The Antiquary. MAY, 1883. Ancient Bedsteads. N prehistoric times, when men lived so many curious remains exist, even in the present days, the mode of sleeping was as rude as the mode of living. The sleeping places or beds were constructed in the thickness of the walls, and this feature in the architecture of the rude dwellings of prehistoric man is, says Dr. Mitchell, perhaps more strictly cushions of wool and feathers, with counterpanes of the most beautiful furs and of the richest materials. These customs were handed down from the Romans to the Gauls, and from the Gauls to the Franks. There can be no doubt that this fact influenced English domestic furniture just as much as continental, though even here it appears that the influences of early custom are to be traced. So late down as Anglo-Norman times we find the bed attached to the wall. In illuminations of manuscripts they are exhibited sleeping on very low wooden frames, with a mere board to support the pillow. The first ornament we find represented in the pictures in manuscripts is, a canopy adorned with rich embroidered drapery attached to the archaic than anything else.* That it has not died out as a practice incident to the civilization of Scotland, is shown by the curious cupboard bedsteads still so prevalent, and which must, we think, be looked upon as a developed survival of the prehistoric practice. But as soon as we reach historic times there are clear indications of a departure from this rude state of things. In subjugating the East, says Lacroix, the Romans assumed and brought back with them extreme notions of luxury and indolence. Previously their bedsteads were of plank, covered with straw, moss, or dried leaves. They borrowed from Asia those large carved bedsteads, gilt and plated with ivory, whereon were piled *The Past in the Present, p. 57. VOL. VIL wall; under this the head of the bed was placed. These canopies are found in English manuscripts early in the fourteenth century. The cut annexed (taken from an illumination of the fifteenth century, in a manuscript of the romance of the Comte d'Artois, in the collection of M. Barrois, of Paris), represents the bed of a countess, whose husband was lord over princely domains. Nothing could be more simple than the bedstead in this picture. The canopy is evidently of rich materials, which we learn was the case, from the descriptions of old writers; and the bed itself was sometimes of softer materials than the artist appears here to have intended to represent. Another class of ancient bed we must describe from the same source. The ancient beds were sometimes double, a smaller bed running underneath the larger one, which was drawn out for use at night. These were the truckle beds or trundle beds, not unfrequently mentioned in old writers. It is sometimes called a running bed. In the * See Wright's Archeological Album, p. 45. inventory of effects formerly belonging to Sir J. Fastolfe we read : Item.—j rynning bedde with a materas.* In "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (act iv. sc. 5), the host of the Garter, speaking of Falstaff's room, says : There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing bed and truckle bed. When the knight and his squire were out on "adventures," the squire frequently occupied the truckle-bed, while his superior slept above him. In the English universities, the master of arts had his pupil to sleep in his truckle bed. At an earlier period it was the place of the valet de chambre, who thus slept at his master's feet. The woodcut below, taken from the same manuscript of the romance of the Comte d'Artois which furnished our other cut, represents a truckle bed of the fifteenth century. The Comte d'Artois lies in the bed under the canopy, whilst his valet (in this instance his wife in disguise) occupies the truckle. In the fifteenth century large square post bedsteads came into fashion in England. The dogs, says Lacroix, by whom the lords were constantly surrounded, had the privilege of reposing where their masters slept, and hence we recognize the object of those gigantic bedsteads, which were sometimes twelve feet in width. In the sixteenth century Francis 1. of France testified his regard for Admiral Bonnivet by occasionally admitting him to share his bed. Hentzner speaks of beds at Windsor Castle eleven feet square, covered with quilts shining with gold and silver. The celebrated bed of Ware, immortalized by Shakespeare, is another instance, though it is not so large as that mentioned by Hentzner. A very magnificent four-poster is described and figured by Wright in the Archæological Album. It belonged to Turton Tower, Lancashire. But perhaps the most extraordinary example of ancient bedsteads is one described in the Gentleman's Magazine of November 1811. There is at Hinckley a curious and very ancient oak wooden bedstead, much gilt and ornamented, with various panelled compartments neatly painted, with the following emblematic devices, and Latin mottos in capital letters conspicuously introduced in each piece: the latter have been faithfully transcribed. A description of the different representations is attempted, with a translation of the mottos. On the outside of the top, among several other decorations not described, are arms: Sable, 3 mullets Gules, on a chevron Or; 3 stags' heads caboshed, Or.-Sable, an eagle displayed, Or.-Sable, a phoenix Or.-etc. pointing to death's head, with an hourglass behind and a Bible before him 28 Spes et fortuna valete.................. Jason's golden fleece............................... 29 Precibus emptum carum ............... * Archæologia, vol. xxi., p. 264. Increases by its shade. We are bent, not broken by the waves. Extend not your hatred. His dearest pledge. Who is against us? Sufficient on my departure. In him alone he lives. It is neither lawful nor possible. Such is the destiny of fate. I walk safe among thorns. No deceit at home or abroad. Our glory is dispersed in the wind. Farewell hopes and fortune. By intreaty bought too dear Jacquemart observes that the bedstead would William Cecil, Lord Burghley, merit an entire history, for it has played an important part both in public and private life. In the middle ages it appeared in state on certain occasions, and as we know the expression lit de Fustice obtained in France till the reign of Louis XVI. A little later the hour of rising was the time for giving audiences, the bed being placed under a canopy and on a platform with its head to the wall, and accessible from both sides. But the bed chamber gradually obtained an increasing tendency to privacy, the drawing-room and boudoir becoming the only places of reception. This subject would be a very interesting one to work out, bearing as it does upon the domestic manners of