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' Chiaro sat with his face in his open hands.'

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. BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI .

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ILLUSTRATIONS

From Water-colour Drawings

By WILLIAM HATHERELL, R.I.

' Chiaro sat with his face in his open hands.'

Frontispiece

' Ladies who lay or sat along the bal- conies.'

Title-page

' Chiaro went slowly on his knee.'

Page sixteen

1 Sometimes, after nightfall, he would valk abroad in the most solitary places.'

Page thirty-three

HAND AND SOUL

BEFORE ANY KNOW- ledge of painting was brought to Florence, there were already painters in Lucca, and Pisa, and Arezzo, who feared God and loved the art. The keen, grave workmen from Greece, whose trade it was to sell their own worksin Italy and teach Italians to imitate them, had already found rivals of the soil with skill that could forestall their lessons and cheapen their crucifixes and addolorati, more years than is supposed before the art came at all into Florence. The pre-eminence to which Cimabue was raised at once by his contemporaries, and which he still retains to a wide ex- tent even in the modern mind, is to be accounted for partly by the cir- cumstances under which he arose, and partly by that extraordinary purpose of fortune born, with the lives of some few, and through which it is not a little thing for any 7

who went before, if they are even remembered as the shadows of the coming of such an one, and the voices which prepared his way in the wilderness. It is thus, almost ex- clusively, that the painters of whom I speak are now known. They have left little, and but little heed is taken of that which men hold to have been surpassed; it is gone like time gone, — a track of dust and dead leaves that merely led to the fountain.

Nevertheless, of very late years and in very rare instances, some signs of abetter understanding have become manifest. A case in point is that of the triptych and two cruciform pictures at Dresden, by Chiaro di Messer Bello dell* Erma, to which the eloquent pamphlet of Dr. Aemmster has at length suc- ceeded in attracting the students. There is another still more solemn and beautiful work, now proved to be by the same hand, in the gallery at Florence. It is the one to which my narrative will relate.

This Chiaro dell' Erma was a young man of very honourable fa- mily in Arezzo ; where, conceiving

art almost for himself, and loving it deeply, he endeavoured from early boyhood towards the imitation of any objects offered in nature. The extreme longing after a visible em- bodiment of his thoughts strength- ened as his years increased, more even than his sinews or the blood of his life ; until he would feel faint in sunsets and at the sight of stately persons. When he had lived nine- teen years, he heard of the famous Giunta Pisano ; and, feeling much of admiration, with perhaps a little of that envy which youth always feels until it has learned to measure success by time and opportunity, he determined that he would seek out Giunta, and, if possible, become his pupil.

Havingarrived in Pisa, he clothed himself in humble apparel, being unwilling that any other thing than the desire he had for knowledge should be his plea with the great painter; and then, leaving his bag- gage at a house of entertainment, he took his way along the street, asking whom he met for the lodg- ing of Giunta. It soon chanced that one of that city, conceiving him to B 9

be a stranger and poor, took him into his house and refreshed him ; afterwards directing him on his way.

When he was brought to speech of Giunta, he said merely that he was a student, and that nothing in the world was so much at his heart as to become that which he had heard told of him with whom he was speaking. He was received with courtesy and consideration, and shown into the study of the famous artist. But the forms he saw there were lifeless and incomplete ; and a sudden exultation possessed him as he said within himself, ' I am the master of this man.' The blood came at first into his face, but the next moment he was quite pale and fell to trembling. He was able, however, to conceal his emotion; speaking very little to Giunta, but when he took his leave, thanking him respectfully.

After this, Chiaro's first resolve was, that he would work out thor- oughly some one of his thoughts, and let the world know him. But the lesson which he had now learn- ed, of how small a greatness might win fame, and how little there was

to strive against, served to make him torpid, and rendered his exer- tions less continual. Also Pisa was a larger and more luxurious city than Arezzo; and when, in his walks, he saw the great gardens laid out for pleasure, and the beauti- ful women who passed to and fro, and heard the music that was in the groves of the city at evening, he was taken with wonder that he had never claimed his share of the inheritance of those years in which his youth was cast. And women loved Chiaro ; for, in despite of the burthen of study, he was well-fa- voured and very manly in his walk- ing ; and, seeing his face in front, there was a glory upon it, as upon the face of one who feels a light round his hair.

