the case in poetry and eloquence, and more or less in each of the arts.

Drapery is the leading auxiliary in compositions in painting where figures are introduced, as, by this means, character and rank and action are conferred to a certain degree, in a manner corresponding with that in which in a landscape the shape and aspect of the clouds gives a character to a representation of that description. Indeed, the various features assumed by the sky, and the forms and colours which the clouds are capable of exhibiting in so many varieties, render them valuable auxiliaries in art as regards effect. Not only in painting, but in poetry also, have they been thus availed of. Probably, indeed, no appearance in external nature possesses so much variety and so much character as do the clouds. There is often, moreover, a silent poetry in nature which speaks to us in her own language, and which is quite independent of any artistical results in the composition, that we might desire to produce. Thus, in a landscape, the beauty of the tints, the variety of the foliage, the harmony of the whole, form a combination of images, excite a flood of picturesque ideas of themselves, which the most elaborate efforts will fail to attain. Colour and light and shade are, however, of course, not to be considered so much as auxiliaries, as essential and leading ingredients in a composition in painting; although occasionally, striking effects with respect to them, as in sunsets or moonlight scenes, may be strictly so regarded.

The principal elements of composition in landscape scenery are mountains, rocks, buildings, wood, water, foliage, and plains. These objects may be respectively diversified to an almost infinite extent, and admit of contrast and effect, corresponding with the application of all the other elements available in artistical composition. The mountains and buildings about it form the auxiliary objects in, as they constitute also the background to an architectural structure. And to the nature of these due regard in the construction of his edifice ought ever to be had by the architect.

Metaphor is one of the ordinary auxiliary ornaments made use of in poetry and eloquence. An immense field is afforded

EXAMPLES IN SHAKSPEARE AND CHAUCER.

19

to the artist by this means for obtaining auxiliaries for the illustration of, and for giving effect to the narrative. Many things may be availed of for this purpose, which though directly foreign to the matter, have an indirect and an ideal relation to it. A metaphor, indeed, when of a suitable nature and aptly introduced, will often contribute to give a tint or glow to a subject, which appears to be reflected as it were from the object from which the metaphor is borrowed; thus the sea, the sun, or a flower, when resorted to as metaphors, attach to the topic to which they are applied the ideas of immensity, glory, and beauty, so peculiar to themselves. Nevertheless all such metaphors must be excluded as are foreign to the subject. Metaphors and similes, like representations in art generally, should, moreover, be calculated to gratify the spectator, never to disgust or nauseate him. The vast number of striking, effective, and moving ideas and metaphors that are all brought together and combined into one description or composition, is what often renders it so powerful and so affecting. This is especially observable in the following quotation from Shakspeare's 'Henry the Fourth':

"All furnish'd, all in arms:

All plum'd like estriches that wing the wind;
Baited like eagles having newly bath'd;
Glittering in golden coats, like images;
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer.
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry with his beaver on,

His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury;
And vaulted with such ease into his seat

As if an angel dropp'd from the clouds

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,

And witch the world with noble horsemanship."

The same remarks are applicable to the passages which follow from Chaucer; the first containing a description of a forest, the other affording a representation of crime :

*Part i. act iv. scene 1.

:

66

First on the wall was peinted a forest,

In which ther wonneth neyther man ne best,
With knotty knarry barrein trees old

Of stubbes sharpe and hidous to behold;
In which ther ran a romble and a swough,

As though a storme shuld bresten every bough.'

"Ther saw I first the derke imagining
Of felonie, and alle the compassing;
The cruel ire, red as any glede,

The pikepurse, and eke the pale drede ;
The smiler with the knif under the cloke,
The shepen brenning with the blake smoke;
The tresen of the mordring in the bedde,
The open werre, with woundes all bebledde,
Conteke with blody knif, and sharp manace,
All full of chirking was that sorry place.
The sleer of himself yet I saw there,
His herte-blood hath bathed all his here:
The naile ydriven in the shode on hight,
The colde deth, with mouth gaping upright.
Amiddes of the temple sat mischance,
With discomfort and sory contenance,
Yet saw I woodnesse laughing in his rage,
Armed complaint, outhees, and fiers outrage;
The carraine in the bush, with throte ycorven,

"

A thousand slaine, and not of qualme ystorven."t

If we take away from these descriptions all but the bare account of the scene, and strip them of all the metaphors and similes that are introduced to give effect to the composition, how spiritless and dull and poor will the representation appear!

