CHAPTER XIV. 



As a Collector. 



A man of artistic tastes, a lover of poetry, 

 possessing great general knowledge, and of 

 Bohemian habits, it was inevitable that Teget- 

 meier should become a collector. Accustomed as 

 a lad to frequent Seven Dials and similar " low 

 neighbourhoods " in search of pigeons, he knew 

 well the haunts of second-hand booksellers and 

 keepers of old curiosity shops, and once he 

 acquired the craze for collecting he pursued his 

 hobby with characteristic assiduity. The chief 

 objects of his collecting were rare books and 

 engravings, and his friendship with Seymour Haden, 

 who had been a fellow-student of his at Univer- 

 sity College, turned his attention to etching and 

 etchers, on the subject of which he was reputed 

 an authority. In the course of years he got 

 together a choice collection of Seymour Haden's 

 etchings, and amassed a large number of etchings 

 and engravings by and after Vandyck. The story 

 is told that about 1865 he picked up for four 

 shillings a copy of Vandyck's " Descent from 

 the Cross," the beauty of which so struck him 

 that he became a Vandyck collector. The collec- 

 tion, which was put up to auction by Sothebys 

 in 1900, made about 150 lots, and included 



