,,picture ,,and ,,text  ,by ,henry      
,james  ,harper ,and ,brothers -        
,,mdcccxciii     ,,note  ,two of the    
following papers were originally        
published1 with illustrations1 in       
,harper's ,magazine and the title of one
 of them--the first of titles has been  
altered from 8,our ,artists in ,europe40
 ,the other1 the article on ,mr4        
,sargent1 was accompanied by            
reproductions of several of his         
portraits4 ,the notice of ,mr4 ,abbey   
and that of ,mr4 ,reinhart appeared in  
,harper's ,weekly4 ,that of ,mr4 ,alfred
 ,parsons figured as an introduction to 
the catalogue of an exhibition of his   
pictures4 ,the sketch of ,daumier was   
first contributed to ,the ,century1 and 
8,after the ,play0 to ,the ,new ,review4
     ,,black ,,and ,,white              
,illustration3 ,black and ,white ,page  
,image  ,if there be nothing new under  
the sun there are some things a good    
deal less old than others4 ,the         
illustration of books1 and even more of 

magazines1 may be said to have been born
 in our time1 so far as variety and     
abundance are the signs of it2 or born1 
at any rate1 the comprehensive1         
ingenious1 sympathetic spirit in which  
we conceive and practise it4  ,if the   
centuries are ever arraigned at some bar
 of justice to answer in regard to what 
they have given1 of good or of bad1 to  
humanity1 our interesting age 7which    
certainly is not open to the charge of  
having stood with its hands in its      
pockets7 might perhaps do worse than put
 forth the plea of having contributed a 
fresh interest in 8black and white40    
,the claim may now be made with the more
 confidence from the very evident       
circumstance that this interest is far  
from exhausted4 ,these pages are an     
excellent place for such an assumption4 
,in ,harper they have again and again1  
as it were1 illustrated the             
illustration1 and they constitute for   
the artist a series of invitations1     
provocations and opportunities4 ,they   

may be referred to without arrogance in 
support of the contention that the      
limits of this large movement1 with all 
its new and rare refinement1 are not yet
 in sight4     ,i  ,it is on the        
contrary the constant extension that is 
visible1 with the attendant             
circumstances of multiplied experiment  
and intensified research--circumstances 
that lately pressed once more on the    
attention of the writer of these remarks
 on his finding himself in the          
particular spot which history will      
perhaps associate most with the charming
 revival4 ,a very old ,english village1 
lying among its meadows and hedges1 in  
the very heart of the country1 in a     
hollow of the green hills of            
,worcestershire1 is responsible directly
 and indirectly for some of the most    
beautiful work in black and white with  
which ,i am at liberty to concern myself
 here2 in other words1 for much of the  
work of ,mr4 ,abbey and ,mr4 ,alfred    
,parsons4 ,i do not mean that ,broadway 

has told these gentlemen all they know  
7the name1 from which the ,american     
reader has to brush away an incongruous 
association1 may as well be written     
first as last72 for ,mr4 ,parsons1 in   
particular1 who knows everything that   
can be known about ,english fields and  
flowers1 would have good reason to      
insist that the measure of his large    
landscape art is a large experience4 ,i 
only suggest that if one loves ,broadway
 and is familiar with it1 and if a part 
of that predilection is that one has    
seen ,mr4 ,abbey and ,mr4 ,parsons at   
work there1 the pleasant confusion takes
 place of itself2 one's affection for   
the wide1 long1 grass-bordered vista of 
brownish gray cottages1 thatched1       
latticed1 mottled1 mended1 ivied1       
immemorial1 grows with the sense of its 
having ministered to other minds and    
transferred itself to other recipients2 
just as the beauty of many a bit in many
 a drawing of the artists ,i have       
mentioned is enhanced by the sense1 or  

at any rate by the desire1 of           
recognition4 ,broadway and much of the  
land about it are in short the          
perfection of the old ,english rural    
tradition1 and if they do not underlie  
all the combinations by which 7in their 
pictorial accompaniments to rediscovered
 ballads1 their vignettes to story or   
sonnet7 these particular talents touch  
us almost to tears1 we feel at least    
that they would have sufficed3 they     
cover the scale4  ,illustration3 ,priory
  ,in regard1 however1 to the           
implications and explications of this   
perfection of a village1 primarily and  
to be just1 ,broadway is1 more than any 
one else4 ,mr4 ,frank ,millet4 ,mr4     
,laurence ,hutton discovered but ,mr4   
,millet appropriated it3 its sweetness  
was wasted until he began to distil and 
bottle it4 ,he disinterred the treasure1
 and with impetuous liberality made us  
sharers in his fortune4 ,his own work1  
moreover1 betrays him1 as well as the   
gratitude of participants1 as ,i could  

easily prove if it did not perversely   
happen that he has commemorated most of 
his impressions in color4 ,that excludes
 them from the small space here at my   
command2 otherwise ,i could testify to  
the identity of old nooks and old       
objects1 those that constitute both     
out-of-door and in-door furniture4      
,illustration3 ,the village-green1      
,broadway  ,in such places as ,broadway1
 and it is part of the charm of them to 
,american eyes1 the sky looks down on   
almost as many 8things0 as the ceiling1 
and 8things0 are the joy of the         
illustrator4 ,furnished apartments are  
useful to the artist1 but a furnished   
country is still more to his purpose4 ,a
 ripe midland ,english region is a      
museum of accessories and specimens1 and
 is sure1 under any circumstances1 to   
contain the article wanted4 ,this is the
 great recommendation of ,broadway2     
everything in it is convertible4 ,even  
the passing visitor finds himself       
becoming so2 the place has so much      

character that it rubs off on him1 and  
if in an old garden--an old garden with 
old gates and old walls and old         
summer-houses--he lies down on the old  
grass 7on an immemorial rug1 no doubt71 
it is ten to one but that he will be    
converted4 ,the little oblong sheaves of
 blank paper with elastic straps are    
fluttering all over the place4 ,there is
 portraiture in the air and composition 
in the very accidents4 ,everything is a 
subject or an effect1 a 8bit0 or a good 
thing4 ,it is always some kind of day2  
if it be not one kind it is another4    
,the garden walls1 the mossy roofs1 the 
open doorways and brown interiors1 the  
old-fashioned flowers1 the bushes in    
figures1 the geese on the green1 the    
patches1 the jumbles1 the glimpses1 the 
color1 the surface1 the general         
complexion of things1 have all a value1 
a reference and an application4 ,if they
 are a matter of appreciation1 that is  
why the gray-brown houses are perhaps   
more brown than gray1 and more yellow   

than either4 ,they are various things in
 turn1 according to lights and days and 
needs4 ,it is a question of color 7all  
consciousness at ,broadway is that71 but
 the irresponsible profane are not      
called upon to settle the tint4  ,it is 
delicious to be at ,broadway and to be  
one of the irresponsible profane--not to
 have to draw4 ,the single street is in 
the grand style1 sloping slowly upward  
to the base of the hills for a mile1 but
 you may enjoy it without a carking care
 as to how to 8render0 the perspective4 
,everything is stone except the general 
greenness--a charming smooth local      
stone1 which looks as if it had been    
meant for great constructions and       
appears even in dry weather to have been
 washed and varnished by the rain4      
,half-way up the road1 in the widest    
place1 where the coaches used to turn   
7there were many of old1 but the traffic
 of ,broadway was blown to pieces by    
steam1 though the destroyer has not come
 nearer than half a dozen miles71 a     

great gabled mansion1 which was once a  
manor or a house of state1 and is now a 
rambling inn1 stands looking at a       
detached swinging sign which is almost  
as big as itself--a very grand sign1 the
 8arms0 of an old family1 on the top of 
a very tall post4 ,you will find        
something very like the place among ,mr4
 ,abbey's delightful illustrations to1  
8,she ,stoops to ,conquer40 ,when the   
,september day grows dim and some of the
 windows glow1 you may look out1 if you 
like1 for ,tony ,lumpkin's red coat in  
the doorway or imagine ,miss            
,hardcastle's quilted petticoat on the  
stair4     ,,ii  ,illustration3 ,millet 
,it is characteristic of ,mr4 ,frank    
,millet's checkered career1 with        
opposites so much mingled in it1 that   
such work as he has done for ,harper    
should have had as little in common as  
possible with midland ,english scenery4 
,he has been less a producer in black   
and white than a promoter and1 as ,i may
 say1 a protector of such production in 

others2 but none the less the back      
volumes of ,harper testify to the       
activity of his pencil as well as to the
 variety of his interests4 ,there was a 
time when he drew little else but       
,cossacks and ,orientals1 and drew them 
as one who had good cause to be vivid4  
,of the young generation he was the     
first to know the ,russian plastically1 
especially the ,russian soldier1 and he 
had paid heavily for his acquaintance4  
,during the ,russo-,turkish war he was  
correspondent in the field 7with the    
victors7 of the ,new ,york ,herald and  
the ,london ,daily ,news--a capacity in 
which he made many out-of-the-way1 many 
precious1 observations4 ,he has seen    
strange countries--the ,east and the    
,south and the ,west and the ,north--and
 practised many arts4 ,to the ,london   
,graphic1 in #ahgg he sent striking     
sketches from the ,east1 as well as     
capital prose to the journals ,i have   
mentioned4 ,he has always been as       
capable of writing a text for his own   

sketches as of making sketches for the  
text of others4 ,he has made pictures   
without words and words without         
pictures4 ,he has written some very     
clever ghost-stories1 and drawn and     
painted some very immediate realities4  
,he has lately given himself up to these
 latter objects1 and discovered that    
they have mysteries more absorbing than 
any others4 ,i find in ,harper1 in      
#ahhe4 8,a ,wild-goose ,chase0 through  
,north ,germany and ,denmark1 in which  
both pencil and pen are ,mr4 ,millet's1 
and both show the natural and the       
trained observer4  ,he knows the        
art-schools of the ,continent1 the      
studios of ,paris1 the 8dodges0 of      
,antwerp1 the subjects1 the models of   
,venice1 and has had much sthetic as    
well as much personal experience4 ,he   
has draped and distributed ,greek plays 
at ,harvard1 as well as ridden over     
,balkans to post pressing letters1 and  
given publicity to ,english villages in 
which susceptible ,americans may get the

 strongest sensations with the least    
trouble to themselves4 ,if the trouble  
in each case will have been largely his1
 this is but congruous with the fact    
that he has not only found time to have 
a great deal of history himself1 but has
 suffered himself to be converted by    
others into an element--beneficent ,i   
should call it if discretion did not    
forbid me--of their history4 ,springing 
from a very old ,new ,england stock1 he 
has found the practice of art a         
wonderful antidote1 in his own language1
 8for belated ,puritanism40 ,he is very 
modern1 in the sense of having tried    
many things and availed himself of all  
of the facilities of his time2 but      
especially on this ground of having     
fought out for himself the battle of the
 ,puritan habit and the sthetic         
experiment4 ,his experiment was         
admirably successful from the moment    
that the ,puritan levity was forced to  
consent to its becoming a serious one4  
,in other words1 if ,mr4 ,millet is     

artistically interesting to-day 7and to 
the author of these remarks he is highly
 so71 it is because he is a striking    
example of what the typical ,american   
quality can achieve4  ,he began by      
having an excellent pencil1 because as a
 thoroughly practical man he could not  
possibly have had a weak one4 ,but      
nothing is more remunerative to follow  
than the stages by which 8faculty0 in   
general 7which is what ,i mean by the   
characteristic ,american quality7 has   
become the particular faculty2 so that  
if in the artist's present work one     
recognizes--recognizes even fondly--the 
national handiness1 it is as handiness  
regenerate and transfigured4 ,the       
,american adaptiveness has become a     
,dutch finish4 ,the only criticism ,i   
have to make is of the preordained      
paucity of ,mr4 ,millet's drawings2 for 
my mission is not to speak of his work  
in oils1 every year more important 7as  
was indicated by the brilliant interior 
with figures that greeted the spectator 

in so friendly a fashion on the         
threshold of the ,royal ,academy        
exhibition of #ahhh71 nor to say that it
 is illustration too--illustration of   
any old-fashioned song or story that    
hums in the brain or haunts the         
memory--nor even to hint that the       
admirable rendering of the charming old 
objects with which it deals 7among which
 ,i include the human face and figure in
 dresses unfolded from the lavender of  
the past71 the old surfaces and tones1  
the stuffs and textures1 the old        
mahogany and silver and brass--the old  
sentiment too1 and the old              
picture-making vision--are in the direct
 tradition of ,terburg and ,de ,hoogh   
and ,metzu4     ,,iii  ,there is no     
paucity about ,mr4 ,abbey as a virtuoso 
in black and white1 and if one thing    
more than another sets the seal upon the
 quality of his work1 it is the rare    
abundance in which it is produced4 ,it  
is not a frequent thing to find         
combinations infinite as well as        

exquisite4 ,mr4 ,abbey has so many      
ideas1 and the gates of composition have
 been opened so wide to him1 that we    
cultivate his company with a mixture of 
confidence and excitement4 ,the readers 
of ,harper have had for years a great   
deal of it1 and they will easily        
recognize the feeling ,i allude to--the 
expectation of familiarity in variety4  
,the beautiful art and taste1 the       
admirable execution1 strike the hour    
with the same note2 but the figure1 the 
scene1 is ever a fresh conception4      
,never was ripe skill less mechanical1  
and never was the faculty of perpetual  
evocation less addicted to prudent      
economies4 ,mr4 ,abbey never saves for  
the next picture1 yet the next picture  
will be as expensive as the last4 ,his  
whole career has been open to the       
readers of ,harper1 so that what they   
may enjoy on any particular occasion is 
not only the talent1 but a kind of      
affectionate sense of the history of the
 talent1 ,that history is1 from the     

beginning1 in these pages1 and it is one
 of the most interesting and            
instructive1 just as the talent is one  
of the richest and the most sympathetic 
in the art-annals of our generation4 ,i 
may as well frankly declare that ,i have
 such a taste for ,mr4 ,abbey's work    
that ,i cannot affect a judicial tone   
about it4 ,criticism is appreciation or 
it is nothing1 and an intelligence of   
the matter in hand is recorded more     
substantially in a single positive sign 
of such appreciation than in a volume of
 sapient objections for objection's     
sake--the cheapest of all literary      
commodities4 ,silence is the perfection 
of disapproval1 and it has the great    
merit of leaving the value of speech1   
when the moment comes for it1           
unimpaired4  ,accordingly it is         
important to translate as adequately as 
possible the positive side of ,mr4      
,abbey's activity4 ,none to-day is more 
charming1 and none helps us more to take
 the large1 joyous1 observant1 various  

view of the business of art4 ,he has    
enlarged the idea of illustration1 and  
he plays with it in a hundred           
spontaneous1 ingenious ways4 8,truth and
 poetry0 is the motto legibly stamped   
upon his pencil-case1 for if he has on  
the one side a singular sense of the    
familiar1 salient1 importunate facts of 
life1 on the other they reproduce       
themselves in his mind in a delightfully
 qualifying medium4 ,it is this medium  
that the fond observer must especially  
envy ,mr4 ,abbey1 and that a literary   
observer will envy him most of all4     
,such a hapless personage1 who may have 
spent hours in trying to produce        
something of the same result by sadly   
different means1 will measure the       
difference between the roundabout1 faint
 descriptive tokens of respectable prose
 and the immediate projection of the    
figure by the pencil4 ,a charming       
story-teller indeed he would be who     
should write as ,mr4 ,abbey draws4      
,however1 what is style for one art is  

style for other1 so blessed is the      
fraternity that binds them together1 and
 the worker in words may take a lesson  
from the picture-maker of 8,she ,stoops 
to ,conquer40 ,it is true that what the 
verbal artist would like to do would be 
to find out the secret of the pictorial1
 to drink at the same fountain4 ,mr4    
,abbey is essentially one of those who  
would tell us if he could1 and conduct  
us to the magic spring2 but here he is  
in the nature of the case helpless1 for 
the happy ambiente as the ,italians call
 it1 in which his creations move is     
exactly the thing1 as ,i take it1 that  
he can least give an account of4 ,it is 
a matter of genius and imagination--one 
of those things that a man determines   
for himself as little as he determines  
the color of his eyes4 ,how1 for        
instance1 can ,mr4 ,abbey explain the   
manner in which he directly observes    
figures1 scenes1 places1 that exist only
 in the fairy-land of his fancy8 ,for   
the peculiar sign of his talent is      

surely this observation in the remote4  
,it brings the remote near to us1 but   
such a complicated journey as it must   
first have had to make6 ,remote in time 
7in differing degrees71 remote in place1
 remote in feeling1 in habit1 and in    
their ambient air1 are the images that  
spring from his pencil1 and yet all so  
vividly1 so minutely1 so consistently   
seen6 ,where does he see them1 where    
does he find them1 how does he catch    
them1 and in what language does he      
delightfully converse with them8 ,in    
what mystic recesses of space does the  
revelation descend upon him8  ,the      
questions flow from the beguiled but    
puzzled admirer1 and their tenor        
sufficiently expresses the claim ,i make
 for the admirable artist when ,i say   
that his truth is interfused with       
poetry4 ,he spurns the literal and yet  
superabounds in the characteristic1 and 
if he makes the strange familiar he     
makes the familiar just strange enough  
to be distinguished4 ,everything is so  

human1 so humorous and so caught in the 
act1 so buttoned and petticoated and    
gartered1 that it might be round the    
corner2 and so it is--but the corner is 
the corner of another world4 ,in that   
other world ,mr4 ,abbey went forth to   
dwell in extreme youth1 as ,i need      
scarcely be at pains to remind those who
 have followed him in ,harper4 ,it is   
not important here to give a catalogue  
of his contributions to that journal3   
turn to the back volumes and you will   
meet him at every step4 ,every one      
remembers his young1 tentative1         
prelusive illustrations to ,herrick1 in 
which there are the prettiest glimpses1 
guesses and foreknowledge of the effects
 he was to make completely his own4 ,the
 ,herrick was done mainly1 if ,i mistake
 not1 before he had been to ,england1   
and it remains1 in the light of this    
fact1 a singularly touching as well as a
 singularly promising performance4 ,the 
eye of sense in such a case had to be to
 a rare extent the mind's eye1 and this 

convertibility of the two organs has    
persisted4  ,from the first and always  
that other world and that qualifying    
medium in which ,i have said that the   
human spectacle goes on for ,mr4 ,abbey 
have been a county of old ,england which
 is not to be found in any geography1   
though it borders1 as ,i have hinted1 on
 the ,worcestershire ,broadway4 ,few    
artistic phenomena are more curious than
 the congenital acquaintance of this    
perverse young ,philadelphian with that 
mysterious locality4 ,it is there that  
he finds them all--the nooks1 the       
corners1 the people1 the clothes1 the   
arbors and gardens and teahouses1 the   
queer courts of old inns1 the sun-warmed
 angles of old parapets4 ,i ought to    
have mentioned for completeness1 in     
addition to his pictures to ,goldsmith  
and to the scraps of homely ,british    
song 7this latter class has contained   
some of his most exquisite work71 his   
delicate drawing's for ,mr4 ,william    
,black's ,judith ,shakespeare4 ,and in  

relation to that distinguished name--,i 
don't mean ,mr4 ,black's--it is a       
comfort1 if ,i may be allowed the       
expression1 to know that 7as1 to the    
best of my belief1 ,i violate no        
confidence in saying7 he is even now    
engaged in the great work of            
illustrating the comedies4 ,he is busy  
with 8,the ,merchant of ,venice20  he is
 up to his neck in studies1 in          
rehearsals4 ,here again1 while in       
prevision ,i admire the result1 what ,i 
can least refrain from expressing is a  
sort of envy of the process1 knowing    
what it is with ,mr4 ,abbey and what    
explorations of the delightful it       
entails--arduous1 indefatigable1 till   
the end seems almost smothered in the   
means 7such material complications they 
engender71 but making one's daily task a
 thing of beauty and honor and          
beneficence4     ,,iv  ,illustration3   
,alfred ,parsons  ,even if ,mr4 ,alfred 
,parsons were not a masterly contributor
 to the pages of ,harper1 it would still

 be almost inevitable to speak of him   
after speaking of ,mr4 ,abbey1 for the  
definite reason 7,i hope that in giving 
it ,i may not appear to invade too      
grossly the domain of private life7 that
 these gentlemen are united in domestic 
circumstance as well as associated in   
the nature of their work4 ,in ,london1  
in the relatively lucid air of ,campden 
,hill1 they dwell together1 and their   
beautiful studios are side by side4     
,however1 there is a reason for         
commemorating ,mr4 ,parsons' work which 
has nothing to do with the              
accidental--the simple fact that that   
work forms the richest illustration of  
the ,english landscape that is offered  
us to-day4 ,harper has for a long time  
past been full of ,mr4 ,alfred ,parsons1
 who has made the dense1 fine detail of 
his native land familiar in far         
countries1 amid scenery of a very       
different type4 ,this is what the modern
 illustration can do when the ripeness  
of the modern sense is brought to it and

 the wood-cutter plays with difficulties
 as the brilliant ,americans do to-day1 
following his original at a breakneck   
pace4 ,an illusion is produced which1 in
 its very completeness1 makes one cast  
an uneasy eye over the dwindling fields 
that are still left to conquer4 ,such   
art as ,alfred ,parsons'--such an       
accomplished translation of local       
aspects1 translated in its turn by      
cunning hands and diffused by a         
wonderful system of periodicity through 
vast and remote communities1 has1 ,i    
confess1 in a peculiar degree1 the      
effect that so many things have in this 
age of multiplication--that of          
suppressing intervals and differences   
and making the globe seem alarmingly    
small4 ,vivid and repeated evocations of
 ,english rural things--the meadows and 
lanes1 the sedgy streams1 the old       
orchards and timbered houses1 the stout1
 individual1 insular trees1 the flowers 
under the hedge and in it and over it1  
the sweet rich country seen from the    

slope1 the bend of the unformidable     
river1 the actual romance of the castle 
against the sky1 the place on the       
hill-side where the gray church begins  
to peep 7a peaceful little grassy path  
leads up to it over a stile7--all this  
brings about a terrible displacement of 
the very objects that make pilgrimage a 
passion1 and hurries forward that       
ambiguous advantage which ,i don't envy 
our grandchildren1 that of knowing all  
about everything in advance1 having     
trotted round the globe annually in the 
magazines and lost the bloom of personal
 experience4 ,it is a part of the       
general abolition of mystery with which 
we are all so complacently busy today4  
,one would like to retire to another    
planet with a box of ,mr4 ,parsons'     
drawings1 and be homesick there for the 
pleasant places they commemorate4       
,there are many things to be said about 
his talent1 some of which are not the   
easiest in the world to express4 ,i     
shall not1 however1 make them more      

