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of fine painted earth, brought hither from Venice, but of orientalmanufacture. In the reign of Elizabeth several Spanish caracks weretaken, partly laden with “ China ware of porcelaine.”* The Portuguese first brought this ware into Europe ; Philip II . having seized Por­ tugal , and her colonies begun the commerce with the East Indies.Earthen dishes were not uncommon in Shakspeare’s time: the clown inMeasure for Measure, speaks of “ a fruit-dish, a dish of some threepence; your honours have seen such dishes; they are not china dishes,but very good dishes.”t

€abIe-CIotI)£h— Carpets, which at earlier periods were almost theonly coverings for dining-tables and cupboards, continued in occasionaluse as late as Shakspeare’s time. Grumio, the servant of Petruchio,preparing for the return of his master, inquires “ where’s the cook ? Issupper ready, the rushes strewed, the jacks fair within, the carpets laid ?”But throughout the period to which these observations apply, finelinen, or as it was called, papery, was possessed by the higher orders.Mention of diaper and damask for table-cloths frequently occurs. The“ fine damask table-cloths” at Wolsey ’s feasts were “ sweetly per-fumed,” as they were also at the royal banquets. In 1520, Thomas,Duke of Norfolk, bequeathed his naperie to Agnes his wife; and atthe death of Sir Thomas Kytson, in 1540, his napery was valued at“ xxli. viiri. xd.” Du Cange mentions a curious feudal privilege—that ofthe lord being entitled to the table-cloth of the house where he dined asa guest. At the commencement of the seventeenth century this kind oflinen was to be had, of very expensive fabrication. Mrs. Otter, in BenJohnson’s Silent Woman, first played in 1609, complains of a table-clothbeing stained, which cost her eighteen pounds. It was particularly

Douce’s Ill. of Shakspeare.

t Act II. Scene 1.