The room at Knole House that was furnished for James I is of great
interest, as it is the same to-day as when first furnished. The bed is
said to have cost £8,000. As it is one of the show places of England one
should not miss a chance of seeing it.

Until the time of the Restoration the furniture of England could not
compare in sumptuousness with that of the Continental countries.
England, besides having a simpler point of view, was in a perpetual
state of unrest. The honest and hard-working English joiners and
carpenters adapted in a plain and often clumsy way the styles of the
different foreigners who came to the country. Through it all, however,
they kept the touch of national character that makes the furniture so
interesting, and they often did work of great beauty and worth. When
Charles II came to the throne he brought with him the ideas of France,
where he had spent so many years, and the change became very marked. The
natural Stuart extravagance also helped to form his taste, and soon we
hear of much more elaborate decoration throughout the land.

Many of the country towns were far behind London in the style of
furniture, and this explains why some furniture that is dated 1670, for
instance, seems to belong to an earlier time. The famous silver
furniture of Knole House, Seven-oaks, belongs to this time. Evelyn
mentions in his diary that the rooms of the Duchess of Portsmouth were
full of "Japan cabinets and screens, pendule clocks, greate vases of
wrought plate, tables, stands, chimney furniture, sconces, branches,
baseras, etc., all of massive silver," and later he mentions again her
"massy pieces of plate, whole tables and stands of incredible value."

In the reign of William and Mary, Dutch influence was naturally very
pronounced, as William disliked everything English. The English, being