So he put thought from him, and partook of his life. But, one night, being in a certain company of ladies, a gentleman that was there with him began to speak of the paint- ings of a youth, named Bonaven- tura, which he had seen in Lucca ; adding that Giunta Pisano might now look for a rival. When Chiaro heard this, the lamps shook before

him and the music beat in his ears and made him giddy. He rose up, alleging a sudden sickness, and went out of that house with his teeth set.

He now took to work diligently, not returning to Arezzo, but remain- ing in Pisa, that no day more might be lost ; only living entirely to himself. Sometimes, afternightf all, he would walk abroad in the most solitary places he could find ; hardly feeling the ground under him, because of the thoughts of the day which held him in fever.

The lodging he had chosen was in ahousethatlookedupon gardens fast by the Church of San Rocco. During the offices, as he sat at work, he could hear the music of the organ andthelongmurmurthat the chant- ingleft;andifhiswindowwereopen, sometimes, at those parts of the mass where there is silence through- out the church, his earcaughtfaintly the single voice of the priest. Beside the matters of his art and a very few books, almost the only object to be noticedin Chiaro's room was a small consecrated image of St. Mary Vir- gin, wrought out of silver, before which stood always, in summer- is

time, a glass containing a lily and a rose. It was here, and at this time, that Chiaro painted the Dresden pictures ; as also, in all likelihood, the one — inferior in merit, but cer- tainly his — which is now at Munich. For the most part he was calm and regular in his manner of study; though often he would remain at work through the whole of a day, not resting once so long as the light lasted ; flushed, and with the hair from his face. Or, at times, when he could not paint, he would sit for hours in thought of all the greatness the world had known from of old ; until he was weak with yearning, like one who gazes upon a path of stars.

He continued in this patient en- deavourf or about three years, at the end of which his name was spoken throughout all Tuscany. As his fame waxed, he began to be em- ployed, besides easel-pictures, upon paintings in fresco ; but I believe that no traces remain to us of any of these latter. He is said to have painted in theDuomo; and D' Agin - court mentions having seen some portions of a fresco by him which 13

originally had its place above the high altar in the Church of the Cer- tosa ; but which, at the time he saw it, being very dilapidated, had been hewn out of the wall, and was pre- served in the stores of the convent. BeforetheperiodofDr.Aemmster's researches, however, it had been en- tirely destroyed.

Chiaro was now famous. It was for the race of fame that he had girded up his loins ; and he had not paused until fame was reached; yet now, in taking breath, he found that the weight was still at his heart The years of his labour had fallen from him, and his life was still in its first painful desire.

With all that Chiaro had done during these three years, and even before with the studies of his early youth, there had always been a feel- ing of worship and service. It was the peace-offering that he made to God and to his own soul for the eager selfishness of his aim. There was earth, indeed, upon the hem of his raiment ; but this was of the heaven, heavenly. He had seasons when he could endure to think of no other feature of his hope than 14

this : and sometimes in the ecstasy of prayer it had even seemed to him tobehold that day when his mistress — his mystical lady (now hardly in her ninth year, but whose solemn smile at meeting had already light- ed on his soul like the dove of the Trinity), — even she, his own graci- ous and holy Italian Art — with her virginal bosom, and her unfathom- able eyes, and the thread of sunlight round her brows — should pass, through the sun that never sets, into the circle of the shadow of the tree of life, and be seen of God and foundgood: and thenithad seemed to him that he, with many who, since his coming, had joined the band of whom he was one (for, in his dream, the body he had worn on earth had been dead an hundred years), were permitted togatherround thebless- ed maiden, and to worship with her through all ages and ages of ages, saying, Holy, holy, holy. This thing he had seen with the eyes of his spirit; and in this thing had trusted, believing that it would surely come to pass.

