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THE 
JOURNAL OF DESIGN 
AND MANUFACTURES. 
No. 19.                SEPTEMBER 1, 1850.                  Vol. IV. 
ADDRESS. 
SINcE the period of the Reformation, we believe the prospects of Design-in
which word we comprehend all useful and applied art--have never been so good
as at the present time in England. That great revolution, by breaking up
the 
unity of the Church and dispersing the studious and educated priests, the
pre- 
ceptors and practitioners of art, from their convents, practically annihilated
the English Schools of the Arts. The arts, in their widest developements,
were 
an indispensable part of the education which the clergy gave to the people
at 
large, and they constituted one of the strongest links, if not the very stro)ngest,
which bound the affections of the people to the Church. No one can walk 
through Westminster Abbey, Canterbury, or any other Cathedral, without 
being still sensible of this fact. 
Art has, in all times and among all nations, rude or civilised, been the
handmaiden of Religion, and one exponent of those feelings and sentiments
which it has always been the province of religion to cultivate. The best
art of 
the Egyptians is to be traced among the rock-cut temples of the Eleusinian
priests ; the remnants of Greek and Roman art were the decorations of the
temples of their gods. Almost all that we have of fine medinval art which
remains-the architecture, the sculpture, the painting, the stained glass,
the 
metal-work, the enamellings, the carved wood-work, the pavements, the em-
broidered vestments, the illuminated missal-work, the bookbinding, were 
works directed by or executed for ecclesiastics, and emanated from or were
used in religious foundations. Among the rudest people, all their highest
achievements in art were used in connexion with the service of their gods.
With Protestantism came scepticisms of all kinds. Every one was free to 
choose his own "ism," and no "ism" has been spiritual
enough to seek a de- 
velopement in material beauty. On the contrary, every "ism" rushed
to the 
opposite extreme, and denounced or neglected the association of art and religion.
Church-of-Englandism neglected it: churches were whitewashed, and made 
simply comfortable, high-pewed dozing-boxes. Instead of inviting the people
to enter and meditate in the churches, the churches were shut up and dese-
crated as show-places, the portals of which could only be passed by bribes
to 
drivelling vergers, or direct payments to the corporate funds; but we are
getting somewhat better, and gradually cathedral churches are being opened
to 
the people. Even this very month, the pitiful twopenny fee has, at last,
been 
abolished at St. Paul's. If the art of the last two centuries could be demon-
strated by a single type, it would be a Louis Quatorze scroll, which recalls
the 
debaucheries of courts, the corruption of the people, Voltaire and infidelity!
In England we have certainly affected a liking for Louis Quatorze scrolls,
but still have never thoroughly adopted them ; and though they are to be
found too frequently in every kind of furniture of the drawing-rooms of the
upper classes, and have been introduced by fashion into those of the richer
middle classes, they have never taken root thoroughly, and now the age is
beginning to repudiate them,--for which God be praised. 
For two hundred years and more our Church and our "isms" have cared
Journal of Design. No. 19, September, 1850.                ]a