And
thus, in process of time and by a great national movement, it might
come to pass that a new style should arise, as language itself changes;
we might perhaps come to speak Italian instead of Latin, or to speak
modern instead of old English; but this would be a matter of entire
indifference, and a matter, besides, which no determination or desire
could either hasten or prevent. That alone which it is in our power to
obtain, and which it is our duty to desire, is an unanimous style of
some kind, and such comprehension and practice of it as would enable us
to adapt its features to the peculiar character of every several
building, large or small, domestic, civil or ecclesiastical.
[169] Coleridge's _Ode to France_.
[170] Hubert Van Eyck [1366-1440]. The great Flemish master.
[171] A hollowed moulding. [New Eng. Dict.]
SELECTIONS FROM LECTURES ON ART
Ruskin was first elected to the Slade Professorship of Fine Art in
Oxford in 1869, and held the chair continuously until 1878, when
he resigned because of ill-health, and again from 1883 to 1885.
The _Lectures on Art_ were announced in the _Oxford University
Gazette_ of January 28, 1870, the general subject of the course
being "The Limits and Elementary Practice of Art," with Leonardo's
_Trattato della Pittura_ as the text-book.
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