NATURE /A THE LOUVRE. 



259 



I knew it was useless to search further among the 

 galleries of the Louvre, for there could not be two such 

 works in existence anywhere, much less in one collec- 

 tion. Therefore I did not go a step beyond, but sat 

 down to enjoy it, and when I had gazed enough for one 

 morning I turned to leave the place. There are never 

 two works of equal beauty of any kind, just as there are 

 never two moments of equal pleasure : seize the one 

 you have, and make much of it, for such a moment will 

 never return. In walking away I frequently looked 

 back — first at three or four yards', then at ten yards' 

 distance ; gradually the proportions diminished, but the 

 great sweep of outline retained its power. At about 

 thirty yards it is remarkable how this noble work 

 entirely overshadows the numerous figures close to it. 

 Upon each side ot the gallery the wall is lined with 

 ranks of statuary, but they are quite lost as statuary, 

 and seem nothing more than wall decorations, merely 

 curious castings put there to conceal the monotony ot 

 the surface. Cleverly executed they may be, but there 

 is no other merit, and they appear commonplace. They 

 have no meaning ; the eye glances along them without 

 emotion. It always returns to, and rests upon, the Ac- 

 croupie — the living and the beautiful. Here is the dif- 

 ference between genius and talent. Talent has lined 

 the walls with a hundred clever things, and could line 

 miles of surface ; genius gives us but one example, and 

 the clever things are silenced. Here is the difference 

 between that which expresses a noble idea, and that 

 which is dexterously conventional. The one single idea 

 dominates the whole. Here is the difference, again, be- 

 tween the secret of the heart, the aspiration of the soul, 

 and that which is only the workmanship of a studio 

 ancient or modern. The Accroupie is human, loving 



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