the steps and floor seemed as if you could lift it off with a knife. The picture was in the possession of an able connoisseur -and how had he treated it? Most people would have put round it a frame proportionate in value to the value of the picture that seems to be the usual way,-so many inches of frame to a £20 picture, and so many more to one worth £100. Not so did this connoisseur. This gem of a painting had round it a simple narrow bead of gilding, and was hung upon a wall of an orange-cream colour-the unobtrusive frame allowing the exquisite perspective to appear to advantage, while the peculiar colour of the wall served to bring out, in all its brilliance, that other fine point in the piece, the snow.

With this warning against having too much frame—which cannot, of course, be shaped into any definite axiom, but which will answer the purpose if it makes people think at all upon the subject-let us proceed to consider the relation of colour which ought to exist between a frame and the picture which it surrounds. Gilt frames are, of all others, the handsomest and most generally applicable, and are especially suited for large paintings in oil. There is but one exception to the use of gilt frames, and that arises when the picture represents gildings, at least if so near the frame as to provoke the eye to compare the painted gold with the metal itself. For instance, there is a Gobelins tapestry, after Laurent, representing a genie, armed with a torch, near which is a gilt altar; but the yellow silk and wool in which this altar are executed, are entirely eclipsed by the gilt bronzes profusely spread over the mahogany frame by which the tapestry is enclosed. Bronze frames, on the contrary, which have but little yellow brilliancy, do not injure the effect of an oil-painting which represents a scene lighted by artificial light, such as that of candles, torches, a conflagration, &c. When black frames, such as ebony, detach themselves sufficiently from an oil-painting, they are favourable to large subjects; but when they are used, it is necessary to see if the contiguous browns of the painting or drawing do not lose too

much of their vigour. Many landscape-paintings in oil are well set off by a grey frame, particularly if we take a grey tinted with the complementary (or opposite) of the dominant colour of the picture. For black engravings and lithographs, gilt frames suit perfectly, provided a certain breadth of white paper be left round the subject. Frames of yellow wood, such as bird's-eye maple, &c., likewise accord well with lithographs; and it is possible greatly to modify the appearance of the drawing by mounting it on tinted paper, when we do not desire the effect of a white margin.

As to the hanging of pictures in a room, the rule is unquestionably right which says that engravings and plain lithographs should not be placed beside oil-paintings or coloured drawings. When we wish to place pictures upon a papered wall, the latter ought to be of a single colour, if possible—if not, of two tones of the same colour-and with a simple pattern. Also, the dominant colour of the paper-hangings ought to be complementary to the dominant colour of the picture. Pearl-grey, or normal grey a little deeper, is a good tint to receive engravings and plain lithographs in gilt or yellow-wood frames. Yellow hangings can receive with advantage landscapes in which greensward and leaves and a blue sky predominate; and the most suitable frames in this case are those of violet-coloured ebony, or wood painted grey or black. Oilpaintings, in gilt frames, are effective on walls of olive-grey; upon which ground the flesh-colours of the picture, and the gold of the frame, assort well. Papers of a deep green, and even of a deep blue, may likewise be advantageously employed in many cases. An artist of my acquaintance, whose drawingroom wall, covered with oil-paintings in gilt frames, has a flockpaper of deep green, the velvet pattern being of nearly equal extent with the smooth ground, but of a darker shade. The effect is very good. Had it been a picture-gallery, the paper would have been unquestionably better if of a perfectly uniform colour; but by having it patterned, and of two shades of the

same colour, the requirements of a drawing-room are answered with the least possible detriment to the effect of the pictures. So much for the mechanical accessories of the Fine Arts, whether these be exhibited in a noble gallery, or in the houses of our middle-class. In coming to the furniture of our dwellings, it must be confessed that, so innumerable are the possible combinations of colour, it is impossible to lay down many laws of general application. In large rooms, bright contrasting colours may be employed-green and that ever-royal colour scarlet, for example; whereas in small rooms, the harmony should be not of contrast, but of analogy;-in other words, the furniture of small rooms should, in general, have but one predominant colour, and the contrasts exhibited be only those of tone. On this principle, hangings with varied and brilliant colours, representing flowers, birds, human figures, landscapes, &c., may be employed in the decorating of large rooms; whereas chintzes are only suitable to small rooms, such as cabinets, boudoirs, &c. In bedrooms, the window-curtains and those of the bed should be similar; and if there be a divan, it may be similar also; for we may remark, that it is conformable with the object of boudoirs and similar places, to diminish their extent to the eye, by employing only one material for the hangings and chairs, instead of seeking to fix the eye upon many separate objects.

