

difficulty, let us boldly tackle a branch of that 

 lovely lilac in the garden. All studies composed 

 of a multitude of small flowers are not easy to 

 portray with good effect, for there is always a 

 tendency to make out the flowers too definitely, 

 without treating the whole as a mass of bloom. 

 Lilac varies very much in colour, but, as a general 

 rule, the open flowers are more lavender blue than 

 the pinkish mauve of the buds and the flowers in 

 shadow. Everywhere the shadows must be kept 

 ivann ; keep them simple, too, in effect, to give 

 greater contract to the more detailed flowers on 

 the light side. 



If you are living near a wood, do not forget 

 the little woodruff, with its graceful bunches of 

 starry white blossoms and rings of dark green 

 leaves, at intervals on its slender stems. One of 

 our old herbalists tells us this plant " Cheers the 

 heart, makes men merry, and helps melancholy," 

 truly a delightful character to possess ! And even 

 nowadays the fresh young shoots of the ll'tM- 

 nieister (as it is called in Germany) are much 

 esteemed in the Fatherland for flavouring the 

 Maibowle, a favourite spring beverage, to which 

 it gives a peculiar scented flavouring unlike 

 anything else. 



Somehow I wish very much I could see the 

 studies you have made since you began reading 

 these talks. I feel I am, in a measure, working in 

 the dark, for, although I can discourse on my own 

 difficulties and mistakes, I cannot see yours, to 

 criticise, counsel you what to avoid or (as I am sure I should be able to 

 do) applaud your progress. 



I think every student goes through certain phases, and from time to 

 time adopts little mannerisms that, unless (as is often the case) he is 

 led away by some new idea, often cramp and spoil his work. 



He may have seen a study or painting that has impressed him 

 greatly, and he endeavours to work on the lines of this rather than by 

 trying to learn with his eyes and his own brain what Nature has to 

 disclose. 



This is wrong. There is a great difference between appicciatioii and 

 imitation, and I have a dreadful horror of the latter in all forms. 



I know, when we admire a thing ver_\- much, it has a sort of un- 

 conscious influence upon us, and this dominates, to a certain extent, 

 our own efforts, even our own vision and conception. \\ c find this in 



How sweetly smells the honeysuckle 

 In the hush'd ni^ht, as if the world were one 

 Of utter peace, and love, and fientleness. 



40 



