CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Willard Strai^t 
 
Cornell University Library 
 ND 237.W57A3 1904 
 
 The gentle art of making enemies as plea 
 
 3 1924 008 743 159 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008743159 
 
THE GENTLE ART 
 
 MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 ff' 
 
^.c^ip^Q^Q^ 
 
. PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 In the presence of a, continued attempt to issue a spurious and 
 garbled version of Mr. Whistler's writings, the Publisher has 
 obtained his permission to bring out the present volume, printed 
 under his own immediate care and supervision. 
 
AN EXTRAORDINARY PIRATICAL 
 PLOT 
 
 A tmstdtriQuslyivell-concocted piratical scheme to publish^ 
 
 ivithout hh knowledge or consent, a complete collection of 
 
 Mr, Whistler's loritin^s. letters, pamphlets, lectures. &^c,. "American Regis- 
 * ' » r- r ) » 1 ^^^ ,. p^^ March 
 
 has been nipped tn the bud an the 'very e've of its accom- ^' '^* 
 plishment. It appears that the book 'was actually in type 
 and ready for issue, but the plan ivas to bring out the 
 ivork simultaneously in England and America, This caused 
 delcy, the plates ha-ving to be shipped to New York, and 
 the strain of secrecy upon the conspirators during the interniai 
 ivould seem to have been too great. In any case indi- 
 cations of surrounding mystery, quite sufficient to arouse 
 Mr, Whistler s attention, brought about his rapid action. 
 Messrs. Lewis and Lewis ivere instructed to take out imme- 
 diate injunction against the publication in both England 
 and America, and this information, at once cabled across, 
 ivartiing all publishers in the United States, exploded the 
 plot^ effectually frustrating the elaborate machinations of 
 those engaged in it. 
 
SEIZURE OF MR. PmiSTLER'S FIRArED 
 PVRrriNGS 
 
 This pirated collection of letterSy ivritingSj ^c, toivhose 
 
 frustrated publication in this country and America ive 
 " Arm York J r .' 
 
 Herald," London hanie already alluded^ ivas seized in Anfwerp. at the 
 
 Sdttian, \March 23, 
 
 printers', on Friday last — the 'very day oj its contracted 
 delivery. The persistent and really desperate speculator 
 in this volume 0/ difficult birth^ baffled in his attempt to 
 produce it in London and Nevf Tork^ had been tracked to 
 Anfwerp by Messrs, Letuis and Leivis ; and he 'wasjinally 
 brought dffwn by Maitre Maeterlinck^ the distinguished 
 lawyer of that city. 
 
rHE EXPLODED PLOT 
 
 With r^ard to this matterj to ivkich lue hanje already 
 alluded on a premous occasion, Messrs, Leivis and Lewis 
 ka've received the folia/wing letter from Messrs, Field 
 and Tuer, of the Leadenkall PresSj Dated March 25, » Pali Mall 
 
 Gazette" March 27, 
 
 1890 : — 1890. 
 
 " PVe have seen the paragraph in yesterdays ' Pall Mall 
 Gazette^ relating to the publication of Mr. Whistler's letters. 
 You may like to knoiv that ive recently put into type for a 
 certain person a series of Mr, Whistler's letters and other 
 matter, taking it for granted that Mr. Whistler had given 
 permission. , Quite recently, hovaever^ and fortunately m ■ 
 time to stop the *ivork being printed, ive tuere told that Mr. 
 Whistler objected to his letters being published. We then 
 sent for the per sm in question^ and told him that until he 
 obtained Mr. Whistler's sanction lue declined to proceed 
 further ivith the ivork^ ivhich, ive may tell you, is finished 
 and cast ready for printing, and the type distributed. 
 From the time of this interviezu vje have not seen or heard 
 from the person in fuesdon, and there the matter rests."" 
 
MR. WHISTLER'S PAPER HUNT 
 
 The fiuitless attempt to publish ivitkout his consent, or 
 rather in spite of his opposition, the collected loritings of 
 Mr, JVhistler has developed into a species oj chase from 
 "Sunday Tinus," press to press, and from country to country. With an ex- 
 traordinary Jatality, the unfortunate fitgitvve has been in- 
 variably allowed to reach the very verge of achievement 
 bejore he ivas surprised by the long arm of Messrs. Lewis 
 and Lewis, Each defeat has been consequently attended 
 *with infniteloss of labour, material and money. Ourreaders 
 have been told haw the London venture came to noi^ht, and 
 how it ivas frustrated in America. The venue •was then 
 changed, and Belgium, as a neutral ground, tvas supposed 
 possible ; but here again, on the very day of its delivery, 
 the edition of 2000 vols, ivas seized by M, le Procureur 
 du Roi^ and Under the nose of the astounded and discomfited 
 speculator, the packed and corded bales, 0/ ivhich he ivas 
 about to take possession^ ivere carried off in the Government 
 van ! The upshot of the untiriTig efforts of this persistent 
 adventurer at length results in fimishing Mr. Whistler 
 ivith the first and only copy of this curious work, ivhich 
 ivas certainly anything but the intention of its compiler, ivho 
 clearly, judging from its contents, had reserved for him an 
 unpleasing if not crushing surprise I 
 
A GREAT LITERART CURIOSITY 
 
 I have to-day seen the printed hook itself of the Collected 
 
 Writings of Mr, Whistler^ ivhose publication has proved 
 
 so comically impossible. The style of the preface and accessory CaeetUj" March 2 
 
 1890. 
 comments is in the ivorst style of Western editorship ; ivhile 
 
 the disastrous effect of Mr. Whistler's literature upon the 
 
 one njoho hai burned his fingers ivith it, is amusingly sho'wn, 
 
 Ik the index occur such "well-knovtn 7tames as Mr. y. 
 
 C. Horsley, R.A.^ Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Ruskin, Mr.Linley 
 
 Sambottrnef Mr, Swinburne^ Tom Taylor^ Mr. Frith j and 
 
 Rossetti. The famous catalogue of the ^^ Second Exhibi' 
 
 tion of Venice Etchings, February 19, 1883," in luhich 
 
 Mr, Whistler quotes the critics^ is also given. 
 
A LAST EFFORT 
 
 We hear that a thh-d attempt has been made to produce 
 "Pali Mall ^^^ pirated copy of Mr. Whistler's collected ivritirigs, 
 
 i^f * Messrs. Lewis and Leivis kaue at once taken It^al steps to 
 
 stop the edition {printed in Paris) at the Customs, A 
 cablegram, has been received by Mr. Whistler^ s solicitors 
 stating that Messrs. Stokes's name has been affixed to the 
 title-page of the pirated book tvithout the sanction of those 
 publishers. 
 
THE GENTLE ART 
 
 OF 
 
 MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 AS PLEASINGLY EXEMPLIFIED 
 IN MANY INSTANCES, fTHEREIN THE SERIOUS ONES 
 OF THIS EARTH, CAREFULLY EXASPERATED, HArE 
 BEEN PRETTILY SPURRED ON TO UNSEEMLINESS 
 AND INDISCRETION, fVHILE OVERCOME BY AN 
 
 UNDUE SENSE OF RIGHT 
 
 A THIRD EDITION 
 
 NEIV YORK MCMIV 
 G. P. PUTNAMS SONS 
 
 KO 
 
A 1 1^X0(3 
 
 Printed iSgo 
 Reprinted iSgs : 1904 
 
 Cepyrisht iSgo by 
 7. McNtill ir/ustler 
 
To 
 
 The rare Few^ *ivho^ early in Lije, 
 
 have rid Themselves of the Friendship 
 
 of the Many, these pathetic Papers 
 
 are inscribed 
 
^'Messieurs lbs Ennbmts!" 
 
Prologue 
 
 " pOR Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the 
 'ofcMorjohn protsction of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought 
 lam^ira, jidyi, j^^j. ^^ ]jave admitted works into the gallery in which 
 the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly ap- 
 proached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, 
 and heard, much of cockney impudence before now ; 
 but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred 
 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's 
 face." 
 
 JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Action 
 
 JN the Court of Exchequer Division on Monday, 
 before Baron Huddleston and a special jury, the case 
 of Whistler v. Ruskin came on for hearing. In this ^J^^J'J 
 action the plaintiflF claimed ;^iooo damages. "'' ''" '°''' 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Parry and Mr. Petheram appeared 
 for the plaintiff; and the Attorney-General and Mr. 
 Bowen represented the defendant. 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Parrt, in opening the case on behalf 
 of the plaintiff, said that Mr. Whistler had followed 
 the profession of an artist for many years, both in this 
 and other countries. Mr. Kuskin, as would be prob- 
 ably known to the gentlemen of the jury, held 
 perhaps the highest position in Europe and America 
 as an art critic, and some of his works were, he might 
 'say, destined to immortality. He was, in fact, a 
 geutlejnan of the highest reputation. In the July 
 number of Fora Glavigera there appeared passages in 
 which Mr. Buskin criticised what he called "the 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 3 
 
 modern school," and then followed the paragraph of 
 which Mr. Whistler now complained, and which was : 
 " For Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the 
 protection of the purchaser. Sir Coutts Lindsay ought 
 not to have admitted works into the gallery in which 
 the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly ap- 
 proached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, 
 and heard, much of cockney impudence before now ; 
 but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred 
 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." 
 That passage, no doubt, had been read by thousands, 
 and so it had gone forth to the world that Mr. 
 Whistler was an ill-educated man, an impostor, a 
 cockney pretender, and an impudent coxcomb. 
 
 Mr. Whistler, cross-examined by the Attobney- 
 General, said : " I have sent pictures to the Academy 
 which have not been received. I believe that is the 
 
 experience of all artists The nocturne in black 
 
 and gold is a night piece, and represents the fireworks 
 at Cremorne.'' 
 
 " Not a view of Cremorne ? " 
 " If it were called a view of Cremorne, it would 
 certainly bring about nothing but disappointment 
 on the part of the beholders. (Laughter.) It is an 
 artistic arrangement. It was marked two hundred 
 guineas." 
 
4 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Is not that what we, who are not artists, would call 
 a stiffish price ? " 
 
 " I think it very likely that that may be so." 
 
 " But artists always give good value for their 
 money, don't they ? " 
 
 " I am glad to hear that so well established. , (A 
 laugh.) I do not know Mr. Suskin, or that he holds 
 the view that a picture should only be exhibited when 
 it is finished, when nothing can be done to improve it, 
 but that is a correct view ; the arrangement in black 
 and gold was a finished picture, I did not intend to do 
 anything more to it." 
 
 " Now, Mr. Whistler. Can you tell me how long it 
 took you to knock off that nocturne ? " 
 
 .... " I beg your pardon ? " (Laiighier.) 
 
 " Oh ! I am afraid that I am using a term that 
 applies rather perhaps to my own work. I should 
 have said, 'How long did you take to paint that 
 picture ? ' " 
 
 " Oh, no ! permit me, I am too greatly flattered to 
 think that you apply, to work of mine, any term that 
 you are in the habit of using with reference to your 
 own. Let us say then how long did I take to — ' knock 
 ofi',' I think that is it — ^to knock off that nocturne ; 
 well, as well as I remember, about a day." 
 
 " Only a day ? " 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 5 
 
 " "Well, I won't be quite positive ; I may have still 
 put a few more touches to it the next day if the 
 painting were not dry. I had better say then, that 
 I was two days at work on it." 
 
 " Oh, two days ! The labour of two days, then, is 
 that for which you ask two hundred guineas ! " 
 
 " No ; — I ask it for the kn owledge of a lifetime." 
 (Applause.) "^ 
 
 "You have been told that your pictures exhibit 
 some eccentricities ? " 
 
 " Yes ; often." (Laughter.) 
 
 " You send them to the galleries to incite the admi- 
 ration of the public ? " 
 
 " That would be such vast absurdity on my part, 
 that I don't think I could." (Laughter.) 
 
 " You know that many critics entirely disagree with 
 your views as to these pictures ? " 
 
 " It would be beyond me to agree with the critics." 
 
 " You don't approve of criticism then ? " 
 
 " I should not disapprove in any way of technical 
 criticism by a man whose whole life is passed in the 
 practice of the science which he criticises ; but for the 
 opinion of a man whose life is not so passed I would 
 have as little regard as you would, if he expressed an 
 opinion on law." 
 
 " You expect to be criticised ? " 
 
6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 I " Yes ; certainly. And I do not expect to be affected 
 
 ;' by it, until it becomes a case of this kind. It is 
 
 / not only when criticism is inimical that I object to it, 
 
 / but also when it is incompetent. I hold that none 
 
 v__Jjut an artist cam be a competent critic." 
 
 " You put your pictures upon the garden wall, Mr. 
 Whistler, or hang them on the clothes-line; don't you 
 —to mellow?" 
 
 " I do not understand." 
 
 " Do you not put your paintings out into the 
 garden ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I understand now. I thought, at first, that 
 you were perhaps again .using a term that you are 
 accustomed to yourself. Yes ; I certainly do put the 
 canvases into the garden that they may dry in the 
 open air while I am painting, but I should be sorry to 
 see them ' mellowed.' " 
 
 " Why do you call Mr. Irving ' an arrangement in 
 black ' ? " {Laughter.) 
 
 Mr. Babon Huddleston : " It is the picture, and 
 not Mr. Irving, that is the arrangement." 
 
 A discussion ensued as to the inspection of the 
 pictures, and incidentally Baron Huddleston remarked 
 that a critic must be competent to form an opinion, 
 and bold enough to express that opinion in strong 
 terms if necessary. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES J 
 
 The Attorney-General complained that no answer 
 was given to a written application by the defendant's 
 solicitors for leave to inspect the pictures which the 
 plaintiff had been called upon to produce at the trial. 
 The Witness replied that Mr. Arthur Severn had 
 been to his studio to inspect the paintings, on behalf 
 of the defendant, for the purpose of passing his final 
 judgment upon them and settling that question for 
 ever. 
 
 Cross-examination continued : " What was the sub- 
 ject of the nocturne in blue and silver belonging to 
 Mr. Grahame ? " 
 
 " A moonlight effect on the river near old Battersea 
 Bridge." 
 
 " What has become of the nocturne in black and 
 gold ? " 
 
 " I believe it is before you.'' {Laughter.) 
 
 The picture called the nocturne in blue and silver 
 was now produced in Court. 
 
 " That is Mr. Grahame's picture. It represents Bat- 
 tersea Bridge by moonlight.'' 
 
 Baron HuDDiiEsxcN : " Which part of the picture 
 is the bridge ? " {Latcghter.) 
 
 His Lordship earnestly rebuked those who laughed. 
 And witness explained to his Lordship the composition 
 of the picture. 
 
8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Do you say that this is a correct representation of 
 Battersea Bridge ? " 
 
 " I did not intend it to be a ' correct ' portrait of the 
 bridge. It is only a moonlight scene, and the pier in 
 the centre of the picture may not be like the piers at 
 Battersea Bridge as you know them in broad daylight. 
 As to wha t the picture repres ents, that dep enda-upoa 
 who looks at it. To some persons it may represent all 
 that is intended ; to others TTmay representlaothing.'^ 
 
 " The prevailing colour is blue ? " "~ "' 
 
 " Perhaps." 
 
 " Are those figures on the top of the bridge in- 
 tended for people ? " 
 
 " They are just what you like." 
 
 " Is that a barge beneath ? " 
 
 1* Yes. I am very much encouraged at your perceiv- 
 
 j ing that. My whole scheme was only to bring about 
 (^ certain harmony of colour.'' 
 
 " What is that gold-coloured mark on the right of 
 the picture like a cascade ? " 
 
 " The ' cascade of gold ' is a firework." 
 
 A second nocturne in blue and silver was then pro- 
 duced. 
 
 Witness : " That represents another moonlight 
 scene on the Thames looking up Battersea Beach. 
 I completed the mass of the picture in one day." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 9 
 
 The Court then adjourned. During the interval the 
 jury visited the Probate Court to view the pictures which 
 had been collected in the "Westminster Palace Hotel. 
 
 After the Court had re-assembled the " Nocturne in 
 Black and Gold " was again produced, and Mr. Whis- 
 tler was further cross-examined by the Attorney- 
 Genebal : " The picture represents a distant view of 
 Cremorne with a falling rocket and other fireworks. 
 It occupied two days, and is a finished picture. The 
 black monogram on the fraine was placed in its posi- 
 tion with reference to the proper decorative balance of 
 the whole." 
 
 " You have made the study of Art your study of a 
 lifetime. Now, do you think that anybody looking at 
 that picture might fairly come to the conclusion that 
 it had no peculiar beauty ? " 
 
 "I have strong evidence that Mr. Buskin did come 
 to that conclusion." 
 
 " Do you think it fair that Mr. Buskin should come 
 to that conclusion ? " 
 
 "What might be fair to Mr. Buskin I cannot 
 answer.'' 
 
 " Then you mean, Mr. Whistler, that the initiated in 
 technical matters might have no difficulty in under- 
 standing your work. But do you think now that you 
 could make me see the beauty of that picture ? " 
 
10 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The witness then paused, and examining attentively 
 the Attorney-General's face and looking at the picture 
 alternately, said, after apparently giving the subject 
 much thought, while the Court waited in silence for 
 his answer : 
 
 . " No ! Do you know I fear it would be as hopeless 
 as for the musician^ to pour his notes into the ear of 
 a deaf man. (LoMghter.) 
 
 " I oflfer the picture, which I have conscientiously 
 painted, as being worth two hundred guineas. I have 
 known unbiased people express the opinion that it 
 represents fireworks in a night-scene. I would not 
 complain of any person who might simply take a 
 different view." 
 
 The Court then adjourned. 
 
 The Attobney-Gbnekal, in resuming his address 
 
 on behalf of the defendant on Tuesday, said he 
 
 hoped to convince the jiuy, before his case closed, 
 
 • ••Enter now that Mr. Ruskin's criticism upon the plaintiffs oio- 
 
 the great room ^ * ^ 
 
 SuieVndofTfor tures was perfectly fair and bond fide ; * and that, 
 
 which the painter 
 
 sSmmo'nedbefOT? howevBr sevcre it might be, there was nothing that 
 stite?"— pfSf°° could reasonably be complained of. .... Let them 
 
 JOHNRUSKIN; ■' ^ 
 
 'p^^fA^^my examine the nocturne in blue and silver, said to repre- 
 >en5ct. '' sent Battersea Bridge. What was that structure in 
 
 the middle ? Was it a telescope or a fire-escape ? 
 
 Was it like Battersea Bridge ? What were the figures 
 
i*'Canaletto.liad 
 he been a ^eat 
 painter, n^bt have 
 ;ast his refactions 
 wherever he chose 
 
 . . . but he is a 
 .ittle aii3> bad 
 painter." — Mr. 
 RUSKIN.Art Critic. 
 
 "I repeat there 
 5 nothii^ but the 
 irorkofProut 
 vhich is true.living', 
 ir right in its gene- 
 'al impression, 
 ind nothing, there- 
 ore, so inexhaust' 
 vely agreeable " 
 sic).— J. RUSKIN, 
 4.rt Professor: 
 Modern Painters. 
 
 X. "Now it is evi- 
 lent that in Rem- 
 brandt's system, 
 Arhile the contrasts 
 ire not more right 
 :han with Veronese, 
 he colours are all 
 vrong from begin- 
 ling to end." — 
 fOHN RUSKIN, Art 
 Authority. 
 
 OF MAKING ENEMIES ii 
 
 at the top of the bridge ? And if they were horses 
 and carts, how in the name of fortune were they to 
 get off ? Now, about these pictures, if the plaintiff's 
 argument was to avail, they must not venture publicly 
 to express an opinion, or they would have brought 
 against them an action for damages. 
 
 After all. Critics had their uses.* He should like 
 to know what would become of Poetry, of Politics, 
 of Painting, if Critics were to be extinguished ? Every 
 Painter struggled to obtain fame. 
 
 !N'o artist could obtain fame, except through criti- 
 cism .t 
 
 .... As to these pictures, they could only come 
 to the conclusion that they were strange fantastical 
 conceits not worthy to be called works of Art. 
 
 .... Coming to the libel, the Attorney-General 
 said it had been contended that Mr. Ruskin was not 
 justified in interfering with a man's livelihood. But 
 why not ? Then it was said, " Oh ! you have ridiculed 
 Mr. Whistler's pictures." If Mr. "Whistler disliked 
 ridicule, he should not have subjected himself to it 
 by exhibiting publicly such productions. If a man 
 thought a picture was a daub % he had a right to say 
 so, without subjecting himself to a risk of an action. 
 
 He would not be able to call Mr. Euskin, as he was 
 far too ill to attend ; but, if he had been able to appear, 
 
 • " I have now given up 
 ten years of my hfe to the 
 single purjpose of enabling 
 myseirto judge rightly oiart 
 . . . . earnestly desiring to 
 ascertain, and to beable to 
 teach, the truth respecting 
 art; also knowing that this 
 truth was by time and labotir 
 definitely ascertainable." — 
 Frof.RuSKiN: Modent 
 Painters, Vol. III. 
 
 •• Thirdly, that TRUTHS 
 OF COLOUR ARE THE 
 LEAST IMPORTANT OF ALL 
 TRUTHS."— Mr. RUSKlN, 
 Prof, of Art : Modem 
 Painters, Vol. I. Chap. V. 
 
 " And that colour is indeed 
 a most unimportant charac- 
 teristic of objects, would be 
 further evident on the 
 slightest consideration. The 
 colour of plants is constantly 
 changing with the season 
 . . . . but the nature and 
 essence of the thing are in- 
 dependent of these changes. 
 An oak Is an oak, whether 
 green with spring, or red 
 with tvinter; a dahlia is a 
 dahlia, whether it be yellow 
 or crimson ; and if some 
 monster hunting florist should 
 ever frighten the flower blue, 
 still it will be a dahlia ; but 
 not so if the same arbitrary 
 changes could be effected in 
 its form. Let the roughness 
 of the bark and the angles 
 of the boughs be smoothed 
 or diminished, and the oak 
 ceases to be an oak ; but let 
 it retain its universal struc- 
 ture and outward form, and 
 though its leaves grow 
 white, or pink, or olue, or 
 tri-colour, it would be a 
 white oak, or a pink oak, or 
 a republican oak, but an Oak 
 stilL*'— JOHN RUSKIN, 
 Esq., ^^.A., Teacher and 
 Slade Prof, of Fine Arts : 
 Modern PaitUers. 
 
 REFLECTION : 
 * In conduct and in conversation, 
 It did a sinner good to hear 
 Him deal in ratiocination \ 
 
 ^' 
 
THE GENTLE ART 
 
 he would have given his opinion of Mr. Whistler's 
 by^'limfuSrS"^ worlc in the witness-box. 
 Gern^n picture at He had the highest appreciation for computed pic-- 
 
 Bosch, represent- 
 Ing a boy carving 
 a model of liis 
 sheep dog in 
 wood."'— J. RUS- 
 KIN : Modent 
 Painters. 
 
 tures/f and he required from an artist that he should 
 
 Mr. 
 
 • * I hare Just 
 
 possess something more than a few flashes of genius !* ^s^J? J^lf'Jarth 
 Buskin entertaining those views, it was not ^o^°by,£^ 
 
 painter with geo- 
 
 wonderful that his attention should be attracted to i°g|^c1.™^lf 
 Mr. "Whistler's pictures. He subjected the pictures, kin : Meicm 
 
 Then Mr. 
 
 t "Vulgarity, 
 didness, or impiety 
 
 SprMs'thLms^jM if they chose, J to ridicule and contempt 
 
 through art, in 
 
 ^^R^nbrnnS't?^-'*^ Kuskiu spoke of "the ill-educated § conceit of the 
 - " ""^ "s- artist, so nearly approaching the action of imposture." 
 
 KIN: Modem 
 Painters, 
 
 S "Itisphy^- 
 cally impossible, 
 for instance, rightly 
 to draw certain 
 
 forms of the upper 
 
 If his pictures were mere extravagances, how could it SS^ISfdo'u''' 
 redound to the credit of Mr. Whistler to send them kSlfeSShioSed 
 
 white after the 
 
 to the Grosvenor Gallery to be exhibited ? Some |ief.'°-jS™'"*' 
 artistic gentleman from Manchester, Leeds, or Shef- pointing/ 
 field might perhaps be induced to buy one of the pic- 
 tures because it was a Whistler, and what Mr. Ruskin 
 meant was that he might better have remained in 
 Manchester, Sheffield, or Leeds, with his money in his 
 pocket. It was said that the term " ill-educated con- 
 ceit" ought never to have been applied to Mr. Whistler, 
 who had devoted the whole of his life to educating ^ "Theprindiai 
 
 ,. ip.«.n, -B.--*^-... object in the fore- 
 
 himself in Art ; || but Mr. Ruskin's views % as to his ?BuMin°gS'cStt- 
 iE°E*if """^ success did not accord with those of Mr. Whistler. cSdJI^Sf/y 
 
 anamaroie hoMs. Theexijui- 
 
 site choice of this 
 incident ', 
 
 U "And thus we 
 are guided, almost 
 forced, by the laws 
 of nature, to do 
 right in art. Had 
 
 lEoSiutli&Ilot'have The libel complained of said also, " I never expected fill, 
 
 been, but by the ^ inci' 
 
 definite Divine^ ^^^ to hoaT a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for fling- ^"™^--?^i 
 
 appointment 
 
 good of man?), the 
 
 huge figures of the Egyptian would have been 
 
 as oppressive to the sight as cliffs of snow, and 
 
 the Venus de Medicls would have looked like 
 
 some exquisitely graceful species of frog." — 
 
 Slade Professor JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 " Be not righteous overmuch, neither make 
 thyself overwise; why shouldest thou destroy 
 thyself?" 
 
 , as when it is seen— 
 it has nothing to do 
 with the technicalities of painting; .... such 
 a thought as this is something far above all art." 
 -JOHN RUSKIN. Art ProfeMor: Modem 
 Patntert. 
 
 -^ 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 13 
 
 ing a pot of paint in the public's face." What was a 
 coxcomb? He had looked the word up, and found 
 that it came from the old idea of the licensed jester 
 who wore a cap and bells with a cock's comb in. it, who 
 went about making jests for the amusement of his 
 master and family. If that were the true definition, 
 then Mr. Whistler should not complain, because his 
 pictures had afforded a most amusing jest ! Se did 
 not know when so rmich amitsement had been afforded to 
 • "itisespe- the* British Public as by Mr. WhisUer's pictv/res. He 
 
 cially to be re- "^ ■* 
 
 SS^gfoX had now finished. Mr. Ruskin had lived a long life 
 
 simple character . , 
 
 SSs]5e?elSkde ''''rthout bomg attacked, and no one had attempted to 
 middi^ISi ex- control hjs pen through the medium of a jury. Mr. 
 
 clusively; and even 
 
 OTdSVf midSe Huskin said, through him, as his counsel, that he did 
 ^eiy 4!|)rLsed not rctract one syllable of his criticism, believing it 
 
 by tile term • bour- ■-* •' to 
 
 KJqu^'S'affe^ was right. Of course, if they found a verdict against 
 
 tone of liberal- -m«--r-»i.'i iii •• ii 
 
 S*urbt'^ua?and ^^- Ii«skin, he would have to cease writmg.t but it J.^^n^f^S" 
 Mest p'oKibie'de- would be an evil day for Art, in this country, when that^mSit'havi 
 
 corations for a done mucli more 
 
 toStparlour. M"". Kuskin would be prevented from indulging in S°a°*..i:iS'joHN 
 
 openiniT on a -i-i". i •,-• i •.• . t , RUSKiN, Art 
 
 nfcely mown lawn." leffltimate and proper criticism, by pointing out what Teacher: Jlf«fcm 
 —JOHN RUSKIN, ° r r 1 J r O Painters, Vol. V, 
 
 /StaonTplout was beautiful and what was not.J t "Civethor- 
 
 and IV. Hunt, ough examination 
 
 Evidence was then called on behalf of the de- ^^^^^a^^ch, 
 f endant. Witnesses for the defendant, Messrs. nek^.^'^' anT' 
 
 then, for contrast 
 
 Edward Bume-Jones, Frith, and' Tom Taylor. ^owJ^f^j^Tfoai 
 
 1-11 image to be reinem- 
 
 Mr. Edward Buene- Jones called. bered of sweet 
 
 Italian art in its 
 
 Mr. BowEN, by way of presenting him properly to thrBStTcathi-' 
 
 Ursula, .... I will only say in closing, as I s^d of the Vic^s picture In be- 
 ginning, that it would be well if any of us could do such things nowadays ;— 
 and more especially if our vicars and young ladies could."— JOHN RUSKiN, 
 Prof, of Fine Art: Gw'dt to Princifiai Ptcturts, Academy qf Fine Arts 
 Veniee. 
 
14 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the consideration of the Court, proceeded to read ex- 
 tracts of eulogistic appreciation of this artist f ropi the 
 defendant's own writings. 
 
 The examination of witness then commenced ; and 
 "of'i'.=,«s"-„ in answer to Mr. Bowen, Mr. Jones said: "I am a 
 
 mate which shall ' 
 
 joncsTm™ "' painter, and have devoted about twenty years to the 
 iss'hMy"°ho'oniy' study. I have painted various works, including the 
 producediii • Days of Creation ' and ' Venus's Mirror,' both of 
 
 England which will " 
 
 fSufeS°d^sk° wliich were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 
 
 In its kind— the best 
 
 cSidbe'^'-pro'f 1877. I have also exhibited ' Deferentia, 'Fides, 
 
 c/ol.i!!r«.jify3, 'St. George,' and 'Sybil.' I have one work, ' Merlin 
 
 1877. 
 
 and Vivian,' now being exhibited in Paris. In my 
 opinion complete finish ought to be the object of all 
 artists. A picture ought not to fall short of what has 
 been for ages considered complete finish. 
 
 Mr. BowEN : " Do you see any art quality in that 
 nocturne, Mr. Jones ? " 
 
 Mr. Jones : " Yes .... I must speak the truth, 
 you know ''.... {^Emotion.) 
 
 Mr. Bowen:! . . "Yes. Well, Mr. Jones, what 
 quality do you see in it ? " 
 
 Mr. Jones : " Colour. It has fine colour, and 
 atmosphere." 
 
 Mr. BowEN' : " Ah. Well, do you consider detail 
 and composition essential to a work of Art ? " 
 
 Mr. Jones : " Most certainly I do." 
 
" The action ot 
 imagination of the 
 highest power in 
 Burae-Jones, under 
 the conditions of 
 scholarship, of social 
 beauty, and of social 
 distress, which 
 , necessarily aid, 
 thwart, and colouf it , 
 in the nineteenth / 
 century, are alone / 
 in art, — ^unrivalled 
 in their kind ; and l\ 
 fyimo that these wil 
 be immortal, as the 
 best things the 
 mid-nineteenth 
 century in England 
 could do, in such 
 true relations as it \ 
 had, through all 
 confusion, recained 
 with the paternal 
 and everlasting Art 
 of the world." — 
 
 10HN RUSKIN, 
 .L.D. : I'ors 
 Clavi^ra, July 2, 
 1877. 
 
 OF HEARING ENEMIES IS 
 
 Mr, BowEN : " Then what detail and composition do 
 you find in this nocturne ? " 
 
 Mr. Jones : " Absolutely none." * reflection: 
 
 ,., Ill- * There is a cun- 
 
 Mr. Bowen: " Do you think two hundred guineas 3Xt'2'"?«f 
 a large price for that picture ? " stockExch^e^ 
 
 this insures sate 
 
 Mr. Jones : " Yes. When you think of the amount {he^^Si^t^de 
 of earnest work done for a smaller sum." 
 
 this would induce 
 
 of a complete work of art ? " 
 
 certain picture- 
 makers to cross the 
 
 Examination continued: " Does it show the finish w'S™''"* 
 
 negotiating^ a 
 Nocturne, in order 
 .' to make sure of 
 
 ''^" Not in any sense whatever. The picture represent- thShoniuy the * 
 
 purchaser might 
 
 ing a night scene on Battersea Bridge is good in colour, ^^^^ S m^^it"^ 
 but bewildering in form; and it has no composition bytheNigwi^ 
 
 a 
 
 f •* I beiieve the 
 world may see 
 another Titian, and 
 »lother Raffaelle, 
 before it sees an- 
 other Rubens." — 
 Mr. RUSKIN. 
 
 and detail. A day or a day and a half seems a reason- - 
 able time within which to paint it. It shows no 
 finish — it is simply a sketch. The nocturne in black 
 and gold has not the merit of the other two pictures, 
 and it would be impossible to call it a serious work of 
 art. Mr. Whistler's picture is only one of the 
 thousand failures to paint night. The picture is not 
 worth two hundred guineas." 
 
 Mr. BowEN here proposed to ask the witness to look 
 ata pictureof Titian.fin order to show whatfinish was.t Bntchert Doe, In 
 
 '■ the comer of Mr. 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Parry objected. duK^peS":' 
 
 -.r -n i~r- II -KT •!■« 1 1 thcmostwonderful, 
 
 Mr. Baron Huddleston : " You will have to prove because the most 
 
 -'■ digmned, finish 
 
 .... and assuredly 
 the nu)st perfect 
 imlty \>f dra ff inf 
 and colour which 
 the entire range of 
 ancient and modem 
 art can exhibit. Albert Durer is, indeed, the only 
 rival who might be suggested."— JOHN RuSKIN. 
 
 that it is a Titian." 
 
 Mr. BowBN : " I shall be able to do that." 
 
 Slade Professor of Art : Modern Painters. 
 
16 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Mr. Babon Huddleston : " That c^n only be by re- 
 pute. I do not want to raise a laugh, but there is a 
 well-known case of ' an undoubted ' Titian being 
 purchased with a view to enabling students and others 
 to find out how to produce his wonderful colours. 
 "With that object the picture was rubbed down, and 
 they found a red surface, beneath which they thought 
 was the secret, but on continuing the rubbing they 
 discovered a full-length portrait of George III. in 
 uniform ! " 
 
 The witness was then asked to look at the picture, 
 
 and he said : " It is a portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti, 
 
 and I believe it is a real Titian. It shows finish. It 
 
 is a very perfect sample of the highest finish of 
 
 ancient art.* The flesh is perfect, the modelling of •...••! fed en- 
 titled to point out 
 
 the face is round and good. That is an ' arrange- TUia^'pradSSdii. 
 
 , . a 1 J -Li J • I »» the case of Whistler 
 
 ment in nesh and blood ! v. Rusidn, is an 
 
 early specimen of 
 
 The witness having pointed out the excellences of Sfi^M^pS^t 
 that portrait, said : " I think Mr. "Whistler had great sty1e15id5"aiiti« 
 
 * ^ which have obtained 
 
 powers at first, which he has not since justified. He pJ.SSn'li'oK."" 
 
 1 111 i./*» 1 . i» 1 . vious point of differ- 
 
 has evaded the difficulties of his art, because the race teween this 
 
 ' and bis more-ma- 
 
 difficulty of an artist increases every day of his pro- aJglSeraSfunt' 
 
 ■'■'': of finish— I do not 
 
 fessional life." S5|ifeg|^d 
 
 Cross-examined ; " What is the value of this picture b?o'u|h^'SSiaJd^ 
 
 ^ with a view to in- 
 
 of Titian?"— "That is a mere accident of the sale- &a?!.4"o7ufe'° 
 
 , work of thegreatest 
 
 room. painter, andinore 
 
 especially as to the 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 17 
 
 " Is it worth one thousand guineas ? " — *'It would 5;^ed"taMt' 
 be worth many thousands to me." 
 
 "It was just a toss 
 up whetner I be- 
 came an Artist or 
 an Auctioneer." — 
 W. p. FRITH, R. A. 
 
 REFLECT/ON: 
 
 He must have 
 tossed up. 
 
 § 
 
 intro- 
 
 ., itis 
 
 evident that it was 
 calculated to pro- 
 duce an erroneous 
 
 impression on their minds, if indeed any one present at the inquiry can hold 
 that those gentlemen were in any way fitted to understand the issues raised 
 therein. — 1 am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "A. MOORE. 
 •' Nov. 28." 
 
 Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Ecfio. 
 
 Mr. Frith was then examined ; " I am an R.A. ; 
 and have devoted my life to painting. I am a mem- 
 ber of the Academies of various countries. I am the 
 author of the ' Railway Station,' ' Derby Day,' and 
 ' Rake's Progress.' I have seen Mr. "Whistler's pic- 
 tures, and in my opinion they are not serious works 
 of art. The nocturne in black and gold is not a 
 serious work to me. I cannot see anything of the 
 true representation of water and atmosphere in the 
 painting of ' Battersea Bridge.' There is a pretty 
 colour which pleases the eye, but there is nothing 
 more. To my thinking, the description of moonlight 
 is not true. The picture is not worth two hundred 
 guineas. Composition and detail are most important 
 matters in a picture. In our profession men of equal 
 , merit differ as to the character of a picture. One 
 may blame, while another praises, a work. I have 
 not exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery. I have read 
 Mr. Ruskin's works." 
 
 Mr. Frith here got down. 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 
 A decidedly honest man — I have not 
 heard of him since. 
 
 ^ 
 
i8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Mr. TomTatloe — Poor Law Commissioner, Editorof 
 Punch, and so forth — and so forth : " I am an art critic 
 of long standing. I have been engaged in this capacity 
 by the Tvmes, and other journals, for the last twenty 
 years. I edited the ' Life of Reynolds,' and ' Haydon.' 
 I have ahoaya studied art. I have seen these pictures 
 of Mr. Whistler's when they were exhibited at the 
 Dudley and the Grosvenor Galleries. The ' Nocturne ' 
 in black and gold I do not think a serious work of art." 
 The witness here took from the pockets of his overcoat 
 copies of the Times, and, with the permission of the 
 Court, read again with unction his own criticism, to 
 every word of which he said he still adhered. " All 
 Mr. Whistler's work is unfinished. It is sketchy. 
 He, no doubt, possesses artistic qualities, and he has 
 got appreciation of qualities of tone, but he is not com- 
 j pletej and all his works are in the nature of sketching, to perceive in 
 
 I I have expressed, and still adhere to the opinion, that Tom Tayi^^ 
 
 ' ^ champion— whose 
 
 these pictures only come ' one step nearer pictures STFriaTS^MSi 
 than a delicately tinted wall-paper.' " b°J« g« ^a loiic 
 
 Jones, in common 
 cause with Tom Taylor— whom he esteems, and Mr. Frith— whom he respects 
 — conscientiously appraising the work of a con/rire—'vas a privili^e 1 1 
 
 This ended the case for the defendant. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 I* 
 
 Verdict for plaintiff. Damages one farthing. 
 
20 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 Professor Ruskin's Group 
 
 jyjY dear Sambourne, — I know I shall be only 
 charmed, as I always am, by your work, and if I 
 am myself its subject, I shall only be flattered in 
 addition. 
 Tiu World, Pwnch in person sat upon me in the box ; why should a pleasant r^rumd 
 
 Dec. II, 1S78. of the situation— 
 
 not the most subtle of his staff have a shot ? More- "i^^^'- 
 
 mmi expressed hope 
 
 over, whatever delicacy and refinement Tom Taylor that his historical 
 
 ' •* • cartoon in Punch 
 
 may still have left in his pocket (from which, in Court, ™«''"""<'*™'^- 
 he drew his ammunition) I doubt not he will urge you 
 to use, that it may not be wasted. Meanwhile you 
 must not throw away sentiment upon what you call 
 " this trying time.'' 
 
