60 EVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES 



under two of its main aspects, which Ariosto had perfected, 

 which Tasso had attempted to handle in a novel spirit, and 

 from which Marino wrung the very last drops of life-sap, was 

 now a thing of the irrecoverable past. It was no longer there, 

 although its manifestations survived in printed books. 



I shall be met with another and not less formidable 

 objection. Your theory, it will be said, does not account 

 for the obvious fact that there are always architects, always 

 sculptors, always painters, always poets, who produce excel- 

 lent work. In the present age, for example, Europe lacks 

 none of these artists, although you are unable to point out 

 any phenomenon corresponding to what you would call a 

 clearly marked type. This objection has indeed to be care- 

 fully weighed, and seems at first sight very difficult to answer. 

 I must first be permitted to repeat words which I have already 

 used while describing the sort of art-types to which I believe 

 the laws of evolutionary development are applicable. I called 

 them ' in a true sense national, which have occupied the 

 serious attention of whole peoples for considerable periods, 

 and which are not the sporadic products of culture or 

 of personal capacity.' Now I would ask whether, at the 

 present time, there is such a thing as national architecture 

 in Europe ? Have we anything corresponding to Greek or to 

 Gothic building beyond more or less meritorious imitations ? 

 It is clear that such architecture as we have is a product 

 of culture. I would ask the same questions with regard to 

 sculpture and to painting, expecting the same answer. With 

 rega,rd to poetry and literature in general, excluding science 

 from the latter species, I feel that the same questions could 

 be asked and the same answer given. Therefore I reply that 

 the arts in their present manifestation do not fulfil those 

 conditions which I laid down as necessary to types obeying 

 the laws of quasi-organic development. Music, it will be 

 noticed, I have carefully refrained from mentioning at all. 



In the next place, I submit that the arts of Europe, as 

 they now exist, help to illustrate and confirm my theory. 

 They are all of them hybrids, and what I pointed out with 

 regard to Grseco-Roman art is true of them. Ever since the 



