An Old English Home

rst instance you have solidly constructed furniture in a case that is thin, and not calculated to last a century. With regard to the second, happily we have now excelle

ction of a chair, a

R (1

. Then again the braces-look at them; they are spindles with the ends let into holes drilled half-way through the legs. Old braces were braces, these are mere sources of weakness, they do not brace; when weight is applied to the seat the tendency is to drive the legs apar

of so many carved chimney-pieces. There was another introduction, and that into the drawin

no arrangement of the furniture could the drawing-room be given a cosy look. The table got in the way of visitors

hat I should like to call on him and see some interesting flint swords and celts in his possession. He asked me to call in the evening at 8 p.m. According

the maiden sister of Mme. Dols at E. M. Gaston Dols, the son, was at G, and Mlle

ed, to be planted one in a row, and to have to distribute remarks right and left; to address the ancestress at D across th

we would have gravitated together into a knot and been hap

dern-I mean quite recent-times has been the bundling of that old rosewood table out. That gone, the rest of the furniture gets together

nts of the family were kept. Countless specimens of these oak chests remain; some very fine, some plain. There is, moreover, the spruce chest, made of cypress w

de down to find what he or she particularly wanted, and which was, of course, at the bottom. If

e for table linen, a third for personal linen. The result would have been an accumulation of chests, when, happily, the notion struck someone that drawer

heir sides corresponding with a strip of oak or runner on each side of the case; thus they do not rest the one on t

plied the drawers. At first, two were thought quite as many as could be ventur

ard can be seen? If he or she has, ten to one but it has been converted into a receptacle for china, or glass, and then china and glass are not only imperfectly exhibited, but

OF DRAWE

e upper is perforated and has eight little balustrades in it; the lower door is solid; but this lower door, instead of engrossing the entire front of the cabinet, is sm

ttle article of furniture?

eone I know who asked about it and received this answer, that it was intended for livery badges-the metal plates with c

VERY C

-there was no meal between supper at 7 p.m. and breakfast at 10 a.m., and when each person retired for the night he or she carried off a portion of food, served out, if not by the hands of the hostess, then under her eye; and this "delivery" was carried upstairs to the bedroom and w

passage in Spenser's account of the state of Ireland, written in the middle of the sixteenth century. He says: "What livery is, we by common use in England know well enough, namely, that it is an allowance of horse-meat; as they commonly use th

s every night went through the town, from house to house, where as many Englishmen lay or resorted, and there served their liveries for all night, which was done in this manner: first, the Emperor's officers brought into the hou

rom which they were detached, and which was the "court-cu

still be occasionally found in them, and then they go by the name of "bread and cheese cupboards." I remember many years ag

doles of bread are given on certain days; and in them, under lock a

rce, and it behoves anyone who has one such to treasure

uld be valued-the dear old corner-

egs, the cinnamon, the mace, the pepper, all the precious spices that came from the blessed islands over the sea, and were costly and highly esteemed. In most dining-rooms of the reign of Charles II. or Queen Anne, this cupboard will be fou

telling it-who, when I was a child, and he a young man from Oxford, invariably sought opportunities, and found them, for getting at such a cupboard,

he whalebone and silver ladle into the steamin

merchant, that tra

and treasure, for s

with cinnamon, a

om the Indies, by the

in which cupboards could lurk. It was necessary to have cupboards and cabinets made as detached pieces of furniture, taking up room, giving us knocks when we inadvertently run against them; and these cupboards and cabinets were of veneered stuff, common wood underneath, with a thin film of mahogany or rosewood glued on

generally painted dark green or black, and were ornamented with raised gold figures-all in imitation of Orie

doubt that these warm, dry cupboards, so secured that no mouse can make its way in, were for the preservation of deeds. Others were for jewellery and plate. The custom of having secret cupboards was continued after cupboards had become inde

full of nothing other than sweets and spices, of gold and gems; anyhow, such were the cupboards of our grandmothers, our maiden aunts, and our great-grandmothers. And when we chance in some secret compartment to light on a bundle