'
Truly, it was a glorious success that art achieved in the Italian
republic, Whether the old precedents were violated or not, the result is
unquestionably pleasing, and the pleasure-seeking tourist lingers there
as long as the critic.
At this transition state, through which Venice passed so nobly, have we
now arrived. We have collected our materials, and piled them up
together, but just as all seems most propitious, _le mouvement
s'arrete_, the materials will not coalesce. The brass and the silver,
the iron and the gold, are all in the crucible, but there is no fusion,
only a discordant clash.
Alas! there is no heat. We are not warmed, as yet, with any love for
art. We are too much absorbed in the rapid accumulation of wealth, or
the passing excitement of the hour, to attend to anything that is noble
or honest or beautiful. And now that devastating war is sweeping through
the land and clogging the wheels of progress, we are learning terrible
lessons; but, with experience for our teacher, learning them well.
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