378 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



primitive state of man, the more picturesque his language 

 becomes, and the more entirely all spiritual truths are repre- 

 sented by material signs. It seems as if, when first the 

 necessity arose for expressing metaphysical and abstract ideas, 

 and bringing them into form, men were compelled to make 

 choice of words whose literal signification presented a greater or 

 less analogy with these new ideas, and as if it had always been 

 natural for men to feel that a correspondence between visible 

 things and human thoughts does exist. So that symbolism 

 would seem to be a natural impulse of the human mind, and has 

 been ever used by man in his unfettered state, as in his hours of 

 deepest thought and faith. It is found not only in the language 

 and art of all primitive ages, but lives still in our poetry, Scrip- 

 tures, and the most sacred forms of our religion ; and, so far as 

 symbolism is the setting forth of a material sign, it will still be 

 found in all the highest efforts of art. Painting, in its noblest 

 form, is no mimetic art, but the effort to express in the visible 

 and material forms of creation the internal beauty that gleams 

 through all ; while the effort to perceive, assimilate, and inter- 

 pret the poetry of life that lies hidden in and emanates from all 

 visible nature, may still be found the sacred office of the poet 

 and the artist.'' 



A recent writer, after tracing the origin and connection 

 between hieroglyphic or pictorial alphabets, and all writing by 

 letters or phonetic signs, states : — " It will be seen that the 

 progress from hieroglyphic to phonetic writing is one of con- 

 ventionality. The earliest sign was like its object as a picture, 

 the perfected letter is like nothing on earth ; the one appealed to 

 the senses with the intellect, the other calls upon the intellect 

 alone. Such is the progress towards letters or literature, or the 

 exchange of thought in written language. There may be an 

 analogous advance of the rude original picture, which may 

 become less and less conventional, and more and more like 

 what it stands for in the mind, until strong resemblance is 

 attained, and realistic art is established. But letters and 

 realistic art arise together in the infancy of human expression. 



