itself, must take its colours from life's good or evil, must follow
angels of light or angels of darkness. The art of the past is not to be
copied in a servile spirit. For a new age we require a new form.

Mr. Crane's lecture was most interesting and instructive. On one point
only we would differ from him. Like Mr. Morris he quite underrates the
art of Japan, and looks on the Japanese as naturalists and not as
decorative artists. It is true that they are often pictorial, but by the
exquisite finesse of their touch, the brilliancy and beauty of their
colour, their perfect knowledge of how to make a space decorative without
decorating it (a point on which Mr. Crane said nothing, though it is one
of the most important things in decoration), and by their keen instinct
of where to place a thing, the Japanese are decorative artists of a high
order. Next year somebody must lecture the Arts and Crafts on Japanese
art. In the meantime, we congratulate Mr. Crane and Mr. Cobden-Sanderson
on the admirable series of lectures that has been delivered at this
exhibition. Their influence for good can hardly be over-estimated. The
exhibition, we are glad to hear, has been a financial success. It closes
tomorrow, but is to be only the first of many to come.




ENGLISH POETESSES


(Queen, December 8, 1888.)

England has given to the world one great poetess, Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. By her side Mr. Swinburne would place Miss Christina Rossetti,