Egyptian and Etrurian vases always give us a pure curve, from whatever point of sight we view them; and it has been statedspeaking generally-that every section of them will either give us a circle or an ellipse.

It is far better in ordinary articles-as indeed it is in all-to depend for giving pleasure on the fundamental form rather than on after ornamentation. No decoration will ever make a bad form beautiful, and a good one satisfies us with very little. It is like what we once heard a friend say regarding a lady's wearing rings: a hand that is beautiful does not require them, while they only draw attention to a clumsy one. The Sèvres manufactures are frequently unfortunate in their forms, and appear to have more attention paid to their colours and other decoration than to the beauty of their shapes. It will be generally found that a good shape naturally results from an attentive consideration of the use of the article in question, its mechanical requirements, whether for holding, standing, pouring, or the like, and from a thorough appreciation of the material of which it is made. If to these conditions be added the hand of a good workman, and the absence of all trick to attract notice, the result will generally be satisfactory to the cultivated eye.

We had intended treating of glass and one or two other branches of manufacture in the same manner as we have done that of pottery, but we have already filled our allotted space. On the subject of glass we could, however, say that it was not until recently that the English maker had a chance with his foreign competitor, owing to the duties imposed upon this material; since these have been removed, English glass-making has received a strong impulse, and the productions now manufactured in this country need not fear comparison with those of any other. The examples to be furnished by the Barnstaple Exhibition will fully bear out this assertion, for we have entries from some of the most celebrated English firms.

From this hasty sketch it will be seen that the scheme has been successful, so far as to call into action, on the part of the manufacturers and dealers, a desire to exhibit; and we can only hope, on the other hand, that the public will respond by a full attendance, and thus prove that there is a desire, both on the part of buyers and sellers, to promote an improved taste and a more cultivated judgment in all works both of art and manufacture.

In conclusion, we may add that many of the branches of industrial art exhibited will give practical exemplification of those two great principles of good art which ought never to be lost sight of, viz.

First, that ornament should be consistent with the construction required for real use, not the construction made to fit to a pattern chosen for the sake of ornament, just as a horse's shoe should be made to fit the foot, not the foot be fitted to a ready-made shoe.

The second principle is, that the natural qualities of the material should be considered in framing the design, whether for construction or ornament, the opposite error being very common, namely, to borrow patterns invented by the workers in stone, wood, or iron, and attempt to reproduce the pattern in some material for which it was not intended. Each material has its own natural qualities, and therefore its own style.

These principles, acted upon by all great artists and good workmen, were first popularly set forth in words by Pugin, in his lectures on the 'True Principles of Pointed Architecture,' published in 1841, a work in which furniture and ornament of all kinds are treated of. The principles are being carried into practice at the New Oxford Museum, of which an account is just published by Dr. Acland and Mr. Ruskin. Much information may also be gained from Wornum's Analysis of Ornament,' published in 1856; and Sir G. Wilkinson on 'Colour and Taste,' published in 1859.

The use of the History of Styles of Ornament.

"This is the view then with which we study the history of art to discriminate and individualize the styles of the various epochs; and by thus developing distinct character, multiply to an equal extent our means of viewing nature, and our powers, consequently, of representation. The real result of historical knowledge, therefore, is not the mere copying of what has been done before, but the acquisition of a power which not only supersedes all copying, but which alone will ensure the production of that variety of ornamental design, which, the simplest theory must make manifest, is the ostensible effort of every designer.

..

great national benefit to be derived from the judicious application of art to manufactures, and is worthy the emulation of their modern British competitors. The small island of Samos, by its potteries alone, carried on an important trade with all the great cities of the Greek and Roman empires, and thus was enabled to compete in splendour and luxury with the greatest states of the ancient world. Herodotus (iv. 152) speaks of the unparalleled fortune of a Samian merchant. It was the first Greek state that attained celebrity in tharts. Its temple of Juno, the famous Heræum, was, perhaps, the most celee brated art-repository of antiquity, and was itself a work of extraordinary grandeur. The same Greek historian (iii. 60) speaks of it as the largest temple he ever saw, though it was constructed entirely of marble. The workers in metal and the painters were equal in renown to the sculptors and architects of Samos. All this magnificence was but the fruit of its industrial ingenuity, its skilful ship-building, its enterprising commerce, its matchless potteries. The skill of its potters made the very soil they trod upon more precious than gold. This earthenware of Samos carried its commerce over every sea, to every port, until its merchants became princes; and this small island-state was conspicuous among the richest nations of the world. It was this distinction, this political pre-eminence, which excited the jealousy of its. more powerful neighbours; and with its freedom, its commerce and its prosperity declined together.

"The sun still shines on the fruitful valleys of Samos, and it still abounds in the valuable clay of which its ancient potteries were manufactured, but its population have declined into a mere scattered and rude peasantry; its potters have departed; the genial clay, without the skilful hand to fashion it, is of little avail.

