i8o TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



quence, read one or two passages in which 

 Ruskin tells of the spirit that animated them. 

 The passages are taken from the oft-quoted 

 chapter on "The Nature of Gothic" in The 

 Stones of Venice. After referring to the 

 theory we have already mentioned, '* the strange 

 and vain supposition, that the original concep- 

 tion of Gothic architecture had been derived 

 from vegetation, and from the symmetry of 

 avenues, and the interlacing of branches," and 

 saying that "it is a supposition which never 

 could have existed for a moment in the mind 

 of any person acquainted with early Gothic ; 

 but however idle as a theory, it is most valuable 

 as a testimony to the character of the perfected 

 style," he continues : "It is precisely because 

 the reverse of this theory is the fact, because 

 the Gothic did not arise out of, but developed 

 itself into, a resemblance to vegetation, that 

 this resemblance is so instructive as an indica- 

 tion of the temper of the builders. It was no 

 chance suggestion of the form of an arch from 

 the bending of a bough, but a gradual and 

 continual discovery of a beauty in natural 

 forms which could be more and more perfectly 

 transferred into those of stone, that influenced 



