same as that of

a preacher.

in one sermon to express and explain every divine truth which can be gathered out of God's revelation, as a painter expect in $5. The duty of one composition to express and illustrate every the painter is the lesson which can be received from God's creation. Both are commentators on infinity, and the duty of both is to take for each discourse one essential truth, seeking particularly and insisting especially on those which are less palpable to ordinary observation, and more likely to escape an indolent research; and to impress that, and that alone, upon those whom they address, with every illustration that can be furnished by their knowledge, and every adornment attainable by their power. And the real truthfulness of the painter is in proportion to the number and variety of the facts he has so illustrated; those facts being always, as above observed, the realization, not the violation of a general principle. The quantity of truth is in proportion to the number of such facts, and its value and instructiveness in proportion to their rarity. All really great pictures, therefore, exhibit the general habits of nature, manifested in some peculiar, rare, and beautiful way.

OF THE E

TRUTH

TRUTH

Is the

of the imp

41 Difference between prima and secondary quaties in bod

thing to be Accordi of qualities tion, and m

1

them, whet

mary quali

to operate a sible qualiti to make sud

on our sens

being usuall Hence h qualities are teristic of it

together he powers of p

2. The first are Jolly character istic, the second imperfectly so. that there sh the impressi (Compare two people,

ז

CHAPTER V.

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TRUTHS :-THIRDLY, THAT CHS OF COLOR ARE THE LEAST IMPORTANT OF ALL THS.

ence

he two last chapters, we have pointed out general tests mportance of all truths, which will be sufficient at once to distinguish certain classes of properties in imary bodies, as more necessary to be told than others, bodies. because more characteristic, either of the particular be represented, or of the principles of nature.

dary

ording to Locke, Book ii. chap. 8, there are three sorts ities in bodies: first, the "bulk, figure, number, situad motion or rest of their solid parts: those that are in hether we perceive them or not." These he calls priualities. Secondly, "the power that is in any body te after a peculiar manner on any of our senses," (senalities.) And thirdly, "the power that is in any body e such a change in another body as that it shall operate senses differently from what it did before these last sually called powers.

ce he proceeds to prove that those which he calls primary s are indeed part of the essence of the body, and characof it; but that the two other kinds of qualities which r he calls secondary, are neither of them more than of producing on other objects, or in us, certain effects and sensations. Now a power of influence is al

rst are

y so.

racter ways equally characteristic of two objects—the active and passive; for it is as much necessary ere should be a power in the object suffering to receive ression, as in the object acting to give the impression. re Locke, Book ii. chap. 21, sect. 2.) For supposing ople, as is frequently the case, perceive different scents

in the same flower, it is evident that the power in the flower to give this or that depends on the nature of their nerves, as well as on that of its own particles; and that we are as correct in saying it is a power in us to perceive, as in the object to impress. Every power, therefore, being characteristic of the nature of two bodies, is imperfectly and incompletely characteristic of either separately; but the primary qualities, being characteristic only of the body in which they are inherent, are the most important truths connected with it. For the question, what the thing is, must precede, and be of more importance than the question, what can it do.

§ 3. Color is a

ity, therefore less

Now, by Locke's definition above given, only secondary qual- bulk, figure, situation, and motion or rest of solid important than parts, are primary qualities. Hence all truths of color sink at once into the second rank. He, therefore, who has neglected a truth of form for a truth of color, has neglected a greater truth for a less one.

form.

And that color is indeed a most unimportant characteristic of objects, will be farther evident on the slightest consideration. The color of plants is constantly changing with the season, and of everything with the quality of light falling on it; but the nature and essence of the thing are independent of these changes. An oak is an oak, whether green with spring or red with winter; a dahlia is a dahlia, whether it be yellow or crimson; and if some monster-hunting botanist should ever frighten the flower blue, still it will be a dahlia; but let one curve of the petals-one groove of the stamens be wanting, and the flower ceases to be the same.

