYCHAN, (20) is then placed along the side of the room, and
they all in common lie down to sleep; nor is their dress at night
different from that by day, for at all seasons they defend
themselves from the cold only by a thin cloak and tunic. The fire
continues to burn by night as well as by day, at their feet, and
they receive much comfort from the natural heat of the persons
lying near them; but when the under side begins to be tired with
the hardness of the bed, or the upper one to suffer from cold, they
immediately leap up, and go to the fire, which soon relieves them
from both inconveniences; and then returning to their couch, they
expose alternately their sides to the cold, and to the hardness of
the bed.
CHAPTER XI
Concerning their cutting of their hair, their care of their teeth,
and shaving of their beard
The men and women cut their hair close round to the ears and eyes.
The women, after the manner of the Parthians, cover their heads
with a large white veil, folded together in the form of a crown.
Both sexes exceed any other nation in attention to their teeth,
which they render like ivory, by constantly rubbing them with green
hazel and wiping with a woollen cloth. For their better
preservation, they abstain from hot meats, and eat only such as are
cold, warm, or temperate. The men shave all their beard except the
moustaches (GERNOBODA). This custom is not recent, but was
observed in ancient and remote ages, as we find in the works of
Julius Caesar, who says, (21) "The Britons shave every part of
their body except their head and upper lip;" and to render
themselves more active, and avoid the fate of Absalon in their
excursions through the woods, they are accustomed to cut even the
hair from their heads; so that this nation more than any other
shaves off all pilosity.
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