“The plan of a room shewing the proper distribution of the furniture,” appears on p. 193 to give an idea of the fashion of the day; it is evident from the large looking glass which overhangs the sideboard that the fashion had now set in to use these mirrors.  Some thirty or forty year later this mirror became part of the sideboard, and in some large and pretentious designs which we have seen, the sideboard itself was little better than a support for a huge glass in a heavily carved frame.

The dining tables of this period deserve a passing notice as a step in the development of that important member of our “Lares and Penates.”  What was and is still called the “pillar and claw” table, came into fashion towards the end of last century.  It consisted of a round or square top supported by an upright cylinder, which rested on a plinth having three, or sometimes four, feet carved as claws.  In order to extend these tables for a larger number of guests, an arrangement was made for placing several together.  When apart, they served as pier or side tables, and some of these—­the two end ones, being semi-circular—­may still be found in some of our old inns.[17]

[Illustration:  Tea Tray.]

[Illustration:  Girandole.]

[Illustration:  Tea Tray.]

[Illustration:  Parlour Chair, with Prince Of Wales’ Plumes.]

[Illustration:  Pier Table.]

[Illustration:  Parlour Chair.]

[Illustration:  Designs of Furniture.  From Hepplewhite’s “Guide,” Published 1787.]

[Illustration:  Fac-simile of a Page in Hepplewhite’s “Cabinet Maker’s Guide.”  Published In 1787.]

It was not until 1800 that Richard Gillow, of the well-known firm in Oxford Street, invented and patented the convenient telescopic contrivance which, with slight improvements, has given us the table of the present day.  The term still used by auctioneers in describing a modern extending table as “a set of dining tables,” is, probably, a survival of the older method of providing for a dinner party.  Gillow’s patent is described as “an improvement in the method of constructing dining and other tables calculated to reduce the number of legs, pillars and claws, and to facilitate and render easy, their enlargement and reduction.”

[Illustration:  Inlaid Tea Caddy and Top of Pier Tables. (From “Hepplewhite’s Guide")]

As an interesting link between the present and the past it may be useful here to introduce a slight notice of this well-known firm of furniture manufacturers, for which the writer is indebted to Mr. Clarke, one of the present partners of Gillows.  “We have an unbroken record of books dating from 1724, but we existed long anterior to this:  all records were destroyed during the Scottish Rebellion in 1745.”  The house originated in Lancaster, which was then the chief port in the north, Liverpool not being in existence at the time, and Gillows exported furniture