2. The seats used by the barbarous conquerors of the Roman empire, hardly deserve the name of chairs, as they commonly consisted of little or nothing more than a stool with three or four legs. Even the great Alfred, who swayed the sceptre of England in the latter part of the ninth century, possessed nothing approaching nearer to a chair than a three-legged stool made of oak timber. This species of seat was at length improved into a chair by the addition of another leg and a back.

3. The next step in the art of chair-making was to cover the seats with cloth, and to stuff them with some kind of wadding. The material of which the frames were made was oak; and for a long period, they were exceedingly heavy and inconvenient. The armed-chair is said to have been contrived by an alderman of Cripplegate. Such chairs, however, were in use among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

4. Our old-fashioned chair, with four upright posts, several horizontal rounds and slats, together with wooden splints or flags for the bottom, is comparatively modern, although it is impossible to state the period of its introduction. Very few of any other kind were used in the United States, until near the beginning of the present century.

5. The Windsor chair seems to have been first used for a rural seat in the grounds about Windsor castle, England; whence its name. It was originally constructed of round wood, with the bark on; but the chair-makers soon began to make them of turned wood, for the common purposes of house-keeping. We cannot learn that any were made in this country before the close of the revolution, in 1783.

6. A great proportion of the chair-maker's stuff is brought to the proper form by means of the lathe; and this machine is used for this purpose in every practicable case; but this part of the work is not performed in the cities, since it is found to be less expensive and more convenient, to purchase the timber turned in the country. Slats for the back, bent to the proper shape, are also obtained from the same source.

7. The Windsor chair is varied in its construction and finish, in some particulars; but, in all cases, it has a seat made of thick plank of cypress, bass, or some other soft wood. The slats, when employed, are also made of the same wood, or of soft maple. The parts which are turned, are commonly of the wood last mentioned.

8. In constructing chairs from these materials, the workman undertakes several at a time, say from one to two or three dozens. We may suppose, as is frequently the case, that he first cuts up a quantity of planks to the proper size for the seats, and reduces them to the proposed form and smoothness by means of the drawing-knife, adze, spoke-shaves, and sand-paper. He next cuts the various pieces which are to compose the frame, to the proper length, turns the ends of those which need it, to make the joint, and bores the requisite holes with a bit. In putting the parts together, the joints are made to fit very closely, and their union is rendered permanent by means of glue.

9. The chairs are next covered with three coats of paint, and with two coats of copal or some other kind of varnish; and this, for plain work, completes the whole process of the manufacture. But, when they are to be ornamented, gold or copper leaf or bronze is put on before the application of the last coat of varnish. The bronze used by painters, is finely pulverized copper, tin, or zinc.

10. The ornamenter uses paper patterns, which he applies to the surface to be ornamented, to guide him in the execution of his work. The powder is laid on with a camel's-hair brush, or with a piece of raw cotton. Light and shade are produced by a proper distribution of the powder, or by paint of a dark colour. The bronze is made to adhere by means of size, which has been previously laid on.

11. Several other kinds of chairs are, also, made by the common chair-maker; and the frames, or some parts of them, are sawn out of planks with a narrow-bladed saw, which can be easily guided upon the line of any pattern. The principal parts of the frame are commonly put together with the mortice and tenon; and the bottoms are composed of cane, flags, or a peculiar kind of rush. The cane is likewise used in the backs of chairs, especially in those having rockers.