 To have brought about an " Arrangement in Frith, 
 Jones, Punch and Buskin, with a touch of Titian," is 
 a joy ! and in itself sufficient to satisfy even my crav- 
 ing for curious " combinations." — Ever yours. 
 
Whistler v. Ruskin 
 
 ART &f ART CRITICS 
 
 Chelsen, Dec. 1878 
 

 Dedicated to 
 
 ALBERT MOORE 
 
THE GENTLE ART OP MAKING ENEMIES 25 
 
 Whistler v. Ruskin : Art and Art Critics 
 
 'PHE fin mot and spirit of this matter seems to 
 have been utterly missed, or perhaps willingly winked 
 at, by the journals in their comments. Their corre- 
 spondents have persistently, and not unnaturally as 
 writers, seen nothing beyond the immediate case in 
 law — ^viz., the difference between Mr. Ruskin and 
 myself, culminating in the libel with a verdict for the 
 plaintiff. 
 
 Now the war, of which the opening skirmish was 
 fought the other day in "Westminster, is really one 
 between the brush and the pen ; and involves literally, 
 as the Attorney-General himself hinted, the absolute 
 " raison d'etre " of the critic. The cry, on their part, 
 of " II faut vivre," I most certainly meet, in this 
 case, with the appropriate answer, " Je n'en vois pas 
 la necessity." 
 
 Far from me, at that stage of things, to go further 
 into this discussion than I did, when, cross-examined 
 
26 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 by Sir John Holker, I contented myself with the 
 general answer, " that one might admit criticism when 
 emanating from a man who had passed his whole life 
 in the science which he attacks." The position of 
 Mr. Ruskin as an art authority we left quite un- 
 assailed during the trial. To have said that Mr, 
 Buskin's prose among intelligent men, as other than a 
 Utt&raiewr, is false and ridiculous, would have been 
 an invitation to the stake ; and to be burnt alive, or 
 stoned before the verdict, was not what I came into 
 court for. 
 
 Over and over again did the Attorney-General cry 
 out aloud, in the agony of his cause, " What is to 
 become of painting if the critics withhold their lash?" 
 
 As well might he ask what is to become of mathe- 
 matics under similar circumstances, were they possible. 
 I maintain that two and two the mathematician 
 would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of 
 the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for 
 five. We are told that Mr, Ruskin has devoted his 
 long life to art, and as a result — is " Slade Professor " 
 at Oxford. In the same sentence, we have thus his 
 position and its worth. It suffices not. Messieurs ! a 
 life passed among pictures makes not a painter — 
 else the policeman in the National Gallery might 
 assert himself. As well allege that he who lives in a 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 27 
 
 library must needs die a poet. Let not Mr. Euskin 
 flatter himself that more education makes the differ- 
 ence between himself and the policeman when both 
 stand gazing in the Gallery. 
 
 There they might remain till the end of time ; the 
 one decently silent, the other saying, in good English, 
 many high-sounding empty things, like the cracking 
 of thorns under a pot — undismayed by the presence 
 of the Masters with whose names he is sacrilegiously** 
 familiar ; whose intentions he interprets, whose vices 
 he discovers with the facility of the incapable, and 
 whose virtues he descants upon with a verbosity and 
 flow of language that would, could he hear it, give 
 Titian the same shock of surprise that was Balaam's, 
 when the first great critic proffered his opinion. 
 
 This one instance apart, where collapse was im- 
 mediate, the creature Critic is of comparatively modern 
 growth — and certainly, in perfect condition, of recent 
 date. To his completeness go qualities evolved from 
 the latest lightnesses of to-day — ^indeed, the^we Jlevr 
 of his type is brought forth in Paris, and beside him 
 the Englishman is but rough-hewn and blundering 
 after all ; though not unkindly should one say it, 
 as reproaching him with inferiority resulting from 
 chances neglected. 
 
 The truth is, as compared, with his brother of 
 
28 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the Boulevards, the Briton was badly begun by 
 
 nature. 
 
 To take himself seriously is the fate of the humbug 
 at home, and destruction to the jaunty career of the 
 art critic, whose essence of success lies in his strong 
 sense of his ephemeral existence, and his consequent 
 horror of ennuyerva.^ his world — in short, to per- 
 ceive the joke of life is rarely given to our people, 
 whilst it forms the mainspring of the Parisian's 
 swvoir plaire. ^he finesse of the Frenchman, ac- 
 quired in long loafing and clever cafe cackle — the glib 
 go and easy assurance of the petit creve, combined 
 with the chio of great habit — the brilliant blague 
 of the ateliers — the aptitude of their argot — ^the 
 fling of the Figaro, and the knack of short para- 
 graphs, which allows him to print of a picture " C'est 
 bien 6orit ! " and of a subject, " C'est bien dit ! " — ^these 
 are elements of an ensemble impossible in this island. 
 
 Still, we are " various " in our specimens, and a 
 sense of progress is noticeable when we look about 
 among them. 
 
 Indications of their period are perceptible, and 
 curiously enough a similarity is suggested, by their 
 work, between themselves and the vehicles we might 
 fancy carrying them about to their livelihood. 
 
 Tough old Tom, the busy City 'Bus, with its heavy 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 29 
 
 jolting and many halts ; its steady, sturdy, stodgy 
 continuance on the same old much-worn way, every 
 turning known, and freshness unhoped for ; its 
 patient dreary dulness of daily duty to its cheap 
 company — struggling on to its end, nevertheless, and 
 pulling up at the Bank ! with a flourish from the 
 driver, and a joke from the cad at the door. 
 
 Then the contributors to the daily papers : so many 
 hansoms bowling along that the moment may not be 
 lost, and the d, propos gone for ever. The one or two 
 broughams solemnly rolling for reviews, while the 
 lighter bicycle zigzags irresponsibly in among them 
 for the happy Halfpennies. 
 
 What a commerce it all is, to be sure ! 
 
 No sham in it either ! — no " bigod nonsense ! " they 
 are aU " doing good " — yes, they all do good to Art. 
 Poor Art ! what a sad state the slut is in, an these 
 gentlemen shall help her. The artist alone, by the 
 way, is to no purpose, and remains unconsulted ; his 
 work is explained and rectified without him, by the 
 one who was never in it — but upon whom God, always 
 good, though sometimes careless, has thrown away 
 the knowledge refused to the author — poor devil ! 
 
 The Attorney-General said, " There are some people 
 who would do away with critics altogether." 
 
 I agree with him, and am of the irrationals he 
 
30 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 points at — ^but let me be clearly understood — the 
 aH critic alone would I extinguish. That ■writers 
 should destroy writings to the benefit of writing 
 is reasonable. Who but they shall insist upon 
 beauties of literature, and discard the demerits of 
 their brother litterateurs ? In their turn they will 
 be destroyed by other writers, and the merry game 
 goes on till truth prevail. Shall the painter then — I 
 foresee the question — decide upon painting? Shall 
 he be the critic and sole authority ? Aggressive as 
 is this supposition, I f«ar that, in the length of time, 
 his assertion alone has established what even the 
 gentlemen of the quill accept as the canons of art, 
 and recognise as the masterpieces of work. 
 
 Let work, then, be received in silence, as it was in 
 the days to which the penmen still point as an era 
 when art was at its apogee. And here we come upon 
 the oft-repeated apology of the critic for existing at 
 all, and find how complete is his stultification. He 
 brands himself as the necessary blister for the health 
 of the painter, and writes that he may do good to his 
 art. In the same ink he bemoans the decadence 
 about him, and declares that the best work was done 
 when he was not there to help it. No ! let there be 
 no critics ! they are not a " necessary evil," but an 
 evil quite unnecessary, though an evil certainly. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 31 
 
 Harm they do, and not good. 
 
 Furnished as they are with the means of furthering 
 their foolishness, they spread prejudice abroad ; and 
 through the papers, at their service, thousands are 
 warned against the work they have yet to look 
 upon.. 
 
 And here one is tempted to go further, and show 
 the crass idiocy and impertinence of those whose 
 dicta are printed as law." 
 
 How he of the Times* has found Velasquez 'June 6.1874. 
 " slovenly in execution, poor in colour — being little 
 but a combination of neutral greys and ugly in 
 its forms" — how he grovelled in happiness over a 
 Turner — that was no Turner at all, as Mr. Kuskin 
 wrote to show — Buskin ! whom he has since de- 
 fended. Ah ! Messieurs, what our neighbours call 
 " la malice des choses " was unthought of, and the 
 sarcasm of fate was against you. How Gerard Dow's 
 broom was an example for the young ; and Canaletti 
 and Paul Veronese are to be swept aside — doubtless 
 with it. How Rembrandt is coarse, and Carlo Dolci 
 noble — with more of this kind. But what does it 
 matter? 
 
 " "What does anything matter ! " The farce will go 
 on, and its solemnity adds to the fun. 
 
 Mediocrity flattered at acknowledging mediocrity. 
 
32 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 and mistaking mystification for mastery, enters the 
 fog of dilettantism, and, graduating connoisseur, 
 ends its days in a bewilderment of bric-^-brac and 
 Brummagem ! 
 
 " Taste " has long been confounded with capacity, 
 and accepted as sufficient qualification for the utter- 
 ance of judgment in music, poetry, and painting. 
 Art is joyou sly, received as a matter of opinion ; 
 and that it .should Jba based upon laws as rigid an3~ 
 defined as those of the known sciences, is a supposi- 
 tion no longer to be tolerated by modern cultivation. 
 For whereas no polished member of society is at 
 all affected at admitting himself neither engineer, 
 mathematician, nor astronomer, and therefore remains 
 willingly discreet and taciturn upon these subjects, 
 still would he be highly offended were he supposed to 
 have no voice in what is clearly to him a matter of 
 " Taste"; and so he becomes of necessity the bstcker 
 of the critic — the cause and result of his own ignor- 
 ance and vanity ! The fascination of this pose is too 
 much for him, and he hails with delight its justifica- 
 tion. Modesty and good sense are revolted at nothing, 
 andthe millennium of " Taste " sets in. 
 
 The whole scheme is simple ; the galleries are to be 
 thrown open on Sundays, and the public, dragged 
 from their beer to the British Museum, are to delight 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 33. 
 
 in the Elgin Marbles, and appreciate what the early- 
 Italians have done to elevate their thirsty souls ! An 
 inroad into the laboratory would be looked upon as 
 an intrusion ; but before the triumphs of Art, the 
 expounder is at his ease, and points out the doctrine 
 that Raphael's results are within the reach of any 
 beholder, provided he enrol himself with Kuskin or 
 hearken to Colvin in the provinces. The people are 
 to be educated upon the broad basis of " Taste," 
 forsooth, and it matters but little what " gentleman 
 and scholar " undertake the task. 
 
 Eloquence alone shall guide them — and the readiest 
 writer or wordiest talker is perforce their professor. 
 
 The Observatory at Greenwich under the direction 
 of an Apothecary ! The College of Physicians with 
 Tennyson as President ! and we know that madness 
 is about. But a school of art with an accomplished 
 litterateur at its head disturbs no one ! and is actually 
 what the world receives as rational, while Buskin writes 
 for pupils, and Colvin holds forth at Cambridge. 
 
 Still, quite alone stands Euskin, whose writing is 
 art, and whose art is unworthy his writing. To him 
 and his example do we owe the outrage of proffered 
 assistance from the unscientific — ^the meddling of the 
 immodest — the intrusion of the garrulous. Art, that 
 for ages has hewn its own history in marble, and 
 
 c 
 
34 ' THE GENTLE ART 
 
 written its own comments on canvas, shall it suddenly 
 stand still, and stammer, and wait for wisdom from 
 the passer-by? — for guidance from the hand that 
 holds neither brush nor chisel ? Out upon the shallow 
 conceit ! What greater sarcasm can Mr. Ruskin pass 
 upon himself than that he preaches to young men 
 what he cannot perform ! Why, unsatisfied with his 
 own conscious power, should he choose to become the 
 type of incompetence by .talking for forty years of 
 what he has never done ! 
 
 Let him resign his present professorship, to fill 
 the chair of Ethics at the university. As master of 
 English literature, he has a right to his laurels, 
 while, as the populariser of pictures he remains the 
 Peter Parley of painting. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 35 
 
 TAe Art Critic of the " Times " 
 
 " gANS rancune," by all means, my dear Whistler ; 
 but you should not have quoted from my article, of 
 June 6th, 1874, on Velasquez, in such a way as to Mr. Tom Taylor's 
 give exactly the opposite impression to that which the "op^ofSi?""'' 
 article, taken as a whole, conveys. ™ai "siiSraS" 
 
 I appreciate and admire Velasquez as entirely, and S™ ii'yS by 
 allow mo to say, as intelligently, as yourself. I have 
 probably seen and studied more of his work than you 
 have. And I maintain that the article you have 
 Tic World garbled in your quotation gives a fair and adequate 
 
 Jan. iSi 1879. 
 
 account of the picture it deals with — " Las Meninas " 
 — and one which any artist who knows the picture 
 would, in essentials, subscribe to. 
 
 God help the artists if ever the criticism of pictures 
 falls into the hands of painters ! It would be a case 
 of vivisection all round. 
 
 Your pamphlet is a very natural result of your late 
 
36 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 disagreeable legal experiences, though not a rery wise 
 one. 
 
 If the critics are not better qualified to deal with 
 the painters than the painter in your pamphlet shows 
 himself qualified to deal with the critics, it will be a 
 bad day for art when the hands that have been ti'ained 
 to the brush lay it aside for the pen.* 
 
 If you had read my article on Velasquez, I cannot 
 but say that you have made an unfair use of it, in 
 quoting a detached sentence, which, read with the 
 context, bears exactly the opposite sense from that 
 you have quoted it as bearing. 
 
 This is a bad "throw-off" in the critical line; 
 whether it affect " le premier Utteratevr venu " or 
 yours always, 
 
 TOM TAYLOR. 
 
 P.S. — As your attack on my article is public, I 
 reserve to myself the right of giving equal publicity to 
 this letter. 
 
 Lavender Sweep, 
 Jan. 6, 1879. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 37 
 
 T^e Position 
 
 J)EAD for a ducat, dead ! my dear Tom : and the 
 rattle has reached me by post. 
 Tht World. " Soma rancune," say you ? Bah ! you scream unkind 
 
 threats and die badly. 
 
 Why squabble over your little article ? You did 
 print what I quote, you know, Tom ; and it is surely 
 unimportant what more you may have written of 
 the Master. That you should have written anything 
 at all is your crime. 
 
 No ; shrive your naughty soul, and give up Velas- 
 quez, and pass your last days properly in the Home 
 Office. 
 
 Set your house in order with the Government for 
 arrears of time and paper, and leave vengeance to the 
 Lord, who will forgive my " garbling " Tom Taylor's 
 writing. 
 
 The White House, 
 Jan. 8, 1879. 
 
38 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Serious Sarcasm 
 
 PARDON me, my dear Whistler, for having taken 
 you au serieux even for a moment. 
 
 I ought to have remembered that your penning, 
 like your painting, belongs to the region of " chaflF." 
 I will not forget it again , and meantime remain yours 
 always, 
 
 TOM TAYLOR. 
 
 Lavender Sweep, 
 Jan. 9, 1879. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 39 
 
 Final 
 
 "\^HY, my dear old Tom, I never was serious with 
 you, even when you were among us. Indeed, I killed' 
 you quite, as who should say, without seriousness, " A 
 rat ! A rat ! " you know, rather cursorily. 
 
 Chaflf, Tom, as in your present state you are begin- 
 ning to perceive, was your fate here, and doubtless 
 f^^S^. ^^^ ^ throughout the eternity before you. "With 
 ages at your disposal, this truth will dimly dawn 
 upon you ; and as you look back upon this life, per- 
 chance many situations that you took au serieux 
 (art- jritic, who knows ? expounder of Velasquez, and 
 whatnot) will explain themselves sadly — chaff! 60 
 oack ! 
 
 The White House, 
 Jan. 10, 1879. 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 41 
 
 "Ba/aam's Ass" 
 
 I^K. WHISTLER has written a discord in black 
 and white. It is a strong saying, excellent in diction, 
 broadly and boldly set dpwn in slashing words j^«"^ ^• 
 
 The point Mr. Whistler raises and enforces is 
 that criticism of painting other than by painters is 
 monstrous, and not to be tolerated Mr. Bus- 
 kin's " high sounding empty things " would, he says, 
 "give Titian the same shock of surprise that was 
 Balaam's when the first great critic proffered his 
 opinion." .... The inference .... is that all the 
 world, competent and incompetent together, must re- 
 ceive the painter's work in silence, under pain of 
 being classed with Balaam's ass 
 
 If, finding himself ill received or ill understood, he 
 has to say, " You cannot understand me," he must also 
 say, " I did not understand myself and you, to whom 
 I speak, sufficiently well to make you understand me." 
 
 There could be no better illustration of all this than 
 
42 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 that Mr. Whistler has suggested of Balaam's ass. For 
 the Ass was right, although, nay, because he was an 
 ass. " What have I done unto thee," said he, " that 
 thou hast smitten me these three times ? " " Because 
 thou hast mocked me," replies Balaam — ^Whistler ; 
 whereupon the Angel of the Lord rebukes him and 
 says, " The ass saw me," so that Balaam is constrained 
 to bow his head and fall flat on his face. And thus 
 indeed it is. The ass sees the Angel of the Lord 
 there where the wise prophet sees nothing, and, by 
 her seeing, saves the life of the very master who, 
 for reward, smites her grievously and wishes he hadl^ y 
 a sword that he might kill her. 
 
 Let Balaam not forget that after all he rides upon 
 the ass, that she has served him well ever since she 
 was his until this day, and that even now he is on his 
 way with her to be promoted unto very great honour 
 by the Princes of Balak. And let him remember that 
 whatever can speak may at any moment have a word 
 to say to him which it were best he should hear. 
 
 RASPER. 
 
 / 
 
OF MA KING ENEMIES 43 
 
 TAe Point acknowledged 
 
 ^/y^ELLhit! my dear Fam^y, and I find, on searching 
 Vanity Fair, again, that historically you are right. 
 
 The fact, doubtless, explains the conviction of the 
 race in their mission, but I fancy you will admit that 
 this is the onl/y Ass on record who ever did " see the 
 Angel of the Lord ! " and that we are past the age of 
 miracles. 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 The White House, \_lls8l 
 
 Jan. II, 1879. 
 
44 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Critic's Analysis 
 
 JN the « Symphony in White No. III." by Mr. Whist- 
 ler there are many dainty varieties of tint, bat it is 
 not precisely a symphony in white. One lady has a nesaiuni^ 
 
 Review, 
 
 yellowish dress and brown hair and a bit of blue ribbon, t" g. H^'tton. 
 the other has a red fan, and there are flowers and 
 green leaves. There is a girl in white on a white 
 sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair ; and of course 
 there is the flesh colour of the complexions. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 45 
 
 The Critics Mind Considered 
 
 P£OW pleasing that such profound prattle should 
 inevitably find its place in print ! " Not precisely a 
 symphonyin white . . . . for there is a yellowish dress 
 
 . . . .brown hair, etc another with reddish hair 
 
 . . . . and of course there is the flesh colour of the com- 
 plexions." 
 
 Bon Dieu ! did this wise person expect white hair 
 and chalked faces ? And does he then, in his astounding 
 consequence, believe that a symphony in F contains 
 no other note, but shall be a continued repetition of 
 F,F, F? . . . . Fool! 
 
 Chelsea, 
 June 1867. 
 
 1 
 
The World, 
 July 3, 1878. 
 
 46 THJE GENTLE ART 
 
 A Troubled One 
 
 'T'HE "Season Number " of Vcmity Fair contains . . . 
 Mr. Whistler's etching of "St. James's Street" is 
 sadly disappointing. 
 
 Full Absolution 
 
 J) EAR World, — Atlas, overburdened with the world 
 and its sins, may well be relieved from the weight 
 of one wee error — a sort of last straw that bothers The woru, 
 
 July 10, 1878. 
 
 his back. The impression in Yamiy Fair that 
 disappoints him is not an etching at all, but a re- 
 production for that paper by some transfer process. 
 
 Atlas has the wisdom of ages, and need not grieve 
 himself with mere matters of art. "II n'est pas 
 ndcessalre que vous sachiez ces choses-1^ mon r6v6rend 
 p6re ! " 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 47 
 
 "Consciences" with an Editor 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE "HOUR" 
 
 QIB, — I have read the intelligent remarks of your 
 critic upon my pictures, and am happy to be able to 
 remove, I think, the " melancholy " impression left 
 upon his mind by the supposition that "the best 
 works are not of recent date," Permit me to reassure 
 him, for the paintings he speaks of in glowing terms 
 — notably " the full-length portrait' of a young girl," 
 which he overwhelms me by comparing to Velasquez, 
 as well as the two life-size portraits in black, " in 
 which there is an almost entire negation of colour " 
 (though I, who am, he says, a colourist, did not know 
 it) — are my latest works, and but just completed. 
 
 May I still further correct a misconception ? The 
 etchings and dry-points in the gallery do not form a 
 complete set. There are only fifty exhibited, making 
 about half the number I have executed. 
 
 Again, it was from no feeling that " my works were 
 
48 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 not seen to advantage when placed in juxtaposition 
 with those of an essentially different kind," that I 
 " determined to have an exhibition of my own, where 
 discordant elements should distract the spectator's 
 attention." It is true that occasionally it has been 
 borne in upon my mind that those whose " works are 
 of an essentially different kind " are unwilling to place 
 mine in juxtaposition with their own. 
 
 My wish has been, though, to prove that the place 
 in which works of art are shown may be made as free 
 from " discordant elements which distract the specta- 
 tors' attention " as the works themselves. 
 
 Marvelling greatly that the " principle " that has led 
 me (in his eyes at least) to paint so that he speaks of 
 me in the same breath with Velasquez, should be 
 " founded on fallacy," — I remain, sir, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 ^ 
 
 June 10, 1874. 
 
[Critics "Cofy" 
 D 
 
so 
 
 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Critics "Copy" 
 
 The World, 
 Dec. 8, 1880. 
 
 _^T the Gallery of the Fine Art Society in New Bond. 
 Street, an exhibition has been opened of the etchings 
 of Venice, executed by Mr. Whistler. Exhibitions 
 are sometimes of slender constitution nowadays. Mr. 
 Whistler's etchings are twelve in number, of unim- 
 portant dimensions, and of the slightest workmanship. 
 They convey a certain sense of distance and atmo- 
 sphere, otherwise it cannot be said that they are of 
 particular value or originality. They rather resemble 
 j vague first intentions, or memoranda for future use, 
 than designs completely carried out. Probably every 
 artist coming from Venice brings with him some such 
 outlines as these in his sketch-books. Apparently, 
 so far as his twelve etchings are to be considered 
 as evidence in the matter, Venice has not deeply 
 stirred either Mr. Whistler or his art. 
 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 51 
 
 A Proposal 
 
 _^TLAS, mmh hon, mefiez-voiis de vos gens I Your 
 art gentleman says that Mr. Whistler exhibits twelve 
 etchings, " slight in execution and unimportant in DK.^t^m 
 size." Now the private assassin you keep, for us, 
 need not be hampered by mere connoisseurship in the 
 perpetration of his duty — therefore, passe, for the 
 execution — but he should not compromise his master's 
 reputation for brilliancy, and print things that he 
 who runs may scoff at. 
 
 Seriously, then, my Atlas, an etching does not 
 depend, for its importance, upon its size. " I am not 
 arguing with you — I am telling you." As well speak 
 of one of your own charming mots as unimportant in 
 length ! 
 
 Look to it. Atlas. Be severe with your man. Tell 
 him his "job" should be "neatly done." I could cut 
 my own throat better ; and if need be, in case of his 
 dismissal, I offer my services. 
 
 Meanwhile, yours joyously, 'xv^^ 
 
52 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Painter-Etcher Papers 
 
 'pHE exhibition of etchings at the Hanover Gallery 
 has been the occasion of one of those squabbles which 
 amuse everybody — perhaps, even including the 
 quarrellers themselves. Some etchings, exceedingly 
 like Mr. Whistler's in manner, but signed " Frank 
 "A storm in an Duveueck," Were sent to the Painter-Etchers' Exhibi- 
 
 i&thettc Teapot ' ' 
 
 ThtCtKkao, tion from Venice. The Painter-Etchers appear to 
 
 Apnl II, 1881. ^^ 
 
 have suspected for a moment that the works were 
 really Mr. Whistler's; and, not desiring to be the 
 victims of an easy hoax on the paxt of that gentleman, 
 three of their members — Dr. Seymour Haden, Dr. 
 Hamilton, and Mr. Legros — went to the Fine Art 
 Society's Gallery, in New Bond Street, and asked one 
 of the assistants there to show them some of Mr. 
 Whistler's Venetian plates. From this assistant they 
 learned that Mr. Whistler was under an arrangement 
 to exhibit and sell his Venetian etchings only at the 
 Fine Art Society's Gallery ; but, even if these Painter- 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 53 
 
 Etchers really believed that " Prank Duveueck " was 
 only another name for James Whistler, this infor- 
 mation about the Fine Art Society's arrangement 
 with him need not have shaken that belief, for the 
 nom de plume might easily have been adopted with 
 the concurrence of the Society's leading spirits. Nor 
 is it altogether certain that the Fainter-Etchers did 
 anything more than compare, for their own satis- 
 faction as connoisseurs, the works of Mr. Whistler 
 and " Prank Duveneck," The motives of their doing 
 so may have been misunderstood by the Fine Art 
 Society's assistant with whom they conferred. 
 
 Be that as it may, this assistant thought fit to 
 repeat to Mr. Whistler what had passed, and also 
 his own impressions as to the motive of the com- 
 parison and the inquiries which the Fainter-Etchers 
 had instituted. Whereupon Mr. Whistler has ad- 
 dressed a letter to Mr. Seymour Haden (who is, by 
 the way, his hrother-in-law), of which all that need be 
 here said, is that it is extremely characteristic of 
 Mr. Whistler. 
 
54 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Later 
 
 gOME time ago I referred to a storm in an " aesthetic 
 
 teapot " that was brewed and had burst in the Fine 
 
 Thtcudum. Art Society's Gallery, in Bond Street, in re Mr. 
 April 30, isai. J ji > 
 
 Whistler's Venice Etchings. It seems to me that 
 Mr. Seymour Eaden, Mr. Legros, and Mr. Hamilton 
 stumbled on an artistic mare's nest, that they rashly 
 suggested that Mr. Whistler had been guilty of gross 
 misfeasance in publishing etchings in an assumed 
 name, and that they are now trying to get out of 
 the scrape as best they may. This is, however, 
 simply an opinion formed on perusal of the following 
 documents, which I here present to my readers to 
 judge of : 
 
 The following paragraph was some time ago sent to 
 me with this letter : — 
 
 " If the Editor of the ' Cuckoo ' should see his way to the publica- 
 tion of the accompanying paragraph as it stands, twenty copies may 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 55 
 
 be sent, for circulation among the Council of the Society of Painter- 
 Etchers, to Mr. Piker, newsvendor, Shepherd's Market." 
 
 "Mr. Whistler and the Painter- Etchers.— Our expla- 
 nation of this ' Storm in a Teapot ' turns out to have been in the 
 main correct. It appears that not only were the three gentlemen 
 who went to the Fine Art Society's Gallery to look at Mr. Whistler's 
 etchings guiltless of offence, but that the object of their going there 
 was actually less to show that Mr. Whistler was than that he was 
 not the author of the etchings which for a moment had puzzled 
 them. 
 
 " For this, indeed, they seem to have given each other — in the 
 presence of the blundering assistant, of course — three very distinct 
 reasons. 
 
 " Firstly, that, as already stated, Mr. Seymour Haden had quite 
 seriously written to Mr. Duveneck to buy the etchings. 
 
 "Secondly, that they at once accepted as satisfactory and suffi- 
 cient the explanation given them of Mr. Whistler's obligations to 
 the Fine Art Society ; and, thirdly, though this count appears to 
 have somehow slipped altogether out of the indictment — they were 
 one and all of opinion that, taken all round, the Duveneck etchings 
 were the iesi of the two (sic) ! ! ! 
 
 "It is a pity a clever man like Mr. Whistler is yet not clever 
 enough to see that while habitual public attacks on a near relative 
 cannot fail to be, to the majority of people, impalatable, they 
 are likely to be, when directed against a brother-etcher, even 
 suspecte," 
 
 I did not at the time " see my way " to publishing 
 the paragraph " as it stands," but, having subsequently 
 received the following correspondence, I think it only 
 right to give Mr. Piker's paragraph publicity, along 
 with the letters subjoined : — 
 
S6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 "The Fine Art Society," 
 
 148 New Bond Street. 
 March 18, 1881. 
 "To Seymour Haden, Esq.— My dear Sir,— Mr. 
 "Whistler has called upon me respecting your visit 
 here yesterday with Mr. Legros and Dr. Hamilton, 
 the purport of which had been communicated to him i^crfrom 
 
 r r Mr. Hllish to 
 
 by Mr. Brown." '"••^'"* 
 
 " He is naturally indignant that, knowing, as you 
 apparently did, that he was under an engagement not 
 to publish for a certain time any etchings of Venice 
 except those issued by us, you should suggest that 
 they were his work, and had been sent in by him 
 under a nom de jAv/me." 
 
 " He considers that it is damaging to his reputation 
 in connection with us, and he requests me to write 
 and ask you whether you adhere to your opinion or 
 retract it." 
 
 " Believe me to remain, yours faithfully, 
 
 "MARCUS B. HUISH." 
 
 "38 Hertford Street, Maypair, W. 
 March 21, 1881. 
 
 Letter ftom " ^° ^- Huish, Esq. — Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of 
 
 Mrnilish!'" a letter from you, dated the rSth inst., in which you 
 
 first impute to me an opinion which I have never 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 57 
 
 held, and then call me to account for that opinion. 
 To a peremptory letter so framed, I shall not be 
 misunderstood if I simply decline to plead," 
 
 " Meanwhile, that I was not of opinion that the etch- 
 ings in our hands were by Mr. Whistler is conclusively 
 proved by the fact that on the day after their recep- 
 tion I had written to Mr. Duveneck to arrange for 
 their purchase ! " 
 
 " Be this, however, as it may, I can have no hesitation 
 on the part both of myself and of the gentlemen en- 
 gaged with me in a necessary duty, in expressing our 
 sincere regret if, by a mistaken representation of our 
 proceedings, Mr. Whistler has been led to believe 
 that we had said or implied anything which could 
 give him pain or reflect in any way on his reputation 
 either with you or your directors." 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 ■' F. SEYMOUR HADEN." 
 
 "Arts Club." 
 
 Hanover Square. 
 
 "To Seymour Haden, Esq. — Sir, — Mr. Huish 
 handed me your letter of the 21st inst., since when Letter from 
 
 •' ' f '"• Whistler to 
 
 I have waited in vain for the true version that, I m^^^'Issi. 
 doubted not, would follow the ' mistaken represen- 
 tation ' you regret I should have received." 
 
58 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Now I must ask that you will, if possible, without 
 further delay, give me a thorough explanation of your 
 visit to the Fine Art Society's Gallery on Friday 
 evening, the 17th inst., — involving, as it did, a dis- 
 cussion of my private affairs." 
 
 "Did you, accompanied by M. Legros and Dr. 
 Hamilton, call at the Fine Art Society's rooms on 
 that date, and ask to see Mr. Whistler's etchings ? " 
 
 "Did you there proceed to make a careful and 
 minute examination of these, and then ask Mr. Brown 
 if Mr. Whistler had done other etchings of Venice ? " 
 
 " Upon his answer in the affirmative, did you ask 
 Mr. Brown if any of the other plates were large ones, 
 and, notably, whether Mr. Whistler had done any 
 other plate of the subject called ' The Eiva ' ? " 
 
 " Did you ask to see the early states of Mr. 
 Whistler's etchings ? " 
 
 " Did you say to Mr. Brown, ' Now, is not Mr. 
 Whistler under an engagement with the Fine Art 
 Society to publish no Venice etchings for a year ? ' or 
 words to that effect? and upon Mr. Brown's assur- 
 ance that such was the case, did you request him to 
 go with you to the Hanover Gallery ? " 
 
 "Did you there produce for his inspection three 
 large Venice etchings, and among them the ' Riva ' 
 subject?" 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES S9 
 
 " Did you then incite Mr. Brown to detect, in these 
 works, the hand of Mr. "Whistler ? " 
 
 " Did you point out details of execution which, in 
 your opinion, betrayed Mr. Whistler's manner?" 
 
 " Did you say, ' You see these etchings are signed 
 " Frank Duveneck," and I have written to that name 
 and address for their purchase, but I don't believe in 
 the existence of such a person,' or words to that 
 effect?" 
 
 "If this be not so, 
 
 " Why did you take Mr. Brown over to the Hanover 
 Gallery ? " 
 
 " Why did you show him Mr. Duveneck's Venice 
 etchings ? " 
 
 " Why did you question him about my engagement 
 with the Fine Art Society ? " 
 
 " Is it officially, as the Painter-Etchers' President, 
 that you pry about the town ? " 
 
 " Does the Committee sanction your suggestions ? 
 and have you permitted yourself these ' proceedings ' 
 with the full knowledge and approval of the ' dozen 
 or more distinguished men seated in serious council,' 
 as described by yourself in the Pall Mall Gazette ? " 
 
 " Of what nature, pray, is the ' necessary duty ' that 
 has led two medical men and a Slade Professor to 
 fail as connoisseurs, and blunder as detectives ? " 
 
6o THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " ' Vat shall de honest man do in my closet ? Dere 
 is no honest man dat shall come in my closet ! ' " 
 
 " Copies of this correspondence will be sent to 
 members of your Committee." 
 
 To this last letter, Mr. Seymour Haden has not 
 as yet sent any answer, and here the matter rests. 
 As requested, we have sent Mr. Piker the copies he 
 requires for distribution. 
 
 The Editor of the "Cuckoo." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 6i 
 
 La Suite 
 
 "Arts Club," 
 
 May 10, i88i. 
 
 'pO the Committee of the Painter-Etchers' Society : 
 
 Gentlemen, — I have hitherto, in vain, written to 
 Sir "William Drake, as secretary of the Painter- 
 Etchers' Society, and feeling convinced that his ela- Letter to the 
 
 Committee of 
 
 borate silence cannot possibly be the expression of so^^""^"^''°'^' 
 any intended discourtesy on the part of the Com- 
 mittee, as a body, but that it would rather indicate 
 that they had not been consulted in the matter at all, 
 I now address myself to you, and beg that you will 
 kindly inform me whether the Committee, as repre- 
 sented by their officers, endorse the late acts of their 
 President, or whether they intend taking any steps 
 towards refusing to share the shame and ridicule that 
 have accrued from certain " proceedings " described 
 by Mr. Haden as a " necessary duty," in the exercise 
 
62 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 of which he was officially engaged in conjunction with 
 
 Dr. Hamilton and M. Legros. 
 
 That you may clearly see how ciurent the matter 
 has become, I have the honour, Gentlemen, to send 
 you herewith, for your serious consideration, extracts 
 from the daily press, and thus, as you will read, 
 carry out myself the first intention of a certain specu- 
 lative Piker, newsvendor, Shepherd's Market, who had 
 purposed circulating among you " twenty copies " of 
 the enclosed literary venture — curtailed, it is true, to 
 the original " Piker paragraph," and unaccompanied 
 by the Piker twenty-penny prospect ; the printing of 
 which may — who knows ? — have caused a wavering 
 on the part of Piker, and have left you deprived of 
 his labour after all. 
 
 Piker offers matter with authority — and here I 
 would point out the close proximity of Shepherdls 
 Mwrhet to Hertford Street, Mayfair ! — most suggestive 
 is such contiguity. The newsvendor's stall and the 
 doctor's office within hail of each other! 
 
 Surely I may, without indiscretion, congratulate 
 the President upon Piker's English and also upon 
 
 the Pecksniffian whine about the " brother-in-law " 
 
 rather telling in its way — but shallow! shallow! — 
 for, after all. Gentlemen, a brother-in-law is not a 
 connection calling for sentiment — in the abstract. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 63 
 
 rather an intruder than " a near relation " — indeed, 
 " near relation " is mere swagger ! 
 
 Meanwhile, the insinuation of jealousy of the 
 " brother-etcher " is, as Piker puts it, " suspecte " — 
 very ! — and modest ! — and transparent ! 
 
 To the last paper I have added the cutting from the 
 former Ouckoo (Piker's earlier effort), so that you have 
 the occasion of perceiving how the progressive Piker 
 party have gained n courage — until, in direct con- 
 tradiction to their first anxiety and hesitation, we 
 reach the final overwhelming certainty of the three 
 representative gentlemen, whose visit to the Fine Art 
 Society's rooms, it would now appear, was absolutely 
 to prove to the " blundering assistant " that some 
 etchings he had never seen, and, consequently never 
 had questioned ; — of the very existence of which, in 
 short, he was utterly unconscious, — ^were by a Mr. 
 Duveneck, of whom he had never heard, and not by 
 Mr. Whistler ! — ^a fact that in his whole life he had 
 never been in a position to dispute — and of which 
 the three Painter-Etchers themselves were the only people 
 who had ever had any doubt ! 
 
 Keally, they either doubted Duveneck, or they 
 didn't doubt Duveneck ! — Now, it the Piker party 
 didn't doubt Duveneck, who the devil did the Piker 
 party doubt ? And why, may I ask, does Mr. Haden, 
 
64 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 two days after the disastrous blunder in Bond Street, 
 vohmteer the following note of explanation to Mr. 
 Brown, the assistant ? — 
 
 (OOPT.) 
 
 " 38 Hertford Street, Mayfair, W. 
 March 19, 1881. 
 
 "To Ernest Brown, Esq. — Dear Sir, — We know all about Mr. 
 Frank Duveneck, and are delighted to have his etchings. — Yours 
 faithfully," 
 
 "F. SEYMOUR HADEiN." 
 
 It will be remembered that the little expedition to 
 the Fine Art Society's Gallery took place on Thursday 
 evening, the I'jth of March. On Friday, the i8th, Mr. 
 Huish wrote to Mr. Haden demanding an explanation ; 
 and on Saturday, the igth, this over-diplomatic and 
 criminating note was sent to Mr. Brown, — altogether 
 unasked for, and curiously difficult to excuse ! — " Me- 
 thinks, he doth protest too much ! " 
 
 Further comment I believe to be unnecessary. 
 
 I refer you, Gentlemen, to my letter of March zgth, 
 which Mr. Haden has never been able' to answer — 
 and merely point out that, the " blundering assistant " 
 was the only one who did not blunder at all — since 
 he alone refrained from folly, and, notwithstanding 
 aU exhortation, steadily refused, in the presence of 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 65 
 
 cunning connoisseurs, to mistake the work of one 
 man for that of another. 
 
 I have, Gentlemen, the honour to be. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. McNeill Whistlee. 
 
 May 18, i88i. 
 
 To THE Committee op 
 
 THE Painter-Etchers' Society. 
 
 May I, without impertinence, ask what really does 
 constitute the " Painter-Etcher" " all round," as Piker 
 has it ? — for, of these three gentlemen who have so 
 markedly distinguished themselves in that character, 
 two certainly are not painters — and one doesn't etch ! 
 
