l about the beginning of
Henry VIII.'s reign, directing how certain walls were to be decorated. The
discontinuance of this fashion brought about the framing of pictures, and
some of the paintings by Holbein, who came to this country about 1511, and
received the patronage of Henry VIII. some fourteen or fifteen years
later, are probably the first pictures that were framed in England. There
are some two or three of these at Hampton Court Palace, the ornament being
a scroll in gold on a black background, the width of the frame very small
in comparison with its canvas. Some of the old wall paintings had been on
a small scale, and, where long stories were represented, the subjects
instead of occupying the whole flank of the wall, had been divided into
rows some three feet or less in height, these being separated by battens,
and therefore the first frames would appear to be really little more than
the addition of vertical sides to the horizontal top and bottom which such
battens had formed. Subsequently, frames became more ornate and elaborate.
After their application to pictures, their use for mirrors was but a step
in advance, and the mirror in a carved and gilt or decorated frame,
probably at first imported and afterwards copied, came to replace the
older mirror of very small dimensions for toilet use.

Until early in the fifteenth century, mirrors of polished steel in the
antique style, framed in silver and ivory, had been used; in the wardrobe
account of Edward I. the item occurs, "A comb and a mirror of silver
gilt," and we have an extract from the privy purse of expenses of Henry
VIII. which mentions the payment "to a Frenchman for certayne loking
glasses," which would probably be a novelty then brought to his Majesty's
notice.

Indeed, there was no glass used for windows[8] previous to the fifteenth
century, the substitute being shaved horn, parchment, and sometimes mica,
let into the shutters which enclosed the window opening.

The oak panelling of rooms during the reign of Elizabeth was very
handsome, and in the example at South Kensington, of which there is here
an illustration, the country possesses a very excellent representative
specimen. This was removed from an old house at Exeter, and its date is
given by Mr. Hungerford Pollen as from 1550-75. The pilasters and carved
panels under the cornice are very rich and in the best style of
Elizabethan Renaissance, while the panels themselves, being plain, afford
rep