334 Machine for Drarving the Perfect Egg- Oval. 



of the right angle ; in consequence of which, the cord will lie 

 slackly around the other three. I put the point of a pencil 

 within the cord, and take it to the point from which the stud 

 or pin was removed, by which means I bring the cord to its 

 original tightness — I keep it so, and move the pencil round 

 the other three studs or pins, and this oval figure is the re- 

 sult. These other figures which I lay before you, and by 

 which I shall attempt to illustrate my process, are selected 

 from a series of forty-three, which I will give in the work to 

 which I have just alluded. 



Some of these give you the forms of the most beautiful of 

 the Greek and Etruscan vases, others the ovola and ogee 

 mouldings of the Greeks, which, as you will perceive by the 

 examples I shew upon the board, cannot but be correct, and 

 are produced with perfect ease and certainty. 



The fault of almost all ornamental designers of this, as 

 well as other countries of Europe, since the decline of art, 

 has been, that they generally suppose exuberance of ornament 

 to be the principal constituent of beauty. Of late, the most 

 hideous forms, covered with the efflorescence of ornament, 

 have been engraved and published, and commented on as ex- 

 amples of beauty by those who attempt to guide public taste ; 

 merely because they were elaborately decorated, and formed 

 part of the Exposition of such works at Paris. 



But it is now time we should become original in our orna- 

 mental works, for we have too long been humble imitators of 

 our continental neighbours ; and by thus following them, we 

 have as yet remained behind. To be original, however, we 

 must go to first principles, instead of precedents. 



The high eulogiums that have been bestowed upon the 

 beauty of the Grecian and Etruscan works of ornamental art, 

 are, no doubt, just ; and they have, consequently, been held 

 up as examples of imitation to our ornamental designers. 

 But how much more advantageous would it be to the orna- 

 mental arts of this country, were the principles developed to 

 which those works of the ancients owe their beauty, and 

 practical methods adopted for the application of those prin- 

 ciples ? 



