its folds, the fixed and tearful fall of the eye in its utter
hopelessness, the rigidity of repose which marks that there has been no
motion nor change in the trance of agony since the last blow was struck
on the coffin-lid, the quietness and gloom of the chamber, the
spectacles marking the place where the Bible was last closed, indicating
how lonely has been the life--how unwatched the departure of him who is
now laid solitary in his sleep;--these are all thoughts--thoughts by
which the picture is separated at once from hundreds of equal merit, as
far as mere painting goes, by which it ranks as a work of high art, and
stamps its author, not as the neat imitator of the texture of a skin, or
the fold of a drapery, but as the Man of Mind.

Sec. 5. Difficulty of fixing an exact limit between language and thought.

It is not, however, always easy, either in painting or literature, to
determine where the influence of language stops, and where that of
thought begins. Many thoughts are so dependent upon the language in
which they are clothed, that they would lose half their beauty if
otherwise expressed. But the highest thoughts are those which are least
dependent on language, and the dignity of any composition and praise to
which it is entitled, are in exact proportion to its independency of
language or expression. A composition is indeed usually most perfect,
when to such intrinsic dignity is added all that expression can do to
attract and adorn; but in every case of supreme excellence this all
becomes as nothing. We are more gratified by the simplest lines or words
which can suggest the idea in its own naked beauty, than by the robe or
the gem which conceal while they decorate; we are better pleased to feel
by their absence how little they would bestow, than by their presence
how much they can destroy.

Sec. 6. Distinction between decorative and expressive language.

There is therefore a distinction to be made between what is ornamental
in language and what is expressive. That part of it which is necessary
to the embodying and conveying the thought is worthy of respect and
attention as necessary to excellence, though not the test of it. But
that part of it which is decorative has little more to do with the
intrinsic excellence of the picture than the frame or the varnishing of
it. And this caution in distinguishing between the ornamental and the
expressive is peculiarly necessary in painting; for in the language of