Philosophy of Furniture

by Edgar Allan Poe

In the internal decoration, if not in the external architecture oftheir residences, the English are supreme. The Italians have but littlesentiment beyond marbles and colours. In France, meliora probant,deteriora sequuntur - the people are too much a race of gadabouts tomaintain those household proprieties of which, indeed, they have adelicate appreciation, or at least the elements of a proper sense. TheChinese and most of the eastern races have a warm but inappropriate fancy.The Scotch are poor decorists. The Dutch have, perhaps, an indeterminateidea that a curtain is not a cabbage. In Spain they are all curtains - anation of hangmen. The Russians do not furnish. The Hottentots andKickapoos are very well in their way. The Yankees alone are preposterous.How this happens, it is not difficult to see. We have no aristocracyof blood, and having therefore as a natural, and indeed as an inevitablething, fashioned for ourselves an aristocracy of dollars, the display ofwealth has here to take the place and perform the office of the heraldicdisplay in monarchical countries. By a transition readily understood, andwhich might have been as readily foreseen, we have been brought to mergein simple show our notions of taste itselfTo speak less abstractly. In England, for example, no mere parade ofcostly appurtenances would be so likely as with us, to create animpression of the beautiful in respect to the appurtenances themselves -or of taste as regards the proprietor: - this for the reason, first, thatwealth is not, in England, the loftiest object of ambition as constitutinga nobility; and secondly, that there, the true nobility of blood,confining itself within the strict limits of legitimate taste, ratheravoids than affects that mere costliness in which a parvenu rivalry mayat any time be successfully attempted.The people will imitate the nobles, and the result is a thoroughdiffusion of the proper feeling. But in America, the coins current beingthe sole arms of the aristocracy, their display may be said, in general,to be the sole means of the aristocratic distinction; and the populace,looking always upward for models,,are insensibly led to confound the twoentirely separate ideas of magnificence and beauty. In short, the cost ofan article of furniture has at length come to be, with us, nearly the soletest of its merit in a decorative point of view - and this test, onceestablished, has led the way to many analogous errors, readily traceableto the one primitive folly.There could be nothing more directly offensive to the eye of an artistthan the interior of what is termed in the United States - that is to say,in Appallachia - a well-furnished apartment. Its most usual defect is awant of keeping. We speak of the keeping of a room as we would of thekeeping of a picture - for both the picture and the room are amenable tothose undeviating principles which regulate all varieties of art; and verynearly the same laws by which we decide on the higher merits of apainting, suffice for decision on the adjustment of a chamber.A want of keeping is observable sometimes in the character of theseveral pieces of furniture, but generally in their colours or modes ofadaptation to use Very often the eye is offended by their inartisticarrangement. Straight lines are too prevalent - too uninterruptedlycontinued - or clumsily interrupted at right angles. If curved linesoccur, they are repeated into unpleasant uniformity. By undue precision,the appearance of many a fine apartment is utterly spoiled.Curtains are rarely well disposed, or well chosen in respect to otherdecorations. With formal furniture, curtains are out of place; and anextensive volume of drapery of any kind is, under any circumstance,irreconcilable with good taste - the proper quantum, as well as the properadjustment, depending upon the character of the general effect.Carpets are better understood of late than of ancient days, but westill very frequently err in their patterns and colours. The soul of theapartment is the carpet. From it are deduced not only the hues but theforms of all objects incumbent. A judge at common law may be an ordinaryman; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius. Yet we have hearddiscoursing of carpets, with the air " d'un mouton qui reve," fellows whoshould not and who could not be entrusted with the management of their ownmoustaches. Every one knows that a large floor may have a covering oflarge figures, and that a small one must have a covering of small - yetthis is not all the knowledge in the world. As regards texture, the Saxonyis alone admissible. Brussels is the preterpluperfect