122 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



plain too that any modification of this method 

 which the case of Michael Scot might demand would 

 depend on the knowledge of Arabic he already 

 possessed. It must therefore have been such as left 

 him more and not less credit in the result of his 

 labours than that which commonly belonged to the 

 Christian translators in Toledo. 



The whole matter of these versions, and of the 

 fame belonging to Michael Scot in connection with 

 them, seems to receive some further light when 

 we compare the Toledan practice with that which 

 distinguished the most famous schools of painting. 

 It would surely be a strange freak of criticism 

 which should deny to any of the great masters his 

 well-earned fame because of the ground on which 

 it was raised, or the numerous scholars whom it 

 attracted to his studio. Yet we know well what 

 this relation between the master and his school 

 implied in the palmy days of pictorial art. There 

 were apprentices who stretched canvas, mixed 

 colours, and pricked and pounced designs. There 

 were pupils, to whom, according to their talents 

 and proficiency, varied parts of the execution 

 were assigned. To the master alone belonged 

 the oversight and responsibility of the whole. 

 Giving a general design, were it only in a sketch 

 from his hand, he watched the progress of the 

 work with jealous eye, and caught the decisive 

 moment to interpose by executing with his own 

 pencil such parts of the painting as might give a 

 distinctive character, a cachet, to the whole. Not 

 till he was satisfied that the desired effect had been 

 secured might the picture leave his studio, and who 

 shall say that he did wrong to sign his name to 



