BRICK AND STONE. 277 



the arms lie flat and outstretched agahist the shU's, 

 and the legs are pressed close together in the 

 stiffest possible and most formal manner. The 

 rapid development of Greek art, on the other 

 hand, with its singular outburst of grace and free- 

 dom, must be largely connected with the pure 

 white Parian marble quarries of the Greek archi- 

 pelago, from which are carved both the columns 

 of the Parthenon and the exquisite forms of Hel- 

 lenic statuary. Assyrian scul[)ture and architec- 

 ture, founded mainly on ahibuster and plastic clay, 

 stand midway, accordingly, between these two ex- 

 tremes, leading on from the heavy and ungainly 

 Egyptian stiff)iess to the free and natural Athenian 

 grace. So we find in every country that the 

 material upon which the native artist or artisiui is 

 necessarily compelled to work in early ages has 

 done much to give color and tone to the whole 

 future course of national development in many 

 directions. 



Take, for another excellent example of the same 

 truth, the common industrial art of China and 

 Japan, as compared Avith that of Greece and Italy 

 Look at the mere influence on Chinese art of the 

 habit of tea-drinking! It has given the entire 

 fictile handicraft of the country a twist towards 

 the production of tea-pots and tea-cups; and it 

 has caused the whole process of tea-growing and 

 tea-drying to be represented over and over again 