tense of fashion,and Turkey is taste in its dying agonies. Touching pattern - a carpetshould not be bedizzened out like a Riccaree Indian - all red chalk,yellow ochre, and cock's feathers. In brief - distinct grounds, and vividcircular or cycloid figures, of no meaning, are here Median laws. Theabomination of flowers, or representations of well-known objects of anykind, should not be endured within the limits of Christendom. Indeed,whether on carpets, or curtains, or tapestry, or ottoman coverings, allupholstery of this nature should be rigidly Arabesque. As for thoseantique floor-cloth & still occasionally seen in the dwellings of therabble - cloths of huge, sprawling, and radiating devises,stripe-interspersed, and glorious with all hues, among which no ground isintelligible-these are but the wicked invention of a race of time-serversand money-lovers - children of Baal and worshippers of Mammon - Benthams,who, to spare thought and economize fancy, first cruelly invented theKaleidoscope, and then established joint-stock companies to twirl it bysteam.Glare is a leading error in the philosophy of American householddecoration - an error easily recognised as deduced from the perversion oftaste just specified., We are violently enamoured of gas and of glass. Theformer is totally inadmissible within doors. Its harsh and unsteady lightoffends. No one having both brains and eyes will use it. A mild, or whatartists term a cool light, with its consequent warm shadows, will dowonders for even an ill-furnished apartment. Never was a more lovelythought than that of the astral lamp. We mean, of course, the astral lampproper - the lamp of Argand, with its original plain ground-glass shade,and its tempered and uniform moonlight rays. The cut-glass shade is a weakinvention of the enemy. The eagerness with which we have adopted it,partly on account of its flashiness, but principally on account of itsgreater rest, is a good commentary on the proposition with which webegan. It is not too much to say, that the deliberate employer of acut-glass shade, is either radically deficient in taste, or blindlysubservient to the caprices of fashion. The light proceeding from one ofthese gaudy abominations is unequal broken, and painful. It alone issufficient to mar a world of good effect in the furniture subjected to itsinfluence. Female loveliness, in especial, is more than one-halfdisenchanted beneath its evil eye.In the matter of glass, generally, we proceed upon false principles.Its leading feature is glitter - and in that one word how much of allthat is detestable do we express ! Flickering, unquiet lights, aresometimes pleasing - to children and idiots always so - but in theembellishment of a room they should be scrupulously avoided. In truth,even strong steady lights are inadmissible. The huge and unmeaning glasschandeliers, prism-cut, gas-lighted, and without shade, which dangle inour most fashionable drawing-rooms, may be cited as the quintessence ofall that is false in taste or preposterous in folly.The rage for glitter- because its idea has become as we beforeobserved, confounded with that of magnificence in the abstract-has led us,also, to the exaggerated employment of mirrors. We line our dwellings withgreat British plates, and then imagine we have done a fine thing. Now theslightest thought will be sufficient to convince any one who has an eye atall, of the ill effect of numerous looking-glasses, and especially oflarge ones. Regarded apart from its reflection, the mirror presents acontinuous, flat, colourless, unrelieved surface, - a thing always andobviously unpleasant. Considered as a reflector, it is potent in producinga monstrous and odious uniformity: and the evil is here aggravated, not inmerely direct proportion with the augmentation of its sources, but in aratio constantly increasing. In fact, a room with four or five mirrorsarranged at random, is, for all purposes of artistic show, a room of noshape at all. If we add to this evil, the attendant glitter upon glitter,we have a perfect farrago of discordant and displeasing effects. Theveriest bumpkin, on entering an apartment so bedizzened, would beinstantly aware of something wrong, although he might be altogether unableto assign a cause for his dissatisfaction. But let the same person be ledinto a room tastefully furnished, and he would be startled into anexclamation of pleasure and surprise.It is an evil growing out of our republican institutions, that here aman of large purse has usually a very little soul which he keeps in it.The corruption of taste is a portion or a pendant of the dollar-manufacsure. As we grow rich, our ideas grow rusty. It is, therefore, not