66 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 A Correction 
 
 P^ SUPPOSITITIOUS conversation in FvMnh 
 brought about the following interchange of tele- 
 
 Thc World, gTams : 
 
 Nov. 14, 1883, 
 
 From Oscar Wilde, Exeter, to J. McNeill Whistler, 
 Tite Street. — Pwnch too ridiculous — ^when you and I 
 are together we never talk about anything except 
 ourselves. 
 
 IVom Whistler, Tite Street, to Oscar Wilde, Exeter. 
 — No, no, Oscar, you forget — when you and I are 
 together, we never talk about anything except me. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 67 
 
 A Warning 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 " A foolish man's 
 
 IVTY dear James, I see from a weekly paper that neighbour's house j 
 
 ThelVorld. ^^ J t: C but a man of 
 
 June 1. 1881. your late residence, the White House, in Tite Street, SS"f him." 
 
 is now occupied by Mr. Harry QuUter, " the excellent 
 art critic and writer on art," or words to that eflfect. 
 This is the great man who has succeeded Mr. Tom 
 Taylor on the Timnes, and whose vagaries in art 
 criticism you and I, my dear James, have previously 
 noticed. . . 
 
 ATLAS. 
 
 § 
 
68 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Naif Enfant 
 
 r^LOSE to this is another portrait of extreme in- 
 terest, and, though of another kind, it is not inappro- 
 ThtTimts, priately near Mr. Hunt's work. This is Mr. John 
 
 May 2, 1881. * ■' 
 
 Buskin, painted by Mr. Herkomer. It is difficult to 
 dissociate this picture, as regards the merit of its 
 painting, from the interest which attaches to it as 
 being the first oil portrait we have ever seen of our 
 great art critic The picture remains a singu- 
 larly fine one, and is, in our opinion, Mr. Herkomer's 
 best portrait. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 69 
 
 A Straight Tip 
 
 " ^E pas confondre intelligence avec gendarmes" — 
 but surely, dear Atlas, when the art critic of the 
 Times, sufferingpossibly from chronic catarrh, iswaf ted ^y^ py^ia, 
 in at the Grosvenor without guide or compass, and 
 cannot by mere sense of smell distinguish between oil 
 and water colour, he ought, Uke Mark Twain, "to 
 inquire." 
 
 Had he asked the guardian or the fireman in the 
 gallery, either might have told him not to say that 
 one of the chief interests of Mr. Herkomer's large 
 water-colour drawing of Mr. Euskin " attaches to it 
 as being the first oil portrait we have ever seen of our 
 great art critic " ! Adieu. 
 
70 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 An Eager Authority 
 
 ]y[R. WHISTLER knows how to defend himself so 
 
 perkily that it is a pleasure to attack him. I hasten, 
 
 Thtivoru, therefore, with joy, to submit to you, dear Atlas, 
 
 Feb. 9, i88i. 
 
 who are growing so very clever at your languages, 
 the following crotchets and quavers — shall I call them? 
 for Mr. Whistler is just now full of "notes" — ^in 
 American-Italian ; they are from his delightful brown- 
 paper catalogue. To begin with, " Santa Margharita'' 
 is wrong ; it must be either Margarita or Margherita ; 
 the other is impossible Italian. Then who or what is 
 " San Giovanni Apostolo et Evangelistce " ? Does the 
 sprightly and shrill McNeill mean this for Latin ? 
 And is the " Caf 6 Orientale " intended to be French or 
 Italian ? It has an e too many for French, and an/ 
 too few for Italian. " Piazetta," furthermore, does 
 duty for " Piazzetta." Finally I give up " Campo Sta. 
 Martin.'' I don't know what that can be. The Italian 
 Calendar has a San Martino and a Santa Martina, but 
 Sta. Martin is very curious. The catalogue is exceed- 
 ingly short, but a few of the names are right. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 71 
 
 An Admission 
 
 'J^OUCHE ! — and my compliments to your " Corre- 
 spondent," Atlas, cheri — far from me to justify spelling 
 of my own ! But who could possibly have supposed |'^ ^'^S'l 
 an orthographer loose 1 Evidently too " ung vieulx 
 qui a moult roul6 en Palestine et aultres lieux." 
 
 "What it is to be prepared, though ! Atlas, mon 
 pauvre ami, you know the story of the witness who, 
 when asked how far he stood from the spot where the 
 deed was done, answered unhesitatingly — " Sixty-three 
 feet seven inches ! " " How, sir," cried the prosecuting 
 lawyer — " how can you possibly pretend to such accu- 
 racy ? " " "Well," returned the man in the box, " you 
 
 see I thought some d- ^d fool would be sure to ask 
 
 me, and so I measured." 
 
72 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 'Arry in the Grosvenor 
 
 A TLAS,— In spite of the Kyrle Society, I don't 
 appeal to the middle classes ; for I read in the Times 
 that 'Arry won't have me. I am ranked with the 
 camaure of his betters, and add not to the relish of his 
 winkles and tea. 
 
 Also, why troubles he about many things ? 
 
 But, alas! as is aptly remarked in one of the '^"["'^ 
 weekly papers, " 'Arry has taken to going to the 
 Grosvenor " ; and " ce n'est pas tout que d'etre 
 honnSte," he says, lightly paraphrasing' Alfred de 
 Musset, " U faut etre joli gargon ! " 
 
 And so he blooms into an aesthete of his own order. 
 To have seen him, O my wise Atlas, was my privilege 
 and my misery ; for he stood under one of my own 
 " harmonies " — already with difGlculty gasping its 
 gentle breath — himself an amazing " arrangement " 
 in strong mustard-and-cress, with bird's-eye belcher of 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 73 
 
 Eeckitt's blue; and then and there destroyed abso- 
 lutely, unintentionally, and once for all, my year's 
 work! 
 
 Atlas, shall these things be ? 
 
74 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Encouragement 
 
 TO OSCAR ON HIS " TOUR." 
 
 QSCAK,— "We, of Tite Street and Beaufort Gardens, 
 
 The World, joy in jour triumphs and delight in your success; 
 
 but we are of opinion that, with the exception of 
 
 your epigrams, you talk Uke " S C in the 
 
 provinces " ; and that, with the exception of your 
 knee-breeches, you dress like 'Arry Quilter. 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 73 
 
 A Remonstrance 
 
 j!^TLAS, how could you ! 
 
 I know you carry the World, on your back, and am 
 not surprised that my note to Oscar, on its way, 
 should have fallen from your shoulders into your 
 dainty fingers ; but why present it in the state of 
 puzzle ? 
 
 Besides, your caution is one-sided and unfair ; for 
 
 if you print S , why not A Q ? 
 
 Why not X Y Z at once ? 
 
 And how unlike me! Instead of the frank reck- 
 lessness which has unfortunately become a charac- 
 teristic, I am, for the first time, disguised in careful 
 timidity, and discharge my insinuating initials from 
 the ambush of innuendo. 
 
 My dear Atlas, if I may not always call a spade 
 a spade, may I not call a Slade Professor, Sidney 
 Colvin ? 
 
 The JVorli, 
 Feb. 22, 1882. 
 
76 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Propositions 
 
 I. Q7^AT_in_Art, it is criminal t o go b^ ond the 
 means used in its exercise. 
 
 II. That the space to be covered should always be 
 
 in proper relation to the means used for covering it. withcompii- 
 
 * ments to the Com- 
 
 III. That in etching, the means used, or instru- ™Hdtoken"Etch- 
 ment employed, being the finest possible point, the SSasiSn SKeiv- 
 
 r J ^ o r r r ing an invitation to 
 
 space to be covered should be small in proportion. 'n|toum^™te' 
 
 , _. . first condition was 
 
 I V . That all attempts to overstep the hmits {^'{^^{'o'^jj' 
 insisted upon by such proportion, are inartistic ■'y"""- ^ 
 thoroughly, and tend to reveal the paucity of the '^• 
 means used, instead of concealing the same, as re- 
 quired by Art in its refinement. 
 
 V. That the huge plate, therefore, is an ofience — 
 its undertaking an unbecoming display of determina- 
 tion and ignorance — its accomplishment a triumph 
 of unthinking earnestness and uncontrolled energy — 
 endowments of the " dufier." 
 
 VI. That the custom of "Remarque" emanates from 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 77 
 
 the amateur, and reflects his foolish facility beyond 
 the border of his picture, thus testifying to his un- 
 scientific sense of its dignity. 
 
 VII. That it is odious. 
 
 VIII. That, indeed, there should be no margin on 
 the proof to receive such " Remarque." 
 
 IX. That the habit . of margin, again, dates from 
 the outsider, and continues with the collector in his 
 unreasoning connoisseurship — ^taking curious pleasure 
 in the quantity of paper. 
 
 X. That the picture ending where the frame begins, 
 and, in the case of the etching, the white mount, being 
 inevitably, because of its colour, the frame, the picture 
 thus extends itself irrelevantly through the margin to 
 the mount. 
 
 XI. That wit of this kind would leave six inches of 
 raw canvas between the painting and its gold frame, 
 to delight the purchaser with the quality of the 
 cloth. 
 
 ^ 
 
78 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 An Unanswered Letter 
 
 PRfi Charmoy, Autun, 
 
 SaQne et Loire, France, 
 
 Sept. 13, 1867. 
 
 gIR, — I am at present engaged upon a book on etching 
 and should be glad to give a full account of what you 
 have done, but find a difficulty, which is that, although 
 I ihave seen many of your etchings, I have not fully 
 and fairly studied them. I wonder whether you 
 would object to lend me a set of proofs for a few 
 weeks. As the book is already advanced, I should be 
 glad of an early reply. My opinion of your work is, 
 (m the whole, so favowrahle that your reputation could 
 only gain by your afibrding me the opportunity of 
 speaking of your work at length. 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 P. G. HAMERTON. 
 James Whistler, Esq. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 79 
 
 Inconsequences 
 
 JAMES "WHISTLER is of American extraction, and 
 studied painting in France. As a student he was 
 capricious and irregular, and did not leave the impres- 
 sion amongst his fellow-pupils that his future would 
 be La any way distinguished .... his artistic educa- 
 tion seems to have been mainly acquired by private 
 JnltiJtol/' ^^^ independent study, .... 
 
 Mr. Whistler seems to be aware that etchings are 
 usually sought as much for their rarity as their excel- 
 lence, and to have determined that his own plates 
 shall be rare already. 
 
 I have been told that, if application is made by 
 letter to Mr. Whistler for a set of his etchings, he 
 may, perhaps, if he chooses to answer the letter, do i^* 'o"y'^S™Ji^"' 
 the applicant the favour to let him have a copy for painterenor^etchers 
 
 would find anything: 
 
 about the price of a good horse Se°foufsVM°m '" 
 
 Whistler's etchings are not generally remarkable London whars."— 
 
 ° o J p. G. Hamerton, 
 
 for poetical feeling mSLTs.'""' 
 
 p. G. HAMERTON,* 
 
 Etching and Etchers. 
 
8o 
 
 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Uncovered Opinions 
 
 •" Co rot is one of 
 the most celebrated 
 landscape painters 
 in France. The 
 first impression of 
 an Ei^lishnian, on 
 looking at his works, 
 is that they are the 
 sketches of an ama* 
 teur ; it is difficult 
 at first sight to 
 consider them the 
 serious perform- 
 ances of an artist. 
 , , . . I understand 
 Corot now, sxvA 
 think his reputation, 
 if not well deserved, 
 at least easily ac- 
 counted for 
 
 Corot must be an 
 early riser." — P. G. 
 Hamerton, Fine 
 Arts Quarter iy. 
 
 ]\/[R. WHISTLER'S famous « Woman in White " 
 
 is amongst the rejected pictures The hangers 
 
 must have thought her particularly ugly, for they 
 have given her a sort of place of honour, before an 
 opening through which all pass, so that nobody misses 
 her. 
 
 I watched several parties, to see the impression 
 the " Woman in White " made on them. They all 
 stopped instantly, struck with amazement. This for 
 two or three seconds; then they always looked at 
 each other and laughed. 
 
 Here, for once, I have the happiness to be quite of 
 the popular way of thinking. 
 
 *P. G. HAMERTON. 
 
 Fine Arts Quarterly. 
 
 • " Dori (Gustave Paul) He is a 
 
 great and marvellous genius— a poet 
 such as a nation produces once in a 
 thousand years. He is the most 
 imaginative, the profoundest, the most 
 
 firoductive poet that has ever sprung 
 rom the French race."— P. G. HAMER- 
 TON, Fine Arts Quarterly. 
 
 _ _.„__/ (Charles Francois).— If 
 landscape can be satisfactorily painted 
 without either drawing or colour— 
 Daubigny is the man to do it"— 
 P. G. Hamerton, Fine Arts 
 Quarterly. 
 
 * " M. Courbet is 
 looked upon as the 
 representative of 
 Realism in France. 
 The truth is that 
 Edouard Fr&re, the 
 Bonheurs, and 
 many others are 
 to the full as 
 realistic as Courbet, 
 but they produce 
 beautiful pictures. 
 .... It 15 difficult 
 to speak of Courbet 
 without losing 
 patience. Every- 
 thing he touches 
 becomes unplea- 
 sant."— P. G. HAM- 
 ERTON, Fine Arts 
 Quarterly, 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 8i 
 
 The Fate of an Anecdote 
 
 ■ TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — In Scribner's Magazine for this month there 
 appears an article on Mr. Seymour Haden, the eminent 
 surgeon etcher, by a Mr. Hamerton, and in this NcmYorknibum 
 
 ^ * ' Sept. 12, ifioo. 
 
 article I have stumbled upon a curious statement con- 
 cerning, strangely enough, my own affairs, offered 
 pleasantly in the disguise of an anecdote habitually 
 " narrated " by the Doctor himself, and printed effec- 
 tively in inverted commas, as here shown : 
 
 . ..." A parallel anecdote is narrated by Mr. 
 Haden : ' The most exquisite series of plates which 
 Whistler ever did — his sixteen Thames subjects — were 
 originally printed by a steel-plate printer, and so badly 
 that the owner thought the plates were worn out, and 
 sold them for a small sum in comparison to their real 
 worth. The purchaser took them to Goulding, the 
 best printer of etchings in England, and it was found 
 that they were not only perfect, but that they pro- 
 
 p 
 
82 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 duced impressions which had never before been ap- 
 proached even by Delatre.' " 
 
 Putting gently aside the question of these plates 
 being superior to all previous or subsequent work, and 
 dealing merely with facets, I have to say that they 
 were not " originally printed by a steel-plate printer " ; 
 that the impressions were not so bad that the owner 
 thought the plates worn out ; and, flattering as is the 
 supposition that they were sold for a small sum in 
 comparison to their real worth, I am obliged to reject 
 even this palatable assertion, as I received for the 
 plates the price that I asked, knowing full well their 
 exact condition. 
 
 Instead of the " steel-plate printer," Delatre, then 
 at his prime, had himself printed these etchings — a fact 
 which, amusingly enough, Mr. Haden admits further 
 on, in direct contradiction to his first broad statement. 
 Moreover, I had myself pulled proofs of them all ; 
 indeed, one in the set of sixteen plates, a drypoint, 
 called " The Forge " (for by the way they were not all 
 of the Thames), I alone printed. When the plates 
 left my hands they were not " taken to Goulding," who 
 at that moment had, I fancy, barely begun his career 
 as " the best printer of etchings in England " (and a 
 capital printer he certainly is) ; and it was not " found 
 that they produced impressions never before ap- 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 83 
 
 proaohed even by Delatre " — here we have the contra- 
 diction alluded to — no ! this theatrical denouement I 
 must also put aside with sorrow. 
 
 The plates were brought out by Messrs. Ellis, who 
 had them printed by some one in London, whose work 
 was certainly not to be compared to that of Delatre, 
 whom I should undoubtedly have recommended ; so 
 that it was only long after the sale had been completed 
 and the plates had ceased to be in my possession, that 
 inferior impressions were produced. 
 
 The understanding on my part with those publishers 
 was that the plates were to be destroyed after one 
 hundred impressions had been taken, but very re- 
 cently they reappeared, and were sold to their present 
 possessors, who dML take them to Mr. Goulding. And 
 here I am obliged to explain away the last element of 
 astonishment, for Mr. Goulding naturally found the 
 etchings in their original perfect condition simply 
 because I had had them steeled in their full bloom 
 when I had satisfied myself by my own proofs. 
 
 Goulding's impressions of these plates are very 
 excellent, but to say they were quite unapproached by 
 Delatre is not only needless exaggeration, but an 
 unkindness to Mr. Goulding. 
 
 Surely there must be some misunderstanding be- 
 tween Mr. Haden and his biographer — a misdeal of 
 
■84 THE GENTLE ART , OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 data — an accident with the anecdotes — because no one 
 was more keenly alive to all relating to these plates 
 and their various states than Mr. Haden himself, 
 whose strong sense of the importance of printing was 
 ■acquired while watching the progress of these same 
 plates, and the previous French set, as they were 
 proved by me and printed by Delatre, to whom I 
 introduced him. 
 
 Far from me to spoil a good story ; but for the 
 life of me I cannot see what any sympathizing 
 racontewr will regret in the destruction of this 
 mere jumble of statistics that Mr. Hamerton calls 
 " Mr. Haden's anecdote." 
 
 Venice, Aug. i6, 1880. 
 
In Excels ii 
 
86 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 In Excelsis 
 
 ]\/[R. HAMERTON presents his compliments to 
 Mr. Whistler, and begs to inform him that he has 
 read Mr. Whistler's very unbecoming and improper 
 letter in the New York Tribune. 
 
 Mr. Hamerton in his article in Soribner's Monthly 
 simply quoted a passage from one of Mr. Haden's 
 lectures on Etching, published in Cassell's Magazine 
 of Art J consequently Mr. Hamerton did not otfer 
 matter to his readers under any disguise whatever. 
 Mr. Hamerton has answered Mr. Whistler's letter in 
 the same journal in which it appeared. 
 
 Pr6 Charmoy, Autun, Sa6ne et Loire 
 Sept. 28, 1880. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 87 
 
 A Suspicion 
 
 JT is possibly too much to expect — upon the prin- 
 ciple of "trumps not turning up twice" — ^but Mr. 
 Whistler does hope that Mr. Hamerton's letter to the 
 Nem York Tribune will be as funny as his note to 
 Mr. Whistler, which has just been forwarded from 
 London. 
 
 Venice, Oct. 7. 
 CAFfi Florian, Place San Marc. 
 
 Pardon ! Is Mr. Whistler right in supposing, from 
 the droll little irritation shown in Mr. Hamerton's 
 note, that Mr. Hamerton is perhaps — another " Art 
 Critic"? ^-^y 
 
88 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Conviction 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — A friend in America has sent me the letter 
 from Mr. Whistler which refers to my article in 
 Scribner on Mr. Haden's etchings. The letter begins 
 as follows : 
 
 In Soribner's Magazine for this month there 
 NewYcrkTrihimt, appears Bji article on Mr, Seymour Haden, the emi- 
 
 Oct. ll,l88o. ^"^ ' 
 
 nent surgeon etcher by a Mr. Hamerton, and in this 
 article I have stumbled upon a curious statement 
 concerning — strangely enough — my own affairs, 
 offered pleasantly in the disguise of an anecdote 
 habitually ' narrated ' by the Doctor himself, and 
 printed effectively in inverted commas, as here shown. 
 Here Mr. Whistler accuses me of disguising some- 
 thing which I choose to tell, as if it came from Mr. 
 Haden, by printing it in inverted commas. The 
 statement is "offered pleasantly in the disguise of 
 an anecdote,'' and "printed effectively in inverted 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES ' 89 
 
 commas." I used inverted commas because it is the 
 custom to do so when making a quotation. I. quoted 
 Mr. Haden's own words from one of his lectures on 
 etching, and they will be found printed, as I quoted 
 them, in Cassell's Magazine of Art. I beg to be per- 
 mitted to observe that a writer who quotes a passage, 
 as I did, in perfect good faith, ought not to be accused 
 of offering matter in disguise. There was no disguise 
 about it. Mr. Haden's words may be compared with 
 my quotation. Again, to prevent any possible in- 
 accuracy, a proof of the article in Soribner was sent 
 de'iiM""" ^ "'" *° ^^- Haden before it was published.* It is scarcely 
 necessary that I should allude to Mr. Whistler's 
 studied discourtesy in calling me "a Mr. Hamerton." 
 It does me no harm, but it is a breach of ordinary reflection: 
 good manners in speaking of a well-known writer! 
 Yours obediently. 
 
 REFLECTION; 
 
 P. G. HAMERTON. 
 AuTUN, Sept. 29, 1880. 
 
 ^ 
 
MR. WHISTLER 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS CRITICS 
 
 A CATALOGUE 
 
 Out of their own mouths shall ye judge theiii 
 
' Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" 
 
 S 
 
 Etchings and Dry-points 
 " His pictures form a dangerous precedent." 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 " Another crop of Mr. Whistler's little jokes." 
 
 Truth. 
 
 I.— MURANO-GLASS FURNACE. 
 
 " Criticism is powerless here." — Knowledge. 
 
 2.— DOORWAY AND VINE. 
 
 " He must not attempt to palm off his deficiencies 
 upon us as manifestations of power.'' 
 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
94 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 3.— WHEELWRIGHT. 
 " Their charm depends not at all upon the technical 
 qualities so striking in his earlier work." 
 
 St. Jamss's Gazette. 
 
 4.— SAN BIAGIO. 
 
 " So far removed from any accepted canons of art 
 as to be beyond the understanding of an ordinary 
 mortal." — Observer. 
 
 S.— BEAD STRINGERS. 
 
 " ' Impressionistes,' amd of these the various schools ^^pi-ection: 
 
 _^^ ^ "Etvoil^comine 
 
 are represented by Mr. Whistler, Mr. Spencer Stanhope, °" *'"' '"''s'oire-" 
 Mr. Walter Crane, and Mr. Strudwick." ^ 
 
 6.— FISH SHOP. 
 " Those who feel painfully the absence in these 
 works of any feeling for the past glories of Venice.'' 
 
 'Arry in the Spectator. 
 " Whistler is eminently vulgar." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 7.— TURKEYS. 
 "They say very little to the mind."— i?". Wedmore. 
 " It is the artist's pleasure to have them there, and 
 we can't help it." — Edinburgh Courant. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 95 
 
 8.— NOCTURNE RIVA. 
 
 " The Nocturne is intended to convey an impression 
 of night." — P. O. Hamert(m. 
 
 " The subject did not admit of any drawing." 
 
 P. G. Hamerton. 
 
 " We have seen a great many representations of 
 Venetian skies, but never saw one before consisting 
 of brown smoke with clots of ink in diagonal lines." 
 
 9.— FRUIT STALL. 
 
 " The historical or poetical associations of cities have 
 little charm for Mr. Whistler and no place in his 
 art." 
 
 la— SAN GIORGIO. 
 " An artist of incomplete performance." 
 
 F. Wedmore. 
 
 II.— THE DYER. 
 
 " By having as little to do as possible with tone and .a*Mr?lSrtJn 
 
 does ine no hann 
 
 light and shade, Mr. Whistler evades great difficul- ^'^"'/'"''J^''' 
 ties." — P. G. Hobmerton. ISySrTvJSiiSmi 
 
 wnter." 
 
 " All those theoretical principles of the art, of which p. g."hamerton; 
 
 *■ -^ - Sept. S9, 1880. 
 
 we have heard so much from Messrs. Haden, Hamer- "^k^y^V' 
 ton (?) * and Lalauze, are abandoned." 
 
 St. James's Gasette. 
 
96 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 12.— NOCTURNE PALACES. 
 " Pictures in darkness are contradictions in terms." 
 
 Literary World. 
 
 13.— THE DOORWAY. 
 " There is seldom in his Etchings any large arrange- 
 ment of light and shade." — P. G. Hamerton. 
 " Short, scratchy lines." — St. James's Gazette. 
 " The architectural ornaments and the interlacing 
 bars of the gratings are suggested rather than drawn." 
 
 St. Jameis Gazette. 
 " Amateur prodige." — Saturday Review. 
 
 14.— LONG LAGOON. 
 " We think that London fogs and the muddy old 
 Thames supply Mr. Whistler's needle with subjects 
 more congenial than do the Venetian palaces and 
 lagoons." — Daily News. 
 
 15.— TEMPLE. 
 
 " The work does not feel much." — Times. 
 
 16.— LITTLE SALUTE.— (Dry-point.) 
 "As for the lucubrations of Mr. Whistler, they 
 come like shadows and will so deport, and it is unneces- 
 sary to disquiet otie's self about them.'' 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 97 
 
 17.— THE BRIDGE. 
 
 " These works have been done with a swiftness and 
 dash that precludes anything like care and finish." 
 
 " These etchings of Mr, "Whistler's are nothing like 
 so satisfactory as his earlier Chelsea ones ; they 
 neither convey the idea of space nor have they the 
 delicacy of handling and treatment which we see in 
 those." y 
 
 " He looked at Venice never in detail." 
 
 F. Wedmore. 
 
 18.— WOOL CARDERS. 
 
 • Mr. Wedmore 
 
 " They have a merit of their own, and I do not covere?of thefii- 
 wish to understand it." * — F. Wedmore. ■•vigour and exqui- 
 
 siteness are denied 
 — are they not 7— 
 even to a Velas- 
 quez "I 
 19.— UPRIGHT VENICE. 
 
 " Little to recommend them save the eccentricity 
 of their titles." 
 
 20.— LITTLE VENICE. 
 
 " The Little Venice is one of the slightest of the 
 series." — St James's Gazette. 
 
 " In the Little Venice and the Little Lagoon Mr. 
 Whistler has attempted to convey impressions by 
 lines far too few for his purposes." — DaUy NemSy 
 
 G 
 
98 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Our river is naturally full of effects in hlach cmd 
 white cmd bistre. Venetian skies and marbles have 
 colour you cannot suggest with a point and some 
 printer's ink." — Daily News. 
 
 " It is not the Venice of a maiden's fancies." — 'Arry. 
 
 21.— LITTLE COURT. 
 
 " Merely technical triumphs." — Standard. 
 
 22.— REGENT'S QUADRANT. 
 
 " There may be a few who find genius in insanity." 
 
 23.— LOBSTER POTS. 
 
 * The same 
 
 " So little in them." * — P. G. Hamertmi. "The°miiietis 
 
 beautiful from 
 Maidenhead to Kew, but not from 
 Battersea to Sheemess." 
 
 24.— RIVA No. 2. 
 
 " In all his former Etchings he was careful to give 
 a strong foundation of firm drawing. In these plates, 
 however, he has cast aside this painstaking method." 
 
 St. James's Gazette. 
 
 25.— ISLANDS. 
 
 * Elsewhere 
 
 " An artist who has never mastered the subtleties of s'^p'foSyl^ *"" 
 accurate form."* — F, Wedmore, lector must^™' 
 
 ffraduaUy and 
 painfidly acquire 
 the eye to judge of the impression." 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 
 This is possibly the process through 
 which the preacher is passing. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 99 
 
 26.— THE LITTLE LAGOON. 
 
 " Well, little new came of it, in etching ; nothing 
 new that was beautiful." — F. Wedmore. 
 
 27.— NOCTURNE SHIPPING. 
 " This Archimago of the iconographic aoraton, or 
 graphiology of the Hidden." — Daily Telegraph. "AnumnEi 
 
 " Popularity is the only insult that has not yet been 
 offered to Mr. "Whistler." — Osca/r Wilde. 
 
 28.— TWO DOORWAYS. 
 " It is trying to any sketch without tone to be hung 
 upon a wall as these have been." — P. G. HamxirUm. 
 
 29.— OLD WOMEN. 
 
 " He is never literary." — P. G. Ha/meHon. 
 
 30.— RIVA. 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 
 "He took from London to Venice his happy Like eho's Fruit 
 
 ^^'' Salt or tlie " Ami- 
 
 fashion of suggesting lapping water." — F. Wedmore. ■^'■■'^■M"." 
 
 " Even such a well-worn subject as the Riva degli 
 Schiavoni is made original (?) by being taken from a 
 high point of view, and looked at lengthwise, instead 
 of from the canal." 
 
100 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 31.— DRURY LANE. 
 
 "In Mr. Whistler's productions one miglit safely 
 say that there is no culture." — Atketueum. 
 
 32.— THE BALCONY. 
 
 " His colour is subversive." — Etissian Press. 
 
 33.— ALDERNEY STREET. 
 
 " The best art may be produced with trouble." 
 
 F. Wedmore* mJJ'^''°'^ 
 
 34.— THE SMITHY. 
 
 " They produce a disappointing impression." 
 
 nor a Per- 
 sian,"— F. Wed- 
 more. 
 
 * Mr. Hamerton 
 
 " His Etchings seem weak when framed." * doesai»»y?' 
 
 "Indifference to 
 
 P. G. Hmnerton. ^^^^Z^" 
 
 splendid success in 
 etching, as the ca- 
 reer of Rembrandt 
 
 35.— STABLES. pToj,^."-£tM„^ 
 
 " An nnplea^ing thing, and framed in Mr. Whistler's 
 odd fashion." — City Press. 
 
 36,— THE MAST. 
 
 " The Mast and the Little Mast are dependent for 
 much of their interest, on the drawing of festoons „_„,,. ,,,„„ 
 
 ' S> REFLECTION: 
 
 of cord hanging from unequal heights." At the service of 
 
 ° ° ^ e critics of unequal 
 
 sizes. 
 
 P. G. Hampton, j^. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES loi 
 
 37.— TRAGHETTO. 
 
 " The artist's present principles seem to deny him 
 any effective chiaroscuro." — P. O. Hamerton. 
 
 "Mr. Whistler's figure drawings, generally defective !!s^^^l"°^'' 
 and always incomplete." geS'yTwa,^. 
 
 38.— FISHING BOAT. 
 " Subjects unimportant in themselves." 
 
 F. G. Hamerton. 
 
 39.— PONTE PIOVAN. 
 
 " Want of variety in the handling." 
 
 St. Jamies'a Gazette. 
 
 40.— GARDEN. 
 " An art which is happier in the gloom of a doorway 
 than in the glow of the sunshine, and turns with a 
 pleasant blindness from whatsoever in Nature or Man 
 is of perfect beauty or noble thought." — 'Arry. 
 
 41.— THE RIALTO. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler has etched too much for his reputa- 
 tion." — F. Wedmore. 
 
 " Scampering caprice." — *S'. Colvin. reflection: 
 
 '^ a JT ThisCriUcitis 
 
 "Mr. Whistler's drawing, which is sometimes that Sr."*'""'''™" 
 of a very slovenly master." ^j 
 
102 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 42.— LONG VENICE. 
 " After all, there are certain accepted canons about 
 what constitutes good drawing, good colour, and good 
 painting ; and when an artist deliberately sets himself 
 to ignore or violate all of these, it is desirable that his 
 work should not be classed with that of ordinary 
 artists." — 'Arry. 
 
 43.— NOCTURNE SALUTE. 
 " The utter absence, as far as my eye * may be • ? 
 trusted, of gradation." — F. Wedmore. f8 
 
 " There are many things in a painter's art which 
 even a photographer cannot understand." 
 
 Laudatory notice in Provincial Press. 
 
 44.— FURNACE NOCTURNE. 
 " There is no moral element in his chiaroscuro." 
 
 Richmond Eagle. 
 
 45.— PIAZETTA. 
 " Whistler does not take much painS with his work." 
 
 New York Paper. 
 
 " A sort of transatlantic impudence in his clever- 
 ness." 
 
 " His pictures do tiot claim to be accurate.'' 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 103 
 
 46.— THE LITTLE MAST. 
 
 " Form and line are of little account to him." 
 
 47.— QUIET CANAL. 
 
 " Herr Whistler stellt ganz wunderbare Produc- 
 tionen aus, die auf Gesetze der Form und der Farbe 
 gegriindet scheinen, die dem Uneingeweihten unver- 
 standlich sind." — Wiener Fresse. 
 
 " This new manner of Mr. Whistler's is no improve- 
 ment upon that which helped him to win his fame in 
 this field of art." 
 
 48.— PALACES. 
 
 " The absence, seemingly, of any power of drawing 
 the forms of water." * — F. Wedmore. •smno.so. 
 
 TTw Xrva. 
 
 " He has never, so far as we know, attempted to 
 transfer to copper any of the more ambitious works of 
 the architect." — Pall Mail Gazette. 
 
 " He has been content to show us what his eyes can 
 see, and not what his hand can do.'' 
 
 St. James's Gazette. 
 
 49.— SALUTE DAWN. 
 
 " Too sensational." — Athencsum. 
 
 " Pushing a single artistic principle to the verge of 
 affectation." — Sidney Colvin. 
 
104 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 so.— BEGGARS. 
 
 " In the character of humanity he has not time to 
 be interested." — Standard. 
 
 " General absence of tone." — P. G. Hamerton. 
 
 SI.— LAGOON : NOON. 
 " Years ago James Whistler was a person of high 
 promise." — F. Wedmore. 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 
 " What the art of Mr. Whistler yields is a tertium • Theouidof 
 
 sweet and bitter 
 
 quid." * — Sidney Colvin. '^^^ -., 
 
 W 
 " All of which gems, I am sincerely thankful to say, 
 
 I cannot appreciate.'' 
 
 " As we have hinted, the series does not represent 
 any Venice that we much care to remember ; for who 
 wants to remember the degradation of what has 'reflection-. 
 been noble, the foulness of what has been fair ? " fooush w^rieth 
 
 every one of them 
 
 'Arry * in the " TimesP ^^,™?Je''ciw°''°"'"°""°'"° 
 " Disastrous failures." — F. Wedmurre. 
 
 " Failures that are complete and failures that are 
 partial." — F. Wedmore. 
 
 " A publicity rarely bestowed upon failures at all." 
 F. Wedmore, JVinsteenth Century. 
 
 " yoila ce que I'm dit de mot 
 Dans la Ga'xette dt Hollande." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 105 
 
 " Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth 
 justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold 
 obscurity ; for brightness, but we walk in darkness." 
 
 " We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope 
 as if we had no eyes ; we stumble at noonday as in the 
 night." 
 
 " We roar all like bears." 
 
 k^ 
 
 W 
 
io6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Taking the Bait 
 
 gY the simple process of applying snippets of pub- 
 
 liahed sentences to works of art to which the original 
 
 Till Academy, comments Were never meant to have reference, and 
 
 l-cb. 24, 1883. 
 
 sometimes, too, by lively misquotation — as when a 
 writer who "did not wish to understate " Mr. 
 Whistler's merit is made to say he "did not wish to 
 understand" it, Mr. Whistler has counted on good- 
 humouredly confounding criticism. He has entertained 
 but not persuaded ; and if his literary efiEbrts with the 
 scissors and the paste-pot might be taken with any 
 seriousness we should have to rebuke him for his 
 feat. But we are far from doing so. He desired, it 
 seems, to say that he and "Velasquez were both above 
 criticism. An artist in literature would have said it 
 in fewer words ; but indulgence may fairly be granted 
 to the less assured methods of an amateur in author- 
 ship. 
 
 F. WEDMORE. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 107 
 
 An Apology 
 
 ^TLAS, — There are those, they tell me, who have 
 the approval of the people — and live ! For them the 
 succes d'estime ; for me, Atlas, the succes d'ex&cration 
 — the only tribute possible from the Mob to the 
 r*. i^-criii. Master ! This I have now nobly achieved. Glissons I 
 
 l-eb. 28, 1883. "^ 
 
 In the hour of my triumph let me not neglect my 
 ambulance. 
 
 Mr. Frederick Wedmore — a critic — one of the 
 wounded — complains that by dexterously substituting 
 " understand " for " understate," I have dealt unfairly 
 by him, and wrongly rendered his writing. Let me 
 hasten to acknowledge the error, and apologise. My 
 carelessness is culpable, and the misprint without 
 excuse ; for naturally I have all along known, and 
 the typographer should have been duly warned, that 
 with Mr. Wedmore, as with his brethren, it is 
 always a matter of understating, and not at all one 
 of understanding. 
 
io8 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 Quant aux autres — well, with the exception of 
 " 'Arry," who really is dead, they will recover. Scalped 
 and disfigured, they are not mortally hurt; and — 
 would you believe it? — possessed with an infinite 
 capacity for continuing, they have already returned, 
 nothing doubting, to their limited literature, of which 
 T have exhausted the stock. — -Yours, en passant. 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
['^Jeux Inmcents" 
 
THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Jeux Innocents" in Tite Street 
 
 I^E. WHISTLER'S final breakfast of the year was 
 given on Sunday last. The hospitable master has 
 Dec.^^ffls. fresh wonders in store for his friends in the new 
 year ; for, not content with treating his next-door 
 critic after the manner that Portuguese sailors treat 
 the Apostle Judas at Easter-tide, he is said to have 
 perfected a new instrument of torture. This inven- 
 tion is of the nature of a camera obscura, whereby, 
 by a crafty " arrangement " of reflectors, he promises 
 to display in his own studio, to his friends, " 'Arry at 
 the White House," under all the appropriate circum- 
 stances that might be expected of a " Celebrity at 
 Home." 
 
 ATLAS. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 A Line from the Land's End 
 
 J)ELIGHTFUL ! Atlas— I have read here, to the 
 idle miners — culture in their manners curiously, at this 
 season, blended with intoxication — your brilliant and 
 graphic description of 'Arry at the other end of my 
 arrangement in telescopic lenses. 
 
 The sensitive sons of the Cornish caves, by instinct 
 refined, revel in the writhing of the resurrected 
 'Arry. 
 
 Our natures are evidently of the same dainty 
 brutality. Cruelty to the critic after demise is 
 a revelation, and the story of 'Arry pursued with 
 post-mortem, and, for Sunday demonstration, kept 
 by galvanism from his grave, is to them most 
 fascinating. 
 
 I have, my sympathetic Atlas, the success that 
 might have been Edgar Poe's, could he have read to 
 such an audience the horrible " Case of Mr. Wal- 
 demar." 
 
 The IVartrl 
 Jan. 2, 18S4. 
 
112 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 My invention and machinery, by the way, these 
 warm-hearted people believe to be something after 
 the fashion of their own sluice-boxes — and I dare not 
 undeceive them. 
 
 Atlas, je te la souhaite bonne et heureuse ! 
 
 St. Ives, Cornwall, 
 Dec. 27. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 113 
 
 TAe Easy Expert 
 
 _^TLAS, — They hava sent me the Spectator — a paper 
 upon which our late 'Arry lingered to the last as art 
 critic. In its columns I find a correspondent calling 
 aloud for our kind intervention. Present me, brave 
 Atlas, to the editor, that I may say to him : 
 j^ZT^X " GfOOD SIR, — ' Your Reviewer ' is doubtless my un- 
 buried 'Arry. Why, then, should ' his mistaking a 
 photogravure reproduction of a pen-and-ink drawing 
 by Samuel Palmer for a finished etching by the same 
 hand ' seem, ' to say the least of it, astounding ' ? 
 
 " Not at all ! By this sort of thing was he known 
 among us, poor chap — and so was he our fresh gladness 
 and continued surprise.'' 
 
 " Did I not make historical his enchanting encounter 
 with Mr. Herkomer's water-colour drawing of Mr. 
 Ruskin at the Grosvenor, which he described as the 
 ' firat oil portrait we have of the great master ' ? 
 Amazing that, if you like ! 
 
