THE NEW EUROPE
climate ot the Dobrudja, that strange region whose ancient granite formations, rising from the waters of the Black Sea, have been washed bare by age-long During the summer, drainage f om its hills and plateaux. Valenil-de-Munte, n the of Mr. B'utte lived hilly region where he wrote interesting pages on the subject of the race whose aristocratic fineness of fibre he appreciated, as well and power of quick decision as the vivacious intelligence which it derives from its remote Latin origins. If the scenery of Roumania has charms for the intelligent traveller who delights in discovering new beauties for him self, her historical monuments —of which many will doubtless have suffered from the avenging vandal sm of German,
Serbia
finally, the curious
Magyar, Turkish and Bulgarian invaders — are no less worthy of his attention. Nay more, of particularly reverent atten tion, in view both of their unique artistic character and of the many vicissitudes through which these fragile monuments of a poor and weak country have passed. It is in these valleys of the Carpathians and in this portion of the Danubian plain alone that a new and distinctive form of art has been born of the union of East and West, of Greco-Slav and Latino-Germanic elements alike. Although official and ecclesiastical life in Moldavia and Wallachia was impregnated with Roman law, Greek Ortho doxy and the Slav language, it was at the same time always subject to revivifying influences which came from mediaeval Western Europe. From that quarter came the general social structure of the two principalities ; from the West also the intellectual tendencies of the Renascence, and latterly those ideas of liberty which are the distin feature of modern times. The results were a guishing who, however, have never en class of feudal boyars, croached upon the autocratic powers of their prince —dominus,
in Roumanian, domn ;
a literature which first sprouted in of the venerable Orthodox Church, but the cold shadow soon turned elsewhere for sun and air ; a permanent bias towards Western political ideals ; and, finally, an architecture marked by charming proportions, great freedom of line, and It is the child equally a delightful native spontaneity. of the Gothic cathedrals of France and" of the ancient basilicas of Byzantium, and employs, even in the domain of sculpture and painting, motifs and ornamentations taken
impartially from the rival civilizations of East and West.
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