and to
associations of wealth and luxury, precedes by far the appeal to the
perceptive harmonies of form. In music we observe the same
gradation; first, we appreciate its sensuous and sentimental value;
only with education can we enjoy its form. The plastic arts begin,
therefore, with adventitious ornament and with symbolism. The
aesthetic pleasure is in the richness of the material, the profusion of
the ornament, the significance of the shape -- in everything, rather
than in the shape itself.

We have accordingly, in works of art two independent sources of
effect. The first is the useful form, which generates the type, and
ultimately the beauty of form, when the type has been idealized by
emphasizing its intrinsically pleasing traits. The second is the
beauty of ornament, which comes from the excitement of the
senses, or of the imagination, by colour, or by profusion or
delicacy of detail. Historically, the latter is first developed, and
applied to a form as yet merely useful. But the very presence of
ornament attracts contemplation; the attention lavished on the
object helps to fix its form in the mind, and to make us
discriminate the less from the more graceful. The two kinds of
beauty are then felt, and, yielding to that tendency to unity which
the mind always betrays, we begin to subordinate and organize
these two excellences. The ornament is distributed so as to
emphasize the aesthetic essence of the form; to idealize it even
more, by adding adventitious interests harmoniously to the
intrinsic interest of the lines of structure.

There is here a great field, of course, for variety of combination
and compromise. Some artists are fascinated by the decoration, and
think of the structure merely as the background on which it can be
most advantageously displayed. Others, of more austere taste,
allow ornament only to emphasize the main lines of the design, or
to conceal such inharmonious elements as nature or utility may
prevent them from eliminating.[12] We may thus oscillate between
decorative and structural motives, and only in one point, for each
style, can we find the ideal equilibrium, in which the greatest
strength and lucidity is combined with the greatest splendour.

A less subtle, but still very effective, combination is that hit upon
by many oriental and Gothic architects, and found, also, by
accident perhaps, in many buildings of the plateresque style; the
ornament and structure are both presented with