COTTAGE AND FARMHOUSE FURNITURE.
Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture. By Arthur Hayden. (T. Fisher Ifnwin. 5s. net.)—This is a useful book of reference, as well as an interesting account of such pieces of furniture as are within the reach of collectors of moderate means. There are naturally no very ancient examples of this kind of furniture, for, as Mr. Hayden says, "in early days of the villeins furniture was limited to a stool, a table, and perhaps a chest. Nor was the use of much furniture at the farm or in the cottage a feature in Tudor or early Stuart days." And when we think of the bare room in Morland's picture of "The Cottage Fireside" it seems probable that even in the eighteenth century cottage furniture was of a very simple kind. Mr. Hayden divides his subject into chapters on gate-leg tables, farmhouse dressers, chairs, and various smaller things, such as Bible-boxes and cradles. There is also a short chapter on "Old English Chintzes," by Mr. Hugh Phillips. The excellent and well-arranged photographs are a valuable feature of this book, which is further completed by an index.
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