One cannot neologize with any promise of success unless he knows what is already in the dictionary; and a professional equipment that puts its owner really in possession of the best that has been done in the world is indispensable to successful eclecticism in architecture. On the other hand, it is equally true that no progress can result from the labors of architects whose training has made them so fastidious that they are more revolted by the crudity of the forms that result from the attempt to express a new meaning than by the failure to make the attempt, and so conceal what they are really doing behind a mask of historical architecture, of which the elegance is quite irrelevant. This latter fault is that of modern architecture in general. The history of that architecture indicates that it is a fault even more unpromising of progress than the crudities of an emancipated architecture, in which the discipline of the designer fails to supply the place of the artificial check of an historical style. It is more feasible to tame exuberances than to create a soul under the ribs of death. The emancipation of American architecture is thus ultimately more hopeful than if it were put under academic bonds to keep the peace. It may freely be admitted that many of its manifestations are not for the present joyous, but grievous, and that to throw upon the individual designer the responsibility withheld from a designer with whom fidelity to style is the first duty is a process that fails when his work, as has been wittily said, “shows no more self-restraint than a bunch of fire-crackers.” But these papers have also borne witness that there are among the emancipated practitioners of architecture in the West men who have shown that they can use their liberty wisely, and whose work can be hailed as among the hopeful beginnings of a national architecture. THE END * * * * * Valuable and Interesting Works FOR STUDENTS OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ART. ☞ HARPER & BROTHERS _will send any of the following works by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price_. ☞ _For a full list of works published by_ HARPER & BROTHERS, _see_ HARPER’S REVISED CATALOGUE, _8vo, which will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, on receipt of Ten Cents_. MEDIÆVAL ART. History of Mediæval Art. By Dr. FRANZ VON REBER. Translated and Augmented by JOSEPH THACHER CLARKE. Profusely Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00. ANCIENT ART. History of Ancient Art. By Dr. FRANZ VON REBER. Revised by the Author, and Translated and Augmented by JOSEPH THACHER CLARKE. Profusely Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. SCHLIEMANN’S ILIOS.