may remind us of the dell where the blue-bells grow; they may tell of the fading year; they may call up thoughts of joy and of spring, of evening and of shade, of duties to be performed, of pleasures to be enjoyed, of rights imposed, or of ten thousand welcome ideas or emotions of the soul; and all this they may do without violating the simplest canons of art.

We have this evening devoted ourselves to the consideration of decorative forms as a means of expressing knowledge and refined mental conceptions. I have already shown you that ornamental shapes have in times past revealed, and that they still do reveal, the knowledge of those by whom they were called into existence, and that they are capable of expressing poetic thought; but there is yet another point from which our subject may be viewed.

In the design of many art works we have first to construct and then to decorate the object. This has to be done when we create a tea-pot, a jug, a coal-box, a chair, a wine-glass, or anything that has a cubical form. In all such cases we have to consider the formation of the work, and then its beautification; but the consideration of structure must precede that of beauty. If an object which is intended to meet utilitarian ends is, when formed, beautiful, the structuralist says, so much the better; but if it is verily ugly he cares not, for he is a utilitarian only. The true ornamentist is, at the same time, a utilitarian and an artist; he constructs, but the laws of beauty govern all his creations. He will not give to any object a shape which is not at the same time both useful and beautiful; and the more skilful the ornamentist, the more useful and the more beautiful will his productions be.

All that is added to what is useful with the view of rendering the object beautiful is of decorative character, and every shape formed in accordance with the laws of beauty is an ornamental shape. I ask you to consider with me ornamental shapes-as the shapes of such tea-pots, jugs, coal-boxes, etc., as have been produced with the intention of being beautiful as well as useful, as capable of expressing the knowledge and refinement of their producers.

Let me describe to you a Turkish water-vessel, such as I procured in the Vienna Exhibition. Its body is somewhat eggshaped, and downwards it is continued as a tapering foot, rough with perforations; upwards it terminates with three small necks,

surmounted by a funnel-shaped member. From the upper part of the egg-shaped body a small spout protrudes in an upward direction, and opposite to the spout is a handle which is also small; in the funnel-shaped orifice there is a piece of clay which is perforated with small holes, and the whole vessel is porous.

If a water-vessel is properly constructed, we can discern from it much of the character of the people who made it, and of the country whence it came; but without going into this matter, let us consider the Turkish water-vessel which I have just described.

When water is to be collected this vessel is so placed in a pond or river, that it is immersed to a height anything less than the orifice of the spout. The rough and elongated foot is stuck in the mud at the bottom, and thus the vessel is prevented from falling and from altering its position. The porosity of the body permits the water to percolate through it, hence it is at the same time a water-vessel and a filter; the funnel-shaped neck allows water, that has been poured from the vessel and is not required for present use, to return to it; the clay grating prevents the ingress of insects; and the very quality which causes it to act as a filter when collecting water assists in keeping the water cool when the vessel is in the house, by encouraging evaporation.

To me it appears that we have here a vessel of the utmost utilitarian value, yet it is also beautiful. While beautiful and picturesque, it is so thoroughly and obviously adapted to the performance of a certain work, that from merely seeing it for a short time we could safely assert that water is bad in Turkey where such vessels are used, and that it is collected from ponds and rivers in the manner that I have described.

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Time will not permit my giving further illustrations, but the example just given is sufficient to show that knowledge and refinement may be expressed in an object of daily use. signer of this Turkish water-vessel was obviously a man of knowledge and of refined culture. The object is eminently useful; hence the creator of the work had very exact knowledge of the wants which his vessel was to meet, and he had also an amount of skill sufficient to enable him very perfectly to meet the various requirements, and he was so fully an artist that his utilitarian productions were of beautiful shape.

With the view of utilizing the lesson just learned, and of showing how we should proceed when we have a common object to

construct, let us design a coal-box. But in doing so we must divest our minds of what we usually see around us; for some of the coal-boxes with which we are familiar are formed of iron, some of zinc, some of wood. Some, while formed of iron, are yet so painted as to resemble wood in appearance. Some are ornamented with photographs, some with engravings, and some with bad ornament; but, with the exception of a few of the wooden coal-boxes, all are bad, while many violate every principle of both utility and beauty. A coal-box should be so formed that the shovel with which the coal is to be removed from it should find resistance at a point easily reached, and the coal should always be found at this point; the box should stand securely, and be capable of being carried with as much ease as possible. Also, the material of which it is formed should be suitable; and it should be used with economy, and in the most simple and befitting manner.

