30                                Wallpaper and Carpets

Beside wallpaper and carpets, there are tile patterns, weaving and basketwork. I think the love of order or repetition goes far back in prehistory; I wonder, did weaving or did basketwork give the first opportunity for someone to create a pattern of repeated motifs? (Possibly the braiding of hair came before either.) Setting that aside, there is no doubt about the abundance of repetitive patterns in our homes and streets; there must be something in the mind that makes them pleasing to the eye.

31                                    Symmetry of Face

"What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?" I think William Blake is a little out of line there: it is not the symmetry of a tiger's face that is fearful, and in fact a crookedness, some lack of symmetry, would probably make it even more scary. Among humans, the crooked smile goes with the villain, and the lovely heroine is usually closer to symmetrical --- her left cheek and right cheek match.

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