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in graceful festoons, and rearing itself aloft by a series of coiling springs; while the supporter continues its upward course of perpendicularity with vigour; such perpendicularity being only the measure of its strength enforced by the contrast with it of the growth of the limbs and boughs. Even in the very form of the attachment of these to their parent stem, variety will be found at every stage. As the bough is young, or as it seeks the light, its upward direction is asserted with apparent feebleness. As it gathers wood and strength, and other and higher stems spring above from it, its attachment to the parent trunk becomes more vigorous, and is asserted by an angle more clearly and definitely marked.
From the observation of such changes of form, coincident with changes of necessity in nature, the artist will learn that it is incumbent upon him to vary his creations to infinity; but in all cases to make those variations correspond with some definite laws based upon the purpose which may have to be effected by the creation of his fancy. Supply in art, as in commerce, he will find, should be made to correspond with demand, not in quantity only, but in the most judicious union of utility with beauty. Useless beauty constitutes the most perfect idea of waste: useful beauty is at once delightful and philosophical.
The next province in nature's vast domains which the artist should explore with zeal is that boundless and most fruitful garden of colour. Take that happy quality from nature, and only conceive how blank the world would be. All its joy and gladness would seem to be spent, and one of its greatest powers of speaking to the heart would be lost. The lovely blue of the sky, the tender pink upon the cheek of beauty, the fervid glow of ruddy sunset, the rosy tint of incense-breathing morn, the deepening purple of the thundercloud, the soft green glades of spring, the full-toned browns of autumn, with all their associations of peace and plenty, poetry and joy, would find no living echoes in our hearts, to stir and