of
mist perfectly, much less a flock of clouds; and if not a single grass
blade perfectly, much less a grass bank; yet having once got this power
over decisive form, you may safely--and must, in order to perfection of
work--carry out your knowledge by every aid of method and dexterity of
hand.

86. But, in order to find out what method can do, you must now look at
Art as well as at Nature, and see what means painters and engravers have
actually employed for the expression of these subtleties. Whereupon
arises the question, what opportunity you have to obtain engravings? You
ought, if it is at all in your power, to possess yourself of a certain
number of good examples of Turner's engraved works: if this be not in
your power, you must just make the best use you can of the shop windows,
or of any plates of which you can obtain a loan. Very possibly, the
difficulty of getting sight of them may stimulate you to put them to
better use. But, supposing your means admit of your doing so, possess
yourself, first, of the illustrated edition either of Rogers's Italy or
Rogers's Poems, and then of about a dozen of the plates named in the
annexed lists. The prefixed letters indicate the particular points
deserving your study in each engraving.[18] Be sure, therefore, that
your selection includes, at all events, one plate marked with each
letter. Do not get more than twelve of these plates, nor even all the
twelve at first; for the more engravings you have, the less attention
you will pay to them. It is a general truth, that the enjoyment
derivable from art cannot be increased in quantity, beyond a certain
point, by quantity of possession; it is only spread, as it were, over a
larger surface, and very often dulled by finding ideas repeated in
different works. Now, for a beginner, it is always better that his
attention should be concentrated on one or two good things, and all his
enjoyment founded on them, than that he should look at many, with
divided thoughts. He has much to discover; and his best way of
discovering it is to think long over few things, and watch them
earnestly. It is one of the worst errors of this age to try to know and
to see too much: the men who seem to know everything, never in reality
know anything rightly. Beware of _handbook_ knowledge.

87. These engravings are, in general, more for you to look at than to
copy; and they will be of more use to you when we come to talk of
composition, than they are at prese