hings; but there is no proof, in the eager talk of the
public about Art, that we _are_ arriving at them. Portraiture of the
said public's many faces, and tickling of its twice as many eyes, by
changeful phantasm, are all that the patron-multitudes of the present
day in reality seek; and this may be supplied to them in multiplying
excess forever, yet no steps made to the formation of a school of Art
now, or to the understanding of any that have hitherto existed.

99. It is the carrying of this annual Exhibition into the recesses of
home which is especially to be dreaded in the multiplication of inferior
Art for private possession. Public amusement or excitement may often be
quite wholesomely sought, in gay spectacles, or enthusiastic festivals;
but we must be careful to the uttermost how we allow the desire for any
kind of excitement to mingle among the peaceful continuities of home
happiness. The one stern condition of that happiness is that our
possessions should be no more than we can thoroughly use; and that to
this use they should be practically and continually put. Calculate the
hours which, during the possible duration of life, can, under the most
favorable circumstances, be employed in reading, and the number of books
which it is possible to read in that utmost space of time;--it will be
soon seen what a limited library is all that we need, and how careful we
ought to be in choosing its volumes. Similarly, the time which most
people have at their command for any observation of Art is not more than
would be required for the just understanding of the works of one great
master. How are we to estimate the futility of wasting this fragment of
time on works from which nothing can be learned? For the only real
pleasure, and the richest of all amusements, to be derived from either
reading or looking, are in the steady progress of the mind and heart,
which day by day are more deeply satisfied, and yet more divinely
athirst.

100. As far as I know the homes of England of the present day, they show
a grievous tendency to fall, in these important respects, into the two
great classes of over-furnished and unfurnished:--of those in which the
Greek marble in its niche, and the precious shelf-loads of the luxurious
library, leave the inmates nevertheless dependent for all their true
pastime on horse, gun, and croquet-ground;--and those in which Art,
honored only by the presence of a couple of engravings from Landseer,
and liter