Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/9

 PREFACE, All the arts of life have had their origin in some simple natural want, supplied, in the first instance, by every man for liimself ; till, with the progress of civilisation, from these wants sprang those desires and wishes, which gave rise to that division of skill and labour in supplying them, which is one of the characteristics of civilised society. Hence the origin of all the different professions, most of which, in their first existence as such, were practised by distinct associations as mysteries, unknown to, or concealed from, general society. It is in the nature of all knowledge held as mystery, to remain in a great measure stationary, because the minds which are engaged in it are necessarily few ; and because the great object of such associations is, to keep their peculiar knowledge, and the exercise of their craft, among themselves. Hence the little progress which has been made in Domestic Architecture, the science and rules of which have been almost exclusively confined to Architects, from the earliest ages to the present time. On examining into the actual state of this art, it will be found that the improvements which have been made in it in modern times, are chiefly confined to those departments which are open to the understanding, and amertable to the judgment, of mankind generally ; we mean, such as relate to comfort and convenience in the arrangement, warming, lighting, heat- ing, &c., of rooms ; whereas the department of taste in building is little in advance of what it was two thousand years ago. To what can this be owing, but to the circtmstance, that the knowledge of Archi- tecture, as a fine art, is much less familiar to the public, than it is as an art of utility ; or, in other words, that the Architect is under the control of public opinion much more in matters of usefulness, than in matters of taste ? This is a state of things by no means peculiar to Architecture. The greater portion of mankind, in even the most civilised countries, has hitherto been kept in the dark with regard to what constitutes truth and excellence in all arts or professions, the prac- tice of which has been limited to certain associations or corporations of individuals. Hence the sciences of government, law, medicine, theology, education, &c., have been in all countries comparative mysteries, and have, consequently, like Architecture, remained nearly stationary for ages. The profound and exclusive attention, which is requisite to enable the professors of any art to become eminent in it, necessarily precludes them, while engaged in its pursuit, from acquiring a proportionate stoek of knowledge upon other subjects. Unless, therefore, this stock of knowledge has been previously laid in by a scientific education in early youth, professional men and artists are very apt to assign an undue importance to the facts and views connected with their professions ; and to regard as general tniths, those which are, in fact, only particular. Hence, universal principles and extended views are much more likely to be entertained by persons who have studied several arts and sciences, though perhaps none of them profoundly, than by those who have confined their attention to only one. Hence, also, we rarely find great reformations made in any art by its professors. Another cause which has retarded the progress of all arts and professions is, the prac- tice, common in most of them, of implicitly following precedents ; or of adhering rigidly to rules (made perhaps in a former age, and consequently adapted to a less advanced state of civilisation), instead of testing those precedents and rules by fundamental prin- ciples, and adapting the latter to the state of society for the time being. No art has had its progress more retarded by these means than Architecture ; whether by the old idea that the whole of its science was included in the knowledge of the five orders ; or by the modern one that Architecture, as an art of taste, is one of imitation, like those of sculp- ture and painting ; and that there is no manner of building worthy of the name of Architecture but the Grecian. According to our views of this subject, all arts, whether of design and taste, or of utility and convenience, like every thing else relative to man, are progressive, and change with the changing condition of society. In like manner, the knowledge of all arts, from being exclusive, is calculated, through the spread of education, ultimately to become universal ; and, the art of printing and the use of the steam-engine being discovered, the time will ultimately arrive, in every country, when all knowledge will be common to ali ISllGO