difficult by attempting to catalogue his
 contributions in these pages4 ,a       
turning of the leaves of ,harper brings 
one constantly face to face with him1   
and a systematic search speedily makes  
one intimate4 ,the reader will remember 
the beautiful ,illustrations to ,mr4    
,blackmore's novel of ,springhaven1     
which were interspersed with striking   
figure-pieces from the pencil of that   
very peculiar pictorial humorist ,mr4   
,frederick ,barnard1 who1 allowing for  
the fact that he always seems a little  
too much to be drawing for ,dickens and 
that the footlights are the illumination
 of his scenic world1 has so remarkable 
a sense of ,english types and attitudes1
 costumes and accessories1 in what may  
be called the great-coat-and-gaiters    
period--the period when people were     
stiff with riding and wicked            
conspiracies went forward in sanded     
provincial inn-parlors4 ,mr4 ,alfred    
,parsons1 who is still conveniently     
young1 waked to his first vision of     

pleasant material in the comprehensive  
county of ,somerset--a capital centre of
 impression for a painter of the        
bucolic4 ,he has been to ,america2 he   
has even reproduced with remarkable     
discrimination and truth some of the    
way-side objects of that country1 not   
making them look in the least like their
 ,english equivalents1 if equivalents   
they may be said to have4 ,was it there 
that ,mr4 ,parsons learned so well how  
,americans would like ,england to       
appear8 ,i ask this idle question simply
 because the ,england of his pencil1 and
 not less of his brush 7of his eminent  
brush there would be much to say71 is   
exactly the ,england that the ,american 
imagination1 restricted to itself1      
constructs from the poets1 the          
novelists1 from all the delightful      
testimony it inherits4 ,it was scarcely 
to have been supposed possible that the 
native point of view would embrace and  
observe so many of the things that the  
more or less famished outsider is1 in   

vulgar parlance1 8after40 ,in other     
words 7though ,i appear to utter a      
foolish paradox71 the danger might have 
been that ,mr4 ,parsons knew his subject
 too well to feel it--to feel it1 ,i    
mean1  l',amricaine4 ,he is as tender of
 it as if he were vague about it1 and as
 certain of it as if he were blas4  ,but
 after having wished that his country   
should be just so1 we proceed to        
discover that it is in fact not a bit   
different4 ,between these phases of our 
consciousness he is an unfailing        
messenger4 ,the reader will remember how
 often he has accompanied with pictures 
the text of some amiable paper          
describing a pastoral                   
region--,warwickshire or ,surrey4       
,devonshire or the ,thames4 ,he will    
remember his exquisite designs for      
certain of ,wordsworth's sonnets4 ,a    
sonnet of ,wordsworth is a difficult    
thing to illustrate1 but ,mr4 ,parsons' 
ripe taste has shown him the way4 ,then 
there are lovely morsels from his hand  

associated with the drawings of his     
friend ,mr4 ,abbey--head-pieces1        
tailpieces1 vignettes1 charming         
combinations of flower and foliage1     
decorative clusters of all sorts of     
pleasant rural emblems4 ,if he has an   
inexhaustible feeling for the country in
 general1 his love of the myriad        
,english flowers is perhaps the fondest 
part of it4 ,he draws them with a rare  
perfection1 and always--little definite1
 delicate1 tremulous things as they     
are--with a certain nobleness4 ,this    
latter quality1 indeed4 ,i am prone to  
find in all his work1 and ,i should     
insist on it still more if ,i might     
refer to his important paintings4 ,so   
composite are the parts of which any    
distinguished talent is made up that we 
have to feel our way as we enumerate    
them2 and yet that very ambiguity is a  
challenge to analysis and to            
characterization4 ,this 8nobleness0 on  
,mr4 ,parsons' part is the element of   
style--something large and manly1       

expressive of the total character of his
 facts4 ,his landscape is the landscape 
of the male vision1 and yet his touch is
 full of sentiment1 of curiosity and    
endearment4 ,these things1 and others   
besides1 make him the most interesting1 
the most living1 of the new workers in  
his line4 ,and what shall ,i say of the 
other things besides8 ,how can ,i take  
precautions enough to say that among the
 new workers1 deeply ,english as he is1 
there is comparatively something ,french
 in his manner8 ,many people will like  
him because they see in him--or they    
think they do--a certain happy mean4    
,will they not fancy they catch him     
taking the middle way between the       
unsociable ,french tude and the         
old-fashioned ,english 8picture08 ,if   
one of these extremes is a desert1 the  
other1 no doubt1 is an oasis still more 
vain4 ,i have a recollection of         
productions of ,mr4 ,alfred ,parsons'   
which might have come from a ,frenchman 
who was in love with ,english           

river-sides4 ,i call to mind no         
studies--if he has made any--of ,french 
scenery2 but if ,i did they would       
doubtless appear ,english enough4 ,it is
 the fashion among sundry to maintain   
that the ,english landscape is of no use
 for la peinture srieuse1 that it is    
wanting in technical accent and is in   
general too storytelling1 too           
self-conscious and dramatic also too    
lumpish and stodgy1 of a green--d'un    
vert bte--which1 when reproduced1 looks 
like that of the chromo4 ,certain it is 
that there are many hands which are not 
to be trusted with it1 and taste and    
integrity have been known to go down    
before it4 ,but ,alfred ,parsons may be 
pointed to as one who has made the      
luxuriant and lovable things of his own 
country almost as 8serious0 as those    
familiar objects--the pasture and the   
poplar--which1 even when infinitely     
repeated by the great school across the 
,channel1 strike us as but meagre       
morsels of ,france4     ,v              

,illustration3 ,mr4 ,george ,h4         
,boughton  ,in speaking of ,mr4 ,george 
,h4 ,boughton1 ,a4,r4,a41 ,i encounter  
the same difficulty as with ,mr4        
,millet3 ,i find the window closed      
through which alone almost it is just to
 take a view of his talent4 ,mr4        
,boughton is a painter about whom there 
is little that is new to tell to-day1 so
 conspicuous and incontestable is his   
achievement1 the fruit of a career of   
which the beginning was not yesterday4  
,he is a draughtsman and an illustrator 
only on occasion and by accident4 ,these
 accidents have mostly occurred1        
however1 in the pages of ,harper1 and   
the happiest of them will still be fresh
 in the memory of its readers4 ,in the  
,sketching ,rambles in ,holland ,mr4    
,abbey was a participant 7as witness1   
among many things1 the admirable drawing
 of the old ,frisian woman bent over her
 ,bible in church1 with the heads of the
 burghers just visible above the rough  
archaic pew-tops--a drawing opposite to 

page #aab in the handsome volume into   
which these contributions were          
eventually gathered together72 but most 
of the sketches were ,mr4 ,boughton's1  
and the charming1 amusing text is       
altogether his1 save in the sense that  
it commemorates his companion's         
impressions as well as his own--the     
delightful1 irresponsible1 visual1      
sensual1 pictorial1 capricious          
impressions of a painter in a strange   
land1 the person surely whom at         
particular moments one would give most  
to be4 ,if there be anything happier    
than the impressions of a painter1 it is
 the impressions of two1 and the        
combination is set forth with uncommon  
spirit and humor in this frank record of
 the innocent lust of the eyes4 ,mr4    
,boughton scruples little1 in general1  
to write as well as to draw1 when the   
fancy takes him2 to write in the manner 
of painters1 with the bold1 irreverent1 
unconventional1 successful brush4 ,if ,i
 were not afraid of the patronizing tone

 ,i would say that there is little doubt
 that if as a painter he had not had to 
try to write in character1 he would     
certainly have made a characteristic    
writer4 ,he has the most enviable       
8finds10 not dreamed of in timid        
literature1 yet making capital          
descriptive prose4 ,other specimens of  
them may be encountered in two or three 
,christmas tales1 signed with the name  
whose usual place is the corner of a    
valuable canvas4  ,if ,mr4 ,boughton is 
in this manner not a simple talent1     
further complications and reversions may
 be observed in him1 as1 for instance1  
that having reverted from ,america1     
where he spent his early years1 back to 
,england1 the land of his origin1 he has
 now in a sense oscillated again from   
the latter to the former country4 ,he   
came to ,london one day years ago 7from 
,paris1 where he had been eating        
nutritively of the tree of artistic     
knowledge71 in order to re-embark on the
 morrow for the ,united ,states2 but    

that morrow never came--it has never    
come yet4 ,certainly now it never can   
come1 for the country that ,mr4         
,boughton left behind him in his youth  
is no longer there2 the 8old ,new ,york0
 is no longer a port to sail to1 unless 
for phantom ships4 ,in imagination1     
however1 the author of 8,the ,return of 
the ,mayflower0 has several times taken 
his way back2 he has painted with       
conspicuous charm and success various   
episodes of the early ,puritan story4   
,he was able on occasion to remember    
vividly enough the low ,new ,england    
coast and the thin ,new ,england air4   
,he has been perceptibly an inventor1   
calling into being certain types of face
 and dress1 certain tones and           
associations of color 7all in the line  
of what ,i should call subdued harmonies
 if ,i were not afraid of appearing to  
talk a jargon71 which people are hungry 
for when they acquire 8a ,boughton10 and
 which they can obtain on no other      
terms4 ,this pictorial element in which 

he moves is made up of divers delicate  
things1 and there would be a roughness  
in attempting to unravel the tapestry4  
,there is old ,english1 and old         
,american1 and old ,dutch in it1 and a  
friendly1 unexpected new ,dutch too--an 
ingredient of ,new ,amsterdam--a strain 
of ,knickerbocker and of ,washington    
,irving4 ,there is an admirable infusion
 of landscape in it1 from which some    
people regret that ,mr4 ,boughton should
 ever have allowed himself to be        
distracted by his importunate love of   
sad-faced1 pretty women in close-fitting
 coifs and old silver-clasped cloaks4   
,and indeed1 though his figures are very
 8tender10 his landscape is to my sense 
tenderer still4 ,moreover1 ,mr4         
,boughton bristles1 not aggressively1   
but in the degree of a certain          
conciliatory pertinacity1 with          
contradictious properties4 ,he lives in 
one of the prettiest and most hospitable
 houses in ,london1 but the note of his 
work is the melancholy of rural things1 

of lonely people and of quaint1 far-off 
legend and refrain4 ,there is a         
delightful ambiguity of period and even 
of clime in him1 and he rejoices in that
 inability to depict the modern which is
 the most convincing sign of the        
contemporary4 ,he has a genius for      
landscape1 yet he abounds in knowledge  
of every sort of ancient fashion of     
garment2 the buckles and button-holes1  
the very shoe-ties1 of the past are dear
 to him4 ,it is almost always autumn or 
winter in his pictures4 ,his horizons   
are cold1 his trees are bare 7he does   
the bare tree beautifully71 and his     
draperies lined with fur2 but when he   
exhibits himself directly1 as in the    
fantastic 8,rambles0 before mentioned1  
contagious high spirits are the clearest
 of his showing4 ,here he appears as an 
irrepressible felicitous sketcher1 and  
,i know no pleasanter record of the joys
 of sketching1 or even of those of      
simply looking4 ,thophile ,gautier      
himself was not more inveterately       

addicted to this latter wanton exercise4
 ,there ought to be a pocket edition of 
,mr4 ,boughton's book1 which would serve
 for travellers in other countries too1 
give them the point of view and put them
 in the mood4 ,such a blessing1 and such
 a distinction too1 is it to have an    
eye4 ,mr4 ,boughton's1 in his           
good-humored ,dutch wanderings1 holds   
from morning till night a sociable1     
graceful revel4 ,from the moment it     
opens till the moment it closes1 its day
 is a round of adventures4 ,his jolly   
pictorial narrative1 reflecting every   
glint of ,october sunshine and patch of 
russet shade1 tends to confirm us afresh
 in the faith that the painter's life is
 the best life1 the life that misses    
fewest impressions4     ,,vi            
,illustration3 ,du ,maurier  ,mr4 ,du   
,maurier has a brilliant history1 but it
 must be candidly recognized that it is 
written or drawn mainly in an ,english  
periodical4 ,it is only during the last 
two or three years that the most        

ironical of the artists of ,punch has   
exerted himself for the entertainment of
 the readers of ,harper2 but ,i seem to 
come too late with any commentary on the
 nature of his satire or the charm of   
his execution4 ,when he began to appear 
in ,harper he was already an old friend1
 and for myself ,i confess ,i have to go
 through rather a complicated mental    
operation to put into words what ,i     
think of him4 ,what does a man think of 
the language he has learned to speak8   
,he judges it only while he is learning4
 ,mr4 ,du ,maurier's work1 in regard to 
the life it embodies1 is not so much a  
thing we see as one of the conditions of
 seeing4 ,he has interpreted for us for 
so many years the social life of        
,england that the interpretation has    
become the text itself4 ,we have        
accepted his types1 his categories1 his 
conclusions1 his sympathies and his     
ironies1 ,it is not given to all the    
world to thread the mazes of ,london    
society1 and for the great body of the  

disinherited1 the vast majority of the  
,anglo-,saxon public4 ,mr4 ,du          
,maurier's representation is the thing  
represented4 ,is the effect of it to nip
 in the bud any remote yearning for     
personal participation8 ,i feel tempted 
to say yes1 when ,i think of the        
follies1 the flatnesses1 the            
affectations and stupidities that his   
teeming pencil has made vivid4 ,but that
 vision immediately merges itself in    
another--a panorama of tall1 pleasant1  
beautiful people1 placed in becoming    
attitudes1 in charming gardens1 in      
luxurious rooms1 so that ,i can scarcely
 tell which is the more definite1 the   
impression satiric or the impression    
plastic4  ,this ,i take to be a sign    
that ,mr4 ,du ,maurier knows how to be  
general and has a conception of         
completeness4 ,the world amuses him1    
such queer things go on in it2 but the  
part that amuses him most is certain    
lines of our personal structure4 ,that  
amusement is the brightest2 the other is

 often sad enough4 ,a sharp critic might
 accuse ,mr4 ,du ,maurier of lingering  
too complacently on the lines in        
question2 of having a certain ideal of  
8lissome0 elongation to which the       
promiscuous truth is sometimes          
sacrificed4 ,but in fact this artist's  
,p truth never pretends to be           
promiscuous2 it is avowedly select and  
specific4 ,what he depicts is so        
preponderantly the 8tapering0 people    
that the remainder of the picture1 in a 
notice as brief as the present1 may be  
neglected4 ,if his dramatis person are  
not all the tenants of drawing-rooms1   
they are represented at least in some   
relation to these4 #8,arry and his      
friends at the fancy fair are in society
 for the time2 the point of introducing 
them is to show how the contrast        
intensifies them4 ,of late years ,mr4   
,du ,maurier has perhaps been a little  
too docile to the muse of elegance2 the 
idiosyncrasies of the 8masher0 and the  
high girl with elbows have beguiled him 

into occasional inattention to the      
doings of the short and shabby4 ,but his
 career has been long and rich1 and ,i  
allude1 in such words1 but to a moment  
of it4  ,the moral of it--,i refer to   
the artistic one--seen altogether1 is   
striking and edifying enough4 ,what ,mr4
 ,du ,maurier has attempted to do is to 
give1 in a thousand interrelated        
drawings1 a general satiric picture of  
the social life of his time and country4
 ,it is easy to see that through them   
8an increasing purpose runs20 they all  
hang together and refer to each         
other--complete1 confirm1 correct1      
illuminate each other4 ,sometimes they  
are not satiric3 satire is not pure     
charm1 and the artist has allowed       
himself to 8go in0 for pure charm4      
,sometimes he has allowed himself to go 
in for pure fantasy1 so that satire     
7which should hold on to the mane of the
 real7 slides off the other side of the 
runaway horse4 ,but he remains1 on the  
whole1 pencil in hand1 a wonderfully    

copious and veracious historian of his  
age and his civilization4     ,,vii  ,i 
have left ,mr4 ,reinhart to the last    
because of his importance1 and now this 
very importance operates as a           
restriction and even as a sort of       
reproach to me4 ,to go well round him at
 a deliberate pace would take a whole   
book4 ,with ,mr4 ,abbey1 ,mr4 ,reinhart 
is the artist who has contributed most  
abundantly to ,harper2 his work1 indeed1
 in quantity1 considerably exceeds ,mr4 
,abbey's4 ,he is the observer of the    
immediate1 as ,mr4 ,abbey is that of the
 considerably removed1 and the          
conditions he asks us to accept are less
 expensive to the imagination than those
 of his colleague4 ,he is1 in short1 the
 vigorous1 racy prosateur of that human 
comedy of which ,mr4 ,abbey is the poet4
 ,he illustrates the modern sketch of   
travel1 the modern tale--the poor little
 8quiet10  psychological1 conversational
 modern tale1 which ,i often think the  
artist invited to represent it to the   

eye must hate1 unless he be a very      
intelligent master1 little1 on a        
superficial view1 would there appear to 
be in it to represent4 ,the superficial 
view is1 after all1 the natural one for 
the picture-maker4 ,a talent of the     
first order1 however1 only wants to be  
set thinking1 as a single word will     
often make it4 ,mr4 ,reinhart at any    
rate1 triumphs2 whether there be life or
 not in the little tale itself1 there is
 unmistakable life in his version of it4
 ,mr4 ,reinhart deals in that element   
purely with admirable frankness and     
vigor4 ,he is not so much suggestive as 
positively and sharply representative4  
,his facility1 his agility1 his         
universality are a truly stimulating    
sight4 ,he asks not too many questions  
of his subject1 but to those he does ask
 he insists upon a thoroughly           
intelligible answer4 ,by his            
universality ,i mean perhaps as much as 
anything else his admirable drawing2 not
 precious1 as the sthetic say1 nor      

pottering1 as the vulgar1 but free1     
strong and secure1 which enables him to 
do with the human figure at a moment's  
notice anything that any occasion may   
demand4 ,it gives him an immense range1 
and ,i know not how to express 7it is   
not easy7 my sense of a certain capable 
indifference that is in him otherwise   
than by saying that he would quite as   
soon do one thing as another4  ,for it  
is true that the admirer of his work    
rather misses in him that intimation of 
a secret preference which many strong   
draughtsmen show1 and which is not      
absent1 for instance 7,i don't mean the 
secret1 but the intimation71 from the   
beautiful doings of ,mr4 ,abbey4 ,it is 
extremely present in ,mr4 ,du ,maurier's
 work1 just as it was visible1 less     
elusively1 in that of ,john ,leech1 his 
predecessor in ,punch4 ,mr4 ,abbey has a
 haunting type2 ,du ,maurier has a      
haunting type4 ,there was little perhaps
 of the haunted about ,leech1 but we    
know very well how he wanted his pretty 

girls1 his ,british swell1 and his      
8hunting men0 to look4 ,he betrayed a   
predilection2 he had his little ideal4  
,that an artist may be a great force and
 not have a little ideal1 the scarcely  
too much to be praised ,charles ,keene  
is there 7,i mean he is in ,punch7 to   
show us4 ,he has not a haunting         
type--not he--and ,i think that no one  
has yet discovered how he would have    
liked his pretty girls to look4 ,he has 
kept the soft conception too much to    
himself--he has not trifled with the    
common truth by letting it appear4 ,this
 common truth1 in its innumerable       
combinations1 is what ,mr4 ,rein-hart   
also shows us 7with of course infinitely
 less of a parti pris of laughing at    
it71 though1 as ,i must hasten to add1  
the female face and form in his hands   
always happen to take on a much lovelier
 cast than in ,mr4 ,keene's4 ,these     
things with him1 however1 are not a     
private predilection1 an artist's dream4
 ,mr4 ,reinhart is solidly an artist1   

but ,i doubt whether as yet he dreams1  
and the absence of private predilections
 makes him seem a little hard4 ,he is   
sometimes rough with our average        
humanity1 and especially rough with the 
feminine portion of it4 ,he usually     
represents ,american life1 in which that
 portion is often spoken of as showing  
to peculiar advantage4 ,but ,mr4        
,reinhart sees it generally1 as very    
bourgeois4 ,his good ladies are apt to  
be rather thick and short1 rather       
huddled and plain4 ,i shouldn't mind it 
so much if they didn't look so much     
alive4 ,they are incontestably possible4
 ,the long1 brilliant series of drawings
 he made to accompany ,mr4 ,charles     
,dudley ,warner's papers on the         
,american watering-places form a rich   
bourgeois epic1 which imaginations      
haunted by a type must accept with      
philosophy1 for the sketches in question
 will have carried the tale1 and all    
sorts of irresistible illusion with it1 
to the four corners of the earth4 ,full 

of observation and reality1 of happy    
impressionism1 taking all things as they
 come1 with many a charming picture of  
youthful juxtaposition1 they give us a  
sense1 to which nothing need be added1  
of the energy of ,mr4 ,reinhart's       
pencil4 ,they are a final collection of 
pictorial notes on the manners and      
customs1 the aspects and habitats1 in   
,july and ,august1 of the great         
,american democracy2 of which1          
certainly1 taking one thing with        
another1 they give a very comfortable1  
cheerful account4 ,but they confirm that
 analytic view of which ,i have ventured
 to give a hint--the view of ,mr4       
,reinhart as an artist of immense       
capacity who yet somehow doesn't care4  
,i must add that this aspect of him is  
modified1 in the one case very          
gracefully1 in the other by the         
operation of a sort of constructive     
humor1 remarkably strong1 in his        
illustrations of ,spanish life and his  
sketches of the ,berlin political world4

