[Illustration]
_By PROFESSOR C. R. RICHARDS Director of Cooper Union, New York._
It is rather surprising to find how late a development furniture is
in the modern sense. Up to the seventeenth century chairs were far
from common. Outside of the large and heavy armchairs reserved for the
head of the family, benches, chests, and stools were the only seats in
all but the wealthiest households. Before the sixteenth century fixed
tables were unusual. Dining tables were almost always composed of a
set of boards placed upon trestles at mealtime. Going a little further
back to the fourteenth century we find furniture, even in castles of
the nobility, of the scantiest and simplest. In the sleeping rooms the
pieces were limited to a bed, one or two chests, a bench before the
fireplace, and seats built into the wall, commonly under the windows.
In the hall where meals were served the only indispensable article
besides the trestle tables and benches was a dressoir or buffet for
the display of plate. All of these pieces were exceedingly heavy and
massive, and oftentimes built into the structure of the room. Not
until the seventeenth century did furniture become lighter, more easily
movable, and more comfortable. It was at this period that chairs began
to be made with sloping backs and furnished with cushioned seats of
leather or woven stuff.
[Illustration: LOUIS XIV CABINET