 H 
 
114 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Do not all remember how we leaped for joy at the 
 reading of it ? " 
 
 " Even Atlas himself laughed aloud, and, handi- 
 capped as he is with the "World, and weighted with 
 wisdom, danced upon his plinth, a slow measure of 
 reckless acquiescence, as I set down in the chronicles 
 of all time that 'Arry, ' unable, by mere sense of 
 smell, to distinguish between oil and water-colour, 
 might at least have inquired ; and that either the 
 fireman or the guardian in the Gallery could have 
 told him not to blunder in the Times' " 
 
 "But no, he never would ask — ^he liked his pot- 
 shots at things ; it used to give a sort of sporting 
 interest to his speculations upon pictures. And so 
 he was ever obstinate — or any one at the Fine Art 
 Society would have told him the difference between 
 an etching and a photograph. — I am, good sir, yours, 
 etc." 
 
 Atlas, d bientdt. 
 
 St. Ives, Cornwall, 
 
 Jan. 25, 1884. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 115 
 
 Propositions — No. 2 
 
 P^ PICTURE is finished when all trace of the means 
 used to bring about the end has disappeared. 
 
 To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, 
 that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that 
 it is incomplete and unfit for view. 
 
 Industry in Art is a necessity — not a virtue — and 
 
 any evidence of the same, in the production, is a 
 
 blemish, not a quality ; a proof, not of achievement! 
 
 but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will 
 
 ' efface the footsteps of work. 
 
 The work of the master reeks not of the sweat of 
 the brow — suggests no effort — and is finished from its 
 beginning. 
 
 The completed task of perseverance only, has never 
 been begun, and will remain unfinished to eternity — a 
 monument of goodwill and foolishness. 
 
 " There is one that laboureth, and taketh pains, 
 and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind." 
 
ii6 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the 
 painteiVr-perlect in.-3l,'6ftd a»-«i~its bloom — with no 
 reason to explain its presence — no mission to fulfil — 
 a joy to the artist — a delusion to the philanthropist — 
 a puzzle to the botanist — an accident of sentiment and 
 alliteration to the literary man. 
 
[A Bint 
 
n8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 A Hint 
 
 p LEASE to take note, my dear Mr. James McN. 
 The World, W., that vouT " dearest foe," 'Arry, is a candidate for 
 
 Feb. 17, 1886. » J T J 1 
 
 the Slade Chair of Art in the University of Cambridge ! 
 This is said to be the age of testimonials. A few 
 words from you, my dear James, addressed to the 
 distinguished trustees, could not fail to give 'Arry a 
 Uft. 
 
 ATLAS. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES ng 
 
 A Distinction 
 
 A TLAS, you provoke me ! The wisdom of ages 
 
 means but little — I have said it. Fa/wt ify-e " dans h 
 
 mouvement" you dear old thing, or you are absolutely 
 
 out of it ! 
 
 Tht World, You are misled, and mistake mere fact for the 
 
 Feb. 24, 1886. ' 
 
 fiction of history, which is truth — and instructs — and 
 is beautiful. 
 
 Now, in truth, 'Arry is dead — very dead. 
 
 Did I not, from between your shoulders, sally forth 
 and slay him ? — thereby instructing — and making 
 history — and avenging the beautiful. 
 
 If within the distant Ai'den, you can't descry, 
 "with sorrow laden,'' the tiny soul of 'Arry, it is 
 because you no longer read your own small print, my 
 Atlas ! and the microbes of Eternity escape you. 
 
 Moreover, are not these things written in the 
 chronicles of Chelsea, adown whose Embankment I 
 still, Achilles-like, do drag the body of an afternoon ? 
 
120 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 This practice has doubtless completed the confusion 
 of the wearied ones of Slade — and they of the Schools, 
 accustomed to the culture of Colvin, whose polished 
 scalp I with difficulty collected, ceasing to distinguish 
 between the quick and the dead, will probably prop 
 up our late 'Arry as professor, long to remain 
 undetected in the Chair ! 
 
 Atlas; taia-toi I — Let us not interfere ! 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 A Document 
 
 A TLAS, — I have come upon the posthumous paper 
 of 'ArryT— his certificate of character, and printed pre- 
 tension to the Professorship of Slade — and O ! the 
 shame of it — and the indiscretion of it ! 
 
 Bead, Atlas, and seek in your past for a parallel : m^j"'^ ''f^ 
 
 " To the Electors of the Slade Professor of Fine Art 
 "for the University of Cambridge. — My Lord and 
 " Gentlemen, — I beg to submit my name as a candidate 
 " for the Slade Professorship, and enclose herewith a 
 " few testimonials. . . I have also received favourable 
 " letters from the following gentlemen . . . Alma- 
 " Tadema, K.A., Marcus Stone, R.A., Briton Riviere, 
 "E.A., John Brett, A.E..A., . . . and others." 
 
 What! is the Immaculate impure? — and shall the 
 Academy have coquetted with the unclean ? 
 
 Had Alma the classic aught in common with this 
 'Arry of commerce ? 
 
 BeKeve him not. Atlas ! 
 
122 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Alma ! Ichabod ! forgive us the thought of it ! 
 
 Surely also the pots of " the Forty " do boil before 
 the Lord, and the flames of the chosen were unfanned 
 by the feather of 'Arry's goose-quill. 
 
 Again : 
 
 " My experience in art matters has been briefly as 
 " follows : 
 
 " I have worked at the subject continually in Italy, 
 " having for that purpose travelled and stayed in that 
 " country — at least a dozen times. I have also painted 
 •' in France, Germany, and Belgium, in which last- 
 " mentioned country I was in a portrait painter's 
 " studio." — (A portrait by 'Arry !) 
 
 "There are several pictures of mine being exhibited 
 " in London at the present time." (! ! !) 
 
 " I have also executed a good deal of distemper. . . . 
 
 " I have also travelled for a year in the East." 
 ('Arry in the East!!) 
 
 " I have had, as a lecturer upon Art, considerable 
 " experience — at working-men's clubs — . . . and at 
 " the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke's CoUege for men, 
 " women, and children. 
 
 " For the last ten years I have written ev&ry article 
 •' upon ai-t which has appeared in the Spectator news- 
 " paper " — a confession, Atlas, clearly a confession ! 
 " In i88o, I wrote a critical life of Giotto'' — he did 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 123 
 
 indeed, Atlas ! — I saw it — a book in blue — ^his own, 
 and Eeckitt's — all bold with brazen letters : 
 
 " GIOTTO BY 'aery " 
 
 — " of which two editions were published " — bless him 
 — and then I killed him ! 
 
 and, " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 " 'ARRY, M.A. 
 " Trin. Coll. Camb., Esquire." 
 
 The pride of it! 
 
124 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Sacrilege 
 
 Q ATLAS ! What of the « Society for the Preser- 
 vation of Beautiful Buildings " ? 
 
 Where is Ruskin? and what do Morris and Sir upon the AHm- 
 
 tions of the " White 
 
 William Drake? "°"==-" 
 
 For, behold ! beside the Thames, the work of dese- 
 The World, cratlou contiuues, and the " White House " swarms 
 
 Oct 17, 1883 
 
 with the mason of contract. 
 
 The architectural gcUhe that was the joy of the 
 few, and the bedazement of " the Board," crumbles 
 beneath the pick, as did the north side of St. 
 Mark's, and history is wiped from the face of 
 Chelsea. 
 
 Shall no one interfere ? Shall the interloper, even 
 after his death, prevail ? 
 
 Shall 'Arry, whom I have hewn down, still live 
 among us by outrage of this kind, and impose his 
 memory upon our pavement by the public perpetration 
 of his posthumous phihstinism ? 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 125 
 
 Shall the birthplace of art become the tomb of its 
 parasite in Tite Street ? 
 
 See to it, Atlas ! lest, when Time, the healer of all 
 the wounds I have inflicted, shall for me have exacted 
 those honours the prophet may not expect while alive, 
 and the inevitable blue disc, imbedded in the walls, 
 shall proclaim that " Here once dwelt " the gentle 
 Master of all that is flippant and fine in Art, some 
 anxious student, reading, fall out with Providence in 
 his vain effort to reconcile such joyous reputation 
 with the dank and hopeless appearance of this " model 
 lodging," bequeathed to the people by the arrogance 
 of 'Arry. 
 
126 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Red Rag 
 
 "X^HY should not I call my works "symphonies," "Mr.wMsttcrai 
 " arrangements," " harmonies," and " nocturnes " ? I ruworid. 
 
 ° ' ' May 2s, i8;«. 
 
 know that many good people think my nomenclature 
 funny and myself " eccentric." Yes, " eccentric " is 
 the adjective they find for me. 
 
 The vast majority of English folk cannot and will 
 not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any 
 story which it may be supposed to tell. 
 
 My picture of a " Harmony in Grey and Gold " is 
 an illustration of my meaning — a snow scene with a 
 single black figure and a lighted tavern. I care nothing 
 for the past, present, or future of the black figure, 
 placed there because the black was wanted at that spot. 
 All that I know is that my combination of grey and 
 gold is the basis of the picture. Now this is pre- 
 cisely what my friends cannot grasp. 
 
 They say, « Why not call it ' Trotty Veck,' and sell 
 it for a round harmony of golden guineas ? " — naively 
 acknowledging that, without baptism, there is no 
 .... market! 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 127 
 
 But even commercially this stocking of your shop 
 with the goods of another would be indecent — custom 
 alone has made it dignified. Not even the popularity 
 of Dickens should be invoked to lend an adventitious 
 aid to art of another kind from his. I should hold it 
 a vulgar and meretricious trick to excite people about 
 Trotty Veck when, if they really could care for pic- 
 torial art at all, they would know that the picttTre — , 
 should have its own merit, and not depend upon \ 
 dramatic, or legendary, or local interest. | 
 
 As music is the poetrj_of sound, so is painting the 
 poetry of sight, and the subject-matter has nothing to 
 do wTtETharmony of sound or of colour. 
 
 The great musicians knew this. Beethoven and the 
 rest wrote music — simply music ; symphony in this 
 key, concerto or sonata in that. 
 
 On F or G they constructed celestial harmonies — 
 as harmonies — as combinations, evolved from the 
 chords of F or G and their minor correlatives. 
 
 This is pure music as distinguished from airs — 
 commonplace and vulgar in themselves, but interest- 
 ing from their associations, as, for instance, " Yankee 
 Doodle," or " Partant pour la Syrie." 
 
 Axt should be independent of all clap-trap — should 
 stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or 
 ear, without confounding this wi€E" emotions .entirely 
 foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and 
 
128 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the like. All these have no kind of concern with it, 
 and that is why I insist on calling my works " arrange- 
 ments " and " harmonies." 
 
 Take the picture of my mother, exhibited at the 
 Royal Academy as an " Arrangement in Grey and 
 Black." Now that is what it is. To me it is in- 
 teresting as a picture of my mother ; but what can or 
 ought the public to care about the identity of the 
 portrait ? 
 
 The imitator is a poor kind of creature. If the man 
 who paints only the tree, or flower, "or other surface 
 he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists 
 would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do 
 something beyond thisjjn. portrait painting to put. on 
 canvas something more than the face the model wears 
 for that one day ; to paint the man, in short, as well 
 as his features ; in arrangement of colours to treat a 
 flower as his key, not as his model. 
 
 This is now understood indifferently well — at least 
 by dressmakers. In every costume you see attention 
 is paid to the key-note of colour which runs through 
 the composition, as the chant of the Anabaptists 
 through the Prophete, or the Huguenots' hymn in the 
 opera of that name. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 129 
 
 A Rebuke 
 
 ^O Birmingham election, no Chamberlain speech, 
 no Beynolde or Dispatch article, could bring the THen-<^u, 
 aristocracy more strongly into ridicule and con- 
 tempt than does the coarsely coloured cartoon of 
 "Newmarket" accompanying the winter number of 
 Vamty Fair. From it one learns that the Dukes, 
 Duchesses, and turf persons generally, frequent- 
 ing the Heath, are a set of blob-headed stumpy 
 dwarfs. 
 
 ATLAS. 
 
130 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 " Les points sur les i" 
 
 J AGBEE with you, Atlas of ages, that complete- 
 ness is a reason for ceasing to exist ; but even indigna- nuwirid. 
 tion might be less vague than is your righteous anger 
 at Vaniiy's Christmas cartoon. Surely you might 
 have helped the people, who scarcely distinguish 
 between the original and impudent imitation, to know 
 that this faded leaf is not from the book of Carlo 
 Pellegrini, the master who has taught them all — that 
 they can never learn ? 
 
 
MR. WHISTLER'S 
 
 "TEN O'CLOCK" 
 
 London, 1888 
 
^ 
 
 Delivered in London 
 
 Feb. 20, 1885 
 
 At Cambridge 
 
 March 24 
 
 At Oxford 
 April 30 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 135 
 
 Ladies and Gesttlemen : 
 
 It is with great hesitation and much misgiving 
 that I appear before you, in the character of The 
 Preacher. 
 
 If timidity be at all allied to the virtue modesty, 
 and can find favour in your eyes, I pray you, for the 
 sake of that virtue, accord me your utmost indul- 
 gence. 
 
 I would plead for my want of habit, did it not seem 
 preposterous, judging from precedent, that aught save 
 the most efficient effrontery could be ever expected in 
 connection with my subject — for I will not conceal 
 from you that I^ mean to talk about Art. Yes, Art — 
 that has of late become, as far as much discussion and 
 writing can make it, a sort of common topic for the 
 tea-table. 
 
 Art is upon the Town ! — to be chucked under the 
 chin by the passing gallant — to be enticed within the 
 gates of the householder — to be coaxed into company, 
 as a proof of culture and refinement. 
 
136 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 K familiaritjr can breed contempt, certainly Art — : 
 or what is currently taken for it — has been brought 
 to its lowest stage of intimacy. 
 
 The people have been harassed with Art in every 
 guise, and vexed with many methods as to its en- 
 durance. They have been told how they shall love 
 Art, and Uve with it. Their homes have been 
 invaded, their walls covered with paper, their veiy 
 dress taken to task — until, roused at last, bewildered 
 and filled with the doubts and discomforts of senseless 
 suggestion, they resent such intrusion, and cast forth 
 the false prophets, who have brought the very name 
 of the beautiful into disrepute, and derision upon 
 themselves. 
 
 Alas ! ladies and gentlemen, Art has been maligned- 
 She has naught in common with such practices. She 
 is a goddess of dainty thought — reticent of habit, 
 abjuring all obtrusiveness, purposing in no way to 
 better others. 
 
 She is, withal, selfishly occupied with her own per- 
 fection onl y — ha ving no desire to teach — seeking and 
 finding the beautiful in all conditions and in all 
 times, as did her high priest, Rembrandt, when he 
 saw picturesque grandeur and noble dignity in the 
 Jews' quarter of Amsterdam, and lamented not that 
 its inhabitants were not Greeks. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 137 
 
 As did Tintoret and Paul Veronese, among the 
 Venetians, while not halting to change the brocaded 
 silks for the classic draperies of Athens. 
 
 As did, at the Court of Philip, Velasquez, whose 
 Infantas, clad in insesthetic hoops, are, as works of 
 Art, of the same quality as the Elgin marbles. 
 
 No reformers were these great men — no improvers 
 of the way of others ! Their productions alone were 
 their occupation, and, filled with the poetry of their 
 science, they required not to alter their surroundings 
 — for, as the laws of their Art were revealed to them 
 they saw, in the development of their work, that real 
 beauty which, to them, was as much a matter of cer- 
 tainty and triumph as is to the astronomer the veri- 
 fication of the result, foreseen with the light given 
 to him alone. In all this, their world was completely 
 severed from that of their fellow-creatures with whom 
 sentiment is mistaken for poetry; and for whom there 
 is no perfect work that shall not be explained by the 
 benefit conferred upon themselves. 
 
 Humanity takes the place of Art, and God's 
 creations are excused by their usefulness. Beauty is 
 confounded with virtue, and, before a work of Art, it 
 is asked : " What good shall it do ? " 
 
 Hence it is that nobility of action, in this life, is 
 hopelessly linked with the merit of the work that 
 
138 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 portrays it; and thus the people have acquired the 
 hahit of looking, as who should say, not at a picture, 
 but through it, at some human fact, that shall, or 
 shall not, from a social point of view, better their 
 mental or moral state. So we have come to hear of 
 the painting that elevates, anjl_oJLthe^^uty_j)f_<ie 
 painter — :of the picture that is full of thought, and of 
 the panel that merely decorates. 
 
 A favourite faith, dear to those who teach, is 
 that certain periods were especially artistic, and 
 that nations, readily named, were notably lovers 
 of Art. 
 
 So we are told that the Greeks were, as a people, 
 worshippers of the beautiful, and that in the fifteenth 
 century Art was engrained in the multitude. 
 
 That the great masters lived in common under- 
 standing with their patrons — that the early Italians 
 were artists — all — and that the demand for the lovely 
 thing produced it. 
 
 That we, of to-day, in gross contrast to this 
 Arcadian purity, call for the ungainly, and obtain 
 the ugly. 
 
 That, could we but change our habits and climate 
 — were we willing to wander in groves — could we be 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 139 
 
 roasted out of broadcloth — were we to do without 
 haste, and journey without speed, we should again 
 require the spoon of Queen Anne, and pick at our 
 peas with the fork of two prongs. And so, for the 
 flock, little hamlets grow near Hammersmith, and the 
 steam horse is scorned. 
 
 Useless 1 quite hopeless and false is the eflfort ! — 
 built upon fable, and aU because " a wise man has 
 uttered a vain thing and filled his belly with the East 
 wind." 
 
 Listen ! There never was an artistic period. 
 
 There never was an Art-loving nation. 
 
 In the beginning, man went forth each day — some 
 to do battle, some to the chase ; others, again, to dig 
 and to delve in the field — all that they might gain 
 and live, or lose and die. Until there was found 
 among them one, differing from the rest, whose 
 pursuits attracted him not, and so he stayed by the 
 tents with the women, and traced strange devices 
 with a burnt stick upon a gourd. 
 
 This man, who . took no joy in the ways of his 
 brethren — who cared not for conquest, and fretted 
 in the field — this designer of quaint patterns — this 
 deviser of the beautiful — who perceived in Nature 
 about him curious curvings, as faces are seen in the 
 fire — this dreamer apart, was the first artist. 
 
140 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 And when, from the field and from afar, there 
 came back the peoplej they took the gourd — and drank 
 from out of it. 
 
 And presently there came to this man another — 
 and, in time, others — of like nature, chosen by the 
 Gods — and so they worked together ; and soon they 
 fashioned, from the moistened earth, forms resembling 
 the gourd. And with the power of creation, the 
 heirloom of the artist, presently they went beyond 
 the slovenly suggestion of Nature, and the first vase 
 was born, in beautiful proportion. 
 
 And the toilers tilled, and were athirst ; and the 
 heroes returned from fresh victories, to rejoice and to 
 feast; and all, drank alike from the artists' goblets, 
 fashioned cunningly, taking no note the while of the 
 craftsman's pride, and understanding not his glory in 
 his work ; drinking at the cup, not from choice, not 
 from a consciousness that it was beautiful, but because, 
 forsooth, there was none other ! 
 
 And time, with more state, brought more capacity 
 for luxury, and it became well that men should dwell 
 in large houses, and rest upon couches, and eat at 
 tables ; whereupon the artist, with his artificers, 
 built palaces, and filled them with furniture, beautiful 
 in proportion and lovely to look upon. 
 
 And the people lived in marvels of art — and ate and 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 141 
 
 drank out of masterpieces — ^for there was nothing 
 else to eat and to drink out of, and no bad building 
 to Uve in; no article of daily life, of luxury, or of 
 necessity, that had not been handed down from 
 the design of the mastef, and made by his work- 
 men. 
 
 And the people questioned not, and had nothing to 
 say in the matter. 
 
 So Greece was in its splendour, and Art reigned 
 supreme — by force of fact, not by election — and there 
 was no meddling from the outsider. The mighty 
 warrior would no more have ventured to offer a design 
 for the temple of Pallas Athene than would the sacred 
 poet have proffered a plan for constructing the 
 catapult. 
 
 And the Amateiu" was unknown — and the Dilettante 
 undreamed of ! 
 
 And history wrote on, and conquest accompanied 
 civilisation, and Art spread, or rather its products 
 were carried by the victors among the vanquished 
 from one country to another. And the customs of 
 cultivation covered the face of the earth, so that all 
 peoples continued to use what the artist alone 
 prodAJuxd. 
 
 And centuries passed in this using, and the world 
 was flooded with all that was beautiful, until there 
 
142 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 arose a new class, who discovered the cheap, and fore- 
 saw fortune in the facture of the sham. 
 
 Then sprang into existence the tawdry, the common, 
 the gewgaw. 
 
 The taste of the tradesman supplanted the science 
 of the artist, and what was born of the million went 
 back to them, and charmed them, for it was after 
 their own heart ; and the great and the small, the 
 statesman and the slave, took to themselves the 
 abominatioil that was tendered, and preferred it — and 
 have lived with it ever since ! 
 
 And the artist's occupation was gone, and the 
 manufacturer and the huckster took his place. 
 
 And now the heroes filled from the jugs and drank 
 from the bowls — with understanding — ^noting the 
 glare of their new bravery, and taking pride in its 
 worth. 
 
 And the people — ^this time — had much to say in the 
 matter— and all were satisfied. And Birmingham 
 and Manchester arose in their might — and Art was 
 relegated to the curiosity shop. 
 
 Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, 
 of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of 
 all music. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 143 
 
 But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and 
 group with science, these "elSient"^' that the^FeluIfc" 
 may be beautiful — as the musician gathers his notes, 
 and forms his chords, until he bring forth from chaos 
 glorious harmony. 
 
 To say to the painter, that Nature is to be taken as 
 she is, is to say to the player, That" he may «it on the- 
 piano. 
 
 That Nature is always right, is an assertion, 
 artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is 
 universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely 
 right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be 
 said that Nature is usually wrong : that is to say, the 
 condition of things that shall bring about the perfec- 
 tion of harmony worthy a picture is rare, and not 
 coDunon at all. 
 
 This would seem, to even the most intelligent, a 
 doctrine almost blasphemous. So incorporated with 
 our education has the supposed aphorism become, that 
 its belief is held to be part of our moral being, and 
 the words themselves have, in our ear, the ring of 
 religion. Still,^seldom does Nature succeed in 
 producing a picture. 
 
 The sun blares, the wind blows from the east, the 
 sky is bereft o cloud, and without, all is of iron. 
 The windows of the Crystal Palace are seen from 
 
144 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 all points of London. The holiday-maker rejoices in 
 the glorious day, and the painter turns aside to shut 
 his eyes. 
 
 How little this is understood, and how dutifully the 
 casual in Nature is accepted as sublime, may be 
 gathered from the unlimited admiration daily produced 
 by a very foolish sunset. 
 
 The dignity of the snow-capped mountain is lost in 
 distinctness, but the joy of the tourist is to recognise 
 the traveller on the top. The desire to see, for the 
 sake of seeing it, is, with the mass, alone the one to be 
 gratified, hence the delight in detail. 
 
 And when the evening mist clothes the riverside 
 with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings 
 lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys 
 become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in 
 the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, 
 and fairy-land is before us — then the wayfarer 
 hastens home ; the working man and the cultured 
 one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease 
 to understand, as they have ceased to see, and Nature, 
 who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite 
 song to the artist alone, her son and her master — 
 her son in that he loves her, her master in that he 
 knows her. 
 
 To him her secrets are unfolded, to him her lessons 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 145 
 
 have become gradually clear. He looks at her flower, 
 not with the enlarging lens, that he may gather facts 
 for the botanist, but with the light of the one who 
 sees in her choice selection of brilliant tones and 
 delicate tints, suggestions of future harmonies. 
 
 He does not confine himself to purposeless copying, 
 without thought, each blade of grass, as commended 
 by the inconsequent, but, in the long curve of the 
 narrow leaf, corrected by the straight tall stem, he 
 learns how grace is wedded to dignity, how strength 
 enhances sweetness, that elegance shall be the result. 
 
 In the citron wing of the pale butterfly, with its 
 dainty spots of orange, he sees before him the stately 
 halls of fair gold, with their slender saffron pDlars, 
 and is taught how the delicate drawing high 
 upon the walls shall be traced in tender tones of 
 orpiment, and repeated by the base in notes of graver 
 hue. 
 
 In all that is dainty and lovable he finds hints for 
 his own combinations, and thus is Nature ever his 
 resource and always at his service, and to him is 
 naught refused. 
 
 Through his brain, as through the last alembic, is 
 distilled the refined essence of that thought which 
 began with the Gods, and which they left him to 
 carry out. 
 
 K 
 
146 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Set apart by them to complete their works, he pro- 
 duces that ■wondrous thing called the masterpiece, 
 which surpasses in perfection all that they have 
 contrived in what is called Nature ; and the Gods 
 stand by and marvel, and perceive how far away more 
 beautiful is the Venus of Melos than was their own 
 Eve. 
 
 For some time past, the unattached writer has 
 become the middleman in this matter of Art, and his 
 influence, while it has widened the gulf between the 
 people and the painter, has brought about the most 
 complete misunderstanding as to the aim of the pic- 
 ture. 
 
 For him a picture is more or less a hieroglyph or 
 symbol of story. Apart from a few technical terms, 
 for the display of which he finds an occasion, the work 
 is considered absolutely from a literary point of view ; 
 indeed, from what other can he consider it ? And in 
 his essays he deals with it as with a novel — a history 
 — or an anecdote. He fails entirely and most natur- 
 ally to see its excellences, or demerits — artistic — and 
 so degrades Art, by supposing it a method of bringing 
 about a literary climax. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 147 
 
 It thus, in his hands, becomes merely a means of 
 perpetrating something further, and its mission is 
 made a secondary one, even as a means is second to 
 an end. 
 
 The thoughts emphasised, noble or other, are inevit- 
 ably attached to the incident, and become more or less 
 noble, according to the eloquence or mental quality of 
 the writer, who looks the while, with disdain, upon 
 what he holds as " mere execution " — a matter 
 belonging, he believes, to the training of the schools, 
 and the reward of assiduity. So that, as he goes on 
 with his translation from canvas to paper, the work 
 becomes his own. He finds poetry where he would 
 feel it were he himself transcribing the event, inven- 
 tion in the intricacy of the mise en seine, and noble 
 philosophy in some detail of philanthropy, courage, 
 modesty, or virtue, suggested to him by the occur- 
 rence. 
 
 All this might be brought before him, and 1 his 
 imagination be appealed to, by a very poor picture — 
 indeed, I might safely say that it generally is. 
 
 Meanwhile, the painter's poetry is quite lost to him 
 — the amazing invention that shall have put form 
 and colour into such perfect harmony, that exquisite- 
 ness is the result, he is without understanding — 
 the nobility of thought, that shall have given the 
 
148 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 artist's dignity to the whole, says to him absolutely 
 nothiug. 
 
 So that his praises are published, for virtues we 
 would blush to possess — whUe the great qualities, that 
 distinguish the one work from the thousand, that 
 make of the masterpiece the thing of beauty that it is 
 — have never been seen at all. 
 
 That this is so, we can make sure of, by looking 
 back at old reviews upon past exhibitions, and reading 
 the flatteries lavished upon men who have since been 
 forgotten altogether — but, upon whose works, the 
 language has been exhausted, in rhapsodies — ^that left 
 nothing for the National Gallery. 
 
 A curious matter, Ln its effect upon the judgment of 
 these gentlemen, is the accepted vocabulary of poetic 
 symbolism, that helps them, by habit, in dealing with 
 Nature : a mountain, to them, is synonymous with 
 height — a lake, with depth — the ocean, with vastness 
 — the sun, with glory. 
 
 So that a picture with a mountain, a lake, and an 
 ocean — however poor in paint — ^is inevitably " lofty,'' 
 " vast," " infinite," and " glorious " — on paper. 
 
 There are those also, sombre of mien, and wise with 
 the wisdom of books, who frequent museums and 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 149 
 
 burrow in crypts ; collecting — comparing — compiling 
 — classifying — contradicting. 
 
 Experts these— for whom a date is an accomplish- 
 ment — a hall-mark, success ! 
 
 Careful in scrutiny are they, and conscientious of 
 judgment — establishing, with due weight, unimportant 
 reputations — discovering the picture, by the stain on 
 the back — testing the torso, by the leg that is missing 
 — filling folios with doubts on the way of that limb — 
 disputatious and dictatorial, concerning the birthplace 
 of inferior persons — speculating, in much writing, 
 upon the great worth of bad work. 
 
 True clerks of the collection, they mix memoranda 
 with ambition, and, reducing Art to statistics, they 
 "file "the fifteenth century, and "pigeon-hole" the 
 antique ! 
 
 Then the Preacher "appointed" ! 
 
 He stands in high places — harangues and holds 
 forth. 
 
 Sage of the Universities — learned in many matters, 
 and of much experience in all, save bis subject. 
 
 Exhorting — denouncing — directing. 
 
 Filled with wrath and earnestness. 
 
 Bringing powers of persuasion, and polish of lan- 
 guage, to prove — nothing. 
 
ISO THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Torn with much teaching — having naughtto impart. 
 
 Impressive — important — shallow. 
 
 Defiant — distressed — desperate. 
 
 Crying out, and cutting himself — whUe the gods 
 hear not. 
 
 Gentle priest of the Philistine withal, again he 
 ambles pleasantly from all point, and through many 
 volumes, escaping scientific assertion — " babbles of 
 green fields." 
 
 So Art has become foolishly confounded with educa- 
 tion — that all should be equally qualified. 
 
 Whereas, while polish, refinement, culture, and 
 breeding, are in no way arguments for artistic result, 
 it is also no reproach to the most finished scholar or 
 greatest gentleman in the land that he be absolutely 
 without eye for painting or ear for music — that in his 
 heart he prefers the popular print to the scratch of 
 Rembrandt's needle, or the songs of the hall to 
 Beethoven's " minor Symphony." 
 
 Let him have but the wit to say so, and not feel 
 the admission a proof of inferiority. 
 
 Art happens — no hovel is safe from it, no Prince 
 may depend upon it, the vastest intelligence cannot 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 151 
 
 bring it about, and puny efforts to make it universal 
 end in quaint comedy, and coarse farce. 
 
 This is as it should be — and all attempts to make it 
 otherwise are due to the eloquence of the ignorant, 
 the zeal of the conceited. 
 
 The boundary-Une is clear. Far from me to propose 
 to bridge it over — that the pestered people be pushed 
 across. No ! I would save them from further fatigue. 
 I would come to their relief, and would lift from their 
 shoulders this incubus of Art. 
 
 Why, after centuries of freedom from it, and indif- 
 ference to it, should it now be thrust upon them by 
 the blind — until wearied and puzzled, they know no 
 longer how they shall eat or drink — how they shall 
 sit or stand — or wherewithal they shall clothe them- 
 selves — without afflicting Art. 
 
 But, lo ! there is much talk without ! 
 
 Triumphantly they cry, " Beware ! This matter 
 does indeed concern us. "We also have our part in all 
 true Art ! — for, remember the ' one touch of Nature ' 
 that ' makes the whole world kin.' " 
 
 True, indeed. But let not the unwary jauntily 
 suppose that Shakespeare herewith hands him his 
 passport to Paradise, and thus permits him speech 
 
152 THE GENTIE ART 
 
 among the chosen. Rather, learn that, in this very 
 sentence, he is condemned to remain without — ^to 
 continue with the common. 
 
 This one chord that vibrates with all — this " one 
 touch of Nature " that calls aloud to the response of 
 each — that explains the popularity of the " Bull " of 
 Paul Potter — that excuses the price of Murillo's 
 " Conception " — this one unspoken sympathy that 
 pervades humanity, is — Vulgarity I 
 
 Vulgarity — under whose fascinating influence " the 
 many " have elbowed " the few,'' and the gentle circle 
 of Art swarms with the intoxicated mob of mediocrity, 
 whose leaders prate and counsel, and call aloud, where 
 the Gods once spoke in whisper 1 
 
 And now from their midst the Dilettante stalks 
 abroad. The amateur is loosed. The voice of the 
 aesthete is heard in the land, and catastrophe is 
 upon us. 
 
 The meddler beckons the vengeance of the Gods, 
 and ridicule threatens the fair daughters of the land. 
 
 And there are curious converts to a weird culte, in 
 which all instinct for attractiveness — all freshness 
 and sparkle — all woman's winsomeness — is to give 
 way to a strange vocation for the unlovely — and this 
 desecration in the name of the Graces ! 
 
 Shall this gaunt, ill-at-ease, distressed, abashed 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 153 
 
 mixture of mauvaise honte and desperate assertion 
 call itself artistic, and claim cousinship with the 
 artist — who delights in the dainty, the sharp, bright 
 gaiety of beauty ? 
 
 No ! — a thousand times no ! Here are no connec- 
 tions of ours. 
 
 "We will have nothing to do with them. 
 
 Forced to seriousness, that emptiness maybe hidden, 
 they dare not smile — 
 
 'While -the ai;tist,.in fulness oi_ heart and head, is 
 glad, and laughs aloud, and is happy in his strength, 
 and is merry at the pompous pretension — the solemn 
 silliness that surrounds him. 
 
 For Art and Joy go together, with bold openness, 
 and high head, and ready hand — fearing naught,, and 
 dreading no exposure. 
 
 Know, then, all beautiful women, that we are with 
 you. Pay no heed, we pray you, to this outcry of 
 the unbecoming — ^this last plea for the plain. 
 
 It concerns you not. 
 
 Your own instinct is near the truth — ^your own wit 
 far surer guide than the untaught ventures of thick- 
 heeled ApoUos. 
 
 What ! will you up and follow the first piper that 
 leads you down Petticoat Lane, there, on a Sabbath, 
 to gather, for the week, from the dull rags of 
 
154 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 ages wherewith to bedeck yourselyes ? that, beneath 
 your travestied awkwardness, we have trouble to 
 find your own dainty selves ? ' Oh, fie ! Is the 
 world, then, exhausted ? and must we go back 
 because the thumb of the mountebank jerks the 
 other way ? 
 
 Costume is not dress. 
 
 And the wearers of wardrobes may not be doctors 
 of taste ! 
 
 For by what authority shall these be pretty masters ! 
 Look well, and nothing have they invented — nothing 
 put together for comeliness' sake. 
 
 Haphazard from their shoulders hang the garments 
 of the hawker — combining in their person the motley 
 of many manners with the medley of the mummers' 
 closet. 
 
 Set up as a warning, and a finger-post of danger, 
 they point to the disastrous efiect of Art upon the 
 middle classes. 
 
 Why this lifting of the brow in deprecation of the 
 present — this pathos in reference to the past ? 
 If Art be rare to-day, it was seldom heretofore. 
 It is false, this teaching of decay. 
 -r The master stands in no relation to the moment at 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 155 
 
 which he occurs — a monument of isolation — ^hinting 
 at sadness — having no part in the progress of his 
 fellow-men. 
 
 He is also no more the product of civilisation than 
 is the scientific truth asserted dependent upon the 
 wisdom of a period. The assertion itself requires 
 the man to make it. The truth was from the 
 beginning. 
 
 So Art is limited to the infinite, and beginning 
 there cannot progress. 
 
 A silent indication of its wayward independence 
 from all extraneous advance, is in the absolutely un- 
 changed condition and form of implement since the 
 beginning of things. 
 
 The painter has but the same pencil — the sculptor 
 the chisel of centuries. 
 
 Colours are not more since the heavy hangings of 
 night were first drawn aside, and the loveliness of 
 light revealed. 
 
 Neither chemist nor engineer can offer new elements 
 o the masterpiece. 
 
 False again, the fabled link between the grandeur 
 of Art and the glories and virtues of the State, for Art 
 feeds not upon nations, and peoples may be wiped 
 from the face of the earth, but Art is. 
 
156 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 It is indeed high time that we cast aside the 
 weary weight of responsibility and co-partnership, 
 and know that, in no way, do our virtues minister 
 to its worth, in no way do our vices impede its 
 triumph ! 
 
 How irksome ! how hopeless ! how superhuman the 
 self-imposed task of the nation ! How sublimely vain 
 the belief that it shall live nobly or art perish. 
 
 Let us reassure ourselves, at our own option is our 
 virtue. Art we in no way affect. 
 
 A whimsical goddess, and a capricious, her strong 
 sense of joy tolerates no dulness, and, live we never 
 so spotlessly, still may she turn her back upon us. 
 
 As, from time immemorial, she has done upon the 
 Swiss in their mountains. 
 
 What more worthy people ! Whose every Alpine 
 gap yawns with tradition, and is stocked with noble 
 story ; yet, the perverse and scornful one will none of 
 it, and the sons of patriots are left with the clock that 
 turns the mill, and the sudden cuckoo, with difficulty 
 restrained in its box. 
 
 For this was Tell a hero ! For this did Gessler die ! 
 
 Art, the cruel jade, cares not,and hardens her heart, 
 and hies her off to the East, to find, among the opium- 
 eaters of Nankin, a favovu^ite with whom she lingers 
 fondly — caressing his blue porcelain, and pajnting his 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 157 
 
 coy maidens, and marking his plates with her six marks 
 of choice — indifferent in her companionship with him, 
 to all save the virtue of his refinement ! 
 
 He it is who calls her — he who holds her ! 
 
 And again to the "West, that her next lover may 
 bring together the Gallery at Madrid, and show to the 
 world how the Master towers above all ; and in their 
 intimacy they revel, he and she, in this knowledge ; 
 and he knows the happiness untested by other 
 mortal. 
 
 She is proud of her comrade, and promises that in 
 after-years, others shall pass that way, and understand. 
 
 So in all time does this superb one cast about for 
 the man worthy her love — and Art seeks the Artist 
 alone. 
 
 Where he is, there she appears, and remains with 
 him — loving and fruitful — turning never aside in 
 moments of hope deferred — of insult — and of ribald 
 misunderstanding ; and when he dies she sadly takes - 
 her flight, though loitering yet in the land, from fond 
 association, but refusing to be consoled.* . And so have wo 
 
 , ^ _ .11 1.^ *''^ ephemeral iiiRu- 
 
 With the man, then, and not with the multitude, enceoftheMastei's 
 
 ' ' ' memory— the after- 
 
 are her intimacies ; and in the book of her life the l^ed.for''awhu? 
 
 the worker and dts- 
 
 names inscribed are few — scant, indeed, the list of ''p'°- 
 those who have helped to write her story of love and 
 beauty. 
 
158 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 From the sunny morning, when, with her glorious 
 Greek relenting, she yielded up the secret of repeated 
 line, as, with his hand in hers, together they marked 
 in marble, the measured rhyme of lovely limb and 
 draperies flowing in unison, to the day when she 
 dipped the Spaniard's brush in light and air, and made 
 his people live within their frames, and stand upon 
 their legs, that all nobility and sweetness, and tender- 
 ness, and magnificence should be theirs by right, ages 
 had gone by, and few had been her choice. 
 
 Countless, indeed, the horde of pretenders! But 
 she knew them not. 
 
 A teeming, seething, busy mass, whose virtue was 
 industry, and whose industry was vice ! 
 
 Their names go to fill the catalogue of the collection 
 at home, of the gallery abroad, for the delectation of 
 the bagman and the critic. 
 
