370 



FIREPLACES 



of such dogs or andirons were produced, varying in character 

 from rich and admirably modelled specimens like that in the 

 queen's guard chamber at Hampton Court (Fig. 295), down 

 to the simplest forms. It was also necessary to have fire-backs 

 of cast iron to prevent the fire from eating away the brickwork 



against which it was 

 piled. The various 

 iron works in Sussex 

 and elsewhere pro- 

 duced a great quan- 

 tity of these backs 

 of all degrees of 

 elaboration. The 

 ornament most fre- 

 quently adopted was 

 a shield of arms, 

 either those of the 

 sovereign, or those of 

 the family who usu- 

 ally warmed them- 

 selves at the fire ; but 

 the range of design 

 was considerable, and 

 included floral and 

 figure subjects (Figs. 

 296-298), as well as 

 patterns of extreme 

 simplicity. Other ac- 

 cessories were tongs, 

 bellows, and some- 

 times a fire shovel. 

 The tongs were suffi- 

 ciently stout to en- 

 able the logs to be 



handled ; the bellows produced life in an almost dead fire with 

 wonderful celerity ; the shovel was used to bank up the ashes, 

 which were allowed to accumulate in a great heap, and thereby 

 preserved warmth during the night. 



But early in the eighteenth century a rapid change took 

 place in the kind of fuel consumed, and coal superseded wood. 

 Sea-coal, that is sea-borne coal, had been in occasional use for 



FIG. 295. Fire-Dog at Hampton Court, in the 

 Queen's Guard Chamber. 



