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colour). Now, puce wavers between brown, red, and blue; but its general hue is a kind of dull red violet-in fact much the colour of clotted blood, and to most modern eyes it would probably be an unattractive one. Nevertheless, in large masses this is a very picturesque colour, and beneath the bright and glowing skies of Italy it doubtless had a magnificent effect.

This was the only purple colour known to the ancient world, and is believed to have been discovered by an inhabitant of Tyre, fifteen hundred years before Christ, and perhaps its costliness commended it in great measure to the luxurious Romans, in Cicero's day one pound weight of wool double dyed with this colour being valued at 1,000 denarii [£35]; and when we consider the immense numbers of the little creatures (not fleas, as the French word puce would indicate) whence it was obtained, that were necessary to dye even a pound of wool, the labour of gathering them, and the slow and clumsy process of extracting the tiny drop of colour that each contributed, it was really hardly more than it was worth.

It is now generally known that the dye was provided by a few kinds of whelk, found along the shores of the Mediterranean-the Murex trunculus and the Purpura lapillus-but the trouble of procuring it is hardly realised. The colouring matter is a small drop of a yellowish hue contained in a sac or vessel at the head of the shell, and this yellow matter, when spread on a white slab in the sunshine, is acted on by the sun's rays, which send a bluish tinge into the yellow, turning it green. Presently the green is conquered by the blue, and then a red tinge makes its appearance, which gradually increases in strength and predominates in the final colour, a deep reddish purple or puce, and there is the Tyrian dye.

There is some reason for supposing that the famous dye was even less brilliant than the colour obtained from the fish in this way, for in their clumsy process of extracting it they mixed the colouring matter with the juices of the fish (Plin. ix. 60), and thus impaired it -a mistake which is not at all indispensable.

At Otranto, the ancient Tarentum, are found enormous heaps of these shells, showing that the place was one of the great murex fisheries of the Romans.

The "purple and fine linen" and the scarlet and crimson dyes mentioned in the Bible were the same, of course, as the Tyrian dye. The Jews derived all their knowledge of these colours, and the art of extracting and applying them, from Phoenicia and Egypt. Solomon sent to Tyre for the pigments and purple stuffs used in the draperies and colouring of the Temple.

"True blue" was the colour adopted by the Scottish Covenanters in the seventeenth century.

Blue has also been nationalised in England-in the cavalry regiment instituted in the reign of Charles II., which takes its name

(the Blues) from the colour of their coats and cloaks; and in the Royal Navy, in which case it is of a very dark indigo, with a slight warmth in it, and is universally known by the term "

navy blue;" also by the University rowers of Oxford and Cambridge, the former having chosen dark, the latter light blue, and on the annual raceday the dense crowds that throng the banks of the Thames, presenting literally a general blue tint from the number of favours and shawls of the popular colour, are a wonderful sight.

There are so many different kinds of blue, or rather so many names to a few kinds, that we have not space to enumerate them here, even were it necessary. Many are only known to dyers and manufacturers, and possess slight differences in the mixture of the chemicals which compose them, which, in some cases, change hardly or not at all the general tint of the colour. There are only three blues in reality-yellow blue, red blue, and black blue: pure blue is that which does not savour of one colour more than another. Turquoise might be an example of the first, ultramarine of the second, and indigo of the third.

I have before said that blue gives an impression of cold, but some blues, of course, are less cold than others. A blue formed of indigo and white is very cold and dull, and walls, or any large space covered with this colour, are most unpleasing-even depressing-unless relieved to a very great extent by warm colours in close proximity. It is also unbecoming to the face, except when reduced by white to lavender.

Ultramarine is the least cold of blues, as there is a certain amount of red pervading it, so that in the shadows it often looks quite violet. It is too brilliant for the face; but is very beautiful in small quantities in dress, or when sparingly introduced in mouldings, decoration of furniture, and the like.

