HOUSES AND GARDENS 



In the bedroom sleep may be invited in many a classic and poetic 

 phrase ; 



To Mary Queen the praise be given, 

 She sent the gentle sleep from Heav'n 

 That slid into my soul. 



And 



Sleep that knitteth up the ravell'd sleeve of care 



may be quoted as examples from Coleridge and Shakespeare : For a picture- 

 gallery 



dost thou love pictures ? 



But so many examples of mottoes suggest themselves for the apartments 

 of the house that it would not be difficult to fill a book with appropriate 

 quotations, and the space at my disposal only enables me here to suggest 

 a few. 



In their application an excellent idea is suggested by R. L. Stevenson, 

 who wished to procure a set of gilded letters in metal which might be fixed 

 easily to woodwork, and by means of which special mottoes might be arranged 

 for special occasions, and this temporary use of mottoes would admit of a 

 much larger range of sayings grave and gay. 



CHAPTER TWENTY ONE 



COLOUR 



N the use of colour in the house, perhaps the most important 

 question to consider is, Will it fade ? It may be noted that 

 those colours which at once captivate and attract the eye are 

 generally the most evanescent. 



As in the world of letters there is a kind of book which has 

 a brief passion of life succeeded by total neglect, so in the decorative world 

 there are brilliant colours, the stimulating effects of which soon pall. In 

 the natural world these intense colours are found in the passing pageant of 

 the flowers, while the constant tints are those sober, quiet tones which one 

 may love little, but which one can love long ; and inasmuch as these vivid 

 colours are those which fade, one may perhaps take the hint which nature 

 thus conveys, and in the permanent dyes for the adornment of the house 

 keep to quiet colour as a setting for the transient brightness of flowers, or 

 the concentrated brilliance of a decorative picture in stained glass. 



The use of aniline dyes instead of the old vegetable ones has been the 



chief cause of the prevalence of unreliable colours in modern materials. 



William Morris made a careful study of dyeing, and revived the use of most 



of the old vegetable dyes, so that the great merit of the Morris fabrics apart 



c 49 



