276 The Country House. 



its character as a wall ; and, therefore, the boundaries of the panels ought 

 neither to extend to the angles nor the ceiling, but leave enough at these 

 places to show that the paintings only covered compartments, and were in- 

 tended to ornament the wall, not to conceal it. 



Dinmg-rooms, " strictly so called and employed, are generally unadorned 

 with pictures : this hardly seems necessar}'. In theory, we may admit that 

 subjects requiring some contemplation would be out of place in a room exclu- 

 sively devoted to 'the table'; but portraits of celebrated individuals, and 

 landscapes, although they cannot be duly examined in such moments, may 

 convey associations, to which the spectator, even if not particularly con- 

 versant in pictures, is supposed to be alive at all times. Portraits of the 

 class alluded to, as historic texts, are connected with time ; and landscape, 

 especially if founded on actual scenes, suggests the conditions of place. A 

 room used for the purpose in question, and for nothing else, is, however, not 

 the place where fine works of art should be bestowed ; and I inchne to think 

 that this is the fittest field for small frescoes and arabesques. This, in short, 

 is one of the occasions to please the eye and the imagination only. Accord- 

 ingly, in the mode proposed, no definite idea is presented to the mind, but an 

 idea of elegant and festive splendour surrounds the guests. There should, 

 however, be endless variety ; scarcely a form should be repeated in the 

 details, although an architectural symmetry is, as usual, to be preserved in the 

 masses." (p. 57.) 



The BreaJcfast-room. Where a family betake themselves to particular 

 rooms at stated hours, it may be allowable to decorate and furnish these 

 rooms in such a manner as to insure a marked and agreeable variety of cha- 

 racter. " The morning has its own feelings, even for those whom affluence 

 frees from any kind of labour. The purposes of the day are unfinished ; 

 every thing is contingent. Under such circumstances, the character or subject 

 of pictures is to be adapted to the mind, not the mind to the subject. The 

 open face of nature, by sea and land, may here enliven the walls, and agree 

 with the excursive feelings of the hour. The chase and its incidents may here 

 triumph. The English pastoral is here strictly in its place. Solemn themes, 

 solemn effects, should not be admitted ; while all that responds to buoyancy 

 of" spirit would, on the contrary, be appropriate. It need not be gravely 

 objected, that accidental, or even average, states of feeling may be little in 

 unison with the impressions which the arts profess to give ; for the sanie 

 objection is frequently applicable to all of the accompaniments of civilised life, 

 nay, to the beauties of nature, which so often appeal even to cultivated human 

 sympathies in vain. The occasional contradiction is unavoidable where, of 

 two conditions, one is permanent, the other mutable." (p. 58.) 



Corridors and Conservatories. Corridors not furnished with pictures, and 

 garden pavilions, may be decorated with arabesques ; but not so conservatories, 

 where the conventional forms and tints of art would contend injudiciously with 

 nature. 



Frescoes are not adapted for sitting-rooms, because in general they require 

 to be of a large size, and, being fixed, they cannot afford that variety which is 

 produced by a number of small pictures, which may be changed at pleasure. 



The Library. In libraries pictures of extensive interest divert the atten- 

 tion fi'om the business of the place ; but portraits may be admitted, and the 

 library is the proper place for cabinets of gems and medals, collections of en- 

 gravings, terra-cottas, &c. " I prefer a library without coloured decorations ; 

 the wood-work may be carved in flat relief, even to the panels of the walls ; a 

 mode of decoration now b-eautifuUy supplied by embossed leather, which need 

 not be dark in colour. Whatever colour appears, except in the portraits, 

 miniatures, or illuminations, hung around, should be in the books ; these 

 should strike the eye, and be, so to speak, in the foreground of the picture. 

 Vases or busts may surmount the cases. 



" I see no objection even to inscribing both the subject and the name of the 

 master under. works of art generally ; a volume bears its title and author's 



