"O Carlyle!" exclaimed Emerson, in his diary, at the time 'Sartor Resartus' was being republished in America, 'the merit of glass is not to be seen, but to be seen through; but every crystal and lamina of the Carlyle glass shows.' With admirable precision this defines the proper function of a pane of glass. Decorative art, in casting about for new fields of conquest, has too frequently induced …