ST. MARTINIS SUMMER 335 



outlines of plants. Some are coloured by hand, some 

 are left plain. These are very good and very interest- 

 ing, though few persons would consider the) justify their 

 owner's praise when he says, c The paper hangings in 

 his parlour exhibited drawings of plants from the East 

 and West Indies, and in his bedroom were paintings of 

 insects ; the whole more splendid and handsome than 

 any tapestry that was to be seen.' But these things, 

 besides being valuable in themselves as proof prints, 

 were what he loved and most admired, and he pasted 

 these pictures on the walls with his own hands. I agree 

 with him. We who are so used to royal and national 

 picture-galleries and museums full of rare proof en- 

 gravings, besides rich botanical and zoological gardens, 

 cannot fairly judge of the extreme interest of these 

 things, then just newly brought to knowledge : they 

 are like some dainty foreign memorial in an otherwise 



dull house. 



Some trifle little heeded there, but here 

 The place's one perfection. 



The saloon opens upon his own bedroom, bung with 

 plates of coloured plants and butterflies on the walls. 

 These prints are well coloured by hand. Many of the 

 marginal names are interesting to English people : 

 1 R. Lancake delin. Published according to Act of Par- 

 liament by P. Miller. February 26, 1757 ; ' ' G. Miller 

 sculp. C. D. Ehret delin. 1757,' and < July 27, 1756,' and 

 various other dates and names, several of them English. 



It is wonderful how the wooden house, in a forest 



