had executed for his son were destroyed and replaced by Martin decorations on a green background. They also did a lot of work for Madame de Pompadour at Bellevue. Their fame spread, so that Frederick the Great summoned Robert’s son, J. A. Martin, to decorate Sans Souci. Voltaire even thought the Martin work worth writing couplets in its praise. Like all fads, the _Vernis Martin_ aroused criticism and enmity. Mirabeau indignantly denounces the “_voitures Vernis par Martin_.” Notwithstanding jealousy and abuse, the _Vernis Martin_ held its own, and to-day is a thing of great price. Good as it was, it could not compare with the Japanese and Chinese lacquer, and the specimens that have survived are relatively scarce. It may be interesting to note that the old lacquers that sunk in the shipwreck of the _Nile_, in 1874, near Yokohama, were found practically uninjured a year afterwards. At the same time, the modern products of Kioto and Yeddo were entirely destroyed. In the Louis XV. period, the word apartment means a complete suite of living-rooms. There are three kinds of apartments, large, medium and small. A large apartment consists of a vestibule, a first ante-chamber, a second ante-chamber, a principal chamber, a _salon_ or company-room (reception-room or drawing-room), a bedroom and several cabinets (studies), and _garde-robe_ (wardrobe rooms). The medium apartment has fewer rooms and the small apartment still fewer. However, to be complete, the smallest apartments must comprise four rooms,—an ante-chamber, a chamber, a cabinet (dressing-room) and a _garde-robe_ (a wardrobe), to which a small staircase leads. Each room has its own especial decoration. First comes the vestibule. This is a passage leading into the apartment. It is ornamented with columns, or pilasters, and circular niches, in which statues are placed. The ante-chamber comes next to the vestibule, and is destined for the servants. This room is ornamented in simple style: the woodwork of the doors and windows gives it its chief decoration, but mirrors and handsome paintings are often hung on the walls, and sometimes the corners are rounded for the sake of effect. This room frequently contains a stove, so that the cold air from the vestibule may be tempered before it reaches the inner apartments.