Another set was of white damask trimmed with fringes of gold, silver and green silk; another was of white damask and gold; and another set consisting of a bed, eleven folding-seats and four _fauteuils_, was of Spanish leather, cut out, embroidered and edged with black, and laid on blue damask. The carpet for the table and the two square cushions were of the same. In many rooms of the day, the alcove occurs. It was introduced from Spain, and took its name from the Spanish alcoba and the Arabic _Al Koba_, the tent, or the place where one sleeps, or rests. It was made fashionable by its appearance in the Hôtel de Rambouillet, and, of course, the home of every _Précieuse_ had to have one. Fouquet had rooms with alcoves at his Château de Vaux and when “_La grande Mademoiselle_” took refuge at her Château de Saint-Fargeau, during the troubles of La Fronde, she at once conformed to the taste of the day. “On the very day” (of her arrival) she writes: “I wished to change the chimney-pieces and doors and to make an alcove.” The alcove became so fashionable that it soon supplanted the _ruelle_; and the “_coureurs de ruelles_” were known thenceforward as “_coquets d’alcôvistes_.” But what they called alcove in the Seventeenth was not what they called alcove in the Eighteenth Century. At first, it was a part of the room set apart from the rest by a railing or some columns of architectural pretensions. In 1684, in the _État du mobilier de la couronne_ there is mentioned an alcove balustrade of chiselled silver of fabulous price. The alcove was in reality a little room within a large room and here the bed and chairs for guests were placed. Typical and luxurious alcoves are shown in the designs by Marot and Lepautre. Fouquet had an alcove hung with crimson satin enriched with gold embroidery. At President Tubeuf’s the hangings of the alcove were ornamented with bands of black velvet alternating with bands of English tapestry. Molière’s was hung with red taffeta garnished with fringe and tassels of aurora silk. Madame de Maintenon’s apartments at Versailles, in 1708, consisted of the first antechamber, the second antechamber, the chamber, the “_garde-robe_” behind the bed, the “_grand cabinet_ upon the arcade,” and “_garde-robe en suite_.” The walls of the first antechamber were hung with red damask of small pattern trimmed with Venetian brocatelle of white background ornamented with red and green branches and flowers of various colours. These same materials filled the space over the chimney-piece. Twelve chairs with backs of turned walnut wood were covered with tapestry on which birds figured. The couch was covered with the same material and was furnished with a pavilion of red serge. A small table was covered by a green cloth trimmed with green silk fringe. The window curtain was white cotton.