If we apply this principle to the treatment of cast-iron, it will be readily perceived that a noble material, which has lost in process of manufacture the most essential quality of strength which it possessed, can only be further degraded by being invested with forms which feebly imitate not only wrought-iron ornament but stone carving, and even plaster decoration. The simplest argument which I can urge in support of this theory, lies in the fact that while we all appreciate the beauty of such work as the wrought canopy designed by Quentin Matsys for the pump at Antwerp, and the forms of many an old church-door hinge, no one feels the least interest in the cast-iron capitals of a railway-station, or can see aught but black ugliness in a modern kitchen-range. 'And could a kitchen-range ever be otherwise than ugly?' perhaps some of my readers may be inclined to ask. My answer is, that if the material of which it is composed were properly treated, there is no reason why it should not be as picturesque an object as any in the house. * Remember, it is not the humbleness of its purpose or the simplicity of its form which prevents it from being so. How many of us have peeped inside the threshold of a Welsh cottage or Devonshire farmhouse, and longed to sketch its comfortable chimney-corner and ample hearth! Could we say as much for any basement room in Mayfair? And yet there was a time when no such difference existed between the appointments of town and country dwellings.

Farm house Fire-place, Chambercombe, De-von.

Let us then quietly enter one of these respectable, luxurious, but eminently uninteresting London mansions, and try to discover what there is about their internal arrangement which makes them such hopeless subjects for the artist's pencil. The first thing on which our foot rests is a useful article of household furniture with which I shall not pretend to find fault - the street-door mat. In common with most objects of its class which for many generations past have been made in the country, it fulfils its purpose in every way without pretending to a false 'elegance' of design, which we shall probably detect upstairs in the silly lumps of blue or mauve-stained wool, called drawing-room door-rugs. What people want to rub their shoes upon is a strong rough material,* such as we find in the hall or at the foot of the principal staircase. To preserve the fiction of this necessity throughout the rest of the house is a mistake, but to manufacture a false sheepskin, and dye it of so delicate a colour that we are afraid even to step upon it for the purpose of wiping our boots, becomes absurd.

* The cooking apparatus of the 'grill room ' in the refreshment department of the South Kensington Museum - executed from a design by Mr. E. J. Poynter - is an admirable instance of such treatment.

There can be little doubt that the best mode of treating a hall-floor, whether in town or country, is to pave it with encaustic tiles. This branch of art-manufacture is one of the most hopeful, in regard to taste, now carried on in this country. It has not only reached great technical perfection as far as material and colour are concerned, but, aided by the designs supplied by many architects of acknowledged skill, it has gradually become a means of decoration which for beauty of effect, durability, and cheapness, has scarcely a parallel. To Messrs. Minton, I believe we are indebted for the earliest revival of this ancient art in modern times. The tiles manufactured by Mr. W. Godwin have long been noted for the artistic quality of their colour and design. But for rich variety of pattern, and for the skill with which the best types of ornament have been adapted for enamelled ware, plain tile pavements, mosaic and mural decoration, Messrs. Maw & Co., of Salop, stand almost unrivalled. A few specimens of their pavements and tile borders, especially fitted for household use, have been selected for illustration here, from the very numerous examples published by that firm.

Encaustic Tile Pavements.

Manufactured by Messrs. Maw and Co.

Hall Pavements.

Manufactured by Messrs. Maw and Co.

Pavement and Tile Borders.

Manufactured by Messrs. Maw and Co.

Pavement and Tile Borders.

Manufactured by Messrs. Maw and Co.

When the material known as 'floor-cloth' was first used in this country for halls and passages, its design began with an imitation of marble pavements and parquetry floors; I have even seen a pattern which was intended to represent the spots on a leopard's skin. These conceits were thoroughly false in principle, and are now being gradually abandoned. A floor-cloth, like every other article of manufacture to which design can be applied, should seem to be what it really is, and not affect the appearance of a richer material. There are endless varieties of geometrical diaper which could be used for floor-cloth, without resorting to the foolish expedient of copying the knots and veins of wood and marble. Some very fair examples of this geometrical pattern may occasionally be met with, but, as a rule, too many colours are introduced in them. However attractive it may appear in the shop, this kind of polychromy ought studiously to be avoided on the floor of a private house. Two tints, or - better still - two shades of the same tint (which should not be a positive colour) will be found most suitable for the purpose, and m any case there should be no attempt to indicate relief or raised ornament in the pattern.