I'm sure that was the effect, but I think it was just more that it was useful: it was hard and dangerous to heat a house at night, and so you often see Pepys and his wife sharing a room with a servant, as that way you only need one fire. It's also because servants were never really off the clock, and a servant at your feet was ready to dress you in the morning or bring you a chamber pot in the night.
"the truckle bed (a small bed kept crosswise at the foot of a bed, for a student or servant or apprentice to sleep at the feet of his master)."
This is not unlike the beds some people make up for their dogs in the same places- was this a psychological reminder to Will as to who was the boss?
I'm sure that was the effect, but I think it was just more that it was useful: it was hard and dangerous to heat a house at night, and so you often see Pepys and his wife sharing a room with a servant, as that way you only need one fire. It's also because servants were never really off the clock, and a servant at your feet was ready to dress you in the morning or bring you a chamber pot in the night.