Blackwood's Magazine/Volume 1/Issue 2/On "Sitting Below the Salt"
ON "SITTING BELOW THE SALT."
MR EDITOR,
In your last number I read a short paper, entitled, "On sitting below the Salt," in which the author gives several quotations to prove that the ancient custom mentioned in the "Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality," of placing the guests above or below the salt, according to their respective dignities, was not a mere fabrication of the writer's brain. In common with your correspondent, I have heard men of information, and even of antiquarian research, express their doubts as to the existence of such a custom during any period of our history.
Being an ardent admirer of the two works which have recently called our attention to this fashion of our ancestors, and as it is in these works alone, in as far as my information enables me to judge, that such a practice has been alluded to in modern times, I feel anxious to contribute towards the exculpation of their mysterious author, from the charge of mingling the spirit of fiction with the voice of truth.
In addition, therefore, to the proofs which have been adduced in your first Number, I beg leave to call your attention to the following extracts, which have escaped the notice of J. M.; and which, besides shewing the universality of the practice, are somewhat curious in themselves, and worthy the perusal of your readers.
I find the distinction of seats, in relation to the position of the salt-vat, familiarly known to English writers as far back as 1597, at which time were published the earlier works of Joseph Hall, successively bishop of Exeter and Norwich, and one of our first legitimate satirists. As Hall's satires have never been printed in a commodious form, they may not have fallen into the hands of the generality of your readers, and as the one which contains the allusion to the custom in question is short, and affords a good example of that writer's style, I shall insert it at full length.
"A gentle Squire would gladly entertaine
Into his house some trencher-chaplaine;
Some willing man that might instruct his sons,
And that would stand to good conditions.
First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed,
Whiles his young maister lieth o'er his head.
Second, that he do, on no default,
Ever presume to sit above the salt,
Third, that he never change his trencher twice.
Fourth, that he use all common courtesies;
Sit beare at meales, and one half rise and wait.
Last, that he never his young master beat,
But he must ask his mother to define,
How many jerkes she would his breech should line.
All these observed, he could contented be
To give five markes and winter liverie."
In an entertaining old book, by Nixon, entitled, "Strange Foot-Post with a packet full of strange petitions," London, 1613, 4to, the author, speaking of the miseries of a poor scholar, makes the following observations:—
"Now, as for his fare, it is lightly at the cheapest table, but he must sit under the salt, that is an axiome in such places:—then having drawne his knife leisurably, unfolded his napkin mannerly, after twice or thrice wiping his beard, if he have it, he may reach the bread on his knife's point, and fall to his porrige, and between every sponefull take as much deliberation as a capon craming, lest he be out of his porrige before they have buried part of their first course in their bellies." (F. 3.)
In the works of our early dramatists there are not unfrequent allusions of a similar nature.
Thus, in the play called Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson, I find the following passage:—
"Merc.He will censure or discourse
of any thing, but as absurdly
as you would wish.—His fashion is
not to take knowledge of him that is
beneath him in clothes.—He never
drinks below the salt."—Act II. Scene III.
And in the "Unnatural Combat" of Massinger, the same custom is alluded to.
"Stew:My Lord much wonders,
That you that are a courtier as a soldier,
In all things else, and every day can vary
Your actions and discourse, continue constant
To this one suit.
Belg.To one! 'tis well I have one
Unpawn'd in these days; every cast commander
Is not blest with the fortune, I assure you.
But why the question? does this offend him?
Stew.Not much, but he believes it is the reason
You ne'er presume to sit above the salt."
Act III. Scene I.
"It argues little (says Gifford on the above passage) for the delicacy of our ancestors, that they should admit of such distinctions at their board; but in truth they seem to have placed their guests below the salt, for no better purpose than that of mortifying them."
That this custom was not limited to our own island, but was familiar at least in France, is evinced by the following passage from Perat, who flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century. In speaking of the manners suitable to men of noble birth, in regard to the different kinds of ridicule and pleasantry, he says of one species, "Neque ejusmodi dicacitates nobilitatem honestant: quamvis enim clientium caterva, amicorum humiliores, totaque omnino infra salinum stipata cohors, scurrantem dominum, et (ut ait Flaccus,) imi Derisorem lecti, cachinnationibus suis insulsis adulari soleant; ii tamen," &c.—De Inst. Nob. p. 36.
The foregoing quotations, however curious in themselves, may, I fear, in regard to the subject which they are intended to illustrate, have appeared redundant or unnecessary to some of your readers, particularly after the satisfactory instances brought forward by J. M. of the prevalence of the same custom.
On a general view, it would form a curious subject of research, and might throw considerable light on the manners and institutions of our ancestors, to investigate thoroughly the history of this singular fashion, and to mark the different changes which an individual of talent and enterprise was allowed to make in taking up his position at table, according to the increase of his wealth and consequent utility, and the effects of such changes on his general habits, and on the behaviour of those who were formerly his companions in obscurity.
The passages quoted by J. M. from that most curious work, the Memorie of the Somervilles, clearly demonstrate the wide distinction of rank that existed in this country at comparatively a recent period, between noble and ignoble tenures—between the Goodman, Rentaller or Yeoman, and the Laird or Baron. It would be an interesting inquiry, to trace the circumstances which contributed to break down the jealous barriers of feudal honours, and to point out the period and manner in which the nature of the holding came to be at last almost overlooked in augmenting or disparaging gentility.
On a more minute investigation, it would be equally curious to examine the specific distinctions which existed between the two men who were placed together, the one above and the other below the salt-vat, and to study that beautiful combination of character, by which they formed the links in the social chain which united the nobility of one end of the table, with the humble tenants of the other,—leading by an almost imperceptible transition from the meanest appendage of a feudal feast, to the mailed retainer and the plumed baron.
But I am unwilling to anticipate the observations of your correspondent, who will, I trust, make good his promise, of favouring the public with a continuation of his remarks.
In the mean time, to exercise the learning and ingenuity of your antiquarian friends, I beg leave to propose the following queries, the solution of which will tend greatly to facilitate the labours of future inquirers.
1st, Were the two great classes of society assembled at the same table, connected by means of two individuals on each side, seated together, the one as it were placed opposite to the upper or noble half of the salt-vat, the other to the lower or ignoble half, and combining, in their persons, the different characters of both parties? Or, 2dly, Did these opposite extremes unite in the person of an individual on either side of the table, placed immediately in front of the salt-vat? Or, 3dly, Was there no such "union of extremest things" permitted, but a vacant space or gap opposite the salt-vat on both sides, leaving a blank in the fair chain of gradation, similar to that which has been caused in the scale of nature's works by the extinction of the mighty Mastodon, which formerly inhabited the salt-licks of North America?
Hoping that the preceding quotations, observations, and queries, may meet with a favourable reception, if not on their own account, at least from the chance of their exciting the attention of others more able to communicate information on such curious topics, I remain, respectfully, your obedient servant, P. F.
Edinburgh, 1st May 1817.