But now, (being at length led to inquire closely into himself), even 15

' Chiaro went slowly on his knee.'

as, in the pursuit of fame, the unrest abiding after attainment had proved to him that he had misinterpreted the craving of his own spirit — -so also, now that he would willingly have fallen back on devotion, he became aware that much of that reverence which he had mistaken for faith had been no more than the worship of beauty. Therefore, after certain days passed in perplexity, Chiaro said within himself, ' My life and my will are yet before me : I will take another aim to my life.'

From that moment Chiaro set a watch on his soul, and put his hand to no other works but only to such as had for their end the present- ment of some moral greatness that should influence the beholder: and, in doing this, he did not choose for his medium the action and passion of human life, but cold symbolism and abstract impersonation. So the people ceased to throng about his pictures as heretofore ; and, when they were carried through town and town to their destination, they were no longer delayed by the crowds eager to gaze and admire ; and no prayers or offerings were brought c 17

to them on their path, as to his Madonnas, and his Saints, and his Holy Children. Only the critical audience remained to him ; and these, in default of more worthy matter, would have turned their scrutiny on a puppet or a mantle. Meanwhile, he had no more of fever upon him ; but was calm and pale each day in all that he did and in his goings in and out. The works he produced at this time have perished — in all likelihood, not unjustly. It is said (and we may easily believe it), that, though more laboured than his former pictures, they were cold and unemphatic; bearing marked out upon them, as they must cer- tainly have done, the measure of that boundary to which they were made to conform.

And the weight was still close at Chiaro's heart : but he held in his breath, never resting (for he was afraid), and would not know it.

Now it happened, within these days, that there fell a great feast in Pisa,forholy matters: andeachman left his occupation; andalltheguilds and companies of the city were got together for games and rejoicings. 18

And there were scarcely any that stayed in the houses, except ladies who lay or sat along their balconies between open windows which let the breeze beat through the rooms and over the spread tables from end to end. And the golden cloths that their arms lay upon drew all eyes upward to see their beauty ; and the day was long ; and every hour of the day was bright with the sun.

So Chiaro's model, when he awoke that morningon the hotpave- ment of the Piazza Nunziata, and saw the hurry of people that passed him, got up and went along with them ; and Chiaro waited for him in vain.

Forthe whole of that morning, the music was in Chiaro's room from the church close at hand ; and he could hearthe sounds that the crowd made in the streets ; hushed only at long intervals while the processions for the f east-day chantedin going under his windows. Also, more than once, there was a high clamour from the meeting of factious persons : for the ladies of both leagues were looking down; and he who encountered his enemy could not choose but draw 19

upon him. Chiaro waited a long time idle ; and then knew that his model was gone elsewhere. When at his work, he was blind and deaf to all else ; but he feared sloth : for then his stealthy thoughts would begin, as it were, to beat round and round him, seeking a point for at- tack. He now rose, therefore, and went to the window. It was within a short space of noon ; and under- neath him a throng of people was coming out through the porch of San Rocco.

The two greatest houses of the feud in Pisa had filled the church for that mass. The first to leave had been the Gherghiotti; who, stop- ping on the threshold, had fallen back in ranks along each side of the archway : so that now, in passing outward, the Marotoli had to walk between two files of men whom they hated, and whose fathers had hated theirs. All the chiefs were there and their whole adherents ; and each knew the name of each. Everyman of the Marotoli, as he came forth and saw his foes, laid back his hood and gazed about him, to show the badge upon the close cap that held

his hair. And of the Gherghiotti there were some who tightened their girdles; andsomeshrilledand threw up their wrists scornfully, as who flies a falcon ; for that was the crest of their house.

