Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 323 



would not be surprising if one should sometimes be 

 embarrassed in the choice of them ; and I am not 

 without apprehension that I may embarrass my readers 

 by describing and recommending so many of them. 

 The fact is, they all have their different kinds of merit, 

 and in the choice of them regard must always be had 

 to the existing circumstances. 



Desirous of contriving a fire-place on as simple a 

 construction as possible, that should serve at the same 

 time for heating a room and for the performance of all 

 the common processes of cookery for a small family, and 

 which moreover should not be expensive nor require 

 much attendance, I caused four small iron ovens to 

 be set in the opening of a common chimney fire-place. 

 These ovens, which were constructed of sheet iron, and 

 were furnished with doors of the same sheet iron, each 

 covered with a panel of wood to confine the heat, were 

 1 6 inches long, n inches wide, and 10 inches high 

 each ; and they were set in brick-work in such a manner 

 that the fronts of the doors of the ovens being even with 

 the side of the room, the original opening of the chim- 

 ney fire-place, which was large, was completely filled 

 up. These ovens were all heated by one small fire, the 

 closed fire-place being situated about 12 inches below 

 the level of the bottoms of the two lowermost ovens, 

 and perpendicularly under the division between them, 

 and the passage into the fire-place was closed by a fit 

 stopper. 



From this description, it will not be difficult for any 

 person who has perused the preceding chapters of this 

 Essay to form a perfect idea of this arrangement; and 

 it is equally easy to perceive that, had not the open 

 chimney fire-place in which these four ovens were set 