 Therefore have we cause to be merry ! — and to cast 
 away all care — resolved that all is well — as it ever 
 was — and that it is not meet that we should be cried 
 at, and urged to take measures ! 
 
 Enough have we endured of dulness ! Surely are 
 yfe weary of weeping, and our tears have been cozened 
 from us falsely, for they have called out woe ! when 
 there was no grief — and, alas 1 where all is fair ! 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 159 
 
 "We have then but to wait — until, with the mark of 
 the Gods upon him — there come among us again the 
 chosen — who shall continue what has gone before. 
 Satisfied that, even were he never to appear, the story 
 of the beautiful is already complete — ^hewn in the 
 marbles of the Parthenon — and broidered, with the 
 birds, upon the fan of Hokusai — at the foot of Fusi- 
 yama. 
 
 ^- 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES i6i 
 
 " Rengaines . 
 
 LAST night, at Prince's Hall, Mr. Whistler made his 
 
 first public appearance as a lecturer on Art There 
 
 were some arrows .... shot off .... and (0,mea paUMaUGancue. 
 
 Feb. ai, 1885. 
 
 rndpa I) at dress reformers most of all That an 
 
 artist will find beauty in ugliness, le beau dans Vhmi'iMe, 
 
 is now a commonplace of the schools I differ 
 
 entirely from Mr. Whistler. An Artist is not an 
 isolated fact ; he is the resultant of a certain milieu 
 and a certain entourage, and can no more be born of 
 a nation that is devoid of any sense of beauty than a 
 fig can grow from a thorn or a rose blossom from a 
 
 thistle The poet is the supreme Artist, for he i, is „ot cnougii 
 
 is the master of colour and of form, and the real sunnowerTiSwe on 
 
 ' his "thistle"— he 
 
 musician besides, and is lord over all life and all arts ; ndiSTpo'e'fAe 
 
 "rose' 'tree of the 
 
 and so to the poet beyond all others are these myste- 55''? American 
 
 r tj 1/ Marlcet in " a cer- 
 
 ries known ; to Edgar Allan Poe and Baudelaire, not go'SdTSs^-''''' 
 
 pathy; and"acer- 
 
 to Benjamin West and PauH)elaroche 5i;sMp°^'df,o'oden 
 
 Bom of a Nation, not absolutely " devoid of any 
 sense of beauty"— Their idol — ciierished— listened 
 to— and understood ! 
 OSCAR WILDE Foolish Baudelaire !— Mistaken Mallarm^l 
 
 ^ 
 
i62 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Tenderness in Tite Street 
 
 TO THE POET: 
 
 QSOAR, — I have read your exquisite article in the 
 Pall Mall, Nothing is more delicate, in the flattery 
 of " the Poet " to " the Painter," than the ndivef^ 
 of "the Poet," in the choice of his Painters — Ben- 
 jamin "West and Paul Delaroche ! 
 
 You have pointed out that " the Painter's " mission 
 is to find " la heau dans I'horrible," and have left to 
 "the Poet" the discovery of "I'horribk" dcms "le 
 beau " I 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 163 
 
 TO THE PAINTER: 
 
 J) EAR Butterfly, — By the aid of a biographical 
 dictionary, I made the discovery that there were once 
 two painters, called Benjamin West and Paul Dela- 
 roche, who rashly lectured upon Art. As of their 
 works nothing at all remains, I conclude that they 
 explained themselves away. 
 
 Be warned in time, James ; and remain, as I do, osMrrwith'his 
 
 head in the sand, 
 
 incomprehensible. To be great is to be misunder- ^isli'Jer'Jd? ""^ 
 stood.— Toit* h vous, s."fta^''o'S«S; 
 
 it was rash in Oscar 
 to reveal the source of his inspirations r 
 the ' ' Biographical Dictionary ! " 
 
 REFLECTION: 
 ■ I do know a 
 
 OSCAR WILDE. 
 
 ^ 
 
i64 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 To the Committee of the " National Art 
 Exhibition " 
 
 Letter read at a QENTLEMEN, — I am naturally interested in any 
 socSals'odated effort made among Painters to prove that they are riuworid, 
 
 for purposes of Art ^ Nov. 17, 1888. 
 
 reform. allvc — but wheu I find, thrust in the van of your 
 
 leaders, the body of my dead 'Arry, I know that 
 putrefaction alone can result. When, following 'Arry, 
 there comes on Oscar, you finish in farce, and bring 
 upon yourselves the scorn and ridicule of your con- 
 freres in Europe. 
 
 What has Oscar in common with Art ? except that 
 he dines at our tables and picks from our platters the 
 plums for the pudding he peddles in the provinces. 
 Oscar — the amiable, irresponsible, esurient Oscar — 
 with no more sense of a picture than of the fit of a 
 coat, has the courage of the opinions ... of others ! 
 
 With 'Arry and Oscar you have avenged the 
 
 Academy. Enclosed to the 
 
 -r e^ ,1 1 i> 1 Foet, withaline: 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, yours obediently, ;^lJ'J'eJroSe 
 
 'the radius '1" 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 165 
 
 Quand mime ! 
 
 The jvorid A^-*^-^^' ^^^'^ ^ ^^^y ^^^ ' With our James vulgarity 
 Nov. 24, 1886. |jggjjjg gj^ home, and should be allowed to stay there. 
 
 — A vous, 
 
 OSCAR WILDE. 
 
 TO WHOM: 
 
 'A ^°°^ t^ing>" Oscar ! — " but," for once, I suppose 
 'your own.'' 
 
i66 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Philanthropy and Art 
 
 HTHE Saturday Review has not thought it disgrace- 
 ful to once more justify its title to be called the 
 " Saturday Reviler." This time it is not to break 
 upon the wheel some poor butterfly of a lady 
 traveller or novelist, but to scoff at an aged painter of 
 the highest repute — Mr. Herbert — upon his retire- 
 ment to the rank of " Honorary Academician," after a 
 career such as few, if any, painters living can boast. 
 This it pleases the " Reviler " to congratulate artists 
 upon as " good news," without a word or a thought of 
 what the retiring Academician has done in art, except 
 to utter the contemptible untruth that " his resignation 
 means that he has found out that he is beaten," not 
 by the natural failing of old age, but because he 
 failed to impress such a writer as this with the special 
 exhibition of the works of his long life, that was 
 made some few years back to mark the completion of 
 his last great picture for the House of Lords, " The 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 167 
 
 Judgment of Daniel." That exhibition, which most 
 people, who know anything about painting in its 
 highest style of religious and monumental art, 
 thought a most interesting display of a painter's 
 career, is described by this most genial of critics as 
 " acres of pallid purple canvases, with wizened saints 
 and virgins in attitudinizing groups." 
 
 Whether that collection of Mr. Herbert's works 
 had merit or not is matter of opinion which I am not 
 concerned to dispute ; but, as a matter of fact, there 
 were only three small pictures in which the virgin or 
 any saints appeared ; the other pictures, besides the 
 two large works of " The Delivery of the Law " and 
 " The Judgment of Daniel," painted for the nation, 
 being historical subjects, such as the "Lear Disin- 
 heriting Cordelia," a fresco of which is in the House 
 of Lords ; " The Acquittal of the Seven Bishops," 
 which the Corporation of Salford purchased for their 
 gallery^of art ; and several fine works of his youth, 
 such as the " Brides of Venice,'' a " Procession in 
 Venice, 1528," and others, which won for him his 
 election to the Academy forty-five years ago, when 
 he had to compete with such men as are, unfortu- 
 nately, not to be found now among the candidates — 
 Etty — MacUse — Dyce — Egg — and Elmore. 
 
 But the " Saturday's " art critic, if he ever saw this 
 
i68 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 exhibition at all, didn't go to see these pictures. As 
 Goethe says, " the eye sees what it came to see," and 
 he went to see the " acres of purple canvases, with 
 their wizened saints," which were not there. No 
 matter — ^it suits his purpose to declare that they 
 were, just as it does to cram into a paragraph more 
 ignorance, insolence, and false assertions combined 
 than is often to be met with even in this locality of 
 literature, where the editor seems to be surrounded 
 with aU the prigs, and the pumps, and the snobs of 
 the literary profession. 
 
 Truth, Aug. 19, i886. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 169 
 
 "Nous avons chang4 tout cela/" 
 
 J^OITY-TOITY ! my dear Henry !— What is aU 
 this ? How can you startle the " Constant Reader," ^^{^-^ ^^ 
 of this cold world, by these sudden dashes into the 
 unexpected ? 
 
 Perceive also what happens. 
 
 Sweet in the security of my own sense of things, 
 and looking upon you surely as the typical " Sap&m " 
 of modern progress and civilisation, here do I, in full 
 Paris, & I'heitre de I'absinthe, upon mischievous dis- 
 cussion intentj call aloud for " Truth.'' 
 
 " Vous allez voir,'' I say to the brilliant brethren 
 gathered about my table, " you shall hear the latest 
 beautiful thing and bold, said by our great Henry — 
 ' capable de tout,' beside whom ' ce coquin d'Habaeuc ' 
 was mild indeed and usual ! " And straightway to my 
 stultification, I find myself translating paragraphs of 
 pathos and indignation, in which a colourless old 
 gentleman of the Academy is sympathized with, and 
 
170 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 made a doddering hero of, for no better reason than 
 that he is old — and those who would point out the 
 wisdom and comfort of his withdrawal into the wig- 
 wam of private life, sternly reproved and anathema- 
 tized and threatened with shame — until they might 
 well expect to find themselves come upon by the 
 bears of the aged and irascible, though bald-headed, 
 Prophet, whom the children had thoughtfully urged 
 to " go up." 
 
 Fancy the Frenchmen's astonishment as I read, 
 and their placid amusement as I attempted to point 
 out that it was " meant drolly — that mfm you were a 
 mystificateur I " 
 
 Henry, why should I thus be mortified ? Also, 
 why this new pose, this cheap championship of 
 senility % 
 
 How, in the name of all that is incompetent, do 
 you find much virtue in work spreading over more 
 time ! What means this afiectation of naivete. 
 
 We all know that work excuses itself only by 
 reason of its quality. 
 
 If the work be foolish, it surely is not less foolish 
 because an honest and misspent lifetime has been 
 passed in producing it. 
 
 What matters it that the offending worker has 
 grown old among us, and has endeared himself to 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 171 
 
 many by his caprices as ratepayer and neigh- 
 bour? 
 
 Personally, he may have claims upon his sur- 
 roundings ; but, as the painter of poor pictures, he is 
 damned for ever. 
 
 You see, my Henry, that it is not sufficient to be, 
 as you are in wit and wisdom, among us, amazing and 
 astute ; a very Daniel in your judgment of many 
 vexed questions ; of a frankness and loyalty withal in 
 your crusade against abuses, that makes of the keen 
 litigator a most dangerous Quixote. 
 
 This peculiar temperament gives you that superb 
 sense of right, outside the realms of a/rt, that amounts 
 to genius, and carries with it continued success and 
 triumph in the warfare you wage. 
 
 But here it helps you not. And so you find your- 
 self, for instance, pleasantly prattling in print of 
 " English Art." 
 
 Learn, then, O ! Henry, that there is no such thing 
 as English Art. You might as well talk of English 
 Mathematics. Art is Art, and Mathematics is Mathe- 
 matics. 
 
 What you call English Art, is not Art at all, but 
 produce, of which there is, and always has been, and 
 always will be, a plenty, whether the men producing 
 it are dead and called , or (I refer you to your 
 
172 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 own selection, far be it from me to choose) — or alive 
 
 and called , whosoever you like as you turn over 
 
 the Academy catalogue. 
 
 The great truth, you have to understand, is that it 
 matters not at all whom you prefer in this long list. 
 They all belong to the excellent army of mediocrity ; 
 the differences between them being infinitely small 
 — merely microscopic — as compared to the vast dis- 
 tance between any one of them and the Great. 
 
 They are the commercial travellers of Art, whose 
 works are their wares, and whose exchange is the 
 Academy. 
 
 They pass and are forgotten, or remain for a while 
 in the memory of the worthies who knew them, and 
 who cling to their faith in them, as it flatters their 
 own place in history — famous themselves — the friends 
 of the famous ! 
 
 Speak of them, if it please you, with uncovered 
 head — even as in France you would remove your hat 
 as there passes by the hearse — but remember it is 
 from the conventional habit of awe alone, this show 
 of respect, and called forth generally by the casual 
 corpse of the commonest kind. 
 
 Paris, Aug. 21, i886. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 173 
 
 Tke Inevitable 
 
 A^HEN I suggested you as the " Sapeur of modern 
 progress," my dear Henry, I thought to convey se^t. 9. isee. 
 delicately my appreciation, wrapped in graceful com- 
 pliment. 
 
 When I am made to say that you are the " Sapem " 
 of civilisation — whatever that may mean — I would 
 seem to insinuate an impertinence clothed in classic 
 error. 
 
 I trust that, if you forgive me, you will never 
 pardon the printer. — Always, 
 
174 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 ^'Noblesse oblige " 
 
 ^TLAS, look at this ! It has been culled from the 
 Plumper and Decorator, of all insidious prints, and 
 The w^or/^ forwatded to me by the untiring people who daily 
 supply me with the thinkings of my critics. 
 Read, Atlas, and let me execute myself : 
 " The ' Peacock ' drawing-room of a well-to-do ship- 
 owner, of Liverpool, at Queen's Gate, London, 
 is hand-painted, representing the noble bird with 
 wings expanded, painted by an Associate of the 
 Royal Academy, at a cost of ^^7000, and fortunate 
 in claiming his daughter as his bride, and is one 
 of the finest specimens of high art in decoration 
 in the kingdom. The mansion is of modern con- 
 struction." 
 
 He is not guilty, this honest Associate ! It was /, 
 Atlas, who did this thing — " alone I did it " — I 
 " hand-painted " this room in the " mansion of modern 
 construction." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 175 
 
 Woe is me! / secreted, in the provincial ship- 
 owner's home, the " noble bird with wings ex- 
 panded" — / perpetrated, in harmless obscurity, 
 " the finest specimen of high-art decoration " — and 
 the Academy is without stain in the art of its mem- 
 ber. Also the immaculate character of that Royal 
 body has been falsely impugned by this wicked 
 " Phimher " ! 
 
 Mark these things, Atlas, that justice may be 
 done, the innocent spared, and history cleanly 
 written. 
 
 Bon soir ! 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
176 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Early Laurels 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 ^IKt) — In your report of the Grahame sale of pictures 
 
 at Messrs. Christie and Hanson's rooms, I read the ^aS.'S. 
 
 following : 
 
 "The next work, put upon the easel, was a 
 ' Nocturne in blue and silver,' by J. M. Whistler. 
 It was received with hisses." 
 
 May I beg, through your widely spread paper, to 
 acknowledge the distinguished, though I fear uncon- 
 scious, compliment so publicly paid. 
 
 It is rare that recognition, so complete, is made 
 during the lifetime of the painter, and I would wish 
 to have recorded my fuU sense of this flattering 
 exception in my favour. 
 
 Chelsea, 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 177 
 
 A Further Proposition 
 
 'T'HE notion that I paint flesh lower in tone than 
 
 it is in nature, is entirely based upon the popular 
 
 superstition as to what flesh really is — when seen on ^nyamitai. 
 
 canvas ; for the people never look at nature with any 
 
 sense of its pictorial appearance — ^for which reason, 
 
 by the way, they also never look at a picture with 
 
 any sense of nature, but, unconsciously from habit, 
 
 with reference to what they have seen in other 
 
 pictures. 
 
 Now, in the usual " pictures of the year " there is 
 but one flesh, that shall do service under all circum- 
 stances, whether the person painted be in the soft 
 light of the room or out in the glare of the open. 
 The one aim of the unsuspecting painter is to make 
 his man " stand out " from the frame — ^never doubt- 
 ing that, on the contrary, he should really, and in 
 truth absolutely does, stand loithin the frame — and 
 at a depth behind it equal to the distance at which 
 
178 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the painter sees his model. The frame is, indeed, the 
 window through which the painter looks at his model, 
 and nothing could be more oflfensively inartistic than 
 this brutal attempt to thrust the model on the hither- 
 side of this window ! 
 
 Yet this is the false condition of things to which 
 all have become accustomed, and in the stupendous 
 effort to bring it about, exaggeration has been 
 exhausted — and the traditional means of the incom- 
 petent can no further go. 
 
 Lights have been heightened until the white of the 
 tube alone remains — shadows have been deepened 
 until black alone is left. Scarcely a feature stays in 
 its place, so fierce is its intention of " firmly " coming 
 forth ; and in the midst of this unseemly struggle for 
 prominence, the gentle truth has but a sorry chance, 
 falling flat and flavourless, and without force. 
 
 The Master from Madrid, himself, beside this 
 monster success of mediocrity, would be looked upon 
 as mild : beau Men swe, mais pas " dams le mouve- 
 ment " ! 
 
 Whereas, could the people be induced to turn their 
 eyes but for a moment, with the fresh power of com- 
 parison, upon their fellow-creatures as they pass in 
 the gallery, they might be made dimly to perceive 
 (though I doubt it, so blind is their belief in the bad) 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 179 
 
 how little they resemble the impudent images on 
 the walls ! how " quiet " in colour they are ! how 
 " grey ! " how " low in tone." And then it might 
 be explained to their riveted intelligence how they 
 had mistaken meretriciousness for mastery, and by 
 what mean methods the imposture had been practised 
 upon them. 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES i8i 
 
 An Opportunity 
 
 r^HER Monsieur, — ^M. m'a remis votre petite 
 
 pletnche — port d' Amsterdam avec une ^preuve. Elle 
 est charmante et je serais fort heureuz de la faire 
 paraitre dans I'article consacr6 & vos eaux fortes. 
 Seulement, je crains que vous avez mal iuterpr6t6 
 ma demande et que par le fait nous ne nous entendons 
 pas bien. Vous me demandez 63 guin^es pour cette 
 planche, soit plus de 2000 francs, outre que le prix 
 d^passe celui de la planche la plus ch^re parue dans la 
 Gazette de puis sa fondation,y compris les chef s-d'ceuvro 
 de Jacquemart et de GaiUard, U n'est pas dans les 
 habitudes de la maison de payer les planches d'artistes 
 qui accompagnent un compte-rendu de leur oeuvre. 
 C'est ainsi que nous avons agi avec M6ryon, Seymour 
 Haden, Edwards, Evershed, Legros,ifec. 
 
 Du reste, la planche pourrait rester votre propri6te. 
 Nous vous la remettrions aprte avoir fait notre tirage. 
 II est entendu qu'elle serait acier^e. 
 
i82 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Si ces conditions vous agr6ent, cher monsieur, je 
 me ferai un vrai plaisir de faire dans la Gazette un 
 article sur votre beau talent d'aquafortiste. Dans 
 le oas contraire, je me verais, avec mUle regrets, dans 
 la n6oessit6 de vous renvoyer la planche que je me 
 fusse fait cependant un veritable honneur de publier. 
 
 Veuillez agr6er, cher monsieur, I'ezpression de mes 
 meilleurs sentiments. 
 
 LE DIRECTEUR de la 
 
 Gateite des Beaux-Arts. 
 
 Paris, le 12 Juin 1878. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 183 
 
 The Opportunity Neglected 
 
 (^HER Monsieur, — Je regrette infiniment que mes 
 moyens ne me permettent pas de naltre dans votre 
 Journal. 
 
 L'article que vous me proposez, oomme berceau, me 
 codterait trop cher. 
 
 II me faudrait done reprendre ma planche et rester 
 inconnu juBqu'4 la fin des choses, puisque je n'aurais 
 pas 6t6 invents par la Gazette des Becmx-Arts. — Re- 
 cevez, Monsieur, 
 
 ■^ 
 
i84 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Nostalgia 
 
 . . . . " QUITE true — now that it is established 
 
 as an improbability, it becomes trueJ Extract irom a 
 
 letter d propK of 
 
 They tell me that December has been fixed upon, "St^bJ^" 
 by the Fates, for my arrival in New York — and, if I lan'a. 
 escape the Atlantic, I am to be wrecked by the 
 St' JT'^. reporter on the pier. 
 
 I shall be in his hands, even as is the sheep in the 
 hands of his shearer — for I have learned nothing 
 from those who have gone before — and been lost too ! 
 
 What will you ! I know Matthew Arnold, and am 
 told that he whispered truth exquisite, unheeded in 
 the haste of America. 
 
 And these others who have crossed the seas, that 
 they might fasten upon the hurried ones at home and 
 gird at them with wisdom, hysterically acquired, and 
 administered, unblusbingly, with a suddenness of 
 purpose that prevented their ever being listened to 
 here, — must I follow in their wake, to be met with 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 185 
 
 suspicion by my compatriots:, and resented as the 
 invading instructor ? 
 
 Heavens ! — who knows ! — also in the papers, where 
 naturally I read only of myself, I gather a general 
 impression of offensive aggressiveness, that, coupled 
 with Chase's monstrous lampoon, has prepared me for 
 the tomahawk on landing. 
 
 How dared he. Chase, to do this wicked thing ? — 
 and I who was charming, and made him beautiful on 
 canvas — the Masher of the Avenues. 
 
 However, 1 may not put off until the age of the 
 amateur has gone by, but am to take with me some 
 of those works which have won for me the execration 
 of Europe, that they may be shown to a country in 
 which I cannot be a prophet, and where I, who have 
 no intention of being other than joyous — improving 
 no one — not even myself — will say again my " Ten 
 o'clock," which I refused to repeat in Loudon — J 'at 
 diti 
 
 This is no time for hesitation — one cannot con- 
 tinually disappoint a Continent ! 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 187 
 
 An Insinuation 
 
 TO THE EDITOR. 
 
 TViTY attention has been directed to a paragraph that 
 has gone the round of the papers, to the effect that 
 Mr. John Burr and Mr. Beid have "withdrawn from TheDauyNrai 
 
 Nov. », 1686. 
 
 the Society of British Artists." This tardy statement 
 acquires undue significance at this moment, with a 
 tendency to mislead, implying, as it might, that these 
 resignations were in consequence of, and intended as 
 a marked disapproval of, the determined stand made 
 by the Society in excluding from their coming ex- 
 hibition the masses of commonplace work hitherto 
 offered to the public in their galleries. No such 
 importance attaches, however, to their resignations, as 
 these two gentlemen left Suffolk Street six months 
 ago, 
 
 *^ 
 
1 88 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 An Imputation 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 CIR, — Mr. Whistler denies that the recent policy of 
 the Society of British Artists was the cause of the 
 secession of Messrs. Burr and Keid from the ranks of tiu oany Nms, 
 
 Nov. 24. 1886. 
 
 that Society, and mentions in proof of his correction 
 that their resignation took place sLs months ago. He 
 might have gone further, and added that their seces- 
 sion coiTesponded in time with his own election as 
 president. It is well known to artists that one, if not 
 both, of these gentlemen left the Society knowing 
 that changes of policy, of which they could not 
 approve, were inevitable under the presidency of Mr. 
 Whistler. It will be for the patrons of the Suffolk 
 Street Gallery to decide whether the more than half- 
 uncovered walls which will be offered to their view 
 next week are more interesting than the work of 
 many artists of more than average merit which will 
 be conspicuous by its absence, owing to the selfish 
 policy inaugurated. 
 
 A BRITISH ARTIST. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 189 
 
 " Autre Temps autre Moeurs " 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — The anonymous "British Artist'' says that 
 " Mr. Whistler denies that the recent policy of the 
 Society of British Artists was the cause of the seces- th, oauy n«i,s. 
 
 Nov. 36. t886. 
 
 sion of Messrs. Beid and Burr from the ranks of that 
 Society." 
 
 Far from me to propose to penetrate the motives of 
 such withdrawal, but what I did deny was that it could 
 possibly be caused — as its strangely late announce- 
 ment seemed sweetly to insinuate — by the strong 
 determination to tolerate no longer the mediocre work 
 that had hitherto habitually swarmed the walls of 
 SuflFolk Street. 
 
 This is a plain question of date, and I pointed out 
 that these two gentlemen left the Society six months 
 
igo THE GENTLE ART 
 
 ago — long before the supervising committee were 
 called upon to act at all, or make any demonstration 
 whatever. Your correspondent regrets that I do not 
 " go further/' and straightway goes further himself, 
 and scarcely fares better, when, with a quaintness of 
 naivete rare at this moment, he proposes that " it will 
 be for the patrons of the gallery to decide whether 
 the more than half-uncovered walls are more interest- 
 ing than the works of many artists of more than the 
 average merit." 
 
 Now it wiU be for the patrons" to decide absolutely 
 nothing. It is, and will always be, for the gentlemen 
 of the hanging committee alone, duly chosen, to decide 
 whether empty space be preferable to poor pictures — 
 whether, in short, it be their duty to cover walls, 
 merely that walls may be covered — no matter with 
 what quality of work. 
 
 Indeed, the period of the patron has utterly passed 
 away, and the painter takes his place — to point out 
 what he knows to be consistent with the demands of 
 his art — without deference to patrons or prejudice 
 to party. Beyond this, whether the " policy of 
 Mr. Whistler and his following " be " selfish or 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 191 
 
 no," matters but little; but if the policy of your 
 correspondent's "following" find itself among the 
 ruthlessly rejected, his letter is more readily ex- 
 plained. 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 193 
 
 Talent in a Napkin 
 
 JF those who talk and write so glibly as to the de- 
 sirability of artists devoting themselves to the repre- Lecture before the 
 
 Church Congress, 
 
 sentation of the naked human form, only knew a tithe °'*- '• ^^ 
 of the degradation enacted before the model is 
 sufficiently hardened to her shameful calling, they 
 would for ever hold their tongues and pens in sup- 
 porting the practice. Is not clothedness a distinct 
 type and feature of our Christian faith ? All art 
 representations of nakedness are out of harmony 
 with it. 
 
 J. C. HORSLEY, R.A. 
 
194 TH^ GENTLE ART 
 
 The Critic ^'Catching on" 
 
 jy^R. "WHISTLER is again, in a sense, the mainstay 
 of tlie Society (British Artists), partly through his PMHauGtiKtu. 
 own individuality and partly through the innovations 
 he has introduced. . . . He has several oil and pastel 
 pictures, very slight in themselves, of the female nude, 
 dignified and graceful in line and charmingly chaste, 
 entitled "Harmony," "Caprice," and "Note." Be- 
 neath the latter Mr. Whistler has written, " Horsley 
 soit qui mal y pense." 
 
 "This is not,'' said the artist, "what people are 
 sure to call it, ' Whistler's little joke.' On the con- ggp^cnoN- 
 trary, it is an indignant protest against the idea that Meant "Wendiy." 
 there is any immorality in the nude." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 195 
 
 Ingratitude 
 
 -^O, kind sir— to-op de zUe on the part of your re- p,„^„„c„„,„. 
 presentative — for I surely never explain, and Art °='=-'°'"^s. 
 certainly requires no " indignant protest " against the 
 unseemliness of senility. " Horsley soit qui tnal y 
 pense" is meanwhile a sweet sentiment — ^why more — 
 and why " morality " ? 
 
 
ige THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Complacent One 
 
 ]\/jE, WHISTLER has issued a brown-paper port- 
 folio of half a dozen "Notes," reproduced in mar- Masaxuuo/An 
 
 Dec 1887 ' 
 
 vellous facsimile. These " Notes " are delightful 
 sketches in Indian ink and crayon, masterly so far as 
 they go — but, then, they go such a little way. . . . 
 the "Notes" can only be regarded as painter's raw 
 materia], interesting as correct sketches, but unworthy 
 the glories of facsimile reproduction, and imposing 
 margin. . . . The chief honours of the portfolio 
 belong to the publishers. . . . 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES I97 
 
 Tke Critic-flaneur 
 
 QIR, — You, who are, I perceive, in your present 
 brilliant incarnation, an undaunted and unduUed 
 pursuer of pleasing truths, listen, I pray you, while 
 again I indicate, with sweet argument, the alternative ^^f^l^^'- 
 of the bewildered one. 
 
 Notably, it is not necessary that the " Art Critic " 
 should distinguish between the real and the " repro- 
 duction,'' or otherwise understand anything of the 
 matter of which he writes — for much shall be for- 
 given him — yet surely, as I have before now pointed 
 out, he might inquire. 
 
 Had the expounder of exhibitions, travelling for the 
 Magazine of Art, asked the Secretary in the galleries 
 of the Royal Society of British Artists, he would have 
 been told that the " Notes " on the staircase, and in 
 the vestibule, are not " delightful sketches in Indian 
 ink and crayon . . . reprodmoed in marvellous fac- 
 by Boussod, Valadon <fe Co unworthy 
 
igS THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the glories of facsimile reproduction, and imposing 
 margin " . . . . while " the chief honours of the port- 
 folio, however, belong to ' the publishers " — but are, 
 disconcerting as I acknowledge it to be, themselves the 
 lithographs from nature, drawn on the stone upon the 
 spot. 
 
 Thus easily provided with paragraph, he woiild also 
 have been spared the mortification of rebuke from 
 his well-meaning and embarrassed employers. 
 
 Let the gentleman be warned — let him learn that 
 the foolish critic only, — looks — and brings disaster, 
 upon his paper — the safe and well-conducted one 
 " informs himself." 
 
 Yours, Sir, gently, 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 199 
 
 A Played-out Policy 
 
 TO THE EDITOR 
 OF THE "PALL MALL GAZETTE" : 
 
 QIR, — In your courageous crusade against the Demon 
 Dulness and his preposterous surroundings, I think 
 it well that there should be delivered into your hands 
 certain documents for immediate publication, that pm moii caztm, 
 
 '^ _ Dec. 9, 1S8S. 
 
 your readers may be roused quickly, and hear again 
 how well fenced in are the foolish in strong places — 
 and how greatly to be desired is their exposure, dis- 
 comfiture, and death — that Truth may prevail. 
 
 It happened in this way. The criticism in the Tirms 
 called for instant expostulation, and my answer was 
 consequently sent in to the Editor, who forthwith 
 returned it, regretting "that its tone prevented its 
 appearance in the paper.'' .... I thereupon with- 
 drew to write the following note to the Editor in 
 person : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — Permit me to call your courteous atten- 
 tion to the fact that the enclosed letter to the Editor 
 
200 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 of the Ti/mes is in reply to an article that appeared in 
 
 your paper — and that, as I sign my name in full, I 
 
 alone am responsible for its tone or form ; indeed, 
 
 that such is its tone and form, is because it is my 
 
 letter. 
 
 " In common fairness the answer to, or comment 
 upon, any statements made in your paper should be 
 published in your paper, as proper etiquette prevents 
 its insertion in any other journal. 
 
 " Also, you surely would not propose to dictate cer- 
 tain forms or styles in which alone the columns of 
 the Times are to be approached — as who should say 
 all other savour of sacrilege ! — or acquiescence alone 
 would do, and you would have to write all your letters 
 yourselves. 
 
 "My letter concerns the effect produced by criticism 
 of a commonplace and inferior kind, wholly unworthy 
 the first paper in England — and I am startled to 
 learn, and still unwUling to believe, that the Times 
 would shun all ventilation and refuse to publish any 
 letter as its sole means of screening its staff or pro- 
 tecting its writers. 
 
 " I submit that the tone of my letter sins against 
 no laws that are accepted in antagonism — that it 
 offends in no way the etiquette of attack known to 
 gentlemen. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 201 
 
 " I beg, therefore, again, that if there be still time 
 
 for its insertion, you will have it printed in your issue 
 
 of to-morrow, or will say that it shall appear in the 
 
 Times of Thursday morning. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Very faithfully, 
 
 "J. McNeill Whistler." 
 
 I was now told, " with the Editor's compliments," 
 " that my letter should be considered." Taking this 
 in complete good faith, I left the o£Eice, to discover 
 the next day in print a remnant of the letter in ques- 
 tion ; that, by itself, entirely did away with sufficient 
 reason for its being there at all. The two ensuing 
 notes explain themselves : 
 
 To J. McN. Whistler, Esq.: 
 ' ' The Editor of the Times has inserted in to-day's paper the only 
 
 portion of Mr. Whistler's letter of November 30 which appears to 
 
 have any claim to publication. 
 
 "Printing House Square, Dec. i, 1886." 
 
 " To the Editor of the Times; 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the consummate sense of, 
 opportunity displayed by the Editor of the Times, in his cunning 
 production of a part of my letter. 
 
 " Amazing ! Me^ comfliments /" 
 
 •^ 
 
202 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Without further comment I hand you a copy of the 
 rejected letter. 
 
 " To the Editor of the Times. — Sir, — In his article 
 upon the Society of British Artists, your Art gentle- 
 man ventures the opinion of the * plain man.' 
 
 " That such opinion is out of place and stultifying 
 in a question of Art never occurs to him, and it is 
 therefore frankly cited as, in a way, conclusive. 
 
 " The jiaii/' train of thought that justified the im- 
 portance attached to this poor ' plain ' opinion at all 
 would seem to be the same that pervades the writing 
 throughout ; until it becomes difficult to discover 
 where the easy effrontery and self-sufficiency of the 
 ' plain one,' nothing doubting, cease, and the wit and 
 wisdom of the experienced expert begin — so that one 
 unconsciously confounds the incautious critic with the 
 plausible plain person, who finally becomes the same 
 authority. 
 
 " Blind plainness certainly is the characteristic of 
 the solemn censure upon the fine work of Mr. Stott, of 
 Oldham — plain blindness the omission of all mention 
 of Mr. Ludovici's dainty dancing-girl. 
 
 " Bewilderment among paintings is naturally the fate 
 of the ' plain man,' but, when put forth in the Times, 
 his utterances, however empty, acquire a semblance 
 of sense ; so that while he gravely descants with bald 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 203 
 
 assurance upon the engineering of the light in the 
 galleries, and the decoration of the walls, the reader 
 stands a chance of being misled, and may not discover 
 at once that the ' plain ' writer is qualified by ignor- 
 ance alone to continue. 
 
 " Permit me, therefore, to rectify inconsequent im- 
 pressions, and tell your readers that there is nothing 
 ' tentative * in the ' arrangement ' of colour, walls, 
 or drapery — ^that the battens should riot ' be removed ' 
 — ^that they are meant to remain, not only for their use, 
 but as bringing parallel lines into play that subdivide 
 charmingly the lower portion of the walls and add to 
 their light appearance — that the whole ' combination ' 
 is complete — and that the ' plain man ' is, as usual, 
 ' out of it.' — I am. Sir, etc., 
 
 " J. McNeill Whistler." 
 
 The question of fair dealing and good manners 
 in this matter I could not leave in better hands 
 than your own, and I will only add that hitherto 
 I have always met with the utmost readiness on 
 the part of the press to receive into their columns 
 any reply, however opposed to assertions of their 
 own. 
 
 Surely it is but poor policy this peremptory attempt 
 to maintain in authority the weak and blundering one, 
 
204 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 that he may destroy himself and bring sorrow upon 
 
 his people. 
 
 Rather let him be thrust from his post, that he 
 may be " brayed in a mortar among wheat with a 
 pestle" — ^that the Just be assuaged and foolishness 
 depart from among us. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 205 
 
 An Interview with an ex-President 
 
 'T'HE adverse vote by which the Royal Society of 
 British Artists transferred its oath of allegiance from 
 Mr. Whistler is for the time the chief topic of con- PaukaUGaieue, 
 
 June II, 1888. 
 
 versation in artistic circles. . . . We instructed our 
 representative to visit Mr. Whistler to obtain his 
 explanation of the aflfair. 
 
 "The state of affairs ?" said Mr. Whistler, in his 
 light and airy way, raising his eyebrows and twinkling 
 his eyes, as if it were all the best possible fun in the 
 world ; " why, my dear sir, there's positively wo state 
 of affairs at all. Contrary to public declaration 
 there's actually nothing chaotic in the whole business ; 
 on the contrary, everything is in order, and just as it 
 should be. The survival of the fittest as regards the 
 presidency, don't you see, and, well — Suffolk Street is 
 itself again ! A new government has come in, and, 
 as I told the members the other night, I congratulate 
 the Society on the result of their vote, for no longer 
 
2o6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 can it be said that the right man is in the wrong 
 place. No doubt their pristine sense of undisturbed 
 somnolence will again settle upon them after the 
 exasperated mental condition arising from the un- 
 natural strain recently put upon the old ship. Eh ? 
 what? Ha! ha!" 
 
 " You do not then consider the Society as out of 
 date ? You do not think, as is sometimes said, that 
 the establishment of the Grosvenor took away the 
 raison d'itre and original intention of the Society — 
 that of being a foil to the Royal Academy ? " 
 
 " I can hardly say what was originally intended, 
 but I do know that it was originally full of hope, and 
 even determination ; shown in a manner by their 
 getting a Royal Charter — the only art society in 
 London, I believe, that has one. 
 
 " But by degrees it lapsed into a condition of in- 
 capacity — -a sort of secondary state, — do you see, till 
 it acknowledged itself a species of creche for the Royal 
 Academy. Certain it is that when I came into it the 
 prevalent feeling among all the men was that their 
 best work should go to ' another place.' 
 
 "I felt that this sense of inferiority was fatal to 
 the well-being of the place. 
 
 "For that reason I attempted to bring about a 
 sense of espnt de corps and ambition, which culminated 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 207 
 
 in what might be called ' my first oflfence ' — by my 
 proposition that members belonging to other societies 
 should hold no official position in ours. I wanted to 
 make it an art centre," continued Mr. Whistler, with 
 a sudden vigour and an earnestness for which the 
 public would hardly give credit to this Master of 
 Badinage and Apostle of Persiflage ; " they wanted it 
 to remain a shop, although I said to them, ' Gentle- 
 men, don't you perceive that as shopmen you have 
 already failed, don't you see, eh ? ' But they were 
 under the impression that the sales decreased under 
 my methods and my regime, and ignored the fact that 
 sales had declined all over the country from all sorts 
 of causes, commercial, and so on. 
 
 " Their only chance lay in the art tone of the 
 place, for the old-fashioned pictures had ceased to 
 become saleable -wjares — buyers simply wouldn't buy 
 them. But members' work I couldn't, by the rules, 
 elimipate — only the bad outsiders were choked ofi"." 
 
 " Then how do you explain the bitterness of all the 
 opposition ? " 
 
 " A question of ' pull devil, pull baker,' and the 
 devil has gone and the bakers remain in Suffolk 
 Street ! Ha ! ha ! Here is a list of the fiendish 
 party who protested against the thrusting forth of 
 their president in such an unceremonious way : — 
 
2o8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 "Alfred Stevens, Theodore Koussel, Nelson Maclean, 
 Macnab, Waldo Story, A. Ludovioi, jun., Sidney Starr, 
 Francis James, W. A. Rixon, Aubrey Hunt, Moffatt 
 P. Lindner, E. G. Girardot, Ludby, Arthur Hill, 
 Llewellyn, W. Christian Symons, C. Wyllie, A. P. 
 Grace, J. E. Grace, J. D. Watson, Jacomb Hood, 
 Thornley, J. J. Shannon, and Charles Keen. Why, 
 the very flower of the Society ! and whom have they 
 left — hon Dieu ! whom have they left ? " 
 
 " It was a hard fight then ? " 
 
 " My dear sir, they brought up the maimed, the 
 halt, the lame, and the blind — literally — like in 
 Hogarth's ' Election ' ; they brought up everything 
 but corpses, don't you know ! — ^very well ! " 
 
 " But all this hardly explains the bitterness of the 
 feud and personal enmity to you " 
 
 " What ? Don't you see ? My presidential career 
 had in a manner been a busy one. When I took 
 charge of the ship \. found her more or less water- 
 logged. Well, I put the men to the pumps, and 
 thoroughly shook up the old vessel ; had her re-rigged, 
 re-cleaned, and painted — and finally I was graciously 
 permitted to run up the Royal Standard to the mast- 
 head, and brought her fully to the fore, ready for 
 action — as became a Boyal flagship ! And as a 
 natural result mutiny at once set in ! 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 209 
 
 " Don't you see," he continued, with one of his 
 strident laughs, " what might be considered, by the 
 thoughtless, as benefits, were resented, by the older 
 and wiser of the crew, as innovations and intrusions 
 of an impertinent and ofiensive nature. But the 
 immediate result was that interest in the Society was 
 undeniably developed, not only at home, but certainly 
 abroad. Notably in Paris all the art circle was keenly 
 alive to what was taking place in Sufiblk Street ; and, 
 although their interest in other institutions in this 
 country had previously flagged, there was the strong 
 willingness to take part in its exhibitions. 
 
