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lovers of this refined pursuit are generally spoken of as "curiosity-hunters;" but this denomination is, to my mind, a gross and uncourteous error, inasmuch as works of art, of whatever nature, if they be of any value, can scarcely be denominated curiosities, although a curiosity may possibly be a work of art. I own to a very unpleasant indignation when asked to exhibit my very humble collection as if it were a Museum of Curiosities: while poor Monsieur Pons was as jealous of his art-treasures as an ardent lover of his mistress, and scarcely desired that any eye save his own should behold them. Like Othello, he would not "keep a corner of the thing he loved for others' uses." In our day bric-à-brac shops abound in all the capitals of Europe, as well as in most large towns abroad and at home. These emporiums of art and virtù are commonly called "curiosity-shops," because possibly it has been found difficult to describe them more correctly. I deny, however, in toto the accuracy of the term. A Worcester or a Wedgwood vase, Sèvres, Dresden, or Vienna cups, Capo di Monte, Buen Retiro, or Chelsea groups, are not

curiosities, but, if good specimens, are works of the most refined art; though they may be found in the so-called curiosity-shops. If the name be correct it certainly follows that the Kensington Museum, the Musée de Sèvres, the Vienna Museum-collections public or private—should all come under the same denomination.

I confess I have as yet never been able clearly to ascertain why certain individuals of varied tastes and habits become as they advance in life the collectors of china, old plate, manuscripts, autographs, pictures, and all those miscellaneous objects of art or relics of past generations classed under the comprehensive name of antiquities, apparently without having any refined or ardent taste for the rare and the beautiful. It matters little who they are; but it is a fact that there are nowadays thousands and tens of thousands of persons whose prevailing passion is the collection of "bric-à-brac "—in which comprehensive term I include all that is precious and beautiful as well as mediocre in art, whether pictures, porcelain, ivory or wood carving, terra cotta,

miniatures, jewelry, or plate. I can fully understand that the man of wealth should be anxious to adorn his home with works of rare art, to be looked on and admired by others, yet on which individually he may scarcely care to gaze, and of the real value of which he is in a great measure ignorant. I can also fully understand that the dealer in "bric-à-brac" should be desirous of obtaining a thorough practical knowledge of the value of the goods which he barters, in order that he may buy in a cheap market and sell in a dear one, till eventually the love of art-possessions may so creep into his heart that even his commercial soul may suffer a pang at parting with some rare and precious object; and I know that among the higher class of dealers there are to be found men of varied attainments, and great taste and knowledge. But I know also that the Honourable Mrs. Bonheur, or my Lady Lovecup, will very often invest a large amount in the purchase of a Sèvres cup of that most lovely colour termed "Rose du Barry," or of a Wedgwood vase of the most elegant form and design, in order that others may

envy and admire; while to the fair and aristocratic possessor herself the one is a mere cup, the other simply a vase.

I believe my friend Mrs. Haggleton's taste for collecting the plate of Queen Anne's era originated in the fact of her aunt having left her a teapot of that admirable period of the goldsmith's art in England. The teapot inspired an ardent desire to possess other articles in the same style. The lady mildly commenced with salt-spoons, and became in due course the proud owner of mustardpots, salt-cellars, and one large piece of sideboard plate, which from the day she purchased it to that of her death every night faithfully accompanied her to her bed-room. My old bachelor friend Croker, again, began collecting Wedgwood ware because some one had told him he possessed a very fine specimen; while to my certain knowledge he was as ignorant of its value and exquisite design as his own footman could have been.

There are, however, far higher and more agreeable motives which lead the man of refined taste to become a real practical collector, whatever his

position or means; and when that man is found who collects from pure devotion to art, he at once becomes a benefactor to the human race, as his object is to instruct and improve the artisan of our day, whether it be in furniture, lace, porcelain, jewelry, texture designs, or wood-carving.

It is an obvious fact that the art-genius of the day in which we live is turning to the past for its designs. We invent nothing that is new and beautiful, but we repeat much of the beautiful of past periods. Our jewellers owe their most elegant designs to Etruria and Greece. In domestic furniture we are reproducing the graceful forms of the French upholsterers who furnished the salons and boudoirs of Athenais de Montespan, the Pompadour, the Du Barry, and the luckless daughter of the Cæsars. And when we aspire to make our dinner-tables elegant, we seek to imitate the delicate fragility of medieval Venetian glass, embellished with designs copied from classic exemplars. And the bric-a-brac shops of all the capitals of Europe are filled with lace, every design of which is a revival.

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