On the walls within the entry were anumberoftallnarrowfrescoes,pre- senting a moral allegory of Peace, which Chiaro had painted that year for the Church. The Gherghiotti stood with their backs to these fres- coes ; and among them Golzo Ni- nuccio, the youngest noble of the faction, called by the people Gola- ghiotta, for his debased life. This youth had remained for some while talking listlessly to his fellows, though with his sleepy sunken eyes fixed on them who passed: butnow, seeing that no man jostled another, he drew the long silver shoe off his foot and struck the dust out of it on the cloak of him who was going by, asking him how far the tides rose at Viderza. And he said so because it was three months since, at that place, the Gherghiotti had beaten the Marotoli to the sands, and held them there while the sea came in ; whereby many had been drowned.

And, when he had spoken, at once the whole archway was dazzling with the light of confused swords ; and they who had left turned back; and they who were still behind made haste to come forth ; and there was so much blood cast up the walls on a sudden, that it ran in long streams down Chiaro's paintings.

Chiaro turned himself from the window ; for the light felt dry be- tween his lids, and he could not look. He sat down, and heard the noise of contention driven out of the church-porch and a great way through the streets; and soon there was a deep murmur that heaved and waxed from the other side of the city, where those of both par- ties were gathering to join in the tumult.

Chiaro sat with his face in his open hands. Once again he had wished to set his foot on a place that looked green and fertile ; and once again it seemed to him that the thin rank mask was about to spread away, and that this time the chill of the watermust leave leprosy in his flesh. The light still swam in his head, and bewildered him

at first; but when he knew his thoughts, they were these : —

'Fame failed me: faith failed me : and now this also, — the hope that I nourished in this my genera- tion of men, — shall pass from me, and leave my feet and my hands groping. Yet because of this are my feet become slow and my hands thin. I am as one who, through the whole night, holding his way diligently, hath smitten the steel unto the flint, to lead some whom he knew darkling ; who hath kept his eyes always on the sparks that himself made, lest they should fail; and who, towards dawn, turning to bid them that he had guided God- speed, sees the wet grass untrodden except of his own feet. I am as the last hour of the day, whose chimes are a perfect number; whom the next followeth not, nor light ensu- eth from him; but in the same dark- ness is the old order begun afresh. Men say, " This is not God nor man ; he is not as we are, neither above us : let him sit beneath us, for we are many." Where I write Peace, in that spot is the drawing of swords, and there men's footprints are red.

When I would sow, another harvest is ripe. Nay, it is much worse with me than thus much. Am I not as a cloth drawn before the light, that the looker may not be blinded? but which showeth thereby the grain of his own coarseness, so that the light seems denied, and men say, " We will not walk by it." Wherefore through me they shall be doubly accursed, seeing that through me they reject the light. May one be a devil and not know it ? '

As Chiaro was in these thoughts, the fever encroached slowly on his veins, till he could sit no longer and would have risen; but suddenly he found awe within him, and held his head bowed, without stirring. The warmth of the air was not shaken; butthereseemedapulsein the light, and a living freshness, like rain. The silence was a painful music, that made the blood ache in his temples ; and he lifted his face and his deep eyes.

A woman was present in his room, clad to the hands and feet with a green and grey raiment, fashioned to that time. It seemed that the first thoughts he had ever known 24

were given him as at first from her eyes, and he knew her hair to be the golden veil through which he beheld his dreams. Though her hands were j oined, her face was not lifted, but set forward ; and though the gaze was austere, yet her mouth was supreme in gentleness. And as he looked, Chiaro's spirit appeared abashed of its own intimate pre- sence, and his lips shook with the thrill of tears ; it seemed such a bitter while till the spirit might be indeed alone.

She did not move closer towards him, but he felt her to be as much with him as his breath. He was like one who, scaling a great steepness, hears his own voice echoed in some place much higher than he can see, and the name of which is not known to him. As the woman stood, her speech was with Chiaro : not, as it were, from her mouth or in his ears ; but distinctly between them.

