What are writing tables?

Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or tables:

    As I am writing my thought, it sometimes escapes me; but this makes me remember my weakness, which I constantly forget. This is as instructive to me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to know my nothingness.
    Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

    Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs.
    Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)