"In Art all effects are regulated. The original suggestion may be and generally is sudden and unprepared-inspired,' as we say; but the alert intellect recognizes its truth, seizes on, regulates it. Without nice calculation no proportion could be preserved; one should have a work of fitful impulse, not a work of enduring Art."--Lewes.

CHAPTER XXX.

A LONDON STUDIO.

An interview on the studio of Felix Moscheles-The cottage in Cadogan Gardens-Spoons and bric-a-brac from America-An interesting portrait-gallery-The artist's personality-A studio bedroom.

I WILL commence with the studio of Felix Moscheles, for there it was that we gave our first lecture upon the Art of Expression. Among those present were Robert Browning, Whistler, Henry M. Stanley, Canon Harford, Oscar Wilde, and the Alma Tademas. Those who remember Moscheles' studio here in the top story of the Chelsea, and have since enjoyed the drive to Cadogan Gardens in London, were no doubt surprised to find the little, low, one-story rambling cottage in the midst of rhododendron bushes, covered with vines and shadowed by stately trees. Many years ago the Earl of Cadogan gave the elder Moscheles

permission to build his house in the centre of these gardens.

Fancy, if you will, a space of loveliness, say like Stuyvesant Square, only very much larger and more beautiful, with a little cottage in the centre, and then you will have an idea of its charming situation and the envy it must arouse from the dwellers in the brown-stone houses which surround it. Permission was given for the house to remain here only for a certain term of years, but the lease has been extended by the present lord, to endure during the life-time of Felix Moscheles' brother-in-law, Professor Roche; so that within a few years, to say the least, this most interesting of studios will be swept away, and will only remain as a historic tradition.*

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Nearly every well-known man in art, science, and letters has been received within the walls of this quaint studio, while the highest of the nobility are pleased to attend its receptions. In this description let me say that the original building has been extended by many additions since the time Felix Moscheles' father lived here. These include a grand studio on one side, with its adjacent lumber-rooms, a dining-room, and an odd little hall that crooks and turns and elbows its way through the various additions to the structure-which, by-the-by, in all its years has never

*The cottage has been torn down since this interview was taken.

taken on the dignity of a second story in height. The interior we find filled with everything that is beautiful in the way of decorative art, lovely rugs and drapery, strange bits of silver and bricà-brac, much of which has been collected during Mr. Moscheles' American tour. I want to tell you that when first I went over there, I would pick up some lotos-twined spoon or object in opalescent glass and think how delightful it was to have art thus enter into every detail of ordinary life and how I wished we had such things in the States. Then I would turn to Mr. Moscheles and say: 'Where did you get this beautiful object?' 'Oh,' he would reply, 'I bought that in America.' And I have since happily learned to know that no country has made such wonderful advancement in decorative art, the art of living, the art of being, as our own.

"On the walls of the Moscheles studio hang many portraits of celebrated friends of the artist-works of his own hand, I will add-Rubinstein, Sarasate, Browning, Stanley, Guiseppe, Mazzini, and our own ex-President Cleveland. To me his finest, and at the same time most interesting, portrait is that of his mother, which is hung in the Royal Academy. A wonderful woman, the widow of the great pianist and composer, Ignatz Moscheles. It is a face of great dignity and beautiful character. We dined with her one evening," continued Mr. Russell, as he

showed me a photograph from the picture, "and were fascinated by her wonderful reminiscences. She had known every important personage of the present century-Mendelssohn, Rachel, Beethoven, and even the great Siddons. The lovely Scott-Siddons was present on the evening that I mentioned, and was much astonished when Mme. Moscheles turned to her and in her sweetly winning voice remarked, 'Why, I knew your renowned kinswoman, Sarah Siddons.""

"And now, as to the personality of Felix Moscheles?" I further inquired.

"

"A man of great social tact, kindness of heart, and elegance of manner," he answered. "And Mrs. Moscheles is a most beautiful woman, especially remarkable for her hair, which is like threads of spun gold and keeps the sunlight in it, even on the darkest day. Her dress is the happiest mean between art and conventionality that I have ever seen. It ever manages to delight the artist, while it does not, by its eccentricity, offend the taste of the most conservative society person. And now let us extend the license a bit and take a momentary look at the bedroom which does service as a dressing-room for the tableaux and music-plays sometimes given on the little stage at the back of the cottage, which you will see by the photograph has a jewelled glass window behind it and is covered with white bearskin. is furnished in a delicate tint of robin's-egg blue;

It

the toilet-table is strewn with every imaginable article of luxury, in old ivory and silver, and the panels of the wardrobe and doors are filled with paintings of Burne-Jones-like classic figures.

"On one side of the studio opens a little sittingroom belonging to Mrs. Moscheles-her personal room, you know-and filled with photographs of her artistic friends and many gifts and treasures, and containing some of her own flower paintings —very beautiful and tender in sentiment. Upon another side of the studio opens the dining-room, always filled with lovely flowers, every object on the table being some charming work of decorative art, and, as I said before, many of them coming from America. The table-cloth is particularly interesting, being made of pieces of old German embroidery collected at various times, some of them dating three or four centuries back.

"There are no rocking-chairs in London, but Mr. and Mrs. Moscheles have travelled in America, consequently they own one. Going early to a reception I found Mary Anderson sitting by the quaint fire-place telling of her visit to Lord Tennyson, rocking backward and forward all the time, while the English ladies looked on in perfect horror and said 'How bold!""

ARDENNES JONES-FOSTER.

THE MOSCHELES GUESTS.-Gounod would stroll in of an evening and light his pipe, and talk eloquently on art and music.

Arthur Sullivan winner of the first Mendelssohn scholarship, was