Placed in my cabinet here, you see made of coral A baby’s basket, a cradle, a child’s foot-warmer and a warming-basket, An ornamental clothes cupboard, a bed and bedstead of twisted and cast coral And of pure glass, of different colours, Shaped at Amstel’s stream of blue and green and purple. For such coral-work deserves indeed a verse, And even Pallas would judge it more than ordinary.) OP MYNE THUYN VAN SYDE _Hoe seer dat Crassus pronckt en stoft op al sijn fruyten, Gewassen buyten Roôm en aen het Tybers stof, Hoe seer Lucullus pryst sijn bloemen, planten, spruyten, Sijn ooft, sijn boom-gewas, sijn za’en, sijn braven hof, Dit alles kan een wint, een buy en vlaegh verdrijven, Soodat de bloem verdort en ’t rijpe fruyt verstickt. Maer mynen hof van syd die sal gedurigh blyven. Mijn fruyt het greetigh oogh, maer niet de mond verquict. Geen spin, geen worm, geen rups en kan mijn boomen deeren, Mijn bloemtjes somers sijn en ’s winters even groen, Mijn kerssen altyd root, mijn appelen, mijn peeren Sijn altyt even gaef, sy konnen ’t ooghe voên._ (ON MY GARDEN OF SILK How much Cassius may pride himself and boast of all his fruit Grown outside Rome and on the Tiber’s border; How much Lucullus may praise his flowers, plants and twigs, His lawns, his tree-garden, his seeds and a fine orchard— All these can be scattered by the wind, a shower, or a gust; So that the flower fades and the ripe fruit perishes, But my silken garden will remain for ever. My fruit satisfies the greedy eye, but not the mouth; No spider, worm, nor caterpillar can hurt my trees; My flowers are as green in winter as in summer, My cherries always red, my apples and my pears Always ripe and sound; they feed the eyes for ever.) The dolls’ houses of the rich were always made of costly woods, and were frequently inlaid with ivory and tortoiseshell. At the exhibition of Amsterdam in 1858, among a number of these curiosities, was a notable one veneered with tortoiseshell and with painted glass doors—a present from the King of Denmark to Maarten Harpertz Tromp. Another was a typical Dutch house of walnut-root wood, furnished with silver furniture and wax dolls; there were also two of Italian make with tortoiseshell, ebony and brass ornaments, the doors of which were painted with Italian sea-towns; and one of ebony, the door-panels of which were painted by Peter Breughel.