at about sixpence per dozen pairs—they are
made of white enamel (glass with a white
opaque substance mixed in it), and then
have each a little spot either of blue or of
black imparted to them, to convert them into
blue or black eyes; but if the doll be a great
lady, and if the eyes rise to the extravagant
price of threepence or fourpence per pair,
they are still made of white enamel, but the
painting is much more artistic: each eye has
an iris as well as a pupil and a cornea; and
the brilliant black or languishing blue bears
a resemblance to nature of which the dolls'-
eye-maker is not a little proud.

There is much interchange between different
countries in respect to dolls, and even the
elements of dolls. The very cheap French
dolls, adverted to in a former paragraph, are
sent to other countries in immense numbers.
At Hamburgh dolls' heads are made by
thousands of dozens, in wax and in papier
mâché and are exported to the doll-makers of
other lands. Large numbers of English dolls
have home-made bodies but foreign-made
heads; and the better kinds of wooden dolls
are also largely imported, from countries
where cheap wood for carving can be more
readily obtained than in England. Modern
times have produced a kind of rag-doll, on
which much care is bestowed—so much,
indeed, that such dolls command a price varying
from five to thirty shillings. Let us not
talk of triviality after this: to create such
value out of bits of rag is a great commercial
achievement, even though the article
produced be nothing more than a doll.

Unquestionably there is a fashion in dolls
and dolls' dresses, as in the attire of breathing
mortals—the Marionettes, both living and
dead, pay visits to Vanity Fair. A year or
two ago, Bloomer dolls were objects of
intense admiration, and, be it remarked,
objects of some importance to the makers; for
whenever a new fashion, or taste, or mania
springs up, it is sure to be commercially
advantageous to those who are in a position to
watch the market. Since the Bloomer
excitement lessened, Uncle Tom has done
something for the doll-shops; for, although neither
Tom, nor Legree, nor Haley, nor the Quaker,
would look very nice in the doll form, yet
there are Tom's two little boys, and Eva, and
Eliza's child, and Topsy— they are all to be
met with among the costlier varieties in the
doll-maker's store at the present time. There
are national fashions, too, in dolls. The dolls'-
eye makers say that, since we have had a
blue-eyed Queen, blue-eyed dolls have had a
more gracious reception than black— indeed
the latter are scarcely admitted at all; whereas
in countries in which the brilliant flashing
dark eye is a prevailing beauty, dolls with
blue eyes are regarded as flat, tame, and
unprofitable. Dolls' eyes, made in England, are
shipped off in large quantities to Spanish
America; but they must be black, or they
will not sell. There is one Paris house
which prides itself almost exclusively on its
dolls' dresses— not the dolls themselves, but
the perfect fashion, and taste, and propriety
of the dumb ladies' costume.

If it be wrong to tempt young hearts, and
young eyes, and young pockets, by the sight
of beauties which are almost too costly to
purchase, then do we fear that Madame
Montanari, two years ago, must have made
prudent mammas and gouvernantes quake a
little. For who can forget her gorgeous
display at the Great Exhibition: the little
nook near the north-east corner of the
transept, where wax-dolls triumphed as ne'er
triumphed wax-dolls before? And yet how
brief and modest the description in the
official catalogue! " Model wax-dolls, the
hair being inserted into the head, eye-lashes,
and eye-brows, and varying in size, &c."
Modest announcement, but brilliant realisation.
When the thermometer was at something
like ninety degrees, and crowds of ladies
little and large were assembled in front of
Madame's compartment, they there saw
represented the different stages of femininity,
from babyhood to childhood, childhood to
girlhood, girlhood to womanhood; and
boyhood too— for among the doll-portraits of
Royal children the heir to the throne was not
forgotten. The case itself was a model
drawing-room; and, being filled with model
people, attired in model costumes, the whole
affair was a model of tempting beauty. The
grave and reverend seigneurs who filled the
office of jurymen at the Exhibition were
not insensible to these attractions. They say,
"The display of this exhibitor is the most
remarkable and beautiful collection of toys in
the Exhibition. It consists of a series of dolls,
representing all ages, from infancy to womanhood,
arranged in several family groups, with
suitable and elegant model furniture. These
dolls have the hair, eye-lashes and eye-lids
separately inserted in the wax, and are, in
other respects, modelled with life-like
truthfulness. Much skill is also evinced in the
variety of expression which is given to these
figures in regard of the ages and stations
which they are intended to represent." But
alas, " from the prices of these dolls, however,
they are adapted rather for the children of
the wealthy than for general sale, since the
prices of the undressed dolls are from ten
shillings to five guineas each; the dressed
dolls, which are attired with much taste,
are much more expensive, and vary in
price according to the richness of the
material of which the robes are made." There
were within the same building figures of
big burly men—popes and cardinals, and
so forth—attired in gorgeous robes of gold
and colours; but as they were stuck up there
to serve as dummies to the gorgeous robes,
we cannot admit them to a comparison with
our Montanari productions. Nor can we feel
quite satisfied with the Brussels lady, waxen
and delicate as she appeared, who was attired