The Spirit Of Gothic Art.

is supposed to have been erected so early as 467 A . D ., the compartments formed by the infcercolumniations are filled with representations of martyrdoms , the most hideous imaginable . Indeed , to recount them is too sickly . The most recondite study of horrors must have been necessary , in order to cover the walls of the church with such ghastly spectacles—an outrage against

humanity—a stinging disgrace to art ! The French poet Lemierre has nobly denounced this prostitution of art , where he says , — " In these temples of peace What do I see upon the ivalls ? The most fearful objects ; The rage of tyrants , the ingenuity of crime , The rack , the pile , the blood of victims , ,-

And everywhere twenty executioners for one Christian hero ! Oh ! had Heaven this clay Joined the palette to the lyre in my hands ! I would go this moment , I would go into the sacred places , And wipe out from their walls the blood with which they are stained , Those arenas of horror , those barbarous scenes Made for the eyes of Nerosyet displayed in our churches

, . Blind painter ! while you offer me those savage pictures , What virtue can your pencil inspire ?" Very often every kind of positive indecency is seen , such as the martyrdom of St . Agatha , paintings of the Last Judgment , disclosing scenes of the most disgusting character , calculated to debase rather than raise . Michel Angelo did very much of this kind ofthing . An

anecdote is related of him , to the effect that in order to punish some dignitary who had remonstrated with him , and to the Pope , he represented him naked in hell , furnished with those peculiar long ears known as Midas ' s , and encircled with a serpent , Of course this irritated the dignitary still more , who again complained bitterly

to the Pope ; but Angelo remarked , "His Holiness cannot interfere ; for his right to rescue sinners from purgatory does not extend to hell ! " Now ifc is evident such art as this Avithdvaws the mind from devotion-Gothic arfc does not call for such unseemly exhibitions ; they are onl y evidences of a very debased and Paganistic Christianity . True art clothes herself in suitable drapery ,

and makes her symbolic representations such that they shall educate and refine , and therefore attract . But it is said , — " Is there not danger of running into the extreme ? And if there is such danger , would it not be better to leave it alone ? " To which it might be answered , —Is there not danger in eating and drinking , seeing that so many run into extremes ? No ; depend upon it , the

instincts of art are implanted in man to be used , —used as all other good gifts are , not for unlawful , unhallowed purposes , but for the highest good and pleasure of the recipients , —used in such manner that the Giver of all ¦ Good , shall alone be glorified . It is also said that the Christian system is of a purel y ¦ spiritual nature , and does nofc require such aids . " True :

"religion , per se , does not require any human aid afc all ; but the reci pients of ifc are none the worse for such aid . Although forms were enjoined under the old dispensation , these forms were nofc religion , but only the aids to it ; whilst the religion itself had to do with the same Being as now , and was no less spiritual in its nature than that religion which we profess . Only one

temple in the history of the world can claim divine instruction for its construction and decoration , aud this ktfcerwas of the most gorgeous and costl y description , in which the art-spirit , as far as then known , may be saiel to have exhausted itself . The plan , the elevation , and the details were all symbolical of some truth : in fact , the whole seems to have been the most perfect symbolic poem in a material form ever reared .

Surely if there is anything at all in the force of example , here is enough to silence the most stolid antisymbolists for ever . If the introduction of the artspiri t into the temple was pleasing to the Deity then , surel y ifc cannot be otherwise now , seeing that God knoweth no chanee .

Now , there can be no question that the application , of these symbolic principles is as possible with fche Classic as with the Gothic art ; but the effect produced is different . In the latter the scope is greater and more elastic , and the spirit of the arfc is in rich union with the new religious principles from whence ifc sprang ; therefore ifc is bufc natural that Christian symbolism should find a more congenial home in the Christian arfc , —in the Christian temple , —

" There ! within the holy walls , Look up and unto thee The stones shall soothly speak , In voices low and meek , As murmurs of the sea ; Everlastingly and deep , To thy inmost soul they creep , Beguiling thee in tears to weep

For thy sin anel for thy sorrow , Making holier the morrow , And teaching thee in stones to find Purity and peace of mind . "

Thus we are obliged to admit the fact that , in Christian art , symbolism attained a luxuriance never before acquired . Planned upon the cross , and reared towards heaven , emblematic of the hopes and aspirations of the human race ; its triangular details typical of the mysterious Trinity ; its vertical lines reminding us ofthe resurrection ; the windows symbolical of the Light that

has come into the world ; the various sculptures all pregnant with symbolic truth , have all a deep and solemn meaning . We see the mathematics of art giving way to the poetry of nature ; we look upward where before fche eye glided earthward . The spirit of beauty , which had before given life to the recumbent , now soars in the erect . Instead of the spreading dome of the Pantheon , making " The base earth proud "

with hearing ifc , we have tho " cloud-capp d towers" and soaring pinnacles seeking communion with the skies . Indeed , I " Love the high embowed roof , With antique pillars massy proof , And storied windows , richly dight , Casting a dim religious light , " for the rich associations they call up . Yet I do not love

a dim religious light . Oh , no ; for the pleasant sunlight is all revivifying in its tendencies , and lightens up the soul as well as the body . Let us , then , have light ! beautiful light 1

" Holy Light ! offspring ' of heaven first-born ! Light Ethereal—first of things—cyuinfcessence pure . " Gloom is not fib for man , or beast , or vegetable . Why , then , should we have in our temples the murky , reeky , steamy atmosphere of the carboniferous age , when there was deep gloom in the recesses of the thick woods , and

thick fog winded its way up and athwart the valleys of the period ? Let us remember that in proportion as the full blaze of the sun ' s rays penetrated the darker recesses of the dense woods , and danced upon the sparkling wave , so came progress in all life . Out upon the mawkish sentimentality that would raise melancholy feelings of repose by the sombre gloomand " dim

reli-, gions light" forcing ns to dream instead of think ! Let us have light , to lighten the gloom , for God saw in the beginning that it was good . Gothic art does nofc call for " dim religious light , " nor for devils in stone and paint , nor mythical monsters ,

"Gorgons , and hydras , and chimeras dire ;" bufc rather for pure majestic beauty , chastity of design —a sacred elegance , a holy grandeur ; and these are emphatically characteristic of Gothic art . How excellent the feeling that was concerned in bestowing life on the the otherwise barren and gloomy walls . ' There is au ethereal chord—a golden link between the human heart ;