made use of in the new work.
Indeed, in this magnificent hall, about the most spacious of the old City
Corporation Palaces, there is a great deal of new work mixed with old--new
chimney-pieces and old overmantels--some of Grinling Gibbons' carved
enrichments, so painted and varnished as to have lost much of their
character; these have been applied to the oak panels in the large dining
hall.

The woodwork lining of living rooms had been undergoing changes since the
commencement of the period of which we are now writing. In 1638 a man
named Christopher had taken out a patent for enamelling and gilding
leather, which was used as a wall decoration over the oak panelling. This
decorated leather hitherto had been imported from Holland and Spain; when
this was not used, and tapestry, which was very expensive, was not
obtainable, the plaster was roughly ornamented. Somewhat later than this,
pictures were let into the wainscot to form part of the decoration, for in
1669 Evelyn, when writing of the house of the "Earle of Norwich," in
Epping Forest, says, "A good many pictures put into the wainstcot which
Mr. Baker, his lordship's predecessor, brought from Spaine." Indeed,
subsequently the wainscot became simply the frame for pictures, and we
have the same writer deploring the disuse of timber, and expressing his
opinion that a sumptuary law ought to be passed to restore the "ancient
use of timber." Although no law was enacted on the subject, yet, some
twenty years later, the whirligig of fashion brought about the revival of
the custom of lining rooms with oak panelling.

It is said that about 1670 Evelyn found Grinling Gibbons in a small
thatched house on the outskirts of Deptford, and introduced him to the
King, who gave him an appointment on the Board of Works, and patronised
him with extensive orders. The character of his carving is well known;
generally using lime-tree as the vehicle of his designs, the life-like
birds and flowers, the groups of fruit, and heads of cherubs, are easily
recognised. One of the rooms in Windsor Castle is decorated with the work
of his chisel, which can also be seen in St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton
Court Palace, Chatsworth, Burleigh, and perhaps his best, at Petworth
House, in Sussex. He also sculptured in stone. The base of King Charles'
statue at Windsor, the font of St. James', Piccadilly (round the base of
which are figures of Adam and Eve), are his work, as is also the lime-tree
border of fe