NCIENT * WNSE ♦ FVRNITVRE IN order to supply the deficiency which has hitherto existed in Furniture suitable for the many Mansions that have been erected or restored in the MEDIAEVAL, STYLES, Messrs. GRACE have directed their particular attention to this subject, and' have prepared appropriate specimens in the various branches of Furnishing. STUFFS FOR HANGINGS, in Simple Worsted Damask, in Silk, also in Tapestry of Bauderkin. CARPETS, plain or in rich Velvet pile, with corresponding Borders. PAPER-HANGINGS of various kinds. OAK CABINETS, Buffets, Octagon Library and Occasional Tables, Benches, Chairs, and other useful and appropriate Furniture. They have also received from Messrs. Hardman, of Birmingham, samples of their METAL WORK ; Chandeliers, Sconces, Candlesticks for TableB, Salvers, Flagons and other Ornaments for Sideboards, after the manner of the middle ages. The whole of the above-mentioned Furniture, &<•., is designed after Ancient Authorities, and executed under the immediate superintendence of Mr. A. AV. PUGIN, Architect. To render this Furniture generally available, a considerable portion has been arranged in the simplest manner consistent with its ancient character. 14, Wigmorc Street, May, 1850. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/specimensofancieOOmeyr SPECIMENS OF anttnit futnttnvt DRAWN FROM EXISTING AUTHORITIES By HENRY SHAW f.s.a. WITH DESCRIPTIONS BY SIR SAMUEL RUSH MEYRICK K. H. LONDON WILLIAM PICKERING 1836 C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. TO THOMAS LISTER PARKER, ESQ. A GENTLEMAN WHOSE DEVOTION TO THE ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, AND KINDNESS TO THOSE ENGAGED IN THEIR ILLUSTRATION, IS UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED, €J»0 Sdorfe IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS MOST OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, HENRY SHAW. » / LIST OF PLATES. Plate Page XXXVII. The Great Bed of Ware, Hertfordshire 40 XXXVIII. Bedsted of the Time of James the First at Goodrich Court 40 XXXIX. Bedsted of the Time of Charles the First at Goodrich Court 40 XL. Crimson Bedsted at Hardwicke Hall 41 XLI. The Cradle of Henry the Fifth, in the possession of J.W. Braikenridge, Esq. 41 XLII. Reading-desk in Detling Church, Kent 42 XLIII. Top of the Reading-desk at Detling Church 42 XLIV. Reading-desk at Ramsay Church, Huntingdonshire 42 XLV. Brass Reading-desk in the possession of Mr. Hull 43 XLVI. Antient Lanthorn in the Bishop's Palace, Wells ; and Table in the Chapter House of Salisbury Cathedral 43 XLVII. Brass Chandelier in the Temple Church, Bristol 44 XLVIII. Brass Chandelier in the Chapter Room of St. Katharine's Hospital .... 44 XLIX. Lantern of Bronze in the Ashmolean Museum 44 L. Various Candlesticks 45 LI. Details of a Candlestick in the possession of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K.H. 45 LII. Inkstands at Goodrich Court 46 LIII. Bellows of the Time of Elizabeth 47 LIV. Fire-dogs from Godington, Kent 47 LV. Furniture of Fire-places, Times of Queen Elizabeth and Charles the First, Warming-pans, and Bellows, in the possession of Sir Samuel R. Mey- rick, K. H 48 LVI. Brass Fire-dogs in the possession of Messrs. Pratt, Bond Street 48 LVII. Bronze Fire-Dogs of the Time of James the Second 49 LVIII. Silver Fire-dogs at Knole Park 49 LIX. Iron Scroll-work, Worksop Church, Nottinghamshire 49 LX. Lock and Keys 49 LXI. Door-handle, Escutcheon, and Knockers 50 LXII. Casket of Enamelled Copper in the possession of George Pocock, Esq. . . 50 LXIII. Horn at Queen's College, Oxford; and Cup at Oriel College, Oxford ... 52 LXIV. Salt-celler at New College, Oxford 54 LXV. Salt-celler at Corpus Christi College, Oxford 54 LXVI. Salt-celler and Nut-crackers at Goodrich Court 54 LXVII. Ancient Cup of Silver-gilt enamelled, in the possession of the Corporation of Lynn, Norfolk 55 LXVIII. Cup and Stand at Oriel College, Oxford 55 LXIX. Ancient Chalices 56 LXX. Tankard enamelled on Copper 56 LXXI. Crozier at Corpus Christi College, Oxford 56 LXXII. Reliquary of Box-wood, in possession of the late William Bullock, London 57 LXXIII. Details of Reliquary 57 LXXIV. Tankard in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 57 LIST OF PLATES. Plate Page I. The Title from a MS. in the Abbey of St. Germain des Pres 27 II. Looking-glass in the possession of Sir Samuel Meyrick, Goodrich Court, Herefordshire 27 III. French Looking-glass from Willemin's " Monumens Francois inedits" .... 28 IV. Silver Furniture at Knole Park, Kent 28 V. Couch from Penshurst Place, Kent 28 VI. Antient Chairs at York and Evesham 29 VII. Two Chairs from a Psalter in the Royal Library at Paris 30 VIII. Chair from St. Mary's Hall, Coventry 30 IX. The Abbot's Chair, Glastonbury, Somersetshire 30 X. French Chair, and Table with Reading-stand 31 XI. Chair in the possession of Joseph Abel, Esq. Mitchel Dean, Gloucestershire 31 XII. An Ebony Chair in the Ashmolean Library, Oxford 32 XIII. Ebony Chair formerly at Strawberry Hill 32 XIV. Chair in the Cartoon Gallery, Knole Park 32 XV. Chairs from Penshurst Place, Kent 32 XVI. Chairs in the Vestry Room of St. Catherine's Chapel, and in the possession of J. W. Wright, Esq 33 XVII. Chair at Hardwicke Hall, Derbyshire 33 XVIII. Chair brought from Cromwell Hall, Finchley 33 XIX. Table from Hill Hall, Essex 34 XX. Table at Leeds Castle, Kent 34 XXI. Table at Longford Castle, Wiltshire 34 XXII. Wassail Table and Candelabra in the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Cockayne 35 XXIII. Two Tables at Hardwicke Hall, Derbyshire 35 XXIV. Sideboard in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry 35 XXV. Buffets from Illuminated MSS. in the King's Library at Paris 36 XXVI. Oak Cabinet at Cornishead Priory, Lancashire 36 XXVII. Sideboard in the possession of David Hodgson, Esq. Liverpool 36 XXVIII. Cabinet or Wardrobe in the possession of Mr. Webb, Bond Street 37 XXIX. Chest at Clemping Church, Sussex 37 XXX. Chest in Haconby Church, Lincolnshire 37 XXXI. Chest in Shanklin Church, Isle of Wight 38 XXXII. Chest which belonged to Sir Thomas More 38 XXXIII. German Chamber Organ 38 XXXIV. Napkin Press in the possession of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K.H 39 XXXV. Chairs, Bedsteds, and Chandeliers from Illuminated MSS 39 XXXVI. Bedsted in the possession of the Rev. William Allen 39 a2 INTRODUCTION. The progress of civilization has constantly a tendency to make articles of convenience become objects of luxury ; and hence, the ingenuity as well as taste of man are lavished to render splendid the common neces- saries of life. This fact is in no instance more strongly demonstrated than in ornamental household furniture ; and any examination of the various successive steps by which the rude block of wood and simple elevated plank have assumed the elegant shapes displayed in modern specimens, is an instructive as well as amusing pursuit. Although it does not necessarily follow that the forms and ornaments of tables and chairs should, as a fundamental rule, bear reference to the style of a building, yet such an investigation cannot fail to prove that they have been invariably copied from the prevailing architecture of the time. Hence it is, that the date of one being ascertained, we arrive at certainty with respect to the other ; and hence it is, that a similar excellence or debasement in the artistic handling will be found to prevail equally in both. The representations we have of what was used by the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, are those only of the most finished and tasteful specimens ; and, consequently, materials do not exist for the formation of a chronological series. But if we examine such as are of subsequent date in Europe, the inquiry will be found amply to repay the trouble. Ancient drawings, illuminations, carvings in ivory, painted glass, and sculptured friezes, afford great assistance. Any work, however, that should profess to comprise these among its engravings would be too extensive for the purpose of publication, and therefore Mr. Shaw has confined the " Specimens of Ancient Furniture" almost entirely to those he has " drawn from existing authorities." He stated with great propriety in his Prospectus, that " the painter, the b 2 INTRODUCTION. sculptor, and the architect, when called upon to portray or imitate any article of early domestic furniture, have been obliged to trust to imperfect descriptions or to their own imaginations, instead of being able to refer to faithful drawings of those numerous original authorities which are scattered throughout the kingdom. From the want of such a collection, artists of the highest reputation have sometimes produced pictures, of which the details are so full of incongruities and anachronisms, as mate- rially to detract from the general merit of the piece. In an historical composition, correctness in the auxiliaries is scarcely less important than in the more prominent parts, for the introduction of a wardrobe or a chair of the time of Queen Anne in the representation of an apartment of the reign of Henry the Sixth, is as glaring an error as to depict soldiers in a painting of the battle of Cressy in the uniform and with the weapons of the dragoon guards of the present day. Extreme accuracy, even in the minutest detail, can alone produce that illusion which is requisite for the perfect success of a work of art ; eveiy thing must be consistent to be complete, and an anachronism in an historical picture is as offensive to the eye of taste as is an imperfect metaphor or a defective verse to the ear. Costume has been more regarded since the reform in dress on the stage, which probably produced a similar improvement in paint- ing." ' The exertions of Mr. Planche, whose scrutinizing eye very early observed the absurdities in what are termed the theatrical properties, have, in spite of prejudice and every other obstacle, laid the foundation for correctness in costume. Wherever he has had the opportunity and the permission, he has pushed this highly useful antiquarian feeling usque ad unguem, in order to prevent the violation of truth in the scenery, decorations, and furniture. " It is the design," says Mr. Shaw, " of the present work still further to extend historical correctness in art, by placing within the reach of its professors a standard authority for all articles used for domestic pur- poses, from the earliest period of which specimens exist to the reign of Queen Anne. They will consist of jewellery, cabinets, bedsteads, chairs, tables, coffers, wardrobes, carvings, and other relics remarkable for exquisite workmanship or design. Fidelity of delineation will be the principal aim of the author, who flatters himself he shall produce a work INTRODUCTION. 3 of standard value, illustrative as well of the manners, customs, tastes, and domestic economy, as of the arts in the early periods of British history." It will be my business, therefore, briefly to allude to what appears in ancient descriptions, illuminations, and ivory sculptures, as introductory to the descriptions of what are here engraved. Although from seals and some other sources we have abundant repre- sentations of seats and stools, we have little to instruct us in the general decorations of rooms prior to the middle of the thirteenth century. Needle work, such as the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, had been at all times very rare, but about this period was succeeded by paintings on the walls, generally from subjects of romance, legends, or the fabliaux that formed the fashionable reading of the day. Thus, in the Romance of Arthur of Lytle Brytayne, written in the time of Edward the Second, we are told, that " out of this hall he entred into a chambre the moste rychest that ever was seen ; for syth God first made mankynde, there was no maner of hystorie nor bataile but in that chamber it was por- trayed with golde and asure and other fresche coloures as quyckely adurned that it was wonder to behold ; there was portrayed how God dyde create the sonne and the mone, and in the rofe were all the seven pianettes wrought with fyne golde and sylver, and all the sytuacyons of the hevens, wherin were pyght many carbuncles and other precyous stones, the which dyde cast grete clerenes both by daye and by nyght. To saye the truthe, it was the most rychest chambre and the wonder- fullest that ever was seen in all the worlde." But we need not have recourse to fabulous story, though in the romances we find the truest pictures of real life. The following documents refer to domestic apart- ments at this period, for I have studiously avoided introducing any relating to ecclesiastical edifices. Anno 1233, 17 Hen. III. m. 6. Mandatum est Vicecomiti Southton: quod cameram regis lambruscatam de castro Winton: depingi faciat eisdem historiis et picturis quibus fuerat prius depicta. Et custum &c. computabitur. Vesti rege apud Kiderminstr iii die Junii. " The sheriff of Hampshire is commanded to take care that the wainscotted chamber of the king in the castle of Winchester be painted with the same histories 4 INTRODUCTION. and pictures as it had been previously painted. And the cost, &c. shall be computed. Witness the king at Kidderminster, the 3rd of June." This is a valuable document, showing, as it does, that the painting of history on the walls of rooms had been in use prior to its date. Rot. Claus. 20 Hen. III. m. 15. Mandatum est thesaurario resds, quod magnam cameram regis apud Westm. bono viridi colore depingi faciat ad modum curtanse et in magno gabulo ejusdem camerae juxta hostium depingi ludum ilium : Ke ne dune ke ne tine, ne pret ke desire, et etiam parvam garderobam regis viridi colore ad modum curtanse depingi faciat : ita quod rex in primo adventu suo illuc inveniat pre- dictas cameram et garderobam ita depictas et ornatus, sicut predictum est. Anno 1236. " The king's treasurer is commanded to have the great chamber of the king at Westminster painted with good green colour, in imitation of a curtain, and in the great gable of the same chamber near the door to have painted the following game : Qui ne donne ce qu'il tient, ne prend ce qu'il desire ; and also the little wardrobe of the king to have painted with green colour in the fashion of a curtain, so that the first time the king enters he shall find the aforesaid chamber and wardrobe painted and orna- mented as is aforesaid." In the extract from Arthur of Lytle Brytayne, mention is made of the ceiling being studded with stars. This style of ornament for walls appears by the following document to have been adopted at least as early as the commencement of the thirteenth century. Liberat A° 22 Hen. III. in. 3. Mandatum est vie'. Southampt. quod cameram apud Winton colorari faciat viridi colore et stellari auro, in quibus depin- garitur historian veteris et novi testamenti. " The sherif of Hampshire is ordered to cause the chamber at Winchester to be coloured with a green colour, and starred with gold, on which shall be depicted the histories of the Old and New Testaments." The next precept shows us that oil colours were used in such deco- rations : Rex thesaurio et camerariis suis salutem liberate de thesauro / INTRODUCTION. 