MAY 309 



which all Nature is then laid open, and which may be 

 said to possess the key of her inexhaustible riches. 



' A detail of instruction might be extended with a great 

 deal of pleasure and ostentatious amplification ; but it 

 would at best be useless. Our studies will be for ever in 

 a very great degree under the direction of chance. Like 

 travellers, we must take what we can get and when we 

 can get it, whether it is or is not administered in the 

 most commodious manner, in the most proper place, or 

 at the exact minute when we would wish to have it. 



' The habit of contemplating and brooding over the 

 ideas of great geniuses, till you find yourself warmed by 

 the contact, is the true method of forming an artist-like 

 mind. It is impossible to think or invent in a mean 

 manner ; a state of mind is acquired that receives those 

 ideas only which relish of grandeur and simplicity. 



' I do not desire that you should get other people to do 

 your business, or to think for you. I only wish you to 

 consult with, to call in as councillors, men the most 

 distinguished for their knowledge and experience, the 

 result of which counsel must ultimately depend upon 

 yourself. Such conduct in the commerce of life has 

 never been considered as disgraceful or in any respect to 

 imply intellectual, imbecility ; it is a sign rather of that 

 true wisdom which feels individual imperfection, and is 

 conscious to itself how much collective observation is 

 necessary to fill the immense extent and to comprehend 

 the infinite variety of Nature. I recommend neither self- 

 dependence nor plagiarism. I advise you only to take 

 that assistance which every human being wants, and 

 which it appears, from the examples that have been given, 

 the greatest painters have not disdained to accept. 



' Let me add, the diligence required in the search, and 

 the exertion subsequent in accommodating those ideas to 

 your own purpose, is a business which idleness will not, 



