ORNAMENTAL VASES AND CHIMNEY TO^. 



kf^<i3£l^^^^ 



Fig. 13. 



ful forms, and as articles of rarity, and of 

 value. But it may be further asked, can 

 an article be beautiful, or confer ornament 

 on another object, when it is itself of no 

 use? Certainly it can. The noblest or- 

 naments are those which are vvfithout use, 

 in the common sense of the word ; though 

 m the sense of art and refinement, every- 

 thing is of use which adds to the strengh of 

 the emotion of the kind of beauty which it 

 is desired to produce. What would be the 

 splendor of the drawing-room, or the effect 

 of the picture gallery without gilding I or 



an assembly of highly dressed beauties 

 without those useless articles, — diamonds 

 and other precious stones? Nature has 

 planted in the mind of man, from the 

 rudest savage to the most refined philoso- 

 pher, a capacity for deriving pleasure from 

 beauty. It is necessary that this want should 

 be supplied ; and it will be found gratified, 

 to a certain extent, in every stage of the 

 progress of civilization ; partly by objects 

 which are useful in the ordinary sense of 

 the word, as dress, «&;c.; and partly by such 

 as have no other use than the power of 