  ,his fashion of remaining outside1 as 
it were1 makes him 7to the analyst7 only
 the more interesting1 for the analyst1 
if he have any critical life in him1    
will be prone to wonder why he doesn't  
care1 and whether matters may not be    
turned about in such a way as that he   
should1 with the consequence that his   
large capacity would become more        
fruitful still4 ,mr4 ,reinhart is open  
to the large appeal of ,paris1 where he 
lives--as is evident from much of his   
work--where he paints1 and where1 in    
crowded exhibitions1 reputation and     
honors have descended upon him4 ,and yet
 ,paris1 for all she may have taught    
him1 has not given him the mystic       
sentiment--about which ,i am perhaps    
writing nonsense4 ,is it nonsense to say
 that1 being very much an incarnation of
 the modern international spirit 7he    
might be a ,frenchman in ,new ,york were
 he not an ,american in ,paris71 the    
moral of his work is possibly the       
inevitable want of finality1 of         

intrinsic character1 in that sweet      
freedom8 ,does the cosmopolite          
necessarily pay for his freedom by a    
want of function--the impersonality of  
not being representative8 ,must one be a
 little narrow to have a sentiment1 and 
very local to have a quality1 or at     
least a style2 and would the missing    
type1 if ,i may mention it yet again1   
haunt our artist--who is somehow1 in his
 rare instrumental facility1 outside of 
quality and style--a good deal more if  
he were not1 amid the mixture of        
associations and the confusion of races1
 liable to fall into vagueness as to    
what types are8 ,he can do anything he  
likes2 by which ,i mean he can do       
wonderfully even the things he doesn't  
like4 ,but he strikes me as a force not 
yet fully used4     ,,edwin ,a4 ,,abbe  
,nothing is more interesting in the     
history of an artistic talent than the  
moment at which its 8elective affinity0 
declares itself1 and the interest is    
great in proportion as the declaration  

is unmistakable4 ,i mean by the elective
 affinity of a talent its climate and   
period of preference1 the spot on the   
globe or in the annals of mankind to    
which it most fondly attaches itself1 to
 which it reverts incorrigibly1 round   
which it revolves with a curiosity that 
is insatiable1 from which in short it   
draws its strongest inspiration4 ,a man 
may personally inhabit a certain place  
at a certain time1 but in imagination he
 may be a perpetual absentee1 and to a  
degree worse than the worst ,irish      
landlord1 separating himself from his   
legal inheritance not only by mountains 
and seas1 but by centuries as well4     
,when he is a man of genius these       
perverse predilections become fruitful  
and constitute a new and independent    
life1 and they are indeed to a certain  
extent the sign and concomitant of      
genius4 ,i do not mean by this that high
 ability would always rather have been  
born in another country and another age1
 but certainly it likes to choose1 it   

seldom fails to react against imposed   
conditions4 ,if it accepts them it does 
so because it likes them for themselves2
 and if they fail to commend themselves 
it rarely scruples to fly away in search
 of others4 ,we have witnessed this     
flight in many a case2 ,i admit that if 
we have sometimes applauded it we have  
felt at other moments that the          
discontented1 undomiciled spirit had    
better have stayed at home4  ,mr4 ,abbey
 has gone afield1 and there could be no 
better instance of a successful fugitive
 and a genuine affinity1 no more        
interesting example of                  
selection--selection of field and       
subject--operating by that insight which
 has the precocity and certainty of an  
instinct4 ,the domicile of ,mr4 ,abbey's
 genius is the ,england of the          
eighteenth century2 ,i should add that  
the palace of art which he has erected  
there commands--from the rear1 as it    
were--various charming glimpses of the  
preceding age4 ,the finest work he has  

yet done is in his admirable            
illustrations1 in ,harper's ,magazine1  
to 8,she ,stoops to ,conquer10 but the  
promise that he would one day do it was 
given some years ago in his delightful  
volume of designs to accompany          
,herrick's poems2 to which we may add1  
as supplementary evidence1 his drawings 
for ,mr4 ,william ,black's novel of     
,judith ,shakespeare4  ,mr4 ,abbey was  
born in ,philadelphia in #aheb1 and     
manifesting his brilliant but           
un-encouraged aptitudes at a very early 
age1 came in #ahgb to ,new ,york to draw
 for ,harper's ,,weekly4 ,other views   
than this1 if ,i have been correctly    
,informed1 had been entertained for his 
future--a fact that provokes a smile now
 that his manifest destiny has been1 or 
is in course of being1 so very neatly   
accomplished4 ,the spirit of modern     
aesthetics did not1 at any rate1 as ,i  
understand the matter1 smile upon his   
cradle1 and the circumstance only       
increases the interest of his having had

 from the earliest moment the clearest  
artistic vision4  ,it has sometimes     
happened that the distinguished         
draughtsman or painter has been born in 
the studio and fed1 as it were1 from the
 palette1 but in the great majority of  
cases he has been nursed by the profane1
 and certainly1 on the doctrine of      
mathematical chances1 a ,philadelphia   
genius would scarcely be an exception4  
,mr4 ,abbey was fortunate1 however1 in  
not being obliged to lose time2 he      
learned how to swim by jumping into deep
 water4 ,even if he had not known by    
instinct how to draw1 he would have had 
to perform the feat from the moment that
 he found himself attached to the 8art  
department0 of a remarkably punctual    
periodical4 ,in such a periodical the   
events of the day are promptly          
reproduced2 and with the morrow so near 
the day is necessarily a short one--too 
short for gradual education4 ,such a    
school is not1 no doubt1 the ideal one1 
but in fact it may have a very happy    

influence4 ,if a youth is to give an    
account of a scene with his pencil at a 
certain hour--to give it1 as it were1 or
 perish--he will have become conscious1 
in the first place1 of a remarkable     
incentive to observe it4 so that the    
roughness of the foster-mother who      
imparts the precious faculty of quick1  
complete observation is really a        
blessing in disguise4 ,to say that it   
was simply under this kind of pressure  
that ,mr4 ,abbey acquired the           
extraordinary refinement which          
distinguishes his work in black and     
white is doubtless to say too much2 but 
his admirers may be excused1 in view of 
the beautiful result1 for almost        
wishing1 on grounds of patriotism1 to   
make the training1 or the absence of    
training1 responsible for as much as    
possible4 ,for as no artistic genius    
that our country has produced is more   
delightful than ,mr4 ,abbey's1 so1      
surely1 nothing could be more           
characteristically ,american than that  

it should have formed itself in the     
conditions that happened to be nearest  
at hand1 with the crowds1 streets and   
squares1 the railway stations and       
telegraph poles1 the wondrous           
sign-boards and triumphant bunting1 of  
,new ,york for the source of its        
inspiration1 and with a big hurrying    
printing-house for its studio4 ,if to   
begin the practice of art in these      
conditions was to incur the danger of   
being crude1 ,mr4 ,abbey braved it with 
remarkable success4 ,at all events1 if  
he went neither ,i through the mill of  
,paris nor through that of ,munich1 the 
writer of these lines more than consoles
 himself for the accident4 ,his talent  
is unsurpassably fine1 and yet we       
reflect with complacency that he picked 
it up altogether at home4 ,if he is     
highly distinguished he is irremediably 
native1 and 7premising always that ,i   
speak mainly of his work in black and   
white7 it is difficult to see1 as we    
look1 for instance1 at the admirable    

series of his drawings for 8,she ,stoops
 to ,conquer10 what more ,paris or      
,munich could have done for him4 ,there 
is a certain refreshment in meeting an  
,american artist of the first order who 
is not a pupil of ,grme or of ,cabanel4 
,of course1 ,i hasten to add1 we must   
make our account with the fact that1 as 
,i began with remarking1 the great      
development of ,mr4 ,abbey's powers has 
taken place amid the brown old          
accessories of a country where that     
eighteenth century which he presently   
marked for his own are more profusely   
represented than they have the          
good-fortune to be in ,america1 and     
consequently limit our contention to the
 point that his talent itself was       
already formed when this happy          
initiation was opened to it4 ,he went to
 ,england for the first time in #ahgh4  
but it was not all at once that he fell 
into the trick1 so irresistible for an  
artist doing his special work1 of living
 there1 ,i must forbid myself every     

impertinent conjecture1 but it may be   
respectfully assumed that ,mr4 ,abbey   
rather drifted into exile than committed
 himself to it with malice prepense4    
,the habit1 at any rate1 to-day appears 
to be confirmed1 and1 to express it     
roughly1 he is surrounded by the        
utensils and conveniences that he       
requires4 ,during these years1 until the
 recent period when he began to exhibit 
at the water-color exhibitions1 his work
 has been done principally for ,harper's
 ,magazine1 and the record of it is to  
be found in the recent back volumes4 ,i 
shall not take space to tell it over    
piece by piece1 for the reader who turns
 to the ,magazine will have no          
difficulty in recognizing it4 ,it has a 
distinction altogether its own2 there is
 always poetry1 humor1 charm1 in the    
idea1 and always infinite grace and     
security in the execution4  ,as ,i have 
intimated1 ,mr4 ,abbey never deals with 
the things and figures of to-day2 his   
imagination must perform a wide backward

 journey before it can take the air4    
,but beyond this modern radius it       
breathes with singular freedom and      
naturalness4 ,at a distance of fifty    
years it begins to be at home2 it       
expands and takes possession2 it        
recognizes its own4 ,with all his       
ability1 with all his tact1 it would be 
impossible to him1 we conceive1 to      
illustrate a novel of contemporary      
manners2 he would inevitably throw it   
back to the age of hair-powder and      
post-chaises4 ,the coats and trousers1  
the feminine gear1 the chairs and tables
 of the current year1 the general aspect
 of things immediate and familiar1 say  
nothing to his mind1 and there are other
 interpreters to whom he is quite       
content to leave them4 ,he shows no     
great interest even in the modern face1 
if there be a modern face apart from a  
modern setting2 ,i am not sure what he  
thinks of its complications and         
refinements of expression1 but he has   
certainly little relish for its banal1  

vulgar mustache1 its prosaic1 mercantile
 whisker1 surmounting the last new thing
 in shirt-collars4 ,dear to him is the  
physiognomy of clean-shaven periods1    
when cheek and lip and chin1 abounding  
in line and surface1 had the air of     
soliciting the pencil4 ,impeccable as he
 is in drawing1 he likes a whole face1  
with reason1 and likes a whole figure2  
the latter not to the exclusion of      
clothes1 in which he delights1 but as   
the clothes of our great-grandfathers   
helped it to be seen4 ,no one has ever  
understood breeches and stockings better
 than he1 or the human leg1 that delight
 of the draughtsman1 as the costume of  
the last century permitted it to be     
known4 ,the petticoat and bodice of the 
same period have as little mystery for  
him1 and his women and girls have       
altogether the poetry of a by-gone      
manner and fashion4 ,they are not modern
 heroines1 with modern nerves and       
accomplishments1 but figures of         
remembered song and story1 calling up   

visions of spinet and harpsichord that  
have lost their music today1 high-walled
 gardens that have ceased to bloom1     
flowered stuffs that are faded1 locks of
 hair that are lost1 love-letters that  
are pale4 ,by which ,i don't mean that  
they are vague and spectral1 for ,mr4   
,abbey has in the highest degree the art
 of imparting life1 and he gives it in  
particular to his well-made1 blooming   
maidens4 ,they live in a world in which 
there is no question of their passing   
,harvard or other examinations1 but they
 stand very firmly on their             
quaintly-shod feet4 ,they are           
exhaustively 8felt10 and eminently      
qualified to attract the opposite sex1  
which is not the case with ghosts1 who1 
moreover1 do not wear the most palpable 
petticoats of quilted satin1 nor sport  
the most delicate fans1 nor take        
generally the most ingratiating         
attitudes4  ,illustration3 ,the old     
house  ,the best work that ,mr4 ,abbey  
has done is to be found in the          

succession of illustrations to 8,she    
,stoops to ,conquer20 here we see his   
happiest characteristics and--till he   
does something still more brilliant--may
 take his full measure4 ,no work in     
black and white in our time has been    
more truly artistic1 and certainly no   
success more unqualified4 ,the artist   
has given us an evocation of a social   
state to its smallest details1 and done 
it with an unsurpassable lightness of   
touch4 ,the problem was in itself       
delightful--the accidents and incidents 
7granted a situation de comdie7 of an   
old1 rambling1 wainscoted1              
out-of-the-way ,english country-house1  
in the age of ,goldsmith4 ,here ,mr4    
,abbey is in his element--given up      
equally to unerring observation and     
still more infallible divination4 ,the  
whole place1 and the figures that come  
and go in it1 live again1 with their    
individual look1 their peculiarities1   
their special signs and oddities4 ,the  
spirit of the dramatist has passed      

completely into the artist's sense1 but 
the spirit of the historian has done so 
almost as much4 ,tony ,lumpkin is1 as we
 say nowadays1 a document1 and ,miss    
,hardcastle embodies the results of     
research4 ,delightful are the humor and 
quaintness and grace of all this1       
delightful the variety and the richness 
of personal characterization1 and       
delightful1 above all1 the drawing4 ,it 
is impossible to represent with such    
vividness unless1 to begin with1 one    
sees2 and it is impossible to see unless
 one wants to very much1 or unless1 in  
other words1 one has a great love4 ,mr4 
,abbey has evidently the tenderest      
affection for just the old houses and   
the old things1 the old faces and       
voices1 the whole irrevocable human     
scene which the genial hand of          
,goldsmith has passed over to him1 and  
there is no inquiry about them that he  
is not in a position to answer4 ,he is  
intimate with the buttons of coats and  
the buckles of shoes3 he knows not only 

exactly what his people wore1 but       
exactly how they wore it1 and how they  
felt when they had it on4 ,he has sat on
 the old chairs and sofas1 and rubbed   
against the old wainscots1 and leaned   
over the old balusters4 ,he knows every 
mended place in ,tony ,lumpkin's        
stockings1 and exactly how that         
ingenuous youth leaned back on the      
spinet1 with his thick1 familiar thumb  
out1 when he presented his inimitable   
countenance1 with a grin1 to ,mr4       
,hastings1 after he had set his fond    
mother a-whimpering4 7,there is nothing 
in the whole series1 by-the-way1 better 
indicated than the exquisitely simple1  
half-bumpkin1 half-vulgar expression of 
,tony's countenance and smile in this   
scene1 unless it be the charming arch   
yet modest face of ,miss ,hardcastle1   
lighted by the candle she carries1 as1  
still holding the door by which she     
comes in1 she is challenged by young    
,mar-low to relieve his bewilderment as 
to where he really is and what she      

really is47 ,in short1 if we have all   
seen 8,she ,stoops to ,conquer0 acted1  
,mr4 ,abbey has had the better fortune  
of seeing it off the stage2 and it is   
noticeable how happily he has steered   
clear of the danger of making his people
 theatrical types--mere masqueraders and
 wearers of properties4 ,this is        
especially the case with his women1 who 
have not a hint of the conventional     
paint and patches1 simpering with their 
hands in the pockets of aprons1 but are 
taken from the same originals from which
 ,goldsmith took them4  ,if it be asked 
on the occasion of this limited sketch  
of ,mr4 ,abbey's powers where1 after    
all1 he did learn to draw so perfectly1 
,i know no answer but to say that he    
learned it in the school in which he    
learned also to paint 7as he has been   
doing in these latest years1 rather     
tentatively at first1 but with greater  
and greater success7--the school of his 
own personal observation4 ,his drawing  
is the drawing of direct1 immediate1    

solicitous study of the particular case1
 without tricks or affectations or any  
sort of cheap subterfuge1 and nothing   
can exceed the charm of its delicacy1   
accuracy and elegance1 its variety and  
freedom1 its clear1 frank solution of   
difficulties4 ,if for the artist it be  
the foundation of every joy to know     
exactly what he wants 7as ,i hold it is 
indeed71 ,mr4 ,abbey is1 to all         
appearance1 to be constantly            
congratulated4 ,and ,i apprehend that he
 would not deny that it is a            
good-fortune for him to have been able  
to arrange his life so that his eye     
encounters in abundance the particular  
cases of which ,i speak4 ,two or three  
years ago1 at the ,institute of         
,painters in ,water-colors1 in ,london1 
he exhibited an exquisite picture of a  
peaceful old couple sitting in the      
corner of a low1 quiet1 ancient room1 in
 the waning afternoon1 and listening to 
their daughter as she stands up in the  
middle and plays the harp to them4 ,they

 are ,darby and ,joan1 with all the     
poetry preserved2 they sit hand in hand1
 with bent1 approving heads1 and the    
deep recess of the window looking into  
the garden 7where we may be sure there  
are yew-trees clipped into the shape of 
birds and beasts71 the panelled room1   
the quaintness of the fireside1 the     
old-time provincial expression of the   
scene1 all belong to the class of       
effects which ,mr4 ,abbey understands   
supremely well4 ,so does the great      
russet wall and high-pitched mottled    
roof of the rural almshouse which       
figures in the admirable water-color    
picture that he exhibited last spring4  
,a group of remarkably pretty           
countrywomen have been arrested in front
 of it by the passage of a young        
soldier--a raw recruit in scarlet tunic 
and white ducks1 somewhat prematurely   
conscious of military glory4 ,he gives  
them the benefit of the goose-step as he
 goes2 he throws back his head and      
distends his fingers1 presenting to the 

ladies a back expressive of more        
consciousness of his fine figure than of
 the lovely mirth that the artist has   
depicted in their faces4 ,lovely is     
their mirth indeed1 and lovely are they 
altogether4 ,mr4 ,abbey has produced    
nothing more charming than this bright  
knot of handsome1 tittering daughters of
 burghers1 in their primeval pelisses   
and sprigged frocks4 ,i have1 however1  
left myself no space to go into the     
question of his prospective honors as a 
painter1 to which everything now appears
 to point1 and ,i have mentioned the two
 pictures last exhibited mainly because 
they illustrate the happy opportunities 
with which he has been able to surround 
himself4 ,the sweet old corners he      
appreciates1 the russet walls of        
moss-grown charities1 the lowbrowed     
nooks of manor1 cottage and parsonage1  
the fresh complexions that flourish in  
green1 pastoral countries where it rains
 not a little--every item in this line  
that seems conscious of its pictorial   

use appeals to ,mr4 ,abbey not in vain4 
,he might have been a grandson of       
,washington ,irving1 which is a proof of
 what ,i have already said1 that none of
 the young ,american workers in the same
 field have so little as he of that     
imperfectly assimilated foreignness of  
suggestion which is sometimes regarded  
as the strength1 but which is also in   
some degree the weakness1 of the        
pictorial effort of the ,united ,states4
 ,his execution is as sure of itself as 
if it rested upon infinite ,parisian    
initiation1 but his feeling can best be 
described by saying that it is that of  
our own dear mother-tongue4 ,if the     
writer speaks when he writes1 and the   
draughtsman speaks when he draws4 ,mr4  
,abbey1 in expressing himself with his  
pencil1 certainly speaks pure ,english1 
,he reminds us to a certain extent of   
,meissonier1 especially the ,meissonier 
of the illustrations to that charming   
little volume of the ,conies ,rmois1 and
 the comparison is highly to his        

advantage in the matter of freedom1     
variety1 ability to represent movement  
7,meissonier's figures are stock-still71
 and facial expression--above all1 in   
the handling of the female personage1 so
 rarely attempted by the ,french artist4
 ,but he differs from the latter        
signally in the fact that though he     
shares his sympathy as to period and    
costume1 his people are of another race 
and tradition1 and move in a world      
locally altogether different4 ,mr4      
,abbey is still young1 he is full of    
ideas and intentions1 and the work he   
has done may1 in view of his time of    
life1 of his opportunities and the      
singular completeness of his talent1 be 
regarded really as a kind of foretaste  
and prelude4 ,it can hardly fail that he
 will do better things still1 when      
everything is so favorable4 ,life itself
 is his subject1 and that is always at  
his door4 ,the only obstacle1 therefore1
 that can be imagined in ,mr4 ,abbey's  
future career is a possible             

embarrassment as to what to choose4 ,he 
has hitherto chosen so well1 however1   
that this obstacle will probably not be 
insuperable4      ,,charles ,s4         
,,reinhart  ,we ,americans are accused  
of making too much ado about our        
celebrities1 of being demonstratively   
conscious of each step that we take in  
the path of progress2 and the accusation
 has its ground doubtless in this sense1
 that it is possible among us to-day to 
become a celebrity on unprecedentedly   
easy terms4 ,this1 however1 at the      
present hour is the case all the world  
over1 and it is difficult to see where  
the standard of just renown remains so  
high that the first stone may be cast4  
,it is more and more striking that the  
machinery of publicity is so enormous1  
so constantly growing and so obviously  
destined to make the globe small1 in    
relation of the objects1 famous or      
obscure1 which cover it1 that it        
procures for the smallest facts and the 
most casual figures a reverberation to  

be expected only in the case of a       
world-conqueror4 ,the newspaper and the 
telegram constitute a huge              
sounding-board1 which has1 every day and
 every hour1 to be made to vibrate1 to  
be fed with items1 and the diffusion of 
the items takes place on a scale out of 
any sort of proportion to their         
intrinsic importance4 ,the crackle of   
common things is transmuted into        
thunder--a thunder perhaps more         
resounding in ,america than elsewhere   
for the reason that the sheet of tin    
shaken by the ,jupiter of the ,press has
 been cut larger4 ,but the difference is
 only of degree1 not of kind2 and if the
 system we in particular have brought to
 perfection would seem to be properly   
applied only to ,alexanders and         
,napoleons1 it is not striking that     
these adequate subjects present         
themselves even in other countries4 ,the
 end of it all surely no man can see1   
unless it be that collective humanity is
 destined to perish from a rupture of   

its tympanum4 ,that is a theme for a    
later hour1 and meanwhile perhaps it is 
well not to be too frightened4 ,some of 
the items ,i just spoke of are1 after   
all1 larger than others2 and if1 as a   
general thing1 it is a mistake to pull  
up our reputations to see how they are  
growing1 there are some so well grown   
that they will bear it1 and others of a 
hardy stock even while they are tender4 
,we may feel1 for instance1             
comparatively little hesitation in      
extending an importunate hand towards   
the fine young sapling of which ,mr4    
,reinhart is one of the branches4 ,it is
 a plant of promise1 which has already  
flowered profusely and the fragrance of 
which it would be affectation not to to 
notice4 ,let us notice it1 then1 with   
candor1 for it has all the air of being 
destined to make the future sweeter4    
,the plant in question is of course     
simply the art of illustration in black 
and white1 to which ,american periodical
 literature has1 lately given such an   

impetus and which has returned the good 
office by conferring a great distinction
 on our magazines4 ,in its new phase the
 undertaking has succeeded2 and it is   
not always that fortune descends upon so
 deserving a head4 ,two or three fine   
talents in particular have helped it to 
succeed1 and ,mr4 ,reinhart is not the  
least conspicuous of these4 ,it would be
 idle for a writer in ,harper to pretend
 to any diffidence of appreciation of   
his work3 for the pages are studded1    
from many years back1 with the record of
 his ability4 ,mr4 ,rein-hart took his  
first steps and made his first hits in  
,harper1 which owes him properly a      
portrait in return for so much          
portraiture4 ,i may exaggerate the charm
 and the importance of the modern       
illustrative form1 may see in it a      
capacity of which it is not yet itself  
wholly conscious1 but if ,i do so ,mr4  
,reinhart is partly responsible for the 
aberration4 ,abundant1 intelligent1     
interpretative work in black and white  

is1 to the sense of the writer of these 
lines1 one of the pleasantest things of 
the time1 having only to rise to the    
occasion to enjoy a great future4 ,this 
idea1 ,i confess1 is such as to lead one
 to write not only sympathetically but  
pleadingly about the artists to whom one
 looks for confirmation of it4 ,if at   
the same time as we commemorate what    
they have done we succeed in enlarging a
 little the conception of what they may 
yet do1 we shall be repaid even for     
having exposed ourselves as             
fanatics--fanatics of the general       
manner1 ,i mean1 not of particular      
representatives of it4  ,may not this   
fanaticism1 in a particular case1 rest  
upon a sense of the resemblance between 
the general chance1 as it may be called1
 of the draughtsman in black and white1 
with contemporary life for his theme1   
and the opportunity upon which the      
literary artist brings another form to  
bear8 ,the forms are different1 though  
with analogies2 but the field is the    

same--the immense field of contemporary 
life observed for an artistic purpose4  
,there is nothing so interesting as     
that1 because it is ourselves2 and no   
artistic problem is so charming as to   
arrive1 either in a literary or a       
plastic form1 at a close and direct     
notation of what we observe4 ,if one has
 attempted some such exploit in a       
literary form1 one cannot help having a 
sense of union and comradeship with     
those who have approached the question  
with the other instrument4 ,this will be
 especially the case if we happen to    
have appreciated that instrument even to
 envy4 ,we may as well say it outright1 
we envy it quite unspeakably in the     
hands of ,mr4 ,reinhart and in those of 
,mr4 ,abbey4 ,there is almost no limit  
to the service to which we can imagine  
it to be applied1 and we find ourselves 
wishing that these gentlemen may be made
 adequately conscious of all the        
advantages it represents4 ,we wonder    
whether they really are so2 we are      