5 nostro Odoni aurifabro et Edwardo filio suo centum et septemdecem solidos et decern denarios pro oleo, vernici, et coloribus emptis et picturis factis in camera Reginse nostrae apud Westm. ab octavis Sancta Trini- tatis anno regni nostri xxiii usque ad festum Sancti Barnabas apostoli eodem anno, silicet per xv dies. Anno 1239. " The kins; to his treasurer and chamberlain greeting. Pay from our treasury to Odo the goldsmith, and his son Edward, 117 shillings and 10 pence, for the purchase of oil, varnish, and colours, and for making pictures in the chamber of our queen at Westminster, from the octaves of the Holy Trinity, in the 23rd year of our reign, to the festival of St. Barnabas the apostle in the same year, namely for fifteen days." Several existing specimens still attest the high degree of skill with which painted glass was effected during this reign, and there is a mandate in its twenty-fifth year, ordering two windows with pictures to be put in the hall, with the motto before cited, which shows that this costly and brilliant decoration was not confined to religious structures, although it might have been more sparingly used. Seven years after, that is in 1248, we meet with another order running thus : Rex custodi manerii de Wodestoke praecepit, ut inter alia freri faciat duas fenestras de albo vitro et fenestram aulse versus orientem, similiter cum pictura ejus anise emendari faciat. Quoddam etiam scaccarium fieri faciat in eadem aula quod contineat hunc versum : Qui non dat quod habet, non accipit ille quod optat. " The king to the keeper of the manor of Woodstock sends this precept : that among other things he causes two windows to be made of white glass, and that he takes care to have mended the eastern window of the hall with its picture of the hall : that he causes to be made in that hall certain chequer work, which shall contain this verse : Who does not give what he has, shall not have what he wants." This article explains in some degree the nature of the game mentioned in the one previously quoted ; inasmuch as it seems to .indicate that the table on which it was played resembled a chess-board. Yet such a 6 INTRODUCTION. conclusion is by no means to be relied on, as chequer-work was often the ground on which the artists of former times placed their subjects. Liberat. 36 Hen. III. m. 15. Mandatum Vic. Northampton quod fieri faciat in castro North: fenestras de albo vitro et in eisdem historiam Lazari et Divitis depingi. Anno 1252. " The sherif of Northampton is commanded to cause to be made windows of white glass in the castle of Northampton, and to have painted in them the history of Lazarus and Dives." We learn from the romance before cited, of Arthur of Lytle Brytayne, that these windows were made with lattices to open and shut. " Thus as Florence sate on her fader's beddes fete a good space, at laste the kinge felte one syttynge on hys beddes fete ; therewith he awoke and opened his eyen, and behelde the grete wyndowes open before hym, fayre glased, and the sone shynynge all about the chambre, the whiche was hanged ryght rychely." Again : " The arowe hytte one of the wyndowes so sore, that it flew wide open with the stroke." And, " Than there rose suche a wynde so grete and fervent, that it brast the glasse windows and latesses." The introduction of stained or painted glass most successfully reme- died what our ancestors studied to effect much more than architects of the present day, the want of richness in colour, while it excluded unsightly objects. The manufacture of this beautiful ornament was carried on at first more particularly at Venice, but after its introduction to this country English artists soon endeavoured to compete with foreigners. In proof of this fact, I may, perhaps, be permitted to refer to the fine windows of York Minster, which were executed by Thornton in the year 1400. Liberat. 36 Hen. III. m. 15. Rex Vicecomiti Nottinghamiae salutem. Prsecipimus tibi quod in camera reginae nostras apud Nottingham depingi facias historiam Alexandri circumquaque, et custum, &c. Teste rege apud Nottingham xv die Januarii. " The king to the sheriff of Nottingham greeting. We order you to have painted in the chamber of our queen at Nottingham the history of Alexander round about it, and the cost, &c. Witness the king at Nottingham the 15th January." INTRODUCTION. 7 Clause 36 Hen. III. m. 22. Mandatum Radulpho de Dungun custodi librorum regis, quod magistro Willielmo pictori regis habere faciat colores ad depingendum parvam garderobam reginae. Teste rege apud Westm. xxv die Febr. per regera. " Ralph de Dungun, the king's librarian, is commanded to take care that Master William, the king's painter, should have colours to paint the little wardrobe of the queen. Witness the king at Westminster, the 25th of February, by the king himself." In a clause dated the 44th of Henry III. 1260, memb. 6, orders are given, ad renovendas picturas regis apud Windsor, " to restore the king's pictures at Windsor;" and in another, membrane 11, the sherif of Surry is directed without delay to have the paintings in our great hall at Guldeford repaired, et in magna camera nostra ibidem ad caput lectri nostri super album muram quoddam pallium depingi : " and in our great chamber there, on the blank wall at the head of our bed, to have painted the resemblance of a curtain (or hanging)." This docu- ment shows that paintings on walls were not confined to the sitting apartments, but also adorned the bedchamber ; and indeed the quotation from Arthur of Lytle Brytayne, had it been carried somewhat further, would have proved the same thing. It might be sufficient to close these testimonies of the mode of decorating rooms, with merely men- tioning the fact that the great hall of Borthwick Castle, in Scotland, the architecture of which is of the time of Henry the Third, has on its vaulted ceiling the remains of painting such as occur in old illuminations ; and there can yet be traced the representation of a castle with its battlements, towers, and pinnacles, and the legend in old characters, " Y e Temple of Honor," still distinctly legible.* But the following circumstances must not be omitted. Though the subjects painted on the walls were often taken from the fabliaux, the authors of those interesting specimens of early poetry, on the other hand readily availed themselves of the imagery the paintings suggested. Thus, in the Lay of Sir Gugemer, we read in Way's trans- lation : * Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, 1826, vol. i. 8- INTRODUCTION. " Her prison room was fair ; from roof to floor With golden imageries pictured o'er; There Venus might be seen, in act to throw Down to the mimick fire that gleam'd below, The ' Remedies of Love' Dan Ovid made ; Wrathful the goddess look'd and ill-appaid, And many more than I may well recall, Illumining throughout the sumptuous wall." Warton is of opinion that this poem suggested to Chaucer much of his picturesque composition. Thus in his Dreme, v. 1320, we have In a chamber paint Full of stories old and divers. And again, v. 2167, For there was ne lady ne creture Save on the wals old portraiture Of horsemen, hawkis and houndes, &c. And in an old French romance we have Et lors cambres et lors grans sales Font lambroissier, peindre et pourtraire. " And they caused their chambers and great halls To be wainscotted and painted with figures." In the year 1277, Otho, Duke of Milan, having restored peace to that city by a signal victory, built a noble castle, in which he ordered the particular circumstances of his triumph to be painted. Paulus Jovius relates that these paintings remained in the great vaulted chamber of the fortress fresh and unimpaired in the year 1547. So Langton, Bishop of Lichfield, in this country, commanded, about the year 1312, the coro- nation, marriages, wars, and funeral of his patron King Edward the First, to be painted in the great hall of his episcopal palace recently built. In the year 1322, Symeon, a friar minor and doctor in theology, wrote an itinerary in Latin ; and, speaking of Westminster Abbey, says, " near this monastery stands the celebrated royal palace of England, in which is that well known chamber on whose walls all the warlike his- INTRODUCTION. 9 tories of the Bible are painted with inexpressible skill, and explained by a regular and complete series of texts beautifully written in French over each battle, to the no small admiration of the beholder, and the increase of royal magnificence." These paintings, or rather the remaining part of them, have recently been destroyed by the government architect to enlarge the imperial parliament house, but not before the late Charles Stothard made accurate drawings of them for the Society of Antiquaries, and which, it is to be hoped, will soon be engraved. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, observes that that part of the Old Testament which records the Jewish wars was regarded as a book of chivalry, and their chief heroes, Joshua and David, the latter of whom killed a giant, are often recited among the champions of romance. It was the appear- ance of this vulgata camera just described that probably suggested to the author of Piers Plowman's Crede the line, " As a parlement hous ypeynted aboute." To this style of decoration on the wall succeeded the more com- modious and warmer one of tapestry, which being fabricated more espe- cially at the town of Arras, generally went by its name. This manu- facture prospered chiefly in the Netherlands, where it originated ; but the earliest specimen I have seen is preserved in the church of St. Sebald at Nuremberg, being of the time of our Henry the Fourth, and repre- senting the life of that saint. In about forty years after, John Holland, Duke of Exeter, by will dated July 10, 1447, gives to his son Sir Henry all the stuff of his wardrobe and of his arras ; so that we may conceive it to have become prevalent in the early part of the fifteenth century. A very ancient specimen may still be seen at Berkley Castle. Such were the apartments of our ancestors : it will now be proper to consider the furniture that was put into them. Looking-Glasses. The disuse of paintings on the walls led to pictures in frames, several of which, with these original additions of an open scroll pattern and flat, of the time of Henry the Eighth, are still in existence ; and it was further productive of those beautiful appendages to our walls, known by the name of looking-glasses. Mirrors of polished steel had been known to the ancients, and were still used set in silver or c 10 INTRODUCTION. ivory until the commencement of the fifteenth century ;* but these were very small, and merely to hold in the hand. In the wardrobe account of the twenty-eighth year of King Edward the First are enumerated " a comb and mirror of silver gilt (unura speculum argenti deauratum) enamelled ;" and in the Doucean Museum at Goodrich Court are three interesting specimens of ivory, on the backs of which are some military representations cleverly carved, one of which is the favourite subject of the attack of the Chateau d' Amour. But suspended looking-glasses were afterwards imported from France. Thus, in the privy purse expenses of Henry the Eighth in 1532, we meet with a payment "to a Frencheman for certeyne loking-glasses ;" and at Goodrich Court is a fine specimen of one of the time of Queen Elizabeth, which Mr. Shaw has engraved for this work. Moveables. In the Anglo-Saxon times, seats in the form of our modern camp-stools were prevalent, the sitting part terminating with the representations of the heads of some animals, the feet with their claws, sometimes a plane back consisting of two upright posts and a cross piece was added, which thus converted it into a chair. Hence in Willemin. Monumens Fran^ais inedits, we have engravings of a stool in the form of an X, and a solid one, probably of ivory, made to look like brick-work, from a MS. of the seventh century. See also Strutt's Dresses and Habits of England, PI. ill. VII. x. xv. and his Manners and Customs, PI. xxiii. where there are examples of cross, solid, and pyramidal stools, some with square backs and others with triangular seats, all from MSS. of the eighth century. In PI. xvi. of the Dresses and Habits of England is a representation of Aldhelme, Bishop of Sherborne, sitting on a stool with wolves' heads on each side, and their paws at the feet, and resting his own on a square foot-stool. The seats we find generally furnished with cushions and drapery thrown over, as was the fashion in the classical times of Greece and Rome. Montfaucon has given us a representation of the seat of Charlemagne, very nearly resembling that of Aldhelme. In Willemin's Monumens, &c, Charles le Chauve in the ninth century appears sitting on a solid * See a lady holding one in Strutt's Dresses and Habits, PI. XCI. ♦ INTRODUCTION. 