The chimneys and fireplaces were wide and open; the apartments, except the hall, low, narrow, and inconvenient, divided by partitions of oak, clumsy, and ill-carved with many strange and uncouth devices.  The hall was, on the right of the entrance, lighted by one long low window; a massy table stood beneath.  The fireplace was on the opposite side, occupying nearly the whole breadth of the chamber.  A screen of wainscot partitioned off the lobby, carved in panels of grotesque workmanship.  Beyond the hall was the parlour, furnished as usual with an oaken bedstead, standing upon a ground-floor paved with stone.  In this dormitory, the timbers of which were of gigantic proportions, slept Master Oliver and Mistress Joan Tempest,—­the latter not a little given to that species of uxorious domination which most wives, when they apply themselves heartily to its acquisition, rarely fail to usurp.

“Here,” says Dr Whitaker (this being the general style of building for centuries, and scarcely, if at all, deviated from),—­“here the first offspring of our forefathers saw the light; and here too, without a wish to change their habits, fathers and sons in succession resigned their breath.  It is not unusual to see one of these apartments now transformed into a modern drawing-room, where a thoughtful mind can scarcely forbear comparing the past and present,—­the spindled frippery of modern furniture, the frail but elegant apparatus of a tea-table, the general decorum, the equal absence of everything to afflict or to transport, with what has been heard, or seen, or felt, within the same walls,—–­ the logs of oak, the clumsy utensils, and, above all, the tumultuous scenes of joy or sorrow, called forth, perhaps, by the birth of an heir, or the death of an husband, in minds little accustomed to restrain the ebullitions of passion.

“Their system of life was that of domestic economy in perfection.  Occupying large portions of his own domains; working his land by oxen; fattening the aged, and rearing a constant supply of young ones; growing his own oats, barley, and sometimes wheat; making his own malt, and furnished often with kilns for the drying of corn at home, the master had pleasing occupation in his farm, and his cottagers regular employment under him.  To these operations the high troughs, great garners and chests, yet remaining, bear faithful witness.  Within, the mistress, her maid-servants, and daughters, were occupied in spinning flax for the linen of the family, which was woven at home.  Cloth, if not always manufactured out of their own wool, was purchased by wholesale, and made up into clothes at home also."[58]

This is a true picture of the simple habits of our ancestors, and will apply, with little variation, to the scene before us.

Here might be seen the carved “armoury,”—­the wardrobe, bright, clean, and even magnificent.  On the huge rafters hung their usual store of dried hams, beef, mutton, and flitches of bacon.  In the store-room, great chests were filled to the brim with oatmeal and flour.  All wore the aspect of plenty, and an hospitality that feared neither want nor diminution.