,M
s$
32
niicc under its tormentor. Again, human
ingenuity, a skilled hand, and fertile im
agination, form the mystic ring; and
again from such a composition, art crests
itself in Its mnjestic beauty.
So every artifice that excites our admi
ration, whether it be the harmonious
notes of a Mozart, tho dramatic lines of a
Shakcspcar, or the light Hashes of a
Dante, is indebted for its intrinsic beauty
to the delicate blending of sound, of col
or, of symctry, of all that soothes our
raving fancy.
If this be tho perquisite of a fine art,
composition, in a rhetorical sense, fills
the measure to overflowing; for where
can then1 be found a broader field for am
bition and ingenuity V Whcie is there a
greater abundance of material, than in
the confines of a prose and poetic dic
tion.' If sculptors have bequeathed to us
a few monuments of oriental splendor, we
may justly boast of a thousand times as
many volumes, monuments as enduring as
Parian marble. If artists have left us those
shades of color that fascinate the eye,
poets have gifted us with gems
whose luster will never perish. Architects
may boast of the spanned arches of thu
Parthenon, but language in 2,000 dialects
boasts of her colossal temple, whose
base is sunk beneath the reach of human
knowledge, and whose pinnacles glitter
and sparkle throughout the Hemispheres.
Composition, then, abundant in its ma
terial, is as rich and gaudy in its di.stri
bution. While the sculptor confines him
self to the chisel an the mallet, while the
artist but moves his brush and blends pro
portionately the colors, while the archi.
tcct follows his diagram and watches the
completion of his project, the writer,
with simple pen and vivid imagination,
holds all within his sphere. As a Bacon
ho hews and Hhapes the rough and am
biguous thought into as pure and imposing
grandeur, as ever shone from a Grecian
statue. As a Milton he blends and paints
the words of his imagination, from the
paradiso of Heaven
COMPOSITION
to tho gates of Hell, I
AS A KINK AUT.
or as a Burke, with thought arched nid
frescoed, with words smoothed and fittedi
and with music in every accent, ho builds
a castle of oratory tlmt will stand the
tempests for ages yet unnumbered.
So while Zcnodicd hesido the monu.
ment that had been his life's occupation,
while Lenard, old and fcoblo, expired
with brush in his hand, wc need not
be surprised, that men wrapped in the
wreathing clouds of imagination, full
from tho pinaclc ol the sublime and beau
tiful with unstable minds. It clearly
proves that as an art, it towers in solitary
grandeur so far above the grasp of tho
human mind, and intellect, that he who
tries to climb the ladder to its summit,
becomes dizzy by the height.and helplessly
looses the grasp that might return him
safely to tho bottom.
Then with all the components of the
fine arts involved in language and its lit.
cralurc, Composition, augmented by
their strength, must rise to a height, equal
to their combined splendor and admira.
tion. And with such a combination, it
at once becomes, not only an art in itself,
but has already seized the chair of state,
and imperatively demands tho merited
title of "Queen of Arts."
Poetry and Philosophy are her footstool.
Her magic scepter dictates to the Novel
and the Drama. Still the ruler of
ancient as well as of modern art, she
sits, learned in her wisdom, sedate in
her dignity She still nods at genius and
rewards labor, while the crown of conse
crated jems that encirclu her lofty brow,
immortalize, with its glowing luster,
tho names of hvr Champion Knights.
Outeoa.
No one can pronounce an opinion up.
on a work, or upon another mind, with
out pronouncing one upon hit, own
mind: Griinkc.
We are haunted by an ideal life, and it
is because we have within us tho begin,
ning or possibility of it : Selected,
VOL. VIII,
