“Simon de Canterbury, carpenter, came before the Mayor, etc.... and acknowledged that he would make at his own proper charges down to the locks, for William de Hanigtone, pelterer, before the Feast of Easter then ensuing, a Hall and a room with a Chimney, and one larder between the same hall and room: and one sollar over the room and larder: also, an oriole at the end of the Hall beyond the high bench: and one step with an oriole, from the ground to the door of the Hall aforesaid, outside of the Hall: and two enclosures as cellars, opposite to each other, beneath the Hall: and one enclosure for a sewer, with two pipes leading to the said sewer and one stable between the said Hall and the old kitchen and twelve feet in width with a sollar above and stable, and a garret above the sollar aforesaid: and at one end of such sollar there is to be a kitchen, with a chimney: and there is to be an oriole between the said Hall and the old chamber 8 feet in width.” According to Riley, the first oriole is an oriel window such as is commonly found in a Hall, the second oriole is a porch, and the third is a small chamber. Without this explanation the document would be unintelligible. [Illustration: “THE LADIES’ BOWER” From MS. in British Museum. Harl. 2278.] The house was to contain a large hall with, no doubt, a fire under the lantern in the middle of the hall; also a sitting-room with a chimney near the hall, but with a larder between. In the larder was, one supposes, the entrance to the cellars. The “old chamber” with the “oriole” beside provided two bedrooms; the solar or upper chamber over the larder and sitting-room was another bedroom; the solar and garret over the stable gave two more bedrooms; there was the “old kitchen” and there was the new kitchen. In all, five bedrooms, two sitting-rooms, and two kitchens, with cellars and other things. The buttery or larder always stood, for convenience, next to the hall. Sometimes it was called a _Spence_, and the servant who attended to it was called the Spenser or Despencer, which shows the origin of a very common surname found everywhere, from the House of Lords to the village pothouse. The room with a chimney next to the larder was sometimes called the “berser” or the “ladies’ bower”: some houses had a “parlour” or room where visitors of distinction might be received. Such was the house of a substantial citizen. As for the house of the retailer, there are many pictures which leave us in little doubt as to the appearance of these houses. Thus, as good an illustration as I know of the mediæval street with its shops is given by Lacroix (see _Science and Literature in the Middle Ages_, p. 161). The street is quite narrow: there is no gutter running down the middle, but perhaps this was an oversight of the limner. The pictures represent four shops, viz., that of a barber, an apothecary, a tailor, and a furrier. The houses are detached,