very large to people who don't understand that kind of thing." And poor Miss Harriet remains happily unconscious that similar treasures, ay and possibly far better, might have been purchased in the Strand for half the money; since I have no doubt dear Harry's "old" china was only recently produced at Meissen, that glorious manufactory, which all lovers of art ought to visit.

Now my object in writing these pages is to offer some practical remarks, which may tend to aid the inexperienced lover of bric-à-brac in his researches. Not for one moment, however, do I presume to call myself a first-rate judge. Many and many a blunder have I made; and sorely have I paid for my apprenticeship. Often have I become the possessor of some piece of trumpery, which in my vanity I believed to be a priceless treasure. Indeed, I am satisfied that there are few connoisseurs living, whatever their knowledge or experience, who are not at times deceived-I do not say as to their judgment of beauty and outline or execution, but as to period and country. Beautiful as are

many of our specimens in the Kensington Museum, there is only one person connected with that institution--and I say so with no intentional discourtesy-in whom I should have great faith as a purchaser. Much that is good has been refused at moderate prices, and much that is mediocre obtained at heavy ones. Indeed the taste and knowledge of many of the leading dealers of London render them better judges than the best of amateurs. And this is only natural; for is it not their daily, nay hourly, business?—a business in which they hazard thousands, and from which they sometimes realize fortunes. Before starting on our first bric-à-brac quest, I would unhesitatingly say, that for all moderate specimens of ceramic art there is no place so cheap, be it where it may, as London; while in that city the highest price is obtainable for the finest specimens. In Paris, good, bad, and indifferent objects are all alike dear, unless that fickle goddess Fortune, who does at times befriend you, gives you a helping hand. But we will leave these great emporiums of bric-a-brac for the present, and take our first

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trip eastward-not quite so far east as China or Japan, but to the Sublime Porte, where we will pass a pleasant morning in the Persian Bazaar, which, by the way, is by some termed the Arms Bazaar.

When, in my earliest boyhood, as I have already said, I was wont to fancy that all porcelain, of whatever kind, was the produce of China and Japan, I had, at least, some slight justification for my idea, since in those kingdoms it no doubt originated. Porcelain is an intermediate substance between pottery and glass,—more translucent than the one, more opaque than the other, and is presumed to be of Chinese origin, its manufacture dating from so early a period as the beginning of the Christian era. Be this as it may, there is evidence of its use in the fifteenth century, and in the beginning of the fourteenth. The famous tower of porcelain at Nankin was built three hundred and thirty feet high, and still stands. It consists of nine stories of enamelled bricks or tiles, in five colours, white, red, blue, green, and brown. Japanese china existed at almost as remote a

period, and was perhaps in all respects finer than Chinese; while in the days of Queen Anne and the first Georges china vases, dishes, and hideous monsters, were to be seen in all the houses of the rich in old England.

As I grew older, however, I learnt another lesson; and although I fully admit the rare beauty of many of the productions of China and Japan, both modern and ancient, and am aware that fine specimens still command high prices, I confess that European specimens are far more agreeable to my taste; and I fancy the Oriental china now in the market, which if gathered together would more than fill the Crystal Palace, or two Crystal Palaces, is no longer valued as it was wont to be. There was, indeed, a period when the china termed "crackles" was highly appreciated, and when specimens of that ware sold for more than their weight in silver. But now even the finest specimens appear to be of no great value; so capricious is taste, or fashion, or whatever you like to call that inconstant deity whose wand rules the desires of the world. It is not long since I ac

quired a practical knowledge of this fact. Happening to have in my possession two small crackle vases, one green, the other yellow, and wishing to get rid of them, I took them to a dealer, expecting a large price for them. Judge my surprise when he offered me two pounds for my treasures, with the assurance that his profit would not be ten shillings; and I have had from subsequent experience no just reason to doubt him.

Indeed, a gallant friend of mine, who had been present at that which may be fairly termed the ransacking of the Palace of Pekin, informed me only recently that he had brought home some fine specimens of Japan and Oriental china, most of which he had sold in London for at least a third less than he could have obtained from the natives ere he left; and he added, "If all the specimens, good, bad, and indifferent, which now overburden the English market were returned from whence they came, they would sell for double the price to be obtained either in London or in any other of the European capitals. In fact, the natives are highly indignant that so much which is precious