Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/336

 31 2 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. drawer, and being pierced with holes for scent bottles, &c. Below this drawer there is a deep cupboard with double doors. This wash-hand stand, which has a neat and rather massive or architectural appearance, is said to be a great favourite with all the ladies who have seen it Fig. 619, to a scale of half an inch to a foot, is a small dressing-table, with a drawer in front to hold combs, brushes, &c. Common dressing-tables, consisting of a top without flaps, supported by four legs, and with one or two drawers, are so simple in their construction as not to require any particular exemplification. Fig. 620, to a scale of half an inch to a foot, is a table for invalids, commonly called a bed tal)le ; which is a very great convenience to a person bedridden. The top of this table is made to rise and fall at pleasure, by raising or lowering the upper part of the pillar, a, which is perforated with hole's at given distances, and which works in a square groove, in the centre of the lower part. This lower part is formed of four pieces glued together, as shown in the plan, b, in fig. 621. It is firmly fixed in the bottom block by a mortise and tenon, and at top the four pieces are confined by an iron ferule, to keep the joints from opening : the mortise at bottom suflficiently confines the lower part of the pillar. The height of the top is regulated by moving the pin at c ; the block or foot, of which d represents a plan, is elongated on one side to about the same extent as the top is elongated on that side ; and, when the table is in use, the block is turned under the bed, and the top over it ; the latter being adjusted to the height most con- vejiient for the patient. This table is very frequently used for reading in bed ; and in that case it is generally made with a horse and rack, e, and a shifting ledge, f, to support a book, at one end. This ledge is fixed by two wire pins, fastened in its under side, which drop into two holes bored in the lower side of the flap of the table. On the edge of tliis ledge are affixed two book-holders, g, commonly made of brass, but which art; much better if made of ivory, or of ebony, box, or any other liard wood. This table, in mahogany, costs in London