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 room, or "hall" serving as kitchen, dining-room, and general living-room. The second story contained the sleeping-rooms, or, perhaps, the sleeping-room, for it, like the floor below, was sometimes unpartitioned. The furniture of such a house as that in which Shakespeare was born was indeed meagre. From an inventory made in 1592 of the effects of one of John Shakespeare's friends we learn what to expect in the way of furnishing. In the hall was "one table on a joined frame, five small joint stools, a wainscot bench, and painted cloths." There was evidently a fireplace and a chimney, since the list contains and-irons, fire shovel, tongs, pot-hooks, and pot-hangers. In another room was a small table on a frame, two joint stools, two chairs, a press, a joined bed, and a small plank. "Item, three painted cloths (a cheap imitation of tapestry), one feather bed, one flock bed, two bolsters, one pillow, one bed cover of yellow and green, four old blankets, and one old carpet." A chest contained coarse sheets, table cloths, dusters, and napkins. In another were three pairs of flaxen sheets, a pair of hempen sheets, a flaxen table cloth, half a dozen napkins of flax, one of hemp, two diaper napkins, and four pillow cases of flax. In the buttery a small assortment of dishes, platters, etc., among which