on gates of Balawat, time of Shalmaneser II. (British
Museum).]

Egyptian textile art is, perhaps, that of which we have the most early
specimens. These are to be seen at Boulac, at Vienna, Turin, and the
British Museum.[36] The Hieroglyphic, the Archaic, and the
Graeco-Egyptian are all unmistakably the consecutive outcome of the
national original style, which had totally disappeared in the
beginning of our era. Few of the embroideries are more than two
thousand five hundred years old. But the great piece of patchwork in
leather, "the funeral tent of an Egyptian queen," as it covered the
remains of a contemporary of Solomon,[37] absolutely exhibits the
proficiency of the designer and the needlework of the eleventh century
B.C. (Pl. 44.)

The connection between Indian and Egyptian early art appears to have
existed only in their use of the lotus as an emblem and a constant
decoration; but their manner of employing it was characteristically
different. (Pl. 12 and 13.)

The Phoenicians carried with them the seeds of the Egyptian style
over the ancient world; but these seeds only took root and flourished
on the soil of Greece. The imitations of Egyptian style reappeared in
Rome, and again in France "under the two Empires." In both cases they
were only imitations, and neither had any permanent influence on the
art of their day.

I shall have to allude very often to our Eastern sources of artistic
culture.

Our own Aryan ancestors were so impregnated with beautiful ideas, that
we must believe that we inherit from them all our graceful
appreciation of naturalistic ornament. But even Aryan art met with
reverses on its Eastern soil, from which it constantly rose again and
renewed itself.

The Mongols crushed for a time the element of beauty in India. They
introduced a barbarous and hideous style which has its only
counterpart in that of Central America. It was the produce of a
religion, superstitious, cruel, and devilish.

The Aryan art of India, which was elegant and spiritual, was revived
by the kindred influence of Persia, and by the Renaissance in Europe.
Italian and other artists were employed in India, and "the spirit of
aerial grace, and the delicate sense of beauty in natural forms,
blossomed afresh and flourished for 300 years. Birds, flowers, fruit,
butterflies, became once more the legitimate ornament of every
material."[38]

I continue to quote from Sir G. Birdwood's "Arts of India." "The Code
of