The rough and wattled farmhouses were being replaced by dwellings of brick and stone. The disuse of salt fish and the greater consumption of meat marked the improvement which was taking place among the countryfolk. The wooden trenchers in the farmhouses were supplanted by pewter, and there were yeomen who could boast of their silver. Carpets in richer dwelling-houses superseded the wretched flooring of rushes. Even pillows, now in common usage, were articles of luxury in the sixteenth century. The farmer and the trader deemed them as only fit "for women in child-bed." The chimney-corner came into usage in Elizabethan days with the general use of chimneys. The mediæval fortress had given place to the grandeur of the Elizabethan hall in the houses of the wealthy merchants. The rise of the middle classes brought with it in its wake the corresponding advance of the yeomen and their dependents. Visions of the New World "threw a haze of prodigality and profusion over the imagination of the meanest seaman." =Early Days.=--Of farmhouse types that can authoritatively be attributed to Tudor days there are few, but the succeeding age of the Stuarts is rich with examples of undoubted authenticity. Many of them are dated, and they all bear a strong family resemblance to each other, owing to the narrow range of _motifs_ in the carved panels. There is a fixed insularity in these early examples, and the same traditional patterns in scrollwork or in conventional lozenge design retained their hold for many generations. The oak arm-chair of a farmhouse kitchen made in the days of Charles I. was still followed in close detail in the days of George III., as dated examples testify, and it would puzzle an expert, without the date to guide him, to say whether the piece was eighteenth or seventeenth century work. It may be added that as a general rule there is a marked leaning towards generosity in imparting age to old furniture. It is now very generally recognised that, like wine, it gains prestige with length of years. It therefore grows in antiquity according to the fancy of the owner or the imagination of the collector. Among the early forms of chairs falling under the category of farmhouse furniture may be noticed examples of rough and massive build, eminently fit to serve the purpose for which they were designed. Ornament is reduced to a minimum, and they stand as rude monuments to the cabinet-maker's craft in fashioning them and following tradition to suit his client's tastes. In regard to the sixteenth century there cannot be said to be any type falling under the heading of cottage or farmhouse chairs. We have already illustrated (p. 35) an early form of Elizabethan days, but such examples are rare. Practically cottagers had only stools in common use. It was not until about 1650 that a simplified form of the well-known variety of the chairs of the Jacobean oak period came into general use. [Illustration: YORKSHIRE CHAIR. DATE 1660.