of ribs and scapulae,[12] of eyebrows
and lips, and curls of hair. Whatever can be measured and handled,
dissected and demonstrated,--in a word, whatever is of the body
only,--that the schools of knowledge do resolutely and courageously
possess themselves of, and portray. But whatever is immeasurable,
intangible, indivisible, and of the spirit, that the schools of
knowledge do as certainly lose, and blot out of their sight, that is to
say, all that is worth art's possessing or recording at all; for
whatever can be arrested, measured, and systematized, we can contemplate
as much as we will in nature herself. But what we want art to do for us
is to stay what is fleeting, and to enlighten what is incomprehensible,
to incorporate the things that have no measure, and immortalize the
things that have no duration. The dimly seen, momentary glance, the
flitting shadow of faint emotion, the imperfect lines of fading thought,
and all that by and through such things as these is recorded on the
features of man, and all that in man's person and actions, and in the
great natural world, is infinite and wonderful; having in it that spirit
and power which man may witness, but not weigh; conceive, but not
comprehend; love, but not limit; and imagine, but not define;--this, the
beginning and the end of the aim of all noble art, we have, in the
ancient art, by perception; and we have _not_, in the newer art, by
knowledge. Giotto gives it us, Orcagna gives it us. Angelico, Memmi,
Pisano, it matters not who,--all simple and unlearned men, in their
measure and manner,--give it us; and the learned men that followed them
give it us not, and we, in our supreme learning, own ourselves at this
day farther from it than ever.

Sec. XXIV. "Nay," but it is still answered, "this is because we have not
yet brought our knowledge into right use, but have been seeking to
accumulate it, rather than to apply it wisely to the ends of art. Let us
now do this, and we may achieve all that was done by that elder ignorant
art, and infinitely more." No, not so; for as soon as we try to put our
knowledge to good use, we shall find that we have much more than we can
use, and that what more we have is an encumbrance. All our errors in
this respect arise from a gross misconception as to the true nature of
knowledge itself. We talk of learned and ignorant men, as if there were
a certain quantity of knowledge, which to possess was to be learned, and
which not to possess