It might occur to them, when examining the
details of these buildings, and picturing to themselves the lives of
their inhabitants, in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, that the
'forcing system' is a mistake--that art never flourished as an exotic,
and assuredly never will--that before we live again in mediaeval houses,
and realise the true meaning of what is 'Gothic' and appropriate in
architecture, we must begin at the beginning, our lives must be simpler,
our costumes more graceful and appropriate, and the education of our
children more in harmony with a true feeling for art. In short, we must
be more manly, more capable, more self-reliant, and true to each other,
and have less in common with the present age of shams.
The very essence and life of Gothic art is its realism and truism, and
until we carry out its principles in our hearts and lives, it will be
little more to us than a toy and a tradition.
CHAPTER IV.
_CAEN._
'Large, strong, full of draperies, and all sorts of merchandise;
rich citizens, noble dames, damsels, and fine churches.'
The ancient city of Caen, which was thus described by Froissart in the
middle of the fourteenth century, when the English sacked the town and
carried away its riches, might be described in the nineteenth, in almost
the same words; when a goodly company of English people have again taken
possession of it--for its cheapness.
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