s'
Company. The illustration, taken from Mr. Jupp's book referred to in the
last chapter, hardly does the table justice; it is really a very handsome
piece of furniture, and measures about 3 feet 3 inches in diameter. In the
spandrils of the arches between the legs are the letters R.W., G.I., J.R.,
and W.W., being the initials of Richard Wyatt, George Isack, John Reeve,
and William Willson, who were Master and Wardens of the Company in 1606,
which date is carved in two of the spandrils. While the ornamental legs
shew some of the characteristics of Elizabethan work, the treatment is
less bold, the large acorn-shaped member has become more refined and
attenuated, and the ornament is altogether more subdued. This is a
remarkable specimen of early Jacobean furniture, and is the only one of
the shape and kind known to the writer; it is in excellent preservation,
save that the top is split, and it shews signs of having been made with
considerable skill and care.

[Illustration: Carved Oak Chair. From Abingdon Park.

Carved Oak Chair. In the Carpenters' Hall

_From Photos in the S. Kensington Museum Album._ Early XVII. Century.
English.]

The Science and Art Department keep for reference an album containing
photographs, not only of many of the specimens in the different museums
under its control, but also of some of those which have been lent for a
temporary exhibition. The illustration of the above two chairs is taken
from this source, the album having been placed at the writer's disposal by
the courtesy of Mr. Jones, of the Photograph Department. The left-hand
chair, from Abingdon Park, is said to have belonged to Lady Barnard,
Shakespeare's grand-daughter, and the other may still be seen in the Hall
of the Carpenters' Company.

[Illustration: Oak Chimney Piece. Removed from an old house in Lime
Street, City. (_South Kensington Museum._) Period: James I.]

In the Hall of the Barbers' Company in Monkswell Street, the Court room,
which is lighted with an octagonal cupola, was designed by Inigo Jones as
a Theatre of Anatomy, when the Barbers and Surgeons were one
corporation. There are some three or four tallies of this period in the
Hall, having four legs connected by stretchers, quite plain; the moulded
edges of the table tops are also without enrichment. These plain oak
slabs, and also the stretchers, have been renewed, but in exactly the same
style as the original work; the legs, however, are the old ones, and are
si