lower classes, he proceeds to portray the absurdities into
which the latter were led by aping their betters, and suggests that
the furs which they wore in profusion had better at least be dispensed
with in summer, as they served only "for a hiding place for the
fleas." The knight whose daughters are thus counselled is unable
to deter them from falling into extravagances of attire, and has
recourse to the legend of a chevalier whose wife was dead and who made
application to a hermit to know if her soul had gone to Paradise or
to punishment. The holy man, after long praying, fell asleep, and saw
the soul of the fair lady weighed in the balance; with Saint Michael
standing on one side and the Devil on the other. The latter addressed
Saint Michael and claimed the woman as his own on the score that she
had ten diverse gowns, and a less number than that would have sufficed
to lose her soul; besides which, with what she had wasted she might
have clothed two or three persons who for the lack of her charity
died of want. So saying, the fiend gathered up all her gay attire,
ornaments, and jewels, and cast them in the balance with her evil
deeds, which determined the balance against her, and he bore her away
to the lake of fire. The same night, in order to deter his daughters
from painting their faces, the knight recounts a horrible legend of a
fine lady who was punished in hell because she had "popped and painted
her visage to please the sight of the world."

It is not by such incidentals as dress, but by the enduring qualities
of character, that the women of the higher circles of the English
Middle Ages were able to make an indelible impress upon the life and
character of the nation. And more especially may this be said of the
women whose lives were largely spent in the sheltered circle of a pure
domesticity,--the women of the manors.

CHAPTER VII

THE WOMEN OF THE MONASTERIES

In general, the routine of the nunnery was the same as that of a
monastery. There was the same rotation, hour by hour, of sacred
services, with monotonous regularity and repetition; the only variety
offered was that of labor of one sort or another, with brief intervals
for rest and refreshment. The industry of the nuns usually took
the form of working in wool, for it devolved upon them to make the
clothing of the monks, who were associated with the convents to
perform the outdoor labor and to serve as confessors for the female
inmates. Great