103 



matter, for in ray professional sphere I have largely observed 

 its unsocial and even fatal effects ; and next to a full stomach 

 and warm clothing — and these it aids in procuring — a com- 

 fortable fireside, perhaps, avails more than aught else in open- 

 ing the heart to the affections, and the mind to reason and 

 intellectual enjoyments. 



It is a strange fatality with architects, but especially with 

 builders, that so little care is paid to the simple and effec- 

 tive construction of chimneys, as all fireside comfort is sacri- 

 ficed to mere show and outward appearance, which is dignified 

 with the name of symmetry ; but it must be vile proportion, 

 indeed, if it is necessarily fraught with so much ill. It cannot 

 be from economy ; for the cost of a proper, can be little diffe- 

 rent from that of a faulty construction in the erection of a 

 building. To use a simile, they act in utter defiance of the 

 proverb, " take care .of the pence, and the pounds will take 

 care of themselves ;" — they devote their talents to the main 

 walls, windows, and doors, with their decorations, but the 

 flues and the internal draughts of air seem beneath notice ; 

 yet, to the poor, as pence is for food, these constitute all in 

 all for health and comfort. What a bizarre appearance the 

 bare walls of a new house present, with their gaping caverns, 

 yclept fire-places, so enormous that the ignorant would 

 doubtless mistake them for hiding-places, or for roasting 

 oxen. To obtain space, too, the strength of the walls is 

 often insufficient, and the partitions are built so thin 

 as merely to form a sieve for the smoke of adjoining flues 

 to visit you; — and what an unpleasant companion this is, 

 most people are aware ! To contemplate such large recesses 

 and the intended grates separately, the great disproportion 

 between them must lead to the ascribing of error some- 

 where. I make no pretension to architectural skill, but every 

 person can judge of the ordinary houses for the poor 

 and the working classes, and it is these I have chiefly in view; 

 and where they arc built on valuable sites, as in towns, the 



