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diff --git a/41664-8.txt b/41664-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8620b5e..0000000 --- a/41664-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5095 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Old Time Wall Papers, by Katherine Abbott Sanborn - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Old Time Wall Papers - An Account of the Pictorial Papers on Our Forefathers' - Walls with a Study of the Historical Development of Wall - Paper Making and Decoration - -Author: Katherine Abbott Sanborn - -Release Date: December 19, 2012 [EBook #41664] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIME WALL PAPERS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ - | Transcriber's Note: | - | | - | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | - | document have been adjusted. | - | | - | Italics is displayed as _PLATE XXIV_. | - | Small caps have been replaced with all caps. | - | | - | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | - | a complete list, please see the end of this file. | - | | - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - -OLD TIME WALL PAPERS - -WE HAVE PRINTED 75 SIGNED AND NUMBERED COPIES OF THIS BOOK ON FRENCH -JAPAN PAPER, AND 975 NUMBERED COPIES ON AMERICAN PLATE PAPER. THE TYPE -HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED. NUMBER. - -[Illustration] - - - - - OLD TIME WALL PAPERS - - AN ACCOUNT OF THE PICTORIAL PAPERS - ON OUR FOREFATHERS' WALLS - - WITH A STUDY OF THE - - HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF WALL - PAPER MAKING AND DECORATION - - BY - - KATE SANBORN - - [Illustration] - - GREENWICH CONNECTICUT - THE LITERARY COLLECTOR PRESS - NEW YORK - 1905 - - CLIFFORD & LAWTON - 19 UNION SQUARE WEST, NEW YORK CITY - _SOLE AGENTS_ - - - - - Copyright, 1905 - BY KATE SANBORN - - - - -TO - -A. S. C. - -THE CHATELAINE OF ELM BANK - -[Illustration] - - - - -INTRODUCTORY NOTE - - -If a book has ever been written on this subject it has been impossible -to discover; and to get reliable facts for a history of the origin and -development of the art of making wall-papers has been a serious task, -although the result seems scanty and superficial. Some friends may -wonder at the lack of fascinating bits of gossip, stories of rosy -romance and somber tragedy in connection with these papers. But those -who chatted, danced, flirted, wept or plotted in the old rooms are long -since dust, and although the "very walls have ears" they have not the -gift of speech. But my collection of photographs is something entirely -unique and will increase in value every year. The numerous -photographers, to whom I have never appealed in vain, are regarded by me -as not only a skillful but a saintly class of men. - -I am greatly indebted to Miss Mary M. Brooks of Salem and Miss Mary H. -Buckingham of Boston for professional assistance. Many others have most -kindly helped me by offers of photographs and interesting facts -concerning the papers and their histories. But I am especially indebted -to Mrs. Frederick C. Bursch, who has given much of her time to patient -research, to the verification or correction of doubtful statements, and -has accomplished a difficult task in arranging and describing the -photographs. Without her enthusiastic and skillful assistance, my -collection and text would have lacked method and finish. - -To the many, both acquaintances and strangers, who have volunteered -assistance and have encouraged when discouragement was imminent, sending -bracing letters and new-old pictures, I can only quote with heartfelt -thanks the closing lines of the verse written by Foote, the English -actor, to be posted conspicuously to attract an audience to his -benefit-- - - Like a grate full of coals I'll glow - A great full house to see; - And if I am not grateful, too, - A great fool I shall be. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -CONTENTS - - - I Page - - FROM MUD WALLS AND CANVAS TENTS TO DECORATIVE PAPERS 1 - - II - - PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART 23 - - III - - EARLIEST WALL PAPERS IN AMERICA 41 - - IV - - WALL PAPERS IN HISTORIC HOMES 61 - - V - - NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 85 - - VI - - REVIVAL AND RESTORATION OF OLD WALL PAPERS 103 - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - - - - LIST OF PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PLATES - - Old English Figure paper--in Colors. Plate I - - Rural Scenes--Detail in Colors. II - - French paper, Watteau Style--Detail in Colors. III - - Adventures of a Gallant--Reduction. IV - - Adventures of a Gallant--Detail in Colors. V - - Racing paper--Timothy Dexter House. VI - - The Bayeux Tapestry--Burial of Edward. VII - - The Bayeux Tapestry--Harold hearing News. VIII - - Oldest English paper--Borden Hall, "A." IX - - Borden Hall paper, Design "B." X - - Early English Pictorial paper--Chester, Eng. XI - - Old Chinese paper, Cultivation of Tea--Dedham, Mass. XII-XIV - - Early American fresco--Westwood, Mass. XV-XVIII - - Early Stencilled paper--Nantucket, Mass. XIX - - A Peep at the Moon--Nantucket, Mass. XX - - Hand-colored Figures, repeated--Claremont, N. H. XXI - - Nature Scenes, repeated--Salem, Mass. XXII - - The Alhambra, repeated--Leicester, Mass. XXIII - - Cathedral Views, repeated--Ware, Mass. XXIV - - Cathedral Views, repeated on architectural background--Waltham, - Mass. XXV - - Pictured Ruins, Hall and Stairway--Salem, Mass. XXVI - - Birds of Paradise and Peacocks--Waltham, Mass. XXVII - - Sacred to Washington--Mourning paper. XXVIII - - Dorothy Quincy Wedding paper--Quincy, Mass. XXIX - - The Pantheon--King's Tavern, Vernon, Conn. XXX - - Canterbury Bells--Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Mass. XXXI - - The First Railway Locomotive--Salem, Mass. XXXII - - Rural Scene from same room. XXXIII - - Pizarro in Peru--Duxbury, Mass. XXXIV-V - - Tropical Scenes--Peabody, Mass. XXXVI-VII - - On the Bosporus--Montpelier, Vt. XXXVIII-IX - - Oriental Scenes--Stockport, N. Y. XL-XLIII - - Early Nineteenth Century Scenic paper--Deerfield, Mass. XLIV-V - - Same Scenic paper, other examples--Warner, N. H., and Windsor, Vt. - XLVI-VII - - Harbor Scene--Waterford, Vt., Gilmanton, N. H., and Rockville, - Mass. XLVIII - - The Spanish Fandango--same paper. XLIX - - Strolling Players--same paper. L - - Rural Scenes--Ashland, Mass., and Marblehead. LI, LII - - French Boulevard Scenes--Salem, Mass., and Nantucket, Mass. - LIII, LIV - - Gateway and Fountain, with Promenaders. LV - - Scenes from Paris--Salem, Mass., etc. LVI, LVII - - Bay of Naples--Hanover, N. H., etc. LVIII-LXII - - Cupid and Psyche--panelled paper. LXIII, LXIV - - The Adventures of Telemachus--Taunton, Mass., etc. LXV-IX - - Scottish Scenes--same paper. LXX - - The Olympic Games--Boston, Mass. LXXI - - A tribute to Homer--same paper. LXXII - - The shrine of Vesta--same paper. LXXIII - - Worship of Athene--same paper. LXXIV - - Oblation to Bacchus--same paper. LXXV - - Oblation to Bacchus and Procession before Pantheon--Keene, N. H. - LXXVI - - The Lady of the Lake--Greenbush, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H. - LXXVII-LXXX - - The Seasons--Hanover, N. H. LXXXI-III - - - ILLUSTRATIONS. - - Devil paper, Gore Mansion, Waltham, Mass. See end papers. - - Devil paper, details, Pages viii, 19, 61 - - Mill and Boat Landing--Fairbanks House, Dedham, Mass. vii - - Gallipoli Scenes--Knox Mansion, Thomaston, Me. ix, 23, 103 - - Adventures of Cupid--Beverly, Mass. xi, 116 - - Fisher Maidens--Draper House, N. H. x - - Peasant Scene. xi - - Hunters and Dog. xiv - - The Gypsies--Stevens House, Methuen, Mass. 1 - - Bandbox (Stage-coach) and Cover--Spencer, Mass. 20 - - The Grape Harvest. 37 - - Torches and Censers--Thomaston, Me. 38 - - Bandbox, Volunteer Fire Brigade--Norwich, Conn. 58 - - Chariot Race--Detail of Olympic Games paper. 85 - - Horse Race--Newburyport, Mass. 100 - -[Illustration] - - - - -I - -FROM MUD WALLS AND CANVAS TENTS TO DECORATIVE PAPERS - -[Illustration] - - - - -I - -FROM MUD WALLS AND CANVAS TENTS - -TO DECORATIVE PAPERS - - -"How very interesting! Most attractive and quite unique! I supposed all -such old papers had gone long ago. How did you happen to think of such -an odd subject, and how ever could you find so many fine old specimens? -Do you know where the very first wall-paper was made?" - -These are faint echoes of the questions suggested by my collection of -photographs of wall-papers of the past. The last inquiry, which I was -unable to answer, stimulated me to study, that I might learn something -definite as to the origin and development of the art of making such -papers. - -Before this, when fancying I had found a really new theme, I was -surprised to discover that every one, from Plato and Socrates to -Emerson, Ruskin and Spencer, had carefully gleaned over the same ground, -until the amount of material became immense and unmanageable. Not so -now. I appealed in vain to several public libraries; they had nothing at -all on the subject. Poole's Index--that precious store-house of -information--was consulted, but not one magazine article on my theme -could be found. I then sent to France, England and Italy, and employed -professional lookers-up of difficult topics; but little could be -secured. The few who had studied paper hangings were very seldom -confident as to positive dates and facts. - -One would seem safe in starting with China, as paper was certainly -invented there, and many of the earliest designs were of Chinese scenes; -but the honor is also claimed for Japan and Persia and Egypt. It is -difficult to decide in view of the varying testimony. - -I was assured by a Japanese expert, who consulted a friend for the -facts, that neither the Chinese nor the Japanese have ever used paper to -cover their walls. At the present day, the inner walls of their houses -are plastered white, and usually have a strip of white paper running -around the bottom, about a foot and a half high. - -On the other hand, Clarence Cook, in his book, _What Shall We Do With -Our Walls?_, published in 1880, says as to the origin of wall-paper: "It -may have been one of the many inventions borrowed from the East, and -might be traced, like the introduction of porcelain, to the Dutch trade -with China and Japan." And he finds that the Japanese made great use of -paper, their walls being lined with this material, and the divisions -between the rooms made largely, if not entirely, by means of screens -covered with paper or silk. Japanese wall-paper does not come in rolls -like ours, but in pieces, a little longer than broad, and of different -sizes. He adds: - - - - -_PLATE II._ - - One of the cruder papers popular a hundred years ago; containing - three groups of figures engaged in rural occupations. Beside the - gray ground this paper contains eleven shades of color, roughly - applied, with little attention paid to register. - -[Illustration] - -"What makes it more probable that our first European notion of -wall-papers came from Japan, is the fact that the first papers made in -Holland and then introduced into England and France, were printed in -these small sizes [about three feet long by fifteen inches wide]. Nor -was it until some time in the eighteenth century that the present mode -of making long rolls was adopted. These early wall-papers were printed -from blocks, and were only one of many modifications and adaptations of -the block printing which gave us our first books and our first -wood-cuts. - -"The printing of papers for covering walls is said to have been -introduced into Spain and Holland about the middle of the sixteenth -century. And I have read, somewhere, that this mode of printing the -patterns on small pieces of paper was an imitation of the Spanish -squares of stamped and painted leather with which the grandees of Spain -covered their walls, a fashion that spread all over Europe. - -"We are told that wall-paper was first used in Europe as a substitute -for the tapestry so commonly employed in the middle ages, partly as a -protection against the cold and damp of the stone walls of the houses, -partly, no doubt, as an ornament." - -But here is something delightfully positive from A. Blanchet's _Essai -sur L'Histoire du Papier et de sa Fabrication_, Exposition retrospective -de la Papetier, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1900. - -Blanchet says that paper was invented in China by Tsai Loon, for -purposes of writing. He used fibres of bark, hemp, rags, etc. In 105 A. -D. he reported to the government on his process, which was highly -approved. He was given the honorary title of Marquis and other honors. -The first paper book was brought to Japan from Corea, then a part of -China, in 285. The conquest of Turkestan by the Arabs, through which -they learned the manufacture of paper, came in the battle fought on the -banks of the River Tharaz, in July, 751. Chinese captives brought the -art to Samarcand, from which place it spread rapidly to other parts of -the Arabian Empire. Damascus was one of the first places to receive it. -In Egypt, paper began to take the place of papyrus in the ninth century, -and papyrus ceased to be used in the tenth. The Arabian paper was made -of rags, chiefly linen, and sized with wheat starch. European paper of -the thirteenth century shows, under the microscope, fibres of flax and -hemp, with traces of cotton. About 1400, animal glue was first used for -sizing. The common belief that Arabian and early European paper was made -of cotton is a mistake. There has never been any paper made of raw -cotton, and cotton paper anywhere is exceptional. In 1145, when the -troops of Abd el Mounin were about to attack the capital of Fez, the -inhabitants covered the vault of the mihrab of the mosque with paper, -and put upon this a coating of plaster, in order to preserve from -destruction the fine carvings which are still the admiration of -visitors. The mihrab of an Arabic mosque is a vaulted niche or alcove, -in which the altar stands and towards which the worshippers look while -they pray. This is probably the earliest approach to the use of -wall-paper and shows the excellent quality of the paper. - -Herbert Spencer states that "Dolls, blue-books, paper-hangings are -lineally descended from the rude sculpture paintings in which the -Egyptians represented the triumphs and worship of their god-kings." No -doubt this is true, but the beginning of paper, and probably of -wall-paper, was in China. - -Paper made of cotton and other vegetable fibres by the Chinese was -obtained by the Arabs in trade, through Samarcand. When they captured -that city, in 704 A.D. they learned the process from Chinese captives -there, and soon spread it over their empire. It was known as "Charta -Damascena" in the Middle Ages, and was extensively made also in Northern -Africa. The first paper made in Europe was manufactured by the Moors in -Spain, at Valencia, Toledo, and Xativa. At the decline of Moorish power, -the Christians took it up, but their work was not so good. It was -introduced into Italy through the Arabs in Sicily; and the Laws of -Alphonso, 1263, refer to it as "cloth parchment." The earliest documents -on this thick "cotton" paper date from the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries, as a deed of King Roger of Sicily, dated 1102, shows. When -made further north, other materials, such as rags and flax, were used. -The first mention of rag paper, in a tract of Peter, Abbott of Cluny -from 1122 to 1150, probably means woolen. Linen paper was not made until -in the fourteenth century. - -The Oriental papers had no water mark,--which is really a wire mark. -Water-mark paper originated in the early fourteenth century, when -paper-making became an European industry; and a considerable -international trade can be traced by means of the water marks. - -The French Encyclopædia corroborates Blanchet's statement that the -common notion that the Arabic and early European papers were made of -cotton is a mistake; the microscope shows rag and flax fibres in the -earliest. - -Frederic Aumonier says: "From the earliest times man has longed to -conceal the baldness of mud walls, canvas tents or more substantial -dwellings, by something of a decorative character. Skins of animals, the -trophies of the chase, were probably used by our remote ancestors for -ages before wall-paintings and sculptures were thought of. The extreme -antiquity of both of these latter methods of wall decoration has -recently received abundant confirmation from the valuable work done by -the Egyptian Research Department, at Hierakonopolis, where -wall-paintings have been discovered in an ancient tomb, the date of -which has not yet been determined, but which is probably less than seven -thousand years old; and by the discovery of ancient buildings under the -scorching sand dunes of the great Sahara, far away from the present -boundary line of habitable and cultivated land. The painted decorations -on the walls of some of the rooms in these old-world dwellings have been -preserved by the dry sand, and remain almost as fresh as they were on -the day they left the hand of the artist, whose bones have long since -been resolved into their native dust." - -From the Encyclopædia Britannica I condense the long article on "Mural -Decoration": - -There is scarcely one of the numerous branches of decorative art which -has not at some time or other been applied to the ornamentation of -wall-surfaces. - -I. Reliefs sculptured in marble or stone; the oldest method of wall -decoration. - -II. Marble veneer; the application of thin marble linings to wall -surfaces, these linings often being highly variegated. - -III. Wall linings of glazed bricks or tiles. In the eleventh and -twelfth centuries, the Moslems of Persia brought their art to great -perfection and used it on a large scale, chiefly for interiors. In the -most beautiful specimens, the natural growth of trees and flowers is -imitated. About 1600 A. D., this art was brought to highest perfection. - -IV. Wall coverings of hard stucco, frequently enriched with relief and -further decorated with delicate paintings in gold and colors, as at the -Alhambra at Granada and the Alcazar at Seville. - -V. Sgraffito; a variety of stucco work used chiefly in Italy, from the -sixteenth century down. A coat of stucco is made black by admixture of -charcoal. Over this a second very thin coat of white stucco is laid. The -drawing is made to appear in black on a white ground, by cutting away -the white skin enough to show the black undercoat. - -VI. Stamped leather; magnificent and expensive, used during the -sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in Italy, Spain, France, and later -in England. - -VII. Painted cloth. In _King Henry IV._, Falstaff says his soldiers are -"slaves, as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth." Canvas, painted to -imitate tapestry, was used both for ecclesiastical and domestic -hangings. English mediæval inventories contain such items as "stayned -cloth for hangings"; "paynted cloth with stories and batailes"; and -"paynted cloths of beyond-sea-work." The most important existing example -is the series of paintings of the Triumph of Julius Caesar, now in -Hampton Court. These designs were not meant to be executed in tapestry, -but were complete as wall-hangings. Godon, in _Peinture sur Toile_, -says: "The painted canvasses kept at the Hôtel Dieu at Rheims were done -in the fifteenth century, probably as models for woven tapestries. They -have great artistic merit. The subjects are religious." Painted cloths -were sometimes dyed in a manner similar to those Indian stuffs which -were afterwards printed and are now called chintzes. It is recorded -somewhere, that the weaving industry was established at Mulhouse -(Rixheim) by workers who left Rheims at a time when laws were passed -there to restrict the manufacture of painted cloths, because there was -such a rage for it that agriculture and other necessary arts were -neglected. - -VIII. Printed hangings and wall-papers. The printing of various textiles -with dye-colors and mordaunts is probably one of the most ancient of the -arts. Pliny describes a dyeing process employed by the ancient -Egyptians, in which the pattern was probably formed by printing from -blocks. The use of printed stuffs is of great antiquity among the Hindus -and Chinese, and was practised in Western Europe in the thirteenth -century, and perhaps earlier. The South Kensington Museum has -thirteenth-century specimens of block-printed linen made in Sicily, with -beautiful designs. Later, toward the end of the fourteenth century, a -great deal of block-printed linen was made in Flanders and was imported -largely into England. - -Tapestries as wall-hangings were used in the earliest times, and, as -tiles and papers were copied from them, they must be spoken of here. One -remarkable example of tapestry from a tomb in the Crimea is supposed by -Stephani to date from the fourth century before Christ. Homer frequently -describes tapestry hangings, as when he alludes to the cloth of purple -wool with a hunting scene in gold thread, woven by Penelope for Ulysses. -Plutarch, in his Life of Themistocles, says, "Speech is like cloth of -Arras, opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figure; -whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs." - -The oldest tapestry now in existence is the set of pieces known as the -Bayeux Tapestry, preserved in the library at Bayeux, near Caen, in -France, and said to be the work of Matilda, Queen of William the -Conqueror. These pieces measure two hundred and thirty-one feet long and -twenty inches wide. - -It is generally believed, and stated as a fact in the various -guide-books, that the Bayeux Tapestry was the work of Queen Matilda, the -consort of the Conqueror, assisted by her ladies. At that time, English -ladies were renowned for their taste and skill in embroidery. Their work -was known throughout Europe as English work. The Conquest having brought -the people of Normandy and England into close intercourse, it is pointed -out that on William's return to France, he must have taken with him many -Saxons, with their wives and daughters, in honorable attendance upon -him; and that these ladies might have helped Matilda and her companions -in making this historical piece of needlework. Many historians, however, -incline to the opinion that Matilda and her ladies had nothing to do -with the tapestry, although it was done during her lifetime. - -It is amusing to note how Miss Strickland, in her _Lives of the Queens -of England_, takes up the cudgels in a very vigorous manner on behalf of -Matilda's claim: - -"The archæologists and antiquaries would do well to direct their -intellectual powers to more masculine objects of enquiry, and leave the -question of the Bayeux Tapestry (with all other matters allied to -needle-craft) to the decision of the ladies, to whose province it -belongs. It is a matter of doubt whether one out of the many gentlemen -who have disputed Matilda's claim to that work, if called upon to -execute a copy of either of the figures on canvas, would know how to put -in the first stitch." - -But Dr. Daniel Rock, in his exhaustive work on Tapestries, casts the -gravest doubts upon the tradition that this needlework owed its origin -to Matilda and her ladies: "Had such a piece anywise or ever belonged to -William's wife, we must think that, instead of being let stray away to -Bayeux, toward which place she bore no particular affection, she would -have bequeathed it, like other things, to her beloved church at Caen." - -The author points out that there is no mention of the tapestry in the -Queen's will, while two specimens of English needlework, a chasuble and -a vestment, are left to the Church of the Trinity at Caen, the beautiful -edifice founded by her at the time when her husband founded the -companion church of St. Etienne in the same city. In fact, Dr. Rock -thinks the tapestry was made in London, to the order of three men quite -unknown to fame, whose names appear more than once on the tapestry -itself. Coming over with the Conqueror, they obtained wide possessions -in England, as appears from the Doomsday Book, and would naturally have -wished to make a joint offering to the cathedral of their native city. -In support of this view, it is shown that the long strip of needlework -exactly fits both sides of the nave of the cathedral at Bayeux, where -until recent times it has hung. - -The tapestry has undergone so many vicissitudes that it is a matter for -wonder that it has been preserved in such good condition for eight -hundred years. At one time it was exhibited at the Hôtel de Ville, at -Bayeux, fixed panorama-fashion on two rollers, so that it was at the -disposal of the fingers as well as the eyes of the curious. When -Napoleon was thinking of invading this country, he had the tapestry -carried to the various towns of France and publicly exhibited, so as to -arouse popular enthusiasm on behalf of his designs. - -In 1871, when the Prussians were thought to be in dangerous proximity to -Bayeux, the tapestry was taken down, enclosed in a metal cylinder, and -buried in a secret place until the close of the war. Now it is kept in -the Public Library in an upright glass case, which forms the sides of a -hollow parallelogram, the tapestry being carried first round the outside -and then round the inside space, so that every part of it is open to -inspection, while it cannot be touched or mutilated. This valuable -information is given by Mr. T. C. Hepworth. - -In the Old Testament we find records of "hangings of fine twined linen" -and "hangings of white cloth, of green, of blue, fastened with cords of -fine linen and purple." Shakespeare has