Much elaboration was bestowed upon the chimney-pieces, of which, indeed, there are very few simple examples to be met with. They were made of wood, of stone, and of marble. Wood and stone were the more usual materials employed, and it is difficult to say upon which the detail was the more minute. The general idea that controlled the designs was much the same in all cases, but the treatment of it varied. The idea was to flank the fireplace opening with columns carrying an entablature consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice, the projection of the latter forming a convenient shelf. On the top of this composition was another of the same kind, but with smaller columns and of more delicate proportion. The space enclosed between the columns, which in the lower half was the fireplace, was occupied in the upper half by some kind of carved subject. This was very often the arms of the owner, being either those of the family, or his own special achievement. At Boughton House, in Northamptonshire, there is an example of this kind (Plate LVI.). It is fairly simple in design; the centre-piece is the Montagu arms; on the margin of the panel is the motto adopted by Sir Edward Montagu, who caused the work to be done; and in the frieze below is one of the innumerable Latin aphorisms with which houses of this time abound. The fireplace opening occupies the full width between the sides of the chimney-piece, and if the grate were removed, would give a tolerable idea of the appearance of an Elizabethan fireplace, with its cast-iron fire-back delicately modelled, and the fire-dogs, or andirons, to hold the logs in place. This particular fire-back, however, is of a later date. Almost contemporary with this fireplace at Boughton is one at Lacock Abbey (Plate LVII.), equally simple in design, but executed with more refinement, and having a very unusual adjunct in the shape of a hearthstone ornamented with a pattern inlaid with lead. The two works are likely to be of much the same date, as Sir William Sharington of Lacock died in 1553, and Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton in 1556. At Barlborough, in Derbyshire, there is a fine chimney-piece still fairly simple, in which the upper part is devoted to the owner's personal history (Plate LVIII.). His name was Francis Rodes, a lawyer, and subsequently a justice of the Common Pleas. He married twice. These facts are all set forth on the chimney-piece. His own arms, and those of his two wives, are carved at large, and the names of his wives are printed against their shields. The upper cornice is supported by two caryatides instead of columns, one of whom represents Justice, in allusion to the calling of the master. At Hatfield House, in a room called after King James, there is a handsome marble chimney-piece, with a large statue of the King in his robes as the centre-piece (Plate LIX.). Here, too, there is an open hearth, with an iron fire-back and handsome andirons. In the great chamber at South Wraxall is a very