of pure line. Line is, indeed, as I have
before termed it, a language, a most sensitive and vigorous speech of
many dialects; which can adapt itself to all purposes, and is, indeed,
indispensable to all the provinces of design in line. Line may be
regarded simply as a means of record, a method of registering the facts
of nature, of graphically portraying the characteristics of plants and
animals, or the features of humanity: the smooth features of youth, the
rugged lines of age. It is capable of this, and more also, since it can
appeal to our emotions and evoke our passionate and poetic sympathies
with both the life of humanity and wild nature, as in the hands of the
great masters it lifts us to the heavens or bows us down to earth: we
may stand on the sea-shore and see the movement of the falling waves,
the fierce energy of the storm and its rolling armament of clouds,
glittering with the sudden zigzag of the lightning; or we may sink into
the profound calm of a summer day, when the mountains, defined only by
their edges, wrapped in soft planes of mist, seem to recline upon the
level meadows like Titans and dream of the golden age.

[Illustration (f016): (landscape)]

CHAPTER II

The Language of Line--Dialects--Comparison of the Style of
various Artists in Line--Scale of Degrees in Line--Picture
Writing--Relation of Line to Form--Two Paths--The Graphic
Purpose--Aspect--The Ornamental Purpose--Typical Treatment or
Convention--Rhythm--Linear Plans in Pattern Designing--Wall-paper
Design--Controlling Forms--Memory--Evolution in Design--Variety
in Unity--Counterbalance--Linear Logic--Recurring Line and
Form--Principle of Radiation--Range and Use of Line.

I spoke of Line as a Language, and gave some illustrations of its power
and range of expression, showing that line is capable not only of
recording natural fact and defining character, but also of conveying the
idea of movement and force, of action and repose; and, further, of
appealing to our emotions and thoughts by variations and changes in its
direction, the degree of its emphasis, and other qualities.

[Dialects]

Yet every designer and draughtsman uses line in a different way, and of
a different quality, according to his preference, habit, training, or
personality. The endless variations which result I should--to pursue the
an