several allusions to tapestry: -as, "fly-bitten tapestry"; "worm-eaten tapestry"; "covered o'er with -Turkish tapestry"; "the tapestry of my dining chambers"; "it was hanged -with tapestry of silk"; "in cypress chests my arras"; "hangings all of -Tyrian tapestry." - -Cardinal Wolsey's private accounts and inventories, still preserved, -state that in 1552 he bought one hundred and thirty-two large pieces of -Brussels tapestry, woven with Scriptural subjects and mostly made to -order, so as to fit exactly the various wall spaces. Among the -wall-pieces, "in addition to the numerous sacred subjects are mentioned -mythological scenes, romances, historical pieces and hangings of -verdure," the last being decorative work, in which trees and foliage -formed the main design, with accessory figures engaged in hunting, -hawking and the like. - -We read in Gibbon's Rome that Charles the Sixth despatched, by way of -Hungary, Arras tapestry representing the battles of the great Alexander. -And Macaulay inquires, "Where were now the brave old hangings of Arras -which had adorned the walls of lordly mansions in the days of -Elizabeth?" - -According to Shakespeare, the arras was found convenient to conceal -eaves-droppers, those planning a frolic or plotting mischief; or for a -hasty lunch, as in _The Woman Hater_, by Beaumont and Fletcher: - - I have of yore made many a scrambling meal, - In corners, behind arrases, on stairs. - -Arras was used precisely the same as a curtain; it hung on tenters or -lines from the rafters or from some temporary stay, and was opened, held -up, or drawn aside, as occasion required. The writers of the day -frequently mentioned these wall-hangings. Evelyn, in his diary, 1641, -says, "We were conducted to the lodgings, tapestry'd with incomparable -arras." - -Scott, in _The Lady of the Lake_, has this couplet: - - In vain on gilded roof they fall, - And lighten up a tapestried wall. - -And in _Waverley_ he speaks of "remnants of tapestried hangings, window -curtains and shreds of pictures with which he had bedizened his -tatters." - -After the seventeenth century, these tapestries were used for covering -furniture, as the seats and backs of sofas and arm chairs, desks and -screens; and fire-screens covered with tapestry as beautiful as a -painting were in vogue. In the _Comedy of Errors_ we recall this -passage: - - In the desk - That's covered o'er with Turkish tapestry - There is a purse of ducats. - -Clarence Cook says: "There was a kind of tapestry made in Europe in the -fifteenth century--in Flanders, probably--in which there were -represented gentlemen and ladies, the chatelaine and her suite walking -in the park of the chateau. The figures, the size of life, seem to be -following the course of a slender stream. The park in which these noble -folk are stiffly disporting is represented by a wide expanse of meadow, -guiltless of perspective, stretching up to the top of the piece of stuff -itself, a meadow composed of leaves and flowers--bluebells, daisies, and -flowers without a name--giving the effect of a close mosaic of green, -mottled with colored spots. On the meadow are scattered various figures -of animals and birds--the lion, the unicorn, the stag, and the rabbit. -Here, too, are hawks and parrots; in the upper part is a heron, which -has been brought down by a hawk and is struggling with the victor, some -highly ornamental drops of blood on the heron's breast showing that he -is done for. And to return to the brook which winds along the bottom of -the tapestry, it is curious to note that this part of the work is more -real and directly natural in its treatment than the rest. The water is -blue, and is varied by shading and by lines that show the movement of -the stream; the plants and bushes growing along its borders are drawn -with at least a conventional look of life, some violets and fleur-de-lis -being particularly well done; and in the stream itself are sailing -several ducks, some pushing straight ahead, others nibbling the grass -along the bank, and one, at least, diving to the bottom, with tail and -feet in the air." - -The best authority on tapestries in many lands is the exhaustive work by -Muntz, published in Paris, 1878-1884, by the Société anonyme de -Publication Périodique--three luxuriously bound and generously -illustrated volumes, entitled _Histoire Générale de la Tapisserie en -Italie, en Allemagne, en Angleterre, en Espagne_. - -We learn here that in 1630 Le François, of Rouen, incited by the -Chinese colored papers imported by the missionaries, tried to imitate -the silk tapestries of the wealthy in a cheaper substance. He spread -powdered wool of different colors on a drawing covered with a sticky -substance on the proper parts. This _papier velouté_, called _tontisse_ -by Le François, was exported to England, where it became known as "flock -paper." The English claim a previous invention by Jeremy Lanyer, who, in -1634, had used Chinese and Japanese processes. At any rate, the -manufacture of flock papers spread in England and was given up in -France. Only toward the middle of the eighteenth century was the making -of real colored papers (_papier peints_) begun in France and England. -The first factory was set up in 1746, but the work was not extended -further until 1780, when it was taken up by the brothers George and -Frederic Echardt. - -Chinese picture papers were imported into France by Dutch traders and -used to decorate screens, desks, chimney-pieces, etc., as early as the -end of the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth, they -were an important ornament of elegant interiors. In the list of the -furniture given to Mlle. Desmares by Mlle. Damours, September 25, 1746, -is a fire-screen of China paper, mounted on wood, very simple. On July -25, 1755, Lazare Duvaux delivered to Mme. de Brancas, to be sent to the -Dauphiness, a sheet of China paper with very beautiful vases and -flowers, for making which he charged thirty livres. April 6, 1756, he -sold to the Countess of Valentinois, for one hundred and forty-four -livres, six sheets of China paper, painted on gauze with landscapes and -figures. - -May 8, 1770, M. Marin advertised for sale in a Paris newspaper -twenty-four sheets of China paper, with figures and gilt ornaments, ten -feet high and three and one-half feet wide, at twenty-four livres a -sheet; to be sold all together, or in lots of eight sheets each. By this -time whole rooms were papered. July 15, 1779, an apartment in Paris was -advertised to let, having a pretty boudoir with China paper in small -figures representing arts and crafts, thirteen sheets, with a length of -thirty-seven feet (horizontally) and height of eight feet ten inches, -with gilt beaded moulding. Dec. 31, 1781, "For sale, at M. Nicholas's, -China wall-paper, glazed, blue ground, made for a room eighteen feet -square, with gilt moulding." - -Mr. Aumonier says: "Notwithstanding the Chinese reputation for printing -from wooden blocks from time immemorial, no specimens of their work -produced by that process have ever come under the notice of the author, -in public museums or elsewhere, and it is far more probable that early -Chinese works imported into Europe were painted by hand, in imitation of -the wondrous needlework, for which, through unknown ages, the Eastern -peoples have been famous. A most perfect and beautiful example of this -work, of Japanese origin, may be seen in the "Queen's palace at the -Hague," called the _Huis-ten-Bosch_--the House-in-the-Wood. This is a -magnificent composition of foliage and flowers, birds and butterflies, -perfect in form and beauty of tint, worked in silks on a ground of -_écru_ satin. It is composed of many breadths forming one picture, -starting from the ground with rock-work, and finishing at the top of the -wall with light sprays of flowers, birds, butterflies and sky; the -colouring of the whole so judiciously harmonized as to be an object -lesson of great value to any decorator, and worth traveling many miles -to study." - -I think that we may now safely say that China holds the honors in this -matter. And as most of us grow a bit weary of continuous citations from -cyclopedias, which are quoted because there is nothing less didactic to -quote, and there must be a historical basis to stand on and start from, -let us wander a little from heavy tomes and see some of the difficulties -encountered in looking up old wall-papers to be photographed. - -An American artist, who has made his home in Paris for years, looked -over the photographs already collected, grew enthusiastic on the -subject, and was certain he could assist me, for, at the Retrospective -Exhibition held in that city in 1900, he remembered having seen a -complete exhibition of wall-papers and designs from the beginning. Of -course the dailies and magazines of that season would have full reports. -"Just send over to Jack Cauldwell--you know him. He is now occupying my -studio, and he will gladly look it up." - -I wrote, and waited, but never received any response; heard later that -he was painting in Algiers and apparently all the hoped-for reports had -vanished with him. My famously successful searcher after the elusive and -recondite gave up this fruitless hunt in despair. Other friends in Paris -were appealed to, but could find nothing. - -Then many told me, with confidence, that there must be still some -handsome old papers in the mansions of the South. And I did my best to -secure at least some bits of paper, to show what had been, but I believe -nearly all are gone "down the back entry of time." - -One lady, belonging to one of the best old families of Virginia, writes -me, "My brother has asked me to write to you about wall-papers. I can -only recall one instance of very old or peculiar papering in the South, -and my young cousin, who is a senior in the Columbia School of -Architecture and very keen on 'Colonial' details, tells me that he only -knows of one. He has just been through tide-water Virginia, or rather, -up the James and Rappahannock rivers, and he says those houses are all -without paper at all, as far as he knows. - -"At Charlestown, West Virginia, there is a room done in tapestry paper -in classic style, the same pattern being repeated, but this is not old, -being subsequent to 1840. The room that I have seen is wainscoted, as is -the one at Charlestown, and has above the wainscoting a tapestry paper -also in shades of brown on a white ground. - -"The principal wall has a large classical design, with columns, ships -and figures, not unlike the Turner picture of Carthage, as I remember -it. This picture is not repeated, but runs into others. Whether each is -a panel, or they are merged into one another by foliage, I am unable to -recall. I know that there is a stag hunt and some sylvan scenes. It -seemed as if the paper must have been made with just such a room in -mind, as the patterns seemed to fit the spaces. As the room was the -usual corner parlor common to Southern mansions, it was probably made -for the type. I was told by a boarder in this house that the paper was -old and there were similar papers in Augusta County. I do not know -whether these are choice and rare instances, or whether they are -numerous and plentiful in other sections." - -All my responses from the South have been cordial and gracious and -interesting, but depressing. - -I hear, in a vague way, of papers that I really should have--in Albany -and Baltimore. We all know of the papers in the Livingston and Jumel -mansions; the former are copied for fashionable residences. - -I heard of some most interesting and unusual papers in an old house in -Massachusetts, and after struggling along with what seemed almost -insurmountable hindrances, was at last permitted to secure copies. The -owner of the house died; the place was to be closed for six months; then -it was to be turned over to the church, for a parsonage, and I agonised -lest one paper might be removed at once as a scandalous presentment of -an unholy theme. I was assured that in it the Devil himself was caught -at last, by three revengeful women, who, in a genuine tug-of-war -scrimmage, had torn away all of his tail but a stub end. Finally I -gained a rather grudging permit for my photographer to copy the -papers--"if you will give positive assurance that neither house nor -walls shall be injured in the slightest degree." - - -_PLATE III._ - - In abrupt contrast with the preceding specimen, this old French - paper is printed with great care and shows high artistic taste. The - eight well-composed groups of figures that form the complete design - are after the manner of Watteau; the coloring is rich but quiet. - Seventeen shades and colors were imposed on a brown ground, and the - black mesh-work added over all. - -[Illustration] - -As the artist is a quiet gentleman--also an absolute abstainer--so that -I could not anticipate any damage from a rough riot or a Bacchanalian -revel, I allowed him to cross the impressive threshold of the former -home of a Massachusetts governor, and the result was a brilliant -achievement, as may be seen in the end papers of this book. - -Sometimes when elated by a promise that a certain paper, eagerly -desired, could be copied, I sent my man only to have the door held just -a bit open, while he heard the depressing statement that madam had -"changed her mind and didn't want the paper to be taken." - -All this is just a reminder that it is not entirely easy to get at what -is sure so soon to disappear. And I mourn that I did not think years ago -of securing photographs of quaint and antique papers. - -Man has been defined as "an animal who collects." There is no hobby more -delightful, and in this hunt I feel that I am doing a real service to -many who have not time to devote to the rather difficult pursuit of what -will soon be only a remembrance of primitive days. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -II - -PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART - -[Illustration] - - - - -II - -PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART - - -If we go far enough back in trying to decide the origin of almost any -important discovery, we are sure to find many claimants for the honor. -It is said, on good authority, that "paper-hangings for the walls of -rooms were originally introduced in China." This may safely be accepted -as correct. The Chinese certainly discovered how to make paper, then a -better sort for wall hangings, and by Chinese prisoners it was carried -to Arabia. Travellers taking the news of the art to their homes in -various countries, it soon became a subject of general interest, and -variations and inventions in paper manufacture were numerous. - -We are apt to forget how much we owe to the Chinese nation--the -mariners' compass, gun-powder, paper, printing by moveable types (a -daily paper has been published in Pekin for twelve hundred years, -printed, too, on silk). They had what we call The Golden Rule five -hundred years before Christ was born. With six times the population of -the United States, they are the only people in the world who have -maintained a government for three thousand years. - -The earliest papers we hear of anywhere were imported from China, and -had Chinese or Indian patterns; coming first in small sheets, then in -rolls. Some of the more elaborate kinds were printed by hand; others -were printed from blocks. These papers, used for walls, for hangings, -and for screens, were called "pagoda papers," and were decorated with -flowers, symbolic animals and human figures. - -The Dutch were among the most enterprising, importing painted hangings -from China and the East about the middle of the sixteenth century. -Perhaps these originated in Persia; the word "chintz" is of Persian -origin, and the French name for its imitations was "perses." - -From the Dutch, these imported hangings were soon carried to England, -France, Germany and other Continental nations. Each nation was deadly -jealous in regard to paper-making, even resorting, in Germany in 1390, -to solemn vows of secrecy from the workman and threats of imprisonment -for betrayal of methods. Two or three centuries later, the Dutch -prohibited the exportation of moulds under no less a penalty than death. - -The oldest allusion to printed wall-papers that I have found is in an -account of the trial, in 1568, of a Dutch printer, Herman Schinkel of -Delft, on the charge of printing books inimical to the Catholic faith. -The examination showed that Schinkel took ballad paper and printed roses -and stripes on the back of it, to be used as a covering for attic walls. - -In the Library of the British Museum may be seen a book, printed in Low -Dutch, made of sixty specimens of paper, each of a different material. -The animal and vegetable products of which the workmen of various -countries tried to manufacture paper would make a surprising list. In -England, a paper-mill was set up probably a century before Shakespeare's -time. In the second part of _Henry the Sixth_ is a reference to a -paper-mill. - -About 1745, the Campagnie des Indes began to import these papers -directly. They were then also called "Indian" papers. August 21, 1784, -we find an advertisement: "For sale--20 sheets of India paper, -representing the cultivation of tea." - -Such a paper, with this same theme, was brought to America one hundred -and fifty years ago--a hand-painted Chinese wall-paper, which has been -on a house in Dedham ever since, and is to-day in a very good state of -preservation. Of this paper I give three reproductions from different -walls of the room. - -In _Le Mercure_, June, 1753, M. Prudomme advertised an assortment of -China paper of different sizes; and again, in May, 1758, that he had -received many very beautiful India papers, painted, in various sizes and -grounds, suitable for many uses, and including every kind that could be -desired. This was the same thing that was called "China" paper five -years before. - -The great development of the home manufacture of wall-papers, at the -beginning of the nineteenth century, put an end to the importation from -China. The English were probably the first importers of these highly -decorative Chinese papers, and quickly imitated them by printing the -papers. These "_papiers Anglais_" soon became known on the Continent, -and the French were also at work as rivals in their manufacture and use. -Of a book published in 1847, called _The Laws of Harmonious Colouring_, -the author, one David R. Hay, was house painter and decorator to the -Queen. I find that he was employed as a decorator and paper-hanger by -Sir Walter Scott, and he says that Sir Walter directed everything -personally. Mr. Hay speaks of a certain Indian paper, of crimson color, -with a small gilded pattern upon it. "This paper Sir Walter did not -quite approve of for a dining-room, but as he got it as a present, -expressly for that purpose, and as he believed it to be rare, he would -have it put up in that room rather than hurt the feelings of the donor. -I observed to Sir Walter that there would be scarcely enough to cover -the wall; he replied in that case I might paint the recess for the -side-board in imitation of oak." Mr. Hay found afterwards that there was -quite enough paper, but Sir Walter, when he saw the paper on the recess, -heartily wished that the paper had fallen short, as he liked the recess -much better unpapered. So in the night Mr. Hay took off the paper and -painted the recess to look like paneled oak. This was in 1822. - -Sir Walter, in a letter to a friend, speaks of "the most splendid -Chinese paper, twelve feet high by four wide; enough to finish the -drawing-room and two bed-rooms, the color being green, with rich Chinese -figures." Scott's own poem, _The Lady of the Lake_, has been a favorite -theme for wall-paper. - -Professor W. E. D. Scott, the Curator of Ornithology at Princeton -College, in his recent book, _The Story of a Bird Lover_, alludes, in a -chapter about his childhood, to the papers on the walls of his -grandfather's home: "As a boy, the halls interested me enormously; they -have been papered with such wall-paper as I have never seen elsewhere. -The entrance hall portrayed a vista of Paris, apparently arranged along -the Seine, with ladies and gentlemen promenading the banks, and all the -notable buildings, the Pantheon, Notre Dame, and many more distributed -in the scene, the river running in front. - -"But it was when I reached the second story that my childish imagination -was exercised. Here the panorama was of a different kind; it represented -scenes in India--the pursuit of deer and various kinds of smaller game, -the hunting of the lion and the tiger by the the natives, perched on -great elephants with magnificent trappings. These views are not -duplicated in the wall-paper; the scene is continuous, passing from one -end of the hall to the other, a panorama rich in color and incident. I -had thus in my mind a picture of India, I knew what kind of trees grew -there, I knew the clothes people wore and the arms they used while -hunting. To-day the same paper hangs in the halls of the old house." - -There are several papers of this sort, distinctly Chinese, still on -walls in this country. A house near Portsmouth, which once belonged to -Governor Wentworth, has one room of such paper, put on about 1750. In -Boston, in a Beacon Street house, there is a room adorned with a paper -made to order in China, with a pattern of birds and flowers, in which -there is no repetition; and this is not an uncommon find. A brilliant -example of this style may be seen in Salem, Mass. - -Chinese papers, which were made for lining screens and covering boxes, -were used in England and this country for wall-papers, and imitated both -there and here. One expert tells me that the early English papers were -often designed after India cottons, in large bold patterns. - -The first use in France of wall-papers of French manufacture was in the -sixth century. Vachon tells about Jehan Boudichon and his fifty rolls of -paper for the King's bed-chamber in 1481, lettered and painted blue; but -it is evident from the context that they were not fastened on the walls, -but held as scrolls by figures of angels. - -Colored papers were used for temporary decorations at this time, as at -the entrance of Louis XIII. into Lyons, on July 17, 1507. There is -nothing to show that the "_deux grans pans de papier paincts_," -containing the history of the Passion, and of the destruction of -Jerusalem from the effects of the cannon of St. Peter, were permanently -applied to a wall. So with another painted paper, containing the -genealogy of the Kings of France, among the effects of Jean Nagerel, -archdeacon at Rouen in 1750. These pictured papers, hung up on the walls -as a movable decoration, form one step in the development of applied -wall-papers. - -In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the commonest patterns for -unpictorial wall decoration were taken from the damasks and cut-velvets -of Sicily, Florence, Genoa, and other places in Italy. Some form of the -pine-apple or artichoke pattern was the favorite, a design developed -partly from Oriental sources and coming to perfection at the end of the -fifteenth century, copied and reproduced in textiles, printed stuffs, -and wall-papers, with but little change, down to the nineteenth century. - -From the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XVII, I quote again: -"Wall-papers did not come into common use in Europe until the eighteenth -century, though they appear to have been used much earlier by the -Chinese. A few rare examples exist in England, which may be as early as -the eighteenth century; these are imitations, generally in flock, of the -fine old Florentine and Genoese cut-velvets, and hence the style of the -design in no way shows the date of the paper, the same traditional -patterns being reproduced for many years, with little or no change. -Machinery enabling paper to be made in long strips was not invented till -the end of the eighteenth century, and up to that time wall-paper was -painted on small squares of hand-made paper, difficult to hang, -disfigured by joints, and consequently costly; on this account -wall-papers were slow in superseding the older modes of mural -decoration, such as wood panelling, painting, tapestry, stamped leather, -and printed cloth. A little work by Jackson, of Battersea, printed in -London in 1744, gives some light on papers used at that time. He gives -reduced copies of his designs, mostly taken from Italian pictures or -antique sculpture during his residence in Venice. Instead of flowering -patterns covering the walls, his designs are all pictures--landscapes, -architectural scenes, or statues--treated as panels, with plain paper or -painting between. They are all printed in oil, with wooden blocks worked -with a rolling press, apparently an invention of his own. They are all -in the worst possible taste, and yet are offered as an improvement on -the Chinese papers then in vogue." - -In 1586 there was in Paris a corporation called _dominotiers_, domino -makers, which had the exclusive right to manufacture colored papers; and -they were evidently not a new body. "Domino" was an Italian word, used -in Italy as early as the fifteenth century for marbled paper. French -gentlemen, returning from Milan and Naples, brought back boxes or -caskets lined with these papers, which were imitated in France and soon -became an important article of trade. The foreign name was kept because -of the prejudice in favor of foreign articles. But French taste -introduced a change in the character of the ornament, preferring -symmetrical designs to the hap-hazard effect of the marbling. They began -then to print with blocks various arabesques, and to fill