tonous uniformity of all its
features. This is but the expression, in a material form, of that
shadowy feeling of infinity, and unity, and immobility which an unbroken
continent of vast deserts and continuous lofty mountain chains would
naturally inspire. The simple grandeur and perfect harmony and graceful
blending of light and shade so peculiar to Grecian architecture are the
product of a country whose area is diversified by the harmonious
blending of land and water, mountain and plain, all bathed in purest
light, and canopied with skies of serenest blue. And they are also the
product of a country where man is released from the imprisonment within
the magic circle of surrounding nature, and made conscious of his power
and freedom. In Grecian architecture, therefore, there is less of the
massiveness and immobility of nature, and more of the grace and dignity
of man. It adds to the idea of permanence a _vital_ expression. "The
Doric column," says Vitruvius, "has the proportion, strength, and beauty
of man." The Gothic architecture had its birthplace among a people who
had lived and worshipped for ages amidst the dense forests of the north,
and was no doubt an imitation of the interlacing of the overshadowing
trees. The clustered shaft, and lancet arch, and flowing tracery,
reflect the impression which the surrounding scenery had woven into the
texture of the Teutonic mind.

The history of painting and of sculpture will also show that the varied
"styles of art" are largely the result of the aspects which external
nature presented to the eye of man. Oriental sculpture, like its
architecture, was characterized by massiveness of form and tranquillity
of expression; and its painting was, at best, but colored sculpture. The
most striking objects are colossal figures, in which the human form is
strangely combined with the brute, as in the winged bulls of Nineveh and
the sphinxes of Egypt. Man is regarded simply as a part of nature, he
does not rise above the plane of animal life. The soul has its
immortality only in an eternal metempsychosis--a cycle of life which
sweeps through all the brute creation. But in Grecian sculpture we have
less of nature, more of man; less of massiveness, more of grace and
elegance; less repose, and more of action. Now the connection between
these styles of art, and the countries in which they were developed, is
at once suggested to the thoughtful mind.

And then, finally, the literature of a peop