in closed Fire-places. 501 



acquiring heat when a stream of cold air is permitted 

 to strike against its bottom and blow all the flame and 

 hot smoke out of its flues into the chimney. 



It would be just as unreasonable to object to the fire- 

 places I have recommended, on account of the trouble 

 of keeping them closed, as it would be to object to a 

 scheme for warming a dwelling-house merely because 

 it required that the street door should not be left open. 

 The cases are exactly similar ; and, if insisting on the 

 attention of servants in the one case is not unreason- 

 able, it cannot be so in the other. 



There was a time, no doubt (when the doors of rooms 

 first came in fashion), that the trouble they occasioned 

 to servants was considered as a hardship and severity 

 in exacting attention to the proper management of them 

 as a grievance ; but all improvements are progressive, and 

 we may hope that a time will come when it will be con- 

 sidered as careless and slovenly to leave open the door 

 of a closed fire-place. In the mean time, it is my duty 

 to declare, in the most serious and public manner, that 

 those who have not influence enough with their ser- 

 vants to secure due attention being paid to this impor- 

 tant point, would do wisely not to attempt to introduce 

 the improvements in closed fire-places which I have 

 recommended. And it is not sufficient merely to be 

 attentive to the shutting of the fire-place door. Care 

 must be taken also to manage properly the register of 

 the ash-pit door; otherwise, if it be left too much opened, 

 a great deal too much cold air will find its way into the 

 fire-place between the bars of the grate. 



When a closed fire-place is properly constructed, it 

 is hardly to be believed how small a passage is suffi- 

 cient to admit as much air as is necessary or useful to 

 maintain the combustion of the fuel. 



