We have become so accustomed to the luxury - we might almost say effeminate luxury - which has found its way here from across the Channel, that we hardly dare hope a revival of such models as those in question would meet with popular favour nowadays. Yet we cannot but accord them our admiration, nor can we resist the temptation to add as many to our collections as means and opportunity will permit.

It is a common error to suppose that most of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century woodwork, such as I have depicted here, was formerly to be seen only in the houses of the nobility. There is every reason to believe, on the contrary, that so far from that being the case, it was generally to be found in the houses of the middle classes - of prosperous farmers and well-to-do tradesmen.

In making my selection, I have been careful to keep this point in view, for one of the chief objects of this book is to convey as complete an idea as possible of the average English home during the last three centuries, and not of exceptional examples of the craft of the cabinet and chair maker, which were designed and produced for palace and mansion. As may be imagined, these, even so far back as the sixteenth century, were magnificent beyond description. Spenser, in his "Faerie Queene," tells us: "For th' antique world excess and pride did hate; Such proud luxurious pomp is swollen up but late "; and the study of the inventories of the belongings of the Elizabethan "upper ten" clearly proves that they loved to surround themselves with all the masterpieces of art and craftsmanship which could be brought from countries whose skilled workers were renowned for the creation of luxurious and beautiful things.

There are, however, further illustrations awaiting comment. The stool that appears in Fig. 1, Plate VI., recalls strongly the old monastic days, and might have come from Glastonbury Abbey itself; while that in Fig. 2, Plate III., is a sensible, and by no means ungraceful, "Jacobean" form.

All the tables designed and manufactured during the greater part of the seventeenth century bear a very strong resemblance to one another, though we find what might be described as "the fat and the lean kine" among them. Notwithstanding this, all share the cardinal characteristics we have discussed in company with other articles of "Jacobean" furniture, and they may, therefore, easily be recognised. The earlier types are heavier, generally more crude in construction, and enriched to a greater extent with carving, as in Fig. 6, Plate II., and Fig. 6, Plate III. Later, the proportions become slighter, the turning of greatly improved design, and more graceful; and variations upon the simple rectangular form are made, as in Figs. 3 and 5, Plate V., and the folding "Gate Table," on Plate VII., so called on account of the way in which the legs fold together to permit of the hinged side "leaves" of the circular top falling down for economy of space. Another example of a similar type is illustrated on the preceding page.

Jacobean Gate or Gate-Leg Table (See below for reference)

In the foregoing illustrations and the comments on them it has been my endeavour to present as exhaustive a summary and analysis of the leading characteristics of Stuart furniture as is possible within the limits imposed upon me by considerations of space. If the forms and details we have examined be retained in the mind's eye, it will be quite simple for anyone to identify any piece which was designed or produced in this country during the period that elapsed between 1600 and 1680 or 1690; providing, of course, that it be not some eccentric exception to every rule which then prevailed, and so impossible to tabulate under accepted and duly specified headings.

Late Stuart Table (Showing Flemish influence)

To illustrate every article of furniture belonging to that age, with all their innumerable minor variations of form and detail, is obviously quite impossible; fortunately it is not at all necessary for me to do so in order to attain the end I have in view. Our requirements will be fully met by a careful study of the standard models of every phase of style in vogue at any period we may be discussing, and by comparison with these every other piece may be judged, its style discovered, and its approximate date determined.

The next illustration in this chapter (Plate VII.) conveys a capital impression of the class of interior woodwork that prevailed in the homes of those who were able to afford such luxuries in Elizabethan and Stuart days. The mantel - a fine study in "Elizabethan" - and the panelling are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington; originally they were designed and put together for old Bow Palace, at the demolition of which they were fortunately "rescued " and secured for the nation by the Science and Art Department. It will be observed that the panelling itself is of the very simplest character, though the main pilasters are enriched with the "inverted" scrolls which, as I have pointed out, were very generally employed, and were most typical of "Jacobean" detail. For the rest, as regards this plate, I need only draw attention to the arm-chair by the fireplace, which is a repetition of the same type as that illustrated on page 33, and, as I have said, was not uncommon in the English mansion of Elizabethan and Stuart times.

The illustrations on the plates we have considered practically exhaust all the really characteristic types of the Stuart period, and those which follow, on Plates VIII. to XIV., are simply additional examples presented to give a fuller idea of variations in detail, and in combinations of detail, such as will be met with frequently by the student. The bedstead on Plate VIII. is dated 1615, but bears evidence of reconstruction. Indeed, it is not improbable that the panelling at the foot was originally made for a chest. Piecing-together of this kind was not at all uncommon. The two arm-chairs on Plate IX. bring us to the "Shakespeare" type again, and might, perhaps, be more fitly described as "Elizabethan" rather than "Jacobean," though, so far as style is concerned, either description would apply. The stool on Plate X. may be put down as seventeenth-century German work, and partakes strongly of the Gothic feeling. The two chests on Plate XIII. are reproduced by permission of their present possessor, Mr. Jas. F. Sullivan - "Jassef" as he delights to sign himself in his merry conceits - and are pieces to excite the spirit of envy in the breast of the collector. The first, dated 1607, shows how early in the century the Flemish influence was at work in this country, while the second almost reconciles us to the introduction of Gothic detail into domestic furniture. On Plate XIV. we have a delightful grouping of fine old "Jacobean" forms in a modern house. That the effect is artistic in the extreme is not surprising, for the subject of this plate is in the dining-room of the home of Mr. Robert Sauber, R.I., R.B.A.