one of the tables a tray stands, with a hospitable array of cups and saucers, teapot, etc., and is protected from the dust by a crochet or muslin cover. The huge family Bible, with its huge brass clasps, has an honourable place, often on a stand by itself. Rough woodcuts or cheap prints, and a group of family photographs, which do not flatter the originals, are hung on the walls. The framed and glazed sampler, worked in wools by the farmer’s wife in her young days, usually makes a _dessus de porte_. The alphabet is the principal part of this extraordinary work of art; but it bears various other figures, which, on patient investigation, appears to have some resemblance to certain birds and flowers.” The country home of wealth is usually built of small, hard, reddish-brown bricks resembling those used in the Elizabethan houses in England. The front entrance is often embellished with a handsome pediment and a stone _loggia_ and steps. Flower beds, canals and woods surround the house, which has a dignified and attractive air. It is no less so within, for many Dutch houses, both in the country and city, are beautifully finished. The woodwork, whether of oak or mahogany, is often exquisitely carved and highly polished, and consists of broad staircases with ornate banisters, doors, panelled walls, mantelpieces and mirror frames. Many of the doors and windows are decorated with carvings of garlands of fruits, flowers and other devices, according to the period in which the house was built. In some of the old houses the walls are still hung with the old gilt leather of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Suburban houses as well as country seats bear fanciful names; and on the outskirts of The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and other large cities you may read _Lust en Rust_ (Pleasure and Repose), _Buiten Zorg_ (Without Care), _Myn Rust_ (My Repose), _Mon Bijou_ (My Jewel), _Rosen Lust_ (Rose Pleasure), _Honigbij_ (Honey Bee), _Mijn Lust en Leven_ (My Pleasure and Life), _Vriendschap en Gezelschap_ (Friendship and Sociability), and other such names. These retreats are often covered with creepers, and are situated in the centre of a lawn made gay with flower beds, arbours and sometimes strange ornaments of painted clay— gnomes trundling wheelbarrows, curious vases, windmills, etc., etc.