DEFINITION OF THE ART OF ENORA VING. 201 



the Iieels,) and that her gladness is to be without subtlety, 

 that is to say, without the slightest pleasure in any form of 

 advantage-taking, or any shrewd or mocking wit : " she was 

 simple as dove on tree ; " and you will find that the colour- 

 painting, both in the fresco and in the poem, is in the very 

 highest degree didactic and intellectual ; and distinguished, as 

 being so, from all inferior forms of art. Farther, that it re- 

 quires you yourself first to understand the nature of simplicity, 

 and to like simplicity in young ladies better than subtlety ; and 

 to understand why the second of Love's five kind arrows 

 (Beaute being the first), 



Simplece ot nom, la seconde 



Qui maint homme parmi le monde 



Et maiiite dame fait amer. 



Nor must you leave the picture without observing that there 

 is another reason for Debonnairete's bearing the Royal shield, 

 of all shields that, rather than another. " De-bonne-aire " 

 meant originally " out of a good eagle's nest," the " aire " sig- 

 nifying the eagle's nest or eyrie especially, because it is flat, 

 the Latin "area " being the root of all. 



And this coming out of a good nest is recognized as, of all 

 things, needfullest to give the strength which enables people 

 to be good-humoured ; and thus you have " debonnaire " 

 forming the third word of the group, with " gentle " and 

 "kind," all first signifying "of good race." 



You will gradually see, as we go on, more and more why I 

 called niy third volume of lectures Eagle's Nest ; for I am not 

 fantastic in these titles, as is often said ; but try shortly to 

 mark my chief purpose in the book by them. 



28. Now for comparison with this old art, here is a modern 

 engraving, in which colour is entirely ignored ; and light and 

 shade alone are used to produce what is supposed to be a 

 piece of impressive religious instruction. But it is not a 

 piece of religious instruction at all ; only a piece of religious 

 sensation, prepared for the sentimental pleasure of young 

 ladies ; whom (since I am honoured to-day by the presence 

 of many) I will take the opportunity of warning against such 



