CHAPTER II.
CARPETS AND DRAPERIES.
N the very old-fashioned, stately
rooms of Queen Anne's reign the
carpeting was doled out in small
proportions, and a somewhat
comfortless air must have prevailed where
an expanse of floor was covered here and there
by what we should now characterise as a shabby
bit of carpeting. In fact a suitable floor-covering
or appropriate draperies for these old rooms
is rather a difficult point. Modern tastes demand
comfort and brightness, and yet there is always the
dread of too glaring contrasts, and an inharmonious
groundwork. Quite lately I saw a fine old-time
wainscotted room, whose walls and floor had taken
a rich dark gloss from age, brightened immensely
and harmoniously by four or five of those large
Indian cotton rugs in dark blue and white, to be
bought now-a-days cheaply enough in Regent
