104

The higher orders had, nevertheless, many costly and splendid articles;for we find, in the old testamentary records, bequests of embroideredbeds of satin and gold, velvet and gold, tapestry hangings for walls,and magnificent plate ; but the greater part of these were of foreignfabrication.*

The civil wars, and their consequent restrictive acts, were not morefatal to architecture than to the progress of other useful arts; andEngland was, at their termination, still constrained for a while to beindebted, as she had been through the reigns of Henry IV. andHenry V. , Edward IV. and Henry VI. , to Venice , Genoa , and Florence,not only for articles of luxury, but for almost the whole of her manu-factured goods. Hence it appears, that during those periods the samestyle of furniture pervaded the greater part, if not the whole, of Europe .

The invitation and encouragement held out to foreigners of all nationsby Henry VII. and Henry VIII. , and the protection afforded themagainst religious persecutions by Elizabeth, laid the foundation of thatglorious pre-eminence at which our manufactures afterwards arrived.

in summer with green rushes or boughs ; lest the gentlemen who paid court to him, and whocould not, by reason of their great number, find a place at table, should soil their fine clothesby sitting on the floor.—H ume.

“ John Baldwin held the manor of Oterasfee in Aylesbury of the king in soccage, by theservice of finding litter for the king’s bed, viz. in summer, grass or herbe; and in winter, straw,thrice in the year if the king should come thrice in the year to Aylesbury.”— Madox, Bar.Anglica, p. 247.

* In 1455 a petition was presented to parliament by a company of women in London , calledSilk-women, representing that the Lombards and other Italians imported such quantities ofsilk thread, that they were in danger of being reduced to poverty.— Henry, vol. x. p. 188.

And in 1483 another petition was sent to parliament, praying for a prohibition against theimportation of cupboards, tongs, fire-forks, stock-locks, keys, hinges, and garnets, paintedglass, &c.— Ibid. p. 250.