y worthy of mention among the landscapes.

[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--PRAYER

(At the Manchester Art Gallery)

This is one of the most simple and beautiful of Watts' early
works. The young woman is kneeling at the table, book in hand,
her mind absorbed in thoughts of reverence. Painted in 1860.]

Before Watts entered upon his series of great imaginative paintings he
had used realism for didactic purposes. In those days his work was less
rugged than in later times, and had a delicateness and refinement which
is seen to perfection in some of his earlier portraits. A few of these
efforts may be mentioned. "Study" is the bust of a girl, with long red
hair, looking upwards; it represents a beautiful combination of
spirituality and human affection. "The Rain it raineth every day" is a
picture of ennui and utter weariness, beautifully and sympathetically
expressed. The colouring is very brave. In "Prayer" (see Plate VIII.)
the simplicity of the treatment may lead any one to pass it by as
something slight and conventional, but it is perhaps one of the greatest
of this type where simplicity and spirituality are combined. In
"Choosing" Watts approached very near to the summit of simplicity and
charm. A golden-haired girl is choosing a camellia blossom; but where
all are so beautiful it is difficult for her to decide. Great interest
in this picture lies in the fact that it was painted in 1864, and was
drawn from Watts' young bride Miss Ellen Terry. One is almost tempted to
find in this picture the germ of allegory which grew to such heights in
the artist's later efforts.

_The Warrior Series_.--Watts, like Ruskin and many other of the
nineteenth-century philosophic artists, idealised warfare. His warriors
are not clad in khaki; they do not crouch behind muddy earthworks. They
are of the days before the shrapnel shell and Maxim gun; they wear
bright steel armour, wield the sword and lance, and by preference they
ride on horseback. Indeed, they are of no time or country, unless of the
house of Arthur and the land of Camelot.

We are thus able to understand the characteristic of Watts' warrior
pictures. The first is "Caractacus," the British chief; though no
Christian, he is the earliest of Watts' heroes. The second is the
beautiful "Sir Galahad," whose strength was as the strength of ten,
because his heart was pure. We see a knight standing bare-headed at the
side of his white horse, gazing with rapt eyes on th