To pass from the study of "Chippendale" to that of the work of Heppelwhite, or, to speak more precisely, of Messrs. A. Heppelwhite & Co., is to be brought face to face with one of the greatest and most remarkable changes which ever occurred in the development of British furniture, and that occurred too in a comparatively brief space of time.

While the former style predominated, notwithstanding that it was in every respect much lighter, and perhaps on the whole more graceful, than its predecessors of the seventeenth century - except, of course, the "Queen-Anne" - the English cabinet maker was unable to shake himself free from the bondage of that sturdy heaviness - typical, some would have it, of our national temperament - by which his efforts had for so long been constricted. In those days the furnishing of the home seems to have been regarded as a most serious, if not solemn, undertaking, typifying the wealth and dignity of the household, and anything approaching flippancy was rigidly excluded from it.

One of the most gifted of modern humorists, and one whose death was indeed an event to be lamented - I refer to the genial Mr. Corney Grain - in his advice to "those about to furnish," pointed out that: "Of course, you must buy old ' Chippendale,' So spindle-shanked, and slender, and frail, That every time you sit down in a chair Your legs go wandering up in the air," but that prince of kindly satirists laboured under a misapprehension. Applied to some of the work of Heppelwhite and Sheraton those words would be more applicable. As my readers are by this time fully aware, when applied to "Chippendale " they miss their mark altogether.

There can, of course, be but little doubt that when filled with a gay throng habited in the dainty and multi-coloured, sometimes even gorgeous, dresses of the period, the old "Chippendale" interiors must have appeared brilliant indeed. The dark glowing tones of the choice Spanish mahogany would set off to perfection, by force of contrast, the rare and costly "confections" of the day; but it was just that contrast which was requisite to render the schemes complete. With the dresses taken away, and the woodwork left absolutely dependent upon its own intrinsic merits, those schemes were painfully wanting both in colour-value and variety of effect. That they were not altogether devoid of attractiveness - nay, that they even possessed a peculiar charm of their own - is, I need hardly say, altogether indisputable; but it was a charm which, to borrow a simile from music, was akin rather to the solemn fascination of one of Beethoven's more majestic creations than to that of the rippling lilt of Mozart or Bishop.

In the wake of that progress in the cultivation of the refinements of life which characterised the eighteenth century, and more particularly the latter part of it, a change rapidly came over the furnishing and adornment of the interior of the homes of our forefathers. So extensive was this change, indeed, that ere long it seemed almost as if some necromancer had removed a spell from their portals, and changed sadness into rejoicing! It was as if the spirit of merriment had taken the place of that of magnificence, and the reign of brightness and dainty refinement had bid dull care begone, and we must now consider the work of some of the men who were mainly instrumental in bringing this change about.

The names of Chippendale, Heppelwhite, and Sheraton, stand out so prominently from among those of their contemporaries in the history of the cabinet making and designing of the period during which they worked that we have become accustomed to associate them with one another, and regard them almost as an inseparable triad of old masters, working together with but one idea, or set of ideas, and in perfect harmony. As has already been noted in the preceding chapter, some writers even go so far as to throw the mantle of the first over the other two, as well as over a great many lesser lights, a proceeding to which I am quite sure Chippendale himself, vain as he was, would never have consented. Against such a course I have already entered a strong, if not indignant, protest; deeming it necessary owing to the fact that the practice is steadily growing, under the encouragement and through the example of many who ought to know better but do not. Everything possible, therefore, should be done towards the correction of this error, and to prevent its perpetuation.

The life-work of each of the three designers named must be studied and judged upon its own merits, and not confused with those of others; nor is there really the least reason why this should not be done, for we shall find each fully capable of standing alone. Adopting this principle, and with the attainment of a specific object in view, I have planned the three chapters devoted to the work of these designers in such a way that they shall be exhaustively comparative as well as analytical, in order to demonstrate conclusively, once and for all, that to class the whole of our late eighteenth-century furniture under the all-embracing description "Chippendale" is as absurd and unjust as it is inaccurate.

Between the designs of Thomas Chippendale, then, and those of Heppelwhite a vast difference is to be noted; a difference so vast, indeed, that for one possessing even but a most elementary knowledge of the principal characteristics of the two styles to confuse them in any way is practically out of the question; that such a thing should ever be done is only to be accounted for in one way.

We have seen, in my last chapter, how, during the course of his operations, Chippendale borrowed from, and not infrequently perpetrated most outrageous caricatures of, the"Louis-Quatorze" and "Louis-Quinze"; and we shall presently discover the extent to which Sheraton - the last, but by no means the least, of the great three - followed in his footsteps, that is to say so far as appropriating French ideas was concerned, though he selected different ones and made far better and more intelligent use of them than did Chippendale.