THE history of the cabinet-maker's art is the record of the unconscious struggle toward an ideal which, when finally attained, destroyed all further inspiration. This ideal persisted from one age to another, never retrograding, and each succeeding age saw it more clearly, until, at the close of the eighteenth century, it was found that its limitations had been reached.

Incident to this development, many styles originated and were carried to their conclusions, and were either amalgamated with a new style or abandoned.

The ideal successfully attained was the production of furniture with a minimum of material and a delicacy of form sufficient to withstand the strain for which it was made. The medium of ornament and decoration was secondary to that of form, and when the form of any style had been perfected the decoration became more ornate, until a new style was welcomed as a return to simplicity. It therefore follows, as a general rule, that the earlier the example the greater its simplicity of line and ornamentation.

The origin and development of the various styles were dependent upon many conditions, social, commercial, and political. The earliest European furniture was crude and heavy. It consisted of only such articles as were essential to domestic life, such as chests, tables, benches, bed frames, and, occasionally, chairs. In the reign of James I, when the American colonisation began, England had not advanced far as a manufacturing country. The Dutch were still the great commercial race, carrying on a prosperous trade with Spain, Portugal, and the East Indies. Antwerp also was a great commercial centre and was exporting to England household furniture and choice dry-goods, receiving in exchange only crude raw materials, such as wool, lead, and tin, together with beer and cheese. Holland was at this time receiving from Spain and Italy the cane furniture which later came to England under Charles II.

The furniture in England of this period was rectangular in form, and such articles as stood on legs were heavily underbraced. Tables were made of oak with bulb-turned legs, often with rails carved in arabesque or lunette patterns. Occasionally a table would have a single leaf with a swinging leg, the forerunner of the gate-legged table. Many of the oak tables were arranged to be extended, one leaf lapping over the other when not extended. The dining-table of the middle class consisted of a deal board mounted on three or four standards. Chairs were either of the wainscot type, heavy and more or less carved, or of the plain turned variety with three or four legs. Oak chests and cupboards were in common use.

During the reign of Charles I there was very little change in the form of furniture, except that the French form of chair was introduced with turned legs, the back and seat of leather or embroidery making a decidedly lighter effect than the wainscot type. Chairs were not at all common, but stools and forms were used in their place. Oak was almost the universal wood, and did not lend itself to any style other than the massive. Couches or day beds were also in use among the wealthy class at this time.

In the early days of the Commonwealth little, if any, change took place in the prevailing styles of furniture, except possibly that the Puritan spirit asserted itself in a certain stiffness of form and also in the more general use of chairs. Late in the Commonwealth walnut was introduced, and with the use of this wood came a lightness not before attained. Legs were spiral or slightly turned, and cane was employed for the seats and backs of chairs. Chests became less popular, and in their place were used cupboards with drawers and chests of drawers.

With the Restoration came greater comfort and luxury, brought by Charles and his followers from France and Holland. Cane chairs of beech and walnut, with carved cresting, sides, and underbrace, took the place of the simple stiff chairs. Turnings on table legs became more refined, and the heavy oak tables were superseded by tables with two leaves. Chests of drawers took the place of chests. Marquetry was introduced, and expensive textiles and embroideries were more commonly imported to cover upholstered chairs. The Flemish scroll became the dominant form of ornamentation, and this scroll, when used as legs of chairs and tables, was the forerunner of the cabriole leg.

During the reign of William and Mary many changes took place in the style of furniture, due not only to the fact that William was distinctly Dutch and brought with him Dutch ideas and Dutch workmen, but also to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, after which many artisans fled to England. During the first part of this reign the popularity of the Flemish furniture was at its height, but this style was gradually replaced by the Dutch style. The chests of drawers were raised from the floor on turned cup-shaped legs, and that same form of leg was extensively used on chairs and tables; marquetry and japanning became popular, and carving almost completely disappeared. Chinese objects were extensively imported and collecting became a fad. The furniture, however, did not reflect this fashion, except in fret design and japanning, until about 1740.

In the American colonies the same change in style is noticeable, except that marquetry waa hut little used.

It would he difficult to understand the variations in style of the furniture in the American colonies up to this time without having clearly in mind the reasons for the formation of the different colonies.

In New England the first settlement was at Plymouth, made by a band of religious enthusiasts who had previously fled from England to Holland to escape religious persecution and obtain religious liberty. They lived for some years in that country, until, foreseeing that the political changes taking place in Holland might curtail their liberty, they decided to establish a colony in the New World, on the Delaware River, under the jurisdiction of the London Company. These people were poor and, because of their unsettled lives, probably had little property. This little company after crossing the Atlantic found themselves off Cape Cod, which was under the jurisdiction of the Plymouth Company. Here they landed, hoping to obtain a grant. It was a small and struggling band of men and women who faced starvation and Indian perils, and it was not until 1624 that success was assured. The grant to the land upon which they had settled was given to a joint stock company, and in 1627 the settlers bought the stock, which was not finally paid for until 1633. The colony was always small and did not exceed in number three thousand, in 1643, when emigration ceased. It could hardly be expected, therefore, that this colony would have anything but bare necessities during its early existence, and the inventories at Plymouth show this to be the fact.