custom then established, of his five brothers. His will-power had early been undermined by the opium habit, and was further weakened by the sensual excesses that ultimately killed him. Nor had he any taste for rule; his days were spent in the society of musicians, buffoons and poets, and he himself dabbled in verse-making of a mystic tendency. His one attempt at reform, the order forbidding the sale of intoxicants so as to stop the growing intemperance of the janissaries, broke down on the opposition of the soldiery. He was the first sultan to share personally in the proceeds of the corruption which was undermining the state, realizing especially large sums by the sale of offices. This corruption was fatally apparent in the army, the feudal basis of which was sapped by the confiscation of fiefs for the benefit of nominees of favourites of the harem, and by the intrusion, through the same influences of foreigners and rayahs into the corps of janissaries, of which the discipline became more and more relaxed and the temper increasingly turbulent. In view of this general demoralization not even the victorious outcome of the campaigns in Georgia, the Crimea, Daghestan, Yemen and Persia (1578-1590) could prevent the decay of the Ottoman power; indeed, by weakening the Mussulman states, they hastened the process, since they facilitated the advance of Russia to the Black Sea and the Caspian. Murad, who had welcomed the Persian War as a good opportunity for ridding himself of the presence of the janissaries, whom he dreaded, had soon cause to fear their triumphant return. Incensed by the debasing of the coinage, which robbed them of part of their pay, they invaded the Divan clamouring for the heads of the sultan's favourite, the beylerbey of Rumelia, and of the defterdar (finance minister), which were thrown to them (April 3, 1589). This was the first time that the janissaries had invaded the palace: a precedent to be too often followed. The outbreak of another European war in 1592 gave the sultan an opportunity of ridding himself of their presence. Murad died in 1595, leaving to his successor a legacy of war and anarchy. It was under Murad III. that England's relations with the Porte began. Negotiations were opened in 1579 with Queen Elizabeth through certain British merchants; in 1580 the first Capitulations with England were signed; in 1583 William Harebone, the first British ambassador to the Porte, arrived at Constantinople, and in 1593 commercial Capitulations were signed with England granting the same privileges as those enjoyed by the French. (See CAPITULATIONS.) MURAD IV. (1611-1640) was the son of Sultan Ahmed I., and succeeded his uncle Mustafa I. in 1623. For the first nine years of his reign his youth prevented him from taking more than an observer's part in affairs. But the lessons thus learnt were sufficiently striking to mould his whole character and policy. The minority of the sultan gave full play to the anarchic elements in the state; the soldiery, spahis and janissaries, conscious of their power and reckless through impunity, rose in revolt whenever the whim seized them, demanding privileges and the heads of those who displeased them, not sparing even the sultan's favourites. In 1631 the spahis of Asia Minor rose in revolt, in protest against the deposition of the grand vizier Khosrev; their representatives crowded to Constantinople, stoned the new grand vizier, Hafiz, in the court of the palace, and pursued the sultan himself into the inner apartments, clamouring for seventeen heads of his advisers and favourites, on penalty of his own deposition, Hafiz was surrendered, a voluntary martyr; other ministers were deposed; Mustafa Pasha, aga of the janissaries, was saved by his own troops. But Murad was now beginning to assert himself. Khosrev was executed in Asia Minor by his orders; a plot of the spahis to depose him was frustrated by the loyalty of Koes Mahommed, aga of the janissaries, and of the spahi Rum Mahommed (Mahommed the Greek); and on the 29th of May 1632, by a successful personal appeal to the loyalty of the janissaries, Murad crushed the rebels, whom he surrounded in the Hippodrome. At the age of twenty he found himself possessed of effective autocratic power. His severity has remained legendary. Death was the penalty for the least offence, and no past services-as Koes Mahommed was to find to his cost-were admitted in extenuation. The use of tobacco, coffee, opium and wine were forbidden on pain of death; eighteen persons are said to have been put to death in a single day for infringing this rule. During his whole reign, indeed, supposed offenders against the sultan's authority were done to