sy may easily be kept
within due bounds. But stop"--added he suddenly--"Some women have to
bear, and do bear, every grief that they may encounter with
unmurmuring and suffering patience."

So said To-no-Chiujio, who implied by this allusion that his sister
was a woman so circumstanced. But Genji was still dozing, and no
remark came from his lips.

Sama-no-Kami had been recently made a doctor of literature, and (like
a bird) was inflating his feathers, so To-no-Chiujio, willing to draw
him out as much as possible, gave him every encouragement to proceed
with his discourse.

Again, therefore, he took up the conversation, and said, "Call to your
mind affairs in general, and judge of them. Is it not always true that
reality and sincerity are to be preferred to merely artificial
excellence? Artisans, for instance, make different sorts of articles,
as their talents serve them. Some of them are keen and expert, and
cleverly manufacture objects of temporary fashion, which have no fixed
or traditional style, and which are only intended to strike the
momentary fancy. These, however, are not the true artisans. The real
excellence of the true artisan is tested by those who make, without
defects or sensational peculiarities, articles to decorate, we will
say, some particular building, in conformity with correct taste and
high aesthetic principles. Look for another instance at the eminence
which has been attained by several of the artists of the Imperial
College of Painting. Take the case of draughtsmen in black ink.
Pictures, indeed, such as those of Mount Horai,[33] which has never
been beheld by mortal eye, or of some raging monstrous fish in a rough
sea, or of a wild animal of some far-off country, or of the imaginary
face of the demon, are often drawn with such striking vividness that
people are startled at the sight of them. These pictures, however, are
neither real nor true. On the other hand, ordinary scenery, of
familiar mountains, of calm streams of water, and of dwellings just
before our eyes, may be sketched with an irregularity so charming, and
with such excellent skill, as almost to rival Nature. In pictures such
as these, the perspective of gentle mountain slopes, and sequestered
nooks surrounded by leafy trees, are drawn with such admirable
fidelity to Nature that they carry the spectator in imagination to
something beyond them. These are the pictures in which is mostly
evinced the spirit and effectiveness of the