{{1840-01: In //1845-02: IN }} the internal decoration, if not in the external architecture {{1840-01: , }} of their residences, the English are supreme. The Italians have but little sentiment beyond marbles and colors. In France meliora probant, deteriora sequuntur — the people are too much a race of gad-abouts to {{1840-01: study and }} maintain those household proprieties {{1840-01: , }} of which {{1845-02: , }} indeed {{1845-02: , }} they have a delicate appreciation, or at least the elements of a proper sense. The Chinese {{1840-01: , }} and most of the {{1840-01: Eastern //1845-02: eastern }} races {{1840-01: , }} have a warm but inappropriate fancy. The Scotch are poor decorists. The Dutch have {{1840-01: merely a vague //1845-02: , perhaps, an indeterminate }} idea that a curtain is not a cabbage. In Spain they are all curtains — a nation of {{1840-01: hangmen //1845-02: hangmen }} . The Russians {{1840-01: no [[do]] // 1845-02: do }} not furnish. The Hottentots and Kickapoos are very well in their way {{1840-01: — the //1845-02: . The }} Yankees alone are preposterous.

How this happens it is not difficult to see. We have no aristocracy of blood, and having {{1840-01: , }} therefore {{1840-01: , }} as a natural {{1845-02: , }} and {{1840-01: , }} indeed as an inevitable thing, fashioned for ourselves an aristocracy of dollars, the display of wealth has here to take the place {{1840-01: , }} and perform the office {{1840-01: , }} of the heraldic display in monarchical countries. By a transition readily understood, and which might have been {{1840-01: easily //1845-02: as readily }} foreseen, we have been brought to merge in simple show our notions of taste itself. {{1845-02: [[new paragraph]] }} To speak less {{1840-01: abstractedly //1845-02: abstractly }} . In England, for example, no mere parade of costly appurtenances would be so likely as with us {{1845-02: , }} to create an impression of the beautiful in respect to the appurtenances themselves {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} or of taste as {{1840-01: respects //1845-02: regards }} the proprietor {{1845-02: : }} — this for the reason, first, that wealth is not {{1845-02: , }} in England, the loftiest object of ambition {{1840-01: , }} as constituting a nobility; and {{1840-01: , }} secondly, that there the true nobility of blood {{1845-02: , confining itself within the strict limits of legitimate taste, }} rather avoids than affects {{1845-02: that mere }} costliness in which a {{1840-01: parvenu //1845-02: parvenu }} rivalry may {{1845-02: at any time }} be successfully attempted {{1840-01:, confining itself within the rigorous limits, and to the analytical investigation, of legitimate taste }} . The people {{1840-01: naturally //1845-02: will }} imitate the nobles, and the result is a thorough diffusion of {{1840-01: a right // 1845-02: the proper }} feeling. But {{1840-01: , }} in America {{1840-01: , dollars //1845-02: the coins current }} being the {{1840-01: supreme insignia //1845-02: sole arms }} of {{1845-02: the }} aristocracy, their display may be said, in general {{1840-01: terms }} , to be the sole means of {{1845-02: the }} aristocratic distinction; and the populace, looking {{1840-01: up //1845-02: always upward }} for models, are insensibly led to confound the two entirely separate ideas of magnificence and beauty. In short, the cost of an article of furniture has {{1840-01: , }} at length {{1840-01: , }} come to be, with us, nearly the sole test of its merit in a decorative point of view {{1840-01: . And // 1845-02: — and }} this test, once established, has led the way to many analogous errors, readily traceable to the one primitive folly.

