The poor clerk, who wrote his lord’s epistles, who reckoned up the laundry score, and sometimes penned a song, might venture to crave a hearing for a literary effort. The gallery over the screen was crowded with minstrels, and as the attendants brought in the dishes, the hall resounded with the blast of trumpets. At intervals during the meal they struck up a merry tune. The trouvères sang their courtly roundelays, and the ballad-singers their homely legends, and were rewarded with a trencher at the “bordes end.”*

The buffoon, by his coarse jests and jokes, often too practical to be pleasant, by turns pleased and annoyed his master’s guests; and the domestic fool, generally a poor half-witted menial, was retained to add to the disport of the convivial scene. Apes were taught mischievous tricks, and, under the tutelage of a page or youthful usher, stole choice morsels from the platters of the unwary; dogs stood upon their hind legs and begged for crumbs; cranes excited admiration by bending a leg and bowing their necks when the chaplain gave the benediction.