(Travelling is a task not given to everybody, And it’s not said so much and without blame That the home is like a grave, wherein we always dwell, In the earthly vale of tears.) [Illustration: PLATE XXXV.—_Chairs._ RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM. ] The house was therefore “their world, their toy, their god”; they loved to embellish and decorate it, they loved to take care of it and keep it clean, they loved to see it painted on panel and canvas; and some of them even went so far as to have their house reproduced in miniature, with all its furniture and belongings copied in wood and metal. It would be a mistake to suppose that the so-called dolls’ houses, which may be studied in the museums of Amsterdam, Utrecht, and other towns, were merely the somewhat elaborate toys with which the English-speaking juvenile race sometimes amuse themselves. As the old inventories show, dolls’ houses and all their appurtenances were very vivid mirrors of contemporary life, including furniture and costume. This is particularly true of Holland, although other countries of Western Europe preserved evidences of the taste for similar “toys” of earlier date. Henry IV of France, for instance, when a child, played with toys, among which are noticeable a suit of clothes in wrought silver. These dolls’ houses were elaborate and costly; for every detail of the real model was represented, including the small articles of porcelain, Delft, earthenware, pewter, brass and silver. Dolls’ _salons_, too, were often painted by noted masters, and cost thousands of florins. For example, a beautiful doll’s house of the date 1680, in the Antiquarian Museum of Utrecht, has its walls covered with paintings by Moucheron. The houses consisted of from four to eight rooms with furniture of wood, silver, gold, or filigree silver or gold. Such rooms as the kitchen, lying-in room and death chamber were often included. The latter was draped in black with a canvas or silver coffin containing a tiny wax corpse. Often, too, the house was completed with a pretty miniature garden embellished with a quantity of coral-work, trees, hedges, seats, paths and statuettes. We may note that Margaretha Godewijck had a doll’s house with a garden and arbour, upon which she wrote the following poem:— OP MYN CORAAL WERK _Hier siet ghy van coraal in ’t cabinet besloten, Een baeckermat, een wiegh, een korf, een stoof, een mandt, Een kleerben opgepronckt, een bedsté, ledikant Gevloghten van coraal en na de kunst gegoten, Gemaeckt van suyver glas, en van verscheyden kleuren, Aen d’ Aemstelstroom gevormt van blaeuw, van groen en peers, Want sulck corale werck verdient oock wel een vers, En Pallas sou het self voor wat bysonder keuren._ (ON MY CORAL WORK.