es should be few and easily transported or hidden,
and the earliest oak chests which are still preserved date from about this
time. Bedsteads were not usual, except for kings, queens, and great
ladies; tapestry covered the walls, and the floors were generally sanded.
As the country became more calm, and security for property more assured,
this comfortless state of living disappeared; the dress of ladies was
richer, and the general habits of the upper classes were more refined.
Stairs were introduced into houses, the "parloir" or talking room was
added, and fire places were made in some of the rooms, of brick or
stonework, where previously the smoke was allowed to escape through an
aperture in the roof. Bedsteads were carved and draped with rich hangings.
Armoires made of oak and enriched with carving, and Presses date from
about the end of the eleventh century.

[Illustration: English Folding Chair, 14th Century.[3]]

[Illustration: Cradle Of Henry V.]

It was during the reign of Henry III., 1216-1272, that wood-panelling was
first used for rooms, and considerable progress generally appears to have
been made about this period. Eleanor of Provence, whom the King married in
1236, encouraged more luxury in the homes of the barons and courtiers. Mr.
Hungerford Pollen has quoted a royal precept which was promulgated in this
year, and it plainly shows that our ancestors were becoming more refined
in their tastes. The terms of this precept were as follows, viz., "the
King's great chamber at Westminster be painted a green colour like a
curtain, that in the great gable or frontispiece of the said chamber, a
French inscription should be painted, and that the King's little wardrobe
should be painted of a green colour to imitate a curtain."

In another 100 or 150 years we find mediaeval Art approaching its best
period, not only in England, but in the great Flemish cities, such as
Bruges and Ghent, which in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries played
so important a part in the history of that time. The taste for Gothic
architecture had now well set in, and we find that in this as in every
change of style, the fashion in woodwork naturally followed that of
ornament in stone; indeed, in many cases it is more than probable that the
same hands which planned the cathedral or monastery also drew the designs
for furniture, especially as the finest specimens of wood-carving were
devoted to the service of the church.

The examples, th