I have been frequently asked, “Can I find a market for my Cameos if I learn to cut them?” No one ever put such a question to the drawing-master or to the music-teacher when beginning lessons. But of this new profession the answer is undoubted. As soon as Cameos may be had of better designs than those in the market, purchasers will be found for them. If there is a doubt in the mind of any one on this point, look at the ornaments worn by those one meets in the course of a brief walk through the principal streets of London. I venture to say that difficulty would be found in counting the ear-rings, brooches, pins, and bracelets of Cameo which one sees; nor would any one, if trained in art, approve, in the majority of instances, of the size or design of the Cameos worn.

The taste was formerly to get the largest possible piece of shell, and cut a head about three times the normal size, in order to provide for the greatest amount of ornamentation, with ears of corn or bunches of grapes. A Greek face was often conjoined with Roman or Egyptian ornaments. What, to modern England, is the story of Venus or Cupid, or the beauty of Cleopatra? Are there not a thousand stories in the history of our own land of reputable queens more worthy of illustration? Are the faces of our poets, dramatists, and men of science, letters, and art of less account than the faces of Apollo, Bacchus, or Pericles? Putting aside the historical gallery, are there not amongst the circle of our relatives and friends, faces dear beyond all comparison with those of Hebe or of Neptune?

Take another field of labour, that of flowers. We have all studied their language, and know what is meant by the gift of a rose, a lily, or a forget-me-not. But the flower fades all too quickly for the expression of the feeling which love conveys; how much more beautiful, then, is the gift of a flower wrought by the hand of a loved one—a flower that will never fade!

Fashion is ever introducing new adaptations of ornament to dress. Note the two or three buttons with which a lady’s loose jacket is now fastened on the left. Why not carve these in Cameo, a dainty design in white on a purple or red or brown background, glowing like a precious stone? These would look beautiful!

The uses to which the Cameo may be put are innumerable, and in what I have said I have confined myself to those of personal adornment only, leaving out altogether the hundred and one purposes of ornamentation about the house, the table, or the drawing-room.