reflected the outcome of other times and countries in a frame of its own. [Illustration: PLATE XXXVI CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS] The period when Chippendale appeared on the scene seems to have been one very favorable to the success of his enterprise. The middle classes were already accumulating wealth and beginning to assume numerical and political importance. The troubles of civil war were over, the reigning dynasty had successfully overcome the last attempt at revolution, and the situation promised an age wherein the comforts of life might again be enjoyed in security. English trade with Holland, doubtless very largely fostered by the Dutch proclivities of William III., had helped to disseminate a love for pottery and lacquer work of the East; artificial works were multiplying, and the middle classes, above all, wanted for the furnishing of their rapidly rising, substantial dwellings something more sumptuous than the humble simplicity of the common Jacobean--something which would have a taste, at least, of the luxurious extravagances of the French reigning style. [Illustration] English furniture of the time of Chippendale had profited by the best of the past and of the present. It closely resembled the French work of Louis XIV., but it had reached such a stage of perfection, though still made up of heterogeneous elements, that it was for the first time valued above the productions of other countries, and was even taken abroad to be copied, while the books of designs published by the English cabinet-makers were translated into other languages. In the preface to Hepplewhite's book of designs, published in 1789, there is this statement, which is of interest as indicating the esteem in which English cabinet work was held abroad, viz.: "English taste and workmanship have of late years been much sought for by surrounding nations; and the mutability of all things, but more especially of fashions, has rendered the labours of our predecessors in this line of little use; nay, in this day can only tend to mislead those foreigners who seek a knowledge of English taste in the various articles of household furniture." [Illustration: PLATE XXXVII CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS]