s were frequently very large; a
portion of the top of one in the Connecticut Historical Society is seven
feet four inches wide. Tea-tables came with tea; they were advertised in
the _Boston News Letter_ in 1712. Occasionally we find mention of a
curious and unusual table, such as the one named in the effects of Sir
Francis Bernard, which were sold September 11, 1770: "Three tables
forming a horseshoe for the benefit of the Fire."

As a table was in early days a board, so a tablecloth was a board-cloth;
and ere it was a tablecloth it was table-clothes. Cristowell Gallup, in
1655, had "1 Holland board-cloth;" and William Metcalf, in 1644, had a
"diaper board-cloth." Another Boston citizen had "broad-clothes." Henry
Webb, of Boston, named in his will, in 1660, his "beste Suite of Damask
Table-cloath, Napkins & cupboard-cloath." Others had holland tablecloths
and holland square cloths with lace on them. Arras tablecloths are also
named in 1654, and cloths enriched with embroidery in colors. The witch
Ann Hibbins had "1 Holland table cloth edged with blewe," worth twelve
shillings; and a Hartford gentleman had, in 1689, a "table Cloth wrought
with red." In 1728 "Hukkbuk Tabling" was advertised in the _New England
Weekly Journal_, but the older materials--damask, holland, and
diaper--were universally used then, as now.

The colonists had plenty of napkins, as had all well-to-do and well-bred
Englishmen at that date. Napkins appear in all the early inventories. In
1668 the opulent Jane Humphreys, of Dorchester, left "two wrought
Napkins with no lace around it," "half a duzzen of napkins," and
"napkins wrought about and laced." In 1680 Robert Adams had six "diaper
knapkins." Captain Tyng had in 1653 four dozen and a half of napkins, of
which two dozen were of "layd worke." It has been said that these
napkins were handkerchiefs, not table napkins; but I think the way they
are classed in inventories does not so indicate. For instance, in the
estate of Captain Corwin, a wealthy man, who died in Salem in 1685, was
a "suit of Damask 1 Table cloth, 18 napkins, 1 Towel," valued at L8.
Occasionally, however, they are specially designated as "pocket
napkins," as in the estate of Elizabeth Cutter in 1663, where four are
valued at one shilling.

Early English books on table manners, such as "The Babees Boke" and "The
Boke of Nurture," though minute in detail, yet name no other
table-furniture than cups, chafing-dishes, chargers, trenche