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

THEACADEMIC

TRADITION 207

'

a

judiciousmixtureofOrder

andVariety

'

;

andthis

definition,forwantofabetter,hasbeen
a

thousand

timesrepeated. The

emendationassistsuslittle,for

onthenatureofthe

'

judicious'nolightisthrown,

savethat

itliesin

ameanbetween thetoomuchon

theonehand,andthetoolittleontheother. And,

bya

stillmorefatal

oversight,itisnotobservedthat

almosteverypossiblegradationoforderandvariety

is found among things admittedly beautiful, and

no less among things admittedly ugly. A certain

minimumoforderis implied in all design,good or

bad

;

but, giventhis, itis clear that whatsatisfies

theeyeisnotOrder,noraratiobetweenOrderand

Variety,butbeautiful Orderand beautiful Variety,

and

theseinalmostanycombination.

Order,itisallowed,bringsintelligibility; itassists

our thought. But the act of quickly and clearly

perceiving uglinessdoes not becomemore pleasant

because

it

isquick,northeuglinessbeautifulbecause

itisevident

;

andordercombinedwithugUness

serves

but

to

render

that

uglinessmoreobviousandtostamp

itgloomilyuponthemind.

So, too, with proportion-. Theattempt has con-

stantly been made to

discover exact mathematical

sequences in beautiful buildings as

though their

presence

were

likelyeithertocausebeautyorexplain

it. Theintervalsofavulgartunearenot

lessmathe-

maticalthan those of

noble music, andthe propor-