e. The inventory of the possessions of Theophilus Eaton,
Governor of the New Haven colony, is often quoted. At the time of his
death, in 1657, he had in his hall,

"A drawing Table & a round table, L1.18s.
A cubberd & 2 long formes, 14s.
A cubberd cloth & cushions, 13s.; 4 setwork cushions,
12s. L1.5.
6 greene cushions, 12s; a greate chaire with needleworke,
13s. L1.5.
2 high chaires set work, 20s; 4 high stooles set worke,
26s 8d L6.6.8.
4 low chaires set worke, 6s 8d, L1.6.8.
2 low stooles set worke, 10s.
2 Turkey Carpette, L2; 6 high joyne stooles, 6s. L2.6.
A pewter cistern & candlestick, 4s.
A pr of great brass Andirons, 12s.
A pr of small Andirons, 6s 8d.
A pr of doggs, 2s 6d.
A pr of tongues fire pan & bellowes, 7s."

Now, this was a very liberally furnished living-room. There were plenty
of seats for diners and loungers, if Puritans ever lounged; two long
forms and a dozen stools of various heights, with green or embroidered
cushions, upon which to sit while at the Governor's board; and seven
chairs, gay with needlework covers, to draw around his fireplace with
its shining paraphernalia of various sized andirons, tongs, and bellows.
The low, heavy-raftered room with these plentiful seats, the tables with
their Turkey covers, the picturesque cupboard with its rich cloth, and
its display of the Governor's silver plate, all aglow with the light of
a great wood fire, make a pretty picture of comfortable simplicity,
pleasant of contemplation in our bric-a-brac filled days, a fit setting
for the figures of the Governor, "New England's glory full of warmth and
light," and his dearest, greatest, best of temporal enjoyments, his
"vertuous, prudent and prayerful wife."

Contemporary inventories make more clear and more positive still this
picture of a planter's home-room, for similar furniture is found in all.
All the halls had cisterns for water or for wine (and I fancy they stood
on the small table usually mentioned); all had a table for serving
meals; a majority had the cupboard; a few had "picktures" or "lookeing
glasses;" very rarely a couch or "day-bed" was seen; some had
"lanthorns" as well as candlesticks; others a spinning-wheel for the
good wife, when she "keepit close the house and birlit at the wheel."

Chairs were a comparatively rare form of furniture in New England in
early colonial days, nor were they frequently s