able, from France. As early as 1650 a M. St. Clerc had formed a large collection of etchings and engravings in Paris, and about the same time the Abbé de Marolles, in his "Memoires," 1644, says he had gathered together between 70,000 and 80,000 engravings, preferring them to paintings, "not only for that they are more proportionable to my purse, but because they better become our Libraries.” These prints were sold to the French King, and afterwards formed the nucleus of the fine and extensive public collection, now known as part of the Bibliothèque Imperiale. But perhaps the largest private collection of prints formed in France was that known as the "Cabinet Paignon-Dijonval." This eventually came to England, being bought by Mr. Samuel Woodburn, en bloc, for about £4000, and sold by him, piecemeal for, probably, as much as £10,000. A catalogue was published by M. Benard, and from this it would appear that the whole collection contained nearly 100,000 prints and drawings, the latter numbering 5000. Among the drawings was one by Raffaelle of St. Cecilia. This was sold three times over to different amateurs, each giving £500 for it, but eventually at the King of Holland's sale, in 1850, it only realized about £60.

Mr. Woodburn has been mentioned several times in these pages, and from the extent of his business, his intimate acquaintance with prints and drawings,what Richardson called 'the Knowledge of Hands' and the Science of a Connoisseur'—and his gentlemanly manners, he may be considered the Prince of Printsellers. I allude here more particularly to Mr. Samuel Woodburn, for there were four brothers originally in the business, though in different branches. This gentleman, who died in 1853, recalls the subject of 'Printsellers,' and they deserve more than the slight notice I can give them, particularly those of the present day of whom of course I must not speak. The earliest printsellers in England of repute were, Robert and Sir William Peake, Sudbury and Humble, Compton Holland, and Peter Stent. Many engravers were their own printsellers, and occasionally sold the works of others, as W. Faithorne, White, Lombart, Du Bosc, Dorigny, McArdell, John Smith, &c. but there were also some whose business was almost solely to sell engravings, as those first mentioned, and others, as Baker, near the Royal Exchange; John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill, and later, of St. Paul's Church Yard; Edward Cooper, Bedford Street, Covent Garden; Robt.

Sayer, at the Golden Buck, Fleet Street, opposite Fetter Lane; and reaching almost to our own time, another Prince of Printsellers, Alderman John Boydell of Cheapside. To enumerate only a select portion of their finest publications would demand a goodly sized volume, and I can only say here that such a volume treated as a Catalogue-raisonné would be a welcome addition to the literature of art, and any publisher willing to make a pecuniary sacrifice by engaging some ' eminent hand' on such a book, would (perhaps) receive-the thanks of the print collector!

XI.

Conclusion.

DON'T care for Portraits,' is not an uncommon exclamation, and would be

heard more frequently if people were more in the habit of expressing their thoughts instead of pretending to admire those things for which they care not. A portrait is an uninteresting object unless we have some information respecting the person represented, but then, if we are interested in the subject, how absorbing is that 'picture of the life' the literal biography'-we see before us! Painting," says Richardson, "gives us not only the persons, but the characters of great men. The air of the head, and the mien in general, give strong indication of the mind, and illustrate what the historian says more expressly and particularly. Let a man read a character in my Lord Clarendon, (and certainly never was there a better painter in that kind,) he will find it improved by seeing a picture

of the same person by Vandyke.”

This writer

and painter, and in both ways he was an honest and ingenious man, and deserves a more popular recognition of his merits than he has yet received, has many other pertinent remarks on this subject, which it is not necessary for me to extract, since I only desire here to excuse myself for writing on a subject which some may imagine ought to be treated in a very learned and serious manner. Knowing that portraits are uninteresting to many, and having experienced that truth myself, as we all must have done, I thought I could help to show how interesting they may become; and seeing that exhibitions of pictures of celebrated men and women had been of late frequent, culminating in the great Portrait Exhibition now about to open, I was led to believe that a few words about engraved copies of such pictures by which they are brought home to men's business and bosoms' would not be unacceptable to those who gave a thought to the subject. To give simply a list of engravings, prices, &c. would be to write a Catalogue, or unreadable book, but by various information and anecdotes, and in a gossiping way to suggest different matters in connection with portraits, would, I thought, prove