§ 6, 7. GOOD DESIGNS NOT APPBECIATED. 1 79 



some who might have arrived at a just appreciation of colour 

 have had their judgment warped by reading the plausible 

 theories of people totally ignorant of the subject, but not the 

 less positive in their opinions. Nothing, indeed, is more likely 

 to mislead than a theory propounded before the subject itself 

 is understood : it is like the attempt to write a grammar 

 before the language is known ;] for practice, as Dr. Whewell 

 observes, has generally gone before theory, and results have 

 been arrived at before the laws on which they depend have 

 been defined or understood. 



But together with the frequent contemplation of beautiful 

 objects those rules and corollaries which have been derived 

 from observation and study should be made an essential part 

 of the intsruction given to artisans and all engaged in various 

 branches of taste ; and it is hopeless to expect them to under- 

 stand or create perfect designs without the necessary training. 

 When we see how deficient the well-educated classes are with- 

 out appreciation of them, and judging from the selections 

 these make, as well as from the fact that ornamental works 

 when copied from good and approved models are rarely sold, 

 we can only come to the conclusion that, deficient as our 

 artisans may be in taste, the paucity of good designs is more 

 the fault of the purchasers than of the makers. I have 

 known careful copies of the Medici, and other Greek vases, 

 objected to because they were ornamented with figures — 

 floivers, it was said, would have been preferable ; and, at the 

 sacrifice of time, labour, and taste, the maker was obliged to 

 substitute those paltry ornaments to suit the prejudices of the 

 purchasers, who had not even the same excuse for that prefer- 

 ence as the iconoclastic Moslems. 



7. [If those who have some kind of perception of the 

 beautiful are misled, how hopeless it must be for the great 

 majority, who are destitute of this advantage, to arrive at any 

 knowledge of it without proper direction. Indeed, cultivated 



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