SECTION V.

dTunuttue, (U.

-“ My house

Is richly furnished with plate and gold;

Basons and ewers:

My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry:

In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns;

In cypress chests my arras, counterpoints,

Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,

Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss’d with pearl,

Valence of Venice gold in needlework,

Pewter and brass, and all things that belong

To houses or housekeeping .”—Taming the Shrew, Act II. Scene 1.

Anterior to the Tudors, household furniture was in general of a rude,substantial character, — the tables formed of boards on trestles, the seatsof massy oak benches* or stools, and the floors strewed with straw.f

# “ Italic for an fjogb fcgng, an fiouseljoltr lo boltfen,

®Utl) brotr bortfcs abouten, ijbencbctf fori time. Plowman’s Crede.

t " SSlfjan a cbambre a fire fs, or an ball*

<52Krl more nctfe t's, ft sotfamlg rescofoe,

®ban to trfsputen anb asfe among us all?£ofo tbe eantfle fn the strafoe ts fall.”

Chaucer ’s Troilus and Cressida .

Fitz-Stephens, the historian and secretary of Thomas k Becket, mentions, among otherparticulars, that his apartments were every day in winter covered with clean straw or hay, and