oom talk before dinner--sometimes because the painter is
fashionable--occasionally because he is poor--not unfrequently that we
may have a collection of specimens of painting, as we have specimens of
minerals or butterflies--and in the best and rarest case of all, because
we have really, as we call it, taken a fancy to the picture; meaning the
same sort of fancy which one would take to a pretty arm-chair or a
newly-shaped decanter. But as for real love of the picture, and joy of
it when we have got it, I do not believe it is felt by one in a
thousand.

13. I am afraid this apathy of ours will not be easily conquered; but
even supposing it should, and that we should begin to enjoy pictures
properly, and that the supply of good ones increased as in that case it
_would_ increase--then comes another question. Perhaps some of my
hearers this evening may occasionally have heard it stated of me that I
am rather apt to contradict myself. I hope I am exceedingly apt to do
so. I never met with a question yet, of any importance, which did not
need, for the right solution of it, at least one positive and one
negative answer, like an equation of the second degree. Mostly, matters
of any consequence are three-sided, or four-sided, or polygonal; and the
trotting round a polygon is severe work for people any way stiff in
their opinions. For myself, I am never satisfied that I have handled a
subject properly till I have contradicted myself at least three times:
but once must do for this evening. I have just said that there is no
chance of our getting good Art unless we delight in it: next I say, and
just as positively, that there is no chance of our getting good Art
unless we resist our delight in it. We must love it first, and restrain
our love for it afterwards.

14. This sounds strange; and yet I assure you it is true. In fact,
whenever anything does not sound strange, you may generally doubt its
being true; for all truth is wonderful. But take an instance in physical
matters, of the same kind of contradiction. Suppose you were explaining
to a young student in astronomy how the earth was kept steady in its
orbit; you would have to state to him--would you not?--that the earth
always had a tendency to fall to the sun; and that also it always had a
tendency to fly away from the sun. These are two precisely contrary
statements for him to digest at his leisure, before he can understand
how the earth moves. Now, in like manner, when Art i