ROMAN PAVEMENTS. 257 



Their charm is that possessed by hand-made oriental rugs, 

 with varying borders and details, as contrasted with the lifeless 

 fabrics woven by modern looms. So much better is the free- 

 hand " snare- work" of Roman pavements than the engine- 

 turned scrolls of to-day. 



On the continent, in the middle ages, a like revolt may be 

 discerned against symmetrically exact architecture, and the 

 proof of it would be an interesting subject for this Club, on a 

 future occasion, to discuss. Time permits only a moment's 

 reference to the ancient wayside crosses of Cornwall, the round- 

 headed monoliths of the VIII. Century, as an illustration of this 

 theme. Of these monuments the head is never geometrically 

 circular, and it is not placed evenly or symmetrically on the shaft 

 which possesses a delicate entasis, narrowing that is from the 

 mid height, but more so above than below. This alone proves 

 careful and thoughtful workmanship. Its incised Latin cross is 

 usually curved, the upper and lateral limbs are unequal, and the 

 interspaces vary in size. Such a cross I have drawn from a 

 photograph, here shown, and have placed beside it one made by 

 rule and compass, that the emotional or artistic may be com- 

 pared with the geometrical or dead. 



Symbolism, Art, and Beauty. And now, to avoid too much 

 idiocracy, let me conclude in the words of a modem writer : 

 " That vague dreams of the deeper mind can be awakened by 

 the contemplation of symbols is true of all those who are sensi- 

 tive to the influences of the spirit. What one needs in Art is 

 not that things should be perfectly seen and accurately 

 presented. A picture of hard fidelity is often entirely displeasing, 

 but one craves for a certain sense of personality something 

 that seizes tyrannously upon the soul, and makes one desire more 

 of the intangible and indescribable essence. Blake announced 

 that a man's hope of immortality depended not upon virtuous 

 conduct, but upon spiritual perception. And it is hard to resist 

 the belief, when one is brought into the presence of perfect 

 beauty, in whatever form it may come, that the craving it arouses 

 is meant to receive a satisfaction more real than the act of mere 



