ouse.

The sitting-room is on the left of the hall, and the floor is of the
same cold stone flags, which in damp weather become wet and slimy. These
flags, in fact, act as a barometer, and foretell rain with great
accuracy, as it were perspiring with latent moisture at its approach.
The chimney was originally constructed for a wood fire upon the hearth,
and of enormous size, so that several sides of bacon could be hung up
inside to be smoke-dried. The fireplace was very broad, so that huge
logs could be thrown at once upon the fire with very little trouble of
sawing them short. Since coal has come into general use, and wood grown
scarce, the fireplace has been partly built up and an iron grate
inserted, which looks out of place in so large a cavity. The curious
fire-dogs, upon which the wood was thrown, may still, perhaps, be found
upstairs in some corner of the lumber-room. On the mantelpiece are still
preserved, well polished and bright, the several pieces of the "jack" or
cooking apparatus; and a pair of great brazen candlesticks ornament it
at each end. A leaden or latten tobacco-bowl, a brazen pestle and
mortar, and half-a-dozen odd figures in china, are also scattered upon
it, surmounted by a narrow looking-glass. In one corner stands an old
eight-day clock with a single hour hand--minute hands being a modern
improvement; but it is silent, and its duties are performed by an
American timepiece supported upon a bracket against the wall. Upstairs,
however, upon the landing, a similar ancient piece of clockmaking still
ticks solemn and slow with a ponderous melancholy. The centre of the
room is occupied with an oaken table, solid and enduring, but
inconvenient to sit at; and upon each side of the fireplace is a
stiff-backed arm-chair. A ledge under the window forms a pleasant seat
in summer. Before the fireplace is a rug, the favourite resort of the
spaniels and cats. The rest of the floor used to be bare; but of late
years a square of cocoanut matting has been laid down. A cumbrous piece
of furniture takes up almost half of one side--not known in modern
manufactories. It is of oak, rudely polished, and inlaid with brass. At
the bottom are great deep drawers, pulled open with brass rings
ornamented with dogs' heads. In these drawers are kept
cow-drenches--bottles of oils for the wounds which cattle sometimes get
from nails or kicks; dog-whips and pruning-knives; a shot-belt and
powder-flask; an old horse-pistol; a doz