purpose, they lack refinement. The MediÆvals got their effects by deep undercutting, and by putting fillets or leaving arrises on such parts as were to tell bright;—Classic and Renaissance mouldings, however, are alone treated of here.

In the best periods of ancient art it was the invariable custom to adopt a form nearly like the profile or section of the moulding, and to double it for the basis of its decoration, and nothing could produce a more pleasing and artistic result, for then the moulding never lost its character, however elaborately it might be enriched. The diagrams from Figs. 67 to 78 will help to illustrate this: for instance, at Fig. 67 we have the Greek ovolo, ornamented with eggs, called

by the Greeks “turnip stones,” which resemble the section of the moulding doubled; at 70 and 73 the Greek ogee is shown with the water leaf ornament

used to enrich it, for which we have no distinctive name—it is called by the French “Rais de Coeur,” and resembles the section of the moulding doubled; at 71 is a Roman variation of this ornament; at 68, a Roman cavetto, or hollow; at 69, a “cyma recta.” Fig. 77 is a curved “astragal” or bead moulding; and at Fig. 78 is the bead and reel ornament. (See also Figs. 72 and 73 for examples of Greek bead and reel ornament.) Figs. 74, 75, and 76 are examples of ornament used for flat bands or fascias. When these are sunk with semi-circular or elliptical channels they are called “fluted,” and when raised in relief “reeded.”

We may next briefly speak of the ornamental treatment of floors, walls, and ceilings.

Beginning with the floor, it must be remembered that in floor decoration the sense of flatness should be preserved; raised and especially angular surfaces are to be avoided, and what is unpleasant to use is unpleasant to be suggested for use, though the Assyrians used relief on their floors. Whether the

decoration be obtained by carpets, rugs, floor-cloth, inlaid marble or metal, mosaic, tiles, or parquetry, nothing should be introduced to disturb the flatness,

by shading the forms or by imitating mouldings, or a ridge and furrow. All realistic renderings of animals

or plants should be carefully avoided. The colour may be varied, but evenly distributed, and mostly sober; though the Romans sometimes used lapis lazuli for their floors, or encrusted them with gems, and the Byzantines used gold or silver chased and enriched with niello. Mosaic work applied to floors was an early form of decoration, and is still of a high order in the scale of floor decorations, the highest

being marble inlaid with other marbles or with mastic, like those in the Baptistery at Florence and the Cathedral at Siena. The use of marble or tiles in this country is limited to the floors of museums, baths, halls and passages; on account of their coldness, they cannot be used with comfort in ordinary rooms. Mosaic may be treated with borders and lines like the framing of a picture, with the field (or central space) either plain, powdered with spots of decoration, or covered with a pattern. Black and white is the most dignified treatment. If other colours are used, black with pale red or cream colour, or low-toned reds, greens, greys, and yellows are to be preferred. Opus Alexandrinum is one of the most magnificent floor decorations yet used; rectangular or circular slabs of porphyry are surrounded with bands composed of geometrical figures in purple, green, and black porphyry, on a white marble ground, though marble occasionally takes the place of porphyry in the smaller geometrical patterns. (See Fig. 79.)

Floor-cloths and linoleums are of modern introduction. The decoration of these coverings is best when it is of subdued colours treated flatly.

In carpets, the pattern should, as a rule, radiate from geometric points; at least the more important spots should be on a circular, lozenge, or square basis, so that the eye should not be carried in one particular direction. If animals are used, they should have a simple outline, and should be treated flatly. Realistic flowers, birds, human figures, landscapes, and architecture are out of place on carpets. A border always improves a carpet, if properly designed to harmonize with the centre, or to enhance its value.

