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• Dr. Johnson thought Shakspeare had outstepped probability insupposing Falstaff to sleep behind the hangings, on account of his bulk.*But if we bear in mind that the arras sometimes extended from oneextremity of the room to the other, covering doors and other recesses—which were not unfrequent, and of considerable size—we can see noreason to doubt his accuracy. Sir James Melvill was introduced to aprivate gallery to hear Queen Elizabeth play on the virginals ; “ after Ihad hearkened awhile,” said he, “ I put aside the tapestry that hungbefore the chamber door.”f And at an interview between Queen Maryand Elizabeth, Philip of Spain was hidden behind the tapestry.;};

The most costly materials were employed in the fabrication of thebest sorts of hangings. Henry the Eighth’s apartment at Calais, whitherhe was accompanied from Bologne by Francis I., in 1520 , was hungwith cloth of gold, adorned with precious stones and pearls. In the oldinventories, cloth of gold, and cloth of silver, and embroidery, frequentlyoccur, as well as cloth of silk and gold mixed, called baudkin.§

S&tgtbe longe pcpcr fagre brengnge,

atilt rlobcs that be stoete smellgmge.” — Squire of Low Degree.

“ And burn sweet wood to make the lodging- sweet.”- Taming the Shrew , Induction , Scene 1.

Perfumed powder was also in use for clothes. In one of Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobeaccounts, is a charge “ for 61b. of sweet powder used for the queen’s robes, at 13s. Ad. apound.” King Henry the Eighth’s laundress was bound to provide as much “ sweet powder,sweet herbes, and other sweet things, as shall be necessary to the sweet keeping” of his linen,and all these, with soap and wood, out of her wages, which were 20/. a year.

* Nares. + Melvill’s Memoirs. } Nichols’s Progresses, vol. i. p. 13.

§ The walls of the gallery at York Place , the residence of Cardinal Wolsey , and seized bythe king, were “ hanged with cloth of gold, and tissue of divers makings, and cloth of silverlikewise on both the sides; and rich cloths of baudhin of divers colours.”— Cavendish’sLife of Wolsey.