Hall

[A. S. heal, hæll; D. hal; Ger. halle; Lat. aula; Gr. au- lē, probably from aêmi, to breathe hard, to blow, because in Grecian houses the hall was open to the air; Sansk. álay a, a house.] A large room at the entrance of a house or suite of chambers. "That light we see is burning in my hall."-Shaks. -A public room in a building, devoted to the administration of magisterial justice; a spacious building attached to inns of court; as, the hall of the Middle Temple. (Eng.) - A place of public a embly; as, a town- hall , a music-hall, . - A term given to certain colleges in the English universities; as, Magdalen Hall , Oxford. It is also applied to the public eating-room of a college; as, to dine in hall . ( Hist . and Arch . ) The principal apartment in the castles and mansions of the Middle Ages, which was used on all occasions of ceremony, and in which the meals were served. Some of the palaces of the early Frank and Saxon kings appear to have consisted of little else than the hall. The earliest existing specimens are of the 12th cent.; and though none of them retain their roofs or fittings, it is apparent that several of them were divided into three alleys, by rows of pillars and arches. In these halls the king, together with his courtiers and all his retainers, dwelt, sitting at the same table and around the same hearth. There was generally another smaller chamber attached, in which the king and his courtiers slept, while the retainers slept in the hall. The Normans built halls very similar to those of the Saxons; and, with few modifications, similar buildings were erected until the 14th cent. The population then being more numerous, and manners more refined, it became nece ary to have more numerous apartments. The hall, however, held its place as the chief room of the house, in which the king or lord of the manor administered justice, gave audiences, or received and entertained his guests. From the 14th cent. downwards, numerous examples of large and stately halls still remain in England, France, and Germany. Among the finest of these relics may be mentioned that at Eltham Palace, Kent, Eng., represented in Fig. 1231. The hall originally was e entially a part of feudal architecture. The principal entrance was at one end, where, in those which retain traces of the original fittings, a space is parted off by a screen extending acro the whole width, and supporting a gallery above. In the screen were doors leading into the body of the hall. At the upper end, a portion of the floor, called the dais , was raised one or two steps above the rest, on which was placed the principal table, at which the host and superior guests sat. The chief seat was in the middle, next the wall, commanding a view down the room. The fire, or open hearth, was often in the middle of the floor, and the smoke escaped through a louvre on the top of the roof; sometimes, however, fire-places were formed in the side-walls. In halls of the Perpendicular date, there was a large bay-window at one end, and sometimes at both ends, of the dais, where the "cupboard," or buffet, was placed. Many of these arrangements are still retained in the university halls. The walls were frequently lined, for some part of their height, with wainscoting, and an ornamental canopy was fixed over the principal seat. The walls were also sometimes hung with tapestry or carpeting.