To the artist definite foresight is denied. His life is full of
surprises at new necessities. When the present demand shall have been
fulfilled, what shall follow? Shall it be Madonna, or Laocoön? His
errand is like that of the commander who bears sealed instructions; and
he may drift for years, ere he knows wherefore. Thorwaldsen waited,
wandering by the Tiber a thousand days,--then in one, uttered his
immortal "Night."

Not even the severest self-examination will enable one in whom the
Art-impulse exists to understand thoroughly its aim and uses; yet to
approximate a clear perception of his own nature and that of the art to
which he is called is one of his first duties. What he is able to do,
required to do, and permitted to do, are questions of vital importance.

Possession of himself, of himself in the highest, will alone enable the
student in Art to solve the difficulties of his position. His habitual
consciousness must be made up of the noblest of all that has been
revealed to it; otherwise those fine intuitions, akin to the ancient
inspirations, through whose aid genius is informed of its privileges,
are impossible.

Therefore the foremost purpose of an artist should be to claim and take
possession of self. Somewhere within is his inheritance, and he must not
be hindered of it. Other men have other gifts,--gifts bestowed under
different conditions, and subject in a great degree to choice. Talent is
not fastidious. It is an instrumentality, and its aim is optional with
him who possesses it. Genius is exquisitely fastidious, and the man whom
it possesses must live its life, or no life.

In view of these considerations, the efforts of an artist to assume his