120 of ABSENCE OF MIND. isation!- what a strange mixture of genius and eccentricity,—of mental power and uncertainty purpose, - of 'imagination all compact,' and the negation of realities about him. Keats says that a poet has nothing poetical about him; here is romance and poetry both in a living prose-writer! I do enjoy the conversation and sincerity of Hazlitt, perhaps more than any one else; he is natural,-unaffected,—expresses himself with a frankness, impetuosity, and passion, that arrest one's attention and secure one's confidence, he sympathises with one's Art-notions too, and is on the whole the best conversationalist (except one) that I know. instances 'I will tell you of one of the many that I know of his absence of mind. When that little boy of his was to be christened, and the day appointed for the ceremony, all preparations made, and a pheasant provided by him, as an extra-course for dinner, the friends and sponsors all arrived and waiting for the officiating minister, the time passing agreeably and rapidly away, some one, who began to apprehend the chances of a dilemma, suggested the question, whether the clergyman had been CHRISTENING DINNER. 121 informed of the necessity of his attendance? When our author, first in some confusion, then blank dismay, confessed that there might be some probability of his having forgotten to give that piece of information, so necessary to the consummation of their intended business. He then fell to accusations of himself, of his incomprehensible stupidity, that he never had the least thought of what was proper, &c. &c., adding with more good nature, "Well, never mind; it is too late, I suppose, now, to correct my folly in this affair: let us at all events enjoy the christening-dinner, even without the ministerial ceremony." CHAPTER VII. HAZLITT (CONTINUED) - CONVERSATION ON ART ARGUMENT BETWEEN WILKIE AND HAYDON-PAINTERS GOSSIPING ABOUT I OFTEN met Hazlitt at Haydon's, and had good opportunity of observing his character, of witnessing the wonderful power and varied resources of his mind. He was apt to brood over metaphysical difficulties, and in his abstract deductions was never certain, he said, that he made himself understood. His company was always acceptable to Haydon, and he came occasionally on Sundays, bringing some of his lucubrations, which he would, at a fitting opportunity, and with modest awkwardness, draw from his coat-pocket. Then explaining the QUESTION FOR DEBATE. 123 subject of his paper, he would read it with feeling and freshness, as though it engrossed all his mind. Glancing occasionally to observe what effect his language had upon his hearers, he would sometimes rise from his seat, and in the interest of the subject pour forth in impassioned tones, excited expression, and animated action, the violence of his emotion. It was in this way he read his Letter to Gifford, -The Description of a Prize Fight,- On the Death of Kavannah, &c. &c. If the paper so read seemed to have the desired effect, he would send it to the press. Haydon could seldom be induced to converse about art, and Hazlitt seemed glad, on the occasion of meeting Wilkie, to draw both painters into argument upon this subject. The question he introduced was unimportant, if not foolish, as stated by Hazlitt, 'Whether a particular set of colours arranged on a painter's palette did not influence his style of art ?—so much so, indeed, as to be a question whether any artist would not have painted in the same style, scale of colour, and peculiarities, with any given palette, -say, for instance, of Titian, Rubens, or Rem 124 ABSURD CONTROVERSY. brandt, and that a painter, with the palette so set of any one of these three, would have painted in the precise style of Titian, Rubens, or Rembrandt?' Wilkie was first appealed to, and 'thought certainly that any one, with the particular set of colours and varied tints peculiar to Titian, or those of Rubens or Rembrandt, would be so influenced as to paint in the same style and colouring as these great artists. That is, suppose a palette with the peculiar and particular primitive colours, so arranged, with gradations of tints and variations, that palette would so influence his taste, his mind, his ideas, and his "feeling" for contrast and harmony, that he would indeed be induced to paint in the style and manner of the painter to whom that particular palette of colours had belonged.' Haydon smiled, and shook his head, as disagreeing with Wilkie. Hazlitt pushed and provoked the argument by all the eloquence and energy of which he was capable, in favour of Wilkie's seeming views; and however preposterous and absurd the proposition, the controversy was carried on for some time. |