ening the internal life
of the soul, which without it might lie forever benumbed and
silent. Corresponding to the voice of nature, it, too, is
specifically marked, is individualized in every medium through
which it is produced. Developing in unceasing variety, yet ever
bound in the closest unity, language syllables air into thought,
love. As soon as man mingles his voice, his speech, with that of
inferior beings, the whole creation is enlarged, dilates and throbs
with new and glowing life. A closer tie unites the two worlds--the
world of phenomena and the world of ideas. Rising from the bosom of
organic nature, pressing up like a bud closely wrapped in its sheaf
of clustering and sheltering leaves, destined to indefinite
development, the human word is born; it is named: Oratory, Poetry,
Music! The art temple is now complete. Symbol of the universe, it
represents all that is contained therein under the glittering veil
of art.'

It is strange how, in the middle ages, the temple of art almost grew
into one with the temple of faith; to this fact may be traced the
elevated and devout character of the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of those dim
centuries. Thus the church became a sublime poem, where the glowing
imagination of a tender faith lavished all its glories. That the
Christian church then satisfied the heart with its mystic dogmas and
symbolic representations, is proved by the fact that the masses did not
care how obscure and squalid their own hovels might be, provided the
temple was great and magnificent. It was the temple of simple,
unreasoning, unquestioning faith, but decorated with the highest marvels
of art; it was always thrown open to the people, and in it they passed
nearly half their days. Man brought what he held to be his best to the
temple in which he came to worship God, and in it was concentrated all
the world knew of beauty. Its light but ornate steeples seemed to pierce
the very clouds; its columns rivalled the shafts of the forest; its
balustrades were exquisitely chiselled; its tapestry inwrought with the
finest needle work;--all gave evidence that the hand of love had
lingered tenderly over every line in the house dedicated by man to his
Maker. The pictured saints and angels seemed to smile upon the kneeling
people, while the majestic chants and requiems sounded to them like the
very voices of the angels, heard from within the 'jasper gat