death, singly or in thousands. The tale of his victims is said to have exceeded 100,000. But if he was the most cruel, Murad was also one of the most manly, of the later sultans. He was of gigantic strength, which he maintained by constant physical exercises. He was also fond of hunting, and for this reason usually lived at Adrianople. He broke through the alleged tradition, bequeathed by Suleiman the Magnificent to his successors, that the sultan should not command the troops in person, and took command in the Persian war which led to the capture of Bagdad (1638) and the conclusion of an honourable peace (May 7, 1639). Early in 1640 he died, barely twenty-nine years of age. The cause of his death was acute gout brought on by excessive drinking. In spite of his drunkenness, however, Murad was a bigoted Sunni, and the main cause of his campaign against Persia was his desire to extirpate the Shia heresy. In the intervals of his campaignings and cruelties the sultan would amuse his entourage by exhibiting feats of strength, or compose verses some of which were published under the pseudonym of Muradi. See, for details of the lives of the above, J. von Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches (Pest, 1840), where further authorities are cited. MURAD V. (1840-1904), eldest son of Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid, was born on the 21st of September 1840. On the accession of his uncle Abd-ul-Aziz, Prince Mahommed Murad Effendias he was then called-was deprived of all share in public affairs and imprisoned, owing to his opposition to the sultan's plan for altering the order of succession. On the deposition of Abd-ul-Aziz on the 30th of May 1876, Murad was haled from his prison by a mob of softas and soldiers of the "Young Turkey" party under Suleiman Pasha, and proclaimed "emperor by the grace of God and the will of the people." Three months later, however, his health, undermined by his long confinement, gave way; and on the 31st of August he was deposed to make room for his younger brother, Abd-ul-Hamid II. He was kept in confinement in the Cheragan palace till his death on the 29th of August 1904. See Kératry, Mourad V., prince, sultan, prisonnier d'état 18401876 (Paris, 1878); Djemaleddin Bey, Sultan Murad V., the Turkish Dynasty Mystery, 1876-1895 (London, 1895). MURAENA, the name of an eel common in the Mediterranean, and highly esteemed by the ancient Romans; it was afterwards မ Muraena picta, from the Indo-Pacific. applied to the whole genus of fishes to which the Mediterranean species belongs, and which is abundantly represented in tropical and sub-tropical seas, especially in rocky parts or on coral reefs. Some ninety species are known. In the majority a long fin runs from the head along the back, round the tail to the vent, but all are destitute of pectoral and ventral fins. The skin is scaleless and smooth, in many species ornamented with varied and bright colours, so that these fishes are frequently mistaken for snakes. The mouth is wide, the jaws strong and armed with formidable, generally sharply pointed, teeth, which enable the Muraena not only to seize its prey (which chiefly consists of other fishes) but also to inflict serious, and sometimes dangerous, wounds on its enemies. It attacks persons who approach its places of concealment in shallow water, and is feared by fishermen. Some of the tropical Muraenas exceed a length of 10 ft., but most of the species, among them the Mediterranean species, attain to only half that length. The latter, the "morena " of the Italians and the Muraena helena of ichthyologists, was considered by the ancient Romans to be one of the greatest delicacies, and was kept in large ponds and aquaria. It is not confined to the coasts of southern Europe, but is spread over the Indian Ocean, and is not uncommon on the coasts of Australia. Its body is generally of a rich brown, marked with large yellowish spots, each of which contains smaller brown spots. MURAL DECORATION, a general term for the art of ornamenting wall surfaces. There is scarcely one of the numerous branches of decorative art which has not at some time or other been applied to this purpose. For what may be called the practical or furnishing point of view, see WALL-COVERINGS. Here the subject is treated rather as part of the history of art. 1. Reliefs sculptured in Marble or Stone.