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the eye with exact imitation; but the grotesque and chimerical are to be considered as forbidden to him. Nor will art really lose by the change; for in proportion as science familiarizes us with forms of nature, and leads to tracing them from their germs and secret causes, the spirit which animates them, which is what the artist has to look for, will be more clearly seen and truthfully delineated. The most shadowy outline of the human form is best given by one who knows intimately every particular of its inner structure.

Perhaps I am set down by my kind hearers as an idealist. My intention has been, indeed, to present an ideal; yet I would not disparage any endeavors, however inadequate, to put domestic taste in practice. The natural and commendable wish to improve one's home, which a sudden accession of wealth brings with it, where the refinement of education is wanting, must of course introduce many incongruities and shams into that enclosure sacred to harmony and truth; and these must be temporarily tolerated, for the sake of the motive of improvement which prompts to them, even though they should be chargeable with vulgarity. Yet the purity of domes tic taste in its principles must not be thereby impaired.

But, while in many houses there is an ill-regulated passion for change, bordering on vulgarity, others seem to have settled into a fossil condition, equally opposed to good taste. The furniture being purchased-perhaps many years ago, perhaps when the family-means were very small-the house-adornment is considered complete. There are all the beds, and tables, and sofas, and chairs, needed for use, but nothing is added. Moneyinvestments may be growing, possibly heaping up, but there are no beauties added to the daily household-life, no new resources of comfort or taste, for home enjoyment, or for the purposes of higher education. The children of such homes are apt either to shrink to their narrow limits, to grow up tame and insipid in the dull atmosphere around them, or in strong reaction, with a wild sense of longing for change, to make the earliest possible escape. What makes this stagnation the more reprehensible is that, in the midst of it, large sums are constantly spent on useless articles of show, or mere

fashion, which perish with the using-sometimes lavished on dress; when the same money might have been adding books, pictures, bronzes, porcelains, or other articles of beauty or curiosity, which minister to the highest tastes through the owner's life, and are held more and more precious by each succeeding generation.

Again, to obviate misunderstanding on a particular point, I would say that my insisting on accord between the home and the character and position of those whose home it is, does not require that all the inmates should be equally cultivated, or even on the same social grade. Not unfrequently, especially among us, the wife's artistic culture may be superior to her husband's, or the husband's refinement superior to his wife's, or the children growing up around them may, by a higher education, come to have cravings after order, and beauty, and richness, which neither parent ever felt. Of course, it is the wants of the several natures in the family which should constitute the rule of congruity in matters of domestic taste; so that, for example, a very illiterate man may properly have a library in his house, for the use of his children; and objects of art to educate their eyes and imaginations, although he himself fails to appreciate them. But, in all cases, culture ought to come first; home art must grow from within outward, into visible manifestation, not be superimposed. The simplest abode will, by following this principle, be rendered more attractive than a very costly one arranged in violation of it. Indeed, the grat ification of more cultivated friends who may visit one's home can not be secured on any other condition; for, though such may chance to find single objects to admire, something will be sure to offend, or to excite merriment, as contrary to good taste, where all the appointments of the home are not in keeping with the natures and characters domesticated in it.

A work entitled "Hints on Household Taste," by an author of a distinguished name, though not the late President of the Royal Academy, as I think many suppose, but his nephew, has been very widely circulated, and has had a great influence over house-furnishing for some years past, both in England and America, giving rise, even, to forms of manufacture named

from the author. I could, therefore, scarcely conclude this lecture without some notice of it, especially as it seems to call for both commendation and criticism.

In these days of sham, unquestioning subjection to fashion, and consequent sacrifice of principles of good taste, we can not too highly applaud Mr. Eastlake's frequent insisting upon truthfulness, constructive goodness, and adaptation to purpose and material, in all artistic design. Moreover, by showing how use and beauty are not only consistent but interdependent, he has done much towards a real beautifying of our homes. These words of his, for instance, are all-important: "In the sphere of what is called industrial art, use and beauty are, in theory at least, closely associated; for not only has the humblest article of manufacture, when honestly designed, a picturesque interest of its own, but no decorative feature can legitimately claim our admiration without revealing, by its very nature, the purpose of the object which it adorns."

