486 APPENDIX TO PART II

Then notice the change of feeling-how natural !

“This is well written, though I say it!

I should be not afraid to display it

In open day, on the self-same shelf

With the writings of St. Thecla herself,

Or of St. Theodosius, who of old

Wrote the Gospels in letters of gold!

That goodly folio standing yonder,

Without a single blot or blunder,

Would not bear away the palm from mine,

If we should compare them line for line.

There, now, is an initial letter!

King René himself never made a better!

Finished down to the leaf and the snail,

Down to the eyes on the peacok’s tail!

And now, as I turn the volume over,

And see what lies between cover and cover,

What treasures of art these pages hold,

All ablaze with crimson and gold,

God forgive me! I seem to feel

A certain satisfaction steal

Into my heart and into my brain,

As if my talent had not lain

Wrapped in a napkin, and all in vain.

Yes, I might almost say to the Lord,

Here is a copy of Thy word,

Written out with much toil and pain;

Take it, O Lord, and let it be

As something I have done for Thee.”

He looks from the window.

“How sweet the air is! How fair the scene!

I wish I had as lovely a green

To paint my landscapes and my leaves !

How the swallows twitter under the eaves !

There, now, there is one in her nest;

I can just catch a glimpse of her head and her breast,

And will sketch her thus, in her quiet nook,

For the margin of my Gospel Book.”

This was the kind of life he wished the students of this art to follow. He proposed to leave the various examples he had exhibited in the Museum, that those who desired to do so, might come in if they pleased, and work from them between then and the next lecture. In the next lecture he proposed to explain the general principles of outline, and to exhibit examples; and in the third lecture he intended to explain the principles of colour.

[Version 0.04: March 2008]