AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 7 



them. Bi-symmetrical arrangements will be found most appropriate in the decoration of upright 

 surfaces, such as wall papers or curtains, which will always be seen one way, while multi- 

 symmetrical star-like forms become more suitable for floorcloth and carpet patterns, because a 

 star-like pattern on the floor looks equally well from all parts of the room, while a design, having 

 only its halves alike, must, in such a position, to some of our visitors seem upside down, while 

 others will see it sideways, or at various angles with its central line, and only in one position will 

 it be viewed to proper advantage. 



We find our own views amply confirmed by the dicta of recognised authorities. Thus 

 Ruskin, in his remarks on symmetry, in the second volume of " Modern Painters," says — " I only 

 assert, respecting it, that it is necessary to the dignity of every form, and that by the removal of it, 

 we shall render the other elements of beauty comparatively ineffectual ; though, on the other 

 hand, it is to be observed that it is rather a mode of arrangement of qualities than a quality itself; 

 hence symmetry has little power over the mind, unless all the other constituents of beauty be 

 found together with it. A form may be symmetrical and ugly, as many Elizabethan ornaments, 

 yet not so ugly as it would have been if unsymmetrical, but better always by increasing degrees 

 of symmetry." While Wornum, in his " Analysis of Ornament," remarks — " It seems to be a 

 law of Nature that every individual thing shall be composed of similar parts in its outward 

 appearance, and, as the internal arrangement is often different, as in the animal creation, this 

 similarity of externals would appear an evidence of the design of beauty." It is curious to ob- 

 serve, in Nature, that not only are symmetrical units combined, as in the case of the Potentilla 

 anserina (fig. 24), or the Sambucus nigra (fig. 26), to form one symmetrical whole ; but that this 

 general symmetry of effect may also be produced, as in the Vinca major (fig. 18), by the aggrega^ 

 tion of parts in themselves unsymmetrical. Flowers having their disc (using the word in its 

 ornamental, not botanical sense,) in a horizontal plane, and, therefore, those that, like' the Daisy,^ 

 Dandelion, Celandine, and most others, we look directly down upon, are generally stellate or multi- 

 symmetrical in character ; while those which, like the Pansy (fig. 25), have their disc in a more 

 or less vertical plane, are ordinarily bi-symmetrical. Flowers that are multi-symmetrical in plan 

 are, however, generally bi-symmetrical in the side views, as shown in the Potato blossom (Solanum 

 tuberosum, fig. 21). The student, on consulting plate 18, may see the two principles — fig. 157 

 being a plan view of the plant selected, and fig. 161 an elevational view. Many other such 

 examples will be found scattered throughout our illustrations, and more especially at the close. 



Repetition, the aggregation of similar units, is very commonly met with in ornamental art, 

 and it is no less common in Nature, while a slight variation, produced by the continuous repeti- 

 tion of two dis-similar units, in alternation with each other, is also very freely to be met with. We 

 see it, for example, in most of the Greek, an themion patterns, and in the almost equally character- 

 istic so-called egg-and-tongue moulding of that people, where two very different forms are brought 

 side by side, each by contrast and juxtaposition assisting the effect of the other. We see very 

 good natural examples in the common Avens, the Geum urbanum of systematic botany (fig. 23), 

 where we have alternation both of form and colour, the rounded yellow petals contrasting well 

 with the acutely-pointed green segments of the calyx ; and, again, in fig. 26 (the Sambucus nigra, 

 or Elderflower) where the petaloid curves alternate with the more decided forms of the stamens : 

 the colours, in this instance, being clear yellow or creamy white. For ornamental examples, plate 

 34 may be consulted: in the upper band of fig. 283, alternation of forms is seen, and in the lower 

 part, repetition; while, in the leading forms of fig. 284, we see continuous repetition, the variation 

 being produced by alternation of colour alone. 



Repetition commends itself, apart from the pleasing art effect often produced, on the 

 ground of economy, both in the price paid in the first place by the manufacturer to the designer, 

 and, in the second place, in. the facility of reproduction afterwards ; we see.it, therefore, largely 

 employed in paper-hangings, muslins, designs of all kinds produced by the agency of machinery in 



any form. 



The Vinca major, or Periwinkle, is not uncommonly met with in our hedgerows, where its 

 long trailing stems, glossy leaves, and- large lilac flowers render it a rather conspicuous plant. It 

 flowers throughout the summer. Both the Latin, Vinca, and the English name. Periwinkle, are 

 derived from Vincio, to bind, in allusion to its growth, as the thin straggling stems trail all over 

 the other herbage of the bank, and mat it together by their pressure. By old writers it is termed 

 Pervinke; Chaucer, for instance, thus terms it. It is very doubtful, however, if the plant be 

 a true native. In ornamental art it appears to have been very sparingly employed, the only 

 instance we have met with is in a MS. of the i6th century, where, in accordance with the practice 

 of that period, it is represented naturally, having cast shadows, &c., on a golden ground. A plant 

 very similar to this, but smaller in all its parts, is known, botanipally, as V. minor, the smaller Peri- 

 winkle ; but it is not so ordinarily met with as the present species. 