There could be {{1840-01: scarcely any thing //1845-02: nothing }} more directly offensive to the eye of an artist than the interior of what is termed {{1840-01: , }} in the United States {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — that is to say in Appallachia — }} a {{1840-01: well furnished //1845-02: well-furnished }} apartment. Its most usual defect is a {{1840-01: perposterous }} want of keeping. We speak of the keeping of a room as we would of the keeping of a picture {{1840-01: ; // 1845-02: — }} for both the picture and the room are amenable to those undeviating principles which regulate all varieties of art; and very nearly the same laws by which we decide {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} the higher merits of a painting, suffice for {{1840-01: a }} decision {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} the adjustment of a chamber. {{1845-02: [[new paragraph]] }} A want of keeping is observable sometimes in the character of the several pieces of furniture, but generally in their colors or modes of adaptation to use. {{1840-01: Very // 1845-02: Very }} often the eye is offended by their {{1840-01: inartistic //1845-02: inartistical }} arrangement. Straight lines are too prevalent {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} too uninterruptedly continued {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} or clumsily interrupted at right angles. If curved lines occur, they are repeated into unpleasant uniformity. {{1840-01: Undue //1845-02: By undue }} precision {{1840-01: spoils }} the appearance of many a {{1840-01: room //1845-02: fine apartment is utterly spoiled }} .

Curtains are rarely well disposed, or well chosen, in respect to {{1840-01: the }} other decorations. With formal furniture curtains are out of place {{1840-01: , // 1845-02: ; }} and an {{1840-01: excessive //1845-02: extensive }} volume of drapery of any kind is, under any circumstances, irreconcilable with good taste {{1840-01: ; //1845-02: : }} the proper quantum, as well as the proper adjustment, {{1840-01: depends //1845-02: depending }} upon the character of the general effect.

Carpets are better understood of late than of ancient days, but we still very frequently err in their patterns and colors. {{1840-01: A carpet is the //1845-02: The }} soul of the apartment {{1845-02: is the carpet }} . From it are deduced not only the hues but the forms of all objects incumbent. A judge at common law {{1840-01: may be //1845-02: may be }} an ordinary man; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius. Yet {{1840-01: I //1845-02: we }} have heard {{1840-01: fellows discourse //1845-02: discoursing }} of carpets {{1845-02: , }} with the {{1840-01: visage of a sheep in reverie — //1845-02: air }} “d’un mouton qui {{1840-01: rêve //1845-02: réve, }}  ” {{1840-01: — //1845-02: fellows }} who should not and who could not be entrusted with the management of their own {{1840-01: moustachios //1845-02: moustaches }} . Every one knows that a large floor {{1840-01: should //1845-02: may }} have a covering of large figures, and {{1845-02: that }} a small one {{1840-01: must //1845-02: must }} have a covering of small {{1840-01: ; //1845-02: — }} yet this is not all the knowledge in the world. As regards texture the Saxony is alone admissible. Brussels is the preter-pluperfect tense of fashion, and Turkey is taste in its dying agonies. Touching pattern {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} a carpet should not be bedizzened out like a Riccaree Indian — all red chalk, yellow ochre {{1845-02: , }} and cock's feathers. In brief {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} distinct grounds {{1845-02: , }} and vivid circular {{1845-02: or cycloid }} figures, of no meaning, are here Median laws. The abomination of flowers, or representations of {{1840-01: well known //1845-02: well-known }} objects of any kind {{1845-02: , }} should {{1840-01: never //1845-02: not }} be endured within the limits of Christendom. Indeed, whether on carpets, or curtains, or {{1840-01: paper-hangings //1845-02: tapestry }} , or {{1840-01: ottoman coverings //1845-02: ottoman-coverings }} , all upholstery of this nature should be rigidly Arabesque. {{1840-01: Those //1845-02: As for those }} antique floor-cloths {{1840-01: which are }} still {{1845-02: occasionally }} seen {{1840-01: occasionally }} in the dwellings of the rabble — cloths of huge, sprawling {{1845-02: , }} and radiating devices, stripe-interspersed, and glorious with all hues, among which no ground is intelligible {{1845-02: , }} — {{1845-02: these }} are but the wicked invention of a race of {{1840-01: time servers //1845-02: time-servers }} and {{1840-01: money lovers //1845-02: money-lovers }} — children of Baal and worshippers of Mammon — {{1840-01: men //1845-02: Benthams, }} who {{1840-01: , }} to {{1840-01: save trouble of //1845-02: spare }} thought and {{1840-01: exercise of //1845-02: economize }} fancy, first cruelly invented the Kaleidoscope, and then established {{1840-01: a patent company // 1845-02: joint-stock companies }} to twirl it by steam.

