WAL] ( 154 ) 



Wainscot Oak Boards. Correctly speaking, are boards cut on the 

 quarter and figured on the face. Centuries ago this was a 

 large branch of business in Holland, the wood coming down 

 the Rhine to be sawn at the windmills about Amsterdam and 

 Rotterdam. Sir Christopher Wren and William III, our 

 Dutch king, largely extended its use in England. During 

 the last century wainscot oak boards became a special branch 

 of trade in London and, to a less degree, in other ports. 



Wainscot Oak Logs. As understood in the trade, are half logs 

 from the boles or stems of large grown trees, riven or sawn on 

 the soles, and chopped or sawn at the sides, as imported from 

 Riga in the Baltic, and, of recent years, from Trieste, the 

 latter being called " Austrian wainscot." One of the four 

 sides (the crown or top) is a segment of the outer face or 

 circumference of the original tree that yielded two logs. 



Wainscot Oak " Stick." Is another and variant term for wains- 

 cot oak " log " or " billet " (which see). " Stick " is often 

 applied to a tree of timber size, e.g., "a clean bole or stick," 

 and is quite in order with a wainscot oak log or billet, but not 

 with a " plank " or " board." 



Wainscot Wood. Any species of wood suitable for wall boarding 

 or framed and panelled lining or covering work. In England 

 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the wood was oak ; in 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, oak, fir or deal. 

 In America a favourite wainscot-wood is that of the "Tulip 

 tree " (Liriodendron tulipifera), otherwise " Yellow poplar," 

 or " Canary whitewood," etc. 



Wainscoted. As in the instance of a " wainscoted hall or room " 

 lined with plain wall-boards or sheets of panelled-framing, 

 which served the purpose of covering or finishing the rough 

 or bare walls, after the manner of drapery, curtains, uphol- 

 stery, tapestry of Arras, etc., another and possibly an older 

 form of wall-covering suspended, or hanging. 



Wainscoting. Literally " lining with boards," extended to 

 ; ' lining with boards and panels," later " lining with framed 

 panels." In the eighteenth century, when the panels became 

 large in size, some of them were composed of silvered glass, 

 hence "wainscoted with looking-glass "Addison. "Wains- 

 coting " is now understood to refer to " wall-panelling." 



Walings. Small perpendicular pilings, chiefly 10 in. x5 in. 



Wall (Latin vallum). A work or structure of stone, brick, wood 

 or other material raised to some height, serving to enclose a 

 space and afford defence, shelter or security. " Dry-walls," 

 used for fences or boundaries, are of stone, etc., built without 

 being bedded in mortar. " Half-timber walls " derive their 