11 seat with a square back; and two figures from a MS. of the year 989 sit on solid stools. Strutt, in his Dresses and Habits, has given in PI. xvn. a copy of a very grand stool of the ninth century, from an illuminated MS. of that date. In the tenth century the seats became completely panelled, and were then perforated so as to exhibit several circular-headed arches, and this fashion continued during the prevalence of the Norman architecture. Thus Willemin gives, from a MS. in the abbey of St. Germain des Pres of this period, a stool so adorned ; and from one in the Bibliotheque du Roi, about the year 989, a solid couch for two persons with similar apertures. Another, from No. 987 in the then Imperial Library, of the eleventh century, ornamented with balustrades. Both he and Strutt afford us specimens of some of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but not materially distinguished from those already described. Strutt, in his Manners and Customs, PI. xxxvi. gives an engraving of a beautiful chair, from a MS. copy of Matthew Paris, about the time of Henry the Third, and in Plates xxxix. xl. xlii. and xlv. others. This fashion of seats gave way to the tall pediment of the pointed style of architecture, of which the coronation chairs in Westminster Abbey are very early existing specimens. Probably that square-backed one given by Strutt in PI. xxix. of his Sports and Pastimes, from a- MS. in the Royal Library at the British Museum marked 20, B. xi. is what immediately preceded. Two ivory carvings, one a casket, the other a diptych, of the time of Edward the Second, in the Doucean Museum at Goodrich Court, afford good representations of the short- backed chairs with the architectural ornaments of the day, and we have in the seals of our monarchs the richly sculptured character of their thrones and foot-stools. Willemin has engraved an arm-chair with balustrades below, in which is a panel, and under that a trefoil-headed arch, from a MS. written in the year 1380 by Gaston de Foix. Several beautiful thrones also, from a Latin Psalter of the fourteenth century, highly ornamented, according to the architecture of the period, with flying buttresses, &c. In the fifteenth century he gives us one with Gothic arches behind and quatre- foils at the side ; and another, the back of which has five sides of open 12 INTRODUCTION. work. In the same century, from a MS. No. 6736, he produces a high back chair with solid sides, panelled, and carved with Gothic work, one in which the back is made to form a canopy, from the Roman de Renauld de Montauban ; and an arm-chair architecturally ornamented in the pointed style, from an original in the church of Cresker a Rosecoff. He also affords us specimens of the chairs used in the time of Francis the First, being high backed, with napkin panels and much carving, of which period Mr. Shaw has inserted one in this work, now preserved at Mitchel Dean, in the county of Gloucester. The chair on which Ludovic de Gonzagues, Due de Nivernois, sits, from the painting of the date of 1587, is also engraved by Willemin, and will be found to resemble some given by Mr. Shaw. Tables. Strutt, in his Manners and Customs, has given specimens of Anglo-Saxon tables, PL xvi. in which they appear circular, oblong, and Ions; with the angles rounded. All have table-cloths. To simple square legs for tables succeeded the more commodious invention of tressels, of which Willemin gives an ornamented specimen of the end of the fourteenth century, from a MS. copy of the Roman de Lancelot du Lac, No. 6964, Bib. du Roi. The same indefatigable antiquary has engraved a dressing-table on four plain legs of the fifteenth century ; also a table and ink-stand, and a round table on a pillar and claw of the sixteenth century, and that in an apartment of Henry the Second of France, which is also given by Montfaucon. Sideboards. Several beautiful buffets in the last style of Gothic architecture will be found in Willemin's book, and the plain ones of the time of Elizabeth in George Rixners Thurnier buch. Coffers. Willemin has given one richly carved of the time of Henry the Eighth, but Mr. Shaw has, in the present work, presented the public with a splendid series, through the kindness of William Twopenny, Esq. Musical Instruments. The only instruments of music which in ancient times can be considered in the light of furniture, were the stand of bells and the organ. Of the former a specimen of the time of Edward the Third may be seen in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, PL xxiv. from a MS. in the Royal Library, Brit. Mus. 20. B. xi. and the latter INTRODUCTION. 13 occur first as portable, being merely a support for the keys and pipes, but have in the sixteenth century a complete casing in the form of a cabinet; Bedsteds. The bedsteds were in the first instance imitations of those of the Greeks of the Lower Empire, I mean from the time they are at all worthy of notice ; and these were simply couches with four straight legs and an elevated plank of wood at the back to support a pillow. Willemin has given one from a manuscript in the Bibliotheque du Roi, at Paris, No. 510, written in the year 886. Strutt, in his Manners and Customs, has a very similar one, which he terms Anglo- Danish, though the MS. from which he took it* has every appearance of being Anglo-Saxon. Drapery is thrown over the whole. He has, however, represented a very singular Anglo-Saxon bed and bedsted in Plate xiii. Fig. 2, from Claudius, B. iv. The latter is four-posted, supporting a tester like the roof of a house, within which are curtains drawn back and twisted round the posts. Willemin has engraved a couch, with a side terminating with a wooden canopy, from a MS. of the twelfth century. In Plate lxiii. of Strutt's Manners and Customs is a bedsted of the time of Henry the Third, much like a modern French one, except that there is no board between the two foot-posts. It has drapery over all. In Plates lxxiii. and xci. of his Dresses and Habits, are two bedsteds of the fourteenth century, much of the same character, though the latter has a sort of pinnacle rising from behind the head-board. But we have in the Romance of Arthur of Lytle Brytayne the following picturesque description. After mentioning the chamber, as in the extract before given, the author proceeds to say : " Also there were dy verse beddis wonderfull ryche, but specyally one, the whiche stode in the myddes of the chambre, sur- mounted in beaute all other ; for y e utterbrasses therof were of grene jasper with grete barres of golde set full of precyous stones, and the crampons were of fyne sylver enbordered wyth golde, the postes of y very, with pomelles of corall, and the staves closed in bokeram covered wyth crymesyn satyn, and shetes of sylke with a ryche coveiynge of * Cott. Library, Brit. Mus. Calig. A. vii. See Strutt, PI. XXVII. Fig. 3. Vol. i. 14 INTRODUCTION. ermyns, and other clothes of cloth of golde, and four square pyllowes wrought amonge the Sarasyns ; the curtaynes were of grene sendall vyroned* wyth gold and azure ; and rounde aboute this bedde there laye on the flour carpettes of sylke poynted and embrowdred with ymages of gold ; and at the foure corners of this bedde there were foure condytes mervaylously wrought by subtyll entayle, out of the whiche there yssued so swet an odour and so delectable, y* all other swetenesse of the world were as no thynge to the regarde thereof ; and at the head of thys bedde there stode an ymage of golde, and had in his lyfte hand a bowe of yvery, and in his right hande an arowe of fyne sylver; in the myddes of his brest there were letters that sayd thus," &c. It appears a little further on, that this bedchamber was paved, a fashion still prevalent in France. In another part of the same romance, in the description of a bed, we have : " Upon the bed there was a riche quylt wrought with coten, covered with crimson senclal stytched with thredes of golde and shetes of whyte sylke, and over al a rych furre of ermynes." The bed- sted, which stood in the middle of the room, seems to have been made on the principle of modern cribs, with a railing here called outerbras, at the sides and feet, while the head, which was solid, was surmounted by a figure. The posts, which we find afterwards mentioned as sustaining the tester, we are there told were two in number at the feet, while the uprights, called staves, at the head, covered with crimson satin, sup- ported it at the other end. There " stode before thys bedde a bench with great brases (arms) of ivory." Making every allowance for the wish to astonish in a romance writer, this description nevertheless gives us a splendid idea of the beds and bedsteds in the time of Edward the Second. Nearly a century after we meet with a bedsted, separate from the tester and curtains, in the representation Willemin has given us of Pierre Salmon presenting to Charles the Sixth his book entitled Des Maximes Royales, from an illumination to a MS. in the Bib. du Roi, at Paris. But we have undoubted authority, that beds of sumptuous materials and skilful work- manship in embroidery became a general fashion with the nobility. An * Surrounded. INTRODUCTION. 15 inferior stuff had been previously used, called camoke, camoka, chamiere, and camelette, which was made by the orientals of camel's hair ; but this was imitated in silk only, and then termed camlette. In Chaucer's Dreme we have : " Of downe of pure dove's white I wol give him a fether bed, Raied wel with gold, and right wel clad In fine blacke sattin d'outremere, And many a pillow, and every bere Of cloth of Raynes, to slepe on soft." This expression, " many a pillow," and that before quoted, " foure square pyllowes," shew that several were appropriated to a bed, and here we find that, the pillowberes or cases were of cloth of Rennes. Serica, or silk, was as a manufacture unknown in Europe before the sixth century. Its name was derived from the Seres, who were the pro- genitors of the Boukarians. From Greece it passed to Italy, and in the thirteenth century Bruges was its chief mart. Thomas de Mussen- dun, by will dated 20th July, 1402, bequeaths to his wife a bed, with a coverlet made of velvet and sattin, and paned with ermine in stripes or borders. In 1356, Elizabeth Countess of Northampton, bequeaths to her daughter a bed of red worsted and embroidered. In 1409, Elizabeth Lady Despenser does the same ; as does Lady Elizabeth Andrews in 1474. King Edward the Third, in 1377, leaves to Richard, son of the Black Prince, " an entire bed marked with the arms of France and England, now in our palace of Westminster." Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, wills, in 1361, to his niece a bed with the arms of England. Agnes Countess of Pembroke, in 1367, gives to her daughter a bed, with the furniture of her father's arms ; and William Lord Ferrers of Groby, in 1368, leaves to his son " my green bed, with my arms thereon ;" and to his daughter, " my white bed, and all the furniture with the arms of Ferrers and Ufford thereon." Edward the Black Prince, in 1376, makes bequests, " to our son Richard, the bed which the king our father gave us : to Sir Roger de Clarendon, a silk bed : to Sir Robert de Walsham, our confessor, a large bed of red camora, with our arms embroidered at each corner, also embroidered with the arms of 16 INTRODUCTION. Hereford : to Mons . Alayne Cheyne, our bed of camora powdered with blue eagles." His widow, in 1385, gives " to my dear son, the king, (Richard the First) my new bed of red velvet, embroidered with ostrich feathers of silver and heads of leopards of gold, with boughs and leaves issuing out of their mouths : to my dear son, Thomas Earl of Kent, my bed of red camak, paied with red and rays of gold : to my dear son, John Holland, a bed of red camak." In 1368, Robert Earl of Suffolk bequeaths his " bed with the eagle ;" Sir Walter Manney, in 1371, " all my beds and dossers (dossers were put at the backs of chairs and tables) in my wardrobe, excepting my folding bed, paly of blue and red ;" and Edmond Earl of March, " our large bed of black satin, embroidered with white lions and gold roses with escutcheons of the arms of Mor- timer and Ulster," in 1380. Margaret Countess of Devon, in 1391, leaves to her son Peter, " my bed of red and green paly ;" Richard Earl of Arundel, in 1392, to his wife Philippa, " a blue bed marked with my arms and the arms of my late wife, also the hangings of the hall which were lately made in London, of blue tapestry with red roses, with the arms of my sons, the Earl Marshal, Lord Charlton, and Mons r . Will m . Beauchamp ; to my son Richard, a standing bed, called Clove ; also a bed of silk, embroidered with the arms of Arundel and Warren ; also to my said son, the hangings of the large hall, of the arms of Arundel and Warren quarterly : to my dear son Thomas, my blue bed of silk embroidered with griffins : to my daughter Charlton, my bed of red silk : to my daughter Margaret, my blue bed." Sir John Cobham, in 1394, " a red bed embroidered with lions, also a bed of Norwich stuff embroidered with butterflies ;" and Alice Lady West, in 1395, " a bed paled black and white," and " a bed of tapiter's work." John Duke of Lancaster, in 1397, disposes of " my large bed of black velvet embroidered with a circle of fetter-locks (the badge of the house of Lancaster) and garters, all the beds made for my body, called in Eng- land trussing beds, my white bed of silk with blue eagles displayed :" and Thomas Earl of Warwick, in 1400, " a bed of silk embroidered with bears and my arms with all thereto appertaining." In 1411, Joane Lady Hungerford leaves " a green bed embroidered with one grey- hound :" and, in 1415, Edward Duke of York, " my bed of feathers INTRODUCTION. 