[Illustration:  A mantel of marble and steel in the drawing-room, Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire—­the work of the brothers Adam.]

[Illustration:  Another Adam mantel.  It is interesting to note how clearly these mantels are the inspiration of our own Colonial work.]

The early furniture of Adam was plain, and the walls were treated with much decoration that was classic in feeling.  He possessed the secret of a composition of which his exquisite decorations on walls and ceilings were made.  After 1770 he simplified his walls and elaborated his furniture designs until they met in a beautiful and graceful harmony.  He designed furniture to suit the room it was in, and with the dainty and charming coloring, the beauty of proportion and the charm of the wall decoration, the scheme had great beauty.

[Illustration:  This group of old mirrors indicates the extent to which refinement of design was carried during the Georgian period in England—­the time of the great cabinet-makers.]

He used the ram’s head, wreaths, honeysuckle, mythological subjects, lozenge-shaped, oval and octagonal panels, and many other designs.  He was one of the first to use the French idea of decorating furniture with painting and porcelain plaques, and the furniture itself was simple and beautiful in line.  The stucco ceilings designed by the brothers were picked out with delicate colors and have much beauty of line.

A great deal of the most beautiful Adam decoration was the painting on walls and ceilings and furniture by Angelica Kaufmann, Zucchi, Pergolesi, Cipriani, and Columbani.  The standard of work was so high that only the best was satisfactory.

Adam usually designed his furniture for the room in which it was to stand, and he often planned the house and all its contents, even to the table silver, to say nothing of the door-locks.  The chairs were of mahogany, or painted, or gilded, wood.  Some had oval upholstered backs, with the covering specially designed for the room, and some had lyre backs, later used so much by Sheraton, and others had small painted panels placed in the top rail, with beautiful carving.  Mirrors were among the most charming articles designed by Adam, and had composition wreaths and cupids and medallions for ornament.  They were usually made in pairs in both large and small sizes.  A pair of antique mirrors should be kept together, as they are very much more valuable than when separated.

Adam was one of the first to assemble the pieces that later grew into the sideboard—­a table, two pedestals, and a cellaret.  There is a sideboard designed by him for Gillows, in which the parts are connected, and it is at least one of the ancestors of the beautiful Shearer and Hepplewhite ones and our modern useful, though not always beautiful, article.  When, late in his career, Adam attempted to copy the French, he was not so successful, as he did not have their flexibility of temperament, and was unable to give the warmer touch to the classic, which they did so well.  His paneled walls, however, have great dignity and purity of line and feeling, and the applied ornament was really an ornament, and not a disfigurement as too often happens in our day.  With Adam one feels the surety of knowledge and the refinement of good taste led by a high ideal.