sai held the privilege of
perching his upon the altar. Nothing was thought more dishonourable to
a man of rank than to give up his hawks; and if he were taken prisoner
he would not resign them even for liberty."
The different positions in which the hawk is placed in our needlework
are worthy of remark. Here its head is raised, its wings fluttering,
as if eager and ready for flight; afterwards, when Harold follows the
Earl of Ponthieu as his captive, he is not, of course, deprived of his
bird, but by a beautiful fiction the bird is represented depressed,
and with its head turned towards its master's breast as if trying to
nestle and shelter itself there. Could sympathy be more poetically
expressed? Afterwards, on Harold's release, the bird is again depicted
as fluttering to "soar elate."
The practice very prevalent in these "barbarous times," as we somewhat
too sweepingly term them, of entering on no expedition of war or
pastime without imploring the protection of heaven, is intimated by a
church which Harold is entering previously to his embarkation. That
this observance might degenerate in many instances into mere form may
be very true; and the "hunting masses" celebrated in song might, some
of them, be more honoured in the breach than the observance:
nevertheless in clearing away the dross of old times, we have, it is
to be feared, removed some of the gold also; and the abolition of the
custom of having the churches open at _all times_, so that at any
moment the heart-prompted prayer might be offered up under the holy
shelter of a consecrated roof, has tended very much, it is to be
feared, to abolish the habit of frequent prayer. A habit in itself,
and regarded even merely as a habit, fraught with inestimable good.
We next see Harold and his companions refreshing themselves prior to
their departure, pledging each other, and doubtless drinking to the
success of their enterprise whatever it might be. The horns from which
they are drinking have been the subject of critical remark. We find
that horns were used for various purposes, and were of four sorts,
drinking horns, hunting horns, horns for summoning the people, and of
a mixed kind.
They were used as modes of investiture, and this manner of endowing
was usual amongst the Danes in England. King Cnute himself gave lands
at Pusey in Berkshire to the family of that name, with a horn solemnly
at that time delivered, as a confirmation of the grant. Edward the
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