teach us? What are we to do, that we may take heed to, and spread
the decencies of life, so that at the least we may have a field
where it will be possible for art to grow when men begin to long for
it: what finally can we do, each of us, to cherish some germ of
art, so that it may meet with others, and spread and grow little by
little into the thing that we need?

Now I cannot pretend to think that the first of these duties is a
matter of indifference to you, after my experience of the
enthusiastic meeting that I had the honour of addressing here last
autumn on the subject of the (so called) restoration of St. Mark's
at Venice; you thought, and most justly thought, it seems to me,
that the subject was of such moment to art in general, that it was a
simple and obvious thing for men who were anxious on the matter to
address themselves to those who had the decision of it in their
hands; even though the former were called Englishmen, and the latter
Italians; for you felt that the name of lovers of art would cover
those differences: if you had any misgivings, you remembered that
there was but one such building in the world, and that it was worth
while risking a breach of etiquette, if any words of ours could do
anything towards saving it; well, the Italians were, some of them,
very naturally, though surely unreasonably, irritated, for a time,
and in some of their prints they bade us look at home; that was no
argument in favour of the wisdom of wantonly rebuilding St. Mark's
facade: but certainly those of us who have not yet looked at home
in this matter had better do so speedily, late and over late though
it be: for though we have no golden-pictured interiors like St.
Mark's Church at home, we still have many buildings which are both
works of ancient art and monuments of history: and just think what
is happening to them, and note, since we profess to recognise their