appear to depart from
what to our senses is harmony. Those Oriental musics have either been
adapted to the Oriental ear, or the ear has been adapted to appreciate
the forms and laws of harmony with which it came in contact.

The same questions occur to us while examining into the different
forms of decorative art; and we are constantly reminded that the laws
which should govern them, are perhaps, infinitely larger and wider
than we with our limited human capacities and experience, have
hitherto been able to appreciate.

"Ars longa--vita brevis" has been so often said, that from a proverb
it has become a truism; but it must continue to be the refrain of
those who write upon art. The subject is so long, and its
ramifications are so intricate, that it is difficult to include them
all under one category.

My furthest aim here is to trace back the art of needlework to its
beginning, without turning my eyes to the right or the left, though I
cannot help feeling myself drawn aside almost irresistibly by casual
glimpses of architecture, sculpture, and painting, which here and
there touch very nearly the history of needlework.

Except where they visibly influence each other, I avoid dealing with
the greater arts, leaving them to the study of the learned in each
special branch.

All art, however, throws reflected lights, and gleaning in the track
of those authors who have preceded us, we often pick up valuable hints
which we accept, and make use of them gladly.

Some writers have thought it incumbent on them to give a local
habitation and an abiding place to needlework, and they have regarded
it as a branch of painting. But I cannot endorse this classification.
According to Semper, indeed, it is the mother-art of sculpture and
painting, instead of being the offspring of either or both, as others
have maintained.[4] They have, indeed, such distinct functions that
each may justly boast its own original sources. Painting is the art of
colour; sculpture is that of form; embroidery is the art of clothing
forms. They are all so ancient, that in seeking to ascertain their
beginnings and dates. It is difficult to fix the precedence of one
over another. We may compare, distinguish, and yet again change our
opinions as fresh facts come under our observation.

The art of needlework reached its climax long ago, and is now very
old. History and faded rags are the only witnesses to its fabulous
glories, in Classical, Oriental, and ea