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Third’s* time, that even the walls of the bed-chambers of private gentle-men were ornamented with historical pictures. Chaucer , in his famousDream , fancies himself in a chamber, -lo ■ "

“ jful foci bepatnub,

&nb al the foalhs tm'tfj colours fine(523m pafnteU to the texte antt glose,

&nb al the l^omaunte of the rose,ittg fognbo toeren shut cdjone,

&nb through the glasse the sunne shone,

?Hpon mg bcb trn'th bright hemes.”

Waking, he is surprised at finding that all these gay objects hadvanished; seeing nothing,

“ Sbabe on the foals oltr portraitureOf hotsmen, hafokes, anb hountu's,

&nb hart hire all ful of foountrts

which may fairly be received as a description of his own bed-chamber.

This style of decoration was continued even lower than the time ofElizabeth ; but its execution was generally inferior to that of former ages.

Glass was introduced very early. Holingshed says an Englishmannamed Benedict Biscop, who had taken upon him the habit of a monk inItaly , came here with the Archbishop of Rome, in the year 670, andbrought painters, glaziers, and other such curious craftsmen, into

* Edward the Third’s eagerness to finish St. Stephen’s Chapel induced him to issue aprecept to Hugh de St. Alban, master of the painters, commanding him to impress all thepainters in the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, and Sussex, to conduct them toWestminster, and keep them as long as his service should require, Benedict Nightingaleand John Athelard were authorised to impress in the same manner, and for the same purpose,the painters of Oxford, Lincoln, Warwick, Northampton, Leicester, Cambridge, Huntingdon,Suffolk, and Norfolk .