Glare is a leading error in the philosophy of American household decoration — an error easily recognized as deduced from the perversion of taste just specified. We are violently enamoured of gas and of glass. The former is totally inadmissible within doors. Its harsh and unsteady light {{1840-01: is positiviely offensive //1845-02: offends }} . No {{1840-01: man //1845-02: one }} having both brains and eyes will use it. A mild, or what artists term a cool light, with its consequent warm shadows, will do wonders for even an ill-furnished apartment. Never was a more lovely thought than that of the astral lamp. {{1840-01: I //1845-02: We }} mean, of course, the astral lamp proper {{1840-01: , and do not wish to be misunderstood }} — the lamp of Argand {{1845-02: , }} with its original plain {{1840-01: ground-glass //1845-02: ground glass }} shade, and its tempered and uniform moonlight rays. The {{1840-01: cut-glass //1845-02: cut glass }} shade is a weak invention of the enemy. The eagerness with which we have adopted it, partly on account of its flashiness, but principally on account of {{1840-01: its //1845-02: its }} greater cost, is a good commentary {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} the proposition with which {{1840-01: I //1845-02: we }} began. It is not too much to say that the deliberate employer of a {{1840-01: cut-glass //1845-02: cut glass }} shade, is {{1840-01: a person }} either radically deficient in taste, or blindly subservient to the caprices of fashion. The light proceeding from one of these gaudy abominations is unequal, broken, and painful. It alone is sufficient to mar a world of good effect in the furniture subjected to its influence. Female loveliness {{1845-02: , }} in especial {{1845-02: , }} is more than one half disenchanted beneath its evil eye.

In the matter of glass, generally, we proceed upon false principles. Its leading feature is glitter — and in that one word how much of all that is detestable do we express! Flickering, unquiet lights {{1845-02: , }} are sometimes pleasing — to children and idiots always so — but in the embellishment of a room they should be scrupulously avoided. In truth {{1845-02: , }} even strong steady lights are inadmissible. The huge and unmeaning glass chandeliers, prism-cut, {{1840-01: gas-litten // 1845-02: gas-lighted }} , and without shade, which dangle {{1840-01: by night }} in our most fashionable drawing-rooms, may be cited as the quintessence of {{1845-02: all that is }} false {{1845-02: in }} taste {{1840-01: , as so many concentrations of //1845-02: or }} preposterous {{1845-02: in }} folly.

The rage for glitter — because its idea has become, as {{1840-01: I // 1845-02: we }} before observed, confounded with that of magnificence in the abstract — has led {{1845-02: us, }} also {{1845-02: , }} to the exaggerated employment of mirrors. We line our dwellings with great British plates, and then imagine we have done a fine thing. Now the slightest thought will be sufficient to convince any one who has an eye at all, of the ill effect of numerous looking-glasses, and especially of large ones. Regarded apart from its reflection {{1845-02: , }} the mirror presents a continuous, flat, colorless, unrelieved surface — a thing always {{1840-01: unpleasant, }} and obviously {{1840-01: so //1845-02: unpleasant }} . Considered as a reflector {{1845-02: , }} it is potent in producing a monstrous and odious uniformity {{1845-02: : }} — and the evil is here aggravated {{1845-02: , not }} in {{1840-01: no //1845-02: merely }} direct proportion with the augmentation of its sources, but in a ratio constantly increasing. In fact {{1845-02: , }} a room with four or five mirrors arranged at random {{1845-02: , }} is, for all purposes of {{1840-01: artistical //1845-02: artistic }} show, a room of no shape at all. If we add to this {{1845-02: evil, }} the attendant glitter upon glitter, we have a perfect farrago of discordant and displeasing effects. The veriest bumpkin, {{1840-01: not addle-headed, upon //1845-02: on }} entering an apartment so {{1840-01: bedizened //1845-02: bedizzened }} , would be instantly aware of something wrong, although he might be altogether unable to assign a cause for his dissatisfaction. But let the same {{1840-01: individual //1845-02: person }} be led into a room tastefully furnished, and he would be startled into an exclamation of {{1840-01: surprise //1845-02: pleasure }} and {{1840-01: of pleasure //1845-02: surprise }} .