-This is the oldest method of wall-decoration, of which numerous examples exist. The tombs and temples of Egypt are rich in this kind of mural ornament of various dates, extending over nearly 5000 years. These sculptures are, as a rule, carved in low relief; in many cases they are "counter-sunk," that is, the most projecting parts of the figures do not extend beyond the flat surface of the ground. Some unfinished reliefs discovered in the rock-cut tombs of Thebes show the manner in which the sculptor set to work. The plain surface of the stone was marked out by red lines into a number of squares of equal size. The use of this was probably twofold: first, as a guide in enlarging the design from a small drawing, a method still commonly practised; second, to help the artist to draw his figures with just proportions, following the strict canons which were laid down by the Egyptians. No excessive realism or individuality of style arising from a careful study of the life-model was permitted. When the surface had been covered with these squares, the artist drew with a brush dipped in red the outlines of his relief, and then cut round them with his chisel. When the relief was finished, it was, as a rule, entirely painted over with much minuteness and great variety of colours. More rarely the ground was left the natural tint of the stone or marble, and only the figures and hieroglyphs painted. In the case of sculpture in hard basalt or granite the painting appears often to have been omitted altogether. The absence of perspective effects and the severe self-restraint of the sculptors in the matter of composition show a sense of artistic fitness in this kind of decoration. That the rigidity of these sculptured pictures did not arise from want of skill or observation of nature on the part of the artists is apparent when we examine their representations of birds and animals; the special characteristics of each creature and species were unerringly caught by the ancient Egyptian, and reproduced in stone or colour, in a half-symbolic way, suggesting those peculiarities of form, plumage, or movement which are the "differentia" of each, other ideas bearing less directly on the point being eliminated. The subjects of these mural sculptures are endless; almost every possible incident in man's life here or beyond the grave is reproduced with the closest detail. The tomb of Tih at Sakkarah (about 4500 B.C.) has some of the finest and earliest specimens of these mural sculptures, especially rich in illustraSee also CERAMICS; MOSAIC; PAINTING; SCULPTURE; TAPESTRY: TILES; also EGYPT; Art and Archaeology: GREEK ART; ROMAN ART; &c. During the earliest times-more than 4000 years before our era --there appear to have been exceptions to this rule. tions of the domestic life and occupations of the Egyptians. The latter tombs, as a rule, have sculptures depicting the religious ritual and belief of the people, and the temples combine these hieratic subjects with the history of the reigns and victories of the Egyptian kings. The above remarks as to style and manner of execution may be applied also to the wall-sculptures from the royal palaces of Nineveh and Babylon, the finest of which are shown by inscriptions to date from the time of Sennacherib to that of Sardanapalus (from 705 to 625 B.C.). These are carved in low relief with almost gem-like delicacy of detail on enormous slabs of white marble. The sacred subjects, generally representing the king worshipping one of the numerous Assyrian gods, are mostly large, often colossal in scale. The other subjects, illustrating the life and amusements of the king, his prowess in war or hunting, or long processions of prisoners and tribute-bearers coming to do him homage, are generally smaller and in some cases very minute in scale (fig. 1). The arrangement of these reliefs FIG. 1.-Assyrian Relief, on a Marble Wall-slab from the Palace of Sardanapalus at Nineveh. in long horizontal bands, and their reserved conventional treatshow a closer attention to anatomical truth and a greater ment are somewhat similar to those of ancient Egypt, but they love for dramatic effect than any of the Egyptian reliefs. As in the art of Egypt, birds and animals are treated with greater realism than human figures. A relief in the British Museum, representing a lioness wounded by an arrow in her spine and dragging helplessly her paralysed hind legs, affords an example of wonderful truth and pathos. Remarkable technical skill is shown in all these sculptures by the way in which the sculptors have obtained the utmost amount of effect with the smallest possible amount of relief, in this respect calling strongly to mind a similar peculiarity in the work of the Florentine Donatello. The palace at Mashita on the hajj road in Moab, built by the Sasanian Chosroes II. (A.D. 614-627), is ornamented on the exterior with beautiful surface sculpture in stone. The designs Byzantine art, and they are not remotely connected with the are of peculiar interest