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uniformity in its earliest local types prevailed. The shelter of primæval man was little else than the shelter of the savage of to-day; but the instant that an effort is made, either to recognize by structure belief in the material existence of a Deity, or to perpetuate the memory of a man, each race seems to strike out something different from all other races.
It is this tendency to create specific variety in form, the moment the imagination is excited, which calls into being what are known as architectural styles. These are in fact compounded of the hereditary inclinations of races, and the facilities for building existing in the materials for structure by which any such races may be surrounded.
Architecture being based, as I have said, upon reason,—that is, human reason,—cannot but vary with the conditions of reason of those by whom it is originated; and, as men change, so do styles. In the architecture so created, whatever phase or phases it may assume, there must always co-exist two principles which by patient analysis we are enabled to separate. The one is that which is permanent, and therefore common to all styles; the other what is fluctuating with every change, or development of style.
As Socrates replied to Protagoras, "Man is the measure of all things. By descent deeper into his personality, you will find that underneath all varieties there is ground of steady truth. Men differ, but they also agree; and therefore, as to what is fleeting, they agree. As to what is eternal, difference is the region of opinion. Agreement is the region of truth. Let us endeavour to penetrate that region."
The preservation of the element which is permanent gives us that true theory of building up form which constitutes the syntax of the art; while that of the second or temporary provides us with materials for studying the history of fashion, a subject not only amusing and interesting, but most useful if rightly investigated.
Now the syntax of any art can only be arrived at by two