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Preface
FEW realise
how modern are the conceptions of comfort and
decency which inspire the furnishing
and arrangements of our present-day
homes, or how different were
the conditions in which, only a few centuries
ago, our forefathers spent their lives.
Till the beginning of the seventeenth century chairs for ordinary household
use were unknown. Hats were worn
at meals. Washing formed no part of the morning
toilet, even in Charles II's time, and
very few in any
country in
Europe washed their faces every day.
The use of forks did not
become general
till the eighteenth century,
and food was picked
from the general dish
and raised to the mouth with the fingers.
The
development of Domestic Life has not, I think,
hitherto been studied as a continuous
process, nor traced to its social and historical origins, though many of its
details have been worked
out and much knowledge of a fragmentary kind has
been accumulated. In trying to
reconstruct the domestic life of Scotland at various epochs in the
fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and to trace the lines
of development, I have had recourse to the comparison
and analysis of many
hundreds of
early inventories which
are to be found among the national documents preserved in
the Register House, and
the study of these records has resulted in much new and
curious information as to the details of household life in early times. I
have also drawn freely on
early Scottish literature, including biographies,
journals and
account books, for material likely to put my readers into more living touch
with the men, women and children of the times with
which I have dealt.
While the book deals
mainly with Scotland, there are many references to the social development of
England, France and
other countries in western Europe.
For a general enquiry
there is a certain advantage in the smaller
and less crowded
stage. To the non-Scottish reader I would address the invitation and
guarantee given by a character in a witty
French comedy :
Mon camarade
Aliens faire au jardin un tour de promenade!
Suivez-moi sans rien craindre; il est dans mes principes
De ne forcer personne & louer nos tulipes!
To express in detail all my
obligations to those who have helped me would overweight my book. But I must
acknowledge the kindness of Sir James Balfour Paul, C.V.O., in reading my
proofs; of Mr. F. C. Eeles in advising me as to the contents of the Oratory
in the second Lecture; of Prof. Hannay and Dr. Hay Fleming; and of Dr.
Thomas Ross, Dr. William Kelly, A.R.S.A., Aberdeen, and Mr. James Beveridge,
Linlithgow. My best thanks are also due to those who have allowed me to
reproduce articles in their possession among my illustrations.
13 ROTHESAY TERRACE
EDINBURGH
Contents
Lecture I
IN FEUDAL DAYS: A MEDIAEVAL CASTLE
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Poverty of the country - Unsettled conditions - Scarcity
of native timber - Foreign trade: exports and imports - Inferences as to
social conditions in Scotland and in Flanders - Value of knowledge of early
social life in interpreting early literature - The mediaeval castle and its
furnishings - An evening meal - Washing the hands - Early codes of manners
and rules for behaviour - Table arrangements - The salt-fatt, dishes,
spoons, and servietts - Arrangements and furnishing of the hall "Till
necessitie and nocht til decore" - The dais - The hie burde - Literary
references - The parelling - The comptar or counter: origin and line of
development - The chalmer of des: its position and uses - Bedrooms Beds and
canopies - The futegang.
Lecture II
THE WEALTH OF THE CHURCH: A PRE-REFORMATION MANSE
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
The wealth of the Church as a factor
in the Reformation movement - Relation of the movement to the Renaissance -
Humanism within the Church - The Parson of Stobo; his revenues, etc. - The
manse in Glasgow and its inmates - A
disappointed nephew - The parson's bedchamber -
Rich hangings and furniture - An
unexpected apparition - Coffers and chests and their
contents - Early regulations as to clerical costume - The parson's costly
apparel - "The oratour within his house" - The altar and its furnishings -
Vestments - Sacred and secular books - The hall - Carved furniture -
Cupboard of plate - Significance of plate in mediaeval times - The kitchen -
"Large tabling and belly cheer" - Stores of provisions and fuel - Riding kit
and armour - Sport and recreations - Tame animals - An early chiming clock -
The parson's death - The people and the Church.
Lecture III
THE RISE OF THE BURGHERS; A CLOTH
MERCHANT'S HOUSE; AND SOME DECORATIVE ARTS
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY Continued
The three estates - Rising importance
of the burgher class - Dwelling-house of a sixteenth-century cloth merchant
- The hall Armour - The bedchamber - Agricultural implements - The booth -
"Ane hingand brod of oley cullouris" - Early interest in painting in
Scotland - Pictures and painted cloths - The burgesses as art patrons and
introducers of foreign products and ideas - The "keiking glass" - The alarm
clock - Some items in the inventory of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount -
Wood-carving in Scotland - Domestic panelling - Linenfold and other patterns
- Carved wood from Montrose - At Ethie Castle - From Threave Castle -
Cardinal Beaton's panels at Balfour House - Embroidery in early times - Its
development in the sixteenth century - Queen Mary's embroideries - "Story
work" - Various examples - The Rehoboam set - The Earl of Morton's set -
Probable date and origin.
Lecture IV
THE DECAY OF FEUDALISM AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF FAMILY
LIFE
JAMES VI, 1578-1625
New conceptions of domestic life -
Historical origins of the change - Passing away of feudalism - Expansion of
trade and increasing importance of the towns - Enrichment of the nobles by
partition of Church property - An
era of building - Domestic character of the new
architecture - Feudal lords transformed into courtiers, with luxurious
standards of living - Changes in domestic arrangements - The hall gives
place to the dining-room - The "Dravand Buird" - Table manners at Court and
in private life - Table ware, etc. - Display of plate Cupboards with "gries"
- The dresser Dessert and the banquet - The parlour - Stuffed chairs - The
taffel Books: the Family Bible - Pictures - Music Life of the leisured
classes - Men's employments and recreations -
How a lady of fashion
spent her day - Dietetic dangers and some medical counsels - Children's toys
- A boy's
penknife - Duncan's new doublet.
Lecture V
THE
KING OR THE COVENANT
CHARLES I, 1625-1649
The Covenanting Period - Ascetic views
of life - A Covenanter's courtship, with an eighteenth-century contrast -
Conditions unfavourable to the development of furniture
- New Scottish
industries - Furniture and fashions from London - A Scottish nobleman's
house "The laiche hall" - The dining-room and silver plate - The
drawing-room - New
ideas in furniture and ornaments - The lettermeitt house
- Bedrooms - Development of beds in Scotland - The knop sek - The strek bed
- The letacamp bed - Kaissit beds - The box-bed or buistie - The "laych-rynnand"
or truckle bed - The laird's mistake - The four-poster - Royal beds -
Devices on the Queen of Scots' bed - Mourning beds and mourning customs -
Queen Mary's bed-curtains from Loch Leven - Heraldic decoration of beds -
Changing fashions in colours and colour names.
Lecture VI
THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE RESTORATION
1649-1688
The restoration of the Monarchy -
Irreconcilable differences - Organised and harmonious national life
impossible - Persecutions - The Acts of Indulgence - Inducements to accept
the established regime - History of the times reflected in furniture -
Severe and utilitarian character of Commonwealth furniture - Restoration
chairs and day-beds - Chairs as evidences of changes in the treatment of
floors - Easy chairs - Extravagance of the Court - Exotic materials -
Cabinets - The chest of drawers - Tea, coffee and cocoa - Walnut tables -
The virginalls - Barred grates - Forks not yet in use - Scottish diarists -
Social life of the time - Billiards - Horse racing - The kirk stool - Going
to church - Giving out the line - The hour-glass - Periwigs, powder and
Sedan chairs, as preluding the eighteenth century - Conclusion.
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