' I am an image, Chiaro, of thine own soul within thee. See me, and know me as I am. Thou sayest that fame has failed thee, andfaith failed thee ; but because at least thou hast not laid thy life unto riches, there- 25

fore, though thus late, I am suffered to come into thy knowledge. Fame sufficed not, for that thou didst seek fame : seek thine own conscience (not thy mind'sconscience,but thine heart's), and all shall approve and suffice. For Fame, in noble soils, is a fruit of the Spring: but not therefore should it be said : " Lo I my garden that I planted is barren: the crocus is here, but the lily is dead in the dry ground, and shall not lift the earth that covers it : there- fore I will fling my garden together, andgive it unto the builders." Take heed rather that thou trouble not the wise secret earth ; for in the mould that thou throwest up shall the first tender growth lie to waste ; which else had been strong in its season. Yea, and even if the year fall past in all its months, and the soil be indeed, to thee, peevish and incapable, and though thou indeed gather all thy harvest, and it suffice for others, and thou remain vexed with emptiness; and others drink of thy streams, and the drouth rasp thy throat;— let it be enough that these have found the feast good, and thanked the giver: remember- 26

ing that, when the winter is striven through, there is another year, whose wind is meek, and whose sun fulfilleth all.'

While he heard, Chiaro went slowly on his knees. It was not to her that spoke, forthe speech seem- ed within him and his own. The airbrooded in sunshine, and though the turmoil was great outside, the air within was at peace. But when he looked in her eyes, he wept. And she came to him, and cast her hair over him, and took her hands about his forehead, and spoke again : —

'Thou hast said,' she continued, gently, ' that faith failed thee. This cannot be so. Either thou hadst it not, or thou hast it. But who bade thee strike the point betwixt love and faith ? Wouldst thou sift the warm breeze from the sun that quickens it ? Who bade thee turn upon God and say : " Behold, my offering is of earth, and not worthy : Thy fire comes not upon it ; there- fore, though I slay not my brother whom Thou acceptest, I will depart before Thou smite me." Why shouldst thou rise up and tell God lie is not content ? Had He, of 27

His warrant, certified so to thee ? Be not nice to seek out division; but possess thy love in sufficiency : assuredly this is faith, for the heart must believe first. What he hath set in thine heart to do, that do thou ; and even though thou do it without thought of Him, it shall be well done ; it is the sacrifice that He asketh of thee, and His flame is upon it for a sign. Think not of Him ; but of His love and thy love. For God is no morbid exactor: He hath no hand to bow beneath, nor a foot, that thou shouldst kiss it.' And Chiaro held silence, and wept into her hair which covered his face; and the salt tears that he shed ran through her hair upon his lips ; and he tasted the bitterness of shame.

Then thefair woman, that was his soul, spoke again to him, saying : ' And for this thy last purpose, and for those unprofitable truths of thy teaching, — thine heart hath al- ready put them away, and it needs not that I lay my bidding upon thee. How is it that thou, a man, wouldst say coldly to the mind what God hath said to the heart warmly ? Thy 28

will was honest and wholesome; but look well lest this also be folly, — to say, " I, in doing this, do strengthen Godamongmen." When at any time hath He cried unto thee, saying," My son, lend Me thy shoulder, for I fall " ? Deemest thou that the men who enter God's temple in malice, to the provoking of blood, and neither for His love nor for His wrath will abate their purpose, — shall after- wards stand with thee in the porch, midway between Him and them- selves, to give ear unto thy thin voice, which merely the fall of their visors can drown, and to see thy hands, stretched feebly, tremble among their swords ? Give thou to God no more than He asketh of thee ; but to man also, that which is man's. In all that thou doest, work from thine own heart, simply; for his heart is as thine, when thine is wise and humble ; and he shall have understanding of thee. One drop of rain is as another, and the sun's prism in all ; and shalt thou not be as he, whose lives are the breath of One ? Only by making thyself his equal can he learn to hold communion with thee, and at last 29

own thee above him. Not till thou lean over the water shalt thou see thine image therein: stand erect, and it shall slope from thy feet and be lost. Know that there is but this means whereby thou mayst serve God with man : — Set thine hand and thysoul toserve man with God.'

