chiefly between London and Sheffield. 437 



J 



94 



Gratuities to Servants at Show Houses. — .Among other changes which have 

 taken place since 1806, we ma)' notice the difference in the gratuities given to 

 servants for showing great houses. At that time, few persons, after being 

 shown through such houses as Chatsworth, Bretby Hall, Wentworth House, 

 &c, thought of giving less than gold ; but now 5s., and even 2s. 6d., are re- 

 ceived with thanks. We wish a similar reform could be made in the gratuities 

 given to coachmen, guards, the drivers of post-chaises, and waiters. With 

 respect to show houses, we sometimes think it would be an improvement, for 

 every proprietor who had a show house to have a fixed sum per head for 

 showing it on certain days, say to travellers ; and to show it on certain other 

 days, which may be supposed to be those in which the poorer persons of the 

 neighbourhood will come, for nothing. However, it is much better that the 

 houses of men of wealth and taste should be shown, even for a considerable 

 sum, than not shown at all ; because such exhibitions cannot fail to have 

 some influence in improving the taste of the spectators, and showing the 

 wealthy tradesman or manufacturer what he may aspire to. 



Public Gardens, and Mechanics' Exhibitions. — Among the best modes that 

 we know of for improving the taste of the inhabitants of country towns and 

 their neighbourhood are, the establishment of public gardens, such as those of 

 Birmingham and Sheffield ; and the opening of exhibitions, such as those of 

 the mechanics' institutes in these towns, to which gentlemen in the neigh- 

 bourhood are kind enough to send pictures, sculpture, and other articles of 

 beauty, curiosity, or of scientific interest. These exhibitions, to which all 

 are admitted on the payment of 6d. ; or every day, as long as they are open, 

 for 2s. 6d. ; cannot fail to have an excellent effect. We learn, on good autho- 

 rity, that, at the end of a fortnight after the Derby exhibition was opened, 

 more than 20,000 persons had been to see it. 



Milford and Belper, a few miles from Derby, are two of the scenes of the 

 extensive manHfacturing operations of the Messrs. Strutt; and here we saw 

 some contrivances, which we think, if more known, would be extensively 

 used. Among these, the most important is, the system of warming and ven- 

 tilating invented by the late Mr. William Strutt, and first used in these 

 works, and described in Sylvester's Philosophy of Domestic Economy, 4to, 

 Lond. 1821, and now in general use throughout Britain for large buildings ; 

 but there are various others, some of which we shall attempt to describe. 



Cottage Window Staybar. One of the most universally useful of these is a 

 window fastening, or staybar, as it is technically called, for cottage windows, 

 or the windows of manufactories, or, indeed, buildings of any kind where the 

 windows are fixed, and do not slide in grooves, or are not suspended by lines 

 and weights. This contrivance has the great merit of being perfectly simple, very 

 economical in its first cost, and not liable to go out of order. The same 

 principle is applicable to the opening and shutting of doors and gates of 

 almost every kind, as well as to windows. To give an idea of the value of this 

 contrivance, it is necessary to observe that, in the latticed windows of cottages, 

 there is very frequently either one entire frame, or a portion in the centre of 

 one, which opens, and is kept open, by an iron staybar, with an eye at one 

 end which moves on a staple attached to the fixed part of the sash, and a 

 hook at the other which drops into an eye in the part of the sash which is 

 to be opened. Now, the objection to this hooked fastener is, that as there is 



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