It is worth noting that ultramarine, in a very deep shade (when it borrows the name "Alexandra," "royal," &c., according to the period) is one of the most unbecoming colours that can be placed near the face in masses. Its brilliancy lends a yellow hue to the skin, while its deepness withholds the grey shadows cast by pale blues, which are so valuable to delicate complexions: it should be shunned alike by the florid and the fair.

Turquoise blue, which might be made with cobalt and Naples yellow, and which is seen in the greatest perfection in the enamelled porcelain of the Indians and other Orientals, is a most beautiful pale colour, less cold than indigo, yet colder than ultramarine, but in the decoration of rooms should be used rather in small than large quantities. In dress, when not too brilliant, it is exceedingly becoming, especially to fair persons, adding grey to the shadows of the complexion, enhancing the rose of the cheek and any shade of yellow

latent in the hair. It is, though not the brightest, the most penetrating of all blues.

The admixture of either red or green in blue for purposes of dress must always be managed with caution. A green blue is a most exquisite hue, but many faces are ruined by a soupçon of green, whilst others are made over-red, or worse, too yellow, by the propinquity of violet. Some mauves are more delicate even than lavender, but others destroy the bloom of the skin. Hardly one woman out of ten knows or even considers-in selecting colours, their properties in these respects. Indeed, when a woman habitually looks well, it is almost always because she is too pretty to be spoiled; scarcely ever because she is "wise in her generation," as to the artistic selection or arrangement of the colours employed in her attire.

The chief blues used by artists are indigo, Prussian, Antwerp, cobalt, and ultramarine. Prussian blue is the most powerful of the five, the smallest scrap being sufficient to make a bright blue when mixed with white. This is also identical with the blue used by laundresses. In painting, what we now call violet, which we have only recently brought to a dazzling perfection, and made a "fast" colour (violet twenty years ago was a miserably dull hue and extremely fugitive) can be produced by a judicious admixture of the finest blue with crimson lake or madder. Cobalt and rose-madder will make violet; but no common red mixed with any common blue makes violet at all. "Chambers's Encyclopædia" is very misleading when it says that the admixture of pure red and pure blue will form this colour; and when Redgrave announces that violet is produced by "five red and eight blue," we are not very much wiser. Crimson or a blue red is the only red admissible, and the finest and rarest blue is indispensable to form anything approaching the bright violet we now so much value. Opaque reds are useless, and so is Prussian blue. Indeed, until the discovery of the two exquisite colours magenta and mauve, in the coal tar a few years ago, we did not really know what violet was. (It is a curious fact that these two colours are the only two that will not mix harmoniously with any others. When introduced in a pattern or mass they always stand aloof, as it were, like members of an alien tribe that refuse to hold any intercourse with strangers.*)

A very beautiful blue, little inferior to ultramarine, is said to have been extracted by Elizabeth Rowe from the cyanus, or corn-flower, whose colour is so deep and transparent an azure that it has taken its name, some say from the Greek κúavos, blue. Others suppose it

This is almost universally true. In even the Oriental carpets and fabrics we can at once see how the mixture of these European colours ruins the harmony of all the other colours. But we have seen a Turkish embroidered cloth in which both magenta and modern violet have been introduced with the happiest results. This is, however,

a remarkable exception.

to have been called after the nymph Cyane, who played with Persephone in the fields of Sicily before she was carried away. But as Persephone was enchanted by a daffodil, and as daffodils belong to April while the cyanus never appears until August, we think the latter derivation a failure.

GREEN. From blue to green is a natural transition, and I am rejoiced to tell my younger readers that the dark sage green, which has become so fashionable during the last twelvemonth (1871), although often in the London climate looking so gloomy as to be scarcely distinguishable from black, is an exceedingly becoming colour, and has a fine effect in combination with other colours. It is becoming in itself, because it annuls any tinge of green which may be latent in the complexion, and which, in dark persons, is often more obtrusive than the owners are aware of. The most sallow woman would be indignant at a hint of this, and generally contrives to defy herself by wearing the very colours which increase the defect. Fair persons are also frequently improved by this dingy green, when a pale green would make them look corpse-like.