 For example, there was Alfred Stevens, who 
 showed his own sympathy with the progressive eflforts 
 by becoming a member. And look at the throngs of 
 people that crowded our private views — eh? ha! 
 ha! what! But what will you! — ^the question is, 
 after all, purely a parochial one — and here I would 
 stop to wonder, if I do not seem pathetic and out of 
 character, why the Artist is naturally an object of 
 vituperation to the Vestryman ? — Why am / — who, 
 of course, as you know, am charming — why am I 
 the pariah of my parish ? 
 
 " Why should these people do other than delight in 
 me ? — Why should they perish rather than forgive the 
 one who had thrust upon them honour and success ? " 
 
 o 
 
-210 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " And the moral of it all ? " 
 
 Mr. Whistler became impressive — almost imposing 
 — as he stroked his moustache, and tried to hide a 
 smile behind his hand. 
 
 " The organisation of this ' Royal Society of British 
 Artists,' as shown by its very name, tended perforce 
 to this final convulsion, resulting in the separation of 
 the elements of which it was composed. They could 
 not remain together, and so you see the ' Artists ' have 
 come out, and the ' British ' remain — and peace and 
 sweet obscurity are restored to Suffolk Street! — 
 Eh? What? Ha! ha!" 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 Statistics 
 
 QINCE our interview with Mr. Whistler curious 
 statements have been set afloat concerning the ques- 
 tion of finance .... giving circumstantial evidence PaiiMait camu, 
 
 ° ° July 6, 1888. 
 
 of the disaster brought upon the Society by the en- 
 forcement of the Whistlerian policy : — 
 
 This evidence, which is very interesting, is as fol- 
 lows: — The sales of the Society during the year 1881 
 were under ;£'5ooo ; 1882, under _;^6ooo ; 1883, under 
 jQ-]ooo ; 1884, under ;^8ooo ; 1885 (the first year of 
 Mr. Whistler's rule), they fell to under ;^4ooo ; 1886, 
 under ;^3ooo ; 1887, under ;^2000 ; and the present 
 year, under ^^looo. 
 
 On the other hand, the fact of the Society having 
 made itself responsible to Mr. Whistler for a loan 
 raised by him to meet a sudden expenditure for re- 
 pairs, is also true ; but the unwisdom of the president 
 and members of any society having money transac- 
 
212 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 tions between them need hardly be commented upon 
 
 here 
 
 Mr. Wyke Bayliss, the new president, strikes one 
 as being " a strong man " — shrewd, logical, and self- 
 restrained. The author of several books and pamphlets 
 on the more imaginative realm of art, he is, one would 
 say, as much permeated by religion as he is by art ; to 
 both of these qualities, curiously enough, his canvases, 
 which usually deal with cathedral interiors of cheery 
 hue, bear witness. 
 
 The hero of three Bond Street " one-man exhibi- 
 tions," a Board-school chairman, a lecturer, champion 
 chess-player of Surrey, a member of the Rochester 
 Diocesan Council, a Shaksperian student, a Fellow of 
 the Society of Cyclists, a FeUow of the Society of 
 Antiquarians, and public orator of Noviomagus .... 
 he is surely one of the most versatile men who ever 
 occupied a presidential chair 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 213 
 
 A Retrospect 
 
 TO THE EDITOR 
 OF THE "PALL MALL GAZETTE": 
 
 QIR, — The Royal Society of British Artists is, per- 
 haps, by this time again unknown to your agitated 
 readers — ^but I would recall a brilliant number of the 
 PaM Mail Gazette (July 1888), in which mischievous 
 amusement was sought, with statistics from a newly 
 elected President — Mr. Bayliss (Wyke). 
 
 Believing it to be, in^an official and dull way, more 
 becoming that the appointed Council of this same 
 Society should deal with the resulting chaos, I have, 
 until now, waited for a slight washing of hands, as 
 who should say, on their part as representing the 
 gentle deprecation of, I assure you, the respectable 
 body in Suffislk Street. 
 
 Well, no! — It was doubtless adjudged wiser, or 
 milder, to " live it down," and now it, I really believe, 
 
214 THE GENTLE ART, 
 
 behoves me, in a weary way, to remind you of the 
 document in question, and, for the sake of common- 
 place, uninteresting, and foolish fact, to lift up my 
 parable and declare fallacious that which was supposed 
 to be true, and generally to bore myself, and perhaps 
 even you, the all-patient one, with what, I fear, we 
 others care but little for — parish matters. 
 
 In the article, then, entitled " The Eoyal Society 
 of British Artists and its Future — An Interview with 
 the New President" — a most appalling volley of 
 figures was fired off at hrHU-pow-point distance. 
 Under this deafening detonation I, having no habit, 
 sat for days incapable — dreaming vaguely that when 
 a President should see fit to wash his people's linen 
 in the open, there must be indeed crime at least on 
 the part of the offender at whose instigation such 
 ofScial sacrifice of dignity could come about. / was 
 the offender, and for a while I sincerely believed that 
 disaster had been brought upon this Royal Society 
 by my own casual self. But behold, upon closer 
 inspection, these threatening figures are meretricious 
 and misleading, as was the building account of the 
 early Philanthropist who, in the days of St. Paul, 
 meant well, and was abruptly discouraged by that 
 clear-headed apostle. 
 
 Mr. Bayliss tells us that : " The sales of the Society 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 215. 
 
 during the year 1881 were under," whatever that may 
 mean, ";£'sooo ; 1882, under _;£6ooo ; 1883, under 
 ^'jooo ; 1884, under ;^8ooo ; in 1885 (' the first year 
 of Mr. Whistler's rule ') they fell to under ;^4ooo ; 
 1886, under ;^30oo ; 1887, under _;^20oo ; and the 
 present year, under _;^iooo." 
 
 But also Mr. Bayliss takes this rare occasion of 
 attention, to assert his various qualifications for his- 
 post as head of painters in the street of Suffolk, and 
 so we learn that he is : — 
 
 " Chairman of the Board-school in his own district," 
 " Champion chess-player of Surrey,'' " A member of 
 the Diocesan CouncU of Rochester,'' " Fellow of the 
 Society of Cyclists," and " Public Orator of Novio- 
 magus." 
 
 As chess-player he may have intuitively bethought 
 himself of a move — possibly the happy one, — who 
 knows ? — which in the provinces obtained him a 
 ' cup ; as Diocesan Councilman he may have supposed 
 Rochester indifferent to the means used for an end ; 
 but as Public Cyclist of the Royal Society of Novio- 
 magus his experience must be opposed to any such 
 bluff as going his entire pile on a left bower only ! 
 
 When I recovered my courage — what did I find ? 
 — first my unimpaired intelligence, and then my 
 memory. 
 
2i6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Now, to my intelligence, it becomes patent that 
 the chairman of a Clapham School-board, proposes by 
 his figures to prove, that the income of the sacrificed 
 Society had of late years steadily increased : — " In 
 1881, under ;^sooo ; 1882, under _;^6ooo; 1883, 
 under ;^7ooo ; 1884, under jQZooo" until, under the 
 baneful reign of terror and Whistler in 1885 — "the 
 first year " of the sacrilegious era — the receipts fell 
 to jQ^ooo — and have continued to decrease until, in 
 this present year, they fall to the miserable sum of 
 under a thousand pounds — a revelation ! discreet, 
 statesmanlike, and worthy the orator at his best ! 
 
 Unfortunately for the triumph of such audacious 
 ■demonstration, my revived memory points out that 
 Mr. Whistler was only elected President in June 
 1886, and, in conformity with the ancient rules and 
 amusing customs of the venerable body, only came 
 into oflSce six months afterwards — that is, practically, 
 in January 1887. Again, with this last exhibition, he, 
 as everybody knows, had nothing whatever to do. 
 
 Immediately, therefore, the conclusion is " quite 
 •other" than that put forth by the Cyclist of his 
 suburb, and we arrive at the, for once, not unamusing 
 •"fact" that the disastrous and simple Painter 
 Whistler only took in hand the reins of government 
 iat least a year after the former driver had been 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 217 
 
 pitched from his box, and half the money-bags had 
 been already lost! — from j^Sooo to ;^4ooo at one 
 fatal swoop ! and the beginning of the end had set 
 in I Indeed, this may have been one of the strong 
 reasons for his own election by an overwhelming 
 minority of hysterical and panic-stricken passengers. 
 
 Now, though he did his best, and cried aloud that 
 the coach was safe, and called it Royal, and proposed 
 to carry the maU, confidence, diflEicult to restore, 
 waited for proof, and although fresh paint was spread 
 upon the panels, and the President coachman wore his 
 hat with knowing air, on one side and handled the 
 ribbons lightly, and dandled the drag, inviting jauntily 
 the passer-by, the public recognized the ramshackle 
 old "conveyance," and scoffingly refused to trust them- 
 selves in the hearse. 
 
 " Four thousand pounds ! " down it went — ;^3ooo 
 — -^2000 — the figures are Wyke's — and this season, 
 the ignominious "^1000 or under," is none of my 
 booking ! and when last I saw the mad machine it was 
 still cycling down the hill. 
 
2i8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The New Dynasty 
 
 CIR, — Pray accept my compliments, and be good 
 enough to inform me at once by whose authority, and 
 upon what pretence, the painting, designed and exe- 
 cuted by myself, upon the panel at the entrance of the 
 galleries of Suffolk Street, has been defaced. Tam- 
 pering with the work of an artist, however obscure, 
 is held to be, in what might be called the international 
 laws of the whole Art world, so villainous an offence, 
 that I must at present decline to entertain the respon- 
 sibility of the very distinguished and Royal Society of 
 British Artists, for what must be due to the rash, and 
 ill-considered, zeal of some enthusiastic and untutored 
 underling. 
 
 Awaiting your reply, I have the honour to be. Sir, 
 your obedient, humble servant, 
 
 The Morning Pest. 
 
 Teltgmm to Council 
 ttf Royal Society it/ 
 
 To THE Hon. Secretary J^T)** -^^ci^^tions 
 
 OF THE Royal Society of British Artists, ySSd^llArtiSte"' 
 
 left in charge of a 
 March 30, 1880. brother Artist's work, and upon 
 
 ' graceful bearing as officers toward their 
 
 late President.— Whistler. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 219 
 
 An Embroidered Interview 
 
 ""XATELL, Mr. Whistler, they say they only painted 
 
 out your butterfly from the signboard, and changed *?"' 3. "ss?. 
 
 the date. "What do you say ? " 
 
 " What do I say ? That they have been guilty of 
 an act of villainous Vandalism." 
 
 " Will you tell me the history of the Board ? " 
 "When I was elected to the presidency of the 
 Society I offered to paint a signboard which should 
 proclaim to the passer-by the name and nature of the 
 Society. My offer was accepted, and the Board was 
 sent down to my studio, where I treated it as I should 
 a most distinguished sitter — as a picture or an etching 
 — ^throwing my artistic soul into the Board, which 
 gradually became a Board no longer, as it grew into a 
 picture. You say they say it was only a butterfly.' 
 Mendacity could go no further. I painted a Ivm and 
 a butterfly. The lion lay with the butterfly — a har- 
 mony in gold and red, with which I had taken as 
 
220 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 mucli trouble as I did with the best picture I ever 
 painted. And now they have clothed my golden lion 
 clumsily, awkwardly, and timorously with a dirty 
 coat of black. My butterfly has gone, the checks 
 and lines, which I had treated decoratively, have dis- 
 appeared. Am I not justified in calling it a piece of 
 gross Vandalism ? " 
 
 " What course would you have recommended ? 
 You had gone ; the Board remained : perhaps it was 
 weather-beaten — what could they do ? " 
 
 "They should have taken the Board down, sir, 
 taken the Board down, not dared to destroy my work 
 — ^taken the Board down, returned it to me, and got 
 another Board of their own to practise on. Grood 
 heavens ! You say to my face it was only a Board. 
 You say they onh/ painted out my butterfly. It is 
 as if you were condoling with a man who had been 
 robbed and stripped, and said to him, ' Never mind. 
 It is well it is no worse. You have escaped easily. 
 Why, you might have had your throat cut.' " 
 
 And Mr. Whistler's Mephistophelian form disap- 
 peared into the black of the night. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 221 
 
 TAe ''Pall Mall" Puzzled 
 
 ]y[K. WHISTLER begs me to insert the following 
 note exactly as it stands. I haven't the slightest idea Apru*'i^*"*'' 
 what it means, but here it is with " rtvea compli- 
 ments " : — 
 
 "To THE Inteevieweb OP THE Pall Mall Gazette: 
 
 " Good ! very good ! Prettily put, as becomes the 
 Pall Mall, and yet you cannot be reproached with 
 being ' too fine for your audience ! ' 
 
 " I wish I could say these things as you do for me, 
 even at the risk of, at last, being understood. Mes 
 Compliments I " 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 223 
 
 Official Bumbledom 
 
 5II'') — -A-S you have considered Mr. Whistler's letter 
 worthy of publication, I ask you to complete the pub- 
 lication by inserting this simple statement of the facts 
 as they occurred. The notice board of the Koyal 
 ^Sm^S''s°posi. Society of British Artists bears on a red ground, in 
 letters of gold, the title of the Society. To this Mr. 
 Whistler, during his presidency, added with his own 
 hand a decorative device of a lion and a butterfly. 
 On the eve of our private view it was found that, 
 while the title of the Society, being in pure gold, 
 remained untarnished, Mr. Whistler's designs, being 
 executed in spurious metals, had nearly disappeared, 
 and what little remained of them was of a dirty 
 brown. The board could not be put up in that state. 
 The lion, however, was not so badly drawn as to make 
 it necessary to do anything more than restore it in 
 permanent colour, and that has accordingly been done. 
 Eut as the notice board was no longer the actual work 
 
224 T^HE GENTLE ART 
 
 of Mr. Whistler, it would manifestly have been im- 
 proper to have left the butterfly (his well-known 
 signature) attached to it, even if it had not appeared 
 in so crushed a state. The soiled butterfly was there- 
 fore effaced. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 WYKE BAYLISS, 
 
 Clapham. 
 April 1, 1889. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 225 
 
 " Atissi que diable allait-il faire dans 
 cette galere ? " 
 
 QIR, — I have read Mr. Bayliss's letter, and am dis- 
 armed. I feel the folly of kicking against the parish 
 pricks. These things are right in Clapham, by the 
 
 The Mcniiu^ Post, common. 
 
 " via ce que c'est, c'est Hen fait — 
 Fallaitfas quHly aille! fallait fas qu'ily aillel" 
 
 And when, one of these days, all traces of history 
 shall, by dint of much turpentine, and more Bayliss, 
 have been eflfaced from the board that " belongs to 
 us," I shall be justified, and it will be boldly denied 
 by some dainty student that the delicate butterfly 
 was ever "soiled " in Suffolk Street, 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
226 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Royal Society of British Artists 
 and their Signboard 
 
 CIR, — ^The moment has now arrived when, it aeems 
 to me proper that, in your journal, one of the recog- 
 The Aihtnmm, nized Art organs of the country, should be recorded 
 the details of an incident in which the element of 
 grave offence is, not unnaturally, quite missed by the 
 people in their indignation at the insignificance of the 
 object to which public attention has so unwarrantably 
 been drawn — a " notice board " ! — the common sign 
 of commerce ! 
 
 Now, however slight might be the value of the work 
 in question destroyed, it is surely of startling interest 
 to know that worh Tnay he destroyed, or worse still, 
 defaced and tampered with, at the present moment in 
 full London, with the joyous approval of the major 
 part of the popular press, 
 
 I leave to your comment the fact that in this 
 instance the act is committed with the tacit consent 
 of a body of gentlemen officially styled " artists," at 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 227 
 
 the instigation of their president, as he unblushingly 
 acknowledges, and will here distinctly state that the 
 " notice board of the Royal Society of British Artists " 
 did not " bear on a red ground, in letters of gold, the 
 title of the Society," and that " to this Mr. Whistler, 
 during his presidency," did not " add with his own 
 hand a decorative device of a lion and a butterfly.'' 
 This damning evidence, though in principle irrele- 
 vant — ^for what becomes of the soul of a "Diocesan 
 member of the Council of Clapham '' is, artistically, 
 a matter of small moment- — I nevertheless bring for^ 
 ward as the only one that will at present be at all 
 considered or even understood. 
 
 The " notice board " was of the familiar blue 
 enamel, well known in metropolitan use, with white 
 lettering, announcing that the exhibition of the Incor- 
 porated Society of British Artists was held above, and 
 that for the sum of one shilling the pubUc might enter. 
 
 I myself mixed the " red ground," and myself 
 placed, " in letters of gold, the " new " title " upon it 
 — in proper relation to the decorative scheme of the 
 whole design, of which it formed naturally an all- 
 important feature. The date was that of the Society's 
 Royal grant, and in commemoration of its new birth. 
 With the offending Butterfly, it has now been effaced 
 in one clean sweep of independence, while the lion. 
 
228 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " not so badly drawn," was differently dealt with — 
 it was found not ."necessary to do anjrthing more 
 than restore it in permanent colour, and that," with 
 a bottle of Brunswick black, " has accordingly been 
 done"; and, as Mr.' Bayliss adds, with unpremedi- 
 tated truth, in the thoughtless pride of achieve- 
 ment, " the notice board was no longer the actual 
 work of Mr. Whistler ! " 
 
 This exposure of Mr. Bayliss's direct method I 
 have wickedly withheld, in order that the Phihs- 
 tine impulse of the country should declare itself 
 in all its freshness of execration before it could be 
 checked by awkward discovery of mere mendacity, 
 and a timid sense of danger, called justice. 
 
 Everything has taken place as I pleasantly fore- 
 saw, and there is by this time, with the silent ex- 
 ception of one or two cautious dailies, scarcely a lay 
 paper in the land that l}as been able to refrain from 
 joining in the hearty yell of delight at the rare chance 
 of coarsely, publicly, and safely insulting an artist ! 
 In this eagerness to affront the man they have irre- 
 trievably and ridiculously committed themselves to 
 open sympathy with the destruction of his work. 
 
 I wish coldly to chronicle this fact in the archives 
 of the AihenoBvmn for the future consideration of the 
 cultured New Zealander. 
 
 T-i. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 229 
 
 An Official Letter 
 
 QIR, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
 officially informing me that the Committee award me 
 a second-class gold medal. 
 
 Pray convey my sentim.ents of tempered and re- 
 spectable joy to the gentlemen of the Committee, and 
 my complete appreciation of the second-hand compli- 
 ment paid me. 
 
 And I have, Sir, 
 
 The honour to be 
 Your most humble, obedient servant, 
 
 J. McNeill whistler. 
 
 To THE 1ST Secretary, 
 
 Central Committee, 
 International Art Exhibition, Munich. 
 
230 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Home of Taste 
 
 The Ideas of Mr. Blankety Blank on House 
 Decoration 
 
 T^HE other day I happened to call on Mr. Blank, — 
 Japanese Blank, you know, whose house is in far 
 Fulham. The garden door flew open at my summons, 
 and my eye was at once confronted with a house, the ^^*^°^""'' 
 hue of whose face reminded me of a Venetian palazzo, 
 for it was of a subdued pink If the ex- 
 terior was Venetian, however, the interior was a 
 compound of Blank and Japan. Attracted by the 
 curiously pretty hall, I begged the artist to explain 
 this — the newest style of house decoration. 
 
 I need not say that Blank, being a man of an 
 original turn of mind, with the decorative bump 
 strongly developed, holds what are at present peculiar 
 views upon wall papers, room tones, and so on. The 
 day is dark and gloomy, yet once within the halls of 
 Blank there is sweetness and light. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 231 
 
 You must look through the open door into a 
 luminous little chamber covered with a soft wash of 
 lemon yellow. 
 
 Prom the antechamber we passed through the open 
 door into a large drawing-room, of the same soft 
 lemon-yellow hue. The blinds were down, the fog 
 reigned without, and yet you would have thought that 
 the sun was in the room. 
 
 Here let me pause in my description, and put on 
 record the gist of our conversation concerning the 
 Home of Taste. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Blanks would you tell me how you 
 came to prefer tones to papers ? " 
 
 " Here the waUs used to be covered with a paper of 
 a sombre green, which oppressed me and made me 
 sad," said Blank. ' Why cannot I bring the sun into 
 the house,' I said to myself, ' even in this land of fog 
 and clouds ? ' Then I thought of my experiment and 
 invoked the aid of the British house-painter. He 
 brought his colours and his buckets, and I stood over 
 hita as he mixed his washes. 
 
 " One night, when the work was nearing completion, 
 one of them caught sight of himself in the mirror, 
 and remarked with astonishment upon the loveliness 
 of his own features. It was the lemon-yellow beauti- 
 fying the British workman's flesh tones. 
 
232 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " I assure you the eflfect of a room full of people in 
 evening dress seen against the yellow ground is ex- 
 traordinary, and," added Blank, " perhaps flattering." 
 
 "Then do I understand that you would remove all 
 wall papers ? " 
 
 "A good ground for distemper,'' chuckled Mr. 
 Blank. 
 
 " But you propose to inaugurate a revolution." 
 
 " I don't go so far as that, but I am glad to be able 
 to introduce my ideas of house furnishing and house 
 decoration to the public,'' said Blank, "and I may 
 tell you that when I go to America with my Paris 
 pictures, I shall try and decorate a house according to 
 my own ideas, and ask the Americans to think about 
 the matter." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 233 
 
 Another Poacher in the Chelsea Preserves 
 
 ATLAS, — Nothing matters but the unimportant; 
 so, at the risk of advertising an Australian immigrant 
 of Fulham — who, like the Kangaroo of his country. The wcrid. 
 
 ' ° •" Dec. 9«, 18SS. 
 
 is born with a pocket and puts everything into it — 
 and, in spite of much wise advice, we ought not to 
 resist the joy of noticing how readily a hurried con- 
 temporary has fallen a prey to its superficial know- 
 ledge of its various departments, and, culminating in a 
 " Special Edition " last week to embody a lengthy in- 
 terview headed " The Home of Taste," has discovered 
 again the nest of the mare that was foaled years ago ! 
 How, by the way, so smart a paper should have 
 printed its Tiaif ejaotions of ecstasy before the false 
 colours which the " Kangaroo " has hoisted over his 
 bush, defies all usual explanation, but clearly the jaunty 
 reporter whose impudent famiharity, on a former 
 memorable occasion, achieved my wondering admira- 
 tion, must have been, in stress of business, replaced 
 
234 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 by a novice who had never breakfasted with you and 
 me, Atlas, and the rest of the world, in the " lemon- 
 yellow," of whose beautiful tone he now, for the first 
 time, is so completely convinced. 
 
 The "hue" on the "face" of the Fulham 
 "Palazzo" he moreover calls "Venetian," and is 
 pleased with it — and so was I, Atlas — fw I mixed it 
 myself! 
 
 And yet, O Atlas, they say that I cannot keep a 
 friend — my dear, I cannot aflford it — and you only 
 keep for me their scalps ! 
 
 " Many, when a thing was lent them, reckoned it 
 to be found, and put them to trouble that helped 
 them '' 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 235 
 
 A Suggestion 
 
 ^ CERTAIN painter has given himself away to 
 an American journalist, unless that gentleman has 
 romanced, in the Philadelphia Daily News. According Tnaii, 
 to him this person explained how he managed the 
 press, and how he claimed to be the inventor of the 
 system associated with the name of Mr. Whistler. 
 The Art clubs and the studios have been flooded with 
 the Philadelphia Daily News. Mr. Whistler sent on his 
 own copy to the pretender, with the following note : — 
 
 " You will blow your brains out, of course. Pigott has shown 
 you what to do under the circumstances, and you know your way 
 to Spain. Good-bye ! " 
 
236 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The Habit of Second Natures 
 
 A/rOST Valiant Truth, — Among your ruthless ex- 
 posures of the shams of to-day, nothing, I confess, 
 have I enjoyed with keener relish than your late tilt 
 at that arch-impostor and pest of the period — the all- jM-=.'i8go. 
 pervading plagiarist ! 
 
 I learUj by the way, that in America he may, under 
 the " Law oi '84," as it is called, be criminally prose- 
 cuted, incarcerated, and made to pick oakum, as he 
 has hitherto picked brains — and pockets ! 
 
 How was it that, in your list of culprits, you omitted 
 that fattest of offenders — our own Oscar ? 
 
 His methods are brought again freshly to my mind, 
 by the indefatigable and tardy Romeike, who sends 
 me newspaper cuttings of " Mr. Herbert Vivian's 
 Reminiscences," in which, among other entertaining 
 anecdotes, is told at length, the story of Oscar simu- 
 lating the becoming pride of author, upon a certain 
 evening, in the club of the Academy students, and 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 237 
 
 arrogating to himself the responsibility of the lecture, 
 with which, at his earnest prayer, I had, in good 
 fellowship, crammed him, that he might not add de- 
 plorable failure to foolish appearance, in his anomalous 
 position, as art-expounder, before his clear-headed 
 audience. 
 
 He went forth, on that occasion, as my St. John — 
 but, forgetting that humility should be his chief 
 characteristic, and unable to withstand the unac- 
 customed respect with which his utterances were re- 
 ceived, he not only trifled with my shoe, but bolted 
 with the latchet ! 
 
 Mr. Vivian, in his book, tells us, further on, that 
 lately, in an article in the Nineteenth Centwy on the 
 " Decay of Lying," Mr. Wilde has deliberately and in- 
 cautiously incorporated, "without a word of comment," 
 a portion of the well-remembered letter in which, after 
 admitting his rare appreciation and amazing memory, 
 I acknowledge that " Oscar has the courage of the 
 opinions. . . . of others ! " 
 
 My recognition of this, his latest proof of open 
 admiration, I send him in the following little note, 
 which I fancy you may think d, propos to publish, as 
 an example to your readers, in similar circumstances, 
 of noble generosity in sweet reproof, tempered, as it 
 should be, to the lamb in his condition : — 
 
238 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " Oscar, you have been down, the area again, I see ! 
 
 " I had forgotten you, and so allowed your hair to 
 grow over the sore place. And now, while I looked 
 the other way, you have stolen yowr own scalp 1 and 
 potted it in more of your pudding. 
 
 " Labby has pointed out that, for the detected 
 plagiarist, there is still one way to self-respect (besides 
 hanging himself, of course), and that is for him boldly 
 to declare, ' Je prends mon bien 1^ oil je le trouve.' 
 
 " You, Oscar, can go further, and with fresh 
 effrontery, that will bring you the envy of aU criminal 
 confreres, unblushingly boast, ' Moi, je prends son bien 
 1^ oft je le trouve ! ' " 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 239 
 
 Jan. 9, i8{ 
 
 In the Market Place 
 
 QIR, — I can hardly imagine that the public are in 
 the very smallest degree interested in the shrill 
 tvb/a, shrieks of " Plagiarism " that proceed from time to 
 
 time out of the lips of silly vanity or incompetent 
 mediocrity. 
 
 However, as Mr. James Whistler has had the 
 impertinence to attack me with both venom and 
 vulgarity in your columns, I hope you will allow me 
 to state that the assertions contained in his letters 
 are as deliberately untrue as they are deliberately 
 offensive. 
 
 The definition of a disciple as one who has the 
 courage of the opinions of his master is really too 
 old even for Mr. Whistler to be allowed to claim it, 
 and as for borrowing Mr. Whistler's ideas about art, 
 the only thoroughly original ideas I have ever heard 
 him express have had reference to his own superiority 
 as a painter over painters greater than himself. 
 
240 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 It is a trouble for any gentleman to have to notice 
 the lucubrations of so ill-bred and ignorant a person 
 as Mr. Whistler, but your publication of his insolent 
 letter left me no option in the matter. — I remain, 
 Sir, faithfully yours, 
 
 OSCAR WILDE. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 241 
 
 Panic 
 
 Q TRUTH ! — Cowed and humiliated, I acknowledge 
 that our Oscar is at last original. At bay, and sublime g^'*- 
 in his agony, he certainly has, for once, borrowed 
 from no living author, and comes out in his own 
 true colours — as his own " gentleman." 
 
 How shall I stand against his just anger, and his 
 damning allegations ! for it must be clear to your 
 readers, that, beside his clean polish, as prettily set 
 forth in his epistle, I, alas ! am but the " iU-bred and 
 ignorant person," whose " lucubrations " "it is a 
 trouble " for him " to notice." 
 
 StiU will I, desperate as is my condition, point out 
 that though "impertinent," "venomous,'' and "vul- 
 gar," he claims me as his " master " — and, in the dock, 
 bases his innocence upon such relation between us. 
 
 In all humility, therefore, I admit that the out- 
 come of my " silly vanity and incompetent me- 
 diocrity," must be the incarnation : " Oscar Wilde.'' 
 
 Q 
 
242 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Mea culpa I the Gods may perhaps forgive and 
 
 forget. 
 
 To you, Truth — champion of the truth — I leave 
 the brave task of proclaiming again that the story of 
 the lecture to the students of the Boyal Academy 
 was, as I told it to you, no fiction. 
 
 In the presence of Mr. Waldo Story did Oscar 
 make his prayer for preparation ; and at his table was 
 he entrusted with the materials for his crime. 
 
 You also shall again unearth, in the Nineteenth 
 Gentwry Review of Jan. 1889, page 37, the other 
 appropriated property, slily stowed away, in an 
 article on "The Decay of Lying" — though why 
 Decay! 
 
 To shirk this matter thus is craven, doubtless; 
 but I am awe-stricken and tremble, for truly, " the 
 rage of the sheep is terrible ! " 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 243 
 
 J^usi Indignation 
 
 OSCAR, — How dare you! What means this dis- 
 
 SfUise ? Uponperceiviiigthc 
 
 o Poet, in Polish cap 
 
 Bestore those things to Nathan's, and never again brfreglSr^?""' 
 
 wonderfully be- 
 
 let me find you masquerading the streets of my '"'"''■ 
 Chelsea in the combined costumes of Kossuth and 
 Mr. Mantalini ! 
 
244 ^^-E GENTLE ART 
 
 An Advanced Critic 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 CIK, — I find myself obliged to notice the critical 
 review of the " Ten o'Clock," that appeared in your 
 pdper (March 6). 
 
 In the interest of my publishers, I beg to staite ^S!^' 
 formally that the work has not as yet been issued 
 at all — and I would point out that what is still in 
 the hands of the printer, cannot possibly have fallen 
 into the fingers of your incautious contributor ! 
 
 The early telegram is doubtless the ambition of this 
 smart, though premature and restless one — but he is 
 wanting in habit, and unhappy ia his haste ! — What 
 wUl you ? The PcUl MaU and the people have been 
 imposed upon. 
 
 Be good enough. Sir, to insert this note, lest the 
 public suppose, upon your authority, that the " Ten 
 o'clock," as yet unseen in the window of Piccadilly, 
 has, in consequence of this sudden sununing up, been 
 hurriedly withdrawn from circulation. — I am, Sir, 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 245 
 
 TAe Advantage of Explanation 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — Just three weeks after publication Mr. Whist- 
 ler " finds himself obliged to notice the critical review 
 of the ' Ten o'Clock ' that appeared in your paper.'' 
 He points out that " what is still in the hands of the PaaitauGazOH, 
 
 * March 31, 1888. 
 
 printer cannot possibly have fallen into the fingers of 
 your incautious contributor." I do not pretend to be 
 acquainted with the multitudinous matters that may 
 be in the hands of his publishers' printers. But I 
 can declare — ^and you, Sir, will corroborate me — that 
 a printed copy of Mr. Whistler's smart but mislead- 
 ing lecture was placed in my hands for review, and, 
 moreover, that the notice did not appear until the 
 pamphlet was duly advertised by Messrs. Chatto and 
 Windus as ready. It is, of course, a matter of regret 
 to me if, as Mr. Whistler suggests, his publishers' 
 interests are likely to suffer from the review ; but if 
 
246 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 an author's work, in the reviewer's opinion, be full of 
 rash statement and mischievous doctrine, the pub- 
 lishers must submit to the risk of frank criticism. 
 But it will be observed that Mr. Whistler is merely 
 seeking to create an impression that your Reviewer 
 never saw the work he criticized, which is siirely not 
 a creditable position to take up, even by a sensitive 
 man writhing under adverse criticism. — I am, Sir, 
 most obediently, 
 
 YOUR REVIEWER. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 247 
 
 Testimony 
 
 TO THE EDITOR; 
 
 QIR, — My apologies, I pray you, to the much dis- 
 turbed gentleman, " Your Reviewer," who complains 
 that I have allowed " just three weeks " to go by with- J'^j^^'sm"""'' 
 out noticing his writing. 
 
 Le me hasten, lest he be further offended, to 
 acknowledge his answer, in Saturday's paper. 
 
 After much matter, he comes unexpectedly upon a 
 clear understanding of my letter — "It will be 
 observed," he says naively, " that Mr. Whistler is 
 merely seeking to create an impression that your 
 Reviewer never saw the work he criticized," — herein 
 he is completely right, this is absolutely the impres- 
 sion I did seek to create — " which," he continues, " is 
 surely not a creditable position to take up " — again I 
 agree with him, and admit the sad spectacle a 
 " Reviewer " presents in such position. 
 
248 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 He further " declares," and calls upon you, Sir, to 
 "corroborate" him, "that a printed copy of Mr. 
 Whistler's misleading lecture was placed in my hands 
 for review " — and moreover, that " the notice did not 
 appear until the pamphlet was duly advertised by 
 Messrs. Chatto and Windus as ready." 
 
 Pausing to note that if the lecture had not seemed 
 misleading to him, it would surely not have been 
 worth uttering at all, I come to the copy in question — 
 this could only have been a printed proof, quaintly 
 acquired — ^as will be seen by the following letter from 
 Messrs. Chatto and Windus, which I must beg you, 
 Sir, to publish, with this note — as it deals also with 
 the remaining point, the advertisement of the 
 pamphlet. 
 
 And, I am. Sir, 
 
 The following is the letter from Mr. Whistler's 
 publishers : — 
 
 Dear Sir, — In reply to your question we have to say that we 
 certainly have not sent out any copy of the " Ten o'Clock" to the 
 press, or to anybody else excepting yourself. The work is still in the 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 249 
 
 printers' hands, and we have for a long time past been advertising it 
 only as "shortly" to be published; indeed, only a few proofs have 
 so far been taken from the type. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 CHATTO AND WINDUS. 
 
2SO THE GENTLE ART 
 
 An Apostasy 
 
 'T'O speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
 
 but the truth may justly be required of the average Mr. wiiistiep's 
 
 Lecture on Art, by 
 
 witness; it cannot be expected, it should not be silSESSf'^'" 
 exacted, of any critical writer or lecturer on any Fortnismy 
 
 '^ •' ■' ^«nV?x, June 1888. 
 
 form of art 
 
 .... And it appears to one at least of those 
 unfortunate " outsiders " for whose judgment or 
 whose " meddling " Mr. Whistler has so imperial 
 and Olympian a contempt 
 
 Let us begin at the end, as all reasonable people 
 always do : we shall find that Mr. Whistler con- 
 cedes to Greek art a place beside Japanese. Now 
 this, on his own showing, will never do ; it crosses, 
 it contravenes, it nullifies, it pulverizes his theory 
 or his principle of artistic limitation. If Japanese reflection: 
 
 ... „ . . T« , - "If'indeedl 
 
 art IS right in confining itself to what can be 
 
 " broidered upon the fan " — and the gist of the ^t? 
 
 whole argument is in favour of this assumption — 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 251 
 
 then the sculpture which appeals, indeed, first of 
 all to our perception of beauty, to the delight of 
 the eye, to the wonder and the worship of the 
 instinct or the sense, but which in every possible 
 instance appeals also to far other intuitions and far 
 other sympathies than these, is as absolutely wrong, 
 as demonstrably inferior, as any picture or as any 
 carving which may be so degenerate and so debased 
 as to concern itself with a story or a subject. 
 REFLECTioif Assurodly Phidias thought of other things than " ar- 
 BarlutS'diaii Tangoments " * in marble — as certainly as ^^Ischylus 
 
 the Painter cease 
 
 thought of other things than " arrangements " in 
 
 metre. Nor, I am sorely afraid, can the adored 
 Velasquez be promoted to a seat "at the fopt of 
 Fusi-yama." Japanese art is not merely the in- 
 comparable achievement of certain harmonies in 
 colour ; it is the negation, the immolation, the anni- 
 hilation of everything else. By the code which accepts 
 as the highest of models and of masterpieces the cups 
 REFLECTION: and fans and screens with which " the poor world " 
 andsCTeera," ' has becu as grievously "pestered" of late years as 
 
 and Hamilton a J r J 
 
 ofSiSiflid'°^ ^^^^ ^^ '^^^ ^"^ Shakespeare's time " with such water- 
 
 flies — " diminutives of nature " — as excited the scorn 
 
 ^^ of his moralizing cynic, Velasquez is as unquestionably 
 
 condemned as is Raphael or Titian. It is true that , ^^fJ-^<^™j^: 
 
 ^ f Quite hopeless I 
 
 this miraculous power of hand (?) f makes beautiful 
 
252 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 for us the deformity of dwarfs, and dignifies the 
 
 degradation of princes ; but that is not the question. 
 
 It is true, again, that Mr. Whistler's own merest 'reflection: 
 
 ^ whereby it would 
 
 " arrangements " in colour are lovely and effective ; * aSrd.'SfeiJveS'fs 
 but his portraits, to speak of these alone, are liable "°cVectire.» ^ 
 to the damning and intolerable imputation of pos- 
 sessing not merely other qualities than these; but 
 qualities which actually appeal — I blush to remember 
 REFLECTION: and I shudder to record it — which actually appeal to 
 thtrefore.mn-''' the intelligence t and the emotions, to the mind and 
 
 fessedly does not 
 
 ?§E^re.'emo-' heart of the spectator. It would be quite useless for 
 heartofth^ Bard Mr. Whistler to protcst — if haply he should be so 
 
 even when aided by '^ ■*- •' 
 
 the "effective." disposed — that he never meant to put study of 
 ^ character and revelation of intellect into his portrait 
 ' of Mr. Carlyle, or intense pathos of significance and 
 tender depth of expression into the portrait of his 
 own venerable mother. The scandalous fact re- 
 mains, that he has done so ; and in so doing has 
 explicitly violated and implicitly abjured the creed 
 and the canons, the counsels and the catechism of 
 
 Japan 
 
 And when Mr. Whistler informs us that " there 
 never was an artistic period," we must reply that the 
 statement, so far as it is true, is the flattest of all 
 possible truisms ; for no mortal ever maintained that 
 there ever was a period in which all men were either 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 253 
 
 good artists or good judges of art. But when we pass 
 from the positive to the comparative degree of historic 
 or retrospective criticism, we must ask whether the 
 lecturer means to say that there have not been times 
 REFLECTION: y,]jgjj \^q general standard of taste and iudgment. 
 
