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they are rather those who possess the first of the qualifications of 
which I have been speaking, but who are wanting in the second. 
And it is just the same with regard to painters. 
And not only is the power and the temperament the same, the 
material and the field of work also are largely identical, although 
the mode of treatment may widely differ. It is, of course, to 
Nature that both the painter and the poet must go, and to her 
must be made the last appeal. And this leads me to insist upon 
the importance which must be given, in both these arts, to the 
faculty of observation. It is a truism to say that few people ever 
really think. The number of those who really observe is quite as 
small. The greatest writers and the greatest painters are those 
who have possessed this faculty of observation, with that of reten- 
tion, in the highest degree. They know everything ; nothing 
escapes them ; nothing is forgotten ; and when the true artist 
seems to be working most broadly, and to be dealing only with 
the most general aspect of things, his work exercises power over 
us because, behind this apparent insufficiency, there is the most 
minute and accurate knowledge of details. The truth of Nature 
is at the basis of all good work. 
I have already alluded to Coleridge and to his knowledge of 
the laws of literature. Whatever we may think of his philosophy 
in general, his literary philosophy is seldom at fault. In the 
Biographia Literaria there is a passage in which he lays down 
the two cardinal points of poetry. These are, he says :— 
‘“ The power of exciting the sympathy of a reader by a faithful adherence 
to the truth of nature and the power of giving the interest of novelty by the 
modifying colours of imagination. The sudden charm which accidents of 
light and shade, which moonlight or sunset diffused over a known and 
familiar landscape, appeared to represent the practicability of combining 
both. These are the poetry of nature.” 
I think you will perceive at once that these cardinal points 
are as applicable to painting as they are to literature. Itis of the 
first, however—adherence to the truth of nature—that we are at 
present speaking. And what do we mean by adherence to the 
truth of nature? Thisis at once a difficult and a crucial point ; 
and it is one on which we should speak plainly or not at all. It 
is not enough to say, ‘‘ You must copy nature, unhesitatingly, 
carefully, faithfully.” We know howmisleading such advice may 
become; and how hard and poor may be the product resulting 
from such a style of work. The most devout copying is not in 
itself art-work ; the most cunning transcription will not suffice. 
To copy and to transcribe are essential; but the true quality of 
art is only given by making the ideal supreme. The truth is that 
Nature in relation to the artist holds a position singular and unique. 
She is at once the mistress and the servant; the source of the 
mind’s inspiration, and the humble material wpon which the mind 
imperiously works. IfI try to put this paradoxical matter into 
