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And it is mentioned by writers, that anciently a minstrel lay on thelow bed to amuse his lord while he was awake, and to lull him to sleep;or at other times that a person whose business it was to read such peopleto rest was employed in this office.*
Pegge ’s Curialia contains some curious information, as regarded thecourt, relating to these beds, under the head of “ The Order of Allnight.”
iSrtlStea&Sh—The posts, head-boards, and canopies—or spervers—ofbedsteads, were curiously wrought and carved, in oak, walnut, box, andother woods, and variously painted and gilt. Ginger colour, hatchedwith gold, was a favourite style; but purple and crimson were also usedin their decorations. Ancient documents describe these bedsteads as“ beddes of tymbre.” They were further enriched with devices andmottos, conspicuously placed on the panels and other parts. In theGentleman’s Magazine for November 1811, there is an account of a verycurious bedstead, at Hinckley , in Leicestershire , which is embellishedwith no fewer than twenty-nine emblematical devices, every one ac-companied by an appropriate motto. And in Nicholson and Burn’sHistory of Cumberland, one is described as existing in the year 1777, atNunnery,t called the Nun ’s bed, with this inscription,
“ Mark the end, and
Yow shal never doow amis.”
Henry VIII . had a “ bedstede” at Hampton Court , “ the postes and
* Within the writer’s memory a surveyor lived, who had more wealth than intellect, andemployed a female dependant in this manner. The miserable and unfeeling tyrant would, forhours together, make the poor creature read while he snored; and if perchance he woke andfound that the woman had, from exhaustion, temporarily discontinued her vocation, would whine
out, “ Ah ! now, Mrs.-, why don’t you go on ? When you leave off reading, I wake.”