then the carpet most suitable will be one of simple colours and pattern. In many cases the assortment Green and Black will have a good effect.

2nd Case. If the furniture is of a single colour or of many tones, either of the same colour or of approximating scales, we can, without detriment, employ a carpet of brilliant colours, and thus establish a harmony of contrast between them and the dominant tint of the furniture.

But if the furniture is of mahogany, and we wish to bring out its colour, then we must not have either Red, Scarlet, or Orange, as a dominant colour in the carpet.

In a word, in the first case, to get the best effect of the colours of the furniture, the colours of the carpet must enter into the harmonies of analogy more or less sombre; while, in the second, where harmony of contrast of colour does not exist in the furniture, we can, if we choose, have recourse to this harmony in the carpet without inconvenience.

ARTICLE 9.
Pictures.

(640.) Whenever we would place pictures on hangings, the latter must be of a single colour, or of two very similar colours, if they are not tones of the same scale. Besides, the pattern of these hangings of two neighbouring colours, or of two tones of the same scale, must be as simple as possible. Finally, whenever we place a picture on coloured hangings, for the effect to be endurable, we must always take care that the dominant colour of the hangings be complementary to the dominant colour of the picture.

(641.) Engravings and plain lithographs must never be placed beside oil-paintings or coloured drawings.

(642.) Pearl grey, or normal grey a little deeper, is a good tint to receive engravings and plain lithographs in gilt or yellow wood frames.

(643.) Yellow hangings can receive with advantage landscapes in which green grass and leaves and a blue sky predominate. The most suitable frames in this case are those of violet ebony (Palixandre), or wood painted grey or black. Gilt frames have not a bad effect on the picture, but the gold of the frame and the yellow of the hangings do not contrast sufficiently to most eyes.

(644.) Oil-paintings in gilt frames are effective on hangings of olive-grey, more or less deep, according to the tone of the picture. The carnations and the gold assort well on a similar ground. Papers of a deep green, and even of a deep blue, may also be advantageously employed in many cases.

§ 2.

ON THE ASSORTMENTS OF COLOURS IN INTERIORS, THE WALLS OF WHICH
ARE PANELLED OR COVERED WITH MARBLE OR STUCCO, OR DECORATED
WITH PAINTED WOOD, STONE, OR STUCCO.

ARTICLE 1.

Panelled Interiors.

(645.) If we seek to explain rationally the use of panelling the walls of interiors from top to bottom, and leaving the surface of the wood apparent, we find it arises from the necessity of preserving the walls from the humidity and cold which would result from the contact of our organs with the stone; and also in the intention of showing to persons who meet in a panelled room that this object has been accomplished.

(646.) Panelled apartments were much more common in past times than they are at the present day; which we must not be surprised at when we consider, on the one hand, the cost of a suitable wood, and the necessity of a clear day to light a panelled room, for the surface of a costly wood is generally sombre ;-and, on the other hand, the present taste for decorations more or less charged with ornaments, which it is so easy to satisfy by means of paper-hangings, curtains, and other accessories. In spite of this direction of taste, I

think there is also in large suites of apartments two rooms to which a panelling more or less finished will be very suitable: these are the dining and the billiard-rooms, where we meet with any other aim than that of conversation, or of exhibiting an elegant toilette. The scene being, as it were, concentrated on the dining or billiard-tables, there is no cause to distract the attention by clothing the walls with varied ornaments. In the case where an interior is panelled, the floor should be parqueted; for a pavement of tiles, stones, or marbles would be out of keeping.

(647.) The colour of the curtains for panelled interiors must be chosen conformably to the preceding principles. For example

White curtains will heighten the tone of the woodwork;

Blue curtains will bring out the golden tint of many woods, especially of polished oak.

ARTICLE 2.

Interiors covered with Marble.

(648.) It is only ground-floors, halls, great staircases, and galleries (which, although covered, are exposed to injury from the air entering by various openings), bath-rooms, dininghalls, and billiard-rooms,-that can be covered with marble.

The marble well preserves the interior it covers from the humidity derived from the earth, which penetrates by the capillary attraction of the walls; but the sensation of cold which we experience upon touching it, is so identified in our minds with its very aspect, that a large surface covered with marble appears chilling, and is in contradiction with us whenever we require warmth. If marble perfectly suits a bathroom, it cannot be rationally employed in dining or billiardrooms, except when these rooms are placed under such conditions as require coolness.

(649.) We can arrange marbles together on the principle of harmony of contrast or of harmony of analogy. Bronze adapts itself very well. I must remark that, if we would also add granite and porphyry, the lower layers must be composed

of these latter; we can use them as wainscotings, on account of their greater durability and stability under the influence of atmospheric agencies.

(650.) Curtains are not suited to marbles: blinds are preferable to them.

ARTICLE 3.

Interiors covered with Stucco.

(651) Stucco is generally prepared to imitate marble. Wherever the latter is employed, stucco can be also; only it does not so well resist atmospheric agencies.

(652.) We can ornament stucco imitating white marble, with landscapes, flowers, fruits, &c., by means of a process which consists in incorporating, while it is soft, pastes of various colours, which are placed together as in the elements of a mosaic (429.). I believe, conformably to the manner in which I have regarded marble in the decoration of interiors, that the stucco should be made to imitate mosaic rather than painting.

ARTICLE 4.

Interiors covered with Wood or any kind of Coating painted in several Colours.

(653.) The painting we can put on a wainscot which is not fine enough to be seen uncovered, or, more generally upon a surface of any kind, has for its object the

1o. Imitation of hangings, properly so called;

2o. Imitation of a wood more or less costly;

3o. Imitation of marble.

I have nothing in particular to say concerning these three kinds of imitation, considered either under the relation of association of colours employed in their decoration, or in considering the suitability of the places relatively to the preference which we must accord to one of them over the other, because this would be a repetition of what has been developed already in this Chapter.

(654.) But there is a kind of decorative painting of which

I must say a few words,-viz. arabesques upon a white or pale grey ground. It is common in galleries, ball-rooms, large saloons, and also in bed-chambers. When we decorate with arabesques places which require to be warmed, we must endeavour to imitate pictures rather than mosaics.

(655.) The more carefully arabesques are executed, the more variety they will present in their forms and colours, and the less we must seek to make them resemble draperies with which they are associated; thus, white curtains, with a simple and, at the same time, ample border, or curtains of a slightly elevated tone of colour, or of an extremely simple design, should have the preference over curtains which are related to arabesques by their vivid colours, by varied patterns, or by a striking colour; in a word, the colour of the curtain, if it has any, must be sacrificed to that of the arabesques.