162 MORE POT-POURRI 



' beautiful, dwarf Alpine shrub of easy growth.' I have 

 not found it at all easy ; in fact, two out of the three plants 

 I had have died, and the third looks rather ill. But I 

 think I tried to grow it too much in the sun ; it also wants 

 pegging down every year after flowering. 



In a country house in Ireland I saw last year for the 

 first time the reproductions, sanctioned by the Berlin 

 Government, of Botticelli's illustrations of Dante. I never 

 knew before that such things existed, or that outline 

 book-illustration of that kind was so old. The original 

 drawings had belonged to Lord Ashburnham's collection, 

 and we in England allowed them to be bought at his sale 

 by the German Government for 25,000. an unfortunate 

 result of the law which never allowed the authorities 

 either of the Print Boom in the British Museum or of the 

 National Gallery to keep any money in hand. These 

 drawings are curious rather than very beautiful, and many 

 of them are unfinished. In the illustrations of Hell and 

 Purgatory, Botticelli glories in detail ; but the ' Paradiso ' 

 is left almost entirely to the imagination. Dante and 

 Beatrix surrounded by a circle, he himself appearing often 

 blinded by the rays of light, the whole surrounded by 

 more circles ; this is all he seems to have dared attempt. 



In this same house I was able to turn from these 

 lineal illustrations of the fifteenth century, with their 

 delicate though meagre draughtsmanship, to the latest 

 and richest of modern illustrations, the finest colour- 

 printing that France has been able to produce the 

 Tissot Bible. It was not otherwise than satisfactory to 

 realise that, however much art may have in some respects 

 deteriorated, these illustrations, artistically and mechanic- 

 ally, surpassed those particular drawings of the Middle 

 Ages, though the comparison is an unfair one. It would 

 be immensely interesting to know what will be thought 

 of this Tissot Bible in a hundred years. 



