higher ranks. The habit of making pictures in series, and of adorning the pictures with proverbial and religious mottos, seems to have been commoner with this class of hangings than with the other.
Curtains were frequently in use. There are allusions to window curtains, though they were not common. Curtains were hung about the beds. Curtains were frequently the only divisions between the smaller rooms into which a larger one was divided by their use. One of the frequent uses for a curtain was as a covering to a picture. Pictures were not then a common form of decoration. Such as were to be found were mostly portraits. These were sometimes painted directly upon the wood panelling. When they were movable, they were sometimes painted upon wood, sometimes upon canvas. In any case, they were likely to be protected by curtains, for glass makers had not yet learned to make glass in large pieces.
As has already been said, in the dining room, which was more likely to be the hall than a separate room, the table, between meals, was stood against the wall, with its pair of trestles beside it. Perhaps the only other characteristic piece of dining room furniture was the cupboard or buffet. This was frequently large and massive. In and on it was stored much plate; and dishes of
