be more apparent than real. A new
race of carvers sprang up, imbued with the principles of classical
design; but being no longer in touch with natural and popular interests,
nor stimulated by mutual cooperation with their brother craftsmen, the
mason builders, they adopted the fashionable mode of expression invented
by the new architects and the painters of the time. Elaborate
"arabesque" and other formal designs gave employment to the carvers, in
making an infinite repetition of fiddles, festoons, and ribbons, in the
execution of which they became so proficient, that their work is more
often admired for its exquisite finish than for any intrinsic interest
in the subject or design.

Judged by its effects upon the art of carving, without the aid of which
a national style of architecture is impossible, the revival of classical
architecture never had a real and enduring life in it. Strictly
speaking, no organic style ever grew out of its ambitious promises; the
nearest approach to such a thing is to be found in those uncouth
minglings of Gothic tradition with fragments of classical detail which
distinguish much of the domestic architecture during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Amusing in their quaint and often rich and
effective combinations, humanly interesting in proportion to the
predominance of the Gothic element, association has grown up around
these homely records of a mixed influence, until they have come to be
regarded with affection, if not with the highest admiration.

The "revival" brought nothing but harm to the carver himself--that is,
to the carver who found it impossible to reach the elevation of a
sculptor of genius. He sacrificed his own small but precious talent as a
creator of pleasant images for the attainment of a finesse in the
execution of other people's ideas. To the "Renaissance" must be
attributed that fatal separation of the craftsman's function into the
hands of designer and executant which has so completely paralyzed the
living spirit of individual invention. It has taken close upon four
centuries to open the eyes of our craftsmen to this inconsistency, and
"revive" the medieval truth that invention and execution are strictly
but one and the same thing. Let us hope that the present awakening to
the importance of this fact may yet lead to what will be truly worthy of
being called a "Renaissance"; not merely of outward forms, but of that
creative energy which alone justifies the true