In the dress of our own people, most of us must have seen the discordant colours that are worn even to the disparagement of the person, and showing a great want of taste. In many of our dwellinghouses the same bad judgment in painting and colouring is often discovered to prevail. Walls, some of which are coloured like that of indigo, others of a yellow, the colour of saffron, and others again of a fiery red;* but of all colours there are none so harmonious as the sage green and the drabs. Now as different colours suit different tastes, so we shall subjoin a list of each compound below.†

Graining comprises the imitations of woods and marbles; the latter is distinguished by the term marbling; it is strictly an imitative art, and demands in its execution considerable judgment and good taste, united to a close observation of the peculiar characters of the different woods and marbles to be represented. It is usually done on ground prepared for the purpose, the colour of which is varied according to the kind of wood or marble to be imitated. In putting in the soft shades or ground-work to marble imitations, care must be taken not to mix the colours together so as to give the work a muddy appearance, and the colours should be used as thin as will make the work sufficiently solid, or it will seem uneven when varnished.

* Green is, on the contrary, the softest of colours; the most permanently grateful, that which less fatigues the eyes, and on which they will longest and most willingly repose. Accordingly, nature has been profuse of green in the colouring of all plants; she has dyed in some sort of this colour, the greater part of the surface of the globe. Scarlet is the most offensive, or endurable for the shortest space of time. White is the next to scarlet; to flaming colours and white objects the eyes should not be often or long exposed. The poor untutored Indian when he traverses his native wilderness, while it is everywhere covered with snow, fixes before his eyes a wooden frame, which only permits the rays of light to pass through a very minute aperture. His view is thus confined, and his light small, but he preserves his sight from certain injury. A student at Cambridge, who sat daily for several hours in an apartment, the walls of which were whitewashed, felt himself in a short time effected with dimness of sight: a fellow-student had the like occasion for complaint. Suspecting the strong light reflected from the walls to be the cause, they had their apartments coloured green, and their eyes then gradually regained their former strength. Scarlet window and bed-curtains are the worst that can be chosen, they contract a complaint which frequently follows in inflammation of the eyes, and is often irremediable. Looking very frequently at a fire, or on any very glaring object will have the same tendency.—(Author.)

TINTED COLOURS.

Stone colour. White lead with a little burnt or raw umber and yellow ochre.

Grey stone colour. White lead and a little black.

Drab. White lead, with burnt umber and a little yellow ochre for a warm tint, and with raw umber and a little black for a green tint.

Pearl colour. White lead with black, and a little Prussian blue.

Sky blue. White lead with Prussian blue.

French grey.

White lead with Prussian blue and a little lake. These last, used in various proportions, will make purple and lilacs of all shades.

Fawn colour. White lead with stone ochre, and a little vermilion or burnt stone ochre.

Orange colour.

Orange lead, or chrome yellow and vermilion.

Peach colour. White lead, with either vermilion, Indian red, purple brown, or burnt stone ochre.

Gold colour. Crome yellow, with a little vermilion and white.

Violet colour. White lead with vermilion, blue and black.

Sage green. Prussian blue, raw umber, and yellow stone ochre with a little white, and thinned with boiled oil and a little turpentine.

Olive green. Raw umber, with Prussian blue thinned as before.

Pea green.

White lead, with Brunswick green, or with Prussian blue and chrome yellow.

Chocolate colour. Spanish brown or Venetian red and black, thinned with boiled oil and a little turpentine.

Lead colour. White lead and black.

Plain opaque oak colour. White lead, with yellow ochre and burnt umber.

Plain opaque mahogany colour. Purple brown, and Venetian red, with a little black.

Black should be ground in boiled oil, and thinned with boiled oil and a little turpentine.

It will be obvious, that the proportions of the colours above mentioned must be determined by the particular tone of colour required.

Small

We have frequently observed in halls painted in imitation of marbles, that the stones are represented preposterously large, by the joints being made too far apart; now this large size of the stones diminishes the size of the hall. stones have a contrary effect, that of giving height, which is at all times to be desired.-(Author.)

