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designed him, he was permitted to follow the bent of his genius, and 

 for several years devoted himself to landscape painting. 



This is not the occasion on which a full account of his labours as an 

 artist would be appropriate ; but I may be allowed to say, that they 

 were varied and successful. His pencil was for many years put in re- 

 quisition by those who sought for the most perfect illustrations of Irish 

 scenery and topography. His drawings were engraved by the most ce- 

 lebrated engravers. The pictures exhibited by him in London and in 

 this city attracted the admiration of the most accomplished art critics. 

 I have some idea of the causes of his success. I believe that it was 

 due, in the first instance, to the truthfulness with which he represented 

 the grace and harmony of the lines traced by Nature herself in the real 

 landscape. He seems to have perfectly appreciated their characteris- 

 tics. He knew that these lines are produced by natural agencies of 

 various kinds working simultaneously — by forces which shape the 

 outline of a mountain, as well as by those which determine the form 

 of a leaf. It was his nice perception — or call it, if you will, an intui- 

 tive feeling— of the proper now of each separate line, and of its relations 

 to the other lines in the picture, which enabled him to produce draw- 

 ings almost matchless in delicacy and grace. If I have failed to convey 

 my meaning to any of my hearers, I can promise them that they will 

 at once recognise the excellence of which I have been speaking in the 

 illustrations contributed by Peteie to Lord Ormond's " Autumn in 

 Sicily." His skill as a draughtsman was transcendent. Critics allege 

 that as a colourist he was less successful. It is not given to the same 

 man to excel in every branch of his art. Still it must be said of him 

 that he showed a fine perception of harmony and balance of colour, 

 even though we may admit that he was sometimes deficient in force. 

 But the artist who could paint such pictures as his " Pass of Llan- 

 beris," his " Walk in Connemara," his " Shruel Bridge," and " The 

 Home of the Herons," has secured for himself a high place in the list of 

 water colour painters. These are works in which the artistic treatment 

 of the subject manifests an intense love of Nature, and a familiar ac- 

 quaintance with the expressions of her ever-changing face. And they 

 possess a higher merit. They are not the products of a merely imitative 

 art. They are poetical in their conception, and full of imaginative 

 power. Praise from one who has so little practical acquaintance with 

 art as I can lay claim to may be nearly valueless ; but I believe that, 

 even in the presence of those who have most knowledge on this subject, 

 I should provoke no expression of dissent, if I asserted that Peteie had 

 attained to a very distinguished position as a painter. His brother ar- 

 tists in this country long ago acknowledged his eminence by conferring 

 upon him the honourable office of President of their National Academy ; 

 and artists of the highest repute in England, by their correspondence 

 and their friendship, bore testimony to the respect which they enter- 

 tained for him as a professional compeer. 



Prom his schoolboy days Peteie took an interest in the monumental 

 remains which fell under his observation in the neighbourhood of 



