ily--the raised dais for host and honoured guests, the better table
which was placed there (illustrated) and the commoner ones for the body of
the hall; and though the ancient buffet which displayed the gold and
silver cups is gone, one can see where it would have stood. Penshurst is
said to possess the only hearth of the time now remaining in England, an
octagonal space edged with stone in the centre of the hall, over which was
once the simple opening for the outlet of smoke through the roof, and the
old andirons or firedogs are still there.

[Illustration: "Standing" Table at Penshurst, Still on the Dais in the
Hall.]

[Illustration: Bedroom in which a Knight and His Lady are Seated. (_From a
Miniature in "Othea," a Poem by Christine de Pisan. XIV. Century,
French._)]

An idea of the furniture of an apartment in France during the fourteenth
century is conveyed by the above illustration, and it is very useful,
because, although we have on record many descriptions of the appearance
of the furniture of state apartments, we have very few authenticated
accounts of the way in which such domestic chambers as the one occupied by
"a knight and his lady" were arranged. The prie dieu chair was generally
at the bedside, and had a seat which lifted up, the lower part forming a
box-like receptacle for devotional books then so regularly used by a lady
of the time.

[Illustration: Bedstead and Chair in Carved Oak. _From Miniatures in the
Royal Library, Brussels._ Period: XIV. Century.]

Towards the end of the fourteenth century there was in high quarters a
taste for bright and rich colouring; we have the testimony of an old
writer who describes the interior of the Hotel de Boheme, which after
having been the residence of several great personages was given by Charles
VI. of France in 1388 to his brother the Duke of Orleans. "In this palace
was a room used by the duke, hung with cloth of gold, bordered with
vermilion velvet embroidered with roses; the duchess had a room hung with
vermilion satin embroidered with crossbows, which were on her coat of
arms; that of the Duke of Burgundy was hung with cloth of gold embroidered
with windmills. There were besides eight carpets of glossy texture with
gold flowers, one representing 'the seven virtues and seven vices,'
another the history of Charlemagne, another that of Saint Louis. There
were also cushions of cloth of gold, twenty-four pieces of vermilion
leather of Aragon, and four carpet