Westropp Dudley, Esq., of the National Museum, Dublin, has extended to me his courtesy in enabling the inclusion of Irish makers coming under his research. To Arthur Deane, Esq., of the Public Art Gallery and Museum, Belfast, I am similarly obliged for data relative to old Belfast clockmakers. To the many friends who have during an extended period generously supplemented my own studies by supplying me with data in regard to provincial makers and other hitherto unelucidated matters, I wish to offer my cordial thanks. To my readers in general, whether they be collectors of old English china or earthenware, of furniture, or of prints, or of old silver, I desire to record my appreciation of their kindness in regard to my volumes on these subjects. I have honestly endeavoured to treat each sub-head concerning the evolution of design in the English home with sane reasoning, and I trust with ripe judgment. I have assiduously collected facts and studiously attempted to marshal them, each by each, according to relative value. Popular my volumes may be, but it is my hope that they may contribute something of permanent value to the subjects with which they deal. ARTHUR HAYDEN. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 11 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 21 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY NOTE 27 Time and its measurement--Day and night--Early mechanism--The domestic clock--The personal clock--Rapid phases of invention--The dawn of science--The great English masters of clockmaking--The several branches of a great art--What to value and what to collect--Hints for beginners CHAPTER II THE BRASS LANTERN CLOCK 45 The domestic clock--Its use as a bracket or wall clock--Seventeenth-century types--Continuance of manufacture in provinces--Their appeal to the collector CHAPTER III THE LONG-CASE CLOCK--THE PERIOD OF VENEER AND MARQUETRY 67 What is veneer?--What is marquetry?--The use of veneer and marquetry on long-case clocks--No common origin of design--_Le style réfugié_--Derivative nature of marquetry clock-cases--The wall-paper period--The incongruities of marquetry CHAPTER IV THE LONG-CASE CLOCK--THE PERIOD OF LACQUER 105 What is lac?--Its early introduction into this country--"The Chinese taste"--Colour _versus_ form--Peculiarities of the lacquered clock-case--The English school--English amateur imitators--Painted furniture not lacquered work--The inn clock CHAPTER V THE LONG-CASE CLOCK--THE GEORGIAN PERIOD 131