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

THEROMANTIC FALLACY

79

ocean andtheliving air,'butfewrememberedwith

Wordsworthtoadd:

'

andinthemindofman.'

The

architect's workmustbe ahymn tocreation,must

faithfully reflect the typical laws and imitate the

specific characterofall that Nature presents. But

the typicallawandspecific characterofhumanity,

toimposeorderandrhythm onitsloose,instinctive

movementsandproportionon

itsworks

—

thisisthe

unworthy exercise of

'

self-contemplating Greeks,'

the

mark of

*

simpletons and sophists.' While all

thingsin nature

fulfil their own law, each after its

kind, manalonewastodistrusthislawandfollow

thatof

alltheothers

;

andthiswascalledtheexample

of

Nature. Yet,since

evensosomechoiceisin

prac-

tice

forced upon him, the sole result of

'

following

Nature' is to

sanctify his own caprice.

Nature

becomes the

majestic reminder ofhuman

Httleness

and the

insignificance

ofotherpeople's

thought. It

isdifficult to

treatwithtotalseriousnessaphaseof

opinionsofatally

paradoxical. Yetitsankdeepinto

thepublic

taste

;

andeven nowadiscernibletaint

of

moral reproof

colours the adverse criticism of

formal

architecture

;

and

atraceofconsciousvirtue

stillattendson

crookedplanning,quaintdesignand

a

preference forArctic

vegetation unsymmetrically

disposed.

^^

The creed ofNature

entailed twoconsequences

:

first, a

prejudice against

Order and Proportion,