Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/192

172 The great hall of feudal fame, now robbed of its ancient importance, was merely the stately approach to a wide and decorated staircase, leading to magnificent banqueting rooms and endless wide galleries, which were hung with rich tapestries and embroideries, and adorned with cloths of gold and silver, with some few pictures of Royal personages carefully tended behind little curtains. Long passages led to suites of gorgeous bedrooms occupied by huge four-post beds—the glory of the Tudors. The massive pillars reaching to the ceiling, richly carved and gilded, bore a weight of heavy hangings, often edged with gold and silver lace, caught up at intervals with long loops and buttons. Over the feather bed, the blankets, and the sheets lay a gorgeous silk and satin coverlet, embroidered in Venetian gold, with silver spangles, and lined with foreign silks of glorious hues. Then there were seats with quilted cushions, inlaid cabinets shining with gold and silver and precious stones, basins of silver "filled at convenient times with sweete and pleasaunt waters," Thus Imogen's bedroom: