ind the
shrouded figure are words that represent his final wisdom, "What I
spent, I had; what I saved, I lost; what I gave, I have."

[Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE GOOD SAMARITAN

(At the Manchester Art Gallery)

This is an early picture, painted in the year 1852 and
presented to the city of Manchester by the artist in honour of
the prison philanthropist, a native of that city.]

These I call "Pessimistic paintings," because they represent the true
discovery ever waiting to be made by man, that the sum total of all that
can be gained in man's external life--wealth, fame, strength, and
power--that these inevitably pass from him. To know this, to see it
clearly, to accept it, is the happiness of the pessimist, who
thenceforward fixes his hope and bends his energies to the realisation
of other and higher goods. In this he becomes an optimist, for this is
the pursuit, as Watts never ceases to teach, in which man can and does
attain his goal. Thus our prophet-painter, having seen and known and
felt all this, having tested it in the personal and intimate life,
brings to a triumphant close his great series, where positive rather
than negative teaching is given.

_The Great Realities_.--We have seen in "Chaos" primordial matter; we
have now from Watts' brush the origin of things on the metaphysical
side. In "The All-pervading," there sits the Spirit of the Universe,
holding in her lap the globe of the systems, the representation of the
last conclusions of philosophy. This mysterious picture is very low in
tone, conforming to Watts' rule to make the colouring suit the subject.
Here there is nothing hard or defined; the spirit of the universe is
merely suggested or hinted at, his great wings enclose all. The
elliptical form of this composition is seen again in "Death Crowning
Innocence" and "The Dweller in the Innermost," and the same expressive
indefiniteness and lowness of the colour tones. In the latter effort we
have the figure of Conscience, winged, dumb-faced and pensive, seated
within a glow of light. On her forehead is the shining star, and in her
lap the arrows which pierce through all disguises, and a trumpet that
proclaims peace to the world. Here, therefore, is the greatest reality
from the psychological side. We have also cosmical paintings
representing "Evolution," "Progress," the "Slumber of the Ages," and
"Destiny," all of them asking and answering; not indeed finally and
dogmatically, but as