, 1872-12-07

tunes grow. In quiet streets in London, and
the great cities. especially Of the North, there
are hundreds Of such men, "rich beyond tha
dreams Of ayarice, !" but leading quiet, unosts2-
spending or saving it as it seems good to them.
but in neither case demanding from the COM
munity the kind OF recognition and Difference
which on the Continent is accorded to exception
al riches.
They are very seldom extravagant, except in
a quiet way, spending, for instance, enormously
on hobby like fruit culture We should Like to
know the real cost Of the peaches annually con-
funed in England though they are apt to con-
tract taste Tor practice which is reafly an odd
method Of Investment, but looks specifically
like an extravagance. The millionaires Of to-
day, like the old Italian mobiles, are maniacs for
collecting. quiet man, whose name is I'M
known three streets of, will produce to his in
head could rival, and which he has bought he
scarcely knows why, except TINT sapphires ara
beautiful and indestructible, and as 7sgool" as
most bonds. Another tells ,7ou, without
the jade that was in tho Winter Palace"
say about sixty thousands pounds worth.
third has plates on his ground floor worth half
q plum, while fourth has passion for pictures
like that OF Mr. J. elliott. Nobody ever hears
Of these purchases, but, if at the other end OF
the earth sale is going on Of objects they covet
they hear Of it, and somehow the articles ma3d
their way to England. The concrete wealth, tie
portable property" as one Of Dickens chaHe-
ters calls it, which is IN this way shoveled u7or
our shores every year is almost incredible, Is is
the growth of the desire for purchasing costly
and beautiful things. The dealers who suoolv
them multiply like the millionaires; they van
der everywhere md Japan, tor e1anp1e,
it we're, with microscopes they always
find market. Hidden away in plain
houses or shops, which seem to be full
o. OF rubbish, are treasures that would have de-
lighted Louis Quatorze. People repeat with 9
emile the phrase attributed to B1ucher aud to
Platof that London would be ia splendid place
to plunder," but they do not realize to them
selves what the amount Of plunder would be, or
what would be the loss in another geat FIRE, or
how high and broad the mass Of wealth depos-
tied each year in Great Britain is gradually
growing. Most Of our readers have wandered
down the Rue de Ia Pai1 in Paris, marveuing at
the jewellers shop-fronts. They would marvel
good deal more if they could see the interior It
houses, looking as if their owners might be-
thankful for profit of :e3 week. Fnat
would casual country cousin appraise Entton
Garden at IN fee-almple, and what would N =
experienced Amsterdam Jew gem-cutter give for
It may be enid indeed always is said tythe edu-T
Gated VIrtuosl Who begin to swarm il Londond
that the mil1ionaires waste money in these ru17
chases, but we doubt if that is tho case. New
and then you hear Of q rich man who has spent
plum on rubblshy pictures, or still more rub
biahy manuscripts, or who viii buy jewels by
cand1e-hght, and 80 on but as rule the mill
ionailes take good care Of themselves. They
spend little in acquiring heir education, bw
they have clear brains to ielp them; they are
jealous Of their regulations f,r business abi1E,
and they learn the vslues OF can3os
as they would Of gra::.. ehirtings, md
Seee@e Sc sGe vey y.rvav ssdom asns" aS9 fGeneees
man, but just t1y to pas forgery q him
for q Petitot; and Mr.- looks very, stupid,
but the cleverest Jew deala in Venicawill not
ges ont Of nm p sisPanca 1non than its ealue fr
Of lace, but which, when it coaea homo, II.
Haywood will verify as matchless It is tie
would who are ''e3ne," nos
the milGonaires. Nor do We perceive that thy
doing. They are shocking architects, no don't,
very often, chiefly because they enjoy .ha oily
bit Of creative work they can indulge in SO nr2h
that they grow impatient Of Rcientiio adyic,;
worse, but better, as witness the great improve
ment in furniture, the extinction Of costly
tawdriness in dress, the inconceiyab!e improze-
ment in glass and porcelain, and the suddan,
enthusiasm for the Oriental style Of color.
style as remote from the vulgar English taste as
the design Of modern dinner-plats is irom the
willow pattern. It takes time to cultivate the
eyes of G race like ours which is not taught BY
its climate to fly from gariah b1illiancy: BUT it
ton Of wealth in Britain, but from very liffe.-
ent one. Great wealth now gives SO ma, 70
much even Of intellectual enjoyment, So
freedom, variety and pleasure to life, that eT:n
the wise and good begin to hunger for it, and to
postpone to its acquisition tie efforts which
alone can advance the world Money is not he
root Of evil only by any means, but still WITCH
spiritual truth Of the few We have-say, for ex-
ample, the duty Of sympathy-or which proved
political doctrine, OF which science, or, to go
lower, which proposition in Euclid, would the
nation sell for another million sterling ysar7