, but dated 1642, of Sir William Lenthall,
who was Speaker of the House of Commons, on the memorable occasion when,
on the 4th of January in that year, Charles I. entered the House to demand
the surrender of the five members. The chair on which Sir William is
seated answers this description, and is very similar to the one used by
Charles I. (illustrated on p. 107.)

[Illustration: Carved Oak Chair. Said to have been used by Cromwell. (_The
original in the possession of T. Knollys Parr, Esq._)]

[Illustration: Carved Oak Chair, Jacobean Style. (_The original in the
Author's possession._)]

Inlaid work, which had been crude and rough in the time of Elizabeth,
became more in fashion as means increased of decorating both the furniture
and the woodwork panelling of the rooms of the Stuart period. Mahogany had
been discovered by Raleigh as early as 1595, but did not come into general
use until the middle of the eighteenth century.

The importation of scarce foreign woods in small quantities gave an
impetus to this description of work, which in the marqueterie of Italy,
France, Holland, Germany, and Spain, had already made great progress.

[Illustration: Settle of Carved Oak. Probably made in Yorkshire. Period:
Charles II.]

Within the past year, owing to the extensions of the Great Eastern
Railway premises at Bishopsgate Street, an old house of antiquarian
interest was pulled down, and generously presented by the Company to the
South Kensington Museum. It will shortly be arranged so as to enable the
visitor to see a good example of the exterior as well as some of the
interior woodwork of a quaint house of the middle of the seventeenth
century. This was the residence of Sir Paul Pindar, diplomatist, during
the time of Charles I., and it contained a carved oak chimney-piece, with
some other good ornamental woodwork of this period. The quaint and
richly-carved chimney-piece, which was dated 1600, and other decorative
work, was removed early in the present century, when the possessors of
that time were making "improvements."

[Illustration: Staircase in General Ireton's House, Dated 1630.]

[Illustration: Pattern of a Chinese Lac Screen. (_In the South Kensington
Museum._)]

In the illustration of a child's chair, which is said to have been
actually used by Cromwell, can be seen an example of carved oak of this
time; it was lent to the writer by its present owner, in whose family it
was an heirloom since one of his ance