THE ■SVOKDEKS OF THE SHOUE. 143 



Those who have never seen one of them can 

 never imagine (and neither Mr. Gosse's pencil 

 nor our clumsy words can ever describe to them) 

 the gorgeous coloring and the grace and delicacy 

 of form which these subaqueous landscapes ex- 

 hibit. 



As for coloring, — the only bit of color which 

 I can remember even faintly resembling them, 

 (for though Correggio's Magdalene may rival 

 them in greens and blues, yet even he has no 

 such crimsons and purples,) is the Adoration of 

 the Shepherds, by that " prince of colorists," 

 Palma Vecchio, which hangs on the left-hand side 

 of Lord Ellcsmcre's great gallery. But as for the 

 forms, — where shall we see their like ? Where, 

 amid miniature forests as fantastic as those of 

 the tropics, animals whose shapes outvie the 

 wildest dreams of the old German ghost-painters 

 which cover tlie walls of the galleries of Brussels 

 or Antwerp ? And yet the uncouthest has some 

 (juaint beauty of its own, wliilc most — the star- 

 fishes and anemones, for example — are nothing 

 but beauty. Tlie Ijrilliant plates in Mr. Gosse's 

 " Aquarium " give, after all, but a meagi'c 

 picture of the reality, as it may be seen either 

 in his study, or in the tank-house; at tlur 



