he
Sanctuary in the wilderness; and those stitches probably were not new
then.

I propose to give a slight sketch of the origin of the styles[16] that
have followed each other, noting the national influences that have
displaced or altered them, and the overlap of style caused by outside
events.

First, I would define what "STYLE" means.

Style is the mark impressed on art by a national period, short or
long. It fades, it wanes, and then some historical element enters on
the scene, which carries with it new materials, needs, and tastes
(either imported or springing up under the new conditions). The style
of the day in art and literature alters so perceptibly, that all who
have had any artistic training are at once aware of the difference.

Of late years, the science of history has been greatly assisted by the
science of language. When the mute language of art shall have been
patiently deciphered, the historian will be furnished with new powers
in his researches after truth.

The first "ineffaceable" is a _word_; the second a _pattern_. This is
proved by the history of needlework.

As the world grows old, its youth becomes more interesting. Alas! the
childhood of mankind is so distant, and it was so long before it
learned its letters, that but few facts have come down to us, on which
we may firmly build our theories; yet we must acknowledge the great
stride that has been made in the last few years, in the scientific
mode of extracting history from the ruins and tombs, and even the
dust-heaps, of the past. Whole epochs, which fifty years ago were as
blank as the then maps of Central Africa, are being now gradually
covered with landmarks.

Layard, Rawlinson, C. T. Newton, Botta, Rassam, Schliemann, Birch, G.
Smith, and a crowd of archaeologists, and even unscientific explorers,
are collecting the materials from which the history of mankind is
being reconstructed.

From them I have sought information about the art of embroidery, and I
find that Semper gives it a high pre-eminence as to its antiquity,
making it the foundation and starting-point of all art. He clothes not
only man, but architecture, with the products of the loom and the
needle; and derives from them in succession, painting, bas-relief, and
sculpture.[17]

* * * * *

Style has to be considered in two different aspects, from two
different standpoints. First, historically and archaeologically,
distinguishing and datin