period,
Barr, Flight and Barr, down to the later Chamberlain.

An old pair of bellows is a favourite of mine; it is made of pear-tree
wood, decorated with an incised pattern of thistles and foliage,
referring possibly to the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, or as
a Jacobite emblem of a few years later. The carving is surrounded by
the motto:

"WITH MEE MY FREND MAY STILL BE FREE YET VSE MEE
NOT TILL COLD YOV BEE."

These old bellows show unmistakable signs of their more than 200 years
of honourable service, and they have literally breathed their last
though still surviving; but it would be sacrilege to renew the
leather, and might disturb the ghosts of generations of old ladies who
blew the dying embers into a ruddy glow when awaiting, in the twilight
of a winter's evening, their good-men's return from the field or the
chase.

One of my greatest finds was a pair of Chippendale chairs at a sale at
Mickleton at the foot of the Cotswolds; they belong to the early part
of the Chippendale period, before the Chinese style was abandoned.
That influence appears in incised fretted designs on the legs, and the
frieze below the seats. The seats are covered with the original
tapestry, adding much to the interest, and the backs present examples
of the most spirited carving of the maker. At the sale, when I went to
have a second look, I found two dealers sitting on them and chatting
quite casually; the intention was evidently to prevent possible
purchasers from noticing them, and more especially to hide the
tapestry coverings. The value of the chairs immediately rose in my
estimation, and I increased the limit which I had given to a bidder on
my behalf, so that I made sure of buying them. The old chairs looked
very shabby when they came out into the light of day, and they fell to
my representative's bid amid roars of laughter from the rustic crowd.
What a price for "them two old cheers"! they "never heard talk of such
a job!" It would surprise them to know that I have been offered five
times what they then cost.

My wife has had to do with many parochial committees from time to
time, and I have often trembled for my Chippendale chairs when these
meetings, accompanied by tea, have been held at my house, for it is
not everybody who regards them with the reverence due to their
external beauty and true inwardness, or who recognizes in them the

"Tea-cup times of hood and hoop,
Or while the patch was w