148 ON COLOUR. Paet I. 



to red and yellow, even though the same quantity may some- 

 times be employed with blue ; and red and yellow, as sepa- 

 rate colours, would have a very different effect from orange 

 when placed in juxtaposition with green. Again, the quan- 

 tity of a colour when employed in combination with many 

 others, and when employed with one only, to which it is a 

 contrast, will be very different. Thus, when a blue and an 

 orange are of the same quantity, the introduction of black will 

 require the proportion of the orange to be increased ; if a red 

 is introduced, the blue should be in greater quantity than 

 before ; and similar changes must be made according to the 

 number and nature of the colours added to a composition. 

 Thus, when blue, scarlet, yellow, green, orange, black, white, 

 and purple are combined, the quantities of the blue, red, and 

 yellow must be greatly altered ; and a different proportion is 

 even required according to the relative positions of the colours. 

 No one rule can be laid down for all cases : and the propor- 

 tions must necessarily depend on many accidental circum- 

 stances. They will also be influenced by the style of the 

 object to be ornamented ; as well as by its use and position ; 

 the effect it is to produce, whether by daylight or by candle- 

 light, &c. ; as before stated. Thus, red looks well with 

 a large quantity of white when there are only these two 

 colours, as I shall presently show ; but this is not to be the 

 general proportion of white to red in a composition. On the 

 contrary, when a great number of colours are combined, the 

 red, like the others, should far exceed the white in quantity, 

 and a superabundance of white could then only be tolerated as 

 a ground in particular cases. A pattern on a carpet composed 

 of numerous colours would not look well if the white (not 

 being the ground) exceeded the others in quantity; and I have 

 already stated (Sect. VI. p. 99) that when some colours are com- 

 bined in very different quantities the effect is seldom good. 

 But there are exceptions to this rule, as when white is put 



