The same gradual changes which took place in the design of doorways also characterise the treatment of chimney-pieces. The small detail and elaborate ornament of the Jacobean style gave way to a simpler and larger handling. Already towards the close of the Jacobean period much of the exuberant carving and fretwork of earlier times had been dropped, and in its place simple columns and moulded panels had been adopted. The obvious division of a chimney-piece into two stages, one surrounding the fireplace, and the other filling the wall space above it--a division which is most easily described by the rather hackneyed terms mantel and overmantel--became more emphasised than it had been. Many of the chimney-pieces of the time of Elizabeth and James are so largely designed, both in size and scale, that they strike the beholder as one composition rather than as two halves. With the simplification of the detail, the two-fold character became more apparent. The space above the fireplace was often panelled after the same general fashion as the rest of the room, but with some special treatment to emphasise its important position. The chimney-piece consequently became a one-storey feature. This is the case in the room at Wilton (Fig. 185), and also in a minor degree at Raynham Hall (Fig. 197). But concurrently with this treatment went another, which, while adopting the division of mantel and overmantel, kept them both in complete harmony, and made one feature of them. Good examples of this were to be found in the house in Hatton Garden, now destroyed (Figs. 186, 198). The blank space in the overmantel in Fig. 186 was probably occupied by a picture, for it was a frequent custom to insert in the panel over the fireplace some agreeable but unexciting subject, such as a flowerpiece or a landscape diversified with architectural ruins; something which should inspire a mild interest by its harmonious colour and peaceful rendering. A typical chimney-piece of the early eighteenth century is reproduced from an original drawing by the architect James Gibbs in Fig. 199. This was clearly meant to be completed by a picture. Another example of a similar kind is that from a house in Whitehall Gardens (Fig. 200), which closely resembles one of Kent’s designs. Sometimes instead of a picture a mirror was introduced in this position; but as large sheets of glass were not yet procurable, the mirrors were made long and low, and not infrequently in three divisions of which the middle one was circular headed. [Illustration: 198. Chimney-piece from a House in Hatton Garden, London. (Now destroyed.)]