no artificial exaggeration to aid its expression.
Some tincture of the faculty is absolutely necessary to the carver who
takes his subjects from birds or beasts, in order that he may perceive
and seize the salient lines and characteristic forms, of which the
key-note is often to be found in a faint touch of humor, and which, like
the scent of a flower, adds charm by appealing to another sense.

The same argument applies to the treatment of the human figure. Let no
student (and I may include, also, master-carver) think that a grotesque
treatment will raise the smile or excite the interest which is
anticipated. The "grotesque" is a vehicle for grim and often terrible
ideas, lightly veiled by a cloak of humorous exaggeration; a sort of
Viking horse-play--it is, in fact, a language which expresses the mixed
feelings of sportive contempt and real fear in about equal proportions.
When these feelings are not behind the expression, it becomes a language
which is in itself only contemptible.

[Illustration: FIG. 63.]

If, carried away by fancy, you must find vent for its impulses, and
carve images of unearthly beings, at least make them cheerful looking;
one can imagine such demons and goblins as being rather nice fellows
than otherwise. A grim jest that fails is generally a foolish one--at
least its perpetrator neither deserves nor receives sympathy for his
discomfiture. Now, I shall show you one or two examples which may make
this matter a little clearer to you, if you are at all inclined to argue
the position. I think, at any rate, they will prove that the expression
of humor does not always depend upon exaggeration, and may exist in a
work which is, one may say, almost copied from nature. Fig. 63 is an
example to this effect. The little jester just emerging from a flower,
one of the side-pieces to a Miserere seat carving, is undoubtedly a true
portrait, carved without the slightest attempt at exaggeration. The
quiet humor which it evinces required only sympathy to perceive and
skill to portray on the part of its carver. He had nothing to invent in
the common acceptation of the word. The carving of the mendicant, which
comes on the other side, is equally vivid in its truth to nature. It is
so lifelike that we do not notice the humorous enjoyment of the artist
in depicting the whining lips and closed eyes of the professional
beggar. Observe the good manners of it all--the natural refinement of
the artist who leaves his char