The use of rich embroideries at state banquets and on grand occasions appears to have commenced during the reign of Louis IX.--Saint Louis, as he is called--and these were richly emblazoned with arms and devices. Indeed, it was probably due to the fashion for rich stuffs and coverings of tables, and of velvet embroidered cushions for the chairs, that the practice of making furniture of the precious metals died out, and carved wood came into favour. [Illustration: STATE BANQUET, WITH ATTENDANT MUSICIANS. (_From Miniatures in the National Library, Paris._) PERIOD: XV. CENTURY.] Chairs of this period appear only to have been used on very special occasions; indeed, they were too cumbersome to be easily moved from place to place, and in a miniature from some MSS. of the early part of the fifteenth century, which represents a state banquet, the guests are seated on a long bench with the back carved in Gothic ornament of the time. In Skeat's Dictionary, our modern word "banquet" is said to be derived from the "bancs" or benches used on these occasions. [Illustration: A HIGH BACKED CHAIR IN CARVED OAK (GOTHIC STYLE). PERIOD: XV. CENTURY. FRENCH.] The great hall of the King's Palace, where such an entertainment as that given by Charles V. to the Emperor Charles of Luxemburg would have taken place, was also furnished with three "dressoirs" for the display of the gold and silver drinking cups, and vases of the time; the repast itself was served upon a marble table, and above the seat of each of the Princes present was a separate canopy of gold cloth embroidered with _fleur de lis_. [Illustration: MEDIÆVAL BED AND BEDROOM. (_From Viollet-le-Duc._) PERIOD: XIV. TO XV. CENTURY. FRENCH.] The furniture of ordinary houses of this period was very simple. Chests, more or less carved, and ornamented with iron work, settles of oak or of chestnut, stools or benches with carved supports, a bedstead and a prie-dieu chair, a table with plain slab supported on shaped standards, would nearly complete the inventory of the furniture of the chief room in a house of a well-to-do merchant in France until the fourteenth century had turned. The table was narrow, apparently not more than some 30 inches wide, and guests sat on one side only, the service taking place from the unoccupied side of the table. In palaces and baronial halls, the servants with dishes were followed by musicians, as shewn in an old miniature of the time, reproduced on page 39. [Illustration: SCRIBE OR COPYIST Working at his desk in a room in which are a reading desk and a chest with manuscript. (_From an Old Miniature._) PERIOD: XV. CENTURY.]