ctly _good_, there
_are_ people, not a hundred miles off, who _might_ have shone to more
advantage in the part! There is no doubt that the artistic temperament
magnifies all the pleasures of one's life by the infusion of a keener
zest for enjoyment, the natural outcome of such temperament, but the
reverse of the medal is equally well cut, and the misfortunes and
disappointments of life are the more keenly felt in consequence of the
possession of this temperament! Whether the balance is equally
maintained or not is a question only to be answered by the individual,
but I incline to the belief that life is smoother to the phlegmatic than
the artistic temperament!--though I should not believe it would be
possible to find any person possessing the latter who would be willing
to renounce it, in spite of its disadvantages, so I must perforce
conclude it to be a blessing! _Q.E.D._

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Miss Helen Mathers looks upon it as a curse.]

If the artistic temperament will enable a man to be rendered profoundly
happy by one of those trifles that Nature strews each day in our
path--say a salmon-pink sunset seen through the lacing of tall black
boles of leafless trees, or a flower, happed upon unexpectedly, that
reads you a half-forgotten lesson in "country art"--that same man will
be reduced to abject misery and real suffering by a dirty tablecloth, a
vulgar, uncongenial companion, or even the presence of a bright blue
gown in a chamber subdued to utmost harmonies in gold and yellow. The
curse with him follows all too swiftly on the blessing of enjoyment--and
lasts longer. And in matters of love, the artistic temperament is a
doubtful blessing. The shape of a man's nose will turn a woman's eyes
away from the goodness of his character, and a badly-fitting coat so
outrage her beauty-loving propensities, that she is provoked into
mistaking her mind's approval for real heart affection, and she chooses
the artistic man, only to find, probably, that, like the O'Flaherty, one
cannot comfortably worship a lily, without a considerable amount of
mutton chops as well--and in the end she may sigh for the tasteless man
who yet had the taste to love her.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: We worship the "beautiful" too much.]

I think most of us carry this tendency to worship the beautiful too far,
and our scorn for the physically unsatisfactory is one of our cruellest
and most