s ideal of simple and beautiful elegance that many people
are turning. By simplicity I do not mean poverty of line and decoration,
but the simplicity given by the fundamental lines being simple and
beautiful with decoration which enhances their charms, but does not
overload them. Even the most elaborate Adam room with its exquisite
painted furniture, its beautifully designed mantel and ceiling and
paneled walls, gave the feeling of delightful and beautiful simplicity.
This same feeling is expressed in the furniture of Louis XVI, for no
matter how elaborate it may be, it is fundamentally simple, but with a
warmer touch than is found in the English furniture of the same time.

The question of period furnishing has two sides, and by far the more
delightful side is the one of having originals. There is a glamor about
old furniture, a certain air of fragility, although in reality it is
usually much stronger than most of our modern factory output, which adds
to the charm. With furniture, as with people, breeding will out. When
one has inherited the furniture, the charm is still greater, for it is
pleasant to think of one's own ancestors as having used the chairs and
tables, and danced the stately minuet, with soft candle-light falling
from the candelabra, and the great logs burning on the old brass
andirons. But if one cannot have one's own family traditions, the next
best thing is to have furniture with some other family's traditions,
and the third choice is to have the best modern reproductions, and build
up one's own traditions oneself.

The feeling which many people have that Georgian furniture was stiff and
uncomfortable is not borne out by the facts. The sofas were large and
roomy, the settees delightful, the arm-chairs and wing chairs regular
havens of rest, and when one adds the comfort which modern upholstery
gives, there is little left to desire. Even the regulation side-chair of
the period, which some think was the only chair in very common use, is
absolutely comfortable for its purpose. Lounging was much less in vogue
then than nowadays and the old cabinet-makers realized that one must be
comfortable when sitting up as well as when taking one's ease. One must
not be deterred by this unfounded bugaboo of discomfort if one wishes a
room or house done after the great period styles of the eighteenth
century. With care and knowledge, the result is sure to be delightful
and beautiful.

This little book, as I have said