[Illustration:  Coronation Chair.  Westminster Abbey.]

In 1328, June 1, there is a royal writ ordering the abbot to deliver up the stone to the Sheriff of London, to be carried to the Queen-Mother; however, it never went.  The chair has been used upon the occasion of every coronation since that time, except in the case of Mary, who is said to have used a chair specially sent by the Pope for the occasion.

[Illustration:  Chair in the Vestry of York Minster.  Late 14th century.]

The above drawing of a chair in York Minster, and the two more throne-like seats on the full-page illustration, will serve to shew the best kind of ornamental Ecclesiastical furniture of the fourteenth century.  In the choir of Canterbury Cathedral there is a chair which has played its part in history, and, although earlier than the above, it may be conveniently mentioned here.  This is the Archbishop’s throne, and it is also called the chair of St. Augustine.  According to legend, the Saxon kings were crowned therein, but it is probably not earlier than the thirteenth century.  It is an excellent piece of stonework, with a shaped back and arms, relieved from being quite plain by the back and sides being panelled with a carved moulding.

[Illustration:  Chair.  In St. Mary’s Hall, Coventry.  Chair.  From an Old English Monastery.  Period:  XV.  Century.]

Penshurst Place, near Tonbridge, the residence of Lord de l’Isle and Dudley, the historic home of the Sydneys, is almost an unique example of what a wealthy English gentleman’s country house was about the time of which we are writing, say the middle of the fourteenth century, or during the reign of Edward III.  By the courtesy of Lord de l’Isle, the writer has been allowed to examine many objects of great interest there, and from the careful preservation of many original fittings and articles of furniture, one may still gain some idea of the “hall” as it then appeared, when that part of the house was the scene of the chief events in the life of the family—­the raised dais for host and honoured guests, the better table which was placed there (illustrated) and the commoner ones for the body of the hall; and though the ancient buffet which displayed the gold and silver cups is gone, one can see where it would have stood.  Penshurst is said to possess the only hearth of the time now remaining in England, an octagonal space edged with stone in the centre of the hall, over which was once the simple opening for the outlet of smoke through the roof, and the old andirons or firedogs are still there.

[Illustration:  “Standing” Table at Penshurst, Still on the Dais in the Hall.]

[Illustration:  Bedroom in which a Knight and His Lady are Seated. (From a Miniature in “Othea,” a Poem by Christine de Pisan.  XIV.  Century, French.)]