CHAPTER III.
Then (sad relief!) from the bleak coast that hears
The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong,
And yellow hair'd, the blue ey'd Saxon came.
Thomson's Liberty.
In a hall, the height of which was greatly disproportioned to its extreme length and width, a
long oaken table, formed of planks rough-hewn
from the forest, and which had scarcely received
any polish, stood ready prepared for the evening
meal of Cedric the Saxon. The roof composed of
beams and rafters, had nothing to divide the
apartment from the sky excepting the planking
and thatch; there was a huge fire-place at either
end of the hall, but as the chimnies were constructed in a very clumsy manner, at least as
much of the smoke found its way into the apartment as escaped by the proper vent. The con-
