The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

136

THEARCHITECTURE

OF

HUMANISM

nowreacting. Ithad

grownupalong

withthe

abuses

which

werehenceforthto

beexpelled

fromthemoral

ordering

of life. And

these abuses—to

use the

question-begging

phrase of naodern

criticism

—

'

itex-

pressed.'

^

Ithad

exaltedprincesand

ministeredto

popes. Itstoodforthesubordination

ofthedetail

to the^design,

ofthecraftsman tothe

architect, of

conscience to authority,

of whim tocivilisation, of

the

individual will toan organised

control. These

thingswere

hatefultothe philosophyofrevolution.

Theywerehatefulno

less

to

thephilosophyoflaissez

faire.

The architecture of the Renaissance

shared

inevitablytheircondemnation.

Moreover,theminds

alikeofthegoodcitizenwhogloriedinindustrialism,

andofthethinkerwho

shrankfromit,wereturnedto

thefutureratherthanthepast.

Eventhemediaeval

day-dreamsofMorriswereapropagandaandessen-

tially prophetic. Now the

neo-Gothic experiment

and the architecture ofsteel, whatever

their initial

failures, could claim

to

bestilluntried

;

fromthem

might

still

spring the undreamt-of

pinnacles which

should crown the Utopiasof the capitalistand the

reformer. But

the Renaissance

style represented

'

Abusesintheorganisationofsocietymaysometimes,asinthe

Frencheighteenthcentury,

bea

precondition

of

certainachievements

inthearts. Buttheartisticachievementsdonotonthataccount

'

express'thesocialconditions,thoughtheonemayrecalltheother

toourmind. Itwouldbeastruetosaythattheviewfromamoun-

tain 'expressed'thefatigueof gettingtothetop. Whether the

mountainisworthclimbingisanotherquestion.