APRIL 275 



panel was gilt, and I have lately found that thin oak takes 

 the gilding best. I think in the original Eossetti screen 

 it was gilt paper or leather. On this, long peacock 

 feathers, split at the back to make them lie flat, were 

 arranged in groups of three or five or six, at various 

 heights according to fancy. They look best if the stalks 

 nearly meet at the bottom. The panels are glazed on 

 both sides. A square firescreen can be arranged in the 

 same way. The effect is most satisfactory, and it has 

 that great merit in furniture unchangeableness. The 

 colours, being natural, never fade ; and the glass preserves 

 the feathers from perishing. 



The following is a receipt for varnishing plaster casts, 

 given me many years ago by Sir Edward Burne-Jones : 



Quarter of an ounce of gum elami, two ounces of 

 white wax, half a pint of turpentine ; add a small squeeze 

 from an oil-paint tube of raw umber when a small quantity 

 of the varnish has been poured into a saucer ready for 

 use. Apply with a brush and spread quickly and evenly. 

 This has to be done three times, with a day between 

 each coating, and rubbed hard with a silk handkerchief 

 between each painting. It gives casts and plaster figures 

 the colour of old ivory and makes them useful and 

 decorative in a way they can never be without it. The 

 varnish on the casts 'lasts for ever, never becomes dirty, 

 and the dust can be rubbed or even washed off quite 

 easily. The best place in London for plaster casts is 

 Brucciani's (40 Bussell Street, Co vent Garden). I know 

 few decorations more satisfactory for those who appreciate 

 them and in certain rooms than these casts, either from 

 Greek friezes or (best of all) the low-relief reproductions 

 of Donatello s almost divine work. 



Dinner-tables in country houses are often a great 

 puzzle. I know nothing so dreary as two or three people 

 sitting down to a large empty table at breakfast or dinner, 



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