drew
it at least in a way which should thoroughly show his knowledge and
feeling of it. For instance, you saw in the oak tree of the Giottesque
period, that the main points of the tree, the true shape of leaf and
acorn, were all there, perfectly and carefully articulated, and so they
continued to be down to the time of Tintoret; both he and Titian working
out the separate leaves of their foliage with the most exquisite
botanical care. But now observe: as Christianity had brought this love
of nature into Paganism, the return of Paganism in the shape of
classical learning at once destroyed this love of nature; and at the
moment when Claude and Salvator made the final effort to paint the
_effects_ of nature faithfully, the _objects_ of nature had ceased to be
regarded with affection; so that, while people were amused and
interested by the new effects of sunsets over green seas, and of
tempests bursting on rocky mountains, which were introduced by the
rising school, they entirely ceased to require on the one side, or
bestow on the other, that care and thought by which alone the beauty of
nature can be understood. The older painting had resembled a careful and
deeply studied diagram, illustrative of the most important facts; it was
not to be understood or relished without application of serious
thought; on the contrary, it developed and addressed the highest powers
of mind belonging to the human race; while the Claude and Salvator
painting was like a scene in a theater, viciously and falsely painted
throughout, and presenting a deceptive appearance of truth to nature;
understood, as far as it went, in a moment, but conveying no accurate
knowledge of anything, and, in all its operations on the mind,
unhealthy, hopeless, and profitless.

89. It was, however, received with avidity; for this main reason, that
the architecture, domestic life, and manners of the period were
gradually getting more and more artificial; as I showed you last
evening, all natural beauty had ceased to be permitted in architectural
decoration, while the habits of society led them more and more to live,
if possible, in cities; and the dress, language, and manners of men in
general were approximating to that horrible and lifeless condition in
which you find them just before the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Now, observe: exactly as hoops, and starch, and false hair, and all that
in mind and heart these things typify and betray, as these, I say,
gai