Churches and cathedrals, which, in spite of the ravages of ignorant and tasteless innovators, still contain a considerable number of chests, chairs, and occasionally - as at St. Albans - other furniture, should be more useful for supplying criteria of genuine objects than they are. Unfortunately it is possible to find as doubtful pieces in churches as anywhere else. At Peterborough Cathedral there is what purports only to be an ancient chest of the fourteenth century, and at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, is another with the date of 1595, the name of the church and city, and elaborate carving. The panels, however, have upon them an incised arch, and very probably formed part of a pulpit of about the date of 1630. The panels of old oak furniture were very generally split, not sawn, so that one end is frequently much thicker than the other. This is very noticeable in the chest at Stoke d'Abernon church. The tool used is called a 'river,' and the process is still employed by splitters of laths for building purposes. Saw-marks, therefore, upon furniture purporting to be old oak are not to be expected, though, of course, the saw is not a modern invention.

We may frequently find the splinters caused by its operations still adhering to some shameless black-daubed modern imposture wherever a purchaser is least likely to examine.

Splinters or fibres are also a good test of new caning in Charles 11. chairs. The old caning, from time and friction, has a back which is comparatively free from fibres, and perhaps it was more free to begin with. New caning will evince to the hand passed over the back of it a number of outlying hairy fibres. It will also, if it has been carelessly stained down to match the old, betray some light and untouched corner, just as a dose of black oak-stain perfunctorily swilled over quite new wood will fail to permeate every single crevice.