in the -outlines with the brush. - -In Furetiere's Dictionary, of the last quarter of the seventeenth -century, _dominotier_ is defined, "workman who makes marbled paper and -other papers of all colors and printed with various figures, which the -people used to call 'dominos'." - -On March 15, 1787, a decree of the French King's Council of State -declared that the art of painting and printing paper to be used in -furnishings was a dependence of the governing board of the -"_Marchands-Papetiers-Dominotiere-Feuilletinere_." - -This domino-work was for a long time principally used by country folk -and the humbler citizens of Paris to cover parts of their rooms and -shops; but near the end of the seventeenth century there was hardly a -house in Paris, however magnificent, that did not have some place -adorned with some of this domino-work, with flowers, fruits, animals and -small human figures. These pictures were often arranged in compartments. -The dominotiers made paper tapestries also, and had the right to -represent portraits, mythological scenes and Old and New Testament -stories. At first they introduced written explanations, but the letter -printers thought this an infringement of their rights; therefore it was -omitted. - -We are told by Aumonier that little precise information is to be found -concerning the domino papers. "Some were made from blocks of pear-tree -wood, with the parts to be printed left in relief, like type. The -designs were small pictures and in separate sheets, each subject -complete to itself. They were executed in printing-ink by means of the -ordinary printing-press. Some were afterwards finished by hand in -distemper colors; others were printed in oil, gold-sized and dusted over -with powdered colors, which gave them some resemblance to flock papers." - -Much is said about flock paper, and many were the methods of preparing -it. Here is one: "Flock paper, commonly called cloth paper, is made by -printing the figures with an adhesive liquid, commonly linseed oil, -boiled, or litharge. The surface is then covered with the flock, or -woolen dust, which is produced in manufactories by the shearing of -woolen cloths, and which is dyed of the requisite colors. After being -agitated in contact with the paper, the flocks are shaken off, leaving a -coating resembling cloth upon the adhesive surface of the figures." The -manufacture of this paper was practised, both in England and France, -early in the seventeenth century. I find in the Oxford Dictionary the -following examples of the early mention of flock cloth, which was the -thing that suggested to Le François his invention of flock paper: - -Act I of Richard III., C. 8, preamble: "The Sellers of such course -Clothes, being bare of Threde, usen for to powder the cast Flokkys of -fynner Cloth upon the same." Again in 1541, Act of Henry VIII., C. 18: -"Thei--shall (not) make or stoppe any maner Kerseies with flocks." - -"Flock, which is one of the most valuable materials used in paper -staining, not only from its cost, but from its great usefulness in -producing rich and velvety effects, is wool cut to a fine powder. The -wool can be used in natural color or dyed to any tint. The waste from -cloth manufactures furnished the chief supply, the white uniforms of the -Austrian soldiery supplying a considerable portion." - -Other substances have been tried, as ground cork, flock made from kids' -and goats' hair, the cuttings of furs and feathers, wood, sawdust, and, -lately, a very beautiful flock made of silk, which gives a magnificent -effect, but is so expensive that it can only be used for "_Tentures de -luxe_." - -Mr. Aumonier says: "Until quite recently there were on the walls of -some of the public rooms in Hampton Court Palace several old flock -papers, which had been hung so long ago that there is now no official -record of when they were supplied. They were of fine, bold design, -giving dignity to the apartments, and it is greatly to be regretted that -some of them have been lately replaced by a comparatively insignificant -design in bronze, which already shows signs of tarnishing, and which -will eventually become of an unsightly, dirty black. All decorators who -love their art will regret the loss of these fine old papers, and will -join with the writer in the hope that the responsible authorities will -not disturb those that still remain, so long as they can be kept on the -walls; and when that is no longer possible, that they will have the -designs reproduced in fac-simile, which could be done at a comparatively -small cost. - -"Mr. Crace, in his _History of Paperhangings_, says that by the -combination of flock and metal, 'very splendid hangings' are produced; -an opinion to which he gave practical expression some years afterwards -when he was engaged in decorating the new House of Parliament, using for -many of the rooms rich and sumptuous hangings of this character, -especially designed by the elder Pugin, and manufactured for Mr. Crace -from his own blocks." - -In England, in the time of Queen Anne, paper staining had become an -industry of some importance, since it was taxed with others for raising -supplies "to carry on the present war"--Marlborough's campaign in the -low countries against France. Clarence Cook, whom I am so frequently -quoting because he wrote so much worth quoting, says: - -"One of the pleasant features of the Queen Anne style is its freedom -from pedantry, its willingness to admit into its scheme of ornamentation -almost anything that is intrinsically pretty or graceful. We can, if we -choose, paint the papers and stuffs with which we cover our walls with -wreaths of flowers and festoons of fruits; with groups of figures from -poetry or history; with grotesques and arabesques, from Rome and -Pompeii, passed through the brains of Louis XIV's Frenchmen or of Anne's -Englishmen; with landscapes, even, pretty pastorals set in framework of -wreaths or ribbon, or more simply arranged like regular spots in rows of -alternate subjects." - -It may be interesting to remember that the pretty wall-papers of the -days of Queen Anne and early Georges were designed by nobody in -particular, at a time when there were no art schools anywhere; and one -can easily see that the wall-papers, the stuff-patterns and the -furniture of that time are in harmony, showing that they came out -of the same creative mould, and were the product of a sort of -spirit-of-the-age. - -Mica, powdered glass, glittering metallic dust or sand, silver dross, -and even gold foil, were later used, and a silver-colored glimmer called -cat-silver, all to produce a brilliant effect. This art was known long -ago in China, and I am told of a Chinese paper, seen in St. Petersburg, -which had all over it a silver-colored lustre. - -Block printing and stencilling naturally belong to this subject, but, as -my theme is "Old Time Wall Papers," and my book is not intended to be -technical, or a book of reference as regards their manufacture, I shall -not dwell on them. - -Nor would it be wise to detail all the rival claimants for the honor of -inventing a way of making wall-paper in rolls instead of small sheets; -nor to give the names even of all the famous paper-makers. One, -immortalized by Carlyle in his _French Revolution_, must be -mentioned--Revillon, whose papers in water colors and in flock were so -perfect and so extremely beautiful that Madame de Genlis said they cost -as much as fine Gobelin tapestry. Revillon had a large factory in the -Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, Paris, and in 1788 was employing three -hundred hands. He was urged to incite his workmen to head the Faubourg -in open rebellion, but refused to listen; and angry at his inability to -coerce this honorable man the envoy caused a false report to be spread -about, that he intended to cut his wages one-half. - - -_PLATE IV._ - - Scenes from the life of an eighteenth century gallant form this - unusual old French paper--a gaming quarrel, a duel, an elopement - and other edifying episodes, framed in rococo scrolls. - -[Illustration] - -This roused a furious mob, and everything was ruined, and he never -recovered from the undeserved disaster. - -Carlyle closes his description of the fatal riot with these words: "What -a sight! A street choked up with lumber, tumult and endless press of -men. A Paper-Warehouse eviscerated by axe and fire; mad din of revolt; -musket volleys responded to by yells, by miscellaneous missiles, by -tiles raining from roof and window, tiles, execrations and slain -men!--There is an encumbered street, four or five hundred dead men; -unfortunate Revillon has found shelter in the Bastille." - -England advanced in the art of paper-making during the time the French -were planning the Revolution, and English velvet papers became the -fashion. In 1754 Mme. de Pompadour had her wardrobe and the passage that -led to her apartments hung with English paper. In 1758 she had the -bath-room of the Chateau de Champs papered with it, and others followed -her example. - -But in 1765 the importation of English papers--engraved, figured, -printed, painted to imitate damasks, chintzes, tapestries, and so -on--was checked by a heavy tax. So at this time papers were a precious -and costly possession. They were sold when the owner was leaving a room, -as the following advertisements will show: - -Dec. 17, 1782. "To-let; large room, with mirror over the fire-place and -paper which the owner is willing to sell." - -Feb. 5, 1784. "To-let; Main body of a house, on the front, with two -apartments, one having mirrors, woodwork and papers, which will be -sold." - -When the owner of the paper did not succeed in selling it, he took it -away, as it was stretched on cloth or mounted on frames. These papers -were then often offered for sale in the Parisian papers; we find -advertised in 1764, "The paperhangers for a room, painted green and -white"; November 26, 1766, "A hanging of paper lined with muslin, valued -at 12 Livres"; February 13, 1777, "For sale; by M. Hubert, a hanging of -crimson velvet paper, pasted on cloth, with gilt mouldings"; April 17, -1783, "38 yards of apple-green paper imitating damask, 24 livres, cost -38." - -By 1782, the use of wall-papers became so general that, from that time -on, the phrase "decorated with wall-paper" frequently occurs in -advertisements of luxurious apartments to let. Before this time, mention -had commonly been made, in the same manner, of the woodwork and mirrors. - -October 12, 1782, the _Journal general de France_ advertised: "To let; -two houses, decorated with mirrors and papers, one with stable for five -horses, 2 carriage-houses, large garden and well, the other with three -master's apartments, stable for 12 horses, 4 carriage-houses, etc." Oct. -28, 1782, "To let; pretty apartment of five rooms, second floor front, -with mirrors, papers, etc." Feb. 24, 1783, "To let; rue Montmartre, -first floor apartment, with antechamber; drawing-room, papered in -crimson, with mouldings; and two bed-rooms, one papered to match, with -two cellars." - -Mme. du Bocage, in her _Letters on England, Holland, and Italy_, (1750) -gives an account of Mrs. Montague's breakfast parties: "In the morning, -breakfasts agreeably bring together the people of the country and -strangers, in a closet lined with painted paper of Pekin, and furnished -with the choicest movables of China. - -"Mrs. Montague added, to her already large house, 'the room of the -Cupidons', which was painted with roses and jasmine, intertwined with -Cupids, and the 'feather room,' which was enriched with hangings made -from the plumage of almost every bird." - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -III - -EARLIEST WALL PAPERS IN AMERICA - -[Illustration] - - - - -III - -EARLIEST WALL PAPERS IN AMERICA - - -Wall-papers of expensive styles and artistic variety were brought to -America as early as 1735. Before that time, and after, clay paint was -used by thrifty housewives to freshen and clean the sooty walls and -ceilings, soon blackened by the big open fires. This was prepared simply -by mixing with water the yellow-gray clay from the nearest claybank. - -In Philadelphia, walls were whitewashed until about 1745, when we find -one Charles Hargrave advertising wall-paper, and a little later Peter -Fleeson manufacturing paper-hangings and papir-maché mouldings at the -corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. - -Those who could not afford to import papers painted their walls, either -in one color or stencilled in a simple pattern, or panelled, in -imitation of French papers; each panel with its own picture, large or -small. These attempts at decoration ranged with the taste and skill of -the artist, from fruit and floral designs and patterns copied from India -prints and imported china, to more elaborate and often horrible -presentments of landscapes and "waterscapes." The chimney breast, or -projecting wall forming the chimney, received especial attention. - -In my own farm-house, which was built in Colonial style in 1801 (with, -as tradition says, forty pumpkin pies and two barrels of hard cider to -cheer on the assisting neighbors), one of my first tasks was to have -five or six layers of cheap papers dampened and scraped off. And, to my -surprise, we found hand-painted flowers, true to nature and still -extremely pretty, though of course scratched and faded after such heroic -treatment--fuchsias in one room, carnation pinks in another, and in the -front hall honeysuckle blossoms, so defaced that they suggested some of -the animal tracks that Mr. Thompson-Seton copies in his books. What an -amount of painstaking and skilled work all that implied! That was a -general fashion at the time the house was built, and many such -hand-paintings have been reported to me. - -Mrs. Alice Morse Earle mentions one tavern parlor which she has seen -where the walls were painted with scenes from a tropical forest. On -either side of the fire-place sprang a tall palm tree. Coiled serpents, -crouching tigers, monkeys, a white elephant, and every form of -vivid-colored bird and insect crowded each other on the walls. And she -speaks of a wall-paper on the parlor of the Washington Tavern at -Westfield, Massachusetts, which gives the lively scenes of a fox chase. - -Near Conway, New Hampshire, there is a cottage where a room can still -be seen that has been most elaborately adorned by a local artist. The -mountains are evenly scalloped and uniformly green, the sky evenly blue -all the way round. The trees resemble those to be found in a Noah's Ark, -and the birds on them are certainly one-fourth as large as the trees. - -The painted landscapes are almost impossible to find, but I hear of one -room, the walls of which are painted with small landscapes, water -scenes, various animals, and trees. A sympathetic explorer has -discovered another in similar style at Westwood, Massachusetts, near -Dedham. - -In the old "Johnson House," Charlestown, New Hampshire, the door remains -on the premises, with hatchet marks still visible, through which the -Indians, "horribly fixed for war," dashed in pursuit of their trembling -victims. The hinges of hoop iron and latch with stringhole beneath are -intact. A portion of its surface is still covered with the paint of the -early settlers, made of red earth mixed with skimmed milk. - -A friend wrote me that her grandmother said that "before wall-paper -became generally used, many well-to-do persons had the walls of the -parlor--or keeping room as it was sometimes called--and spare room -tinted a soft Colonial yellow, with triangles, wheels or stars in dull -green and black for a frieze; and above the chair-rail a narrower -frieze, same pattern or similar, done in stencilling, often by home -talent. - -"My great aunt used to tell me that when company was expected, the edge -of the floor in the 'keeping room' was first sanded, then the most -artistic one of the family spread it evenly with a birch broom, and with -sticks made these same wheels and scallops around the edge of the room, -and the never-missing pitcher of asparagus completed the adornment." - -On the panels of a mantel, she remembers, an artist came from New -Boston and painted a landscape, while in the sitting-room, across the -hall, a huge vase of gayly tinted flowers was painted over the mantel. -On the mantel of another house was painted the Boston massacre. This was -in existence only a few years ago. - -Later came the black and white imitation of marble for the halls and -stairs, and yellow floors with the stencil border in black. This was an -imitation of the French. In Balzac's _Pierrette_ is described a -pretentious provincial house, of which the stairway was "painted -throughout in imitation of yellow-veined black marble." - -Madeleine Gale Wynne, in _The House Beautiful_, wrote most delightfully -about "Clay, Paint and other Wall Furnishings," and I quote her vivid -descriptions of the wall paintings she saw in Deerfield and Bernardston, -Massachusetts. - -"These wall paintings, like the embroideries, were derived from the -India prints or the Chinese and other crockery. Whether the dweller in -this far-off New England atmosphere was conscious of it or not, he was -indebted to many ancient peoples for the way in which he intertwined his -spray, or translated his flower and bud into a decorative whole. - -"Odd and amusing are many of the efforts, and they have often taken on a -certain individuality that makes a curious combination with the Eastern -strain. - -"An old house in Deerfield has the remains of an interesting wall, and a -partition of another done in blue, with an oval picture painted over the -mantel-tree. The picture was of a blue ship in full sail on a blue -ocean. - -"The other wall was in a small entry-way, and had an abundance of -semi-conventionalized flowers done in red, black, and browns. The design -was evidently painted by hand, and evolved as the painter worked. A -border ran round each doorway, while the wall spaces were treated -separately and with individual care; the effect was pleasing, though -crude. Tulips and roses were the theme. - -"This house had at one time been used as a tavern, and there is a -tradition that this was one of several public houses that were decorated -by a man who wandered through the Connecticut Valley during -Revolutionary times, paying his way by these flights of genius done in -oil. Tradition also has it that this man had a past; whether he was a -spy or a deserter from the British lines, or some other fly-from-justice -body, was a matter of speculation never determined. He disappeared as he -came, but behind him he left many walls decorated with fruit and -flowers, less perishable than himself. - -"We find his handiwork not only in Deerfield, but in Bernardston. There -are rumors that there was also a wall of his painting in a tavern which -stood on the border line between Massachusetts and Vermont. In -Connecticut, too, there are houses that have traces of his work. In -Bernardston, Massachusetts, there is still to be seen a room containing -a very perfect specimen of wall painting which is attributed to him. -This work may be of later date, but no one knows its origin. - -"This design is very pleasing, not only because of its antiquity and -associations, but because in its own way it is a beautiful and fitting -decoration. The color tones are full, the figures quaintly systematic -and showing much invention. - -"The body of the wall is of a deep cream, divided into diamond spaces -by a stencilled design, consisting of four members in diamond shape; the -next diamond is made up of a different set of diamonds, there being four -sets in all; these are repeated symmetrically, so that a larger diamond -is produced. Strawberries, tulips, and two other flowers of less -pronounced individuality are used, and the colors are deliciously -harmonized in spite of their being in natural tints, and bright at that. -Now, this might have been very ugly--most unpleasing; on the contrary, -it is really beautiful. - -"There is both dado and frieze, the latter being an elaborate festoon, -the former less good, made up of straggling palms and other ill -considered and constructed growths. One suspects the dado to be an -out-and-out steal from some chintz, while the tulips and strawberries -bear the stamp of personal intimacy. - -"The culminating act of imagination and art was arrived at on the -chimney-breast decoration; there indeed do we strike the high-water mark -of the decorator; he was not hampered either by perspective or -probability. - -"We surmise that Boston and its harbor is the subject; here are ships, -horses and coaches, trees and road-ways, running like garlands which -subdivide the spaces, many houses in a row, and finally a row of docile -sheep that for a century have fed in unfading serenity at their cribs in -inexplicable proximity to the base of the dwellings. All is fair in -love, war, and decoration. - -"The trees are green, the houses red, the sheep white, and the water -blue; all is in good tone, and I wish that it had been on my mantel -space that this renegade painter had put his spirited effort." - -A friend told me of her vivid recollection of some frescoed portraits -on the walls of the former home of a prominent Quaker in Minneapolis. -Her letter to a cousin who attends the Friends' Meeting there brought -this answer: "I had quite a talk with Uncle Junius at Meeting about his -old house. Unfortunately, the walls were ruined in a fire a few years -ago and no photograph had ever been taken of them. The portraits thee -asked about were in a bed-room. William Penn, with a roll in his hand -(the treaty, I suppose) was on one side of a window and Elizabeth Fry on -the other. These two were life size. - -"Then, (tell it not in Gath!) there was a billiard room. Here Mercury, -Terpsichore and other gay creatures tripped around the frieze, and there -was also a picture of the temple in Pompeii and Minerva with her owl. In -the sitting room on one side of the bay window was a fisher-woman -mending her net, with a lot of fish about her. On the other side of the -window another woman was feeding a deer. - -"On the dining-room walls a number of rabbits were playing under a big -fern and there was a whole family of prairie chickens, and ducks were -flying about the ceiling. Uncle Junius said, 'It cost me a thousand -dollars to have those things frescoed on, and they looked nice, too!' I -suppose when the Quaker preachers came to visit he locked up the -billiard room and put them in the room with William Penn and Elizabeth -Fry. He seemed rather mortified about the other and said it would not do -to go into a Quaker book, at all!" - -This house was built about the middle of the nineteenth century, when -Minneapolis was a new town; but it undoubtedly shows the influence of -the old New England which was the genial Friend's boyhood home. The -scores of Quaker preachers and other visiting Friends who accepted the -overflowing hospitality of this cheerfully frescoed house seem to have -had none of the scruples of Massachusetts Friends of an earlier date. A -lady sent me a strip of hideously ugly paper in squares, the colors dark -brown and old gold. She wrote me that this paper was on the walls of the -parlor of their house in Hampton, Massachusetts. The family were -Friends; and once, when the Quarterly Meeting was held there, some of -the Friends refused to enter their house, as the paper was too gay and -worldly. And it actually had to be taken off! - -After the clay paint and the hand painting came the small sheets or -squares of paper, and again I was fortunate in finding in my adopted -farm-house, in the "best room" upstairs, a snuff-brown paper of the -"wine-glass" pattern that was made before paper was imported in rolls, -and was pasted on the walls in small squares. The border looks as much -like a row of brown cats sitting down as anything else. You know the -family used to be called together to help cut out a border when a room -was to be papered; but very few of these home-made borders are now to be -found. - -I was told of a lady in Philadelphia who grew weary of an old and -sentimental pattern in her chamber, put on in small pieces and in poor -condition, and begged her husband to let her take it off. But he was -attached to the room, paper and all, and begged on his part that it -might remain. She next visited queer old stores where papers were kept, -and in one of them, in a loft, found enough of this very pattern, with -Cupids and doves and roses, to re-paper almost the entire room. And it -was decidedly difficult so to match the two sides of the face of the -little God of Love as to preserve his natural expression of roguishness -and merry consciousness of his power. - -It may interest some to learn just what drew my attention to the subject -of old-time wall-papers. One, and an especially fine specimen, is -associated with my earliest memories, and will be remembered to my -latest day. For, although a native of New Hampshire, I was born at the -foot of Mount Vesuvius, and there was a merry dance to the music of -mandolin and tambourine round the tomb of Virgil on my natal morn. Some -men were fishing, others bringing in the catch; farther on was a picnic -party, sentimental youths and maidens eating comfits and dainties to the -tender notes of a flute. And old Vesuvius was smoking violently. All -this because the room in which I made my début was adorned with a -landscape or scenic paper. - -Fortunately, this still remains on the walls, little altered or defaced -by the wear of years. When admiring it lately, the suggestion came to me -to have this paper photographed at once, and also that of the Seasons in -the next house; these were certainly too rare and interesting to be -lost. It is