or_, of August 6, 1870.

"Mr. Ruskin's plan," it says, "would make England poor, in order that
she might be cultivated, and refined, and artistic. A wilder proposal
was never broached by a man of ability; and it might be regarded as a
proof that the assiduous study of art emasculates the intellect, _and
even the moral sense_. Such a theory almost warrants the contempt with
which art is often regarded by essentially intellectual natures, like
Proudhon" (sic). "Art is noble as the flower of life, and the creations
of a Titian are a great heritage of the race; but if England could
secure high art and Venetian glory of color only by the sacrifice of her
manufacturing supremacy, and _by the acceptance of national poverty_,
then the pursuit of such artistic achievements would imply that we had
ceased to possess natures of manly strength, _or to know the meaning of
moral aims_. If we must choose between a Titian and a Lancashire cotton
mill, then, in the name of manhood and of morality, give us the cotton
mill. Only the dilettanteism of the studio; that dilettanteism which
loosens the moral no less than the intellectual fiber, and which is as
fatal to rectitude of action as to correctness of reasoning power, would
make a different choice."

You see also, by this interesting and most memorable passage, how
completely the question is admitted to be one of ethics--the only real
point at issue being, whether this face or that is developed on the
truer moral principle.

140. I assume, however, for the present, that this Apolline type is the
kind of form you wish to reach and to represent. And now observe,
instantly, the whole question of manner of imitation is altered for us.
The fins of the fish, the plumes of the swan, and the flowing of the
Sun-God's hair are all represented by incisions--but the incisions do
sufficiently represent the fin and feather,--they _in_sufficiently
represent the hair. If I chose, with a little more care and labor, I
could absolutely get the surface of the scales and spines of the fish,
and the expression of its mouth; but no quantity of labor would obtain
the real surface of a tress of Apollo's hair, and the full expression of
his mouth. So that we are compelled at once to call the imagination to
help us, and say to it, _You_ know what the Apollo Chrysocomes must be
like; finish all this for yourself. Now, the law under which imagination
works, is just that of other good workers. "You must give me cl