crude and unsoftened, and a form of magenta, have recently had a short
innings; and now the triumph of yellow is imminent. Of course, a love
for green implies some regard for yellow, and in our so-called aesthetic
renaissance the sunflower went before the green carnation--which is,
indeed, the badge of but a small schism of aesthetes, and not worn by
the great body of the more catholic lovers of beauty.

Yellow is becoming more and more dominant in decoration--in wall-papers,
and flowers cultivated with decorative intention, such as
chrysanthemums. And one can easily understand why: seeing that, after
white, yellow reflects more light than any other colour, and thus
ministers to the growing preference for light and joyous rooms. A few
yellow chrysanthemums will make a small room look twice its size, and
when the sun comes out upon a yellow wall-paper the whole room seems
suddenly to expand, to open like a flower. When it falls upon the pot of
yellow chrysanthemums, and sets them ablaze, it seems as though one had
an angel in the room. Bill-posters are beginning to discover the
attractive qualities of the colour. Who can ever forget meeting for the
first time upon a hoarding Mr. Dudley Hardy's wonderful Yellow Girl, the
pretty advance-guard of _To-Day_? But I suppose the honour of the
discovery of the colour for advertising purposes rests with Mr. Colman;
though its recent boom comes from the publishers, and particularly from
the Bodley Head. _The Yellow Book_ with any other colour would hardly
have sold as well--the first private edition of Mr. Arthur Benson's
poems, by the way, came caparisoned in yellow, and with the identical
name, _Le Cahier Jaune_; and no doubt it was largely its title that made
the success of _The Yellow Aster_. In literature, indeed, yellow has
long been the colour of romance. The word 'yellow-back' witnesses its
close association with fiction; and in France, as we know, it is the
all but universal custom to bind books in yellow paper. Mr. Heinemann