17 and leopards, with the furniture appertaining to the same ; also my white and red tapestry of garters, fetterlocks and falcons (badge of the house of York) my green bed embroidered with a compas." In 1434, Joane Lady Bergavenny devises " a bed of gold swans, with tapetter of green tapestry, with branches and flowers of divers colours, and two pairs of sheets of Raynes, a pair of fustians, six pairs of other sheets, six pairs of blankets, six mattrasses, six pillows, and with cushions and banncoves that longen to the bed aforesaid ; a bed of cloth of gold with lebardes, with those cushions and tapettes of my best red worsted that belong to the same bed, and bancours and formers that belong to the same bed ; also four pairs of sheets, four pairs of blankets, three pillows, and three mattrasses ; a bed of velvet white and black paled, with cushions, tapettes, and formez that belong to the same bed, three pairs of sheets, three pairs of blankets, three pillows, and three mattrasses ; a bed of blue baudekyn (the richest kind of stuff, the web being gold and the woof silk with embroidery), with cushions, tapettes of blue worsted, the formez that belong to the same bed, four pairs of sheets, four pairs of blankets, four pillows and four mattrasses ; my bed of silk black and red, embroidered with woodbined flowers of silver, and all the costers and apparel that belongeth thereto, twelve pairs of sheets of the best cloth that I have save Reynes, six pairs of blankets, and a pane* of menyver; and my best black bed of silk, with all the apparel of a chamber of the best black tapetter that I have, six pairs of sheets," &c. The pane of minever or fur was succeeded by the counterpane, i. e. one that was contrepointe, or having knotted threads stitched through. At the commencement of the sixteenth century, we find mentioned as furniture of beds, " a good fedur bedde, a boulster, a pair of blankets, a paire of fustians, a pair of fine sheets, a sellor or sillur, a tester, a counterpointe of rosemary, a quilt happing, a chike happing, a white square happing, and a white mantell," as bequeathed by Kathe- rine Lady Hastings, and " a bedde of tymbre," i. e. in a bedsted of carved wood. Willemin has engraved a specimen of a bed of the fifteenth century, From the Latin word Pannum, here acting; as a counterpane. d 18 INTRODUCTION. in which there appears an opening in the side of the bedsted, and another of the seventeenth century, which is pannelled and railed. In one of the drawings to Rous's Life of Beauchamp Earl of War- wick, Cott. Lib. Julius E. iv. written in the time of Edward the Fourth, the tester of the bedsted has no fore posts to support it. Strutt, in his Dresses and Habits, PI. cxviii. has engraved a similar one of the time of Henry the Sixth. In both these instances the tester extends quite as far as the bedsted. Montfaucon, in his Monarchie Fr. has given us an elegant representation of a French bedsted, in his engraving of the death of Henry the Second, King of France, and in the Gene- alogies cles Comtes de Flandres, PI. xxiii. is one of the time of our James the First. Of Cradles Mr. Shaw has given the earliest specimen extant, being that which tradition, with the greatest probability, assigns to King Henry the Fifth in his infancy, and the carving upon the supports to the stand precisely corroborates the date. This, therefore important, ornament has been entirely omitted in the engraving of it by Bonner in his account of Goodrich Castle, and that in Bingley's Tour round North Wales, where it is unaccountably called Edward the Second's, taken from the London Magazine for March, 1774. Willemin has a pretty representation of a cradle with its furniture of the fifteenth cen- tury ; and that of Maximilian the First, Emperor of Germany, is engraved in Der Weiss Kunig. In 1480, Ann, Duchess of Buckingham, bequeaths " a sperver of red velvet, party gold, with a counterpart of the same of scarlet." This Dugdale calls a bed ; but as it is evidently a contraction of the old French word esperver, which Lacombe says is synonymous with epervier, a drag-net, we may conceive it to have been a kind of hammock.* Reading-Desks. Strutt, in his Dresses and Habits of England, PI. xxvii. has an engraving of Wulfstan, Archbishop of York at the close of the Anglo-Saxon period, sitting on a solid stool, over the cushion of which is thrown a handsome trellised drapery, and with a book on a * The net-work on the bowsprit of a ship in which the fore top-mast stay-sail reclines is called a cradle. INTRODUCTION. 19 simple reading-desk, the support of which is formed by the union of three quarters of circles on a single upright post. At PL l. he has Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, from a MS. of the twelfth century, in a splendidly carved armed chair, with corresponding foot-stool attached, and a reading-desk on a pillar with three legs, with a drapery thrown over it, in one twist of which appears his ink-horn. In his Manners and Customs, Vol. I. we have in PL xxxiv. a handsome reading- desk on a pillar, terminating in foliage in so picturesque and clever a manner as completely to support the slab, which is taken from a MS. Chronicle of England by John de Wallingford, who died in 1213 ; and in PL xxxv. Matthew Paris represented as he died in 1259, reclining on a couch with a plain reading-desk, from an illumination by the con- tinuator of his history. Piers Plowman's Vision mentions monks lounging on benches, but the peculiar circumstance of Matthew Paris will account for his lying on a couch in preference to sitting on a chair. Willemin has an engraving of a tasteful reading-desk of the fifteenth century, from a MS. in the then imperial library at Paris, and some very beautiful ones with architectural Gothic ornaments of the same period, from the frontispiece of a Bible, drawn with a pen by Jean de Bruges. But the series given in the present work by Mr. Shaw from the drawings of William Twopeny, Esq. made after the original spe- cimens, affords magnificent examples of the richness displayed by the taste of our ancestors. Lamps and Candlesticks. A lamp of the thirteenth century, from the original, will be found in this work. Chandeliers of the fifteenth may be seen in Willemin, and in Der Weiss Kunig one of the sixteenth century, composed of stags' horns. Of candlesticks, specimens of the twelfth and other centuries are engraved by Mr. Shaw. Clocks. Although the prescribed limits of this work have not admitted any specimens of clocks to be engraved, yet these useful articles of furniture were so prized by our ancestors that some mention of them is absolutely indispensable. Dante, who wrote at the close of the thirteenth century, makes the earliest mention of a clock that struck the hour in these lines : 20 INTRODUCTION. Indi come horologio che ne chiami Nel hora che la sposa d'Idio surge. paradiso, c. x. " Thence as the clock which chimed At the hour that the spouse of Idio rose." But in England a clock-house was erected in the year 1288 opposite Westminster Hall, with a clock to be heard by the courts of law, and paid for with the money arising from a fine imposed on Ralph de Hengham, chief justice of the King's Bench in the sixteenth year of Edward the First. This clock was, during the reign of Henry the Sixth, considered of such consequence that the king gave the custody of it with the appurtenances to William Warby, Dean of St. Stephen's, together with the pay of 6d. per diem, to be received at the Exchequer. The clock-house continued in a ruined state till the year 1715; though the clock was removed soon after the time of Queen Elizabeth. Dart, in his History of Canterbury Cathedral, has given from a MS. in the Cotton Library, marked Galba E. L., the following extract, which shows that this was not the only clock in England in the reign of Edward the First. Anno 1292, Novum orologium magnum in ecclesia (Cantuariensi) pretium £30. " For a new large clock for the church (of Canterbury) the sum of thirty pounds." The word magnum here introduced seems to indicate that there were small clocks also used at this period, an inference that is fully borne out in the following passage from the Roman de la Rose, written by Jean de Meun before the year 1305. Et puis fait sonner ses orloges Par ses salles et par ses loges, A roes trop subtillement De pardurable mouvement. " And then he made his clocks strike In his halls and in his chambers, With wheels very subtily contrived With a continuing movement." We have here, therefore, mention made of chamber clocks as the fur- niture of apartments, and they may have been contrived either to hang on the walls or stand on tables. For the encouragement of the art of clock-making, Edward the Third, INTRODUCTION. 21 in 1368, granted a protection to three Dutchmen who were Orologiers, which will be found in Rymer's Fcedera under the following title, De Horologium artificio exercendo. Indeed, it should be observed that the word clock does not occur before the reign of Henry the Eighth to sig- nify any thing but a bell, the French term being that in constant use. Thus Chaucer in the time of Richard the Second says : " Full sikerer was his crowing in his loge, As is a clock or any abbey orloge ;" which in modern language would be Full surer (or as certain) was his crowing in his roosting-place, As a bell (regularly tolled) or an abbey clock. The great clock in Wells Cathedral, brought originally from Glaston- bury, has been so much altered from time to time that much of its antiquity is obscured, though enough remains to render it an object of great curiosity. Clocks were not long before they became applied to astronomical purposes, and one was constructed by an Englishman named Richard of Wallingford, and put up at St. Albans, which Leland describes* as " showing the course of the sun and moon, marks the fixed stars, and the rising and falling of the tides." This renowned clock, which con- tinued to go at the commencement of the sixteenth century, was called by the inventor " Albion." Froissart tells us that, during the year 1332, Philippe le Hardi, Duke of Burgundy, removed from Courtray to his capital at Dijon a famous clock, which struck the hours and was remark- able for its mechanism. The great clock at Paris was put up in the year 1370, during the reign of Charles the Fifth, King of France, having been fabricated by Charles de Wic, a German. A little after this, a clock was made by a Frenchman, and put up at Montargis, with the fol- lowing inscription : Charles le Quint me fit par Jean de Jouvence. " Charles the Fifth caused me to be made by Jean de Jouvence." Willemin has an engraving of a chamber clock hung against the wall * Leland de Script, Brit. 22 INTRODUCTION. which has graduated Gothic buttresses on each side, and a dome at top for the bell, and from beneath it appear the strings and weights, in the manner of what are now ordinarily termed Dutch clocks. This he has taken from a MS. of the fifteenth century, entitled the Roman de Renuald de Montauban. A similar one was in the tapestry of the time of Edward the Fourth, which hung in the painted chamber in the palace of Westminster.* Still for all this, sun-dials outside of the houses and hour-glasses within them were commonly resorted to for the purpose of measuring; time. The oldest untouched clock that is supposed to go tolerably in Eng- land is that at Hampton Court, the date on which is 1540. The Hon. Daines Barrington notices a table clock belonging to a Mr. Peckett, made at Prague, and dated 1525, the dial of which was nine inches and three quarters diameter. It was also applied to astronomical purposes ; and Horace Walpole, in his description of Strawberry Hill, mentions in the library " a clock of silver gilt, richly chased, engraved and ornamented with fleurs-de-lys, little heads, &c. On the top sits a lion holding the arms of England, which are also on the sides. This was a present from Henry the Eighth to Anne Boleyn ; and since from Lady Elizabeth Germaine to Mr. Walpole. On the weights are the initial letters of Henry and Anne within true lovers' knots ; at top ' Dieu et mon Droit,' at bottom ' The most happy.' One of the weights, agreeably to the indelicacy of that monarch's gallantry, is in a shape very conformable to the last motto. The pedestal is adorned with small heads of bronze gilt of the age of Henry the Eighth, but which did not belong to the clock." At Goodrich Court is a curious table-clock of German manufacture, the engravings of costume on which show it to be of the time of Queen Elizabeth, which has two bells, one to strike the hours, and the other the * In a work just published, entitled " Interesting Papers relating to the History of France, from the time of Louis XI. to that of Louis XVIII." is the following entry of the former period: "To John of Paris, clock-maker, the sum of 16/. \0d., ordered for him by the said lord in the month of March for a clock, which has a dial-plate, and which sounds the hours, garnished with all that appertains to it, and which the said lord caused to be taken and bought, that he might carry it with him to every place whither he might go. April 4th, 1480." INTRODUCTION. 23 quarters. Besides the larger front-dial, it has two smaller, one with the twelve, the other with the twenty-four hours, each with indices that move at the same time as the hands to the larger one. At the sides are dials to show how many times the greater bell has struck the hours, and what quarter the smaller one ; at the back an astrolabe surrounded by a circle of the twenty-four hours, and an index for astronomical purposes. The pendulum works outside. The whole is about fourteen inches in height, and is of metal partly gilt and partly silvered. This double set of hours is alluded to by Shakespeare in these words : " He'll watch the horologe a double set If drink rock not his cradle." othello, act ii. sc. 3. Fire-Dogs or Andirons. Some of these of a late date, that are splendid in material and elaborate in workmanship, have been represented in this work ; what are anterior are more curious than beautiful, and of extremely rare occurrence, though mentioned as early as the Wardrobe Account of Edward the First. The fire-places of our forefathers were sometimes in the side wall, and sometimes in the centre of the apartment, though the latter fashion appears to have been confined to great halls. In this case there was an aperture in the roof over which was a kind of lantern through which the smoke escaped ; as was the case in West- minster Hall, and that at Penshurst. At this interesting seat of the Sidneys, the raised hearth and the andirons still remain, and it is to be hoped will always be preserved, to afford future generations an undoubted proof of this primitive practice. When the fire-places were in the walls, of which specimens exist in the oldest buildings extant, behind the fire- dogs was placed a large slab of iron, termed an arriere-dos, or corrupt- edly, a reredos, that the stone- work might not be injured from the heat. After cast iron was used for the purpose, these became ornamented with armorial bearings and other devices, and in the Elizabethan room at Goodrich Court, the back and dogs so enriched, and the small brass fender are all of that period. Strutt, in the second volume of his dresses and habits, has copied at PI. cxviii. from an illumination of the time of Henry the Sixth, a pair of andirons, which at top are made to curve forward, and at their terminations have flat circular plates affixed some- 24 INTRODUCTION. what similar, except the curves, to the brass ones of Charles the First's time. These latter, where coal was more particularly the fuel than wood, had not only a reredos, but some bars to hold the coals more conveniently together. Such a practice gave origin to grates, the earliest specimens of which are to be found at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire. Warming-pans. One of these, having on its brazen cover the royal arms, with I. R. and the words " God save our kinge James 1620," is in the James the First room, and another with a figure in the costume of the time, the date 1635, and the words " who burnt ^; Nobodie," in the Charles the First room at Goodrich Court. The pans are of copper, of small diameter, though very deep, and held in the hoops of iron handles to which they are fastened. The modern style of wooden handle was introduced in the time of Charles the Second ; and in that of William the Third, the cover of the pan was ornamented with flowers painted on enamel. Plate and Jewellery. It were in vain to attempt an enumeration of these articles used in olden times ; household ordinances, accounts of household expences, and ancient wills, continually mention them, and frequent notices of them occur in the works of poets and romance writers of the middle ages. The Anglo-Saxons were celebrated for their skill in the manufacture of these luxuries, and there is certainly one if not more specimens of their productions still extant. In the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First, enamelled cups and rings were brought into England from Rome and France, par- ticularly those of the manufactory at Limoges. After the conquests in the latter country by Edward the Third new luxuries of jewellery, par- ticularly with regard to cups and dishes, were introduced. These we see frequently in illuminated representations of feasts, as either standing on the table, or ranged on the shelves of the great sideboards near the dais. The inventory of Charles the Fifth, king of France, calls these standing cups, hanaps, colettes, argueries, flacons, and drageours. These were of high value. In 1385, Sir John Devereux bequeaths " four dozen of silver dishes, and six chargers, of silver," which latter were of the most capacious kind on purpose to receive the large joints. These were sometimes called INTRODUCTION. 