leather was sometimes employed; subsequently velvet and
silk were extensively used, and at a later period cheaper and often more
durable materials. Leather was not infrequently used even for the costly
and elaborate chairs of the faldstool form--occasionally sheathed in
thin plates of silver--which Venice sent all over Europe. To this day,
indeed, leather is one of the most frequently employed materials for
chair covering. The outstanding characteristic of most chairs until the
middle of the 17th century was massiveness and solidity. Being usually
made of oak, they were of considerable weight, and it was not until the
introduction of the handsome Louis XIII. chairs with cane backs and
seats that either weight or solidity was reduced. Although English
furniture derives so extensively from foreign and especially French and
Italian models, the earlier forms of English chairs owed but little to
exotic influences. This was especially the case down to the end of the
Tudor period, after which France began to set her mark upon the British
chair. The squat variety, with heavy and sombre back, carved like a
piece of panelling, gave place to a taller, more slender, and more
elegant form, in which the framework only was carved, and attempts were
made at ornament in new directions. The stretcher especially offered
opportunities which were not lost upon the cabinet-makers of the
Restoration. From a mere uncompromising cross-bar intended to strengthen
the construction it blossomed, almost suddenly, into an elaborate
scroll-work or an exceedingly graceful semicircular ornament connecting
all four legs, with a vase-shaped knob in the centre. The arms and legs
of chairs of this period were scrolled, the splats of the back often
showing a rich arrangement of spirals and scrolls. This most decorative
of all types appears to have been popularized in England by the
cavaliers who had been in exile with Charles II. and had become familiar
with it in the north-western parts of the European continent. During he
reign of William and Mary these charming forms degenerated into
something much stiffer and more rectangular, with a solid, more or less
fiddle-shaped splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet. The more
ornamental examples had cane seats and ill-proportioned cane backs. From
these forms was gradually developed the Chippendale chair, with its
elaborately interlaced back, its graceful arms and square or cabriole
legs, the latter terminating in th