DAIRY AT ALNWICK CASTLE. 247 



the sea-shore. The light columns of wood which sup- 

 port its roof are festooned with clematis, honey -suckle, 

 jasmine, passion flower, and other climbing plants. 

 The single apartment in which the milk is kept, is 

 about 30 feet in length, 20 feet in breadth, and 14 

 in height. It has two doors and four windows, the 

 sills of the latter being about four feet above the floor. 

 The floor is laid in an elegant tessellated form with 

 bricks. The walls are covered with white glazed 

 square Dutch tiles. The roof is of plaster with a 

 handsome cornice. A thin white marble slab, as a 

 broad shelving, runs round the whole chamber, as 

 high as the sill of the windows ; but the middle of 

 the floor is occupied by a very large and thick white 

 marble table, raised about two feet above the floor, 

 independently of its own thickness, and leaving a 

 commodious passage between it and the marble shelv- 

 ing. The dishes of new milk are set upon the centre 

 slab of marble. The dishes themselves consist of the 

 best Wedgwood ware. They are large, of a semi- 

 ellipsoidal shape, having one extremity of the edge 

 in the line of the conjugate axis, turned over in the 

 shape of a lip, over which the milk is easily poured 

 out of them. Large vases and elongated jars of 

 coloured china, are placed as ornaments on the 

 marble shelving round the walls. 



" The shining pearly lustre of the tiles on the wall, 

 the icy cold look of the white marble, the glossy 

 splendour of the Wedgwood ware, and the brightness 

 in the panes of the windows, all unite to impress the 

 spectator with the conviction, that no other union of 

 earthly materials could so well express the idea of 

 M 4 



