360 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II. 



to produce what is good when, instead of encouragement, they 

 meet with apathy, or want of j udgment ; though we regret 

 that the correct and beautiful must be abandoned, and 

 lowered to suit some contracted notions. These are the drags 

 on taste, and the chief causes of its not becoming generally 

 diffused. And so long as the educated and the wealthy 

 choose bad designs in preference to the good it is vain to 

 hope for any durable results from the laudable efforts now 

 making to promote the instruction of artisans ; or to expect 

 that when instructed they will continue to produce excellent 

 works only to be slighted by those who ought to appreciate 

 them. It is neither sufficient that the artisan should be well 

 instructed, nor that some few members of the community 

 should patronise and encourage him ; and unless taste is 

 general throughout all classes who have the opportunity of 

 practising or promoting it, there is little chance of its taking 

 permanent root, and flourishing in the country. 



One of the most important points, therefore, is — that taste 

 be general among all classes ; these too are essential : — that 

 the beautiful be combined with the useful ; — that proportion, 

 good form, and (when required) harmonious colour, be com- 

 bined in objects of every-day use; — that rare and costly 

 materials be not preferred to excellence of design ; — that good 

 examples be imitated, rather than new designs invented 

 merely for the sake of novelty; — that no design be made 

 up of parts put together to form it, without reference to their 

 compatibility; — that one object be not employed for another 

 of a different character; — that authority be not an excuse 

 for a faulty design ; — that the spirit, not the direct imitation, 

 of natural objects be adopted for ornamentation; — and that 

 the education of the eye be preferred to a mechanical ad- 

 hesion to mere rules. 



