We need not, however, accuse the succeeding rail-backed chair of an excessive fragility. It was still strong, though it had largely lost the look of strength which broad surfaces of oak afforded. The defect of these railed chairs seems rather to lie in the inability of their carvers to supply on the restricted ground a delicacy of carving which should make up in finesse for the boldly sketched panel patterns of their forerunners. A Grinling Gibbons had yet to be discovered 'by mere accident' by the same Evelyn whom I have quoted, unobtrusively carving miracles in a 'poor solitary thatched house in a field in our parish, near Sayes Court.' The genius of that young man prepared the way for the finished excellence of the mahogany period.

It is curious that the next, and very important, development of the half solid-backed chair to the open-backed one with rails seems to belong also to the northern counties of Derbyshire and Yorkshire. There is no district in the south of England noted for its achievements in this style. It is hardly to be supposed that the change to railed chairs took place in these northern counties from a difficulty in obtaining a supply of oak. Perhaps the number of half-timbered houses built in the sixteenth century may have helped to reduce the available quantity of timber. They are to be found abundantly in Cheshire and also in Lancashire, if not in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. The perennial supply of oak-trees in such districts as the New Forest (from whence so much timber was used for the navy during the wars at the end of the eighteenth century) might account for the absence of the rail-backed chair in the south of England. Be this as it may, Derbyshire and Yorkshire seem to have led the fashion in rail-backed chairs, and the Victoria and Albert Museum can again show typical examples. They are all armless, as might be expected. No. 85 (Plate lix.i) has a semi-circular top to its back between uprights which taper and curve into a little volute at the ends.

Plate LIX. I - Chair, Oak 17th Century

LIX. (1) Chair, oak. Seventeenth century. Derbyshire. V. & A. M.

Dimensions : Height 44½, Width 17¾ inches.

(2) Chair, oak. Seventeenth century. Derbyshire. V. & A. M.

(3) Chair, oak. Seventeenth century. Yorkshire. V. & A. M.

(4) Chair, oak. Seventeenth century. Derbyshire. V. & A. M.

This volute, to judge from the examples before us, is as characteristic as the little squat finial of the Lancashire chair. In the semicircle is a flower incised with branching leaves on both sides. Below this comes an arcading of three semi-circular beaded arches supported on slender turned pilasters, and resting on a cross-rail with straight upper edge, and shaped with curves and a semicircle on the under side. This lower part is most decidedly suggestive of the approach of the Charles 11. style. It is practically identical in general shape, for instance, with the under-seat ornament of the handsome cane-backed walnut chair reproduced (Plate LIX.2) from the collection of Mr. Vincent Robinson. The present chair may be considered the humble farmhouse relation of that brilliantly carved example.

The Lancashire top seems to be a Flemish inspiration, as also does the arcading of the Derbyshire chair. An inspection of the Flemish chairs, Nos. 8123 and 443 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, will lead to that conclusion. The first is a folding chair on X-shaped supports of about the date of 1660; the other with double arcading is dated 1678. No. 242 in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Plate Lix.2) is a chair of the same date as No. 85 mentioned above, whose carved top rail reminds us of the Charles 11. cane chair. It even approaches a step nearer, perhaps, as it discards the arcading, and has in its place four uprights by way of splats. Beyond a slight beading these are undecorated, and fit into a plain lower cross rail. We shall find that in the Charles II. chair, with cane in the back, the ornament runs along on both sides of perpendicular back pieces, and we do not again find cross rails in the back, except those at top and bottom, until we come to Chippendale's four-cross-barred chair. The extra heaviness of No. 233 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the other arcaded chair reproduced (Plate LIX.3), and the nature of its lower back rail, mark it as earlier perhaps than those we have described.

It is noticeable that it has turned half-pilasters applied to the uprights, and acorn-shaped finials on its back rails.