Читать книгу The Child's Pictorial History of England. From the Earliest Period to the Present Time онлайн

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27. There was plenty of ale, and among the richest, wine also, which they drank out of horn cups; and when the meats were taken away, they used to drink and sing, and play on the harp, and often had tumblers, jugglers, and minstrels to amuse them.

28. Then the visitors used to lie down on the floor to sleep, covered with their cloaks; for very few people had bedsteads, and the only beds were a kind of large bags, or bed-ticks, filled with straw, and blocks of wood for pillows.

29. Such were the rough manners of our Saxon forefathers, who were, however, in some respects a good sort of people, and you will be sorry for them by and by, when you read how the Normans came, and took away their lands, and made slaves of them. But I must first tell you what happened in the Saxon times, after the Heptarchy was broken up, and there was only one king of England.

QUESTIONS.

4. How were the Saxons converted to Christianity?

6. By what means did they learn many useful arts?

8. What was the condition of the common people?