New-York tribune., 1892-12-04
WILLIAM BELL SCOTT.
MEMOIRS OF A VETERAN ARTIST.

Tho spbect of this autobiography was one OF
,ha.. wholesome vigorous and kindly men who,
.yithaut nossessing positive genius. are gifted WIN
high intelligence, and. not being lurcd from lhe
oath of duty By any phantom lights. 90 'iien
work robustly and consclentlously from De1i'iilhS
70 end and take great delight in the cenpaiioA',
.hin of their peers The long life OF Scout cai'icu
him. indeed 70 far that he outilved nearly an
his generation. Ills intimates had fallen oS "'c
waysidc years before his own career cio'eu' '"'
he retained his buoyant cheerfulness ana Ills opp
,ite for work even beyond the natural hn'' Vi
his physical capacity. an.
In these volumes, which are edltcd cd'oi'iis
by Mr.. Minto circle peculiar in many ways i
introduced. Poets and painters many " ""o
have won fame. appear In an in"iiec'uai
habile" which in many instances II oi o"'"'V =,
10 astonish the reader, and at the saine 'in'' 80
Pope's couplet about great Wi'S anu ~
Indoed i, is sufficiently obvious that not a 1e"
of tho young men, fragments ol "no0c i'' ~ ~
recorded in these pages, weie' "i,ho"' any .5.o
of speech more than a htue inau anu =,
ar,onc The eccentrics who found early deaths IL
must be concl lded that their late "ds Hoi0
Among Scott's friends were such men as Dal,'"
cahr;el Rossetti. Holman Hunt. Woolner. ue
so,Intor. Sir Walter Treveyan, Thomas >ioso"'
d v wornum Dr. Samuel Brown the two leh-
TX. N.
n,,s,n brothers Millais, 4. {. Swinburnc lho'n"'
carlyle Maese. Alma Tadema. George H. l@"es
"a C.aoroa Eliot not TO mention m'u"'""V
:, thor more or less known names when pass"
tbrorvh his life. lie attracted men uia'N'"iI' ~
.rd made many and fast friendships pu' ",',i
he himself was cmircrtly practical ana s,n''",'
these volumes afford ample e'ldence tid' "0
in = spccial manner drawn to pecuii"i' H0' -
Say eccentric characters -eh;.
II. d,ovs 4 curious and interesting picture o MS
Scotch home in Edinburgh suburb anu u "'' '''
ortist-publishcr father, who, had he po'SoS" "
.,oh husiness capacity as art knowledge. shoul1
h.y. o,nassed fortune. Yet in the thlrues ar
in Creat Britain was at a very low estate. ru"iic
tas,e scented moribund. English s'ue"'S h'i 'H
looked beyond their native country o'ia'N
held control of the national cxhi"l'ioh' ""' "''
ooad ,bo,n after obsolete and antiquated ways
II was a bad timc for young genius ~ '''
;n,o tbo aroma but when the prepcssesslon was
strong no encouragement was ehec'iN'' i"'
sbore WIS strcwn With wrecks, for even POT
h.;I;nc,, MAS in those days starvation WORK
ard nc for noetry that was never SO cmphatcaliS
:. . druo ON the market" Young Scott had
natural Gift. however, and I've persevered nh'ii
tho opDortunity came 10 90 to London. HIS iof-
tunes thcnccforward though checkercd. appc1f
rever 10 have approached desperate condl'lon' lie
had TO wait like most young artists Dut he pi''
emily got employment Of klnd from 'he "oN'in-
ment which had reused at last ana uhuer'ooN '"
establish schools of design on a popular psSls'
,ho, this time Scott met RuskiD. but 1t cannon he
soid that they became friends. Scott liahNN say
that they were antpathctic, and IL appears vi
tai, that there was mutual dislike, which Tue
author of this memoir does not attempt 10
conceal.
He spcaks of Ruskin as having been at that
time intolefably supercilious, and leeis az Ms
art theories. especially his ideas OF art educa-
ton which he considers to have been ihipracucdi
and fantastic. He tells how Rnskln uhof'ooh
to cot lessons for drawing class. and gave
them as models pieces OF stick covered WIN
ichenS: and this he considers to have been NEST
ridiculous The TWO did not hitch,' according
70 a vernacular phrase; and they do not ap-
pear 10 have come together at all IN later HE.
Scott was frank and open in the expression OF
his opnons and lie never could conceal either
his likes or his disliles. Rossetti, on the other
hand, he evidently took to- Immediately; Nct
Rossctti seems to have been very queer com
pany at times. Scott relates that when Rob
ert Buchanan wrote the review attacking the
"neshly school," the effect upon Ruskin was
most alarming In fact ii nearly drove hun INTO
insanity, and this book might bc cited IN Iu-tl-
Gcation of the suspicion that he had not very far
10 90 before reaching such "a condition at any
time of his life.
But enough has been said Of the author, WHO,
indeed, constantly sinks himself with modcSty
evidently characteristic, while giving his views
about his friends and the artists and poets he
knew with refreshing candor In the telling of
anecdotes lie is not at his best We gather
comparatively little light from lis pages upoa the
hahi
from their eccentricites in fact. Most Of them
seem TO have been rather rough and inconsiderate
in their social expressions and in some cases il ~
clear that their vanity must have been phcnome
nal. Take, for example, the little story OF Roy
setti who took dislike to young art student be-
cause as he said, the youth showed vcncra-
ton for me-, tie implication being that if the
stranger had really loved art he would have fallen
down and worshipped the poet-paner as its repre-
sentative 1t is not often bad that llcl-
man Hunt is pleasing foil TO such picture, for
instance But poor Hayden and the good Tur-
ner were shocking examples Of ovcrwcening csotism
and many of the poets pure and simple were little
behind the painters in the magnitude Of their self
esteem.
IL must be admitted, however, that the men Of
genius were sometimes petted until they had some
excuse for being spoiled, in the of Rossctt
who, when staying at Penkii Castle with Scott
was a constant object Of admiration 70 a rich old
lady At last her admiration eliminated III an
offer of loan OF money to any amount to prevent
him using his eyes in painting, IN any other
irving occupation: he would get better and repay
her. but till then he might depend on her. This
Old lady used to delight in watching Rossett at
his eakfas-"to to see him smashing his eggs on
the plate to the loss Of half Of them, AID making
innumcrable impressions of his teacup On the
damask table-cloth.7 You see, Alice dear" she
would say to Miss Boyd, he is not like one Of
us, he is "a great man, can't attend TO trilcs, 10
always occupied with great ideas His ideas do
no, seem TO have been very great, however. when
anyone trod on his intellectual corns, so TO say
as in the case of the Buchanan review, above re-
ferred to.