CONCL UDING REMARKS. 303 



sentation — " the half would be greater than the whole,' 

 unless, that is to say, one expressly told the spectator 

 that St. Alkmund's spire was hidden behind St. Mary's — 

 a sort of explanation which seldom adds to the poetical 

 value of any work of art. Do what one may, and no 

 matter how scientific one may be, one cannot attain 

 absolute truth. The question is rather, how do people 

 like to have their error ? than, will they go without any 

 error at all ? All truth and no error cannot be given by 

 the scientist more than by the artist ; each has to sacri- 

 fice truth in one way or another ; and even if perfect 

 truth could be given, it is doubtful whether it would not 

 resolve itself into unconsciousness pure and simple, con- 

 sciousness being, as it were, the clash of small conflicting 

 perceptions, without which there is neither intelligence 

 nor recollection possible. It is not, then, what a man 

 has said, nor what he has put down with actual paint 

 upon his canvass, which speaks to us with living lan- 

 guage — it is what he has thought to us (as is so well 

 put in the letter quoted on page 83), by which our 

 opinion should be guided ; — what has he made us feel 

 that he had it in him, and wished to do ? If he has said 

 or painted enough to make us feel that he meant and 

 felt as we should wish him to have done, he has done 

 the utmost that man can hope to do. 



I feel sure that no additional amount of technical 

 accuracy would make me more likely to succeed, in this 

 respect, if I have otherwise failed ; and as this is the 

 only success about which I greatly care, I have left my 

 scientific inaccuracies uncorrected, even when aware of 

 them. At the same time, I should say that I have 



