they had had all the power to do so, still they
would not have put rosy mists and blue shadows behind their sacred
figures, but only the far-away sky and cloudless mountains. Probably the
right conclusion is that the clear and cloudy mysteries are alike noble;
but that the beauty of the wreaths of frost mist, folded over banks of
greensward deep in dew, and of the purple clouds of evening, and the
wreaths of fitful vapor gliding through groves of pine, and irised
around the pillars of waterfalls, is more or less typical of the kind of
joy which we should take in the imperfect knowledge granted to the
earthly life, while the serene and cloudless mysteries set forth that
belonging to the redeemed life. But of one thing I am well assured, that
so far as the clouds are regarded, not as concealing the truth of other
things, but as themselves true and separate creations, they are not
usually beheld by us with enough honor; we have too great veneration for
cloudlessness. My reasons for thinking this I will give in the next
chapter; here we have, I believe, examined as far as necessary, the
general principles on which Turner worked, and justified his adoption of
them so far as they contradicted preceding practice.

It remains for us to trace, with more observant patience, the ground
which was marked out in the first volume; and, whereas in that volume we
hastily compared the truth of Turner with that of preceding
landscapists, we shall now, as closely as possible, examine the range of
what he himself has done and felt, and the way in which it is likely to
influence the future acts and thoughts of men.

Sec. 22. And I shall attempt to do this, first, by examining what the real
effect of the things painted--clouds, or mountains, or whatever else
they may be--is, or ought to be, in general, on men's minds, showing the
grounds of their beauty or impressiveness as best I can; and then
examining how far Turner seems to have understood these reasons of
beauty, and how far his work interprets, or can take the place of
nature. But in doing this, I shall, for the sake of convenience, alter
the arrangement which I followed in the first volume; and instead of
examining the sky first, treat of it last; because, in many
illustrations which I must give of other things, I shall have to
introduce pieces of sky background which will all be useful for
reference when I can turn back to them from the end of the book, but
which I could not refer t