h were often rolled, and difficult to manipulate. In front
of this seat was a table, at which any messengers or retainers stood
when they sought an interview, or the Countess demanded one. Here also
she transacted with her stewards and other agents the business
connected with her various castles and her many philanthropic
undertakings. Other rooms were painted in plain colour, and hung on
special occasions with embroideries and tapestries. Others, again,
were decorated with set designs, square or zigzag, in imitation of
brickwork, such as may be seen in the Chapel of St. Faith, Westminster
Abbey, or with subjects or colour after which they were named. Thus we
find mention of the "Parrakeet" room, from the birds painted on the
walls, the "Blue" room, from its colour, the rooms of "Roses," of
"Vines," and of "Fleurs-de-lis," the room of "Shields," from its
frieze of armorial bearings, and that of "Song," from verses traced on
the walls, taken from the favourite pastoral of "Robin and Marion,"
and probably associated with little scenes from the same idyll. The
ceilings, with beams and joists painted red, were coloured either
green or blue, and strewn with tin stars coated with yellow or white
varnish to simulate gold or silver. The lower portions of the walls
were often painted in imitation of short curtains, sometimes of but
one colour, sometimes gorgeously decorated, but in either case
reminiscent of the real draperies hung on festal days. Immediately
above there might have been, as in other examples, a border painted
with coats of arms, or with a foliated design interspersed with
mottoes.

During Mahaut's lifetime this decorative work seems to have been
undertaken principally by one special family or community of artists
from Boulogne, of which a certain "Jacques" was the leading spirit. In
those days artist and craftsman were one and the same. It was the
quality, and not the particular subject, of the work that mattered,
and thus we find that the painting of a parrot's cage, or of the
shafts of a litter, was not considered derogatory for even the most
skilled to undertake. From the accounts it would seem that linseed oil
was used to mix with the colours, cherry gum or white of egg being
added to make them dry more quickly. Payment for work was made three
times a year--at Candlemas, Ascension-tide, and All-Saints--or by the
day or piece, the last being the form preferred by the business-like
Mahaut. Besides such paymen