Ornamental painting consists chiefly in painting scrolls, figures, or other enrichments, on plain work, so as to give them the appearance of relief or projection; it is most commonly done in the corners and margins of panels. The ornaments or enrichments to be painted are usually sketched first on paper, and the outlines are then pricked through with a needle point. This paper is to be laid on the wall or work on which the ornament is to be painted, and pounced over with a charcoal pounce-bag; the charcoal after passing through the small holes in the paper will leave a faint tracing of the outline of the ornament on the work, and serve as a guide to paint it by. The brushes used are camel or sable-hair pencils with long hair, and a rest-stick is held in the left hand to steady that of the right; also a palette to work the colours from the same, as is used by artists generally. If the colour of the ornament is to differ from that of the ground on which it is painted, the pounced outline should first be filled up, and when that is dry the shades are to be put in; but when the ornament is to be of the same colour as the ground, it will only be necessary to put in the shades by the assistance of the pounced outline. As soon as the first shades are dry they may be heightened, and a stronger relief given to the ornament.

DISSERTATION XLIII.

THE MODEL.

"It is easy to corrrect what is wrong in a model; it is not so in the house itself when built,-there it must remain to the disgrace of the architect."-Essay on Design.

The architect after he has made out his plans and elevations for the intended house, in which he has formed the apertures without and within with the greatest attention and circumspection, and so arranged the external openings that they shall admit good and sufficient light to the full extent of the rooms, without apparent injury, or impairing the strength of the fabric, and has also proportioned them in number and dimensions to the whole building, he may now apparently have satisfied himself and the proprietor. But he is further to consider that those drawings are only the surfaces of the building, and, that many of the parts of the elevation which now please his eye, may, perhaps, when the house is erected entirely disappear or fall back, occasioned by the projection of some parts intervening, while others recede; so that the proprietor may afterwards find himself to have been deceived, and is now dissatisfied. In the original drawing he saw the parts geometrically, but he now sees all perspectively. The elevations should therefore have been accompanied with a perspective drawing made from some chosen or general spot where it would be most seen, and then embellished with all its local scenery.*

A model in pasteboard, or one made of plaster of Paris, and coloured after nature, may be formed of the intended edifice, and laid before the employer. Where the house is to be extensive it will be needful, and this will no doubt be the more satisfactory; and though it will not embrace the scenery

* For a small building, the elevation of each front with a plan may indicate with sufficient correctness its ultimate advantages; but for a large mansion or public edifice of any description, consisting of many complex parts, the most certain way to prevent misunderstanding is to have a perfect model of the whole made by a regular scale. A model shows at once the bad points of a design, but in a perspective drawing, such as is usually made, the best aspect is chosen; every part disagreeable in the design is omitted, lowered, or concealed; everything calculated to make a picture is elevated and made prominent, (which perhaps in the erection will disappear,) irregularities are corrected, proportions are improved. Stone and brick, or cement receives from the colour box the same brilliant complexion. Thus, that which an ordinary judge has supposed would be grand, beautiful, or picturesque, afterwards turns out to be mean, abrupt in outline, and abounding in little unimportant parts, whereby the proprietor is grievously disappointed.—(Author.)

as a picture, yet it the model is placed on a stand, or on a proper elevation for inspection, it will show the actual effect that will be produced, as clearly as if the house was erected, and seen on the real site. The imagination of the proprietor is not to be misled or captivated by ornament in this little piece; its purpose is to show him the figure the house will assume when executed, and the intended division of the house within, which latter object may be done by two or three horizontal separations at the roof and the ceilings, which at those places may be taken apart whenever desired. The larger such a model is made the better, because the parts will be the better understood by an unexperienced eye, and as we advise perfect plainness in it, the expense will be trifling compared with the satisfaction that will be felt by the employer afterwards.

Where an outside view of the intended house is the chief consideration, a solid block model may be made, and fixed down on a large board, the separate elevations may then be drawn on paper, and pasted on the various sides; the ground may also be laid out and represented in the same manner this will give all the effect of the edifice in miniature.

