tive compend of the subject, may indeed be accepted as
the peroratory rain destined to give the soil its last preparation for
the rich growth to follow under a clear and sunny sky. What pen and
print can do to perfect the requisite conditions for a Periclean age of
pottery must by this time have been done. The case is summed up and
stated. The issue rests with the jury of millions who use and admire
burnt clay. Their wants, their sense of beauty and their purse will
render the verdict. We might more safely and properly say that they will
render a number of verdicts, all in their way and sphere just and true,
since in no one of the arts so much as in this of all times and all
nations is it so difficult to subject the infinitude of styles and
fancies to one rigid canon. That the Greek vase is an absolute exemplar
in grace and elegance of form every one hastens to concede. But who
would hesitate to give up a part of what the Greeks have bequeathed us
rather than lose the marvellous filigree in clay of "Henri Deux," the
rich realism of Palissy or the wild and delightful riot of line and
color and unequalled delicacy of manipulation presented to us by the
Japanese? One and the same eye, as highly and soundly educated as you
please, may be charmed almost equally by works of each of these schools
and of others not here named; and that almost without wishing to see the
peculiar merits of each combined and merged in one. A perfect eclectic
vase is not to be expected, if desired, any more than a fruit or a wine
which shall unite the best flavors of all orchards or all vintages. What
can be done is to strive in that direction, as the French cook seeks, by
"composing," to attain in one supreme _plat_ the _ne plus ultra_ of
sapidity. We shall not be able, any more than he, to reach that climax
or to dull the charm of variety. The fusing of the Greek brain and the
Oriental eye and finger in the alembic of Western Europe and the New
World will still continue to be attempted.

Trade, the great amalgamator, is promoting this end. Chinese porcelain
has long been sent to Japan for decoration, the resemblance between the
styles of the two countries, due primarily to race, being thus
increased. American biscuit is sent to England for the like purpose; and
we read with more surprise that the unfinished ware of Dresden seeks
ornamentation in the same country, whence it is returned to be placed
upon the market as true Meissen. A firm of New Yor