Architecture And Archæology.

philosophy , if not for ascertaining truth ? But who also , m assenting to these questions , has not felt their vagueness , or found the thread of his own inquiry soon entangled , or has not for a time at least given up all hope of solving the question , — " What is truth ? " But if the equivalent and more explicit word for the kind of truth implied in these questions had been substituted , they would have gained simplicity . The question of paramount importance to mankind is , What is right in thought , act , and being ?

Truths are multifarious ; but in every species of phenomena there is but one right , and this it is which scientific idealism seeks to determine , which revelation declares . The same kind of entanglement of thought takes place when it is asked , — " What , in the name of common sense , has a man to do but to act and work in conformity to nature ? " If by "to act and work in conformity with nature " be here meant the fallen nature of manand of other nature corrupted bhis agencythis

, y , is certainly not his duty . But if in the question , the word nature had been qualified or connoted as rigid nature , it would have been tantamount to asking , whether to live , think , and act righteously , according to that nature which revelation and reason declare to be the best , be not the whole duty of man ? This is a more definite question , and one to which unreserved assent may be given . The word truth may , as commonly vised , sometimes include every possible fact , imitation , or relation of a fact ; on other occasions ,

exclude from its meaning all but the right , the perfect , the beautiful . In like manner , too , the word nature may often mean the everything that has been , is , or is possible to he ; and as often only that some nature which is according to right reason , nature in its "best and perfect conditions . In conversation and argument these shifty significations of the words nature and truth are lost sight of : the qualification which should limit their application to the some is extended to the all , and all nature and all truth by this

con-fusion of language come to be considered by some minds as worthy of imitation ; whereas it is only the right and best truth and nature which deserve reiteration and perpetuation . It is thus that the minute relation and imitation of a fact have been esteemed by a section of the public as of the highest virtue in art ; but it appears never to have occured to this section that a fact related in language or imitated in form and colour may he a moral or physical wrong in the great scheme ; and , in that case , the exactness of the relation or of the imitation neither improves the relator nor imitator , nor corrects the wrong ; whereas the idealist is a physician

whose curative art sends forth nature healed , restored . It should always be recollected that , although everything in nature , per se , is a fact , is a truth ; it does not necessarily follow that , being a fact , it is also right . To eliminate every possible form of wrong , and to i-e-form , restore , according to the residual ideal , is the doctrine consonant with divine teaching . The pernicious and deforming influence of man ' s moral fall extends beyond that of his own physical nature to that under

his dominion ; so that this is also marred in its outward form and fabric . The Christian doctrine teaches that the material world retrogrades or progresses as the soul of man falls or soars , — that the body is moulded by the deformity or beauty of the mind . To the right use of knowledge , the practice of Christian virtue , is promised peace , health , beauty , and prosperity , the gradual outward development of human and other nature to their full perfection and lory .

g " Man's history , physical and moral , has been one of incessant change and progress . The features of different races , their mental qualities , civil systems , and religious beliefs , have all less or more partaken of this mutation ; and the difference that now subsists between the most intellectual , city-dwelling , machine-making Anglo-Saxons , and the man of the old flint implements and bone caves , may be infinitesimally small when compared with that which may exist between the noblest living nations and races yet to be evoked .

Unless science has altogether misinterpreted the past , and the ( general ) course of creation has unfolded by geology he no better than a delusion , the future must transcend the present , as the present tianscends that which has gone before it . Man present cannot be man future . " In a conversation with the Marchioness Pescara , Michelangelo used these words : " Good painting is noble and religious in itself ; for , among the vtise , nothing elevates the mind more , or inclines it

more effectually to devotion , than that perfectness which draws near to God , and unites itself to him . Now , true painting is only a copy of His perfections—a shadow from his pencil ; in short , a music , a melody , of which only a very keen intelligence can feel the difficulty , this is why it happens so seldom , that even a few can attain to and realise it . " To quote this or that vapid work of painting or sculpture as instances of the failure of the ideal principle , has no force against Christian idealism , which seeks those forms of being which would be the highest conditions of reality . The question which every one has to answer , before declaring for or against idealism , is this—Is

