mediæval Republics, and Free Cities, wherein was developed the self. imposed rule of the people, as opposed to the arbitrary rule of irresponsible despots, and tyrannical nobles, became possible.

Whatever may have been the subsequent influence of the Church in limiting the horizon of human thought and in suppressing free investi gation, or however much to be deplored, no fair-minded student of history can fail to acknowledge the immense debt due, from the civilization of to-day, to the Ark that, for a thousand years, bore safe across the abyss the precious truths which have been the inspiration of humanity; for the civilization of the West, of Europe and of America, however much it may have departed from its ideal, is, nevertheless, a civilization based upon, and having its origin in, the common acceptance of the Christian faith by the nations.

After tracing the slow beginnings of the new order of civilization arising from the ruins of the Roman empire, and calling attention to the fact that a common adherence to the christian faith made possible a truer union between the diverse nations than had been known to former ages, despite differences of language, customs and origin, our author says:

*"This essential and characteristic feature of the modern world, this main distinction between ancient and modern civilization, finds its clearest and most brilliant expression in the art of architecture from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. The motives which inspired the great buildings of this period, the principles which underlay their forms, the general character of the forms themselves, were, in their essential nature, the same throughout Western Europe, from Italy to England. The differences in the works of different lands are but local and external varieties. This intrinsic similarity of spirit gives unity to the history of the art, and makes it practicable to treat even a fragment of it, such as that of church building, not merely as a study of separate edifices, but as a clear and brilliant illustration of the general conditions of society, and especially of its moral and intellectual dispositions.

"Among the arts, the one that has alike the closest and the widest relations to the life of a people to its wants, habits, and culture— and which gives the fullest and most exact expression to its moral dis

* Historical Studies of Church Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence, by Charles Eliot Norton. New York, Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square. 1880. pp. 331.

position, its imagination, and its intelligence, is that of architecture. Its history during the Dark Ages had been analogous to that of language. But as the condition of society slowly changed for the better the improvement found manifestation in architecture even earlier than in literature. The growing sense of perpetuity in the life of the community promoted the revival of permanent and monumental build

ing.

"It was especially in the building of churches that the impulse for expression in architecture displayed itself, for it was in the Church that the faith of the community took visible form. The two motives which have been most effective in the production of noble human worksreligion and local affection and pride-united to stimulate energies that had long been suppressed. Either alone or in combination, these two most powerful principles of action were alike existent in their highest force. The nature of medieval society cannot be understood, the meaning and character of a medieval cathedral will not be comprehended, the devotion and sacrifices of the builders of churches in city and village, in desert places and on mountain tops, unless the imagination represent the force and constancy of religious motives in a rude society, and the commanding position which the Church then occupied towards the world as the recognized representative of the Divine government, and the authoritative expounder of the Divine will. The lawlessness and rapine prevalent during the Dark Ages, the oppression of the weak, the misery of the poor, the uncertainty of life and possession among all classes, the contrast between the actual state of society and the conceptions of the kingdom of heaven, of which the church was the visible though imperfect type, brought all men to her doors.

"In the midst of darkness and confusion and dread, the ideal Churchand it is by ideal and fanciful conceptions that men of imperfectly trained intelligence are apt to be most powerfully and permanently affected-presented herself as a harbor of refuge from the storms of the world, as the image of the city of God, whose walls were a sure defence. While all else was unstable and changeful, she, with her unbroken tradition and her uninterrupted services, vindicated the principle of order and the moral continuity of the race.

"But, besides all this, the Church was the great popular institution of the Middle Ages, cheering and protecting the poor and friendless; the

teacher, the healer, the feeder of the "little people of God." The services of monastic and secular clergy alike, their offices of faith, charity, and labor in the field and the hovel, in the school and the hospital, as well as in the church, were for centuries the chief witnesses of the spirit of human brotherhood, and of the one essential doctrine of Christianity. In times when lord and serf were farthest apart, when the villain had no rights but those of the beasts which perish, the Church read the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and declared the equality of man in the presence of God. * It was not strange, then, that when, towards the close of the tenth century, in various parts of Europe, the sense of increasing civil order and security was distinctly felt, one of the first signs of this improvement was a general zeal for the building of churches- a work of piety to which all, poor and rich, weak and strong, alike could contribute, and in the merits of which all could have a share.

*

"Of these new churches, a great number were those of abbeys and monasteries. The inestimable services which, during the most troubled times, the religious orders had rendered to society, by maintaining the standard of self-discipline, of obedience, of humility and charity; by cherishing the faint and almost expiring coals of letters and learning and the arts; by the shelter and immunity which they afforded not only to their own brethren, but to the poor people settled on their lands; by their well-directed labor on the soil and in the mechanic arts, as well as by the powerful influence of their example as centres of orderly life-all these services had been rewarded by the increase of their possessions and their power. Exemptions and privileges, the donations and bequests of the pious and the penitent, had enriched the abbeys and monasteries in all parts of Europe, and had extended their domains till they included a vast portion of the land.

