round[1], but its general form was oblong, as in the accompanying illustrations.
The use of white linen table-cloths may be ascribed to a very early period; they are represented in Anglo-Saxon illuminations. The fall of the cloth seems to have been studiously arranged; and in one instance it appears gathered up at either side of the table into a mass of plaits[1]; this, however, is perhaps a singular example of the kind. We find Henry the Third ordering five hundred ells of linen for table-cloths, previous to the Christmas feast at Winchester in 1219[2]; this was comparatively a large quantity, as linen was by no means plentiful at the beginning of the thirteenth century; six years before, in 1213, King John commanded the sheriff of Somerset and Dorset to buy him all the good linen he could find[3]. At a later period, the fine linen manufactured at Rheims was in great demand for the table. The diaper of the same place was in use in the fifteenth century, but more commonly in the sixteenth[4]. The dining-table being generally long and narrow, the table-cloth was sometimes of the same shape; the ends only fell over the board, which was left exposed in front; these ends were in some instances fringed with work resembling lace. It has been supposed that the cloth may have been laid on the table double, so that when one side was soiled the other might be turned up, whence the term "doublier," which occurs so frequently in the poems of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries[5]. It may be remarked, however, that doublier frequently signified a napkin only, or perhaps a surnap; in the following lines a clear distinction is drawn.
"Quant lavé orent, si s'asistrent,
Et li serjant les napes mistrent,
Desus les dobliers blans et biax,
Les salieres et les coutiax,
Après lou pain, puis lo vin
Es copes d'argent et d'or fin."
Again ;
"Quant mengié orent a plenté
Lors furent seijant apresté
Qui dobliers et napes osterent,
Et qui l'eve lor aporterent,
Et la toaille à essuier."Le Chevalier a L'Espée.
