fferent place and use; and thus we
fail to produce any effect, with uncongenial surroundings. Sometimes
we feel obliged to take the design forced upon us by a shopwoman as
ignorant as ourselves, with the submissive hope "that it will do."

Now to a truly artistic mind it would appear that each little church,
however simple and devoid of ornament, requires its own special
colours and design, besides the individual motive of the giver; and
people forget that the whole effect in any such compositions must be
comprehensive, and that one careless mistake spoils all.

The High Church, in its love of ritualistic vestments, has sometimes
been prejudicial to the general adoption of properly studied altar
decorations; as there is a common suspicion that a clergyman's
personal wish for ornament, akin to a woman's addiction to fine
clothes, governs all his attempts to adorn the altar; whereas there
should be, and there often is, a real artistic feeling for the fitness
of things, in the furnishings of the most beautiful building set aside
by the community for the glory of God. But it is not necessary for
beautiful effects that there should be any coloured vestments. When
the clergy are duly robed in the orthodox surplice and scarves, there
is, perhaps, something funereal in the white linens and black Geneva
silk, but yet the traditional white and black have their own value
against a background of altar-cloth and reredos splendidly coloured.

Now that, in spite of prejudice, church decoration is so much the
custom of our day, it is worth our while to consider seriously how
best to carry it out, and search into the principles which may apply
to all ecclesiastical embroideries, whether they are to be dedicated
in the Minster, the village Church, or the home Chapel.

We must begin by remembering that in these days, if we cannot do the
work ourselves, it must be highly paid for. The skilled artisan who is
no artist, receives enough to feed his family, according to the higher
wages of the time. The woman's slow stitchery has to support probably
as many claims, and yet it is always grudged as being too costly. The
sculptor or the painter who succeeds in obtaining employment, is
highly paid, but the designer for metal-work or embroideries occupies
an unrecognized place in art, and barely earns enough to live by. The
illuminator has ceased to exist; he would starve--probably has been
starved out long ago.

The decorative designer, havin