404 PRĘTERITA-II

only object of the draughtsman, be he great or small, is to overpower the public mind with his greatness, or catch it with his smallness. My notions of Rome, says Mr. Alma Tadema; Mine of Venice, says Miss Clara Montalba; Ours of Belgravia and Brighton, say the public and its Graphics, with unanimous egotism;-and what sensational effects can be wrung out of China or New Zealand, or the miseries and follies of mankind anywhere. Exact knowledge enough-yes, let us have it to fill our pockets or swell our pride; but the beauty of wild nature or modest life, except for the sake of our own picnics or perquisites, none care to know, or to save.

And it is wholly vain, in this state of the popular mind, to try to explain the phase of art in which I was brought up, and of which-little thinking how soon it was to pass away-I wrote so ungratefully.

175. Absolutely careful and faithful, I said,¹ David Roberts was, though in his own restricted terms; fastening on the constant aspect of any place, and drawing that in grey shade, and so much of what might pass for light as enough showed magnitude, distance, and grace of detail. He was like a kind of grey mirror; he gave the greatness and richness of things, and such height and space, and standing of wall and rock, as one saw to be true; and with unwearied industry, both in Egypt and Spain, brought home records of which the value is now forgotten in the perfect detail of photography, and sensational realism of the effects of light which Holman Hunt first showed to be possible. The minute knowledge and acute sensation throw us back into ourselves; haunting us to the examination of points and enjoyment of moments; but one imagined serenely and joyfully, from the old drawings, the splendour of the aisles of Seville or the strength of the towers of Granada, and forgot oneself, for a time.

¹ [See above, p. 262.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]