disposed even to assume that they are   
not1 in order to join the moral1 to     
insist on the lesson4 ,the master whom  
we have mentally in view ,mr4 ,reinhart 
is a near approach to him may be1 if he 
will only completely know it1 so prompt1
 so copious1 so universal--so 8all      
there10 as we say nowadays1 and indeed  
so all everywhere4 ,there is only too   
much to see1 too much to do1 and his    
process is the one that comes nearest to
 minimizing the quantity4 ,he can touch 
so many things1 he can go from one scene
 to another1 he can sound a whole       
concert of notes while the painter is   
setting up his easel4 ,the painter is   
majestic1 dignified1 academic1          
important1 superior1 anything you will2 
but he is1 in the very nature of the    
case1 only occasional4 ,he is 8serious10
 but he is comparatively clumsy3 he is a
 terrible time getting under way1 and he
 has to sacrifice so many subjects while
 he is doing one4 ,the illustrator makes
 one immense sacrifice1 of course--that 

of color2 but with it he purchases a    
freedom which enables him to attack ever
 so many ideas4 ,it is by variety and   
numerosity that he commends himself to  
his age1 and it is for these qualities  
that his age commends him to the next4  
,the twentieth century1 the latter half 
of it1 will1 no doubt1 have its         
troubles1 but it will have a great      
compensatory luxury1 that of seeing the 
life of a hundred years before much more
 vividly than we--even happy we--see the
 life of a hundred years ago4 ,but for  
this our illustrators must do their     
best1 appreciate the endless capacity of
 their form4 ,it is to the big picture  
what the short story is to the novel4   
,it is doubtless too much1 ,i hasten to 
add1 to ask ,mr4 ,reinhart1 for         
instance1 to work to please the         
twentieth century4 ,the end will not    
matter if he pursues his present very   
prosperous course of activity1 for it is
 assuredly the fruitful vein1 the one ,i
 express the hope to see predominant1   

the portrayal of the manners1 types and 
aspects that surround us4 ,mr4 ,reinhart
 has reached that happy period of life  
when a worker is in full possession of  
his means1 when he has done for his     
chosen instrument everything he can do  
in the way of forming it and rendering  
it complete and flexible1 and has the   
fore only to apply it with freedom1     
confidence and success4 ,these1 to our  
sense1 are the golden hours of an       
artist's life2 happier even than the    
younger time when the future seemed     
infinite in the light of the first rays 
of glory1 the first palpable hits4 ,the 
very sense that the future is not       
unlimited and that opportunity is at its
 high-water-mark gives an intensity to  
the enjoyment of maturity4 ,then the    
acquired habit of 8knowing how0 must    
simplify the problem of execution and   
leave the artist free to think only of  
his purpose1 as befits a real creator4  
,mr4 ,reinhart is at the enviable stage 
of knowing in perfection how2 he has    

arrived at absolute facility and        
felicity4 ,the machine goes of itself2  
it is no longer necessary to keep       
lifting the cover and pouring in the oil
 of fond encouragement3 all the         
attention may go to the idea and the    
subject4 ,it may1 however1 remain very  
interesting to others to know how the   
faculty was trained1 the pipe was tuned4
 ,the early phases of such a process    
have a relative importance even when1 at
 the lime 7so gradual are many          
beginnings and so obscure man a morrow7 
they may have appeared neither          
delightful nor profitable4 ,they are    
almost always to be summed up in the    
single precious word practice4 ,this    
word represents1 at any rate1 ,mr4      
,reinhart's youthful history1 and the   
profusion in which1 though no doubt     
occasionally disguised1 the boon was    
supplied to him in the offices of       
,harper's ,magazine4 ,there is nothing  
so innate that it has not also to be    
learned1 for the best part of any       

aptitude is the capacity to increase it4
  ,mr4 ,reinhart's experience began to  
accumulate very early1 for at           
,pittsburgh1 where he was born1 he was  
free to draw to his heart's content4    
,there was no romantic attempt1 as ,i   
gather1 to nip him in the bud4 ,on the  
contrary1 he was despatched with almost 
prosaic punctuality to ,europe1 and was 
even encouraged to make himself at home 
in ,munich4 ,munich1 in his case1 was a 
pis-aller for ,paris1 where it would    
have been his preference to study when  
he definitely surrendered1 as it were1  
to his symptoms4 ,he went to ,paris1 but
 ,paris seemed blocked and complicated1 
and ,munich presented advantages which1 
if not greater1 were at least easier to 
approach4 ,mr4 ,reinhart passe through  
the mill of the ,bavarian school1 and   
when it had turned him out with its     
characteristic polish he came back to   
,america with a very substantial stock  
to dispose of4 ,it would take a chapter 
by itself if we were writing a          

biography1 this now very usual episode  
of the return of the young ,american    
from the foreign conditions in which he 
has learned his professional language1  
and his position in face of the         
community that he addresses in a strange
 idiom4 ,there has to be a prompt       
adjustment between ear and voice1 if the
 interlocutor is not to seem to himself 
to be intoning in the void4 ,there is   
always an inner history in all this1 as 
well as an outer one--such1 however1 as 
it would take much space to relate4 ,mr4
 ,reinhart's more or less alienated     
accent fell1 by good-fortune1 on a      
comprehending listener4 ,he had made a  
satirical drawing1 in the nature of the 
8cartoon0 of a comic journal1 on a      
subject of the hour1 and addressed it to
 the editor of ,harper's ,weekly4 ,the  
drawing was not published--the satire   
was perhaps not exactly on the right    
note--but the draughtsman was           
introduced4 ,thus began1 by return of   
post1 as it were1 and with preliminaries

 so few that they could not well have   
been less1 a connection of many years4  
,if ,i were writing a biography another 
chapter would come in here--a curious1  
almost a pathetic one2 for the course of
 things is so rapid in this country that
 the years of ,mr4 ,reinhart's          
apprenticeship to pictorial journalism1 
positively recent as they are1 already  
are almost prehistoric4 ,to-morrow1 at  
least1 the complexion of that time1 its 
processes1 ideas and standards1 together
 with some of the unsophisticated who   
carried them out1 will belong to old    
,new ,york4 ,a certain mollifying       
dimness rests upon them now1 and their  
superseded brilliancy gleams through it 
but faintly4 ,it is a lively span for   
,mr4 ,reinhart to have been at once one 
of the unsophisticated and one of the   
actually modern4  ,that portion of his  
very copious work to which1 more        
particularly4 ,i apply the latter term1 
has been done for ,harper's ,magazine4  
,during these latter years it has come1 

like so much of ,american work to-day1  
from beyond the seas4 ,whether or not   
that foreign language of which ,i just  
spoke never became1 in ,new ,york1 for  
this especial possessor of it1 a        
completely convenient medium of         
conversation1 is more than ,i can say2  
at any rate ,mr4 ,reinhart eventually   
reverted to ,europe and settled in      
,paris4 ,paris had seemed rather        
inhospitable to him in his youth1 but he
 has now fitted his key to the lock4 ,it
 would be satisfactory to be able to    
express scientifically the reasons why1 
as a general thing1 the ,american       
artist1 as well as his congener of many 
another land1 carries on his function   
with less sense of resistance in that   
city than elsewhere4 ,he likes ,paris   
best1 but that is not scientific4 ,the  
difference is that though theoretically 
the production of pictures is recognized
 in ,america and in ,england1 in ,paris 
it is recognized both theoretically and 
practically4 ,and ,i do not mean by this

 simply that pictures are bought--for   
they are not1 predominantly1 as it      
happens--but that they are more         
presupposed4 ,the plastic is implied in 
the ,french conception of things1 and   
the studio is as natural a consequence  
of it as the post-office is of          
letter-writing4 ,vivid representation is
 the genius of the ,french language and 
the need of the ,french mind4 ,the      
people have invented more aids to it    
than any other1 and as these aids make  
up a large part of the artist's life1 he
 feels his best home to be in the place 
where he finds them most4 ,he may begin 
to quarrel with that home on the day a  
complication is introduced by the       
question of what he shall represent--a  
totally different consideration from    
that of the method2 but for ,mr4        
,reinhart this question has not yet     
offered insoluble difficulties4 ,he     
represents everything--he has accepted  
so general an order4 ,so long as his    
countrymen flock to ,paris and pass in a

 homogeneous procession before his eyes1
 there is not the smallest difficulty in
 representing them4 ,when the case      
requires that they shall be taken in    
connection with their native            
circumstances and seen in their ambient 
air1 he is prepared to come home and    
give several months to the task1 as on  
the occasion of ,mr4 ,dudley ,warner's  
history of a tour among the             
watering-places1 to which he furnished  
so rich and so curious a pictorial      
accompaniment4 ,sketch-book in hand1 he 
betakes himself1 according to need1 to  
,germany1 to ,england1 to ,italy1 to    
,spain4 ,the readers of ,harper will    
have forgotten his admirable pictorial  
notes on the political world at ,berlin1
 so rich and close in characterization4 
,to the ,spanish ,vistas of ,mr4 ,g4 ,p4
 ,lathrop he contributed innumerable    
designs1 delightful notes of an artist's
 quest of the sketchable1 many of which 
are singularly full pictures4 ,the      
8,soldiers ,playing ,dominoes0  at a caf

 is a powerful page of life4 ,mr4       
,reinhart has1 of course1 interpreted   
many a fictive scene--he has been       
repeatedly called upon to make the novel
 and the story visible4 ,this he        
energetically and patiently does2 though
 of course we are unable to say whether 
the men and women he makes us see are   
the very people whom the authors have   
seen4 ,that is a thing that1 in any     
case1 one will never know2 besides1 the 
authors who don't see vaguely are apt to
 see perversely4 ,the story-teller has1 
at any rate1 the comfort with ,mr4      
,reinhart that his drawings are         
constructive and have the air of the    
actual4 ,he likes to represent          
character--he rejoices in the specifying
 touch4  ,the evidence of this is to be 
found also in his pictures1 for ,i ought
 already to have mentioned that1 for    
these many years 7they are beginning to 
be many71 he has indulged in the luxury 
of color4 ,it is not probable that he   
regards himself in the first place as an

 illustrator1 in the sense to which the 
term is usually restricted4 ,he is a    
very vigorous and various painter1 and  
at the ,salon a constant and conspicuous
 exhibitor4 ,he is fond of experiments1 
difficulties and dangers1 and ,i divine 
that it would be his preference to be   
known best by his painting1 in which he 
handles landscape with equal veracity4  
,it is a pity that the critic is unable 
to contend with him on such a point     
without appearing to underestimate that 
work4 ,mr4 ,reinhart has so much to show
 for his preference that ,i am conscious
 of its taking some assurance to say    
that ,i am not sure he is right4 ,this  
would be the case even if he had nothing
 else to show than the admirable picture
 entitled 8,washed ,ashore0  78,un      
,epave 87 which made such an impression 
in the ,salon of #ahhg4 ,it represents  
the dead body of an unknown man whom the
 tide has cast up1 lying on his back1   
feet forward1 disfigured1 dishonored by 
the sea4 ,a small group of villagers are

 collected near it1 divided by the      
desire to look and the fear to see4 ,a  
gendarme1 official and responsible1 his 
uniform contrasting with the mortal     
disrepair of the victim1 takes down in  
his note-book the procs-verbal of the   
incident1 and an old sailor1 pointing   
away with a stiffened arm1 gives him the
 benefit of what he knows about the     
matter4 ,plain1 pitying1 fish-wives1    
hushed1 with their shawls in their      
mouths1 hang back1 as if from a         
combination too solemn--the mixture of  
death and the law4 ,three or four men   
seem to be glad it isn't they4 ,the     
thing is a masterpiece of direct        
representation1 and has wonderfully the 
air of something seen1 found without    
being looked for4 ,excellently composed 
but not artificial1 deeply touching but 
not sentimental1 large1 close and sober1
 this important work gives the full     
measure of ,mr4 ,reinhart's great talent
 and constitutes a kind of pledge4 ,it  
may be perverse on my part to see in it 

the big banknote1 as it were1 which may 
be changed into a multitude of gold and 
silver pieces4 ,i cannot1 however1 help 
doing so4 8,washed ,ashore0 is painted  
as only a painter paints1 but ,i        
irreverently translate it into its      
equivalent in 8illustrations0--half a   
hundred little examples1 in black and   
white1 of the same sort of observation4 
,for this observation1 immediate1       
familiar1 sympathetic1 human1 and not   
involving a quest of style for which    
color is really indispensable1 is a     
mistress at whose service there is no   
derogation in placing one's self4 ,to do
 little things instead of big may be a  
derogation2 a great deal will depend    
upon the way the little things are done4
 ,besides1 no work of art is absolutely 
little4 ,i grow bold and even           
impertinent as ,i think of the way ,mr4 
,rein-hart might scatter the smaller    
coin4 ,at any rate1 whatever proportion 
his work in this line may bear to the   
rest1 it is to be hoped that nothing    

will prevent him from turning out more  
and more to play the rare faculty that  
produces it4 ,his studies of ,american  
moeurs in association with ,mr4 ,warner 
went so far on the right road that we   
would fain see him make all the rest of 
the journey4 ,they made us ask          
straightway for more1 and were full of  
intimations of what was behind4 ,they   
showed what there is to see--what there 
is to guess4 ,let him carry the same    
inquiry further1 let him carry it all   
the way4 ,it would be serious work and  
would abound in reality2 it would help  
us1 as it were1 to know what we are     
talking about4 ,in saying this ,i feel  
how much ,i confirm the great claims ,i 
just made for the revival of            
illustration4     ,,alfred ,,parsons    
,it would perhaps be extravagant to     
pretend1 in this embarrassed age1 that  
,merry ,england is still intact2 but it 
would be strange if the words 8happy    
,england0 should not rise to the lips of
 the observer of ,mr4 ,alfred ,parsons' 

numerous and delightful studies of the  
gardens1 great and small1 of his        
country4 ,they surely have a            
representative value in more than the   
literal sense1 and might easily minister
 to the quietest complacency of         
patriotism4 ,people whose criticism is  
imaginative will see in them a kind of  
compendium of what1 in home things1 is  
at once most typical and most enviable2 
and1 going further1 they will almost    
wish that such a collection might be    
carried by slow stages round the globe1 
to kindle pangs in the absent and       
passions in the alien4 ,as it happens to
 be a globe the ,english race has       
largely peopled1 we can measure the     
amount of homesickness that would be    
engendered on the way4 ,in fact1 one    
doubts whether the sufferer would even  
need to be of ,english strain to attach 
the vision of home to the essentially   
lovable places that ,mr4 ,parsons       
depicts4 ,they seem to generalize and   
typify the idea1 so that every one may  

feel1 in every case1 that he has a      
sentimental property in the scene4 ,the 
very sweetness of its reality only helps
 to give it that story-book quality     
which persuades us we have known it in  
youth4  ,and yet such scenes may well   
have been constructed for the despair of
 the ,colonial2 for they remind us1 at  
every glance1 of that perfection to     
which there is no short cut--not even   
8unexampled prosperity 8--and to which  
time is the only guide4 ,mr4 ,parsons'  
pictures speak of many complicated      
things1 but 7in what they tell us of his
 subjects7 they speak most of duration4 
,such happy nooks have grown slowly1    
such fortunate corners have had a       
history2 and their fortune has been     
precisely that they have had time to    
have it comfortably1 have not been      
obliged to try for character without it4
  ,character is their strong point and  
the most expensive of all ingredients4  
,mr4 ,parsons' portraiture seizes every 
shade of it1 seizes it with unfailing   

sympathy4 ,he is doubtless clever enough
 to paint rawness when he must1 but he  
has an irrepressible sense of ripeness4 
,half the ripeness of ,england--half the
 religion1 one might almost say--is in  
its gardens2 they are truly pious       
foundations4 ,it is doubtless because   
there are so many of them that the      
country seems so finished1 and the sort 
of care they demand is an intenser      
deliberation1 which passes into the     
national temper4 ,one must have lived in
 other lands to observe fully how large 
a proportion of this one is walled in   
for growing flowers4 ,the ,english love 
of flowers is inveterate2 it is the     
most1 unanimous protest against the     
grayness of some of the conditions1 and 
it should receive justice from those who
 accuse the race of taking its pleasure 
too sadly4 ,a good garden is an         
organized revel1 and there is no country
 in which there are so many4  ,mr4      
,parsons had therefore only to choose1  
at his leisure1 and one might heartily  

have envied him the process1 scarcely   
knowing which to prefer of all the      
pleasant pilgrimages that would make up 
such a quest4 ,he had4 fortunately1 the 
knowledge which could easily lead to    
more1 and a career of discovery behind  
him4 ,he knew the right times for the   
right things1 and the right things for  
the right places4 ,he had innumerable   
memories and associations2 he had       
painted up and down the land and looked 
over many walls4 ,he had followed the   
bounty of the year from month to month  
and from one profusion to another4 ,to  
follow it with him1 in this admirable   
series1 is to see that he is master of  
the subject4 ,there will be no lack of  
confidence on the part of those who have
 already perceived1 in much of ,mr4     
,parsons' work1 a supreme illustration  
of all that is widely nature-loving in  
the ,english interest in the flower4 ,no
 sweeter submission to mastery can be   
imagined than the way the daffodils1    
under his brush 7to begin at the        

beginning71 break out into early ,april 
in the lovely drawings of ,stourhead4   
,one of the most charming of these--a   
corner of an old tumbled-up place in    
,wiltshire1 where many things have come 
and gone--represents that moment of     
transition in which contrast is so vivid
 as to make it more dramatic than many  
plays--the very youngest throb of       
spring1 with the brown slope of the     
foreground coming back to consciousness 
in pale lemon-colored patches and1 on   
the top of the hill1 against the still  
cold sky1 the equally delicate forms of 
the wintry trees4 ,by the time these    
forms have thickened1 the expanses of   
daffodil will have become a mass of     
bluebells4 ,all the daffodil pictures   
have a rare loveliness1 but especially  
those that deal also with the earlier   
fruit-blossom1 the young plum-trees in  
,berkshire orchards4 ,here the air is   
faintly pink1 and the painter makes us  
feel the little blow in the thin blue   
sky4 ,the spring1 fortunately1 is       

everybody's property and1 in the        
language of all the arts1 the easiest   
word to conjure with4 ,it is therefore  
partly ,mr4 ,parsons' good-luck that we 
enjoy so his rendering of these phases2 
but on the other hand we look twice when
 it's a case of meddling with the       
exquisite1 and if he inspires us with   
respect it is because we feel that he   
has been deeply initiated4 ,no one knows
 better the friendly reasons for our    
stopping1 when chatting natives         
pronounce the weather 8foine10 at       
charming casual corners of old villages1
 where grassy ways cross each other and 
timbered houses bulge irregularly and   
there are fresh things behind crooked   
palings2 witness the little vision of   
,blewbury1 in ,berkshire1 reputedly of  
ancient ,british origin1 with a road all
 round it and only footways within4 ,no 
one1 in the ,herefordshire orchards1    
masses the white cow-parsley in such    
profusion under the apple blossoms2 or  
makes the whitewashed little            

damson-trees look so innocently         
responsible and charming on the edge of 
the brook over which the planks are laid
 for the hens4 ,delightful1 in this     
picture1 is the sense of the clean      
spring day1 after rain1 with the blue of
 the sky washed faint4 ,delightful is   
the biggish view 7one of the less       
numerous oil-pictures7 of the           
,somersetshire garden1 where that       
peculiarly ,english look of the open-air
 room is produced by the stretched      
carpet of the turf and the firm cushions
 of the hedges1 and a pair of           
proprietors1 perhaps happier than they  
know1 are putting in an afternoon among 
their tulips1 under the flushed         
apple-trees whose stems are so thin and 
whose brims so heavy4 ,are the absorbed 
couple1 at any rate1 aware of the       
surprising degree to which the clustered
 ruddy roofs of the next small town1    
over the hedge1 off at the left1 may    
remind the fanciful spectator of the way
 he has seen little dim ,italian cities 

look on their hill-tops8 ,the whole     
thing1 in this subject1 has the         
particular ,english note to which ,mr4  
,parsons repeatedly testifies1 the nook 
quality1 the air of a land and a life so
 infinitely subdivided that they produce
 a thousand pleasant privacies4 ,the    
painter moves with the months and finds1
 after the earliest things1 the great   
bed of pansies in the angle of the old  
garden at ,sutton1 in which1 for        
felicity of position and perfect        
pictorial service rendered--to say      
nothing of its polygonal1 pyramidal     
roof--the ancient tool-house1 or        
tea-house1 is especially to be          
commended4 ,very far descended is such a
 corner as this1 very full of reference 
to vanished combinations and uses2 and  
the artist communicates to us a feeling 
for it that makes us wish disinterstedly
 it may be still as long preserved4  ,he
 finds in ,june1 at ,blackdown1 the     
blaze of the yellow azalea-bush1 or in  
another spot the strong pink of the     

rhododendron1 beneath the silver firs   
that deepen the blue of the sky4 ,he    
finds the ,vicarage ,walk1 at ,king's   
,langley1 a smother of old-fashioned    
flowers--a midsummer vista for the      
figures of a happy lady and a lucky dog4
 ,he finds the delicious huddle of the  
gabled1 pigeon-haunted roof of a certain
 brown old building at ,frame1 with     
poppies and gladiolus and hollyhock     
crowding the beautiful foreground4 ,he  
finds--apparently in the same place--the
 tangle of the hardy flowers that come  
while the roses are still in bloom1 with
 the tall blue larkspurs standing high  
among them4 ,he finds the lilies1 white 
and red1 at ,broadway1 and the poppies1 
which have dropped most of their        
petals--apparently to let the roses1    
which are just coming out1 give their   
grand party4 ,their humility is rewarded
 by the artist's admirable touch in the 
little bare poppy-heads that nod on     
their flexible pins4  ,but ,i cannot go 
on to say everything that such a seeker1

 such a discoverer1 as ,mr4 ,parsons    
finds--the less that the purpose of     
these limited remarks is to hint at our 
own trouvailles4 ,a view of the field1  
at any rate1 would be incomplete without
 such specimens as the three charming   
oil-pictures which commemorate ,holme   
,lacey4 ,there are gardens and gardens1 
and these represent the sort that are   
always spoken of in the plural and most 
arrogate the title4 ,they form1 in      
,england1 a magnificent collection1 and 
if they abound in a quiet assumption of 
the grand style it must be owned that   
they frequently achieve it4 ,there are  
people to be found who enjoy them1 and  
it is not1 at any rate1 when ,mr4       
,parsons deals with them that we have an
 opening for strictures4 ,as we look at 
the blaze of full summer in the         
brilliantly conventional parterres we   
easily credit the tale of the #dj1jjj   
plants it takes to fill the beds4 ,more 
than this1 we like the long paths of    
turf that stretch between splendid      

borders1 recalling the frescoed         
galleries of a palace2 we like the      
immense hedges1 whose tops are high     
against the sky4 ,while we are liking1  
we like perhaps still better1 since they
 deal with a very different order1 the  
two water-colors from the dear little   
garden at ,winchelsea--especially the   
one in which the lady takes he ease in  
her hammock 7on a sociable1 shady       
terrace1 from which the ground drops71  
and looks at red ,rye1 across the       
marshes4 ,another garden where a        
contemplative hammock would be in order 
is the lovely canonical plot at         
,salisbury1 with the everlasting spire  
above it tinted in the summer           
sky--unless1 in the same place1 you     
should choose to hook yourself up by the
 grassy bank of the ,avon1 at the end of
 the lawn1 with the meadows1 the cattle1
 the distant willows across the river1  
to look at4  ,three admirable           
water-colors are devoted by ,mr4        
,parsons to the perceptible dignity of  

