SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DECORATIONS. 



425 



public buildings of Greece, while characterized, in their 

 outlines by the bilateral symmetry seen in the higher ani 

 mals, have their pediments and entablatures covered with 

 sculptured men and beasts. Egyptian temples and Assyr 

 ian palaces, while similarly symmetrical in their general 

 plan, are similarly ornamented on their walls and at their 

 doors. In Gothic, again, with its grove-like ranges of clus 

 tered columns, we find rich foliated ornaments abundantly 

 employed. And accompanying the totally irregular, inor 

 ganic outlines of old castles, we see neither vegetable nor 

 animal decorations. The bare, rock-like walls are sur 

 mounted by battlements, consisting of almost plain blocks, 

 which remind us of the projections on the edge of a rugged 

 cliff. 



But perhaps the most significant fact is the harmony 

 that may be observed between each type of architecture 

 and the scenes in Avhich it is indigenous. For what is the 

 explanation of this harmony, unless it be that the predomi 

 nant character of surrounding things has, in some way, de 

 termined the mode of building adopted ? 



That the harmony exists is clear. Equally in the cases 

 of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, town life preceded 

 the construction of the symmetrical buildings that have 

 come down to us. And town life is one in which, as al 

 ready observed, the majority of familiar objects arc sym 

 metrical. We instinctively feel the naturalness of this asso 

 ciation. Out amid the fields, a formal house, with a cen 

 tral door flanked by an equal number of windows to right 

 and left, strikes us as unrural looks as though transplanted 

 from, a street ; and we cannot look at one of those stuccoed 

 villas, with mock windows carefully arranged to balance 

 the real ones, without being reminded of the suburban res 

 idence of a retired tradesman. 



In styles indigenous in the country, we not only find the 

 general irregularity characteristic of surrounding things, 