It is an evil growing out of our republican institutions, that here a man of large purse has usually a very little soul which he keeps in it. The corruption of taste is a portion {{1840-01: and //1845-02: or }} a pendant of the dollar-manufacture. As we grow rich our ideas grow rusty. It is {{1845-02: , }} therefore {{1845-02: , }} not among our aristocracy that we must look {{1845-02: ( }} if at all, in {{1840-01: the United States, //1845-02: Appallachia) }} for the spirituality of a British boudoir. But {{1840-01: I //1845-02: we }} have seen apartments in the tenure of Americans {{1840-01: — men }} of {{1840-01: exceedingly moderate //1845-02: modern [[moderate]] }} means {{1840-01: yet rare aves of good taste }} — which, in negative merit at least, might vie with any of the {{1840-01: or-molued //1845-02: or-molu’d }} cabinets of our friends across the water. Even {{1840-01: now //1845-02: now, }} there is present to {{1840-01: my //1845-02: our }} mind's eye a small and not ostentatious chamber with whose decorations no fault can be found. The proprietor lies asleep {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} a sofa — the weather is cool — the time is near midnight — {{1840-01: I //1845-02: we }} will make a sketch of the room {{1840-01: ere he awakes //1845-02: during his slumber }} . {{1845-02: [[new paragraph]] }} It is oblong — some thirty feet in length and twenty-five in breadth — a shape affording the best {{1845-02: (ordinary) }} opportunities for the adjustment of furniture. It has but one door {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — by no means a wide one — }} which is at one end of the parallelogram, and but two windows, which are at the other. These latter are large, reaching {{1840-01: downwards //1845-02: down }} to the floor {{1840-01: , are situated in //1845-02: — have }} deep recesses, and open {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} an Italian veranda. Their panes are of a crimson-tinted glass, set in rose-wood framings, {{1840-01: of a kind somewhat broader //1845-02: more massive }} than usual. They are curtained {{1840-01: , }} within the recess, by a thick silver tissue {{1840-01: , }} adapted to the shape of the window {{1845-02: , }} and hanging loosely {{1840-01: , but having no //1845-02: in small }} volumes. Without the recess are curtains of an exceedingly rich crimson silk, fringed with a deep network of gold, and lined with silver tissue, which {{1840-01: forms //1845-02: is the material of }} the exterior blind. There are no cornices; but the folds of the whole fabric {{1840-01: , }} (which are sharp rather than massive, and have an airy appearance) issue from beneath a broad entablature of rich {{1840-01: gilt-work //1845-02: gilt work }} , which encircles the room at the junction of the ceiling and walls. The drapery is thrown open {{1840-01: , }} also, or closed, by means of a thick rope of gold loosely enveloping it, and resolving itself readily into a knot {{1845-02: ; }} — no pins or other such devices are apparent. The colors of the curtains and their fringe — the tints of crimson and gold — {{1840-01: form //1845-02: appear everywhere in profusion, and determine }} the character of the room {{1840-01: , and appear every where in profusion }} . The carpet, of Saxony material, is quite half an inch thick, and is of the same crimson ground, relieved simply by the {{1840-01: appearance //1845-02: appearance }} of a gold cord (like that festooning the curtains {{1840-01: , }} ) {{1845-02: slightly relieved above the surface of the ground, and }} thrown upon it in such a manner as to form a succession of