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CfyOtnaSi, JBllkt Of Norfolk. — “ To our sonne and heire apparentthat shall be living at our decease, our greate hangede bedde,palyed with cloth of golde, whyte damask, and black velvet, andpowdered with these two letters, IE* 9L (the initials of Thomasand Agnes, his wife.)”

The chief chamber at Hengrave had “ a sperver,* (a canopy or tester,)of black velvet, embroidered with cloth of gold, double valanced, andfringed with black silk, and a call of gold over themthe curtains were“ yellow taffita sarsnet, fringed w th black silk and gold;” and in thechapel chamber was “ a tester of tawney velvet, double valanced, withSir Thomas Kytson’s and my ladye’s armes; y' valance sett w th bucksand unicorns, and fringed w‘ h silke and golde.”

“ CM trofame of pure bobt’s fojjttr,

I fool gibe him a fctljer beh,

£tntr mann a pilloto; artb cberp here

<M doth of ISapnes, to slepe on softe.” — Chaucer ’s Dream.

ailb 33fbbtng. —Feather beds, bolsters, (sometimes described astraversins), and pillows filled with feathers and down, with mattressesand every other comfort of this kind, seem to have been as well knownto, and enjoyed by the superior orders of society three centuries ago, asthey are now. Directions are, however, mentioned as having been givenin the reign of Henry VIII. “ to examine every night the straw of theking’s bed, that no daggers might be concealed;” but the authority isequivocal, and the practice an unnecessary one, as straw had beendiscontinued for such purposes, except by the lower classes, and theking’s beds, as appears by his disbursements and inventories, were made

* This term was frequently used as a synecdoche for the whole bed.

Y