There was a chimney-piece of unusually good design and workmanship in the palace of Bromley-by-Bow: it is now in the South Kensington Museum (Plate LXV.). The composition does not quite follow the usual lines, inasmuch as the upper part, or overmantel, is not a repetition in idea of the lower. Nor is it divided into panels of equal width and height; the large central panel, which contains the royal arms, is the dominating feature, and is flanked on either side by a niche of much less width and height. The upper half is wedded to the lower by the bosses on the boldly carved shelf, which carry down the main lines of the columns. The arms are those of James I., as the second and third quarters are Scotland and Ireland respectively, and one of the supporters is the Scottish unicorn. In another house near London, at Enfield, there was a well-designed chimney-piece, figured in Richardson's _Studies from Old English Mansions_, in which the royal arms and badges were the centre-pieces of the composition. The part above the fireplace was divided by columns into three panels, of which the middle one was the largest, and contained the arms of Elizabeth with her red dragon as one of the supporters. Of the side panels, one was occupied by the rose crowned and the other by the portcullis crowned. In the smaller panels below these, and between the pedestals on which the columns rested, were the royal initials E. R., and a Latin sentence expressing a pious aphorism. It is not certain whether this house belonged to the Crown, or whether this display of regal heraldry was a compliment to the Queen on the part of the grateful owner. In either case the making of arms and badges the chief objects of interest in the composition, and the introduction of the Latin aphorism on a conspicuous panel are quite characteristic of the time. At Castle Ashby, in Northamptonshire, is a chimney-piece (Plate LXVI.) treated in much the same way as that from Bromley. It was not designed for the house, and therefore the heraldry is not so apposite as usual. The central panel contains the arms of the owner set in an elaborate framework of fanciful carving. On either side is a niche containing a figure of one of the virtues. The columns which support the cornice are richly carved in low relief, as also are the mantel-shelf and the friezes below it. On the lower of the friezes the family arms are repeated, and in the centre is the crest. The opening of the fireplace is flanked on either side by a female figure, which changes in a provoking way into strap-work and the semblance of a pilaster. The whole effect is rich, and the principles dominating the composition are at once recognizable, but the details are too fantastic to be quite agreeable. [Illustration: PLATE LXV. BROMLEY-BY-BOW PALACE. A CHIMNEY-PIECE (AFTER 1603). (NOW IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.)] [Illustration: PLATE LXVI. CASTLE ASHBY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. A CHIMNEY-PIECE.]