to a rare old chair or sideboard or mirror.  The modern workman in the best workshops is obliged to know the different styles so well that he cannot make mistakes, and if he ventures to take a little flight of fancy on his own account, it will be done with such correctness of feeling that one is glad he flew; but few attempt it.  In the lower grade of reproductions one must have an eagle eye when buying.  I saw a rather astounding looking Chippendale chair in a shop one day, with a touch of Gothic—­a suspicion of his early Dutch manner—­and, to give a final touch, tapering legs with carved bellflowers!  “What authority have you for that chair?” I asked, for I really wanted to know what they would call the wonder.

“That,” the shopman answered, the pride of knowledge shining in his eyes, “is Chinese Chippendale.”

Another anachronism which has appeared lately, and sad to say in some of the shops that should know better, is painted Adam furniture with pictures on it of the famous actresses of the eighteenth century.  The painting of Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, Pergolesi and the others, was charming and delightful.  Nymphs and cupids, flowers, wreaths, musical instruments, and poetical little scenes, but never the head of a living woman!  The bad taste of it would have been as apparent to them as putting the picture of Miss Marlowe, or Lillian Russell on a chair back would be to us.

The finish is another matter to bear in mind.  There is a thick red stain, which for some mysterious reason is called mahogany, which is put on cheaper grades of furniture and finished with a high polish.  Fortunately, it is chiefly used on furniture of vulgar design, but it sometimes creeps in on better models.  Shun it whenever seen.  The handles must be correct also, and a glance at the different illustrations will be of help in this matter.

The pieces of furniture used throughout a house, no matter what the period may be, are more or less the same, so many chairs, tables, beds, mirrors, etc., and when one has decided what one’s needs are, the matter of selection is much simplified.  Of course one’s needs are influenced by the size of the house, one’s circumstances, and one’s manner of life.  To be successful, a house must be furnished in absolute harmony with the life within its walls.  A small house does not need an elaborate drawing-room, which could only be had at the expense of family comfort; a simple drawing-room would be far better, really more of a living-room.  In a large house one may have as many as one wishes.

A house could be furnished throughout with Chippendale furniture and show no sign of monotony of treatment.  The walls could be paneled in some rooms, wainscoted in others, and papered in others.  This question of paper is one we have taken in our own hands nowadays, and although it was not used much before the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, there are so many lovely designs copied from old-time stuffs and landscape papers, which are in harmony with the furniture, that they are used with perfect propriety.  One must be careful not to choose anything with a too modern air, and a plain wall is always safe.