their superiors, and to which Shakspeare refers in his Rape of Lucrece,

"Who fears a sentence, or an old man's saw,
Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe;" *

and is further confirmed by Dr. Bulleyne, who, in one of his productions, says, " This is a comelie parlour, - and faire clothes, with pleasaunte borders aboute the same, with many wise sayings painted upon them." †

What these wise sayings were, we are taught by the following extract from a publication of 1601; –

" Read what is written on the painted cloth :
Do no man wrong; be good unto the poor;
Beware the mouse, the maggot and the moth,
And ever have an eye unto the door;
Trust not a fool, a villain, nor a whore;
Go neat, not gay, and spend but as you spare;
And turn the colt to pasture with the mare; &c." ‡

proverbial wisdom, which Orlando, in As You Like It, designates by the phrase "right painted cloth." §

That "the arras figures ||," though in general coarsely executed, had strongly impressed the mind of Shakspeare, and furnished him with no small portion of imagery and allusion, has been very satisfactorily established by Mr. Whiter, who remarks, that their " effects may be perpetually traced by the observing critic," even " when the poet himself is totally unconscious of this predominating influence."

The manner of illuminating the halls and banquetting rooms of the Great at this period, was truly classical. We find that Homer, describing the palace of Alcinous, says

" Youths forged of gold, at every table there,
Stood holding flaming torches ;" *

and Lucretius, speaking of the Dome of the opulent, describes its

walls with

"A thousand lamps irradiate, propt sublime

By frolic forms of youths in massy gold,
Flinging their splendours o'er the midnight feast." +

Similar to these were the

" fixed candlesticks,

With torch-staves in their hands," ‡

of our ancestors, which generally represented a man in armour with his hands extended, in which were placed the sockets for the lights ; and we may easily conceive how splendid these might be rendered by the arts of the goldsmith and jeweller.

Where these antique candelabras were not adopted, living candleholders supplied their place, and were, indeed, always present, when a central or perambulatory light was required: "Give me a torch," says Romeo,

"I'll be a candle-holder and look on." §

The gentlemen-pensioners of Queen Elizabeth usually held her torches ; and Shakspeare represents Henry the Eighth going to Wolsey's palace, preceded by sixteen torch-bearers. || At great entertainments, beside candelabras fixed against the sides of the room, torch

*

Pope's Odyssey, book vii.

+ Good's Lucretius, vol. i. p. 189.

bearers stood by the tables, supplying the light which we now receive from chandeliers. *

Watch-lights, which were divided into equal portions by marks, each of which burnt a limited time, were common in the bed-chambers of the wealthy; they are alluded to in Tomkis's Albumazar, 1614, where Sulpitia says, " Why should I sit up all night like a watching-candle ?†

Every bed-chamber was furnished with two beds, a standing-bed, and a truckle-bed; in the former slept the master, and in the latter his page. The Host, in Merry Wives of Windsor, directing Simple where to find Sir John Falstaff, says, "There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed, and truckle-bed;" and Decker, and Middleton, further illustrate the custom, when the first, alluding to a page, says, he is " so dear to his lordship, as for the excellency of his fooling to be admitted both to ride in coach with him, and to lie at his very feet on a truckle-bed §;" and the second, addressing a similar personage, exclaims, - " Well, go thy ways, for as sweet a breasted page as ever lay at his master's feet in a truckle-bed." || It may be added that the standing-bed had frequently on it a counterpoint, or counterpane, so rich and costly as, according to Stowe, to be worth sometimes a thousand marks. This piece of luxury forms one of Gremio's articles, when enumerating the furniture of his city-house, a catalogue which throws much curious light upon our present subject:

The manner of illuminating the halls and ba Great at this period, was truly classical. describing the palace of Alcinous, says

" Youths forged of gold, at ever
Stood holding flaming torch

and Lucretius, speaking of the I
walls with

"A thousand lam

By frolic forms
Flinging.

Similar to these w

of our ancest

his hands.

and we

by th

1.

T

ered as a very eenth century, :or the use of

Gremio's list, of furniture

• I have seen,"

s the time of

d sides with

I on feet." ‡

1 welfth Night, where

unks, o'er flourished by the Devil." §

apartments, and in the halls of the nobility,

...ed as to turn up; being flat leaves, united by hinges, tressels, so as to fold into a small compass. Thus

wang room for the dancers in his hall, calls out

A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls,
More light, ye knaves; and turn the tables up." ||

When diner, or supper, was served up, these tables were covered pets; hence Gremio exclaims, “Where's the cook? Is supper

Be the carpets laid?"