,gravetye1 in ,sussex1 the dignity of   
very serious gardens1 entitled to       
ceremonious consideration1 ,few things  
in ,england can show a greater wealth of
 bloom than the wide flowery terrace    
immediately beneath the gray1 gabled    
house1 where tens of thousands of       
tea-roses1 in predominant possession1   
have1 in one direction1 a mass of high  
yews for a background4 ,they divide     
their province with the carnations and  
pansies3 a wilder ness of tender petals 
ignorant of anything rougher than the   
neighborhood of the big unchanged medley
 of tall yuccas and saxifrage1 with     
miscellaneous filling-in1 in the picture
 which presents the charming house in   
profile4 ,the artist shows us later1 in 
,september1 at ,gravetye1 the pale      
violet multitude of the ,michaelmas     
daisies2 another ,i great bunch1 or     
bank1 of which half masks and greatly   
beautifies the rather bare yellow       
cottage at ,broadway4 ,this brings us on
 to the autumn1 if ,i count as autumnal 

the admirable large water-color of a    
part of a garden at ,shiplake1 with the 
second bloom of the roses and a glimpse 
of a turn of the ,thames4 ,this         
exquisite picture expresses to          
perfection the beginning of the languor 
of the completed season--with its look  
of warm rest1 of doing nothing1 in the  
cloudless sky4 ,to the same or a later  
moment belongs the straight walk at     
,fladbury--the old rectory garden by the
 ,avon1 with its ,irish yews and the red
 lady in her chair2 also the charming   
water-color of young1 slim apple-trees1 
full of fruit 7this must be ,october71  
beneath an admirable blue and white sky4
 ,still later comes the big pear-tree   
that has turned1 among barer boughs1 to 
flame-color1 and1 in another picture1   
the very pale russet of the thinned     
cherry-trees1 standing1 beneath a       
grayish sky1 above a foreshortened      
slope4 ,last of all we have1 in oils1   
,december and a hard frost in a bare    
apple-orchard1 indented with a deep     

gully which makes the place somehow a   
subject and which1 in fact1 three or    
four years ago1 made it one for a larger
 picture by ,mr4 ,parsons1 full of truth
 and style4  ,this completes his        
charming story of the life of the       
,english year1 told in a way that       
convinces us of his intimate            
acquaintance with it4 ,half the interest
 of ,mr4 ,parsons' work is in the fact  
that he paints from a full mind and from
 a store of assimilated knowledge4 ,in  
every touch of nature that he           
communicates to us we feel something of 
the thrill of the whole--we feel the    
innumerable relations1 the possible     
variations of the particular objects4   
,this makes his manner serious and      
masculine--rescues it from the thinness 
of tricks and the coquetries of chic4   
,we walk with him on a firm earth1 we   
taste the tone of the air and seem to   
take nature and the climate and all the 
complicated conditions by their big     
general hand4 ,the painter's manner1 in 

short1 is one with the study of         
things--his talent is a part of their   
truth4 ,in this happy series we seem to 
see still more how that talent was      
formed1 how his rich motherland has     
been1 from the earliest observation1 its
 nurse and inspirer4 ,he gives back to  
her all the good she has done him4      
,,john ,s4 ,,sargent  ,i was on the     
point of beginning this sketch of the   
work of an artist to whom distinction   
has come very early in life by saying1  
in regard to the degree to which the    
subject of it enjoys the attention of   
the public1 that no ,american painter   
has hitherto won himself such           
recognition from the expert2 but ,i find
 myself pausing at the start as on the  
edge of a possible solecism4 ,is ,mr4   
,sargent in very fact an ,american      
painter8 ,the proper answer to such a   
question is doubtless that we shall be  
well advised to pretend it1 and the     
reason of this is simply that we have an
 excellent opportunity4 ,born in        

,europe1 he has also spent his life in  
,europe1 but none the less the burden of
 proof would rest with those who should 
undertake to show that he is a          
,european4 ,moreover he has even on the 
face of it this great symptom of an     
,american origin1 that in the line of   
his art he might easily be mistaken for 
a ,frenchman4 ,it sounds like a paradox1
 but it is a very simple truth1 that    
when to-day we look for 8,american art0 
we find it mainly in ,paris4 ,when we   
find it out of ,paris1 we at least find 
a great deal of ,paris in it4 ,mr4      
,sargent came up to the irresistible    
city in his twentieth year1 from        
,florence1 where in #ahef he had been   
born of ,american parents and where his 
fortunate youth had been spent4 ,he     
entered immediately the studio of       
,caro-lus ,duran1 and revealed himself  
in #ahgg1 at the age of twenty-two1 in  
the portrait of that master---a fine    
model in more than one sense of the     
word4 ,he was already in possession of a

 style2 and if this style has gained    
both in finish and in assurance1 it has 
not otherwise varied4 ,as he saw and    
8rendered0 ten years ago1 so he sees and
 renders to-day2 and ,i may add that    
there is no present symptom of his      
passing into another manner4  ,those who
 have appreciated his work most up to   
the present time articulate no wish for 
a change1 so completely does that work  
seem to them1 in its kind1 the exact    
translation of his thought1 the exact   
8fit0  of his artistic temperament4 ,it 
is difficult to imagine a young painter 
less in the dark about his own ideal1   
more lucid and more responsible from the
 first about what he desires4 ,in an    
altogether exceptional degree does he   
give us the sense that the intention and
 the art of carrying it out are for him 
one and the same thing4 ,in the         
brilliant portrait of ,carolus ,duran1  
which he was speedily and strikingly to 
surpass1 he gave almost the full measure
 of this admirable peculiarity1 that    

perception with him is already by itself
 a kind of execution4 ,it is likewise   
so1 of course1 with many another genuine
 painter2 but in ,sargent's case the    
process by which the object seen        
resolves itself into the object pictured
 is extraordinarily immediate4 ,it is as
 if painting were pure tact of vision1 a
 simple manner of feeling4  ,from the   
time of his first successes at the      
,salon he was hailed1 ,i believe1 as a  
recruit of high value to the camp of the
 ,impressionists1 and to-day he is for  
many people most conveniently           
pigeon-holed under that head4 ,it is not
 necessary to protest against the       
classification if this addition always  
be made to it1 that ,mr4 ,sargent's     
impressions happen to be worthy of      
record4 ,this is by no means            
inveterately the case with those of the 
ingenuous artists who most rejoice in   
the title in question4 ,to render the   
impression of an object may be a very   
fruitful effort1 but it is not          

necessarily so2 that will depend upon   
what1 ,i won't say the object1 but the  
impression1 may have been4 ,the talents 
engaged in this school lie1 not         
unjustly1 as it seems to me under the   
suspicion of seeking the solution of    
their problem exclusively in            
simplification4 ,if a painter works for 
other eyes as well as his own he courts 
a certain danger in this direction--that
 of being arrested by the cry of the    
spectator3 8,ah6 but excuse me2 ,i      
myself take more impressions than that0 
,we feel a synthesis not to be an       
injustice only when it is rich4 ,mr4    
,sargent simplifies1 ,i think1 but he   
simplifies with style1 and his          
impression is the finest form of his    
energy4  ,his work has been almost      
exclusively in portraiture1 and it has  
been his fortune to paint more women    
than men2 therefore he has had but a    
limited opportunity to reproduce that   
generalized grand air with which his    
view of certain figures of gentlemen    

invests the model1 which is conspicuous 
in the portrait of ,carolus ,duran and  
of which his splendid 8,docteur ,pozzi10
 the distinguished ,paris surgeon 7a    
work not sent to the ,salon71 is an     
admirable example4 ,in each of these    
cases the model has been of a gallant   
pictorial type1 one of the types which  
strike us as made for portraiture 7which
 is by no means the way of all71 as     
especially appears1 for instance1 in the
 handsome hands and frilled wrists of   
,m4 ,carolus1 whose cane rests in his   
fine fingers as if it were the hilt of a
 rapier4 ,the most brilliant of all ,mr4
 ,sargent's productions is the portrait 
of a young lady1 the magnificent picture
 which he exhibited in #ahha2 and if it 
has mainly been his fortune since to    
commemorate the fair faces of women1    
there is no ground for surprise at this 
sort of success on the part of one who  
had given so signal a proof of          
possessing the secret of the particular 
aspect that the contemporary lady 7of   

any period7 likes to wear in the eyes of
 posterity4 ,painted when he was but    
four-and-twenty years of age1 the       
picture by which ,mr4 ,sargent was      
represented at the ,salon of #ahha is a 
performance which may well have made any
 critic of imagination rather anxious   
about his future4 ,in common with the   
superb group of the children of ,mr4    
,edward ,boit1 exhibited two years      
later1 it offers the slightly 8uncanny0 
spectacle of a talent which on the very 
threshold of its career has nothing more
 to learn4 ,it is not simply precocity  
in the guise of maturity--a phenomenon  
we very often meet1 which deceives us   
only for an hour2 it is the freshness of
 youth combined with the artistic       
experience1 really felt and assimilated1
 of generations4 ,my admiration for this
 deeply distinguished work is such that 
,i am perhaps in danger of overstating  
its merits2 but it is worth taking into 
account that to-day1 after several      
years' acquaintance with them1 these    

merits seem to me more and more to      
justify enthusiasm4 ,the picture has    
this sign of productions of the first   
order1 that its style clearly would save
 it if everything else should           
change--our measure of its value of     
resemblance1 its expression of          
character1 the fashion of dress1 the    
particular associations it evokes4 ,it  
is not only a portrait1 but a picture1  
and it arouses even in the profane      
spectator something of the painter's    
sense1 the joy of engaging also1 by     
sympathy1 in the solution of the        
artistic problem4 ,there are works of   
which it is sometimes said that they are
 painters' pictures 7this description is
 apt to be intended invidiously71 and   
the production of which ,i speak has the
 good-fortune at once to belong to this 
class and to give the 8plain man0 the   
kind of pleasure that the plain man     
looks for4  ,the young lady1 dressed in 
black satin1 stands upright1 with her   
right hand bent back1 resting on her    

waist1 while the other1 with the arm    
somewhat extended1 offers to view a     
single white flower4 ,the dress4        
stretched at the hips over a sort of    
hoop1 and ornamented in front1 where it 
opens on a velvet petticoat with large  
satin bows1 has an old-fashioned air1 as
 if it had been worn by some demure     
princess who might have sat for         
,velasquez4 ,the hair1 of which the     
arrangement is odd and charming1 is     
disposed in two or three large curls    
fastened at one side over the temple    
with a comb4 ,behind the figure is the  
vague faded sheen1 exquisite in tone1 of
 a silk curtain1 light1 undefined1 and  
losing itself at the bottom4 ,the face  
is young1 candid and peculiar4 ,out of  
these few elements the artist has       
constructed a picture which it is       
impossible to forget1 of which the most 
striking characteristic is its          
simplicity1 and yet which overflows with
 perfection4 ,painted with extraordinary
 breadth and freedom1 so that surface   

and texture are interpreted by the      
lightest hand1 it glows with life1      
character and distinction1 and strikes  
us as the most complete--with one       
exception perhaps--of the author's      
productions4 ,i know not why this       
representation of a young girl in black1
 engaged in the casual gesture of       
holding up a flower1 should make so     
ineffaceable an impression and tempt one
 to become almost lyrical in its praise2
 but ,i remember that1 encountering the 
picture unexpectedly in ,new ,york a    
year or two after it had been exhibited 
in ,paris1 it seemed to me to have      
acquired an extraordinary general value1
 to stand for more artistic truth than  
it would be easy to formulate4 ,the     
language of painting1 the tongue in     
which1 exclusively1 ,mr4 ,sargent       
expresses himself1 is a medium into     
which a considerable part of the public1
 for the simple an excellent reason that
 they don't understand it1 will         
doubtless always be reluctant and unable

 to follow him4  ,two years before he   
exhibited the young lady in black1 in   
#ahgi1 ,mr4 ,sargent had spent several  
months in ,spain1 and here1 even more   
than he had already been1 the great     
,velasquez became the god of his        
idolatry4 ,no scenes are more delightful
 to the imagination than those in which 
we figure youth and genius confronted   
with great examples1 and if such matters
 did not belong to the domain of private
 life we might entertain ourselves with 
reconstructing the episode of the first 
visit to the museum of ,madrid1 the     
shrine of the painter of ,philip ,,iv41 
of a young ,franco-,american worshipper 
of the highest artistic sensibility1    
expecting a supreme revelation and      
prepared to fall on his knees4 ,it is   
evident that ,mr4 ,sargent fell on his  
knees and that in this attitude he      
passed a considerable part of his       
sojourn in ,spain4 ,he is various and   
experimental2 if ,i am not mistaken1 he 
sees each work that he produces in a    

light of its own1 not turning off       
successive portraits according to some  
well-tried receipt which has proved     
useful in the case of their             
predecessors2 nevertheless there is one 
idea that pervades them all1 in a       
different degree1 and gives them a      
family resemblance--the idea that it    
would be inspiring to know just how     
,velasquez would have treated the theme4
 ,we can fancy that on each occasion    
,mr4 ,sargent1 as a solemn preliminary1 
invokes him as a patron saint4 ,this is 
not1 in my intention1 tantamount to     
saying that the large canvas            
representing the contortions of a dancer
 in the lamp-lit room of a posada1 which
 he exhibited on his return from ,spain1
 strikes me as having come into the     
world under the same star as those      
compositions of the great ,spaniard     
which at ,madrid alternate with his     
royal portraits4 ,this singular work1   
which has found an appreciative home in 
,boston1 has the stamp of an            

extraordinary energy and facility--of an
 actual scene1 with its accidents and   
peculiarities caught1 as distinguished  
from a composition where arrangement and
 invention have played their part4 ,it  
looks like life1 but it looks also1 to  
my view1 rather like a perversion of    
life1 and has the quality of an enormous
 8note0 or memorandum1 rather than of a 
representation4 ,a woman in a voluminous
 white silk dress and a black mantilla  
pirouettes in the middle of a dusky     
room1 to the accompaniment of her own   
castanets and that of a row of men and  
women who sit in straw chairs against   
the whitewashed wall and thrum upon     
guitar and tambourine or lift other     
castanets into the air4 ,she appears    
almost colossal1 and the twisted and    
inflated folds of her long dress        
increase her volume4 ,she simpers1 in   
profile1 with a long chin1 while she    
slants back at a dangerous angle1 and   
the lamplight 7it proceeds from below1  
as if she were on a big platform7 makes 

a strange play in her large face4 ,in   
the background the straight line of     
black-clad1 black-hatted1 white-shirted 
musicians projects shadows against the  
wall1 on which placards1 guitars1 and   
dirty finger-marks display themselves4  
,the merit of this production is that   
the air of reality is given in it with  
remarkable breadth and boldness2 its    
defect it is difficult to express save  
by saying that it makes the spectator   
vaguely uneasy and even unhappy--an     
accident the more to be regretted as a  
lithe1 inspired female figure1 given up 
to the emotion of the dance1 is not     
intrinsically a displeasing object4 8,el
 ,jaleo0 sins1 in my opinion1 in the    
direction of ugliness1 and1             
independently of the fact that the      
heroine is circling round incommoded by 
her petticoats1 has a want of serenity4 
,this is not the defect of the charming1
 dusky1 white-robed person who1 in the  
,tangerine subject exhibited at the     
,salon of #ahhj 7the fruit of an        

excursion to the ,african coast at the  
time of the artist's visit to ,spain71  
stands on a rug1 under a great white    
,moorish arch1 and from out of the      
shadows of the large drapery1 raised    
pentwise by her hands1 which covers her 
head1 looks down1 with painted eyes and 
brows showing above a bandaged mouth1 at
 the fumes of a beautiful censer or     
chafing-dish placed on the carpet4 ,i   
know not who this stately ,mahometan may
 be1 nor in what mysterious domestic or 
religious rite she may be engaged2 but  
in her muffled contemplation and her    
pearl-colored robes1 under her plastered
 arcade which shines in the ,eastern    
light1 she transports and torments us4  
,the picture is exquisite1 a radiant    
effect of white upon white1 of similar  
but discriminated tones4 ,in dividing   
the honor that ,mr4 ,sargent has won by 
his finest work between the portrait of 
the young lady of #ahha and the group of
 four little girls which was painted in 
#ahhb and exhibited with the success it 

deserved the following year1 ,i must be 
careful to give the latter picture not  
too small a share4 ,the artist has done 
nothing more felicitous and interesting 
than this view of a rich dim1 rather    
generalized ,french interior 7the       
perspective of a hall with a shining    
floor1 where screens and tall ,japanese 
vases shimmer and loom71 which encloses 
the life and seems to form the happy    
play-world of a family of charming      
children4 ,the treatment is eminently   
unconventional1 and there is none of the
 usual symmetrical balancing of the     
figures in the foreground4 ,the place is
 regarded as a whole2 it is a scene1 a  
comprehensive impression2 yet none the  
less do the little figures in their     
white pinafores 7when was the pinafore  
ever painted with that power and made so
 poetic87 detach themselves and live    
with a personal life4 ,two of the       
sisters stand hand in hand at the back1 
in the delightful1 the almost equal1    
company of a pair of immensely tall     

emblazoned jars1 which overtop them and 
seem also to partake of the life of the 
picture2 the splendid porcelain and the 
aprons of the children shine together1  
while a mirror in the brown depth behind
 them catches the light4 ,another little
 girl presents herself1 with abundant   
tresses and slim legs1 her hands behind 
her1 quite to the left2 and the         
youngest1 nearest to the spectator1 sits
 on the floor and plays with her doll4  
,the naturalness of the composition1 the
 loveliness of the complete effect1 the 
light1 free' security of the execution1 
the sense it gives us as of assimilated 
secrets and of instinct and knowledge   
playing together--all this makes the    
picture as astonishing a work on the    
part of a young man of twenty-six as the
 portrait of #ahha was astonishing on   
the part of a young man of twenty-four4 
,it is these remarkable encounters that 
justify us in writing almost prematurely
 of a career which is not yet half      
unfolded4 ,mr4 ,sargent is sometimes    

accused of a want of 8finish10 but if   
finish means the last word of           
expressiveness of touch1 8,the ,hall    
with the ,four ,children10 as we may    
call it1 may-stand as a permanent       
reference on this point4 ,if the picture
 of the ,spanish dancer illustrates1 as 
it seems to me to do1 the latent dangers
 of the ,impressionist practice1 so this
 finer performance shows what victories 
it may achieve4 ,and in relation to the 
latter ,i must repeat what ,i said about
 the young lady with the flower1 that   
this is the sort of work which1 when    
produced in youth1 leads the attentive  
spectator to ask unanswerable questions4
 ,he finds himself murmuring1 8,yes1 but
 what is left80 and even wondering      
whether it be an advantage to an artist 
to obtain early in life such possession 
of his means that the struggle with     
them1 discipline1 ttonnement1 cease to  
exist for him4 ,may not this breed an   
irresponsibility of cleverness1 a       
wantonness1 an irreverence--what is     

vulgarly termed a 8larkiness0--on the   
part of the youthful genius who has1 as 
it were1 all his fortune in his pocket8 
,such are the possibly superfluous      
broodings of those who are critical even
 in their warmest admirations and who   
sometimes suspect that it may be better 
for an artist to have a certain part of 
his property invested in unsolved       
difficulties4 ,when this is not the     
case1 the question with regard to his   
future simplifies itself somewhat       
portentously4 8,what will he do with    
it80 we ask1 meaning by the pronoun the 
sharp1 completely forged weapon4 ,it    
becomes more purely a question of       
responsibility1 and we hold him         
altogether to a higher account4 ,this is
 the case with ,mr4 ,sargent2 he knows  
so much about the art of painting that  
he perhaps does not fear emergencies    
quite enough1 and that having knowledge 
to spare he may be tempted to play with 
it and waste it4 ,various1 curious1 as  
we have called him1 he occasionally     

tries experiments which seem to arise   
from the mere high spirits of his brush1
 and runs risks little courted by the   
votaries of the literal1 who never      
expose their necks to escape from the   
common4 ,for the literal and the common 
he has the smallest taste2 when he      
renders an object into the language of  
painting his translation is a generous  
paraphrase4  ,as ,i have intimated1 he  
has painted little but portraits2 but he
 has painted very many of these1 and ,i 
shall not attempt in so few pages to    
give a catalogue of his works4 ,every   
canvas that has come from his hands has 
not figured at the ,salon2 some of them 
have seen the light at other exhibitions
 in ,paris2 some of them in ,london 7of 
which city ,mr4 ,sargent is now an      
inhabitant71 at the ,royal ,academy and 
the ,grosvenor ,gallery4 ,if he has been
 mainly represented by portraits there  
are two or three little subject-pictures
 of which ,i retain a grateful memory4  
,there stands out in particular1 as a   

pure gem1 a small picture exhibited at  
the ,grosvenor1 representing a small    
group of ,venetian girls of the lower   
class1 sitting in gossip together one   
summer's day in the big1 dim hall of a  
shabby old palazzo4 ,the shutters let in
 a clink of light2 the scagliola        
pavement gleams faintly in it2 the whole
 place is bathed in a kind of           
transparent shade4 ,the girls are       
vaguely engaged in some very humble     
household work2 they are counting       
turnips or stringing onions1 and these  
small vegetables1 enchantingly painted1 
look as valuable as magnified pearls4   
,the figures are extraordinarily natural
 and vivid2 wonderfully light and fine  
is the touch by which the painter evokes
 the small familiar ,venetian realities 
7he has handled them with a vigor       
altogether peculiar in various other    
studies which ,i have not space to      
enumerate71 and keeps the whole thing   
free from that element of humbug which  
has ever attended most attempts to      

reproduce the idiosyncrasies of ,italy4 
,i am1 however1 drawing to the end of my
 remarks without having mentioned a     
dozen of those brilliant triumphs in the
 field of portraiture with which ,mr4   
,sargent's name is preponderantly       
associated4 ,i jumped from his 8,carolus
 ,duran0 to the masterpiece of #ahha    
without speaking of the charming        
8,madame ,pailleron0 of #ahgi1 or the   
picture of this lady's children the     
following year4 ,many1 or rather most1  
of ,mr4 ,sargent's sitters have been    
,french1 and he has studied the         
physiognomy of this nation so           
attentively that a little of it perhaps 
remains in the brush with which to-day1 
more than in his first years1 he        
represents other types4 ,i have alluded 
to his superb 8,docteur ,pozzi10 to     
whose very handsome1 still youthful head
 and slightly artificial posture he has 
given so fine a ,french cast that he    
might be excused if he should1 even on  
remoter pretexts1 find himself reverting