To me the coal-box here sketched meets the case. It is formed of wood, which is an appropriate material, as coals do not make a great noise when placed in or taken from a vessel formed of this substance; the shovel meets with resistance at the lower angle, and here the coals are always found, however few they be. The box stands securely and can be carried easily, and the wood is used in the most simple manner and with the utmost economy.

If we would but take every object that we employ in daily life, singly, and consider the wants that it is intended to meet, the material at our command for its formation, and the simplest, most natural and most economical method of using the material, we should soon arrive at an improved class of domestic utensils.

Having achieved the production of what is useful, let us seek also to realize beauty. A few chamfers, a little carving, or a small amount of painted ornament, is all that is necessary in order that

our coal-box become an object of beauty as well as of usefulness; indeed, a mere crest on the lid, or a pair of well-hammered hinges, will suffice for the ornamentation of such a work.

I must now dismiss this part of my subject with these brief considerations; but in doing so I ask you the buyers of common objects-to join me in considering the utility and beauty of whatever you purchase; and I earnestly beseech you, as ladies and gentlemen desirous of national advancement, to bestow your patronage on what is both useful and beautiful.

Do we not now see that the knowledge or ignorance, refinement or coarseness, of the creator of our object is revealed in his every work? If he draws an ornament, that drawing will reveal his character and his learning; if he designs a kettle, the extent of his knowledge of the requirements to be met, and of his ability to construct an object which shall meet the requirements, is manifested. We cannot in any way express a knowledge which we do not possess. Yet how is it with us generally? Structurally, nine-tenths of our chairs, tables and couches are wrong, for they are formed upon principles which are absurd when wood is the material of which they are made; the wood is cut across the grain, hence the maximum amount of weakness is obtained with the greatest expenditure of material. We hang our curtains upon a pole, or rod, which is necessary in order to their support, and then we hide the rod with absurd valances, which are alike without utility and beauty. We have one set of fire-irons for show and another for use, as though fire-irons were ornaments merely. Why not have knives and forks for use and knives and forks to look at? Why not have seats to sit in and seats for show? (But I fear that some do have these show seats.) Why not have books to read and books for ornament? Absurdities such as these must be done away with, and utility and beauty must be characteristic of every object.

Our decorations are no better than the forms of our vessels, for they also serve to reveal the ignorance and coarseness of their producers. A room is to be furnished, but first it must be decorated. The ceiling is made white, because white looks clean; the walls are painted so that they may be washed, or are papered as paper is easily renewable. If paper is decided upon, a pretty pattern is selected; and then a carpet is bought, and if the paper is green the carpet must be green, or, at least, contain a large amount of this cheerful color; and the same rule holds good for window hangings

and chair covers. The wood of the furniture must be walnut, if that wood is in fashion; and the fire-irons and fender must be pretty and bright, as if intended to reflect distorted images of the visitors. A nice white wool hearth-rug completes the room, and the occupant is happy.

This is the way the majority of our rooms are furnished, and yet the grossest ignorance of the most rudimentary principles of art is revealed by such a procedure. No room can ever be satisfactory from an art point of view if its ceiling is white. Harmony consists in the combination of pleasant contrasts; glitter is destructive to the sense of repose; and repose is an essential art quality. In this method of furnishing, the white ceiling destroys unity of effect; the sameness of color presented by walls, carpet, and hangings is offensively monotonous; the destruction of repose resulting from the glitter of the fender and the whiteness of the hearth-rug accords with the excitement of a beer-house, but is altogether opposed to refinement and good taste. And into such a method of furnishing, the thought, even, of the ornaments speaking to us of the knowledge of their producers, of their calling up pleasurable thoughts and welcome ideas, or of their giving a new charm to the landscape which we view from the window, never enters. Those who furnish thus ignorantly lose pleasures, and a source of continual refinement, greater than I can express. But you are not altogether to blame for this state of things, lamentable as it is; but rather the ornamentists of your country, whose ignorance is such that its revelation in their works makes all that they produce offensive rather than welcome. We have long ceased to look for, or expect to find, a revelation of knowledge and of beautiful thought in patterns; yet we all feel the beauty of the rainbow where colors are harmoniously combined, and we all revel in the glories of the western sky when radiant with sunny hues. Who now thinks of seeking an expression of poetic thought and of refinement and knowledge in the pattern of a carpet, or the paper of a wall? yet no pattern, however simple, should fail to reveal the knowledge and refinement of its producer.

But how can we expect the uneducated men who constitute the chief portion, and indeed almost the whole, of our designers of ornaments, to produce noble works? Uneducated as youths, untraveled as men, without the means of seeing great art works or of procuring good illustrated books, which are always expensive,