banquet, the guests are seated
on a long bench with a back carved in the Gothic ornament of the time. In
Skeat's Dictionary, our modern word "banquet" is said to be derived from
the banes or benches used on these occasions.

[Illustration: A High Backed Chair, in Carved Oak (Gothic Style). Period:
XV. Century. French.]

[Illustration: Mediaeval Bed and Bedroom. (_From Viollet-le-Duc._)
Period: XIV. to XV. Century. French.]

The great hall of the King's Palace, where such an entertainment as that
given by Charles V. to the Emperor Charles of Luxemburg would take place,
was also furnished with three "dressoirs" for the display of the gold and
silver drinking cups, and vases of the time; the repast itself was served
upon a marble table, and above the seat of each of the princes present was
a separate canopy of gold cloth embroidered with fleur de lis.

[Illustration: Scribe or Copyist. Working at his desk in a room in which
are a reading desk and a chest with manuscript. (_From an Old Minature_)
Period: XV. Century.]

The furniture of ordinary houses of this period was very simple. Chests,
more or less carved, and ornamented with iron work, settles of oak or of
chestnut, stools or benches with carved supports, a bedstead and a prie
dieu chair, a table with plain slab supported on shaped standards, would
nearly supply the inventory of the furniture of the chief room in a house
of a well-to-do merchant in France until the fourteenth century had
turned. The table was narrow, apparently not more than some 30 inches
wide, and guests sat on one side only, the service taking place from the
unoccupied side of the table. In palaces and baronial halls the servants
with dishes were followed by musicians, as shewn in an old-miniature of
the time, reproduced on p. 39.

Turning to German work of the fifteenth century, there is a cast of the
famous choir stalls in the Cathedral of Ulm, which are considered the
finest work of the Swabian school of German wood carving. The magnificent
panel of foliage on the front, the Gothic triple canopy with the busts of
Isaiah, David, and Daniel, are thoroughly characteristic specimens of
design; and the signature of the artist, Jorg Syrlin, with date 1468, are
carved on the work. There were originally 89 choir stalls, and the work
occupied the master from the date mentioned, 1468, until 1474.

The illustrations of the two chairs of German Gothic furniture formerly in
some of the old castles, ar