turned to their advantage--to further the immediate plans they had in
hand. They had ambition and the ability to concentrate on a thing and do
it. Just what they focused their attention upon was largely a matter of
accident. They had in them the capacity for success--they could have
succeeded at anything they undertook, and they were too sensible to
undertake a thing at which they could not succeed. They always saw light
through at the other end.

"I have success tied to the leg of my easel by a blue ribbon," said
Meissonier.

They succeeded by mathematical calculation, and the fame, name and gold
they won was through a conscious laying hold upon the laws that bring
these things to pass.

They chose to paint pictures, and the entire energy of their natures was
concentrated upon this one thing. Practising the art, day after day,
month after month, year after year, they acquired a wonderful facility.
They knew the history of art--its failures, pitfalls and successes. They
knew the human heart--they knew what the people wanted and what they
didn't. They set themselves to supply a demand. And all this keenness,
combined with good taste and tireless energy, would have brought a like
success in any one of a dozen different professions.

And these are the men who give plausibility to that stern half-truth: a
man can succeed in anything he undertakes--it is all a matter of will.

But you can not count Gustave Dore in any such category. He stands alone:
he had no predecessors, and he left no successors. We say that the artist
has his prototype; but every rule has its exception--even this one.