A later candelabrum with two arms and centre light, illustrated (p. 121) betrays every sign of bad design. The floral scroll work is hard and offensive. The leaf and shell ornament at base is equally unsatisfactory. It was this form that survived as it came on the threshold of the era of illumination by coal-gas. It was about this date that Sir Walter Scott lit Abbotsford by gas. "His application of gaslight to the interior of a dwelling house was in fact attended by so many inconveniences," says Lockhart his biographer, "that ere long all his family heartily wished it had never been thought of. The effect of the apparatus was at first superb. In sitting down to table in autumn no one observed that in each of three chandeliers there lurked a tiny bead of red light. Dinner passed off, and the sun went down, and suddenly at the turning of a screw, the room was filled with a gush of splendour worthy of the palace of Aladdin; but as in the case of Aladdin, the old lamp would have been better in the upshot. Jewelry sparkled, but cheeks and lips looked cold and wan in this fierce illumination; and the eye was wearied and the brow ached if the sitting was at all protracted. I confess, however, that my chief enmity to the whole affair," continues Lockhart, "arises from my conviction that Sir Walter's own health was damaged in his latter years in consequence of his habitually working at night under the intense and burning glare of a broad star of gas." [Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CANDELABRUM. With three lights: having spiral branches interlacing at centre. Circular base terminating in vase ornament. Date 1805.] (_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)] [Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CANDELABRUM. With four lights: having spiral branches on tripod column with claw feet, standing on hexagonal base. Date 1810. (_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)] =The Chamber Candlestick.=--This form has had a long survival and up to quite a recent date, before the adoption of electricity, a row of earthenware candlesticks formed part of the appurtenances of the hall or corridor of any provincial hotel. The illustration (p. 123) entitled _Serena_, from an engraving by J. R. Smith after Romney's picture, shows a fair reader, entranced in some old world romance, illuminated by the light of a single candle, as injurious in its faint glimmer as was the glare of the gas to Sir Walter Scott. Romney painted Miss Sneyd as _Serena_ at a date between 1770 and 1790. The form of the candlestick in the print, it will be seen, differs somewhat from the Sheffield plate examples illustrated on the same page. The example with the circular nozzle and circular base is in date about 1810, and the two others with square nozzles and square bases are in date respectively 1815 and 1825. They are ornate in their ornament, and have silver filled mounts and edges. The example of the latest date is silver gilt.