Architecture And Archæology.

there a fundamental right independent of the fluctuations of opinion ? If yes , idealism is incontrovertible ; if no it is not of the slightest consequence how men think , or how they act : criticism is an inconsistency -. every one is a law to himself . Whoever admits that there is an imperfect nature , and partial truth , virtually acknowledges the superiority of the nature and truth which idealism seeks . If therefore , after admitting this , any painter continues to render the inferiorhe offends against his own

, moral sense of rectitude . The general tenor of these remarks will save them , I hope , from the misapprehension of being thought to be aimed against earnestness of purpose , the perfection of artistic workmanship , or the intimate study of particulars , so far as this is used as a means to right ends . In conclusion , I must beg you to bear in mind that I do not profess to represent the opinions of any section of English artist " . I have given you my own " strong convictions regarding Christian

idealism , because they appear to me to rest on the sure foundations of religion and science , and to suegest that common purpose to which the thought and work of the world should be directed , and also because it appears to me to be highly desirable that criticism should take its stand as a science , and direct investigation and art into safe channels ; arbitrate and govern by precise laws ; failing which they must for ever labour iu a dangerous sea , without load star or compass .

Miracle Plays In Essex.

MIRACLE PLAYS IN ESSEX .

At a meeting of the Essex Archaeological Society , held in Chelmsford , on the 15 th ult ., the Ven . Archdeacon St . John Mildmay read a series of entries , beginning in 1557 , from an old parish accountbook in his possession . Those of them relating to Miracle Plays will interest some of our readers : — 1562 . List of players' dresses taken from the inventory of the goods remayning in the church . [ This list includes , amongst other items" 3 jyrkyns 3 sloppes for devils" 23 "bredes" and 21

, , , " hares . " ] 1562 . Paid unto the mynstrells for the shew day and for the play day , 20 s . Paid unto Burton Wood for their meat and drink , 10 s . Paid unto the trumpeter for hispaynes , 10 s . Paid unto Burton Wood for meat and drynk for the dvom player , thc flute plaier , and trompeter , Is . 6 d . "Unto the flute player for his paynes , 3 s . 4 d .

Mr . Beadill ' s man for playing on ye drom , 5 s . Whole expenses , £ 5 13 s . Sd . Paid unto Wm . Hervett fer making the Vice ' s coote and jornet of borders , and a jerkin of borders , 15 s . Paid to the cooper for 14 hoops , 2 s . 2 d . Paid to Christopher for writing 7 parts . Paid to J . Lockyer for making of 4 sheep hooks and for iron work that Burlo occupied for the hell 4 s .

, Paid to Robt . Matthew for a pair of wambes , Is . 4 d . Paid to Buries for sainge the play , 53 s . 4 d . Unto Lawrence for watching in the church when the Temple was a drying , 4 d . Item : bowstrings , 2 d . For the mynstrells soper a Saturday at night , 2 s . For their breakfast on Sunday morning , 2 s . For their dinners on Sunday 2 s .

, For their soper on Sunday , 2 s . For their breakfast on Monday , 2 s . For their dinners on Monday , 2 s . For their dinners that kept the scaffold on Sonday , 3 s . 4 d . For their sowppersthat watched the scaffold on Sonday at night , 1 s . 4-d .

For drink on the scaffold on Monday , Is . Sundry payments at Braintree and Maldon for the players—Itm : paid unto Mr . Browne for the waights of Bristowe and for meats , drink , and horsemeate , 4 s . 8 d . Itm : paid unto Buries for saing of the last playe and forniakyng of the conysants , 42 s . 1562 . Willm . Richards tor making of two gowns and four j erkins , 6 s . Sd .

Paid unto Andrew for heres and beards borrowed of him , 4 s . To Wm . Withers for making the frame of heaven's stage and timber for the same , 10 s . 1562 . John Wright for making a cotte of leather for Christ , Is . 4 d . For making 10 men to bear the pageant , 10 s . To JRoysfcen for paynting the jeiants , the pajeaunts , and writing the players names , 7 s .