Creek Art; And The Application Of The Beautiful To The Useful.

durability is demanded , he will largely incorporate with the mass ornamentation bold iu character . In both cases he will pay more regard to the general outline than to the combination of ornaments ; and ivhen decoration may be lavish , he will take care that the ornaments shall all be so consonant to each other as not to offend the eye . There is one great error against AA'hich it is necessary to guard the British modeller of ornamental articlesand that isthe

, , too frequent introduction of decoration : elegance is more often united to simplicity than allied ivith abundance ; and symmetry and beauty of form must never be sacrificed to a profuse display of adornment . NOAV , the chief and most abiding lesson taught to the student of Greek art will be that extreme simplicity , elegance , and lightness should be the prevailing character of ornament , that even ivhen decoration is most elaborate the eye shall be

entirely engrossed with the exquisite outline of form , the fine proportion , and the remarkable lightness and elegance of the AA'hole effect , and that ornament , being of minor importance , should always be made subservient to the sentiment of form . Iii examining the designs of the furniture of the ancient Greeks , whether of bronze or Avood , of their bas-relief marbles , their pedestals and other ornaments , it ivill be found that they borrowed

their ornaments A'ery largely from the Egyptians : sphinxes , griffins , caryatides , atlantes , and sacred birds : but these , which in the hands of the Egyptians were grotesque , became beautiful in their refining hands . Their specimens are endless of candelabra , decorated ivith the bodies of these animals . But how exquisitely they arc introduced , afc times spreading gracefully out of detached leaves , and ever reposing with great ease , Avhile they

ate striking lor their compactness of limb , and their beautiful modelling . So also in their numerous examples of lamp stands , the tripod bases rest on the legs of these animals , A'ariously bent and of a marked anatomical development , occasionally joined to spreading arms of chaste foliage that issue from fluted columns or rccd-likc pillars . The effect of these is most agreeable ; but there is something pleasing and elegant in all their ivorks , from their

fictile lamps and vases to their domestic bronzes and silver ornaments of all sorts . As the lamp of Epictctus gave inspiration to the student , the light of Greek art aids the modeller to excellence and fame .

Ihe large aud beautiful Greek specimens of terra cotta aud marble Etruscan vases , which within the last quarter of a century have been dug from the classic sites of Lucrino , Cunia , Nola , Capua , and portions of the Papal States—superior for remarkable beauty of form and pictorial design to the earlier or Phoiniciau specimens—will be found valuable aids to stud y for their graceful outline and perfect form , and the minor decorations Avith AA'hich

they are enriched . Their crisp beauty of outline was obtained from the fine materials out of which they were ivrought . But this is not the only great feature of these exquisite productions . Another feature , equally great and equally admired , is their delicately traced outlines , which careful examination has ascertained owed their origin to an imitation of flowers and foliage . The riches of the meadows and the fields , the grove and the forest , ivhich brought to the ancient designers the materials for their art , bring them in this country in the spring and summer to the modeller of these modern times .

AVe may be here allowed to glance aside for a moment to state , ihat during the Great Exhibition the silver plate manufacturer of London , Mr . Higgins , contributed numerous articles for the table at dessert , such as forks and spoons , the designs of which appropriately consisted of stems , leaves , floivcrs , and vine branches , iasliionecl for the necessary purpose with the best possible taste . Ihe ornaments were suggested by the buttercup or the convolvulus , the

water lily or the anemone , or by any mere wild plant that is gathered in the fields , ancl they were copied ivith as much fidelity as the application to the form required ivould permit . This ivas an undoubted proof of the great taste and ingenuity of the designer , who showed thafc he had . taken advantage of the maxim often uiculcated ancl ever to be remembered as a great truth by the

modeller , that wc must look to nature for beauty , and the nearer J- ' approach to her creations , the more striking the success . Ihcre is so direct and intimate a relation between our natural perceptions of beauty in form ancl the graceful productions of the ycgetablc kingdom , that the Greeks , feeling IIOAV they awakened uistinctivol y pleasurable sensations in the mind , resorted to them Plentifull for artistic decorationBeneath their hands leaves and

y . 1 lou-crs , expanded into the elaborate combinations ofthe scroll and the . frieze , the scul ptured cornice , and even the chiselled vase . -Uicir inventive genius modified and combined in infinite convolutions the characteristic outlines of the vine , the laurel , and the V A ' , the radiating palm , the curvilinear stem and tendrils of the -oiiYolviilus , the symmetrical arrangement of the petals of the

lotus or water lil y , the spontaneous groivth of the honeysuckle , and the fantastic anel luxuriant folds of the acanthus or dock leaf . Wherever this reliance on the beauties of unfettered nature as the source of inspiration has been visible , a sensible improvement iu all the departments of design , more particularly with reference to the arts and manufactures , lias been observable throughout Europeiu Englandas well as in ItalyFranceaud Germany .