25 " flat-pieces," to distinguish them from the salt-cellers and spice-dishes, one of which latter, all gilt and enamelled, became the property of Car- dinal Wolsey, though originally made for Edward of Carnarvon. There is extant an account of this cardinal's plate, given in by his gold- smith, Rober Amadal, in 1518, wherein we find chargeours, platters, dishes, and saucers of silver, cups of gold, and " six great candlesticks made at Bruges, with leopards' heads and cardinals' hats chased and gilt." Besides this, Cavendish, in his memoirs of his life, says, " There M r as a cupboard, being as long as the chamber was in breadth, with six deskes in height garnyshed with guilt plate, and the nethermost desk was garnyshed all with gold plate, having with lights one paire of candle- sticks of silver and guilt being curiously wrought, which cost three hun- dred markes. This cupboard was barred round about, that no man might come nigh it, for there was none of all this plate touched in this banquet, for there was sufficient besides." The ornaments of goldsmiths' work were Nouches or Ouches of gold surmounted with pearls, rubies, and diamonds, either circular or made in fanciful forms, and generally worn on the head, and sometimes placed on chaplets ; chaplets of pearl with roses at intervals, chains of gold variously designed, collars of the same with jewels set in them, crosses pendant from chains, fermailes, loops, rings, &c. It now only remains to reconsider and reflect on the many curious facts thus laid before the reader, the result of which must necessarily give a very different idea of the domestic appointments of our ancestors than what is generally allowed. During what have been termed " the dark ages," we find taste preeminent, and skill far beyond what the want of scientific research would be supposed to effect. Instead of fancying with the mind's eye that we behold the stately knights and dames of old sitting within bare walls, and resting their feet on rushes, — instead of imagining that we imitate their greatest splendour when we confine the decorations of rooms in modern Gothic buildings, to oak and stone colours relieved with a little gilding, — we must now do them the justice to allow, that while their tables glittered with plate and jewels, their beds dazzled with the richness of their hangings, and their seats were decorated with refulgent draperies, the Gothic carving of their furniture became e 26 INTRODUCTION. brilliant by scarlet, blue and gold, and the walls of their apartments had the most interesting, as well as most effective appearance, from the grand paintings or the rich tapestry which were placed upon them. The fact is, that modern furniture is too poor. It is of little value to an artist, and unless he can in great measure conceal it by draperies, it deteriorates, rather than embellishes his pictures. A feeling has now arisen for the ancient decorative style, which it is hoped the present work will materially assist ; for however beautiful the elegant simplicity of Grecian forms, these are not of themselves sufficient to produce that effect that should be given to the interior of an English residence. Samuel R. Meyrick. Goodrich Court, 10th July, 1835. LOOKING &U§§,. of the tiiae of (Jueen Elizabeth.. Ja the pofsefsien of Str Samuel Meynck. Goodrich Court. Herefordshire Drawn A EnrfmvoHi'Sy f>nry Sh&w • ifc » 4f to. SILVER FU1HITUEE. ■ at Knole Park, a Seat of the Countefs of Plymouth, Date the time of"Ja.mcs 2°. d : . U rawn & Engraved by Henry Shaw. 4L • UtLjil& "' ^cey r /S34 iy HTftcker&f, Chancy Z'jsir.. TH RONES OF THE !5 T . H C E KTirRY, From a. M.S. iu tie Bib. du Roi Paris. From S* Mary s Hall. Cove atry. Dale the IS 1 * Century * French Chair. of the time of Henry 8* and Table with -Readihg Stand, . of the 15* Century taken from lUumiiianons in M.S.S. of the Bibliotheque at Paris. • * * » Chair, Of iJie time of Heniy 8* la the Pofsefsion of P Abel Esq re Mitchel Dean. Gloucestershire UJ NY CHAIR, FORMERLY BELONGING TO HORACE WALPOLE AT STRAWBERRY HILL. ► Now in the pofsefsion of Ml Webb. Old Bond Street. Drawn ?Jan*20 /834 by W^tickerinf. Chancery LaM > m mm. jt/ffat 3 ' I Hi Cabinet. of the time of Elizabeth, or James l" 1 Id the Pofsefsion of M r Webb. Bond Street. Drawn * Kn£ravK — , — ^ - Dimensions-, ffeifht. 7f6/*-.ZmgtSi,J0!!s>— WuMi. JO'S 9 IS M G- IE E AT BE© at Ware. Drawn 1832. m Dale ihe Reign of Queen Elizabeth Dra-wn 3e Engraved by Henry Sha-v. Sir Toby £elch\. O-o, write it in, a Martial hand, be curse and, brief, it is no matter how witty, so it be doaue/it. arid, full of invention : taunt hint, with the licence of inJc; if thou ehoa'st him seme- ehrtte, it shall not be amifs; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper altho' ihe sheet were bio ! enough for /he Bed of Ware in England, set em down; go. ahoid it." Sha&es/jeare. Chaneeiy lane f Bebsted of the time of Charles l s . T At Goodrich Court. Herefordshire. The Seat of Sir Samuel Meyrick. % i I •p' Height S*,5 _ ivicUA. J* JO . length 2'4/i \ « AITCJMEK'T B.PT Of TMK B IS IE ©PS PAILACJE AT WJB1LILS formerly m the Crypt of tie Cathedral. XIV Date, abo-ut the Middle of the 13? Century. London. Fub^Juiy 20. J 63 3. by W. m Fickering. Chancery Lane- • o I o o o •n X) o- o o p y M N a o I 0) • O 5 • Pi s X) '3 CO o - Ft « T) "g U d : W Uj fM O 2. L. Drawn by The Rev? Allen. , N? 1. At Browsb olme Hall . Yorkshire. The Seat of Tho? Goulbourne Parker Esq™ N? 2. From the Collection of M. Lauvageot. -» I * 4 I , , , , , I I I IRCDIT "WOB-K ©XT HE SOUTH DOffiB. OF WOEISOF CHURCH, I©niK©HAM§HIM. Dale about the time of Edward l? 1 wu by T.WiUement. F.S. A. Engra.ved by Henry Shaw. s y y W o (U o _ ■ i ■ London,. I'u,6?jL>ec^Jl 163 • E I I- A B , apparently of the time of Henry 8^- of Ivory. Two of Wood.. Jiia-dc in imitation of th<- hiuimu mouth., time of Charles i!" LXX pofsefsion of M r Bullock. KgypUan Hall Piccadilly, brought from Spam 'awn by G. CalWrmolo nrfravod by Jtenry S Hr ■ DOMIXICVS A C A¥A1A MJEFECIT AN O 1582. • % SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE PLATE I. The Title from a MS. in the Abbey of St. Germain des Pres, of the Fifteenth Century. This plate exhibits a portrait of Rene D'Anjou in his cabinet, and has been selected to shew the various decorations of a room at that period. PLATE II. Looking-glass of the Time of Queen Elizabeth ', in the possession of Sir Samuel Meyrick, K. H. Goodrich Court, Here- fordshire. This rare, if not unique specimen in this country, is of oak partially gilt, and measures three feet six inches by four feet five inches. It is com- posed of architectural mouldings, cupids, and wreaths of flowers, with a female personification of Faith. It has on it, in gilt characters, the letters R. M., and the date 1559, the year in which Dr. Roland Meyrick was elected bishop of Bangor. It exhibits in a very satisfactory manner the peculiarity of transition pieces, which so decidedly mark the frame work of the time of Elizabeth. 28 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE III. French Looking-glass, from Willemiri 's " Monumens Francais inedits." This splendid example of the French fashion of the time of our Charles the Second, has been introduced from a desire to shew the connecting; link between the Elizabethan style and that in Plate iv., though it should be observed that in the time of our Charles the First, the frames were so made as to give the greatest projection to the glass by being worked on a bevel from thence to the wall. Willemin, without any just grounds, assigns this French mirror to the sixteenth century. PLATE IV. Silver Furniture of the Time of James the Second, at Knowle Park, Kent, the Seat of the Countess of Plymouth. The looking-glass, the first subject in this plate, shows that the convex bevelled frames, with the higher part nearest the glass, which had been introduced in the reign of Charles the First, were continued, though with a profusion of ornament both upon and above them so late as the time of James the Second. It was made for one of the Earls of Dorset, whose initials are seen beneath the coronet. The table as richly adorned as the looking-glass, and with the marks of ownership in like manner, has its legs of that form that marks the period of Charles the Second, and his brother James the Second. The candelabra are en suite with the rest. PLATE V. Couch from Penshurst Place, Kent, the Seat of Sir Philip Sydney, Bart. This splendid specimen, which has been wrongly stated to be of the date of Elizabeth, is in reality of the time of William the Third, and belongs to a set of chairs, two of which are engraved in a subsequent plate. The escalop shell ornament at its head is the only part that has an Elizabethan SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 29 character, and even the edge of that instead of being indented would have been formed by a simple curved line. The frame is gilt, and the furniture of damask silk. PLATE VI. Antient Chairs at York and Evesham. The very curious chair preserved in the vestry of the cathedral at York, on which tradition says some of our kings have been crowned, is perhaps the only specimen in existence of this early form. From the shape of the shield in front, an earlier date than that of Richard the Second, cannot be assigned to it, but though there are instances of ecclesiastics repre- sented sitting on such as still continue something of the character so late as the time of Henry the Eighth ; this would rather approach the former than the latter period. The whole height is about four feet ; and that of the seat one foot five inches and a half. The cushion is stuffed, and covered with green velvet, and the shield covered with leather, the upper part of which has been torn away ; and the lines upon it are but slightly stamped. A comparison of this drawing with PI. xxix. of Strutt's Sports and Pastimes will justify the opinion of its high antiquity. The conventual chair of the Abbot of Evesham appears from its architectural sculpture to be of the fourteenth century, and probably was made for the chapter house, soon after its erection by John de Broke- hampton, at the commencement of that period. It passed, together with the grant of the abbey to Sir Philip Hobby, into the hands of his suc- cessor Sir William Courteyn, who sold the whole to Edward Rudge, Esq. Robert Cooke, the steward of the estate, removed the chair to his own house, and Dr. Baylies marrying his daughter, obtained pos- session of it; when his effects being sold about the year 1763, it was pur- chased by Mr. Beaufoy the vinegar merchant, who removed it to his residence at Lambeth. It then became the property of Mr. Biddle, his relative, and ultimately with great propriety was presented to Edward Rudge, Esq. the present owner of the abbey, by one of the late M. P.'s of High Wycomb, into whose hands it had fallen. 30 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE VII. Two Chairs of the Fifteenth Century , from the Psal- ter of Jean fits du Roi du meme nomme, in the Royal Library at Paris, marked No. 6. These two elegant specimens copied from Willimen's work have their backs so formed as to represent Gothic windows, if indeed he did not mistake as a part of each chair what belonged to the apartment in which they are placed. The otherwise dwarf appearance of the backs, and these resemblances being yellow, instead of the colour of glass, induce an opinion that his judgment was correct. PLATE VIII. Chair from St. Marys Hall, Coventry. This magnificent architectural chair of state is preserved in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry, and may be assigned to the close of the reign of Henry the Sixth, or the commencement of that of Edward the Fourth. It is of oak, but from the mortices on one side, and the lower pattern discontinued, it would seem to have been attached to a series of stalls, and therefore some church or chapel, rather than this hall, was its original receptacle. It is in a high state of preservation. PLATE IX. The Abbot's Chair, Glastonbury, Somersetshire, Time of Henry the Eighth, and a Table from a Drawing in a MS. at Oxford. This chair of simple contrivance is of oak, with carving on it, that marks the early part of the reign of Henry the Eighth. On the upper part of the back, in old English characters, are the words monachus glastonie. and within and without sides of the arms, the inscription johanes ARTHURUS. Its resemblance to the chair formerly in the priory of Southwick, SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 31 Hampshire, is evident on the slightest comparison. That religious house was surrendered on the 7th of April, 1539. Instead of the ornamented circle in the back of the Glastonbury chair, is an animal bearing some resemblance to a stag within a square panel, and above two mitres. The beautiful little table given on the same plate, although not from any real specimen, was too valuable to be omitted. It is taken from a drawing in a MS. marked No. 264. in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, of the close of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century, and has been engraved of larger dimensions. PLATE X. French Chair of the Time of Henry the Eighth, and Table with Reading Stand of the Fifteenth Century, taken from Illuminations in MSS. of the Bibliotheque at Paris. This chair will be found to contain the same characteristics as that engraved in the next plate, and may be regarded as the fashion imme- diately preceding it. The reading desk, which is circular, and the table are somewhat earlier, though the napkin panelling on the latter forbid a higher antiquity than the reign of Henry the Seventh. PLATE XI. Chair of the Time of Henry the Eighth, in the pos- session of Joseph Abel, Esq. Surgeon, Mitchel Dean, Gloucester- shire. This interesting example is of a period after the introduction of what was termed " Romayne work" into England, that is when the frescoes adopted by Raphael and other celebrated painters from the antique had given a new character to ornamental furniture. It is so carved within, and with napkin panelling without, is of oak, and in a good state of preservation. 