Many of the doorways of Old London, put up about the time of Charles I. and Charles II. and Queen Anne, have remained with but little alteration. The old window-frames have been replaced with others of a more modern and convenient description - plastering and other matters have disguised the style of the brickwork - cornices and moldings have been removed, and in other ways so much change made, that often the doorway is all that remains to show the antiquity of many London houses. Even the oldest of the doorways of. domestic dwellings, which have come under our notice, do not go back to a very remote period. This, in a great measure, is the effect of increased traffic, and the movement of fashion rendering it necessary that the basement of houses, formerly of a better sort, should be converted into shops or offices; this, together with the ravages of the "Great Fire," seem to have caused the destruction of every London house-door prior to the date of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, with the exception of a few broken fragments. It is curious to notice the decline or the use of carving in our residences, in proportion to the extent and style of its application in the churches. At the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII the carver's art was applied more or less to every useful article.

The ships of war and the spinning wheels, knitting sheaths, handles of knives, and daggers, were alike carefully wrought. - The Builder.