At a little alehouse on the Lea, near Hoddesdon, called “Page’s Lock,”
there is a curious antique chair of oak, richly carved. It has a high,
narrow back inlaid with cane, and had a seat of the same, which last is
replaced by the more durable substitute of oak. The framework is
beautifully carved in foliage, and the top rail of the back, as also the
front rail between the legs, have the imperial crown in the centre. The
supports of the back are twisted pillars, surmounted with crowns, by way
of knobs, and the fore-legs are shaped like beasts’ paws.
The date is generally supposed to be that of Elizabeth; and this is
confirmed by the circumstance of the chairs in the long gallery of
Hatfield-house, in Hertfordshire, being of similar construction, but
_without_ the crowns. The date of these latter chairs is unquestionably
that of Elizabeth, who visited her treasurer, Burleigh, whose seat it
was. The circumstance of the crowns being carved on the chair
above-named, and their omission in those at Hatfield would seem to imply
a regal distinction and we may fairly infer, that it once formed part of
the furniture of queen Elizabeth’s hunting-lodge situate on Epping
forest, not many miles from Hoddesdon.