ies.

Colour in the house includes much that means furniture, in the way of
carpets, draperies, and all the modern conveniences of civilization, but
as it precedes and dictates the variety of all these things from the
authoritative standpoint of wall treatment, it is well to study its laws
and try to reap the full benefit of its influence.

As far as effect is concerned, the colour of a room creates its
atmosphere. It may be cheerful or sad, cosy or repellent according to
its quality or force. Without colour it is only a bare canvas, which
might, but does not picture our lives.

We understand many of the properties of colour, and have unconsciously
learned some of its laws;--but what may be called the _science_ of
colour has never been formulated. So far as we understand it, its
principles correspond curiously to those of melodious sound. It is as
impossible to produce the best effect from one tone or colour, as to
make a melody upon one note of the harmonic scale; it is skilful
_variation_ of tone, the gradation or even judicious opposition of tint
which gives exquisite satisfaction to the eye. In music, sequence
produces this effect upon the ear, and in colour, juxtaposition and
gradation upon the eye. Notes follow notes in melody as shade follows
shade in colour. We find no need of even different names for the
qualities peculiar to the two; scale--notes--tones--harmonies--the words
express effects common to colour as well as to music, but colour has
this advantage, that its harmonies can be _fixed_, they do not die with
the passing moment; once expressed they remain as a constant and
ever-present delight.

Notes of the sound-octave have been gathered by the musicians from
widely different substances, and carefully linked in order and sequence
to make a harmonious scale which may be learned; but the painter,
conscious of colour-harmonies, has as yet no written law by which he can
produce them.

The "born colourist" is one who without special training, or perhaps in
spite of it, can unerringly combine or oppose tints into compositions
which charm the eye and satisfy the sense. Even among painters it is by
no means a common gift. It is almost more rare to find a picture
distinguished for its harmony and beauty of colour, than to see a room
in which nothing jars and everything works together for beauty. It seems
strange that this should be a rarer personal gift than the musical
sense, since nature apparently is far