In Austria, too, some good cabinet work was being carried out, M. Leistler, of Vienna, having at the time a high reputation. In Paris the house of Fourdinois was making a name which, in subsequent exhibitions, we shall see took a leading place amongst the designers and manufacturers of decorative furniture. England, it has been observed, was suffering from languor in Art industry. The excellent designs of the Adams and their school, which obtained early in the century, had been supplanted, and a meaningless rococo style succeeded the heavy imitations of French pseudo-classic furniture. Instead of, as in the earlier and more tasteful periods, when architects had designed woodwork and furniture to accord with the style of their buildings, they appear to have then, as a general rule, abandoned the control of the decoration of interiors, and the result was one which--when we examine our National furniture of half a century ago--has not left us much to be proud of, as an artistic and industrious people. Some notice has been taken of the appreciation of this unsatisfactory state of things by the Government of the time, and by the Press; and, as with a knowledge of our deficiency, came the desire and the energy to bring about its remedy, we shall see that, with the Exhibition of 1851, and the intercourse and the desire to improve, which naturally followed that great and successful effort, our designers and craftsmen profited by the great stimulus which Art and Industry then received. [Illustration: Venetian Stool of Carved Walnut Wood.] [Illustration: Sideboard in Carved Oak, with Cellaret. Designed and Manufactured by Mr. Gillow, London. 1851 Exhibition.] [Illustration: Chimneypiece and Bookcase. In carved walnut wood with colored marbles inlaid and doors of perforated brass. Designed By Mr. T. R. Macquoid, Architect, and Manufactured by Messrs. Holland & Sons. London, 1851 Exhibition.] [Illustration: Cabinet in the Mediaeval Style. Designed and Manufactured by Mr. Grace, London. 1851 Exhibition.] [Illustration: Bookcase in Carved Wood. Designed and Manufactured by Messrs. Jackson & Graham, London, 1851 Exhibition.] [Illustration: Grand Pianoforte. In Ebony inlaid, and enriched with Gold in relief. Designed and Manufactured by Messrs. Broadwood, London. 1851 Exhibition] Chapter IX. From 1851 to the Present Time. THE GREAT EXHIBITION: Exhibitors and contemporary Cabinet Makers--Exhibition of 1862, London; 1867, Paris; and subsequently--Description of Illustrations--Fourdinois, Wright, and Mansfield--The South Kensington Museum--Revival of Marquetry--Comparison of Present Day with that of a Hundred Years ago--Æstheticism--Traditions--Trades-Unionism--The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society--Independence of Furniture--Present Fashions--Writers on Design--Modern Furniture in other Countries--Concluding Remarks. [Illustration]