 to it4 ,this gentleman stands up in his
 brilliant red dressing-gown with the   
prestance of a princely ,vandyck4 ,i    
should like to commemorate the portrait 
of a lady of a certain age and of an    
equally certain interest of             
appearance--a lady in black1 with black 
hair1 a black hat and a vast feather1   
which was displayed at that entertaining
 little annual exhibition of the        
8,mirlitons10 in the ,place ,vendme4    
,with the exquisite modelling of its    
face 7no one better than ,mr4 ,sargent  
understands the beauty that resides in  
exceeding fineness71 this head remains  
in my mind as a masterly rendering of   
the look of experience--such experience 
as may be attributed to a woman slightly
 faded and eminently distinguished4     
,subject and treatment in this valuable 
piece are of an equal interest1 and in  
the latter there is an element of       
positive sympathy which is not always in
 a high degree the sign of ,mr4         
,sargent's work4 ,what shall ,i say of  

the remarkable canvas which1 on the     
occasion of the ,salon of #ahhd1 brought
 the critics about our artist's ears1   
the already celebrated portrait of      
8,madame ,g480 ,it is an experiment of a
 highly original kind1 and the painter  
has had in the case1 in regard to what  
,mr4 ,ruskin would call the 8rightness0 
of his attempt1 the courage of his      
opinion4 ,a contestable beauty1         
according to ,parisian fame1 the lady   
stands upright beside a table on which  
her right arm rests1 with her body      
almost fronting the spectator and her   
face in complete profile4 ,she wears an 
entirely sleeveless dress of black      
satin1 against which her admirable left 
arm detaches itself2 the line of her    
harmonious profile has a sharpness which
 ,mr4 ,sargent does not always seek1 and
 the crescent of ,diana1 an ornament in 
diamonds1 rests on her singular head4   
,this work had not the good-fortune to  
please the public at large1 and ,i      
believe it even excited a kind of       

unreasoned scandal--an idea sufficiently
 amusing in the light of some of the    
manifestations of the plastic effort to 
which1 each year1 the ,salon stands     
sponsor4 ,this superb picture1 noble in 
conception and masterly in line1 gives  
to the figure represented something of  
the high relief of the profiled images  
on great friezes4 ,it is a work to take 
or to leave1 as the phrase is1 and one  
in regard to which the question of      
liking or disliking comes promptly to be
 settled4 ,the author has never gone    
further in being boldly and consistently
 himself4  ,two of ,mr4 ,sargent's      
recent productions have been portraits  
of ,american ladies whom it must have   
been a delight to paint2 ,i allude to   
those of ,lady ,playfair and ,mrs4      
,henry ,white1 both of which were seen  
in the ,royal ,academy of #ahhe1 and the
 former subsequently in ,boston1 where  
it abides4 ,these things possess1       
largely1 the quality which makes ,mr4   
,sargent so happy as a painter of       

women--a quality which can best be      
expressed by a reference to what it is  
not1 to the curiously literal1 prosaic1 
sexless treatment to which1 in the      
commonplace work that looks down at us  
from the walls of almost all            
exhibitions1 delicate feminine elements 
have evidently so often been sacrificed4
 ,mr4 ,sargent handles these elements   
with a special feeling for them1 and    
they borrow a kind of noble intensity   
from his brush4 ,this intensity is not  
absent from the two portraits ,i just   
mentioned1 that of ,lady ,playfair and  
that of ,mrs4 ,henry ,white2 it looks   
out at us from the erect head and frank 
animation of the one1 and the silvery   
sheen and shimmer of white satin and    
white lace which form the setting of the
 slim tall-ness of the other4 ,in the   
,royal ,academy of #ahhf ,mr4 ,sargent  
was represented by three important      
canvases1 all of which reminded the     
spectator of how much the brilliant     
effect he produces in an ,english       

exhibition arises from a certain        
appearance that he has of looking down  
from a height1 a height of cleverness1 a
 sensible giddiness of facility1 at the 
artistic problems of the given case4    
,sometimes there is even a slight       
impertinence in it2 that1 doubtless1 was
 the impression of many of the people   
who passed1 staring1 with an            
ejaculation1 before the triumphant group
 of the three ,misses ,v4 ,these young  
ladies1 seated in a row1 with a room    
much foreshortened for a background1 and
 treated with a certain familiarity of  
frankness1 excited in ,london a chorus  
of murmurs not dissimilar to that which 
it had been the fortune of the portrait 
exhibited in #ahhd to elicit in ,paris1 
and had the further privilege of drawing
 forth some prodigies of purblind       
criticism4 ,works of this character are 
a genuine service2 after the short-lived
 gibes of the profane have subsided1    
they are found to have cleared the air4 
,they remind people that the faculty of 

taking a direct1 independent1 unborrowed
 impression is not altogether lost4  ,in
 this very rapid review ,i have         
accompanied ,mr4 ,sargent to a very     
recent date4 ,if ,i have said that      
observers encumbered with a nervous     
temperament may at any moment have been 
anxious about his future1 ,i have it on 
my conscience to add that the day has   
not yet come for a complete extinction  
of this anxiety4 ,mr4 ,sargent is so    
young1 in spite of the place allotted to
 him in these pages1 so often a record  
of long careers and uncontested triumphs
 that1 in spite also of the admirable   
works he has already produced1 his      
future is the most valuable thing he has
 to show4 ,we may still ask ourselves   
what he will do with it1 while we       
indulge the hope that he will see fit to
 give successors to the two pictures    
which ,i have spoken of emphatically as 
his finest4 ,there is no greater work of
 art than a great portrait--a truth to  
be constantly taken to heart by a       

painter holding in his hands the weapon 
that ,mr4 ,sargent wields4 ,the gift    
that he possesses he possesses          
completely--the immediate perception of 
the end and of the means4 ,putting aside
 the question of the subject 7and to a  
great portrait a common sitter will     
doubtless not always contribute71 the   
highest result is achieved when to this 
element of quick perception a certain   
faculty of brooding reflection is added4
 ,i use this name for want of a better1 
and ,i mean the quality in the light of 
which the artist sees deep into his     
subject1 undergoes it1 absorbs it1      
discovers in it new things that were not
 on the surface1 becomes patient with   
it1 and almost reverent1 and1 in short1 
enlarges and humanizes the technical    
problem4     ,,honor ,,daumier  ,,as we 
attempt1 at the present day1 to write   
the history of everything1 it would be  
strange if we had happened to neglect   
the annals of caricature2 for the very  
essence of the art of ,cruikshank and   

,gavarni1 of ,daumier and ,leech1 is to 
be historical2 and every one knows how  
addicted is this great science to       
discoursing about itself4 ,many         
industrious seekers1 in ,england and    
,france1 have ascended the stream of    
time to the source of the modern        
movement of pictorial satire4 ,the      
stream of time is in this case mainly   
the stream of journalism2 for social and
 political caricature1 as the present   
century has practised it1 is only       
journalism made doubly vivid4  ,the     
subject indeed is a large one1 if we    
reflect upon it1 for many people would  
tell us that journalism is the greatest 
invention of our age4 ,if this rich     
affluent has shared the great fortune of
 the general torrent1 so1 on other      
sides1 it touches the fine arts1 touches
 manners1 touches morals4 ,all this     
helps to account for its inexhaustible  
life2 journalism is the criticism of the
 moment at the moment1 and caricature is
 that criticism at once simplified and  

intensified by a plastic form4 ,we know 
the satiric image as periodical1 and    
above all as punctual--the              
characteristics of the printed sheet    
with which custom has at last           
inveterately associated it4  ,this1     
by-the-way1 makes us wonder considerably
 at the failure of caricature to        
achieve1 as yet1 a high destiny in      
,america--a failure which might supply  
an occasion for much explanatory        
discourse1 much searching of the        
relations of things4 ,the newspaper has 
been taught to flourish among us as it  
flourishes nowhere else1 and to flourish
 moreover on a humorous and irreverent  
basis2 yet it has never taken to itself 
this helpful concomitant of an          
unscrupulous spirit and a quick         
periodicity4 ,the explanation is        
probably that it needs an old society to
 produce ripe caricature4 ,the newspaper
 thrives in the ,united ,states1 but    
journalism languishes2 for the lively   
propagation of news is one thing and the

 large interpretation of it is another4 
,a society has to be old before it      
becomes critical1 and it has to become  
critical before it can take pleasure in 
the reproduction of its incongruities by
 an instrument as impertinent as the    
indefatigable crayon4 ,irony1           
scepticism1 pessimism are1 in any       
particular soil1 plants of gradual      
growth1 and it is in the art of         
caricature that they flower most        
aggressively4 ,furthermore they must be 
watered by education--,i mean by the    
education of the eye and hand--all of   
which things take time4 ,the soil must  
be rich too1 the incongruities must     
swarm4 ,it is open to doubt whether a   
pure democracy is very liable to make   
this particular satiric return upon     
itself2 for which it would seem tha'    
certain social complications are        
indispensable4 ,these complications are 
supplied from the moment a democracy    
becomes1 as we may say1 impure from its 
own point of view2 from the moment      

variations and heresies1 deviations or  
perhaps simple affirmations of taste and
 temper begin to multiply within it4    
,such things afford a point d'appui2 for
 it is evidently of the essence of      
caricature to be reactionary4 ,we hasten
 to add that its satiric force varies   
immensely in kind and in degree         
according to the race1 or to the        
individual talent1 that takes advantage 
of it4  ,i used just now the term       
pessimism2 but that was doubtless in a  
great measure because ,i have been      
turning over a collection of the        
extraordinarily vivid drawings of ,honor
 ,daumier4 ,the same impression would   
remain with me1 no doubt1 if ,i had been
 consulting an equal quantity of the    
work of ,gavarni the wittiest1 the most 
literary and most acutely profane of all
 chartered mockers with the pencil4 ,the
 feeling of disrespect abides in all    
these things1 the expression of the     
spirit for which humanity is definable  
primarily by its weaknesses4 ,for       

,daumier these weaknesses are altogether
 ugly and grotesque1 while for ,gavarni 
they are either basely graceful or      
touchingly miserable2 but the vision of 
them in both cases is close and direct4 
,if1 on the other hand1 we look through 
a dozen volumes of the collection of    
,punch we get an equal impression of    
hilarity1 but we by no means get an     
equal impression of irony4 ,certainly   
the pages of ,punch do not reek with    
pessimism2 their 8criticism of life0 is 
gentle and forbearing4 ,leech is        
positively optimistic2 there is at any  
rate nothing infinite in his            
irreverence2 it touches bottom as soon  
as it approaches the pretty woman or the
 nice girl4 ,it is such an apparition as
 this that really1 in ,gavarni1 awakes  
the scoffer4 ,du ,maurier is as graceful
 as ,gavarni1 but his sense of beauty   
conjures away almost everything save our
 minor vices4 ,it is in the exploration 
of our major ones that ,gavarni makes   
his principal discoveries of charm or of

 absurdity of attitude4 ,none the less1 
of course1 the general inspiration of   
both artists is the same3 the desire to 
try the innumerable different ways in   
which the human subject may not be taken
 seriously4  ,if this view of that      
subject1 in its plastic manifestations1 
makes history of a sort1 it will not in 
general be of a kind to convert those   
persons who find history sad reading4   
,the writer of the present lines        
remained unconverted1 lately1 on an     
occasion on which many cheerful         
influences were mingled with his        
impression4 ,they were of a nature to   
which he usually does full justice1 even
 overestimating perhaps their charm of  
suggestion2 but1 at the hour ,i speak   
of1 the old ,parisian quay1 the         
belittered print-shop1 the pleasant     
afternoon1 the glimpse of the great     
,louvre on the other side of the ,seine1
 in the interstices of the sallow       
estampes suspended in window and        
doorway--all these elements of a rich   

actuality availed only to mitigate1     
without transmuting1 that general vision
 of a high1 cruel pillory which pieced  
itself together as ,i drew specimen     
after specimen from musty portfolios4 ,i
 had been passing the shop when ,i      
noticed in a small vitrine1 let into the
 embrasure of the doorway1 half a dozen 
soiled1 striking lithographs1 which it  
took no more than a first glance to     
recognize as the work of ,daumier4 ,they
 were only old pages of the ,charivari1 
torn away from the text and rescued from
 the injury of time2 and they were      
accompanied with an inscription to the  
effect that many similar examples of the
 artist were to be seen within4 ,to     
become aware of this circumstance was to
 enter the shop and to find myself      
promptly surrounded with bulging2       
cartons and tattered relics4 ,these     
relics--crumpled leaves of the old comic
 journals of the period from #ahcj to   
#ahee--;are neither rare nor expensive2 
but ,i happened to have lighted on a    

particularly copious collection1 and ,i 
made the most of my small good-fortune1 
in order to transmute it1 if possible1  
into a sort of compensation for my      
having missed unavoidably1 a few months 
before1 the curious exhibition 8de la   
,caricature ,moderne0 held for several  
weeks just at hand1 in the cole des     
,beaux-,arts4  ,daumier was said to have
 appeared there in considerable force2  
and it was a loss not to have had that  
particular opportunity of filling one's 
mind with him4  ,there was perhaps a    
perversity in having wished to do so1   
strange1 indigestible stuff of          
contemplation as he might appear to be2 
but the perversity had had an honorable 
growth4 ,daumier's great days were in   
the reign of ,louis-,philippe2 but in   
the early years of the ,second ,empire  
he still plied his coarse and formidable
 pencil4 ,i recalled1 from a juvenile   
consciousness1 the last failing strokes 
of it4 ,they used to impress me in      
,paris1 as a child1 with their abnormal 

blackness as well as with their         
grotesque1 magnifying movement1 and     
there was something in them that rather 
scared a very immature admirer4 ,this   
small personage1 however1 was able to   
perceive later1 when he was             
unfortunately deprived of the chance of 
studying them1 that there were various  
things in them besides the power to     
excite a vague alarm4 ,daumier was      
perhaps a great artist2 at all events   
unsatisfied curiosity increased in      
proportion to that possibility4  ,the   
first complete satisfaction of it was   
really in the long hours that ,i spent  
in the little shop on the quay4 ,there  
,i filled my mind with him1 and there   
too1 at no great cost1 ,i could make a  
big parcel of these cheap reproductions 
of his work4 ,this work had been shown  
in the ,ecole des ,beaux-,arts as it    
came from his hand2 ,m4 ,champfleury1   
his biographer1 his cataloguer and      
devotee1 having poured forth the        
treasures of a precious collection1 as  

,i suppose they would be called in the  
case of an artist of higher flights4 ,it
 was only as he was seen by the readers 
of the comic journals of his day that ,i
 could now see him2 but ,i tried to make
 up for my want of privilege by         
prolonged immersion4 ,i was not able to 
take home all the portfolios from the   
shop on the quay1 but ,i took home what 
,i could1 and ,i went again to turn over
 the superannuated piles4 ,i liked      
looking at them on the spot2 ,i seemed  
still surrounded by the artist's        
vanished ,paris and his extinct         
,parisians4 ,indeed no quarter of the   
delightful city probably shows1 on the  
whole1 fewer changes from the aspect it 
wore during the period of               
,louis-,philippe1 the time when it will 
ever appear to many of its friends to   
have been most delightful4 ,the long    
line of the quay is unaltered1 and the  
rare charm of the river4 ,people came   
and went in the shop3 it is a wonder how
 many1 in the course of an hour1 may    

lift the latch even of an establishment 
that pretends to no great business4     
,what was all this small1 sociable1     
contentious life but the great          
,daumier's subject-matter8 ,he was the  
painter of the ,parisian bourgeois1 and 
the voice of the bourgeois was in the   
air4  ,m4 ,champfleury has given a      
summary of ,daumier's career in his     
smart little ,histoire e la ,caricature 
,moderne1 a record not at all abundant  
in personal detail4 ,the biographer has 
told his story better perhaps in his    
careful catalogue of the artist's       
productions1 the first sketch of which  
is to be found in ,l',art for #ahgh4    
,this copious list is ,daumier's real   
history2 his life cannot have been a    
very different business from his work4  
,i read in the interesting publication  
of ,m4 ,grand-,carteret 7,les ,moeurs et
 la ,caricature en ,france #ahhh7 that  
our artist produced nearly #djjj        
lithographs and a thousand drawings on  
wood1 up to the time when failure of    

eyesight compelled him to rest4 ,this is
 not the sort of activity that leaves a 
man much time for independent           
adventures1 and ,daumier was essentially
 of the type1 common in ,france1 of the 
specialist so immersed in his specialty 
that he can be painted in only one      
attitude--a general circumstance which  
perhaps helps to account for the        
paucity1 in that country1 of biography1 
in our ,english sense of the word1 in   
proportion to the superabundance of     
criticism4  ,honor ,daumier was born at 
,marseilles ,february #bfth1 #ahjh2 he  
died on the #aath of the same month1    
#ahgi4 ,his main activity1 however1 was 
confined to the earlier portion of a    
career of almost exactly seventy-one    
years1 and ,i find it affirmed in       
,vapereau's ,dictionnaire des           
,contemporains that he became completely
 blind between #ahej and #ahfj4 ,he     
enjoyed a pension from the ,state of    
#bdjj francs2 but what relief from      
misery could mitigate a quarter of a    

century of darkness for a man who had   
looked out at the world with such       
vivifying eyes8 ,his father had followed
 the trade of a glazier1 but was        
otherwise vocal than in the emission of 
the rich street-cry with which we used  
all to be familiar1 and which has       
vanished with so many other friendly    
pedestrian notes4 ,the elder ,daumier   
wrought verses as well as window-panes1 
and ,m4 ,champfleury has disinterred a  
small volume published by him in #ahbc4 
,the merit of his poetry is not         
striking2 but he was able to transmit   
the artistic nature to his son1 who1    
becoming promptly conscious of it1 made 
the inevitable journey to ,paris in     
search of fortune4  ,the young          
draughtsman appeared to have missed at  
first the way to this boon2 inasmuch as 
in the year #ahcb he found himself      
condemned to six months' imprisonment   
for a lithograph disrespectful to       
,louis-,philippe4 ,this drawing had     
appeared in the ,caricature1 an organ of

 pictorial satire founded in those days 
by one ,philipon1 with the aid of a band
 of young mockers to whom he gave ideas 
and a direction1 and several others1 of 
whom ,gavarni1 ,henry ,monnier1         
,decamps1 ,grandville1 were destined to 
make themselves a place4 ,m4 ,eugne     
,montrosier1 in a highly appreciative   
article on ,daumier in ,l',art for      
#ahgh1 says that this same ,philipon was
 le journalisme fait homme2 which did   
not prevent him--rather in fact fostered
 such a result--from being perpetually  
in delicate relations with the          
government4 ,he had had many horses     
killed under him1 and had led a life of 
attacks1 penalties1 suppressions and    
resurrections4 ,he subsequently         
established the ,charivari and launched 
a publication entitled ,l',association  
,lithographique ,mensuelle1 which       
brought to light much of ,daumier's     
early work4 ,the artist passed rapidly  
from seeking his way to finding it1 and 
from an ineffectual to a vigorous form4 

,in this limited compass and in the case
 of such a quantity of production it is 
almost impossible to specify--difficult 
to pick dozens of examples out of       
thousands4 ,daumier became more and more
 the political spirit of the ,charivari1
 or at least the political pencil1 for  
,m4 ,philipon1 the breath of whose      
nostrils was opposition--one perceives  
from here the little bilious1 bristling1
 ingenious1 insistent man--is to be     
credited with a suggestive share in any 
enterprise in which he had a hand4 ,this
 pencil played over public life1 over   
the sovereign1 the ministers1 the       
deputies1 the peers1 the judiciary1 the 
men and the measures1 the reputations   
and scandals of the moment1 with a      
strange1 ugly1 extravagant1 but none the
 less sane and manly vigor4 ,daumier's  
sign is strength above all1 and in      
turning over his pages to-day there is  
no intensity of force that the careful  
observer will not concede to him4 ,it is
 perhaps another matter to assent to the

 proposition1 put forth by his greatest 
admirers among his countrymen1 that he  
is the first of all caricaturists4 ,to  
the writer of this imperfect sketch he  
remains considerably less interesting   
than ,gavarni2 and_/or a particular     
reason1 which it is difficult to express
 otherwise than by saying that he is too
 simple4 ,simplicity was not ,gavarni's 
fault1 and indeed to a large degree it  
was ,daumier's merit4 ,the single       
grossly ridiculous or almost hauntingly 
characteristic thing which his figures  
represent is largely the reason why they
 still represent life and an unlucky    
reality years after the names attached  
to them have parted with a vivifying    
power4 ,such vagueness has overtaken    
them1 for the most part1 and to such a  
thin reverberation have they shrunk1 the
 persons and the affairs which were then
 so intensely sketchable4 ,daumier      
handled them with a want of ceremony    
which would have been brutal were it not
 for the element of science in his work1

 making them immense and unmistakable in
 their drollery1 or at least in their   
grotesqueness2 for the term drollery    
suggests gayety1 and ,daumier is        
anything but gay4 ,un rude peintre de   
moeurs1 ,m4 ,champfleury calls him2 and 
the phrase expresses his extreme breadth
 of treatment4  ,of the victims of his  
8rudeness0 ,m4 ,thiers is almost the    
only one whom the present generation may
 recognize without a good deal of       
reminding1 and indeed his hand is       
relatively light in delineating this    
personage of few inches and many        
episodes4 ,m4 ,thiers must have been    
dear to the caricaturist1 for he        
belonged to the type that was easy to   
8do20 it being well known that these    
gentlemen appreciate public characters  
in direct proportion to their saliency  
of feature4 ,when faces are reducible to
 a few telling strokes their wearers are
 overwhelmed with the honors of         
publicity2 with which1 on the other     
hand1 nothing is more likely to         

interfere than the possession of a      
countenance neatly classical4 ,daumier  
had only to give ,m4 ,thiers the face of
 a clever owl1 and the trick was played4
 ,of course skill was needed to         
individualize the symbol1 but that is   
what caricaturists propose to           
themselves4 ,of how well he succeeded   
the admirable plate of the lively little
 minister in a 8new dress0--tricked out 
in the uniform of a general of the      
,first ,republic--is a sufficient       
illustration4 ,the bird of night is not 
an acute bird1 but how the artist has   
presented the image of a selected       
specimen6 ,and with what a life-giving  
pencil the whole figure is put on its   
feet1 what intelligent drawing1 what a  
rich1 free stroke6 ,the allusions       
conveyed in it are to such forgotten    
things that it is strange to think the  
personage was1 only the other year1     
still contemporaneous2 that he might    
have been met1 on a fine day1 taking a  
few firm steps in a quiet part of the   

