The Bayeux tapestry elucidated . eft open, to allow the servantsmore readily to approach. All the operations of the table are pre-sented to us by the artist. Odo, with his thumb and two forefingersextended, is blessing the food and the drink. William has plantedhis hand upon the principal dish, as if to claim the lions share forhimself. Another person is tearing a fish to pieces with his fin-gers, and conveying the morsels by the same medium to his old man with a beard, probably Williams Nestor, who refusedto comply with the tonsured fashion of the day, is drinking withhis neighbour;
The Bayeux tapestry elucidated . eft open, to allow the servantsmore readily to approach. All the operations of the table are pre-sented to us by the artist. Odo, with his thumb and two forefingersextended, is blessing the food and the drink. William has plantedhis hand upon the principal dish, as if to claim the lions share forhimself. Another person is tearing a fish to pieces with his fin-gers, and conveying the morsels by the same medium to his old man with a beard, probably Williams Nestor, who refusedto comply with the tonsured fashion of the day, is drinking withhis neighbour; both of them have uplifted bowls. A servant uponbended knee is presenting a covered dish to the party. Thesecompartments are respectively described, hic coauiTUE caro et hicMiNiSTEAVERTJNT MiNiSTEi— Here the food is being cooked and herethe attendants have served up the viands: hic rECERUNT pkandiumET HIC EPiscopus ciBUM ET POTUM BENEDiciT—-Here they have pre-pared the feast and here the bishop is blessing the meat THE LANDING. 117 The meal must necessarily have been a hasty one. One of theguests has already risen from his seat, and calls the attention ofthe Duke to something that is passing without. William was now fairly committed to a great and hazardous un-dertaking, and retreat was not to be thought of; at the same time,the utmost circumspection was necessary, and the Duke of Nor-mandy was not the man to neglect any precaution. We accordingly next find him in solemn consultation with histwo uterine brothers—Odo, Archbishop of Bayeux, and Eobert,Count of Mortaine. William has his sword elevated, and Eobertis in the act of drawing his from the scabbard—indications whichstrongly mark the nature of the attempt before, them. The legendover this group fPlate is simply, odo episcopus : eoberttjs—Odo the Bishop : Eobert. As the result, probably, of the deliberations of the three bro^thers, it was resolved strongly to fortify the position occupied byWillia
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1856
