Digitised Manuscripts and Books

I06 occupations to engross his thoughts or to divert him from the pursuit of the one aim of his life , for he troubled himself little with the or the management of his properties. He gladly allowed his ante-room in the Rue Laffitte or at Basatelle to be crowded with all sorts and con- ditions of persons , whe brought ‘him their valuables § and whose offers he liberally responded to; he knew how to select and train the agents who attended the sale rooms on his behalf, where no competitor could stand in his way as with him price Wastmo Object ; and if Like a second “Alladdin he fiiied ‘his alleries with muntless objects of which each is a treasure, it was because of his power of concentration, his perfect judsc- ment, and his exquisite taste . Unstinted praise eannot , however , be accorded to Lord Hertford. fercit may we Love rod “art: aid not degenerate into a mania and whether he went on amassing pictures, furniture and china , for the pleasure their possess- ion gave him in the artistic sense, or from less creditable MOULIVES < He never saw many of the objects his asents purchas- ed as they were forwarded from the piace they were bought dir- | ect to Manchester House , and for several years before his death He didmotiset: foot in ondon “«“s while of those acquired a great number were at once piled up in the lumber room. The late Count Bylandt, sometime Netherlands Min- ister ain Gondon\y was Pond tof Yrellatins avstpry which is not 4. J = without a@ moral in this connection . One day a friend of Lord 2 ao Hert Ford told him that de showld not fail to secure 4a beautify