188 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



EXTERIOR DECORATIONS 



When decorating exteriors for Royal visits, the 

 purpose for which the work is being done should be 

 constantly kept in view, and an endeavour should 

 always be made to pay a compliment through it to 

 whoever is at the moment being feted. This point 

 never seems to have the smallest consideration with 

 our English decorators, the same cheap flags and 

 banners are brought out time after time, no matter 

 what the nationality of the visitor, and these, instead 

 of beautifying the premises upon which they are 

 employed, hide any architectural lines that may 

 exist, and add no dignity whatever to the occasion. 



Exterior decorations cannot be done cheaply and 

 well, as it is heavy and difficult work, and my advice 

 is to leave them alone altogether unless you intend 

 to have them tastefully executed, as less comment 

 is made if decorations are not done at all. 



The importance of carrying out decorative 

 schemes in an appropriate way was very forcibly 

 illustrated on the occasion of the late visit of H.I.M. 

 the Emperor of Germany, who was so struck by 

 one of the decorations which I had the honour of 

 designing and executing that he caused his carriage 

 to be stopped while he inspected it, and on his 

 arrival at the Mansion House he made the 



