As an explanation of my meaning I may say that, given a vast black armoire at one end of the room, which, besides possessing light and shade of its own, throws a deep shadow on the wall, a slight ebony table at the corresponding end of the wall would throw the room out of balance; but supposing you have neither grand piano, cabinet, nor other heavy mass which you can place there, the table may be made to balance the armoire satisfactorily by hanging above it some large picture in dark tone, or heavy mirror, or nest of books - books always tell dark. On the other hand, put a case that the vast armoire is not black, but light in colour, a much smaller piece of furniture of more pronounced tone may fairly balance it - an ebony table, a dark lacquer cabinet, etc. A black coffer may be balanced by a black Japanese etagere four or five times its height and breadth, if the amount of black, including shadow, dispersed in the open etagere is about equal to that condensed on the visible surface of the coffer.

A large mass of bright-coloured material, such as an Indian table-cloth, will often balance a dark mass in wood; a mass of gold may be balanced by a mass of scarlet, or white if the room is sombre, and so on - as long as the relative strength or value of the two masses strikes the eye as equal; and a room so planned and subtly balanced will be far more interesting, because full of surprises and discoveries, than any room laboriously matched corner by corner, side by side.

Proportion

It is very difficult, of course, to make plain by description what can only be really proven by experiment, Even in the most accustomed and skilful hands things have a knack of looking different in different places, larger or smaller according to their surroundings in most unexpected fashion. The proportions of rooms have a strong effect upon certain details of furniture hardly to be made clear on paper. I have known cases where such large machines as sideboards and wardrobes, which looked massive and imposing in large rooms, became suddenly dwarfed and debased by being transferred to small rooms - a result wholly outside the range of supposition, for one would naturally imagine that a thing which looked large in a large room, would look considerably larger in a little one. But it is a fact that proportions, which are no doubt relative at all times, often resist the rules we think to govern them by.

Pictures, too, are very surprising occasionally. They will not show up where you think they are likely to, judging from the position of the window without trial. Sometimes they will persist in looking right when brought in contact with a quantity of bright-coloured porcelain which ought to put the colours out; and in looking wrong when you have got just (what you suppose) the right tint behind them and about them, and the light striking at the proper angle - ah! they are as unmanageable as Brigham Young's wives. I once had an infinity of trouble with a marble bust, for which I had prepared a corner of surpassing snugness, against some dim tapestry, and within reach of dark Cordovan leather, which I believed would counteract the coldness of colour; and this obstinate bust absolutely declined every natural-seeming place, and at last settled down in the most unlikely place behind a door, where it shone and breathed as it would do nowhere else. In another room I had the same trouble with that bust. I prepared a similar corner behind the door such as I thought it liked, with the same background, the same angle of light, the same pedestal, in vain: my bust now selected the Cordovan leather as a roosting-place, against which it had previously so obstinately declined to be visible.

I find it impossible to lay down general laws in certain cases as to what colours and forms will go together, for sometimes every theory will be upset and a whole room disorganised by a sudden mystery, which one would fondly fancy a little study and thought might easily solve.

Symmetry

For my own part I object to much symmetry in a room, though I demand balance. I am distinctly annoyed if, on finding a bust of Apollo in one corner, I perceive its mate Diana in the opposite corner. Most 'pairs' are difficult to dispose of. They require tact to escape insipidity - and Apollo in one corner should be balanced by some completely different mass in the other - a mass if possible on a higher or lower level, which cannot associate itself in the mind as a match, yet which really forms an exact balance by its value of colour or by its size. The size may correspond in value too, even if it occupy more space: the Balance may be right.

But here I shall not only have all the 'Empire' admirers against me but the Georgian admirers too - for they all fancy they belong to one faction - and the 'Empire ' rooms, modelled partly on the Greek reaction, partly on the poverty of the ruined noblesse, and partly on an austere mood, had very little furniture, and what they had was arranged as symmetrically and as contrary to the natural plan as could possibly be. Indeed, to shift a chair or change your position was a crime in the eyes of our strict great-grandmothers, as it was to appear in the drawing-room without gloves, even in the morning. They forgot Hogarth's 'line of beauty,' and never looked at nature - it was the passion for geometric figures foggily redivivus.

Light And Shade

No article should be placed without a reason. Its colour and quality, the way in which the light falls, the colour thrown by the window or its blind, as well as the position of the other objects must be considered. Objects in relief must not be placed so as to face the light, and so lose half their beauty; they must be arranged where the light will strike them from the side, and this will bring out the most minute depressions and elevations. A pretty effect of light is worth half a dozen extra ornaments, and that is why windows cut in unusual places are often so pretty - there are surprises for the eye in store. Hidden lamps are often most useful for the same reason. For what were the use of a Titian in the dark, or of a jade bowl so set against the light that it looked black, or some rare cameo in coral laid against a pink surface, that destroyed its colour and made it almost disappear? The placing of objects betrays the taste (or the want of it) in the owner of a room far more than the quantity of precious things he ranges around it, or his reckless use of them on his dinner-table.

Every object in the room should have its comfort seen to, like a guest from whom you expect pleasure and profit. After seeing to the light in its face, the background must be considered: every brightly-coloured thing should stand against its complementary colour or some colour which throws it up; sometimes a paler or darker shade of its own colour will do this better than a complementary. Some peculiar reds and greens are a good background for everything - china, pictures, prints, books, and flowers - although neither dingy nor dark, The greens are no doubt appropriated by Queen Annites; the reds are outside 'the pale,' and perhaps none the worse for that.