Sage-green mixes beautifully with salmon-colour: both are most perfect colours to set off a pallid dark complexion. Sage-green also goes well with deep lake, with primrose, and with dull or greenish blues. In the decoration of rooms it may be largely used, on account of its being so good a background. It is a less sharp contrast with surrounding colours than black, and in a pattern will go well with almost everything. It is appropriate for doors and shutters, especially when relieved with gold. For ceilings it is generally too dark.

There are some bright greens which are becoming to the face, but only a few shades. I say bright in contradistinction to sage. A dull grass-green with a slight yellow tinge in it is a picturesque colour, and often proves a success in a woollen day-dress-some material, that is to say, without gloss. In silks or satins it is nearly as coarse and unpleasant as a pure bright green, innocent of any hint of blue or yellow; and when worn, as hundreds of women persist in wearing it, with a mass of scarlet, is so horrible as to give positive pain to a sensitive eye. In any concert-room or large assemblage a scarlet opera-cloak usually covers a green dress, and is capped by a green bow in the hair. One may count these mistakes by the dozen, and they arise from the generally diffused milliners' creed, that scarlet and emerald must go hand in hand, because green and red are complementaries. The vulgarity and disagreeableness of this mixture ought to be apparent to anybody with the very rudiments of artistic feeling.

Green is often mentioned in medieval poems as a favourite colour for dress for both men and women. Chaucer's beautiful "Rosial" (in the Courts of Love) is robed in a green gown, "light and summer

wise, shapen full well," with rubies around her neck; but, as we have often explained, antique colours were very much less brilliant than modern ones, and rubies are very far from being scarlet. A dull yellow green and dark crimson are a fine mixture.

Pale green, so trying to the majority of faces, is, in some cases, a pretty ornament, and may be mixed craftily with pale blue in a most charming manner. The dress offered to Enid, "where like a shoaling sea the lovely blue played into green," is one of Tennyson's happiest thoughts. It requires, however, taste to do this well; and alone pale green is better shunned by the inexperienced, unless they be blest with complexions so beautiful that they will survive any illtreatment.

RED. The reds admissible in close proximity to the face must be arranged with caution. The red in the face is usually easy to extinguish; while persons who have very red faces must be even more careful what reds they use than the pale people.

Pink I need not say much about. It is suitable to most young faces, especially the fair, except when the hair inclines to red.

Among reds the chief are "light red" (which has yellow in it), Indian red (a dark red with blue in it), both dull, and both beautiful colours for dress or any decorative purpose. They are, however, not often made pure in stuffs, as more brilliant hues find a readier sale. Carmine and vermilion are the most vivid scarlets-the one having a hint of blue, the other of yellow. Crimson lake is a deep blue red, far more suitable for dress than either of the former, which are almost intolerable in large masses. Rose is a very beautiful hue, having nearly the brilliancy of scarlet, but softened by a blue bloom; this, however, can only be worn by young and pretty persons, and even then in any quantity is trying, but mingled with black, white, or grey, has a most delicate effect. Little Red Riding-hood was a child, and had the clear skin of childhood-besides, we are not told exactly what red she wore, in any authentic record; but grown persons are seldom improved by any bright red close around the face.

The Spanish women have made a deep red rose in the hair, just under the ear, an undying fashion; but then their peculiar complexion and ebony hair are set off by what injures ordinary English faces; and, moreover, it is usually softened by the graceful mantilla. On our hideous little wire frames, which we call bonnets, a great red rose generally looks absurd, even when the wearer does not suffer from the colour.

Deep heavy reds are much used in the draperies of the old Italian masters, especially of Titian; but they are always aided and contrasted, as no woman can contrive to be, when moving from place to place. It is generally unsafe to copy a portion of a whole. But some women look picturesque and pleasing in deep red, even that called Turkey red; and maroon, which is a shade of red, is a very

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