Another typical ornament is the swelling acorn-bulb. It appears on the legs of tables, posts of bedsteads, and supports of cabinets, cupboards, etc., as shown on Plate X., No. 2. A variety of this bulb occurs on Plate XI., No. 1, showing the black ebony balls connected by plain stretchers, or straining-rails. The bulb also appears, but somewhat smaller and connected by straight stretchers, on the table on Plate V. The baluster legs of the court cupboard on Plate X. exhibit another kind of swelling leg. This leg becomes slenderer until it dwindles into the type shown on Plate X., No. 1. Other ornamental devices consist of interlaced bands, strapwork, shells, lyres, bell-flowers, the acanthus, arch panels, branches and leaves in large flowing designs, besides a great variety of mouldings, panels and pierced scrolls. Turned work is rapidly superseding carving, which, however, is never quite driven away. The newest decoration is the “spindle” ornament which seems to have been introduced from England from the Low Countries about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. This was made of ebony, or of pear-wood stained black, turned, of course, cut in half and applied. Eggs and lozenges were likewise made, stained black and applied. These ornaments decorate the cabinet on Plate X., No. 1, and the “spindle” is shown separately as No. 4 on the same plate. The scroll is an excessively popular device: it not only occurs upon mouldings and cornices, but it also decorates the feet, frames of panels and straining-rails of chairs and settees. [Illustration: PLATE VII] During this period, the hall was the most important room in the house. Guests were always received here, and here meals were generally served. In the baronial homes, therefore, of past generations, the hall was used as both drawing-room and dining-room. The table was set on a daïs, or platform, and a screen cut off the entrance from the kitchen. At the other end of the hall was the minstrels’ gallery. In the course of time, a bay window was added at the dais end of the hall, which formed a private retiring-place for conversation while the table was being cleared. This paved the way for the small “privée parlour,” a little room built at the end, or side of the hall. The next addition was the “Great Chamber,” a larger room than the “parlour,” to which the lord of the household often retired, leaving the hall to his retainers and to such guests as were not of equal rank with himself. The “Great Chamber” was used as a bedroom by night and as a living-room by day. Here, of course, there was a sumptuous bed; and a bed with rich furniture also stood frequently in both parlour and hall.