Art as Education. 89 



Lord Bacoa speaks thus of the inflaence of poetry: '• Poetry 

 serveth and conferreth to magnanimity, and therefore it was ever 

 thought to have some participation of divineness, because it doth 

 raise and erect the mind, by submitting the shov\rs of things, to 

 the desires of the mind. Milton speaks of, " our sage and serious 

 poet Spencer, whom, he adds, ' I dare be known to think a better 

 teacher than Scotus and Aquinas.' " 



Nothing has yet been said of the extent of the influence ; its na- 

 ture only has been noticed ; but where does it not extend, it is 

 every where ; we cannot excuse art's influence. It is in our books, 

 our periodical literature, the ornamentation of clothing and furni- 

 ture, the decoration and refinements of our homes, in music, all 

 rural adornments, in the beautiful commingling of exquisite baild- 

 ings and gardens, with natural scenery in the suburbs of cities. 

 It is in all architecture, from the most primitive, through the sim- 

 ple but sublime forms of Egyptian art, the chaste and classic ele- 

 gance of Grecian, to the wonderful variety and exquisite beauty 

 of the finest Gothic cathedrals. 



Even the art of past ages, which has been long buried, is being 

 constantly exhumed for us; and as the Palimpsest, or old parch- 

 ment, from which the original treatise has been obliterated to give 

 place to the chronicles of after times, and to which, art can restore 

 the original writing, so almost all the habitable earth has in it, 

 concealed by the deposition of ages, the life and art of a by-gone 

 world. And these are being constantly revealed to us by exhu- 

 mation, in Rome, in Greece, in Pompeii, in Egypt, in Assyria, etc., 

 and most recently on the site of ancient Troy, by the wonderful 

 " finds " of Dr. Schlieman. 



All this mfluence is education. The perception of truth in the 

 simplest forms of art always gives enjoyment, and the realization 

 of the various truths of beanty, grace, and power, which combine 

 in any perfect work, carries the mind beyond delight, to gratitude, 

 admiration, and even adoration. And the "human soul is in the 

 most exalted position, when it reverences ; when it adores." This 

 is the education art accomplishes for us ; what do we for art ? 



How long has it, or any branch of it been considered an essen- 

 tial part of an educational course ? Thirty years ago, the most 



