Houses exhibiting this semi-moresque arch in the angle formed by the junction of the barge boards may be seen at Wingham and Tunbridge, in Kent. The Boar's Head Inn at Bishop's Stortford exhibits the same feature on its barge boards. This hostel is actually a building of the fifteenth century, and its very name is significant, the Boar's Head being the badge of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. The wonderful embattled beam which spans the ingle-nook in the bar-parlour fixes the date of the house as not later than the second half of the fifteenth century.

STOOL, TEMP. HENRY VII., IN THE COLLECTION OF SIR CHARLES. LAWES-WITTEWRONGE, BART.

STOOL CARVED WITH PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS IN THE COLLECTION OF MORGAN S. WILLIAMS, ESQ., TEMP. HENRY VIII.

Mr. Morgan Williams, of St. Donat's Castle, Glamorganshire, possesses a very characteristic joint-stool of Henry VIII.'s time, with buttresses running up the sides, in which the same construction is used as in the earlier examples. This stool, however, is carved with heads in medallions - a type of decoration which, as is well known, did not come into vogue till after the French conquests in Italy, when the classic revival commenced.

A joint-stool of Normandy work and of a most beautiful type of Gothic art may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum (No. 968-1897). This is a fairly recent importation, and is undoubtedly genuine, but it is interesting to note that since its exhibition Paris and other cities in France have abounded in spurious imitations of this treasure, all more or less charged with a difference, purporting to be genuine. The stool at South Kensington has its uprights pierced with wheels of the most exquisite flamboyant tracery, and a connecting bar, likewise carved, is keyed through the uprights with a wedge in the simple early fashion. The seat is likewise perforated in such a way as to form a handle for convenience in carrying.

The plate opposite this page shows three joint-stools of different types. The ordinary observer, on looking at these specimens of ancient joint-stools, would in nine cases out of ten be disposed to prefer that on the right, because, being of familiar type, it is more within the scope of his comprehension, and also because it is decorated with carving on the top rail. This stool, however, is a Jacobean type, which is not difficult to obtain. The two stools to the left, on the other hand, are of very much rarer type, and really require the eye of the expert to appreciate. The centre stool belongs to the latter end of the fifteenth century, and exhibits in its construction all the simplicity of the early craftsmen, while that on the left belongs probably to the latter end of Henry VIII.'s reign, and is a type of extreme rarity. This stool requires minute examination before its real beauty can be properly estimated. The scalework on its legs shows traces of the dying Gothic influence, while the knops and the delicate jewelwork round the legs herald the approaching melon-bulb of the Elizabethan era.

THREE JOINT-STOOLS.

I, Middle of the sixteenth century 2, end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century.

3, middle of the seventeenth century.

Some exceptionally interesting stools remain in use in what is now the library of the Charterhouse. We cannot follow here the vicissitudes of the Charterhouse, from its foundation as a monastery by Sir Walter Manny, through the history of its degradation by Henry VIII. and subsequent troubles, until the benevolent merchant Thomas Sutton fixed upon the site for his hospital. Part of the walls of the existing building are known to be fragments of the old priory, and a tradition exists that the apartment in which the stools remain was the former refectory of the lay-brothers of the monastery. In later times this room was used as a dining-hall for the foundation scholars of the school, now removed to Godalming. The scholars sat upon long forms placed on either side of the old tables, and at the top of each table sat the senior boy on a stool of similar character to the forms. The construction of these stools is exceptionally massive, but they possess no mouldings or ornament whatever. It is difficult to speak with any certainty, but I cannot help thinking that the origin of these stools dates from early Tudor times.

In all probability they are part of the ancient furniture of the priory, made shortly before the Reformation, and have outlived the dramatic changes through which the place has passed. There is absolutely nothing in their make and shape to suggest that they are coeval with the elaborate classic additions and embellishments which were made by the Duke of Norfolk in 1571, or by Thomas Sutton in James I.'s time. The simple Gothic style of construction is adhered to, though from their lines they are probably later than the other stools in this category which we have mentioned. Such forms and stools were the usual accompaniment of the dining-hall in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and in a great measure took the place of chairs, which were only used by those of the highest rank upon the dais.

Passing from monkish times to the declining days of Gothic influence in the reign of Henry VIII., we still find the number of existing chairs belonging to that transitional period to be very small. There is some wonderful carved panelling of Gothic character in Abington Abbey, near Northampton, to which we shall have occasion to refer more fully in a subsequent chapter, and among the subjects which are carved on the frieze, one panel claims special attention. On the left a rustic in a smock-frock gazes at the stars, while in the right-hand compartment a bearded alchemist sits before his fire, stirring the contents of a cauldron which hangs from the hake. The old man is seated upon an arm-chair of Gothic shape and with linen-panelled side, resembling in appearance the well-known examples to be seen in the Cluny and other French museums. This record in wood is exceedingly interesting, for the panelling, as I have said, is distinctly Gothic in character, and one would feel inclined to date it as belonging to the reign of Henry VII. Considerations of costume, however - the importance of a study of which we have already insisted upon prove, from certain unfailing indications on some of the panels that the carvings cannot have been executed till the reign of Henry VIII. This combination affords us a true insight into the fact that, while dress and customs were undergoing radical changes, furniture was still being made in the old style - at least, in some places.

AN ALCHEMIST.

From a carved panel at Abington Abbey, Northampton, showing linen-panelled chair of the commencement of the sixteenth century.

The fashion of enclosing portrait heads in medallions, as is well known, was introduced after the French conquests in Italy, and speedily became a popular method of decoration. Yet, although we find cabinets and chests bearing this classic style of ornament, it is seldom to be observed on English chairs. A chair of this period, exhibiting a woman's head in a roundel, formerly stood in the chancel of Hunston Church, Suffolk, but it has now disappeared. In Shaw's 'Specimens of Ancient Furniture' - one of the most delightful works of its kind that has ever been produced - is a beautiful plate of an armchair of Henry VIII.'s time, exhibiting heads enclosed in medallions, as well as characteristic arabesques of the period. It is described as being in the possession of 'John Abel, Esqre., Surgeon, of Mitchel-Dean, Gloucestershire,' but otherwise no particulars are given. A very fine specimen of a chair of Henry VIII.'s time, bearing the medallion decoration, was formerly owned by the late Mr. C. B. Birch, A.R. A. This chair was picked up at some country cottage in Shropshire by Mr. Birch's father in the early part of the nineteenth century, and remained in the possession of the family till Mr. Birch's death in 1893, when it passed into the hands of Sir Henry Meux. A tradition was attached to the chair that the portrait on the back was that of Richard III., but this could scarcely be possible, for the medallion decoration, together with the classic, leaf-like band on the cornice, belongs to a style which at the earliest did not come over to England till the reign of the succeeding monarch.

The chair, of which we give a reproduction in a hitherto unpublished woodcut, from a drawing by the late Mr. Birch, probably belongs to the reign of Henry VIII.

CHAIR, TEMP. HENRY VIII.

From a woodcut by the late C. B. Birch, A.R.A.

VENETIAN CHAIR, DATE ABOUT 1500. Victoria and Albert Museum.