Walls may be decorated with metals or marbles; with wood panelling, either plain, moulded, inlaid, carved or incised; with plaster flatly embossed or sunk, or in which stones, shells or looking-glass, &c. is embedded; with plain colour, with painted or stencilled patterns; with furs or feather work; with hangings of velvet, satin, silk, or calico, either plain, enriched, or embroidered; by tapestry, matting, stamped leather or

its imitations, and by paper-hangings. If pictures are to be hung on a wall, it is obvious that a low-toned decoration, that will set them off, is alone admissible; since the pictures themselves are the principal decoration, the walls should be treated as an unobtrusive background. The best decoration for appearance after simple colour or a painted pattern is silk or woven stuffs.[6] If paper-hangings be chosen, they should have a uniform pattern and be free from spots; for the eye should not be arrested by any particular form, nor be forcibly carried in any direction. In illustration of this, we may suppose the diagrams, Figs. 80, 81, 82, and 83, to represent decorated wall spaces. All these decorative arrangements are bad as wall-coverings; but by combining their elements, at Fig. 84 a tolerably good paper-hanging is produced that will form a background for furniture and pictures.

The diagram, Fig. 80, arrests the eye; 81 and 82 tend to exaggerate the height or breadth of the room; for patterns in which vertical or horizontal lines predominate will have the effect of lengthening or widening the surface of the wall; whilst the diagram 83, being composed of oblique lines, will not only give a look of weakness to the wall, but will lead the eye from one corner of the room to the other. A pattern, to be satisfactory as a background, should neither arrest the eye nor carry it in any particular direction.

The height of a real dado generally depends on the height of the chair-backs, but it may be influenced by the height of the ceiling, and partly by the use to which the room is put; high wainscoting prevents small-sized pictures from being seen. If the wainscot

be higher than the centre of the wall, the upper part of the wall may have a stronger decoration with a more flowing pattern than would be admissible on a

wall with lower wainscoting. If there be a frieze in the room, a still freer and more pictorial treatment may be allowed on it. The Greeks called the frieze Zoophoros, or life-bearing, because it was generally

adorned with figures of men or animals. Wall spaces need not be panelled in small rooms, as the window-openings, doors, and fireplaces mostly break up the space sufficiently. If the rooms, though small, are high, a dado and a frieze are improvements. On ceilings there is more room for variety and elaboration. There are many ways of decorating ceilings. We may take the cornice as the frame, and regard the ceiling as the space to decorate; the simplest way is to powder it (Fig. 85), or to cover it over with a scroll-work pattern (Fig. 86). An effective treatment consists in lightly covering the field with a pattern steadied by labels, shields, or medallions (Fig. 87).

In dividing a ceiling into panels, either by painting or by relief work, the centre panel or compartment should generally be larger than any of the others (see Fig. 89, and 92 at B), though there are excellent Renaissance ceilings divided into equal panels. When the ceiling is unequally divided, the spaces should be in harmonic proportion, so that no two series of panels shall be the same width; this, however, does not apply to the widths of the stiles and rails, which should be alike. Figs. 88 and 89 show such arrangements. Care must be taken in designing the subdivisions of ceilings that the panels, interspaces, and mouldings are well contrasted. A safe guide for the designer in obtaining the requisite proportions is to be found in the Roman ceilings, although those of which drawings are preserved were mostly vaulted. For flat ceilings, good examples may be studied of the best period of Italian Renaissance (Fig. 88), and in both cases the mouldings of the panels are usually given. Where a ceiling to be decorated is divided by beams, the panelling, if admissible, should be repeated in the different compartments. Ceilings of corridors or long rooms may be harmonically divided across at discretion.

Relief work or modelled ornament on ceilings should be so regulated that the light from windows or from artificial illumination should cause little cast shadow, only enough to define the outline; the forms should be carefully rounded off in the more important masses to lessen the abruptness of cast shadow. A preponderance of light in the larger masses, connected and softened by lower tones, is commonly adopted.

On the carved surface itself, the play of light and shade should be quite secondary, and not compete in strength with the deeper shadows cast by the ornament on its ground. If this be not attended to, confusion and obscurity are apt to be produced.

A nice balancing of light and shade is of the greatest importance in relief ornament. It may here be remarked, that for outdoor work in a sunny climate, a lower relief in the carving and more delicacy in the mouldings is admissible, than in a misty one like ours, where strong sunlight rarely occurs; and for this reason a bolder treatment of relief is necessary, which allows of a coarser material being used. Before leaving the subject of relief ornament, it would be as well to state, that no carved decoration should be fastened on to a ceiling or panel, but should be worked out of the material itself; and also that where human figures are used on ceilings, they must be so arranged as to be seen from the heads at the most important point in the room; seen from the feet the figures appear to be upside down.