There needs, however, an important condition to be taken into account. Good work, requiring educated thought to design, and skilled labour to produce, must be paid for at a very different rate to the furniture of machined mouldings, stamped ornament, and other numerous and inexpensive substitutes for handwork, which our present civilization has enabled our manufacturers to produce, and which, for the present, seems to find favour with the multitude. It has been well said that "Decorated or sumptuous furniture is not merely furniture that is expensive to buy, but that which has been elaborated with much thought, knowledge, and skill. Such furniture cannot he cheap certainly, but _the real cost is sometimes borne by the artist who produces, rather than by the man who may happen to buy it_."[28] It is often forgotten that the price paid is that of the lives and health of the workers and their families. * * * * * A point has now been reached at which our task must be brought to its natural conclusion: for although many collectors and others interested in the subject, have invited the writer's attention to numerous descriptions and examples, from an examination of which much information could, without doubt, be obtained, still, the exigencies of a busy life, and the limits of a single volume of moderate dimensions, forbid the attempt to add to a story which, it is feared, may perhaps have already overtaxed the reader's patience. As has already been suggested in the preface, this book is not intended to be a guide to "_collecting_," or "_furnishing_"; nevertheless, it is possible that, in the course of recording some of the changes which have taken place in designs and fashions, and of bringing into notice, here and there, the opinions of those who have thought and written upon the subject, some indirect assistance may have been given in both these directions. If this should be the case, and if an increased interest has been thereby excited in the surroundings of the Home, or in some of those Art collections--the work of by-gone years--which form part of our National property, the writer's aim and object will have been attained, and his humble efforts amply rewarded.] [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 23: The present firm is Radley, Robson and Mackay.] [Footnote 24: This Collection, now better known as the Wallace Collection, has been bequeathed to the Nation.] [Footnote 25: Miss Rowe, who has made some valuable contributions to the literature of Woodwork, has written hand-books for young woodcarvers, which are published under the sanction of the South Kensington authorities.] [Footnote 26: Essay by Mr. Edward S. Prior, "Of Furniture and the Room."] [Footnote 27: Published in 1868, when the craze for novelties was at its height.] [Footnote 28: Essay on "Decorated Furniture," by J. H. Pollen.] Appendix.