Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1865-07-20
TIE LOST ARTS.


muminics have been rcsurrected from the Py-
ramids of Egypt and found covered with fine
lincna--because the tombs wherein they have
lain for centuries are covered with caricatures
of beasts. birds and fishes--becausc uncouth
and ungainly ornaments of gold are found de-
posted in such tombs--divers persons wander
off into extravagaut prsises of the lost arts,
of the subtle and ingenious artisans who lived
thousands of years ago. ignoring the wonders
of to-day and the skill of their own country
men.
If the mummics be an evidence of the taste
of the ancicnts, the less said the better Ugly
in their lives, cmbalncd they are not mprov
ed, and the ,carubcus or beetle with which
persons of high rank were ornamented is sut-
ges!ire of another more unpleasant insect
quite familiar to housckcepers. Even the pyra-
mids from Whence these musty relics of the
past nre exhumed, nigh, have been built in
half the time by modern artiiccrs, with brown
stone Fronts, If desirable and slated with al
ternate rows of purple and green tiles. What
waste of Egyptian time and money they
represent
So also with that Sphinx which glowcrs at
Ethiopia from its scat in the sand, as if suffer-
my iiOul INC ECCDilcCbluu VI bOuIc OVcTpOWcT-
ing -wroug If it be lost art to construct
such hideous monstrositics as these let us
congratulate ourselves that the world has
grown wiser and better with tue lapse Of cen
turies.
Herculancum and Pcmpcii. uncarthed from
the ashes of Nesuvius, show little or no trace
Of the arts which have been lost A few
bronze lamps of uncouth shapes, some pottery
remarkable for its curious decoration, some
tiles and frescoes Of unquestionable character
and tcndchcy-thesc are some relics of the
state of tl.c arts among that people ut the time
they were overwhelmed.
In Morocco and in Spain, ruin, tumbling
into decay. courts wherein fountains tinkled
through the night atmosphere heavy with the
scents of Grunge groves, tcs.elated pavements
and columns frcttcd with intricate designs,
are the only evidence to build on that the
arts ever existed Arts, not in the sense of
gingerbread fncry and gliding, but arts by
which whole yillagcs earned bread for their
families in the sweat Of their faces. .
In Egyl at this day--lanl Of the Jyramids,
of the ruined cities, of the crypts wherein
mu'ty princes molder into powder-the
wreichcd native cracks his wheat III stone
mortar, or, worse, in a rag bruised between
two stones. In Italy and in Imperial Rome
-famous. in centuries ng since transpired,
for all that wealth could procure-the beg
gars chatter UNFORTUNATELY ut every step, and
the fields are as barren and infertil as they
were hundreds Of years ago.
Though the existence of oil lakes was known
to the anclcuts, no use was made of them.
Fish oil gave forth its feeble glimmer in their
lamps for years, and the solar radiance of
kerosene was strange to domestic circles Iu
like manner the want Of knowledge Of natural
products of the infinite combinations they
are capable Of. Of the use they may be put to,
were almost unknown to the ancients-utterly |
so, compared to the knowledge of the present
day. ...
There was, indeed, no lack of sensuous
decoration for palaces, there was no want of
'timulupts, no absence Of anything that ap.
pealed to the grosfcr nature Of man in those |
sncient days, but the artisans were familiar |
with only the rudest Of mechanical contriv-
,nces. - -. ............. .
No hundred thousand spindlcs whirred in
,ottou factories from morning till night, no
Engines moved swiftly and noiselessly, no
'ailroads clasped the land in their embrace
The earth bore in its bosom then, as now,
copper and iron, but for want of artisans, for
want of the skill and cunning to work it,
title benefit accrued to the possessors thereof.
Brass could be put to no better use than max
ng huge image to straddle the strait at
Rhodes. ......
d In the ancient days lived Praxeltes, Phi
lias and Apelles, sculptors of rare talent,
Who cut from the silent marble statues that
eemed instinct with life but these, however
hey may have appealed to the taste Of men
It that time, never helped the poor to decent
living, put no gafnients on the Naked nor
,uilt up towns aud cities as docs the maehin-
ry of to-day. rs,. ar
For all that eultivates society, for all that
ends to make mankind refined, intellectual
nd human, we despisc that affectation which
ccords to barbarians. or nations semi-ciyilized
more culture, more genius and more mechan-
cal skill then we possess at the present time.
rhe world moves forward, not backward, and
he generations Of to-day are wiser than those I
Which are not, ever were. The arts, in a I
,eneric sense, are not those delicate refine
nents of painting and music by which, white
landed and gifted soDs of genius get living,
nut :hey are those stern, hard realities in life
which, by the Practice of them, turns the in
ractable iron stone into ductile metal, which /,
evel the forests, which turn the wilderness into
ties, which open up binds unknown TO the i
eht-up thousands Of old Countries. i, !
These are tho arts and this is the period in
Ihich they Gouhsh.-Sefe.Hfe AmcTtca~.