Of hangings-and these remarks are almost equally applicable to the general tone of a room-we may say, that in consequence of an apartment never being too light (since we can diminish the daylight by means of blinds and curtains), it is best that the hangings be of a light and not of a dark colour, so that they may reflect light rather than absorb it. Dark hangings, therefore, are proscribed, whatever be their colour. Red curtains are to be met with very frequently in this country, and they certainly produce a sensation of warmth and comfort attainable by no other colour; yet red and violet, even in their light tones, are exceedingly unfavourable to the colour of the skin. Orange can never be much employed, it fatigues the

eye so much by its intensity. Among the simple colours, the most advantageous are yellow and the light tones of green and blue. Yellow is lively, and combines well with mahogany furniture, but not generally with gilding. Light-green is favourable, both to gilding and to mahogany, and also to complexions, whether pale or rosy. Light-blue is less favourable than green to rosy complexions, especially in daylight: it is particularly favourable to gilding-associates better than green, with yellow or orange-coloured woods-and does not injure mahogany. White hangings—or hangings of a light grey, either normal, or tinged with green, blue, or yellow-uniform, or with velvet patterns, similar in colour to the ground, are also good for use. In regard to the draping of floors, it must be borne in mind, that for a carpet to produce the best possible effect, it is not enough that it is of the best manufacture, and of excellent colours and pattern: it is also requisite that its pattern be in harmony with the size, and its colours with the decorations, of the room. It is important for manufacturers to know how to produce carpets which will suit well with many different styles of room furniture; and the best mode of attaining this end seems to be, to make the light and bright colouring commence from the centre of the carpet; for it is there (that is to say, in the part most distant from the chairs, hangings, &c.) that we can employ vivid and strongly-contrasted colours without inconvenience. And if we surround this bright central portion with an interval of subdued colouring, we shall be able to give to the framing colours (those around the margin of the carpet) a great appearance of brilliance, without injuring the colour of the chairs and hangings. With respect to the carpets of small or moderately-sized rooms, we may lay down the rule, that the more numerous and vivid the colours of the furniture, the more simple should be the carpet alike in colour and pattern, an assortment of green and black having, in very many cases, a good effect. On the other hand, if the furniture is of a single colour, or if its contrasts consist only of different

tones of the same colour, we may, without detriment, employ a carpet of brilliant colours, in such a way as to establish a harmony of contrast between them and the dominant hue of the furniture. But if the furniture is of mahogany, and we wish to bring out its peculiar colour, then we must not have either red, orange, or scarlet, as a dominant colour in the covering of the floor.

The covering of chairs may present either a harmony of contrast or a harmony of analogy with the hangings, according as the room is large or small; and a good effect may be produced by bordering the stuff at the parts contiguous to the wood with the same colour as the hangings, but of a higher tone. Nothing, too, contributes more to enhance the beauty of a stuff intended for chairs, sofas, &c., than the selection of the wood to which it is attached; and, reciprocally, nothing contributes more to augment the beauty of the wood than the colour of the stuff in juxtaposition with it. In accordance with the principles of colouring laid down in a preceding part of this essay, it is evident that we must assort rose or red-coloured woods, such as mahogany, with green stuffs; yellow woods, such as citron, ash-root, maple, satin-wood, &c., with violet or blue stuffs; while red woods likewise do well with blue-greys, and yellow woods with green-greys. But in all those assortments, if we would obtain the best possible effects, it is necessary to take into consideration the contrast resulting from height of tone: for a dark blue or violet stuff will not accord so well with a yellow wood as a light tone of these colours does; and hence, also, yellow does not assort so well with mahogany as with a wood of the same colour, but lighter. There is no wood more generally used by us than mahogany, and no covering for sofas and chairs more common than a crimson woollen stuff; and in this we are influenced not so much by any idea of harmony, as by the twofold motive of the stability of the crimson colour and the beauty of the mahogany. In assorting these, we will often do well to separate the stuff from the wood