66 ON COLOUR. Paet I. 



adopted by all southern people, and in looking through a 

 broken part of the coloured ceiling of an Egyptian temple you 

 perceive, where the colour has been well preserved, very little 

 difference between it and the sky. With regard to the colours 

 we use, lapis lazuli, or French blue, may be said most pro- 

 perly to represent blue ; and the former has the advantage, 

 as Mr. Field has shown, of being more durable than cobalt 

 blue, which tends to greenness, though it has the power of 

 resisting the sun for a long time. 



b. Red is not so easily defined. It has been called the 

 colour of the ruby, of the carbuncle, of blood, of the red- 

 currant, or of a red-ochre, all which are somewhat dissimilar. 

 The particular hue may therefore be taken either from that 

 most generally used in olden times for ornamental purposes, 

 or from that of the rainbow. It will suffice that it be one 

 of the known reds, and provided we fix on the exact hue 

 we mean, whenever it is mentioned no mistake can occur. 

 Those which are generally called red appear to have too 

 great an approach to a crimson ; and without pretending 

 to decide whether the colour of the carbuncle or any of 

 the above has the best claim to be considered a true red, I 

 would suggest that the colour of the original Verbena Melin- 

 dris is one of the purest types. 



When the primaries blue, red, and yellow are combined, 

 they produce a perfect concord; but when the yellow is 

 wanting, scarlet accords far better than red with blue ; and 

 they do not assume the same false purple hue by their juxta- 

 position, owing to the yellow in the scarlet. When, therefore, 

 blue and red are the only two colours placed together, the 

 latter should give place to scarlet, which too is almost always 

 preferable to pure red for ornamentation. But when blue, 

 red, and yellow are in juxtaposition, red, or rather crimson 

 has a very rich and satisfactory effect. 



c. Yellovj has been represented by "gamboge moistened 



