Turkish Baths

108 THE TURKISH BATH:
One portion of the tepidarium, and other bath rooms,
admits of being rendered very attractive ;
and that is
the flooring. Mosaic work is
always pleasing, if it be
designed with taste and executed artistically.
Marble
and tile mosaics are both good, the former admitting
of a richness of effect quite its own, and the latter of
brilliant colouring. In designing marble-mosaic floors,
however, one may well fight shy of including that
senseless, purposeless description which is nowadays so
often employed as a filling-in between borders. I refer
to the heterogeneous jumble of every colour mixed
without regard to one another, and giving at a distance
a dirty grey tone, and near at hand an effect like a
gravel walk covered with faded cherry-blossom to be
flattering. Despite the fact that this method of design
is of antique origin, and has a real classical designation,
I cannot but think that it is to be avoided, and that
fillings-in should be made with tesserae of one tint, or
that
mosaic should be abandoned altogether.
Given the means, it is easy to render a set of bath
rooms elaborate, with fai'ence and modelled glazed ware,
marbles and painted encaustic tiles, and many other
suitable but expensive materials ;
but for my own part
I prefer to see comparative simplicity in a sudatory
chamber, though by
this I do not mean monastic
severity of style.
The general air of the frigidarium requires some
consideration. It should have an effect of its own,
quite distinct from anything
something of the conservatory
else. It should have
in it. It should be
richly carpeted, have much woodwork about it, and