CHIMNEYS. 19 
tainty. It feems a matter proper to be referred to experi- 
ment. Poflibly a turn-cap might have been ferviceable, 
but it was not tried. 
Chimneys have not been long in ufe in England. I for- 
merly faw a book printed in the time of queen Elizabeth, 
which remarked the then modern improvements of living, 
and mentioned among others the convenience of chimneys. 
“ Our forefathers,” faid the author, “had no chimneys. 
‘¢ There was in each dwelling houfe only one place for a 
“‘ fire, and the f{moke went out through a hole in the 
“ roof; but now there is fcarce a gentleman’s houfe in 
«England that has not at leaft one chimney in it.”’— 
When there was but one chimney, its top might then be 
opened as a funnel, and perhaps, borrowing the form from 
the Venetians, it was then the flue of a chimney got that 
name. Such is now the growth of luxury, that in both 
England and France we muft have a chimney for every 
room, and in fome houfes every pofleffor of a chamber, 
and almoft every fervant, will havea fire; fo that the flues 
being neceffarily built in ftacks, the opening of each as a 
funnel is impracticable. This change of manners foon 
confumed the firewood of England, and will foon render 
fuel extremely fearce and dear in France, if the ufe of 
coals be not introduced in the latter, kingdom as it has been 
in the former, where it at firtt met with oppofition; for 
there is extant in the records of one of queen Elizabeth’s 
parliaments, a motion made by a member, reciting, “ that 
“< many dyers, brewers, {miths, and other artificers of Lon- 
“ don, had of late taken to the ufe of pitcoal for their fires, 
“¢ inftead of wood, which filled the air with noxious va- 
“* pours and {moke, very prejudicial to the health, parti- 
“ cularly of perfons coming out of the country ; and there- 
“ fore moving that a law might pafs to prohibit the ufe 
“of fuch fuel (at leaft during the feffion of parliament) 
** by thofe artificers.””—It feems it was not then common- 
ly ufed in private houfes. Its fuppofed unwholefomenefs 
2 was 
