Among  other  chattels  of  a  miscellaneous  character  are  the
following:  a  comb  of  wire  (II.  210);  a  horn  of  bugle  (II.  271,
451) ;  a  silver  powder-box,  for  perfumed  powder  for  the  clothes
or  perhaps  for  seasoning  for  food ;  tables  or  tablets  of  ivory,  of
"  peces  of  Lombardy,"  and  other  material  (I.  682,  692  ;  II.  10,
107,  343) ;  and  a  "  little  birding  peece  "  (II.  737).
The  walls  of  the  mansion  house  of  the  wealthy  citizen  were
hung  with  pieces  of  tapestry,  known  as  costers  or  dorsers,
elaborately  worked  with  the  needle  to  represent  coats  of  arms
or  the  figures  of  birds  and  beasts,  or  else  stained  (i.  e.,  painted)
with  pictures  of  some  historical  event  or  fabulous  legend ;  such

1  The  spruce  fir.
VOL.  II.  d


XXXIV  INTRODUCTION.
tapestry  being  sometimes  spoken  of  as  hailing,  from  its  being
hung  chiefly  in  the  hall.  The  following  examples  of  it  occur  in
the  wills : — Tapestry  with  the  arms  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke
(II.  195) ;  dorsers,  costers,  and  quysshyns  (cushions),  with  figures
of  peacocks,  &c.  (II.  250);  a  piece  of  tapestry  powdered  with
leopards'  heads  (II.  190) ;  three  pieces  of  blue  tapestry  worked
with  grey  treyfoylis  (II.  262) ;  a  dorser  and  banker  (cloth  for
covering  a  bench)  powdered  with  birds  and  roses  (II.  152) ;  a
hailing  of  worstede  stained  with  divers  beasts  (II.  250);  and
others  painted  or  embroidered  with  the  story  (history  ?)  of  the
Prince  of  Wales  (II.  190),  the  story  of  Joseph  (II.  661),  and  with
King  Eichard  and  Hector  of  Troy  (II.  41).
