rism to an
endurable and delightful lowness of tone, while preserving as far as
possible all their light and purity.

Prismatic colours are so radiantly glorious, that when we see the
rainbow in the sky it is each time a joyful surprise. The most stolid
natures are moved by it; we have even seen our dog staring at it.

When, in experiments on light, the shafts of colour are thrown on the
wall, they are greeted with shouts of admiration; but these glories
are veiled to us by the fact that the eye cannot dissect the prismatic
ray without the assistance of the instrument that has revealed it.
This is a merciful arrangement; for we are not fitted to live in a
prismatic display, any more than in a continuity of lightning flashes.
We should go mad or blind if exposed to either.

Science has shown us the perfect beauty of colour without form, the
soothing pleasures of its harmonies, and the delightful surprises of
its contrasts. From the glimpses we have of its nature and laws, we
may hope for fresh inspiration for the art of the colourist.

Though it is true that each eye, even when educated, retains its own
special appreciation of the colours that gratify its seeing nerve, yet
there are certain standards which give almost universal pleasure.[287]

The blind and the colour-blind must remain exceptions for all time;
and there are many gradations in colour-blindness, till we come to the
normal class of seeing eyes; and passing them by, reach to those few
men, gifted beyond all others with that fund of sensitive eye-nerve
and mental power, which enables them to create new thoughts in
colour.[288] Titian and his school arose from the inherited science
and tradition, and carefully prepared pigments of his immediate
predecessors, acting on an exceptional eye and mind, imbued with the
splendours of the early mornings and the sunsets in the glowing
atmosphere of Venice.

Colour has long been supposed to convey certain impressions to the
mind. The absence of all colour, which we call "black," symbolizes in
dress, grief, pride, or dignity; according as it drapes the mourner,
the Spanish grandee, or the priest.[289] Yellow being the colour of
the sun and of corn and gold, represents riches, generosity, and
light. Red stands between the dark and the lively colours, and
represents warmth and animation, dignity, splendour, life, love, and
joy.

The expression of blue is that of purity. It recalls the distant sky,
the calm ocean, a