amongour aristocracy that we must look (if at all, in Appallachia), for thespirituality of a British boudoir. But we have seen apartments in thetenure of Americans of moderns [possibly "modest" or "moderate"] means,which, in negative merit at least, might vie with any of the or-molu'dcabinets of our friends across the water. Even now, there is present toour mind's eye a small and not, ostentatious chamber with whosedecorations no fault can be found. The proprietor lies asleep on a sofa -the weather is cool - the time is near midnight: arc will make a sketch ofthe room during his slumber.It is oblong - some thirty feet in length and twenty-five in breadth -a shape affording the best(ordinary) opportunities for the adjustment offurniture. It has but one door - by no means a wide one - which is at oneend of the parallelogram, and but two windows, which are at the other.These latter are large, reaching down to the floor - have deep recesses -and open on an Italian veranda. Their panes are of a crimson-tintedglass, set in rose-wood framings, more massive than usual. They arecurtained within the recess, by a thick silver tissue adapted to the shapeof the window, and hanging loosely in small volumes. Without the recessare curtains of an exceedingly rich crimson silk, fringed with a deepnetwork of gold, and lined with silver tissue, which is the material ofthe exterior blind. There are no cornices; but the folds of the wholefabric (which are sharp rather than massive, and have an airy appearance),issue from beneath a broad entablature of rich giltwork, which encirclesthe room at the junction of the ceiling and walls. The drapery is thrownopen also, or closed, by means of a thick rope of gold loosely envelopingit, and resolving itself readily into a knot; no pins or other suchdevices are apparent. The colours of the curtains and their fringe - thetints of crimson and gold - appear everywhere in profusion, and determinethe character of the room. The carpet - of Saxony material - is quitehalf an inch thick, and is of the same crimson ground, relieved simply bythe appearance of a gold cord (like that festooning the curtains) slightlyrelieved above the surface of the ground, and thrown upon it in such amanner as to form a succession of short irregular curves - oneoccasionally overlaying the other. The walls are prepared with a glossypaper of a silver gray tint, spotted with small Arabesque devices of afainter hue of the prevalent crimson. Many paintings relieve the expanseof paper. These are chiefly landscapes of an imaginative cast-such as thefairy grottoes of Stanfield, or the lake of the Dismal Swamp of Chapman.There are, nevertheless, three or four female heads, of an etherealbeauty-portraits in the manner of Sully. The tone of each picture is warm,but dark. There are no "brilliant effects." Repose speaks in all. Notone is of small size. Diminutive paintings give that spotty look to aroom, which is the blemish of so many a fine work of Art overtouched. Theframes are broad but not deep, and richly carved, without being dulledor filagreed. They have the whole lustre of burnished gold. They lie flaton the walls, and do not hang off with cords. The designs themselves areoften seen to better advantage in this latter position, but the generalappearance of the chamber is injured. But one mirror - and this not a verylarge one - is visible. In shape it is nearly circular - and it is hung sothat a reflection of the person can be obtained from it in none of theordinary sitting-places of the room. Two large low sofas of rosewood andcrimson silk, gold-flowered, form the only seats, with the exception oftwo light conversation chairs, also of rose-wood. There is a pianoforte(rose-wood, also), without cover, and thrown open. An octagonal table,formed altogether of the richest gold-threaded marble, is placed near oneof the sofas. This is also without cover - the drapery of the curtains hasbeen thought sufficient.. Four large and gorgeous Sevres vases, in whichbloom a profusion of sweet and vivid flowers, occupy the slightly roundedangles of the room. A tall candelabrum, bearing a small antique lamp withhighly perfumed oil, is standing near the head of my sleeping friend. Somelight and graceful hanging shelves, with golden edges and crimson silkcords with gold tassels, sustain two or three hundred magnificently boundbooks. Beyond these things, there is no furniture, if we except an Argandlamp, with a plain crimson-tinted ground glass shade, which depends fromHe lofty vaulted ceiling by a single slender gold chain, and throws atranquil but magical radiance over all.

Previous Authors：Old English Poetry Next Authors：Shadow