Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-03-27
Observation-Disclosures
IN EARLY DAYS THE KINGS BEST
BED WAS OF STRAW.

b6O WHS VI y NAV.
at One Time They Were the Most Tmpor-
by VIII to Favorites- The Great Ware
Bed That Held Twelve Persons.
Tie bed in our country can only lay
claim to some $50 years or SO OF active
use Tho learned fnd themselves unable
to say for certain when Anglo-Saxon
man exchanged the hard bosom of moth
er earth for the artificial but soothing
delights of the bed But, roughly speak
ing, one may place the introduction OF
the bed into England at about the tenth
century.
1t was poor, uncomfortable thing.
that bed of long ago, mere rough
hewn bench, ON which the sleeper tossed
wearily until daylight bade him rise.
The evolutionary process, however, went
on quickly with us, and the bed soon
became a leading feature of the English
home, affording the sleeper the necessary
comfort and coziness.
1t may well be imagined that our
forefathers set great store upon their
costly beds One reason for the lavish
ornamentation of the bed was that it
was almost the only piece Of furniture
in the Englishman's house of that day
of any considerable value. The uphol-
sterer's art was thing of slow growth,
and for centuries Englishmen of wealth
and station put up with discomforts
which would drive our modern Lazarus
into frantic revolt Coarse wooden
stools, settees and benches, with an
oaken chest or two and a rough table,
comprised for the most part the furni-
ture Of the English home of those far
off days There was no temptation to
lavish the resources of art upon these
poor movables, and consequently every
thing went toward the decoration and
establishment Of the bed.
The entry in Shakespeare's will be-
queathing his second best bed to his
wife has amused and puzzled many peo-
pie, but the poet was only following an
old and general custom in making dis
tinct and separate bequest of one of his
most precious household possessions. It
had for more than two centuries been
the regular custom to ''leave" beds by
express stipulation of the testator. Thus
in 1856 we find Elizabeth, countess Of
Northampton, bequeathing her daughter
an embroidered bed of red worsted.
Agnes, countess of Pembroke, in 1867
left her daughter bed with the fur
niture Of her fathers arms"
Edward, the Black Prince, in 1875
bequeathed to ''our son Richard the bed
which the king our father gave us; to
Sir Roger Clarendon, a silk bed; to Sir
Robert de Walsham, our confessor, a
large bed of red camorra, with our arms
embroidered at each corner. " The Black
Princes widow was as generous as her
departed husband in making gifts Of
beds. She left ''to my dear son, the king
Orchard III, my new bed of red velvet.
embroidered with ostrich feathers Of
silver and heads Of leoparsis of gold,
with boughs and leaves issuing ont of
their mouths. y
A bed of this rich and sumptuous
quality would be couch fit even for q
king to lie upon. But for choice COM
mend US to the beds that Lady Ber-
gavepUy bcqueathed in lila bed Of
gold swans, with tapetter CT green tap
estry. with branches and flowers Of
divers colors, and two pairs of sheets Of
Raynes; a pair Of fustians, six pairs Of
other sheets; bed Of cloth of gold with
lebardes; bed of blue bardekyn-that
is. silk, gold and mbroidery-and a bed
of silk, black and red, embroidered with
woodland flowers in silver"
This bequeathing Of beds was strict
ly observed custom from the thirteenth
to the middle of the eighteenth century.
The last bequest of bed that we know
of occurs in a will proved as late as
1773. In I'LL Bishop Burnet gave the
bed and furniture OF his best bedcham-
ber, four pairs Of Holland sheets and
three pairs Of common sheets, for the
use of servants, to his son William, and
distributed his remaining beds among
his other children.
The beds for the most part were filled
with straw. Flocks and feathers were
used, it is true, but as rule the Eng
lish gentry. from the thirteenth till past
the sixteenth century, were content to
sleep on beds of straw. 1t was the out
side of their beds that they chiefly con-
cerned themselves with. If the family
beds were made of velvet or bardekyn
and were sufficiently ornamental, then
all was we'll. Even the English kings
slept on straw. In the accounts of King
James rs privy purse we find the en-
try, "Strawe for the kings bedd, xiii
xvs."
The bedstead was also in receipt of
much thoughtful attention on the part
of the owner, and not few of them,
thanks to the enduring oak of which
they are made, have come down to US in
unimpaired strength and dignity. The
old time bedstead was portentous af-
fair, with its solemn pillars, its canopies
and hanglngs. The bedstead itself did
not always go in the bequest with the
bed, and hence we find in many old
houses throughout England bedsteads in
which have rested whole generations Of
sleepers.
Perhaps the most famous of old Eng
lish bedsteads is the great bed Of Ware
An ancient couch this, and not wanting
the honors of literary mention. Shake
speare gave it friendly notice in
Twelfth Night" where Sir Toby
Beloh refers to "as many lies that will
lie in thy sheet of paper, although the
sheet were big enough for the bed of
Ware in England. The big bed was
put together in Queen Elizabeth's time,
and it is of most portentous size. It
measures 10 feet inches in length by
10 feet inches in breadth and is over
2 feet i'll height. There is legend that
no less than 12 people slept in it at one
time. Pail Mall Gazette.
Brazil grows a miniature corn the
ears of which are as large as mans
little finger.