ind had acquired at a very early period of the
world's history a knowledge of the different kinds of wood, and of the use
of tools.

We know, too, from the bas reliefs and papyri in the British Museum, how
advanced were the Ancient Egyptians in the arts of civilization, and that
the manufacture of comfortable and even luxurious furniture was not
neglected. In them, the Hebrews must have had excellent workmen for
teachers and taskmasters, to have enabled them to acquire sufficient skill
and experience to carry out such precise instructions as were given for
the erection of the Tabernacle, some 1,500 years before Christ--as to the
kinds of wood, measurements, ornaments, fastenings ("loops and taches"),
curtains of linen, and coverings of dried skins. We have only to turn for
a moment to the 25th chapter of Exodus to be convinced that all the
directions there mentioned were given to a people who had considerable
experience in the methods of carrying out work, which must have resulted
from some generations of carpenters, joiners, weavers, dyers, goldsmiths,
and other craftsmen.

A thousand years before Christ, we have those descriptions of the building
and fitting by Solomon of the glorious work of his reign, the great
Temple, and of his own, "the King's house," which gathered from different
countries the most skilful artificers of the time, an event which marks an
era of advance in the knowledge and skill of those who were thus brought
together to do their best work towards carrying out the grand scheme. It
is worth while, too, when we are referring to Old Testament information
bearing upon the subject, to notice some details of furniture which are
given, with their approximate dates as generally accepted, not because
there is any particular importance attached to the precise chronology of
the events concerned, but because, speaking generally, they form landmarks
in a history of furniture. One of these is the verse (Kings ii. chap. 4)
which tells us the contents of the "little chamber in the wall," when
Elisha visited the Shunamite, about B.C. 895; and we are told of the
preparations for the reception of the prophet: "And let us set for him
there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick." The other incident
is some 420 years later, when, in the allusion to the grandeur of the
palace of Ahashuerus, we catch a glimpse of Eastern magnificence in the
description of the drapery which furnished the apartment: "Where were