OLD FURNITURE 



65 



of this. It was already some thirty years old, and was then 

 still one of the few children's books in existence. It may be 

 had in a reprint — a careful fac- 

 simile that was superintended by 

 Mr. Ruskin — price Is. 6d., of 

 Mr. George Allen, publisher, 156 

 Charing Cross Road, London. 



I suppose that chests of 

 drawers were very little in use 

 in cottages till well into the nine- 

 teenth century ; simple chests and 

 hutches were all that had been 

 required. But beautiful ones of 

 richly-moulded oak joinery had 

 long been in use in the better 

 class of farmhouse. 



A fine sense of decoration was 

 shown in the brass handle and 

 lock scutcheons, some of which 

 (with the drop-handles omitted 

 for the sake of clearness) are 

 shown. The earlier examples were 

 rather boldly engraved ; those 

 of the later eighteenth-century 

 type were plain as to their sur- 

 face, but endlessly diversified in 

 outline. The ends of the actual 

 handles, whose pattern varied 

 very little, fitted easily into the 

 rounded heads of bolts that passed 



through the thickness of the door, and were fixed by a nut 

 screwed on inside. 



Dutch Clock 



