Apart from life in London the country at heart retained its mediaeval characteristics ; agriculture was the staple industry .sx From the Reformation to the beginning of the Georgian period the influence of the Italian Renaissance had been at work softening the feudal afterglow .sx There was soon to arise a maturity of opinion which placed the fine arts in the first rank .sx It became the mission of the Royal Society of Arts to direct this opinion and to reconcile the new social conditions with the new urge of commerce .sx Until the Royal Agricultural Society was established this Society ( The Royal Society of Arts ) was the principal institution in the country for the promotion of agriculture .sx The newer order of civil engineers , the bridge and dock builders and those engaged in the construction of harbours and lighthouses , had their work sponsored by the Society .sx The pioneers in chemistry and electricity , in mechanical power and its application to industry were encouraged by the propaganda of the Society .sx This , the period 1760-1820 , was the great age of inventions and patents .sx In the encouragement of the Fine Arts the Society was foremost .sx I could read you a list of artists from the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds to our own day who benefited by the Society .sx Here are a few :sx Cosway , Nollekens , Romney , Lawrence , Bewick , Flaxman , and so on down to the eminent Victorians .sx In addition , the Society brought into its purview the needs of the Colonies , and , as America was then part of the British Dominions , there is no doubt of the fact that many things which have since been developed in the United States owe their origin to the Royal Society of Arts .sx Half a century in the life of a nation is a brief span .sx The nineteenth century opened with the rhythmic movement of beam engines , the canals were already threatened when Trevithick charged a shilling a head to all who wished to see the " Catch me who can " trundle round the circular track on the allotment ground north of the new road .sx Thirty years later this site was to become Euston .sx The Society in its manifold interests was a force .sx Its interests exactly coincided with the moods of the day .sx No one could foresee the developments which would ensue with terrific complication in the twentieth century .sx Even then vast areas of farm land in the North and the Midlands were industrialised ; tall chimneys began to blacken the landscape with sooty belchings .sx Industry quickened to vigorous action and humanity began to drift to the incipient slums .sx From the accession of Queen Victoria to the year 1900 the railways confined inland transport to the iron road ; the old coach routes which had resounded to the tantivy trot were almost deserted .sx During the last thirty years all this has been changed .sx Cobbett's wen has become a terrific growth encroaching upon a circle of the home counties fifty miles in diameter .sx The internal combustion engine has wrought this change .sx In place of once beautiful scenery we have reckless urbanisation and thoughtless spoliation .sx How different are the conditions from what they were when the Royal Society of Arts began its mission !sx At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population .sx was roughly eleven millions ; to-day it is forty millions .sx The Society has passed through two important stages of its life .sx At first its work was to organise the arts and the sciences as an aid to commerce ; secondly , its mission was to assist in the flood of prosperity which the Victorians enjoyed .sx The task before it to-day is even greater ; it has to guide enlightened democracy to an appreciation of the seemly and the beautiful .sx True to its principles it seeks to encourage the young and to interest those in a position to adjust the employment of native talent .sx The conditions of the moment , difficult as they appear , are not insuperable .sx We have to face the fact that the general standard of living has changed .sx Millions now enjoy comforts which a century ago would have been deemed unthinkable .sx There has ensued a lowering of standard in the quality of commodities ; the machine has almost suppressed handicraft .sx Thank God , the machine cannot manufacture art !sx When at the beginning of the Victorian era the traditions of centuries became merged with the products of the machine , a mistaken idea arose as to the meaning of Art .sx Men began to revive the styles .sx It was thought that reproduction of stylistic things , aided by the machine , would give new life to everyday things .sx People thought , perhaps unwisely , that Art could be applied to everything .sx Hence the Babylonian confusion of taste which is the characteristic of the Art of the nineteenth century .sx Even William Morris and his enthusiastic followers confused the terms art and craft .sx In our inner thoughts we all regard fine art as an ideal , reflecting the senses and the understanding , something cryptically human perhaps , something inexplicable and , from the practical and material standpoint , almost entirely useless .sx But , nevertheless , we think of it as essential to the well-being of the national character .sx Art , slowly and painfully evolved , graded according to the humanistic aspirations of those who believe in it .sx The products of the crafts , and by this term is implied works of industrial craftsmen , engaged in the production of articles of every-day use , can only claim to have artistic status when such products are shaped or embellished in an ambitious manner .sx In other words , a craftsman becomes an artist when his work exceeds its bounds and partakes of sculptural or painted interest .sx Ordinary shaping belongs to the vernacular of craftsmanship .sx The Victorians did not fully appreciate this fact , but it was subconsciously understood by the craftsmen of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance .sx The machine facilitated both the rapid production of articles and the standardisation of the styles taken from the copy books .sx Many of the works of neolithic man demonstrate where Craft ends and Art begins .sx Surgery is often written of as an Art .sx The Art of Surgery , we say , perhaps