, , , , The best articles in fictile ware produced at Etruria , the establishment founded by the celebrated Josiah AVcdgewood , IIOAV occupied bj' his successors , Messrs . Wcdgewood and Brown—the ivorks that gain a Avorld-widc repute—are all designed strictly in the classic form and sty le of decorations , and from approaching as elosefy as possible to the best antiques , are considered of the choicest description , not only for the beauty of outline and

elaborate ornament by which they are distinguished , but for the exceeding simplicity of their general character . In our country , hoAvever , perhaps the / most lata ! aud obstructive of all impediments to a rapid advance in tho career of decorative design has proceeded from the feeling ot satictj' produced by a constant repetition of those antique forms , aud a desire in departing from the style of the ancient Greeks , that is , from a strict imitation of nature , to infuse into the details of artistical embellishment a greater freedom of conception and freshness of tone . But in first iutroduciii" - a new combination of artistic media , it is requisite to

use it Avith the utmost discrimination and judgment ; othjenvisc it may lead to much that is offensive . Our standard of taste is influenced by what we sec around us ; much that appears good is no longer so when wo have seen something better . The advantage of studying the antique should be strongly urged , for in so doing wc go at once to tlie fountain head , and follow that Avhich has stood the criticism of all countries and all ages , and has ever been

considered beautiful . The charm of novelty taxes the talent of the designer most severely : he must for the sake of change , and to please a public'frequently ' too exacting on this point , do that ivhich his judgment ancl matured experience would impel him to withhold . Inasmuch as novelty is worth nothing without beauty and correctness of form , it is necessary that the designer or modelleras well as the manufacturer who determines ivliat is and

, what is not to be produced , should be well skilled in those principles by Avhich such desirable cuds may be attained ; should habituate himself to consider the effect of every pattern in different materials and article ' s ; and above all , should be taug ht that his nrincip lcs ought to be founded only in the very highest art . Therefore the designer must-, in mental power , he raised to the level of the artist , aud must emulate him not only iu skill but in in the

range of information . HOAV much must he be aided development of his OAVII resources by adopting the results of the experience of a people so skilled in the art of embellishment as were the ancient Greeks—a nation of utilitarians , esteeming comfort

above display , preferring natural simplicity to artificial ornaments ; to AA'hom no prejudice acted as fetters ; AA'IIO possessed the keenest and most delicate appreciation of the beautiful , and all whose productions were the offshoot of a faultless judgment and an exquisite taste ; the creations of a fresh , free , and vigourous spontaneity of great natural talent , so great as to rise to the sublimity of unquestioned genius . — Universal Decorator .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

A FEMALE l- ' KEEIIASOX . Ox page 805 ( Oct ., 1 . 859 ) , is related the story of Miss St . Legcr as haiing been the only female Freemason . The following extract from A General Eislori / of the County of Norfolk ; 2 vols . 8 vo ., 1829 , p . 1001 , relates ' another instance of female curiosity : — "Died , in St . John's , Maddcrmurket , Norwich , July , 1802 , aged eighty-five , Mrs . Beaton , a native of AVales . She ivas commonly of her

called the Freemason , from the circumstance haying contrived to conceal herself one evening in the wainscoting of a Lodge room , Avhere she learned the secret the knoAvledge of ivhich thousands of her sex have iu vain attempted to arrive at . She ivas , in many respects , a A'ery singular character , of which one proof adduced is , that the secret of the Freemasons died witli her . —F . F .

SECRET SOCIETIES IX C 1 IIXA . There exist in China several societies ; one in particular is most remarkable from its great antiquity and the great resemblance it has to Freemasonry—no less in the principles advocated than in the symbols adopted . The society of " Thiar-ti-wc , " or the " Union of Earth and Heaven , " is founded on the grand principle of equality amongst men and the imperative duty ol relieving the distressed as far as ability ivill afford , None arc admitted without