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MEANS FOR PICTORIAL EFFECTS.

then some very pleasant work comes afterwards. For, besides rendering yourself well acquainted with nature herself in her various forms, which is alone delightful, you would have to study the works of the best masters, to try and discover the practical means by which they produce their effects. You would have the pleasure of tracing a brilliant dash of sunlight upon the top of the green dancing billows in a skilful scratch of a penknife in one of Copley Fielding's spirited sea-pieces; you would find a whole side of a dark dilapidated crumbling house in an old French town to consist of scarcely more than a few vigorous dents and digs of Prout's pencil, and some reddish-brown dashes of his brush; in a mere smear, and two or three scarcely undulated lines of Holland's, you would behold the wide extent of a flat moorland scene; a splash of red and a dot of black in one of Varley's English lanes, would assume the form of a peasant woman gathering twigs; you might fancy yourself wandering with the Faithful Shepherdess and the gentle satyr in the mysterious shadows of one of Havell's copse-woods, with all their luxuriance of hazel, alder, and hornbeam, indicated with masterly precision, though apparently but slight dabs of differently tinted greens; and you would discover the rich glow and contrasted sobriety of one of Barrett's 'Evenings,' in reality to consist of a streak or two of deep orange, a wash of blue, and some dark green, almost black, blotches, magically handled and put together!"

"I see you confine yourself entirely to water-colours in your description of artistic effects, Harevale," said Mr. Warden.

"I speak of water-colours, as the best and readiest medium for producing effects in sketching and drawing from nature, which I presume are the ends my young

WATER-COLOUR DRAWING.

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friend William has chiefly in view," said Mr. Harevale; "they are more portable than oils, and in every way offer greater convenience for the student from nature. A small japan box contains all his colours; and pencils, compasses, a ruler, and a drawing-board, comprise almost the whole of his necessary equipment."

"Have

you any especial mode of mixing your colours ?” asked Mr. Warden.

"I am rather careful in the sort of water I use in rubbing them, as in hard and impure waters the colours are apt to separate and curdle, which renders it almost impossible to obtain a clear flowing wash or gradation of colour; so I generally use distilled water, or filtered rain-water. It is well to avoid the use of saccharine substances in watercolours, as they are attractive of damp, and disposed to acid fermentation with gum."

"With gum!" said William, with some surprise.

"Yes," replied Mr. Harevale, "gums of several kinds; as gum Senegal, Arabic, ammoniac, and tragacanth; isinglass, borax, and egg are also used as media in watercolour drawing. Animal gall and alcohol are likewise employed in water-colour painting; the former to attach the colours to the ground; the latter as an antiseptic, to preserve them from frost, mildew, and putrescence. There are some colours, too, which I have observed to be more permanent than others. In rapid sketching (after all grammar and hard work has been gone through, you know),” added he, smiling at William, "there is nothing like a pen, pencil, crayon, or carbon, for affording prompt and facile means of conveying your ideas graphically."

"And what a noble power of conveying ideas is attained by this same art of yours, Harevale !" exclaimed Mr. Warden. "Painting may be said even to possess an advantage

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ELOQUENCE OF PAINTING.

over language in this respect," added he, "inasmuch as it is more universally understood; for a faithfully delineated description of an object would convey its idea equally to a native of Kamskatka, as to an inhabitant of the South Seas or the Torrid Zone. Painting, too, presents us with bygone heroic deeds, as well as with passing events, and it brings distant objects before us as well as those within our reach. It may thus be said, in a measure, to 'annihilate both space and time' at our behest, and tangibly grasp for us, the otherwise impossible."

66

Shakespeare seems to have had this idea of yours about the superior power of painting in conveying ideas," said Mr. Singleton to Mr. Warden, "when he makes his painter say :"A thousand moral paintings I can show,

66

That shall demonstrate these quick blows of Fortune's
More frequently than words.'

Still," continued he, "I cannot give up my faith in the superiority of poetry over painting, in the power of conveying ideas; consider alone the vast field wholly untouchable by painting, when I speak of different shades of meaning; whereas it is the peculiar province of poetry to analyse and set forth the minutest gradations of significance. Carlyle truly says:— 'In the commonest human face there lies more than Raphael will take away with him.' No disparagement this to painting, though, as I take it," added Mr. Singleton, courteously bowing towards Mr. Harevale, "it is placing it only lower than poesy, which I would fain elevate and deify above all arts."

Mr. Harevale inclined his head in smiling and acquiescent reply; and having now quite finished the sketch, and collected his drawing materials, they all proceeded to the little garden-gate which opened into Mrs. Newton's grounds. It was a noble garden, laid out in turf slopes, shaded here

and there by fine trees; plots of flowers in the nicest order and of the most tastefully arranged colours; bright, wellkept gravel walks, of sufficient breadth for three people to walk comfortably abreast, and one portion was surrounded with a light trellis-work of green wire on which rambled beautiful creeping plants of all descriptions, varied here and there by close arbours, and graceful statues from the antique. This enclosed space was called the 'lady's garden,' and here in this favourite spot they found their friends. Mrs. Newton was sitting on a garden-seat with a book in her hand, near her son, who was busily employed

at her side with a bed of auriculas, respecting which some discussion had apparently interrupted the reading aloud. They soon perceived their approaching friends, however, and hastened forward to receive and welcome them; and speedily all the party were deeply engaged in admiring the beauties around, and asking questions relative to their culture and preservation.

"What fine tulips those are, Alfred!" exclaimed Mr. Warden, "but all your flowers are in fine forward blow this year."

"The brilliancy of the colours would make a Dutch tulip-fancier grow pale himself with envy, I should think," said Lucy England, "though, by the bye, I believe your true florist cares little for brilliancy of colour, or any other beauty that we ignoramuses admire; but points with exultation to some dull little fright of a blossom, and bids us mark some superexcellence of perfect streaking or regularity of centre."

"I confess I care little for mere 'florists' flowers,' as they are called," said Mrs. Newton; "Alfred and I love all the brightest and richest tints, and all the most lovely and gracefully shaped flowers we can collect, no matter how common they may be generally considered; so we surround ourselves with roses and lilies, and pinks and roses, and peonies and marigolds, and roses and mignonette, and sweat peas and roses, and stocks and wall-flowers, and crocuses and roses, and snow-drops and daisies, and

They interrupted her with laughing, and Mrs. Warden said, "I see my dear friend does not forget her old predilection for roses; certainly, though the commonest, it is also the most beautiful of all flowers."

"Besides, you may enjoy many flowers for the sake of