nd with
a knife or pen-handle curling it into the required form. The main lines
will thus be seen in true relation to one another, and all the
distortion avoided which arises from disconnection of parts; not only
that, but it is a useful aid to the invention, as much variety can be
hinted at by a skilful manipulation in curling its lobes. Fig. 73 was
drawn from a paper model of this kind. Of course, it is quite without
the necessary veins or minor articulations, but is useful as a
suggestion of main lines. With regard to subjects containing figures of
men or animals, the same principle governs the placing of the whole body
in the first instance, then of the different members, so that heads,
arms, and legs take up a position as nearly as may be with a piece of
background all to themselves. Thus, no two bodies should be
super-imposed if it can be in any way avoided. (I am speaking now of
moderate and low relief, although even in high relief the best masters
have always respected the principle.) The temptation to imitate effects
of foreshortening for its own sake is not without some excuse, as it is
quite possible to make presentable pictures in this way. A horse, for
instance, may be carved in low relief, presenting either its head or
hindquarters to the spectator, and yet not look absolutely absurd.
Again, a front face may be carved in the same way, notwithstanding the
difficulty presented by the projection of the nose. Neither of these
experiments can ever be said to prove entirely successful. It is not so
much that they are either difficult or impossible, as that a more
suitable method, one more natural to the technique of the carver, is
being neglected, and its many good qualities sacrificed for sake of an
effect which can never be fully realized in sculpture. To so dispose the
various masses, great and small, that they fall easily into groups, each
having some relation to, and share of the background, is a true carver's
artifice. A skilful use of this arrangement makes it quite unnecessary
to encroach upon the domain of another art in the imitation of an
effect which may be successfully rendered with the pencil, but only so
to a very limited extent with the carving tools.

You have all seen the actors, when called before the curtain at the
close of the play, how they pass before it one by one, and perhaps
joining hands make their bows _in line_, to all appearance, on a very
narrow platform. The curtain is your backgr