Tambour writing-tables have sliding shutter tops working on a curve. At the back the top is straight, flat, and filled with drawers and pigeon-holes, a draw-out writing-slab lurking beneath.

There is a great charm of appropriateness in Heppelwhite's bedroom furniture. The scheme for a wardrobe is very much the same as that for the desk and bookcase just described. The main difference is that there is, of course, no sloping bureau top, and that the breadth is greater in the wardrobe in proportion to the height. Cornice and feet are treated in much the same way. The upper part of a wardrobe or a tall-boy is generally slightly narrower than the lower, and gives occasion for a very exiguous plinth between the two parts. The most ambitious design for a tall-boy or double chest of drawers has fluted uprights projecting in front of the drawers, and a large urn above, from the handles of which depend swags of leaves with their loose ends lying on the top of the cornice. This has jutting ends to cover the projecting uprights, and smaller urns with a different shaped top for a finish.

Many of the commode dressing-tables and dressing-drawers have serpentine fronts and a considerable amount of inlaid or painted ornamentation. Many are quite plain, but an object in which Heppelwhite particularly excels, and on which he sometimes lavished a good deal of shaping and decoration, is the toilet-glass to be placed on the dressing-drawers (Plate cxxv.). These are delightful in form, with oval or shield-shaped glasses between curved supports. The edges are daintily inlaid, and wherever there is a chance of using ivory fittings, as for handles and for decorating the voluted ends of uprights, full advantage is taken of it. Sometimes the glass is arranged with the longer dimension of the oval placed horizontally, or else the oval is replaced by a rectangular shape. There are generally two or three little drawers in the base, except in cases where the support is a mere pair of trestle legs joined by a connecting bar.

Plate CXXV. Chest Of Drawers And Toilet Glass, Heppelwhite, Mahogany

CXXV. Chest of Drawers and Toilet-glass, mahogany. Heppelwhite.

Dimensions: the chest of drawers, inlaid, is in Height 46, Breadth 45½, Depth from front to back

23I inches. Sir Charles Robinson, C.B. The toilet-glass, with ivory handles, etc., is in Height 22, Breadth 16⅛, Depth from front to back 8 inches. Gerald Robinson, Esq.

I have touched on the majority of Heppelwhite's more important patterns of furniture. There are numerous minor objects in which he shows the same grace and avoidance of outlying ornament. Charming little urn-stands upon very thin tapering legs are to be found in his style. These often have a tiny slab to draw out from under the top, upon which the cup to be filled may be placed. Pole-screens on tripod legs, or upon a circular base, have a circular, oval, or rectangular screen much smaller than those of Chippendale.