as forming a link between Assyrian and decoration on Moslem buildings of comparatively modern date. Especially in Italy during the middle ages a similar treatment spread of all forms of Aryan ornament-the sacred tree between two Among the Mashita carvings occurs that oldest and most widely animals. The sculptured slab over the "lion-gate" at Mycenae has the other common variety of this motive-the fire-altar between the beasts. These designs, occasionally varied by figures of human worshippers instead of the beasts, survived long after their meaning had been forgotten; even down to the present day they frequently appear on carpets and other textiles of Oriental manufacture. of marble in low relief was frequently used for wall-decoration. | painted on the tiles, after the first firing, in a copper-like colour The most notable example is the beautiful series of reliefs on the with strong metallic lustre, produced by the deoxidization of west front of Orvieto Cathedral, the work of Giovanni Pisano and a metallic salt in the process of the second firing. Bands and his pupils in the early part of the 14th century. These are small friezes with Arabic inscriptions, modelled boldly in high relief, reliefs, illustrative of the Old and New Testaments, of graceful were used to break up the monotony of the surface. In these, design and skilful execution. A growth of branching foliage as a rule, the projecting letters were painted blue, and the flat serves to unite and frame the tiers of subjects. ground enriched with very minute patterns in the lustre-colour. This combination of bold relief and delicate painting produces in the mass or closely examined tile by tile. In the 15th century lustre-colours, though still largely employed for plates, vases and other vessels, especially in Spain, were little used for tiles; and another class of ware, rich in the variety and brilliance of its colours, was extensively used by Moslem builders all over the Mahommedan world. The most sumptuous sorts of tiles used for wall-coverings are those of the so-called "Rhodian" and Damascene wares, the work of Persian potters at many places. Those made at Rhodes are coarsely executed in comparison with the produce of the older potteries at Isfahan and Damascus (see CERAMICS). These are rectangular tiles of earthenware, covered with a white " slip," and painted in brilliant colours with slight conventionalized representations of various flowers, especially the rose, the hyacinth and the carnation. The red used is applied in considerable body, so as to stand out in slight relief. Another class of design is more geometrical, forming regular repeats; but the most beautiful compositions are those in which the natural growth of trees and flowers is imitated, the branches and blossoms spreading over a large surface covered by hundreds of tiles without any repetition. One of the finest examples is the "Mecca wall" in the mosque of Ibrahim Agha, Cairo; and other Egyptian mosques are adorned in the same way (fig. 2). Another variety, the special production of Damascus. Of a widely different class, but of considerable importance in the history of mural decoration, are the beautiful reliefs, sculp-great vigour and richness of effect, equally telling whether viewed tured in stone and marble, with which Moslem buildings in many parts of the world are ornamented. These are mostly geometrical patterns of great intricacy, which cover large surfaces, frequently broken up into panels by bands of more flowing ornament or Arabic inscriptions. The mosques of Cairo, India and Persia, and the domestic Moslem buildings of Spain are extremely rich in this method of decoration. In western Europe, especially during the 15th century, stone panelled-work with rich tracery formed a large part of the scheme of decoration in all the more splendid buildings. Akin to this, though without actual relief, is the stone tracery-inlaid flush into rough flint walls-which was a mode of ornament largely used for enriching the exteriors of churches in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. It is almost peculiar to that district, and is an example of the skill and taste with which the medieval builders adapted their method of ornamentation to the materials in hand. 2. Marble Veneer.-Another widely used method of mural decoration has been the application of thin marble linings to wall-surfaces, the decorative effect being produced by the natural beauty of the marble itself and not by sculptured reliefs. One of the oldest buildings in the world, the so-called "Temple of the Sphinx" among the Giza pyramids, is built of great blocks of granite, the inside of the rooms being lined with slabs of semitransparent African alabaster about 3 in. thick. In the 1st century thin veneers of richly coloured marbles were largely used by the Romans to decorate brick and stone walls. Pliny (H.N. xxxvi. 