To architecture, as much as to painting and sculpture, the leading principles of composition are entirely applicable; more especially as regards the distribution of the different objects, or figures, or masses, which contribute to make up the building, or group of buildings, the disposal and arrangement of the lights and shadows, the laws of contrast, of effect, and of harmony. Moreover architecture equally with, if not more fully than any of the arts, serves to elucidate the rules of composition as regards the skilful use of ornament, and other artistical auxiliaries.

ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATIONS RESPECTING COMPOSITION.

21

In costume, in acting, and in gardening, the application of ornament is of equal value with its use in the other arts. Probably, indeed, costume owes more to ornament than do any of them, inasmuch as it is of itself wholly and essentially ornamental in its nature. In the laying out and composition of cities, the introduction of groves, and fountains, and greens, and pools, and gardens affords a great relief, and its effect is picturesque; while statues and columns are no less serviceable in ornamental grounds.

In the disposition of the gardens annexed to some of our suburban villas, which we frequently see effected with so much ingenuity and taste, the acumen and cultivation of the town are availed of in the improvement and bringing to perfection the materials which the country affords.

Both in ornamental-ground disposition and in painting, the real object is not to thwart or to distort nature, but to develope and display it to the fullest extent, and to correct those blemishes and defects which accident, or some other causes, disturbing nature, have occasioned; and which are no more an essential part of nature, than a tumour or a fracture is an essential part of a living frame.

IX. The examples afforded in the last chapter from the cartoons of Paul Preaching at Athens,'* and of Christ's Charge to Peter,' serve as admirable illustrations of the principles laid down with regard to composition in art. In both these works the subject is arranged in such a manner that we see at once the meaning of the painter; the most orderly method prevails in his mode of relating the story, and in the composition, which throughout is varied so as to be pleasing to the eye, and to accord with what we see in nature; the principal figure in the piece is at once perceived by his dignity and gesture, and towards him all the subordinate figures are directed; while the different groups are arranged with the utmost propriety. Each part of the picture, moreover, contributes to the general design, and one object only is aimed at by the artist; the draperies, buildings, landscape and background in each case aid materially the effect of the whole.

* Vide ante, Chapter VIII. Sects. 3, 5.

It is not often that in sculptural efforts a large number of figures is introduced. But when this is the case, the principles of composition are fully as applicable to representations in this art as they are to those in painting. In proof of this we may refer to the Elgin Marbles, where, as in the productions of Raphael, we are struck with the admirable and perspicuous manner in which the composition is arranged, the mode in which the whole is varied, the excellent and judicious disposition alike of the several figures and groups, the manner in which each of the different portions contributes to the effect of the entire design, and the unity which prevails in the representation, notwithstanding the number of personages in the composition.

But no less in poetry, than in visible representations by painting and sculpture, do the foregoing principles of composition admit of elucidation; although here, it may be less easy to quote particular passages in illustration of them. The 'Iliad,' the Eneid,' and 'Paradise Lost,' as regards their whole structure and composition throughout, the design and management of the entire story, the disposition of the various characters, and the introduction of the several scenes and incidents, might be appealed to as examples of the strict adherence to these rules, which it is unnecessary to recapitulate. In every well-constructed oration, too, their observance must be enforced, and will essentially contribute to its merit and effect.

In music no less than in poetry, the leading principles of composition are necessary to be observed, as may be seen by reference to every grand oratorio of the greatest masters; and to architecture all its principles are clearly applicable.

Indeed, in no art more than in architecture may the principles of composition be more fully availed of, and to none are they more essential; more especially as regards the arrangement and order of the composition, the variation of its parts, the due relation of its constituents to each other, the preservation of the unity of the entire subject, the maintenance of a principal object or figure in the composition, the subordination of the collateral parts to the leading features and general design of the whole, and the proper use of ornament.