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

i68

THE

ARCHITECTURE OF HUMANISM

modate the physical requirements of

their

piety.

Secure

in the

merits of

'

the better manner' they

neither sought, nor wereable, todo

justice

to the

past.

Tlie release from this contracted curiosity

was

broughtaboutbytwomaincauses. Itwasbrought

about, aesthetically, by the Romantic Movement.

It

was brought

about,

intellectually,

by the philo-

sophy

ofevolution. TheRomanticMovementplaced

a poetic value, for its own sake, on the remote.

The philosophy of

evolution,

with its

impartial

interest in all things,

placed a scientific emphasis,

for its own sake,upon sequence. Both these were

enlargementsof

ourcuriosity.

But

the Romantic enlargement fails because,

although itfinds anaesthetic

valuein thepast,the

valueitfindsis

toocapriciousandhasnoobjective

basis. And the evolutionary enlargement fails be-

causeitisnotinterested in

*

value

'

atall. It

does

notdenythat

valuesexist,butitisoftheessenceof

itsmethodthatit takesnosides—thatit discounts

value and disregards

it. The intellectual gain is

effectively

alossforart.

The object of

'

evolutionary' criticism is, prima

facie,

not

toappreciatebuttoexplain. Toaccount

forthe facts, not toestimate

them, is itsfunction.

And the light

which it brings comes from one

greatprinciple:thatthingsare

intelligiblethrougha