,champs lyses1 with his footman carrying
 a second overcoat and looking doubly   
tall behind him4 ,in whatever attitude  
,daumier depicts him1 planted as a tiny 
boxing-master at the feet of the        
virtuous colossus in a blouse 7whose    
legs are apart1 like those-of the       
,rhodian71 in whom the artist represents
 the ,people1 to watch the match that is
 about to come off between ,ratapoil and
 ,m4 ,berryer1 or even in the act of    
lifting the 8parricidal0 club of a new  
repressive law to deal a blow at the    
,press1 an effulgent1 diligent1         
sedentary muse 7this picture1 by the    
way1 is a perfect specimen of the simple
 and telling in political               
caricature7--however1 as ,i say1 he     
takes ,m4 ,thiers1 there is always a    
rough indulgence in his crayon1 as if he
 were grateful to him for lending       
himself so well4 ,he invented ,ratapoil 
as he appropriated ,robert ,macaire1 and
 as a caricaturist he never fails to put
 into circulation1 when he can1 a       

character to whom he may attribute as   
many as possible of the affectations or 
the vices of the day4 ,robert ,macaire1 
an imaginative1 a romantic rascal1 was  
the hero of a highly successful         
melodrama written for ,frederick        
,lemaitre2 but ,daumier made him the    
type of the swindler at large in an age 
of feverish speculation--the projector  
of showy companies1 the advertiser of   
worthless shares4 ,there is a whole     
series of drawings descriptive of his   
exploits1 a hundred masterly plates     
which1 according to ,m4 ,champfleury1   
consecrated ,daumier's reputation4 ,the 
subject1 the legend1 was in most cases1 
still according to ,m4 ,champfleury1    
suggested by ,philipon4 ,sometimes it   
was very witty2 as for instance when    
,bertrand1 the muddled acolyte or       
scraping second fiddle of the hero1     
objects1 in relation to a brilliant     
scheme which he has just developed1 with
 the part ,bertrand is to play1 that    
there are constables in the country1 and

 he promptly replies1 8,constables8 ,so 
much the better--they'll take the       
shares60 ,ratapoil was an evocation of  
the same general character1 but with a  
difference of nuance--the ragged        
political bully1 or hand-to-mouth       
demagogue1 with the smashed tall hat1   
cocked to one side1 the absence of      
linen1 the club half-way up his sleeve1 
the swagger and pose of being gallant   
for the people4 ,ratapoil abounds in the
 promiscuous drawings that ,i have      
looked over1 and is always very strong  
and living1 with a considerable element 
of the sinister1 so often in ,daumier an
 accompaniment of the comic4 ,there is  
an admirable page--it brings the idea   
down to #ahea--;in which a sordid but   
astute peasant1 twirling his thumbs on  
his stomach and looking askance1 allows 
this political adviser to urge upon him 
in a whisper that there is not a minute 
to lose--to lose for action1 of         
course--if he wishes to keep his wife1  
his house1 his field1 his heifer and his

 calf4 ,the canny scepticism in the     
ugly1 half-averted face of the typical  
rustic who considerably suspects his    
counsellor is indicated by a few        
masterly strokes4  ,this is what the    
student of ,daumier recognizes as his   
science1 or1 if the word has a better   
grace1 his art4 ,it is what has kept    
life in his work so long after so many  
of the occasions of it have been swept  
into darkness4 ,indeed1 there is no such
 commentary on renown as the 8back      
numbers0 of a comic journal4 ,they show 
us that at certain moments certain      
people were eminent1 only to make us    
unsuccessfully try to remember what they
 were eminent for4 ,and the comparative 
obscurity 7comparative1 ,i mean1 to the 
talent of the caricaturist7 overtakes   
even the most justly honored names4 ,m4 
,berryer was a splendid speaker and a   
public servant of real distinction and  
the highest utility2 yet the fact that  
to-day his name is on few men's lips    
seems to be emphasized by this other    

fact that we continue to pore over      
,daumier1 in whose plates we happen to  
come across him4 ,it reminds one afresh 
how ,art is an embalmer1 a magician1    
whom we can never speak too fair4       
,people duly impressed with this truth  
are sometimes laughed at for their      
superstitious tone1 which is pronounced1
 according to the fancy of the critic1  
mawkish1 maudlin or hysterical4 ,but it 
is really difficult to see how any      
reiteration of the importance of art can
 overstate the plain facts4 ,it         
prolongs1 it preserves1 it consecrates1 
it raises from the dead4 ,it            
conciliates1 charms1 bribes posterity2  
and it murmurs to mortals1 as the old   
,french poet sang to his mistress1 8,you
 will be fair only so far as ,i have    
said so40 ,when it whispers even to the 
great1 8,you depend upon me1 and ,i can 
do more for you1 in the long-run1 than  
any one else10 it is scarcely too proud4
 ,it puts method and power and the      
strange1 real1 mingled air of things    

into ,daumier's black sketchiness1 so   
full of the technical gras1 the 8fat0   
which ,french critics commend and which 
we have no word to express4 ,it puts    
power above all1 and the effect which he
 best achieves1 that of a certain       
simplification of the attitude or the   
gesture to an almost symbolic           
generality4 ,his persons represent only 
one thing1 but they insist tremendously 
on that1 and their expression of it     
abides with us1 unaccompanied with timid
 detail4 ,it may really be said that    
they represent only one class--the old  
and ugly2 so that there is proof enough 
of a special faculty in his having      
played such a concert1 lugubrious though
 it be1 on a single chord4 ,it has been 
made a reproach to him1 says ,m4        
,grand-,carteret1 that 8his work is     
lacking in two capital elements--la     
jeunesse et la femme20 and the          
commentator resents his being made to   
suffer for the deficiency--8as if an    
artist could be at the same time deep1  

comic1 graceful and pretty2 as if all   
those who have a real value had not     
created for themselves a form to which  
they remain confined and a type which   
they reproduce in all its variations1 as
 soon as they have touched the sthetic  
ideal that has been their dream4        
,assuredly humanity1 as this great      
painter saw it1 could not be beautiful2 
one asks one's self what maiden in her  
teens1 a pretty face1 would have done in
 the midst of these good1 plain folk1   
stunted and elderly1 with faces like    
wrinkled apples4 ,a simple accessory    
most of the time1 woman is for him      
merely a termagant or a blue-stocking   
who has turned the corner40  ,when the  
eternal feminine1 for ,daumier appears  
in neither of these forms he sees it in 
,madame ,chaboulard or ,madame          
,fribochon1 the old snuff-taking1       
gossiping portress1 in a nightcap and   
shuffling savates1 relating or drinking 
in the wonderful and the intimate4 ,one 
of his masterpieces represents three of 

these dames1 lighted by a guttering     
candle1 holding their heads together to 
discuss the fearful earthquake at       
,bordeaux1 the consequence of the       
government's allowing the surface of the
 globe to be unduly dug out in          
,california4 ,the representation of     
confidential imbecility could not go    
further4 ,when a man leaves out so much 
of life as ,daumier--youth and beauty   
and the charm of woman and the          
loveliness of childhood and the manners 
of those social groups of whom it may   
most be said that they have             
manners--when he exhibits a deficiency  
on this scale it might seem that the    
question was not to be so easily        
disposed of as in the very              
non-apologetic words ,i have just       
quoted4 ,all the same 7and ,i confess it
 is singular71 we may feel what ,daumier
 omitted and yet not be in the least    
shocked by the claim of predominance    
made for him4 ,it is impossible to spend
 a couple of hours over him without     

assenting to this claim1 even though    
there may be a weariness in such a      
panorama of ugliness and an inevitable  
reaction from it4 ,this anomaly1 and the
 challenge to explain it which appears  
to proceed from him1 render him1 to my  
sense1 remarkably interesting4 ,the     
artist whose idiosyncrasies1 whose      
limitations1 if you will1 make us       
question and wonder1 in the light of his
 fame1 has an element of fascination not
 attaching to conciliatory talents4 ,if 
,m4 ,eugene ,montrosier may say of him  
without scandalizing us that such and   
such of his drawings belong to the very 
highest art1 it is interesting 7and     
,daumier profits by the interest7 to put
 one's finger on the reason we are not  
scandalized4  ,i think this reason is   
that1 on the whole he is so peculiarly  
serious4 ,this may seem an odd ground of
 praise for a jocose draughtsman1 and of
 course what ,i mean is that his comic  
force is serious--a very different thin 
from the absence of comedy4 ,this       

essential sign of the caricaturist may  
surely be anything it will so long as it
 is there4 ,daumier's figures are almost
 always either foolish1 fatuous         
politicians or frightened1 mystified    
bourgeois2 yet they help him to give us 
a strong sense of the nature of man4    
,they are some times so serious that    
they are almost tragic the look of the  
particular pretension1 combined with    
inanity1 is carried almost to madness4  
,there is a magnificent drawing of the  
series of 8,le ,public du ,salon10 old  
classicists looking up1 horrified and   
scandalized1 at the new romantic work of
 #ahcj1 in which the faces have an      
appalling gloom of mystification and    
platitude4 ,we feel that ,daumier       
reproduces admirably the particular life
 that he sees1 because it is the very   
medium in which he moves4 ,he has no    
wide horizon2 the absolute bourgeois    
hems him in1 and he is a bourgeois      
himself1 without poetic ironies1 to whom
 a big cracked mirror has been given4   

,his thick1 strong1 manly touch stands1 
in every way1 for so much knowledge4 ,he
 used to make little images1 in clay and
 in wax 7many of them still exist71 of  
the persons he was in the habit of      
representing1 so that they might        
constantly seem to be 8sitting0 for him4
 ,the caricaturist of that day had not  
the help of the ubiquitous photograph4  
,daumier painted actively1 as well1 in  
his habitation1 all dedicated to work1  
on the narrow island of ,st4 ,louis1    
where the ,seine divides and where the  
monuments of old ,paris stand thick1 and
 the types that were to his purpose     
pressed close upon him4 ,he had not far 
to go to encounter the worthy man1 in   
the series of 8,les ,papas10 who is     
reading the evening paper at the caf    
with so amiable and placid a credulity1 
while his unnatural little boy1 opposite
 to him1 finds sufficient entertainment 
in the much-satirized ,constitutionnel4 
,the bland absorption of the papa1 the  
face of the man who believes everything 

he sees in the newspaper1 is as near as 
,daumier often comes to positive        
gentleness of humor4 ,of the same family
 is the poor gentleman1 in 8,actualits10
 seen1 in profile1 under a doorway where
 he has taken refuge from a torrent of  
rain1 who looks down at his neat legs   
with a sort of speculative contrition   
and says4 8,to think of my having just  
ordered two pairs of white trousers40   
,the tout petit bourgeois palpitates in 
both these sketches4  ,i must repeat    
that it is absurd to pick half a dozen  
at hazard1 out of five thousand2 yet a  
few selections are the only way to call 
attention to his strong drawing4 ,this  
has a virtuosity of its own1 for all its
 hit-or-miss appearance4 ,whatever he   
touches--the nude1 in the swimming-baths
 on the ,seine1 the intimations of      
landscape1 when his petits rentiers go  
into the suburbs for a ,sunday--acquires
 relief and character1 ,docteur ,vron1 a
 celebrity of the reign of              
,louis-,philippe1 a ,mcenas of the hour1

 a director of the opera1 author of the 
,mmoires d'un ,bourgeois de ,paris--this
 temporary 8illustration10 who appears  
to have been almost indecently ugly1    
would not be vivid to us to-day had not 
,daumier1 who was often effective at his
 expense1 happened to have represented  
him1 in some crisis of his career1 as a 
sort of naked inconsolable ,vitellius4  
,he renders the human body with a       
cynical sense of its possible flabbiness
 and an intimate acquaintance with its  
structure4 8,une ,promenade ,conjugale10
 in the series of 8,tout ce qu'on       
voudra10 portrays a hillside1 on a      
summer afternoon1 on which a man has    
thrown himself on his back to rest1 with
 his arms locked under his head4 ,his   
fat1 full-bosomed1 middle-aged wife1    
under her parasol1 with a bunch of      
field-flowers in her hand1 looks down at
 him patiently and seems to say1 8,come1
 my dear1 get up40 ,there is surely no  
great point in this2 the only point is  
life1 the glimpse of the little snatch  

of poetry in prose4 ,it is a matter of a
 few broad strokes of the crayon2 yet   
the pleasant laziness of the man1 the   
idleness of the day1 the fragment of    
homely1 familiar dialogue1 the stretch  
of the field with a couple of trees     
merely suggested1 have a communicative  
truth4  ,i perhaps exaggerate all this1 
and in insisting upon the merit of      
,daumier may appear to make light of the
 finer accomplishment of several more   
modern talents1 in ,england and ,france1
 who have greater ingenuity and subtlety
 and have carried qualities of execution
 so1 much further4 ,in looking at this  
complicated younger work1 which has     
profited so by experience and           
comparison1 it is inevitable that we    
should perceive it to be infinitely more
 cunning4 ,on the other hand ,daumier1  
moving in his contracted circle1 has an 
impressive depth4 ,it comes back to his 
strange seriousness4 ,he is a           
draughtsman by race1 and if he has not  
extracted the same brilliancy from      

training1 or perhaps even from effort   
and experiment1 as some of his          
successors1 does not his richer satiric 
and sympathetic feeling more than make  
up the difference8  ,however this       
question may be answered1 some of his   
drawings belong to the class of the     
unforgetable4 ,it may be a perversity of
 prejudice1 but even the little cut of  
the 8,connoisseurs10 the group of       
gentlemen collected round a picture and 
criticising it in various attitudes of  
sapience and sufficiency1 appears to me 
to have the strength that abides4 ,the  
criminal in the dock1 the flat-headed   
murderer1 bending over to speak to his  
advocate1 who turns a whiskered1        
professional1 anxious head to caution   
and remind him4 tells a large1 terrible 
story and awakes a recurrent shudder4   
,we see the gray court-room1 we feel the
 personal suspense and the immensity of 
justice4 ,the 8,saltimbanques10         
reproduced in ,l',art for #ahgh1 is a   
page of tragedy1 the finest of a cruel  

series4 ,m4 ,eugne ,montrosier says of  
it that 8,the drawing is masterly1      
incomparably firm1 the composition      
superb1 the general impression quite of 
the first order40 ,it exhibits a pair of
 lean1 hungry mountebanks1 a clown and a
 harlequin beating the drum and trying a
 comic attitude to attract the crowd1 at
 a fair1 to a poor booth in front of    
which a painted canvas1 offering to view
 a simpering fat woman1 is suspended4   
,but the crowd doesn't come1 and the    
battered tumblers1 with their furrowed  
cheeks1 go through their pranks in the  
void4 ,the whole thing is symbolic and  
full of grim-ness1 imagination and pity4
 ,it is the sense that we shall find in 
him1 mixed with his homelier            
extravagances1 an element prolific in   
indications of this order that draws us 
back to ,daumier4     ,,after ,,the     
,,play  ,the play was not over when the 
curtain fell1 four months ago2 it was   
continued in a supplementary act or     
epilogue which took place immediately   

afterwards4 8,come home to tea10        
,florentia said to certain friends who  
had stopped to speak to her in the lobby
 of the little theatre in ,soho--they   
had been present at a day performance by
 the company of the ,theatre ,libre1    
transferred for a week from ,paris2 and 
three of these--,auberon and            
,dorriforth1 accompanying               
,amicia--turned up so expeditiously that
 the change of scene had the effect of  
being neatly executed4 ,the short       
afterpiece--it was in truth very        
slight--began with ,amicia's entrance   
and her declaration that she would never
 again go to an afternoon performance3  
it was such a horrid relapse into the   
real to find it staring at you through  
the ugly daylight on coming out of the  
blessed fictive world4  ,dorriforth4    
,ah1 you touch there on one of the minor
 sorrows of life4 ,that's an            
illustration of the general change that 
comes to pass in us as we grow older1 if
 we have ever loved the stage3 the      

fading of the glamour and the mystery   
that surround it4  ,auberon4 ,do you    
call it a minor sorrow8 ,it's one of the
 greatest4 ,and nothing can mitigate it4
  ,amicia4 ,wouldn't it be mitigated a  
little if the stage were a trifle       
better8 ,you must remember how that has 
changed4  ,auberon4 ,never1 never3 it's 
the same old stage4 ,the change is in   
ourselves4  ,florentia4 ,well1 ,i never 
would have given an evening to what we  
have just seen4 ,if one could have put  
it in between luncheon and tea1 well    
enough4 ,but one's evenings are too     
precious4  ,dorriforth4 ,note that--it's
 very important4  ,florentia4 ,i mean   
too precious for that sort of thing4    
,auberon4 ,then you didn't sit          
spellbound by the little history of the 
,due d',enghien8  ,florentia4 ,i sat    
yawning4 ,heavens1 what a piece6        
,amicia4 ,upon my word ,i liked it4 ,the
 last act made me cry4  ,dorriforth4    
,wasn't it a curious1 interesting       
specimen of some of the things that are 

worth trying3 an attempt to sail closer 
to the real8  ,auberon4 ,how much       
closer8 ,the fiftieth part of a         
point--it isn't calculable4  ,florentia4
 ,it was just like any other play--,i   
saw no difference4 ,it had neither a    
plot1 nor a subject1 nor dialogue1 nor  
situations1 nor scenery1 nor costumes1  
nor acting4  ,amicia4 ,then it was      
hardly1 as you say1 just like any other 
play4  ,auberon4 ,florentia should have 
said like any other bad#8one4 ,the only 
way it differed seemed to be that it was
 bad in theory as well as in fact4      
,amicia4 ,it's a morceau de vie1 as the 
,french say4  ,auberon4 ,oh1 don't begin
 on the ,french6  ,amicia4 ,it's a      
,french experiment--que voulez-vous8    
,auberon4 ,english experiments will do4 
,dorriforth4 ,no doubt they would--if   
there were any4 ,but ,i don't see them4 
,amicia4 ,fortunately3 think what some  
of them might be6 ,though ,florentia saw
 nothing ,i saw many things in this poor
 little shabby 8,due d',enghien10 coming

 over to our roaring ,london1 where the 
dots have to be so big on the i's1 with 
its barely audible note of originality4 
,it appealed to me1 touched me1 offered 
me a poignant suggestion of the way     
things happen in life4  ,auberon4 ,in   
life they happen clumsily1 stupidly1    
meanly4 ,one goes to the theatre just   
for the refreshment of seeing them      
happen in another way--in symmetrical1  
satisfactory form1 with unmistakable    
effect and just at the right moment4    
,dorriforth4 ,it shows how the same     
cause may produce the most diverse      
consequences4 ,in this truth lies the   
only hope of art4  ,auberon4 ,oh1 art1  
art--don't talk about art6  ,amicia4    
,mercy1 we must talk about something6   
,dorriforth4 ,auberon hates             
generalizations4 ,nevertheless ,i make  
bold to say that we go to the theatre in
 the same spirit in which we read a     
novel1 some of us to find one thing and 
some to find another2 and according as  
we look for the particular thing we find

 it4  ,auberon4 ,that's a profound      
remark4  ,florentia4 ,we go to find     
amusement3 that1 surely1 is what we all 
go for4  ,amicia4 ,there's such a       
diversity in our idea of amusement4     
,auberon4 ,don't you impute to people   
more ideas than they have8  ,dorriforth4
 ,ah1 one must do that or one couldn't  
talk about them4 ,we go to be           
interested2 to be absorbed1 beguiled and
 to lose ourselves1 to give ourselves   
up1 in short1 to a charm4  ,florentia4  
,and the charm is the strange1 the      
extraordinary4  ,amicia4 ,ah1 speak for 
yourself6 ,the charm is the recognition 
of what we know1 what we feel4          
,dorriforth4 ,see already how you       
differ4  8,,so60  ,what we surrender    
ourselves to is the touch of nature1 the
 sense of life4  ,amicia4 ,the first    
thing is to believe4  ,florentia4 ,the  
first thing1 on the contrary1 is to     
disbelieve4  ,auberon4 ,lord1 listen to 
them6  ,dorriforth4 ,the first thing is 
to folio--to care4  ,florentia4 ,i read 

a novel1 ,i go to the theatre1 to       
forget4  ,amicia4 ,to forget what8      
,florentia4 ,to forget life2 to thro    
myself into something more beautiful    
more exciting3 into fable and romance4  
,dorriforth4 ,the attraction of fable   
and romance is that it's about us1 about
 you and me--or people whose power to   
suffer and to enjoy is the same as ours4
 ,in other words1 we live their         
experience1 for the time1 and that's    
hardly escaping from life4  ,florentia4 
,i'm not at all particular as to what   
you call it4 ,call it an escape from the
 common1 the prosaic1 the immediate4    
,dorriforth4 ,you couldn't put it       
better4 ,that's the life that art1 with 
,auberon's permission1 gives us2 that's 
the distinction it confers4 ,this is why
 the greatest commonness is when our    
guide turns out a vulgar fellow--the    
angel1 as we had supposed him1 who has  
taken us by the hand4 ,then what becomes
 of our escape8  ,florentia4 ,it's      
precisely then that ,i complain of him4 

