THE ART-IDEA.

CHAPTER I.

Life a Self-enlarging Sphere. The Mental Relationship of

Men.

IFE may be likened to a sphere which includes an inexhaustible series of circles of knowledge. In the beginning we are but a simple point. But mind having the power of self-increase, each successive experience enlarges its circumference. Ultimately it may include within its grasp all love and wisdom short of Divinity.

The mental processes by which we thus enlarge our circles are worthy of attentive observation, partly from the satisfaction of analyzing and appreciating the mind's growth, but chiefly as indicative of the illimitable future of knowledge which they gradually open to our view, in the degree that we humbly, earnestly, and continuedly demand to know the secrets of Immortality.

If it were not for this ever-expanding Future to tempt us on, we should speedily despair of the Present, and pronounce it only vanity and vexation. But the farther we advance, the more power we comprehend within ourselves; so that

the pleasure of learning rests not so much on that which we have attained to, as with what remains for us to know. Each fact, thought, and acquirement is but so much oil added to our lamp, whereby to diffuse greater light to our intellectual vision. Knowledge becomes teachable and humble in proportion to its advancement, because it measures all things in an increasing light; while ignorance, believing its farthing candle to be the sun, ever shows itself vain, contradictory, and headstrong.

Wherever there is a sincere disposition to know, wisdom responds; but the dirty work, the wick-trimming and lamp-cleaning, is wisely left to ourselves. We must with our own fingers keep our cans open and our torches burning. In doing this we receive, as of our own right, a never-failing supply of the divine fuel, whose heat expands our souls, filling the universe with their presence and desire.

The several phases of knowledge are as clearly distinguishable in the advancement of the mind, with their relative effects thereon, as are the varied experiences of the affections in the growth of the heart. But our progress is necessarily a mixed one. Body and mind by turns coerce one another. Now soul is uppermost; then undermost. This busy, idle, capricious, restless, doubting, believing, struggling, despairing, hoping, praying ME, with its entanglement of sense and spirit, in shadow and sunshine, ever strives to present to the world a self-balanced, imposing I; but the superficial glance only can

MENTAL RELATIONSHIP.

3

be deceived by it. The clairvoyant eye of experience sees within the alternate victory or defeat. Indeed, so cognate are our natures, that the real life, or outer sham, of a fellow-being may prove to be the counterpart of one's self. Without the universal tie of humanity, the artist's or author's appeal would be as responseless as a stringless harp. In some form or other, happiness is life's common object. Whatever bewilderments beset its pursuit, all men instinctively seek it; the wise in the garb of divine truth, the foolish in the delusions of a selfish and sensual life. If, reader, you are of the former class, bear, we pray, with the abstract character of our remarks for a while, until we have shown the connection between the art-idea and divine truth, in the great design of civilizing and making glad the earth. But if the other path charm you most, pause here, for we do not wish to invite an unappreciating mind into the sanctuary of Art.

"What ho! What tidings have you for us?" Such is our constant cry to brother and sister more advanced in the search. Cheerfully, lovingly, comfortingly, have many responded, holding out their hands to aid us to reach their point of view. When there, though not always seeing as they did, still we have seen farther and clearer than before. Thanks! many, many thanks! What we have received it is a duty as freely to give. If, therefore, we can aid toiling spirits, even as ours has often been helped, like harvest-seed cast upon the Egyptian waters, this labor, in due time, will be returned to us in the true bread of life.

Art-Queries.

CHAPTER II.

Origin and Nature of Art.

What has it done for us? What are its Possibilities? - What Relation does it bear to Science? - Vagueness of Words. - Definition of Art.

HAT is the origin and nature of the artidea? What has it done for us? What are its possibilities? What relation does it bear to science? Such are some of the points we wish to suggest thought upon, rather than hope to entirely elucidate.

But a serious difficulty arises, in the outset, from the uncertainty of words. Goethe aptly observes, "To speak is to begin to err." Unless we can first make clear the exact meaning we attach to the terms applied to art, any attempt to discuss its nature would be futile, because we should have no fixed ideas to reason from.

Words, unfortunately, are vague in the ratio of their generalization. Thus art, science, religion, philosophy, God, and all other comprehensive nouns, convey to different minds conceptions as various as their several moral and intellectual attainments. Truth must indeed remain the same, for it is eternal and immutable; but it is always relative in degree to the individual, being propor

DEFINITION OF ART.

5

tioned to his intelligence and capacity. Language is the more perplexing because every grade of knowledge, and even temperament, has its own formula of expression. As minds grow, words also change their significance to them. It is impossible, therefore, to fix upon a definition of general terms so exact as to convey precisely the same import to all individuals. The most any one can do is to explain as clearly as possible what is meant by himself in the use of an ambiguous or controvertible word.

Without undertaking here to define art precisely, we may generalize it as the love of the soul in the sense that science can be considered its law. Each is requisite to the proper action of the other, as its counter-weight or balance. Art adorns science. Science is the helpmeet of art. Their action and interaction are close and intimate. Apart, the one is erratic, mystic, and unequal in its expression, the other cold, severe, and formal; because Beauty is the main principle of the former, as Utility is of the latter; while Truth, of mind or matter, and consequent enjoyment or benefit therefrom, is their common aim.

A more popular definition would be simply to call Art the ornamental side of life, as Science is its useful. That is, whatever is produced by man in which beauty is the predominant feature, may be considered as having its origin in the art-idea; while things primarily necessary or useful, although in a common sense classified as of the arts, may be viewed as the distinctive