In nearly every Dutch interior one notes the presence of the foot-warmer or foot-stove—a little wooden box with a perforated top and sometimes perforated sides of wood or brass. In this, glowing embers were placed. One of these is seen in Plate XXVI and another in Plate XXXVII, while in Plate XXXVIII a cat is seen comfortably keeping itself warm. On Plate XXXIX the lady playing the double-necked lute has her foot on one of these universally used articles. These foot-warmers that served as footstools, and were carried to church, are described in Roemer Visscher’s _Sinnenpoppen_ (Animated Dolls). He calls them “_mignon des dames_,” and says: “_Een stoef met vier daer in, is een bemint juweel by onse Hollandsche vrouwen, bysonder als de sneeuwvlocken vlieghen ende hagel ende rijp het lof van de boomen jaeght._” (“A stove with fire in it is a beloved jewel of our Dutch wives, especially when the snowflakes are flying and the hail rattles.”) The author of the Dutch _Mercurius_ calls it “a small wooden piece of carpentry with four holes in the top.” The “Looking-Glasse” that attracted Owen Feltham’s attention was a luxury. The _spiegel-maker_ (mirror-maker) was only to be found in the large cities. He was not allowed to make the frames, nor to gild them; for this was the work of the Carpenters’ and Gilders’ Guild. The signs, however, read—“_spyeghelwinckel_,” “_de nyeuwe spyeghelwinckel_,” “_spyeghel-magazijn_,” “_allerley spyeghels groot en clijn_,” and “_de Venetiaense spyeghelwinckel_.” (The “mirror shop,” “the new mirror shop,” “mirror magazine,” “all kinds of mirrors, large and small,” and “Venetian mirrors.”) [Illustration: PLATE XLIV.—_Dutch Kas._ CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS. ] The glass mirror was a novelty, for, until the seventeenth century, polished metal was used; but at this period a method of silvering glass with a mixture of quicksilver and pewter was invented in the celebrated factory of Murano. The Venetians monopolized the trade until the end of the century, when Abraham Thevart made mirrors (84 × 50 inches) in Paris. Both Venetian and French mirrors adorned the reception rooms of the rich _stadhouders_ and mayors of Holland, and hung above the toilet-tables of ladies (_see_ Plate XL). The archives of the Castle of Develstein mention: a “very large mirror from France,” “Venetian mirrors,” “a small coarse mirror in a black frame,” “a fine Venetian mirror in the Salon, with flowered crystal border”; “an Amsterdam mirror of medium size,” and “one French mirror, large and beautiful.” Mirrors were not only valued for their thick glass and fine silvering, but on account of their choice frames. Inventories speak of scroll frames, open-work frames, frames with lions or griffins supporting a coat-of-arms, etc. Ladies also carried German and English mirrors suspended from their waists, for the purpose of arranging their coiffure, ruff, or patches.