A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF ENGLISH ART.
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LITERARY
ORIGIN OF THE OPAL.
a dew-drop came, with a spark of flame He had caught from the sun's last ray. To a violet's breast, where he lay at rest Till the hours brought back the day.
The rose looked down with a blush and frown. But she smiled all at once to view Her own bright form with its coloring warm. Reflected back by the dew.
Then the stranger took a stolen look At the sky so soft and blue; And a leaflet green, with its silver sheen. Was seen by the idler too.
A cold north wind, as he thus reclined. Of a sudden raged around. And a maiden fair who was walking there. Next morning an opal found.
ANONYMOUS.
A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF ENGLISH ART.
From earliest years down, England has not taken a high place in the world of art. English society, with its unyielding aristocracy, looked down upon all kinds of artists as engaged in menial trades; consequently, whenever genius did appear, it never reached its highest development for lack of appreciation and encouragement.
Where English art has succeeded best is in the delineation of objects dear to Englishmen. The highest forms of art are the natural outgrowth of minds full of ideality, hence, as the English are practical matter-of-fact people, they have not appreciated works of imagination.
It is said that English painting knows no past, but rejoices in the present and aspires to the future. What few pictures there were in the British Isles before the seventeenth century, were brought from foreign lands. The earlier painters found their sole occupation in portrait painting. Those old English lords had much family pride, and it would naturally show itself in the desire for family likenesses, which might be handed down from one generation to another.
Sir Godfrey Kneller, one of the earliest portrait painters, was born in 1676. He is said to have been a pupil of Rembrandt. $ A_{t} $ the age of seventeen he took up his abode in