The rooms are panelled, and are filled with the furniture bought by
successive generations. Upon the walls hang Copley portraits of Colonel
Warner and his wife and her haughty mother, Mrs. Macphaedris (who was
a daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth), and of Colonel Warner’s
young daughter Mary, in her straight little stays, which are still
preserved, along with the garments, stiff with gold embroideries, which
Colonel Warner and his wife wore upon state occasions. A number of the
illustrations for this book were taken in the Warner house, which is
one of the best-preserved old houses in the country, and which, with
its furnishings and decorations, presents an unusually good picture of
the home of the wealthy colonist.
The quaint wording of this bill of lading, and the list of furniture
mentioned, make it interesting in this connection, but none of
the pieces of that date remain in the house, which was evidently
refurnished with great elegance, after 1760, when the old furniture was
probably discarded as “old-fashioned.”
Illustration 110 shows a bookcase built into the Warner house. It is
made of mahogany, and stands in every particular exactly as it was
originally made. The bill of lading of 1716, shown in Illustration
85, mentions a bookcase, but this bookcase is of later date, and was
probably bought by Colonel Warner for his daughter, as the books in the
case are all bound alike in a golden brown leather, with gilt tooling,
and each book has “Miss. Warner” stamped in gilt letters upon the
cover. The books are the standard works of that time,—Shakespeare,
Milton, Spenser, “The Spectator,” Fox’s “Book of Martyrs,” and all the
books which a wealthy man of those days would buy to furnish a library.
The dates of the editions vary from 1750 to 1765, so the latter date
may be given to this bookcase. It was once entirely filled with “Miss.
Warner’s” books, but early in the nineteenth century, during a great
fire in Portsmouth, the books were removed for safety, and all were not
brought back.
[Illustration: Illus. 110.—Bookcase and Desk, about 1765.]
[Illustration: Illus. 111.—Chippendale Bookcase, 1770.]
At the top of the bookcase is a row of Chinese fretwork, which,
together with the massive handles, would also place its date about
1765. The case is divided into three sections, the sides of the lower
part being devoted to drawers. The lower middle section has four
drawers, above which is a wide flap which lets down, disclosing a desk
with drawers and pigeonholes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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