And when she that spoke had said these words within Chiaro's spirit, she left his side quietly, and stood up as he had first seen her: with her fingers laid together, and her eyes steadfast, and with the breadth of her long dress covering her feet on the floor. And, speaking again, she said : —

* Chiaro, sen-ant of God, take now thine Art unto thee, and paint me thus, as I am, to know me : weak, as I am, and in the weeds of this time ; only with eyes which seek out labour, and with a faith,not learned, yet jealous of prayer. Do this; so shall thy soul stand before thee al- ways, and perplex thee no more.'

And Chiaro did as she bade him. While he worked, his face grew solemn with knowledge ; and be- fore the shadows had turned, his work was done. Having finished, 3°

he lay back where he sat, and was asleep immediately: for the growth of that strong sunset was heavy about him, and he felt weak and haggard ; like one just come out of a dusk, hollow country, bewildered with echoes, where he had lost him- self, and who has not slept for many days and nights. And when she saw him lie back, the beautiful woman came to him, and sat at his head, gazing, and quieted his sleep with her voice.

Thetumultof thefactionshaden- dured all that day through all Pisa, though Chiaro had not heard it: and the last service of that feast was a mass sung at midnight from the windows of all the churches for the many dead who lay about the city, and who had to be buried before morning, because of the extreme heats.

In the spring of 1847, I was at Florence. Such as were there at the same time with myself — those, at least, to whom Art is something, — will certainly recollect how many rooms of the Pitti Gallery were closed through that season, in order 31

that some of the pictures they con- tained might be examined and re- paired without the necessity of re- moval. The hall, the staircases, and the vast central suite of apartments, were the only accessible portions ; and in these such paintings as they could admit from the sealed pene- tralia were profanely huddled to- gether, without respect of dates, schools, or persons.

I fear that, through this interdict, I may have missed seeing many of the best pictures. I do not mean only the most talked of : for these, as they were restored, generally found their way somehow into the open rooms, owing to the clamours raised by the students ; and I re- member how old Ercoli's, the cur- ator's, spectacles used to be mir- rored in the reclaimed surface, as he leaned mysteriously over these works with some of the visitors, to scrutinise and elucidate.

One picture that I saw that spring I shall not easily forget. It was among those, I believe, brought from the other rooms, and had been hung, obviously out of all chron- ology, immediately beneath that 32

' Sometimes, after nightfall, he would walk abroad in the most solitary places.'

head by Raphael so long known as the Berrettino, and now said to be the portrait of Cecco Ciulli.

The picture I speak of is a small one, and represents merely the figure of a woman, clad to the hands and feet with a green and grey raiment, chaste and early in its fashion, but exceedingly simple. She is stand- ing: her hands are held together lightly, and her eyes set earnestly open.

The face and hands in this picture, though wroughtwith great delicacy, have the appearance of being paint- ed at once, in a single sitting : the drapery is unfinished. As soon as I saw the figure, it drew an awe upon me, like water in shadow. I shall not attempt to describe it more than I have already done ; for the most absorbing wonder of it was its liter- ality. You knew that figure, when painted, had been seen; yet it was not a thing to be seen of men. This language will appear ridiculous to such as have never looked on the work ; and it may be even to some among those who have. On ex- amining it closely, I perceived in one corner of the canvas the words 34

Manus Animam pinxit, and the date 1239.

