"Twice the rise plus the tread equals twenty-five,
Then cut on the string."
There is no stucco work either in the hallway or in any other part of the house, and the wood throughout is pine.
At the right of the hallway are double parlors, the western one being finished in wood which shows wonderful hand-carving done in 1732, and is lighted by arched windows. The outside shutters remain just as they were all through the lower part of the house when remodelled. The fireplace is finished in old Mulberry Dutch tiles and contains Hessian andirons, which differ from those generally seen in that they face each other. These andirons came into vogue just after the Revolution and were used to support backlogs.
The eastern parlor is reached through folding-doors, which mask the original walls of the Winthrop House. These rooms, during the Royalls' reign, were used for many social events. The old wing arm-chair with Dutch legs came in about 1750. The silk-embroidered, Chippendale fire-screen shows beautiful, mythological pictures, while the old, steeple-topped brass andirons display to advantage the Mulberry tiles of 1847 and also the quaint old fireback. On the wall hangs a picture of Isaac Royall, who gave money to Harvard College to found the Royall Professorship of Law which was the foundation of the Harvard Law School.
Plate LXXXI.—Spinning Room, Royall House.
During the life history of the house, nineteen marriages have taken place in these rooms, one of them being that of the oldest daughter, Elizabeth Royall, to Sir William (Sparhawk) Pepperrell. Here also Penelope Royall married Henry Vassall of Cambridge, uncle of the builder of the Longfellow House and of Christ Church. Vassall and his wife are the only ones buried under the church. It was during their life here that Agnes Surriage, according to Abigail Adams' diary, came to the house frequently with Henry Frankland.
The dining-room which is opposite the double parlors is at the present time being restored to the Royall period and will include much of the rare old panelling and fine hand-carving that are shown all through the house, as well as quaint closets.