" THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRAWING-ROOMS."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.)
Sin,—In your issue of March 13th, Mr. Harry Quilter reviews my article in the Coraltill, under the above title. Into the sup- posed differences of opinion between us, I will not enter ; but I shall feel obliged if you will kindly allow me space for a few remarks on matters of fact, in which your critic, I think, has either fallen into error, or (doubtless unintentionally) misrepre- sented my meaning.
First, as to distemper. I am perfectly acquainted with its composition and nature. Borders of floors are constantly stained in distemper in the manner which I described, and which Mr. Quilter thinks impossible. They are then varnished, and never washed, but being rubbed from time to time with a dry cloth, are afterwards polished with beeswax and turpentine.
Next, as to the etagere. Its contents, instead of costing seven or eight hundred pounds, as Mr. Quilter suggests, would cost just forty shillings. I was writing for people of limited means, and expected my words to be taken in their natural sense. When I say "Venetian glass," I do not mean old Venetian, but such as is now manufactured by Dr. Salviati, and by the Venice and San Murano Glass Company. This is the correct and natural acceptation of the words in thousands :tad thousands of English households, and vases of such a sort can be got from prices varying from half-a-crown to ten shillings. Similarly, when I say " hawthorn porcelain," I mean hawthorn porcelain, and not old Oriental hawthorn porcelain. The latter may cost four or five hundred pounds : the former costs four or five shillings. Vallauris vases from the best house (M. Clement Massier's) can be had at any price from two sous upwards. The prettiest and most graceful speci- mens come to fifty centimes or a franc a-piece.
Then, as to the pictures. Why does Mr. Quilter talk about Turners or Millais, when he knows that I am writing for those people who live in eight-roomed cottages, and spend a couple of hundred pounds upon their whole furnishing ? I recommend them good engravings of good pictures : the alternative is not a Turner or a Millais, but the portrait of the householder in oils by the local artist, with gilt frame to match, or the sea of blue and yellow in a cheap chromo-lithograph. Surely Mr. Quilter will allow that good engravings are better than these. I do not regard works of art as mere pieces of furniture. If I were happy enough to possess a fine painting, I would, of course, far rather subordinate the room to the picture than the picture to the room. Bat if I had only a little cottage to furnish with a little money, I would prefer an engraving after Raphael or Titian to a staring water-colour by an incompetent amateur.
Lastly, one word as to my general purpose. I did not for a moment suppose, as Mr. Quilter imagines, that I was describing an absolutely ideal room, but merely the best room which poor people can easily afford. I agree with him that rich colours are better than neutral tints, when you can get them, but they cannot yet be got anywhere, so far as I know, in cheap decorative appliances. I cannot claim to rank among the distinguished school with which yore• critic identifies me, and indeed, I im- agined myself to be writing the article in defence of plain, common-sense furnishing, as against many of their dogmatic principles. A " domestic house, where children can play and men work," was the very house that I had in my eye, and I know from experience that it can be attained in the manner I suggested.
Mr. Quilter has made a guess at the authorship of the Vora/till paper, which was not signed, except in initial ; but I prefer, with your kind permission, to guard the anonymous position, and sign myself, THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE.
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