singular that the only papers of this sort I had ever seen -were in neighboring homes of two professors at Dartmouth College, and -remarkable that neither has been removed: now I find many duplicates of -these papers. - -What a keen delight it was to me as a child to be allowed to go to -Professor Young's, to admire his white hair, which I called "pitty white -fedders," and to gaze at the imposing sleighing party just above the -mantel, and at the hunters or the haymakers in the fields! A good -collection is always interesting, from choice old copies of first -editions to lanterns, cow-bells, scissors, cup-plates, fans or buttons; -and I mourn that I did not think of securing photographs of quaint and -antique papers years ago, for most of them have now disappeared. - -Showing the beginnings of my collection to an amateur photographer, he -was intensely interested, and said: "Why, I can get you a set as good as -these! The house has been owned by one family for eighty-five years, and -the paper was put on as long ago as that." And certainly his addition is -most interesting. The scenes in one are French. You see a little play -going on, such as we have been told in a recent magazine article they -still have in France--a street show in which a whole family often take -part. They appear as accompaniment to a fair or festival. The hole for -the stove-pipe, penetrating the foliage, has a ludicrous effect, -contrasting in abrupt fashion--the old and the new, the imposing and the -practical. - -This enthusiastic friend next visited Medfield, Massachusetts, where he -heard there were several such papers, only to be told that they had just -been scraped off and the rooms modernized. - -Hearing of a fine example of scenic paper in the old Perry House at -Keene, New Hampshire, I wrote immediately, lest that, too, should be -removed, and through the kindness of absolute strangers can show an -excellent representation of the Olympic games, dances, Greeks placing -wreaths upon altars, and other scenes from Grecian life, well executed. -These are grand conceptions; I hope they may never be vandalized by -chisel and paste, but be allowed to remain as long as that historic -house stands. They are beautifully preserved. - - -_PLATE V._ - - A detail of the preceding paper. Though well designed, this is not - a beautifully colored or very well printed paper; the color scheme - is carried out in fourteen printings. - -[Illustration] - -A brief magazine article on my new enthusiasm, illustrated with -photographs of papers I knew about, was received with surprising -interest. My mail-bag came crowded, and I was well-nigh "snowed in," as -De Quincy put it, by fascinating letters from men and women who rejoiced -in owning papers like those of my illustrations, or had heard of others -equally fine and equally venerable, and with cordial invitations to -journey here and there to visit unknown friends and study their -wall-papers, the coloring good as new after a hundred years or more. It -was in this unexpected and most agreeable way that I heard of treasures -at Windsor, Vermont; Claremont, New Hampshire; Taunton, Massachusetts, -and quaint old Nantucket, and was informed that my special paper, with -the scenes from the Bay of Naples (represented so faithfully that one -familiar with the Italian reality could easily recognize every one) was -a most popular subject with the early purchaser and was still on the -walls of a dozen or more sitting-rooms. - -The Reverend Wallace Nutting, of Providence, whose fame as an artistic -photographer is widespread, sent me a picture of a parlor in St. -Johnsbury, Vermont, where he found this paper. Three women dressed in -old-fashioned style, even to the arrangement of their hair, are seated -at table, enjoying a cup of tea. An old tabby is napping cosily in a -soft-cushioned chair. And above, on the right, Vesuvius is pouring forth -the usual volumes of smoke. A fine old mahogany side-board, at the foot -of the volcano, decorated with decanters and glasses large and small, -presents an inviting picture. - -The house at Hillsboro Bridge, New Hampshire, where Ex-Governor -Benjamin Pierce lived for years, and where his son, Franklin Pierce, -passed a happy boyhood, has this paper, and several similar letters show -how generally it was admired. Mrs. Lawrence, of Boston, wrote: - -"I send by this mail a package of pictures, taken by my daughter, of the -Italian wall-paper on her grandfather's old home in Exeter, N. H. The -house is now owned by the Academy and used as a dormitory. The views -which I enclose have never been published. We have two or three -remarkable specimens of wall-paper made in India a hundred and fifty -years ago; the strips are hanging on the wall, nailed up." - -The Italian paper proved to be my old friend Vesuvius and his bay. An -Exeter professor also wrote describing the same paper and adding -translations of the Greek inscriptions on the monuments. - -Friends would often write of such a wonderful specimen at some town or -village. I would write to the address given and be told of this Bay of -Naples paper again. They were all brought over and put on at about the -same time. - -One of the oldest houses in Windsor, Vermont, still has a charming -parlor paper, with landscape and water, boats, castles, ruins and -picturesque figures, which was imported and hung about 1810. This house -was built by the Honorable Edward R. Campbell, a prominent Vermonter in -his day, and here were entertained President Monroe and other notable -visitors. Later the Campbell house was occupied for some years by Salmon -P. Chase. It is now the home of the Sabin family. - -A Boston antique dealer wrote me: "In an article of yours in _The House -Beautiful_, you have a photograph of the paper of the old Perry House, -Keene, N. H. We want to say that we have in our possession here at this -store, strung up temporarily, a paper with the same subject. It forms a -complete scene, there being thirty pieces in attractive old shades of -brown. We bought this from a family in Boston some little time ago, and -it is said to have been made in France for a planter in New Orleans in -or before 1800. We feel we would be excused in saying that this is the -most interesting lot of any such thing in existence. It has been handed -down from family to family, and they, apparently, have shown it, because -the bottom ends of some of the sheets are considerably worn from -handling. You understand this paper was never hung on the wall and it is -just as it was originally made." He fairly raves over the beautiful rich -browns and cream and "O! such trees!" - -To my inquiry whether his price for this paper was really two thousand -dollars, as I had heard, he replied, "We would be very sorry to sell the -paper for two thousand dollars, for it is worth five thousand." - -An artist who called to examine the paper is equally enthusiastic. He -writes: "I was greatly impressed by the remarkably fine execution of the -entire work. Doubtless it was printed by hand with engraved blocks. A -large per cent of the shading, especially the faces of the charming -figures, was surely done by hand, and all is the production of a -superior artist. There are several sections, each perhaps three feet -square, of such fine design, grouping, finish and execution of light and -shade, as to make them easily samples of such exquisite nicety and -comprehensive artistic work as to warrant their being framed. - -"The facial expression of each of the many figures is so true that it -indicates the feelings and almost the thoughts of the person -represented; there is remarkable individuality and surprising animation. -I was forcibly struck with the inimitable perspective of the buildings -and the entire landscape with which they are associated. Practically -speaking, the buildings are of very perfect Roman architecture; there -is, however, a pleasing venture manifested, where the artist has -presented a little of the Greek work with here and there a trace of -Egyptian, and perhaps of the Byzantine. These make a pleasing -anachronism, such as Shakespeare at times introduced into his plays: a -venture defended by Dr. Samuel Johnson, as well as other distinguished -critics. The trees are done with an almost photographic truth and -exactness. After a somewhat extended and critical examination of things -of this kind in various parts of Europe, I do not hesitate to say that I -have seen nothing of the kind that excels the work you have. What is -quite remarkable about it, and more than all exhibits its truth to -nature, it seems to challenge decision whether it shows to best -advantage in strong daylight or twilight, by artificial light or that of -the sun; an effect always present in nature, but not often well produced -on paper or canvas. The successful venture to use so light a groundwork -was much like that of Rubens, where he used a white sheet in his great -painting, 'The Descent from the Cross.'" - -Since the above description was written, this incomparable paper has -passed into the hands of Mrs. Franklin R. Webber, 2nd, of Boston, who -will either frame it, or in some other way preserve it as perfectly as -possible. - -The remarkable paper shown in Plate XLI and the three following plates -were sent me by Miss Janet A. Lathrop of Stockport-on-Hudson, New York. -It is certainly one of the finest of the scenic papers still in -existence. The scene is oriental, the costumes seeming both Turkish and -Chinese. Temples and pagodas, a procession, a barge on the river and a -gathering in a tea-house follow in succession about the room. All are -printed by hand on rice paper, in gray tones. The paper is browned with -age, but was cleaned and restored about a year ago and is exceedingly -well preserved. - -The house in which this paper is hung was built by Captain Seth Macy, a -retired sea-captain, in 1815. The paper was put on in 1820. Captain Seth -seems to have used up all his fortune in building his house, and in a -few years he was forced to sell it. The name of "Seth's Folly" still -clings to the place. In 1853 Miss Lathrop's father bought the house, and -it has ever since been occupied by his family. By a singular -coincidence, Mrs. Lathrop recognized the paper as the same as some on -the old house at Albany in which she was born. Repeated inquiries have -failed to locate any other example in America, and photographs have been -submitted without avail to both domestic and foreign experts for -identification. In the early seventies Miss Lathrop chanced to visit a -hunting-lodge belonging to the King of Saxony at Moritzburg, near -Dresden, and in the "Chinese room" she found a tapestry or paper exactly -similar, from which the paper on her own walls may have been copied. - -The two papers just described would seem to be the finest examples of -continuous scenic papers still extant. I learn as this book goes to -press that Mrs. Jack Gardner, of Boston, has a remarkable old -geographical paper, in which the three old-world continents are -represented. I have been fortunate enough to secure, through the -courtesy of Mrs. Russell Jarvis, a picture of the paper in her parlor at -Claremont, New Hampshire. The Jarvis family have occupied the house -since 1797. This is not a landscape, but consists of small pastoral -scenes, placed at intervals and repeated regularly. The design is brown -on a cream ground. It has a dado and a frieze in dark blue. It is hand -made and all printed by hand, in squares of about eighteen inches, -matched carefully. Mrs. Jarvis writes: "I had no idea that the -photographer would take in so much each side of the corner, or I should -have arranged the furniture differently. The picture I did not suppose -was to appear is one of great interest and value. It is supposed to be a -Rubens, and has hung there for over a hundred years. It was bought in -1791 in Boston, of a French gentleman from San Domingo, who, on the -night of the insurrection there, escaped, saving but little else of his -vast possessions. It had evidently been hastily cut from the frame. It -represents the presentation of the head of the younger Cyrus to Tomyris, -Queen of the Scythians. The coloring is fine, the figures very -beautiful, and the satin and ermine of the Queen's dress extremely rich. -If you look closely, you will see a sword lying on the piano. This is -the one Sir William Pepperell was knighted with by King George the -Second, in 1745, because of the Battle of Louisburg, and was given my -husband's father by Sir William's grand-daughter, I believe." - -You see how one photograph brings to you many valuable bits of -information apart from the paper sought. - -This letter, for example, with its accompanying photograph (see Plate -XXII) leads one to the study of history, art, and literature. The -subject of the picture, aside from its supposed origin, is of interest. - -The Scythians were Aryans much mixed with Mongol blood; they disappear -from history about 100 B. C. Cyrus the younger, after subduing the -eastern parts of Asia, was defeated by Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae -in Scythia. Tomyris cut off his head and threw it into a vessel filled -with human blood, saying, as she did so, "There, drink thy fill." - -Dante refers to this incident in his _Purgatory_, xii; and Sackville, in -his _Mirrour for Magistrates_, 1587, says: - - Consyder Cyrus-- - He whose huge power no man might overthrowe, - Tomyris Queen, with great despite hath slowe, - His head dismembered from his mangled corpse - Herself she cast into a vessel fraught - With clotted blood of them that felt her force, - And with these words a just reward she taught: - "Drynke now thy fyll of thy desired draught." - -Here seems to be the place to speak more fully of the small scenes -placed regularly at intervals. There is a great variety of pretty -medallion pictures of this sort, as, alternating figures of a -shepherdess with her crook reclining on a bank near a flock of sheep, -and a boy studying at a desk, with a teacher standing near by. - -Mr. Frank B. Sanborn writes: "The oldest paper I ever saw was in the -parlor of President Weare, of Hampton Falls--a simple hunting scene, -with three compartments; a deer above, a dog below, and a hunter with -his horn below that. It was put on in 1737, when the house was built, -and, I think, is there still. Colonel Whiting's house had a more -elaborate and extensive scene--what the French called 'Montagnes -Russe'--artificial hills in a park, for sliding down, toboggan fashion, -and a score of people enjoying them or looking on." - -A good authority asserts that rolls of paper did not appear in this -country until 1790, so that all these now mentioned must have been -imported in square sheets. Notice the step forward--from white walls, -through a clay wash, to hand painting, stencilling, small imported -sheets, and, at last, to rolls of paper. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE VI._ - - Fragment of the famous old racing paper from the Timothy Dexter - house. This is too broken and stained to admit of the reproduction - of its original colors--blue sky, gray clouds, green turf, brown - horses and black, and jockeys in various colors. The scene here - given fills the width of the paper, about eighteen inches. - -[Illustration] - - - - -IV - -WALL PAPERS IN HISTORIC HOMES [Illustration] - - - - -IV - -WALL PAPERS IN HISTORIC HOMES - - -Esther Singleton, in her valuable and charming book on _French and -English Furniture_, tells us that in the early Georgian period, from -1714 to 1754, the art of the Regency was on the decline, and "the -fashionable taste of the day was for Gothic, Chinese and French -decorations; and the expensive French wall-painting and silken hangings -were imitated in wall-paper and the taste even spread to America." In -1737, the famous Hancock House was being built and, until it was -demolished a few years ago (1863), it was the last of the great mansions -standing that could show what the stately homes of old Boston were like. -This house was built by Thomas Hancock, son of the Rev. John Hancock, -the kitchen of whose house is now owned by the Lexington Historical -Society. - -On January 23, 1737-8, we find him writing from Boston to Mr. John -Rowe, Stationer, London, as follows: "Sir, Inclosed you have the -Dimensions of a Room for a Shaded Hanging to be done after the Same -Pattern I have sent per Captain Tanner, who will deliver it to you. It's -for my own House and Intreat the favour of you to Get it Done for me to -Come Early in the Spring, or as Soon as the nature of the Thing will -admitt. - -"The pattern is all was Left of a Room Lately Come over here, and it -takes much in ye Town and will be the only paper-hanging for Sale here -wh. am of opinion may Answer well. Therefore desire you by all means to -get mine well Done and as Cheap as Possible and if they can make it more -beautifull by adding more Birds flying here and there, with Some -Landskips at the Bottom, Should like it well. Let the Ground be the Same -Colour of the Pattern. At the Top and Bottom was a narrow Border of -about 2 Inches wide wh. would have to mine. About three or four years -ago my friend Francis Wilks, Esq., had a hanging Done in the Same manner -but much handsomer Sent over here from Mr. Sam Waldon of this place, -made by one Dunbar in Aldermanbury, where no doubt he, or some of his -successors may be found. In the other part of these Hangings are Great -Variety of Different Sorts of Birds, Peacocks, Macoys, Squirril, Monkys, -Fruit and Flowers etc. - -"But a greater Variety in the above mentioned of Mr. Waldon's and Should -be fond of having mine done by the Same hand if to be mett with. I -design if this pleases me to have two Rooms more done for myself. I -Think they are handsomer and Better than Painted hangings Done in Oyle, -so I Beg your particular Care in procuring this for me and that the -patterns may be Taken Care of and Return'd with my goods." - -John Adams writes in his Diary (1772): "Spent this evening with Mr. -Samuel Adams at his house. Adams was more cool, genteel, and agreeable -than common; concealed and retained his passions, etc. He affects to -despise riches, and not to dread poverty; but no man is more ambitious -of entertaining his friends handsomely, or of making a decent, an -elegant appearance than he. - -"He has newly covered and glazed his house, and painted it very neatly, -and has new papered, painted and furnished his rooms; so that you visit -at a very genteel house and are very politely received and entertained." - -Paper is the only material with which a man of but little means can -surround himself with a decorative motive and can enjoy good copies of -the expensive tapestries and various hangings which, until recently, -have been within the reach of the wealthy only. The paper-hanger was not -so much a necessity in the old days as now. The family often joined in -the task of making the paste, cutting the paper and placing it on the -walls. This was not beneath the dignity of George Washington, who, with -the assistance of Lafayette, hung on the walls at Mount Vernon paper -which he had purchased abroad. - -The story goes that the good Martha lamented in the presence of -Lafayette that she should be unable to get the new paper hung in the -banquet room in time for the morrow's ball in honor of the young -Marquis. There were no men to be found for such work. Lafayette at once -pointed out to Mistress Washington that she had three able-bodied men at -her service--General Washington, Lafayette himself and his aide-de-camp. -Whereupon the company fell merrily to work, and the paper was hung in -time for the ball. Not only did the Father of our Country fight our -battles for us, but there is evidence that he gracefully descended to a -more peaceful level and gave us hints as to that valuable combination -known to the world as flour paste. - -There is in existence a memorandum in Washington's hand, which reads as -follows: - -"Upholsterer's directions: - -"If the walls have been whitewashed over with glew water. If not--Simple -and common paste is sufficient without any other mixture but, in either -case, the Paste must be made of the finest and best flour, and free from -lumps. The Paste is to be made thick and may be thinned by putting water -to it. - -"The Paste is to be put upon the paper and suffered to remain about five -minutes to soak in before it is put up, then with a cloth press it -against the wall, until all parts stick. If there be rinkles anywhere, -put a large piece of paper thereon and then rub them out with cloth as -before mentioned." - -During the period when Mount Vernon was in private hands, the papers of -Washington's day were removed. There is now on the upper hall a -medallion paper which is reproduced from that which hung there at the -time of the Revolution. - -Benjamin Franklin was another of our great men who interested -themselves in domestic details. In 1765 he was in London, when he -received from his wife a letter describing the way in which she had -re-decorated and furnished their home. Furniture, carpets and pictures -were mentioned, and wall coverings as well. "The little south room I -have papered, as the walls were much soiled. In this room is a carpet I -bought cheap for its goodness, and nearly new.... The Blue room has the -harmonica and the harpsichord, the gilt sconce, a card table, a set of -tea china, the worked chairs and screen--a very handsome stand for the -tea kettle to stand on, and the ornamental china. The paper of the room -has lost much of its bloom by pasting up." This blue room must have been -the subject of further correspondence. Nearly two years later Franklin -wrote to his wife: - -"I suppose the room is too blue, the wood being of the same colour with -the paper, and so looks too dark. I would have you finish it as soon as -you can, thus: paint the wainscot a dead white; paper the walls blue, -and tack the gilt border round the cornice. If the paper is not equally -coloured when pasted on, let it be brushed over again with the same -colour, and let the _papier maché_ musical figures be tacked to the -middle of the ceiling. When this is done, I think it will look very -well." - -There are many old houses in New England and the Middle States which are -of historic interest, and in some of these the original paper is still -on the walls and in good preservation, as in the Dorothy Quincy house at -Quincy, Massachusetts. The Dorothy Quincy house is now owned by the -Colonial Dames of Massachusetts, who have filled it with beautiful -colonial furniture and other relics of Dorothy Q's day. The papers on -all the walls are old, but none so early as that on the large north -parlor (Plate XXIX), which was imported from Paris to adorn the room in -which Dorothy Quincy and John Hancock were to have been married in 1775. -Figures of Venus and Cupid made the paper appropriate to the occasion. - -"But the fortunes of war," says Katharine M. Abbott in her _Old Paths -and Legends of New England_, "upset the best of plans, and her wedding -came about very quietly at the Thaddeus Burr house in Fairfield. Owing -to the prescription on Hancock's head, they were forced to spend their -honeymoon in hiding, as the red-coats had marked for capture this -elegant, cocked-hat 'rebel' diplomatist of the blue and bluff. Dorothy -Quincy Hancock, the niece of Holmes's 'Dorothy Q.,' is a fascinating -figure in history. Lafayette paid her a visit of ceremony and pleasure -at the Hancock house on his triumphal tour, and no doubt the once -youthful chevalier and reigning belle flung many a quip and sally over -the teacups of their eventful past." - -The Hancock-Clarke house, in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a treasure -house of important relics, besides files of pamphlets, manuscripts and -printed documents, portraits, photographs, furniture, lanterns, -canteens, pine-tree paper currency, autographs, fancy-work--in fact -almost everything that could be dug up. There is also a piece of the -original paper on the room occupied by Hancock and Adams on April 18, -1775. But the bit of paper and the reproduction are copyrighted, and -there is no more left of it. It is a design of pomegranate leaves, buds, -flowers and fruits--nothing remarkable or attractive about it. I have a -small photograph of it, which must be studied through a glass. - -In the sitting-room the paper is a series of arches, evidently Roman, a -foot wide and three feet high. The pillars supporting the arches are -decorated with trophies--shields, with javelins, battle-axes and -trumpets massed behind. The design is a mechanical arrangement of urn -and pedestal; there are two figures leaning against the marble, and two -reclining on the slab above the urn. One of these holds a trumpet, and -all the persons are wearing togas. The groundwork of color in each panel -is Roman red; all the rest is a study in black and white lines. Garlands -droop at regular intervals across the panels. - -The paper in the Lafayette room at the Wayside Inn, South Sudbury, -Massachusetts, is precious only from association. The inn was built -about 1683, and was first opened by David Howe, who kept it until 1746. -It was then kept by his three sons in succession, one son, Lyman Howe, -being the landlord when Longfellow visited there and told the tale of -Paul Revere's ride. It was renovated under the management of Colonel -Ezekiel Howe, 1746-1796, and during that time the paper was put on the -Lafayette room. - -Several important personages are known to have occupied this room, among -them General Lafayette, Judge Sewall, Luigi Monti, Doctor Parsons, -General Artemus Ward. The house was first known as Howe's in Sudbury, or -Horse Tavern, then as the Red Horse Tavern; and in 1860 was