 Of course I do ° J O > 
 
 So^hmVst'Sf^- reason and perception, was so much higher than at 
 Mththep*"! *" °*^®^ times and such, periods may justly and accu- 
 peopiwral 1888. rately be defined as artistic. If he does mean to say 
 this, he is beyond answer and beneath confutation ; 
 in other words, he is where an artist of Mr. Whistler's 
 genius and a writer of Mr. Whistler's talents can by 
 no possibility find himself. IE he does not mean to 
 say this, what tie means to say is exactly as well worth 
 saying, as valuable and as important a piece of infor- 
 mation, as the news that Queen Anne is no more, or 
 that two and two are not generally supposed to make 
 five. 
 
 But if the light and glittering bark of this brilliant 
 amateur in the art of letters is not invariably steered 
 with equal dexterity of hand between the Scylla and 
 Charybdis of paradox and platitude, it is impossible 
 that in its course it should not once and again touch 
 upon some point worth notice, if not exploration. 
 Even that miserable animal the " unattached writer " 
 may gratefully and respectfully recognize his accurate 
 apprehension and his felicitous application of well- 
 
254 T'ifE GENTLE ART 
 
 nigh the most hackneyed verse in all the range of 
 Shakespeare's — which yet is almost invariably mis- 
 construed and misapplied — " One touch of nature 
 makes the whole world kin " ; and this, as the poet 
 goes on to explain, is that all, with one consent, prefer 
 worthless but showy novelties to precious but familiar 
 possessions. " This one chord that vibrates with 
 all," says Mr. "Whistler, who proceeds to cite artistic 
 examples of the lamentable fact, " this one unspoken 
 sympathy that pervades humanity, is — ^Vulgarity.'' 
 But the consequence which he proceeds to indicate 
 and to deplore is calculated to strike his readers with 
 a sense of mild if hilarious astonishment. It is that 
 men of sound judgment and pure taste, quick feelings 
 and clear perceptions, most unfortunately and most 
 inexplicably begin to make their voices " heard in the 
 land." Porson, as all the world knows, observed of 
 the Germans of his day that " in Greek " they were 
 " sadly to seek,'' It is no discredit to Mr. "Whistler if 
 this is his case also ; but then he would do well to 
 eschew the use of a Greek term lying so far out of 
 the common way as the word " aesthete." Not merely reflection: 
 the only accurate meaning, but the only possible mean- JlrSfse?" 
 ing, of that word is nothing more, but nothing less, than ^ 
 
 this — an intelligent, appreciative, quick-witted person ; 
 in a word, as the lexicon has it, " one who perceives." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 255 
 
 The man who is no sesthete stands confessed, by the 
 logic of language and the necessity of the case, as a 
 thick-witted, tasteless, senseless, and impenetrable 
 blockhead. I do not wish to insult Mr. Whistler, 
 but I feel bound to avow my impression that there is 
 no man now living who less deserves the honour of 
 enrolment in such ranks as these^of a seat in the 
 
 synagogue of the anaesthetic 
 
 .... Such abuse of language is possible only to 
 the drivelling desperation of venomous or fangless 
 duncery : it is in higher and graver matters, of wider 
 bearing and of deeper import, that we find it neces- 
 sary to dispute the apparently serious propositions or 
 assertions of Mr. Whistler. How far the wiUy 
 tongue may he thrust into the smiling cheek when 
 the lecturer pauses to take breath between these 
 remarkably brief paragraphs it would be certainly 
 indecorous and possibly superfluous to inquire. But 
 his theorem is unquestionably calculated to provoke 
 the loudest and the heartiest mirth that ever acclaimed 
 • Is not. then, the the odveiit of Momus or Erycina, For it is this — that mv -ovz-JV^^do^ 
 
 funeral hymn a -,,,, it , .t« -iti . . ^'- Swinburne 
 
 gladness to the * « Art and Joy SO together, cmd thai j tragic a/rt %s find this last-ws 
 
 singer, if the verse ./ O O J t if own inconse- 
 
 bel»a„tifu>, ^^^ ^ ^^ ^^^ queuce. 
 
 Certwnly tlie fu- Jj 
 
 blwoShyTeNa-" .... Ths laughlog Muso of the lecturer, " quam ^ 
 
 tion's sorrow buried _ . i.j, , i t ■ t t • \3m 
 
 beneathit, must first Jocus circumvolat, must havo glanced rouiid ID expec- J^ 
 
 d™&'diu° tation of the general appeal, " After that let us take 
 
 The Bard's reasonii^ is of the People. His Trag^edy is theirs. As one of 
 them. The man may weep— yet will the artist rejoice— for to him is not'* A 
 thing of beauty a joy for ever ' V 
 
2S6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 breath." And having done so, they must have remem- 
 bered that they were not in a serious world ; that they 
 REFLECTION: wcre in the fairyland of fans, in the paradise of pipkins, 
 veis \t cOTturies, in the limbo of blue china, screens, pots, plates, jars, joss- reflection: 
 ilSl°bJ€m°'- houses, and all the fortuitous frippery of Fusi-yama. ft^B^fif^' 
 
 refused— and the i i , . •! i i -i^-r • i • i t collectorl 
 
 digniprofignor- It IS a cruel Dut an inevitable JNemesis which Teduces ,^ 
 
 ance lost in speech. vVfc * 
 
 jA_ even a man of real genius, keen-witted and sharp- "W^ 
 
 (5' sighted, to the level of the critic Jobson, to the level 
 of the dotard amd the dunce, when paradox is dis- 
 coloured by personality and merriment is distorted by 
 malevolence (!) No man who really knows the qualities 
 of Mr. Whistler's best work will imagine that he really 
 believes the highest expression of his art to be real- 
 ized in reproduction of the grin and glare, the smirk 
 and leer, of Japanese womanhood as represented in its 
 professional types of beauty ; but to all appearance he 
 would fain persuade us that he does. 
 
 In the latter of the two portraits to which I have 
 already referred there is an expression of living cha- 
 racter This, however, is an exception to the 
 
 general rule of Mr. Whistler's way of work : an excep- 
 tion, it may be alleged, which proves the rule. A single 
 infraction of the moral code, a single breach of artistic 
 law, suf&ces to vitiate the position of the preacher. 
 And this is no slight escapade, or casual aberration ; it 
 is a full and frank defiance, a deliberate and elaborate 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 257 
 
 denial, hurled right in the face of Japanese jocosity, 
 flung straight in the teeth of the theory which con- 
 demns high art, under penalty of being considered 
 intelligent, to remain eternally on the grin. 
 
 If it be objected that to treat this theorem gravely 
 is " to consider too curiously " the tropes and the 
 phrases of a jester of genius, I have only to answer 
 that it very probably may be so, but that the excuse 
 for such error must be sought in the existence of the 
 genius. A man of genius is scarcely at liberty to choose 
 whether he shall or shall not be considered as a serious 
 figure — one to be acknowledged and respected as an 
 equal or a superior, not applauded and dismissed as 
 a twmhl&r or a clown. And if the better part of Mr. 
 Whistler's work as an artist is to be accepted as the 
 work of a serious and intelligent creature, it would 
 seem incongruous and preposterous to dismiss the more 
 characteristic points of his theory as a lecturer with 
 the chuckle or the shrug of mere amusement or 
 amazement. Moreover, if considered as a joke, a mere 
 joke, and nothing but a joke, this gospel of the grin 
 has hardly matter or meaning enough in it to support 
 so elaborate a structure of paradoxical rhetoric. It 
 must be taken, therefore, as something serious in the 
 main ; and if so taken, and read by the light reflected 
 from Mr. Whistler's more characteristically brilliant 
 
258 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 canvases, it may not improbably recall a certain phrase 
 of Moli^re's ■which at once passed into a proverb — 
 " Vous 6tes orffevre, M. Josse.'' That worthy trades- 
 man, it will be remembered, was of opinion that 
 nothing could be so well calculated to restore a droop- 
 ing young lady to mental and physical health as the 
 present of a handsome set of jewels. Mr. Whistler's 
 REFLECTION: opitiion that there is nothing like leather — of a jovial 
 ciai su^in™!!"?!!' cmd Jopcmese design — sa/vov/rs somewhat of the Oriental 
 
 excused by the 
 
 ■■Great Emperor I" COrdwainer, 
 
 '^ 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 259 
 
 "£i tu. Brute!' 
 
 '\A/'HY, brother ! did you not consult with me 
 before printing, in the face of a ribald world, that 
 you also misunderstamd, and are capable of saying so, 
 with vehemence and repetition ? 
 
 Have I then left no man on his legs ? — and have I 
 shot down the singer in the far off, when I thought 
 him safe at my side ? 
 
 Cannot the man who wrote Atalanta — and the 
 B(Mads beautiful, — can he not be content to spend his 
 life with his work, which should be his love, — and has 
 for him no misleading doubt and darkness — that he 
 should so stray about blindly in his brother's flower- 
 beds and bruise himself ! 
 
 Is life then so long with him, and his art so 
 short, that he shall dawdle by the way and wander 
 from his path, reducing his giant intellect — ^garru- 
 lous upon matters to him unknown, that the scoffer 
 may rejoice and the Philistine be appeased while he 
 
26o THE GENTLE ART 
 
 takes up the parable of the mob and proclaims him- 
 self their spokesman and fellow-sufferer ? O Brother ! 
 where is thy sting ! Poet ! where is thy victory ! 
 
 How have I offended ! and how shall you in the 
 midst of your poisoned page hurl yiith impunity 
 the boomerang rebuke ? " Paradox is discoloured by 
 personality, and merriment is distorted by malevo- 
 lence." 
 
 Who are you, deserting your Muse, that you should 
 insult my Goddess with familiarity, and the manners 
 of approach common to the reasoners in the market- 
 place. "Hearken to me," you cry, " and I will point 
 out how this man, who has passed his life in her 
 worship, is a tumbler and a clown of the booths — how 
 he who has produced that which I fain must acknow- 
 ledge — is a jester in the ring ! 
 
 Do we not speak the same language? Are we 
 strangers, then, or, in our Father's house are there so 
 many mansions that you lose your way, my brother, 
 and cannot recognize your kin ? 
 
 Shall I be brought to the bar by my own blood, and 
 be borne false witness against before the plebeian 
 people ? ShaU I be made to stultify myself by what 
 I never said— and shall the strength of your testimony 
 turn upon me ? " If " — " If Japanese Art is right 
 in confining itself to what can be broidered upon the 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 261 
 
 fan" .... and again .... " that he really believes 
 the highest expression of his art to be realized in re- 
 production of the grin and glare, the smirk and leer " 
 .... and further .... " the theory which con- 
 demns high art, under the penalty of being considered 
 intelligent, to remain eternally on the grin " . . . . 
 and much more ! 
 
 " Amateur writer ! " Well should I deserve the 
 reproach, had I ventured ever beyond the precincts 
 of my own science — and fatal would have been the 
 exposure, as you, with heedless boldness, have un- 
 wittingly proven. 
 
 Art tainted with philanthropy — that better Art 
 result ! — Poet and Peabody ! 
 
 You have been misled — you have mistaken the pale 
 demeanour and joined hands for an outward and 
 visible sign of an inward and spiritual earnestness. 
 For you, these are the serious ones, and, for them, 
 you others are the serious matter. Their joke is their 
 work. For me — why should I refuse myself the grim 
 joy of this grotesque tragedy — and, with them now, 
 you all are my joke ! 
 
262 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 Freeing a Last Friend 
 
 "D RAVO ! Bard ! and exquisitely written, I suppose, 
 as becomes your state. 
 
 The scientific irrelevancies and solemn popularities, 
 less elaborately embodied, I seem to have met with The worid, 
 
 June 3, X888, 
 
 before — ^Ln papers signed by more than one serious Letter to Mr. 
 
 ^ ^ Swinburne. 
 
 and unqualified sage, whose mind also was not nar- 
 rowed by knowledge. 
 
 I have been " personal," you say ; and, faith ! you 
 prove it ! 
 
 Thank you, my dear ! I have lost a confrere ; but, 
 then, I have gained an acquaintance — one Algernon 
 Swinburne — " outsider " — Putney. 
 
[An Editor's Anxiety 
 
264 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 An Editors Anxiety 
 
 TT is reported that Mr. Wtistler, having received 
 word that a drawing of his had been rejected by the FaUMaUGaxtiu, 
 Committee of the Universal Exhibition, arrived yes- 
 terday in Paris and withdrew all his remaining works, 
 including an oil painting and six drawings. The 
 French consider that he has been guilty of a breach 
 of good manners. The Paris, for instance, points out 
 that, after sending his works to the jury, he should 
 have accepted their judgment, and appealed to the 
 public by other methods. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 265 
 
 Rassurez vous ! 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 \ 
 5IR,— You are badly informed— a risk you con- %^^,fX^";' 
 
 stantly run in your haste for pleasing news. 
 
 I have not " withdrawn " my works " from the 
 forthcoming Paris Exhibition." 
 
 I transported my pictures from the American 
 department to the British section of the " Exposi- 
 tion Internationale," where I prefer to be represented. 
 
 "The French" have nothing, so far, to do with 
 English or American exhibits. 
 
 A little paragraph is a dangerous thing. 
 
 And I am, Sir, 
 
 Chelsea. 
 
266 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Whistlers Grievance 
 
 AN ENTRAPPED INTERVIEW. 
 
 'T'HE Herald, correspondent saw Mr. Whistler at 
 the Hotel Suisse, and asked the artist about his 
 affairs with the American Art Jury of the Exhibition. 
 
 " I believe the Herald made the statement," said r^'^f^^''''- 
 Mr. Whistler, " that I had withdrawn all my etchings '*' ^ ^^' 
 and a full-length portrait from the American section. 
 It all came about in this way : In the first place, 
 before the pictures were sent in, I received a note 
 from the American Art Department asking me to 
 contribute some of my work. It was at that time 
 difiScult for me to collect many of my works; but 
 I borrowed what I could from different people, and 
 sent in twenty-seven etchings and the portrait." 
 
 " You can imagine that a few etchings do not have 
 any effect at all ; so I sent what I could get together. 
 Shortly afterwards I received a note saying : ' Sir, — 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 267 
 
 Ten of your exhibits have not received the approval 
 of the jury. Will you kindly remove them ? ' " 
 
 " At the bottom of this note was the name 
 ' Hawkins ' — General Hawkins, I believe — a cavalry 
 officer, who had charge of the American Art Depart- 
 ment of the Exhibition. 
 
 " Well ! the next day I went to Paris and called 
 at the American headquarters of the Exhibition. I 
 was ushered into the presence of this gentleman, 
 Hawkins, to whom I said : — ' I am Mr. Whistler, and 
 I beheve this note is from you. I have come to remove 
 my etchings ' ; but I did not mention that my work 
 was to be transferred to the English Art Section." 
 
 " ' Ah ! ' said the gentleman — the officer — ' we were 
 very sorry not to have had space enough for all your 
 etchings, but we are glad to have seventeen and the 
 portrait." 
 
 " ' You are too kind,' I said, ' but really I will not 
 trouble you.' " 
 
 " Mr. Hawkins was "quite embarrassed, and urged 
 me to reconsider my determination, but I withdrew 
 every one of the etchings, and they are now well hung 
 in the English Department.'' 
 
 " I did not mind the fact that my works were 
 criticized, but it was the discourteous manner in 
 which it was done. If the request to me had been 
 
268 THE GENTLE ART 
 made in proper language, and thej had simply said : 
 — ' Mr. Whistler, we have not space enough for 
 twenty-seven etchings. Will you kindly select those 
 which you prefer, and we shall be glad to have them,' 
 1 would have given them the privilege of placing 
 them in the American Section." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 269 
 
 "Whacking Whistler" 
 
 TN an interview in yesterday's Herald the eccentric 
 artist, Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, " jumped " in a most 
 emphatic manner upon General Hawkins, Commis- 
 sioner of the American Art Department at the Exhi- New York Hcraui, 
 
 Paris Edition, 
 
 bition. He objects to the General for being a cavalry 
 officer ; refers to him sarcastically as " Hawkins," and 
 declares him ignorant of the most elementary prin- 
 ciples alike of art and politeness — all this because he. 
 Whistler, was requested by the Commissioner to re- 
 move from the Exhibition premises some ten of his 
 rejected etchings. 
 
 In a spirit of fair play a correspondent called upon 
 General Hawkins, giving him an opportunity, if he 
 felt so disposed, of "jumping," in his turn, on his 
 excitable opponent. The General did feel "so dis- 
 posed," and proceeded, in popular parlance, to " see " 
 Mr. J. McNeiU Whistler and "go him one better." 
 In this species of linguistic gymnastics, by the way, the 
 
 Oct. 4, iSf 
 
270 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 military Commissioner asks no odds xti any one. He 
 began by gently remarking that Mr. Whistler, in his 
 published remarks, had soared far out of the domain 
 of strict veracity. This was not bad for a " starter," 
 and was ably supported by the following detailed 
 statement : — 
 
 " Mr. Whistler says he received a note from me. 
 That is a mistake. I have never in my life written 
 a line to Mr. Whistler.* What he did receive was a ^U^^^^"^ 
 circular with my name printed at the bottom. These wish ty return maii 
 
 * ■*■ you would send de- 
 
 circulars were sent to all the artists who had pictures ^-^c^d^ca 
 
 , , have titles to etch- 
 
 refused by the jury, and contained a simple request ^f^™'^'^^ 
 that such pictures be removed. teSilfo'^SOT™ 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Our way of doing business was not, it seems, up ""^a^ns, 
 to Mr. Whistler's standard of politeness, so he got nlrai,Paii^ 
 angry and took away, not only the ten rejected etch- loiaf'^Sr." 
 ings, but seventeen others which had been accepted. 
 It is a little singular that among about one hundred 
 and fifty artists who received this circular, Mr. 
 Whistler should have been the only one to discover 
 ita latent discourtesy. How great must be Mr. 
 Whistler's capacity for detecting a snub where none 
 exists ! " 
 
 " In any case, there is not the slightest reason for 
 Mr. Whistler's venting his ire upon me. I had no 
 more to do with either accepting or rejecting his 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 271 
 
 pictures than I had with paiuting them. What he 
 sent us was judged on its merits by a competent and 
 impartial jury of his peers. If there were ten etch- 
 ings rejected it only shows that there were ten etch- 
 ings not worthy of acceptance. A few days after the 
 affair a trio of journalists — not all men either — came 
 to me, demanding that I reverse this ' iniquitous deci- 
 sion,' as they styled it. I told these three prying 
 scribblers in a polite way that if they would kindly 
 attend to their own affairs I would try to attend to 
 mine. In this connection, I may remark that there 
 are in Paris a number of correspondents who ought 
 not to be allowed within gun-shot of a newspaper 
 office.'' 
 
 " The next mis-statement in Mr. Whistler's inter- 
 view is in regard to the ultimate disposal of his im- 
 portant etchings. His words are: — 'Mr. Hawkins 
 was quite embarrassed, and urged me to reconsider 
 my determination, but I withdrew every one of the 
 etchings, and they are now well hung in the English 
 department.' " 
 
 " Now, I leave it to any fair-minded person if the 
 plain inference from this statement is not that the 
 whole twenty-seven etchings were accepted by the 
 English department. If not, what in heaven's name 
 is he crowing about ? But the truth is that while we 
 
272 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 rejected only ten of his etchings, the English depart- 
 ment rejected eighteen of them, and of the nine 
 accepted only hung two on the line. Had Mr. 
 Whistler been the possessor of a more even temper 
 and a little more common sense, he would have had 
 five or six of his works on the line in the American 
 department, and nearly twice as many on exhibition 
 than is actually the case. Really, I fail to see what 
 he gained by the exchange, unless it was a valuable 
 experience. He says I was embarrassed when I saw 
 him ; I fancy he will be embarrassed when he sees 
 these facts in ' cold type.' " 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 273 
 
 " Whistlers Grievance " 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — I beg that you will kindly print immediately 
 
 these, my regrets, that General Rush Hawkins should 
 
 have been spurred into unwonted and unbecoming 
 
 expression by what I myself read with considerable "r^ vort Herau. 
 
 bewilderment in the New York Herald, October 3, 
 
 Tinder the head of " Whistler's Grievance.'' 
 
 I can assure the gallant soldier that I have no 
 grievance. 
 
 Had I known that, when — over what takes the 
 place of wine and walnuts in Holland — I remembered 
 lightly the military methods of the jury, I was being 
 " interviewed," I should have adopted as serious a 
 tone as the original farce would admit of ; or I might 
 have even refused to be a party at all to the infliction 
 upon your readers of so old and threadbare a. story as 
 that of the raid upon the works of art in the American 
 section of the Universal Exhibition. 
 
274 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Your correspondent, I fancy, felt much more 
 warmly, than did I, wrongs that — who knows ? — are 
 doubtless rights in the army ; and my sympathies, I 
 confess, are completely with the General, who did 
 only, as he complains, his duty in that state of Life in 
 which it had pleased God, and the War Department, 
 to call him, when, according to order, he signed that 
 naively authoritative note, circular, warrant, or what 
 not — ^for he did irretrievably fasten his name to it, 
 whether with pen or print, thereby hopelessly making 
 the letter his own. Thus have we responsibility, like 
 greatness, sometimes thrust upon us. 
 
 On receipt of the document I came — I saw the com- 
 manding oflScer, who, until now, I fondly trusted, would 
 ever remember me as pleasantly as I do himself — 
 and, knowing despatch in all military matters to be of 
 great importance, I then and there relieved him of the 
 troublesome etchings, and carried off the painting. 
 
 Tfc is a sad shock to me to find that the good General 
 speaks of me without affection, and that he evinces 
 even joy when he says with a view to my entire dis- 
 comfiture : — " While we rejected only ten of his etch- 
 ings, the English department rejected eighteen of them, 
 and of the nine accepted, only hung two on the line." 
 Now, he is wrong ! — the General is wrong. 
 The etchings now hanging in the English section — 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 275 
 
 and perfect is their hanging, notwithstanding General 
 Hawkins's flattering anxiety — are the only ones I 
 sent there. 
 
 In the haste and enthusiasm of your interviewer, 
 I have, on this point, been misunderstood. 
 
 There was moreover here no question of submitting 
 them to a " competent and impartial jury of his peers " 
 — one of whom, by the way, I am informed upon 
 undoubted authority, had never before come upon an 
 "etching" in his hitherto happy and unchequered 
 Western career. 
 
 We all knew that the space allotted to the English 
 department was exceedingly limited, and each one 
 refrained from abusing it. Here I would point out 
 again, hoping this time to be clearly understood, that, 
 had the methods employed in the American camp 
 been more civil, if less military, all further di£S.culties 
 might have been avoided. Had I been properly 
 advised that the room was less than the demand for 
 place, I would, of course, have instantly begged the 
 gentlemen of the jury to choose, from among the num- 
 ber, what etchings they pleased. So the matter would 
 have ended, and you. Sir, would have been without 
 this charming communication ! 
 
 The pretty embarrassment of General Hawkins on 
 the occasion of my visit, I myself liked, thinking it 
 
276 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 seemly, and part of the good form of a West Point 
 man, who is taught that a drum-head court martial — 
 and what else in the experience of this finished officer 
 should so fit him for sitting in judgment upon pic- 
 tures ? — should be presided at with grave and softened 
 demeanour. 
 
 If I mistook the General's manner, it is another 
 illusion the less. 
 
 And I have, Sir, 
 the honour to be, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Amsterdam, Oct. 6. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 277 
 
 TAe Art-Critid s Friend 
 
 ]y[E. WHISTLER has many things to answer for, 
 
 and not the least of them is the education of the British 
 
 Axt-Critic. That, at any rate, is the impression left by 
 
 a little book made up — ^apparently against the writer's 
 
 wiU — of certain of the master's letters and mots, .... 
 
 It is useful and pleasant reading ; for not only does Tiitscos otservir, 
 
 it prove the painter to have a certain literary talent — 
 
 of aptness, unexpectedness, above all impertinence — 
 
 but also it proves him never to have feared the face 
 
 of art-critical man To him the art-critic is 
 
 nothing if not a person to be educated, with or against 
 the grain ; and when he encounters him in the ways of 
 error, he leaps upon him joyously, scalps him in print 
 before the eyes of men, kicks him gaily back into thd 
 paths of truth and soberness, and resumes his avocation 
 with that peculiar zest an act of virtue does un- 
 doubtedly impart. Indeed, Mr. "Whistler, so far from 
 being the critic's enemy, is on the contrary the best 
 
278 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 friend that tradesman has ever had. For his function 
 
 is to make him ridiculous 
 
 .... Yes, Mr. Whistler is often "rowdy" and 
 unpleasant ; in his last combat with Mr. Oscar Wilde 
 — (" Oscar, you have been down the area again ") — he 
 comes oflF a palpable second ; his' treatment of 'Arry 
 dead and " neglected by the parish " goes far to prove 
 that his sense of smell is not so delicate nor so perfectly 
 trained as his sense of sight 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 279 
 
 A Question 
 
 TO THE EDITOR.- 
 
 CIB, — It is, I suppose, to your pleasant satisfaction 
 
 in " The Critic's Friend" that I owe the early copy of 
 
 the Scots Observer, pointed with proud mark, in the 
 
 blue pencil of office, whereby the imp0,tient author Aiiru 19, 1890. 
 
 hastened to indicate the pithy personal paragraphs, 
 
 that no time should be wasted upon other matter with 
 
 which the periodical is ballasted. 
 
 Exhilarated by the belief that I had been remem- 
 bered — for vanity's sake let me fancy that you have 
 bestowed upon me your own thought and hand — I 
 plunged forthwith into the underlined article, and 
 read with much amusement your excellent apprecia- 
 tion. 
 
 Having forgotten none of your professional manner 
 as art arbiter, may I say that I can picture to myself 
 easily the sad earnestness with which you now point 
 
28o THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 the thick thumb of your editorial refinement in 
 deprecation of my choicer " rowdyism " ? And 
 knowing your analytical conscientiousness, I can 
 even understand the bumble comfort you take in 
 Oscar's meek superiority ; but, for the life of me, 
 I cannot follow your literary intention when you 
 say that my care of " ' 'Arry,' dead and neglected 
 by the parish," goes far to prove that my " sense of 
 smell is not so delicate nor so perfectly trained as " 
 my " sense of sight/' 
 
 Do you mean that my discovery of the body is the 
 result of a cold in the head ? and that, with a finer 
 scent, I should have missed it altogether? or were 
 you only unconsciously remembering and dreamily 
 dipping your pen into the ink of my former description 
 of " 'Arry's " chronic catarrh ? In any case, I am 
 charmed with what I have just read, and only regret 
 that the ridiculous " Romeike " has not hitherto sent 
 me your agreeable literature. — Also I am, dear Sir, 
 your obedient servant. 
 
 ^1 
 7^- 
 
 :^ 
 
[T/Se End of the Piece 
 
282 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 The End of the Piece 
 
 CIR, — I beg to draw your attention to the contents 
 of your letter to the Scots Observer, dated April 12th, 
 in which you state that you " regret the ridiculous 
 Bomeike has not hitherto sent me your agreeable 
 literature." 
 
 This statement, had it been true, was spiteful and 
 injurious, but being untrue (entirely) it becomes 
 malicious, and I must ask you at once to apologise. 
 
 And at the same time to draw your attention to the 
 fact that we have supplied you with 807 cuttings. 
 
 We have written to the Scots Observer for an ample 
 apology, or the matter will be placed in our solicitor's 
 hands, and we demand the same of you. 
 
 Yours obediently, 
 
 ROMEIKE & CURTICE. 
 J. McN. Whistler, Esq. 
 April 25, 189a 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 283 
 
 £xii the Prompter 
 
 QIE,, — If it be not actionable, permit me to say that 
 you reaMy are delightful I ! 
 
 Naivete, like yours, I have never met — even in my 
 long experience with all those, some of whose " agree- 
 able literature" maybe, I suppose, in the 807 cuttings 
 you charge me for. 
 
 Who, in Heaven's name, ever dreamed of you as an 
 actual person? — or one whom one would mean to 
 insult ? 
 
 My good Sir, no such intention — believe me — did 
 I, in my wildest of moments, ever entertain. 
 
 YouT scalp — ^if you have such a thing — is safe 
 enough ! — and I even think — however great my will- 
 ingness to assist you — could not possibly appear in 
 the forthcoming Edition. 
 
 To Mr. ROMEIKE. 
 Apiil 25. 
 
THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 285 
 
 L' Envoi 
 
 "^^HEN the Chairman, in a singularly brilliant and 
 felicitous speech led up to the toast of the evening, 
 Mr. Whistler rose to his feet. 
 
 " You must feel that, for me," said Mr. Whistler, Report ofa reply to 
 
 the toast of the 
 
 " it is no easy task to reply under conditions of which coSJESiena'S 
 I have so little habit. We are all even too conscious whutier London, 
 
 May X, 1889. 
 
 that mine has hitherto, I fear, been the gentle answer 
 smiday Times, that sometimes turneth not away wrath." 
 
 Mays, 1889. . . 
 
 " Gentlemen," said he, " this is an age of rapid 
 results, when remedies insist upon their diseases, that 
 science shall triumph and no time be lost ; and so 
 have we also rewards that bring with them their own 
 virtue. It would ill become me to question my fitness 
 for the position it has pleased this distinguished com- 
 pany to thrust upon me." 
 
 " It has before now been borne in upon me, that 
 in surroundings of antagonism, I may have wrapped 
 myself, for protection, in a species of misunderstand- 
 
286 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 ing — as that other traveller drew closer about him 
 the folds of his cloak the more bitterly the winds and 
 the storm assailed him on his way. But, as with 
 him, when the sun shone upon him in his path, his 
 cloak fell from his shoulders, so I, in the warm glow 
 of your friendship, throw from me all former dis- 
 guise, and, m.aking no further attempt to hide my 
 true feeling, disclose to you my deep emotion at such 
 unwonted testimony of affection and faith." 
 
{^Auto-Biographical 
 
288 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Auto- Biographical 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 5IE,— May I request that you aUow me to mate p^Mauoa,^, 
 known, through your influential paper, the fact that J"^'*''*'"- 
 the canvas, now shown as a completed work of mine, 
 at Messrs. Dowdeswell's, representing three draped 
 figures in a conservatory, is a painting long ago barely 
 begun, and thrown aside for destruction ? 
 
 Also I am in no way responsible for the taste of the 
 frame with its astonishments of plush ! and varied 
 gildings. 
 
 I think it not only just to myself to make this 
 statement, but right that the public should be warned 
 against the possible purchase of a picture in no way 
 representative, and, in its actual condition, absolutely 
 worthless. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Chelsea, July 27, 1891. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 289 
 
 Mr. Whistler "had on his own Toast" 
 
 TO THE EDITOR : 
 
 QIR, — I have read with interest Mr. Whistler's letter 
 in your issne of July 28. I happened to be at Messrs. 
 Dowdeswell's galleries the other day and saw the paUMaUGazetu. 
 
 Aug. I, 1891. 
 
 picture he refers to. It was not on public exhibition, 
 but was in one of their private rooms, and was brought 
 out for my inspection h propos of a conversation we 
 were having. Now, so far from Messrs. Dowdeswell 
 showing it as a "completed work," they distinctly 
 spoke of it as unfinished ; nor can I imagine any 
 one acquainted with Mr. Whistler's works speaking 
 of any of them as " completed ! " In " L'Envoi " 
 of the catalogue of his exhibition held at Messrs. 
 Dowdeswell's a short time ago I find the following 
 paragraph from his pen : — " The work of the master 
 reeks not of the sweat of the brow — suggests no 
 efifort — and is finisTied from its beginning.'' The only 
 inference possible is either that Mr. Whistler is not a 
 
 T 
 
290 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 master, or that the work is finished ! He has, how- 
 ever, spent what time he could spare from his literary 
 labours in endeavouring to induce the world to believe 
 that the slightest scratch from his pen is worthy to 
 rank with " Las Lanzas,'' and I am therefore surprised 
 to learn that he has altered his opinion. StiU, I quite 
 agree with him when he tells us that some of his work 
 is " absolutely worthless ! " — I am, sir, more in sorrow 
 than in anger, your obedient servant, 
 
 w. c. 
 
 Jtily 31, 1891. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 291 
 
 What "Mr. Whistler had on his own 
 Toast " 
 
 TO THE EDITOR: 
 
 QIR, — My letter should have met with no reply at 
 
 all. It was a statement — authoritative and unanswer- po" H'licaiiac. 
 
 Aug, 4, 1891. 
 
 able, if there ever were one. 
 
 Because of the attention drawn to it, in the press, 
 I felt called upon to advise the Public that one of 
 my own works is condemned hy mysdf. Final this, 
 one would fancy ! 
 
 That the accidental owners of the Gallery should 
 introduce themselves to the situation, is of a most 
 marked irrelevancy. They come in conime un cheveu 
 sur la soupe, to be removed at once. 
 
 The dealer's business is to buy and sell. In the 
 course of such traffic, these same busy picture bodies, 
 without consulting me, put upon the market a paint- 
 ing that I, the author, intended to eflface — and, thanks 
 to your courtesy, I have been enabled to say so 
 eflfectually in your journal. 
 
292 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 
 All along have I carefully destroyed plates, torn up 
 proofs, and burned canvases, that the truth of the 
 quoted word shall prevail, and that the future collector 
 shall be spared the mortification of cataloguing his 
 pet mistakes. 
 
 To destroy, is to remain. 
 
 What is commercial irritation beside a clean 
 canvas ? 
 
 What is a gentlemanly firm in Bond Street beside 
 Eternity ? — I am, sir, your obedient servant. 
 
 Chelsea, August i, 1891. 
 
NOCTURNES, MARINES, 
 
 CHEVALET PIECES 
 
 A CATALOGUE 
 
 ^ 
 
 SMALL COLLECTION 
 
 KINDLY LENT 
 \ 
 
 THEIR OWNERS 
 
THE VOICE OF A PEOPLE'' 
 
"I do not know when so much amusement has 
 been afforded to the British public as by- 
 Mr. Whistler's pictures." 
 
 Sfeech of the Attorney-General of England. 
 Westminster, Nov. i6, 1878; 
 
 I.— NOCTURNE. 
 Grey and Silver— Chelsea Embankment— Winter. 
 Lent hy F. G. Orchar, Esq. 
 
 " With the exception, perhaps, of one of Mr. Whist- 
 ler's meaningless canvases, there is nothing that is 
 actually provocative of undue mirth or ridicule." 
 
 City Press. 
 
 " In some of the Nocturnes the absence, not only of 
 definition, but of gradation, would point to the con 
 elusion that they are but engaging sketches. In them 
 
2g8 T^HE GENTLE ART 
 
 we look in vain for all the delicate differences of light 
 
 and hue which the scenes depicted present." 
 
 F. Wedmore, "Four Masters of Etching." 
 
 2.- SYMPHONY IN WHITE, No. III. 
 
 Lent hy Louis Huth, Esq. 
 
 " It is not precisely a symphony in white — one lady 
 has a yellowish dress and hrown hair and a bit of blue 
 ribbon, the other has a red fan, and there are flowers 
 and green leaves. There is a girl in white on a white 
 sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair ; and of course 
 there is the flesh colour of the complexions." 
 
 P. G. Hamerton, " Saturday Review." 
 
 "Mr. Whistler appears as eccentrically as ever 
 
 Art is not served by freaks of resentment We 
 
 hold him deeply to blame that these figures are badly 
 drawn. 
 
 "....' Taste/ which is mind working in Art, 
 would, even if it could at all conceive them, utterly 
 reject the vulgarities of Mr. Whistler with regard to 
 form, and never be content with what suffices him in 
 composition." — Athenceum. 
 
 " Faulting, or art generally, as such, with aU its tech- 
 nicalities, difficulties, and particular ends, is nothing 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 299 
 
 but a noble and expressive language, invaluable as the 
 vehicle of thought, but by itself nothing." 
 
 John Ruskin, Esq., Art Professor, 
 
 " Modern Painters." 
 
 3.— CHELSEA IN ICE. 
 
 Lent by Madame Venturi. 
 
 " We are not sure but that it would be something 
 like insult to our readers to say more about these 
 ' things.' They must surely be meant in jest ; but 
 whether the public have chiefly to thank Mr. Whistler 
 or the Managers of the Grosvenor Gallery for playing 
 off on them this sorry joke we do not know, nor 
 greatly care. Meliora canamus ! " — Knowledge, 
 
 4— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Gold — Old Batterska Bridge. 
 
 Lent by Robert H. C. Harrison, Esq. 
 
 " His Nocturne in Blue and Gold, No. 3, might have 
 been called, with a similar confusion of terms : A 
 Farce in Moonshine, with half-a-dozen dots." — Life. 
 
 " The picture representing a night scene on Batter- 
 sea Bridge has no composition and detail. A day, or 
 a day and a half, seems a reasonable time within 
 
300 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 which to paint it. It shows no finish — it is simply 
 
 a sketch." 
 
 Mr. Jones, R.A. — Evidence in Cowrt, 
 
 Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
 < 
 
 5.— THE LANGE LEIZEN— OF THE SIX MARKS. 
 Purple and Rose. 
 
 Lent by J. Leathart. 
 
 "Mr. Whistler paints subjects sadly below the 
 merit of his pencil." — London Review. 
 
 "A worse specimen of humanity than could be 
 found on the oldest piece of china in existence." 
 
 Reader. 
 
 "The hideous forms we find in his Chinese vase 
 painteress .... an ostentatious slovenliness of exe- 
 cution .... objects as much out of perspective as 
 the great blue vase in the foreground, &c... dsc... 
 
 " It is Mr. Whistler's way to choose people and 
 things for painting which other painters would turn 
 from, and to combine these oddly chosen materials as 
 no other painter would choose to combine them. He 
 should learn that eccentricity is not originality, but 
 the caricature of it." — Times. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 301 
 
 6.— NOCTURNE. 
 Trafalgar Square — Snow. 
 
 Lent by Albert Moore, Eaq'. 
 " The word ' impressionist ' has come to have a bad 
 meaning in art. Visions of Whistler come before 
 you when you hear it. Such visions are not of the 
 best possible augury, for who loves a nightmare ? " 
 
 Orade. 
 
 " lake the landscape art of Japan, they are har- 
 monious decorations, and a dozen or so of such 
 engaging sketches placed in the upper panels of a 
 lofty apartment would afford a justifiable and welcome 
 alternative even to noble tapestries or Morris wall- 
 papers." — F. Wedmore, "Four Masters of Etching." 
 
 7.— NOCTURNE— BLACK AND GOLD. 
 The Fire Wheel. 
 " Mr. Whistler has ' a sweet little isle of his own ' 
 in the shape of ah ample allowance of wall space all 
 to himself for the display of his six most noticeable 
 works: 'Nocturnes' in black and gold, in blue and 
 silver, 'Arrangements' in black and brown, and 
 ' Harmonies ' in amber and black. 
 