Let the roughness of the bark and the angles of the boughs be smoothed or diminished, and the oak ceases to be an oak; but let it retain its inward structure and outward form, and though its leaves grew white, or pink, or blue, or tri-color, it would be a white oak, or a pink oak, or a republican oak, but an § 4. Color no dis- Oak still. Again, color is hardly ever even a possible tinction between distinction between two objects of the same species. Two trees, of the same kind, at the same season, and of the same age, are of absolutely the same color; but they are not of the same form, nor anything like it. There can be no difference in the color of two pieces of rock broken from the same place; but it is impossible they should be of

objects of the

same species.

fferent

on

it is

> form. So that form is not only the chief characteristic es, but the only characteristic of individuals of a species. Again, a color, in association with other colors, is different from the same color seen by itself. It has a distinct and peculiar power upon the retina. nt on its association. Consequently, the color of any s not more dependent upon the nature of the object ad the eye beholding it, than on the color of the objects in this respect also, therefore, it is no characteristic.

ot

eople

ne

ings.

And so great is the uncertainty with respect to ether those qualities or powers which depend as much on the nature of the object suffering as of the object acting, that it is totally impossible to prove that 1 sees in the same thing the same color that another ugh he may use the same name for it. One man may ow where another sees blue, but as the effect is constant, ree in the term to be used for it, and both call it blue, or llow, having yet totally different ideas attached to the And yet neither can be said to see falsely, because the not in the thing, but in the thing and them together. they see forms differently, one must see falsely, because m is positive in the object. My friend may see boars r anything I know, but it is impossible he should see ith paws instead of hoofs, unless his eyes or brain are 1. (Compare Locke, Book ii. chap. xxxii. § 15.) But I speak of this uncertainty as capable of having any effect because, though perhaps Landseer sees dogs of the color I should call blue, yet the color he puts on the canvas, n the same way blue to him, will still be brown or dogme; and so we may argue on points of color just as if saw alike, as indeed in all probability they do; but I mention this uncertainty to show farther the vagueness importance of color as a characteristic of bodies.

con

18 an

land

Before going farther, however, I must explain the sense in which I have used the word "form," cludes because painters have a most inaccurate and careshade. less habit of confining the term to the outline es, whereas it necessarily implies light and shade. It is at the outline and the chiaroscuro must be separate sub

i

expressing the

character of bo

jects of investigation with the student; but no form whatsoever
can be known to the eye in the slightest degree without its chiaro-
scuro; and, therefore, in speaking of form generally as an ele-
ment of landscape, I mean that perfect and harmonious unity of
outline with light and shade, by which all the parts and projec-
tions and proportions of a body are fully explained to the eye,
being nevertheless perfectly independent of sight or power in
other objects, the presence of light upon a body being a positive
existence, whether we are aware of it or not, and in no degree
dependent upon our senses. This being understood, the most
$8. Importance of convincing proof of the unimportance of color
fight and shade in lies in the accurate observation of the way in which
dies and unim any material object impresses itself on the mind.
portance of color. If we look at nature carefully, we shall find that
her colors are in a state of perpetual confusion and indistinct-
ness, while her forms, as told by light and shade, are invariably
clear, distinct, and speaking. The stones and gravel of the bank
catch green reflections from the boughs above; the bushes receive
grays and yellows from the ground; every hairbreadth of pol-
ished surface gives a little bit of the blue of the sky or the gold
of the sun, like a star upon the local color; this local color,
changeful and uncertain in itself, is again disguised and modified
by the hue of the light, or quenched in the gray of the shadow;
and the confusion and blending of tint is altogether so great,
that were we left to find out what objects were by their colors
only, we would scarcely in places distinguish the boughs of a
tree from the air beyond them, or the ground beneath them.
know that people unpractised in art will not believe this at first;
but if they have accurate powers of observation, they may soon
ascertain it for themselves; they will find that, while they can
scarcely ever determine the exact hue of anything, except when
it occurs in large masses, as in a green field or the blue sky,
the form, as told by light and shade, is always decided and evi-
dent, and the source of the chief character of every object.
Light and shade indeed so completely conquer the distinctions
of local color, that the difference in hue between the illumined
parts of a white and black object is not so great as the differ-
ence (in sunshine) between the illumined and dark side of either
separately.

I

We s color, eve

19 Recapit

Tations w sacrifices wlor, sac

is essenti