The street entrance is directly into the chief living room of the house, which is stone paved, and provided with an old–fashioned recessed fireplace, as is also the kitchen. Behind the latter are two small apartments known as the wash–house and pantry. Beneath the kitchen is a small cellar reached by a flight of steps, and probably remaining much in its original state. The principal room of the upper floor, facing the street, and reached by an oak staircase of ten steps, is the birth–room. The walls, ceiling, and windows are covered by numberless signatures, written and scratched upon them by “pilgrims” before the custom was strictly prohibited. Amongst this strange collection of autographs can still be deciphered many of interest, including those of Izaak Walton, Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott, and other famous people. The bureau in the room was brought from the Old College, demolished in 1799, and the chairs were gifts. This by no means imposing chamber not only witnessed the birth of the poet, but in all likelihood those of his brothers and sisters, and was the death–chamber of his father, mother, and sister Susannah, Mrs. Hart. In a room at the back of this, originally forming two small bedrooms, is an oil painting presumed to be that of Shakespeare. It closely resembles the bust in the church, and was possibly copied from it. It was given to the house by Mr. W. O. Hunt, and is supposed to have originally belonged to the Clopton family, having been found in Edward Clopton’s house on his death. Curiously enough, the face was formerly disguised with a beard, which a Mr. Collins, a connoisseur of some note, discovered was painted over the original picture. The portrait was, therefore, cleaned and repaired (the beard being removed in the process), and was afterwards deposited at the birthplace. The sign–boards in the room are old ones belonging to the house. There is none of the original furniture in the house, it having long ago been sold, broken up, or otherwise disposed of. In Shakespeare’s day the furniture of a house of this size and type must have been of a very simple character. It would have consisted of little beyond a substantial table, a press, chairs, a cupboard, and a tall clock, with the usual table utensils in the living room; and a four–post wooden bedstead, a chair or two, and a table or washstand in the bedrooms. The floors were carpetless, though those of the living room and kitchen might be strewn with rushes. The Museum occupies the portion of the building used by John Shakespeare as a store and shop. It contains a large number of Shakespearian and other relics, concerning the authenticity of some of which there must be grave doubt. Amongst the most interesting in the lower part of the Museum is the desk which Shakespeare is traditionally supposed to have used when a lad at the Grammar School, from whence it was removed to the Museum some years back.