ABSTRACT
Full of what he had heard, and impatient to obtain farther information respecting the state of his father’s affairs, lord Colambre hastened home; but his father was out, and his mother was engaged with Mr Soho, directing, or rather being directed, how her apartments should be fitted up for her gala. As lord Colambre entered the room, he saw his mother, miss Nugent, and Mr Soho, standing at a large table, which was covered with rolls of paper, patterns, and drawings of furniture: Mr Soho was speaking in a conceited, dictatorial tone, asserting that there was no ‘colour in nature for that room equal to the belly-o’-the-fawn;’ which belly-o’-the fawn he so pronounced, that lady Clonbrony understood it to be la I belle uniforme, and, under this mistake, repeated and assented to the assertion, till it was set to rights, with condescending superiority, by the upholsterer. This first architectural upholsterer of the age, as he styled himself, and was universally admitted to be by all the world of fashion, then, with full powers given to him, spoke en maitre. 28 The whole face of things must be changed. There must be new hangings, new draperies, new cornices, new candelabras, new every thing! – ‘The upholsterer’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Glances from ceiling to floor, from floor to ceiling; And, as imagination bodies forth The form of things unknown, the upholsterer’s pencil Turns them a to shape, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a Name.’ 29
