Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/15

Rh whilst infinite, because ever present, is the influence of those unregarded companions of daily life, labour and recreation, household cares and joys, bodily wants and comforts, objects for the affections, and exercise for the mind. In this department of Archaeology it can no longer be assumed that the obscurest periods are most worthy of investigation. Those, on the contrary, should be preferred which are richest in the materials intrinsically deserving of study; that is, in the visible development of the human intellect, the display of personal character, the creative activity of the arts, the variety of the social relations, and the analogies or contrasts which these may present to life amongst ourselves. In proportion to the light which they may throw upon such subjects of inquiry, will be the scientific value of those relics of the past which we may collect or preserve. In proportion to the use that is made of them by comparison, induction, generalization, by unfolding their history, interpreting their language, and applying their testimony to the illustration of past forms of human life, will be the credit which the archaeologist may claim for intelligence and progress.

Thirdly, the object of research may be limited to procuring materials from the remains of former times for the improvement of our own Arts and Manufactures. In those branches of ideal or ornamental design which are known distinctively as the "Fine Arts," the best models are to be found in the Past; not from any inherent superiority in the genius or taste of preceding ages, but simply because in that which is not in its nature progressive, but the independent offspring of individual intellects, the competition of all Time has naturally vanquished the efforts of a single generation. To discover, select, and preserve such models, and render them available for æsthetic teaching, is the honourable tribute of Archaeology to Art. In the purely Mechanical Arts, on the other hand, where success is the result of experiment, guided by knowledge which is ever accumulating, we have no longer to seek the best models amongst the works of our ancestors. Still, even here, advantage may result from an acquaintance with the earlier modes of practice adopted in such Arts: some methods will perhaps be found to have been disused from negligence rather than knowledge, whilst others will prove suggestive in their very imperfections; and all will be pregnant with that instruction which belongs to the history