Beds
Strew then, oh strew,
Our bed of rushes;
Here may we rest,
Till morning blushes!
In the days of Elizabeth, the peasants used logs of wood for pillows. In the time of the Hebrew kingdom; the bed resembled a divan; consisting of a low elevation, running round three sides of a small room, and stuffed with cushions. In the early times, the Romans slept on leaves: afterwards they used hay and straw. Till the close of the thirteenth century, straw was common in the chambers of palaces. Rushes were also sometimes used for beds, as the preceding extract from an old English song shows. To the English belongs the merit of having brought improvements in beds to the present state of perfection.
