31 MARCH 1883, Page 24

How to Decorate Our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors. By M.

E. James. (George Bell and Sons.)—This useful and tasteful manual of instruc- tions has the merit of proposing " arrangements " which are within the reach of householders of moderate incomes. In the main, we agree with the author's theories, and like his suggestions, but there is always the dreary difficulty of the smoke in the way of the piquant prettiness with which he would invest our sombre houses, and we can hardly help admitting a fatally recurring, despondent conviction that, on the whole, it is better to leave things so that the dirt may show least, and mix most pleasantly with surfaces. To those who can shake off this despondency, we recommend the precepts of Mr. (or Mrs. or Miss) James.