I turned to my Catalogue, but that was useless, for the pictures were all displaced. I then stepped up to the Cavaliere Ercoli, who was in the room at the moment, and asked him regarding the subject and author- ship of the painting. He treated the matter, I thought, somewhat slight- ingly, and said that he could show me the reference in the Catalogue, which he had compiled. This, when found, was not of much value, as it merely said, ' Schizzo d'autore in- certo,' adding the inscription.* I could willingly have prolonged my inquiry, in the hope that it might somehow lead to some result ; but I had disturbed the curator from certain yards of Guido, and he was not communicative I went back,

* I should here say, that in the catalogue for the year just over (owing, as in cases be- fore mentioned, to the zeal and enthusiasm of Dr. Aemmster), this, and several other pictures, have been more competently en- tered. The work in question is now placed in the Sala Sessagona, a room I did not see — under the number of 161. It is described as ' Fiejura mistica di Chiaro dell' Erma,' and there is a brief notice of the author ap- pended.

35

therefore, and stood before the pic- ture till it grew dusk.

The next day I was there again; but this time a circle of students was round the spot, all copying the Berrettino. I contrived, however, to find a place whence I could see my picture, and where I seemed to be in nobody's way. For some minutes I remained undisturbed; and then I heard, in an English voice : ' Might I beg of you, sir, to stand a little more to this side, as you interrupt my view ? '

I felt vexed, for, standing where he asked me, a glare struck on the picture from the windows, and I could not see it. However, the re- quest was reasonably made, and from a countryman; so I complied, and turning away, stood by his easel. I knew it was not worth while ; yet I referred in some way to the work underneath the one he was copying. He did not laugh, but he smiled as we do in England. ' Very odd, is it not ? ' said he.

The other students near us were all continental ; and seeing an Eng- lishman select an Englishman to speak with, conceived, I suppose, 36

that he could understand no lan- guage but his own. They had evi- dently been noticing the interest which the little picture appeared to excite in me.

One of them, an Italian, said something to another who stood next to him. He spoke with a Genoese accent, and I lost the sense in the villainous dialect. ' Che so ? ' replied the other, lifting his eye- brows towards the figure ; ' roba mistica : 'st' Inglesi son matti sul misticismo : somiglia alle nebbie di Ik. Li fa pensare alia patria, 'e intenerisce il core

Lo di ch'han detto ai dolci amici adio." '

4 La notte, vuoi dire,' said a third.

There was a general laugh. My compatriot was evidently a novice in the language, and did not take in what was said. I remained silent, being amused.

' Et toi done ? ' said he who had quoted Dante, turning to a student, whose birthplace was unmistakable, even had he been addressed in any other language : ' que dis-tu de ce genre-la?'

'Moi?' returned the Frenchman,

37

standing back from his easel, and looking at me and at the figure, quite politely, though with an evi- dent reservation : ' Jedis, moncher, que c'est une speciality dont je me fiche pas mal. Je tiens que quand onne comprend pas une chose, c'est qu'elle ne signifie rien.' My reader thinks possibly that the French student was right.

THIS EDITION OF HAND AND SOUL IS THE SIXTH OF THE LONDON BOOKLETS, PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, EDINBURGH, AND PUBLISHED BY T. N. FOULIS, THIRTEEN AND FIFTEEN FRED- ERICK STREET, EDINBURGH, AND AT TWENTY-ONE PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.G. MDCCCCX

THE LONDON BOOKLETS

I. THE RUSAlYAT OF

OMAR KHAYYAM

FITZ GERALD'S TRANSLATION Illustrated by MAURICE GREIFFENHAGEN

II. LONDON LYRICS

By F. LOCKER LAMPSON Illustrated by W. HATHERELL, R.I.

III. CHRISTAB EL

By S. T. COLERIDGE Illustrated by ROBERT HOPE

IV. RABBI BEN EZRA

By ROBERT BROWNING Illustrated by W. RUSSELL FLINT

V. FRIENDSHIP

By R. W. EMERSON Illus. by H. C. PRESTON M ACGOUN, R. S. W.

VI. HAND AND SOUL

By DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI Illustrated by W. HATHERELL.R.!.

VII. THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS

By CARDINAL NEWMAN Illustrated by R. T. ROSE

VIII. THE BLESSED DAMO2EL

By DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI Illustrated by PAUL WOODROFFE

Others in Preparation

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Rossetti^ Dante Gabriel 44 Hand and soul

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