The Grammar of Ornament #270865

In the following chapters I have endeavoured to establish these main facts, First. That whenever any style of ornament commands universal admira tion, it will always be found to be in accordance with the laws which regulate the distribution of form in nature. Secondly. That however varied the manifestations in accordance with these laws, the leading ideas on which they are based are very few. Thirdly. That the modifications and developments which have taken place from one style to another have been caused by a sudden throwing off of some fixed trammel, which set thought free for a time, till the new idea, like the old, became again fixed, to give birth in its turn to fresh inventions. Lastly. I have endeavoured to show, in the twentieth chapter, that the future progress of Ornamental Art may be best secured by engrafting on the experience of the past the knowledge we may obtain by a return to Nature for fresh inspiration. To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a style, independently of the past, would be an act of supreme folly. It would be at once to reject the experiences and accumulated knowledge of thousands of years. On the contrary, we should regard as our inheritance all the successful labours of the past, not blindly following them, but' employing them simply as guides to find the true path.