32 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XII. An Ebony Chair given by Charles the Second to Elias Ashmole, Esq. in the Museum, Oxford. Among other curiosities in the Ashmolean collection is this chair, said to have been given by King Charles the Second. The spiral carving in the legs and back is a characteristic of the time, and the little elevation of the back proves it to be an example appertaining to the early part of his reign. PLATE XIII. Ebony Chair formerly at Strawberry Hill, the Seat of the Hon. Horace Walpole. This is another specimen of the reign of Charles the Second, in which the back is somewhat higher than in the last, a circumstance that may render this a little posterior to it in its date. PLATE XIV. Chair with Velvet Furniture, in the Cartoon Gallery at Knole, Time of James the Second. The legs and supports for the arms are the only marks by which this chair can be distinguished from such as probably belonged to the time of William the Third. The velvet covering was a splendid improvement in luxury to the simple cane backs that had immediately preceded, though better suited for the winter than the summer season. PLATE XV. Chairs from Penshurst Place, Kent, the Seat of Sir Philip Sydney, Bart., Time of William the Third. A chair and an arm chair are here represented as examples belonging to the couch described in PI. iv. with furniture of the same colours. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 33 PLATE XVI. Chairs of the Time of William the Third. This plate exhibits three chairs which, however different they may at a first glance appear, have each the characteristics of the time of William the Third. The first is in the possession of J. W. Wright, Esq. the other two in the vestry room of St. Catherine's Chapel, Regent's Park, London. PLATE XVII. Chair at Hardwicke Hall, Derbyshire, the Seat of the Duke of Devonshire, Time of William the Third. Another specimen of the reign of William the Third, is afforded by this chair in the state room at Hardwicke Hall. The back and seat are of crimson velvet, while the broad stripe in the centre is placed over raised carved work, and ornamented with silver thread. The frame is of a light coloured wood, apparently pear-tree. PLATE XVIII. Chair brought from Cromwell Hall, Finchley, of the Time of William the Third. This example may be assigned to the close of the reign of William the Third, and what immediately preceded the gilt, or white and gilt chairs with damask backs and cushions that became fashionable in the time of Queen Anne. There is a sort of foliage somewhat resembling an escallop shell, or when in length not unlike the frill of a shirt, that may be traced on the supports between the legs, which leads to this conclusion. f 34 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XIX. Table of the Time of Henry the Eighth, from Hill Hall, Essex. This may be regarded as the earliest style of ornamental table after the revival of the arts, and corresponds with Mr. Abel's chair given in PI. xi. It is of oak, and the leaves when opened are kept in a horizontal position by sliding bars underneath. PLATE XX. Table at Leeds Castle, Kent, the Seat of Fiennes Wykeham Martin, Esq. of the Time of Queen Elizabeth. The architectural ornaments of the Grecian style intermixed with foliage are distinguishing marks of the Elizabethan style, and these are finely developed in the existing specimen although greatly mutilated. Two ends are made to be drawn out by main force which then become sup- ported by sliders, while the centre previously held by these in a higher position falls to its place from its own weight. The immense diameter of the legs is a characteristic of this reign, and the beginning of the next, and which we also find in the front posts of bedsteads. PLATE XXI. Table at Longford Castle, Wiltshire, the Seat of the Earl of Radnor. This magnificent specimen is a fine example of decorative furniture at the close of Elizabeth's and beginning of James the First's reign. It is boldly sculptured in oak supporting a marble slab. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 35 PLATE XXII. Wassail Table and Candelabra of the Time of Charles the Second, in the possessio?i of the Hon. Mrs. Cockayne. The peculiarity of the twisted column which appears to have been first assigned to objects of furniture in the time of Charles the Second, has induced that date to be assigned to these curiosities. There is a tradition, however, that they were captured with the baggage of Charles the First after the battle of Naseby, though this is not countenanced by the proba- bility of their being such things as would be thought fit to encumber the march of an army. They are the property of the Hon. Mrs. Cockayne, and are supposed to have been in her family ever since the above men- tioned period. PLATE XXIII. Two Tables at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, the Seat of the Duke of Devonshire. Both these tables, which are of oak, must, more especially from the cha- racter of the legs, have been made about the time of William the Third. The lower one, which has its slab inlaid with various coloured woods, may be of the period of Queen Anne. PLATE XXIV. Sideboard in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry. This, although now used for that purpose, appears rather to have been originally a church chest, having been altered to its present form by moving its sides to the front, and putting on a new top. This was probably done at the time the termini were inserted, the costume of which fixes their date not earlier than James the First's reign. The Coventry badge, if not the roses, is of the same period. In other respects the carving may be of the time of Henry the Sixth, and we may hazard the conjecture that it came from the same place as the chair, PI. vn. 36 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. Indeed, in another part of the hall there is a chest with precisely similar details, in which the armour used in the annual processions has been kept ever since the Restoration. PLATE XXV. Buffets of the Fifteenth Century. These elegant designs of the latter part of the fifteenth century are taken from illuminated MSS. in the King's Library at Paris, and from that of the Dukes of Burgundy at Brussels, and have been introduced by Mr. Shaw to supply the deficiency of actual specimens. PLATE XXVI. Oak Cabinet at Cornishead Priory, Lancashire, the Seat of T. R. Braddyll, Esq. This article of furniture is undoubtedly of the time of Elizabeth ; and, if in its original form, instead of recent composition, may have belonged to the class of sideboards. If this be the case, we may have before us the representation of a court-cupboard, mentioned in the play of Romeo and Juliet, act i. sc. 5. " Away with the joint-stools, remove the court-cupboard Capulet's hall being to be cleared for the dance. The cabinets were enclosed by doors. PLATE XXVII. Sideboard in the possession of David Hodgson, Esq. Liverpool. This is another and a splendid specimen of the court-cupboard, and bears the characteristics of the close of Elizabeth's reign and beginning of James the First's. Its dimensions are 5 ft. 31 in. high, and 5 ft. 6 in. wide. I SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 37 PLATE XXVIII. Cabinet or Wardrobe in the possession of Mr. Webb, of Bond Street. This specimen, which cannot be assigned to a period later than the time of James the First, though probably of the close of the reign of Eliza- beth, is so formed at top as to perform the office of a buffet. Notwith- standing the delineation of the human figure is by no means in good drawing, yet there is a unity and richness in the whole design that can- not fail to please. There is at Goodrich Court a wardrobe sculptured with more artistic feeling, which is a few years earlier in point of date, and has the more peculiar characteristics of the period. At the top are two receding cup- boards, and the projection of the capping to these is supported in front by three elegant female figures. PLATE XXIX. Chest at Clemping Church, Sussex. This interesting example is of the time of Henry the Third. PLATE XXX. Chest in Haconby Church, Lincolnshire. The front of this, as may be perceived, is richly ornamented with the architectural details of the time of Edward the Third. 38 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XXXI. Chest in Shanklin Church, Isle of Wight. The front of this chest has the initials of Thomas Silksted tastefully carved, so as to become highly ornamental, and between them the arms of the priory. The border is formed by the inscription, Dominus Thomas Silkst: D: Prior, Anno Dni: 1519. Like the former ones, the chest is of oak. PLATE XXXII. Chest which belonged to Sir Thomas More, now in possession of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow. This chest affords another specimen of the time of Henry the Eighth, and is at Baynard's Park, which was the seat of this eminent man, and now the property of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow. It is made of wrought iron ; the edges, studs, and portions of the lock, gilt ; and the space between covered with canvass, on which are painted imitations of fruit and flowers. PLATE XXXIII. German Chamber Organ, late in the possession of Mr. Gwennap. This very fine specimen of the latter part of Elizabeth's reign is extremely well carved in oak, and in a very good state of preservation. The organ was built by Hoffheimer at Vienna in 1592 ; and although the works are rather out of order, they are by no means so much so but that they might be easily repaired. This splendid piece of furniture, originally made for an Austrian nobleman, whose coronet, initials, and armorial bearings are interwoven with its decoration, is now the property of Mr. Cartwright, the celebrated dentist. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 39 PLATE XXXIV. Napkin Press in the possession of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K. H. Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. This piece of furniture is in the Elizabethan room termed Sir Gethley's Chamber, at Goodrich Court, where is also the looking-glass engraved in Plate n. It is of oak, with the handle of the drawer, the exterior ornaments on the square uprights, and the urns above them, of ebony. It is in good condition, and may be assigned to the latter part of Eliza- beth's reign. PLATE XXXV. Chairs, Bedsteds, and Chandeliers, &fc. of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, from Illuminated MSS. These are all taken from Willemin's work, with the exception of the bedsted at the right hand lower corner, which is from the British Museum, Royal MS. 16 G. in. and are given as introductory to the actual specimens which have been engraved for this work. The pre- vailing colours are green, blue, and gold, except in the bedsted at the left hand lower corner, which is crimson, green, blue, pink, and gold ; and the one at the right, the draperies of which are all crimson. PLATE XXXVI. Bedsted of the Time of Henry the Eighth, in the possession of the Rev. Wm. Allen, Lovely Hall, near Blackburn. This interesting example, which unfortunately has lost its true cornice, no doubt highly enriched, was observed by Mr. Allen in the course of his professional duties, in administering to a dying parishioner the last consolations of religion, and purchased by him after the decease of the sick person from his heir. 40 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XXXVII. The Great Bed of Ware, Hertfordshire. This celebrated piece of furniture is already amply illustrated by the quotation on the copper-plate. It is a fine specimen of a bedsted of the time of Queen Elizabeth in oak, in good preservation, and has some remains of colour in its frieze. The wardrobe in the room where it stands is of the time of Charles the First, and the chair of that of George the Second. PLATE XXXVIII. Bedsted of the Time of James the First at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, the Seat of Sir Samuel Bush Meyrick, K. H This rare specimen, the posts of which are of a very dark foreign wood, and the back of one somewhat lighter, inlaid with mother o' pearl, occupies an apartment where all the furniture is of corresponding date. It has plain panels behind the bolster, a dome top with sky-blue figured damask curtains, and a splendid counterpane of the same colour em- broidered with flowers. PLATE XXXIX. Bedsted of the Time of Charles the First in one of the Apartments of Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. This bedsted has upon it the date 1@28, and stands in what is termed, from the period of its furniture, the Charles the First's room, at Sir Samuel's residence. It is of oak, very dark from age ; and the panel- ling of the apartment, which is of the same time, reaches only half-way up the wall. