Ill

attend the king in all his progresses or removals with his hangings,tents, &c. There are also two “ yeomen bed-goers,” who, on suchoccasions, have the charge of His Majesty’s beds.*

Shakspeare makes constant allusion to arras, both to its splendour,and as affording ready means of concealment:

‘ “ Her bed-chamber was hanged

With tapestry of silk and silver; the storyProud Cleopatra, when she met her Roman.

A piece of work

So bravely done, so rich, that it did striveIn workmanship and value.”— Cymbeline, Act II. Scene 4.

“ My lord, he’s going to his mother’s closet;

Behind the arras I’ll convey myself.”— Hamlet, Act III. Scene 3.

“ Stand thou

Within the arras; when I strike my footUpon the bosom of the ground, rush forthAnd bind the boy which you find with meFast to the chair.”—King John, Act IV. Scene 1.

“ Being entertained for a perfumer, as I was smoaking a musty room,f comes me theprince and Claudio, hand in hand, in sad conference: I whipt me behind the arras; andthere heard.”— Mach Ado about Nothing, Act I. Scene 3.

* See Illustrations.

t When there were so few fires in houses, and their walls hung with cloths, it was foundnecessary frequently to air them by fumigation, which was done by burning spices and otheraromatic substances. All the inventories contain “ perfuming-pans.”

There was anciently another mode of perfuming apartments, which, possibly, had not atthat time fallen entirely into disuse.

“ Sajfmn gou aw lagb tn kb so softe,

& tage of golk skill fjattge alofte