Where there is a balcony, and the drawing-room windows can be cleaned in safety, this should next be done; the footman generally assists in this work. The window, both outside and in, should be first dusted with a light dusting-brush, and the footman being outside, and the housemaid mounted on the steps within, each should clean the same pane at the same time, that it may be more easily cleaned, and not left in streaks, which is apt to be the case where only one side is cleaned at a time: a little Spanish whiting, mixed with very little water, should be rubbed over each pane and washed off with a woollen cloth or sponge (but sponge, unless after long use, is liable to have particles of sand in it, which may scratch the glass, and injure its appearance); each pane should be finished and rubbed bright with a clean dry linen cloth, and particular attention paid to cleaning well at the edges and corners, as dim corners will entirely spoil the look of the most newly-cleaned window; the sun should not strike on the window when it is being cleaned, nor should this work ever be attempted during frost, as the glass will then be much more apt to crack. The frequency with which windows should be thus thoroughly cleaned on both sides will depend much on the situation of the house; in the country three or four times during the year may be sufficient, while in London, in many situations, once a month may not suffice: the inside of each window should be rubbed at least once a week, when the room is regularly done out, but a cleanly housemaid will give many a rub between times; nothing improved the look of everything within the room so much as transparent windows. The windows being all cleaned, and the bannisters brushed outside, the balcony should be washed over with soap and water, and the work within the room again proceeded with.
The frames of the pictures and mirrors must next be attended to. The frames should be lightly dusted, for the flowers or other projecting parts, being generally made of plaster, are easily broken, and even when in carved wood the edges and corners may be chipped off and disfigured; a feather-brush should therefore be used for this purpose; the glass of both mirrors and pictures should be washed over with a woollen cloth and pure cold water, dried with a soft clean linen cloth, and polished with a silk handkerchief, which should be kept for the purpose; but if the glass be either dimmed by fly marks or smoke, it may be necessary to wash it over with spirits, then dust it over with powder-blue in a small muslin bag, rub it up with a soft linen cloth, and finally polish it with a silk handkerchief. If there are portraits in the room not glazed, which appear to require cleaning, they might be gently washed over with cold water without being injured, but on no account touched with soap; it is however safer merely to dust them, and even this should be with a feather-brush, and very lightly done; it is impossible to take too great care of such precious possessions; an injury given to a valuable portrait or painting no money can repair.