The Evolution of Architecture. 323 



as Comte and Hegel arrived at very similar conclusions 

 gives to their classification a special interest. This, pro- 

 ceeding from the lowest to the highest, was architecture, 

 sculpture, painting, music, poetry. But here the personal 

 equation accounts for much. No great architect or sculptor 

 would allow of such subordination to his favorite art. So 

 with the passive, non-creative artists of the world those 

 who enjoy what the creative artists make. For them the 

 highest art is that which they enjoy the most. 'Thus, if I 

 were going to^dassify the arts, I should say, beginning at 

 the top, poetry, architecture, sculpture, painting, music, but 

 I should know that my classification was purely subjective 

 after its highest term. That poetry is absolutely the high- 

 est of the arts I have not a particle of doubt, and not much 

 that music is the lowest. And for this reason the confu- 

 sion of poetry and music by such poets as Poe and Swin- 

 burne and Sidney Lanier seems to me a very lamentable re- 

 sult. 



That architecture is the only art of those ranked as Fine 

 Arts of the Primary Order that has any implication of util- 

 ity, is a circumstance which has frequently prevailed with 

 those who have assigned to it a lower place. And one of 

 these contends that architecture is pure art only in such 

 constructions as are useless or very nearly so, and these are 

 religious edifices and monuments. According to this dictum, 

 the Eoman Catholic church in which the priest does the 

 worship is a much better field for the pure art of architect- 

 ure than a Protestant church where " the word preached " is 

 an essential part of the worship. Cardinal Newman said : 

 "A church wanted for human use can not compete with a 

 sacred building not wanted by men and women ; for in the 

 latter case it is built for the honor and glory of God, which 

 is a much higher end of action than the convenience or serv- 

 ice of men." Such a church would furnish a basis for the 

 ideal purity of architectural art without any hindrance of 

 utility. It is a wiser thought that architecture finds nowhere 

 a more sacred law than in the fitness of its constructions for 

 the ends which they are meant to serve. That is the best 

 architecture in which we do not have to write under the sep- 

 arate buildings, " This is a church," " This is a bank," and 

 so on, because a dominant style has imposed itself upon the 

 city. The uniformity of Paris is considered classical, but we 

 have reason to believe that Rome and Athens loved variety, 

 especially of elevation. Nothing could be more different 



