§ 37—39. CONCORD OF COLOURS. 55 



sistent and offensive. A quantity of white glass is bad and 

 poor, and yellow is better than white for preventing red and 

 blue from appearing purple at a distance. The border should 

 be in proportion to the size of the light ; too small, and even 

 too large a quantity of ground between medallions should be 

 avoided ; the medallions should not be all of the same form, 

 and the patterns should not be too small, nor have a spotted 

 appearance as in a caleidoscope ; the primary colours should 

 predominate over the secondary and tertiary; and the best 

 windows for imitation are those of the 1200. In rosette 

 windows, the tracery lights, or openings, should radiate from 

 the centre, rather than be concentric. But coloured glass is 

 not required in buildings of the Renaissance style. 



38. I have shown that in former times, England was neither 

 prejudiced against the employment of colour, nor was defi- 

 cient in the due appreciation of it. She was then fully 

 persuaded of its importance as an ornamental accessory (even 

 in architecture) ; and now that the same conviction is gain- 

 ing ground, it is most important that the subject should be 

 properly understood, and that we should seek the same 

 result from the employment of colour which has been at- 

 tained in those countries where it has been practised with 

 the greatest success. This is to be done by careful observa- 

 tion, by the education of the eye, and by studying those 

 examples of good combinations which may serve to form our 

 taste ; and it is only when experience has thus been acquired 

 that rules can be laid down for combining colours consist- 

 ently with true haimony. The same facilities may then be 

 afforded for obtaining harmony of colour, which rules in music 

 afford for producing the harmony of sounds. 



39. The perception of the concord of colours, as of sounds, is 

 to some persons a natural gift ; and those who possess it can 

 no more help perceiving at first sight whether their arrange- 

 ment forms a concord or a discord, than they can help dis- 



r. i 



