136 BARKER : 



humanly speaking, perfect in its place. In geometric orna- 

 ment, the Saracens, who would imitate no living form, made 

 what is recognized as the highest achievement. As nature in 

 her economy of means makes her beauty out of the most 

 necessary functional parts, as the leaves and flowers of plants, 

 the shells of molluscs and so forth, so the craftsmen of the 

 great Gothic period gave us beautiful structural forms which 

 blossom into ornament, and these are our standard of artistic 

 integrity. To study historic ornament is to study these high- 

 est works for their special lessons, but even more for the inspi- 

 ration of high success. For the child to draw some of the 

 simpler examples is justifiable merely as a part of history, 

 the history of the things men have made with scrupulous 

 care, and of all they have made, have thought best worth pre- 

 serving. As enriching the mind with a basis for evolution, 

 ivhat has beeyi done and how it was do7ie, far exceeds in 

 interest and value the placing of abstract units according 

 to abstract rules. Theories of design, of balance, rhythm, 

 harmony and so forth, are of very dubious value. These 

 qualities exist in the greatest art, but also in the poor- 

 est, and it still matters more what we balance and how, 

 what we repeat and how, and what we harmonize, and about 

 what principle. Hitherto works of art have always come 

 when, in the satisfaction of common needs, a people has 

 found a suitable medium and has satisfied the need so well 

 that the result became expressive in a pleasurable degree. 

 The perfect work of art therefore would include the perfect 

 performance of some function in the terms of a medium, lan- 

 guage or material absolutely appropriate and used with full 

 regard to its genius or character. Such a work would have 

 the emphasis, the style, the integrity which are the qualities 

 by which we recognize the work of art. It will be harmoni- 

 ous from within out, and balanced, because all its parts are 

 in due proportion, with neither scantiness nor excess, and 

 sometimes, but not always, it will be rhythmic, for functional 

 reasons, as in the arches of a bridge and in repeating orna- 