in ignorance of its niceties .sx In some regards it is an art of nice carving , but strictly speaking , it is a craft .sx This simile could apply to many of the arty crafty productions of the toy shops of the furniture trade no less than to the productions of the potteries .sx Social conditions demand to-day that all goods should have an appearance of luxury :sx I don't see the necessity .sx The falsity of the goods does not matter , providing they have the attributes of novelty .sx If they wear out quickly , we say , it is easy to buy more .sx This point of view is part of the modern creed .sx Must we accept both the conditions and the creed ?sx But our young craftsmen no less than our manufacturers should learn that conscious art is not always desirable .sx There are times when the spirit of Art should not be degraded times when Art is not required .sx Of later years we have come to recognise the fact that the products of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance possess a quality which we admire and , at the same time , despair of recovering .sx We never shall recover that quality until we tackle our problems anew .sx Modernism aims at sweeping the past into the limbo of things to be forgotten .sx It is symptomatic of democracy and the triumph of the machine .sx If we modernists could build up a new beauty , a new perception of rightness in all works of the mind and the imagination , they would be certain of success .sx But modernism , unfortunately , is another name for fashion .sx A sort of get-rich-quick shibboleth ; devil take the hindmost .sx Rather cruel .sx The average modernist seeking notoriety is apt to disregard proven materials .sx He juggles with form and experiments with the abstract , hoping that something will arise and something does arise , but not art .sx But I warn you , modernism is not lightly to be disregarded ; at present its tenets are half truths , and that is where the danger lies .sx In Germany , where much has been done to foster the new movement , a sort of formula has been evolved for dehumanised building in which direct expression of function is dominant .sx The factory or machine-shop style is one of the important contributions .sx In France the liner or the aeroplane style has been developed .sx America has made vertical advances in the ziggurat style .sx Some adventurers in England compromise between all three .sx They are mere copy cats .sx Now my point in this particular regard is that the arts take their tone from architecture .sx Because a sort of cubism is the fashion in architecture , sculpture follows suit , and so on , and so forth .sx But such experiments do not deceive those thinkers who advocate grace in building .sx No doubt time will bring its compensations ; bastard engineering will in turn give place to a revival of building in which materials will be treated logically and without affectation .sx Another point which I would like to bring to your notice is that a work of real architectural merit may be supremely beautiful both in the structural sense and in the adjustment of its detail and embellishments , and only useful as a monumental symbol .sx The Gothic cathedrals , those marvellous fantasies in stone , illustrate my point .sx Such structures are real architecture ; they inherit architectonic qualities and as buildings they are ideally human .sx In a like category I would include all works which have pictorial interest .sx That this fact is being appreciated almost universally by all who look ahead is to be seen in some of the finest recent works on the Continent and in this country .sx But there can be no disputing about taste .sx If ever the day comes when architectonic qualities are ignored , useless as they may be from a practical standpoint , then architecture will cease to be a fine art .sx This is very nearly the case to-day .sx A work of art must be the product of a controlling mind .sx Great works of architecture have of necessity to be evolved by that modern evil spirit the architect who has never ceased to pay attention to the mistress Art since the day she took the veil in an office .sx The architect leagued with another .sx devil , the engineer , devises steel skeletons and clothes , or half clothes , the articulated forms according to fashion .sx Q.E.D. .sx Speaking of the lesser objects of art , the bric-a-brac , if these objects are to rank as works of fine art they must be made by hand .sx Remember , we have already differentiated between art and handicraft .sx Much of the rubbishy art work of to-day , toy sculpture , pretty painting , loose carving , odd stuffs and grotesque pottery , is due to lack of taking pains on the part of the artists , the greed of manufacturers , the apathy of the general public who follow fashion as sheep follow the butcher to the slaughterhouse , and the general chaotic conditions .sx Poor deluded democracy is fobbed off with the thing that is not .sx The mission before the Royal Society of Arts is to promote Arts and Commerce .sx Read the inscription on the entablature .sx In its discussions the Council would do well to draw up a list of " Don'ts " for the benefit of youth and age .sx Here are a few " don'ts " :sx - .sx 1 .sx In all works of general utility ( everyday things ) , pots , pans , kettles , knives forks , jam jars and what not , avoid being arty .sx Aim at reasonable shapes ; standardise , by all means , but insist on economy and direct statement .sx Improve the lettering on marmalade , honey and jam jars .sx Think of the good lettering on the Harvey Sauce bottles .sx In furniture design give prominence to simple form , avoid Jacobethan or pseudo-cottage types , eschew ye ancient or ye bleached , ye smoaked or ye charred .sx Remember , good wood should not be disfigured .sx While some may prefer metal furniture of the hospital or dental-chair type , others have a horror of anything that looks like an operating table .sx Encourage people to be measured for their chairs and tables .sx 4 .sx In church furniture avoid travesties of Gothic or Classic ; suppress absurd lecterns , screens , altars and reredoses , which disfigure old buildings and turn new churches into showrooms .sx Such things when needed should be made to order and not kept in stock .sx