Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/494

 474 Hijiory of Domejlic Manners introduced was the couch, or, as we Ihould call it, the fofa. This was called, in the age of Shakelpeare, a day-bed, and appears to have been in fome difcredit, as an article indicating excels of luxury. Large cup- boards, ufually termed court-cupboards, and often very richly carved, were . &co/s and Chain of the age of Charle. now in general ufe, for containing, under lock and key, the plate and other valuables. In allufion to the carvings on thefe cupboards, which ufually confilted of faces more or lefs grotefque, and not very artiftically executed, Corbet, in his " Iter Boreale," fpeaks of a perfon — Whh On a c •vijage, Hie a car-v^d face upboard. The fixteenth century was efpecially the age of tapeftries, and no gentleman could confider his rooms furniflied if they wanted thefe important adjunfts. They were now elaborately worked into great hiftorical piftures, facred or profane, or mythological or other fubjefts, to fuit the varieties of taftes. Sir John Elyot, in his " Governor," reminds his readers that " femblable decking oughte to bee in the houfe of a noblemanne, or man of honoure ; I meane concerning ornaments of hall and chambers in arras, painted tables, and image^ concernynge hiftoryes, wherein is reprefented fome monument of vertue moft cunningly," &c. At