short irregular curves {{1840-01: , no //1845-02: — }} one {{1845-02: occasionally }} overlaying the other. {{1840-01: This carpet has no border. }} The {{1845-02: walls are papered with a glossy }} paper {{1840-01: on the walls is }} of a {{1840-01: glossy, silvery hue, intermingled //1845-02: silver grey tint, spotted }} with small Arabesque devices of a fainter {{1840-01: tint //1845-02: hue }} of the prevalent crimson. Many paintings relieve the expanse of the paper. These are chiefly landscapes of an imaginative cast {{1840-01: , //1845-02: — }} such as the fairy grottoes of Stanfield, or the {{1840-01: Lake // 1845-02: lake }} of the Dismal Swamp {{1845-02: , }} of {{1840-01: our own }} Chapman. {{1845-02: There are, nevertheless, three or four female heads, of an ethereal beauty — portraits in the manner of Sully. }} The tone of each {{1845-02: picture }} is warm, but {{1840-01: dark — there //1845-02: dark. There }} are no {{1845-02: “  }} brilliant effects. {{1845-02:  ” Repose speaks in all. }} Not one {{1840-01: of the pictures }} is of small size. Diminutive paintings give that spotty look to a room {{1845-02: , }} which is the blemish of so many a fine work of {{1840-01: art //1845-02: Art }} overtouched. The frames are broad {{1840-01: but not deep //1845-02: but not deep }} , and richly carved, without being {{1845-02: dulled or }} fillagreed. {{1840-01: Their profuse gilding gives them // 1845-02: They have }} the whole lustre of {{1845-02: burnished }} gold. They lie flat {{1840-01: upon //1845-02: on }} the walls, and do not hang off with cords. The designs themselves {{1840-01: may, sometimes, be best //1845-02: are often }} seen {{1845-02: to better advantage }} in this latter position, but the general appearance of the chamber is injured. {{1840-01: No //1845-02: But one }} mirror {{1845-02: , and this not a very large one, }} is visible {{1840-01: — nor chairs. //1845-02: . In shape it is nearly circular — and it is hung so that a reflection of the person can be obtained from it in none of the ordinary sitting-places of the room. }} Two large {{1845-02: low }} sofas {{1840-01: , }} of rose-wood and crimson silk, {{1845-02: gold-flowered, }} form the only seats {{1840-01: . //1845-02: with the exception of two light conversation chairs, also of rose-wood. There is a piano-forte (rose-wood, also,) without cover, and thrown open. }} An octagonal table, formed {{1840-01: entirely //1845-02: altogether }} of the richest gold-threaded marble, is placed near one of the sofas {{1840-01: — this table //1845-02: . This }} is also without cover — the drapery of the curtains has been thought sufficient. Four large and gorgeous {{1840-01: Sevres //1845-02: Sèvres }} vases, in which {{1840-01: grow //1845-02: bloom }} a {{1840-01: number // 1845-02: profusion }} of sweet and vivid flowers {{1840-01: in full bloom }} , occupy the {{1845-02: slightly rounded }} angles of the room. A tall {{1840-01: and magnificent }} candelabrum, bearing a small antique lamp with highly perfumed oil, is standing near the head of my sleeping friend. Some light and graceful hanging shelves, with golden edges and crimson silk cords with gold tassels, sustain two or three hundred {{1840-01: magnificently-bound // 1845-02: magnificently bound }} books. Beyond these things {{1845-02: , }} there is no furniture, if we except an Argand lamp, with a plain crimson-tinted ground {{1840-01: glass shade //1845-02: glass-shade }} , which depends from the lofty {{1845-02: vaulted }} ceiling by a single {{1845-02: slender }} gold chain, and throws a {{1840-01: subdued //1845-02: tranquil }} but magical radiance over all.