LIME. 217 



The lover of Nature is not concerned for the 

 mere effect which what he admires may produce 

 on canvas : nor does he care much whether what 

 he lovesdoes or does not 'produce a pleasing image' 

 in poetry. All painting and all poetry is false 

 which does not reflect Nature, and it is the egotism 

 and conceit of art which makes it profess as it 

 sometimes does if some of its votaries are to be 

 allowed to speak on its behalf to rise superior to 

 Nature. The pleasure which we experience in 

 looking at the painting of a landscape or in read- 

 ing a poem descriptive of scenery is derived from 

 the picture called up to the mind's eye of the 

 subject represented by the artist or the poet : and 

 the greater the fidelity to the original the greater 

 is our pleasure and the greater our admiration. 

 But though the artist cannot represent in detail 

 the smaller effects of colour produced by an 

 autumn sun upon autumn leaves in the interior 

 parts of the mass which forms a tree head, the 

 lover of Nature can and does enjoy the contem- 

 plation of the beauty of shade and tinting which 

 close examination reveals. 



