An exquisite example of the cupboard with faceted sides, but in the last stage of worm and decay, may perhaps still be seen in the gate-house at Rye House. Two excellent specimens of the varieties of Elizabethan court cupboards just mentioned exist in the Calverley Hotel at Tunbridge Wells, the earliest being a superb specimen of the finest type, with capped and jewelled balusters, the stiles beneath the canopy having carved trusses, and the doors being inlaid with geometrical ornaments. The architectural mouldings on the large under doors are specially remarkable. The second of the pieces is a dwarf court cupboard with faceted sides, the canopy being supported with heavy balusters and the doors decorated with arches. A third cupboard is of later date and of more usual type, while the almery at this hotel has already been described. All the pieces possess their original drop-handles. It is curious to find such a 'corner' of old oak at this very classic-looking hotel, but it may be remarked that pieces such as these are not unfrequently found in the most unpromising places.

No record has been preserved as to how they came to their present abode, though it is known that they have been in the house ever since it was inhabited by the Duchess of Kent as a private residence.

It is not to be supposed, however, that the flat-fronted oak press was discontinued when the court cupboard came into vogue. It still survived for the keeping of vestments in church vestries and collegiate institutions. The Leicester Hospital at Warwick contains in its quaint kitchen a huge square press elevated on squat legs, which is traditionally said to have come from Kenilworth Castle. This legend may be true, though other oral revelations respecting old furniture in the Leicester Hospital may be more doubtful.* At the Castle Rising Bede-houses, to which reference has already been made in the chapter on chairs, the quaint old costume of the inmates is kept in a flat-fronted oak press which has existed in the dining-hall since the foundation of the institution in 1615. The press has oblong top panels, carved with a classic design, and cock's-head hinges.

* See account of the so-called 'Saxon ' chair in Chapter II (Archaic Rarities) (Archaic Rarities).

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries some of the buffets continued to adhere, in certain respects, to the old Gothic method of construction, inasmuch as they still retained the upper story of shelves, built up above the table of the structure for the reception of cups and tankards. A dilapidated example of this kind, dating from the first half of the seventeenth century, which remains at Rye House, has the upper shelf supported by a series of little pillars, the cupboard underneath having two doors with a deeply-recessed panel between them. In Wales this upper shelf was retained until a very late period, and cupboards of the late oak period may generally be safely assumed to have come from the Principality or its borderland, where they still go by the name of 'tredarns.' Such pieces, instead of the supporting balusters, usually have a turned pendant at either end of the overhanging canopy. There are so many varieties of the court cupboard of Elizabethan and later times that to give a detailed description of all the peculiarities which the type exhibits would be tedious.

It maybe mentioned, however, that the earlier classic specimens - that is to say, those of Elizabeth's time and of the first years of James I.'s reign - are characterized mainly by the enormous size of the jewelled bulbs which adorn the pillars supporting the canopy, by the excellence and beauty of both their strap and jewel mouldings, and by the small size of the panels compared with the mouldings with which they are framed.

So excessively deep are some of the latter that the panel itself may be said to be actually recessed between the stiles. Elizabethan court cupboards decorated with caryatides are rarely met with, while this feature is hardly ever found in subsequent reigns.

As the seventeenth century wore on a singular fact may be noticed in connection with the court cupboard. While the carved details and ornamentation generally became debased, the outline frequently maintained an architectural simplicity which is very pleasing. A specimen of fine work of this sort is in the possession of Dr. Kingdon, of King's Lynn, which, though late in character, shows what could be accomplished by relying simply on outline and form, without recourse to surface-carving. The piece in question is a court cupboard of very black oak, and in a fine state of preservation, with pillar balusters supporting the canopy and geometrically-outlined panels. Its purity of style, combined with the lateness of character, is really remarkable.

During the second half of the seventeenth century the little iron drop-handles, which formed such a graceful accompaniment to articles made during the early Renaissance, began to be abandoned in favour of small wooden knobs, which finally developed into the substantial handles identified with the late mahogany period. The use of the cocks'-head hinge was also forsaken, cupboard doors, turning on plain hinges concealed from the front, or merely on vertical pins.

The transition of the court cupboard into what is now known as the chest of drawers might be traced without difficulty. The chest of drawers in its present form was unknown before the middle of the seventeenth century, and there is little doubt that the custom of incorporating drawers with the court cupboard was the beginning of the abandonment of the canopied recess, which eventually led to the adoption of the later form. But though the canopy ceased to be in vogue about the third quarter of the seventeenth century, many of the chests of drawers which were then made still retained the cupboard underneath which was part of the older form. In fact, although the canopy was shed, the cupboard remained yet awhile.

The reign of Charles II. was prolific in the manufacture of such pieces, and many of them are highly decorated, being inlaid with ivory, ebony, and mother-of-pearl. The introduction of the date of their manufacture on an ivory plate also became a feature of these pieces, dates ranging from 1659 to 1670 being of usual occurrence.

It must be observed, however, that the inlay, in quality, is mostly very far below that which adorned earlier productions, exhibiting both coarseness of design and workmanship. Apart from the inlay, the decoration of these sideboards - for so they may be termed - consists of perspective views, and ebonized roundels and jewel ornaments applied to the surface of the wood.* In fact, there is a general decadence in artistic form and workmanship.

* The return to the roundel after the lapse of more than a century is worthy of remark. This feature in its later form was, however, applied, instead of being an integral part of the panel.

There is a very general but mistaken notion that the pieces just mentioned originally came from Holland, and many people who possess some knowledge of old oak do not hesitate to pronounce them Dutch. The very reverse of this, however, is the truth. The Dutch character, which is so observable in them, is simply an echo of the tastes which Charles II. acquired during his exile, a good portion of which was spent in the Low Countries. It is sometimes puzzling, as we have noticed before, to find work of two totally distinct types carried on in a country at one and the same time.

Side by side with these inlaid pieces, wearing their Dutch characteristics, we find imitations, sometimes very coarse, however, of the early seventeenth-century style bearing precisely the same date, but this is only the old tale of the previous style fighting a slow but losing battle against modern innovation. It is not to be supposed that these sideboards are the only pieces of furniture of the time which exhibited these apparently foreign characteristics of form and inlay. Chests and even medicine cupboards are to be found of a very similar type, but it is mainly the sideboards that are identified with this particular introduction of a foreign element in design. Articles of this type - at least, such as were intended to be placed upon the ground - were elevated upon circular feet placed slightly beyond the centre of the stile, and now known from their flattened shape as onion balls.

During the reigns which closely succeeded the Commonwealth the use of the chest of drawers became extended, and in that form the piece began to be a recognised thing. The fronts of the drawers are generally panelled in geometrical forms, the edge mouldings sometimes containing an immense number of mitres. In one piece of this description, which the writer heard was purchased at Winchester, the mouldings on the fronts of the drawers exhibited considerably-over a century and a half of mitres. With the closing of the seventeenth century all that is interesting regarding cupboards of the 'oak period' vanishes.

LINEN-PANEL DOOR IN CUPBOARD COLLECTION OF E. A. BARRY, ESQ.