_.... Geheel zijn huis, ja zelfs het klein gemak, Blonk als een diamant—duizend fijne kopjes Vercierden ’t kabinet, hoe veel japanse popjes, Uit amber, zeekoraal en roosverw paerlemoer, Vervulden ’t groot salet._ (His whole house, even his small parlour, Shone like a diamond—a thousand small cups Decorated this parlour; how many Japanese figures (dolls) Of amber, sea-coral and pink mother-of-pearl Filled the big room!) [Illustration: PLATE XLVIII.—_Bed and Bedroom, by Marot._ ] On Plate L two brackets will be noticed, for the support respectively of one and three China jars. A typical English mansion of this period is Holme Lacy in Herefordshire. Though dating from Tudor days, it was partly rebuilt and decorated in the reign of William III. The principal apartments are well proportioned, and are embellished with richly stuccoed ceilings, with compartments of flowers and other designs. The “saloon” is particularly remarkable for its ceiling of pendent flowers and fruits, and carvings by Grinling Gibbons over the chimney-piece. Superb carvings by this great master, representing birds, shell-fish, fruit and flowers, are to be seen in all of the rooms on the ground floor, which communicate with one another by folding doors. The gardens, too, are noticeable, for they were also laid out in the style of King William’s day, and contain yew hedges of extraordinary height and thickness. At this period English and Dutch taste were identical. This is only what we might expect when we consider the bonds that united the reigning houses and nobility of the two countries. Mary, the eldest daughter of Charles I, married the Prince of Orange; and their son, William, married Mary, the daughter of James II. During this period, also, some of the English nobility went to the Low Countries for wives. In 1650, the Earl of Derby married Dorothea Helena, a daughter of John Baron de Rupa, in Holland. She was a Maid of Honour of another ill-fated Stuart, Elizabeth, the beautiful Queen of Bohemia. Baron Colepepper married Margaret van Hesse, and the Earl of Arlington married another Dutch woman, Isabella, daughter of Henry of Nassau, Lord of Auverquerque, in the early days of the Restoration. The Earl of Bellomont married Isabella’s sister. The Earl of Ailesbury, in 1700, married Charlotte d’Argenteau, Countess d’Esseneux and Baroness de Melobroeck in Flanders: and the list might be extended. Incidentally we may note that, in 1646, the Earl of Berkeley married Elizabeth Massingberd, the daughter of the treasurer of the East India Company.