y of other woods, the more chaste will
be the style of work. If the wood be of a fine, compact, and bright
quality, the ornaments may be carved clean in the mahogany. Where it may
be requisite to make out panelling by an inlay of lines, let those lines
be of brass or ebony. In drawing-rooms, boudoirs, ante-rooms, East and
West India satin woods, rosewood, tulip wood, and the other varieties of
woods brought from the East, may be used; with satin and light coloured
woods the decorations may be of ebony or rosewood; with rosewood let the
decorations be _ormolu_, and the inlay of brass. Bronze metal, though
sometimes used with satin wood, has a cold and poor effect: it suits
better on gilt work, and will answer well enough on mahogany."

[Illustration: "Parlor Chairs," Shewing the Inlay of Brass referred to.
From Smith's Book of Designs, published 1808.]

Amongst the designs published by him are some few of a subdued Gothic
character; these are generally carved in light oak, or painted light stone
colour, and have, in some cases, heraldic shields, with crests and coats
of arms picked out in colour. There are window seats painted to imitate
marble, with the Roman or Greco-Roman ornaments painted green to represent
bronze. The most unobjectionable are mahogany with bronze green ornaments.

Of the furniture of this period there are several pieces in the Mansion
House, in the City of London, which apparently was partly refurnished
about the commencement of the century.

[Illustration: Bookcase. Design Published by T. Sheraton, June 12th,
1806. _Note_.--Very similar bookcases are in the London Mansion House.]

In the Court Room of the Skinners' Company there are tables which are now
used' with extensions, so as to form a horseshoe table for committee
meetings. They are good examples of the heavy and solid carving in
mahogany, early in the century before the fashion had gone out of
representing the heads and feet of animals in the designs of furniture.
These tables have massive legs, with lion's heads and claws, carved with
great skill and shewing much spirit, the wood being of the best quality
and rich in color.

[Illustration: "Drawing Room Chairs in Profile." From G. Smith's Book,
published 1808.]

Early Victorian.

In the work of the manufacturers just enumerated, may be traced the
influence of the "Empire" style. With the restoration, however, of the
Monarchy in France came the inevitable change in fashions, a