On GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 7 



imitation of objedls, to which fhe has given a determinate and 

 charadleriftic form. 



Thus, among the Greeks, in the period of their higheft re- 

 finement, we find the handles of vafes in the fliape of vin& 

 branches, or of ferpents twifled round each other. Some urns 

 of ancient Egyptian workmanfhip terminate in the head of 

 an owl. The heads of our fliips are decorated with figures 

 of men and of animals ; and the hatchets and canoes of 

 Nootka Sound are covered with rude images of various natural 

 objedts. 



The imitation, however, in fuch cafes, difiers from that in a 

 ilatue or in a pl6lure. In the one, the fole objedl is to reprefent 

 fome natural objedl ; whereas, in the other, the forms of nature 

 have been pai'tially adopted, and modified in various ways, in 

 order to fuit the ufeful deflination of the work. In this man- 

 ner, artifts of every age have been led to feletfl, among the 

 forms of a natural objedt, fuch as anfwered their purpofe, to the 

 exclufion of the reft ; and have exhibited modified imitations 

 of nature, which, being juftified by the circumftances of the 

 cafe, do not fuggeft the idea of mutilation. Thus we meet 

 with the foot of a table executed Uke that of a lion, or the 

 hilt of a fword Uke the head of an eagle, without afking what 

 has become of the body of the animal, and without being ftruck 

 with any impropriety in the omiflion. 



Frequently, where the materials employed aire themfelves 

 poflefled of variety and elegance, the objecfl: of ornament has 

 been fufficiently attained, by allowing the natural forms, in 

 whole or in part, to remain in the finiflied work. For inftance, 

 cups are made of fliells, of cocoa nuts, or of oftrich eggs, the 

 charadler and beauty of which depend upon the natural form of 

 the materials. And in the cafe of the bottles, ufed by the Roman 

 Catholic pilgrims, an example occurs of an utenfil, in which 



the 