DISSERTATION XLIV.

ON STABLES AND COACH-HOUSES.

"-GILPIN.

"Stables and coach-houses are picturesque appendages to a country house when designed with taste. All houses in the country of any consequence have stables and coach-houses, and more particularly gentlemen's seats; these should be detached, and at some moderate distance from the dwelling-house, and embosomed or concealed by trees, though parts of the building should be seen peering above the tops of the branches; which will show where the stables are situated, and at the same time give a picturesque effect to the home scenery. Stables and coach-houses should also be designed in the same style of architecture as that of the dwelling-house, and arranged with taste and judgment; the middle part of the building rising higher than the others, which are on each side. Such elevation is generally produced by the hay-loft that is over the stables. A turret with a clock should also be placed in the centre of the stables, which is not only a great ornament, but a convenience for the coachman and those engaged about the stables, as well as to those employed on the grounds within sound of the clock-bell. It also enhances the beauty and gives consequence to the

mansion.

To small villas or suburban residences, where the ground will not admit of the coach-house and stables being placed at a distance, but connected with the residence, and where there are no large trees to hide them, these appendages should in that case be partially planted before or shut out, and the visible parts of the buildings subdued, or, in the painter's phrase, kept down, by some grey colour washed over them, such as Dorking lime and ivory-black mixed, this will take off the glaring intruding effect, and prevent their coming forward to offend the eye.

There have been some ingenious coach-houses and stables lately erected for Mr. Newman, a great livery stable-keeper in Regent's Street, London, well worthy of inspection. The area of the ground, (which is approached from an archway in Regent Street) is that of a square, three sides of which contain coach-houses below and stables above. The entrance to the square is on the fourth side near the street. Here, on each side, or immediately as you enter the area, there is an inclined road at the right hand, and another on the left, on which the horses ascend or walk up to passages

supported from below by iron pillars, between which pillars are the coach-houses, and the stables above, the door to each being on the side of the passage. The whole interior area has the appearance of some extensive inn-yard, surrounded with coach-houses below, and lodging-rooms for passengers above, and not that of horses.

DISSERTATION XLV.

ON THE CHARACTER AND FORMS OF ENTRANCE-LODGES.

"Lodges give consequence to a country residence, and when the piers are surmounted with arms or crests, they point out to what family or sect they belong."—Essay on Design.

Park entrance-lodges to gentlemen's seats are generally attractive, by their being made either imposing, beautiful, or picturesque, where designed with taste and elegance. If the local scenery is in accordance with the mansion, and the road curves gracefully towards it, to produce deception as to the actual distance of the house, it has a more rural appearance: but it must be observed, that the lodge should always be in the same style of architecture as that of the dwelling-house, to be in accordance and worthy of being admired. Lodges may be considered as the offspring, the mansion itself the parent. Now nothing could be more absurd than that of a Gothic lodge to a Roman mansion, or a Tudor lodge to a Grecian villa; and yet with all this apparent inconsistency, such heterogeneous combinations are frequently to be met with, many of which we could point out in the county of Devon, were it not that it might make their owners dissatisfied with their injudicious choice. It is from a sight of the entrance-lodge also that we are to form an idea of the style of the architecture of the seat or dwelling-house to which the lodge belongs.*

To render those buildings attractive, they are generally formed of such parts as will make a bold projection or give a deep shadow, such as a projecting portico or porch on the plan, like that of the Greek cross, where some parts are thus seen, and others occasion a partial shade by the projecting centre. A porch in front, or a portico of four columns surmounted with a triangular pediment is of this description; and when in the rustic style, a colonnade or awning, formed with rough trunks of pollard trees, is introduced, overgrown and partially concealed by clusters of clematis and China roses, intermixed with honeysuckles, hanging in graceful festoons from the eaves and walls, will have a truly rural effect. The genteel gate to a plantation too, with its piers surmounted with the family crest of some rampant lion, eagle, or griffin, all enhance the consequence of the domain.