immortalized -by Longfellow as The Wayside Inn. - -"The landlord of Longfellow's famous Tales was the dignified Squire -Lyman Howe, a justice of the peace and school committee-man, who lived a -bachelor, and died at the inn in 1860--the last of his line to keep the -famous hostelry. Besides Squire Howe, the only other real characters in -the Tales who were ever actually at the inn were Thomas W. Parsons, the -poet; Luigi Monti, the Sicilian, and Professor Daniel Treadwell, of -Harvard, the theologian, all three of whom were in the habit of spending -the summer months there. Of the other characters, the musician was Ole -Bull, the student was Henry Ware Wales, and the Spanish Jew was Israel -Edrehi. Near the room in which Longfellow stayed is the ball-room with -the dais at one end for the fiddlers. But the polished floor no longer -feels the pressure of dainty feet in high-heeled slippers gliding over -it to the strains of contra-dance, cotillion, or minuet, although the -merry voices of summer visitors and jingling bells of winter sleighing -parties at times still break the quiet of the ancient inn." - -Judge Sewall, in his famous diary, notes that he spent the night at -Howe's in Sudbury--there being also a Howe's Tavern in Marlboro. -Lafayette, in 1824, spent the night there and, as Washington passed over -this road when he took command of the army at Cambridge, it is more than -likely that he also stopped there, as Colonel Howe's importance in this -neighborhood would almost demand it. Washington passed over this road -again when on his tour of New England, and then Colonel Howe was the -landlord and squire, as well as colonel of a regiment. - -Burgoyne stopped there, a captive, on his way from Ticonderoga to -Boston; and, as this was the most popular stage route to New York city, -Springfield and Albany, those famous men of New England--Otis, Adams, -Hancock, and many others--were frequent guests. A company of horse -patrolled the road, and tripped into the old bar for their rum and -home-brewed ale. It is worth recording that Agassiz, in his visits to -the house, examined the ancient oaks near the inn, and pronounced one of -them over a thousand years old. Edna Dean Proctor refers to them in her -poem: - - Oaks that the Indian's bow and wigwam knew, - And by whose branches still the sky is barred. - -I have a photograph of the famous King's Tavern, where Lafayette was -entertained, and a small piece of the paper of the dining-room. This -tavern was at Vernon, Connecticut, (now known as Rockville,) on the -great Mail Stage route from New York to Boston. It was noted for its -waffles, served night and morning, and the travellers sometimes called -it "Waffle Tavern." It was erected by Lemuel King, in 1820. Now it is -used as the Rockville town farm. The noted French wall-paper on the -dining-room, where Lafayette was entertained, represented mythological -scenes. There was Atlas, King of the remote West and master of the trees -that bore the golden apples; and Prometheus, chained to the rock, with -the water about him. The paper was imported in small squares, which had -to be most carefully pasted together. - -This treasured paper, with its rather solemn colors of grey and black, -and its amazing number of mythological characters, was stripped from the -walls and consumed in a bonfire by an unappreciative and ignorant person -who had control of the place. A lady rescued a few pieces and pasted -them on a board. She has generously sent me a photograph of one of the -panels. She writes me pathetically of the woodsy scenes, water views, -mountains, cascades, and castles, with classic figures artistically -arranged among them. There seems to have been a greater variety than is -usual, from a spirited horse, standing on his hind legs on a cliff, to a -charming nymph seated on a rock and playing on a lyre. Below all these -scenes there was a dado of black and grey, with scrolls and names of the -beings depicted--such names as Atlas, Atlantis, Ariadne, Arethusa, -Adonis, Apollo, Andromache, Bacchus, Cassandra, Cadmus, Diana, Endymion, -Juno, Jupiter, Iris, Laocoön, Medusa, Minerva, Neptune, Pandora, -Penelope, Romulus, Sirius, Thalia, Theseus, Venus, Vulcan, and many -others were "among those present." Below these names came a dado of -grassy green, with marine views at intervals. - -Whether Lafayette noticed and appreciated all this, history telleth not. -After his sumptuous repast a new coach was provided to convey him from -King's Tavern to Hartford, and it was drawn by four white horses. - -On a boulder in Lafayette Park, near by, is this inscription: - -"In grateful memory of General Lafayette, whose love of liberty brought -him to our shores, to dedicate his life and fortune to the cause of the -Colonies. - -"The Sabra Trumbull Chapter, D. A. R., erected this monument near the -Old King's Tavern, where he was entertained in 1824." - -The General Knox mansion, called "Montpelier," at Thomaston, Maine, is -full of interest to all who care for old-time luxury as seen in the -homes of the wealthy. General Knox was Washington's first Secretary of -War. Samples of paper have been sent me from there. One had a background -of sky-blue, on which were wreaths, with torches, censers with flames -above, and two loving birds, one on the nest and the mate proudly -guarding her--all in light brown and gray, with some sparkling mineral -or tiniest particles of glass apparently sprinkled over, which produced -a fascinating glitter, and a raised, applique effect I have never -observed before. This was on the dining-room of the mansion. In the -"gold room" was a yellow paper--as yellow as buttercups. - -Still another, more unusual, was a representation of a sea-port town, -Gallipoli, of European Turkey; armed men are marching; you see the water -and picturesque harbor, and Turkish soldiers in boats. The red of the -uniforms brightens the pictures; the background is gray, and the views -are enclosed in harmonious browns, suggesting trees and rocks. This -paper came in small pieces, before rolls were made. Think of the labor -of matching all those figures! "Gallipoli" is printed at the bottom. - -I am assured by a truthful woman from Maine that the halls of this house -were adorned with yellow paper with hunting scenes "life-size," and I -don't dare doubt or even discuss this, for what a woman from that state -_knows_ is not to be questioned. It can't be childish imagination. -Moreover, I have corroborative evidence from another veracious woman in -the South, who, in her childhood, saw human figures of "life size" on a -paper long since removed. - -I freely confess that I had never heard of this distinguished General -Knox and his palatial residence; but a composition from a little girl -was shown me, which gives a good idea of the house: - - -THE KNOX MANSION. - -"In the year 1793, General Knox sent a party of workmen from Boston to -build a summer residence on the bank of the Georges River. The mansion -was much like a French chateau, and was often so called by visitors. - -"The front entrance faced the river. The first story was of brick, and -contained the servants' hall, etc. The second floor had nine rooms, the -principal of which was the oval room, into which the main entrance -opened. There were two large windows on either side of the door, and on -opposite sides were two immense fire-places. This room was used as a -picture gallery, and contained many ancient portraits. It had also a -remarkable clock. It was high, and the case was of solid mahogany. The -top rose in three points and each point had a brass ball on the top. The -face, instead of the usual Roman numbers, had the Arabic 1, 2, 3, etc. -There were two small dials. On each side of the case were little -windows, showing the machinery. Between the two windows on one side of -the room was a magnificent mahogany book-case, elaborately trimmed with -solid silver, which had belonged to Louis XIV. and was twelve feet long. - -"The mansion measured ninety feet across, and had on either side of the -oval room two large drawing-rooms, each thirty feet long. There were -twenty-eight fire-places in the house. Back of the western drawing-room -was a library. This was furnished with beautiful books of every -description, a large number being French. On the other side was a large -china closet. One set of china was presented to General Knox by the -Cincinnati Society. The ceiling was so high that it was necessary to use -a step-ladder to reach the china from the higher shelves. Back of the -oval room was a passage with a flight of stairs on each side, which met -at the top. Above, the oval room was divided into two dressing-rooms. -The bedsteads were all solid mahogany, with silk and damask hangings. -One room was called the 'gold room,' and everything in it, even the -counterpane, was of gold color. The doors were mahogany, and had large -brass knobs and brass pieces extending nearly to the centre. The carpets -were all woven whole. - -"The house outside was painted white, with green blinds, though every -room was furnished with shutters inside. A little in the rear of the -mansion extended a number of out-buildings, in the form of a crescent, -beginning with the stable on one side, and ending with the cook house on -the other. General Knox kept twenty saddle horses and a number of pairs -of carriage horses. Once there was a gateway, surmounted by the American -Eagle, leading into what is now Knox Street. 'Montpelier,' as it was -called, had many distinguished visitors every summer." - -I noticed in a recent paper the report of an old-time game supper, -participated in by ninety prominent sportsmen at Thomaston, Maine, -following the custom inaugurated by General Knox for the entertainment -of French guests. - -It was through hearing of the Knox house that I learned of a "death -room." There was one over the eastern dining-room. These depressing -rooms had but one window, and the paper was dark and gloomy--white, with -black figures, and a deep mourning frieze. Benches were ranged stiffly -around the sides, and there were drawers filled with the necessities for -preparing a body for burial. Linen and a bottle of "camphire" were never -forgotten. There the dead lay till the funeral. I can shiver over the -intense gruesomeness of it. How Poe or Hawthorne could have let his -inspired imagination work up the possibilities of such a room! A -skeleton at the feast is a slight deterrent from undue gaiety, compared -with this ever-ready, sunless apartment. - -This reminds me that I read the other day of a "deadly-lively" old -lady, who, having taken a flat in the suburban depths of Hammersmith, -England, stipulated before signing her lease that the landlord should -put black wall-paper on the walls of every room except the kitchen. -Possibly she had a secret sorrow which she wished to express in this -melodramatic fashion. But why except the culinary department? We have -been hearing a good deal lately about the effect of color on the nerves -and temperament generally. A grim, undertaker-like tone of this kind -would no doubt induce a desired melancholy, and if extended to the -region of the kitchen range, might have furthered the general effect by -ruining the digestion. - -A writer in a recent number of the _Decorator's and Painter's Magazine_, -London, says: "An interview has just taken place with a 'a well-known -wall-paper manufacturer,' who, in the course of his remarks, informed -the representative of the _Morning Comet_ that black wall-papers were -now all the rage. 'You would be surprised,' he said, 'how little these -papers really detract from the lightness of a room, the glossiness of -their surface compensating almost for the darkness of their shade;' and -upon this score there would seem to be no reason why a good pitch paper -should not serve as an artistic decorative covering for the walls of a -drawing-room or a 'dainty' boudoir. - -"It has been generally accepted that highly-glazed surfaces render -wall-papers objectionable to the eye, and that they are therefore only -fit for hanging in sculleries, bath-rooms and the like, where sanitary -reasons outweigh decorative advantages. Very probably the gentleman who -recommends black papers for walls would also recommend their use for -ceilings, so that all might be _en suite_, and the effect would -undoubtedly be added to, were the paintwork also of a deep, lustrous -black, whilst--it may be stretching a point, but there is nothing like -being consistent and thorough--the windows might at the same time be -'hung' in harmony with walls and ceilings. Coffin trestles with elm -boards would make an excellent table, and what better cabinets for -bric-a-brac (miniature skeletons, petrified death's-head moths, model -tombstones and railed vaults, and so on) than shelved coffins set on -end? Plumes might adorn the mantel-shelf, and weeds and weepers -festooned around skulls and crossbones would sufficiently ornament the -walls without the aid of pictures, whilst the fragments from some -dis-used charnel-house might be deposited in heaps in the corners of the -apartment." - -The old governors often indulged in expensive and unusual wall-papers. -The Governor Gore house at Waltham, Massachusetts, had three, all of -which I had photographed. The Gore house, until recently the home of -Miss Walker, is one of the most beautiful in Massachusetts, and was an -inheritance from her uncle, who came into possession of the property in -1856. Before Miss Walker's death, she suggested that the estate be given -to the Episcopal Church in Waltham for a cathedral or a residence for -the bishop. - -The place is known as the Governor Gore estate, and is named for -Christopher Gore, who was governor of Massachusetts in 1799. It covers -nearly one hundred and fifty acres of gardens, woodlands and fields. The -present mansion was erected in 1802 and replaces the one destroyed by -fire. - -The mansion is a distinct pattern of the English country house, such as -was built by Sir Christopher Wren, the great eighteenth century -architect. It is of brick construction. In the interior many of the -original features have been retained, such as the remarkable "Bird of -Paradise" paper in the drawing-room. All the apartments are very high -ceiled, spacious and richly furnished. Some of Governor Gore's old -pieces of furniture, silver and china are still in use. - -The Badger homestead, in Old Gilmanton, was the home of Colonel William -Badger, Governor of New Hampshire in 1834 and 1835, and descended from a -long line of soldierly, patriotic and popular men. Fred Myron Colby -sketched the home of the Badgers in the _Granite Monthly_ for December, -1882: - -"Gov. Badger was a tall, stately man, strong, six feet in height, and -at some periods of his life weighed nearly three hundred pounds. He was -active and stirring his whole life. Though a man of few words, he was -remarkably genial. He had a strong will, but his large good sense -prevented him from being obstinate. He was generous and hospitable, a -friend to the poor, a kind neighbor, and a high-souled, honorable -Christian gentleman. The grand old mansion that he built and lived in -has been a goodly residence in its day. Despite its somewhat faded -majesty, there is an air of dignity about the ancestral abode that is -not without its influence upon the visitor. It is a house that accords -well with the style of its former lords; you see that it is worthy of -the Badgers. The grounds about its solitary stateliness are like those -of the 'old English gentlemen.' The mansion stands well in from the -road; an avenue fourteen rods long and excellently shaded leads to the -entrance gate. There is an extensive lawn in front of the house, and a -row of ancient elms rise to guard, as it were, the tall building with -its hospitable portal in the middle, its large windows, and old, -moss-covered roof. The house faces the southwest, is two and a half -stories high, and forty-four by thirty-six feet on the ground. - -"As the door swings open we enter the hall, which is ten by sixteen -feet. On the left is the governor's sitting-room, which occupied the -southeast corner of the house, showing that Gov. Badger did not, like -Hamlet, dread to be too much 'i' the sun.' It is not a large room, only -twenty by sixteen feet, yet it looks stately. In this room the governor -passed many hours reading and entertaining his guests. In it is the -antique rocking-chair that was used by the governor on all occasions. A -large fire-place, with brass andirons and fender, is on one side, big -enough to take in half a cord of wood at a time. Near by it stood a -frame on which were heaped sticks of wood, awaiting, I suppose, the -first chilly evening. It must be a splendid sight to see those logs -blazing, and the firelight dancing on the old pictures and the mirror -and the weapons on the walls. - -"The most noticeable thing in the room is the paper upon the walls. It -was bought by the governor purposely for this room, and cost one hundred -dollars in gold. It is very thick, almost like strawboard, and is -fancifully illustrated with all sorts of pictures--landscapes, marine -views, court scenes, and other pageants. It will afford one infinite -amusement to study the various figures. On one side is a nautical scene. -An old-fashioned galleon, such a one as Kidd the pirate would have liked -to run afoul of, is being unloaded by a group of negroes. Swarthy -mariners, clad in the Spanish costume of the seventeenth century,--long, -sausage-shaped hose, with breeches pinned up like pudding bags and -fringed at the bottom, boots with wide, voluminous tops, buff coats with -sleeves slashed in front, and broad-brimmed Flemish beaver hats, with -rich hat-bands and plumes of feathers--are watching the unlading, and an -old Turk stands near by, complaisant and serene, smoking his pipe. On -the opposite wall there is a grand old castle, with towers and spires -and battlements. In the foreground is a fountain, and a group of -gallants and ladies are promenading the lawn. One lady, lovely and -coquettish, leans on the arm of a cavalier, and is seemingly engrossed -by his conversation, and yet she slyly holds forth behind her a folded -letter in her fair white hand which is being eagerly grasped by another -gallant--like a scene from the _Decameron_. In the corner a comely -maiden in a trim bodice, succinct petticoat and plaided hose, stands -below a tall tree, and a young lad among the branches is letting fall a -nest of young birds into her extended apron. The expression on the boy's -face in the tree and the spirited protest of the mother bird are very -graphically portrayed. - -"The loveliest scene of all is that of a bay sweeping far into the land; -boats and ships are upon the tide; on the shore, rising from the very -water's edge, is a fairy-like, palatial structure, with machicolated -battlements, that reminds one of the enchanted castle of Armida. Under -the castle walls is assembled a gay company. A cavalier, after the -Vandyke style, is playing with might and main upon a guitar, and a -graceful, full-bosomed, lithe-limbed Dulcinea is dancing to the music in -company with a gaily dressed gallant. It is the Spanish fandango. -Another scene is a charming land and water view with no prominent -figures in it. - -"Upon the mantel are several curiosities, notably a fragment of the -rock on which Rev. Samuel Hidden was ordained at Tamworth, September 12, -1792, several silhouettes of the various members of the Badger family, -and the silver candlesticks, tray and snuffers used by Mrs. Governor -Badger. Suspended above, upon the wall, are a pair of horse pistols, a -dress sword and a pair of spurs. These were the Governor's, which were -used by him in the war of 1812, and also when he was sheriff of the -county. The sword has quite a romantic history. It was formerly General -Joseph Badger's, who obtained it in the following manner: When a -lieutenant in the army, near Crown Point and Lake Champlain, just after -the retreat from Canada, in 1777, Badger undertook, at the desire of -General Gates, to obtain a British prisoner. With three picked men he -started for the British camp at St. John's. Arriving in the -neighborhood, he found a large number of the officers enjoying -themselves at a ball given by the villagers. One of the Britons, in full -ball dress, they were fortunate enough to secure, and took him to their -boat. Badger then changed clothes with the officer, returned to the -ball, danced with the ladies, hobnobbed with the officers, and gained -much valuable information as to the movements of the British army. -Before morning light he returned in safety with his prisoner to Crown -Point, where he received the commendations of the commanding general for -his bravery. The officer's sword he always kept, and is the same weapon -that now hangs on the wall." - -Mrs. Joseph Badger, whose husband was the oldest son of Governor -William Badger (both, alas! now dead), wrote most kindly to me about the -wall-paper, and sent me a picture of it. And she said: "The homestead -was built in 1825 by Ex-Gov. William Badger, and the paper you inquire -about was hung that year. He was at Portsmouth, N. H., attending court, -and seeing this paper in a store, liked it very much, and ordered enough -to paper the sitting-room, costing fifty dollars. He did not have enough -money with him to pay for it, but they allowed him to take it home, and -he sent the money back by the stage driver, who laid it down on the seat -where he drove, and the wind blew it away, never to be found, so he had -to pay fifty dollars more; at least, so says tradition. The paper is -quite a dark brown, and is in a good state of preservation and looks as -though it might last one hundred years longer." - -In a valuable book, entitled _Some Colonial Mansions and Those Who Lived -in Them_, edited by Thomas Allen Glennand, and published in 1898, is a -picture of the wall-paper at the Manor House, on page 157 of Volume I, -in the chapter which relates to the Patroonship of the Van Rensselaers -and the magnificent mansion. This was built in 1765, commenced and -finished (except the modern wings) by Stephen Van Rensselaer, whose wife -was the daughter of Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of -Independence. - -"Seldom has a house a more splendid history, or romantic origin, than -this relic of feudal splendor and colonial hospitality. The house is -approached from the lodge-gate through an avenue shaded by rows of -ancient trees. The entrance hall is thirty-three feet wide, and is -decorated with the identical paper brought from Holland at the time the -house was built, having the appearance of old fresco-painting." - -The picture which follows this description is too small to be -satisfactorily studied without a magnifying glass, but the paper must be -impressive as a whole. Imposing pillars on the left, perhaps all that -remains of a grand castle; in front of them large blocks of stone with -sculptured men and horses; at the right of these a pensive, elegant -creature of the sterner sex gazing at a mammoth lion couchant on a -square pedestal. Beyond the lion, a picturesque pagoda on a high rock, -and five more human figures, evidently put in to add to the interest of -the foreground. This square is surrounded with a pretty wreath, bedecked -with flowers, birds and shells. - -On either side of the hall were apartments some thirty feet wide; the -great drawing-rooms, the state bed-room and the spacious library, in -which the bookcases of highly polished wood occupied at least seventy -feet of wall-space. All of the ceilings are lofty, and fine old wood -carvings abounded on every side. Mr. William Bayard Van Rensselaer of -Albany still possesses the handsome paper taken from one of these rooms, -with four large scenes representing the seasons. The house was -demolished only a few years ago. - -I notice that almost all these mansions had walls of wood, either plain -or paneled in broad or narrow panels, and simply painted with oil-paint -of pure white or a cream yellow; and a Southern gentleman, whose -ancestors lived in one of these historic homes, tells me that the -Southern matrons were great housekeepers, and these white wood walls -were thoroughly scrubbed at least three times yearly, from top to -bottom. - -In Part II of the history of the Carters of Virginia, we read that the -duties of Robert Carter as councillor brought him to Williamsburg for a -part of the year, and in 1761 he moved, with his family, from "Nomini -Hall" to the little Virginia capital, where he lived for eleven years. -We know, from the invoices sent to London, how the Councillor's home in -the city was furnished. The first parlor was bright with crimson-colored -paper; the second had hangings ornamented by large green leaves on a -white ground; and the third, the best parlor, was decorated with a finer -grade of paper, the ground blue, with large yellow flowers. A mirror was -to be four feet by six and a half, "the glass to be in many pieces, -agreeable to the present fashion," and there were marble hearth-slabs, -wrought-brass sconces and glass globes for candles, Wilton carpets and -other luxuries. The mantels and wainscoting were especially fine. - -The paper on the hall of Martin Van Buren's home at Kinderhook, New -York, is said to have been interesting; but the present owners have -destroyed it, being much annoyed by sightseers. - -In the reception room of the Manor House of Charles Carroll, of -Carrollton, Maryland, and in the state chamber, where Washington slept -(a frequent and welcome guest at Doughoregan Manor) were papers, both -with small floral patterns. - -In New York and Albany paper-hanging was an important business by 1750 -and the walls of the better houses were