our ancestors. That bedsteads were considered important articles of household furniture we know by the oft-quoted clause in Shakespeare's will. Bequests of beds with worsted hangings frequently occur in the middle ages. The Countess of Northampton 1356 bequeathed to her daughter "a bed of red worsted embroidered." in at home. By T. FAIRMAN ORDISH. PART I. ECIL'S great industry, and his habit of drawing up elaborate memoranda of affairs of State, resulted in a remarkable wealth of material for a history of his own time. In the biography by "A Domestic," reference is made to this fact; Froude, in the seventh volume of his history, remarks upon the mass of documents in Cecil's handwriting among the State papers; and Nares, in his huge work, says that he "found it utterly impossible to treat the Life 70-EBEZ Lady Despencer gave her daughter Philippa in 1409 "a bed of red worsted." Other instances of testamentary dispositions of beds could be mentioned. But perhaps the importance of the bed is best exemplified by a State act in the reign of Charles II. In 1660 the ambassadors of Holland presented to His Majesty a rich bed, thought worth £10,000.t There can be no doubt that the history of "the House" in England is one that has been unduly neglected; but when it is taken up by a competent authority, the relationship of the bed-chamber to the other portions of the house will perhaps be one of the most interesting and important chapters. For other instances see Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., xi. 347. 477; xii. 135, 275. Hist. MS. Com., v., 145, 150. of Lord Burghley otherwise than historically." This work by Nares, the merits of which Macaulay summed up by giving the cubical contents of the volumes and their weight avoirdupois, remains unrivalled, and except to the antiquary practically useless. Crammed with facts, by a careful and curious collector, it would be a very useful work of reference if it had an Index, and this we may now hope the Index Society will give to the world.* Although Dr. Nares is doubtless correct in identifying Cecil's life with the enormous amount of political work which he did, and in viewing him as "a public man, almost from the very beginning," yet it could not be from lack of material that his private life is treated so scantily. The information in the State papers is abundant, and of great interest. It does not materially alter the character which Burghley bore before the publication of the Calendars, but it fills in an effective background, and yields points of light and shade. Not the least interesting among the * See Bibliographer, iii. 55. Burghley letters are those written during the sojourn of Cecil's eldest son, Thomas, upon the Continent. It had already become customary for young gentlemen to finish their education by a tour. In May 1561, Thomas Cecil, under the charge of his tutor Windebank, set out for Paris. He was then nineteen years of age, according to the date of his birth noted in his father's diary. Hitherto, apparently, he had been regarded as otherwise than promising by his father, and it was doubtless with a shrewd expectation of the rousing effects of a complete change of scene that the careful statesman handed the three hundred crowns to the tutor for expenses, and saw them depart. They went by Dieppe, and on June 28th they were in Paris. On July 10th the tutor wrote to Sir William, saying that the King of Navarre had excused himself from receiving Mr. T. Cecil, that his pupil had no great taste for the lute, but liked the gittern, and that he had been presented to the Queen of Scots. In the meantime the following letter from Cecil to his son was on its way :— I have received iii severall lettres from you, but none maketh any mention of what chardg you lyve at. In any wise be servisable but not chargeable to Sir Nicolas Throkmorton, the ambassador had provided a house for them on their arrival, Begyn by tyme to translate into French: serve God daylie: take good heede to your helth; and visitt once a week your Instructions. Fare ye well. Wryte at evry tyme somewhat to my wiffe. From London the xiiijth of July, 1561. Your loving Father, W. Cecill. To my sonne Thomas Cecill, in Pariss.* The Instructions" mentioned here are probably those, substantially if not literally, which he afterwards addressed to his son Robert, and which have been published to the world. In a later letter, to the tutor, he says: I pray you let Tho. Cecill put my Instructions which I gave him into French, and send me them. ‡ But the cold prudent maxims, interjected with pious expressions, found no response in the youth. There is a sort of humour in the wide divergence in practice by the son from the precepts of the father. Many of the letters between Sir William and the tutor refer chiefly to expenses and remittances. In one, Cecil says he has heard that his son spends his time in idleness, and a few days later he wrote to his son complaining that he received so few letters from him, and admonishing him In this tyme take hede of surfetts by late suppers." He also wrote to the tutor with regard to his son's faults: I know some of his old faults wer, to be slowthful in keping his bedd; negligent and rash in expencees; uncarefull or careless of his apparrell; an unordynat lover of unmete playes, as dyce and cards; in study sone weary-in game never. If he contynew or abrode at my grete charges. increase in theis, it wer better he wer at home, than Subsequently, we read of a promise by the pupil that he will be more diligent, and a letter in French is sent to his father. There is considerable questioning by the tutor whether his pupil shall not keep a horse; ultimately Cecil decides in the negative, expressing at the same time his fear that his "will return home a spending sot, meet only to keep a tennis court." son In reply to a request from Sir William, Windebank writes to describe the course of his pupil's studies: In the morning, from viii to ix of the clocke, he hathe one that readith Munster unto him; that don, he hath his houre to learne to daunse; and in these ii things is the whole of the forenoon consumid. After dynner at one of the clocke he goith to a lesson of the Institutes, whereof he wrote his determination himself unto you, persuaded thereunto by my L. Ambassador. Toward iii of the clocke he hath one that teacheth him to plaie on the lute, wherein (and an houre's reading the historie of Josephus de bello Judaico), be bestoweth the whole afternoone. After supper he lackith no companie to talk with, for learning the tongue that waie, and besides eyther accordith on the lute, or takith some booke in hande. † Then there are complaints of the dissolute conduct of Mr. Thomas. The tutor writes that in his own mind he wishes Mr. Thomas |