300 STDDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



One of the most interesting engravings I have seen, 

 represents a peasant girl, in the neat and simple attire 

 of her own humble station in life, in the act of bearing 

 a pitcher of water which she has just dipped from a 

 rustic well. How ■easily might the designer have ruined 

 the whole expression of this piece, either by making the 

 well an elegant and fanciful structure, or by making the 

 damsel a fine lady in her silks and laces. The sight of 

 a picnic party assembled together in the woods and 

 pastures, is always pleasing ; but, as I have already in- 

 timated, it fails in interest when represented on canvas, 

 because, with all the pleasing images connected with it, 

 it savors of the vanity of fashionable or rather of town 

 life. After witnessing one of these scenes, while jour- 

 neying leisurely in a chaise on a pleasant day in Octo- 

 ber, I chanced to see a group of little country girls, in 

 the simplest apparel, gathering nuts under a tree. 

 What a crowd of pleasant recollections of the past 

 was immediately awakened by the sight! " There (ex- 

 claimed my companion) is a scene for a painter. Such 

 a little group, in a picture, would afford us inexpressi- 

 ble delight. Yet were I to join either party, I should 

 prefer to be one of the other company at the picnic.'' 

 " For the very plain reason," I replied, " that in the 

 latter company you would expect to find some intelli- 

 gent persons who would be interesting companions. 

 But this is not what we look for in a picture, which 

 pleases in proportion to the simplicity of its charac- 

 ters." 



These remarks might be indefinitely extended; but 

 each new example would serve only to repeat the illus- 

 tration of the same principle. In no other engravings 

 do we see the picturesque more clearly exemplified than 

 in the vignettes which are found in books published ♦ 



