14 
House & G a r den 
divides were rich spoils in¬ 
deed for the Cromwellians. 
In the quaintly worded old 
catalogue recording his pos¬ 
sess ions we find noted, 
amongst other things, “Item, 
a landscape piece of trees, 
and some moorish water, 
wherein are two ducks a 
swimming, and some troup 
erf water flowers, being done 
in a new way, whereof they 
do make Turkey carpets, 
which was presented to the 
King by the French ambassa¬ 
dor; in an all over gilded 
frame. 1 ft. 10 x 2 ft. .5 
wide.” 
Horace Walpole’s Virtuosity 
Some of King Charles’s 
treasures in the century fol¬ 
lowing passed into the hands 
of Horace Walpole, who 
housed them in his villa, 
Strawberry Hill, that “Gothic 
castle” which revived the English 18th Century 
taste for Gothic design. Austin Dobson's book 
Horace Walpole, says of the Master of Straw¬ 
berry Hill: “As a virtuoso and amateur, his 
position is a mixed one. He was certainly 
widely different from that typical art con¬ 
noisseur of his day,—the butt of Goldsmith 
and of Reynolds,—who traveled the Grand 
Tour to litter a gallery at home with broken- 
nose busts and the rubbish of the Roman 
picture factories. As the preface to the Hides 
hat. Van Tromp’s pipe-case, 
King William's spurs, and, I 
dare say, some chips of stone 
from the Parthenon! But let 
it be remembered that these 
things were gifts to Walpole, 
and as such were just as neces¬ 
sarily within reach as the cut- 
glass wedding-present pickle- 
dishes of our own century must 
be given shelter against the 
sudden appearance of their 
donors. Perhaps there is merit 
in the discipline of such ten¬ 
der-heartedness. 
Well, gone is Master Hora¬ 
tio, gone the wits and beaux 
and the belles of his day, but 
he remains in our thoughts as 
the Georgian master of Chel¬ 
sea china pseudo shepherds 
and shepherdesses, the most 
elegant of collectors, the most 
brilliant of subjects in the sov¬ 
ereign realm of precious bric- 
a-brac. We are glad that he 
lent his presence to our ranks. 
So, you see, collecting is not merely a fad 
of recent generations. In that which has gone 
before there is ever a peculiar fascination. 
The field is limitless, its duration unbounded 
—things which to us of today are common¬ 
place by reason of their niches in our every¬ 
day life, will be treasures to posterity a hun¬ 
dred years hence. Thus will the love of col¬ 
lecting go on from generation to generation, 
with new converts always ahead. 
A Bazaar Scene in Cairo, showing the antiquary shop of that country. By 
Henry Hail, an American artist (1875-1013) 
Walpoliance showed, he really knew some¬ 
thing about painting; in fact, was a capa¬ 
ble draughtsman himself; and besides, through 
Mann and others, had enjoyed exceptional op¬ 
portunities for procuring genuine antiques. 
But his collection was not so rich in this way 
as might have been anticipated, and his por¬ 
traits, his china, and his miniatures were prob¬ 
ably his best possessions.” 
We must not judge Walpole’s virtuosity by 
all that accumulated in his house—Wolsev’s 
Among the artist-collectors we find Rubens. This picture of Rubens’ studio is from a painting by Rubens in the Pitti Palace, blorence. Here 
are depicted the art treasures that the great artist gathered about him 