,he leads us into foul and dreary       
places--into flat and foolish deserts4  
,dorriforth4 ,he leads us into his own  
mind1 his own vision of things3 that's  
the only place into which the poet can  
lead us4 ,it's there that he finds 8,as 
,you ,like ,it10 it is there that he    
finds 8,comus10 or 8,the ,way of the    
,world10 or the ,christmas pantomime4   
,it is when he betrays us1 after he has 
got us in and locked the door1 when he  
can't keep from us that we are in a bare
 little hole and that there are no      
pictures on the walls1 it is then that  
the immediate and the foolish overwhelm 
us4  ,amicia4 ,that's what ,i liked in  
the piece we have been looking at4      
,there was an artistic intention1 and   
the little room wasn't bare3 there was  
sociable company in it4 ,the actors were
 very humble aspirants1 they were       
common--  ,auberon4 ,ah1 when the       
,french give their mind to that--6      
,amicia4 ,nevertheless they struck me as
 recruits to an interesting cause1 which

 as yet 7the house was so empty7 could  
confer neither money nor glory4 ,they   
had the air1 poor things1 of working for
 love4  ,auberon4 ,for love of what8    
,amicia4 ,of the whole little           
enterprise--the idea of the ,thtre      
,libre4  ,florentia4 ,gracious1 what you
 see in things6 ,don't you suppose they 
were paid8  ,amicia4 ,i know nothing    
about it4 ,i liked their                
shabbiness--they had only what was      
indispensable in the way of dress and   
scenery4 ,that often pleases me3 the    
imagination1 in certain cases1 is more  
finely persuaded by the little than by  
the much4  ,dorriforth4 ,i see what     
,amicia means4  ,florentia4 ,i'll       
warrant you do1 and a great deal more   
besides4  ,dorriforth4 ,when the        
appointments are meagre and sketchy the 
responsibility that rests upon the      
actors becomes a still more serious     
thing1 and the spectator's observation  
of the way they rise to it a pleasure   
more intense4 ,the face and the voice   

are more to the purpose than acres of   
painted canvas1 and a touching          
intonation1 a vivid gesture or two1 than
 an army of supernumeraries4  ,auberon4 
,why not have everything--the face1 the 
voice1 the touching intonations1 the    
vivid gestures1 the acres of painted    
canvas1 and the army of supernumeraries8
 ,why not use bravely and intelligently 
every resource of which the stage       
disposes8 ,what else was ,richard       
,wagner's great theory1 in producing his
 operas at ,bayreuth8  ,dorriforth4 ,why
 not1 indeed8 ,that would be the ideal4 
,to have the picture complete at the    
same time the figures do their part in  
producing the particular illusion       
required--what a perfection and what a  
joy6 ,i know no answer to that save the 
aggressive1 objectionable fact4 ,simply 
look at the stage of to-day and observe 
that these two branches of the matter   
never do happen to go together4 ,there  
is evidently a corrosive principle in   
the large command of machinery and      

decorations--a germ of perversion and   
corruption4 ,it gets the upperhand--it  
becomes the master4 ,it is so much less 
easy to get good actors than good       
scenery and to represent a situation by 
the delicacy of personal art than by    
8building it in0 and having everything  
real4 ,surely there is no reality worth 
a farthing1 on the stage1 but what the  
actor gives1 and only when he has       
learned his business up to the hilt need
 he concern himself with his material   
accessories4 ,he hasn't a decent respect
 for his art unless he be ready to      
render his part as if the whole illusion
 depended on that alone and the         
accessories didn't exist4 ,the acting is
 everything or it's nothing4 ,it ceases 
to be everything as soon as something   
else becomes very important4 ,this is   
the case1 to-day1 on the ,london stage3 
something else is very important4 ,the  
public have been taught to consider it  
so3 the clever machinery has ended by   
operating as a bribe and a blind4 ,their

 sense of the rest of the matter has    
gone to the dogs1 as you may perceive   
when you hear a couple of occupants of  
the stalls talking1 in a tone that      
excites your curiosity1 about a         
performance that's 8splendid40  ,amicia4
 ,do you ever hear the occupants of the 
stalls talking8 ,never1 in the          
entr'actes1 have ,i detected1 on their  
lips1 a criticism or a comment4         
,dorriforth4 ,oh1 they say              
8splendid0--distinctly6 ,but a question 
or two reveals that their reference is  
vague3 they don't themselves know       
whether they mean the art of the actor  
or that of the stage-carpenter4         
,auberon4 ,isn't that confusion a high  
result of taste8 ,isn't it what's called
 a feeling for the ensemble8 ,the       
artistic effect1 as a whole1 is so      
welded together that you can't pick out 
the parts4  ,dorriforth4 ,precisely2    
that's what it is in the best cases1 and
 some examples are wonderfully clever4  
,florentia4 ,then what fault do you     

find8 ,dorriforth4 ,simply this--that   
the whole is a pictorial whole1 not a   
dramatic one4 ,there is something indeed
 that you can't pick out1 for the very  
good reason that--in any serious sense  
of the word--it isn't there4            
,florentia4 ,the public has taste1 then1
 if it recognizes and delights in a fine
 picture4  ,dorriforth4 ,i never said it
 hadn't1 so far as that goes4 ,the      
public likes to be amused1 and small    
blame to it4 ,it isn't very particular  
about the means1 but it has rather a    
preference for amusements that ,i       
believes to be 8improving10 other things
 being equal4 ,i don't think it's either
 very intelligent or at all opinionated1
 the dear old public it takes humbly    
enough what is given it and it doesn't  
cry for the moon4 ,it has an idea that  
fine scenery is an appeal to its nobler 
part1 and that it shows a nice critical 
sense in preferring it to poor4 ,that's 
a real intellectual flight1 for the     
public4  ,auberon4 ,very well1 its      

preference is right1 and why isn't that 
a perfectly legitimate state of things8 
,dorriforth4 ,why isn't it8 ,it         
distinctly is6 ,good scenery and poor   
acting are better than poor scenery with
 the same sauce4 ,only it becomes then  
another matter3 we are no longer talking
 about the drama4  ,auberon4 ,very      
likely that's the future of the drama1  
in ,london--an immense elaboration of   
the picture4  ,dorriforth4 ,my dear     
fellow1 you take the words out of my    
mouth4 ,an immense elaboration of the   
picture and an immense sacrifice of     
everything else3 it would take very     
little more to persuade me that that    
will be the only formula for our        
children4 ,it's all right1 when once we 
have buried our dead4 ,i have no doubt  
that the scenic part of the art1        
remarkable as some of its achievements  
already appear to us1 is only in its    
infancy1 and that we are destined to see
 wonders done that we now but faintly   
conceive4 ,the probable extension of the

 mechanical arts is infinite4 8,built   
in10 forsooth6 ,we shall see castles and
 cities and mountains and rivers built  
in4 ,everything points that way2        
especially the constitution of the      
contemporary multitude4 ,it is huge and 
good-natured and common4 ,it likes big1 
unmistakable1 knock-down effects2 it    
likes to get its money back in palpable1
 computable change4 ,it's in a          
tremendous hurry1 squeezed together1    
with a sort of generalized gape1 and the
 last thing it expects of you is that   
you will spin things fine4 ,you can't   
portray a character1 alas1 or even1     
vividly1 any sort of human figure1      
unless1 in some degree1 you do that4    
,therefore the theatre1 inevitably      
accommodating itself1 will be at last a 
landscape without figures4 ,i mean1 of  
course1 without figures that count4     
,there will be little illustrations of  
costume stuck about--dressed manikins2  
but they'll have nothing to say3 they   
won't even go through the form of       

speech4  ,amicia4 ,what a hideous       
prospect6  ,dorriforth4 ,not            
necessarily1 for we shall have grown    
used to it3 we shall1 as ,i say1 have   
buried our dead4 ,to-day it's cruel1    
because our old ideals are only dying1  
they are in extremis1 they are virtually
 defunct1 but they are above-ground--we 
trip and stumble on them4 ,we shall     
eventually lay them tidily away4 ,this  
is a bad moment1 because it's a moment  
of transition1 and we still miss the old
 superstition1 the bravery of execution1
 the eloquence of the lips1 the         
interpretation of character4 ,we miss   
these things1 of course1 in proportion  
as the ostensible occasion for them is  
great2 we miss them particularly1 for   
instance1 when the curtain rises on     
,shakespeare4 ,then we are conscious of 
a certain divine dissatisfaction1 of a  
yearning for that which isn't4 ,but we  
shall have got over this discomfort on  
the day when we have accepted the       
ostensible occasion as merely and       

frankly ostensible1 and the real one as 
having nothing to do with it4           
,florentia4 ,i don't follow you4 ,as    
,i'm one of the squeezed1 gaping public1
 ,i must be dense and vulgar4 ,you do1  
by-the-way1 immense injustice to that   
body4 ,they do care for character--care 
much for it4 ,aren't they perpetually   
talking about the actor's conception of 
it8  ,dorriforth4 ,dear lady1 what      
better proof can there be of their      
ineptitude1 and that painted canvas and 
real water are the only things they     
understand8 ,the vanity of wasting time 
over that6 ,auberon4 ,over what8        
,dorriforth4 ,the actor's conception of 
a part4 ,it's the refuge of observers   
who are no observers and critics who are
 no critics4 ,with what on earth have we
 to do save his execution8  ,florentia4 
,i don't in the least agree with you4   
,amicia4 ,are you very sure1 my poor    
,dorriforth8  ,auberon4 ,give him rope  
and he'll hang himself4  ,dorriforth4   
,it doesn't need any great license to   

ask who in the world holds in his bosom 
the sacred secret of the right          
conception4 ,all the actor can do is to 
give us his4 ,we must take that one for 
granted1 we make him a present of it4   
,he must impose his conception upon us--
  ,auberon 7interrupting74 ,i thought   
you said we accepted it4  ,dorriforth4  
,impose it upon our attention4 clever   
,auberon4 ,it is because we accept his  
idea that he must repay us by making it 
vivid1 by showing us how valuable it is4
 ,we give him a watch3 he must show us  
what time it keeps4 ,he winds it up1    
that is he executes the conception1 and 
his execution is what we criticise1 if  
we be so moved4 ,can anything be more   
absurd than to hear people discussing   
the conception of a part of which the   
execution doesn't exist--the idea of a  
character which never arrives at form8  
,think what it is1 that form1 as an     
accomplished actor may give it to us1   
and admit that we have enough to do to  
hold him to this particular honor4      

,auberon4 ,do you mean to say you don't 
think some conceptions are better than  
some others8  ,dorriforth4 ,most        
assuredly1 some are better3 the proof of
 the pudding is in the eating4 ,the best
 are those which yield the most points1 
which have the largest face2 those1 in  
other words1 that are the most          
demonstrable1 or1 in other words still1 
the most actable4 ,the most intelligent 
performer is he who recognizes most     
surely this 8actable0  and distinguishes
 in it the more from the less4 ,but we  
are so far from being in possession of a
 subjective pattern to which we have a  
right to hold him that he is entitled   
directly to contradict any such absolute
 by presenting us with different        
versions of the same text1 each         
completely colored1 completely          
consistent with itself4 ,every actor in 
whom the artistic life is strong must   
often feel the challenge to do that4 ,i 
should never think1 for instance1 of    
contesting an actress's right to        

represent ,lady ,macbeth as a charming1 
insinuating woman1 if she really sees   
the figure that way4 ,i may be surprised
 at such a vision2 but so far from being
 scandalized1 ,i am positively thankful 
for the extension of knowledge1 of      
pleasure1 that she is able to open to   
me4  ,auberon4 ,a reading1 as they say1 
either commends itself to one's sense of
 truth or it doesn't4 ,in the one case--
  ,dorriforth4 ,in the one case ,i      
recognize--even--or especially--when the
 presumption may have been against the  
particular attempt1 a consummate        
illustration of what art can do4 ,in the
 other ,i moralize indulgently upon     
human rashness4  ,florentia4 ,you have  
an assurance  taute preuve2 but you are 
deplorably superficial4 ,there is a     
whole group of plays and a whole        
category of acting to which your        
generalizations quite fail to apply4    
,help me1 ,auberon4  ,auberon4 ,you're  
easily exhausted4 ,i suppose she means  
that it's far from true everywhere that 

the scenery is everything4 ,it may be   
true--,i don't say it is6--of two or    
three good-natured playhouses in        
,london4 ,it isn't true--how can it     
be8--of the provincial theatres or of   
the others in the capital4 ,put it even 
that they would be all scenery if they  
could2 they can't1 poor things--so they 
have to provide acting4  ,dorriforth4   
,they have to1 fortunately2 but what do 
we hear of it8  ,florentia4 ,how do you 
mean1 what do we hear of it8            
,dorriforth4 ,in what trumpet of fame   
does it reach us8 ,they do what they    
can1 the performers ,auberon alludes to1
 and they are brave souls4 ,but ,i am   
speaking of the conspicuous cases1 of   
the exhibitions that draw4  ,florentia4 
,there is good acting that draws2 one   
could give you names and places4        
,dorriforth4 ,i have already guessed    
those you mean4 ,but when it isn't too  
much a matter of the paraphernalia it is
 too little a matter of the play4 ,a    
play nowadays is a rare bird4 ,i should 

like to see  one4 ,florentia4 ,there are
 lots of them1 all the while--the       
newspapers talk about them4 ,people talk
 about them at dinners4  ,dorriforth4   
,what do they say about them8           
,florentia4 ,the newspapers8            
,dorriforth4 ,no1 ,i don't care for     
them4 ,the people at dinners4           
,florentia4 ,oh4 they don't say anything
 in particular4  ,dorriforth4 ,doesn't  
that seem to show the effort isn't very 
suggestive8  ,amicia4 ,the conversation 
at dinners certainly isn't4             
,dorriforth4 ,i mean our contemporary   
drama4 ,to begin with1 you can't find it
 there's no text4  ,florentia4 ,no text8
  ,auberon4 ,so much the better6        
,dorriforth4 ,so much the better if     
there is to be no criticism4 ,there is  
only a dirt prompter's book4 ,one can't 
put one's hand upon it2 one doesn't know
 what one is discussing4 ,there is no   
8authority0--nothing is ever published4 
,amicia4 ,the pieces wouldn't bear that4
  ,dorriforth4 ,it would be a small     

ordeal to resist--if there were anything
 in them4 ,look at the novels6  ,amicia4
 ,the text is the ,french brochure4 ,the
 8adaptation0 is unprintable4           
,dorriforth4 ,that's where it's so      
wrong1 ,it ought at least to be as good 
as the original4  ,auberon4 ,aren't     
there some 8rights0 to protect--some    
risk of the play being stolen if it's   
published8  ,dorriforth4 ,there may     
be--,i don't know4 ,doesn't that only   
prove how little important we regard the
 drama as being1 and how little         
seriously we take it1 if we won't even  
trouble ourselves to bring about decent 
civil conditions for its existence8     
,what have we to do with the ,french    
brochure8 how does that help us to      
represent our own life1 our manners1 our
 customs1 our ideas1 our ,english types1
 our ,english world8 ,such a field for  
comedy1 for tragedy1 for portraiture1   
for satire1 as they all make-such       
subjects as they would yield6 ,think of 
,london alone--what a matchless         

hunting-ground for the satirist--the    
most magnificent that ever was4 ,if the 
occasion always produced the man ,london
 would have produced an ,aristophanes4  
,but somehow it doesn't4  ,florentia4   
,oh1 types and ideas1 ,aristophanes and 
satire--6  ,dorriforth4 ,i'm too        
ambitious1 you mean8 ,i shall presently 
show you that ,i'm not ambitious at all4
 ,everything makes against that--,i am  
only reading the signs4  ,auberon4 ,the 
plays are arranged to be as ,english as 
possible3 they are altered1 they are    
fitted4  ,dorriforth4 ,fitted8 ,indeed  
they are1 and to the capacity of        
infants4 ,they are in too many cases    
made vulgar1 puerile1 barbarous4 ,they  
are neither fish nor flesh1 and with all
 the point that's left out and all the  
navet that's put in1 they cease to place
 before us any coherent appeal or any   
recognizable society4  ,auberon4 ,they  
often make good plays to act1 all the   
same4  ,dorriforth4 ,they may2 but they 
don't make good plays to see or to hear4

 ,the theatre consists of two things1   
que diable--of the stage and the drama1 
and ,i don't see how you can have it    
unless you have both1 or how you can    
have either unless you have the other4  
,they are the two blades of a pair of   
scissors4  ,auberon4 ,you are very      
unfair to native talent4 ,there are lots
 of strictly original plays--  ,amicia4 
,yes1 they put that expression on the   
posters4  ,auberon4 ,i don't know what  
they put on the posters2 but the plays  
are written and acted--produced with    
great success4  ,dorriforth4            
,produced--partly4 ,a play isn't fully  
produced until it is in a form in which 
you can refer to it4 ,we have to talk in
 the air4 ,i can refer to my ,congreve1 
but ,i can't to my ,pinero4 99       99 
,since the above was written several of 
,mr4 ,pinero's plays        have been   
published4  ,florentia4 ,the authors are
 not bound to publish them if they don't
 wish4  ,dorriforth4 ,certainly not1 nor
 are they in that case bound to insist  

on one's not being a little vague about 
them4 ,they are perfectly free to       
withhold them2 they may have very good  
reasons for it1 and ,i can imagine some 
that would be excellent and worthy of   
all respect4 ,but their withholding them
 is one of the signs4  ,auberon4 ,what  
signs8  ,dorriforth4 ,those ,i just     
spoke of--those we are trying to read   
together4 ,the signs that ambition and  
desire are folly1 that the sun of the   
drama has set1 that the matter isn't    
worth talking about1 that it has ceased 
to be an interest for serious folk1 and 
that everything--everything1 ,i mean1   
that's anything--is over4 ,the sooner we
 recognize it the sooner to sleep1 the  
sooner we get clear of misleading       
illusions and are purged of the bad     
blood that disappointment makes4 ,it's a
 pity1 because the theatre--after every 
allowance is made--might have been a    
fine thing4 ,at all events it was a     
pleasant--it was really almost a        
noble--dream4 ,requiescat6  ,florentia4 

,i see nothing to confirm your absurd   
theory4 ,i delight in the play2 more    
people than ever delight in it with me2 
more people than ever go to it1 and     
there are ten theatres in ,london where 
there were two of old4  ,dorriforth4    
,which is what was to demonstrated4     
,whence do they derive their nutriment8 
,auberon4 ,why1 from the enormous       
public4  ,dorriforth4 ,my dear fellow1  
,i'm not talking of the box-office4     
,what wealth of dramatic1 of histrionic 
production have we to meet that enormous
 demand8 ,there will be twenty theatres 
ten years hence where there are ten     
to-day1 and there will be1 no doubt1 ten
 times as many people 8delighting in    
them10 like ,florentla4 ,but it won't   
alter the fact that our dream will have 
been dreamed4 ,florentia said a word    
when we came in which alone speaks      
volumes4  ,florentia4 ,what was my word8
  ,auberon4 ,you are sovereignly unjust 
to native talent among the actors--,i   
leave the dramatists alone4 ,there are  

many who do excellent1 independent work2
 strive for perfection1 completeness--in
 short1 the things we want4             
,dorriforth4 ,i am not in the least     
unjust to them--,i only pity them3 they 
have so little to put sous la dent4 ,it 
must seem to them at times that no one  
will work for them1 that they are likely
 to starve for parts--forsaken of gods  
and men4  ,florentia4 ,if they work1    
then1 in solitude and sadness1 they have
 the more honor1 and one should         
recognize more explicitly their great   
merit4  ,dorriforth4 ,admirably said4   
,their laudable effort is precisely the 
one little loop-hole that ,i see of     
escape from the general doom4 ,certainly
 we must try to enlarge it--that small  
aperture into the blue4 ,we must fix our
 eyes on it and make much of it1        
exaggerate it1 do anything with it tha  
may contribute to restore a working     
faith4 ,precious that must be to the    
sincere spirits on the stage who are    
conscious of all the other              

things--formidable things--that rise    
against them4  ,amicia4 ,what other     
things do you mean8  ,dorriforth4 ,why1 
for one thing1 the grossness and        
brutality of ,london1 with its scramble1
 its pressure1 its hustle of            
engagements1 of preoccupations1 its long
 distances1 its late hours1 its nightly 
dinners1 its innumerable demands on the 
attention1 its general congregation of  
influences fatal to the isolation1 to   
the punctuality1 to the security1 of the
 dear old playhouse spell4 ,when        
,florentia said in her charming way--   
,florentia4 ,here's my dreadful speech  
at last4  ,dorriforth4 ,when you said   
that you went to the ,thtre ,libre in   
the afternoon because you couldn't spare
 an evening1 ,i recognized the          
death-knell of the drama4 ,time1 the    
very breath of its nostrils1 is lacking4
 ,wagner was clever to go to leisurely  
,bayreuth among the hills--the ,bayreuth
 of spacious days1 a paradise of        
8development40  ,talk to a ,london      

audience of 8development60 ,the long    
runs would1 if necessary1 put the whole 
question into a nutshell4 ,figure to    
yourself1 for then the question is      
answered1 how an intelligent actor must 
loathe them1 and what a cruel negation  
he must find in them of the artistic    
life1 the life of which the very essence
 is variety of practice1 freshness of   
experiment1 and to feel that one must do
 many things in turn to do any one of   
them completely4  ,auberon4 ,i don't in 
the least understand your acharnement1  
in view of the vagueness of your        
contention4  ,dorriforth4 ,my           
acharnement is your little joke1 and my 
contention is a little lesson in        
philosophy4  ,florentia4 ,i prefer a    
lesson in taste4 ,i had one the other   
night at the 8,merry ,wives40           
,dorriforth4 ,if you come to that1 so   
did ,i6  ,amicia4 ,so she does spare an 
evening sometimes4  ,florentia4 ,it was 
all extremely quiet and comfortable1 and
 ,i don't in the least recognize        

,dorriforth's lurid picture of the      
dreadful conditions4 ,there was no      
scenery--at least not too much2 there   
was just enough1 and it was very pretty1
 and it was in its place4  ,dorriforth4 
,and what else was there8  ,florentia4  
,there was very good acting4  ,amicia4  
,i also went1 and ,i thought it all1 for
 a sportive1 wanton thing1 quite        
painfully ugly4  ,auberon4 ,uglier than 
that ridiculous black room1 with the    
invisible people groping about in it1 of
 your precious 8,duc d',enghien80       
,dorriforth4 ,the black room is         
doubtless not the last word of art1 but 
it struck me as a successful application
 of a happy idea4 ,the contrivance was  
perfectly simple--a closer night effect 
than is usually attempted1 with a few   
guttering candles1 which threw high     
shadows over the bare walls1 on the     
table of the court-martial4 ,out of the 
gloom came the voices and tones of the  
distinguishable figures1 and it is      
perhaps a fancy of mine that it made    

them--given the situation1 of           
course--more impressive and dramatic4   
,auberon4 ,you rail against scenery1 but
 what could belong more to the order of 
things extraneous to what you perhaps a 
little priggishly call the delicacy of  
personal art than the arrangement you   
are speaking of8  ,dorriforth4 ,i was   
talking of the abuse of scenery4 ,i     
never said anything so idiotic as that  
the effect isn't helped by an appeal to 
the eye and an adumbration of the       
whereabouts4  ,auberon4 ,but where do   
you draw the line and fix the limit8    
,what is the exact dose8  ,dorriforth4  
,it's a question of taste and tact4     
,florentia4 ,and did you find taste and 
tact in that coal-hole of the ,thtre    
,libre8  ,dorriforth4 ,coal-hole is     
again your joke4 ,i found a strong      
impression in it--an impression of the  
hurried1 extemporized cross-examination1
 by night1 of an impatient and mystified
 prisoner1 whose dreadful fate had been 
determined in advance1 who was to be    

shot1 high-handedly1 in the dismal dawn4
 ,the arrangement didn't worry and      
distract me3 it was simplifying1        
intensifying4 ,it gave1 what a judicious
 mise-en-scne should always do1 the     
essence of the matter1 and left the     
embroidery to the actors4  ,florentia4  
,at the 8,merry ,wives10 where you could
 see your hand before your face1 ,i     
could make out the embroidery4          
,dorriforth4 ,could you1 under          
,falstaff's pasteboard cheeks and the   
sad disfigurement of his mates8 ,there  
was no excess of scenery1 ,auberon says4
 ,why1 ,falstaff's very person was      
nothing but scenery4 ,a false face1 a   
false figure1 false hands1 false        
legs--scarcely a square inch on which   
the irrepressible humor of the rogue    
could break into illustrative touches4  
,and he is so human1 so expressive1 of  
so rich a physiognomy4 ,one would rather
 ,mr4 ,beerbohm ,tree should have played
 the part in his own clever1 elegant    
slimness---that would at least have     

represented life4 ,a ,falstaff all      
8make-up0 is an opaque substance4 ,this 
seems to me an example of what the rest 
still more suggested1 that in dealing   
with a production like the 8,merry      
,wives0 really the main quality to put  
forward is discretion4 ,you must resolve
 such a production1 as a thing          
represented1 into a tone that the       
imagination can take an aesthetic       
pleasure in4 ,its grossness must be     
transposed1 as it were1 to a fictive    
scale1 a scale of fainter tints and     
generalized signs4 ,a filthy1 eruptive1 
realistic ,bardolph and ,pistol overlay 
the romantic with the literal4 ,relegate
 them and blur them1 to the eye2 let    
their blotches be constructive and their
 raggedness relative4  ,amicia4 ,ah1 it 
was so ugly6  ,dorriforth4 ,what a pity 
then1 after all1 there wasn't more      
painted canvas to divert you6 ,ah1      
decidedly1 the theatre of the future    
must be that4  ,florentia4 ,please      
remember your theory that our life's a  

scramble1 and suffer me to go and dress 
for dinner4  #ahhi4