"The original churches of the monasteries, which had been for the most part humble, but sufficient for their early needs, were little befitting their increased size, dignity, and wealth. The time had come for the building of churches which should correspond to these new conditions, and the arts which had long found shelter and nurture in the cloister were to repay the debt many fold.

Many of the

new designs were on such a scale as to require for their execution the toil and the contributions of more than one generation of believers. The work was aided by imperial subsidies, by episcopal privileges and indulgences, by gifts from the episcopal revenues. The massive piles

rose with grandeur above the clustering roofs at their feet, and threw their broad shadows, like a protecting mantle, over city or hamlet.

Enduring monuments of the emotions and sentiments to which their builders sought to give expression, as well as of the intelligence and the art with which the zeal of the community was served." Noting the fact that elsewhere church building was largely in the hands of the upper clergy, our author remarks that in Italy church building was more a matter of the citizens.

"It was mainly the expression of the piety of the citizens of towns in which wealth was accumulating, and of the spirit of a community animated with a sense of independence and of strength, and becoming confident of perpetuity. The new cathedral in an Italian city was the witness of civic as well as of religious devotion, of pride and of patriotism consecrated by piety. It was also the sign of the favor of Heaven in the bestowal of the prosperity of which it gave evidence. *

"In Italy, where the tradition of building on a great scale had never completely perished, the power of original design and of skilful execution of arcitectural works displayed itself as soon as the new impulse of church building was strongly felt. The Italian builders-or, more strictly, the Tuscan builders-possessed a sense of diguity of propor tion and of elegance of decoration such as was nowhere else displayed. The ancient, inextinguishable genius of Etruria shone out once more with preeminent brightness. The Duomo of Fiesole, the exquisite Church of San Miniato al Monte near Florence, the Duomo at Pisa, are examples of the work of the Tuscan architects of the eleventh century. In other countries the designs did not lack in grandeur, but they were less noble in proportions, less refined in ornament, and less beautiful, if not less impressive, in effect. Everywhere the art showed itself capable of meeting the demand upon it for structures that should embody in permanent form the fervid spirit of the time. The education of the cloister had prepared artists competent for the work which was required, while others sprang from among the laity, trained by the discipline of familiar industries. The builder was at once artist and man of science, and one knows not which to admire mostthe imagination in the design, or the invention and intelligence in the accomplishment of the work.

*

"Never did the varied thoughts, the complex sentiments, the multiplied fancies and emotions of a sensitive, active, and passionate age, find such complete, such superb expression as within the hundred and

fifty years from 1150 to 1300; for the building of church or cathedral had now become not only the work of religious zeal or patriotic enthu siasm, but also of poetic inspiration. The sense of .beauty, which had been weak, through want of nurture, during the Dark Ages before the eleventh century, had gradually grown stronger and stronger, till at length the love of beauty had become a controlling motive of expres sion, and gave direction to the moral and intellectual energies called into play by religious or patriotic sentiment. Its moral import

was, indeed, his chief concern; and his work at its best illustrates, with peculiar simplicity and distinctness, the truth which has determined the character of all supreme artistic production-that in the highest forms of human expression morality and beauty are inseparable.

"The field for the exercise of the arts, thus inspired with creative impulse, was by no means limited to the Church. Architecture, sculpture, and painting were employed in secular no less than in religious buildings, in the castle of the noble and in the house of the burgher. "The spirit of art penetrated every department of life, and gave form to all the products of design. There is a solidarity in the arts; they do not flourish in isolated independence.

"But it was in the great church edifice that many arts were united, as in no other work, in a single joint and indivisible product of their highest energies. From the pavement rich with mosaic of tile or marble, or inlaid with the sepulchral slabs of those who in life had knelt upon it, up to the cross that gleamed on the airy summit of the central spire, each separate feature, instinct with the life of art, contributed to the organic unity of the consummate masterpiece of creative imagination. Religious enthusiasm, patriotic pride, the strongest sentiments of the community, the deepest feelings of each individual, found here their most poetic expression."

It must be remembered, also, that from the first, the direct result of this church patronage, was to deepen and broaden the influence of art, by making the works of art objects of love and of interest to all the people; for, under the sanction of the Church, the impressions thus made by the sacred, familiar, and loved objects of art, were, by the subtile influence of association, insensibly inwrought into every important event of their lives, and blent with their holiest emotions.

They saw always before their eyes, the sacred pictures of Virgin, or Saint, smiling benignantly, from above their altars, upon the kneeling