generality have no control; the erection of them is directed by a few, and is perhaps effected by foreign artists, or was attained by those of a preceding age.

From the important and leading nature of the ancient national buildings in this country, such as our cathedrals and abbeys and castles and halls, these edifices may, nevertheless, be fairly referred to as the best samples of the kind; although perhaps from their magnitude, and the wealth expended in their erection, they are less likely to have been executed by native artists.

VIII. The earliest efforts of the English drama are believed to have been either borrowed directly from Continental writers, or to have been composed by the Anglo-Norman clerks in the Gallic idiom. Long anterior to these, however, many of the religious or superstitious rites and ceremonies practised by the ancient Britons on great festal occasions, were of a highly dramatic character; and that both as regards the spectacle exhibited, and the actions of the performers. Religious dramas are supposed to have been regularly established performances in London about the year 1180; and it appears that in the middle of the thirteenth century, itinerant actors were well known in England.

Out of the religious drama sprang the moral plays, which were in a state of considerable advancement early in the reign of Henry VI. They seem to have reached their highest perfection under Henry VII., and their performance was not wholly discontinued until the end of Elizabeth's reign.

The first English dramatic production in which it was attempted to exhibit sketches from actual life, without any Scriptural saintly or allegorical intermixture, belongs to that class which were termed interludes, and appears to have been introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. The earliest English tragedy, properly so called, is supposed to have been written about the year 1561.* In the year 1583, Queen Elizabeth first allowed a public company of players to act under her name and authority.

The compositions of Shakspeare,-the artistic merits of *Pict. Hist. Eng.

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which having already been discussed, need not here be adverted to,-not only advanced, but carried at once to perfection dramatic writing. During the reign of Charles I., the fiery zeal of the Puritans prohibited theatrical entertainments altogether. In the reign of Charles II., when the drama was restored with the monarchy, essential improvements were introduced in the arrangements of the theatre, especially as regards decoration costume and music,* which at the present period have advanced still further with the general progress of art and of science.

The mechanical appliances auxiliary to dramatic representations, more particularly as regards the scenery, have indeed much improved in our day; although with respect to the essential features of the art itself, probably no great advance has been made during the last century. No nearer approach to nature in the representation has been effected; still less in the higher attainments of the art, has any progression been accomplished.

IX. To trace out accurately the original condition, rise, and progress through various stages, of costume in this country, would be a task of some difficulty, and would occupy considerable space. In a rude age this art originated here as in other countries. The ancient Britons painted their bodies with representations of the planets and other figures. The earliest costumes were made of the skins of wild beasts, or of the leaves of plants, which were at once resorted to to form the necessary coverings for the body. The manufacture and dyeing of cloths seem, however, to have been early known among us, which were probably brought from Gaul; and the cloth garments for some time retained the name which had been given to the hide. Ornaments of different kinds were gradually introduced, such as rings and bracelets. The two causes already referred to, the influence of foreign art, and the progress of this nation in civilization,—would mainly contribute to accelerate the progress of costume. Probably the former of these causes had more direct, and more extensive influence in this country than the latter.

*Pict. Hist. Eng.

Among the Anglo-Saxons some variety and grace in costume appear to have been attained, especially in their ecclesiastical civil and military attire. At the period of the Conquest, we are told that the Norman dress had been so much imitated by the Anglo-Saxons, as to be scarcely distinguishable from it. Costliness in the material, and variety in the article of dress, much increased after this period. During the reign of Henry II., the sovereign and nobles are represented in full flowing robes, girded with a richly ornamented waistbelt, mantles fastened by fibulæ on the breast or on the shoulders, chausses or long hose, and shoes or boots, the latter sometimes beautifully embroidered, caps of various forms, and jewelled gloves. The manner and fashion of these different dresses underwent many changes during successive reigns, extravagant and costly variations being occasionally introduced, and successive improvements and modifications continually made.*

The general character and condition of costume in this country at different periods, as regards the taste and richness displayed in it, have corresponded pretty nearly with those of the other arts. Costume is not, however, so much actually dependent on foreign influence and example for its rise and improvement in this nation, as this nation is indebted to foreign countries, not merely for the improvement of its own art here, but for enabling us to import from abroad the productions of foreign artists. On this account the condition of costume is but an uncertain indication of the general condition of art; but although the costume of this country at any particular period may be in general use here, it may all be the production of a foreign nation.

