THE MEERSCHAUM. 



107 



a gentleman he met " who drew forth from his pocket 

 a short pipe, which screwed together in three divisions, 

 and of which the upper part of the bowl — made in the 

 fashion of a blackamoor's head — near the aperture 

 was composed of diamonds of great lustre and value. 

 Upon inquiry I found that this pipe was worth about 

 £1000 of our money." 



Schwind of Vienna, an artist who received much 

 praise from Goethe for his powers of fanciful invention, 

 etched a series of small plates, designs for pipes of 

 this class,* two of which we here copy. The first is 



a winter scene, and the time may be evening, when, the 

 day's labour over, the farm servants sleep on the bench 

 which surrounds the large porcelain stove; and the 

 aged boor lights his pipe, and dozes beside the mistress 

 of the mansion, who also nods over her knitting. The 

 icicles hang from the roof, and a figure of winter 

 wrapped in a capacious mantle, floats gloomily below, 



* They are published in the Almanack von Radierungen, Zurich, 1844, 

 but they are rarely to be met with now upon the Continent, though highly 

 prized by collectors for their great merit. 



