nd Cambridge, Reform, Carlton, Garrick,
Conservative, and some others were erected and fitted up. Many of these
still retain much of the furniture of Gillows, Seddons, and some of the
other manufacturers of the time whose work has been alluded to, and these
are favourable examples of the best kind of cabinet work done in England
during the reign of George IV., William IV., and that of the early part of
Queen Victoria. It is worth recording, too, that during this period, steam
power, which had been first applied to machinery about 1815, came into
more general use in the manufacture of furniture, and with its adoption
there seems to have been a gradual abandonment of the apprenticeship
system in the factories and workshops of our country; and the present
"piece work" arrangement, which had obtained more or less since the
English cabinet makers had brought out their "Book of Prices" some years
previously, became generally the custom of the trade, in place of the
older "day work" of a former generation.

[Illustration: Cradle, In Boxwood, for H.M. the Queen. Designed and Carved
by H. Rogers, London.]

In France the success of national exhibitions had become assured, the
exhibitors having increased from only 110 when the first experiment was
tried in 1798, by leaps and bounds, until at the eleventh exhibition, in
1849, there were 4,494 entries. The _Art Journal_ of that year gives us a
good illustrated notice of some of the exhibits, and devotes an article to
pointing out the advantages to be gained by something of the kind taking
place in England.

From 1827 onwards we had established local exhibitions in Dublin, Leeds,
and Manchester. The first time a special building was devoted to
exhibition of manufactures was at Birmingham in 1849; and from the
illustrated review of this in the _Art Journal_ one can see there was a
desire on the part of our designers and manufacturers to strike out in new
directions and make progress.

We are able to reproduce some of the designs of furniture of this period;
and in the cradle, designed and carved in Turkey-boxwood, for the Queen,
by Mr. Harry Rogers, we have a fine piece of work, which would not have
disgraced the latter period of the Renaissance. Indeed, Mr. Rogers was a
very notable designer and carver of this time; he had introduced his
famous boxwood carvings about seven years previously.

[Illustration: Design for a Tea Caddy, By J. Strudwick, for Inlaying and
Ivory. Publishe