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.

[Illustration: There are many details worthy of notice in this room, the
mahogany doors, the paneled walls with the old picture paper, the
over-mantel, the knife boxes on the sideboard, the Hepplewhite
furniture, and the side-lights. The chandelier is badly chosen.]

[Illustration: A fine old Hepplewhite sideboard, with old glass and
silver, but the modern wallpaper is not in harmony.]

[Illustration: A modern Hepplewhite settee, showing the draped scarf
carving he used so much.]

_Hepplewhite_

The work of Hepplewhite and his school lasted from about 1760 to 1795;
the last nine years of the time the business was carried on by his
widow, Alice, under the name of A. Hepplewhite & Co. For five years
after that some work was done after his manner, but it was distinct