many
woodcuts for a penny. Why, woodcuts, penny and all, are as much lost to
you as if you had invested your money in gossamer. More lost, for the
gossamer could only tickle your face, and glitter in your eyes; it could
not catch your feet and trip you up: but the bad art can, and does; for
you can't like good woodcuts as long as you look at the bad ones. If we
were at this moment to come across a Titian woodcut, or a Duerer woodcut,
we should not like it--those of us at least who are accustomed to the
cheap work of the day. We don't like, and can't like, _that_ long; but
when we are tired of one bad cheap thing, we throw it aside and buy
another bad cheap thing; and so keep looking at bad things all our
lives. Now, the very men who do all that quick bad work for us are
capable of doing perfect work. Only, perfect work can't be hurried, and
therefore it can't be cheap beyond a certain point. But suppose you pay
twelve times as much as you do now, and you have one woodcut for a
shilling instead of twelve; and the one woodcut for a shilling is as
good as art can be, so that you will never tire of looking at it; and is
struck on good paper with good ink, so that you will never wear it out
by handling it; while you are sick of your penny-each cuts by the end of
the week, and have torn them mostly in half too. Isn't your shilling's
worth the best bargain?

41. It is not, however, only in getting prints or woodcuts of the best
kind that you will practise economy. There is a certain quality about an
original drawing which you cannot get in a woodcut, and the best part of
the genius of many men is only expressible in original work, whether
with pen or ink--pencil or colours. This is not always the case; but in
general, the best men are those who can only express themselves on paper
or canvas; and you will therefore, in the long run, get most for your
money by buying original work; proceeding on the principle already laid
down, that the best is likely to be the cheapest in the end. Of course,
original work cannot be produced under a certain cost. If you want a
man to make you a drawing which takes him six days, you must, at all
events, keep him for six days in bread and water, fire and lodging; that
is the lowest price at which he can do it for you, but that is not very
dear: and the best bargain which can possibly be made honestly in
art--the very ideal of a cheap purchase to the purchaser--is the
original work of a great ma