Decoration and Ficrniture of Town Houses. By Robert W. Edis.
(C. Kegan Paul and Co.)—This book contains the " Cantor Lectures,
delivered before the Society of Arts, 1880, amplified and enlarged." It is a noticeable contribution to the knowledge of health and beauty, as applied to the conditions of modern town life. Mr. Edis is• eminently practical, and, we should say, eminently sensible. To' follow him into all the vast variety of topics with which he deals is, of course, impossible ; we can only recommend the book as a whole to. our readers. Every one "about to furnish" should road it. Nor only such, as renewals have to be made in every house, and even. small things may as well be done right. No one, for instance, should cover a whole room with a carpet. Mr. Edis agrees with " F. R. C. S.," whose very striking letter detailing his personal experience was lately published in the Times, in recommending Messrs. Howard's " carpet parquet." This can be done as cheap as 4s. 6d. per yard, which is less than good Brussels carpet. One great hindrance to the rational adornment and furnishing of houses is, as Mr. Edis points' oat, the system of leaseholds. Shall we ever have a statesman who will give " tenant-right " to London householders P What a vast advance it would make in the value of house property !
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