11. The Romans adopted the Eastern fashion of reclining at their meals, at the close of the second Punic war, about 200 years before Christ, when Scipio Africanus brought some little beds from Carthage, which were thence called Punicani. These beds were low, made of wood, covered with leather, and stuffed with hay or straw. Before this time, they sat down to eat on plain wooden benches, in imitation of the heroes of Homer, or after the manner of the Cretans and Lacedæmonians.
12. From the greatest simplicity, the Romans at length carried their supping beds to the most surprising magnificence. The bedsteads were sometimes made of gold or silver, and very commonly of wood, adorned with plates of these metals or with tortoise shell. On the couch was laid a mattress or quilt, stuffed with feathers or wool.
13. Three persons commonly occupied one couch. They lay with the upper part of the body reclined on the left arm, the head a little raised, the back supported by cushions, and the limbs stretched out at full length or a little bent. The feet of the first were placed behind the back of the second, and his feet behind the back of the third. Reclining at meals was customary in Asia, in the time of our Savior, as is clearly shown in John, xiii., 23 and 25, and this rendered it convenient for Mary to anoint the feet of Jesus, while at the table.
14. The Romans, during the republic, made their tables of a square form, and on three sides of it was placed a couch; but, under the emperors, a long couch of a semicircular form having been introduced, the table was made of a similar shape to conform to it. In either case, one side was left empty, to admit of the approach of the servants.
15. We have no certain evidence that carpets were known in the civilized periods of antiquity. They appear to have originated in Persia, at a time comparatively modern, and to have spread in a gradual manner towards the West. They were unknown in England in the reign of Elizabeth; for it was then the fashion to strew the floor with hay and rushes. Even the presence-chamber of this princess was covered in this manner. The manufacture of carpets was not commenced in England, until the year 1750. They are now extensively manufactured in the United States.
THE CHAIR-MAKER.
1. The chair was invented at so early a period, that its origin cannot now be ascertained. It was used by all the civilized nations of antiquity; and some of their patterns for this species of furniture have been revived, with some modifications, in modern times; for example, a stool for sitting at the piano, now called the X, is the lower part of a chair used in the Roman empire near two thousand years ago. The seat and back were stuffed with some soft elastic substance.