BUNDLING "A man and a woman lying on the same bed with their
clothes on; an expedient practiced in America on a scarcity of
beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently
permitted travellers to _bundle_ with their wives and
daughters."--_Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_.
BUNDLE _v.i._ "To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
applied to the custom of a man and woman, especially lovers, thus
sleeping."--_Webster, 1864_.
BUNDLE _v.n._ "To sleep together with the clothes
on."--_Worcester, 1864_.
*Origins*
IN HOLLAND
Under the name of _queesting_.[15] At night the lover has access to his
mistress after she is in bed; and, upon an application to be admitted
upon the bed, which of course is granted, he raises the quilt, or rug,
and in this state _queests_, or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her,
and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of the
most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. The author
traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose economy
considers fire and candles as superfluous luxuries in the long winter
evenings."
The Hon. Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, N. Y., late United States minister
at the Hague, has furnished us with the following note in relation to
this Nederduitsche custom: "As to its being a Dutch custom, it was so to
a limited extent in Holland in former times, and may yet be, though I
did not hear of it when I was there. Sewell gives the word _queesten_,
or _kweesten_, in his dictionary, printed over a century ago. The word
is defined in the dictionary of Wieland, the principal lexicographer in
that country, as follows: '_Kweesten_. Upon the islands of Texel and
Vlieland[16] they use this word for a singular custom of wooing, by
which the doors and windows are left open, and the lover, lying or
sitting outside the covering, woos the girl who is underneath.' Sewell
confines the custom to certain islands or lands near the sea."
LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN THE 14TH CENTURY
In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth century, it became
the practice for the vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be
educated in the family of the suzerain, while the daughters were
similarly placed with the lady of the castle. These formed a very
important part of the household, and were of gentle blood, claiming the
honorary title of _chambriéres_ or chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of
this period were very susceptible to the passion of love, which was the
ruling spirit of the inmates of the castle. Feudal society was, in
comparison to the previous times, polished and even brilliant, but it
was not, under the surface, pure. Many good maxims were taught, but they
were not all practiced. "There was an extreme intimacy between the two
sexes, who commonly visited each other in their chambers or bedrooms.
Thus in the poem of Guatier d'Aupias, the hero is represented as
visiting in her chamber the demoiselle of whom he is enamored. Numerous
similar examples might be quoted. At times, one of the parties is
described as being actually in bed, as is the case in the romance of
_Blonde of Oxford_, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber when he is
in bed, and stays all night with him, in perfect innocence as we are
told in the romance. We must remember that it was the custom in those
times for both sexes to go to bed perfectly naked."[17]
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