with thought withdrawn, echo unheard and space unlimned, are the bases
on which the two terms rest. The suggestion that this 'behind' exists is
of course essential, for we must not conclude that where there is
nothing to be seen there is something to be guessed: there must be no
guessing, but if a feeling of reserve is created then _density_ and
_depth_ exist.

Group B. (Linear). The quality of _linking_ is opposed to the quality of
discord, though a discord may prove to be a link. The most perfect
instances of _linking_ and _continuity_, for I almost identify the
terms, are the solar spectrum and the song of the lark, but in the field
of art we must be content with the gamut, the sequence of shades and
the concatenation of phrases. In prose:--

'The bird rose up into the air, and its wings beat slowly. The air was
laden with mist. The bird rose towards the clouds ...' is an instance
where there is a solution of continuity, which could be remedied if the
second sentence were related to the flight of the bird. And the same
lack of continuity would exist if the painter of a harlequin were to
make his skull-cap brown, if in a pause of some work of Locatelli the
musician interposed (however skilfully and gradually) some
characteristic Grieg chords.

It does not, of course, follow that a discord is discontinuous.
Providing it recurs within the scheme of the work, as the clashes in
_Elektra_, the sequence of discords becomes a sequence of links, and we
arrive at this paradox, that it is the solutions of continuity provide
the continuity, while the apparently continuous portions of the work are
carried by the discordant sections. Thus there is continuity in the
Louvre Ghirlandajo because equivalent, if minor, discords repeat the
motif of the red mantle in two other portions of the picture. The
relation of the discords is sometimes vital to more than continuity,
namely to _rhythm_ (Group C.).

With Group C. (Kinetic) we touch the most vital portion of the subject,
for the kinetic quality in art amounts to the quality of life in man.
And its chief component is _rhythm_. If _rhythm_ be taken as a condition
of internal movement within the inanimate, as a suggestion of expanding
and retracting life, of phrases (musical, pictorial, or literary) that
come to an inevitable resolution, it is seen that its presence in a work
of art must baffle until it is realised under what guise it appears. A
simple instance of prose rhythm is:-