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 41 PLATE XL. Crimson Bedsted at Hardwicke Hall, Derbyshire, the Seat of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire. This very handsome specimen is of William the Third's, probably the close of his reign, as in character it does not materially differ from that of Queen Anne's time at Warwick Castle. It is of crimson velvet, with ornaments carved in wood, and covered with gold and silver thread. The counterpane is of damask silk. On the top of the bedsted is at each angle a plume of pink and white ostrich feathers, and the fringes are of blue, brown, red, and other coloured silks. PLATE XLI. The Cradle of Henry the Fifth, in the possession of G. W. Braikeiwidge, Esq. Brisling ton, near Bristol. The beautiful foliage which fills the space between the uprights and stays of the stand of this cradle were never before engraved, although Bonner in his Itinerary, the London Magazine for 1774, and Bingley in his Tour through North Wales, pretended to give representations of this interesting piece of antiquity. Henry the Fifth was born at Monmouth in the year 1388, and sent to Courtfield in that county, about seven miles off, to be nursed for the benefit of his health, under the superintendence of Lady Montacute. Here it was preserved for many years, until a steward of the property contrived to sell it. It then got into the hands of the Rev. Mr. Ball, rector of Newland, Gloucestershire ; and next those of Mr. Whitehead, of Hambrook ; and has been finally purchased by Mr. Braikenridge. Its dimensions are 3 ft. 2 in. long, 1 ft. 8 in. wide at the head, 1 ft. 5iin. at the foot, and 1 ft. 5 in. deep. The uprights, including the birds, are 2 ft. 10 in. in height. The foliage before mentioned corroborates the date. g 42 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XLII. Reading-Desk in Detling Church, Kent. This beautiful specimen has been furnished by the accurate pencil of William Twopeny, Esq. and shews the elaborate carving bestowed by our ancestors on what was often covered with books. The rosettes for- merly in the upper cavetto moulding have been broken away, with the exception of one at the side ; and whatever terminated the pin round which the desk revolved is likewise wanting;. PLATE XLIII. Top of the Reading -Desk at Detling Church, Kent. This plate not only gives the top of larger dimensions, but exhibits the other two sides, shewing more plainly that the moulding above the cavetto, which was pegged on, is wanting, and that the one which acted as a ledge to prevent the sliding off of the books is complete only half way. This reading-desk is of the time of Edward the Third, and is of oak. PLATE XLIV. Reading-Desk at Ramsey Church, Huntingdonshire. . Though much more simple in its details than that at Detling, this has its stand, furnished with that elegant architectural appendage the flying buttress, one of which supports each side. It is of oak like the former. The finials of the flying buttresses are wanting, and so is a part of one of those on the pinnacles of the top. The time is the close of the reign of Henry the Sixth. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 43 PLATE XLV. Brass Reading-Desk of the latter Part of the Fifteenth Century. This specimen, which is in height 6 ft. 7 in., was brought from Brussels, and is now in possession of Mr. Hull, of Wardour Street. It exhibits the style which became prevalent in the reign of Henry the Eighth, foisted upon the last remains of Gothic architecture, and cannot be as- signed to an earlier date than the close of the fifteenth century. PLATE XLVI. Antient Lanthorn in the Bishop s Palace at Wells. This unique specimen may fairly be assigned to the commencement of the reign of Edward the First, and is here represented accompanied with architectural sections explanatory of the mouldings, &c. It is of oak, and formerly was suspended in the crypt of the cathedral. Table in the Chapter House of Salisbury Cathedral. This engraving, had it been on a separate piece of copper, would have preceded PI. xix. as taking priority in point of date of the tables exhi- bited in this work. It is of the same period as the lanthorn, and on that account they have been put together. Details of a capital and band of the columns are given on an enlarged scale. The material is oak, and the remains of painting and gilding are to be discovered in several of the mouldings. 44 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE XLVII. Brass Chandelier in the Temple Church, Bristol. The military costume, as well as architectural ornament, assign this to the time of Henry the Sixth. Except the sharpness being worn down by continual rubbing, this chandelier is in pretty good preservation. PLATE XLVIII. Brass Chandelier in the Chapter Room of St. Katharine's Hospital, Regent's Park, London. This being a composition of different dates is not very useful as an authority, and is therefore introduced as a caution to those who delight in the relics of our ancestors not to take for granted what may be told them of the age of any curiosity. The frame-work, which is the oldest part, may perchance be of the time of Henry the Eighth ; but the branches, busts, and lion, cannot be considered older than the time of Charles the First. PLATE XLIX. Lantern of Bronze in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. This lantern has been denominated Saxon, and attributed to King- Alfred. Whoever, however, will take the trouble of examining the Flemish brass and bronze pans and dishes of Henry the Seventh's time, will find an exact resemblance in point of ornament, and readily assign it to that period. It is of bronze, and studded with crystals to give light. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 45 PLATE L. Various Candlesticks. The first is one of a pair of copper enamelled candlesticks in the drawing room at Goodrich Court, the costume and ornaments on which prove them to be of the twelfth century, and therefore extremely curious. Their height, including the spike on which the candle was affixed, is sixteen inches. The second, dated 1481, although ornamented in a different style, exhibits great similarity of character, but being from an engraving, the candle is shewn placed on the spike. The third is of oak, and in the chapel of St. Cross, Winchester, tra- ditionally asserted to have been given by Cardinal Pole. The fourth is in the James the First room at Goodrich Court, and from the dresses of the little figures on its feet is shewn to be of that period. It is of iron with brass ornaments. PLATE LI. Details of a Candlestick in the possession of Sir Samuel Meyrick, K.H. Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. Here are represented of the full dimensions the ornamental details of the candlestick first described in the account of the last plate. In the centre is exhibited the triangular base, at each angle of which is a foot, similar to that figured above, on which is a rude representation of a lion's head. On the opposite side is an example of the running ornament on the upper and lower boss on the stem. At bottom is the pattern of the centre boss. At top what runs round the concave plate below the spike, and on which the base of the candle rests. 46 SPECIMENS Or ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE LII. Inkstands at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, the Seat of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K.H. The dimensions in the plate of these ink-stands are exactly one half those of the originals. That in the centre is of bronze, and of Italian workmanship, of the middle of the reign of our Henry the Eighth. The lion acts as a handle bv which the lid is drawn backwards, and there are withinside divisions for two ink-bottles and pens. The ornaments are in high relief. The inkstand represented open in the upper part of the plate is of steel, enriched inside and out with Milanese work in gold and silver. A specimen of the first appears close to the lion's tail, and of that of the side border just before his head of their full size. Within are three re- servoirs for ink, &c. with their lids, and a covered recess for pens. This is of the close of Henry the Eighth's time. The lowest inkstand is of the time of Queen Elizabeth, of Dutch ma- nufacture, and of the kind of earthenware called Delft. It has two apertures, one for a glass to hold ink, the other for one to contain pin- dust, and there is a trough in front for the pens, &c. It is ornamented all round with repetitions of a drinking party attended with musicians and jesters. The inscription mutilated runs thus, der : s : kop t : HALDEN : REIN : DER : LAS : DIE : BAVREN : IRE : HOCH : zeit : ALL : ein. The latter part meaning, Now is it high time for every one to drink, is given again on the table cloth. These inkstands used to be placed in a sort of tray called a standish ; for George Silver, at p. 64 of his Paradoxes of defence, published in 1599, says, " Signior Rocko came into England some thirtie yeares past. He had in his schoole a large square table, with a green carpet done round with a verie faire standish covered with crimson velvet, with inke, pens, pin-dust, and sealing-waxe, and quiers of verie excellent fine paper, gilded readie for the noblemen and gentlemen (upon occasion) to write their letters." The pin-dust answered the purpose of our modern steel filings. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 47 PLATE LIIL Bellows of the Time of Elizabeth. The first of these is preserved at Browsholme Hall, the seat of Thomas Goulbourne Parker, Esq. with a tradition that they had been left by Henry the Sixth, with his boot, spurs, glove, and an archer's brace, at Bolton Hall in Yorkshire, but although the archer's brace which I have seen, is decidedly of that time, I cannot conceive the bellows to be of that period. Indeed were it not for the leaf just above the nozzle I would not have ventured to assign a date so early as Elizabeth. The fox preaching to the assembled animals is in a protestant surplice, and in a satirical representation of Henly's Chapel, Chartres, in ivory, in the Doucean museum at Goodrich Court, is just as much of a fox issuing from the preacher's wig, whose congregation have the faces of various animals. Certain it is, that there is not the least indication of the age of Hemy the Sixth, and its being said that these bellows were left with the other articles is anything but conclusive. The other pair have so decidedly a James the First, if not Elizabethan, character in the frame pattern with which they are ornamented, that, there can be no doubt on the subject. PLATE LIV. Fire-Dogs, from Godington, Kent, the Seat of N. E. Toke, Esq. These specimens are nearly of the same date, and may be assigned to the reign of Henry the Eighth. They greatly resemble a pair at Leeds Castle, Kent, which are known to have been put there at that period. Although the shape of the shield on the first approximates to what was used in the time of Henry the Seventh, that on the other was not anterior to the date of his successor, and sometimes occurs even in the early part of Elizabeth's time. They are of iron. 48 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE LV. Furniture of Fire-places, Times of Queen Elizabeth and Charles the First, Warming-pans and Bellows in the possession of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K.H. The highest subject in the plate represents the furniture of the fire-place in Sir Gethley's chamber at Goodrich Court, consisting of a rere-dos of cast iron, and andirons of the same, with a fender of brass, all of the time of Queen Elizabeth. The rere-dos from its date must have been ordered at the foundry before the mould of the new royal arms had arrived, as 1605 is two years after the death of the queen. The fire-place furniture at the bottom of the Plate is in the Charles the First's room. It shews the earliest application of brass dogs to a grate, the back of which is formed by a cast iron representation of the arms of Bristol. The dogs, fender, shovel, and tongs, are of brass. The cover of a warming-pan of the time of James the First is brass, and has engraved on it the royal arms, with the initials i. R. and the legend god save ovre kinge james, 1620. The other warming-pan is of brass, with a handle and support of iron. It has engraved on it a figure with sabre and target of the time of Charles the First, with the legend who bvrnd y e nobodie, 1635. A side view of this is also given. The higher pair of bellows is inlaid with mother o' pearl and silver, and of the time of James the First. The lower is simply of wood rudely carved, having near its edge the words, now man to man is so univst, THAT ONE CANNOT ANOTHER TRVSTE. These are all reduced to the size of one-eighth. PLATE LVI. Brass Fire-Dogs in the possession of Messrs. Pratt, Bond Street, London. These are a front and side view of one of a pair of brass fire-dogs, which are in good preservation. They are of the time of Charles the First. