12 ON COLOUR. Paet I. 



For though it has been denied that any effect of distance 

 is to be obtained by the use of a particular colour, there is no 

 doubt that a ceiling may to all appearance be raised or 

 lowered by those means ; and blue in many positions seems 

 to recede, while red comes nearer to the eye ; which is fre- 

 quently very observable in a coloured glass window. 



But the ceiling is not the only position suited for blue ; 

 nor can the use of any other colour be determined by its place 

 or quantity in nature. 



It is true that our grass (the admiration of foreigners) is 

 more abundant on the ground ; yet trees, which rise far above 

 the line of the eye, have not a less claim to the green hue ; 

 and in most warm countries green is much more common 

 in trees than upon the ground. Is green then to be used 

 in great quantities, or in one position, in England, and in 

 smaller quantities, or in a different position, in the south ? 

 is blue to be employed more abundantly in countries where 

 the sky is clear, and are the neutral tints of our cloudy atmo- 

 sphere to be adopted for our ceilings ? and is the whole tone 

 of ornamentation to depend on and to be varied according to 

 climate ? 



If so coloured combinations would differ widely in many 

 places from what is really required by harmony : we should 

 have our autumnal and our spring patterns ; and some coun- 

 tries where colours are employed with the greatest profuseness 

 would be limited in their use. The Arabs of the Desert 

 would be condemned to give up the lively carpets they weave, 

 and confine themselves almost entirely to blue (of the sky) 

 and an ochry yellow (of the sand) ; and the Eskimos would 

 be nearly limited to blue and white, as the animals of snowy 

 regions are to the latter hue throughout the winter. On such 

 conditions many colours would be excluded altogether ; and 

 excepting blue (in imitation of water and the sky) the pri- 

 maries would be sparingly used in many countries. 



