manner possible. Let everything have its due con sideration, and neither be exaggerated nor slurred over, and let affectation of every kind be avoided. "Still follow SENSE, of every art the soul, 1 SECTION XXXI. OF ORNAMENT AND ORNAMENTS. UNDER this head I propose to consider those decorative objects and features which an intelligent designer makes use of, not for the sake of their intrinsic beauty, but in order thereby to obtain certain definite and desirable results in his work. It is one of the most vulgar of errors to imagine that a great deal of ornament will make a building beautiful. Richness or plainness is really a question of funds, rather than of art, except, indeed, that the more ornament is used the more difficult it is to manage, and consequently the greater chance of failure there is in inexperienced hands. A real architect will produce a pleasing result with very simple means. And, on the other hand, Mr Flick may cover his building with trimmings, yet will all but serve to make its meanness the more despicable. In these days of cheap church building, this error is particularly unfortunate; on all sides we may see its effects in the shape of wretched, starved, pinched-up churches, wherein the solid advantages of convenient plan and substantial construction have been sacrificed, in order to pay for a lot of trumpery "ornament," incapable of giving real pleasure to any one. Ornament, to be worthy of the name, must be the I result not of caprice or chance, but of intelligent study; and from not being so, the majority of the so-called decoration of modern buildings is simply disfigurement. Ornament is the seasoning of a design. The design may exist, and be good without it, but it should be better with it. But the blind, unthinking addition of it, is as little likely to produce a pleasing result as the haphazard admixture of condiments in the mysteries of the kitchen. By the skilful management of unadorned constructive forms, a building of great dignity and grandeur may be produced, but there is something of harshness and want of refinement about it, which forbids us to rank it as a perfect work. In the use of ornamental detail, we have a means of correcting this fault, and at the same time of introducing numberless incidental beauties, which add much to the interest and perfection of the design. The right use of this means is a matter of the greatest importance, notwithstanding what has been said about the error of those who look upon detail as the essence of architecture. It is, indeed, hopeless to expect a design to be satisfactory which is only a compilation of separately studied parts. The whole must always be kept in view, but it is not therefore the less true, that every single part, no matter how insignificant, must be suitable and good in itself. True excellence lies in the union of dignity with grace, to obtain which it is, above all things, necessary that the 1 It has been reserved for modern architects of the "Go" school to use ornament as a means of producing harshness. ornament should be properly subordinated to the general design. This is the chief and commonest use of ornament, and it may be used even in the simplest buildings. But there are others the maintenance of due "scale," the accentuation of particular features or qualities, the leading of the spectator's attention to or away from particular points, the veiling of accidental faults and many such like, to examine which separately would make this paper more technical than is desirable, but it is necessary that they should be understood by all who would design intelligently. Every true ornament has a distinct æsthetic function, and is an essential co-efficient in the design of which it is a part. I do not mean that an artist must formulate his reasons for everything which he does-as a matter of fact, he for the most part works instinctively -but the reasons exist nevertheless, and may be found if sought for; and in some cases—as, for instance, where radical defects of proportion have to be corrected by decoration-it is almost necessary to take them into account. The forms of ornament are almost infinite, and as with its uses the detailed discussion of them would be too technical to interest the general reader; but a short examination of a few of those which most affect our church architecture, and concerning which building committees and others who must be listened to, not seldom to the great embarrassment of their architects, express very decided, and often very irreconcilable S opinions, will, I think, be not without profit. To these, and to a few which are naturally connected with the supposed infallibility of mediaval precedent, I shall endeavour to confine myself. For in this section I address the public only. All architects who think about their work, that is to say, all real architects, already know all that I can tell them; and as for the rest, in spite of what I or any one else may say, they will still go on cumbering the earth with their abominations, all the while most sublimely unconscious, that their cockney "Gothic," and their Manchester "Gothic," is ten thousand times further removed from the real spirit of the old style they pretend to follow, than the most "classic" of "classic" work done by men, who know what they are about. I An ornament is not necessarily beautiful in itself. A triglyph for instance, or the fluting of a pillar, a nailhead or a cusp, are, looked at separately, none of them particularly pleasing, yet used with judgment they may be of great value in a design, as indeed sometimes may utilitarian objects not generally considered as ornamental, even a down spout or a gas pipe. And on the other hand, works valuable for their own art qualities, as painting or sculpture, may be used for a decorative purpose with respect of the building in which they are placed. It is of course desirable not to use ornaments which are 1 There may, I think, be observed two distinct schools in the sham Gothic of the day; the Manchester school, which is feeble, wiry, wretched, and mean, and the London school, which is loud, coarse, vulgar, and "go"-ose. Sham classic has for thirty years ceased to be used in church work, so we need not inquire into it. |