6) speaks of this practice as being a new and degenerate invention in his time. Many examples exist at Pompeii and in other Roman buildings. Numerous Byzantine churches, such as St Saviour's at Constantinople, and St George's, Thessalonica, have the lower part of the internal walls richly ornamented in this way. It was commonly used to form a dado, the upper part of the building being covered with mosaic. The cathedral of Monreale and other Siculo-Norman buildings owe a great deal of their splendour to these linings of richly variegated marbles. In most cases the main surface is of light-coloured marble or alabaster, inlaid bands of darker tint or coloured mosaic being used to divide the surface into panels. The peculiar ItalianGothic of northern and central Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries, and at Venice some centuries earlier, relied greatly for its effects on this treatment of marble. St Mark's at Venice and the cathedral of Florence are magnificent examples of this work used externally. Both inside and out most of the richest examples of Moslem architecture owe much to this method of decoration; the mosques and palaces of India and Persia are in many cases completely lined with the most brilliant sorts of marble of contrasting tints. 3. Wall-Linings of Glazed Bricks or Tiles.-This is a very important class of decoration, and from its almost imperishable nature, its richness of colour, and its brilliance of surface is capable of producing a splendour of effect only rivalled by glass mosaics. In the less important form-that of bricks modelled or stamped in relief with figures and inscriptions, and then coated with a brilliant colour in siliceous enamel-it was largely used by the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians as well as by the later Sasanians of Persia. In the 11th and 12th centuries the Moslems of Persia brought this art to great perfection, and used it on a large scale, chiefly, though not invariably, for internal walls. The main surfaces were covered by thick earthenware tiles, overlaid with a white enamel. These were not rectangular, but of various shapes, mostly some form of a star, arranged so as to fit closely together. Delicate and minute patterns were then XIX I⭑ FIG. 2.-One of the Wall-tiles from the Mosque of Ibrahim has the design almost entirely executed in blue. It was about Another important class of wall-tiles are those manufactured by the Spanish Moors, called " azulejos," especially during the 4th century. These are in a very different style, being designed to suggest or imitate mosaic. They have intricate interlacing geometrical patterns marked out by lines in slight relief; brilliant enamel colours were then burned into the tile, the projecting lines forming boundaries for the pigments. A rich effect is produced by this combination of relief and colour. They are mainly used for dadoes about 4 ft. high, often surmounted by a band of tiles with painted inscriptions. The Alhambra and Generalife Palaces at Granada, begun in the 13th century, but mainly built and decorated by Yusuf I. and Mahommed V. (A.D. 1333-1391), and the Alcazar at Seville have the most beautiful examples of these " azulejos." The latter building chiefly owes its decorations to Pedro the Cruel (A.D. 1364), who employed Moorish workmen for its tile-coverings and other ornaments. Many other buildings in southern Spain are enriched in the same way, some as late as the 16th century. Almost peculiar to Spain are a variety of wall-tile the work of Italians in the 16th and 17th centuries. These are effective, though rather coarsely painted, and have a rich yellow as the predominant colour. The Casa de Pilatos and Isabel's Chapel in the Alcazar Palace, both at Seville, have the best specimens of these, dating about the year 1500. In other Western countries tiles have been used more for pavements than for wall-decoration. 