Harlaxton Manor. 335 



being situated on the side of a steep hil], that part of the offices 

 containing the coals is to be on a level with the upper floor of 

 the house ; and from this coal-house to each floor railways 

 within the house will be formed, along which the coal will be 

 conveyed in small railway carriages, and dropped in suitable 

 places of deposit, whence they can be taken as wanted for the 

 service of every floor. We have noticed in Vol. XV. p. 449., 

 that the same result has been accomplished at Bridge Hill. We 

 may add that, in the general conservatory at Chatsworth, all the 

 coal will be supplied to the fireplaces, and all the ashes removed 

 thence, in small iron carriages on underground railroads, such as 

 are used in coal mines. 



The conveyance of what are called slops, from the bedrooms 

 to the underground drains, by pipes from a housemaid's closet 

 on each floor, has long been practised ; but conveying down 

 linen to be washed is, as far as we know, confined to public 

 hospitals and infirmaries. All that is necessary for this puipose 

 is an upright tube from a housemaid's room, on the ground 

 floor, to the upper floor of the house, which shall pass through 

 the side of a room or closet on each floor. The rest is obvious. 

 The same tube might easily, if necessary, be so contrived as to 

 bring up clean linen, or any other article required by the house- 

 maid. The mode in which this may be done is exemplified in 

 the "rising cupboards" of several coffee-houses in London. 

 (See Encyclopaedia of Cottage Architecture, p. 696.) 



The bell-wires are arranged in the manner described in the 

 work referred to, p. 917. Every part of the building is fire- 

 proof; all the flues may be cleaned without climbing-boys, and 

 all the main drains are sufficiently large to admit of a man 

 walking in them. 



The terraced gardens will be on seven different levels, com- 

 municating by flights of steps, ornamented with vases, figures, 



arranged round it in some suitable manner, though he may not clearly see it. 

 Now, in all irregular piles having a high tower, this axis is seen at once. 

 Hence the great use of towers in point of effect, and they may always be 

 rendered useful ; sometimes, when small, as clock or bell towers ; when large, as 

 staircases or inclined planes, communicating with other parts of the building ; 

 sometimes as prospect towers, as summer sleeping-rooms for servants, as fire- 

 proof rooms for valuable papers, &c. The axis of symmetry at Harlaxton 

 is the bell-tower, directly over the frontispiece, which is the first object that 

 attracts the notice of the distant spectator, and from which his eye is led 

 downwards, and to the right and left ; while the masses first, and the leading 

 details afterwards, are gradually recognised, and ultimately, as he advances 

 along the approach, the whole entrance-front developes itself in all its majesty 

 and beauty. No house or other building, and even no landscape or other 

 view, can ever produce a striking effect on the spectator when seen for the 

 first time, in which the axis of symmetry is not a leading feature. The reason 

 is, — without the conspicuous presence of this axis, the view cannot so readily 

 be recognised as a whole. 



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