"Such was Samos when it directed its energies to the arts; such is it now that all cultivation of Art has ceased. It was but the judicious application of art to industry that made this small Levantine island once the illustrious rival. of great empires." *

XI.-An Elementary Introduction to the Principles and History of Art. By T. D. ACLAND, Jun.

WHAT is the purpose of the "Arts Department" added to the Exhibition of Live Stock and Implements at Barnstaple? This question has been often asked during the last few months, and many different answers have been given.

These are some of the answers:

To please the farmers' wives, while the farmers are handling the Live Stock, or discussing the merits of the Implements.

To promote the general trade of the district by circulating a knowledge of useful inventions in domestic economy.

To diffuse a taste for elegance and novelty of design, in place of old-fashioned and clumsy patterns.

To make known the best productions of the West of England, whether natural objects, as metals, marbles, and slates; useful manufactures, as pottery and woollens; or ornamental, as silk, gloves, and lace.

To promote the sale of drawings and pictures by native artists;

* Analysis of Ornament,' by Ralph P. N. Wornum, p. 111.

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or to stimulate the love of pictures, by exhibiting works of the highest class.

Or, lastly, to give a fresh point of interest to the North Devon Meeting, for the benefit of the town of Barnstaple, and for the replenishment of the funds of the Society.

In each of these answers there is some truth, and, in all taken together, enough to show that the scheme proposed has awakened inquiry and interest.

The purpose of the following remarks is to explain, in a popular and connected form, the objects aimed at by the promoters of the Exhibition. It will be obvious to anyone in the slightest degree acquainted either with the literature or the practice of the Arts, that this paper is strictly introductory and elementary. It is written in the hope that there may possibly be some readers who will not think it disrespectful to restate very simple truths in homely language. For them alone, with the hope of adding to their fireside happiness, does the Author write on a subject on which it might otherwise seem presumptuous in him to offer an opinion. Such opinions as are here submitted have no claim to originality: some of them are derived from well-known books; but more from the correction of traditional or novel dogmas by practice, and by happy hours spent in the society of Artists. With this intention, it is proposed :

1. To show what is the meaning of Art: its general relation on the one hand to the useful labours of an Agricultural Society, and on the other to the higher social interests involved in the education of the people.

2. To take one particular department of the Exhibition-that of Fine Art, and explain the reasons for its introduction, and also for the limits assigned to it on the present occasion.

First then, what is Art?

Art is the skilful use of means to an end. Art begins in experience, and goes before Science. Art teaches us what to do, and how to do it. Science teaches us the reason why. For one person who learns the reason why work is done in a particular way, there are a dozen who are content with knowing how to do the work; and it is well that it is so: as the wise man said of old, "The object of life is not knowing, but doing."

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS.

It is difficult to draw a precise line between the several branches of the Arts; but they may be classified in a general way as follows:

Useful Art.
Decorative Art.

Imitative Art.

Creative Art.

The Useful Arts are those which minister directly or indirectly to the necessities or comforts of life, without reference to beauty. Such are the Arts which supply the materials of food and clothing, and the art of building as distinct from architecture, and the manufacture of machinery.

The Decorative Arts are those which give a pleasing shape or colour to useful objects, or to actual ornaments: such, for instance, are the ornamental functions of the cabinet-maker and the house-painter, the art of carving wood or stone, the ceramic art (pottery), and the textile art (weaving); but in fact, as objects of utility must have some shape, whether ugly or pleasing, the distinction rather applies to the manner of work than to the actual Art employed.

The Imitative Arts include all cases in which Art is employed to produce a likeness, as it is called: it may be the portrait of a living being, of a landscape, or of any other visible object; but a portrait or a landscape will be a poor thing, if it is a mere mindless copy of the original. And therefore the Imitative Art runs into the confines of the highest form of Art, viz. :

Creative Art, under which term may be included every effort of human skill to embody the conceptions of the imagination and fancy, in such a form as to produce the desired impression on the mind of another. This will embrace, for all their higher purposes, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and also Poetry and Music. The Drama is sometimes called an Imitative Art; but it may more fitly be considered as Poetry employing the Imitative and Decorative Arts.

The Imitative and the Creative Arts are usually classed together under the common term of Fine Art.

The true Artist has a divine gift and a mission to teach mankind; whether he paints a portrait or a landscape, whether he embodies the conceptions of his own imagination, or illustrates a fact of history, or a passage in a poem, -in either case he has a tale to tell. That tale is not mere imitation. To this subject we shall recur hereafter, in treating of the water-colour drawings at Barnstaple.

THE RELATION OF THE ARTS TO SOCIETY.

Art, then, in its lowest and earliest stage, has for its object the supply of the common wants of man-food, clothing, and lodging. Till these are satisfied there can be no rest of mind, no leisure, no thought for beauty. In the infancy of civilized states among the ancients the many were the slaves of the few, and were compelled to minister, not only to their pressing animal wants, but to their indolent habits, to their pleasures and luxuries; and even in the present day we see illustrations of