In lodges the polygonal figures may be adapted in the design with good effect; for proof of this we would refer to a double lodge on Hearne Hill near Dulwich, in the county of Surrey, where there is an open porch in front with three arches, and a gate on each side, of the most picturesque kind; it is situated some way back from the road, and is approached by a kind of vista, or avenue of overhanging trees from the neighbouring park, spreading their branches on each side, which in perspective dimi

* The gate-house or park entrance, (now so frequently but injudiciously built to our country residences) was, during the Tudor period, designed rather to produce an agreeable and picturesque effect, than to accord with any fixed rules or customs of art beyond that of being in character with the dwelling-house to which it belonged, which was strictly observed. Such, indeed, was the practice towards the latter end of the sixteenth century, when it would appear, that, like the fashion of the present day, every man wished to display his taste and learning in architecture.-(R. B.)

nishes towards the lodge, and gives it a great distance. There trees, spreading their rude branches over the entrance, produce a very enchanting appearance. Here the trees are lofty, which still enhance the beauty of the scene, and give an idea of grandeur in respect to the house to which it leads. The park entrance is still of a sublimer kind of architecture; being adapted for a nobleman's mansion and a large domain, these columnar facades should never be built but where they can well be seen from some public or high road, like that belonging to Lord Portsmouth in Hampshire, near Andover, or the more splendid one at Brentford, belonging to Sion House, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland, where the entrance is on the edge of the Great Western Road. As to its composition, there is, first, a lofty arch in the centre, with composite pilasters on each side, ornamenting a superstructure above, on which stands the figure of a lion, the crest of the noble duke. Branching to the right and left of this centre is a screen of columns or open colonnade, giving a view into the park. At each end of the colonnade are the lodges, surmounted with Egyptian sphynxes, which are rather an anomaly.*

The grounds of Sion House form a fine lawn, extending from Isleworth to Brentford. The park trees within the entrance are rich and luxuriant in foliage, hanging in massy grandeur, and the central gravel-walk running in a straight line from the park entrance, shows the perspective lessening in the distance. As noblemen's domains are supposed to be generally of large extent, the house should always be situated at a proportionate distance from the park-entrance; the walks should also be circuitous, which will still give them a greater extent and more importance.

DISSERTATION XLVI.

ON VENTILATING DWELLING-HOUSES.

"Ventilation is the art of renovating the air in the apartments of our dwelling-houses, and in all kinds of public buildings. We may exist for several days without food, but we die if deprived only for a few minutes of air."-DR. FRANKLIN.

As air is necessary to life without doors, so is pure air in our apartments to health; yet it appears that this important fact has nearly escaped the attention of the greater part of mankind, who are prone to blame the purveyor for the greater part of their complaints, without reflecting upon the impure air they may have been inspiring at the rate of about two gallons per minute. The oxygen gas, or vital portion of the atmosphere that enters the lungs, is changed at each respiration into carbonic acid gas. This gas, as is well known, is poisonous if inspired alone, or even if a large proportion of it be mixed with the atmospheric air. But by an admirable provision of the Great Author of nature, this contaminated air is rendered specifically lighter than the pure atmosphere, from the heat it has derived from the lungs, and consequently rises above our heads during the short pause between each respiration; thus insuring to us always a pure draught of air, unless we prevent it by artificial means. It is not however always owing to a deficiency of oxygen, that the air of rooms

This park entrance was designed and built by the Messrs. Adams, in 1762. Some time after, being much admired, an exact copy of it was formed in separate stones, and presented by the late Duke of Northumberland to John I., King of Portugal, and sent to Rio Janeiro; his Grace being at the whole expense of the freight, and of a person sent out to superintend the erection. It is fixed at Chacre, the country residence of the king, about three miles from Rio Janeiro.(Moule's Counties.)

+ There is no doubt that many diseases arise from an improper diet, and the modern fashion of culinary processes. It was an observation of Mr. Addison's, that, whenever he saw a luxurious table spread out, he imagined to himself there were diseases lurking among the dishes.-(Spectator.)