or the _kemenate_. This
consisted of at least three rooms: one for the familiar intercourse of
the family; this was also the sleeping chamber of the lady of the house;
one, a room where the lady devoted herself, with her women, to the
female occupations of the time; and lastly, the sleeping room for the
maidservants. In each kemenate there were, usually, a kitchen, a chapel,
cellars, and provision rooms. Arched niches in the wall gave opportunity
to the ladies to look far overland. The furniture was rich, and often
finely carved, but of heavy and clumsy pattern. Tables, chairs, and
chests were abundantly provided. The bed was a large, square, high piece
of furniture, and it was treated with great care and respect; it was
covered with elaborate curtains, which hung from a silken canopy; heavy
feather beds and fine linen were the pride of the highborn housewife.

Food was plentiful, but plain. Field and forest furnished the principal
dishes: game, bread, vegetables. On festivals, delicacies and highly
spiced dishes in great number burdened the table. Wine, beer, cider, and
fruit brandies were drunk in large quantities. It is highly suggestive
to read in the records the allowances of liquor made to princely ladies
of the time and to their noble attendants. We forbear furnishing
statistics from the records, which may seem to our time slanderous
exaggerations.

The ideal of womanly beauty as established by the poets of the romance
when knighthood was in flower is as follows: to be considered beautiful
a woman must be of moderate stature, of slender and graceful build, of
symmetrical and well-developed form. Out of the white countenance the
cheeks must blossom forth like bedewed roses; the mouth must be small,
closed, and sweetly breathing, the teeth shine forth from swelling red
lips, "like ermine from scarlet"; a round cheek with snow-white dimple
must heighten the charm of the mouth. The ideal nose was not Grecian,
long, or pointed, or stumped, but straight and normal. Long eyebrows, a
little curved, the color of which slightly contrasted with that of the
hair, were praised. The eyes must be clear, pure, limpid like sunshine,
preeminently blue or of that indefinite changing color which we note in
some species of birds. The Oriental ideal of "the black eyes' spark is
like God's ways, dark" is not acceptable to the mediaeval Teuton. The
hair was preferably of that golden blond which did not contrast too
strongly with the sn