A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century
A HISTORY OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY by HENRY A. BEERS Author of _A Suburban Pastoral_, _The Ways of Vale_, etc. "Was unsterblich im Gesang soll leben Muss im Leben untergehen." --Schiller PREFACE
The very general and keen interest in the revival of arts and crafts
in America is a sign full of promise and pleasure to those who
are working among the so-called minor arts. One reads at every
turn how greatly Ruskin and Morris have influenced handicraft: how
much these men and their co-workers have modified the appearance
of our streets and houses, our materials, textiles, utensils, and
all other useful things in which it is possible to shock or to
please the aesthetic taste, without otherwise affecting the value
of these articles for their destined purposes.
In this connection it is interesting to look into the past, particularly
to those centuries known as the Middle Ages, in which the handicrafts
flourished in special perfection, and to see for ourselves how
these crafts were pursued, and exactly what these arts really were.
Many people talk learnedly of the delightful revival of the arts
and crafts without having a very definite idea of the original
processes which are being restored to popular favour. William Morris
himself, although a great modern spirit, and reformer, felt the
necessity of a basis of historic knowledge in all workers. "I do
not think," he says, "that any man but one of the highest genius
could do anything in these days without much study of ancient art,
and even he would be much hindered if he lacked it." It is but
turning to the original sources, then, to examine the progress
of mediaeval artistic crafts, and those sources are usually to be
A HISTORY OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY by HENRY A. BEERS Author of _A Suburban Pastoral_, _The Ways of Vale_, etc. "Was unsterblich im Gesang soll leben Muss im Leben untergehen." --Schiller PREFACE