In Scotland, equivalent close stools appear in inventories and were sometimes called "dry stools" or "stools of ease".
James V of Scotland and his daughter
Mary, Queen of Scots, both owned
silk canopies which were suspended from the ceiling over the stool. The close stool was sometimes called a
necessary stool or a
night stool. The eighteenth-century euphemism was
convenience; the term was
further euphemised in the nineteenth century with the term
night commode, which
John Gloag suggested may have derived its significance from a "balance night stool" described in
Thomas Sheraton's
Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803). Sheraton's design was "made to have the appearance of a small commode standing upon legs; when it is used the seat part presses down to a proper height by the hand, and afterwards it rises by means of lead weights, hung to the seat, by lines passing over pulleys at each end, all which are enclosed in a case." This appears to be the link between "commode" as
an elegant article of French furniture, and "commode" as a prosaic
invalid toilet. One meaning of
commode survived into the twentieth century to refer to the
flush toilet; "toilet" was itself originally euphemistic. The French term for this item of furniture is a
chaise percée ("pierced chair"), as it often takes the form of a chair with a seat which raises to show the opening to the pot; similar items were made specifically as a moveable
bidet. The French secretary of
Mary, Queen of Scots,
Claude Nau, described her talking to the
Countess of Huntly about their plans to escape from
Holyroodhouse after the murder of
David Rizzio, while she was sitting on her
chaise percée. ==Developments==