the selection of draperies, beauty, both
relative and positive, is quite untrammelled.

As in all other furnishings, from the aesthetic point of view colour is
the first thing to be considered. As a rule it should follow that of the
walls, a continuous effect of colour with variation of form and surface
being a valuable and beautiful thing to secure. To give the full value
of variation--where the walls are plain one should choose a figured
stuff for curtains; where the wall is papered, or covered with figures,
a plain material should be used.

There is one exception to this rule and this is in the case of walls
hung with damask. Here it is best to use the same material for curtains,
as the effect is obtained by the difference between the damask hung in
folds, with the design indistinguishable, or stretched flat upon a
wall-surface, where it is plainly to be seen and felt. Even where damask
is used upon the walls, if exactly the same shade of colour can be found
in satin or velvet, the plain material in drapery will enhance the value
of design on the walls.

This choice or selection of colour applies to curtains and portieres as
simple adjuncts of furnishing, and not to such pieces of drapery as are
in themselves works of art. When a textile becomes a work of art it is
in a measure a law unto itself, and has as much right to select its own
colour as if it were a picture instead of a portiere, in fact if it is
sufficiently important, the room must follow instead of leading. This
may happen in the case of some priceless old embroidery, some relic of
that peaceful past, when hours and days flowed contentedly into a scheme
of art and beauty, without a thought of competitive manufacture. It
might be difficult to subdue the spirit of a modern drawing-room into
harmony with such a work of art, but if it were done, it would be a very
shrine of restfulness to the spirit.

Fortunately many ancient marvels of needlework were done upon white
satin, and this makes them easily adaptable to any light scheme of
colour, where they may appear indeed as guests of honour--invited from
the past to be courted by the present. It is not often that such pieces
are offered as parts of a scheme of modern decoration, and the fingers
of to-day are too busy or too idle for their creation, yet it sometimes
happens that a valuable piece of drapery of exceptional colour belongs
by inheritance or purchase to the fortunate householder, and in this
cas