7 NOVEMBER 1868, Page 22

The Adventures of a Brie - a - Brae Hunter. By Major H. Byng

Hall. (Tinaley.)—The author includes in his definition of bric-a-brac pretty nearly all objects of art, even pictures, for instance ; but he says little about anything but china, the term " china " being used by us in its popular sense, for all sorts of articles manufactured out of earths, coarse and fine. On this subject, on his fortunes good and bad, on the bargains which he has made or missed, Major Hall writes a very lively and pleasant book, which even those who do not know the difference between Sevres and Wedgwood may read without difficulty. Wo have little fault to find with it, except, indeed, with the extreme antiquity of the stories. That of the traveller of many names, who was refused admittance on account of his supposed plurality, has reached the dignity of a myth, in so many countries has it been localized ; and that of the man who questioned the suspected fish as to the last news from the sea. is of classical antiquity. Major Hall does not profess to supply a guide to the novice in bric-a-brac hunting. Experience, as he very rightly gives us to understand, is absolutely necessary, and even experience is of little. use without that artistic intuition which is born in a man, and cannot be. acquired. He performs, indeed, a more useful office than that of a guide, by giving some very sobering, not to say discouraging, advice to those who would engage in the pursuit. It is clearly his opinion that there is very little to be done in the only hunting of curiosities (we beg his pardon for using the name, which seems to offend him) which deservca the name, that is, the finding of "bargains." Bargains are hardly to be got ; the value of genuine good things is pretty well known, and the increasing ingenuity of imitators yearly makes genuineness more diffi- cult to determine. It is satisfactory to learn that London is as good a hunting field as any ; the best things are not dearer than elsewhere ; and the second-rate, to which alone the ordinary connoisseur can aspire, are cheaper. To poor men who are yet possessed with the craze for bric-a- brac, we commend the works of our English potteries of the ante- Wedgwood period. They may get interesting specimens for as many pence as they would have to pay pounds for pieces of Sevres or Dresden.