4. Wall-Coverings of Hard Stucco, frequently enriched with Reliefs. The Greeks and Romans possessed the secret of making a hard kind of stucco, creamy in colour, and capable of receiving a polish like that of marble; it would stand exposure to the weather. Those of the early Greek temples which were built, not of marble, but of stone, such as the Doric temples at Aegina, Phigaleia, Paestum and Agrigentum, were all entirely coated inside and out with this material, an admirable surface for the further polychromatic decoration with which all Greek buildings seem to have been ornamented. Another highly artistic use of stucco among the Greeks and Romans, for the interiors of buildings, consisted in covering the walls and vaults with a smooth coat, on which while still wet the outlines of figures, figures of nymphs, cupids, animals and wreaths, all of which are models of grace and elegance, and remarkable for the dexterous way in which a few rapid touches of the modelling tool or thumb have produced a work of the highest artistic beauty (fig. 3). Roman specimens of this sort of decoration are common, fine examples have been found in the baths of Titus and numerous tombs near Rome, as well as in many of the houses of Pompeii. nd n FIG. 4-Stucco Wall-Relief, from the Alhambra. These are mostly executed with great skill and frequently with good taste, though in some cases, especially at Pompeii, elaborate architectural compositions with awkward attempts at effects of violent perspective, modelled in slight relief on flat wall-surfaces, produce an unpleasing effect. Other Pompeian examples, where the surface is divided into flat panels, each containing a figure or group, have great merit for their delicate richness, without offending against the canons of wall-decoration, one of the first conditions of which is that no attempt should be made to disguise the fact of its being a solid wall and a flat surface. P The Moslem architects of the middle ages made great use of stucco ornament both for external and internal walls. The stucco is modelled in high or low relief in great variety of geometrical patterns, alternating with bands of more flowing ornament or long Arabic inscriptions. Many of their buildings, such as the mosque of Tulún at Cairo (A.D. 879), owe nearly all their beauty to this fine stucco work, the purely architectural shell of the structure being often simple and devoid of ornament. These stucco reliefs were, as a rule, further decorated with delicate painting in gold and colours. The Moorish tower at Segovia in Spain is a good example of this class of ornament used and externally. With the exception of a few bands of brick and the hstone quoins at the angles, the whole exterior of the tower is ecovered with a network of stucco reliefs in simple geometrical 2om patterns. The Alhambra at Granada and the Alcazar at Seville have the richest examples of this work. The lower part of the walls is lined with marble or tiles to a height of about 4 ft. and above that in many cases the whole surface is encrusted with these reliefs, the varied surface of which, by producing endless gradations of shadow, takes away any possible harshness from the brilliance of the gold and colours (fig. 4). FIG. 3-Modelled Stucco Wall-Relief, from a Tomb in Magna Graecia. (About half full size.) Du gaiblind IT andd groups and other ornaments were sketched with a point; more stucco was then applied in lumps and rapidly modelled into delicate relief before it had time to set. Some tombs in Magna Graecia of the 4th century B.C. are decorated in this way with During the 16th century, and even earlier, stucco wall-reliefs were used with considerable skill and decorative effect in Italy, England and other Western countries. Perhaps the most graceful seats of this manufacture; and in the 17th century a large quantity was produced in France. Fig. 5 gives a good example of Italian stamped leather of the 16th century. In England, chiefly at Norwich, this manufacture was carried on in the 17th and 18th centuries. In durability and richness of effect stamped leather surpasses most other forms of movable walldecoration. examples are the reliefs with which Vasari in the 16th century | in tone: Italy and Spain (especially Cordova) were important encrusted pillars and other parts of the court in the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio, built of plain stone by Michelozzo in 1454. Some are of flowing vines and other plants winding spirally round the columns. The English examples of this work are effectively designed, though coarser in execution. The outside of a half-timbered house in the market-place at Newark-uponTrent has high reliefs in stucco of canopied figures, dating from the end of the 15th century. The counties of Essex and Suffolk are rich in examples of this work used externally; and many 16th-century houses in England have fine internal stucco decoration, especially Hardwicke Hall (Derbyshire), one of the rooms of which has the upper part of the wall enriched with life-sized stucco figures in high relief, forming a deep frieze all round. 