papered before the middle of the -century. But in the average house the walls were not papered in 1748. A -Swedish visitor says of the New York houses at that time, "The walls -were whitewashed within, and I did not anywhere see hangings, with which -the people in this country seem in general to be little acquainted. The -walls were quite covered with all sorts of drawings and pictures in -small frames." - - - - -V - -NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE - -[Illustration] - - - - -V - -NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE - - -The wall-papers of a century ago did have distinct ideas and earnest -meaning; a decided theme, perhaps taken from mythology, as the story of -Cupid and Psyche, on one of the most artistic of the early panelled -papers, to print which we read that fifteen hundred blocks were used. -There were twelve panels, each one showing a scene from the experiences -of the "Soul Maiden." - -You remember that Venus, in a fit of jealousy, ordered Cupid to inspire -Psyche with a love for the most contemptible of all men, but Cupid was -so stricken with her beauty that he himself fell in love with her. He -accordingly conveyed her to a charming spot and gave her a beautiful -palace where, unseen and unknown, he visited her every night, leaving -her as soon as the day began to dawn. Curiosity destroyed her happiness, -for her envious sisters made her believe that in the darkness of night -she was embracing some hideous monster. So once, when Cupid was asleep, -she drew near to him with a lamp and, to her amazement, beheld the most -handsome of the gods. In her excitement of joy and fear, a drop of hot -oil fell from her lamp upon his shoulder. This awoke Cupid, who censured -her for her distrust and escaped. Then came long tribulations and abuse -from Venus, until at last she became immortal, and was united to her -lover forever. As you know, Psyche represents the human soul, purified -by passions and misfortunes and thus prepared for the enjoyment of true -and pure happiness. - -From this accident, Ella Fuller Maitland has drawn for us-- - -A SPECIAL PLEADER - - "How I hate lamps," Bethia frowning cried, - (Our poverty electric light denied.) - And when to ask her reason I went on, - Promptly she answered thus my question: - "By lamplight was it that poor Psyche gazed - Upon her lover, and with joy amazed - Dropped from the horrid thing a little oil-- - Costing herself, so, years of pain and toil: - Had she electric light within her room, - She might have seen Love, yet escaped her doom." - -Another mythologic story is grandly depicted in a paper in the -residence of Dr. John Lovett Morse, at Taunton, Mass. (Plates LXV to -LXX.) This paper was described to me as illustrating the fifth book of -Virgil's _Æneid_. When the handsome photographs came, we tried to verify -them. But a reading of the entire _Æneid_ failed to identify any of -them, except that the one shown in Plate LXIX might be intended to -represent the Trojan women burning the ships of Æneas. Who were the two -personages leaping from the cliff? Virgil did not mention them. - -A paper in _Country Life in America_ for April, 1905, describing the -"Hermitage," Andrew Jackson's home near Nashville, Tennessee, spoke of -the "unique" paper on the lower hall, depicting the adventures of -Ulysses on the Island of Calypso. The illustration showed the same -scenes that we had been hunting for in Virgil. The caption stated that -it "was imported from Paris by Jackson. It pictures the story of Ulysses -at the Island of Calypso. There are four scenes, and in the last -Calypso's maidens burn the boat of Ulysses." - -So we turned to the _Odyssey_. There again we were disappointed. Nobody -jumps off cliffs in the _Odyssey_, Ulysses' boat is not burned, neither -does Cupid, who appeared in every photograph, figure in the scenes -between Ulysses and Calypso. - -Next we took to the mythologies; and in one we found a reference to -Fenelon's _Adventures of Telemachus_, which sends Telemachus and Mentor -to Calypso's island in search of Ulysses, and describes their escape -from the goddess's isles and wiles by leaping into the sea and swimming -to a vessel anchored near. Here at last were our two cliff jumpers! And -in long-forgotten _Telemachus_ was found every scene depicted on the -walls. - -It is a strange commentary on the intellectual indolence of the average -human mind, that these two remarkable sets of paper should so completely -have lost their identity, and that the misnomers given them by some -forgetful inhabitant should in each case have been accepted without -question by those who came after him. Other owners of this paper have -known what the scenes really were; for I have had "Telemachus paper" -reported, from Kennebunk, Maine, and from the home of Mr. Henry DeWitt -Freeland at Sutton, Massachusetts. The paper is evidently of French -origin, and is mentioned as a Parisian novelty by one of Balzac's -characters in _The Celibates_, the scene of which was laid about 1820. - -In the Freeland house at Sutton, there are also some scenes from -Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. An inscription reads, "Le 20 mars, 1800, -100,000 Francais commandu par le brave Kleber ont vancu 200,000 Turcs, -dans le plaines de l'Heliopili." - -Among the historical papers, we have "Mourning at the Tomb of -Washington," and Lord Cornwallis presenting his sword to Washington. The -former was a melancholy repetition of columns and arches, each framing a -monument labelled "Sacred to Washington," surmounted by an urn and -disconsolate eagle, and supported on either side by Liberty and Justice -mourning. Crossed arms and flags in the foreground, and a circular iron -fence about the monument completed the picture, which was repeated in -straight rows, making with its somber gray and black the most funereal -hall and stairway imaginable. - -Papers representing places with truthful details were numerous and -popular, as "The Bay of Naples," "The Alhambra," "Gallipoli," "On the -Bosporus." A striking paper represents the River Seine at Paris. This -paper has a brilliant coloring and the scenes are carried entirely round -the room; nearly all the principal buildings in Paris are seen. On one -side of the room you will notice the Column Vendôme, which shows that -the paper was made after 1806. The horses in the arch of the Carousel -are still in place. As these were sent back to Venice in 1814, the paper -must have been made between these dates. - -On the walls of a house in Federal Street, which was once occupied by H. -K. Oliver, who wrote the hymn called "Federal Street," is the River -Seine paper with important public buildings of Paris along its bank; -several other houses have this same paper, and half a dozen duplicates -have been sent me from various parts of New England. - -I have heard of a paper at Sag Harbor, Long Island, in which old New -York scenes were pictured, but of this I have not been fortunate enough -to secure photographs. - -Certain towns and their neighborhoods are particularly rich in -interesting old papers, and Salem, Massachusetts, certainly deserves -honorable mention at the head of the list. That place can show more than -a score of very old papers in perfect condition to-day, and several -houses have modern paper on the walls that was copied from the original -paper. - -One old house there was formerly owned by a retired merchant, and he had -the entire ceiling of the large cupola painted to show his wharves and -his ships that sailed from this port for foreign lands. - -Another fine house has a water color painting on the walls, done to look -like paper; this is one hundred and seventy-five years old. - -A curious paper is supposed to be an attempt to honor the first -railroad. This is in bright colors, with lower panels in common gray -tints. The friend who obtained this for me suggests that the artist did -not know how to draw a train of cars, and so filled up the space -ingeniously with a big bowlder. This is on the walls of a modest little -house, and one wonders that an expensive landscape paper should be on -the room. But the owner of the house was an expressman and was long -employed by Salemites to carry valuable bundles back and forth from -Boston. A wealthy man who resided in Chestnut Street was having his -house papered during the rage for landscape papers, and this person -carried the papers down from Boston so carefully that the gentleman -presented him with a landscape paper of his own, as a reward for his -interest. Now the mansion has long since parted with its foreign -landscapes, but such care was taken of the humble parlor that its paper -is still intact and handsome; it is more than seventy-five years old. - -A fine French paper shows a fruit garden, probably the Tuileries, in -grays and blues. The frieze at the top is of white flowers in arches -with blue sky between the arches. This room was papered for Mrs. Story, -the mother of Judge Story, in 1818. - -In the Osgood house in Essex Street there is a most beautiful paper, -imported from Antwerp in the early part of the nineteenth century, -depicting a hunting scene. The hunt is centered about the hall and the -game is run down and slain in the last sheet. A balustrade is at the -foot of the picture. The color is brown sepia shades. - -One neat little house, in an out-of-the-way corner in Marblehead, has a -French paper in gray, white and black, which was brought from France by -a Marblehead man who was captured by a French privateer and lived in -France many years. When he returned, he brought this with him. It shows -scenes in the life of the French soldiers. They are drinking at inns, -flirting with pretty girls, but never fighting. Another paper has -tropical plants, elephants, natives adorned with little else but -feathers and beads. The careful mother will not allow any of the -children to go alone into this room for fear they may injure it. - -In a Chinese paper, one piece represents a funeral, and the horse with -its trappings is being led along without a rider; women and children are -gazing at the procession from pagodas. - -On the walls of the Johnson house in North Andover is a Marie Antoinette -paper, imported from England. I have heard of only this one example of -this subject. A number of homes had painted walls, with pictures that -imitated the imported landscapes. - -At the Art Museum, Boston, one may see many specimens of old paper -brought to this country before 1820, and up to 1860. A spirited scene is -deer stalking in the Scotch Highlands; the deer is seen in the distance, -one sportsman on his knees taking aim, another holding back an excited -dog. In another hunting paper, the riders are leaping fences. A pretty -Italian paper has peasants dancing and gathering grapes; vines are -trained over a pergola, and a border of purple grapes and green leaves -surrounds each section of the paper. A curious one is "Little Inns," -with signs over the doors, as "Good Ale sold here," or "Traveler's -Rest"; all are dancing or drinking, the colors are gay. There are also -specimens of fireboards, for which special patterns were made, usually -quite ornate and striking. - -When a daughter of Sir William Pepperell married Nathaniel Sparhawk, he -had a paper specially made, with the fair lady and her happy lover as -the principal figures, and a hawk sitting on a spar. This paper is still -to be seen in the Sparhawk house at Kittery Point, Maine. - -Portsmouth is rich in treasures, but a member of one of the best -families there tells me it is very hard to get access to these mansions. -Curiosity seekers have committed so many atrocities, in the way of -stealing souvenirs, that visitors are looked upon with suspicion. - -A house built in 1812 at Sackett's Harbor, New York, has a contemporary -paper with scenes which are Chinese in character, but the buildings have -tall flag staffs which seem to be East Indian. - -Near Hoosic Falls, New York, there used to be a house whose paper showed -Captain Cook's adventures. The scenes were in oval medallions, -surrounded and connected by foliage. Different events of the Captain's -life were pictured, including the cannibals' feast, of which he was the -involuntary central figure. This paper has been destroyed, and I have -sought in vain for photographs of it. But I have seen some chintz of the -same pattern, in the possession of Miss Edith Morgan of Aurora, New -York, which was saved from her grandfather's house at Albany when it was -burned in 1790. So the paper is undoubtedly of the eighteenth century. -Think of a nervous invalid being obliged to gaze, day after day, upon -the savages gnawing human joints and gluttonizing over a fat sirloin! - -The adventures of Robinson Crusoe were depicted on several houses, and -even Mother Goose was immortalized in the same way. - -The managers of a "Retreat" for the harmlessly insane were obliged -first to veil with lace a figure paper, and finally to remove it from -the walls, it was so exciting and annoying to the occupants of the room. -This recalls the weird and distressing story by Elia W. Peattie, _The -Yellow Wall-Paper_. Its fantastic designs drove a poor wife to suicide. -Ugh! I can see her now, crawling around the room which was her prison. - -I advise any one, who is blessed or cursed with a lively imagination, to -study a paper closely several times before purchasing, lest some demon -with a malignant grin, or a black cat, or some equally exasperating face -or design escape notice until too late. I once had a new paper removed -because the innocent looking pattern, in time of sleepless anxiety, -developed a savage's face with staring eyes, a flat nose, the grossest -lips half open, the tongue protruding, and large round ear-rings in ears -that looked like horns! This, repeated all round my sick room, was -unendurable. - -But the old time papers are almost uniformly inspiring or amusing. What -I most enjoy are my two papers which used to cover the huge band-boxes -of two ancient dames, in which they kept their Leghorn pokes, calashes, -and quilted "Pumpkin" hoods. One has a ground of Colonial yellow, on -which is a stage-coach drawn by prancing steeds, driver on the top, whip -in hand, and two passengers seen at the windows. A tavern with a rude -swinging sign is in the background. The cover has a tropical scene--two -Arabs with a giraffe. The other band-box has a fire engine and members -of the "hose company," or whatever they called themselves, fighting a -fire. - -Papers with Biblical themes were quite common. In the fascinating -biography of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, I find a detailed account of -one. She says: - -"When we reached Schenectady, the first city we children had ever seen, -we stopped to dine at the old 'Given's Hotel,' where we broke loose from -all the moorings of propriety on beholding the paper on the dining-room -wall illustrating, in brilliant colors, some of the great events in -sacred history. There were the patriarchs with flowing beards and in -gorgeous attire; Abraham, offering up Isaac; Joseph, with his coat of -many colors, thrown into a pit by his brethren; Noah's Ark on an ocean -of waters; Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; Rebecca at the well; and -Moses in the bulrushes. - -"All these distinguished personages were familiar to us, and to see them -here for the first time in living colors made silence and eating -impossible. We dashed around the room, calling to each other: 'O, Kate, -look here!' 'O, Madge, look there!' 'See little Moses!' 'See the angels -on Jacob's ladder!' - -"Our exclamations could not be kept within bounds. The guests were -amused beyond description, while my mother and elder sisters were -equally mortified; but Mr. Bayard, who appreciated our childish surprise -and delight, smiled and said: 'I'll take them around and show them the -pictures, and then they will be able to dine,' which we finally did." - -Inns often indulge in striking papers. A famous series of hunting -scenes, called "The Eldorado," is now seen in several large hotels; it -has recently been put on in the Parker House, Boston. It was the joint -work of two Alsatian artists, Ehrmann and Zipelius, and was printed from -about two thousand blocks. The Zuber family in Alsace has manufactured -this spirited panel paper for over fifty years; it has proved as -profitable as a gold mine and is constantly called for; I was shown a -photograph of the descendants of the owner and a large crowd of workmen -gathered to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the firm, which was -established in 1797. - -An old inn at Groton, Massachusetts, was mentioned as having curious -papers, but they proved to be modern. The walls, I hear, were originally -painted with landscapes. This was an earlier style than scenic -papers--akin to frescoing. A friend writes me: - -"The odd papers now on the walls of Groton Inn have the appearance of -being ancient, although the oldest is but thirty years old. Two of them -are not even reproductions, as the one in the hall depicts the Paris -Exposition of 1876, and that in the office gives scenes from the life of -Buffalo Bill. - -"The Exposition has the principal buildings in the background, with a -fountain, and a long flight of steps in front leading to a street that -curves round until it meets the same scene again. Persons of many -nations, in characteristic dress, promenade the street. Pagodas and -other unique buildings are dotted here and there. The entire scene is -surrounded with a kind of frame of grasses and leaves, in somewhat of a -Louis Quinze shape. Each one of these scenes has 'Paris Exposition, -1876,' printed on it, like a quack advertisement on a rock. - -"The Wild West scenes include the log cabin, the stage coach held up, -the wild riding, and the throwing of the lasso. - -"The paper on the dining-room may be a reproduction. It looks like -Holland, although there are no windmills. But the canal is there with -boats and horses, other horses drinking, and men fishing; also a Dutchy -house with a bench outside the door. This paper looks as if it had been -put on the walls a hundred years ago, but in reality it is the most -recent of the three. The date of the beginning of the Inn itself is lost -in the dim past, but we know it is more than two hundred years old. -Tradition has it that there were originally but two rooms which were -occupied by the minister." - -When some one writes on our early inns, as has been done so charmingly -for those of England, I prophecy that the queer papers of the long ago -will receive enthusiastic attention. - -Towns near a port, or an island like Nantucket, are sure to have fine -old papers to show. A Nantucket woman, visiting the Art Museum in Boston -some dozen years since, noticed an old paper there which was highly -valued. Remembering that she had a roll of the very same style in her -attic, she went home delighted, and proudly exhibited her specimen, -which was, I believe, the motive power which started the Nantucket -Historical Society. I was presented with a piece of the paper--a -hand-painted design with two alternating pictures; an imposing castle -embowered in greenery, its towers and spires stretching far into the -sky, and below, an ornate bridge, with a score of steps at the left, and -below that the pale blue water. Engrossed lovers and flirtatious couples -are not absent. - -"A Peep at the Moon" comes from Nantucket. It reveals fully as much as -our life-long students of that dead planet have been able to show us, -and the inhabitants are as probable as any described as existing on -Mars. At Duxbury, Massachusetts, there are still two much-talked-of -papers, in what is called the "Weston House"--now occupied by the Powder -Point School. Mrs. Ezra Weston was a Bradford, and the story is that -this paper was brought from Paris by her brother, Captain Gershom -Bradford. There is a continuous scene around the room, apparently from -the environs of Paris. Upstairs, a small room is papered with the -remains of the "Pizarro" paper, which was formerly in the sitting-room -opposite the parlor. This has tropical settings and shows the same -characters in more or less distinct scenes about the wall. The paper was -so strong that it was taken off the sitting-room in complete strips and -is now on a small upper chamber. - -A stranger, who had heard of my collection, sent a beautiful photograph -with this glowing description: - -"This wall-paper looks Oriental; it is gilt. Arabs are leading camels, -while horses are prancing proudly with their masters in the saddle as -the crescent moon is fast sinking to rest in a cloudless sky. Fountains -are playing outside of the portal entrance to a building of Saracenic -architecture, a quiet, restful scene, decidedly rich and impressive." - -Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in his _Story of a Bad Boy_, describes his -grandfather's old home--the Nutter House at Rivermouth, he calls it, but -he doubtless has in mind some house at Portsmouth, his birthplace. - -"On each side of the hall are doors (whose knobs, it must be confessed, -do not turn very easily), opening into large rooms wainscoted and rich -in wood-carvings about the mantel-pieces and cornices. The walls are -covered with pictured paper, representing landscapes and sea-views. In -the parlor, for example, this enlivening group is repeated all over the -room:--A group of English peasants, wearing Italian hats, are dancing on -a lawn that abruptly resolves itself into a sea-beach, upon which stands -a flabby fisherman (nationality unknown), quietly hauling in what -appears to be a small whale, and totally regardless of the dreadful -naval combat going on just beyond the end of his fishing-rod. On the -other side of the ships is the main-land again, with the same peasants -dancing. Our ancestors were very worthy people, but their wall-papers -were abominable." - -With the paper on the little hall chamber which was the Bad Boy's own, -he was quite satisfied, as any healthy-minded boy should have been: - -"I had never had a chamber all to myself before, and this one, about -twice the size of our state-room on board the Typhoon, was a marvel of -neatness and comfort. Pretty chintz curtains hung at the window, and a -patch quilt of more colors than were in Joseph's coat covered the little -truckle-bed. The pattern of the wall-paper left nothing to be desired in -that line. On a gray background were small bunches of leaves, unlike any -that ever grew in this world; and on every other bunch perched a -yellow-bird, pitted with crimson spots, as if it had just recovered from -a severe attack of the small-pox. That no such bird ever existed did not -detract from my admiration of each one. There were two hundred and -sixty-eight of these birds in all, not counting those split in two where -the paper was badly joined. I counted them once when I was laid up with -a fine black eye, and falling asleep immediately dreamed that the whole -flock suddenly took wing and flew out of the window. From that time I -was never able to regard them as merely inanimate objects." - -One of the most spirited papers I have seen is a series of horse-racing -scenes which once adorned the walls of the eccentric Timothy Dexter. -Fragments of this paper are still preserved, framed, by Mr. T. E. -Proctor of Topsfield, Mass. The drawing makes up in spirit what it lacks -in accuracy, and the coloring leaves nothing to the imagination. The -grass and sky are as green and blue as grass and sky can be, and the -jockeys' colors could be distinguished from the most distant -grand-stand. - -This paper is a memento of the remarkable house of a remarkable -man--Timothy Dexter, an eighteenth century leather merchant of -Massachusetts, whose earnings, invested through advice conveyed to him -in dreams, brought him a fortune. With this he was able to gratify his -unique tastes in material luxuries. His house at Newburyport was filled -with preposterous French furniture and second-rate paintings. On the -roof were minarets decorated with a profusion of gold balls. In front of -the house he placed rows of columns, some fifteen feet in height, -surmounted by heroic wooden figures of famous men. As his taste in great -men changed he would have the attire and features of some statue -modified, so that General Morgan might one day find himself posing as -Bonaparte. On a Roman circle before the entrance stood his permanent -hero, Washington, supported on the left by Jefferson, on the right by -Adams, who was obliged to stand uncovered in all weathers, to suit -Timothy's ideas of the respect due to General Washington. Four roaring -wooden lions guarded this Pantheon, and the figures were still standing -when the great gale of 1815 visited Newburyport. Then the majority fell. -The rest were sold for a song, and were scattered, serving as weather -vanes and tavern signs. - -Timothy Dexter wrote one book, which is now deservedly rare. This was _A -Pickle for the Knowing Ones_, of which he published at least two -editions. In this book he spoke his mind on all subjects; his -biographer, Samuel L. Knapp, calls it "a Galamathus of all the saws, -shreds, and patches that ever entered the head of a motley fool, with -items of his own history and family difficulties." His vanity, literary -style and orthography may be seen in his assertion: "Ime the first Lord -in the Younited States of Amercary, now of Newburyport. It is the voice -of the peopel and I cant Help it." To the second edition of his _Pickle_ -he appended this paragraph: "Mister Printer the knowing ones complane of -my book the first edition had no stops I put in A Nuf here and they may -peper and solt it as they plese." A collection of quotation marks, or -"stops" followed. - -"Lord Dexter," as he called himself and was called by one Jonathan -Plummer, a parasitic versifier who chanted doggerel in his praise, was a -picturesque character enough, and we are glad to have his memory kept -green by these few remaining bits of paper from his walls. - -[Illustration] - - - - -VI - -REVIVAL AND RESTORATION OF OLD PAPERS - -[Illustration] - - - - -VI - -REVIVAL AND RESTORATION OF OLD PAPERS - - -It was in 1880 that Clarence Cook said: "One can hardly estimate the -courage it would take to own that one liked an old-fashioned paper." How -strange that sounds now, in 1905, when all the best manufacturers and -sellers of wall-papers are reproducing the very old designs, for which -they find a ready sale among the most fastidious searchers for the -beautiful. One noted importer writes me: - -"Yes, old time wall-papers are being revived, and no concern is taking -more interest in the matter than ourselves. Many old designs, which had -not been printed for thirty or forty years, have been taken up by us and -done in colors to suit the taste of the period, and we find that few of -the new drawings excel or even approach the old ones in interest. - -"The glazed chintzes of the present day are all done over old blocks -which had remained unused for half a century, and those very interesting -fabrics are in the original colorings, it having been found that any new -schemes of color do not seem to work so well." - -Sending recently to a leading Boston paper store for samples for my -dining-room, and expressing no desire for old patterns, I received a -reproduction of the paper on the hall of the old Longfellow house at -Portland, Maine, and a design of small medallions of the real antique -kind,--a shepherdess with her sheep and, at a little distance, a stiff -looking cottage, presumably her abode, set on a shiny white ground -marked with tiny tiles. - -In fact, there is a general revival of these old designs, the original -blocks often being used for re-printing. Go to any large store in any -city to-day, where wall-papers are sold, and chintzes and cretonnes for -the finest effects in upholstery. You will be shown, first, -old-fashioned landscape papers; botanically impossible, but cheerful -baskets of fruits and flowers; or panels, with a pretty rococo effect of -fairy-like garlands of roses swung back and forth across the openwork of -the frame at each side, and suspended in garlands at top and bottom -after French modes of the Louis XIV., XV. or XVI. periods. They are even -reproducing the hand woven tapestries of Gobelin of Paris, during the -latter part of the reign of Louis XIV., when French art was at its -height. - -In London _Tit-Bits_, I recently found something apropos: "'Here,' said -a wall-paper manufacturer, 'are examples of what we call tapestry -papers. They are copied exactly from the finest Smyrna and Turkish rugs, -the colors and designs being reproduced with startling fidelity. We have -men ransacking all Europe, copying paintings and mural decorations of -past centuries. Here is the pattern of a very beautiful design of the -time of Louis XVI., which we obtained in rather a curious way. One of -our customers happened to be in Paris last summer, and being fond of -inspecting old mansions, he one day entered a tumble-down chateau, which -once belonged to a now dead and long forgotten Marquise. The rooms were -absolutely in a decaying condition, but in the salon the wall-paper -still hung, though in ribbons. The pattern was so exquisite in design, -and the coloring, vivid still in many places, so harmonious, that he -collected as many portions as he could and sent them to us to reproduce -as perfectly as possible. - -"We succeeded beyond his best hopes, and the actual paper is now hanging -on the walls of a West End mansion. We only manufactured sufficient to -cover the ball-room, and it cost him two pounds a yard, but he never -grumbled, and it was not dear, considering the difficulty we had." - -An article in the _Artist_ of London, September, 1898, by Lindsay P. -Butterfield, describes a wonderful find of old paper and its -restoration: - -"Painted decoration, whether by hand or stencil, was, no doubt, the -immediate forerunner of paper hangings. The earliest reference to paper -hangings in this country is to be found in the inventory taken at 'the -monasterye of S. Syxborough in the Ile of Shepey, in the Countie of -Kent, by Syr Thomas Cheney, Syr William Hawle, Knyghts and Antony -Slewtheger, Esquyer, the XXVII day of Marche, in XXVII the yeare of our -Soveraigne Lorde, Kyng Henrye the VIII, of the goods and catall -belongyng to sayde Monastery.' - -"In this very interesting document, a minutely descriptive list of the -ornaments, furniture and fittings of the nuns' chambers is given. We -find from this that, in place of the 'paynted clothes for the hangings -of the chamber,' mentioned in most of the entries, under the heading of -Dame Margaret Somebody's chamber is set down 'the chamber hangings of -painted papers.' - -"Wall-papers of Charles II.'s reign, and later, are still in existence; -those at Ightham Mote, Kent, are well known instances. - -"But so far as the writer is aware, the accompanying reproductions -represent the oldest wall-papers now existing in England. They were -found during the restoration of a fifteenth century timber-built house, -known as 'Borden Hall' or the 'Parsonage Farm,' in the village of -Borden, near Sittingbourne, Kent. - -"The design marked 'A' was discovered in small fragments when the -Georgian battening and wainscoats were removed in the first floor -bed-room of the east front, in the oldest part of the house. These -fragments showed that the tough paper had been originally nailed with -flat-headed nails to the dried clay 'daubing' or plaster, with which the -spaces between the timber uprights of the walls were filled in; the -timbers themselves were painted a dark blue-grey, and a border of the -same framed the strips of wall-paper. Owing to the walls having been -battened out nearly two centuries ago, these fragments of a really -striking design have been preserved to us. - -"The design of 'B' was also found on the first floor, in the rear -portion of the house. It had been pasted, in the modern manner, onto a -large plaster surface. The walls on which it was found had been -re-plastered over the original plastering and paper and thus the latter -was preserved in perfect condition. The design and quality of the paper, -and the mode of its attachment, point to a date of about 1650. 'A' is -probably of an earlier date (say 1550-1600) and is very thick and tough. -The ornament is painted in black on a rich vermilion ground, and the -flower forms are picked out in a bright turquoise blue. 'B' is much more -modern looking, both in texture and design, and in both is very inferior -to 'A.' - -"Its coloring is meagre compared with the other, the ornament being -printed in black on white paper, and the flower forms roughly dabbed -with vermilion. The character of the design in both cases seems -referable to Indian influence; possibly they were the work of an Indian -artist, and were cut as blocks for cotton printing, an impression being -taken off on paper and hung on the walls. The house is in course of -restoration under the superintendence of Mr. Philip M. Johnston, -architect, to whom I am indebted for some of the particulars above -given. To the owner of Borden Hall, Lewis Levy, Esq., I am also indebted -for permission to publish the designs which I have reproduced in -fac-simile from the original fragments. It is hoped shortly to hang the -walls in the old manner with the reproduced papers." - -I have copied from an 1859 edition of _Rambles about Portsmouth_, a -strange story of the restoration of frescoes in the old Warner house at -Portsmouth, New Hampshire: - -"At the head of the stairs, on the broad space each side of the hall -windows, there are pictures of two Indians, life size, highly decorated -and executed by a skillful artist. These pictures have always been on -view there, and are supposed to represent some Indian with whom the -original owner traded in furs, in which business he was engaged. In the -lower hall of the house are still displayed the enormous antlers of an -elk, a gift from these red men. - -"Not long since, the spacious front entry underwent repairs; there had -accumulated four coatings of paper. In one place, on removing the under -coating, the picture of a horse was discovered by a little girl. This -led to further investigation; the horse of life size was developed; a -little further work exhumed Governor Phipps on his charger. The process -of clearing the walls was now entered upon in earnest, as if delving in -the ruins of Pompeii. - -"The next discovery was that of a lady at a spinning wheel (ladies span -in those days!) who seems interrupted in her work by a hawk lighting -among the chickens. - -"Then came a Scripture scene; Abraham offering up Isaac; the angel, the -ram, and so on. There is a distant city scene, and other sketches on the -walls, covering perhaps four or five hundred square feet. The walls have -been carefully cleaned, and the whole paintings, evidently the work of -some clever artist, are now presented in their original beauty. - -"No person living had any knowledge of the hidden paintings; they were -as novel to an old lady of eighty, who had been familiar with the house -from her childhood, as to her grand-daughter who discovered the horse's -foot. The rooms are furnished with panelled walls and the old Dutch -tiles still decorate the fire-place." - -It is gratifying to note that as these old frescoes and wall-papers are -ruthlessly destroyed by those unaware of their value (which will -constantly increase), there are those who insist on their preservation -and reproduction. President Tucker of Dartmouth College, for instance, -has forbidden the removal of the Bay of Naples landscape from the walls -of what was formerly the library of Professor Sanborn at Hanover, New -Hampshire. The house is now used as a dormitory, but that paper is -treated with decided reverence. - -Reproduction of a fine paper worn, soiled and torn is an expensive -matter, but those who realize their beauty order them if the price per -roll is six or ten dollars. One of the most delightful papers of the -present season is one copied from a French paper originally on the walls -of a Salem house and known to have been there for over one hundred -years. It is charming in design, with landscapes and flowers, -twenty-eight different colors in all, and that means much when it is -understood that every color must be printed from a different block when -the paper is made. - -The paper is brilliant in effect, with many bright colored flowers, pink -hollyhocks in a warm rose shade, purple morning glories, some blue -blossoms and two different water scenes set deep into the mass of -flowers, the scenes themselves of delicate tones and wonderful -perspective. The original paper was in pieces twenty inches wide by -twenty-eight long, which shows it to be very old. This reproduction will -be seen on the walls in houses of Colonial style in Newport this summer. - -Yes, summer tourists are looking up old walls to gaze at with -admiration. Many have found a Mecca in the Cleasby Place at Waterford, -Vermont. Hardly a summer Sunday passes without a wagon load of persons -going from Littleton towards the Connecticut River on a pilgrimage to -Waterford and the Cleasby House. This house is said to be one of only -three in New England which possess a certain wonderful old paper of -strange design. The paper, a combination of brown and cream, bears -scenes that evidently found their origin in foreign countries, but there -are diverse opinions as to the nation whose characteristics are thereon -depicted so realistically. An old house at Rockville, Massachusetts, -still boasts this same paper, while the third example is on the walls of -the Badger homestead, described on page 77. Plates XLVIII to L give -scenes from these papers. - -The Cleasby house was regarded, in the olden times, as the great mansion -in this locality. There was nothing finer than the residence in any of -the surrounding towns. The structure was erected by Henry Oakes, an -old-time settler in Northern Vermont, whose relatives still reside near -by. The paper was put on at the time the house was built and cost one -hundred dollars. A paper-hanger came up from Boston to put it on -properly, and this cost the owner an extra forty dollar check. In those -days, the coming of a paper-hanger from Boston was regarded quite in the -light of an event, and a hundred dollars expended for wall-paper stamped -a man as a capitalist. - -The house is still well preserved and shows no suggestion of being a -ruin, although approaching the century mark. The present owner has been -offered a large sum for this beautiful old paper, but wisely prefers to -hold her treasure. - -Paper-hangers to-day are returning, in some cases, to the hand-printing -of fine papers, because they insist that there are some advantages in -the old method to compensate for the extra work. To go back a bit, the -earliest method of coloring paper hangings was by stencilling. A piece -of pasteboard, with the pattern cut out on it, was laid on the paper, -and water colors were freely applied with a brush to the back of the -pasteboard, so that the colors came through the openings and formed the -pattern on the paper. This process was repeated several times for the -different colors and involved a great expenditure of labor. It was -replaced by the method of calico-printing, which is now generally used -in the manufacture of wall-paper, that is, by blocks and later by -rollers. And why, you naturally ask, this return to the slow and -laborious way? - -Mr. Rottman, of the London firm of Alexander Rottman & Co., a high -authority on this theme, in an able lecture given at his studio in -London, explains the reasons in a way so clear that any one can -understand. He says: - -"In an age where needles are threaded by machinery at the rate of nearly -one per second; where embroideries are produced by a machine process -which reverses the old method in moving the cloth up to fixed needles; -where Sunlight Soap is shaped, cut, boxed, packed into cases, nailed up, -labelled, and even sent to the lighters by machinery, so that hand -labour is almost entirely superseded; it seems odd and, in fact, quite -out of date and uncommercial to print wall-papers entirely by hand -process. - -"The up-to-date wall-paper machine turns out most wonderful -productions. It is able to imitate almost any fabric; tapestries, -Gobelins, laces, and even tries to copy artistic stencilling in gradated -tints. It manages to deceive the inartistic buyer to a large extent, in -fact, there is hardly any fabric that the modern demand for 'sham' does -not expect the wall-paper machine to imitate. - -"However, in spite of all these so-called achievements, the modest -hand-printing table that existed at the time of wigs and snuff-boxes is -still surviving more or less in its old-fashioned simple construction. -And why is this so?" He then explains why a hand-printed paper is always -preferred to a machine paper by the person of taste, whose purse is not -too slender. Seven reasons are given for their artistic superiority. - -"1. Machine papers can be printed in thin colours only, which means a -thin, loose colour effect. - -"2. In machine papers the whole of the various colours are printed at -one operation, one on the top of another. In hand-printed papers, no -colours touch each other until dry, and so each colour remains pure. - -"3. Large surfaces, such as big leaves, large flat flowers, broad -stripes that have to be printed in one colour, are never successful in -machines, wanting solidity of colour. Hand-printed papers run no such -risk. - -"4. The machine limits the variety of papers to the flat kind; to flat -surfaces supplied by the paper mills in reels. - -"5. Flaws, irregularities, and so on, when occurring in machine goods, -run through many yards, owing to the necessary rapidity of printing, and -the difficulty of stopping the machine; whilst every block repeat of -pattern in the hand-printed goods is at once visible to the printer, who -rectifies any defect before printing another impression, and so controls -every yard. - -"6. The hand-printed papers, being printed from wood blocks (only dots -and thin lines subject to injury being inserted in brass) show more -softness in the printing than papers printed from machine rollers that -have to be made in brass. - -"7. The preparation of getting the machine colours in position, and -setting the machine ready for printing, necessitates the turning out of -at least a ream, or a half ream (five hundred or two hundred and fifty -rolls) at once; whilst the equivalent in hand-printing is fifty to sixty -rolls. It often happens that the design of a machine paper is approved -of, whilst the colourings it is printed in are unsuited to the scheme. -By the hand process, room quantities of even ten to fifteen pieces can -be printed specially at from 15 per cent. to 20 per cent. advance in -price, while the increase in cost for such a small quantity in machine -paper would send up the price to ridiculous proportions." - -The use of brass pins in the wood blocks is also a revival of the old -method, as you will see from this interesting paragraph from a recent -volume--Lewis F. Day's _Ornament and Its Application_: - -"Full and crowded pattern has its uses. The comparatively fussy detail, -which demeans a fine material, helps to redeem a mean one. - -"Printed wall-paper, for example, or common calico, wants detail to -give it a richness which, in itself, it has not. In printed cotton, flat -colours look dead and lifeless. The old cotton printers had what they -called a 'pruning roller,' a wooden roller (for hand-printing) into -which brass pins or wires were driven. The dots printed from this roller -relieved the flatness of the printed colours, and gave 'texture' to it. -William Morris adopted this idea of dotting in his cretonne and -wall-paper design with admirable effect. It became, in his hands, an -admirable convention, in place of natural shading. The interest of a -pattern is enhanced by the occurrence at intervals of appropriate -figures; but with every recurrence of the same figure, human or animal, -its charm is lessened until, at last, the obvious iteration becomes, in -most cases, exasperating. - -"And yet, in the face of old Byzantine, Sicilian, and other early woven -patterns with their recurring animals, and of Mr. Crane's consummately -ornamental patterns, it cannot be said that repeated animal (and even -human) forms do not make satisfactory pattern. - -"For an illustration of this, look at the wall-paper design by Crane: -'This is the House that Jack built.' It seems, at first glance, to be a -complicated ornamental design; after long searching, you at last see -plainly every one of the characters in that jingle that children so -love." - -William Morris, and his interest in wall-paper hanging, must be spoken -of, "For it was Morris who made this a truly valuable branch of domestic -ornamentation. If, in some other instances, he was rather the restorer -and infuser of fresh life into arts fallen into degeneracy, he was -nothing short of a creator in the case of wall-paper design, which, as a -serious decorative art, owes its existence to him before anyone else." - -In his lecture on _The Lesser Arts of Life_, he insisted on the -importance of paying due regard to the artistic treatment of our wall -spaces. "Whatever you have in your rooms, think first of the walls, for -they are that which makes your house and home; and, if you don't make -some sacrifice in their favor, you will find your chambers have a sort -of makeshift, lodging-house look about them, however rich and handsome -your movables may be." - -A collector is always under a spell; hypnotized, bewitched, possibly -absurdly engrossed and unduly partial to his own special hobby, and to -uninterested spectators, no doubt seems a trifle unbalanced, whether his -specialty be the fossilized skeleton of an antediluvian mammoth or a -tiny moth in a South American jungle. - -I am not laboring under the exhilarating but erroneous impression that -there is any widespread and absorbing interest in this theme. As the -distinguished jurist, Mr. Adrian H. Joline, says, "Few there are who -cling with affection to the memory of the old fashioned. Most of us -prefer to spin with the world down the ringing grooves of change, to -borrow the shadow of a phrase which has of itself become old-fashioned." -Yet, as Mr. Webster said of Dartmouth, when he was hard pressed: "It is -a little college, but there are those who love it." - -Besides, everything--Literature, Art and even fashions in dress and -decorations,--while seeming to progress really go in waves. We are now -wearing the bonnets, gowns and mantles of the 1830 style and much -earlier. Fabulous and fancy prices are gladly given for antique -furniture; high boys, low boys, hundred-legged tables, massive four-post -bedsteads, banjo clocks, and crystal chandeliers. - -Those able to do it are setting tapestries into their stately walls, -hangings of rich brocades and silk are again in vogue and the old -designs for wall-paper are being hunted up all through Europe and this -country. Some also adopt a colored wash for their bed-room walls, and -cover their halls with burlap or canvas, while the skins of wild animals -adorn city dens as well as the mountain lodge or the seaside bungalow. -So we have completed the circle. - -The unco rich of to-day give fabulous sums for crystal candelabra, or -museum specimens of drawing room furniture; and collectors, whether -experts or amateurs, and beginners just infected with the microbe are -searching for hidden treasures of china, silver and glass. - -Why should the Old Time Wall-Papers alone be left unchronicled and -forgotten? In them the educated in such matters read the progress of the -Art; some of them are more beautiful than many modern paintings; the -same patterns are being admired and brought out; the papers themselves -will soon all be removed. - -Hawthorne believed that the furniture of a room was magnetized by those -who occupied it; a modern psychologist declares that even a rag doll -dearly loved by a child becomes something more than a purely inanimate -object. We should certainly honor the wall-papers brought over the seas -from various countries at great expense to beautify the Homes of our -Ancestors. - -[Illustration] - - - - -PUBLISHER'S NOTE. - - -_The wall-papers reproduced in the following plates were in many cases -faded, water-stained and torn, when photographed. Many of the -photographs are amateur work; some are badly focused and composed, some -taken in small rooms and under unfavorable conditions of light. The -reader will bear this in mind in judging the papers themselves and the -present reproductions._ - - -_PLATE VII_ - - -_PLATE VIII_ - - -PLATE VII. - -The Bayeux Tapestry. - - - The oldest tapestry now in existence, dating from the time of - William the Conqueror, and apparently of English workmanship. The - set of pieces fits the nave of the Cathedral of Bayeux, measuring - 231 feet long and 20 inches wide. Now preserved in the Bayeux - Library. - - The subjects are drawn from English history; Plate VII represents - the burial of Edward the Confessor in the Church of St. Peter, - Westminster Abbey. - - -PLATE VIII. - -The Bayeux Tapestry. - - - King Harold listening to news of the preparations of William of - Orange for the invasion of Britain. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE IX_ - - -_PLATE X_ - - -PLATE IX. - -Borden Hall Paper. - - - The oldest wall-paper known in England; found in restoring a - fifteenth-century timber-built house known as "Borden Hall," in - Borden village, Kent, near Sittingbourne. - - Design "A" was found in the oldest part of the house, and probably - dates from the second half of the sixteenth century. The paper is - thick and tough, and was nailed to the plaster between uprights. - The walls were afterward battened over the paper, and the recovered - fragments are in perfect condition. Ground color rich vermillion, - with flowers in bright turquoise blue, the design in black. - - -PLATE X. - -Borden Hall Paper. - - - Old English paper, design "B"; found in rear part of house and - dates from about 1650. It was pasted to the plaster in the modern - manner. Printed in black on a white ground, flowers roughly colored - vermillion. Inferior to "A" in design, coloring, and quality of - paper. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XI_ - - -PLATE XI. - -Early English Pictorial Paper - - - Late eighteenth century hunting scene paper from an old Manor House - near Chester, England. Reproduced from a fragment in the collection - of Mr. Edward T. Cockcroft of New York City. The pattern is - evidently repeated at intervals. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XII_ - - -PLATE XII. - -The Cultivation of Tea. - - - Hand-painted Chinese paper, imported about 1750 and still in good - state of preservation; the property of Mr. Theodore P. Burgess of - Dedham, Mass. The subject is perhaps the oldest theme used in - wall-paper decoration in China. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XIII_ - - -_PLATE XIV_ - - -PLATE XIII. - -The Cultivation of Tea. - - - Paper on another side of room shown in Plate XII. - - -PLATE XIV. - -The Cultivation of Tea. - - - Third side of same room. The scene continues round the room without - repetition. