428 Life of Count Rumford. 



" The most elegant simplicity is observable in all the furni- 

 ture, which is different on each story ; and even in the choice of 

 the colors you see that the taste of the owner has been aided by 

 those natural rules for the blending of tints which, as he himself 

 has discovered, always harmonize for the eye when they are re- 

 spectively the complement of the colors which the whole prismatic 

 spectrum presents. You see that these discoveries of Newton 

 can be applied to the choice of a ribbon as well as to a cosmos. 



" I forgot to tell you of the ingenious and convenient arrange- 

 ment of the dining-room. Its area is changeable by means of a 

 partition of window-sashes with large panes, forming a very 

 large double door, which opens on the side of the casements for 

 the sunlight, and by which also the heat escapes in the winter. 

 When the folding doors are open at right angles they correspond 

 with the windows, and the room is to that extent enlarged j the 

 same doors form then two side recesses which answer for two 

 sideboards, communicating within and outside the room, by 

 which the service of the table is performed without the servants 

 having to come in. If you wish to contract the room and to 

 preserve its warmth by the effective agency of double windows, 

 you can close the folding doors, and, without depriving yourself 

 of light or of the charming view of the shrubbery with which all 

 the windows are decked, you are completely protected from all 

 chills. 



" I occupy by myself half of this charming dwelling. On 

 the ground-floor is my working-room, and on the first story my 

 bedchamber and parlor. The house is equipped with the most 

 perfect simplicity and the most complete order, and a person 

 could not conceive a more pleasant life, nor one more comfortable 

 (why do we not adopt that word which we need in our lan- 

 guage ?) than that which is led here. Perfect freedom is given 

 and enjoyed. Our first tcte-a-tcte takes place at breakfast, and 

 I never leave it without having learned something new, interest- 

 ing, or useful. I try always to arrange my day's work with 

 reference to engaging my friend in some object of research 

 which is common to us ; and if I do not always succeed in it, 

 I have at least the assurance of rejoining him in the evening, 



