MEDIEVAL DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS 115 



It has been shown how the general character of houses had 

 changed during the period between the accession of Charles I. 

 -and the Restoration in regard to their arrangement and appear- 

 ance ; it will be well now to show briefly how their decoration 

 had also altered. But before doing so, it will be useful shortly 

 to recapitulate the principal changes that had taken place. 



The old idea of the house-plan, derived from mediaeval times, 

 was to provide a great hall for the daily use of the whole house- 

 hold, and to supplement it by a group of rooms at each end, 

 one for the use of the family, the other for the servants. 

 The relations between the family and their retainers were then 

 closer than they became in later times. Gradually the 

 custom of dining all together died out ; the family secluded 

 themselves in their own apartments, the servants in theirs. 

 The great hall was deserted as a living-room and degenerated 

 into a vestibule leading to the rooms where the daily life was 

 led. The distinction between the family and the servants was 

 emphasised somewhat to the disadvantage of the latter ; for 

 when sacrifices of comfort had to be made for the sake of 

 architectural effect, it was the servants upon whom discomfort 

 was laid with the least scruple. They were frequently relegated 

 to a basement during the day, and to attics during the night. 

 The ground floor and the floor above it were reserved for the 

 use of the family and for state occasions. The increase in the 

 subdivisions of household work may be realised from Swift's 

 satirical " Advice to Servants," addressed to persons whose 

 duties (many of them) had not been specialised, even if they had 

 come into vogue, in the old days. 



It is interesting to compare the names of the rooms on the 

 plans in the Thorpe collection, which dates from 1570 to 1620, 

 with those on Webb's plans for Durham House, dated 1649. 

 Many of them are identical, such as the hall, the dining-room, 

 the great chamber, the withdrawing-room, the gallery, and the 

 servants' rooms kitchen, pastry, larder, buttery, and so forth. 

 But Webb has a few new designations, such as the secretary's 

 room, the apothecary's lodging, the housekeeper's room, and the 

 under-housekeeper's, the baker's and cook's rooms, the page's 

 room, the master of the horse, the receiver-general, and the 

 surveyor's chamber. Then there are rooms of state, a presence 

 chamber, a private dining-room to serve both his lordship's and 

 lady's apartments, his lordship's cabinet and his wardrobe, a 