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XV_ - - -_PLATE XVI_ - - -PLATE XV. - -Early American Fresco. - - Painted river scenes on the best chamber walls of the house of Mrs. - William Allen at Westwood, Mass. The elm and locust trees and - architectural style are plainly American, but the geographical - location is uncertain. The colors are very brilliant--red, blue, - green, etc. - - -PLATE XVI. - -Early American Fresco. - - - Another side of same room, showing conventionalized water fall and - bend in the river. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XVII_ - - -_PLATE XVIII_ - - -PLATE XVII. - -Early American Fresco. - - - Another view of the painted walls at Westwood, Mass. The object - depicted is neither a whale nor a torpedo-boat, but an island. - - -PLATE XVIII. - -Early American Fresco. - - - Painted hall and stairway in an old house in High Street, Salem, - Mass., attached to the very old bake-shop of Pease and Price. The - frescoes were executed by a Frenchman. Colors are still quite - bright, but a good photograph could not be secured in the small and - dimly-lighted hall. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XIX_ - - -_PLATE XX_ - - -PLATE XIX. - -Early Stencilled Paper. - - - Fragments of very old paper from Nantucket, R. I. - - -PLATE XX. - -A Peep at the Moon. - - - Another quaint stencilled paper found at Nantucket, R. I. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: A PEEP AT THE MOON] - - -_PLATE XXI_ - - -PLATE XXI. - -Pictured Ruins and Decorative Designs. - - - Hall of a homestead at Salem, Massachusetts, old when gas lights - were introduced in Salem. The paper was undoubtedly made to fit the - stairway and hall. The large picture in the lower hall is repeated - at the landing. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXII_ - - -PLATE XXII. - -Hand Colored Paper with Repeated Pattern. - - - Parlor in the home of Mrs. Russell Jarvis at Claremont, New - Hampshire. The paper is hand-printed on cream ground in snuff-brown - color, and is made up of pieces eighteen inches square, showing - three alternating pastoral scenes. In the frieze and dado the - prevailing color is dark blue. (p.56) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXIII_ - - -_PLATE XXIV_ - - -PLATE XXIII. - -Scenes from Nature in Repeated Design. - - - Parlor of the Lindell house at Salem, Massachusetts. White - wainscoting and mantel surmounted by paper in squares, showing four - outdoor scenes. The fire-board concealing the unused fire-place is - covered with paper and border specially adapted to that purpose. - - -PLATE XXIV. - -The Alhambra. - - - Two scenes from the Alhambra Palace, repeated in somewhat - monotonous rows. Still in a good state of preservation on the upper - hall of a house at Leicester, Massachusetts,--one of the sea-port - towns rich in foreign novelties brought home by sea captains. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXV_ - - -_PLATE XXVI_ - - -PLATE XXV. - -Cathedral Porch and Shrine in Repeated Design. - - - Effectively colored paper still on the walls at Ware, - Massachusetts, showing a shrine in the porch of a cathedral; the - repeated design being connected with columns, winding stairs and - ruins. The blue sky seen through the marble arches contrasts finely - with the green foliage. - - -PLATE XXVI. - -Cathedral Porch and Shrine, Architectural Background. - - - Paper on a chamber in the mansion of Governor Gore of - Massachusetts, at Waltham, Massachusetts, erected and decorated in - 1802. Medallion pictures in neutral colors, of a cathedral porch, - shrine and mountain view, alternating on a stone-wall ground. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXVII_ - - -PLATE XXVII. - -Birds of Paradise and Peacocks. - - - The drawing-room of the Governor Gore Mansion at Waltham, - Massachusetts, bequeathed by its owner, Miss Walker, to the - Episcopal Church for the Bishop's residence. The paper is still in - beautiful condition, printed on brownish cream ground in the - natural colors of birds and foliage. (p. 75) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXVIII_ - - -PLATE XXVIII. - -Sacred to Washington. - - - Memorial paper in black and gray placed on many walls soon after - the death of Washington. The example photographed was on a hall and - stairway. (p. 88) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXIX_ - - -PLATE XXIX. - -Dorothy Quincy Wedding Paper. - - - On the Dorothy Quincy house on Hancock Street, at Quincy, Mass., - now the headquarters of the Colonial Dames of Massachusetts. It was - imported from Paris in honor of the marriage of Dorothy Quincy and - John Hancock in 1775, and still hangs on the walls of the large - north parlor. Venus and Cupid are printed in blue, the floral - decorations in red. The colors are still unfaded. (p. 65) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXX_ - - -_PLATE XXXI_ - - -PLATE XXX. - -The Pantheon. - - - Mounted fragments rescued from the destruction of the dining-room - paper which was on the walls of the King's Tavern or "Waffle - Tavern" at Vernon (now Rockville), Connecticut, when Lafayette was - entertained there in 1825. All the characters of Roman mythology - were pictured in woodland scenes printed in gray and black, on - small squares of paper carefully matched. Below these ran a band - bearing the names of the characters represented; and below this, a - grassy green dado dotted with marine pictures. (p. 69) - - -PLATE XXXI. - -Canterbury Bells. - - - Paper from Howe's Tavern, at Sudbury, Massachusetts,--the "Wayside - Inn" of Longfellow's Tales. The fragment is in poor condition but - possesses historic interest, having decorated the room in which - Lafayette passed the night on his trip through America. (p. 67) - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXXII_ - - -_PLATE XXXIII_ - - -PLATE XXXII. - -The First Railroad Locomotive. - - - Paper on an old house in High Street, Salem, supposed to represent - the first railroad. The first trial of locomotives for any purpose - other than hauling coal from the mines, took place near Rainhill, - England, in 1829. The paper may celebrate this contest, at which of - three engines was successful. (p. 89-90) - - -PLATE XXXIII. - -High Street House Paper. - - - Scene on opposite side of same room. The subject and figures seem - English. The scenes are in colors, the dado in black and grey on - white ground. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXXIV_ - - -_PLATE XXXV_ - - -PLATE XXXIV. - -Pizarro in Peru. - - - Remains of Pizarro paper in the Ezra Weston house now used for the - famous Powder Point School for Boys, at Duxbury, Massachusetts. - Formerly on sitting-room but now preserved in a small upper room; - stained and dim. It was brought from Paris by Captain Gershom - Bradford, and is supposed to depict scenes in Pizarro's invasion of - Peru in 1531. The same figures are shown in successive scenes, more - or less distinct though running into each other. (p. 97) - - -PLATE XXXV. - -Pizarro in Peru. - - - Another corner of same room. Both the paper and photograph are - difficult to reproduce. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXXVI_ - - -_PLATE XXXVII_ - - -PLATE XXXVI. - -Tropical Scenes. - - - Paper from the Ham House at Peabody, Massachusetts, now occupied by - Dr. Worcester. These scenes are quite similar to those of the - Pizarro paper, and may have been the work of the same designer. - - -PLATE XXXVII. - -Tropical Scenes. - - - Ham house paper. Another side of room. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XXXVIII_ - - -_PLATE XXXIX_ - - -PLATE XXXVIII. - -On the Bosporus. - - - From a house at Montpelier, Vermont, in which it was hung in 1825, - in honor of Lafayette who was entertained there. The Mosque of - Santa Sophia and other buildings of Constantinople are seen in the - background. - - -PLATE XXXIX. - -On the Bosporus. - - - Opposite side of same room. Fishing from caiques on the Golden Horn - before Stamboul. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XL_ - - -PLATE XL. - -Oriental Scenes. - - - Paper still on the walls of the home of Miss Janet A. Lathrop, at - Stockport, New York. It was put on the walls in 1820 by the sea - captain who built the house, and in 1904 was cleaned and restored - by the present owner. No other example of this paper in America has - been heard of, except in an old house at Albany in which the mother - of Miss Lathrop was born. In the "Chinese room" of a hunting lodge - belonging to the King of Saxony, at Moritzburg, near Dresden, is a - similar paper or tapestry from which this may have been copied. It - is printed in grays which have become brown with age, from engraved - blocks, and finished by hand. This is a rare example of the use of - rice paper for a wall covering. (p. 55) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLI_ - - -PLATE XLI. - -Oriental Scenes. - - - Continuation of same paper; apparently a religious procession. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLII_ - - -PLATE XLII. - -Oriental Scenes. - - - Another section of the Lathrop house paper. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLIII_ - - -PLATE XLIII. - -Oriental Scenes. - - - End of room containing three preceding scenes. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLIV_ - - -PLATE XLIV. - -Early Nineteenth Century Scenic Paper. - - - Side wall of parlor of Mrs. E. C. Cowles at Deerfield, - Massachusetts. The house was built in 1738 by Ebenezer Hinsdale, - and was re-modelled and re-decorated about the beginning of the - nineteenth century. Still in good state of preservation. The colors - are neutral. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLV_ - - -PLATE XLV. - - Parlor of Mrs. Cowles' house, end of room. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLVI_ - - -_PLATE XLVII_ - - -PLATE XLVI. - - Another example of the same paper as that on the Cowles house - (Plates XLIV and XLV). This paper was imported from England and - hung in 1805, in a modest house at Warner, New Hampshire,--such a - house as seldom indulged in such expensive papers. It is still on - the walls, though faded. - - -PLATE XLVII. - - At Windsor, Vermont, two more examples of this paper are still to - be seen. One is on the house now occupied by the Sabin family. This - was built about 1810 by the Honorable Edward R. Campbell, and the - paper was hung when the house was new. (p. 52) - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE XLVIII_ - - -_PLATE XLIX_ - - -PLATE XLVIII. - -Harbor Scene. - - - Paper found in three houses in New England--the home of Mr. Wilfred - Cleasby at Waterford, Vermont; the Governor Badger homestead at - Gilmanton, New Hampshire, built in 1825; and an old house in - Rockville, Massachusetts, built about ninety years ago. The scene - fits the four walls of the room without repetition. The design is - printed in browns on a cream ground, with a charming effect. The - geographical identity of the scenes has never been established. (p. - 109) - - -PLATE XLIX. - -The Spanish Fandango. - - - Continuation of same paper; another side of room. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE L_ - - -PLATE L. - -Strolling Players. - - - Same paper, third view. The set of paper on the Cleasby house is - said by descendants of the builder, Henry Oakes, to have cost $100, - and $40 for its hanging. The similar set on the Badger homestead - should have cost $50, had not the messenger lost the first payment - sent, so that that sum had to be duplicated. This is on a smaller - room than at the Cleasby house, requiring less paper. (p. 76-80) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LI_ - - -_PLATE LII_ - - -PLATE LI. - -Rural Scene. - - - Paper on the parlor of Mr. Josiah Cloye at Ashland, Massachusetts, - and found also in several other places; colors neutral. - - -PLATE LII. - -Rural Scene. - - - From another example of the same set found at Marblehead, - Massachusetts. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LIII_ - - -_PLATE LIV_ - - -PLATE LIII. - -French Boulevard Scene. - - - Paper from the Forrester house at Salem, Massachusetts, now used as - a sanitarium for the insane. Since the photographs were taken the - paper has been removed as it unduly excited the patients. - - -PLATE LIV. - -French Boulevard Scene. - - Same as above. Found also in a house at the sea-port town of - Nantucket. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LV_ - - -PLATE LV. - -Gateway and Fountain. - - - French paper, imported before 1800, but never hung. A few rolls - still survive, in the possession of Mr. George M. Whipple of Salem, - Massachusetts. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LVI_ - - -PLATE LVI. - -Scenes from Paris. - - - A very popular paper found in Federal Street, Salem, on the parlor - of Mrs. Charles Sadler, daughter of Henry K. Oliver; in the Ezra - Weston house at Duxbury, Massachusetts, built in 1808; the Walker - house at Rockville, Massachusetts, and several other New England - towns. The principal buildings of Paris are represented as lining - the shore of the Seine. The inclusion of the Colonne Vendôme shows - it to have been designed since 1806; and as the horses on the - Carousel arch were returned to Venice in 1814, the paper probably - dates between those years. (p. 88) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LVII_ - - -PLATE LVII. - -Scenes from Paris. - - - Another side of room shown in Plate LVI. The paper is in pieces 16 - by 21 inches. The colors are soft, with green, gray and brown - predominating, but with some black, yellow, red, etc. The drawing - is good. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LVIII_ - - -PLATE LVIII. - -Bay of Naples. - - - This seems to have been the most popular paper of the early - nineteenth century. It decorated the room in which the author was - born--the library of Professor E. D. Sanborn of Dartmouth College, - at Hanover, New Hampshire,--and is still in place. The house is now - used as a Dartmouth dormitory. The same scenes are found in the - Lawrence house, at Exeter, New Hampshire, now used as a - dormitory--Dunbay Hall--of the Phillips Exeter Academy; on the - house of Mrs. E. B. McGinley at Dudley, Massachusetts, and on - another at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, now owned by Mrs. Emma Taylor. - (p. 49, 108) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LIX_ - - -PLATE LIX. - -Bay of Naples. - - - Continuation of same scene. This paper is in neutral colors, and - made in small pieces. It was imported about 1820. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LX_ - - -PLATE LX. - -Bay of Naples. - - - Detail. The monument has a Greek inscription which Professor - Kittredge of Harvard University translates literally: "Emperor - Cæsar, me divine Hadrian. Column of the Emperor Antoninus - Pius"--who was the son of Hadrian. The pillar of Antonine still - stands at Rome. The statue of Antoninus which formerly surmounted - it was removed by Pope Sextus, who substituted a figure of Paul. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXI_ - - -_PLATE LXII_ - - -PLATE LXI. - -Bay of Naples. - - - Another side of room. - - -PLATE LXII. - -Bay of Naples. - - - Detail: Galleon at anchor. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXIII_ - - -PLATE LXIII. - -Cupid and Psyche. - - - Panelled paper in colors, designed by Lafitte and executed by - Dufour in 1814. It consists of twenty-six breadths, each five feet - seven inches long by twenty inches wide. It is said that fifteen - hundred engraved blocks were used in printing. The design is - divided into twelve panels, depicting the marriage of Cupid and - Psyche, Psyche's lack of faith and its sad consequences. - - The scene reproduced shows the visit of the newly-wedded Psyche's - jealous sisters to her palace, where they persuade her that her - unseen husband is no god, but a monster whom she must kill. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXIV_ - - -PLATE LXIV. - -Cupid and Psyche. - - - While Cupid lies sleeping in the darkness, Psyche takes her dagger, - lights her lamp, and bends over the unconscious god: - - * * * There before her lay - The very Love brighter than dawn of day; - - * * * * * - - O then, indeed, her faint heart swelled for love, - And she began to sob, and tears fell fast - Upon the bed.--But as she turned at last - To quench the lamp, there happed a little thing, - That quenched her new delight, for flickering - The treacherous flame cast on his shoulder fair - A burning drop; he woke, and seeing her there, - The meaning of that sad sight knew too well, - Nor was there need the piteous tale to tell. - - WILLIAM MORRIS: _The Earthly Paradise._ - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXV_ - - -PLATE LXV. - -The Adventures of Telemachus. - - - Paper from the home of Dr. John Lovett Morse at Taunton, - Massachusetts, illustrating the sixth book of Fenelon's _Adventures - of Telemachus_. Found also in the home of Mr. Henry De Witt - Freeland at Sutton, Massachusetts; on the hall of "The Hermitage," - Andrew Jackson's home near Nashville, Tennessee; and in an ancient - house at Kennebunk, Maine. (p. 86-88) - - Telemachus, son of Ulysses, and Mentor, who is Minerva in - disguise, while searching through two worlds for the lost Ulysses, - arrive at the island of the goddess Calypso and her nymphs. - Telemachus recites the tale of their adventures, and Calypso (who - is unfortunately divided by the window into two equal parts) - becomes as deeply enamored of Telemachus as she had formerly been - of his father. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXVI_ - - -PLATE LXVI. - -The Adventures of Telemachus. - - - Venus, who is bent on detaining Telemachus on the island and - delaying his filial search for Ulysses, brings her son Cupid from - Olympus, and leaves him with Calypso, that he may inflame the young - hero's heart with love for the goddess. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXVII_ - - -PLATE LXVII. - -The Adventures of Telemachus. - - - Cupid stirs up all the inflammable hearts within his reach somewhat - indiscriminately; and Telemachus finds himself in love with the - nymph Eucharis. Calypso becomes exceedingly jealous. At a - hunting-contest in honor of Telemachus, Eucharis appears in the - costume of Diana to attract him, while the jealous Calypso rages - alone in her grotto. Venus arrives in her dove-drawn car and takes - a hand in the game of hearts. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXVIII_ - - -PLATE LXVIII. - -Adventures of Telemachus. - - - Calypso, in her rage against Eucharis and Telemachus, urges Mentor - to build a boat and take Telemachus from her island. Mentor, - himself disapproving of the youth's infatuation, builds the boat; - then finds Telemachus and persuades him to leave Eucharis and - embark with him. As they depart toward the shore, Eucharis returns - to her companions, while Telemachus looks behind him at every step - for a last glimpse of the nymph. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXIX_ - - -PLATE LXIX. - -Adventures of Telemachus. - - - Cupid meantime has dissuaded Calypso from her wrath and incited the - nymphs to burn the boat that is waiting to bear the visitors away. - Mentor, perceiving that Telemachus is secretly glad of this, and - fearing the effect of his passion for Eucharis, throws the youth - from the cliff into the water, leaps in after him, and swims with - him to a ship that lies at anchor beyond the treacherous shoals. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXX_ - - -PLATE LXX. - -Scottish Scenes. - - - The room on which the Adventures of Telemachus are pictured having - proved too large for the set of scenes, the remaining corner is - filled out with what appear to be Scottish scenes, possibly - illustrations for Scott. Harmony in coloring was apparently of more - importance than harmony in subject. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXI_ - - -_PLATE LXXII_ - - -PLATE LXXI. - -The Olympic Games. - - - This famous paper, now owned by Mrs. Franklin R. Webber 2d of - Boston, was made in France and imported in 1800 or earlier, but - never hung. Each roll is made up of squares invisibly joined, and - the thirty pieces combine to form a continuous panorama. The - coloring is brown. The paper was probably printed by hand from - engraved blocks, and the shading of faces, etc., added by hand. The - most artistic pictorial paper known. (p. 52-54) - - -PLATE LXXII. - -The Olympic Games. - - - A tribute to Homer. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXIII_ - - -_PLATE LXXIV_ - - -PLATE LXXIII. - -The Olympic Games. - - - The shrine of Vesta. - - -PLATE LXXIV. - -The Olympic Games. - - - Worshipping Athene in the Court of the Erechtheum. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXV_ - - -_PLATE LXXVI_ - - -PLATE LXXV. - -The Olympic Games. - - - Oblation to Bacchus. - - -PLATE LXXVI. - -The Olympic Games. - - - Oblation to Bacchus, and procession before the Parthenon. From the - Perry house at Keene, N. H., on whose parlor walls is preserved the - only other known example of the paper just described. (p. 50) - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXVII_ - - -PLATE LXXVII. - -The Lady of the Lake. - - - This series of scenes in neutral colors is photographed from the - parlor of the Rev. Pelham Williams, at Greenbush, Mass., whose - house is one of three on which it still hangs in good condition. - The other examples are the Hayward house at Wayland, Mass., and the - Alexander Ladd house, now owned by Mrs. Charles Wentworth, at - Portsmouth, N. H. - - CANTO I. THE CHASE. - - III. - - Yelled on the view the opening pack-- - Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back; - To many a mingled sound at once - The awakened mountain gave response. - An hundred dogs bayed deep and strong, - Clattered a hundred steeds along, - Their peal the merry horns rang out, - An hundred voices joined the shout; - With bark, and whoop, and wild halloo, - No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXVIII_ - - -PLATE LXXVIII. - -The Lady of the Lake. - - -CANTO III. THE GATHERING. - -VIII. - - 'Twas all prepared--and from the rock, - A goat, the patriarch of the flock, - Before the kindling pile was laid, - And pierced by Roderick's ready blade. - - * * * * * - - The grisly priest with murmuring prayer, - A slender crosslet framed with care. - - * * * * * - - The cross, thus formed, he held on high, - With wasted hand and haggard eye, - And strange and mingled feelings woke, - While his anathema he spoke. - - -IX. - - * * * * * - - He paused--the word the vassals took, - With forward step and fiery look, - On high their naked brands they shook, - Their clattering targets wildly strook; - And first, in murmur low, - Then, like the billow in his course, - That far to seaward finds his source, - And flings to shore his mustered force, - Burst with loud roar, their answer hoarse, - "Woe to the traitor, woe!" - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXIX_ - - -PLATE LXXIX. - -The Lady of the Lake. - - -CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. - -XXI. - -[Blanche of Devan and Fitz-James] - - Now wound the path its dizzy ledge - Around a precipice's edge, - When lo! a wasted female form, - Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, - In tattered weeds and wild array, - Stood on a cliff beside the way, - And glancing round her restless eye - Upon the wood, the rock, the sky, - Seemed nought to mark, yet all to spy. - Her brow was wreathed with gaudy broom; - With gesture wild she waved a plume - Of feathers, which the eagles fling - To crag and cliff from dusky wing; - - * * * * * - - And loud she laughed when near they drew, - For then the lowland garb she knew: - And then her hands she wildly wrung, - And then she wept, and then she sung. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXX_ - - -PLATE LXXX. - - This scene fills the fourth side of the room on which _The Lady of - the Lake_ is pictured, but does not illustrate any scene in the - poem. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXXI_ - - -PLATE LXXXI. - -The Seasons. - - - Pastoral paper in neutral colors on the library of Prof. Ira Young - of Dartmouth, at Hanover, N. H. The four seasons are represented on - different sides of the room, blending into each other--sowing, - haying, harvesting and sleighing. Still on the walls in good state - of preservation. (p. 49) - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXXII_ - - -PLATE LXXXII. - -The Seasons. - - - Another view of Professor Young's library. The colors in this paper - are neutral. - -[Illustration] - - -_PLATE LXXXIII_ - - -PLATE LXXXIII. - -The Seasons. - - - Third view from Professor Young's library. - -[Illustration] - --------------------------------------------------------------- - -Transcriber's note: - - P.16. 'Huis-en-ten-Bosch' corrected to 'Huis-ten-Bosch', changed. - P.17. 'asked me ot', 'ot' corrected to 'to', changed. - P.36. 'country and and', taken out the extra 'and'. - P.89. 'Carousal' is 'Carousel', changed. - The Carousel is not a drinking party. - P.92. 'treaures' typo for 'treasures', changed. - P.103. 'are in the the original', taken out the extra 'the'. - P.115. 'when she' changed 'she' to 'he'. - Plate LVI, 'Carousal' is meant 'Carousel', changed. - Plate LXVI, 'Olympos' typo for 'Olympus', changed. - - Fixed various commas and full stops. - --------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Old Time Wall Papers, by Katherine Abbott Sanborn - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TIME WALL PAPERS *** - -***** This file should be named 41664-8.txt or 41664-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/6/41664/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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