[Illustration: Illus. 117.—Sheraton Desk, 1800.] Above it are two tambour doors, behind which are drawers and pigeonholes and a door in the centre with an oval inlay of satinwood. Above these doors is a cabinet with glass doors. The pediment is like the one in Illustration 114. This secretary was made about 1800, and belongs to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of Cambridge. Illustration 117 shows a small Sheraton writing table for a lady’s use, also owned by Mr. Bigelow. It is of simple construction, having one drawer, and when the desk is closed, the effect is that of a small table with a flat top. Illustration 118 shows a desk which was copied from one of Sheraton’s designs, published in 1793, and described as “a lady’s cabinet and writing table.” The legs in Sheraton’s drawing are slender and straight, while these are twisted and carved, and the space, which in the design is left open for books, in this desk is closed with a tambour door. [Illustration: Illus. 118.—Sheraton Desk, about 1810.] The slide which shows above the compartment pulls out, with a mechanism described by Sheraton, and when fully out, it drops to form the cover for the compartments. The Empire brasses upon the top are original, but the handles to the drawers are not. They should be brass knobs. This beautiful little desk was made about 1810 for William T. Lane, Esq., of Boston, and is owned by his daughter, Mrs. Thomas H. Gage of Worcester. [Illustration: Illus. 119.—Desk, about 1820.] Illustration 119 shows a bureau and desk, belonging to Mrs. J. H. Henry of Winchendon. The lid of the desk turns back like the lid of a piano. The carved pillars at the side are like the ones upon the bureau in Illustration 37, and upon other pieces of furniture of the same date, about 1820. CHAPTER VI CHAIRS [Illustration] CHAIRS are seldom mentioned in the earliest colonial inventories, and few were in use in either England or America at that time. Forms and stools were used for seats in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and inventories of that period, even those of wealthy men, do not often contain more than one or two chairs. The chair was the seat of honor given to the guest, others sitting upon forms and stools. This custom was followed by the American colonists, and forms or benches and joint or joined stools constituted the common seats during the first part of the seventeenth century. [Illustration: Illus. 120.—Turned Chair, Sixteenth Century.] The chairs in use during that period were “thrown” or turned chairs; wainscot chairs, sometimes described as “scrowled” or carved chairs; and later, chairs covered with leather, or “Turkey work,” and other fabrics. The best-known turned chair in this country is the “President’s Chair” at Harvard University. Dr. Holmes has written of it in “Parson Turell’s Legacy”:—