The general impression of a Jacobean hall is elegance, - an elegance not merely derived from the dignified styles of the furniture contained in it; but from the rich tapestries and hangings, the warm panels, the comparatively low and beautifully ornamented ceiling, the stately mantel-piece, the cosy bay window and the bright wood fire crackling upon the great andirons.

Perhaps the first thing that attracts one's attention is the lavish use of the panel. The doors are panelled, as well as the ceilings and wainscots, - a fashion very popular in the days of Elizabeth. In some instances, the room is panelled from floor to ceiling, and in others only the wainscot and doors are panelled, in which case the wall-space above the wainscot is completely covered with tapestry. Tapestry is often hung over the * panels also, as shown in our illustration (Plate V.). English people had been fond of tapestry ever since the days King Alfred, fully appreciating the beauty derived from "Hanging about the walls Clothes of gold and halles Arras * of rich arraye Freshe as flowers in Maye."

* "The usual manner," says Percy in his preface to the Northumberland Household Book, " of hanging the rooms in the old castles, was only to cover the naked stone walls with tapestry or arras, hung upon tenter hooks from which they were also, as shown in our illustration (Plate V.). English people had been fond of tapestry ever since the days King Alfred, fully appreciating the beauty derived from easily taken down upon every removal." Afterwards it seems to have been hung on projecting frames leaving a space between it and the wall, affording a convenient hiding-place. It will be remembered that Hamlet killed Polonius behind the arras, where the latter had concealed himself.

Tapestry, which had become something of a lost art during the Wars of the Roses, had been again brought into favour by Henry VIII., and a fresh interest is now given to it on account of the beautiful articles that are being made at the Mortlake factory established by James I.

Another hanging, not quite banished as yet, was "painted cloth," canvas painted in tempera, or oil, with various devices, figures, mottoes, proverbs and wise sayings. Falstaffs comparison "Slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth," shows us that Biblical subjects were represented. The saucy Beatrice of Much Ado about Nothing admits that she took her witty answers from the painted cloth.**

Hangings of embossed leather from Spain, with figures in gold, silver, and various colours, were also used, especially in the adornment of the small rooms. Another novelty at this period was chintz, figured or flowered. In 1663, Pepys notes in his Diary: "Bought my wife a chint, that is a painted Indian calico for to line her new study."

* So called from the town of that name in Flanders.

** "Read what is written in the painted cloth Do no man wron; be good unto the poor Beware the mouse, the maggot and the moth And ever have an eye unto the door."'

(Old Tract, 1601).

The latter must have been a kind of boudoir, or, possibly, a library. In some houses there was a special room set apart for books. These "studies" had been popular in England long before the time of Mrs. Pepys, since Leland describes one that was called "Paradise," and which might be imitated with advantage in modern homes, especially where there is a restricted space for books. He writes:

"At Wressil Castle, Yorkshire, the seat of the Per-cies, there was one thing I liked exceedingly in one of the towers; that was a study called Paradise, wher was a closett in the middle of eight squares lattised about; and at the top of every square was a deske ledged to fit bookes on and cofers within them, and these seemed as joined hard to the top of this closett; and yet by pulling, one or al would come down briste high in rabattes, and serve for deskes to lay bookes on."

In some houses, the ceiling is carved in elaborate fretwork, ornamented with bosses and pendants, - a practice afterwards imitated in plaster.

The windows are furnished with small diamond, or square, panes, and frequently in the centre of each window the armorial bearings of the family are displayed, as shown in Plate V. Sometimes these are encircled with floral, or other devices. The arms are also placed upon the chimney-piece. In the bay-windows we always find a low-cushioned seat bountifully supplied with soft, movable cushions and pillows, covered with rich silks of bright hues, and often beautifully embroidered. Indeed the cushion * is one of the features of every room, being a necessity as well as a decorative accessory to the heavy chairs of the day.

The floor, of polished oak or inlaid wood, is occasionally enriched with a "foot carpet," In many of the older houses, the floors are paved with tiles of various colours, or laid with chequer-work.

The most important architectural feature of the room, however, is the chimney-piece. The favourite Tudor chimney-piece and overmantel was a mass of rich carving, consisting of arch panels, mouldings, scrolls, coats-of-arms, flowers, vines, columns, and interlaced strap-work, supported by beautiful, or grotesque, terminal figures. Simpler styles are now being introduced in sympathy with the growing taste for Classic severity. The fire-place still remains large enough to admit of big logs, and the hearth is equipped with andirons, tongs, bellows, and sometimes a fender, - all of great artistic beauty. Behind the flames, there is usually an iron "chimney-back," stamped with a decorative device, or, occasionally, the arms of the owner.

* The cushion was in favour at an early date; it is mentioned in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, "Whyssynes upon quelde-poyntes" (1340 c); in the Will of Edward the Black Prin in Nichol's Royal Wills, " 74 curtyns quissyns" (1361); Chaucer's Troylus, "And down she sett here by hym upon a quysshon gold y-bete" (1229); Isumbras, " Bryn a chayere an a qwyschene" (1400); Wyclif, "Seet is of skynnes ethir cuyschuns" (1388) Wyclif, Ezek iii, "Woo to hem that sewen tegider cusshens " (1382); Mallory, " And there was laid a cusshyn of gold that he should knele upon" (1470-85); and Berners, Artb. Lyt. Bryt., "They set them down on cosshyns of sylke" (1530).