as were also the folding-stools, or _pliants_. The wood of the latter was painted red. We also hear of two _fauteuils_ trimmed with lace and fringe of medium width, the wood being entirely covered with the velvet; at the bottom of the back there was a double row of the _crespine_. The six folding-stools that went with these arm-chairs were also garnished with lace and fringe, but their frames were painted green and picked out with gold. The seats were covered with green serge. Another set of furniture consisted of six _fauteuils_, six chairs with backs, six _pliants_ and a _lit de repos_. These were covered with needlework ornamented with a silk fringe of many colours. The frames were of pear-wood stained black, and they were decorated with twisted columns. The twisted column shown in the side-supports and straining-rails of the chair in the lower right-hand corner on Plate I., and also in No. 2 and No. 3 on the same plate, is derived from Italy. It is a favourite ornamentation of the day and occurs in bed-posts and wherever pillars are used. Another form of the spiral leg is shown on Plate III., No. 6. Still another form is shown in the arm-chair with twisted and baluster arms that appears as No. 5 on Plate III. A favourite shape for the leg of a chair was also the X that so often appears in the pictures of the Dutch masters. These chairs were of Flemish and Italian origin. (See Plate VII., lower right-hand corner.) This X is also present in the _pliant_ or folding-stool, an example of which is shown under the window in the Frontispiece. The coverings for the _fauteuils_, folding-seats, etc. were, as we have said, of damask, brocade, silk, serge, tapestry, or needlework, but we must add that Genoa and Venetian velvets with floral designs in high relief were extremely popular. Two other typical chairs are shown on Plate I. No. 1 is a handsome _fauteuil_ of noble proportions. Its back and seat are covered with two squares of material fastened in the correct way with large nails. No. 4 is a very fine specimen indeed with a carved back panel of wood. The favourite mascaron decorates the top rail. On Plate I. is shown a typical chair of the period with an open back of turned spindles. Deville says this was the “_chaise caquetoire_” or “_chaise perroquet_,” a name that was given to all kinds of chairs with open backs, whether carved or turned, or simply of two, three, four or five horizontal rails. If this was so, the _chaise perroquet_ meant a different kind of chair later in the century, for Saint-Simon says: “Monseigneur himself and all who were at the table had seats with backs of black leather which could be folded up for carriage use and which were called _perroquets_.” In the Château de Chenonceau (1603), there were “more than two coverings for the _petites chaises cacquetoires_ of silk of several colours brightened with gold and silver also on canvas estimated at forty sols, apiece.”