loral aUa as t? what
" as t raibM or Its
i T li 1 are the safe
- or other,
' 'f (tsnlf
r par -. , st
iM M MievM W M f for those who
can afford the luxury) the ambition of
furnishing a house in some altogether!
astheticaT and exquisite way, with
iterfectlon which no one has attained
before. Jfovelty, indeed, is very rarely
at'ained, or if attained lasts but a very
shurt time, so eager are the next batch
of neophytes to emulate and excel their
predecessors But oddity aud Inappro-
prtatenesa are easily attained: aud as
houses unfortunately cannot be ordered
In character, the contrast of the four
square London Victorian walls, looking
down cynically and sturdily upoii the
outlandish garnishing to which they
are subject, gives a point to the joke
which nothing can surpass. And i; is
worth noticing that these elaborate and
painful attempts to make the domestic
circle "artistic," seem to be gradually
pushing out altogether from tie decora
tion of the English house the higher
developments of art. , Old plates which
one time in a hundred may be worth
preserving In a collection, and perhaps
one time In a dosen (which is liberal)
might be an ornament to the dinner-
table, are uow strung up upon the walls
where pictures once hung; or what is
still worse than plates, gaudy Japanese
tans made for the cheap use or celestial
peasants, but which English ladies and
gentlemen arrange with simple pride
upon their walls, and look upon with a
deitgntrui modest consciousness of su
perior taste. ' If. Derhaus. those flimsy
decorations take the place here aud
there of the staring portraits wilh which
we were once familiar, there Is a cer
tain compensation iu them ; but surely
rrrT.r. a pietty watei-cotor drawing or a good
,tHS. S!fP- higher and more refined kind
ope By the dr!Con,,r, M w r.. -Iul din
ner plab-s? We have nothing to say
against a dainty glimmer of pretty old
china in a comer, or the use of s Japan
ese fan when it may happeu to serve a
purpose, and give a quaint nttie touch
or color to a wall ea attendant the mo
ment wheu it may shield a lady's face
from the fire, or even hide her yawn in
a dull interview, or help a pleasaut
flirtation. 