THE ARTIST AND THE BUTTERFLY. 37 



curiosity, and the butterfly as a pretty painted thing 

 and nothing more ; but regard them as together forming 

 one of those beautiful and striking illustrations with 

 which the book of Nature has been so profusely en- 

 riched by its GREAT AUTHOR ; not to be taken as sub- 

 stitutes for His revealed Word, but as harmonious 

 adjuncts, bringing its great truths more home to our 

 understandings, just as the engravings in a book are 

 not designed as substitutes for the text, but to elucidate 

 and strengthen the ideas in the reader's mind. 



While the poet draws from the butterfly many a 

 pleasant similitude, and the moralist many a solemn 

 teaching, the artist (who should be poet and moralist 

 too) dwells upon these beings with fondest delight, find- 

 ing in them images of joy and life when seen at large 

 in the landscape, and rich stores of colour-lessons when 

 studied at home in the cabinet. 



The owners of many a name great in the arts have 

 been enthusiastic collectors of butterflies. Our distin- 

 guished countryman, Thomas Stothard, was one of their 

 devotees, and the following anecdote, extracted from his 

 published life, shows how he was led to make them 

 his special study : 



" He was beginning to paint the figure of a reclining 

 sylph, when a difficulty arose in his own mind how 

 best to represent such a being of fancy. A friend who 

 was present said, ' Give the sylph a butterfly's wing, 

 and then you have it.' l That I will/ exclaimed 

 Stothard ; ' and to be correct I will paint the wing 



