RURAL CHURCHES. 657 
No man ever invented a new style of architecture, for the 
present is merely the result of the past. 
\Vhat generic resemblance can the superficial observer 
see between the pessimistic gloom of an Egyptian temple, 
and the optimistic audacity of a medieval cathedral? Yet 
that elegant cluster of Gothic shafts, with the finished 
beauty of its sculptured capitals, and the symmetrical 
sweeps of its cut base, is the lineal descendant of those 
bundles of Nile reeds, tied together at top and bottom for 
additional strength, which supported the primitive 
dwellings on the Nile banks, long before the stone archi- 
tecture of Ancient Egypt was reduced to a science. 
Why, it may be asked, has the development of archi- 
tecture been so slow, whilst other arts and sciences have 
leaped forward as if by magic during these recent years of 
rapid progress? The reason surely is not far. Not only 
during the Middle Ages, but up to within very recent years 
the study of many sciences was looked upon as dangerous. 
Students were hampered, persecuted, and otherwise dis- 
couraged from pursuing the study of these forbidden sub- 
jects, because those in authority imagined that any weak- 
ening of the belief in accepted tradition, was equivalent 
to the severing of every bond which held society together. 
The forbidden sciences thus unnaturally retarded in 
their progress were behind the spirit of the age, and their 
abnormal advance within recent years is but the result of 
suppressed development ; not a true index to the permanent 
rapidity of their growth. 
The practice of architecture on the other hand was never 
looked upon with suspicion. Among its professors are to 
be numbered some of the keenest intellects and most cul- 
tured thinkers of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern times, 
Yet the men who left the most indelible marks of success 
on the sands of history are those who have most loyally 
striven to follow the traditions of their art, and who have 
shown themselves best fitted to utilise the accumulated 
knowledge and experience transmitted to them from past 
ages, amending their designs as fresh information was 
obtained, new wants felt, and the conditions of life 
changed. : 
This was a true upward evolution, gradual yet certain. 
It is self evident that a science which has been consistently 
studied for the last 6000 years, will not be so sensitive to 
the thoughts of a new mind, to the touch of fresh fingers, 
as one whose very name cannot be found in a dictionary 
60 years old. 
s2. 