On the other hand, his looking back to periods when, in some good degree at least, the artist and the artizan were one, for examples to be imitated, seems to have somewhat warped his judgment in favor of the precise models there found, although he does deny that he recommends "the readoption of any specific type of ancient furniture, which is unsuited, whether in detail or general design, to the habits of modern life." He takes his stand as an advocate and continuator of the "Gothic Revival," following in the steps of Pugin; and gives a decided preference, throughout his work, to what most nearly approaches the Gothic, both in architecture and in interior decoration and furnishing. This leads him astray. It necessarily involves a certain "rudeness of construction " and finishing, which Eastlake claims as a merit. It also causes incongruity between the house and its furniture, for, in these days, the house itself can have none of the frowning ruggedness of mediæval architecture; and this incongruity the author does not hesitate to sanction, thus giving up what seems to me to be an essential principle of domestic taste. No one need live in such a house that the furnishing of it, if in good taste, must be incongruous with the building itself.

As to intrinsic beauty, the old Greek and Roman forms of furniture, than which nothing has ever been conceived more beautiful, were gracefully curving, yet did not lack soliditythe curves giving, probably, greater strength, just as the shafts of the columns of the Parthenon, by gently swelling outwards, seem the better to sustain the superincumbent weight, or as the human form, without one straight line, is strong with the spring of a strung bow. Straight posts and stiff outlines should be left to the Middle Ages, when tools were rude, and ideas crude, and splendor in living was a half barbaric splendor. The much talked of Elizabethan furniture stood on floors covered with rushes, into the midst of which were thrown the bones and fragments from the table.

Another error into which Eastlake seems to have been led by taking the Gothic style of the Middle Ages for his ideal is this, that he prefers colors which are neutral, or sombre, to those of clear and pure tone-an error, as has been pointed out, not only in view of his climate and ours, but also in respect to the call there is for whatever can contribute to the cheerful aspect of a home.

But, though we freely criticize the deficiences and excesses of our domestic art, let us, after all, comfort and encourage ourselves, my friends. While we are constantly hearing of fresh discoveries of wonderful and beautiful art-treasures of antiquity, read in history and poetry of classic and mediæval art, and study, in Europe and the East, rare and precious relics that exist, whose beauty and grace we can not rival, we would not recall those times when art was for the few, and the great multitude lived in the misery and squalor of serfdom. Never since the world began was domestic art, in all nations, so generally enjoyed as in our time; and in no country in the world are tasteful, comfortable and happy homes so abundant as in our own.

ARTICLE V.-THE APOCRYPHAL PERIOD OF HEBREW HISTORY IN ITS RELATION TO CHRIST.*

THE period which we are to consider in this article, in its relations to the Messiah, is the period of about 450 years, between the return from captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah, and the advent of Christ.

During this time, the Jews who came back to Palestine or remained in exile, were under Persian rule for the first hundred years; then the Greek power prevailed for a hundred and fifty years; after this the Jews of Palestine became independent for a hundred years, under the Maccabees, and lastly were subject to the Romans for sixty years before the coming of the Saviour.+ The whole period may be termed the Apocryphal era, because the books that were written in it have not been admitted among the authoritative sacred scriptures of the Hebrews. The last book that has a place in the Old Testament canon, as all know, is the book of Malachi, written probably during the time that Nehemiah was governor at Jerusalem.‡

From this time onward, for more than four centuries, the inspired oracle is silent. God has spoken all that he chooses to speak to Israel, till the "Word" shall come in the flesh. Jehovah has revealed all that the chosen people need to know concerning the Messiah. Now begins a wonderful era of Providential preparation, supplementary to the preceding centuries of direct guidance. It is a period of silence like that

* Works consulted in the preparation of this article: Ewald, History of Israel, vol. v; Hengstenberg, Christology, vol. i, 209 p. et al.; Book of Henoch, (Laurence), Esp., xlviii, 3d Edn., Oxford; Commentary on Apocrypha, Arnald, vii, London, 1748; Westcott, Introduction to Study of Gospels, Chaps. I and II; Bagster, Reference Bible-Summary, Views, etc.; Smith's Dicty., Arts. Apoc., Enoch, Maccabees, etc.; Apocrypha, 14 Books, Old Bible. Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies.

The Persian rule was 445–334 B. C.; Greek rule, 334–169 B. C.; Independence, 169-65 B. C.; Roman rule, 65 to advent.

Until the date of "Daniel" is ascertained more clearly, we cannot class it among the books of the Apocryphal period. (See Ewald, v, 302.)

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