abandoning for ever the sound principles
of the Florentine school, you will eventually resume and abide by
them. Our graceful Titian is the prince of colourists, but it must be
admitted that his drawing seldom rises above mediocrity."

"You must excuse me," he retorted with a smile, "if I doubt whether
your position can be maintained. I infer from the tendency of your
remarks that you consider drawing of primary importance. I admit that
drawing is essential to give truth and symmetry of proportion, and is
therefore a necessary evil; but a finished picture represents the
surfaces of things: surfaces are distinguishable only by colouring,
and therefore I maintain that colouring is the real object--the alpha
and omega--of art. To class drawing above painting, is to prefer the
scaffold to the building--the rude and early stages to the full and
rich maturity of art. What are the sharp and vigorous lines of Michael
Angelo but dreams and shadows, compared with the pure and exquisite
vitality of a head by Titian? Any beardless tyro may, by plodding
industry, produce a drawing as accurate, if not as free, as the
off-hand sketches of Raffaelle; but to delineate real life with its
exquisitely blended tints and demi-tints; its tender outlines, and
evanescent shades of character and expression,--to accomplish all this
by lines and angles is impossible. It requires the magic aid of
colouring, controlled by that deep and rare perception of the
beautiful, that wondrous harmony of intellect and feeling, which is
the immediate gift of heaven, and the proudest, highest attribute of
man."

"I am by no means insensible to the charms of the Venetian school," I
rejoined; "and I admit, in many respects, the force of your reasoning.
It is, however, a question with me, whether the enthusiastic disciples
of Titian are not in danger of pursuing the material and perishable,
rather than the intellectual and permanent in painting. The glorious
colouring of this great master will fade under the action of time and
humidity, and betray his deficiencies in drawing; whereas the moral
grandeur of Michael Angelo's frescos, which derive no aid from colour,
will endure as long as the walls which they adorn. I would gladly hear
you contest this point with the Roman artist who addressed Maestro
Paul this evening at the tavern. I feel too much my own deficiency in
technical phrase and knowledge to vindicate my opinions successfully."

"That Roman," said he, "