List Price: $14.14

Tags: Books, Subjects,

Book Description:
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ...to-day than there was in all England during the years prior to 1600. The Earl of Cumberland's Skipton Castle, an immense building with forty rooms, built in 1572, had but eight beds, and not one of the bed-chambers contained chairs, glasses or carpets. Queen Elizabeth's bed was built of rosewood and was of great size, fully as large in itself as the modern hall bedrooms. It was extremely high Queen... / O Elizabeth, with steps to climb up therein. The Queen slept on feathers, and used very high feather pillows, sleeping in almost a sitting posture. The bed stood in the center of the room, on a dais or raised platform--the head to the wall--and was hung with beautifully embroidered curtains emblazoned with heraldic designs and arms. Shakespeare, in the Twelfth Night, refers to the celebrated " Bed of Ware": "As many lies as shall lie in thy sheet of paper, altho' the sheet were big enough for the Bed of Ware." This celebrated bed, according to a well-known historical manuscript, was originally 18 feet 6 inches wide, 12 feet long, and had a pull-out or truckle again as large, and accommodated sixty-eight people, the under bed holding half that number. Mention is made that men and their wives slept in this manner: first, a man and his wife; then, a woman and her husband; another man and his wife, alternating in this Wonderful Bed of Ware. Made for Edward IV. way so that no man was near to any woman but his wife. It was made by Jonas Fosbrooke, a carpenter, who, after spending thirty years in its construction, presented it upon completion to Edward IV., in 1463. For this he received a pension of forty marks a year. Shortly after the death of the King--owing to the plague--the bed was considerably altered and had a somewhat checkered career. ...