5. Sgraffito. This is a variety of stucco work used chiefly in Italy from the 16th century downwards, and employed only for exteriors of buildings, especially the palaces of Tuscany and northern Italy. The wall is covered with a coat of stucco made black by an admixture of charcoal; over this a second thin coat of white stucco is laid. When it is all hard the design is produced by cutting and scratching away the white skin, so as to show the black under-coat. Thus the drawing appears in black on a white ground. This work is effective at a distance, as it requires a bold style of handling, in which the shadows are indicated by cross-hatched lines more or less near together. Flowing arabesques mixed with grotesque figures occur most frequently in sgraffito. In recent years the sgraffito method has been revived; and the result of Mr Moody's experiments may be seen on the east wall of the Royal College of Science in Exhibition Road, London. 6. Stamped Leather.-This was a magnificent and expensive form of wall-hanging, chiefly used during the 16th and 17th centuries. Skins, generally of goats or calves, were well tanned and cut into rectangular shapes. They were then covered with 7. Painted Cloth.-Another form of wall-hanging, used most largely during the 15th and 16th centuries, and in a less extensive way a good deal earlier, is canvas painted to imitate tapestry. English medieval inventories both of ecclesiastical and domestic goods frequently contain items such as these: "stayned cloths for hangings," "paynted cloths with stories and batailes," or paynted cloths of beyond sca work," or " of Flaunder's work." Many good artists working at Ghent and Bruges during the first half of the 15th century produced fine work of this class, as well as designs for real tapestry. Several of the great Italian artists devoted their skill in composition and invention to the painting of these wall-hangings. The most important existing example is the series of paintings of the triumph of Julius Caesar executed by Andrea Mantegna (1485-1492) for Ludovico Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, and now at Hampton Court. These are usually, but wrongly, called "cartoons," as if they were designs meant to be executed in tapestry; this is not the case, as the paintings themselves were used as wall-hangings. They are nine in number and each compartment, 9 ft. square, was separated from the next by a pilaster. They form a continuous procession, with lifesized figures, remarkable for their composition, drawing and delicate colouring-the latter unfortunately much disguised by "restoration." Like most of these painted wall-hangings, they are executed in tempera, and rather thinly painted, so that the pigment might not crack off through the cloth falling slightly into folds. Another remarkable series of painted cloth hangings are those at Reims Cathedral. In some cases dyes were used for this work. A MS. of the 15th century gives receipts for "painted cloth," showing that sometimes they were dyed in a manner similar to those Indian stuffs which were afterwards printed, and are now called chintzes. These receipts are for real dyes, not for pigments, and among them is the earliest known description of the process called "setting" the woad or indigo vat, as well as a receipt for removing or "discharging" the colour from a cloth already dyed. Another method employed was a sort of "encaustic" process; the cloth was rubbed all over with wax, and then painted in tempera; heat was then applied so that the colours sank into the melting wax, and were thus firmly fixed upon the cloth. 8. Printed Hangings and Wall-Papers.-The printing of various textiles with dye-colours and mordants is probably one of the most ancient arts. Pliny (H. N. xxxv.) describes a dyeing process employed by the ancient Egyptians, in which the pattern was probably formed by printing from blocks. Various methods have been used for this work-wood blocks in relief, engraved metal plates, stencil plates and even handpainting; frequently two or more of these methods have been employed for the same pattern. The use of printed stuffs is of great antiquity among the Hindus and Chinese, and was certainly practised in western Europe in the 13th century, and perhaps earlier. The Victoria and Albert Museum has 13th-century specimens of block-printed silk made in Sicily, of beautiful design. Towards the end of the 14th century a great deal of block-printed linen was made in Flanders, and largely imported into England. Wall-papers did not come into common use in Europe till the 18th century, though they appear to have been used much carlier by the Chinese. A few rare examples exist in England which may be as early as the 16th 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 wall-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 |