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 49 PLATE LVII. Bronze Fire-Dogs of the Time of James the Second, the property of the late Marchioness of Lansdowne. These andirons are more tasteful in detail, and more elegant in shape, than those which characterized the succeeding reign. They were in the possession of the late Marchioness of Lansdowne, but have been lately sold. PLATE LVIII. Silver Fire-Dogs at Knole Park, Kent, the Seat of the Countess of Plymouth. Front and side views are here given of two pairs of silver fire-dogs, which are very finely chased in the superb style of William the Third, to whose reign they must be assigned. PLATE LIX. Iron Scroll-Work, Worksop Church, Nottinghamshire. This beautiful specimen of iron scroll-work ornaments the south door of Worksop Church, and may be assigned to the time of Edward the First. The terminations are given on an enlarged scale, to demonstrate more fully the taste and elegance that often accompanied the designs of our ancestors. PLATE LX. Lock and Keys. This lock, with its bolt, is taken from one in the church of St. Pitie at Louvain in Flanders, and exhibits what may be considered the fashion of Edward the Fourth's time. In Baker's History of Northampton- shire is etched by Edward Blore, from a drawing by Miss Baker, what h 50 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. is termed the nun's lock at Catesby Priory in that county, which may be regarded as the next specimen in point of date, and may be referred to the very close of the fifteenth century. The key taken from one in the possession of the late Francis Douce, Esq. and now in the Doucean Museum at Goodrich Court, is of about the same time as the lock from St. Pitie. The other key is much older. PLATE LXI. Door-Handle, Escutcheon, and Knockers. The door-handle is from Wookey, Somersetshire, and the date the close of Elizabeth's reign. The escutcheon is from Eastbury House, Barking, Essex, and is a very tasteful specimen of the middle of the sixteenth century. The knockers are both of about the year 1600 ; one is from Street, Somersetshire ; the other from Bexon Bredgar, in the county of Kent. The cloisters to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and the entrance door of Hever Castle, Kent, afford specimens of the time of Henry the Seventh, in which the Catherine-wheel has been elegantly introduced in the escutcheon plate. PLATE LXII. Casket of Enamelled Copper in the possession of George Pocock, Esq. London. This highly curious and interesting example is entirely covered with armorial bearings, arranged in the manner that was anciently termed diapree, and of which we have a cotemporary example on the monument of William de Valence in Westminster Abbey. In former times only the eldest son took his father's arms, the others each varying the coat, a practice of which we have several examples in the time of Edward the Second, and which continued in Wales even as late as the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth. To cite a few instances. The arms of Clare were or, three chevronels gules ; but Richard, surnamed Strongbow, took on a chief three cross crosslets. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 51 Those of Sir Richard Talbot were bendy arg. and gules ; his son took instead his wife's arms, gules, a lion rampant within a border engrailed or ; while his brother assumed these in a shield, party per chevron, the base vert. William le Mareshall, gules, a bend lozengee or ; and his brother had party per pale or and vert, a lion rampant gules. Roger de Chandos, gules, a lion rampant with his tail fourche or ; his son, Sir John, arg. a pile gules. The evil ensuing from this ad libitum assump- tion was found to be so great, that ultimately particular marks were arranged by the heralds to be placed on the same armorial bearing as used by the common ancestor. The fact is here noticed to account for the difficulty of assigning the original ownership of this casket, and it may be further remarked that the lozenge-shape shield was not at this period assigned to females only, a fact most fully established by the monument of William de Valence as well as other authorities. The number of shields repeated all over the casket is six. The first is barry of twelve argent and azure, an orle of martlets gu. Second, gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or. " Third, lozengy, gules, and or. The fourth, checquey, or, and azure, a border gules, over all a canton ermine. The fifth, sable, a lion rampant or. The sixth, or, a lion rampant purpure. Five of these may be identified as Valence, England, Angouleme, Dreux, and Brabant; the only difficulty is with the sixth, which may have been a variation of the bearing of the Counts of Holland, their paternal coat being or, a lion rampant gules.* The modern arrangement of quartering had not at the date of this casket been established, and the selection of armorial bearings to be placed as ornament was chosen from whatever may have been in the families of the ancestry, and placed according to fancy. Perhaps it may be a pardonable conjecture to imagine that this box * Nineteen of the lost escutcheons from the monument of William de Valence were copied in 1610, together with those that now remain, and may be found among the Lans- downe MSS. in the British Museum. Among them may be twice seen this very coat, or, a lion rampant purpure. 52 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. was made for Aylmer de Valence, and presented by him to his first wife, previous to his marriage with that lady ; for had it been enamelled after that event, her armorial ensigns would have been one of its ornaments. Though William de Valence died in 1296, it is probable that his monument was not erected till some time afterwards, which will assign the end of the thirteenth century as the date of the casket. That the workmanship, like that of the monument, is French, and probably of Limoges, there can be little doubt ; for the tomb of Walter de Merton put up in Rochester Cathedral was from that manufactory ; and we may further judge by comparing it with the enamelled monument of Alice, Duchesse de Bretagne, engraved in the Histoire de Bretagne par Lobineau. The use of such sort of caskets was to contain jewels, a custom repre- sented on the fictile vases of the ancient Greeks, and probably introduced into Europe by the crusaders. The large collection of ivory caskets in the Doucean Museum at Goodrich Court shews the distinction between those for relics and those generally given at marriages. PLATE LXIII. Horn at Queens College, Oxford ; — Cup at Oriel College, Oxford. Horns were greatly in fashion among our ancestors. They were of four kinds — those for drinking only, those appropriated to the chace, those used for summoning the people, and those for various purposes, and consequently of a mixed character. There is one preserved at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, presented about the year 1347 by its founder John Goldcorne, alderman of the gild of Corpus Christi, which seems to have been intended both for drinking and sounding;. Queen's College, Oxford, was founded in the year 1340 by Robert Egglesfield, confessor to Queen Philippa, and as tradition states this horn to have been Her Majesty's present, it may account for the singular custom that, according to the statutes he framed, the society was to be called together by the sound of a horn. The trumpet which is now SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 53 used for that purpose is not older than the time of Charles the First, the earliest date that can likewise be assigned to the eagle which now forms the cap of the horn. It may therefore be allowable to conjecture that this horn, which is that of a buffalo, may have been originally employed for summoning the society, and that such order in the statutes was a compliment to the royal donor. Of course for this purpose the stopper was removed, and a mouth-piece inserted in its place. That it was also intended for a drinking-horn the word wasseil on the silver gilt bands which encircle it, and the style of which mark the period of Edward the Third, as well as its traditional name, Poculum caritatis, sufficiently evince. It is thus used on the founder's day, and on all occasions of rejoicing. The very curious cup at Oriel College, which is of silver gilt, mea- sures 7| inches in height to the bottom of the cross, 3s inches wide at its base, and its greatest width at top 5| inches. The ball and cross with which it is surmounted appear to be modern additions. This cup is an enigma. If as is said it were given by Edward the Second, and that the E upon it be his initial, then was the collar of SS known as early as his time. But we have no representations of this collar before the time of Henry the Fourth, around whose neck and that of his Queen it appears in their monumental effigies at Canterbury. It has been fairly conjectured that he first formed this collar, being a repetition of the first letter of his motto, Souverein, which though used when simply an earl had become so auspicious. It had always been my opinion that the ornaments of this cup were not earlier than the middle of the fifteenth century, and I am happy to find this conjecture corroborated by the critical acumen of the deeply versed architectural antiquary, my friend William Twopeny, Esq. If this be so, then to whom can the letter E and the representation of a crown or coronet refer ? Perhaps to Prince Edward, son of Henry the Sixth. We know that his enterprizing mother, in 1459, distributed his badge of a silver swan among the Cheshire gentle- men, in order to arouse their loyalty in favour of England's heir ; and the pious bearing of the father might previously have induced this pre- sent to an ecclesiastical royal foundation. The collar of SS more parti- cularly applied to the house of Lancaster, and on that account was revived by Henry the Seventh. 54 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE LXIV. Salt-celler at New College, Oxford. This salt-celler is of silver-gilt and ornamented on its cover with blue enamel. The chasing is exquisite, though there be nothing very tasteful in the contour. It was presented, in the year 1493, by Walter Hil, warden of the college, as the inscription at the base testifies. PLATE LXV. Salt-celler at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. This splendid specimen of the early part of the reign of Henry the Eighth is like that at New College of silver-gilt. It has been extremely well executed and profusely covered with enamel, though here and there portions have been chipped out. It was presented about the year 1517 by Thomas Fox, Bishop of Winchester, who was founder of the college. PLATE LXVI. Salt-celler and Nut-crackers at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, the Seat of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, K. H. The salt-celler which, from the square-toed shoes, the puckered lambois, and the sword-hilts of the four figures which support it, indicates the reign of Henry the Eighth, is probably Danish or Icelandic. It is composed of three pieces of what appears to be the tusks of the walrus, and contains two cups for the salt. The design is extremely rude, and the ornament simply hatched lines. Of the nut-crackers the small one at the bottom is of steel, and of the time of Charles the First. The one above it with the whistle at the end has on it in front a fancifully emblazoned shield, being a lion passant on a cross, which has its quarters, 1st and 4th, a chevron between three figures that look like 7 ; and 2nd and 3rd, a bouquet of roses. On the contrary side to what is shewn is the date " Sept r . ~ 28, 1685," though the character of the SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 55 head appears much more antient. This pair was found in ploughing a field belonging to the farm of Biddlesdon, in the parish of Llangarran, county of Hereford. The other pair of nut-crackers is, like the last, of hard wood, and has on it the date 1668. It was bequeathed by Francis Douce, Esq. as well as the salt-celler. All these subjects are reduced on the plate to two-thirds of their real size. PLATE LXVII. Antient Cup of Silver-gilt enamelled, in possession of the Corporation of Lynn, Norfolk. This beautiful cup is of the period of Edward the Third, proved not only by the architectural details but the costume in which the hanging- sleeves are decisive evidence. It has been erroneously termed King John's cup, owing probably to that king's having pawned his regalia to Bishop Grey, who built a palace at Gaywood, about a mile from the town of Lynn. The ball and spike at top were probably added in the time of Charles the First. PLATE LXVIII. Cup and Stand at Oriel College, Oxford. These were presented to the college by Bishop Carpenter, who had been provost in the year 1470. The cup is formed of the shell of a cocoa-nut, and the stand of part of a gourd, which are set in silver-gilt. The engraving represents the inside and outside of the former, and it may be perceived that within the rim there is an inscription. 56 SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. PLATE LXIX. Antient Chalices. These chalices are of silver-gilt and have been well executed. The first is at Corpus Christi College, and presented by Bishop Fox, the founder, about the year 1517. The other was removed from St. Albans' Abbey, Hertfordshire, by Sir Thomas Pope, and given by him to Trinity College, Oxford. The inscription round the cup is repeated around the base, and the date can be but little anterior to the other. PLATE LXX. Tankard enamelled on Copper of the Time of Francis the First. The beautiful ewer is the property of E. V. Utterson, Esq. and forms one of the tasteful ornaments of his elegant residence in the Isle of Wight. It is of the close of the reign of Francois le Premiere, and of Limoges enamel. There are several of a similar character in Warwick Castle. PLATE LXXI. Crosier at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. This example of the splendid style of the fifteenth century is of silver gilt, inlaid with blue enamel. It was presented, inter alia, by Bishop Fox in 1517. With that of William of Wykeham at New College and the one at Limerick it may be fairly classed, and therefore fabricated long anterior to its presentation. At Goodrich Court is the crosier attributed to Ragenfroi, Bishop of Chartres in 941, but of the eleventh century and two of the twelfth, all enamelled on gilt copper. SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT FURNITURE. 57 PLATE LXXII. Reliquary of Box-wood, in possession of the late William Bullock, London. This exquisite piece of carving in box-wood was with much more pro- bability a salt-celler, the reliquaries being altogether of a different form. Notwithstanding there has been engraved on it in Roman characters the words Dominic Acavala me fecit aiio 1562, we may with safety assign it to the early part of Henry the Sixth's reign, the original in- scriptions being all of the character of that time. PLATE LXXIIL Details of the Reliquary. An attentive observer will readily perceive what parts have been selected for these details, and the various subjects of religious history to which some of them apply. It will hence be further evident that the date now assigned is borne out, not only by the style of architectural ornament, but that of the costume. It was brought originally from Spain. PLATE LXXIV. Tankard in the Ashrnolean Museum, Oxford. Such kind of tankards as had pegs driven into them at different depths to shew how much each person might drink, were called peg-tankards. This rude specimen, probably of the time of Henry the Eighth, was pre- sented by Sir Christopher Pegge, the eminent physician, and is of wood of very light weight. THE END. C. Whittingham, looks Court, Chancery Lane. i i f y>/i\^ A^yJ