 "These weird productions — enigmas sometimes so 
 
302 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 occult that OEdipus might be puzzled to solve them — 
 
 need much subtle explanation." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 8— ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK AND BROWN. 
 The Fur Jacket. 
 " Mr. Whistler has whole-length portraits, or rather 
 the shadows of people, shapes suggestive of good 
 examples of portraiture v)hen completed. They are 
 exhibited to illustrate a theory peculiar to the artist. 
 One is entitled An Arrangement in 'Black and 
 Brown.'" — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler is anything but a robust and bal- 
 anced genius." — Times. 
 
 " Whistler, with three portraits which he is pleased 
 to call ' Arrangements,' and which look like ghosts." 
 
 Truth. 
 
 " Some figure pieces, which this artist exhibits as 
 'harmonies' in this, that, or the other, being, as 
 they are, mere rubs-in of colour, have no claim to be 
 regarded as pictures." — Scotsmmi^ 
 
 "We are threatened with a Whistler exhibition. 
 The periodical inflictions with which this gentleman 
 tries the patience of a long-suffering public generally 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 303 
 
 take some fantastic form to attract attention. It is 
 an evidence of the painter's worldly acuteness that 
 this should be so, Jor public attention may be drawn 
 by such outbursts of eccentricity to such work as 
 would never impress sensible people on its bare 
 merit." — Oracle. 
 
 9.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Silver. 
 
 Lent hy Mrs. Leylcmd. 
 
 "It seems to us a pity that an artist of Mr. 
 Whistler's known ability should exhibit such an extra- 
 ordinary collection of pictile nightmares." — Society. 
 
 " Me. Bowen : ' Do you consider detail and composi- 
 tion essential to a work of art ? ' 
 
 " Mr. Jones : ' Most certainly I do.' 
 
 " Mb. Bowen : ' Then what detail and composition 
 do you find in this " Nocturne " ? ' 
 
 " Me. Jones : ' Absolutely none.' 
 
 " Me. Bowen : ' Do you think two hundred guineas 
 a large price for that picture ? ' 
 
 " Mr. Jones : ' Yes', when you think of the amount 
 of earnest work done for a smaller sum.' " 
 
 Evidence of Mr. Jones, R.A., 
 
 Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
304 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 lo.— NOCTURNE. 
 In Black and Gold — The Falling Rocket. 
 "A dark bluish surface, with dots on it, and the 
 faintest adumbrations of shape under the darkness, is ' 
 gravely called a Nocturne in Black and Gold." 
 
 Knowledge. 
 
 " His Nocturne, black and gold, ' The Falling 
 Rocket,' shows such wilful and headlong perversity 
 that one is almost disposed to despair of an artist 
 who, in a sane moment [«tc], could send such a daub 
 to any exhibition." — Telegraph. 
 
 " For Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the 
 protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought 
 not to have admitted works into the gallery in which 
 the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly ap- 
 proached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, 
 and heard, much of cockney impudence before now, but 
 never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred 
 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." 
 Professor John Ruskin, 
 
 Jidy 2, 1877. 
 
 " The ' Nocturne in black and gold ' is not a serious 
 work to me." 
 
 Mr. Frith, R.A. — Evidence at Westminster, 
 
 Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 305 
 
 " The ' Nocturne in black and gold,' I do not think 
 a serious work of art." 
 
 The Ah Critic of the ''Times," 
 
 Evidence at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
 " The Nocturne in black and gold has not the merit 
 of the other two pictures, and it would be impossible 
 to call it a serious work of art. Mr. Whistler's 
 picture is only one of the thousand failures to paint 
 night. The picture is not worth two hundred 
 guineas." 
 
 Evidence of Mr. Jones, R.A., 
 
 Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
 II.— NOCTURNE— OPAL AND SILVER. 
 
 ' Lent hy H. Theobald, Esq. 
 
 " With what feelings must we regard the mad new 
 style, the Nocturnes in ' Blue and Silver,' the Har- 
 monies in Flesh-colour and Pink, the Notes in Blue 
 and Opal." — Knowledge. 
 
 " The blue and black smudges which purport to 
 depict the ' Thames at Night.' " — Life. 
 
3o6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 12.— HARMONY IN GREEN AND ROSE. 
 The Music Room. 
 
 Lent hy Madame Reveillon. 
 
 " He paints in soot-colours and mud-colours, but, 
 far from enjoying primary hues, has little or no per- 
 ception of the loveliness of secondary or tertiary 
 colour." — Merrie England. 
 
 13.— CREPUSCULE IN FLESH COLOUR AND GREEN. 
 Valparaiso. 
 Lent hy Graha/m Robertson, Esq. 
 
 " Now, the best achievement of The Impressionist 
 School, to which Mr. Whistler belongs \sic\, is the 
 rendering of air — not air made palpable and compara- 
 tively easy to paint, by fog — but atmosphere which is 
 the medium of light." — Merrie Englatid. 
 
 14.— CAPRICE IN PURPLE AND GOLD. 
 The Gold Screen. 
 Lent by Cyril Flower, Esq., M.P. 
 
 " I take it to be admitted by those who do not con- 
 clude that art is necessarily great which has the mis- 
 fortune to be unacceptable, that it is not by his paint- 
 ings so much as by his etchings that Mr. Whistler's 
 name may aspire to live." — F. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 307 
 
 15.— SYMPHONY IN GREY AND GREEN. 
 The Ocean. 
 
 Lent by Mrs. Peter Taylor. 
 
 " In Mr. Whistler's picture, ' Symphony in Grey 
 and Green : The Ocean,' the composition is ugly, the 
 sky opaque, the suggestion of sea leaden and without 
 light or motion." — Times. 
 
 "Mr. Whistler continues these experiments in colour 
 which are now known as ' Symphonies.' It may be 
 questioned whether these performances are to be 
 highly valued, except as feats accomplished under 
 needless and self-imposed restrictions — much as writ- 
 ing achieved by the feet of a penman who has not 
 been deprived of the use of his hands." — Graphic. 
 
 ' ' We can paint a cat or a fiddle, so that they look as if we could 
 take them up ; but we cannot imitate the Ocean or the Alps. We 
 can imitate fruit, but not a tree ; flowers, but not a pasture ; cut- 
 glass, but not the rainbow." — /oAn Ruskin, Esq., Teacher of Art. 
 
 i6.— NOCTURNE. 
 
 Grey and Gold— Chelsea Snow. 
 
 Lent hy Alfred Chapman, Esq. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler sends two of his studies of moon- 
 light, in which form is eschewed for harmonies of 
 
 •# 
 
3o8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 ' Grey and Gold ' and ' Blue and Silver ; ' and which, 
 for the crowd of exhibition visitors, resolve themselves 
 into riddles or mystifications. ... In a word, paint- 
 ing to Mr. Whistler is the exact correlative of music, 
 as vague, as purely emotional, as released from all 
 functions of representation. 
 
 " He is really building up art out of his own imper- 
 fections \sicl'\ instead of setting himself to supply 
 them." — Times. 
 
 17.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blub and Silver— Batteesea Reach. 
 
 Lent by W. G. Rawlinson, Esq. 
 
 " J. M. Whistler is here again with his nocturnes." 
 
 Scotsman. 
 
 18.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Silver — Chelsea. 
 
 Lent by W. C. Alexander, Esq. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler confines himself to two small can- 
 vases of the nocturne kind. One is covered with 
 smudgy blue and the other with dirty black." 
 
 Satv/rday Eeview. 
 
 " A reputation, for a time, imperilled by original 
 absurdity." — F. Wedmore, " Academy." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 309 
 
 " I think Mr. Wedmore takes the Nocturnes and 
 Arrangements too seriously. They are merely first 
 beginnings of pictures, differing from ordinary first 
 beginnings in having no composition. The great 
 originality was in venturing to exhibit them." 
 
 P. G. Ilamerfon, " Academy." 
 
 19.— NOCTURNE. 
 Grey and Gold— Westminster Bridge. 
 
 Lent hy the Hon. Mrs. Percy Wyndha/m. 
 
 "Two of Mr. Whistler's 'colour symphonies' — a 
 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold,' and a 'Nocturne in 
 Black and Gold.' If he did not exhibit these as 
 pictures under peculiar and, what seems to most 
 people, pretentious titles, they would be entitled to 
 their due meed of admiration [sic.']. But they only 
 come one step nearer pictures than delicately gradu- 
 ated tints on a wall-paper do. 
 
 " He must not attempt, with that happy, half- 
 humorous audacity which all his dealings with his 
 own works suggests, to palm off his deficiencies upon 
 us as manifestations of power." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
310 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 20.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Gold — Southampton Water. 
 
 Lent hy Alfred Chapman, Esq. 
 
 " There is always danger that eflForts of this class 
 may degenerate into the merely tricky and meretri- 
 cious ; and already a suspicion arises that the artist's 
 eccentricity is somewhat too premeditated and self- 
 conscious." — Gh-aphic. 
 
 21.— BLUE AND SILVER. 
 Blue Wave, Biarritz. 
 
 Lent by Gerald Potter, Esq. 
 " Mr. Whistler is possessed of much audacity and 
 eccentricity, and these are useful qualities in an artist 
 who desires to be talked about. When he comes out 
 into the open, and deals with daylight, we find these 
 studies to be only the first washes of pictures. He 
 leaves off where other artists begin. He shirks all 
 the difficulties ahead, and asks the spectator to com- 
 plete the picture himself." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " The absence, seemingly, of any power, such as 
 the great marine painters had, of drawing forms of 
 water, whether in a broad and wind-swept tidal river 
 or on the high seas . . . ." 
 
 F. Wedmore, 
 
 " Nineteenth Gentunj." 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 311 
 
 22.— ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK AND BROWN. 
 Miss Rosa Corder. 
 Lent hy GraJmrn Robertson, Esq. 
 
 " It is bad enough, in all conscience, to be caricatured 
 by the gifted pencil and brushes of the admirable 
 Whistler ; and it is surely adding insult to injury to 
 describe the victims and sufferers as ' Arrangements.' 
 With regard to Mr. Whistler's Symphonies, Har- 
 monies, and so on, we will relate a parable. Here it 
 is : — A lively young donkey sang a sweet love song to 
 the dawn, and so disturbed all the neighbourhood, that 
 the neighbours went to the donkey and begged him 
 to desist. He continued his braying for some time, 
 and then ended with what appeared, to his own ears, 
 a flourish of surpassing brilliancy. 
 
 " 'Will you be good enough to give over that hideous 
 noise ? ' " said the neighbours. 
 
 " ' Good Olympus ! ' said the donkey, ' did you say 
 hideous noise ? Why, that is a " Symphony," which 
 means a concord of sweet sounds, as you may see by 
 referring to any dictionary.' 
 
 " ' But,' said the neighbom-s, ' we do not think that 
 " Symphony " is the word to describe your performance. 
 " Cacophony" would be more correct, and that means 
 " a bad set of sounds." ' 
 
312 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " ' How absurdly you talk ! ' said the donkey. ' I 
 will refer it to my fellow-asses, and let them decide.' 
 
 " The donkeys decided that the young donkey's song 
 was a most symphonious and harmonious, sweet song ; 
 so he continues to bray as melodiously as ever. There 
 is, we believe, a moral to this parable, if we only knew 
 what it was. Perhaps the piercing eye of the 
 ' Noctwmal Whistler ' may find it out." — Echo. 
 
 " Miss Rosa Corder, and Mr. H. Irving as Philip, 
 are two large blotches of dark canvas. When I have 
 time I am going again to find out which is Bose and 
 which is Irving. 
 
 " The rest of the collection is marred by the im- 
 patience which has prevented his achieving any finished 
 work of Art." — Weekly Press. 
 
 23.— "HARMONY IN GREY AND GREEN." 
 Portrait of Miss Alexander. 
 
 Lent by W. Ahxander, Esq. 
 
 " A sketch of Miss Alescander, in which much must 
 be imagined." — Standard. 
 
 " There is character in it, but it is unpleasant charr 
 acter. Of anything like real flesh tones the painting 
 is quite innocent.'' — Builder. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 313 
 
 " But what can we say of Mr. Whistler * His por- 
 trait of Miss Alexander is certainly one of the strangest 
 and most eccentric specimens of Portraiture we ever 
 saw. If we were unacquainted with his singular 
 theories of Art, we should imagine he had merely 
 made a sketch and left it, before the colours were dry, 
 
 in a room where chimney-sweeps were at work 
 
 Nobody who sets any value on the roses and lilies 
 that adorn the cheeks of our blooming girls can accept 
 such murky tints as these as representative of a young 
 English lady." — Era. 
 
 " It is simply a disagreeable presentment of a dis- 
 agreeable young lady." — Liverpool Weekly Mercury. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler again appears on the walls with a 
 characteristic full-length life-size portrait of a girl. 
 Miss Alexander. 
 
 " This work is devoid of colour, being arranged in 
 Black and White and intermediate tones of grey. 
 The general effect is dismal in the extreme, and one 
 cannot but wonder how an artist of undoubted talent 
 should wilfully persist in such perversities of judg- 
 ment." — Western DaUy Mercury. 
 
 " Miss Alexander, almost in Black and White, and 
 about the most unattractive piece of work in the 
 Galleries." — Edinburgh Daily Review. 
 
314 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 " A ' gruesomeness in Grey.' 
 
 " Well, bless thee, J. Whistler ! We do not hanker 
 after your brush system. Farewell ! " — Punch. 
 
 " ' An Arrangement in Silver and Bile.' 
 " The artist has represented this bilious young lady 
 as looking haughty in a dirty white dress, a grey 
 polonaise, bound by a grey green sash, a grey hat, 
 with the most unhealthy green feather; fui-thermore, 
 she wears black shoes with green bows, and stands 
 defiantly on a grey floor cloth, opposite a grey wall 
 with a black dado. Two dyspeptic butterflies hover 
 wearily above her head in search of a bit of colour 
 .... evidently losing heart at the grey expanse 
 
 around A picture should charm, not depress, 
 
 it should tend to elevate our thoughts ! " — Sooiety. 
 
 " This picture represents a child of ten, and is called 
 a harmony in grey and green, but the prevailing tone 
 is a rather unpleasant yellow, and the complexion of 
 the face is wholly unchildlike." — Echo. 
 
 " A large etching in oil, a ' Rhapsody in Raw ChUd 
 and Cobwebs,' by Mr. Whistler." — Artist. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler is as spectral as ever in an unattrac- 
 tive portrait of an awkward little girl, happily not 
 rendered additionally ridiculous by a musical title.'' 
 
 Bedford Ohserver. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 315 
 
 " Flattery is objectionable in art as elsewhere, but 
 some portrait painters seem to find it impossible to 
 tell the truth without being rude." — Academy. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler has a portrait of a young lady that 
 excites absolute astonishment. 
 
 " What charm can there be in such colours as these ? 
 What effect do they produce which would not have 
 been better by warmer and less repulsive tints ? " 
 
 Leeds Mercury. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler's single contribution is a child's 
 portrait, posed and painted in a rather distant, i£ 
 obsequious, imitation of the manner of Velasquez, the 
 great difference being that whereas the Spaniard's 
 work is most remarkable for supreme distinction, the 
 present portrait is uncompromisingly vulgar." 
 
 Magazine of Art. 
 
 24.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Silver — Bognor. 
 
 Lent by Alfred Ghapnian, Esq. 
 
 " We protest against those foppish airs and affecta- 
 tions by which Mr. Whistler impresses on us his con- 
 tempt of public opinion. In landscape he contributes 
 what he persists in calling a Nocturne in ' Blue and 
 
3i6 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 Silver,' and a Nocturne in ' Black and Gold,' which 
 is a mere insult to the intelligence of his admirers. 
 It is very difficult to believe that Mr. Whistler is not 
 openly laughing at us." — FaU Mall Gazette. 
 
 25.— NOCTURNE. 
 I Battersea Reach. 
 
 Lent by Alfred Chapman, Esq. 
 " Under the same roof with Mr. Whistler's strange 
 productions is the collection of animal paintings done 
 by various artists for the proprietors of the Graphic, 
 and very refreshing it is to turn into this agreeably 
 lighted room and rest on comfortable settees whilst 
 looking at ' Mother Hubbard's Dog,' or the sweet 
 little pussy cats in the ' Happy Family.' " 
 
 LiveD'pool Courier. 
 
 " A few smears of colour, such as a painter might 
 make in cleaning his paint brushes, and which, neither 
 near at hand nor far oflf, neither from one side nor 
 from the other, nor from in front, do more than 
 vaguely suggest a shore and bay, was described as a 
 
 Xote in Blue and Brown One who found these 
 
 pictures other than insults to his artistic sense could 
 never be reached by reasoning." — Knowledge. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 31; 
 
 26.— GREEN AND GREY. 
 Channel. 
 Lent hj Alfred Chapman, Esq. 
 
 27.— PINK AND GREY. 
 Chelsea. 
 Lent hy Cyril Flower, Esq., M.F- 
 "... of the insolent madness of that school of 
 which Mr. Whistler is the most peccant — we wish we 
 could say the only — ^representative." — Knowledge. 
 
 28.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Gold — Valparaiso. 
 
 Lent hy Alexander lonides, Esq. 
 
 " ' A Nocturne ' or two by Mr. Whistler — and here 
 we have it in the usual style — a daub of blue and a 
 spot or two of yellow to illustrate ships at sea on a 
 dark night, and a splash and splutter of brightness 
 on a black ground to depict a display of fireworks." 
 
 Norwich Argus. 
 
3i8 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 29.— GREEN AND GREY. 
 The Oyster Smacks— Evening. 
 
 Lent by Alexander lonides, Esq. 
 " Other people paint localities ; Mr. Whistler makes 
 artistic experiments." — Academy. 
 
 30.— GREY AND BLACK. 
 Sketch. 
 
 Lent by Aleoscmder lonides, Esq. 
 
 31.— BROWN AND SILVER. 
 Old Batteesea Bridge. 
 
 Lent by Alexander lonides, Esq. 
 " Nor can I imagine any one acquainted with Mr. 
 Whistler's works .speaking of any of them as 'com- 
 pleted.'"— Zeifej- <o ''Pall Mail." 
 
 32.— NOCTURNE. 
 Black and Gold. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 319 
 
 33.— SYMPHONY IN WHITE, No. 11. 
 The Little White Girl. 
 
 Lent by Gerald Potter, Esq. 
 
 "Another picture, 'The Little White Girl,' was 
 exhibited about the same time, containing the germ 
 of that paradoxical Whistlerian humour lately so fully 
 exemplified in various places about London. It was 
 called ' A Little White Girl ' in the catalogue, and 
 yet its colour generally was grimy grey." — London. 
 
 " The white girl was standing at the side of a mirror 
 where the laws of incidence and refraction would 
 unfortunately not permit her to see her own beauty." 
 
 Merrie England. 
 
 34.— NOCTURNE. 
 Blue and Silver — Chemorne Lights. 
 
 Le9it by Gerald Potter, Esq. 
 
 " I have expressed, and still adhere to the opinion, 
 that these pictures only come one step nearer than a 
 delicately tinted wall paper." 
 
 The Art Critic of the " Times," 
 
 Evidence at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
 " Paintings, like some of the ' Nocturnes,' and some 
 of the ' Arrangements,' are defended only by a 
 
320 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 generous self-deception, when it is urged for them 
 that they will be famous to-morrow because they are 
 not famous to-day." 
 
 Mr. Wedmore, 
 
 " Nineteenth CentxiryT 
 
 3S.— GREY AND SILVER. 
 Chelsea Wharf. 
 
 Lent hy Gerald Potter, Esq. 
 
 36.— GREY AND SILVER. 
 Old Batteksea Reach. 
 
 Lent hy Mada/me Coronio. 
 
 37.— BLUE AND SILVER. 
 " He has no atmosphere and no light. Instead of 
 air he studies various kinds of fog — and his ' values ' 
 are the relative powers of darkness, not of light. He 
 never paints a sky." — Merrie England. 
 
 38.— NOCTURNE. 
 
 Blue and Gold — St, Mark's, Venice. 
 
 Lent by Monsieur GaMiman-d. 
 
 " The mannerism of Canaletto is the most degraded that I know 
 
 in the whole range of art 
 
 " . . . . It gives no one single architectural ornament, however 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 321 
 
 near — so much form as might enable us even to guess at its actual 
 one ; and this I say not rashly, for I shall prove it by placing 
 portions of detail accurately copied from Canaletto side by side 
 with engravings from the daguerreotype. 
 
 " . . . . There is no stone' drawing, «o vitality of architecture 
 like Prout's." — Prof. Husiin, Art Teacher. 
 
 " In Mr. Whistler's productions one might safely 
 say there is no culture." — Athenceum. 
 
 " Imagine a man of genius following in the wake of 
 Whistler ! "—Oracle. 
 
 " The measure of originality has at times been 
 overrated through the innocent error of the budding 
 amateur, who in the earlier stage of his enlighten- 
 ment confuses the beginning with the end, accepts the 
 intention for the adequate fulfilment, and exalts an 
 adroit sketch into the rank of a permanent picture." 
 F. Wedmore, " F<yur Masters of Etching." 
 
 \ 
 
 39.— CREPUSCULE IN OPAL. 
 
 Lent hy Fred. Jameson, Esq. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler is eminently an ' Impressionist.' 
 The final business of art is not with ' impressions.' 
 We want not * impressionists ' but ' expressionists,' 
 men who can say what they mean because they know 
 what they have heard. [Sic /] 
 
322 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 "We want not always the blotches and misty 
 suggestions of the impressionist, die." — Artist. 
 
 40.— HARMONY IN FLESH COLOUR AND GREEN. 
 The Balcony. 
 Lent hy John Cavafy, Esq., M.D. 
 
 " It is perhaps a little difficult for any critic to be 
 quite absolutely just to Mr. Whistler at present, on 
 account of his eccentricities and his apparent deter- 
 mination to make us forget the qualities of the artist 
 in our amusement at the freaks and fancies of the 
 man." — P. G. Hcmierton, in the " Academy." 
 
 "A Variation in Flesh Colour and Green. The 
 damsels — they were not altogether meritorious. The 
 draughtsmanship displayed in them was anything 
 but ' searching.' " — F. Wedmore. 
 
 " At about the same time the artist exhibited other 
 sketches (we ask indulgence for the word) of a like 
 character, notes of impressions of white dresses, fur- 
 niture, balconies, and incidental faces and figures." 
 
 Merrie England, 
 
 " The 'evolution principle ' has been visibly in opera- 
 tion for a dozen years or so in the successive Whistlers 
 put before the public during that time. First of 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 323 
 
 all we remember pictures of ladies pale and at- 
 tenuate poring with tender interest over vermilion 
 scarfs. The taint of realism was on them, but even 
 in them were hints of the pensive humour that was to 
 fetch mankind in the well-known ' arrangements ' at 
 a later time. A good deal was left to the spectator's 
 imagination even in them." — London. 
 
 " We note his predilections for dinginess and dirt." 
 
 Weekly Press. 
 
 41.— ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK. 
 La Dame au Brodequin Jaune. 
 " All these pictures strike us alike. 
 "They seem like half-materialised ghosts at a 
 spiritualistic seance. I cannot help wondering when 
 they will gain substance and appear more clearly out 
 of their environing fog, or when they will melt alto- 
 gether from my attentive gaze." — Ecfio. 
 
 " He has placed one of his portraits on an asphalte 
 floor and against a coal-black background, the whole 
 apparently representing a dressy woman in an inferno 
 of the worldly." — Merrie England. 
 
 " Mr. Whistler has a capricious rendering of a lady 
 dressed in black, in a black recess, on a dark green 
 floor. She is turning aflectedly half-round towards 
 
324 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 the spectator as she buttons the gant de suSde upon 
 her left hand, <fcc. <fcc. Its obvious affectations render 
 the work displeasing." — Morning Advertiser. 
 
 42.— ARRANGEMENT IN GREY AND BLACK. 
 Thomas Carlyle. 
 Lent by the Corporation of Glasgow, 
 
 "The purpose of this picture is a form of hero- 
 worship which would certainly not have received the 
 approbation of Carlyle. 
 
 " . . . . This very doubtful masterpiece — unhappy 
 ratepayers of Glasgow." — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " . . . . and to have recorded on a doleful canvas 
 the head and figure of Carlyle " — F. Wedmore, 
 
 ". . . . The rugged simplicity of Mr. Carlyle .... 
 to have painted these things alone — however strange 
 their mannerism or incomplete their technique." 
 
 , Nineteenth Cemtwry. 
 
 " The portentous purchase by the civic authorities of 
 Mr. Whistler's senile Carlyle renders it necessary for 
 that section of the community who are not enamoured 
 of Impressionism to watch with some vigilance the 
 next steps taken by that body towards the formation 
 of the permanent collection. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 325 
 
 " A portrait which omits entirely to bring out the 
 individuality of the sitter, stands but little chance of 
 recognition even from immediate posterity." 
 
 Letter to " Glasgow Herald," March 4, 1892. 
 
 " We cannot forget his encounter some years ago 
 with Mr. Kuskin, nor the contemptuous terms in 
 which that foremost of art critics denounced his work. 
 It has been left to Glasgow to rectify Mr. Ruskin's 
 blunder in this matter, and it vindicates the merits 
 of the American artist over whose artistic vagaries 
 — his nocturnes and harmonies in blue and gold — 
 the whole press of Britain made merry." 
 
 Dundee Advertiser, 
 
 "There is, among portraits of great writers, Mr. 
 Whistler's portrait of Carlyle. It is a picture whose 
 story is complete, whose honours have been gathered 
 abroad — in Paris, in Brussels, in Munich. Its destiny 
 has been accomplished ; it belongs to the City of 
 Glasgow, and from the corporation of that city was 
 borrowed for the Victorian Exhibition. The cor- 
 poration lent it in good faith; the borrowers have 
 treated it with all the indignity it is in their power to 
 bestow on it. 
 
 " Could there be a better epitome of the recent his- 
 tory of art in England ? One work of Mr. Whistler's- 
 
326 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 is received with high honour in the Luxembourg on its 
 way to the Louvre ; and at that very moment another 
 •work of his, worthy to rank with the first, is hoist 
 with equally high disrespect to the ceiling of a gallery 
 in London." — N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 17, 1892. 
 
 43.— HARMONY IN PINK AND GREY. 
 Portrait of Lady Meux. 
 
 Lent by Sir Hewry Meux. 
 
 "Portrait of Mrs. Meux, in which it was not so 
 much the face as the figure and the movement that 
 <>ame to be deftly suggested, if hardly elaborately ex- 
 pressed." — F. Wedmore. 
 
 "All Mr. Whistler's work is unfinished. It is 
 sketchy. He no doubt possesses artistic qualities, 
 and he has got appreciation of qualities of tone ; but 
 he is not complete, and all his works are in the nature 
 of sketching." 
 
 The Art Critic of the " Times," 
 
 Evidence at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878. 
 
 44.— ARRANGEMENT IN GREY AND BLACK. 
 Portrait of the Painter's Mother. 
 
 Photograph of Picture. 
 " This canvas is large and much of it vacant. 
 " A dim, cold light fills the room, where the flat, grey 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 327 
 
 wall is only broken by a solitary picture in black and 
 white ; a piece of foldless, creaseless, Oriental flowered 
 crape bangs from the cornice. And here, in this 
 solemn chamber, sits the lady in mournful garb. 
 The picture has found few admirers among the thou- 
 sands who seek to while away the hours at Burlington 
 House, and for this result the painter has only to 
 thank himself." — Times. 
 
 "•Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of 
 the Painter's Mother,' is another of Mr. Whistler's 
 experiments. 
 
 " It is not a picture, and we fail to discover any object 
 that the artist can have in view in restricting himself 
 almost entirely to black and grey." — Eocaminer. 
 
 " The ' arrangement ' is stiff and ugly enough to 
 repel many." — Hour. 
 
 " Before such pictures as the full-length portraits by 
 Mr. Whistler, critic and spectator are alike puzzled. 
 Criticism and admiration seem alike impossible, and 
 the mind vacillates between a feeling that the artist 
 is playing a practical joke upon the spectator, or that 
 the painter is suffering from some peculiar optical 
 delusion. After all, there are certain accepted canons 
 about what constitutes good drawing, good colour, and 
 good painting, and when an artist deliberately sets 
 
328 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 himself to ignore or violate all of these, it is desirable 
 that his work should not be classed with that of 
 ordinary artists." — Times. 
 
 " He that telteth a tale to ... . Carlyle's ma- 
 jority speaketh to one in a slumber ; when he 
 hath told his tale he will say, What is the 
 matter?" 
 
 HUSUME. 
 
 " It is impossible to take Mr. "Whistler seriously." 
 
 Advertiser. 
 
 " A combination of circumstances has, within the 
 last year or two, brought the name and work of Mr. 
 Whistler into special publicity. . . . 
 
 " At the Grosvenor Gallery the less desirable of his 
 designs aroused the inconsiderate ire of a man of 
 genius and splendid authority. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 329 
 
 " If it be Mr. Whistler's theory that, that which all 
 the world of greatest artists (?) has mistaken for mere 
 means has been in very seriousness the end, then the 
 aim of Art is immeasurably lowered ! . . . . 
 
 " If there be anything to the point, it is to implore 
 us to take a stone for bread, and the grammar of a 
 language in place of its literature, 
 
 "Mr. Whistler has assumed that it is only the 
 painter who is occupied with art. . . . Unless he is a 
 very exceptional man. ... If he is not of the school 
 of Fulham, he is of the school of Holland Park, or of 
 the Grove End £oad. 
 
 " Has he, like Mr. Ruskin, devoted thirty years of a 
 poet's life to the Galleries of Europe ? 
 
 " Has he, like Diderot, inquired curiously into the 
 meaning and message of this thing and that ? And 
 appreciating Greuze, been able to appreciate Char- 
 din ?{\\)" 
 
 Mr. Wedmore, 
 
 "Nineteenth G&ntmry." 
 
 " Mr. Ruskin's whole body of doctrine, from the very 
 young days, in which he took the duty of teacher, on 
 to his old age, was contradicted by Mr. Whistler's 
 pictures." — Merrie Englcmd. 
 
330 THE GEN LE ART 
 
 " In' painting, his success is infrequent, and it is 
 limited. 
 
 " In painting, Mr. Whistler is an impressionist. His 
 best painting betrays something of that almost modern 
 sensitiveness to pleasurable juxtapositions of delicate 
 colour which we admire in Orehardson, in Linton 
 {sic /), and in Albert Moore ; it betrays, sometimes, as 
 in a portrait of Miss Alexander, a deftness of brush- 
 work in the wave of a feather, in the curve of a hat 
 . . . and of high art qualities it betrays not much 
 besides. 
 
 " It is true that the originality of his painted work is 
 somewhat apt to be dependent on the innocent error 
 that confuses the beginning with the end, accepts the 
 intention for the execution, and exalts an adroit sketch 
 into the rank of a permanent picture." 
 
 F. Wedmore, "Four Masters of Etching." 
 
 " I think Mr. "Whistler had great powers at first, 
 which he has not since justified." 
 Mr. Jones, R.A., 
 
 Evidence in Gowrt, Nov. i6, 1878. 
 
 " The right time and the right place for the con- 
 spicuousness of an Impressionist were undoubtedly 
 England, and the moment when Mr. Whistler rose 
 up and astonished her. 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 331 
 
 " In Paris he was one of many, though he would be 
 
 at peace in France, that peace would not be unattended 
 
 with a certain comparative obscurity. 
 
 " Inconspicuous solitude would not have had the 
 
 same charms for him." — Merrie England. 
 
 " Au musee du Luxembourg, vient d'etre place, de 
 M. Whistler, le splendide Portrait de M'" Whistler 
 mSre, une oeuvre destinee k I'etemit^ des admirations, 
 une oeuvre sur laqueUe la consecration das sidles 
 semble avoir mis la patine d'un Rembrandt, d'un 
 Titien oud'un Velasquez." — ChroniqwedeaBeoMas-Arts. 
 
 MORAL. 
 ' Modern British (!) art will now be represented 
 in the National Gallery of tbe Luxembourg 
 by one of the finest paintings due to the 
 bnish of an English (!) artist, namely, Mr. 
 Whistler's portrait of his mother." — Illustrated 
 London News. 
 
332 THE GENTLE ART 
 
 A Zealous Inquirer. 
 
 " A brown-paper covered catalogue .... compiled 
 by Mr. Whistler .... 
 tabW'o^w " Several opinions (and his ' evidence at Westmin- 
 
 ster ') are quoted of ' Mr. Jones, K.A.,' in the year 
 1878. Who is Mr. Jones, R.A. ? Mr. Jones, KA. (of 
 whom the Duke of Wellington — but no matter ....), 
 died in 1869. Mr. Burne-Jones was not elected an 
 A.B.A. until 1885. I am afraid I expose myself, but 
 I still venture to ask, who is ' Mr. Jones, R.A. ' ? " 
 
OF MAKING ENEMIES 333 
 
 Thi Warlil, 
 
 Final Acknowledgments. 
 
 ATLAS, — Your correspondent proposes that "Mr. 
 Jones, R.A." is not E..A. — but ^.R.A. 
 
 You know these things. Atlas — ^perhaps he is right, '"'"■• '°' '*'''• 
 and curiously microscopic — for surely here we have 
 " a diflference without a distinction ! " 
 
 However, R.A. or A.R.A., and, in my opinion he 
 deserves to be both, I personally owe Mr. Jones a 
 friendly gratitude which I am pleased to acknowledge ; 
 for rare indeed is the courage with which, on the first 
 public occasion, he sacrificed himself, in the face of 
 all-astounded etiquette, and future possible ridicule, 
 in order to help write the history of another. 
 
 These things we like to remember, Atlas, you and 
 I — ^the bright things, the droll things, the charming 
 things of this pleasant life — and here, too, in this 
 lovely land they are understood — and keenly appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 As to those others — alas ! I am afraid we have 
 
334 THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES 
 done with them. It wa.s our amusement to convict- 
 they thought we cared to convince ! 
 
 Allans ! They have served our wicked purpose- 
 Atlas, we " collect " no more. 
 
 " Autrea gens, autres Tnoeurs." 
 
 Paris, March 26, 1892. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Action, The z 
 
 AdmUtitm, An 71 
 
 Advanced Critic, An 244 
 
 Advantage of Explanation, The 24.5 
 
 Another Poacher in the Chelsea Preserves ZT^-^ 
 
 Apology, An 107 
 
 Apostasy, An Z50 
 
 ^Arry in the Grosvenor 72 
 
 Art Critic of the " Times," The 35 
 
 Art Critics Friend, The 277 
 
 *' Aiissi qtte diable allait-il faire dam cette galere ? " 225 
 
 Auto-biographical 2SS 
 
 " Autre Temps autre Moeurs" 189 
 
 " Balaam's Ass " 41 
 
 Committee of the " National Art Exhibition," To the 164 
 
 Complacent One, The 196 
 
 " Confidences" tvith an Editor 47 
 
 Coniiction 88 / 
 
 Correction, A 66 
 
 Critic " Catching on, ' ' The 1 94 
 
 Critic's Analysis 44 
 
 Critic's" Copy" 50 
 
 Critic's Mind Considered, The 45 
 
 Critic-flaneur, The 197 ., 
 
338 INDEX 
 
 DistinctioHy A 119 
 Document, A IZI 
 
 Eager Authority, An 70 
 Early Laurels 176 
 Easy Expert, The 1 1 3 
 Editor's Anxiety, An 264 
 Embroidered Intervieiv, An 219 
 Encouragement 74 
 
 End of the Piece, The 282 
 Etchings and Dry-points 93 
 "Et tu. Brute!" 259 
 Exit the Prompter 283 
 Exploded Plot, The vii 
 Extraordinary Piratical Plot, An v 
 
 Ffl« of an Anecdote, The 81 
 f/W 39 
 
 Tinal Acknowledgments 333 
 
 Freeing a Last Friend 262 
 Fa// Absolution 46 
 
 Further Proposition, A iJJ 
 
 Great Literary Curiosity, A Ix 
 
 //<jiiV of Second Natures, The 236 
 
 Him, A 118 
 
 /feme of Taste, The 230 
 
 hnputation, An 188 
 
 htconsequences 79 
 
 Inevitable, The 173 
 
 ii Excelsis 86 
 
 Ingratitude 195 
 
 htsinudtion. An 187 
 
 Interview with an Ex-President, An 205 
 
 "yeux Innocents " in Tite Street IJO 
 3'»if Indignation 243 
 
INDEX 
 
 339 
 
 Last Effort, A x 
 
 X.a Suite 6i 
 
 Later 54 
 
 L' Envoi 285 
 
 " Les points sur les i" 1 30 
 
 Line from the Land's End, A 1 1 
 
 Market Place, In the 239 
 Mr. Whistler and his Critics 91 
 Mr Whistler " had on his own Toast 
 Mr. Whistler's Paper Hunt viii 
 Mr. Whistler's ' ' Ten 0' Clod " i 
 
 289 
 
 3' 
 
 NdtyEnfimt 68 
 
 New Dynasty, The 218 
 
 " Noblesse oblige ", 174 
 
 Nocturnes, Marines, and Clie-vatet Pieces 
 
 Nostalgia 1 84 
 
 *' Nous a-vons change tout cela / " 169 
 
 Official Bumbledom 223 
 Official Letter, An 229 
 Opportunity, An 181 
 Opportunity Neglected, The 183 
 
 Painter-Etcher Papers, The 
 " Pall Mall" Puzzled, The 
 Panic 241 
 
 Philanthropy and Art 166 
 Played-out Policy, A 199 
 Point Acknowledged, The 43 
 Position, The 37 
 Professor Rusiin's Group 20 
 Prologue 1 
 Proposal, A 51 
 Propositions 76 
 Propositions — iVo. 2 US 
 
 Publisher's Note iii 
 
 293 
 
 52 
 
 221 
 
34-0 INDEX 
 
 S^uand meme ! 165 
 
 aiuestfon^ A 279 
 
 Rassu7-e-z vous i 265 
 
 Rebuke^ A 129 
 
 RedRag^Tke 126 
 
 Remonstrance^ A 75 
 
 " Rengaines ! " 161 
 
 Retrospect, A 213 
 
 Roya/ Society oj" British Artists and their Signboard 226 
 
 Sacrilege 1 24 
 
 Seizure of Mr. JVhistler s Pirated Pf^ritings vi 
 
 Serious Sarcasm 38 
 
 Statistics 211 
 
 Straight Tip^ A 6g j 
 
 Suggestion, A 235 
 
 Suspicion, A 87 
 
 Taking the Bait 106 
 
 Talent in a Napkin 193 
 
 Tenderness in Tite Street 162 
 
 Testimony 247 
 
 Troubled One, A 46 
 
 Unansivered Letter^ An 78 
 
 Uncovered Opinions 80 
 
 IVarning, A 67 
 
 *' Whacking fVhistler ' ' 269 
 
 ^/w/ ^^ Mr. H^histler had on his o%un Toast " 291 
 
 Whistler 'V. Ruskin : Art and Art Critics 21 
 
 Whistler' s Grie'vance 266, 273 
 
 Zealous Inquirer^ A 332 
 
 BALLANTYNE PRESS 
 
 London mid hdinbiir