I48 PROSERPINA. 



[I.] That they are not flat, but, however slightly, 

 always hollowed into craters, or raised into hills, 

 in one or another direction ; so that any drawable 

 outline of them does not in the least represent 

 the real extent of their surfaces ; and until you 

 know how to draw a cup, or a mountain, rightly, 

 you have no chance of drawing a leaf. My 

 simple artist readers of long ago, when I told 

 them to draw leaves, thought they could do 

 them by the bough-full, whenever they liked. 

 Alas, except by old William Hunt, and Burne 

 Jones, I've not seen a leaf painted, since those 

 burdocks of Turner's ; far less sculptured — though 

 one would think at first that was easier ! Of 

 which we shall have talk elsewhere ; here I 

 must go on to note fact number two, concerning 

 leaves. 



8. [II:] The strength of their supporting stem 

 consists not merely in the gathering together of 

 all the fibres, but in gathering them essentially 

 into the profile of the letter V, which you will 

 see your doubled paper stem has ; and of which 

 you can feel the strength and use, in your hand, 

 as you hold it. Gather a common plantain leaf, 

 and look at the way it puts its round ribs together 

 at the base, and you will understand the matter 

 at once. The arrangement is modified and 