The most faithful records of early costume, and of the various mutations which taste and chance and fashion have from time to time effected in it, are afforded by the illuminations in the missals of the middle ages, and by the paintings, especially portraits, from the earliest to the present period. Of all the arts, costume is the most fluctuating, and it is ever in a state of change, of which it is peculiarly susceptible, and for which *Pict. Hist. Eng.

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it depends in part on the taste of the people of each particular country, and in part on the influence of foreign nations. What there is here of taste, appears to be extensively directed by caprice; though, in turn, this very caprice may be more or less influenced by taste.

X. The earliest account of the formation of gardens in this country, consists in the description of the enclosures made by the ancient Britons near their huts and villages, for the purpose of procuring such vegetable productions as they ordinarily needed. Of the gardens of the Anglo-Saxons, and of the race who succeeded them, we have no record except what occasional slight representations in their missals afford. But it is stated by Fitzstephen that in the time of Henry II., the citizens of London had large and beautiful gardens attached to their villas. In the reign of Edward I., it may be collected from Hollinshed's Chronicle, that the cultivation of the garden was extended to the more curious and delicate productions; but the wars of York and Lancaster destroyed all these occupations, and gardens in general ceased to be more than pleasure-grounds or kitchen-gardens of the rudest kind, until the time of Queen Elizabeth. King James I. of Scotland describes the garden at Windsor Castle, where he was confined by Henry V., as a place set thick with trees, and alleys of hawthorn, with an arbour in each corner. Much later, in the year 1512, the great Earl of Northumberland, whose household consisted of 160 persons, "had but one gardener, who attended hourly in the garden for setting of erbis, and clipping of knottes, and sweeping the said garden clean." In the gardens of Nonesuch, the palace of Henry VIII., constructed about the year 1540, we hear of shady walks, columns and pyramids of marble "fountains that spout water one round the other like a pyramid, upon which are perched small birds that stream water out of their bills," and of similar objects; but nothing of the more essential part of a garden,-its plants. Pleasure-grounds of this description, indeed, have existed in England ever since the Conquest.*

*Pict. Hist. Eng.

Several ages, however, have been required to establish the true and correct principles of this art as adapted for the development of nature, not only in gardening but the general disposition of pleasure-grounds; during which the natural taste of the people and the influence of foreign taste have mutually contended with, and perhaps in turn corrected each other, until at length a sound system has been enunciated, based upon the true principles of art, and calculated to set forth the charms of nature in a manner the most efficient and perfect.

Gardening in England has had a double advantage over both painting and sculpture, in that in the first place ornamental grounds being the property of persons of affluence, the fullest amount of patronage has been afforded to the cultivation of the art; and in the next place, persons of the highest taste and most extensive cultivation have been induced to turn their attention to landscape gardening, and to the laying out and adornment of their grounds.

XI. Having traced as accurately as I can the origin and growth of each of the arts in this country, I come now to consider the present state in which we find them existent.

We may conclude on the whole that the condition in our day of each of these different branches of the arts, more especially painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, to which I have more particularly alluded, is precisely such as might be calculated upon as the result of that high condition of refinement and luxury to which we have attained. Among the ancients, painting was made the vehicle for expressing the noblest ideas of which the mind is capable, and for calling forth the loftiest emotions of the soul; and to this great end was manual dexterity ever made subservient, and regarded only as a means to its attainment. Among the moderns manual dexterity is the very end itself which is aimed at, and nothing higher than or beyond this appears to enter into the mind of many an artist; or if it does, the ideas are so poor that they are utterly lost sight of in the care and attention bestowed on the manual excellence aimed at in the performance.

Hence, the main and leading characteristic of the condition of art in our day, more especially as regards painting and sculp