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                            SKETCHING AND STUDYING
extent, give it intelligible expression, its practical value and service
rest in the reserve of higher
capacity, only attainable by severer study.   The one, therefore, leading
more directly to that great
highway of art, by which excellence is most surely reached, and capacity
in the other more cer-
tainly, advantageously, and naturally, following as a result, leave little
doubt upon which the
greater reliance should be placed as a beginning.
   2. However true it is, that a certain degree of aptness in sketching may
be often found pre-
ceding more substantial acquirernents, especially in cases of active sensibility
to artistic impulse
(not unfrequently thus first developing the inclination of genius), it can
lead of itself but a very
little way to excellence.  This faculty, therefore, should never be overrated
as a reliance, nor
suffered to mislead to habits of superficial observation, or carelessness
of manner, to which it has
a tendency, unless resrained and directed by judicious cultivation.
   3. The value of careful study, and drawing from    nature, consists, not
so much in the produc-
Lion of an elaborate work, as in the familiarity thereby obtained with the
object of imitation.  It
is this familiarity ~vith the truths of nature, stored upon the memory in
continued accessions, that
forms in time the reliable capital of the artist, upon which he may draw
with confidence in all
emergencies.  It is this strength that fortifies him, not only in the truthful
imitation of realities
before him, and in their absence directs to available expedients; but, quickening
and sustaining
the imagination, emboldens its flight-secures it against the errors of inconsistency,
and renders
the language of art as easy and fluent as if traced by a poetic or historic
pen.  herein lies the
commonly-considered mysterious power which guides a ~ hand, impressed upon
all that
emanates from it-from the faintest impromptu sketch to the most finished
work; while he, who
tiolds no such reserve, may attempt in vain to disguise the doubt and feebleness
which embam'rass
all his efforts.
   4. It should not be imagined, however, that in the importance attached
to the closer and more
minute study of nature, the practice of sketching should be disregarded or
neglected.  Capacity
in each may be most happily cultivated together.   It is by the habit of
sketching that the eye and
mind are made sensitive, while more careful study secures such advantages
to available results.
Both should be trained together, in quickness of perception, in aptness to
the discovery of beauty
and effectiveness in nature, and in forming conclusions with rapidity and
decision: while the hand
receives an equal training in obedience to their direction, following and
recording their impulse
almost instinctively; wasting no time or effort in trembling indecision,
but aiming so directly at