The history of the great houses of England, and also the smaller
manor-houses, is full of interest in connection with the study of
furniture. There are many manor-houses that show all the characteristics
of the Gothic, Renaissance, Tudor and Jacobean periods, and from them we
can learn much of the life of the times. The early ones show absolute
simplicity in the arrangement, one large hall for everything, and later
a small room or two added. The fire was on the floor and the smoke
wandered around until it found its way out at the opening, or louvre, in
the roof. Then a chimney was built at the dais end of the hall, and the
mantelpiece became an important part of the decoration. The hall was
divided by "screens" into smaller rooms, leaving the remainder for
retainers, and causing the clergy to inveigh against the new custom of
the lord of the manor "eating in secret places." The staircase developed
from the early winding stair about a newel or post to the beautiful
broad stairs of the Tudor period. These were usually six or seven feet
broad, with about six wide easy steps and then a landing, and the
carving on the balusters was often very elaborate and sometimes very
beautiful--a ladder raised to the _n_th power.

Slowly the Gothic period died in England and slowly the Renaissance took
its place. There was never the gayety of decorative treatment that we
find in France, but the English workmen, while keeping their own
individuality, learned a tremendous amount from the Italians who came to
the country. Their influence is shown in the Henry VIIth Chapel in
Westminster Abbey, and in the old part of Hampton Court Palace, built by
Cardinal Wolsey.

The religious troubles between Henry VIII and the Pope and the change of
religion helped to drive the Italians from the country, so the
Renaissance did not get such a firm foothold in England as it did in